Venues
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Oculus Venues will bring Fox Sports boxing events to VR
Oculus Venues has been giving you a way to attend various events, including NBA games and live concerts, from the comfort of your own home since it launched a couple of years ago. Now, Facebook has teamed up with Fox Sports to bring three Premier Boxing Champions matches to virtual reality through the social VR experience for the Oculus Quest. Fox Sports will position cameras ringside so that viewers can get a close look at the action, “which is more important than ever,” the companies’ announcement reads, “as fans currently aren’t able to attend PBC events.”
Orion WiFi will connect you to public WiFi when cell coverage is limited
Orion WiFi will seamlessly connect cellular customers to public WiFi when cell coverage is limited.
Facebook is working on VR 'Venues' for live concerts
Mark Zuckerberg wants virtual reality to be less isolating, so Facebook is working on "Venues." Think of them like VR social spaces where you can meet up with friends to watch concerts like the ones Live Nation is pumping out. Venues make a lot of sense when you consider Facebook's push for live video, sports and putting things like VR streams and 360-degree photos and video into the News Feed. Zuckerberg said that Venues will also play host to movie and TV premieres as well.
Bandsintown concert-discovery app amps up the artist interaction
If you're looking to find a music performance in your local area, you might think about using Google or Eventbrite. If you want a dedicated concert-discovery app with an artist-centric big new update, you might want to give Bandsintown a try. Artists who have registered with the service — including Wiz Kalifa, Lorde, and Green Day — can now send updates to their fans through the app.
Tamriel Infinium: Roleplaying in spite of The Elder Scrolls Online
From the moment I stepped into my first MMORPG ever, I was interested in playing a character, not just some avatar of myself on the screen. I followed the Ultima universe enough to create a believable character in that world, though I didn't play as long as I would have liked. However, my second MMO, Star Wars Galaxies, made roleplay really easy. With a bushel of emotes, character animations, and activities not directly based on combat, Sony's Star Wars MMO solidified my definition of what it meant to play an MMO. Of course, after that, the new MMOs -- with too few exceptions -- stopped lending themselves to quality roleplay thanks to the World of Warcraft design model. The change in scenery didn't stop roleplayers from forming amazing communities. In spite of mechanical issues and linear questlines, the Lord of the Rings Online roleplay community thrives. Rumor has it that WoW's roleplay community actually does something besides dancing on mailboxes in Goldshire. I don't think I have to tell you how difficult it is to roleplay in Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I do it anyway. My friends and I are considering jumping into The Elder Scrolls Online not just to play the game but to attempt to roleplay in it as well. It makes us wonder whether we'll be encouraged by the game to roleplay the way we like to or will have to roleplay in spite of the game.
Live Nation releases free app
Ticket seller Live Nation has released its very own iOS app on the App Store -- you can download it for free there right now. Not only can you browse upcoming events and buy tickets to shows directly from within the app (as well as get news about presales and upcoming deals on tickets), but once you go to a show in person, you can pick up setlist information, see photos and videos and check-in with friends through social networks. Personally, I have kind of an issue with Live Nation, given its rocky past with Clear Channel Communications and Ticketmaster, so I can't really recommend the app just to buy tickets with. The company's never really been generous to customers, to say the least, taking advantage of high ticket fees and the artists that it works with. If there's an alternative way to buy your tickets, either from the venue itself or from the artists involved, it'll probably be cheaper than Live Nation, and better for the industry at large. But they are a huge company with a lot of partnerships going, and quite a few shows nowadays (if not all of the big venue shows) are sold through Live Nation. So if you're planning to buy tickets with them anyway -- and sometimes you don't have a choice -- using the app will give you some nice bonuses.
Ask Engadget: What's the best small camera for getting into venues?
Any avid concert goer will confess -- security can be a royal pain in the arse when trying to sneak your point-and-shoot in for a few Facebook-bound memories. 'Tis a shame a few morons who can't deactivate their flash has to ruin it for everyone else, but rather than ramble on, we'll let Latrell take it from here: "I'm tired of security confiscating my point-and-shoot at concerts. I'm just looking to snap a few good shots without the flash, but it seems they always find my camera on the way in. What's the slimmest, most discrete camera out there that can still muster decent images. I'm not looking to buy a new cellphone with a robust camera, either. Help a man a need, please." We can say from personal experience that we feel this guy's pain, and after you've done your part to make a viable suggestion, you can send in a question of your own to ask at engadget dawt com.
iConcertCal updates with iCal exporting, better listings and more
This must have slipped under our radar back in March, but iConcertCal, the both clever and useful iTunes plug-in that scans your artists to find local concert dates, has updated to v1.2. In addition to "greatly improved" concert listings in both the US and UK, iConcertCal can now export calendars to an iCal format (note: this isn't exactly 'iCal syncing.' Hopefully that's on its way). For those shows that might still slip through iConcertCal's fingers, the plug-in allows you to edit its calendar and add shows you just gotta keep track of.Also on the list of changes is the ability to chose which iTunes library to monitor for artists and show dates, an "easy way" to list shows from artists that aren't in your library and city + date venue info now placed in the header information. Amazingly, iConcertCal is still free and available for both Mac OS X and Windows.
