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ThermoReal lets you feel heat, cold and even pain in VR and AR
While some companies are trying to make AR and VR more immersive via haptic feedback, one startup decided to focus on the thermal aspects of the experience. TEGway, a spin-off of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, has created a slim, flexible thermo-electric device (or "TED" in short) that can rapidly heat up or cool down, covering a temperature range of 4 to 40 degrees Celsius (39.2 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit). Better yet, it can simultaneously produce both heat and cold in different zones on the same surface, which enables the simulation of a pinch on one's skin to produce pain. Now packaged as ThermoReal, the company is hoping hardware makers will integrate this solution into the likes of joysticks, gloves, haptic suits, chairs and more for a new level of immersiveness.
Tokyo University of Technology's Pinch interface creates ad hoc video walls from mobile devices (video)
Most video walls would be just a tad too large for the average living room, but the Tokyo University of Technology might have a clever technique to make them travel-sized. Its new Pinch interface joins mobile devices (currently iOS hardware) into a single display simply by making the namesake gesture between at least two gadgets: WiFi keeps them in sync and recognizes the relative size and orientation. While we probably wouldn't resort to a wall of iPads in place of a large TV, there's clear practical uses like extra-large creative apps, communication and very local multiplayer games. The best news may be that the university isn't keeping the technology to itself. It wants developers to borrow Pinch for their own apps, which could lead to a legion of smartphones and tablets getting extra-cozy.
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Pinch
Being a giant, beloved video game blog has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we're giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. This week we talk with Paul Crab of Coatsink Games about his new release, Pinch, and why he thinks the puzzle genre is the pinnacle of gaming. How did your company get started? I previously worked as an artist for Atomic Planet Entertainment. When they shut down last year, I applied for other jobs, but, oddly enough, none of them could recognize my genius. At the time, my friend Tom was working for a small-time, unknown company called Blizzard Entertainment. I went to visit him, and you know how it is – a few drinks, some reminiscing and next thing you know, you've decided to start your own games company. The main problem was that we didn't have a programmer. I had a tiny bit of C programming experience from back in University, so I began to re-learn as much as I could, using any online resources and tutorials I could find. The iPod games market was blossoming at the time, so it seemed like a good starting point. By October, we had a game design, business plan, basic prototype and concept video that we showed in a hilariously humiliating pitch to the Institute of Digital Innovation's Digital City Fellowship Scheme. Amazingly, we were accepted, and that helped us to go on to set up our company and develop our game full time. Coatsink Software was born (don't ask about the name, we'll be here all night).
TUAW's Daily App: Pinch
Pinch is an ingenious little game that I'd almost call a puzzle platformer, except that there aren't any actual platforms in it. Instead of navigating a jumping avatar through a series of gates and switches, you navigate little colored orbs, called Norbs, by dragging them around on the multi-touch screen towards a goal at the end of each 2D stage. On the way, you'll put them through their paces by combining or dividing them to match shapes or colors or hitting switches and opening panels to reach the end. The game starts simple -- just drag the Norb to the end of the level -- but quickly develops an awful lot of depth with some extra rules; the puzzles you'll face get mind-bending fast. OpenFeint achievements and leaderboards provide even more of a challenge for those interested. Pinch is Coatsink Software's first game, and it shows a lot of promise; this is a simple but really smart idea that is presented very well. It's US$0.99 in the App Store, and while there is no lite version yet, I'd say take the plunge if you're at all interested. The game's 48 levels offer more than enough enjoyment. Even if the trailer above doesn't give you a good idea of what it's like to drag the Norbs around, just a few minutes with the game will have you figuring out the intriguing concept in no time.
Motorola MILESTONE does what DROIDon't
We've already seen the MILESTONE showing off multitouch capability, something the DROID clearly lacks in the States despite the fact that Android 2.0 rocks kernel support for it -- and now we've got another smoking gun: the official spec sheet. A quick glance at Motorola's tech specs for the Euro-flavored handset lists "pinch and zoom" as an interface feature, so yeah, it looks like this'll be in the shipping firmware. There's speculation out there that Apple was somehow involved in making sure that multitouch "fell" down a flight of stairs before reaching US-bound Android devices, but really, it's anyone's guess what's going on here -- and Moto's official statement isn't helping much: "We work very closely with our carriers and partners to deliver differentiated consumer experiences on our mobile devices. At times, similar devices come to market with different features, depending on the region, carrier preferences and consumer needs." Nor is Google's: "The Android 2.0 framework includes support for multi-touch. As with other platform technologies, such as the text-to-speech engine, carriers and OEMs can choose to implement it." So let the speculation -- and the firmware hacking -- begin. [Via Gearlog, image via mobile-review]
HTC's HD2 continues to impress, reveals multi-touch web browsing
We've seen plenty about HTC's hot HD2, gone hands-on and sized it up next to everyone's most/least favorite smartphone, but there's one thing we haven't seen yet: multi-touch in IE. The video embedded below from Techblog.gr is in a language you may not quite understand, but certainly everyone can grok the snappy UI performance and the pinch zooming demonstrated at the 2:20 mark. It does look a wee bit unresponsive at this point, but HTC still has time to make things perfect before releasing it here -- though to be honest we'd rather just have it now.[Via WMPoweruser.com]
