Ray-Ban Facebook Glasses: Good, Bad, and not quite the AR I got the Ray-Ban Facebook ‘AR’ smart glasses over the weekend. So first off, they are not AR. However, I fully understand when Mark pitches these are a step in that direction. And fair enough, building a system to allow wireless media communications from the glasses to a phone, and setting up a publishing platform… Read More
With consumer AR; function follows form. Consumer AR use cases for Nreal glasses I’m going to start this post with this statement: With consumer AR; function follows form. Now for most of you, you might remember the old design mantra; ‘Form follows function.’ For those that are unfamiliar, it basically implies design what you need first, then the form will follow. As a past Berkeley Architecture student this… Read More
Controllers for mobile VR will become standard. Thanks Daydream! Although Google Cardboard, Samsung GearVR and the numerous copy cats have basically assumed the user will not have a controller, with exception to some GearVR titles that require a gamepad, the basic UI of most VR apps rely on gaze control or the track-pad on seen on the GearVR. And for a first try at… Read More
Daydream vs GearVR There has been a number of posts comparing the Google Daydream VR experience to the Samsung GearVR. I have been using both for a while now and think I can offer a pretty good evaluation. When I first tried the Daydream I had the same response most people had. It was small, attractive and felt… Read More
Samsung Gear VR Internet is out. And here are 10 things that would make it even better So VR Internet, called ‘Samsung Internet’ for some reason, just came out today. It is a Beta so some things we are going to overlook, like youtube not always loading and playing and drift; instead lets focus on the things I think will make it a great 1.0. Before we start, PLEASE SUPPORT .GIFV. If you… Read More
Why the Gear S points to the future of smart watches; beyond Apple’s watch Just to be clear, I still think the Apple watch is the best of a generation, that is, the first smart watch generation. But I’m already looking to the next one and with the Samsung Gear S and LG Urbane, I think I already see it. First the Gear S. I’ve been using it for 2 weeks… Read More
Driverless cabs on NY streets by 2016?? Ehh.. I’m not sure about that Ok, so this article on driver-less cabs just popped up saying NY’s Mayor de Blasio just signed with Google to have them put out a fleet of 5000 driver-less cars in Brooklyn and Queens. They will be called Zippie. Nice. And that is not all; order now and get an ATM machine, vending machine spitting… Read More
The First autodrive car you may try will be a rental As of last week we finally have an in service self driving vehicle on the road, however the vehicle is a big rig. So unless you haul 18-wheelers, you are not going to get your freeway autocruise just yet. However, now that we got trucks on the road, its only a matter of time before… Read More
Remember when I said the first self driving car would be a truck? And what a truck it is! A while back I wrote a post that we would see self driving trucks before we see self driving cars. Well that truck is now officially hitting the road in Nevada, and assuming the pics are of the actual truck that is going to hit the road, its sci-fi-ish. The Inspiration truck features a system… Read More
The Tesla Powerwall will NOT change the world … at least not yet. So Friday Elon Musk finally gave us the full details on the home battery he has been hinting at for the last few months. As expected, it’s basically a smart battery that you can mount on a wall that will smooth out your home or buildings power demand from the grid as well as extend the… Read More
The Gear VR and Lamborghini joint VR video is finally available on Milk. And its great! First seen at the Lamborghini booth at the Geneva Motor Show 2015 in March, Samsung and Lamborghini created a well received 360 video of the Lamborghini driving around. Well I finally got to see it today and its more than just a camera in the car. This video was very well planned out and shots… Read More
Finally did a hands on with Apple watch. Its good… umm. good. Sound less then excited in my title? That is because I was. I have the original Pebble, the Pebble Steel and the original LG. The Apple watch is nicer then all of these, but only just a bit nicer. The screen is a bit nicer, but not much. I liked the round edges of the… Read More
Apple Watch sells out in the first day. Does that close the Apple Watch market from other watch makers? Short answer mostly no. Long answer, there are still watch to be sold to Apple owners, you just have to sell it the right way. Now even though Apple sold out of their first batch of pre-orders, they did not release any numbers to indicate how many that is. Some analysts have predicted the company… Read More
What has Pebble up its sleeve? New hardware? We know new software… but what else? So what does Pebble have up its sleeve.. and targeted for ours.. Based on the announcement it seems pretty clear some new platform upgrades. But that about it. Well, I have my wishlist handy. I have an app for the Pebble called NewsSnacker. Its not complicated but does what I want. Lately I have been… Read More
NBA Video for the Gear VR dropped a few days ago, not the ALL-Star but still.. Not too impressed, but I cannot wait to see an actual game like in the Gear VR. The quality could be a bit better, but still pretty good. The NBA All Star video should be out in a few weeks so we are on standby. REALLY looking forward to it though. There are two videos,… Read More
Head Mounted Displays and Augmented Reality Headgear The idea of immersing ourselves deeper into an augmented and or virtual reality has captivated many of us thanks to sci-fi books like Snow Crash and Rainbows End. It has also created an explosion in growth the past few years of Head Mounted Displays (HMD) and augmented reality glasses projects. AR glasses and HMDs… Read More
Can you catch a Virus from an E-Cigarette? Perhaps you need a USB Condom A computer virus that is, and you can. Seems there is a reported case, on Reddit, of an e-cigarette delivering a payload of malware once plugged into the USB port. A cheap device from China it seems. No shocker there. So what should we learn from this especially given the post I did yesterday on… Read More
SimCity in VR? No, not yet, but that doesnt mean it could not happen With the Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, and Samsung gear VR there are many options for low cost VR. As a long time SimCity mayor, my first thought was, how cool would it be to explore my city in VR! So I waited. Nothing. Why? As you already know, SimCity is full 3D, you can navigate… Read More
What’s Up Down Under? Just what IS up with Down Under? I heard a bit of buzz coming out of Australia regarding their Tech scene. On November 19th, 2014, Australian/ U.S. based xTV (backed by Australian based Applabs, UST Global and Archimedes Labs) announced the commencement of a new Go To Market campaign to help accelerate the adoption of… Read More
I want my XTV! Ok, that was horrible and I should be bludgeon with a heavy brass object, however, once I explain what xTV is, perhaps you will forgive me a little bit. “ok, fine then, what is xTV?” XTV is a internet video service for the enterprise. (IPTV) But it’s not useful to just enterprise users. Imagine you have… Read More