Tech
Latest
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Tesla D, 'Quake Column' and disaster-proof earth homes
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. We may take them for granted, but blue LEDs were difficult to develop -- it took 27 years to create the first one, and now they're in virtually every LED lightbulb on the market. Now the scientists who invented these energy-saving lights are finally getting their due: the 2014 Nobel Prize in physics. "Their inventions were revolutionary," wrote the Nobel Committee. "Incandescent light bulbs lit the 20th century; the 21st century will be lit by LED lamps."
Research confirms minorities earn significantly less in skilled tech jobs
There's no denying that wage inequality is a terrible thing, and it's not just limited to blue-collar trades. The tech industry's so-called high-skilled positions -- like programmers and developers -- pay minorities much less than their Caucasian colleagues. Sure, the issue is certainly nothing new, but a recent USA Today report details the finer points, with figures from the American Institute for Economic Research. According to that latter outfit's findings, on average Hispanic males earn $16,353 less than white males per year, with Asian males making $8,146 less and black males netting $3,656 less, respectively, in those tech jobs. Of course, women face similar issues in terms of salary, on top of being massively outnumbered when it comes to positions in Silicon Valley. In fact, females in each ethnicity group researched earned less than their male counterparts. While companies are looking to combat the gender gap with mentor programs and more, the inconsistency in earnings is also a huge issue that needs to be tackled for both men and women across a range of ethnicities.
Spielberg is developing a 'Minority Report' TV show, according to reports
According to reports from both The Wrap and Deadline, Steven Spielberg is trying to resurrect Minority Report as a TV series. The original movie was a science-fiction styled thriller set in the near-future - and its ideas on gesture-based interfaces have been referenced ever since. Fast Company even elaborated on seven crime-fighting technologies featured in the movie that had inspired real-life techniques. Other tech referenced in the 2002 movie included e-paper, retina scanners and advertising with facial recognition built-in. Spielberg wants the show to be produced by his company Amblin Entertainment and is looking to hook Godzilla writer Max Borenstein to pen it. Deadline adds that the project remains at the "very early stages of development." And in case you forgot, the movie itself was (pretty loosely) based on a short story by Philip K. Dick. If the TV series does happen, maybe it'll get a novelization -- and the circle will be complete.
Warhammer 40k: Eternal Crusade discusses Razer Comms integration
Warhammer 40k: Eternal Crusade is positioning itself to be a blend of MMO elements with third-person shooter elements, and like its source material that means everyone's trying to shoot everyone else. So you're going to need a way to communicate with other players, and if typing out "please help me shoot these guys" is going to take too much time, you'll need a voice chat solution. The development team behind the game has taken this fact to heart, and rather than forcing players to rely on a third-party solution, it's working on integrating the Razer Comms system into the game directly. This also includes filters to help you fully immerse yourself in the setting, tying the game's normal sound and voice chat together. If that sounds like something you'd like to see in action, take a look at the full announcement for more explanation of the integration and what it offers the players.
Evening Laughs: Every tech commercial...
We live in an age of technological innovation where every year new wonders are introduced that change our everyday lives. Sadly, technology advertising hasn't necessarily kept up with the level of innovation. With just a few simple cliches, you too can write your own tech commercial. The folks over at Funny or Die have created the perfect parody of what we've come to expect in most modern tech commercials. Seriously, wouldn't it be nice if more companies used Pixies songs every once in awhile?
Xbox One's Kinect to use 'time-of-flight' for more exact measurements
A recent Microsoft blog explored the technology behind the Xbox One's Kinect hardware and how "time-of-flight" is expected to be a significant improvement on the Xbox 360's version of Kinect. The tech "emits light signals and then measures how long it takes them to return," which Microsoft said needs to be "accurate to 1/10,000,000,000 of a second." The blog included two videos, the first demonstrating how the Xbox One's Kinect uses time-of-flight to track the 3D orientation of players as well as calculate force exerted by different muscles. The second video, seen after the break, shows off the camera's infrared sensors and ability to pick up movement while players are in the dark. Microsoft's blog described the development process behind the next-gen camera and how assistants from Microsoft Research had to overcome issues such as motion blur. Sunil Acharya, senior director of engineering for Microsoft's Architecture and Silicon Management team, said that "the time-of-flight camera uses global shutter, which has helped reduce motion blur significantly - from 65 milliseconds in the original Kinect to fewer than 14 milliseconds now."
Report: Developers sound off on PS4, Xbox One development progress
Though the PS4 and Xbox One are far from finalized ahead of their retail debut this November, developers have told Edge anonymously that the PS4 is currently in a better state of performance. With launch about two months out, "the hardware isn't locked" yet. These sources claim the PS4 is more capable: The same game, running on both consoles, is at 1080p at 30 fames-per-second on PS4, but runs at a lower resolution and frame rate on Xbox One as of right now. Sony and Microsoft are continuously updating their graphics drivers for each console, which seems to be the point of contention amongst console developers right now. Microsoft "has been late on their drivers and that has been hurting them," another source claimed. The PS4, which has the speedier GDDR5 memory over the Xbox One's DDR 3, also currently yields faster read/write times than its competitor. Last week, Microsoft announced a raised CPU speed for the Xbox One and, in August, the GPU got a bump, but these sources were quick to downplay the improved speeds. "The clock speed update is not significant, it does not change things that much," a developer source told Edge. "Of course, something is better than nothing."
EVE Evolved: Get ready for Odyssey
With just two days to go until EVE Online's exploration-focused Odyssey expansion goes live, players have been scouring the test server for information that can give them an edge. Some have been practicing moon surveying techniques for the upcoming redistribution of tech 2 minerals, and others are hoping to get rich quick by speculating on battleship price changes. Explorers are kitting out new exploration ships, theorycrafters are working on new setups for rebalanced ships, and pirates are setting up base in lowsec areas that are about to become fertile hunting grounds. Odyssey isn't quite the Apocrypha-level expansion I've been hoping for, but it certainly seems set to shake things up. Changes to moon minerals will throw nullsec into chaos and hopefully ignite some big territorial wars, and battleship buffs may change EVE's popular fleet compositions. The Discovery Scanner Overlay will make exploration much easier for new players to get into, but will also give pirates another tool with which to hunt down explorers. A new co-operative hacking minigame will also make exploration more of a team sport. But how can you make the most of the expansion from day one, and what can you do today to prepare for it? In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the new exploration system and other changes you can expect when you log in on Tuesday, and what you can do now to make the most of them.
Age of Conan's May Director's Letter details new content and tech
Crush enemies, see them driven before you, lamentations of their women, yadda yadda. You know the drill. The Age of Conan Game Director's Letter for this month has hit the interwebs, and the topics of discussion are the recent 5th Anniversary event (and the new event system that it utilized), the impending transition to single-server technology, and a number of updates heading to the game soon. The first phase of Age of Conan's switch to single-server tech (which involved moving all of the servers to the same physical location) has been completed, and the AoC team is now "preparing to move towards the new phase," which means merging all same-ruleset servers. Meanwhile, in Hyboria proper, Age of Conan recently held an in-game event to celebrate its fifth anniversary, and this included the introduction of some snazzy new event tech. In a nutshell, the previous system required that the game be patched in order to both begin and end an event, but with the new system, the devs can run and adjust events on the fly. On top of that, AoC players can expect a smattering of new content over the summer, beginning with the new Coils of Ubah Khan dungeon. Later additions will include new Unchained Dungeons, the Palace of Cetriss, and a shiny new tradeskill system. To get all the delicious information straight from the barbarian's mouth (ew), just click on through the link below.
Microsoft announces Surface tablet at Los Angeles event
The Microsoft Big Announcement Speculation Game can finally come to an end, as the company announced a new tablet device called Microsoft Surface this afternoon during a Los Angeles press event. Microsoft calls it the "companion hardware innovation" for Windows 8, an OS that was designed to work on mobile devices specifically.The Surface includes a kickstand built in to the device, as well as an optional cover that contains a touch-typing, super thin keyboard and a multitouch trackpad. Because the device runs a full version of Windows 8, it presumably will run any games that work on that OS, but we'll have to wait and see how those games play. We can also presume that the Surface will work right alongside any other Smart Glass features to be announced for the Xbox later on. We'll have more on Surface in the future, so stay tuned.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: NY Design Week, a hybrid Porsche and recycled sportswear
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. Want a sneak peek into the future of design? This week Inhabitat hit NY Design Week to uncover the best and the brightest in green interior and furniture design. At ICFF we spotted an ethereal series of 3D printed Hyphae lamps and we were wowed by the iTree -- a massive iPod sound system made out of an entire tree trunk! We also saw LED technology take on surprising new forms - like Light and Contrast's tiny flower-shaped lamps and Peteris Zilbers' quirky mood broom lamp (yes, it's shaped like a broom). We'll continue with the New York Design Week coverage throughout next week, so come back to Inhabitat in the coming days for more fresh new design finds, and read on beyond the break for more in the here and now.
Behind the scenes of Quantic Dream's 'Kara' tech demo
Have you thought about just how Quantic Dream pulled off that "Kara" tech demo on the PS3? If your answer, like ours, was that they actually built a female android and taught it how to speak all those languages and sing, then you're wrong. They didn't do that at all. Female androids don't exist in real life. Sigh.No, instead they hired an actress named Valorie Curry (actually three different women -- Curry for acting, one for the German and French, and another to sing) to come in and do motion capture for the part, and refined and developed her performance over a series of about eight months before finally capturing it for the tech demo.You can see the whole process in the video above, and watch the original tech demo below. Yeah, we guess it's cool and all that they put so much care and work into such a quality video -- but not as cool as a real female android. Sigh again.
CodeRunner chases the location-based dream
CodeRunner is quite an app, and I almost don't want to tell you what it is before you try it. In fact, let's not. Just go download it from the App Store and experience it for yourself first. It's US$2.99, but if you've been following location-based iPhone games, you'll find the price worth the experience. Back? Great. Now we can actually talk about how this thing works. CodeRunner is the work of three guys I met at GDC. One of them, Michael Ferraro, has a long history in traditional console game development. Ryan Chapman has a background in server engineering; Jeff Macpherson is perhaps better known as Dr. Tiki from the popular Tiki Bar TV web video series, and an experienced writer and video producer in general. As you can probably tell from their backgrounds, these guys know how to tell an interactive story, and CodeRunner is that story. It's tough to explain here, which is why I hope you've played through the game already. Basically, CodeRunner uses your GPS location and connects it with a real map to put you and your iPhone in the middle of a conspiracy tale complete with spies, puzzles, and all sorts of wild twists and turns. The app is quite ingenious in how it inserts you in the middle of things. The team uses Google Maps to set up real-world locations for you to hunt down in your own neighborhood and very cleverly combines some vague video to convince you that what's happening on your phone is actually happening in the real world around you. "The premise is really important" for the story to work, says Macpherson. "It really sets the tone." This trailer gives a good idea of how the game is set up. It's all very urgent, and Macpherson's background in quick and high-quality video certainly must have helped in the production of all the content that went into this app. Unlike most location-based titles, it's not really social. The game itself (which runs around four to six hours, depending on how fast you move from mission to mission) guides you around the real world and tweaks your expectations of what's actually happening, like telling you there's a radiation leak in a certain area or that the building in front of you is really the secret headquarters of a terrorism cell. The question during production was all about "what can we do that you can't prove isn't happening," jokes Ferraro. While I played the game I thought it would be a good idea to use it as exercise, but the team plays down that angle a little bit. "It's secretly an exercise app," says Chapman. The actual radius of the game is meant for just walking around, so you won't really have to run all over the city to play it. But the game does keep you moving, and if you are a runner, you could definitely run to a new part of town and replay the game there, with new landmarks to explore for missions. Finally, once the main game is done, there are a series of "dead drops" that do encourage the social aspect. Players can hide what are essentially geocaches around the world, and the game will keep track of those and send other players to find them. CodeRunner isn't a geocaching app, per se, but it has its own system of drops for you to find if you want. Still, the "single-player" content means that even if you're not in the middle of a big city you'll still have things to do, even though it might be unlikely you'll find any other local players. So far, the team is still waiting to see how the title does before offering any more updates, but if it's popular enough to justify some, they wouldn't mind putting some more "mission packs" together. Until then, hopefully CodeRunner will get the audience it deserves. It's definitely an interesting experiment for the App Store, and it solves a lot of problems that many location-based titles on the platform have had in the past. I don't know if it quite lands on the idea of location-based gaming that a lot of developers have aimed for before, but CodeRunner is definitely worth a try and does a lot of things right.
ThinkGeek announces 8-bitty wireless controller for iPad, iPhone
It looks like ThinkGeek and Ion Audio were holding out on us when we visited the companies' booth at CES earlier this year. (See update below) In addition to the three new devices already announced for the iCade lineup by Ion (that allows you to use various controls for iOS games across Bluetooth), there's now another one from ThinkGeek only, strangely called the 8-bitty. The 8-bitty is an NES-style (though four buttons, instead of only two) block controller that's completely wireless: Just pair it up with your iOS device and have at it. It's hardly ergonomical, but that's not really the point with this, obviously. There are also two buttons at the top to use as triggers, so this is really an old school controller designed for new-school use. And just like all of Ion and ThinkGeek's other iCade stuff, this will be compatible with any games designed to use it -- all it does is acts as a Bluetooth keyboard, so any games designed to use certain keys to do certain things will be able to use this. Seems like a good idea, and given iCade's success in the past, this one will probably sell just as well. It's supposed to be available "later on this year," and ThinkGeek has listed the 8-bitty at $24.99, so we'll keep a look out and let you know when you can grab one. Update: ThinkGeek's reps email to say that while the other iCade devices are being manufactured in conjunction with Ion Audio, the 8-bitty is not. It's still using the iCade name, but this product is all ThinkGeek. Good to know. [via Engadget]
MacTech announces a full year of events
MacTech has been doing well with its annual Mac IT conference event (which I've attended the past two years here in Los Angeles), and the company recently announced that it is spreading out with some one-day MacTech InDepth events. But this morning, the company revealed that it's going even bigger than that. MacTech will be holding fifteen different events in 2012, all over the US, featuring the annual conference in October and a few more InDepth one-day events. MacTech is also holding a series of Boot Camp events designed specifically for IT engineers supporting smaller businesses and home users. You can see the full schedule below. As you can see, MacTech publisher Neil Ticktin will probably be a very busy guy. Some of the events are clustered around one city; Chicago in July, for example, and New York in April. But this is definitely a much more packed schedule for these MacTech events than we've ever seen before. If you run IT for any businesses or clients that use Macs, odds are there's something good going on near you. Feb 16, MacTech Boot Camp, Phoenix, AZ Mar 7, MacTech Boot Camp, Seattle, WA Mar 28, MacTech InDepth: Lion Server Administration, Austin, TX Apr 18, MacTech Boot Camp, New York, NY Apr 19, MacTech InDepth: Lion Server Administration, New York, NY May 17, MacTech InDepth: Network & WiFi Design & Troubleshooting, Boston, MA May 18, MacTech InDepth: Mobile Device Management, Boston, MA Jun 27, MacTech Boot Camp, Washington, DC Jul 18, MacTech InDepth: Network & WiFi Design & Troubleshooting, Chicago, IL Jul 19, MacTech InDepth: Mobile Device Management, Chicago, IL Aug 7, MacTech Boot Camp, San Diego, CA Sep 5, MacTech Boot Camp, Minneapolis, MN Oct 17-19, MacTech Conference, Los Angeles, CA Nov 7, MacTech InDepth: Network and WiFi Design and Troubleshooting, San Jose, CA Dec 5, MacTech Boot Camp, Miami, FL
MacTech Boot Camp coming up on July 27, tickets still available
Neil Ticktin of MacTech magazine sends word that the upcoming annual MacTech Boot Camp in Los Angeles on July 27 is coming together quickly. Both this camp (which we visited last year to meet and greet some of the biggest names in the Mac community) and the one in Chicago on August 31 have nearly sold through on early bird pricing already, but if you still want in, you can follow this link to get $200 off the registration thanks to sponsor TidBITS and TUAW. Speakers for the LA event include Ric Wilson, Chris Keller, and Peter Linde, so anyone interested in IT and/or consulting for the Mac platform would definitely do well to come by this event and check out the goings-on. Last year was very informational for attendees, and a lot of fun as well. Again, registration is still open for Los Angeles and Chicago, so if you're thinking about coming out, now's the time to sign up. Hopefully we'll see you there!
Concept case would turn your iPhone into a Leica
OK, so yes, this Leica i9 case for the iPhone 4 is still just a concept. You can't actually buy a case yet that fits around your iPhone and turns it into a Leica camera (though you can buy some nice lenses or an audio tape case). But this idea is just too cool to pass up. Outside of the standard retro charm of having a Leica attached to the back of your iPhone, the idea here is that you can use the iPhone's dock port to attach a high-quality premium camera to the back of your high-quality premium smartphone, enabling some really excellent mobile photography. There's probably some technical magic that has to be worked here as well -- I don't know how feasible it is to have the dock hook up to and even control a high quality camera lens like this, especially with that design and size. But heck, if we can get the iCade made into a real product, this is certainly possible, right? [via RazorianFly]
Wasteland Diaries: Glad to be back
It's been a couple of weeks since I was able to visit the Fallen Earth wastelands. My absence wasn't by choice. But now that I'm connected to the internet once again, I can stop wasting my time away playing Minecraft (actually I enjoyed every minute of that!). I also played a little Mount & Blade in between huge construction projects. Still, it's good to be back in my favorite (though not quite so sandboxy) world. And what a glorious time to come back. I came back to Fallen Earth to find a good deal of new content. Unfortunately, the level cap was not raised to ago along with that new content, but it's still new stuff, and that's what matters. To be honest, I had already seen some of it on the PTS, but not everything. One thing I enjoyed about the new stuff is that it's fairly difficult. I died more times than I'm willing to admit. There's enough content to keep a casual player busy for a while, but just like any other PvE content, it will be chewed up and spit out by the PvE crowd and leave everyone asking for more. Hopefully, it will be enough to keep us all interested until the unveiling of Sector 4. After the cut, I'll tell you a little about what I've seen in Terminal Woods.
New video shows off DCUO's tech-based mentors
Not every character in DC Universe Online is granted metahuman powers or magical abilities. Thankfully, for those who started out as average joes that simply want to do good (or evil), there's the technology powerset, which offers a plethora of control options. Currently, there are two technology mentors in DC Universe Online that can help put players' feet on the right path: Batman and The Joker. While we've seen Batman and The Joker revealed long before the game launched, this newest video from SOE features Creative Director Jens Andersen giving us a bit more information about the two origin storylines that players have a chance to experience if they pick one of these two iconic characters as a mentor. So, if you've ever wondered what it might be like to right wrongs or create chaos on the darkened streets of Gotham, check out the shiny new DC Universe Online tech mentor video behind the break.
