Goodbye Xbox One Mini, it was good while you were a Rumour

August 28, 2015

The Xbox One is a fairly large gaming console. And as Sony had released “mini” PlayStations like the PS Vita, Microsoft it appears will not walk the same path.

Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of Xbox, has posted on twitter, denying any such launch. The launch was supposed to be during October 2015.

So what created the hype for Xbox One Mini?

Well, a Chinese blog, earlier this year had details about a slimmed down version of the Xbox One coming this October.

The blog said it would be about one-third the size of the current Xbox One. The device was also rumored to be quieter and the Blu-Ray player would be removed.

That is, if games were to be played, they had to be downloaded.

This would in turn be favorable to Microsoft, as they would be able to realize their original online-centric vision for Xbox One.

Microsoft had envisioned Xbox One as an all-in-one living room device. It would be the star of your entertainment center and seamlessly blend streaming services like TV along with gaming.

The step would also reduce the price of the bulky beast.

The miniature version would have been a logical and accurate step in that direction. At least the Windows Media Centre fans would have loved the Xbox One mini.

But, alas, it’s now just a concept, even devoid the status of a rumor. We won’t see the device in reality- or would we?

Upon asking Phil Spencer, he replied on twitter with a “not real” statement. This declaration by no means negates the possibility of a redesigned Xbox One.

It’s just a wait and watch game, after all, Xbox 360 took quite a while to get redesigned to our Xbox One.

Meanwhile, Xbox will have some exclusives coming their way this Fall. So while you wait, enjoy titles like Halo 5: Guardians, Forza Motorsport 6 and Rise of the Tomb Raider.

LG introduces world’s first 4K OLED TV in India

Jia Khan

August 26, 2015

LG has introduced the first ever 4K OLED TV in India. LG’s new gadget has been named EF9500 OLED 4K TV and increases LG’s 4K TV offerings for the year to three. The new release include both curved screen and flat-screen OLED TVs.

LG had earlier introduced the LG EG9600 and EG9700 models of Curved OLED 4K TVs while LG EC9300 is a Full HD Curved OLED TV model.

The new LG EF9500 4k OLED TV has been launched in two variants, the 55-inch model that costs $3849 (Rupees 3,84,900 or 769,800 Naira) and the 65-inch model that hangs a price tag of $5799 (Rupees 5,79,900 or 1,159,800 Naira).

This new TV features a transparent water clear screen that lacks holes or nuts even on the back. The 4K OLED TV supports 3D graphics along with Harmin Kardon sound technology. 3D glasses are available provided with the TV.

Howard Lee, Director-Home Entertainment, LG. said

“LG has beaten others in the run of innovation. With this enhanced technology TV, we can assure an ultimate immersive cinematic experience.”

This newly launched TV has WRGB technology inside that powers 33 million color sub-pixels (more than 27 million in available in flat-screen TVs). This helps in sharpening and brightening the colors so as to improve the contrast ratio. The display offers a sleek design at just 5.9mm thickness.

OLED is not yet popular but the marvelous technology at the back end has wowed the world. LG is also working to enhance the technology to make it cost effective, because from the price tags listed above OLED TVs are not for the faint-hearted.

LG said that OLED TV was once considered to be next generation of LED TVs that would rule the world and LG has now made it possible!

The new technology by LG is eye-catching but still prices will have to go down if OLED TVs will stand a chance.

Sony SmartBand 2 will hit the Market with a Heart Rate Monitor

Nitish Singh

August 21, 2015

The Japanese tech firm Sony has just launched the successor of the SmartBand. It will be named the SmartBand 2 and feature wise will be identical to the previous version, but with a heart rate monitor.

Just like the SmartBand, the SmartBand 2 will be a “multi-sensor lifelogger that provides full-scale insights about your fitness, well-being and stress levels”, with features like health tracking and sleep tracking functions.

Sony SmartBand with Heart Rate Monitor

The “smart fitness wearable ” market is also quite crowded. Sony has added a new device to the market, claiming it to be most advanced wearable available.

The senior vice president of Sony Mobile Communications, Kaz Tajima said:

“We set out to create the most advanced wearable at this section of the market – SmartBand 2 has the capability to deliver, and make biometric data meaningful for users within Lifelog.”

The new heart rate monitor is the key upgrade in the SmartBand 2. According to Sony, it will give “meaningful” insights on user’s health and stress level.

Apart from this, the wearable can provide you with an insight about your sleep patterns via its inbuilt automatic sleep detection technology.

While you are asleep your band can also wake you up by gently vibrating if you tell it (set an alarm) to do so.

Sony Smarband 2 also has the usual stuff like notification alerts for missed calls, messages, emails, tweets etc on the paired smartphone.

All notifications will be delivered by means of vibration and pulsing RGB LED lights as the band doesn’t have a display.

Sony has also mentioned the Smartband 2 can operate for up for 2 days, on a single charge and is IP68 certified, implying it is water resistant up to 3-meters.

The Sony SmartBand 2 will be available in 60 countries worldwide. In respect of OS, the band will work on Android 4.4+ and iOS 8.8+.

If you are interested then, estimated availability of the device starts from September and will cost you EUR 119.

The Tesla Model X SUV arrives this September

Nitish Singh

August 6, 2015

The highly anticipated electric SUV from Tesla, the Tesla Model X SUV will arrive this September.

News about the vehicle has been around for some time now, and in a letter to shareholders, Tesla confirmed the long-awaited Model X will ship by fall – specifically during September.

About Tesla new Eco-friendly SUV:

The SUV as stated above will be run by Electricity only and will seat 7 people. The rear doors are articulated and will go up, instead of opening out.

Every Model X model comes in all-wheel drive standard, powered by two independent, digitally controlled electric motors.

Brilliantly functional Falcon Wing rear doors fold up and out of the way to allow easy access to third-row seats.

So if you’re car fanatic, this should make you drool. Owning an Electric SUV whose doors go up like a Delorean. However, according to reports even though the Model X is due in September you may have to wait a while to own one.

If you hop into the waiting list now, you will probably not be able to lay your hands on the steering wheel till 2016.

The price of the Model X hasn’t been disclosed yet, but you have to pay $5000 deposit, just to enroll yourself in the waiting list.

Tesla Model X has been delayed for a long time. The first estimated arrival of Tesla Model X SUV was during the end of 2013.

It then got delayed to Q4 2014 and now it’s September 2015. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla has said that the company is having troubles with the suppliers which is causing the delay.

Again Tesla seems quite Enthusiastic about their Stated release in September, which is quite clear from a letter by Musk:

“As we prepare to launch Model X in September, we are building more validation vehicles, executing final engineering and testing work, enabling our new manufacturing equipment and finalizing arrangements with our suppliers,”
“We have been producing release candidate Model X bodies in our new body shop equipped with more than 500 robots.”

However, not all investors are enthusiastic or excited about the venture. The company’s share has gone through a drop of 6% in just hours of trading after announcing its financial records.

Tesla released second quarter earning Wednesday. The company was $61 million in the red zone compared to previous year’s $148 million.

Graava is a new action camera that does the editing for you

Jia Khan

August 6, 2015

Graava is an action camera which comes with an amazing picture editing capability and can do the editing on its own, one area were it betters the GoPro action camera range .

The Graava action camera is capable of shooting full HD videos at 30 fps (frames per second) with its 8 megapixels lens. It is quite small in size and can easily serve as a security camera.

An additional feature which gives this camera an edge over its competitors is its wireless charging. Built-in 1100mAh battery can give 3 hours of performance for an uninterrupted video recording.

This camera features modest specifications. It can record 1080 pixels video at 30 fps and 720p video at 60 fps. Still shots can be captured with 8MP with wide viewing field of up to 130 degrees.

It also provides extreme slow motion 4K videos, magnifying the minute details without breaking pixels.

The Graava action cam features a hyper lapse mode that automatically compiles the 8MP still shots and convert them to equivalent 4K video.

It combines the best moments and molds them into a single video with multiple effects. Video can also be shared to your favorite social site as Graava software provides you plenty of options.

Graava mobile App can be used to cut or trim different shots and assemble them in a video after selecting the desired length. Timeline editor allows addition of clips or audio to the videos.

This tiny action camera is expected to go on sale in February 2016 for a price of $400.

If you can’t go to Mars – Just go for NASA Curiosity Simulator

Nitish Singh

August 6, 2015

Want to see Terrain of Mars without risking your life? Well, NASA has built two interactive web applications to fulfill your wish. The web applications will let you explore the literal “no man’s land” from the comfort of your hospitable home.

So there are the Two Web Apps in brief details:

The first of the two simulators is Mars Trek.

The simulator will show you the red planet, like Google Earth, Shows you the Blue Planet (by the way, Earth is the Blue Planet!). the Application uses 50 years worth of exploration data and represents it like an interactive 3D globe.

It includes 3D and 2D views and the pictures are very deep. The detailing is so good that NASA is currently using Mars Trek to Trek-out potential landing sites for its 2020 Mars rover.

It has bookmarks to show-off interesting points as per NASA’s previous Missions. The controls of the Mars Trek appears to be right out of a video-game.

Checkout the Mars Curiosity Simulator

And the second simulator is named the Experience Curiosity.

This App is going to give you a little more personal touch as you can literally take control of NASA’s latest Mars rover.

It is essentially a curiosity simulator with manual drive controls, multiple camera view angles and a guided tour. You can control the rover and there are narrated lesson about exploring the Mars terrains.

Both Web Apps are completely free and will support any Web Browser. So if you have regret for not seeing through Columbus’s eyes, then open your browser.

History for the first time has given you the capability to see through the eyes of the pioneers.

Microsoft delivers first cumulative Windows 10 update

Jia Khan

August 6, 2015

Merely one week after its release, Windows 10 receives its first non-security focused updates from Microsoft.

This update package has officially been named KB3081424. Several modifications have been added in the update.

“The update is launched to focus on some non-security fundamentals to enhance the user interface and experience. Windows 10 updates are cumulative. So all the previous errors have been fixed (last update by Microsoft for other operating systems was KB 3074683). If you are done with the previous fixes, then only the new modifications will be made and installed on your system.”

Windows 10 had been generally applauded by the users. Windows 10 owes the accolades to its brilliant eye-catching features. However, very soon, the reviews reverted and users began to point out bugs in the software.

People have different views regarding this update.

Walt Mossberg, a Microsoft lover says,

“Don’t upgrade till all the bugs are fixed”.

Microsoft has not yet mentioned what changes exactly this SR1 makes to Windows 10 but the release is an evidence of Microsoft’s concern about its new operating system.

One may regard it as the first update Windows 10 has received after its launch, but several other updates have also been made during the final phase just before the launch. These updates rolled out for the Insider Preview users that were going through the testing phase.

Microsoft is of the view that these are just cumulative updates and new installations will also encompass the previously missing updates.

Stream God of War 3 on your PS Vita and PlayStation TV

Nitish Singh

August 4, 2015

We all know and love the PlayStation Now game streaming service from Sony. Now get ready to Stream games on PS Vita and PlayStation TV as the service has arrived for the aforementioned micro-consoles.

PlayStation Now’s current availability on PS Vitas and PlayStation TV:

PlayStation Now is a subscription-based service available in the US. It was available for PS3 and PS4 consoles, and the subscription lasted for a year. Last month a beta version of the service arrived for the UK.

Now, PlayStation Now can be to stream titles to Handheld gaming machines. The Subscription is at $19.99 a month, and the user will be given a 7-day free trial.

PlayStation Now has also added 5 more games to its video library, making a total of 125 titles, at your disposal when you get the subscription.

Of the five, the one you’ll most likely want to check out would be God of War 3. But it might just be a miss judgments as you might also like Dynasty Warrior 8, MX vs ATV supercross, Bomberman Ultra and The Last Guy.

So what are you waiting for? Get the subscription and stream the new games on your portable micro-console now.

3D Printing of a Seizure drug approved by the FDA

Nitish Singh

August 4, 2015

fda-3d-print — A product image provided by Aprecia Pharmaceuticals shows Spritam 750 mg, foreground, and 1000 mg tablets. The 3D-printed pills have been approved by the FDA.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the United States has given their nod for the production of SPRITAM, a 3D printed drug for treatment of seizure for people suffering with epilepsy.

SPRITAM and the FDA’s action.

SPRITAM’s one of a kind 3D printed design allows it to be water soluble in a very low quantity of liquid which gets easily mixed in the bloodstream in as little as 10 seconds.

The drug has been approved by the FDA for oral administration and will be used as a prescription adjunctive therapy for the treatment of epilepsy.

SPRITAM will use Aprecia’s “ZipDose” technology, hence allowing it to be created at a premeasured dose which will disintegrate in the mouth with a sip of liquid.

Don Wetherhold, Aprecia’s Chief Executive Officer of Aprecia has revealed in a press release:

“By combining 3DP technology with a highly prescribed epilepsy treatment, SPRITAM is designed to fill a need for patients who struggle with their current medication experience.”

Wedbush security analyst, Tao Levy said:

“3D printing could help companies make products “to the specifications of an individual patient rather than (take a) one-size-fits-all kind of approach”.

Now, in the HealthCare industry, the use of this printers has been around for quite a while.

Dentists use 3D printers to create jaws and teeth. Even dental implants are created using the device.

Orthopedic surgeons find great use for this device, as they can create hip replacements with a specialized 3D printer.

Some British scientists have also made use of the device in replicating cancerous regions of the body. Doing so they can make a solid plan, which helps them in attacking tumors more precisely.

The use of 3D printing in for medicinal purposes is not new.

But it should be noted that this is the first instance that FDA has allowed such a thing. FDA’s step may just pave the way for a new revolution in medicine, where drugs are prepared according to the patients’ needs.

See PR

Stingray – The new game engine from Autodesk

Nitish Singh

August 4, 2015

Last year, Autodesk had purchased the Bitsquid engine. Now, Autodesk has launched Stingray a new game engine built around Bitsquid.

Here’s what Autodesk’s new game engine, Stingray has in store-

According to Engadget the primary goal behind the development of Stingray was creating a game engine for smaller studios which provides customization options without much need of programming.

Along with this, the company wanted Stingray to be well-equipped and offer a good competition to market competitors like Unity engine and Unreal engine 4.

Stingray will also come equipped with features like- post-processing effects, high-performance reflection system, physical shading and more.

Currently, major companies are using game engines like the Unreal 4 or the Unity 5 and it will be difficult for Autodesk to establish their market in these places. Hence, they have chosen to target small to medium sized companies.

The product will provide developers with comfortable scripting tools available via simple drag and drop. But you want complete control, the source code is also at your disposal.

“Between augmented reality, virtual reality and the proliferation of mobile platforms, the games industry is undergoing a major transition, which poses new complexities for both AAA and indie game developers,”

said , Autodesk’s senior vice president of media and entertainment, Chris Bradshaw in a press statement.

“Stingray makes it easy and intuitive for artists with varying skill sets and programming expertise to create the next generation of 3D blockbuster games, entertainment and even architecture.”

he added

Stingray will be supported on mostly all major OSes and – Windows 7, Windows 8, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, the Xbox One and even Oculus Rift DevKit 2.

“We never know what kind of games we’re going to create, and the engine is good for that. It really allows us to just make anything,”

said Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pileated.

“We can make an FPS or an RTS, or a top-down shooter, or a role-playing game, or whatever. It’s not tied to a specific genre.”

The Stingray is quite affordable with a subscription of just $30 a month. Subscriptions will start August 19 and any Autodesk’s Maya LT desktop subscriber will be eligible for access to Stingray.

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