gyroscope
Latest
Star Fox 64 3D will use 3DS gyroscope to fly the Arwing
According to the notes of a financial results briefing presented today by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, the upcoming remake of Star Fox 64 for the 3DS will make use of the console's gyroscope, allowing players to tilt the handheld to control Fox's Arwing as it explores 3D space. It sounds neat, but there's one big drawback: tilting the 3DS while playing totally kills the 3D effect. We didn't get to use the gyro controls when we played the game last year at E3 but, of course, back then the official features weren't yet announced. Star Fox 64 3D is due out in Japan on July 14, so soon after that we'll be able to see just how precisely we can fly by tilting the 3DS around. Spoiler: there will no doubt be barrel rolls involved.
BlackBerry PlayBook pried open, gyroscope and other goodies discovered
What's in a PlayBook? No, literally, what is in that thing? Well, most of the specs were known ahead of today's release, but there was a bit of confusion about whether RIM's 7-inch tablet did or didn't have a gyroscope, which has now been set straight (it does!) by the crew at iFixit. They did their usual study of what it'll take to repair your own PlayBook should the need ever arise, and gave it a repairability score of 7 out of 10. Replacing the front glass would be a bit of a pain to do, but then that's the case with most portable devices. The motherboard also got a thorough examination, with all the power management, wireless connectivity, and memory chips getting identified and recorded for posterity. If you want to check iFixit's work, feel free to visit UBM Tech Insights as well, who have their own component list and closeup photography of that dual-core TI OMAP4430 system-on-chip. Yes, closeup photography.
Scientists unlock the secrets of bike stability, make riders optional
We've peered back in time to the early days of the universe, just following the Big Bang, and unraveled the mysteries of the human genome -- yet we don't really know how a moving bicycle manages to stay upright without a meatbag manning the handlebars. Scientists have long thought that it had something to do with the gyroscopic effect created by the spinning wheels and the caster effect of having the front wheel trail the steering axis (don't worry, it's all explained in a video at the source link). Researchers at Cornell, however, have created a tiny bike that generates neither of those effects yet, thanks to carefully calibrated mass distribution, still stays vertical when moving over 5MPH. The insights learned here could lead to self-stabilizing rides for us and cooler wheels for our pedal-happy automatons to inherit. PR after the break.
Microsoft's latest WP7 chassis spec includes second-gen Snapdragon, optional gyroscope
The minimum specs for Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 OS have taken a nice bump upwards, it has been revealed at this year's MIX. Current WP7 handsets are all running the Qualcomm MSM8x50 Snapdragon, the original 1GHz chip with Adreno 200 graphics, but Microsoft has now upgraded the requirement to Qualcomm's second-gen part, the MSM8x55 and the more powerful Adreno 205 GPU. That's already seen widespread adoption among devices like the HTC Thunderbolt and Xperia Play, but Microsoft isn't content with just one option and is also throwing in Qualcomm's MSM7x30, a fine multimedia performer that's already hit the market inside the T-Mobile G2. The latter part also comes with Adreno 205, making it a constant of future Windows Phone devices, while the option to include a gyroscope has also been provisioned for. Video of the MIX 11 session explaining these tweaks and much more about WP7 architecture can be found after the break.
Samsung Galaxy S II shows off motion-zoom option in TouchWiz 4.0 (video)
It's skinny, it's fast, and it can do some seriously fun stuff with its gyroscope accelerometer. Yes, we're talking about the Galaxy S II, Samsung's upcoming followup to one of Android's biggest successes to date, the Galaxy S. The new handset will bring with it a revised version of Sammy's Android skin, TouchWiz 4.0, which will harness the motion sensors inside the phone to allow you to zoom in and out of webpages as well as navigate the UI with the movement of your hands. Basically, instead of the traditional pinch-to-zoom, resting two fingers atop the screen will allow you to zoom in by bringing the S II closer to your face or zoom out by holding it further away -- a naturalistic gesture that makes all the sense in the world to us. Moreover, when adding new widgets to your home panels, you'll be able to move between them by propelling the phone laterally. It's quirky and appealing stuff, see it on video below. [Thanks, Lawrence] Update: We initially thought this was done using the gyroscope inside the Galaxy S II, but as commenter ClioCreslind helpfully points out, it's far likelier that Samsung's using the phone's accelerometer to achieve its new fanciness.
Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy (video)
You've seen one quadrocopter juggle a ball autonomously while gliding through the air, but how's about a pair of them working cooperatively? Yeah, we've got your attention now. The Zurich-based lab that brought us the piano-playing and ball-bouncing quadrocopter is back with a simply breathtaking display of robotic dexterity and teamwork. Like all mad scientists, they call their Flying Machine Arena research "an experiment," though we see it a lot more as a Pong-inspired dance of our future overlords. We all know how far video games have come since two paddles batted a ball between one another, right?
Students build self-balancing TIPI robot, plan new world order (video)
Remember this guy, the QB robot that was priced at a whopping 15 grand? Seemingly, the webcam wheeler inspired a team of young minds at the University of Waterloo, who've unleashed the DIY in themselves to build one of their own. TIPI, or Telepresence Interface by Pendulum Inversion, was designed to give humans the feeling that they're not actually talking to a six-foot tall cyclops cyborg with an LCD face and webcam eye, but rather, evoke the emotions drawn when speaking the old, conventional, face-to-face way. Thanks to this team of mechatronics engineers, the low-cost TIPI uses an accelerometer, gyro and pendulum to balance by itself and can be remotely controlled while communicating via its Beagle Board and Polulu Orangutan SVP brain. Head past the break to see the robot struttin' its stuff -- oh, and get ready to rave. You'll see what we mean.
Cubic Ninja is a 3DS game without 3D
Most 3DS games will give players the option to use the system's slider to adjust the depth of the display. Not Cubic Ninja. AQ Interactive's puzzle-platformer will not support a 3D display of any depth. A representative confirmed to us that there is "no stereoscopic 3D in [the] main game" because of Cubic Ninja's heavy reliance on another feature of the 3DS: the gyroscope. A report on Japanese site Inside Games notes that it would be difficult to read text in 3D if you were moving the 3DS around. Because the integrity of the handheld's 3D effect is reliant on viewing the screen from a fixed, dead-on position, it will be interesting to see if others developers, also keen on gyroscopic gameplay, might "turn off" the 3DS's big novelty.
PlayStation Move, turntable used to track the Earth's rotation
The above pictured contraption, called Copernitron, features a PlayStation Move controller, a turntable, and a homebrew Helmholtz coil (you know, for canceling out interference caused by our planet's magnetic field). By sending data to a Linux PC via Bluetooth, this bad boy will measure the Earth's rotation, find geographic north, and determine altitude. Apparently, this is achieved by measuring the controller's subtle movements as it spins around at 45 RPM. And while the PS Move gyros are much more accurate than those of any other controller on the market, they're not too accurate: if they were, the designer points out, "ITAR might classify them as missile components. That's why we can't have nice motion tracking." See it in action after the break.
Solowheel self-balancing unicycle is as easy to ride as it is to afford (video)
If a company makes as bold a statement as "we reinvented the wheel" when introducing a gadget you know we've gotta check 'em out and see what the hubbub's about. Well, at the International Toy Fair in New York, Inventist has introduced its "Solowheel" product, which is essentially a self-balancing unicycle for personal mobility. We've seen similar products before, but the convenient carrying handle and lack of seat make it decidedly more portable than the competition. This $1,500 Segway-esque transporter uses gyroscopes to stay balanced, but places your legs on either side of a single central wheel. It's said to have a max speed of 12 miles per hour and a battery that should last for about 12 miles. We tried out the interesting device and found it entertaining, albeit quite a bit difficult. Getting started is the hardest part -- especially if you don't have anything to lean against -- but maintaining balance and still trying to lean your body to turn takes quite a bit of practice as well. That's right, there are no physical steering controls whatsoever and instead you use your body weight to control direction and speed. We could barely get going in our brief attempts on the device, but the rep on the floor was more skilled and made us realize we really need to build up our street cred. The whole concept is really a bit wild, and the company envisions people using these to do things like get to the train instead of on a bicycle or in a cab. We're not quite sure your average person is ready to slim down to one wheel in life just yet, but maybe in the future they will be. Still, as a toy it's most definitely intriguing, and you can see our horrid attempts at riding it in the video posted after the break or hit the more coverage link for another video of more skilled riders in action. %Gallery-116652%
App review: kijjaa! (video)
We're used to seeing all sorts of funky motion-based games on smartphones, but here's something a little bit different: a retro-themed desktop 3D flash game that utilises your iOS device as an accelerometer and gyroscope-based wireless controller. The objective of kijjaa! is simple: just fly your vessel around, shoot down or avoid the enemies, and pick up extra lives. Don't worry, there's no jailbreaking involved here -- all we had to do was visit kijjaa.com/air, and then copy the code onto our iOS app to establish the link via WiFi or 3G. There's no serious challenge in kijjaa! -- based on the app's description on iTunes, the game's designed with students and office workers in mind, so it's ideal for those seeking a fun quickie during their short breaks. We'd say the hardest part is trying to dodge the ghosts that show up randomly in short notice, but what really annoyed us were the occasional control lags that popped up even over WiFi. Still, for a promotional $0.99 pricing (the 70 percent price drop ends on January 17th has been extended to January 24th), this game has gone much further than most other games have, and it'll only get better -- already in the pipeline are Game Center support, new enemies, new bonuses, and achievements. Hopefully the developer will also throw in some more chiptune soundtracks as well. Demo video after the break -- it kinda makes you want this on the Apple TV too, doesn't it? %Gallery-114426%
Modder changes iPhone tilt controls to joystick controls
We've seen modders and peripheral manufacturers alike try to make gaming on the iPhone's glossy, contextless touch screen a bit more tangible, but we've never seen anything quite like this. Shane Wighton of Mechanically Inclined has managed to turn an ordinary Arduino, a webcam, some motors and a metal frame into a ... well, we're not sure if there's a name for it yet, because "Remote Gyroscopic Movement Controller Suspension System" seems just a tad wordy. The device allows you to tilt your iPhone with precision using a remote controller, which would hypothetically not only change your strategy when you're desperately grasping for that high score in Tilt to Live, but also change the title of the game entirely. Again, we'd need to workshop a new title, as Remote Gyroscopic Movement etc. to Live doesn't exactly drip right off the tongue. Wighton hopes to program the machine to play the game by itself, which we think we can all agree is terrifying. Until then, check out a video of this clever, verbose mod after the jump.
Microvision runs TV out apps, including Rage HD, on the SHOWWX+ pico projector
Last year at Macworld 2010, I got to see the SHOWWX pico projector in action. Back then it was just a prototype, and the company was still shopping around the technology to try and get a unit into production. MicroVision has released the SHOWWX projector at a unit price of US$299. This year's model, however is the SHOWWX+, and while it's still a little unwieldy (and $100 more, at a $399 price point), it's brighter and clearer than ever, and a few tweaks to the iPhone have made it much more useful. First up, TV out was simply a lament last year, but since Apple made it official with iOS 4.0, lots of developers are including a TV out function in their apps, and the SHOWWX+ can project all of them. There's the standard ideas of kicking out regular videos or Netflix (which looks terrific, even on a solid 3G connection), but MicroVision pulled up what we really wanted to see: Rage HD. id added TV out to its app recently, so the projector can put the video on a wall, but id also added support for the in-phone gyroscope. Since the projector is portable, the MicroVision rep can move it around while playing the game, so as the projection on the wall moved, so did the in-game angle. The effect was somewhat fleeting (the gyroscope feature isn't quite perfect, and the image was distorted as it moved around the square walls of the room), but there was a definite virtual reality feel, as if the projector was showing a dynamic window into the world of Rage. So what's the drawback? While the projector is a quality product, and there probably at least a few people out there who could pick one up and use it, even MicroVision agrees the technology has a little way to go before it gets to prime time.
Rage for iOS frags its way to gyroscope and Game Center support
One of the hottest titles in the App Store right now -- id Software's Rage -- recently got a healthy official update to version 1.11 that adds a handful of big new features to its roster, perfect to add a little replay value just in time as your amazing graphics-induced euphoria wears off. What's new? Well, the biggest new feature might be support for Apple's Game Center, offering achievements and scoreboards. You've also got gyroscope support -- good only if you're using an iPhone 4, of course -- that offers an orientation-controlled aiming mode, and official TV-out support for upsizing your gameplay onto the big screen. There's apparently also a new "museum mode" that lets you stroll through the game world without troublesome baddies trying to attack you for those occasions when you're looking for a more peaceful form of entertainment... not exactly fit for a title named "Rage," really.
App review: Rage HD (iPhone)
The iOS App Store might already have its fair share of addictive and compelling games on offer, but when John Carmack comes calling with his latest megatextured shoot-em-up, you've got to sit up and pay attention. Rage HD: Mutant Bash TV isn't so much a full-fledged game in its own right as it is a teaser for the forthcoming Rage FPS for the PC, and yet even in its pretty limited running time, it managed to woo and thrill us with its visceral gameplay and arresting visuals. It's easily the best-looking game we've yet seen on a mobile device and provides a fine demonstration of just how far Apple's hardware -- on the iPhone 4, iPad, and fourth-gen iPod touch -- can be pushed when some appropriately adroit hands are at the graphical controls. But, of course, games are supposed to be fun to play, not just to look at, so why not join us after the break to see how well Rage HD handles its mutant-bashing duties?%Gallery-107875%
New Apple patent suggests advanced iPhone gaming
A new Apple patent describes several interesting ideas for playing games with others in an augmented reality space. The patent, called "Interactive Gaming with Co-Located, Networked Direction and Location Aware Devices," describes an iPhone app that would network up a series of devices in the same real-world space and use the phone's hardware to track and show other players as the game is being played. For example, players could use their devices as a "gun," and the GPS, gyroscope, and accelerometer in the iPhone would all work together to figure out if shots "fired" from one device would actually hit another. Consider a wireless, high-tech form of laser tag on a large scale. The patent also describes using accessories to play the game (such as a gun grip handle to place your iPhone in as you play), or even using the accelerometer to do other things like steering a virtual vehicle around. The whole thing sounds pretty wild -- it's hard to believe that Apple is actually working on a full-featured game like this, but given that we know they're already working on "co-located," collaborative apps, it's not much of a stretch to think that a patent like this originates from that kind of thinking. Plus it just sounds fun. Apple hasn't released a game themselves since Texas Hold'em back in the early days of the App Store, but I wouldn't mind giving this one a try.
Gyro Air Drums makes rhythmic use of the iPhone 4's gyroscope
While most of the apps making use of the iPhone 4's gyroscope have centered around augmented reality, here's one doing something different. Gyro Air Drums is an app that supposedly lets you use your iPhone as a "virtual drumstick," waving and tapping it on a virtual drum. You can move your iPhone in a 300 degree rotation in real life, hitting various drums on upper or lower levels. And when you move the iPhone, your screen will rotate along with the movement, viewing all of the various instruments, from the snare and hi-hat to more fun things like a cowbell or a taiko drum. As you can see above, it's only one drum hit at a time, but presumably if you have two iPhone 4s, or a quick and accurate wrist, you'll be able to play a full drum beat. But at least it's a cool idea -- I was hoping we'd see more inventive uses of the gyroscope like this. The app is US$2.99 on the App Store right now, or there's a free lite version with a limited number of drums if you just want to play around.
Microsoft algorithm uses six-axis motion sensors to fix blurry snapshots, inadvertently pimping your ride
Trying to snap a shot of your cherry red Mazda, but can't keep your hands still? You'll find all the tech you need to smooth things out in an iPhone 4 or (MotionPlus-equipped) Nintendo Wiimote. Experimenting with 6DOF inertial measurement sensor packages, scientists at Microsoft Research have developed a software algorithm that literally records your exposure-destroying shake via accelerometer and gyroscope, then magically removes the blur by canceling it out. While the technique still isn't perfect -- spot ghostly line above some of those background cars -- the Microsoft researchers compared their results to other in-progress algorithms, and we think you'll agree this new solution presents the best results by far. It's a shame Microsoft doesn't say when we'll see the tech in a spiffy DSLR attachment, or better yet a cameraphone. See before and after animated GIFs after the break, and find high-res comparison images and much more at our source link.
Pocket Universe updated with iPhone 4 gyro support
Pocket Universe has always been one of the best of the astronomy apps, and I reviewed the earlier version positively. I like the use of augmented reality to overlay a star chart on the real sky, and there are lots of features like astronomy news, a planning module for any particular night, and quick and easy guides to finding visible comets and other nighttime events. With some nice clear summer nights there are plenty of things to see and appreciate. The app has now been updated, and is one of the first science apps to use the iPhone 4 gyroscope. According to John Kennedy, who wrote the program, using the gyroscope speeds up orienting the phone position, because the internal compass is a bit slow and prone to interference. The app doesn't need internet access, except for astronomy news and linking to Wikipedia articles. All the star charts and graphics are contained in the app. Pocket Universe supports a night vision mode, which turns the stars and object labels red, keeping bright glare away from sensitive eyes. %Gallery-98596%
iFixit and Chipworks teardown the iPhone 4's gyroscope
You didn't think the folks at iFixit would simply teardown the iPhone 4 and call it a day, did you? They've now gone the extra mile and done a detailed teardown of the iPhone 4's gyroscope with a little help from Chipworks. That's of course a MEMS (or microelectromechanical system) gyroscope and, according to Chipworks, nearly identical to an off-the-shelf STMicroelectronics L3G4200D gyroscope, which is actually what they used for the teardown. What's more, they also went even further and put another gyroscope (not used in the iPhone 4) under an electron microscope just to illustrate how incredibly complex and minute the structure of MEMS gyroscopes are. Head on past the break for a glimpse of that, and hit up the link below for the complete teardown.
