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'Seal' swim analyzer measures your stroke form and power
Samsung and Speedo aren't the only companies targeting swimmers with new products at IFA 2017. In addition the mobile giant's Gear Fit 2 Pro and Gear Sport earlier this week, Platysens, a startup based out of Hong Kong, is doing something different with its Seal swim analyzers. Still at the prototype stage, these wearable rings help swimmers measure their hands' movement and force as they push through the water, letting them use that data through a companion app to learn more about things like their stroke distribution. They can check whether their left hand is weaker than the right one, for example.
ICYMI: The first autonomous robotic octopus has arrived
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Harvard Researchers created the world's first fully-autonomous octo-robot, something that runs on hydrogen peroxide and moves by pumping oxygen into its tentacles. We'd be afraid, except it looks so similar to what research vessel EV Nautilus just spotted in the sea that we can't help but be charmed instead. If you're more into nature as medicine, you may be interested in the study that showed houseplants may be better at removing air pollution than many ventilation systems.
LotRO's Update 10 converts your Seals to Medallions
Lord of the Rings Online's Update 10 is bringing in some shiny new content, and with that shiny new content comes the problem of currency and reward. LotRO uses a unified currency system of Marks, Medallions, and Seals. In order to make sure that players aren't immediately able to purchase new gear solely on the merits of all the hours they've dumped into the game previously, the LotRO devs have decided to convert players' top-tier tokens to slightly-less-than-top-tier tokens. When Update 10 hits, each Seal a character has will be converted into 20 Medallions. Items that could be bartered for with Seals previously will have a Medallion cost or barter option added to make up for the conversion. Players will be able to run level 85 content to replenish their stock of Seals, which can then be used to purchase some of the shiny new content rewards.
Ball-throwing robot seal has a talent for basketball, embarrassing humans (video)
You pick up your first tan leather roundball at the age of 9, you practice religiously for a decade before you can even feel worthy of calling yourself a basketball player, and then you find a video online of a robotic seal that can shoot better than you after just a few weeks in the lab. Yep, some Taiwanese know-it-alls have put together a robo-seal that converts 99 percent of shots (admittedly with a toy ball launched at a toy hoop) within a three-meter range. It's basically just an articulating arm with stereo vision for some good old depth perception, but it's sophisticated enough to maintain its killer accuracy even if the target is moved from its spot. That's more lethal that Shaq or Karl Malone's elbows ever were. Video's after the break, skip to the 1:05 mark if you don't care about the details of how it's done.
Seals? In MY purse? It's more likely than you think
Amidst all of the cost rebalancing for Champion-level rewards in the Argent Tournament, the CMs have indicated that there would soon be new ways to obtain Champion's Seals. With the advent of patch 3.1.2, it seems Blizzard has started to follow through on that! We received a bunch of tips in the mail over the past day or so, all letting us know that their Champion's Purses -- one of the reward choices for Champion dailies -- could randomly contain a whole 'nother Champion's Seal. This is a pretty big deal, especially since you have multiple chances per day. Players are reporting the percentage to be somewhere between 25% to 50% per Purse. Not too shabby! This also means that those mounts you want -- including the recently-reduced Argent Hippogyph -- might be a little more within your reach, and faster at that.We'll keep you informed of changes sure to be forthcoming, given that the CMs also mentioned that the Hippogryph cost reduction was (in part) due to their desire to add even more rewards in future patches.
Paladins nerfed on the beta
MMO-Champion is showing a good run down of the recent paladin changes. We knew these were coming. While many of the changes don't seem like they're nerfing the Paladin class to the ground, the changes are definitely a nerf.Most of the changes are centering around the Retribution tree. Some are pretty crazy, like Seal of Corruption dealing holy damage, and Divine Storm dealing physical damage. There is no indication if these changes will make it into patch 3.0.3 or arrive in a later update.There's a couple of other changes that stick out for me. Seal of Command lost about 20% of it's overall damage Most other seals were reduced by around 13% to 21% Judgement of the Wise grants 15% of base mana instead of 33% Most other judgement effects are reduced by about 15% Art of War was retooled to increase damage of Judgement, Crusader Strike, and Divine Storm instead of increasing critical strike damage In the glyph department, the Glyph of Crusader Strike now reduces the mana cost of Crusader Strike by 20%, instead of increasing the damage dealt by 20%.And finally, Blessing of Might now increases AP by 306. It used to be 305. So it's not a total nerf...
Ask a Beta Tester: Seals, judgements, and more
It's 11AM, do you know where your beta testers are? If you're reading WoW Insider (and you certainly seem to be), then they're right here answering your questions. We've picked a few unanswered questions from recent installments of Ask a Beta Tester to answer this morning, and, as always, invite you to drop in any new questions that might be plaguing your poor brain. I'm going to start off with a question I've been waiting for -- because it allows me to properly express the full extent of my glee over the changes to the Paladin's seal and judgment system, which are, if I may be so bold, magnificent. Offhand writes in to say, "I'm getting confused as to how paladin seals work now. It seems like they keep updating and changing that system." The old system of seals and judgements is dead -- long live the new system. At present, a paladin's available seals have been reduced to light, wisdom, righteousness, blood/vengeance (Horde/Alliance), and corruption/martyr (Horde and Alliance's new versions of blood/vengeance, to put them on even footing, insofar as seals are concerned)...You'll notice former staple crusader is missing -- it buffed holy damage on application and your all-around damage has been buffed so you won't notice a change. Madness! Now, when you cast a judgement, it does not use up your seal -- all seals last for two minutes. Also, while you have seal of light, wisdom, and justice, their use is much more limited, because you now have three different types of judgements: light, wisdom, and justice. Regardless of which seal you use, using judgement of light, wisdom, or justice will apply the debuff formerly associated with the seal of the same name while doing the immediate effect of the seal you currently have up. It may sound convoluted, but in practice, it really cuts down on the seal/judge/seal/judge keyboard action and streamlines paladin combat.Update: Clarified the new corruption and martyr seals which, as many commenters have pointed out, are versions of blood/vengeance for the opposite faction. Also, I'm a total idiot and forgot to mention righteousness. It's not gone, I promise!More questions after the break..!
The DS Life: Adrift in the Antarctic
Sitting on top of a wandering iceberg, the young girl should be more concerned with her predicament. But she's with a friend, and her toes and her ears, the two parts of her she loathes to feel cold, are kept toasty by her Persian red boots and matching hood, so she sees no reason to worry.She digs a PlayStation Portable out her bulky purse, bored with the slowly moving South Pole scenery. As she tilts the colorful, jelly-like creatures on the handheld's screen, she cozies against her companion's warm, fleece back. Under them, the floating platform cracks with quiet pops and groans, like ships at sea. The girl hears a splash to her left, a smiling seal barking for their attention.
The Light and How to Swing It: Seals, Blessings and Auras part II
Last week we took a look at one of the Paladin's core class mechanics, the Seal, which is a short-duration buff that is both preparatory (for Judgement) and integral to a Paladin's attack cycle. Last week, I also mentioned how Seals fail to play a part in a healers spell cycle because of how they operate. Because seals require a Paladin to make a melee attack in order for a seal to work or proc, they are similar to Rogue poisons or Shaman weapon buffs. But seals are not weapon buffs, allowing them to proc off unarmed melee attacks (although why anyone would want to is anyone's guess) but also making them susceptible to dispel mechanics. I personally think there was a wasted opportunity in this design because it locks out one key aspect of the class from an entire spec. Because of the short seal duration, healers must get into melee range and whack at opponents constantly. Even if a Retribution Paladin is in the raid keeping up a Holy Paladin's judged seal, the Holy Paladin himself won't reap the benefits of his own judgement -- most likely Wisdom or Light -- because he won't be hitting the enemy. A healing Paladin's two-button spell cycle consists of Holy Light and Flash of Light which both have cast times, necessitating periods of no movement and often precluding melee combat. If EA Mythic's Warhammer Online follows through with the hype, there won't be any, as animated designer Paul Barnett would call it, "namby pamby healer classes."While Retribution is fun and can dish out some hurt, and while Protection are kings of tanking entire armies, when a Paladin specs Holy, she becomes exactly that -- a namby pamby healer class. The Holy spec is somewhat ironic and goes against the grain of the core class design. Paladins are a heavily-armored melee class. When they spec Holy, that armor often goes to waste and the melee aspect is shelved away. If the spec was built to take advantage of the seal system rather than be hindered by it (putting up seals activate the GCD, pushing back healing or cleansing), we'd have a very different story. We would have Holy Paladins rushing into combat -- I don't care if they deal piddly damage -- in order to be effective, rather than standing in the back of the raid. I attribute that playstyle dichotomy to the failure of seals.
The Light and How to Swing It: Seals, Blessings, and Auras part I
In the Burning Crusade intro cinematic, we see an extremely cool sight with a Draenei Paladin reading from a libram, casting a spell, and walking dramatically away with his Hammer of the Naaru over his shoulder. That spell that he cast was a Seal, one of the core features around which the class is designed. A Seal lasts thirty seconds (which makes you wonder why the Draenei in the video cast it, seeing as how he'll probably need to refresh it once he's out of the building) and can be unleashed through a Judgement for a particular effect. Seals are self-affecting magic effects while Blessings, the other core class mechanic, can be cast on others and often have longer durations. Auras are an area-of-effect buff and the third core class feature that rounds out the Paladin's playing mechanics. Although other classes have persistent area-of-effect buffs such as a Shaman's totems or a Druid's 41-point talents, only Paladins have passive, permanent aura. Understanding and mastering the use of these three core features are key to playing the Paladin class.
The Light and How to Swing It: Support class in disguise
I re-specced to Holy again a few weeks back to concentrate on our 5v5 after quite some time of running around whacking things with a hammer. This is one of the best things about being a hybrid class. We have the option to play a particular way. Before I had decided to focus on Retribution for a couple of months, I would re-spec about 4-5 times a week depending on what our raid needed and spec Ret when I wanted to muck around in the Battlegrounds.The trouble is, between Holy and Retribution, there is a world of difference in how to play. Granted, most of your spells will be pretty much the same, but the playing style is completely different. As much as Shockadins will protest, the truth is, Holy is a support spec. It is terrible for questing and the best thing to do is find a partner who can kill things for you. Despite the improvements to Holy Shock and the spell damage included with healing gear, the experience pales in comparison to pure DPS classes or specs. This is fine. The only real beef I have is in the disparity in play experience and the nagging feeling that, at the heart of it all, Paladins are glorified sidekicks.
The Light and How to Swing It: A class full of irony
I have once again managed to steal the Light for another week, as regular columnists Chris and Elizabeth are off on their own epic quests while I am left to tend to the shop, so to speak. For today, we'll take a closer look at how the class is designed and its inherent ironies. When I first rolled a Paladin, I didn't know what I was getting into. I rolled it mainly as a companion toon for my playing partner, my wife, who was elated at the Horde finally getting a 'pretty' race and promptly rolled a Warlock. As I leveled with her demon-enslaving new main, the experience challenged and frustrated me and it soon became apparent that Blizzard had designed the Paladin under a completely different design perspective. I was hooked. If there are any perceived failures about the class, it is largely because Blizzard had a vision for the Paladin class that was different from traditional class designs.Blizzard worked hard at defining each class with a clear directive to make each one feel different from the others. Rogues had Energy, combo points and finishing moves; Warriors had Rage, a sort of reverse Mana bar; and Shamans had the totem system. Paladins are designed largely around the interesting Seal system. Everything that a Paladin does revolves around Seals, Blessings, and Auras, with Seals being the primary mechanic for dealing any sort of damage. For the most part, class design has worked for many classes while others, like the Shaman, have had more than its fair share of issues. Personally, I love the Paladin class. My main is now a Blood Elf Paladin, with my Troll Shaman getting a little less love than it used to. I also used to play a Troll Hunter and an Undead Rogue. While I enjoyed all of them as I played them, it was the Paladin that appealed to me the most. To be honest, I still have no idea why. Maybe it was the challenge. Maybe it was hybrid aspect. Maybe, for all I know, it was the coolness of it all. When you get right down to it, though, Paladins have -- if you examine it very carefully -- what is probably the most inherently flawed ironic class design in the game. Let me explain.
The Light and How to Swing It: Command vs. Blood
For a long time, there was no confusion as to what Seal should be used if you were a Retribution spec Paladin using a two-handed weapon. You would cast Seal of Command, and hope that each time you swung your mighty weapon that it would proc, dealing heavy Holy damage to your target. As a passive ability that only activated (on average) 7 times a minute, there wasn't much you could do other than auto-swing and cross your fingers (other abilities not withstanding).Ah, times they are a changin'. Burning Crusade made the Paladin class available to the Horde and all paladins got a new (but not the same) Seal: Alliance got Seal of Vengeance, and the Horde got Seal of Blood. I'm still not sold on SoV. There are times when it comes in handy, but for Retribution paladins it didn't replace the old standby, Seal of Command. Seal of Blood, on the other hand, can be looked at not just as an alternative to SoC, but a replacement. The question is... is SoB better than SoC? The answer isn't exactly cut and dry, so join me as I examine each Seal, and try and draw some conclusions.
Japan crowns top robots in lavish Tokyo ceremony
With all these award ceremonies going down to close out the year, it's only appropriate to crown a few winners in the robotic realm as well -- you know, since they'll be law-abiding citizens someday. The Robot Awards were set up earlier this year by the Japanese government to "promote research and development in the robotics industry," and just ten creations took home prizes out of the 152 entries. The cream of the crop started with the currently-available My Spoon feeding contraption, which helps the elderly and disabled to eat with a "joystick-controlled swiveling arm." Not far behind was the Paro seal, who rocks a furry, huggable outfit with sensors beneath its whiskers that allows it to "open and close its eyes and move its flippers" when petted and held by folks in hospitals. In another instance of "robots replacing human jobs," a "mammoth, automated vacuum cleaner that uses elevators to travel between floors" was highly praised for its sucky actions. So if you're interested in seeing what other bots are taking home the jewelry (as well as the how to enter yourself in the future), be sure to hit the read link and bust out your broken translator, um, translator.[Via Yahoo]
