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The Seagull Pro cleans your pool with a quad-motor system
The Aiper Seagull Pro is a new pool-cleaning robot with a quad-motor system and a $900 price tag.
Luxury resort bans gadgets at swimming pool to create guest 'haven'
Look, as great as it is to have all these fancy laptops and smartphones around us, sometimes we can become too attached to them. And when you're on vacation, you just have to find a way to break free from technology. That's why a luxury resort in Bali, Indonesia is banning electronic devices from one of its swimming pools. With its "In the Moment" campaign, the five-star Ayana Resort & Spa wants to encourage its guests to unplug and fully enjoy their me-time, which it feels can be more easily accomplished if they're not worrying about calls, checking email or what's happening on social media.
Rolls-Royce's new Wraith can silence the jeers of the poor
Music is about youth, vibrancy and rebellion, something that seems at odds with Rolls-Royce, cars that are normally the province of stuffed shirts the world over. Despite this, the company feels that it needs to reach out to music-loving billionaires, which is why it's launching the Rolls-Royce Wraith Inspired By Music edition. Effectively, the existing Wraith has been kitted out with a custom stereo that, it's claimed, will turn your car into "the most exclusive music venue" on the highway. Considering that a base model Wraith can cost in excess of $360,000, we'd say that's a fair claim to make.
Daily iPhone App: Fish Out of Water! makes a gorgeous splash in a shallow pool
Halfbrick Studios is one of the most popular developers on the App Store, so much so that I can guarantee you've played their work before: Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride are their two biggest titles. And now, the Australian developer has released a brand-new iOS game, called Fish Out of Water, available on the App Store now for US$0.99 cents. Jetpack Joyride is one of my favorite iOS games of all time, and one of the main reasons for that is just how polished it is. It just oozes quality, and Fish Out of Water has that same feeling. The game runs perfectly, looks great and just bubbles over with well-crafted art and design work. Unfortunately, Fish Out of Water's weakness is that it's simple, almost too simple to stay interesting for long. Here's the game's core: You throw fish. That's it, really -- the goal is to try and throw fish and earn both "skips" (where your fish tap across the water) and "distance", which you're then rated on by a panel of cartoony crabs. Your rating is placed up against a daily leaderboard for the world and your own league, and that's the game. There are six fish to toss in total, and they each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and the game boasts an excellent weather system that's set to the clock every single day. But even with those complications, this game doesn't change all that much: You just toss fish, as hard as you can, at the right angle. Once you've tossed a fish, you can hit a boost button to try and speed it up at certain times, but in my experience, it doesn't matter much. Even when you rate high or low, the game doesn't do a great job of telling you what you did wrong or right, leaving the whole contest to what basically seems like chance. The game's fun for a few throws, and it does do a solid job of keeping you interested -- you level up by performing various missions, and there are tons of social elements in there, so much so that you're notified as you play on how your friends are doing and whether you're beating them or vice versa. Halfbrick can't really make a bad game, as far as I'm concerned, and Fish Out of Water is good. It's just a little boring, is all -- the company opted for casual here, and they certainly hit that target. Hopefully we'll see something a little more involving, with the same amount of quality, from Halfbrick in the future.
OpenPool transforms billiards with a Kinect camera-controlled light show
Want to know how to make a pool table an attention-grabber on a showroom floor full of highly explosive video games? Try a couple of Kinect cameras, some projectors and a sound system. OpenPool's an open-source project that's looking to bring a little multimedia action to the world of billiards. The company had some reps on the floor of SXSW's Game Expo today, showing off the system, which, at the very least, is most probably unlike any pool game you've played. The system uses two Kinect cameras to detect ball movement, which in turn directs the motion of the projectors -- not entirely unlike those floor shows in malls that seem to endlessly fascinate small children. The speakers play sound effects and music in sync with the movement as well, signaling noises when balls drop into the pockets. The company is really excited at the prospect of open-sourcing here, and told us you should probably be able to set up your own system at home for around $10,000, pool table included. For those who aren't particularly tech-savvy, the Japanese company is working on building full systems for offices and bars. Having Konami as a partner will certainly help it realize that dream. Check out a video of the table in action after the, you know, break.%Gallery-181155%
Polaris' pool-cleaning robots get updated with added intelligence, four-wheel drive
It's been almost exactly a year since Zodiac Pool Systems last expanded its line of Polaris-branded pool-cleaning robots, and it's now back with two more additions that fill out the top and bottom end of its lineup. That includes the company's most advanced robot to date, the $1499 Polaris 9400 Sport (pictured above), which adds four-wheel drive for the first time, as well as the company's new accelerometer-enhanced ActivMotion Sensor technology -- something Polaris says allows the robot to continually sense where it is in the pool and optimize its cleaning action accordingly. The 9100 Sport, on the other hand, gets neither of those new additions, but it'll "only" set you back $799, and will still clean pools up to 40 feet long in about two hours. You can get a closer look at those, as well as the company's existing offerings, at the source link below.
Dual-armed Teutonic robot plays pool, carefully learns to hustle foolish humans
Sure, we've created interactive pool tables and digitally assisted billiards, but isn't it time we completely outsourced our pool-playing to brutally efficient robots? The Germans obviously think so, using this year's International Conference on Robotics and Automation to debut a dual-armed poolbot able to make "easier" shots about 80 percent of the time. Those misses sound a bit like hustling to us, and unlike Willow Garage's friendly PR2 robot, the German version has a suitably intimidating, industrial look. It's also a bit of a cheat, using an overhead camera to plan its shots. For the full lowdown on this shark, check the video after the break.
Pool fans should check out Snooker Club for iPhone and iPad
Future Games of London, makers of the popular Pool Bar - Online Hustle and (my favorite) Hungry Shark games, have just released Snooker Club for iOS. For those of you who don't know, snooker is a pool-like game popular in Commonwealth countries. You play it on a 12-foot table with 22 balls. The person who pots the most balls wins the frame (individual game). The person who wins the most frames wins the game. In most billiards halls, you'll find groups of old men huddled around the snooker table, but FGOL has done away with the geezers and populated the Snooker Club, and you can play as one of seven beautiful women. You can play vs the computer or against a friend using two-player mode. Like Pool Bar before this, Snooker Club features beautiful graphics with fluid camera controls and great ball physics. Best of all, the game is free for a limited time. Snooker Club is a universal app and requires iOS 4.1 or later.
Polaris produces 9300xi Sport poolbot, does your underwater scum sucking for you
Has your cabana boy, Sergio, been shirking his aquatic responsibilities, sipping Mai Tais and tanning instead of skimming leaves? Well, pool possessors, it may be time to fire the laggard and replace him with the new Polaris 9300xi Sport. This newest Polaris poolbot can be programmed to perform its janitorial duties for up to six hours at a time of your choosing, and has a remote control for spot-specific scrubbing. Not only that, it combines water-jet propulsion with wheels that can climb walls and steps to spruce up every nook and cranny of your backyard basin in true Spiderman-style. Of course, such underwater robotic wizardry doesn't come cheap, as the 9300xi has an MSRP of $1499. That makes the iRobot Verro 500 and its $999 price look like a robot bargain by comparison, but it's still cheaper than Sergio, right? %Gallery-120559%
Drive Bender released, offers to fix your WHS Drive Extender woes
When Microsoft indicated it was killing off Drive Extender tech for its upcoming Vail release of Windows Home Server, many WHS fans poured a 40 onto the lid of their MediaSmart servers. In response to all the sodden warranty claims HP decided to kill off the series and, well, things were looking dire. Indeed Drive Extender will not be a part of Windows Home Server 2011, meaning no integrated ability to easily add and remove disks from a single pool of storage -- but leave it to the individuals offer your fix. You can now try Drive Bender, a sort of alternative Drive Extender developed by a company called Division-M and said to work with any flavor of Windows and offer the same sort of disk merging and replicating functionality, but do it in an unofficial way. The beta is now available if you're feeling rather more brave than we. [Thanks, JagsLive]
Inhabitat's Week in Green: trains speed up, paint improves planes, and the CO2-scrubbing artificial trees
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. This week Inhabitat saw high-speed railways pick up steam around the globe as China announced plans to build a trans-continental railroad in South America and Japan began developing the world's fastest high-speed train. We also saw eco transportation reach new heights as a kite-powered car completed an epic 5,000km journey across Australia and researchers developed a nanotech paint that will increase the fuel efficiency of airplanes. The automotive world is also gearing up for the Geneva car show as Toyota is getting set to roll out an all-electric IQ and Porsche pulled back the curtain on its Panamera S Hybrid and Boxster EV. In other news, this week we brought you an exclusive video interview where celebrated environmentalist Stewart Brand argues that nuclear power could save the world. We also explored several other alternative energy sources that are decidedly less controversial - PurposeEnergy is transforming beer brewing waste into a source of clean-burning biofuel, and a design duo has proposed a series of beautiful solar-powered artificial trees that scrub CO2 from the air. Roughly one in every six people do not have access to safe drinking water, so we were excited to learn about a pedal-powered water purification system based on the bicycle that holds great promise for the developing world. Speaking of cleaning up dirty water, this week Stephen Baldwin sued Kevin Costner over the oil-separating technology that cleaned up the BP oil spill. And last but not least, we were wowed by this hydrofloor system, which can save space and energy by concealing a swimming pool beneath your living room floor!
Willow Garage PR2 robot plays pool, gives Fast Eddie a run for his money (video)
We're pretty big fans of Willow Garage, and its generous support of the open source Robot Operating System (ROS). For its latest trick, the company has developed a system to teach its PR3 robot billiards. Unlike projects we've seen in the past, Poolshark doesn't rely on overhead cameras to calculate moves. Rather, it's forced to conform to standard rules: it can only shoot from where the cue ball lay, and it sights shots from the same vantage point as human player would. And, you know what? While not perfect, the robot does pretty well. Not bad for a week's work, eh? Video after the break.
Apple, Dell, and HP comment on suicides as Foxconn CEO shows off the pool
On an 84-degree day (29 C) at a Chinese factory housing some 400,000 workers, at least 2 of them were enjoying the Foxconn swimming pool. We know this because the notoriously secretive Foxconn CEO, Terry Gou, was showing off some of the workers' facilities to the press to assure the world that he was not operating a sweatshop. Foxconn has received a great deal of attention lately after a rash of suicide attempts this year left 2 workers seriously injured and 9 people dead. While these numbers are relatively low compared to World Health Organization data showing a suicide rate of about 14 deaths per 100,000 Chinese, Foxconn contends that there were only one or two suicides a year previously at its Shenzhen factories. Today Gou announced that Foxconn has 70 psychiatrists and 100 voluntary workers trained to help prevent suicide. Great, problem solved. As you probably know, Foxconn is behind the assembly of many major consumer electronics brands including HP, Nokia, Dell, and Apple -- the latter two have come out with statements expressing their respective concern. Apple had this to say: "We are saddened and upset by the recent suicides at Foxconn. We're in direct contact with Foxconn senior management and we believe they are taking this matter very seriously. A team from Apple is independently evaluating the steps they are taking to address these tragic events and we will continue our ongoing inspections of the facilities where our products are made." And Dell this: "We expect our suppliers to employ the same high standards we do in our own facilities. We enforce these standards through a variety of tools, including the Electronics Industry code of conduct, business reviews with suppliers, self-assessments and audits." During today's press event, Tang Wenying, a young Foxconn line supervisor said, "This is a good place to work because they treat us better than many (other) Chinese factories." And that may be the most worrisome aspect of this: Foxconn, by all accounts, provides some of the best conditions for the Chinese workers it employs. What does that say about the anonymous (and thus, invisible) chain of small suppliers and secondary assembly facilities nobody reads about? Update: HP says that it is also investigating "the Foxconn practices that may be associated with these tragic events."
PSP crowns King of Pool this week
Sure, you may already be one of the Hustle Kings on PS3, but isn't it time you sought another billiards-related monarchy on a Sony system? Of course it is. Nordcurrent thinks so, which is why it's releasing King of Pool for PSP over the PlayStation Network this week. King of Pool is a pool game that purports to "implement the whole variety of rules that exist in the world." It features a bunch of real pool modes, as well as weird original tables invented by the team. "Originally they were created by our lead artists just for fun, as a joke," Nordcurrent managing director Alex Bravve said, "but then we've noticed that a lot of people are actually enjoying playing them. So we decided to leave these tables as a feature, rather than an Easter egg." King of Pool will be downloadable April 8 for ten bucks.
Hustle Kings bounces onto PSN this week for $10
PS3-owning billiards fans have something to look forward to this week. This Thursday's PSN update will feature Hustle Kings, a PSN-exclusive game promising "real pool, real physics" and "the real hustle with real balls." With all this talk about being "real," we won't be surprised if this game eventually gets patched with PlayStation Motion Controller support. Sporting the standard $9.99 price tag, the surprisingly good-looking game also includes YouTube support to upload your best shots, in-game XMB music control, and online multiplayer. Check out the trailer after the break.
The indomitable LFG chat channel
The first thing I thought when I saw the new LFG interface coming in patch 3.3 was what I said on last week's podcast: that's cool, but where's the LFG channel? If you remember way back during patch 2.0.1, when Blizzard originally released the LFG system, there was quite a clamor raised when they took away the LFG channel then, so much so that they eventually had to resurrect it. And so, when I saw in the latest patch notes that the LFG was set to return as a citywide channel, it didn't come as a surprise at all -- even in the new era of cross-realm LFG, there's still a place for just talking about which groups you can join. But citywide still isn't enough for a lot of players -- some are saying that they want the channel to be worldwide. Ghostcrawler himself shows up in that thread and says a worldwide LFG channel would be nuts. And he's right: way back in the day when it was worldwide, it was "mass chaos," like a Barrens from everywhere. So why are people so tied to it? Blizzard seems to be missing a major way people used the LFG channel.
Video: Obscura Digital shows off CueLight 'interactive' pool table
The folks at Obscura Digital sure aren't strangers to massive, interactive displays, but they may just have delivered their most impressive but actually (somewhat) attainable rig to date with their new CueLight 'interactive' pool table. Now featured at both the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and Esquire's SoHo "Ultimate Bachelor Pad," the deceptively simple setup uses a projection system and a few sensors to track the balls and display some suitably jaw-dropping effects on any pool table you supply -- 'cause, you know, an actual screen would be a bit tricky. Of course, the "you" in this case is more likely to be a swanky establishment of some sort, but there's nothing stopping you from chiming in and asking for a quote for that games room you're building. Need a little more incentive? Check out the video after the break.[Via Core77]
Caption Contest: Waterproof BlackBerry Storm doubles as flotation device
Following hot on the heels of a similar outing from Samsung, it seems that RIM's finally wading into the oversized novelty smart phone market.Josh T: "Even at that size, the Storm was still difficult to type on."Tim: "HELLO? WHAT? NO I'M IN A SWIMMING POOL. YEAH, IT'S RUBBISH."Darren: "Clickable touchscreen, huh? Riiiiiight."Jacob: "I never thought the Storm could've been such a lifesaver."Laura: "I'm not sure this is what people meant when they said RIM should try to make a BlackBerry that appeals to younger people."Joe: "Looks like it's time to try out that 'rice bowl' trick."Ross: "It's pretty rude of him to sit on those text messages all day." Don: "Gotta watch out for those deep end roaming charges."Nilay: "A U2 backstage pass is not what it used to be."Chris: "Analysts say that the Storm's price is inflated and RIM's touchscreen support is still in its infancy."
iPhone 3GS takes plunge in pool while shooting video... and lives to tell the tale
Now, we're hoping this isn't some elaborate hoax perpetrated on the kind citizens of the internet, because if it's real, it's amazing. Here's the deal: a man capturing video poolside with his iPhone 3GS somehow loses control of the device and ends up dunking the entire phone... while filming. Miraculously, he manages to fish out the handset and it's still rolling. We don't know what the lifespan was / is beyond this clip, but obviously long enough to upload the video or transfer it to a computer. Impressive stuff, though we strongly suggest you don't test this one out on your own. Check out the full video after the break.[Via George Ruiz]
Hustle Kings: A really perdy Pool game for PSN
Rack 'em up ladies and gents because Hustle Kings is heading to a PS3 near you. First showcased at E3 2009, the upcoming pool title is planned to hit the PlayStation Network exclusively this winter. Hustle Kings sports "photo-realistic" graphics, up-to 256 online-player game lobbies, YouTube uploading, Trophies and in-game video chat. Virtual pool sharks will be happy to hear the final product will launch with a plethora of game modes, including 8-Ball, Black-Ball (UK 8-Ball), 9-Ball, Trick-Shots and more. Hustle Kings will also support custom music from the XMB, but we're pretty sure you'll only be able to listen to Rick Ross while you play the game. Selecting any other tracks will cause your PS3 to explode ... probably.
