Mirage
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Everything Lenovo announced at IFA 2019 in less than 10 minutes
In case you missed Lenovo's IFA 2019 press event, or you want to watch the highlights again, we've condensed the whole thing down to just under 10 minutes. Lenovo's Yoga laptops will now have Intel's 10th-generation CPUs, and the Yoga C940 got a few additional AI-based updates. Lenovo revealed its Smart Display 7, its latest take on the Nest Hub. That seven-inch display comes with a built-in camera, which could be handy if you like to make video calls. And the company announced an Avengers game, called Dimension of Heroes, for its Mirage AR headset. That's good news considering at launch the headset only came with one game: Star Wars: Jedi Challenges.
Lenovo agrees license with Sony after practically copying PSVR design
Sony has signed a two-year patent licensing agreement that allows Lenovo to use the PSVR design for its Mirage Solo VR headset. Some virtual reality enthusiasts might have expected that from the moment Lenovo launched its standalone Daydream device. While Mirage Solo is self-contained and the PSVR isn't, it does look very similar to the latter. Most notably, it features a headband almost identical to the PSVR's, including its characteristic cap-like portion that's supposed to rest against the user's forehead for optimal weight distribution.
Google unveils point-and-shoot VR cameras from Lenovo and Yi
Last year at VidCon, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki revealed VR180, a video format that just shows you stuff in front of you, rather than behind you. When viewed in a VR headset, the videos are especially immersive -- think of it as a giant field of view that stretches wider and taller than your standard IMAX screen so much so you can actually feel like you're in the room. But in order to watch such VR content, one also needs to create it. So at CES 2018, Google is partnering with Lenovo and Yi Technology to announce two new VR180 cameras: the Lenovo Mirage Daydream and the Yi Horizon VR180.
Atmospheric 'lens' could shield troops from laser weapons
How do you defend yourself against laser weapons when they fire at the speed of light? BAE Systems has an idea. It's developing Laser Developed Atmospheric Lens technology that, as the name suggests, uses lasers to temporarily ionize the atmosphere to create lens-like structures. If you're facing a laser attack, you just have to form a lens to serve as a refractive shield. The technology could protect both aircraft and land-based forces from deadly blasts, and it could fill other roles as well.
Mirage is yet another Snapchat rival with 15 second video
Mirage is a free app for iPhone that lets you send photos and videos to friends that disappear after a few seconds never to be seen again. One tap on a friend and the photo or video is sent out, no questions asked. Does this sound a bit familiar? Yes, it's another app taking on the concept that made Snapchat so famous. Mirage adds a bit of its own flair, but what's important is if it is able to stand out from the crowd. It requires iOS 7.0 or later. Sign up is relatively easy, requiring just your cell phone number (for verification) and a username. A profile photo is optional. The main Mirage screen features a perfectly square camera view and a list of friends toward the bottom, a bit reminiscent of Shoutout's design that we reviewed about a week ago. Mirage lacks any buttons and instead relies on quick, instinctive use. Tap once on the camera view to flip the camera from the front to back and vice versa, double tap to add a caption and swipe to apply various filters. Then, just tap a person's thumbnail to snap a photo and send it all at once. Again, like Shoutout, there's no ability to actually preview the image you captured before it sends. You won't get to see videos either, because to record a video you tap and hold the person you want to send the video to and lift your finger for it to automatically send. This is definitely a turn off for some people, but this method makes using the app faster - and notably faster than using Snapchat. There aren't any settings to play with, not even to change the amount of seconds it takes for a photo you send to vanish. That's a bit disappointing. Videos are up to 15 seconds in length, which is a welcome increase from the 10 seconds Snapchat allows. 10 seconds very often feels like it's just under what's necessary to capture an entire thought, but then again, sometimes so does 140 characters on Twitter. Mirage also has a few unique filters which some other apps lack - mainly the unique part. After using this app for just a small period of time, it became clear to me that sadly Mirage doesn't have anything really in particular to set itself apart from Snapchat. To be successful, it's going to take a lot more than what the current version of Mirage offers. An extra five seconds of video and the ability to send a photo to someone in one tap isn't enough. Mirage does import your existing contacts, but if they haven't signed up for Mirage in place of the photo or video you send is a text message to them inviting them to join and view it. By no means is Mirage a bad app. It's dead simple to use and has a great design, but what it also has is potential. In a world where Snapchat's closest competitor doesn't even manage to put a dent in Snapchat's own user base, Mirage needs to fulfill that potential in order to compete. With that said, I look forward to what the future holds. As of right now, Mirage is available for free in the App Store. Update: Mirage released version 2.0 of its app to the App Store, which adds group messaging that disappears like the standard function as well as Broadcast to share a disappearing message to multiple contacts without creating a specific group. Plus, the update includes a new Inbox view, contact rearrangement and a search bar. This helps Mirage set itself apart more from other Snapchat competitors.
Invisibility cloak made of carbon nanotubes uses 'mirage effect' to disappear
If the phrase "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good" means anything to you, you'll be happy to know that scientists have come one step closer to a Potter-style "invisibility cloak" so you can use your Marauder's Map to the fullest. With the help of carbon nanotubes, researchers have been able to make objects seem to magically vanish by using the same principle that causes mirages. As anyone who's been especially parched along Route 66 knows, optical illusions occur when heat changes the air's temperature and density, something that forces light to "bend," making us see all sorts of crazy things. Apply the same theory under water using nanotubes -- one molecule carbon coils with super high heat conductivity -- and scientists can make a sheet of the stuff "disappear." Remember, it only works underwater, so get your gillyweed ready and check out the video after the break.
Christie creates baffling 3D HD CAVE 'visual environment,' or your average Halo display in 2020
Whenever the word "Christie" is involved, you can generally count on two things: 1) you can't afford it and 2) you'll want to afford it. The high-end projection company is at it once again, this time installing a truly insane visual environment at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. The 3D HD CAVE is intended to help researchers find breakthroughs in biomedical studies, and while CAVE itself has been around for years, this particular version easily trumps prior iterations. For starters, it relies on eight Christie Mirage 3-chip DLP projectors, all of which have active stereo capabilities and can deliver a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,920. Yeah, that's 3.68 megapixels per wall. The idea here is to provide mad scientists with a ridiculous amount of pixel density in an immersive world, but all we can think about is hooking Kinect and the next installment of Bungie's famed franchise up to this thing. Can we get an "amen?"
Desert showdown: the Vegas Mate app vs. Frommer's paper guide
A number of weeks ago we went on a vacation to Las Vegas, and I was curious to see if an app can replace a traditional tour book. I picked the most respected tour book I knew, Frommer's Las Vegas 2009 by Mary Herczog; and an iPhone/iPod touch app called Vegas Mate [iTunes Link] which trucks on years of experience and data from an established Las Vegas review site. The Vegas Mate app sells for $4.99 and is almost wonderful. It provides a wealth of immediate information. From the Concierge button you can get current Las Vegas news. It's always interesting to read what's going on behind the glitz. There's a listing of all the events and shows, along with where and when they are playing. The Nearby button uses the GPS function to give you a listing of the hotels, restaurants and activities with the closest ones displayed first. Tapping the Hotels button gives you a list of hotels on or off the Strip or a full listing. Tapping on a hotel brings up a screen with information including basic cost, the nearest Monorail station and a fairly useless map with stick pins representing what's around, but no walking directions. Squeeze the screen and you'll get a lot of real estate on the map, but the unmarked stick pins didn't seem remotely useful. What was useful was a history of each hotel, a live phone number, and a listing of all the restaurants in the hotel. Tap on one and it'll tell you if the place is open, a few paragraphs about each, a phone number and sometimes even a menu (which can take quite awhile to load using 3G). The most valuable part to me was user ratings of just about everything. Since Ratevegas.com has been around for years, users post reviews and those show up in the app. This was useful since we found that the Criss Angel show was rated poorly by most all reviewers. We had advance tickets and the consensus was right on the money. We also found that the new house show at the Mirage, Terry Fator, who won the TV show 'America's Got Talent,' was terrific; although we had never heard of him, we bit, and it was one of the best shows we saw all week. This is very very good stuff. Tapping on the Restaurant button delivers an alphabetical listing with a useful red or green symbol telling you whether the place is open or closed in real time. You can filter restaurants by cost from $ to $$$$$ which is just a rough indication, since there is no legend accompanying the dollar signs. Other information includes listings of shows and nightlife. Update: An earlier version of this post noted that the app states that "most of the MGM/Mirage board are about to be indicted for insider trading." Further research pointed out that the information contained in the statement is three years out of date, so we have removed the offending statement. Our apologies to the MGM Mirage hotel and casino for this error.
In Las Vegas? Bring your own video to The Mirage
We just stayed at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas for a week, and found that the guest rooms are more than Mac friendly. In each room, built right into the wall, is a system from Teledapt that allows you to plug in just about anything and have it show up on the in-room 42" plasma screen. As long as you have the right cable that plugs into your Mac and sports a VGA connector on the other side like the mini DVI to VGA cable, or the Mini Display Port to VGA cable, depending on the age of your Mac, you've got video. Add a simple male to male headphone cable to push sound and you're in business. Don't have a Mac? A video capable iPod or iPhone will do just as well, at least it will if you're cool with the less than perfect video quality on the 42" screen. For that, you need an iPod/iPhone 30 pin dock connector to 3 wire RCA cable. Either way, choose the right input on the video system and once again, you're in.But wait! There's more. If you forgot your charger, you can plug in a standard USB to iPod/iPhone cable right into the system and as long as your device is new enough, meaning that it uses 5 volts and not 12 volts for charging (as all USB-capable iPod devices do), plug it in and it'll juice right up. There is a bit of fine print. If you forgot the right cable, the Mirage gift store will be happy to sell it to you at a price that will make you gag. And if you decide you would like Internet, in-room wireless will set you back $14.95 for a 24-hour period while Motel 6 gives it to you for free. But hey -- this is Vegas baby!!The Volcano isn't too shabby either.
The Chronicles of Spellborn interview explains game's unique aspects
The Chronicles of Spellborn is a game we've been hearing more about lately. We recently noticed an interview by Nolvadex at the Italian gaming site Gamesource with The Chronicles of Spellborn's lead community manager Pierre-Yves "Mirage" Deslandes. Mirage discusses a relatively smooth European launch for the title and some of the complexities of their publishing deals, insofar as they affect the European market. The challenges of balancing PvE and PvP content in the game comes up, and Mirage also addresses why The Chronicles of Spellborn shipped without an auction house, stressing that a marketplace is indeed on the way. In terms of building upon the game's combat systems, Netherlands-based developer Spellborn NV doesn't plan to make any major changes to the game's combat system, which Mirage states is the trademark and backbone of The Chronicles of Spellborn. Adding greater depth to what's presently offered instead of simply adding more races and classes to the game is clearly a priority for the developers.
Nokia 2605 Mirage comes to Verizon, disappears as you approach it
Right on cue, the 2605 Mirage has graced Verizon with 2.32 ounces of low-end Finnish bliss. Your hard-earned $49.99 on contract is going to net you Bluetooth, a VGA cam, VZ Navigator support, speakerphone, and that's about it -- so if you were hoping for EV-DO or a CDMA N97, you just keep on looking. Oh, and let us know how that works out for you.
Nokia 2605 Mirage launches Friday on Verizon
We're coming right up on a year since we first heard of the 2605's existence, and with a VGA camera just about the most interesting feature we can find on the spec sheet, we're having a hard time saying with a straight face that it was worth the wait. Be that as it may, the unassuming flip is still on a very, very short list of CDMA Nokias sold in the US, which in itself makes it sorta interesting -- and your hard-earned $49.99 on contract after $50 rebate is going to nab you Bluetooth, a color external display, VZ Navigator support, and Xpress-on changeable covers (when's the last time you owned an Xpress-on Nokia, eh?). It'll be available for order from Verizon's site, telesales, and stores starting Friday, with all sales channels opening the floodgates come January 23 of next year.[Thanks, anonymous tipster]
Clear as mud: Samsung i907 "Epix" is AT&T's version of the i780
Okay, bear with us here, because the road to this device is a winding one, to say the least: first, there was the Samsung i780 that launched in Europe. It was informally and unofficially branded the BlackJack III, thanks to its obvious resemblance to Samsung's own BlackJack series that has been a stalwart of AT&T's 3G lineup since its early days. More recently, we caught wind of an i907 that would be launching on AT&T's airwaves in the next few weeks; thanks to the model number's proximity to that of the i900 Omnia, it didn't take long for rumors to spread that it'd be an AT&T-branded version of the i900 -- but a counter-rumor claimed that it would actually take the form of the good ol' i780. A training pamphlet now circulating seems to have sealed the deal that this will, in fact, be a tweaked i780, which means we can expect Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, a full QWERTY keyboard, optical mouse, and HSDPA. What's more, the "Mirage" name we'd heard seems to have been tossed out for the way (way) cooler "Epix." Still no word on an exact release date or price, but considering the hefty specs we're expecting and the smartphone label, we're not exactly counting on a free-on-contract deal here.
Samsung A867, Sangria, and Mirage all coming to AT&T?
phoneArena has cobbled together all the details it could dig up on a trio of Samsungs apparently destined for AT&T, and needless to say, we're not looking at your average anonymous midrange flips here (and kudos to that, by the way). First up is the A767 "Sangria," which apparently borrows the i620 and i640's style but drops Windows Mobile to turn it into a strictly consumer device that's targeted for launch in late October. Next up, the A867 (cutesy name unknown) sorta looks like the mighty Omnia from its FCC filing, but it probably isn't for a couple very good reason: first, the FCC filing makes no mention of WiFi, and second, Samsung's smartphones start with "i." Finally, that i907 Mirage -- you know, the one everyone thought (hoped) might actually be the Omnia -- is said to actually be AT&T's version of the i780, featuring Windows Mobile Professional, triband HSDPA, a 2-megapixel cam, and that optical mouse Samsung has been featuring on its higher-end devices as of late. Pretty exciting stuff, eh?
AT&T's version of the Samsung Omnia actually the "Mirage," coming next month?
We're hearing that AT&T dealers are now being briefed on the upcoming Samsung i907 -- a phone that we'd like to believe will approximate the appearance and power of the i900 Omnia released overseas, though details are still slim on exactly what form its American cousin's going to take or what capabilities it'll offer. Whatever it is, though, current estimates have it available for order on October 7 as the "Mirage." In other words, yes, go ahead and kiss that Omnia name goodbye -- and really, "Mirage" seems like a perfectly fine name, as long as AT&T isn't trying to imply that it disappears as you get close to the launch date. More details on this one just as soon as we get 'em.[Thanks, Bill] Update: As we mentioned above, we're not sure exactly what the Mirage is -- so we wouldn't necessarily bet the farm on an Omnia clone here.
Your eyes don't deceive you, Mirage speakers has a new look
We just love the breadth of offerings in speaker design, especially towards the high-end of the market. If bipolar, dipolar and tripolar drivers are enough "polar" for you, you can try out an omnipolar speaker like the ones produced by Mirage. Even though the company is sticking to the unique-looking, top-mounted omnipolar drivers that have been a calling card for years, it is going to live up to its name and revamp the branding and marketing approach. It's comforting to our aged audiophile hearts to see familiar two-channel names make the transition to the modern A/V ecosphere, even if that means more "lifestyle" designs. In the coming months, look for Mirage to introduce its smallest 5.1 speaker system yet (maybe a "Picosat" system beneath the already-small Nanosat 5.1 system?) and compact subwoofers; but we're more intrigued by the promise of a new Omnisat floorstanding models.
