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Google has acquired North, the maker of Focals smart glasses
Google is officially the new owner of North.
North's next-generation smart glasses arrive in 2020
North only made its smart glasses widely available in September, but it's already thinking of the future. The Canadian wearable tech maker has revealed that it's releasing its next-gen eyewear, Focals 2.0, sometime in 2020. It's not saying much about what they'll entail besides showing a teaser image (which doesn't add more). However, it is promising that the new glasses will operate at a "completely different level" -- hyperbole aside, they're supposed to reflect a year of learning how to make and sell these devices.
North's smart glasses are now available across the US
One of the greatest obstacles to buying North's smart glasses has simply been to find them. They've only been available at the company's Brooklyn and Toronto flagship stores as well as its pop-ups, which isn't much help to, well, most people. You might have a much easier time shopping from now on. North has released a Focals Showroom app that makes the eyewear available to people across the US and Canada. The app takes you through a depth scanning-based sizing experience that previously required an in-person visit. If you're happy with the design and make a purchase, you'll get your glasses (plus instructions for final tweaks) in several weeks.
Focals smart glasses put Google Fit data on your face
North's Focals smart glasses can put important data in your eyeline from the gym to the board room. The glasses can sync with Google Fit and Google Slides as a part of recent software updates announced by the company.
Smart glasses maker North reportedly lays off 150
North, the makers of the Focals smart glasses, has laid off a portion of its workforce. The company confirmed the layoffs to Engadget but would not specify how many people lost their jobs. The Verge reported today that the cuts affected 150 employees, which would account for a significant chunk of the more than 400 people who were employed by North.
North chops $400 from the price of its Focals smart glasses
The jury is still out on just how useful the recently-released Focals "smart glasses" are, but if you're the kind of person who's wanted to give head-mounted AR a shot, they at least are now a lot cheaper. Focals creator North just announced a big price cut: the glasses now cost $599, down from the $999 the company was originally asking.
Custom-made smart glasses pick up where Google Glass left off
Earlier this month, Thalmic Labs announced it would be ending the production of Myo, a gesture-controlled armband that it's been developing for the past few years. The company has now changed its name to North and have decided to shift focus to an entirely different project. Today, it's finally ready to reveal what that project is. It's called Focals, a pair of smart glasses that uses holographic display technology.
Peripheral Vision 012: Dave Allen on moving from punk rock to digital advertising
"I'm pretty well known as one of the co-founders of the British post-punk band, Gang of Four," Dave Allen begins. "And then, after a while, I got the web itch." It's a study in contrasts, perhaps, from the bass player of one of the late-70s most seminal political punk bands, to a title like "director, interactive strategy," but Allen is nothing if not eclectic. Over the decades, his passions have taken him from the angular post-punk of Gang of Four to the new wave of Shriekback, through stints with Intel and E-music. And now we're here in 2013, inside North, a Portland brand agency that has imparted on him the aforementioned title. To Allen, however, it's not all that strange, the transition from punk rock to advertising. And at the very least, it adheres to tenets he's held dear all along. "When Gang of Four signed to EMI and Warner Bros. back in the day," he explains, "everyone was trying to say we sold out, but they kind of knew we didn't. We wanted to get our message across to the most people, so where's the best place to go? The big labels. They own distribution, manufacturing and marketing. They own the radio stations. For me, to work in the advertising world, whilst being critical of it - why would you do it outside the walls? Why not try to foment discussion within the very industry that we're all working in?"
Apple building server farm, secret lair in North Carolina
As Mike mentioned in the news roundup yesterday, word is going around that the corporate overlords at Apple are planning to build a massive server farm in the state of North Carolina within the next decade or so. How do we know? Because the company is working on getting a few nice tax breaks to go along with the deal, eventually worth about $46 million if Apple fulfills their end of the agreement. Their end of the agreement being a huge investment of a whopping $1 billion (that's over 333,000 Xserves, if that is indeed what they're installing -- and we bet not) into an economy that could probably use it. What exactly will go in there? We aren't sure -- lawmakers say the investment is worth it, and obviously Apple isn't showing their cards. [Note: the $1B investment figure is not an upfront number, but rather a total investment over the first 9 years of operation. –Ed.] But the facility, once up and running, will start by employing at least 100 people, so that's a nice start. Google has apparently gone through the same deal with North Carolina recently, though their deal was a little smaller: $600 million investment for a server farm that opened last year. More backend for Mobile Me? More power for the App Store or a project like it? A giant building full of Cubes running 24 hours a day? Or something we haven't even dreamt of yet?
Interactive fiction on the iPhone
Before the iPod and the iPhone, there was iFiction-- err, interactive fiction, which is what we now call what I used to know of as "text adventures," those text-based games where you moved "north," "look," and then "pick up phone."But now, interactive fiction has met the iPhone-- spathiwa has created a z-machine interpreter for the iPhone, which means that (once you've jailbroken it), you too can play all the old favorites-- Hitchhiker's Guide and Zork, and even newer (relatively) stuff like So Far. I never even considered the idea of typing "eat analgesic" with the iPhone's text entry, but combining old school gaming with new school gadgetry is always cool.The latest version (.2) even saves games when the iPhone is put to sleep, so now you can play your favorite text adventure till the end where ever you take your iPhone.Thanks, Mark!
Pachinko is really exciting!
Dude, we had no idea pachinko was so cool! We knew Japan was all into it, but we always thought it was some boring gambling thing. Turns out it's all a bunch of big people with huge chest muscles beating the crap out of each other in a post-apocalyptic wasteland! Man, when that guy punched the other guy like a hundred times really fast, that was some awesome pachinko! And then the other guy like exploded into a beam of yellow light! And the cool pachinko music was playing, and it totally got us pumped about pachinko!We know the graphics aren't totally next-gen (look at the cardboard hair), but it must be super tough to render realistic pachinko visuals! We are going to buy Jissen Pachinko/Pachislot Hisshouhou! Sammy's Collection Hokuto no Ken Wii RIGHT. NOW. We're totally ready for some pachinko mayhem! Watch the totally cool pachinko video after the break, and you'll feel the same way! PACHINKOOOOOO![Via Siliconera]
Fist of the North Star Pachinko uses Miis
We brought you the story that an EA producer was not given access to Mii code for My Sims, and that according to him, no third parties were. The situation seems to have changed, because Sega Sammy is using the little guys and gals in its Jissen Pachinko/Pachislot Hisshouhou! Sammy's Collection Hokuto no Ken Wii. It's not the most exciting implementation of Miis, with no Fist of the North Star-style makeovers or actual in-game avatars-- in fact, it consists mainly of a Mii portrait tied to a character profile.The game uses Nintendo Wi-fi as well, but for online rankings, which hardly counts as online play. We aren't ready to call that an implementation of third-party online play yet.Coming from a licensed pachinko game, proof that it is possible for third parties to use Miis. Sega does what E ... Ain't?
Finally, a pachinko game for the Wii
We might sound sarcastic, but we're happy to see different kinds of games come to the Wii. This latest title from Sega Sammy is a collection of pachinko and pachislot (pachinko plus slot machine) simulations, called (deep breath!) Jissen Pachinko/Pachislot Hisshouhou! Sammy's Collection Hokuto no Ken Wii (Fighting Pachinko/Pachislot Victory Way! Sammy's Collection Fist of the North Star Wii). It's based on the same popular Sega Sammy pachinko games that have been released on the DS, PS2, and PSP, and contains a bundle of pachinko and pachislot boards. And, of course, it carries the license of the classic, brutal Fist of the North Star manga and anime series.This one is interesting for the same reason a lot of Wii games are: Wiimote controls. Apparently, you can use the Wiimote steering-wheel style to control the speed of the dropping balls. We admire the novel Wiimote use! It also has online ranking, in case competition motivates your pachinko-playing.Jissen Pachinko/Pachislot Hisshouhou! Sammy's Collection Hokuto no Ken Wii (Fighting Pachinko/Pachislot Victory Way! Sammy's Collection Fist of the North Star Wii) comes out on May 24th in Japan, and probably never anywhere else. Any pachinko fans here? Do any of you import these kinds of things?
