mobility
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Encrypted Text: Why mobility doesn't matter
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here. Brian Holinka, who is quickly becoming the most frequent tweeter on the dev team, recently talked about Shadowstep and rogue mobility in a series of tweets. Mobility is one of those things that gets trotted out every time a melee class starts talking about PvP balance. One melee class has a teleport, another has a snare break, yet another has a speed boost –- no two melee classes are equal. I'm sure we all remember ret paladins complaining about their lack of a "gap closer." The problem with mobility is that mobility doesn't matter. Well, not really. What really matters to a melee class is uptime. Our goal isn't to have 100% mobility, it's to have 100% uptime. We want to be attacking our target as often as possible, and that usually requires being in melee range. Looking at mobility in a vacuum is missing the forest for the trees. Mobility is just one of the tools that we use to achieve a high melee uptime. All of our other abilities, like CCs, stuns, and slows are critical components to maximizing our uptime. Shuriken Toss is the exact opposite of mobility, but its strength comes from increasing our uptime despite being out of melee range.
HP creates Mobility division to focus on consumer tablets, taps ex-MeeGo maven Alberto Torres to run it
Despite the culling of Palm's offerings from its product portfolio, HP isn't exiting the tablet space. Far from it. Evidence of a new tablet has been floating around since April, and we've even caught a couple glimpses of the so-called Slate 8. Now, The Verge reports that the company has created a Mobility unit within the Personal Systems Group dedicated to making such consumer hardware. According to a leaked internal memo, it looks like Alberto Torres, formerly chief of MeeGo ops at Nokia, will be the man in charge of the new division. The Mobility group will first focus on tablets, with a "soon-to-be-launched" initial offering, but it plans to expand into other product segments moving forward. The full leaked memo can be found at the source below.
Google reportedly planning stable of Nexus devices with Android 5.0, will sell 'em direct
Hand firmly grasping hat? Good. The Wall Street Journal is reporting on quite the bombshell today, noting that Google is about to cause its carrier partners in the States all sorts of grief -- indirectly, of course. Just weeks after placing its heralded Galaxy Nexus on sale for $399 unlocked, the report states that said move is only the beginning of a new initiative. Likely to be formally revealed at Google I/O, the mega-corp is planning to partner with a variety of OEMs (rather than just one at a time) in order to have up to five Pure Google (read: Nexus) devices available at once. Better still, the whole stable will ship with Android 5.0 (Jelly Bean) and will be sold directly from Google in unlocked form to consumers in America, Europe and Asia. The move is significant in a myriad ways. For one, more unlocked Nexus devices means more choice when it comes to carrier selection. Furthermore, the move is likely to quell fears that certain partners may have about Google making Motorola Mobility its favorite after a $12 billion acquisition. Not surprisingly, Google's not commenting on the matter, but sources "close" to the situation say that the company's hoping to have the 5.0 cadre on sale by Thanksgiving -- you know, just in time for Black Friday and the looming holiday shopping season. We're all guessing that this will address the growing "app situation" head-on; by making a push to eliminate carrier-infused bloatware (while also providing early Android OS access to more partners), we're hoping that the whole "skinning" dilemma is addressed, too.
Permoveh personal vehicle prototype can travel sideways, diagonally (video)
We've seen all sorts of great ideas to assist with personal mobility, and we think this prototype is up there with the rest of them. The Permoveh (from Personal Mobile Vehicle) was developed by Komori Masaharu, an associate professor from Kyoto University. Using a clever wheel-in-wheel system, the buggy can travel diagonally and laterally, with no need for turning space. The idea allows wheelchair users access to places that otherwise might have been too difficult with existing vehicles. Sadly we don't know whether we'll see this in production any time soon, but if you head on over the break, you'll see its creator showing off its moves.
Google 'close' to picking new Motorola Mobility CEO, say the usual gang of sources
Google's first act with Motorola Mobility under its wing? Picking a new head for the company, apparently. According to some anonymous-type sources over at Bloomberg, Mountain View "is close" to picking its own SVP, former ad man Dennis Woodside, to succeed Sanjay Jha. Google, naturally is refusing to comment on the matter, which is still waiting the completion of the $12.5 billion acquisition.
Magnetic retainer lets you operate machinery with your tongue, gives linguistics new meaning
Many people with debilitating conditions rely on sip and puff technology to get around, which is relatively lo-fi by some standards. Now, a special retainer with magnetic sensors could bring mobility into the smartphone age. Developed at Georgia Tech, the Tongue Drive System uses a magnetic piercing to track lingual gestures. The sensors then transmit data to an iOS app that translates it to on-screen or a joystick movement. Earlier versions used a headset, but the prototype revealed at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco, is hoped to be more comfortable and discreet. The system is currently being trialled by 11 participants with high-level spinal-cord injuries, with larger trials planned.
Encrypted Text: How to deftly swap targets
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here. There are a lot of names for a simple raid encounter in WoW: tank and spank, churn and burn, rush down, the Raid Finder. In a rogue's perfect world, every raid boss we face would simply be Patchwerk (or two Patchwerks, if you play combat). It's our prerogative to deal the maximum possible damage, and we perform at our best when we can tunnel-vision and focus solely on managing our own energy, abilities, and cooldowns. In spite of our preferences, bosses in WoW are rarely that simple. No two bosses are exactly alike, and even as we see the developers reusing ideas or abilities, each new fight is different from the last. One of the most common mechanics we deal with in a raid encounter is the addition of extra enemies, or adds. Any time a rogue switches targets, they lose some of their overall damage output. Redirect and Sprint are our two tools to minimize any lost damage, and yet they're woefully underutilized.
The Daily Grind: What's the coolest ride you've had in an MMO?
One of the universal aspects of MMOs is the fact that you have to cover some distance. And not just a few feet in any given direction -- no matter how instanced, you'll be getting from one end of the map to the other on a regular basis. In some games, such as Guild Wars, this is accomplished with easy teleportation, but most games give you some other way of getting from place to place. Sometimes it's a mount, and sometimes you ride a javelin from one point on the map to the next for a specific quest. Maybe you think the coolest ride you've had has been a mount, perhaps a motorcycle or a ravenous beast. Maybe it's been a form of static transport, like an airship or a boat. Or maybe you thought the coolest ride ever was something unique to a given quest, like riding a bomb down to a new quest area. So what's your choice for the coolest ride to be had in an MMO? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Motorola Mobility reports $56 million net loss in Q2, $3.3 billion in revenue, Bionic debut in September
Back in the last quarter of 2010, Motorola Mobility predicted a rocky road for future business, and its Q2 earnings seem to be right on track. The company reported total net revenues of $3.3 billion in the second quarter, up 28 percent year-over-year, but saw a net loss of $56 million, compared to earnings of $80 million in the second quarter of 2010. Mobile Devices saw an operating loss of $85 million, compared to the previous year's earnings of $87 million. Moto's not all doom and gloom however, as it predicts profitability in mobile devices by Q4. In terms of sales, the company reportedly shipped 11 million mobile devices, including 4.4 million smartphones and 440,000 Xoom tablets. Here's hoping Motorola's powers of prediction remain strong.Full PR after the break. We'd heard that the Droid Bionic was "coming soon," but up until today, we still didn't have a firm date for the LTE Android phone. Well, the cat is sort of out of the bag, as Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha has just announced that the long-awaited handset will hit stores in September. When in September is still anyone's guess, but we'll keep you posted as we learn more.
New Zealand paralympian buys first Rex Bionics exoskeleton, takes robot walking legs for a spin
Surely we weren't the only ones to wonder aloud who would be the first come up with $150,000 for a Rex Bionics robotic exoskeleton when the Auckland-based company introduced it last summer. Of course, no price seems too high for the ability to walk again, but that's still a lot scratch to get together -- and the space has been getting a lot more competitive as of late. The honor went to fellow Kiwi Dave MacCalman, a multiple medal-winning paralympian, who lost the use of his legs after sustaining a spinal cord injury while diving into a river. The 6-foot, 4-inch athlete took his first steps in over 30 years with the use of his newly-purchased robot legs -- and from the look on his face, he definitely got his New Zealand dollar's worth. If you need a quick refresher on exactly what this thing can do, check out the video after the break.
MMObility: Survival on a desert island
We've all played that age-old game of pondering what we might take with us on an endless trip to a desert island. What music would you bring? Whom would you bring with you? What food would you bring, if you could choose only one food? I've recently been thinking about this old game again, mainly because of my obsession with portability and all-in-one devices. Which device would I bring with me to that island, if I had to choose? (Let's forget the fact that I could just make a call or otherwise contact the authorities to rescue me off the island!) The ultimate question is this: Which MMO would I bring installed on that device? Or, going a bit further, which apps or other downloads would I include? Once I started asking, my fantasy turned into somewhat of a challenge to myself: Could I survive a week without any access to a desktop at all? Could I write, play, and otherwise continue to do my job with only a pocket-sized device? Join me past the cut and let's see what I might include on this trip.
AT&T's new cell tower can fit in a suitcase, help restore networks after natural disasters
Whenever a natural disaster strikes, phone companies are typically forced to patch up their own networks with fleets of trucks that serve as temporary cell towers. It's a process that involves plenty of manpower and, most importantly, plenty of time. AT&T has a more portable solution: a cell tower small enough to fit into a suitcase. The company's new Remote Mobility Zone is comprised of an antenna and accompanying satellite dish, both of which can handle up to 14 simultaneous calls placed within a half-mile radius. Any AT&T phone can connect to the makeshift system, which will sell for anywhere between $15,000 and $45,000 (plus some monthly fees), though emergency workers will need a generator to get it up and running. They'll also have to live without 3G data, which sounds like a reasonable compromise to us.
Antistatic E-3POD concept wins Citroen design award, job for its student creator
Who says dreaming doesn't pay? A young designer by the name of Heikki Juvonen recently won himself a six-month job placement at Citroen's PSA Design Centre in Paris after producing the most compelling response to the company's Double Challenge set to students at London's Royal College of Art. The premise was simple -- put together an aesthetic for an ultra-compact urban vehicle that Citroen could call its own, and judging by the imagery above, we can all probably agree that Heikki achieved a very distinctive look with his E-3POD. We're not yet certain how we feel about being inside the largest of the three wheels for the duration of our electrically powered journeys, but the young gent has half a year on his hands to tweak and refine his eye-catching design. We'll be ready to test-drive the prototype as soon as Citroen becomes mad enough to build one.
Motorola Mobility reports robust growth in last quarter, but predicts difficult times ahead
Yes, we are deep in Q4 2010 financial reporting season, and Motorola's freshly independent Mobility arm is latest to step up and deliver its figures. Total revenue over the past three months reached $3.4 billion, marking a 21 percent increase year-on-year, net revenue from mobile devices was $2.4 billion, up by 33 percent year-on-year, and handset shipments were a seemingly healthy 4.9 million. That figure's disappointed Wall Street estimates, however -- the collective expectation, according to MarketWatch, was 5.2 million -- and the net profit of $80 million is barely (for a company of this size) in the black. More doom and gloom is cast by Motorola itself, which is predicting a difficult first quarter of 2011 that will end with the company losing between 9 and 21 cents per share in net terms. Ah well, let's try to enjoy the sunshine of Moto making money today and forget the rainclouds of tomorrow.
Motorola's new logo: it's red
Been wondering about what impact Motorola's January split into two distinct entities will have on your humble consumption of consumer electronics? Well, after attending Moto's big Christmas do in London, we seem to have uncovered one of the biggies: the Droid maker is switching to a crimson new brand identity from the start of the new year. They won't tell us much more than that, but we can only surmise that the slight chromatic deviation will be in an effort to distinguish between the Mobility arm, which will make all the pocketable things we know and love, and the Solutions group in charge of the less glamorous business hardware. We're sure there'll be some reshuffling of middle management and other structural reorganizations taking place, but we've got the big story right here: the stationery, it is a-changing.
Motorola Mobility's mystery gadget streams video to tablets and phones
Wonder why Motorola's set-top-box business got bundled in with the phones? If we had to guess, it's probably because Motorola Mobility is making a device that will wirelessly join both. Speaking at the Reuters Global Media Summit, company president Daniel Moloney said that Motorola's working on a standalone device that will wirelessly sling video to tablets and phones in the home, and will later be integrated directly into new set-top-boxes the company rolls out. "It's one consumer proposition that will come sooner rather than later," he told the crowd, suggesting that the device would be available through "service providers" rather than sold off the shelf, and that said providers might charge an additional service fee for its use. Here's hoping not. Perhaps Qualcomm finally found a buyer for that FLO TV spectrum, though?
Active Book microchip provides hope for exercising paralyzed limbs
Scientists have been experimenting with muscles and technology to solve both human and robotic mobility issues for years. Now it looks as though a team of researchers from University College London, Freiburg University, and the Tyndall Institute in Cork have made a significant leap forward for paraplegics, thanks to a revolutionary microchip the team has dubbed "Active Book." What's notable about the chip is that it stimulates more muscle groups than existing technology without the need for external connections. This was accomplished via micro-packing and precision laser processing, which allowed tiny electrodes to be cut from platinum foil and rolled into a 3D book shape. These platinum foil "pages" close in around nerve roots, and are micro-welded to a hermetically sealed silicon chip. Once embedded into areas within the spinal canal, the chip can work to stimulate paralyzed muscles, implying patients could even "perform enough movement to carry out controlled exercise such as cycling or rowing." A press release from the Council which sponsored the research says the Active Book will begin trials sometime next year -- we can't wait to see the results.
Behind the Mask: High speed, low drag
It's not like Champions Online is the first MMORPG with travel powers. Back in the ancient days of Ultima Online, we had things like boats and teleporting spells. Getting a mobility boost to get from point A to point B is nothing unique or special. CO has something a little different, though. Travel powers are as much a thing of individual expression as they are a transportation method. Sure, there's something to be said for riding a semi-transparent sparkling blue horse, but when you can wrap yourself in a shroud of blue fire and streak through the skies, it says a little more about your character. There's a reason I think people who still go AFK to ride griffons from zone to zone are chumps. Hopping over buildings to get to your next quest objective or sprinting at ludicrous speed into a group of foes and using the momentum to start up your attacks is the epitome of personal expression. It's all about what you drive, and my ride is Teleportation.
Waging WAR: A healer's survival guide
This week, Waging WAR steps back from all the news and hype of Gamescom and GamesDay and focuses in on the healing archetypes in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. As we all know by now, Greg plays a healer and he's put together a guide for those who kill by mending the wounds of those who kill by bludgeon or blade. In my time in WAR I've learned a thing or two. No, I'm not writing about my extensive knowledge of how various terrains taste (the sand on the beaches of Nordenwatch and the cobbled brick streets of Praag have become favored delicacies). I'm writing about how to be an effective healer in WAR. While I am by no means invincible or infallible, I do consider myself a decent, relatively resilient and capable PvP tank (let's not kid ourselves here -- who needs plate when you can wear robes, right?). I have some advice to share with those who are interested in endgame PvP/RvR healing, or even those who are already there but seek to add an edge to their game. To achieve enlightenment, click the Read More button.
Motorola taps former employee for gig as Mobility prez
Moto didn't stray too far from the gene pool to find someone to fill the Motorola Mobility president's post, tapping Dan Maloney -- a dude served as the president of Moto's Home and Networks Mobility business before his most recent role as CEO of electronic component supplier Technitrol. When he starts clocking in at Motorola next month, he'll be tasked with helping to prep the company for its upcoming split, after which he'll be serving as president of the independent venture right under CEO Sanjay Jha. Not to say anything negative about Technitrol... but sure, we can see how that might be a little more exciting of a gig. Follow the break for Motorola's press release.
