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Stretchable skin sensor could help you touch things in VR
Cornell researchers have made a stretchable skin sensor whose light-based approach could bring human-like touch to VR and robots.
Researchers built robotic skin with a sense of touch
Using Intel's neuromorphic Loihi chip, researchers created a robotic skin that detects touch more than 1,000 times faster than the human sensory nervous system.
Researchers create an artificial skin that makes your phone ticklish
We're so reliant on our smartphones that it's probably fair to say they've become an extension of ourselves, so the fact that scientists have now developed an artificial "skin" for our devices -- that has the ability to make them ticklish -- is not a huge surprise. Horrifying, maybe, but it was only a matter of time.
New prosthetic legs let amputees feel their foot and knee in real-time
There's been a lot of research into how to give robots and prosthesis wearers a sense of touch, but it has focused largely on the hands. Now, researchers led by ETH Zurich want to restore sensory feedback for leg amputees, too. In a paper published in Nature Medicine today, the team describes how they modified an off-the-shelf prosthetic leg with sensors and electrodes to give wearers a sense of knee movement and feedback from the sole of the foot on the ground. While their initial sample size was small -- just two users -- the results are promising.
MIT's new robot can identify things by sight and by touch
For humans, it's easy to predict how an object will feel by looking at it or tell what an object looks like by touching it, but this can be a big challenge for machines. Now, a new robot developed by MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) is attempting to do just that.
Oculus' Marvel Rift bundle lets you play as Hulk and Wolverine
When it comes to releasing VR game bundles, Sony is miles ahead of Oculus. But if you're not a console gamer and have only been waiting for Oculus to come up with a bundle of its own, then we hope you have a few hundred to spare. The studio has launched a special edition Rift + Touch package with Marvel Powers United VR for $399, the same price you'd pay for one with an Oculus headset, a pair of sensors and a pair of controllers without the game.
'Arktika.1' shooter arrives on Oculus Rift October 10th
Oculus Rift's next big exclusive -- Arktika.1 -- from the team behind the Metro shooters will be released October 10th. That's right, over a full year after its debut at Oculus Connect 3, folks at home will finally be able to give the motion-controlled shooter from 4A Games a spin. Pre-orders are up and at least for now, the game is marked down 10 percent off its standard $29.99 price tag. And here you thought that all of today's news was going to be about $1,000 iPhones.
HTC's Vive Prime Day deal makes the Oculus Rift even better value
As tech brands go to war on Amazon Prime Day, Oculus has emerged triumphant over HTC in terms of value. The Vive, usually on sale for $800 has been reduced by a meager $100 to $700. Meanwhile, the Rift and Touch bundle -- already on a limited-time offer for $400/£400 -- now comes with a Prime Day perk of a $100 Amazon gift card (which makes it such a good deal it's currently out of stock). If you regularly drop a lot of dollar at Amazon, this essentially brings the price of the bundle down to $300, which is less than half the price of HTC's offering.
Oculus Rift and Touch bundle temporarily on sale for $399
A few months ago, Oculus dropped the price of a Rift and Touch bundle to just $598, which is a good $200 drop from what it was before. If even that was too rich for your blood however, well, get ready for some good news. For a limited time only, you can get both the Oculus Rift headset and the Touch controller for just $399/£399. That puts it on par price-wise with the PSVR, which has been the cheapest pro-level VR headset to date. In short, it's a really great deal. It's all part of Oculus' "Summer of Rift" event, where it plans to announce new titles and offer discount deals on games (there was a 60 percent off sale during the July 4th weekend). And, according to Oculus, get ready for even more news from now until Oculus Connect 4, its annual developer conference, later this October. As for this Rift and Touch deal, however, you had better get on it if you want to take advantage of it. That's because the discount price is only valid for the next six weeks. So if you have your heart set on trying out titles like Wilson's Heart or Lone Echo, this $200 price drop on Oculus hardware is a great excuse to finally do so.
Visit the ISS in virtual reality with an Oculus Rift
Most of us will (sadly) never be able to visit the ISS in person and will have to make do with photos and videos of the orbiting lab. If you have an Oculus Rift, though, you have a far more immersive choice: a true-to-life simulation you can visit in virtual reality. Oculus has teamed up with NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency to create the Mission:ISS VR experience. You can explore the virtual station like you're actually in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), but you can do more than that, as well. So long as you're using an Oculus Touch controller, you can dock incoming spacecraft, go out on spacewalks and even perform mission-critical tasks like a real crew member.
The Oculus Rift and Touch bundle is now $200 cheaper
We're just a few weeks away from the one-year anniversary of Oculus shipping the Rift to consumers, so now would be a good time for the company to drop some news. And here it is. Starting today, Oculus will begin selling Rift and Touch bundles on its store for $598 -- about a $200 price cut. On their own, the Rift headset is now $499 while the Touch controllers are $99, meaning that each saw a price drop of $100. Oh, and the cost of an extra Oculus sensor is now $59, which is $20 less than before.
Apple's MacBook Pro isn't the touchscreen laptop it ought to be
Ever since Phil Schiller brought up the issue while introducing the second-generation MacBook Air, Apple has made a point of publicly resisting the pressure to introduce touchscreen Macs. Computers need a fundamentally different interface than your smartphone or tablet, Apple argues, and it's cumbersome to keep raising your hand to the display. However, the new MacBook Pro's Touch Bar really amounts to a confession -- it's an acknowledgment that touch input can improve your computing experience, and that Apple has been missing out on technology that some PC users take for granted. As big a step forward as the Pro may be, it's not necessarily the giant stride that you might like.
Oculus Touch to launch on December 6th for $199
Until now, the Oculus Rift has been incomplete. It's a comfortable, high-end VR headset, but without Touch the experience feels like a preview. A taste of the platform's full potential. Thankfully, that's all about to change: At Oculus Connect, the company announced that its motion controllers will be out on December 6th. They'll cost $199, putting the combined Rift price at $798. For reference, the HTC Vive with its wand controllers costs $799. PlayStation VR launches next week for $400, but that's only the headset -- you'll need to pay extra for the camera and Move controllers.
ICYMI: This rock-armored insect could change medicine
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley discovered that an insect called the caddisfly spins strong, stretchy silk that works like a biological sticky tape. The caddisfly uses it to attach stones to its body to protect it underwater; humans are more interested in the fact that the waterproof adhesive might have medical applications. The publication Deep Look made a great video of the bug's underwater life that's worth a full watch if you're interested.
Bionic finger makes amputee feel texture on his phantom hand
Someday, amputees might be able to get prosthetics that can discern shapes and feel texture, thanks to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). Its scientists have succeeded in designing a bionic fingertip (PDF) that can make amputees feel textures and even differentiate between rough and smooth surfaces. The team asked Dennis Aabo Sørensen, who lost his left hand in an accident, to test it out. He said the sensations it gave him were almost like what you'd feel with your own hand.
Pop-up sensor would give robot surgeons a sense of touch
Robotic surgery is no longer the stuff of science fiction. However, these robots can't really feel their way around -- the need for super-small mechanisms rules out existing approaches to touch. That's where Harvard researchers might come to save the day. They've developed a pop-up sensor whose four layers collapse to a tiny footprint (just a tenth of an inch) when necessary, but expand into a 3D sensor thanks to a built-in spring. The design is extremely sensitive, too, with a light intensity sensor that can detected mere millinewtons of force.
Adobe's 'core' design apps are now all touch-friendly on Windows
When the Surface Pro 3 was announced last spring, Adobe revealed that it was working on touch-friendly versions of its design apps for Windows. At today's Max event, the company announced that its collection "core" apps are ready to accept your swipes and taps on compatible devices, like Microsoft's slate, with new Touch Workspaces. Photoshop and Illustrator already had some touch-based features, but now there's an expanded software lineup that'll let you get hands-on with your work across audio, video, motion graphics and graphic design projects. This means that Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects and Audition all accept input with your fingers, in addition the regular ol' keyboard, trackpad or stylus. And Photoshop's finger-friendly tools have been revamped to improve performance. Adobe's timing couldn't be better either, as Microsoft is poised to announce some new devices in a matter of hours.
HP quietly adds a touchscreen model to its Chromebook 14 line
If you're after a Chromebook with premium specs, HP quietly released a touch-friendly model that might just do the trick. The Chromebook 14 Touch touts a 14-inch FHD WLED backlit touchscreen with a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution -- up from the 1,366 x 768 tally on the existing machine. Even after doubling the RAM (from 2GB to 4GB) and storage space (32GB, up from 16GB), HP claims the new version will still last just over eight hours on a charge. And like this year's regular Chromebook 14, NVIDIA's Tegra K1 processor and Kepler GPU are still packed inside. As you might expect, the boost in specs comes with a price increase, as the new model hits your wallet for $440, and it only comes in white. If you're not looking to get all grabby with a new laptop, the non-touch version is set at $300.
Touch Racing 2 is a lot of fun to play
Touch Racing 2 is a free game for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It requires iOS 5.0 or later, and is optimized for iPhone 5. Touch Racing 2 gives you the option to participate in speedcar, offroad, and boat ladder races against seven other computer controlled radio controlled vehicles. The user interface is one of the coolest for a racing game I've ever played. I liked the use of your fingers, positioned on each side of your screen, to drag the path for your R/C vehicles to take. It was a lot easier to control than the typical directional pad controls. This allows you to have a great advantage over the rest of the field, and a much better chance at finishing in first place. Cornering your R/C vehicles can be a bit difficult at first, but with enough practice you'll be drifting with the best of them. The speedcar ladder races rocked as you're allowed to whip around corners drift style, and earn nitro boosts throughout your two lap run. The offroad ladder races are a bit more difficult, but they are blast. The boat ladder races are a lot of fun because they're much different than the speedcar and offroad races. Daily races are extremely competitive, so bring your A game each day. It's a great way to quickly pickup more gold coins. The daily races feature the fastest speedcars, offroad, and boats. I preferred the speedcar races because I did the best at them. I didn't play the multiplayer head-to-head races because it required me to log into Facebook, so it could search for other Touch Racers to compete against me. I admit, this is a clever way to get other people hooked on the game. There are three different boss races where you face the speedcar boss, C.J., offroad boss, Norma, and boat boss, Wade. Make sure you've participated in enough daily races etc so you can earn gold coins to upgrade each one of your vehicles, or else you won't be able to compete against the bosses. Diamonds can be picked up a lot faster if you race and defeat the bosses. Touch Racing 2 offers up four tiers of excitement. You can only advance to the next tier if you've defeated the boss of each race with each R/C vehicle. When you earn gold coins and diamonds, you'll be able to upgrade the chassis, engine, body, tires, spoiler, and customize your R/C vehicles. Diamonds can be used to earn special items in the prize machine. The trick is you have no idea what you will receive. If arcade style R/C racing is your thing, then this is your game. Make sure not to overlook Touch Racing 2 for free in Apple app store because you won't regret it.
Swatch is finally coming around to this 'smartwatch' business
Spare a thought for the watchmakers of this world, who might start to feel the pinch as more people buy a smartwatch. According to the Wall Street Journal, Swatch is the latest old-school outfit to realize that it needs more than a janky, barely-readable touchscreen to appeal to its customers. The company has let it be known that it'll add fitness functions to its Touch line of watches, although it wouldn't reveal specific features that we'd expect to see. The new units won't arrive until 2015, which still leaves plenty of time for companies like Samsung, LG and Motorola to steal a march on mainstream wearables. Still, Swatch's parent company also owns Omega, and we'd gladly trade in a Galaxy Gear for a Seamaster Professional with James Bond's cutting laser in the bezel.
