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Samsung's vertical Sero TV brings Insta Stories to a big screen
Samsung has unveiled "The Sero," a 43-inch quantum-dot QLED TV with an attention-grabbing gimmick. It can be flipped around 90 degrees, letting you watch Instagram, Snap and other smartphone videos in their native vertical configurations. Samsung said it wanted to diversify its lineup and came up with the idea by studying the tastes of mobile-loving millennials. "Samsung will continue introducing screens that respect personal consumer tastes," said display president Han Jong-hee.
Twitter makes Moments vertical like every other timeline
Twitter Moments bring together tweets and information about a topic that you may not get through your timeline alone and since 2015, they've provided users with a single place to get caught up on political happenings, breaking news and popular culture events. Up until now, you've read through a Moment by swiping horizontally, but in recent tests, Twitter found that users actually preferred exploring Moments arranged vertically. So it's switching up the orientation and vertical Moments are starting to roll out now.
Samsung ships first 3D vertical NAND flash, defies memory scaling limits
The main challenge in producing higher-capacity flash storage is one of scale -- as density goes up, so does cell interference and the chances of a breakdown. Samsung may have overcome that barrier (if temporarily) by mass-producing the first 3D vertical NAND memory, or V-NAND. Instead of putting memory cells on a conventional 2D plane, the company reworked its long-serving Charge Trap Flash technology to create a 3D cell structure with more breathing room. The result is flash that improves both reliability and speed at higher densities; Samsung claims that the new technology is 2-10X more reliable than its ancestors, and twice as quick at writing data. The initial V-NAND chip offers a 128-gigabit (16GB) capacity that we've seen before, but its underlying technique should scale quickly when a chip can include as many as 24 stacked cell layers. Although Samsung hasn't named the first devices with V-NAND inside, we won't be surprised if our next phone or SSD is particularly spacious.
Apple's segmentation strategy and why it works
Here's a little interesting weekend reading from Mark Sigal on O'Reilly about "Apple's segmentation strategy." Sigal does a huge overview of Apple's direction over the last ten years, and in the end, argues that Apple has shirked the conventional wisdom of marketing products horizontally (making a special type of peanut butter for every customer, for example), and has instead segmented its products vertically (creating one product for a particular use case -- an iPad for reading, an iPod for listening, and an iPhone for apps). Apple is successful -- extremely successful, says Sigal -- not because it has become the biggest company in its various industries, but because it has thought carefully about how to sell products, and then sold them at exactly the right prices. And even when it's not right, says Sigal, Apple never makes a move that isn't strong and confident anyway. Even when the Apple TV is just a hobby, it's always just a hobby. Sigal's point with all of this is that when Apple is doing what it does best -- targeting a specific market and overtaking it with quality -- the old rules of horizontal marketing and sales just don't apply. Apple is fine with not having the market share on smartphones, because it's not chasing those old goals. Apple doesn't add features or change products in a panic -- it added a camera to the iPod touch only when it was ready, and even then, it was careful not to make it better than the iPhone 4's camera and all of its selling points. At any rate, Sigal's piece is a very interesting read. It's a little heavy for the weekend, maybe, but well worth going through to provide some insight on just why Apple remains so popular and profitable, even when other factors seem to rise against it. [via MacStories]
Advance! Protect! Fight! On your PSP! Sideways!
The DS has been gifted with games that force players to hold the system in all sorts of weird ways: upside down, to the side, and sometimes even completely closed. PSP is joining the play-your-system-the-wrong-way trend with the newly announced Advance! Protect! Fight!. According to Andriasang, you hold the system vertically. The analog stick is used to move the cursor, with the R button used to click. Essentially, it's meant to simulate a mouse. Advance! Protect! Fight! should be interesting to play on the PSP Go. In fact, you could probably play the game with just one hand with the Go. Too bad Tecmo couldn't think of this control scheme first, right?
Samsung's SyncMaster 80 series LCD monitor stands above the rest
It's a simple idea, sure, and it's far from new, but putting an LCD on a telescoping mount offers incredible convenience. As such, this Samsung SyncMaster 80 series professional LCD monitor allows for a more natural secondary display perched directly above your open netbook or can be spun into a portrait orientation for those looking to go vertical. The 80's are available in either 20- (F2080) or 23-inch (F2380) configurations offering a 3000:1 contrast ratio, 178-degree viewing angle, narrow 15-mm bezel, and cover nearly 100% of the RGB color space. Priced in Korea at ₩378,000 (about $287) and ₩457,000 (about $347) when released later this month. See the Sammy pulled into a frontside vert after the break.
New iPhone SDK build shows video playlists, portrait-mode playback
An anonymous tipster sent us a short video showing new capabilities of the iPhone 2.0 software. It's a little hard to see around his building's attractive fluorescent lighting, but hopefully you get the gist. It appears that videos will be easily playable in portrait or landscape orientations, using data from the iPhone's accelerometer. (Though it's been possible to play embedded QuickTime videos through Safari in the vertical orientation since firmware version 1.1.1.) Also, mercifully, it looks like video playlists are in our future. Update: The video has been updated with a far less glarey version. Thanks, anonymous tipster friend!
Wii Warm Up: Horizontal, or vertical?
This might be a dumb question, but how do you have your Wii set up? Sure, when we look at the many contents of the Wii console's packaging, we see that Nintendo provided ample materials so that you may set our console up in the fashion you see above: vertical. Standing tall and proud like Mufasa on the edge of Pride Rock, the Wii commands a presence in any person's A/V set-up.But, just because Nintendo made it easy, doesn't mean that you chose that path, right? Maybe you travel with your Wii a lot and when it is resting at home, you lay it down on its side horizontally? Maybe the console stand isn't in line with your house's decor or you think the rubber feet on the Wii itself is suitable enough for its placement on some wooden table or, dare we say, carpet?Either way, it seems like such a small question, but one which would provide an insightful answer. To us, anyway.
Bring on the horizontal changes, please
Mystic Worlds lays out exactly what is, in my humble opinion, the biggest problem with World of Warcraft right now: We need some horizontal change. As I said in my impressions of BlizzCon, Blizzard seems intent on building more and more vertical content into the game-- Zul'Aman is built to be played after Karazhan, and Wrath of the Lich King will add another 10 levels onto the top of the 70 we have now. And while Blizzard keeps building up, they're more or less ditching everything that happens from 1-58. Even worse, the only changes we're seeing there are going to be to move past that stuff faster-- not only are they ignoring it, they're working on pushing it out of the game entirely.So Mystic Worlds wants more horizontal changes. That doesn't necessarily mean midlevel content (although a lot of her suggestions mean more things to do for midlevel players). Instead it means that Blizzard should take a breath, and set their teams on making the existing game experience more fulfilling. Things like guild halls, single player dungeons, more professions (Inscription will probably provide new items 1-70, but Woodworking has been necessary for a long time), and little touches-- more live events, gambling minigames (that all players can do), and fun little additions that all players can get involved in, not just those who have made it to 70.Now, there has to be some part of Blizzard that is pushing for this stuff-- it's not quite as simple as casual vs. raiders in this case. But Blizzard seems to think that they're behind on high end content, and that they're rushing to catch up to players who are hungry for more of it. I don't think either perception is true. If anyone is hungry for new things to do, it's players who have more than three alts, and yet a main that hasn't yet reached 70. I'm more than willing to trade one of the three or four 25 man instances planned in WotLK for two or three of these "horizontal changes," and I'd guess most other players are, too.
Motion Computing unveils RFID-reading C5 medical tablet PC
Although we sincerely hope your only encounter with a clinical assistant tablet PC comes by way of your occupation, it looks like Motion Computing is busting out a medically-focused device to help the dear LPNs keep things in order for the high-falutin' doctors. The C5 touts a vertically centered design, top-mounted carry handle, handwriting recognition, built-in digital camera for documenting wounds, time-stamp / voice-tag capabilities, and even an optional RFID reader to easily check patients in by scanning their wrist straps. Claiming to be the world's first device in the new mobile clinical assistant (MCA) category of PCs, it packs a 1.2GHz Intel Core Solo U1400 processor, Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, a 10.4-inch XGA touchscreen, up to 1.5GB of DDR2 RAM, 30 / 60GB 1.8-inch hard drive options, 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth, and a rechargeable Li-ion to boot. Furthermore, it weighs in at just 3.1-pounds, so toting this bad boy around the office shouldn't be too much of a burden, and the "durable, semi-sealed enclosure" shouldn't have any issues handling the daily mishaps of your average doctor's lounge. So if you've been looking for a way to digitize your office and get far, far away from those paper-filled drawers, we're sure your IT rep will be hitting you up soon to sneak a peek at this $2,199 tablet.[Via GottaBeMobile]
Today's raddest game video: GTA San Andreas bike stunts
It takes a brave man (or woman) to try his hand on the dangerous streets of GTA:SA, and an even braver man (or woman) to try those streets on a motorcycle. Then to go above and beyond that, and drive like a complete and total maniac? Fugeddaboutit.Thankfully, someone else has done all the work for you, slapped a thrashing soundtrack to it, and uploaded it to YouTube. All you have to do now is sit back, hit play, and enjoy. Better yet, watch it, and then go out and try it all yourself. Virtually, that is. Please don't try this at home. Unless you're trying it on your console. We don't mean standing on your console, we mean ... ah, forget it. Just watch the darn thing.
Sharp offers up PN-655RU and PN-655RUP 65-inch portrait mode LCDs
If you make ends meet by checking out digital X-rays each day, or you just suffer from an awkward obsession with watching 16:9 material in a vertical orientation, Sharp is offering up a duo of LCDs specifically for you. Taking its highly-regarded PN-655U and PN-655UP and designing them for portrait mode use, the 65-inch PN-655RU / PN-655RUP displays both feature 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, cold-cathode fluorescent backlight, 170-degree viewing angle, 400 cd/m2 brightness, dual 10-watt speaker terminals, a sleek, all black frame, and weigh in at a whopping 145.5-pounds. Although both displays are designed for the "rugged" hospital wall, the PN-655RUP adds a protective acrylic overlay for an additional layer of protection. Of course, owning a high-end display that looks more like a mirror and less like a TV demands quite a premium, as the PN-655RU will set you back about a Mercedes C230 $29,995, while the PN-655RUP demands an even more shocking $32,995.
Super Star Soldier now available on Virtual Console
Well, Nintendo sort of promised us Virtual Console updates on Mondays, and no, they technically didn't lie. Late last night, Nintendo added a single new game, Super Star Soldier (of TurboGrafx-16 fame), available for 600 points. For those of you who aren't familiar with the title (you know ... everyone), Super Star Soldier is a vertically scrolling arcade shooter, resplendent with eight whole stages and seven whole bosses. There are even two-minute and five-minute time attack modes! Golly!Cynicism aside, those old 2-D shooters are fan favorites, and may add a lovely bit of retro to your gaming life. Anyone excited? Or just pissed that Nintendo is on its merry way to breaking its ten-game-a-month promise?
