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Twitter and Fox Sports have high hopes for their World Cup live show
With the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia just around the corner, right holders to the event are starting to share more details about their coverage plans. And, to no surprise to anyone, social media will play a major role in that. Fox Sports, FIFA's English-language broadcast partner in the US, is going all out on Twitter this year with a partnership that includes a daily, 30-minute live show from Russia and bringing near-live highlights to the platform. Twitter, which has around 330 million active users, has been ramping up its sports efforts in recent years, and it plans to use the upcoming World Cup to showcase the power (and potential) of its platform. Just yesterday, the company announced a three-year deal with Major League Soccer to stream 24 games per season.
NASA wants to change the way we think about the habitable zone
"There are great possibilities in expanding the habitable zone beyond our traditional blinders on that vision where it's Earth or nothing." That's Cynthia Phillips, a planetary geologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She's currently working on a mission to study Europa, one of Jupiter's icy moons with a subsurface ocean. Jupiter -- and, by association, Europa -- is well outside the "habitable zone," the gauge astronomers have used for years to determine whether a planet can sustain liquid water, a major precursor for life. But in Phillips' view, being outside of this zone doesn't automatically mean the moon or planet is devoid of life. At SXSW, Phillips and a panel of NASA scientists discussed how they're approaching the search for alien life within our own solar system and beyond -- and as it turns out, they're not necessarily looking for another Earth.
Bose sunglasses hands-on: audio AR makes more sense than you think
This week, Bose made a surprise announcement that it was getting into the augmented reality game. But Bose makes headphones, right? And AR is all about glasses with visual overlays? Well, nobody told them, and that's a good thing. The company believes that the classic approach works fine for many things, but it still presents barriers (cost of specific hardware, battery life and so on). Visual distractions also aren't always appropriate, and sometimes all you need is relevant info -- restaurant opening times, points of interest, for example -- whispered in your ear. That's what Bose is offering, and we (me and my colleague Cherlynn Low in the pictures and video above) tried it out for ourselves in downtown Austin at SXSW.
Vimeo turned popular internet films into an art exhibition
It was hard to leave Westworld at SXSW, but it had to be done. Thankfully, the show here in Austin is full of other tech-themed places to check out. One of them is Vimeo's "The Decade," an art exhibition that turns popular internet films into immersive experiences. The company says the space, which is located inside a hostel in downtown ATX, was created to celebrate 10 years of its favorite Staff Picks. There are eight different installations total, with each being inspired by some of Vimeo's best videos from the past decade. The documentary Jim Carrey: I needed Color, for instance, was brought to life with a showcase of Carrey's real artwork and his painting boots -- all while the film was playing in the same room, naturally.
'Ready Player One' VR games show the future is now
Ready Player One imagines the year 2044 as an industrial wasteland where people escape the perils of modern life by strapping on virtual-reality headsets and disappearing into a vast digital playground called the OASIS. The book, written by Ernest Cline, was published in 2011 -- a year before Palmer Luckey and Brendan Iribe founded Oculus VR. Since then, VR has become a staple of the technology and gaming spheres, with dozens of headsets on the market -- everything from cheap, smartphone-powered devices to untethered PC rigs costing upward of $1,000 to run properly. Ready Player One may be set in the near future, but it could have easily taken place in 2018. Nowhere is that more apparent than SXSW's Ready Player One VR event.
Surviving Westworld at SXSW
HBO is making the dreams of Westworld fans come true at SXSW 2018. The company built a replica of the show's Sweetwater town in an undisclosed location in Austin, Texas, and we were there to experience it firsthand. Before I tell you how it went, though, it's worth noting that this wasn't a run-of-the-mill installation. HBO says production for the project started in November of last year, and it took a 40-person crew five weeks to build the sci-fi park. In addition to that, the cast playing Westworld robotic Hosts, had a script that was 444 pages long.
We're live from SXSW 2018!
We have arrived in Austin, Texas for the 2018 edition of SXSW, the festival that showcases some of the best things in the tech (interactive), film and music industries. This year, we'll be taking a look at HBO's Westworld installation here on the ground, which promises to be one of the most exciting events at the show. We'll also attend panels featuring Apple's Eddy Cue and YouTube's CEO Susan Wojcicki, among others, as well cover new gadgets like Bose's audio-focused augmented-reality glasses. You can keep up with all the news from SXSW by bookmarking this page here.
Amazon Prime members can stream 15 Sundance Film Festival titles
Today, Amazon announced that 15 Sundance Film Festival titles are now available for Prime members through Amazon Video Direct. The films include Manifesto, starring Cate Blanchett, and festival award winners Marjorie Prime and Free and Easy.
SXSW's gaming awards celebrate 'Uncharted 4' and indie hits
South by Southwest isn't just about cool tech, movies and music... gaming is a big deal, too. The Austin festival has unveiled its fourth annual gaming award winners, and the top picks definitely reflect SXSW's emphases on storytelling and out-of-the-ordinary concepts. The leader, by far, was Uncharted 4. Naughty Dog's swashbuckling action game took home five prizes, including video game of the year as well as excellence awards for a memorable character, narrative, animation and visuals. It's not surprising, to be honest -- U4 has been an awards darling for months, and its combination of sophisticated characterization with breathtaking vistas was bound to be appealing to SXSW's panel.
Ethan Hawke shot most of his forthcoming biopic with DJI gear
Ethan Hawke's forthcoming biopic, Blaze, sees the actor make the move from center stage to the director's chair. The movie tells the story of the late country and western artist Blaze Foley, and is being filmed in almost entirely with DJI products. That doesn't mean most of the movie is filmed from the air, though. DJI drones are part of the production, but the company's non-flying camera gear, including the Osmo RAW and the Ronin DSLR stabilizer, were used extensively throughout the production. DJI was at SXSW in Austin to talk about its involvement in the film -- all part of its DJI Creative Studio initiative.
The week that was at SXSW 2017
As much as Team Engadget loves Austin, it's time for us to say goodbye to SXSW. This week, we saw some of the latest things happening in tech, art, film and music -- oh, and we also ate a ridiculous amount of BBQ, because that's what you do in Texas. From smart jackets to AR and VR experiences, to chats with Buzz Aldrin, Frank Oz and La La Land's music composer, we checked out a bit of everything at the event. Join Senior Editor Devindra Hardwar and Managing Editor James Trew as they discuss the week that was, and click here to catch up on all the news you may have missed from SXSW 2017.
The Shins made a collage app for band flyers
It's been thirteen years since Garden State propelled The Shins to mainstream success. In that time, the band's lineup has changed entirely, save for James Mercer, its founder and ever-present frontman. Now, Mercer is hoping to use his band's profile to propel another venture into the mainstream. At SXSW 2017, Mercer was in town to promote both his band's new album, Heartworms, and "Pasted," a collage application for iPhone and Android. At a random house in East Austin, Mercer played a short set of Shins songs new and old, and also gave demos of his new app. In an interview with Engadget, he explained why he believes Pasted is a necessary addition to your phone. He'd been searching for an app that could create collages; something that could recreate the "hand-made" look of the flyers he'd created when The Shins first formed in the '90s. "There are a lot of really amazing AI-based apps," he said. "Prisma is fantastic, but the problem is that, if you're somebody that has an artistic bent, you want to be able to hack it and find your thing."
Party Bot decides who's on the guest list, what music to play
While most people in the tech business only roll into Austin once a year for SXSW, a handful of companies choose to call the city home. Fjord (formerly known as Chaotic Moon) is one of them. So, when the festival sets up around them, it uses the week as an opportunity to show of some of its proof-of-concept (and usually fun) ideas.
Intel wants to be a tech 'enabler' for the fashion industry
The line between technology and fashion is blurring. Brands and designers are now using electronics to make cutting-edge wearables and experiences, while companies like Amazon are trying to break into a space that hasn't until now been very welcoming of outsiders. Intel is another tech company that's set its sights on the fashion world, with various smart garments and accessories, including dresses, glasses and bracelets. In an interview at SXSW, Intel Vice President Sandra Lopez said her team's mission is to be an enabler first and foremost rather than trying to become a fashion brand unto itself.
Elektron's Analog Heat upgrades your synth and drum machine
The proliferation of digital modeling of analog synths has lowered the barrier for cash-strapped, would-be musicians hoping to become the next big synth group like S U R V I V E (the band responsible for the Stranger Things theme). Cheaper synths and drum machines are great, but because they don't decay like analog instruments, they also lend themselves to everyone sounding the same. For anyone looking to add more warmth and variety to her sound, Elektron recently started shipping the Analog Heat sound processor.
Moogfest celebrates music and the machines that make it
The synth-heavy Moogfest at SXSW (the main event is in May) is scheduled during the overlap of the festival's Interactive and Music tracks. That makes sense, because it's the perfect combination of music and technology. The pulsing tones of a synthesizer are born of musicians hunched over circuit boards and schematics, soldering and cutting, trying to get a sound that's just right. At the Austin club Cheer Up Charlies, Moogfest (rhymes with vogue) booked not only some amazing bands but also some folks who have taken their love of sine waves and created a business.
Kesha's internet advice: Don't read the comments
Online bullying is a problem for many of us who use the internet, but it's an especially pressing issue for young people. It's a subject pop star Kesha understands well, having been bullied herself and working as an anti-bullying advocate. Here at SXSW Interactive, the musician sat down for a talk about reclaiming the internet, where she delved into her own issues with social networks (and also, unrelatedly, her love of animals).
'La La Land' composer on electronica's key role in the film
Damien Chazelle's La La Land might not have won that Oscar, but it did scoop up the one for Best Original Music Score. The man behind that score is Justin Hurwitz. Anyone who has seen the film will know that the soundtrack is largely divided between vintage Hollywood music and classic jazz -- the style favored by tortured musician Seb (Ryan Gosling). But for all of its antiquity, one of the biggest conflicts of the movie is Seb's struggle with pop success after joining his friend Keith (John Legend) in a band that fuses jazz flavors with modern electronic music. Hurwitz's challenge, then, was not only to score the movie but also to create a musical backdrop to Seb's journey of self-discovery, a journey that ultimately proves to be a crucial fork in the movie's twisting story.
V-Moda's Remix speaker can be customized with 3D-printed parts
V-Moda has been experimenting with 3D printing since 2015, when it started letting customers personalize their XS and Crossfade M-100 headphones with 3D-printed shields. Just in time to kick off the music section of SXSW, the company is now taking this a step further by introducing the Remix, a Bluetooth speaker that's customizable using 3D-printed parts made from different materials. They're sold separately and allow you to modify the speaker's housing, grille and sides, with prices ranging from $40 (fiber) to an insane $370,000 for a platinum version.
SolSol's baseball hat can charge your phone using solar power
Solar technology is still far from becoming ordinary, but we're seeing more and more of it make its way to consumer products. And now that includes hats. SolSol, a startup from Los Angeles, made a baseball cap that has a small solar panel built into its brim. You can use it to charge your smartphone, tablet or any other device that needs to be plugged in via USB. It looks kind of odd to have a cable hanging down from your head, but the hat could come in handy if your gadget's battery is running low and there are no other outlets nearby.
