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OpenGlass uses Google Glass to identify objects for the visually impaired (video)
Dapper Vision's OpenGlass project sees Google Glass' camera as useful for more than just hands-free pictures -- it's a tool for interpreting the world around us. To show that potential, the two-person group has tested two of its Glass apps with visually impaired wearers. The first, Question-Answer, lets the poor-sighted ask both Mechanical Turk and Twitter for help in identifying objects. Memento, in turn, automatically recites notes when the user looks at a recognizable scene; it can warn users about dangerous equipment, for example. Dapper Vision tells us that the OpenGlass apps will stay in limited testing until Google lets developers offer Glassware to the general public, but the company isn't sitting still in the meantime. It's devising a way to reward Question-Answer contributors with BitCoins, and it will demonstrate new Glass-based augmented reality software next week.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Where's the fun with world events?
Borrowing a lesson from one of Justin's Road to Mordor articles, I decided to tackle Runes of Magic's world events. I'm talking about those repeatable events sprinkled around the world, events we'll be getting a lot more of when Chapter 4 hits, events anyone can jump into for fun and profit. It's the fun-vs.-profit scenario I want to look at. Recently, the memento rewards on world events were nerfed. This comes after a lot of drama over players who were going AFK in droves to collect large numbers of the shiny coins to buy purple statted gear from the Black Codex vendors. My only concern with the events is that players can go AFK. Large groups of players, whose soul intention is to go AFK, block people who actually want to play and (dare I say) enjoy the events. However, there are still discussions surrounding the loot aspect of events.
Runes of Magic celebrates its second birthday
Happy birthday, Runes of Magic! Two years have gone by, and you're growing up so fast. Anniversary celebrations are already underway in RoM. If your account has been lying dormant, you may want to wake it up, join the festivities, and get some free goodies while you're at it. For me, these two years flew by. It doesn't seem all that long ago that I wrote a look back at the first year of RoM. In two years, RoM has seen three major updates, and a fourth is just around the corner. The first two chapters made it into the first year, and although Chapter 4 didn't quite make it into this article, chapter 3 brought a whopping amount of content and features. If your extra ginger beer isn't cutting it anymore and you're feeling brave, move on up by grabbing a bottle of Blenhiem's old #5 and join me for a look back at the last year of RoM.
Xbox Live Top 10 dominated by Shadow Complex, CoD: World at War
Major Nelson has revealed the latest figures for Xbox Live activity, which once again sees Call of Duty: World at War being the most played Xbox 360 Live title. That's not to say it's all business as usual, as the Lost Planet 2 co-op demo managed to claw its way onto the list, along with a new Xbox Live Arcade pair, Shadow Complex and Trials HD.Both titles made it onto the top two spots on XBLA's most played list, with Chair's Metroid-inspired adventure making its debut in first place. The remainder is comprised of usual suspects Battlefield 1943, Marvel vs Capcom 2 and 'Splosion Man.
This Wednesday: Trials HD skids onto XBLA
We have to admit to feeling just a little silly about continuing to remind you about these XBLA releases when you knew the lot of them a month or so ago. But, we're told that people with "that Memento guy disease" (excuse the clinical terminology) make up around 10 percent of our audience, surprising as that may be.So, as a reminder to most of you and a hot scoop for a precious few: Motocross platformer (that sounds made-up, we know) Trials HD is going to arrive on Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday for 1200 ($15). Have fun, just don't let it stop you from tracking down John G.
BlizzCon badges are back
Danielle "Shyka" Brown is back again, and making custom art badges of your character to put in your BlizzCon lanyard. We covered her last year before the convention, and so if you're headed to BlizzCon and want to put a little custom memento of what your character looks like, now's the time to order them. She's starting a little earlier, so they're a bit cheaper, only $30 per badge, but any orders after June 16th will go up to $40 because presumably she'll be in crunch time. The good news is that since the last set of BlizzCon ticket sales are on May 30th, you should know for sure by then whether you're going or not.And as you can see from the pictures at left, the quality of her work is pretty darn good -- there's a whole collection of her work from last year over on the blog, and it would be neat to have any of those hanging from your neck at BlizzCon.If past years are any indication, Blizzard will definitely put your character's name somewhere on your ID badge for the convention (and they've also asked for your faction affiliation and/or class in the past, so those may make an appearance as well). But this is something a little extra, especially if you're planning to meet up with in-game friends or guildies (or attend the sure-to-be-awesome WoW Insider bash, which we'll be having on Thursday night yet again), to identify yourself on the convention floor.
First Look: Memento
A couple months ago we reviewed SodaSnap, a free application for the iPhone that allows you to send postcards. SodaSnap didn't allow you much flexibility, and was definitely not an iCard replacement. However, Memento for iPhone and iPod touch [iTunes link], which brings Mail.app-like stationery to everyone's favorite mobile platform, is a better alternative. Each "stationery theme" allows you to add one picture and some text to the message. When you open the application, you are presented with a screen that shows all the messages saved as drafts, plus the ones that you've already sent. To start a new message, tap the "+" in the top-right corner of the screen. To add a picture, just tap in the gray area with the camera icon. A popup menu will ask if you want to take a new picture or browse for one in your photo library. Once you've selected the image, it will be placed in the gray area. This application is solid and has some nice themes to choose from. There is still room for improvement, however. I would like to see more themes (the 14 provided themes are nice, but they get old after a while). I would also like to see the ability to add more text, as you currently can only add a small snippet to your message. This is one of those applications that is just cool, and it has a variety of uses. If you're looking to surprise Grandma with pictures of her grandkids, then this is the application for you. You can download Memento for $2.99 (US) from the iTunes App Store. %Gallery-36741%
PS2 memory card modchip to play games from USB hard drives
An upcoming firmware update for Memor32 – the PS2 modchip on a memory card – promises to allow your non-chipped PS2 to play your entire collection of games from the comforts of a roomy, capacious USB hard drive. A group of Russian hackers named Memento are responsible for the firmware handiwork, allowing hard drive-based playback of your entire collection of PS2 discs for easy access, TiVo-style. Sure, the unscrupulous amongst you may use your Memor32's new found powers for evil, but we just want to fire up Shadow of the Colossus without leaving the couch. [Via ripten]
