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Headset Zaps Video Gamers' Brains For Better Reflexes

Colin Lecher — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:45:31 GMT

For when you just HAVE to beat everyone at Call of Duty.

Foc.us is a company that makes headsets for gamers. Those headsets, starting to ship in July, send electricity through your brain. This is their pitch:

Overclock your brain using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to increase the plasticity of your brain. Make your synapses fire faster.

Faster Processor, Faster Graphics, Faster Brain!

If that sounds a little sketchy to you, that's because it probably should.

The excellent NeuroBollocks blog explains how transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) is an interesting idea: sending targeted, low-level electric currents through the brain with TDCS excites certain regions, which could have implications in treating depression and stroke victims. Plug in a patient for 20 minutes, and you could get the effects for up to days at a time. So foc.us is marketing $249 headsets ("Maximum 2 headsets per order.") that claim to "[e]xcite your prefrontal cortex," thus improving your gaming ability. To the company's credit, at least one study suggests hooking up a 9-volt to your skull could improve gaming ability, although that was all done in the lab, under professional supervision.

That's definitely not the only field TDCS is exploring. Brain-zapping for medical (or extra-medical) purposes has been around for years: Giovanni Aldini was using electricity to treat treat patients with personality disorders in the early 19th century. But with the rise of brain scans able to show the results of electricity pumped into the brain, TDCS and related processes like transcranial random noise stimulation are undergoing a boom. TDCS, although still controversial, could be used to improve math skills (or get you high).

Still, NeuroBollocks outlines some of the issues with foc.us's claims:

So – does it work? Possibly… But it almost certainly doesn’t do what the company says it does. For a start, if you want to “get the edge in online gaming” wouldn’t you want to stimulate your motor cortex (at the top of the head) and/or the visual cortex (at the back)? It’s unclear how stimulating the prefrontal cortex (behind the forehead) would give you an advantage in games. In fact, (as this article explains) placement of the electrodes over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is most often used for treatment of depression and chronic pain, so potentially these devices might have more of an effect on mood or emotions than any useful gaming-related functions.

Sure, the process could result in skin lesions, and there's still some debate over what's a safe amount of electricity to juice yourself with, but do you want to beat your friends at video games or not? (Engadget tried out a prototype and noted "a strange, almost burning, sensation.")

And no: according to the foc.us website, the headset isn't FDA-approved: "The focus gamer headset offers no medical benefits, is not a medical device, and is not regulated by the FDA."

Can't we go back to the good old days, like three weeks ago, when people were just shocking themselves to improve video games for fun?

[NeuroBollocks]

The World's Smallest Arcade

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:00:00 GMT

Three games shrunk, digitized, and boozed up to a whole new level

Mini Arcade Machine
In 2006, Mark Slevinsky fixed a Tron arcade game that a friend had left for trash. The work inspired similar gaming projects, ultimately leading him to a nerdy world record this year.

While surfing the Web, Slevinsky saw printed-paper models of arcade machines, each about the size of a Game Boy. Since he had already created an operating system for small microcontroller computers, he wondered: Why not build a functional mini arcade? He started by adapting the software to play classics such as Tetris, Space Invaders, and Breakout. Next, he needed power. Two 1.5-volt AAA batteries could support 13 hours of game play yet lacked the juice to run a tiny, five-volt LED screen. Retail power supply circuits couldn’t handle the voltage conversion—they all blew up—so he eventually made his own.

Slevinsky tucked the components into a wooden case and outfitted it with a joystick and button. He named it the Markade, and Guinness World Records deemed it the smallest device of its kind this year. Slevinsky’s friends typically play five minutes, which he says lasts “a round of each game, or until they develop hand cramps”—on par with old-school arcade consoles.

Time: 6 months
Cost: $90

BattleShots

Bored by beer pong, Kevin Kittle turned Battleship into a booze-infused board game. He built Battleshots’ playing surface out of wood, steel, and acrylic and applied a grid using fluorescent paint that glows under a blacklight. Then Kittle drilled holes in wooden ships to hold neon shot glasses. As in the real game, a player tries to guess the locations of his opponent’s ships. If someone’s vessel takes a hit, he must do a shot. Kittle suggests using tonic-infused concoctions, because quinine glows in ultraviolet light. Sink responsibly.

Time: 2 months
Cost: $175

Tweeting Foosball Table

To build office camaraderie at SinnerSchrader, a Hamburg-based technology company, a team of developers designed a Foosball table that sends scores and standings to the Web in real time. Players log in to a mobile application with their Twitter handles. Photo sensors in the table’s chutes register goals and relay the data to a Wi-Fi–enabled Arduino microcontroller. The device updates players’ Twitter accounts while pushing game stats to their phones. At first, the company worried that publicizing games would discourage play, but two of the project’s developers—Thomas Jacob and Uli Schumacher—say it has created more foosball fanatics than ever before.

Time: 3 months
Cost: $150

Xbox One Is The First Games Console For People Who Don't Like Games

Dan Nosowitz — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:30:38 GMT

At last: a game console that doesn't require gaming.

"PlayStation" is a literal description of what you do with it: it's a station at which you play. Nintendo has released systems with "game" in the name--Game Boy, GameCube. But Xbox doesn't mean much of anything. Originally it stood for, in charming Microsoft fashion, "DirectX Box," as it used the familiar DirectX graphics technology. Now? It's just a box. Who knows what it does?

And that's fitting, because the Xbox One, newly announced today, is barely a games device.

Of course I'm going to get one. But I would have loved to have seen one game I could get excited about. #XboxReveal— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) May 21, 2013

Microsoft spent the first half of the Xbox announcement on non-gaming elements of the system. People tuned in, excited to hear about the first new Xbox in eight years, and Microsoft talked about voice control and motion sensing navigation, the addition of live TV, Skype integration, a new guide that lets you search by show/actor/genre, how to connect your cable box to the new Xbox, and a new TV show from Steven Spielberg. After all that, there were some games, but even the games were tempered with non-game parts; the new version of Madden NFL has a fantasy football integration, the new Halo will have a standalone TV show exclusive to the Xbox.

This is all because the Xbox isn't a games console: it's Microsoft's living room device. This generation, there are only two consoles on the market that cater to hardcore gamers (the Xbox and the PS4). Microsoft already has locked down a fair number of exclusive franchises, and isn't trying to reinvent the gaming wheel, which makes the Xbox unlikely to fail. That means this isn't really a battle; Microsoft doesn't have to beat Sony at all. It'll sell plenty of consoles and games by just cruising. The real game is to get non-gamers to buy Xboxes, and the Xbox One is a ridiculously high-level entertainment device.

* * *

Let's say you don't play games at all. Not your thing! But you are an American, and as such you spend hours and hours a day watching TV and movies. And because it is 2013, and the new season of "Arrested Development" is only available on Netflix, you have to have some kind of way to connect your TV to the internet.

Your options: use a "smart TV," which are usually designed in a way that couldn't be less smart, or get a box. Roku and Apple TV are the two most successful; they are very small boxes that cost around $100 and have apps to watch things.

Or: the Xbox One. The Xbox integrates your existing cable box or, presumably, HD antenna, so you don't have to use multiple remotes or switch between inputs. It has a pretty guide for this input. It has a web browser and Skype, which neither Roku nor Apple TV have. It has more apps than the Apple TV (including HBO Go and Amazon), and integrates with your computer, tablet, or smartphone (provided you're using Microsoft products) better than Roku. It has a crazy-futuristic control scheme; you can turn it on by talking to it, you can navigate by waving your arms, you can yell at it and the thing listens and obeys.

And, of course, if you want to play games, it's good at that, too.

It'll be more expensive than $100--we don't know how much yet, but $350 or $400, with the Kinect, wouldn't be surprising--but you get so much more. It makes existing media devices seem like little toys from some decade past. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find a well-used Xbox One in a house with no games--it's a tremendously capable and forward-thinking gadget even without that element.

Xbox One: Here's What We Know About Microsoft's New Console

Colin Lecher — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:30:00 GMT

Today Microsoft unveiled its next-gen console. Some of the rumors turned out to be spot-on. Others, not so much.

Today, Microsoft unveiled its new console, Xbox One, from its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. There's still going to be news coming out between now and another announcement at E3 in June (which we'll be at), but this is what we saw so far.

TV, TV, TV

This is just barely a gaming console. Microsoft is pitching it as something more like a Living Room Entertainment Box. For about half of today's presentation, no games were even mentioned; instead, Microsoft opted to show the ways Xbox One is integrated with TV. It functions sort of like an amped-up Google TV: it's a command center that hooks up to a cable box and allows you to control what's happening on TV through gestures and voice control. You can switch between TV, games, and a web browser--all through a single system. Say "Xbox on" and the console fires up, then "Switch to TV" or "Switch to internet" and it flips over.

ALWAYS ONLINE

One big, controversial rumor was that the Xbox One would require an internet connection to play any games. That's turned out to be both true and false. Your games are downloaded to the console's hard drive, but certain features in certain games may require an internet connection. It's up to the game-makers to decide if they want to use those.

[Update: According to Kotaku, you will need to connect to the internet at least once a day, even if you're not looking to play a game online.]

But there are apparently some restrictions on used games. The first time you use a game, it gets tied up to your Xbox account. If you want to move that to other accounts, you'll need to pay a fee.

NEW LOOK

This is actually a pretty major departure from the Xbox 360's design at launch. The controller, as predicted, looks fairly similar, but the sleek black console-box is a far cry from the white-and-green 360 we saw before a black version was adopted. That makes sense: after all, if this is something meant to work as more than just a console, it needs to be able to disappear in the living room.

NEW HARDWARE

The Xbox did get a bump in power (obviously): it'll have 8GB of RAM, USB 3.0, a fancy Blu-ray player, and an HDMI in port, but more interesting is probably the overhaul of Kinect. The Xbox's motion-sensitive camera looks like it'll be better at picking up movement, with a 1080p camera replacing the lower-res VGA sensor of the last generation. Microsoft also announced that the gadget would automatically respond to a specific user's voice and movement patterns. In other words, it knows you, and just you. Apparently that new Kinect is a mandatory feature, too.

GAMES

This is last for a reason. For better or worse, Microsoft seems to be backing off the idea of a console devoted only, or even mostly, to games. Even an announcement seemingly about the popular Halo game series ended up being an announcement about a live-action Halo TV series.

There's a racing game (Forza Motorsport 5) and the new Call of Duty: Ghosts (in a promotional video, they made a big deal out of the game featuring a dog, for some reason). There's also a partnership between Microsoft and EA for a slew of sports games, including the next edition of the popular FIFA series. More original franchises, they say, are on the way. We'll probably see more when Microsoft takes to the more game-centric E3 next month for another announcement.

What We Know (And Think We Know) About The New Xbox

Colin Lecher — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:25:43 GMT

Tomorrow, Microsoft will announce the new Xbox. Rumor roundup ahoy.

Tomorrow, Microsoft will announce its long-awaited next-gen Xbox. The rumor mill has been churning for months--years, even--and reports with varying credibility have appeared. Here's what to expect.

A NEW NAME

This is surprisingly up in the air. Unlike the PlayStation 4, which we could at least guess at because of consistent branding until that point, the new Xbox has had a couple names thrown around. At Microsoft, internally, it's been called "Durango," (that's almost certainly just a code name; Microsoft always uses code names for products, which very very rarely ever leave the Microsoft campus) but the leading candidate after a report from the International Business Times UK, crediting unnamed sources, is Xbox Infinity. That's possible. Also thrown around: "Loop," and Xbox 720 (boring).

ALWAYS-ON (POSSIBLY)

Another rumor that's been bouncing around as of late (maybe more than "as of late" at this point): you'll need an internet connection to use the Xbox. As in, if you don't have a way to get on the web, you won't have any use for the new Xbox. Microsoft might use that constraint to seamlessly integrate software updates, but it could be bad news for anyone with a spotty internet connection, or even just an outage. Reasonable or not, the idea was met with ire from most of the gaming community.

Now others are reporting on a leaked memo that apparently stomps on this rumor. Microsoft might've walked the idea back after the negative reaction to a (correct) leak, or they might never have been planning to have a mandatory connection in the first place. Or, heck, it might still be what happens. A connection might also be required for some functions, while not for gaming. Tough to tell at this point.

CHANGES TO THE KINECT

What will likely be mandatory for the new Xbox is Kinect, Microsoft's motion-tracking camera that first came with the Xbox 360. (The leaks seem to be pretty consistent on that front.) It might even be necessary to set up and adjust the camera for the Xbox to start. There's probably been a few adjustments to the Kinect, but it's tough to say exactly what those adjustments might look like. Motion tracking for up to six players, perhaps? Or an increased resolution?

NEW SPECS

Obviously, the games will look prettier. How much prettier? Well, you can check out the spec breakdown here, if you're into that kind of thing. It's been compared to what we saw in the PS4, and we'd venture to guess the PS4 vs. Xbox war won't be won on graphics alone.

Meanwhile, the new Xbox will reportedly include a Blu-ray player. (About time; Microsoft has fought off including a Blu-ray drive for two generations now.) There's also word of it having an HDMI-in port, which would lead to the conclusion that Microsoft is trying to make a console more integrated into your TV: the port could directly connect to your cable box, letting the Xbox overlay information while you're channel surfing. Microsoft has always been more non-gaming-focused than Sony; the Xbox is a stellar entertainment device, as good as any Roku or Apple TV, in addition to a console. So will the next Xbox be the Living Room Console to Sony's Hardcore Gaming Console? Possibly!

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

Pricing is still a little up in the air. An estimate of $500 or $300 with an online subscription has been ballparked, and that's probably as good a guess as any at this point. (It's very possible they won't mention pricing at all during the event, though.) What does seem probable is that it'll be out this holiday season. It's hard to imagine that Microsoft would plan an announcement this close to Sony's announcement and not compete with them in November or December.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE

We may or may not see what the new Xbox looks like at the event: if they did show us, it'd be the perfect opportunity way one-up their rivals after everyone (including us) balked at not seeing the PS4 at Sony's event. But right now, the truth is we don't know all that much about what this console looks like. The gaming blog Kotaku had some leaked info about the controllers: apparently they're almost the same as the current crop of controllers, although those won't work on the new system. Expect minor tweaks there and hope we get a gander at the actual console-box tomorrow.

Drone-Vision Rifle Goes On Sale For $22K

Kelsey D. Atherton — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:00:00 GMT

A special heads-up display lets you tag a target onscreen before firing.

The most inaccurate component of a rifle is the human behind the trigger, but starting Wednesday hunters can turn to drone-inspired vision for a little help. Provided they have $22,000 on hand for a new rifle, that is.

The rifle works by incorporating a ballistics computer, 14-megapixel camera, a Linux-powered scope, and a special heads-up display that lets the shooter tag a target in the system before firing. The augmented aiming system calculates how humidity, air temperature, and barrel incline will affect a shot, and then adjusts the crosshairs on the display accordingly.

Of course, given Moore's Law and interest from other gun manufacturers, expect this not to be a one-off novelty item but instead the shape of things to come.

[NPR]

Internet-Enabled Laser Pointer Lets You Play With Your Pet From Anywhere In The World

Dan Nosowitz — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:31:22 GMT

Petcube helps your cat stay active/frustrated by chasing a laser pointer.

Playing a game of "chase the laser pointer" with a cat is one of the most compelling reasons to get a cat in the first place. But what to do when you go to work, or on a trip? How will you induce hilarious chirping and pouncing then?

Petcube, a little gadget currently in pre-production, couples a Wi-Fi-connected 720p camera with a laser pointer. Through either a website or an app (currently apps are planned for iOS and Android), you can control the laser, or open controls to the public, allowing anyone in the world to play with your pet. The Petcube also has a microphone, which, with the camera, actually makes it a nice way to see what your pet is up to while you're away. (Spoiler: mostly sleeping.)

It's a pretty simple idea, but it seems well thought out; there's also a speaker, so you can yell at your cat, which sounds fun for you and alarming for your cat. The laser is low-intensity, so even if it's beamed directly into your pet's eyes, it won't cause any damage. You can also record especially hilarious/adorable videos and upload them directly to YouTube.

The Petcube isn't finished yet, but you can sign up and be notified when it's ready to purchase. And now, here's a video of big cats playing with laser pointers.

The First Round Of Apps For Google Glass Is Here

Dan Nosowitz — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:35:03 GMT

Our first clue at how people might actually use Google Glass in the real world.

Google announced today at the I/O developer conference in California that the first wave of apps, aside from the few that had already been announced, are here.

Google Glass is a first-generation beta product. The way Google would like you to think of it is like the original iPhone: a totally new platform that won't really come into its own until developers can release apps for it. Remember that the original iPhone could do very little; it had email and maps and text messaging and a camera and a web browser, but it didn't have apps until the iPhone 3G, the second phone in the iPhone line. That was when the App Store launched, and that was when other companies stopped making fun of the iPhone and started copying it.

The first wave of apps includes apps from Evernote, CNN, Facebook, and Elle. Facebook is perhaps the most important; until now, Glass was limited to sharing photos, videos, and notes with Google services like Google+. But now you can upload what you see right to Facebook, and give captions or status updates with voice commands and dictation.

CNN's works a bit more like Google Now, the service that guesses what you want to know before you ask. But instead of telling you when your Amazon package will arrive or when your commuting train will leave, it lets you tell it what kind of information you want and when. So you can tell it to give you stock news in the morning, or sports news at lunchtime, that kind of thing.

We've still yet to really see what Glass can do; Google is relying on developers to turn the platform into something people really want, rather than a novelty. These apps are a nice little start, though nothing too surprising yet.

[via NYTimes]

Google Should Include A Self-Destruct Button On Every Android Phone

Dan Nosowitz — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:02:42 GMT

Today at Google's I/O conference, stock Android seemed like a pricey luxury. Why?

Today at the 2013 Google I/O conference in California, Google announced that the company would begin selling the Samsung Galaxy S4, the newest in the most successful Android phone line on the planet, themselves. When you buy a Galaxy S4 from your wireless carrier or a retail store, it comes with a skin called TouchWiz and a two-year contract. With Google, you'll pay more, but you won't get stuck with either the skin or the contract.

The developers in the audience cheered when Hugo Barra, the head of Android at Google, showed a Galaxy S4 with stock Android. Then the cheers died out, suddenly and awkwardly, when Barra noted the price for this special phone: $649. One person gave a sad whistle. Barra chuckled and changed the subject to the Chromebook.

The audience was excited because stock Android--the version of Android that comes on Google's own Nexus devices, the so-called "pure" Android that is created with no input from any other company--is excellent. Google has spent years hiring some of the best user-interface designers in the business (they've poached several from competing companies) and turning Android into a streamlined and fantastically competent operating system. Hell, they even created their own font (it's called Roboto, and it looks a bit like Helvetica). Stock Android is fast, clean, and simple--the best version of Android you can get.

The other benefit to stock Android is receiving updates quickly. Android is updated frequently, with major new versions arriving about once per year, but the only devices that receive those updates as soon as they're ready are the ones with stock Android. If you're using anything but a Nexus, you're going to have to wait. The update might come in a few weeks, a few months, or it might just...never come.

The Nexus phones aren't that popular; they're sometimes sold exclusively through Google, and they never have the weight of promotion that a flagship Samsung, HTC, or Motorola phone has. According to the Guardian, the Nexus 4--the latest Nexus phone, which we ranked as the best smartphone of 2012--sold a paltry 400,000 units in its first quarter. Samsung shipped (not sold, but still) 6 million Galaxy S4 units in the phone's first 15 days. If you have an Android phone, chances are you're having an inferior experience. Check out our Galaxy S3 review for why--the hardware manufacturers who slap skins and features on their phones are just not as good at this game as Google.

What Google needs is a self-destruct button. A built-in way for any Android device to delete whatever skin it came with and revert to clean, cool stock Android.

* * *

The odd thing about this inability to revert is in the meaning and execution of "open source." Android is open source, which means the hardware manufacturers are free to use it as they see fit, even if that means making it worse. But there's a paradox in that the openness enables a lockdown. Google has been tentative, nervously promoting stock Android as if it's an also-ran and not the default. "It's Google's version of Android," said Barra. But shouldn't that be the base? Shouldn't every other version be a version of that?

BeerSci: A Pint That Fits In Your Pocket

Berne Broudy — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:30:00 GMT

Anywhere beer

Nothing hits the spot after a long hike more than a beer, but lugging a six-pack through the wilderness isn’t as appealing. Brewers have toyed with portable beer concentrates before—by evaporating the water from finished brews. But along with the water go the hops, which impart flavor. Pat Tatera of Pat’s Backcountry Beverages developed a process to brew concentrate instead of beer. With seltzer—the company also sells a $30 carbonator bottle—campers can turn one pouch of it into a pint of full-flavored pale ale.

Tatera’s brewing process starts like that of any ale. He boils water and malt to create wort—unfermented beer—then cools the mixture and adds yeast to ferment it. Instead of finishing the brew there, he builds a concentrate. He vacuum distills the mixture and reserves the ethanol, leaving behind a syrup. Then he starts the process again, adding the syrup instead of water. He ferments again, removes the ethanol, and repeats. In total, he brews each batch four times. He then soaks hops in the reserved alcohol and adds it to the syrup. The final concentrate is 10 times the strength of beer, and with the addition of water, it’s ready to drink. Just add bubbles.

PAT’S BACKCOUNTRY BEVERAGES PALE ALE
Volume: 1.7 ounces per serving
Alcohol By Volume: 5.2 percent
Price: $2.75

This article originally appeared in the May 2013 issue of Popular Science. See the rest of the magazine here.

Would You Give This Company $250 For A Survivalist's E-Ink Android Tablet?

Dan Nosowitz — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:30:04 GMT

Earl is a new kind of tablet--designed specifically for use in the wild.

Android tablets are mostly dull; Asus, Samsung, Sony, and the rest are typically just pumping out versions of the same platform. Earl, from a startup called Sqigle (sic), is quite a bit different: it's designed top to bottom for use in the wild.

To that end, it starts off with an electrophoretic display, an exceedingly low-power technology that's used in the black-and-white ebook readers like the Kindle and Nook. A tablet's screen drains the most battery, by far, so using a low-power screen like this is a great way to extend the battery life. Of course, that means you also get extremely low refresh rates and no color, so you can pretty much forget about watching video on this thing, but as a wilderness guide? That's not nearly as important as battery life.

Touchscreens also work differently with electrophoretic displays; a regular LCD touchscreen uses capacitive technology, which senses the minute electrical charge your finger gives off. Touchscreen electrophoretic displays use infrared sensors, so any contact that breaks the infrared beam triggers a reaction. It's less precise, but it means you can use gloves.

Then it's got an unusual array of sensors, from internal weather sensors (barometer, humidity sensor, thermometer) to FRS, GMRS and MURS radio receivers to talk over long distances to a regular AM/FM radio. It's also "extremified," capable of withstanding dusting, water, and both high and low temperatures. And it's got a solar panel on the back, which typically would be an inefficient way to charge such a power-hungry gadget as a tablet--there's a reason tablets don't all have solar panels on them--but for a lower-power device, it could actually provide enough power. (The company says it'll charge the 3,000mAh battery in five hours, which sounds a little dubious to me.)

I've never tried Android on an electrophoretic device before; those touchscreens tend to be finicky and imprecise, so I'd imagine it could be difficult to use an operating system designed for a different screen technology. But less-complex selection should be fine.

The project is currently being crowdfunded, but in an unusual way; they're not going through Kickstarter or Indiegogo, instead choosing a sort of provisional pre-order strategy. You plunk down $250, and if the project gets funded, you get a tablet. If not, you get refunded. Tyson Fok, the director of strategic programs for the Earl project, tells me that this decision came from a desire for more intricate page designs, which sounds insane to me--the Earl page is not that complicated, Kickstarter's pages look nice, and also who cares--and, more sensibly, that Kickstarter takes a cut of the funding. But I'd be very suspicious to plop down $250 for a startup; the assurance that you won't get screwed is part of the ostensible goal of Kickstarter.

Anyway, check out the project here; funding will go until June 9th, if you're interested.

Oculus Rift Game Simulates What It's Like To Get Your Head Chopped Off. For Fun.

Colin Lecher — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:30:00 GMT

"Character unlocked: Marie Antoinette."

Disunion is a guillotine simulator created in two days by a team of three as part of the Exile Gam Jam, a game create-a-thon in Denmark. With a set of Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles, the condemned player sits in the guillotine, looks around at the crowd, and waits until the blade finally drops. At which point, in this video, the creators gave the players a good chop in the neck as their heads barreled away.

Yes, This Exists: $1,000 Earbuds

Mike Kobrin — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:47:15 GMT

Half-inch earphones that sound as good as over-the-ear cans

For all their convenience, earphones have never matched the quality of over-the-ear headphones (a.k.a. cans). Their compact drivers can’t range from deep bass to high soprano. Companies have tried using multiple, differently tuned drivers, but that can degrade the signal. Instead, designers at Sennheiser built a new, seven-millimeter driver and acoustic housing for the IE 800—the first earphones with over-the-ear sound.

Sennheiser IE 800
Weight: 0.3 ounces
Frequency range: 5 Hz–46,500 kHz
Price: $1,000

Speaker Driver
Rather than use the compact drivers typical of earphones (called balanced armatures), designers shrank a dynamic driver, a larger mechanism found in speakers and cans. Audio transmits through a copper coil, and the coil pushes a diaphragm, which generates sound waves. One driver can produce the entire audio range.

Bass Vents
Rather than use the compact drivers typical of earphones (called balanced armatures), designers shrank a dynamic driver, a larger mechanism found in speakers and cans. Audio transmits through a copper coil, and the coil pushes a diaphragm, which generates sound waves. One driver can produce the entire audio range.

Sound Absorbers
Rather than use the compact drivers typical of earphones (called balanced armatures), designers shrank a dynamic driver, a larger mechanism found in speakers and cans. Audio transmits through a copper coil, and the coil pushes a diaphragm, which generates sound waves. One driver can produce the entire audio range.

Google Glass Isn't A Surveillance Device

Dan Nosowitz — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:00:38 GMT

Fears about Google Glass's surveillance potential are, if not unfounded, at least a little misguided.

A petition created late last week on the White House's very serious petitions site requests that Google Glass be banned nationwide "until clear limitations are placed to prevent indecent public surveillance." The fear articulated in the petition is that a Glass-wearer will be able to record without a subject knowing, even in potentially sensitive places like public bathrooms.

The problem with Google Glass as a potential privacy or security risk is much subtler and smaller than petitioners like this imagine. Google Glass records only what's in roughly the wearer's field of vision. That means that to record someone at a urinal, a voyeur wearing Google Glass would have to stand there and stare at that person, without moving, for the length of the video. Video quality, too, is not stellar; certainly not as good as video taken by your phone. And it's a giant, hugely noticeable pair of spaceman glasses.

That said, it's hard to get too angry at these folks for wanting to at least discuss the issue of surveillance. Google Glass is, I'd argue, a less efficient surveillance device than a smartphone, except for one thing: you don't have to extract it from a pocket or bag. And it is dangerous to take too strong of a position that Google Glass is an innocent device constructed of sci-fi dreams and good intentions; I don't think banning is really the right move, but it's certainly important to talk about.

Is Glass moving us one step closer to constant surveillance? That largely remains to be seen; Glass is a very early platform, sort of like a beta version of the very first iPhone back in 2007. It has no apps, it can do only very basic first-party things, and while it's something very new, we don't really know how it'll be used in the culture at large. Privacy advocates will and should make a stink about it; that's the only way to prevent something scary from happening. Attention from these folks might force Google to adjust; I don't see any reason not to include a blinking red "recording" light, for example.

Privacy advocates will and should make a stink about it.The petition uses the word "indecent" to describe the kind of dastardly surveillance that the government should be banning, which suggests sex or nudity. The greater risk is in something more subtle and less rooted in personal discomfort. Glass, remember, only records what the wearer is looking at. That makes it lousy for peeping toms, but much better for surreptitiously recording conversations, provided the person being recorded doesn't notice the tiny reverse image of him/herself displayed in the little glass cube on the front of the device.

Glass is a much worse way of recording that kind of situation than, say, a traditional wire recorder comprised of a microphone and hidden camera, because it couldn't be less hidden. But if Glass and the wearable computers that follow become mainstream, they'll become inconspicuous. That's what happened to smartphones; in 2006, if you placed a tiny glass and metal rectangle on the table between you and a guest while eating dinner, your conversation would be entirely about that. Now, it's barely rude, and can record voice just as well as any standalone digital voice recorder.

This particular petition has, at the time of writing, four signatures. It needs 99,996 to reach its goal, and, um, it might not. Certainly it's unlikely that the government will federally ban Google Glass. But if it gets Google to see things its way even a little, that'd be a success.

The Goods: June 2013's Hottest Gadgets

Mon, 06 May 2013 19:41:15 GMT

A dozen great ideas in gear

Gallery: June 2013's Hottest Gadgets

Mon, 06 May 2013 19:21:40 GMT

New Device Detects Asbestos In Real-Time, With Lasers And Magnets

Kelsey D. Atherton — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:30:00 GMT

We can all breathe a little easier.

Asbestos is an insidious killer, with a nasty habit of being most deadly when it is least visible. Fortunately, a new device can detect asbestos on site, without a lab test.

Popular in construction because of its fire-retardant properties, asbestos is mostly harmless if left alone. However, friction or other damage can make asbestos-containing products release asbestos fibers into the air, which are tiny, thin, and carcinogenic. Inhaled asbestos fibers increase the risk of lung disease, especially mesothelioma, which is a cancer than can wait as long as 40 years after exposure to strike the lungs and heart, and generally proves fatal within a year of development.

The best way to not get mesothelioma is to avoid asbestos exposure, but that's not always possible for people working in building demolition, repairing ancient car brakes, or doing the dirty job of renovating old, probably-asbestos-containing buildings so they are safe for new occupants. In those instances, it's helpful to find out if there's loose asbestos in the air, and it's best to do so as quick as possible.

At the University of Hertfordshire in England, researchers made a new sensor that can detect asbestos in the air on site, without having to send samples back to a lab for a evaluation, which is expensive and time-consuming. The key to their device? The inherent magnetic nature of asbestos.

The sensor works in three stages. First, you shine a laser on a stream of airborne particles. Light bounces off the particles in complex patterns that help scientists “detect single airborne fibers that are far too small to be seen with the naked eye,” researcher Paul Kaye says. Then you pull the stream of airborne particles through a magnetic field. On the opposite side, you shine lasers through the same air stream. If the fibers align with the magnetic field, they are probably asbestos.

These sensors will likely be on sale in 12 to 18 months, and at an expected price of $800, they should be affordable for construction companies and even some larger-scale residential renovation projects.

[medGadget]

Acer Announces Weird Folding Laptop With The Trackpad In The Wrong Place

Dan Nosowitz — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:28:23 GMT

An easel-inspired hinge turns this singularly weird laptop into a tablet or an all-in-one.

At an event this morning in New York City, Acer announced a slate of new gadgets, some boring (an iPad-Mini-sized Iconia tablet, a small convertible laptop) but one distinctly...odd. The Acer Aspire R7 isn't quite like any other laptop out there.

Windows 8's emphasis on touchscreen navigation has led to a lot of unusual laptop designs, which is exciting; there's Dell's vertically-flipping screen, Lenovo's excellent bend-all-the-way-around Yoga, and now Acer's easel-inspired design. The hinge is actually called "Ezel," which we assume is pronounced like "easel," and works sort of like the old iMac G4, moving up and down and forward and back. The hinge also allows the screen to lay down flat on the keyboard, so the computer looks more like a tablet.

Interestingly, the Aspire R7 has switched the positions of the keyboard (a nice-looking chiclet affair) and the trackpad, so the trackpad actually sits above, closer to the screen. The idea is that you use the trackpad less in a Windows 8 device, because so much of the operating system encourages you to touch the screen instead. Thanks to the hinge, you can bring the screen even closer to you, right over the trackpad, making the laptop look kind of like a jumbo iPad with a keyboard case.

The laptop has the standard specs; 15.6-inch 1080p display, Intel Core i5 processor, 6GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive with a 24GB SSD to load the OS faster, plus HDMI, SD reader, and three USB ports. The laptop looks thin, but we're skeptical about the utility of using a 15.6-inch laptop as a tablet. Even the very thin and light Lenovo Yoga 13 proved kind of heavy and unwieldy to use in "tablet mode," but perhaps you could use it for tabletop demos or something.

No price yet, but it'll be out May 14th as a Best Buy exclusive.

How Game Controllers Evolved [Infographic]

Colin Lecher — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:15:00 GMT

From Tennis For Two to PlayStation 4.

Today's game controllers aren't totally original. There was a long, generational evolution that got them there, as this incredibly comprehensive infographic from Pop Chart Lab shows.

The Famicom controller begat the NES controller which begat the SNES controller which begat the Nintendo DS and eventually 3DS. But half the fun of this infographic isn't just tracing the family tree branches: there are some crazy obscure controllers that get included. Did you know, for example, about the Wu-Tang Clan-themed PlayStation 1 controller? Because that is definitely a thing that existed once (and that gets its own little dead-end branch here).

The infographic groups the controllers by type--"handhelds," "gamepad," "touch"--but it's also neat to look at the infographic as company history. Nintendo has been more experimental with its controllers than most (see the grouping to the left that includes the Power Glove controller down to the first Wii controller and beyond).

A surprise inclusion: The iPod Touch, which undoubtedly changed casual gaming but isn't what you might think of as a "controller." There's also the PlayStation 4 controller we only recently got a look at, and isn't quite on the market yet. Doesn't get much more comprehensive than 1958 to sometime in the near future.

You can purchase a print here.

[Pop Chart Lab via Co.Design]

In A Quest For Immersive Gaming, A Device That Shocks You While You Play

Colin Lecher — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:30:00 GMT

Haha. Now we are having fun! So much fun!

Here's a thing you don't hear often when making a purchase: this product is "medical compliant."

"Here are your skis! They are medical compliant." "This is the iPhone 5. It is medical compliant."

But that is apparently required to explain this idea for a gaming device that shocks your skin into convulsions. Not big ones, mind you: just minor, uncomfortable twitches that give you something to fight against while playing a game. In the video here, a reporter from IDG News Service went to Paris's Computer Human Interaction conference and tried out a flying game where your biggest enemy is apparently your biological reaction to being zapped in the arm. (Ha! Classic fun.)

The idea is to make the game using this system a more immersive experience. For years now, game controllers have used some kind of "rumble" system, where the controller vibrates when the player, say, tumbles down a hill or crashes a car into a wall. This is like that, only with the voltage kicked up.

In the future, when our robot overlords force us into mining the virtual salt mines, they will adapt this technology to keep us in line.

[IT World]

This Full-Color Desktop 3-D Printer Is Beautiful Inside And Out

Colin Lecher — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:00:00 GMT

The ProDesk3D uses a multi-cartridge system to create full-color objects at home.

BotObjects is showing off its newly unveiled ProDesk3D, which they're billing as the first full-color desktop 3-D printer. That's kinda debatable (depends on what you consider "desktop"), but it could certainly be the prettiest 3-D printer out there.

While most desktop 3-D printers print monochromatic objects, the ProDesk3D uses a five-color ink cartridge system that mixes hues to designers' specifications, letting them create a colorful object out of the frequently used plastics that are 3-D printing go-tos: ABS, PVA, and PLA. Software for the printer will be included, and the company is touting ease of use as a major selling point:

Just like normal ink printers, there shouldn't be any complex or tricky set up, the ProDesk3D arrives out-of-box complete. Plug it into the mains, quick auto software download, insert your cartridges in seconds, and load up your 3D design and print it! Our industry leading proprietary Self Calibration Software talks to the ProDesk3D, understanding the composition of your uploaded 3D design, and while it auto-sets the printer, it also self calibrates the printer bed. No more tricky software set up!

Pricing or a release date haven't been announced yet, but BotObjects is taking early inquiries.

[BotObjects via Inhabitat]

The Goods: May 2013's Hottest Gadgets

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:30:00 GMT

A dozen great ideas in gear.

Click here to enter the gallery

This article originally appeared in the May 2013 issue of Popular Science. See the rest of the magazine here.

Gallery: May 2013's Hottest Gadgets

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:30:00 GMT

Silent Velcro, a gyro-stabilized monocular, an adapter that turns your iPhone into a DJ station, and more.

This Real-Life Videogame Health Bar Tracks Your Virtual Demise

Colin Lecher — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:30:03 GMT

Things just got real.

Reddit user bfayer spent more than 100 hours creating this: a test-tube-like, Arduino-based liquid container that's a real-life representation of videogame health. Whenever bfayer is injured in a game, the colorful tube adjusts the amount of water inside, trickling down until... game over.

A fish tank pump automatically removes some of the water when the system, hooked into the game's software, picks up on an in-game injury, and this video makes it all seem pretty darn accurate: the water in the tube is uncannily close to the amount of health shown on screen, and the water level falls almost simultaneously with the virtual health bar. It's pretty, too.

Finally a reason for gamers to be happy about having a game kick the crap out of them.

[Reddit via Kotaku]

Shapeshifting Smartphone Literally Bends To Your Command

Colin Lecher — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:30:00 GMT

Want your phone to crumple up into a wad? There's an app for that.

We've seen ideas for flexible, paper-thin electronics before, but these prototypes for stretchy mobile devices are pretty neat. The prototypes, called Morphees and developed by engineers at the University of Bristol, listen to commands and shapeshift based on users' moment-by-moment needs.

The early examples are pretty basic: get some privacy while typing in a password by having the paper fold up, request a console-like shape for optimal gaming mode, or have the device curl into the world's most expensive stress ball. The inventors envision the device working based on dedicated apps: the same way you go to the App Store to download certain functions, a database would be available where users could download certain folds. You get your stress ball shape by downloading the stress ball app, or your discreet banking shape by downloading the banking app.

We're probably still a while away from seeing one of these on the market, but it's cool to think about a not-so-distant future where our smartphones sit in wallets, sandwiched between business cards.