hover
Latest
We rode a $10,000 hoverboard, and you can too
It's impossible to talk about hoverboards without invoking a particular movie title, so we're not even going to try: Remember that awesome scene from Back to the Future Part II? It's one step closer to reality: A California startup just built a real, working hoverboard. Arx Pax is attempting to crowdfund the Hendo Hoverboard as a proof of concept for its hover engine technology -- it's not quite the floating skateboard Marty McFly rode through Hill Valley (and the Wild West), but it's an obvious precursor to the imagined ridable: a self-powered, levitating platform with enough power to lift a fully grown adult.
Jet Set Radio composer brings funky fresh beats to Hover
Hover: Revolt of Gamers, the upcoming game from French developer Midgar Studio, is inspired by games like Mirror's Edge and Jet Set Radio (or as it was known in the States, Jet Grind Radio). Thanks to hitting the $60,000 stretch goal of their crowdfunding campaign earlier this week, Midgar will be able to add composer Hideki Naganuma's funky fresh beats to the game. If you didn't consider Hover a spiritual sequel to the Dreamcast's best paint-em-up, skate-em-up game already, perhaps Naganuma's involvement will convince you: he composed music not only for the original Jet Set Radio, but the Xbox follow-up Jet Set Radio Future as well. If you've never played either of the Jet Set Radio games, you still may have heard Naganuma's music compositions in Ollie King and Sonic Rush. "It was love at first sight," Naganuma said regarding his decision to contribute to the game. "Hover has hot graphics and a cool worldview. At first glance, I felt like I'd love to make music for Hover. This feeling's been a long time since Jet Set Radio Future." Hover's Kickstarter is still going strong: as of writing, it has less than $2,000 to go before the city players will turn into their playground adds a new district and becomes twice as large. [Image: Midgar Studio]
Microsoft's 18-year-old 'Hover' game is reborn inside the browser
You remember Hover, right? If you're one of our many, many readers born after 1995, you probably don't. But that's OK: we're here to educate you, dear millennials. The game, which came installed on Windows 95 in the "Fun Stuff" folder, is making a comeback: Microsoft just came out with a web version that's been optimized for IE11, but will work inside any current desktop browser. As ever, it's a cross between bumper cars and Capture the Flag, with three hovercraft options, and a choice between single- and multi-player modes. What's especially neat is that Microsoft kept all the same levels; it just brought the graphics into the WebGL era. Naturally, too, you can use either shortcuts or touch gestures. If all this sounds dandy, we suggest you hit up the source link below sometime during your lunch hour. And, not to spoil an easter-egg, but be sure to type in "bambi" when you get to the "single player" / "multi-player" page -- someone at Microsoft's got a sense of humor, we'll say that much.
Nokia adds Peek hover function to Lumias running latest Amber OS update
It doesn't come close to the suite of air gestures Samsung's included in the Galaxy S 4, but Nokia's pushing out an update to give Lumia owners a limited taste of that hands-free functionality. Bundled into a new version 1.6 bump for display + touch settings released today is a new Peek feature, which gives Lumia owners the ability to wake their phones and glance at notifications with a mere hand wave. Sadly, it's only compatible with Lumia devices running the latest Amber update -- currently set for a vague "summer" rollout -- which makes this hover-to-wake function a 925-only affair for the time being.
Supposed Galaxy S 4 leak resurfaces in high-res pics, lists more features and specs
What is purported to be a dual-SIM equipped engineering sample of Samsung's Galaxy S 4 popped up a few days ago in pictures and video on a Chinese forum, and now it's back for a better look. The new pictures show off what's measured as a 1080p 4.99-inch display with an embossed home key and cross-hatch textured plastic back cover (already cracked on this unit). Engadget Chinese came through with a translation, and the specs listed on it168 claim its Exynos 5410 is a 1.8GHz 8-core CPU unit, with PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU. The i9502 weighs in at 138g and measures 7.7mm thick, packs 2GB of RAM and 16GB ROM storage with a microSD expansion slot and has a 2600mAh battery. Also revealed are a few more software tweaks, with the Smart Stay eye tracking that had previously been outed, plus a feature (pictured after the break) that lets users hover their fingers over the display to produce a Galaxy Note II S-Pen stylus-like effect. Check out another picture after the break or an entire slideshow past the source leak -- we're less than 24 hours away from seeing the real thing unveiled in NYC.
Google adds same-site recommendations to +1 buttons, but only for platform preview testers
On the eve of its I/O event, Google is continuing to roll out new features, one of which is expanded functionality for its ubiquitous +1 sharing buttons that can be found all over the web (and on this site). For users that are a member of its platform preview test group, other than clicking once to +1 something, or clicking again to share it on Google+, now on mouseover it will display recommended pages as seen above. According to the corresponding blog post, it pulls in related content and stuff shared by friends, and will only display selections from the same domain or subdomain as the page the button is on. Google anticipates this will go live to all users "in the next few weeks", if you can't wait until then hit the more coverage link below to join the preview and give feedback on how well it's working.
Daily iPhone App: Blot
There's a lot of buzz around cloning apps lately. Zynga recently received some flak for making a clone of Tiny Tower, and there's a big lawsuit around Triple Town and its clone Yeti Town. I would argue that there's a right way and a wrong way to clone an idea. Blatant rip-offs are obviously wrong. The right way is to lovingly borrow some of the core mechanics of a certain game, but add in your own aesthetic, insight, and style. Blot is an example of the latter. Ostensibly, it's a clone of the very popular Jetpack Joyride. You play as a little ink blot that's flying along, tapping the screen to make it rise, fall and collect power-ups and coins. One could argue that Blot is a ripoff of Jetpack Joyride, but aesthetic is unique, combining some beautiful hand-drawn environments with a bouncy, joyful soundtrack. The game employes new ideas, too. For example, the inky spot can combine with colors for extra abilities, and the upgrade system is even more complex than Jetpack Joyride's, allowing you to pick up mechanics that can completely change the way the game is played. I would also argue that Blot's rewards are too spaced out. Even after several runs, I haven't collected enough coins to "buy" anything interesting. But everything else in the game is very well done, and the little add-ons (like Blot's hilarious costumes) are worth chasing down over time, even though that curve is steep. Blot is available now for US$0.99 as a universal app. It does borrow from Jetpack Joyride and what you might call the "hover Canabalt" sub genre, but its infectious style and unique features make it worth a download.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Lions and tigers and bears, oh... mounts!
Summer is starting to wane, and the cold winds will soon be blustering through the city streets. Kids with chattering teeth and blue fingers will be sitting in front of stoves or fireplaces, rolling their eyes as grandpa proclaims that he had to walk to and from school barefoot through snow uphill both ways. While our grandfathers fantasize about the pride of hardships, we can slip off to the computer and live in our fantasy worlds that provide mounts to make traveling a bit more fun. Runes of Magic has a wide variety of mounts that can run, hover and float over water. Some of these mounts are more rare than others, like those seen only on holidays or during special fundraisers, while some are two-seaters. From the sleek and vicious to the large and powerful to the just plain wacky, RoM has a mount for all occasions. In this week's Lost Pages of Taborea, I go over the mounts that are available, their rarity, their speed, and some ways to give your preferred mount a boost.
Japanese ball drone knows how to make an entrance (video)
Japan's Ministry of Defense is pretty good at its hovering drones, but we're not entirely convinced that this one will be fit for purpose. The RC reconnaissance scout reminds us of a spherical Iain M. Banks Culture drone, which is neat, except that this one's more conspicuous, dies after just eight minutes and was constructed not by an intergalactic artificial consciousness, but by a bunch of geeks who went foraging for parts in Akihabara. Nevertheless, it can do 40MPH and is surprisingly agile, as you'll see in the video -- watch out for the kissogram moment.
Apple investigates hover gestures
Apple was awarded a patent on Tuesday for a hover sensitive device that accepts input from finger movements above the device's display. The patent describes the usage of "real-world" gestures to control a device equipped with a touch or hover-sensitive display. Hand and finger movements include knock to inquire gestures, circle to select gestures, X to delete gestures and more. Besides performing operations, these gestures could identify users and restrict access to sensitive files, directories and applications. Filed in 2007, the patent presents this idea as a way to expand the functionality of a touchscreen display by incorporating an advanced set of gestures that are easy for users to perform. This technology would be incorporated into a computer system with a touch sensor panel that includes hover detecting capability and a proximity sensor. Details within the patent do not reveal whether this computing system is a traditional desktop computer, a touchscreen-enabled MacBook or a computer-powered kiosk. A similar patent for using a hover-enabled surface on a portable device (such as the iPhone) was also filed in early 2007 and uncovered in 2008. As with many patents, the ideas contained within the document may never come to fruition. They may simply be added to Apple's arsenal of patents and set aside as a defense to be used in future litigation. [Via AppleInsider]
Artist creates Back to the Future hoverboard -- that actually hovers (video)
Don't expect to ride it on solid ground -- much less water -- but what you see above is indeed a hoverboard that floats. Using electromagnets embedded in the podium and a laser system to measure its position, artist Nils Guadagnin has managed to keep a familiar-looking pink plank aloft, a full five years and five months before the real deal supposedly sees common use. Give the man a pair of kicks, a car and a flux capacitor, and he'll be all set. Video after the break.
F-35B supersonic jet's first mid-air hover (video)
VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) is no great shakes in a wargadget these days -- and a craft like the F-35B, with its short-take off and vertical-landing capabilities might be even less shocking -- but jets that stop whatever they're doing mid-air to just hover awhile? That's another story entirely. The $83 million-plus, supersonic stealth jet did just that yesterday, according to Lockheed Martin. The flight began with a conventional takeoff and the aircraft hit about 200 knots before the pilot switched her into STOVL, culminating in a zero airspeed hover 150 feet above the runway. This is the first "mid-air hover" by the aircraft, and if development continues at the pace most of these programs do it should see active service sometime around Engadget's 25th birthday. Video after the break.
STARMAC learns the loop de loop, puts on brave face despite Scoble's continued existence
Last time we checked in on STARMAC, the autonomous hover bot was fuming over his near-miss in a desperate bid to assassinate Robert Scoble. Recently paroled, the bot has turned his energies to more constructive pursuits, like performing a controlled flip and selling drugs to kids. Still, do we detect a hint of brooding in these acrobatics? Video is after the break.
Patent Roundup: 'Hover' touch surfaces, liquid-cooled laptops
Two Apple patent filings have piqued interest this week: One for a touch surface that detects where your finger is hovered above it, and another for a liquid-cooled laptop. The hover surface works by measuring light reflected off your finger at various wavelengths to figure out where it is over the surface. Apple uses a basic proximity sensor in the iPhone (so it knows when it's up against your ear), but this new technique would allow more precise recognition of objects hovered above a touch-sensitive surface. Unlike a graphics tablet, which requires a stylus, your finger or hand is likely the intended tool for this surface, as evidenced by the drawings. Second, the liquid-cooled laptop, as with similarly-cooled Power Mac G5s from a few years ago, is designed to improve performance by reducing the temperature of the components of the computer. The patent describes wrapping a small heat pipe around various components in the computer that contains a liquid coolant. Liquid-cooled G5s, though, were prone to leaks, which led to heavy damage and dismay for users of the systems. Apple entirely replaced many of the systems that leaked, rather than trying to repair them. [Via Electronista and AppleInsider.]
Back to the Future hoverboard up for auction: $30k to play
Tired of waiting for scientists to crack the secrets of levitation in order to purchase a bona fide hoverboard? Look, life's short -- why not take matters into your own hands? A genuine wooden Mattel hoverboard used by Michael J. Fox (or Marty McFly, as we prefer to call him) in Back to the Future II and III is up for auction, though the barrier to entry is rather substantial. Of course, this is considered the "best example of all wood hoverboards to have survived the rigors of filming," but whether or not it's worth the $30,000+ asking price is entirely up to you.[Via CrunchGear]
Secrets of levitation cracked by Scottish researchers?
Try not to get too frenetic here, but a couple of gurus at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland have reportedly created an "incredible levitation effect by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together." In layman's terms, the scientists have devised a way to reverse the phenomenon known as the Casimir force so that it "repels instead of attracts." Ultimately, the discovery could lead to "frictionless micro-machines with moving parts that levitate," and in theory, devices could be created to transport humans. Do realize, however, that individuals in this team have also "showed that invisibility cloaks are feasible," so we're not counting ourselves amongst the faithful just yet.[Thanks, James][Our readers have let us know that this article's headline bore some similarities to other articles on the same topic -- though purely coincidental, in the interest of further differentiating the post we've edited it to a small degree. -Ed.]
