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VR pioneer Leap Motion reportedly sells to UltraHaptics for $30 million
VR/AR startup Leap Motion has been sold to a rival business named UltraHaptics, according to the Wall Street Journal. The price for the company was reportedly around $30 million -- it was said to be valued at ten times as much in 2013.
Oculus Rift Pokémon game lets you throw Poké Balls in VR
It may not be the first time someone's remade Pokémon for the Oculus Rift, but it's probably the most exciting. By pairing the VR headset with a Leap Motion and Voice Attack, players of the Unofficial Pokémon Alpha Prototype can even pick up Poké Balls and throw them at vanquished opponents. Of course, the title is just a short unofficial demo made by a fan named Tipatat. But it's available to download and try for yourselves.. at least until the lawyers get their hands on it. All we have to do is hope that someone at The Pokémon Company or Nintendo sees some potential in being able to walk through Pallet Town in this way.
Leap Motion's next sensor is designed specifically for virtual reality
Virtual reality has made huge strides in headgear recently, but developers are still grappling with control. How do we interact with an artificial world in a natural way? There are plenty of devices to answer this: gamepads, the Sixense Stem system and even purpose-built game controllers -- but the folks at Leap Motion think they have a better solution: just use your hands. Independent developers have been strapping Leap's motion controller onto the Oculus Rift since almost day one, but application isn't consistent. Leap Motion wants to fix that, and has announced that its both creating a VR mount for its existing hardware and building a new sensor specifically for virtual reality.
IK Multimedia's iRing music motion controller arrives
Ever since the invention of the theremin back in 1928, musicians have sought a way to create music simply by moving their hands. The theremin was an early electronic instrument that provided many of those eerie sounds heard in bad horror and sci-fi flicks from the mid 20th-century and never really reached mainstream. Now IK Multimedia has announced another way to wave your hands and magically create music with the iRing motion controller (US$24.99). The iRing consists of two double-sided "rings" that are placed between two fingers on each hand. One has three black dots on it that are placed in a triangular pattern, while the other has three dots in a row. Your iOS device picks up the 3D position of your hands by recognizing and tracking those dot patterns, then translates the position into MIDI information. At $25, it's certainly more affordable than the much-ballyhooed Leap Motion Controller ($80). Of course, "hardware" is of no use without apps to generate some practical output, and that's why the company provides iRing Music Maker and iRing FX/Controller to musicians for free. The former app uses loops that can be remixed by waving your hands in front of your iPhone or iPad, changing beats, controlling rhythmic elements, playing synth parts, or controlling effects. iRing FX/Controller is billed as a real-time audio effects processor and MIDI controller for skilled musicians. IK is also offering developers a free SDK and licensing program to take advantage of the iRing in their own music apps. TUAW will have a full review of the iRing and iRing Music Maker in the near future.
Wave your hands like you just don't care to control videos on Vimeo
There's never been a better time to just kick back and watch whatever you want, what with the many ways in which content can be consumed nowadays. And if you enjoy watching videos on Vimeo, things are about to get even easier. The company recently announced that its Couch Mode feature is now friendly with the Leap Motion controller, allowing you to take over media commands by simply using your hands. A circle gesture with your finger can fast-forward or rewind; tap your finger in the air to play or pause; and swiping gets you to the next video.
Daily Roundup: Samsung's Milk Music, a stun gun-equipped drone and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Punching virtual sharks for points with the Oculus Rift and Leap Motion
"This could be a science lesson on the innards of sharks." Chance Ivey, game design lead for Chaotic Moon's whimsical Oculus Rift demo SharkPunch, was only half-joking when he made that comment to me as I exploded a megalodon with my fist in virtual space. That's because the minigame, which incorporates a visor-mounted Leap Motion controller to let users punch sharks in 3D, actually has firm roots in an educational simulator the Austin, Texas-based company's been developing for prospective clients. Yes, that connection may be hard to swallow at first -- after all, how does a frenzied, and fun, game of shark carnage assist players with learning? The simple answer is that it doesn't, but by no means does that lessen SharkPunch's educational origins in the slightest.
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide 2013: Peripherals
Welcome to Engadget's holiday gift guide! Head back to our hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Peripherals sound about as exciting as a trip to the dentist, but trust us: Companion devices have plenty to offer, and some even have a wow factor. Just take the Pebble smartwatch, for example; it lets you view notifications (as well as the current time) directly from your wrist. Especially well-heeled types can shell out for a VR headset or 3D printer, but we're sure your loved ones will be thankful for a cutting-edge hard drive all the same.
The future of motion interfaces: Wave goodbye to the mouse
We're still big fans of Douglas Engelbart's original pointing device, but human/computer input is moving past traditional peripherals. We're rapidly approaching a future of touchscreens, motion sensors and visual imaging control solutions. "Gone are the days, probably, of the keyboard, mouse and maybe even touch input," Samsung's Shoneel Kolhatkar told us. During a panel on the future of gesture and motion controls at Expand NY, Kolhatkar suggested that these technologies could fade away within the next 20 years. His fellow panelists, Pelican Imaging's Paul Gallagher and Leap Motion's Avinash Dabir agree that there's more to the future of computing than the traditional point and click.
Live from Expand: Gesture / Alternate Interfaces
Wait, you're still using keyboards and mice? Well, we just typed this with our mind! Explore the world of alternative interfaces with representatives from Samsung, Leap Motion and Pelican Imaging. November 10, 2013 11:50:00 AM EST Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from New York City right here!
Blue Estate prologue shoots up Leap Motion for free
The prologue of Blue Estate, Hesaw's dark comedy shooter, is out now for free on the Leap Motion Airspace Store. It costs absolutely nothing for a "limited time" and will eventually be $4. The prologue includes the first two levels of the game. Blue Estate is a rails shooter based on the Image comic series of the same name, and features a cast of gritty characters saying funny things while doing dirty deeds. With the Leap Motion controller, Blue Estate is played with one finger, swiping and holding steady to dodge and shoot. We got our hands on Blue Estate at Gamescom and found it to be unapologetically raunchy – for better or worse.
Opinion: Blue Estate's humiliated mermaid won't leave me alone
When the embargo for Blue Estate lifted last week, I had two options: write about the game and include that I felt excluded while playing it, or don't write about it at all. The second choice is hardly an option when it's my job to provide feedback on games the world hasn't seen yet, and I take my job seriously. Unfortunately, my personal response to Blue Estate is so overwhelming, even one month later, that I can't write about it without including these reactions, even though I find it embarrassing and extremely stressful to share my emotions – gah, gag me with a spoon – in a public forum. So, here we go. Blue Estate is a boiling bevy of extremes – it's based on the Blue Estate comic series published by Image, which tells the sordid tales of drug lords, mafia men, scantily clad women, has-beens and sarcastic jerks of every flavor dumped into the back alleys of LA. Blue Estate the game focuses on one of these caricatures, Tony Luciano, who is – you guessed it – a mobster and son of the Godfather of West Coast Cosa Nostra. I played a demo of Blue Estate at Gamescom. In the demo, it's clear Tony is a sarcastic, fumbling racist with a gun and a lot of luck. He's greedy, inconsiderate and narcissistic, and I can practically feel the grease building up in my hair as I point his gun at enemy after enemy. Tony is every bit the stereotypical, jaded mobster, with that cliché's most obvious traits pushed to the extreme. Another character featured prominently in the demo, but not playable, is Cherry Popz. She's a stripper, and in the same way Tony's macho stupidity is enhanced, Cherry has enhancements – when she's introduced, the narration focuses on her jaw-dropping beauty while the images focus on her body. She has a problem and she's seeking professional help from an overweight, unshowered, male private eye (who is privately eyeing her through a pair of thick glasses). During playable moments, Cherry wears a tiny black two-piece and heels, and at one point she gives me a full-on pole dance. Now – I've been to strip clubs and I don't find the notion of a woman in lingerie offensive or disgusting, but Blue Estate has the natural ability to turn sexiness into exploitation, humor into humiliation and my own enjoyment into exasperation, with a neon sign flashing the philosophy that I don't need to feel comfortable here. I've never felt unwelcome in a strip club.
Don't miss Wikimedia, OLPC, Leap Motion, Voltaic and more at Expand NY!
We're getting more and more impatient waiting for Expand New York with every subsequent speaker announcement -- and we've got five more names to lay on you right now. This November, we'll be joined by Wikimedia's director of mobile, Tomasz Finc, Leap Motion's director of developer relations, Avinash Dabir, The One Laptop Per Child Association's chairman and CEO, Rodrigo Arboleda, founder / CEO of Voltaic Systems Shayne McQuade and Michael Carroll, a professor of law at American University Washington College of Law and founding member of Creative Commons. And, of course, we've already announced a number of folks who will be joining us on November 9th and 10th, including LeVar Burton, Reggie Watts, Ben Heck, Peter Molyneux, Ben Huh and speakers from companies like Google, Sony, Pebble, Adafruit and The Electronic Frontier Foundation -- and we've still got more to come. Check out the full list below.
HP fills out its tablet lineup with four Android slates and two Windows models
When HP announced its first Android tablet, the Slate 7, we were surprised (and a little disappointed) to see the company attacking the low end of the market. Where were the high-end tablets, we wondered? What about some big-screened models? Or medium-sized ones? Turns out, HP was saving them all for the holiday shopping season. The company just announced four Android tablets, ranging in size from 7 to 10 inches. Two have Tegra 4, two can be had with 4G, and one has a stylus in the box. On top of all that, HP also introduced two more Windows tablets, including a 10-inch slate and an 11-incher with a keyboard dock. All will go on sale in November, though with the exception of one model HP isn't revealing pricing yet. For now, though, best if you study up on the specs: there's quite a bit to unpack here.
Blue Estate jumps from comic book pages to Leap Motion
Blue Estate is a first-person, on-rails shooter controlled with the player's hovering pointer finger, coming to PC via the Leap Motion Controller. The prologue is expected in the Leap Motion store "soon." Players control Tony Luciano, a bumbling, sarcastic mob boss from the Blue Estate comic series published by Image. The game takes place in the comic's world, complete with violent gun fights, humor in questionable taste, crime and strippers. With Leap Motion, players point a finger at the screen, over the controller box, and hover over enemies to shoot. Other simple gestures, such as swiping that finger down, make Tony reload or take cover. Blue Estate comes from HeSaw, a new indie studio based in France and composed of former Ubisoft and Darkworks employees, with series creator Viktor Kalvachev as creative director. At Gamescom, HeSaw told Joystiq that Blue Estate is in the vein of Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie films, and it will eventually hit PlayStation 3's Move and Xbox 360 Kinect. There's no deal yet for next-gen systems.
Double Fine's Dropchord entrances iOS, Android and Ouya users
Double Fine's rave simulator rhythm-driven Dropchord launched for iOS, Android and the Ouya this week for $3. Dropchord assigns ends of a line to each of a player's fingers and tasks them with gathering notes and dodging scratches. The game focuses on getting the highest score possible and its leaderboards encourage competitive play with friends. Dropchord's neon visuals pulse to the beat of its electronic soundtrack and switch styles with each song. The game's Standard Mode moves players through stages while gradually adding new gameplay mechanics, while a Full Mix Mode supplies an endless session that gradually becomes more difficult. Dropchord previously launched on PC and Mac for the hands-oriented Leap Motion.
This week on gdgt: the new Nexus 7, the Leap, and two-step authentication
Each week, our friends at gdgt go through the latest gadgets and score them to help you decide which ones to buy. Here are some of their most recent picks. Want more? Visit gdgt anytime to catch up on the latest, and subscribe to gdgt's newsletter to get a weekly roundup in your inbox.
Leap Motion controllers now shipping
Would you look at that? Seems Leap Motion's eagerly awaited motion controller has started shipping a few days early -- well, a few days before its delayed July 22nd date, but we'll take it. We've received a couple of confirmations from future Leapers that their devices are on the way. Until they actually arrive, however, why not take a look at some of the apps developers have been working on for the system? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Leap Motion and Airspace App Store coming July 22
Leap Motion has entered a new developer beta that will lead up to the product's ship date of July 22. Its product, the Leap Motion Controller, is a tiny device you plug into your computer that allows you to interact with it through hand gestures in the air. With the announcements of the latest beta, Leap also unveiled its Airspace App Store. The Airspace App Store will feature more than 100 apps upon launch, however not all the apps will be Mac compatible. Some will be Windows only. In a blog post announcing the new beta and Airspace App Store Leap said that beta testers will have access to the following: Mac and Windows OS interaction – They'll be able to scroll and click with simple finger moves, and Windows users can open and navigate metro apps, like a recipe collection or a game, with ease. Airspace Home – The desktop launcher is where all Leap Motion apps will live. This includes other software on the computer that uses a Leap Motion API, like Google Earth. Airspace Store – Browse, buy and download apps across a wide variety of categories. Users can access the store through Airspace Home. Orientation – Our interactive tutorial, which will run after testers download the Leap Motion software, will help orient them to Leap Motion's field of view and the zone of interaction when using Leap Motion for the first time. Leap has a strong Apple connection, with its President and COO Andy Miller having come from Apple where he was the vice president of Mobile Advertising at the company, leading the iAd program. The Leap Motion Controller will cost US$79.99. Interested parties can preorder the device now.
