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Google Magenta’s Lo-Fi Player is an AI-based virtual music studio
Google Magenta's Lo-Fi Player lets you create your own lo-fi hip hop tracks by clicking around in a pixelated, 2D room.
Final Fantasy XIV previews private chambers
You devoted a lot of money to your free company's house in Final Fantasy XIV, and now you have it. It's yours. It's all of yours. Except, of course, for the fact that it's not quite yours. Sure, you get a vote about what's in the building, but not sole control. Wouldn't it be nice if instead you could have a part of that house to call your own? That's what private chambers are for, an apartment just for you set off of the main house. Private chambers cost 300,000 gil and require a player to have reached level 50 as well as the rank of Second Lieutenant in their grand company of choice. They can have 50 items placed therein, and just as with company houses, you can control who's allowed to enter the room. You can't leave your free company while you still have a private chamber, although you can vacate your chamber if you so choose. Read more details on the official preview; this feature will be added to the game with the launch of patch 2.3 next week.
It's art, baby: cover your walls in discarded QWERTY keys
Have you ever looked at your bedroom wall and felt that it was a few thousand keys short of the perfect decoration? This is the thought process of artist Sarah Frost, who has taken plethoras of keys from discarded QWERTY keyboards and covered walls with them. The masterpieces range in size from a single wall to entire rooms, consisting of parts procured from sources like individual homes, small businesses, government offices and Fortune 500 companies. Check out her website below for more information, or feel free to gaze upon one of these walls-o'-keys in person at the James Hotel at the James Hotel on Grand Street in New York City, where a permanent installation has been set up. Rent and the Statue of Liberty be damned, we know this is why you're pining to go to the Big Apple in the first place, right?
Zero1 VooMote Zapper remote control for iOS hands-on (video)
Are you one of those old-school types who still watches TV programs on an actual television? Then you probably also own one or fifteen of those cordless channel changer contraptions -- you know, the kind that use AA batteries and magic beams of light to command station and volume adjustments. Well, set down the remote, lean back in that oversized plastic-covered velvet sofa, and get ready to toss out your last pair of alkalines. Zero1's new VooMote Zapper remote module has been making the rounds at IFA, letting you use any iOS device as a universal remote. Sure, the concept itself isn't new -- there have been other iOS-integrated remotes -- but the Zapper is small, relatively inexpensive, and interfaces quite nicely with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Your programmed selections are stored on the Zapper itself, so you can easily use it with multiple iOS devices. The $70 device can be matched with identically colored cases ($20 and up), and also includes rather comprehensive TV Guide functionality, enabling you to see local programming, watch previews of unfamiliar content, and send an infrared signal to your TV to launch a program -- during its scheduled airing time, of course. We took a look at the app / itsy bitsy hardware combo, and it seemed to work well, with an easy setup process (codes for nearly every device come preloaded) and fast response time. VooMote reps said the device has a range of 25 feet, which is more than plenty for our tiny apartment configs, but may not suffice in some stadium-style media rooms. At the end of the day, it's really just a (very) elegant touchscreen universal remote solution, so we'll leave it at that. Jump past the break to see the Zapper in action.%Gallery-132608%
Zero1.tv's Voomote Zapper brings remote-controlled universality to iOS users
Back in July, we caught a glimpse of the Voomote One -- Zero1.tv's universal remote adapter for iPhone and iPod Touch users. Now, the company has just announced a slimmer, iPad compatible successor to its bulky peripheral, with the Voomote Zapper. Slated to debut at IFA later today, this paperclip-sized dongle attaches to your iDevice's 30-pin connector, allowing you to remotely control any A / V gadget with the help of Zero1.tv's free and customizable iOS app. The Zapper's Room Control feature also lets you catalog all your infrared devices by location, while controlling multiple systems with a single button, thanks to its One View function. Its iPad-optimized TV Guide, meanwhile, allows you to fire up your favorite shows with even greater ease, using the app's graphically-displayed programming schedules. No word yet on pricing or availability, but you can zap your way past the break for the full press release.
Sony closes door on PlayStation Room
At TGS last year, Sony introduced PlayStation Room, a Home-like social networking service for PSP that allowed players to create cute avatars, decorate virtual spaces, and interact with friends via chat and blogs. Today, following the end of a Japan-only closed beta, Sony announced that it's ceasing development on the service. That infinity symbol in the logo just got nicely ironic. In the announcement, Sony thanked beta testers for their feedback and said that it planned to use the data gathered to enrich PlayStation Network services. Mind you, if said feedback resulted in the immediate closure of the project, it could't have been easy to read. %Gallery-73907% [Via Siliconera]
TGS 2009: Make room for 'PlayStation Room'
Sony has announced a new PSP service for designing 3D avatars and "my room" spaces, along with blog, album, and group gathering and chat support. Um ... does this sound familiar to anyone?Yes, it looks like PlayStation Home is coming to PSP ... sort of. PlayStation Room (officially spelled with an infinity symbol in place of the "oo" in Room) will be added to PSP in an upcoming firmware update this winter and can be launched directly from the PlayStation Network section of the XMB. Just like in Home, PSP owners will be able to invite other PlayStation players into their rooms to "enjoy real time communication." Is that what the kids call it these days?While anything remotely resembling PlayStation Home has us reeling with trepidation, we do think Room's stylized avatars look significantly less creepy than the Home avatars ripped from the uncanny valley. We're also hopeful that the advent of Room will mean the addition of much-needed features, like a friends list and proper messaging services. And just imagine the connectivity possibilities: PlayStation HomeRoom! ... Anybody?%Gallery-73907%
World of WarCrafts: Voidwalker doorknob hanger
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.Is your special WoW time constantly getting interrupted? Need to keep people from raiding your domain while you're busy raiding Black Temple? This fanciful doorknob hanger is easy to make and fun for all ages. It's also not too late to add it to your Duskwood Chest for Father's day.Here is what you will need: Voidwalker Doorknob Hanger Template Foam Doorknob Hanger Foam Sheets (blue, light blue, green, purple) Foam Letters (of the sticker variety) Foam Glue Fashion Beads (mixed colors) Xacto Knife/Scissors Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-24971%
LifeSize unveils low-cost HD video-conferencing solutions
The corporate videoconferencing market has taken some baby steps towards HD resolutions, but a company called LifeSize is trying to jump the rest of the pack with an array of 720p devices that sell for much lower prices than anything else we've seen. The company's basic solution, the $5,999 LifeSize Express, comes with a microphone, remote, and 720p camera, and features HDMI input and output to pipe additional content over a 1.5mbps connection. Stepping up, the LifeSize Team MP and LifeSize Room add support for more than two participants, with the $8,999 Team MP supporting 4-point single camera communications over a 2.5mbps connection and the Room bumping the specs to 6 points with two cameras and two screens each over 5mbps. Linking two MPs and a Room together in what LifeSize bundles as a turnkey telepresence solution will set you back around $40K, which sounds steep until you compare it to competing $200K SD-res systems on the market. All these are shipping now, according to the company.[Via ZDNet, thanks James]
Hotel Dusk gets European release date
The "interactive novel" Hotel Dusk: Room 215 has been swimming its way around the United States for over a week now, bringing people back to their roots with gritty, film noir style. But, alas, we cannot forget our comrades on the other side of that large, salty blue thing. Europeans, get ready from some pencil-sketch, because Hotel Dusk is dropping on April 13th.The game has created quite a bit of controversy over whether or not its even a "game", per se, but our experiences with it so far have been rock solid. Though we won't be compiling a full review on the game (at least for quite awhile), Hotel Dusk receives a solid recommendation based on dialogue, graphical style, and originality. Americans and Europeans alike, give it a run for your money.
DS Daily: The new book?
The adventure genre peaked in the early to mid 90's. And then it crashed. Hard. As it trudged along through the years, essentially dead but for rare gems like The Longest Journey, it slowly faded from the minds of modern gamers.The point-and-click capabilities of the DS have certainly given the once-zombified genre a much-needed jolt. We've seen excellent offerings, including the superlative Phoenix Wright series, the soon-to-be-released Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Trace Memory, Lost in Blue, and a few others (let's not even mention the ScummVM homebrew project). But the DS gives these games something they could have never had in the nineties: absolute portability. It's almost as though these games compete directly with the classic novel, something which has never really been seen even amongst the myriad of gadgets anyone can go out and readily purchase.Our question is this: how does a DS adventure game compare to that of a classic book? What would you rather whip out on the way to work? Phoenix Wright 2 has had our hearts and minds in a legal grip for days on end. You may not look as smart as those punks reading Vonnegut, but that's okay. You look cooler.
LodgeNet HD reaches 17,000 hotel rooms, offers HD VOD
If you're going to travel, you might as well travel right. While LodgeNet made some stout promises concerning its rollout of HDTV services in 2006, it seems the company is actually following through, as it recently announced that its Signature HDTV services had been "contracted to over 80,000 hotel rooms and was deployed to more than 17,000 already." Additionally, those lucky enough to land a room with this luxury will notice that "around 20-percent" of the films on demand are of the HD variety. Although the size and model of the HDTV can vary from room to room, it's tough to complain about a widescreen flat-panel television that's pumpin' out 1080i when you're on the road, and just think, seeing "Free HBO" used to be all it took to swerve over to a given hotel. Kudos for raising that bar, LodgeNet.
RoomRender system dictates living environment, summons Segway
While the choices are nearly limitless when it comes to automating your crib, the novelty factor of turning your microwave on from your bedroom will probably fade with time. Japan's SGI is aiming to making home automation a seamless, all encompassing affair with the RoomRender system. The self-proclaimed "intelligent room system" can not only control all the electronics, lighting systems, and appliances in a given room based on voice commands, but can even release perfumes and dim the lighting in response to emotions. Aimed at luxury hotels, board rooms, and A-class superstars, the system relies on AmiVoice technology to recognize spoken words, which can be used to automatically record specific programs, turn on your home stereo, or grind away those leftovers in the trash disposal. Additionally, the "FeelingWall" component relies on Sensibility Technology (co-developed with AGI) to interpret emotions "based on the intonation and rhythm of voices, adjusting the color and lighting accordingly." The pinnacle of all this, however, is the planned ability to call upon Segways if necessary; a user can demand that his / her Segway be cranked up and rolled over to them, so they don't even have to get up to fetch the reverse-minded machine. Although we're not sure when these will be rolled out in Japan, a working system has already been installed in the company's own office building, and it plans on fetching between ¥5,000,000 ($43,464) and ¥6,000,000 ($52,156) when they go mass market.[Via Pink Tentacle]
Wii anticipation: preparing a room
We've talked a little about getting ready for the Wii invasion, but now that we're down to mere weeks from Wii Day, are you doing anything special to get a space ready? If so, we wanna know about it, from complicated voodoo rituals to wiping some dust off a shelf. Trying to recreate some of the spare, empty rooms from the Wii videos? Tell us! Check after the jump to see what the Wii Fanboy staff is cooking up at home to prepare for the Wii.
WriteRoom
Despite the fact that I have a shaky at best grasp on my native English tongue, I am paid to write things. Unfortunately for my paycheck, a combination of ADD and a constant barrage of notifications from NetNewsWire, Mail, Colloquy, and Adium conspire to distract me from my duties. Until of course, Michael at binarybonsai posted about a simple little program by the name of WriteRoom. WriteRoom does one thing, and does it well; it makes you focus on what you are writing by making the entire screen a text field. Merlin Mann at 43 Folders posted a hack a few months ago to accomplish this using Backdrop, but WriteRoom makes de-cluttering your workspace as simple as opening the application. Of course, now that my computer doesn't have anything to distract me with, I find myself looking longingly out the window at a beautiful San Francisco summer afternoon, but thats besides the point. WriteRoom is available as a free Universal Binary download.
A trip to Mario World, without the GameBoy
Some kid, or more likely, a 30 year old man, has had his room elaborately decorated in the style of Mario World. The conversion comes complete with ceiling pipes and blocks that stick out of the wall although, as far as I can tell, they held back from placing random bottomless pits around the room.[Via BoingBoing]
