ironman
Latest
'Iron Man VR' will arrive on July 3rd
The Tony Stark adventure had been put on hold because of COVID-19.
The latest Timex smartwatch has 25-day battery life
The newest Timex Ironman smartwatch, the R300 GPS, bundles the workout essentials -- on-wrist heart rate monitoring, guided coaching, a range of performance metrics and water resistance up to 30 meters -- and avoids adding unnecessary extras that sometimes drive smartwatch prices up. The result is that the R300 GPS costs just $120, and the company claims the battery will last up to 25 days, as long as you only use 20 hours of GPS.
‘Iron Man VR’ is delayed until May 15th
It seems we're not quite done with the recent deluge of game delays -- you'll now have to wait a bit longer before you can scoot around the skies in Tony Stark's suit in Iron Man VR. Camouflaj is shunting the PS VR game's release date from February 28th to May 15th.
Marvel legend Stan Lee dies at 95
Pop culture is in a state of mourning today. Stan Lee, the famous Marvel publisher, editor and writer, has died at the age of 95 after a spate of illnesses over the past year. To say that he had a significant impact on the media world would be an understatement -- the franchises he created (and helped create) are virtually ubiquitous in modern society, including in the digital realm.
LittleBits’ Marvel kit lets you code your own superpowers
LittleBits is back with another kit designed to teach kids about electronics and coding. Following Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp, the startup has partnered with Marvel on an Avengers-themed gauntlet set. It ships with nine colorful 'bits,' which are fully compatible with every other Lego-like module LittleBit has released to date. As with previous kits, they're color-coded by function -- the light sensor, for instance, is pink (input) while the circular LED matrix is green (output). They all snap together magnetically and can be placed inside a superhero-inspired sleeve.
Kids play mechanics for Marvel heroes with the Electro Hero Kit
Not every child wants to be a coder or an engineer, which can make it hard to get them playing with STEM toys if they don't really care about making their own video games or building a cool robot. However, many kids are into role playing and telling stories, which is what Tech Will Save Us' newest set focuses on instead. The Electro Hero Kit asks children to build stuff to help out their favorite Marvel characters, while imparting some basic lessons about electricity in the process.
Hasbro's new AR helmet puts you inside Iron Man's armor
Children love to role play, whether it's pretending to cook in a toy kitchen or swinging plastic swords at each other in the backyard. But lately, more than just about anything else, kids want to be superheroes. To help, toy companies like Hasbro sell costumes, weapons and other props so kids can live out their Captain America and Iron Man fantasies. But a plastic shield will only take you so far: It can't give you super strength or speed, and you certainly can't throw it at bad guys and have it return to your hands afterward. But Iron Man's a little different, since so much of his power is tied up in the suit. His armor enables him to fly, blast enemies and view the world through its informative heads-up display. The latter element is what Hasbro's new Hero Vision Iron Man AR helmet aims to imitate, using a phone to display its own custom HUD so kids can feel like they're really wearing the armored Avenger's suit.
The guy who built his own Iron Man suit now has a Guinness record
Remember that guy who built a homemade Iron Man suit? Well, with the help of his arm-strapped, gas-powered turbine engines, he just earned himself a Guinness World Record title. As The Mirror reports, Richard Browning and Daedalus (the name of his suit) reached flying speeds of 32.02 mph and Guinness awarded the feat with a title for the fastest speed in a body-controlled jet engine power suit. If you're wondering how many competitors there could possibly be in such a category, the answer is one. Browning is the first title holder.
Marvel joins Madefire's digital comic book collection
Madefire's digital comic book platform is a good way to spice up stories that you may have read countless times, but its catalog has always had a conspicuous gap: namely, there were no Marvel comics. That ends today. Madefire has added Marvel to its collection, giving you the likes of The Avengers, Black Panther and X-Men through its Android, iOS, Windows and TV apps. There's no mention of taking advantage of Madefire's pseudo-3D Motion Book format, but having access is clearly the big deal here. You don't have to switch apps when you're ready to jump from Wonder Woman to Squirrel Girl.
ICYMI: DIY Iron Man
Today on In Case You Missed it: British inventor Richard Browning show us his (slow, careful) flights across a test area using his "Daedelus" jet pack prototype. Daedelus consists of six kerosene-powered microjets strapped to his limbs, which doesn't sound dangerous at all. While that might sound like a bad idea, the system "flies" at a walking pace, and the wearer only hovers about six to ten feet off the ground. For his part, Browning's convinced the jets are safe, stating that he uses small amounts of kerosene and has a dead-man's switch to kill the set-up when not pressed. For now, Browning is mostly shopping the device around at exhibitions, but he hopes it will one day be used by rescue or military personnel.
After Math: Did I do that?
It was a big week for huge accomplishments. SpaceX proved that you can, in fact, reuse rockets. Scientists trawled 3 million studies to solve an oceanic mystery and Twitter opened up all 140 characters for you to use. Numbers, because what else would we use to count?
Homemade 'Iron Man' suit requires a special kind of crazy
Remember the, insane record-shattering flight of a jet-powered hoverboard? UK inventor Richard Browning thought that riding on top of a jet pack wasn't crazy enough, so he strapped six kerosene-powered microjets to his arms. That transformed him into a bargain store Iron Man, helping him get off the ground in what looks like the most dangerous way ever.
HitFilm's VFX software now supports 8K and 360-degree video
Earlier this year, we brought you the story of FXHome, a British software company that builds VFX software for the YouTube generation. Now, the outfit is updating its paid-for tier, HitFilm Pro, for 2017 with a new series of tools, including support for 360-degree video and action camera footage. As well as various software tweaks, the editing suite can now crunch 8K video as well as more than 500 built-in visual effects.
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.
Meet the firm designing futuristic UI for Iron Man and Samsung
Remember Tony Stark's glass smartphone and transparent coffee table in the Iron Man movies? Or how about that gorgeous statue rendering of the Avengers in action at the end of Age of Ultron? You've got one company to thank for those sequences: Perception, a New York City-based visual design firm. It's carved out a unique spot building forward-thinking design concepts for films and major tech companies, including the likes of Samsung, Microsoft and Ford. Perception's work makes it clear we've moved on from the days when interface design was merely an afterthought for movies, and when few tech companies brought cinematic depth and emotion to their products. Now, there's a sort of virtuous cycle of design, where movies lift from tech, and tech companies find inspiration in films.
Young amputees will soon get 'Iron Man' and 'Star Wars' bionic hands
A heroic set of prosthetic hand designs will soon allow young amputees to transform into their favorite Disney characters. Whether they prefer a red Iron Man gauntlet, one of Queen Elsa's sparkling blue gloves or a hand inspired by Star Wars' iconic lightsabers, they'll be able to take on the world with a prosthetic that finally marries form and function. The three models have been created by Open Bionics, a startup working on cheap, 3D-printed hands for amputees. Joel Gibbard, the company's founder, says they'll cost around $500 and be available in 2016. Another, non-Disneyfied design should be roughly £2,000 ($3,071) -- considerably more, but still a fraction of what many existing prosthetics cost.
Disney's smart toys combine Avengers, sensors and imagination
Those giant, green Hulk hands in your closet might be cool but their utility doesn't extend much beyond freaking out your cat and making tired "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" jokes. Disney has an idea to remedy that with internet-connected versions of those as well as a pair of Iron Man gauntlets. Wait, smart toys? Yep. As The Wall Street Journal tells it, these Playmation devices will work in concert, via radio frequency and infrared signals, with special action figures as well as other branded apparatus you strap on to your body. Based on what TechCrunch says, these sound an awful lot like a home laser-tag set. Different playthings offer different augmentations (action figures come with new, narrated, playable stories, and you can buy more of the latter via a connected app) but they won't all work together.
Samsung's Iron Man edition Galaxy S6 Edge lacks J.A.R.V.I.S.
With Samsung being an active promoter of Marvel's latest Avengers movie, it's no surprise to see the tech giant releasing some sort of special edition product to sweeten the deal. Why yes, it's an Iron Man limited edition Galaxy S6 Edge with matching red-and-gold color theme -- something that HTC should have done a while back. This curved 64GB device is quite a looker, and the special package even comes with an "arc reactor" wireless charger plus a clear cover, but you'll have to make do with Google Now instead of the snarky J.A.R.V.I.S. Here's the real bad news, though: right now Samsung is only releasing this phone in South Korea on May 27th, followed by China and Hong Kong in June. So while you're searching for the earliest flights to Asia, feel free to keep yourselves entertained with the official unboxing video after the break.
He made Tom Cruise 'forget the mouse.' Now it's our turn.
In a way, John Underkoffler's like Hollywood's own Wizard of Oz. He's the man behind the curtain responsible for infusing blockbuster fantasy with real-world tech. He created the futuristic UI in Minority Report, worked on the timeline for Hulk's transformation and found a Soviet fusion reactor to blow up Stark Industries in Iron Man. He also recently received the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for his work as an interface designer both in films and in the real world.
3D-printed Iron Man gauntlet becomes a kid's awesome bionic arm
It looks like Iron Man's arm, but it's actually a fully-functioning bionic prosthetic for a seven-year-old kid. Electronically wired and capable of moving, it can, for instance, open and close its hand if the user flexes their bicep. The limb was created by Limbitless Solutions, a non-profit made up of engineering students from the University of Central Florida, using donations and money they saved by sacrificing coffee. They specialize in designing 3D-printed limbs for children, because kids will quickly outgrow more expensive bionic limbs. Sure, their creations don't have the sense of touch and can't be controlled by thoughts, but kids will definitely appreciate looking like their favorite robot or superhero.
