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Sky VR now available on Google Daydream headsets http://ift.tt/2lkklih Sky has slowly been adding virtual reality content to its Sky VR app, but those Star Wars and David Beckham specials have only been available to viewers with Google Cardboard. Fast forward almost five months and the broadcaster has finally done something about that, today confirming that it's adding support for Google's other VR platform, Daydream, to its apps. It means that if you own one of Google's Daydream View headsets or are keen to invest in one, you'll now have more local content available to stream. Via: Google Blog Source: Sky VR (Play Store) Gadget News via Engadget http://www.engadget.com February 28, 2017 at 02:00AM
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Engadget giveaway - Win a Basslet wearable subwoofer courtesy of Lofelt! http://ift.tt/2lSGxSD Good headphones can usually deliver a bass-rich sound to your ears, but if you're interested in bumping up the visceral enjoyment of your beats, the Basslet can help. This haptic wearable delivers a low-end rumble -- spanning frequencies from 10 to 250 Hz -- to your wrist to enhance your listening experience. A single dongle interfaces with your headphone cable to connect with the Basslet, while two simple controls let you adjust the intensity of the bass. This wearable doesn't deliver audible low end, rather, the LoSound engine inside translates your current jam's bass into a haptic rumble to complement the listening experience. The Basslet provides six or more hours of bass-heavy listening before needing a charge, leaving plenty of time to immerse yourself in a groove. This week, Lofelt has provided us with a trio of Basslets for three lucky readers. All you need to do is head to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning! a Rafflecopter giveaway
Gadget News via Engadget http://www.engadget.com February 28, 2017 at 01:54AM
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The $10 Raspberry Pi Zero W includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth http://ift.tt/2mH8QCs The Raspberry Pi Zero is a serious, not-even-kidding $5 computer you can buy right now and put into all sort of projects, but to get it connected to the internet or wireless peripherals you'll end up spending at least $20 or $30 on cables and dongles. Really, if Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are important to your project, you're probably better off getting a full-sized Pi... until today. Now the Pi Zero W has arrived, and it changes the whole game. The Pi Zero W adds the same 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless chip the Pi 3 Model B has, but in that deliciously small Pi Zero form factor, and for only $5 more. I know it sounds like I'm trying to sell you one of these, but really I'm just regretting my recent purchase of a Pi Zero starter kit, USB hub, Wi-Fi dongle, and Bluetooth dongle. At least my HDMI adapter is still useful! Otherwise the board is the same as the Pi Zero: a single-core 1GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, and plenty of I/O for hacking. You can get a Pi Zero W today if you can find one in stock anywhere, but they're disappearing fast. The good news is the Raspberry Pi Foundation usually, eventually, catches up with demand. Gadget News via The Verge http://ift.tt/oZfQdV February 28, 2017 at 01:46AM Calling augmented reality 'the next major innovation from Apple' UBS raises price target to $1512/28/2017 Calling augmented reality 'the next major innovation from Apple,' UBS raises price target to $151 http://ift.tt/2mAJVkI Expectations are growing that augmented reality could play a key role in Apple's "iPhone 8" and beyond, prompting investment firm UBS to increase its price target for shares of the company on Tuesday. Gadget News via AppleInsider - Frontpage News http://appleinsider.com February 28, 2017 at 01:41AM Simple Launches Shared Accounts to Make Merging Finances Incredibly Easy http://ift.tt/2mB1alZ Simple is already one of our favorite tools for managing your finances. They make it incredibly easy to see how much money you have, set up goals, and budget your expenses. Today, they launched Shared accounts, a new feature that makes it dead simple to split expenses and finances with another person. The feature basically streamlines every issue you have with sharing expenses, whether it’s with your spouse, significant other, or a roommate. Between the two of you, you’ll have three accounts: two separate, individual accounts and a single account you can both use and have access to. From the shared account, you can both deposit money to pay for joint expenses like rent. If you have shared goals, like buying a house together, you can set them up and save for them in the joint account, too. But then let’s say you want to buy a new phone for yourself. You can use your own individual money from your individual account. Many couples already budget this way, but Simple’s interface and budgeting tool make it really easy to do this. It’s also flexible and customizable, so you can use the Shared feature in a way that makes sense for your own situation. For example, you can customize your notifications for transactions within the shared account. This way, when someone pays the rent, you’ll know. Also, if you use a shared account with a roommate, you don’t have to worry about them seeing your individual account transactions—it’s a completely separate account and they won’t have access to it. (The gif below shows how you can switch between accounts.) When you sign up for a shared account with your partner, roommate, or whomever, you’ll both get a debit card for expenses. Unlike every other shared credit or debit card, though, you can actually see who paid for which transactions, even though it’s a shared account. So if your roommate bought something for himself with your shared account, you can call him out on it. Simple is FDIC-insured and your personal information is never sold or shared with anyone. If you already have an account, you can start using Shared via the dropdown menu on your profile. It takes a couple of minutes at most to set up a new account. If you’re new to Simple, you can read our post about them here. They have some useful customer testimonials in this video if you want to learn more, and to get started, just head to the link below. Shared Accounts | Simple Gadget News via Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com February 28, 2017 at 01:40AM
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Ease the Transition to USB-C With a Pair of Great Deals http://ift.tt/2mH8oEo USB-C is taking over the world (it might even be in the next iPhone...what?!), and you can ease the transition with a handful of inexpensive USB-A to USB-C cables, or some ultra-affordable plug adapters. Gadget News via Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com February 28, 2017 at 01:40AM GizmodoThis WSJ iPhone 8 Rumor Is Absolutely Insane | JezebelDid You At Least Remove Your Shoes K2/28/2017
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Gizmodo This WSJ iPhone 8 Rumor Is Absolutely Insane | Jezebel Did You At Least Remove Your Shoes, K http://ift.tt/2m8PmtW Gizmodo This WSJ iPhone 8 Rumor Is Absolutely Insane | Jezebel Did You At Least Remove Your Shoes, Kellyanne? | Deadspin Italy Exploited An Insane Rugby Loophole, Enraging England | The Root Ga. Couple Get Prison for Confederate Racist Terror at Black Child’s Birthday Party | Gadget News via Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com February 28, 2017 at 01:40AM
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NASA buys two more seats to the International Space Station on Russia’s Soyuz rocket http://ift.tt/2lkpHtN NASA has agreed to fly at least two more astronauts on upcoming Russian Soyuz missions to the International Space Station, the space agency announced in a press release. The news comes in the wake of delays to NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, an initiative where two American companies — SpaceX and Boeing — are being paid to create spacecraft that can ferry astronauts to the ISS. Those flights were originally supposed to happen this year, but are now estimated to take place no earlier than 2019. The additional seats are being worked into an existing contract with Boeing, which helps operate the ISS. The agreement extension covers two seats on Soyuz flights this year and next year, and includes options for seats on three Soyuz flights in 2019. Boeing acquired theses seats from Russian aerospace company RSC Energia, and has been trying to sell them to NASA since January. The total cost of all five seats is $373.5 million, or $74.7 million per seat — a touch short of the $81.7 million NASA has been paying Roscosmos. The US hasn’t had the capability to send its own astronauts to space (or bring them back) since the Space Shuttle program was discontinued in 2011. Private US spaceflight companies were growing at a rapid pace then, so NASA decided to fund these companies so they could become a sort of space taxi service for American astronauts. The Commercial Crew Program was intended to give NASA a cheaper alternative to Russia, but the program has been hampered by delays and cost issues. The space agency is also planning to fly astronauts on its own Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) maybe as early as 2019, but that program has also been delayed. In 2015, NASA spent $490 million on six more Soyuz seats as a hedge against the possibility that the SpaceX and Boeing spacecraft wouldn’t be ready in time. Seats on the Soyuz are typically sorted out three years in advance when dealing directly with Roscosmos. (NASA was able to book the two new seats with less time since they had already been accounted for when they were bought by RSC Energia.) It was a prescient move because Boeing delayed — twice — the first crewed flight of its spacecraft, Starliner, in 2016. And SpaceX followed suit at the end of the year, saying in December that the human-rated version of its Dragon spacecraft wouldn’t fly with a crew until at least 2018. Two weeks ago, the Government Accountability Office — a federal agency that performs audits for Congress — released a report that estimated SpaceX and Boeing won’t be ready to fly humans to space until 2019. The GAO cited concerns about a particular defect in SpaceX’s engine turbines, as well as Boeing’s reliance on Russian rocket engines as some of the reasons. NASA addressed the GAO report implicitly in the press release about the contract extension with Russia. “NASA’s Commercial crew transportation providers Boeing and SpaceX have made significant progress toward returning crew launches to the US, but external review groups have recommended an option to protect for delays or problems in certification,” the agency wrote. The contract extension with Russia was actually announced a week ago, and it was first spotted by SpaceNews, which points out the curious nature of how NASA quietly published the news. The agency is currently in a transitional phase as it waits for President Donald Trump to name a new NASA administrator. Robert Lightfoot, who is serving as acting administrator, recently sent a memo to NASA employees explaining his interest in accelerating NASA’s plans for human spaceflight. He asked for NASA and Lockheed Martin, which makes Orion and SLS, to evaluate whether it would be possible to put a crew on the first flight of that spaceship / rocket combination in 2018 instead of 2021. It’s a bold idea for a space agency that is known for caution, but it aligns with what we know the Trump administration wants out of NASA: an increased emphasis on human spaceflight and space exploration in general. “President Trump said in his inaugural address that we will ‘unlock the mysteries of space,’” Lightfoot wrote. “The SLS and Orion missions, coupled with those promised from record levels of private investment in space, will help put NASA and America in a position to unlock those mysteries and to ensure this nation’s world preeminence in exploring the cosmos.” Gadget News via The Verge http://ift.tt/oZfQdV February 28, 2017 at 01:38AM
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Early spring for some Arctic plants is bad news for caribous http://ift.tt/2l8jkP1 Some plant species in Greenland are experiencing early springs amid a changing Arctic. Global warming is throwing off some plants’ “natural” clocks, causing them to bud earlier than in the past, according to a new study. That can have consequences for herbivores, like caribous, that rely on the plants to survive. The study, recently published in the journal Biology Letters, relied on 12 years of observations at a site in West Greenland. The researchers looked for signs of growth in individual plants from early May to late June each year. During that time, Arctic plants rely on warmer temperatures and receding ice to understand when it’s time to wake up from winter and start growing again. The researchers found that some plant species budded earlier than in the past. One grassy sedge species, for instance, now buds 26 days earlier than it did a decade ago. That was a surprising finding. “When we started studying this, I never would have imagined we’d be talking about a 26-day per decade rate of advance,” lead author Eric Post, a polar ecologist in the UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, said in a statement. “That’s almost an entire growing season. That’s an eye-opening rate of change.” The changes were associated with diminishing sea ice cover, which means that the changing Arctic landscape due to global warming is having real effects on the area’s ecology. Not every plant experienced early spring, however. Some plants like a dwarf birch species is budding only five days earlier than it did a decade ago, while the gray willow hasn’t changed at all. The result is that the gap between early bloomers and late bloomers is widening, so there are now longer periods of time when no plants are blooming at all. The consequences can be particularly strong for herbivores in the area that need the plants for nutrition. Previous studies by Post have shown that fewer caribou calves are born and more die early in years when spring plant growth doesn’t match the caribou calving season. “That’s one example of the consequences of this for consumer species like caribou, who have a limited window to build up resources before going into the next winter,” Post said. “With the most recent study, we’re taking a step toward understanding how extensive and cryptic the effects of sea ice loss might be in the Arctic.” Gadget News via The Verge http://ift.tt/oZfQdV February 28, 2017 at 01:38AM
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Ultrasound can make gesture controls on your smartphones actually useful http://ift.tt/2m8Ggxu At trade shows like Mobile World Congress, it’s natural that attention is lavished on the newly unveiled flagship devices soon to hit the market. But, snoop around the booths long enough, and you’ll also find the tech that’s ready to go, but just not yet available to the public. So it is — hopefully — with Elliptic Labs, creators of some of the smoothest smartphone gesture controls I’ve ever seen. Elliptic Labs’ tech is based on ultrasound, which allows the company to monitor movement in a 360-degree dome surrounding your smartphone. It works like sonar — sending out inaudible frequencies from your phone’s speaker, and listening for their return with the microphone. The company’s algorithms time how long each wave takes to return, and then use these times to estimate distance. The result is seamless gesture control that uses hardware already available in every smartphone on the market. Elliptic doesn’t have any consumer products available right now, but was able to show off a handful of demo interactions. In one, a phone is sitting on the table when it gets a call; you reach out to take it and the ringer mutes instantly. In another, you’re watching a video on a phone and go to adjust the volume; ultrasound detects your movement and playback controls appear onscreen before you even touch it. In a third, you take a selfie with a gesture and then zoom in and out to check the picture using just your hand. I found that although each interaction was small, they’re entirely intuitive. Elliptic CEO Laila Danielsen said the company wants to make gesture controls that are as easy to use as possible. Although ultrasound can do granular gesture control of the sort you get with Leap Motion, Danielsen says it’ll only be widely adopted if it requires zero thought. To me, these features certainly fulfill that criteria. Stuff like your phone’s ringer muting before you even pick it up to answer a call isn’t going to make headlines, but it makes life just that little bit easier, without asking anything of you. Danielsen told us Elliptic is currently working with OEMs to integrate its ultrasound tech into devices, and that gestures like these would be showing up in phones “some time in 2017.” There’s some reason to be skeptical about this claim (the company said something similar back in 2015), but ultrasound tech is finally seeing some mainstream adoption. Last year, for example, Xiaomi used Elliptic’s tech to replace the infrared proximity sensor in the Mi Mix handset, allowing the company to eliminate the phone’s top bezel. Let’s hope gesture controls aren’t too far behind. Gadget News via The Verge http://ift.tt/oZfQdV February 28, 2017 at 01:31AM |
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