presence
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Ticketmaster fights ticket fraud with 'refreshing' barcodes
Ticketmaster is trying a new way to combat ticket fraud: make the ticket change on its own. It's introducing a SafeTix system that gives ticket buyers a unique, encrypted barcode that refreshes every few seconds. You can't copy the ticket by taking a screenshot or otherwise copying the barcode data. The barcode will continue refreshing if you sell or transfer your ticket -- the recipient just gets a new ticket linked to their account and cellphone.
Why are dinosaurs everywhere in VR?
There's a key scene early in Jurassic Park when the visiting scientists see their first dinosaur in person. Paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) clamber out of their Jeep as they stare at the majestic brachiosaur looming above them. "It's a dinosaur," Grant stammers in disbelief. His reaction matches the audience's: After a lifetime of looking at fossils and picture books, here, in the flesh, is a real, live dinosaur. We'll never experience this ourselves, but virtual reality can convincingly take us face to face with these extinct creatures.
Netatmo's security cam can pick out cars, humans and animals
Netatmo is no stranger to home monitoring cameras, and at this year's CES, the company is taking its efforts outside. The WiFi-connected Presence outdoor security camera has a unique feature: It can distinguish between cars, people and animals. In addition to real-time monitoring, the gadget can also be set up to record only when it detects a person or a car, for example. You'll get a notification to your phone through Netatmo's app, where you can flip on the flood light to deter any would-be intruders.
Group Messaging / Presence to keep your messaging sessions rich
Not sure if you've noticed, but text / video messaging has remained fairly constant while web browsing, multimedia playback and navigation applications have all steadily improved. Thankfully, The Wireless Association and its awesomely named Enhanced Messaging Action Team has a thing or two to say about that. The group has just released its Final Set of Use Cases and Call Flows for the development of Enhanced Messaging solutions, which have reportedly been agreed to by every major US carrier. This provides said carriers with "a complete set of the tools and information" that they can use to develop interoperable Enhanced Messaging products, enabling both Group Messaging and Presence functionality. The former enables "multiple users to interact with text based communication on their mobile devices, as well as support multimedia files in group communications," while the entire Enhanced Messaging platform is said to be "a presence-enabled mobile messaging service that allows for richer real-time text messaging and communications than traditional mobile messaging." Hard to say when any meaningful developments beyond this will occur, but we're clearly just years away from SMS telepathy.[Image courtesy of Cast-Online]
The Death Knight class revealed
Via Gamespy and Worldofwar.net, we finally have a good idea of what rolling a Death Knight will be like. A lot of the rumors seem to have panned out, but others have not. All I know is that at this point, I am full speed ahead to make a Death Knight my new main come WoTLK. There's a lot of meaty info to dig into, so let's get to it after the break.
Nokia and 3 Scandinavia launch 3G Push to Talk trial
3's making big moves in Scandinavia with a little help from the gents at Nokia Siemens Networks and its Push to Talk and Presence solutions. The Push to Talk over Cellular (PoC) trial will start in the Swedish market with, yeap, Nokia PoC handsets. Push to Talk, for those not in the know, lets you use your handset like a walkie-talkie and get in touch with people with the click of a button. Presence services deliver real time updates for your contacts, so if a friend's in a meeting, you'll see his status is away and can choose to get in touch at a later time. Nice to see other places getting in on that joy -- though, judging by the pic attached, they're using it in the same room, rather like a conversation, but more impersonal (wink, wink).
The Availabot hates your mommy
This Availabot prototype, as the name implies, is a presence aware, instant messaging buddy-bot whose physical demeanor is meant to communicate the status of your little Internet friends. The Availabot stands erect when your buddy comes online and then drops to the table in a flaccid heap of despair when s/he goes away. The idea here, of course, is to show status in a "fun" and "physical" way. But unlike the cutsie wutsie Nabaztag, the Availabot can be made to look just like you and your creepy friend(s). Just think, a mini community of angry, exercising Sim dwarves guaranteed to haunt you in your dreams. Great.[Via Pasta & Vinegar]
