3d illusion arts: Walyou

Walyou

New Wearable ‘Grasp’ Gives You Your Own, Portable Teacher
Future Android Devices May Come with Waze Pre-Installed
Valve partners with HTC for VR headset Vive
Xiaomi Yi Action Camera Gives GoPro Hero a Run for Its Money
Mad Catz Launches New Gaming and Multimedia Controllers

New Wearable ‘Grasp’ Gives You Your Own, Portable Teacher

Posted: 03 Mar 2015 08:12 AM PST

As more and more wearables are released, one designer creates ‘Grasp’, a wearable that teaches its wearers how to do things.

We need to face it: the wearable revolution is coming and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. Soon everybody will be wearing hi-tech gadgets, from barely noticeable fitness bands to stylish smartwatches to goggles that people strap to their faces either outside of the home or in front of their games consoles. What’s important though, is that wearables aren’t just gimmicks and that they actually improve our lives in some way. Sure, Google Glass may let us take pictures as we’re out and about and it may even provide us with maps, but can’t we already do that stuff with our smartphones?

Looking to be a genuinely useful wearable is Grasp. Created by Akarsch Sanghi, an interaction designer from Copenhagen, Denmark, Grasp aims to help its wearer with physical tasks. Worn like a pirate’s parrot, right on the shoulder, Grasp is a little chunky and more than a bit unsightly but equipped with a camera, a speaker, a microphone and even a laser pointer, it has plenty of benefits.

The idea is, that with Grasp if you’re doing something such as painting a portrait or even cutting up some meat, someone else is able to have a first person view of what you’re doing. This way, they can directly instruct you on what (or what not) to do and aid the task at hand. The speaker allows you to hear instructions, the mic allows you to ask questions or reply to what they’ve told you and the laser pointer can be used to outline what to do when verbal communications just doesn’t cut it.

Sanghi explains that “It is the idea of having a companion looking over your shoulder and instructing you while learning something new irrespective of distance” and so there’s the potential there for teaching without borders. Those who wear Grasp could be on the other side of the world form the teacher and they’d still be able to learn just as well as if the teacher was in person.

Sadly, there’s no word on whether Grasp will be released as a consumer product, or what sort of price it would be, but you can find out more information at the source.

Source: Akarsch Singh

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Future Android Devices May Come with Waze Pre-Installed

Posted: 03 Mar 2015 06:30 AM PST

Mountain View has just authorized Android smartphone and tablet manufacturers to pre-install Waze on the devices they’re making, in order to make the social GPS and traffic app more popular.

Once a remarkable Israeli startup, Waze became the property of Google in 2013, when the tech giant bought it for $1.1 billion. After the purchase, Waze and Google Maps weren’t allowed to play together, and while that doesn’t seem to change in the immediate future, at least the company has included it in Google Mobile Services and gave manufacturer the green light for pre-installing it.

Since it was acquired by Google, Waze has had a couple of low moments, the most recent of them taking place this January, when the US Police claimed that it is a stalking app, and that the company is helping criminals to avoid cops.

“I can think of 100 ways that it could present an officer-safety issue. There’s no control over who use it. So, if you’re a criminal and you want to rob a bank, hypothetically, you use your Waze,” said the executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, Jim Pasco. Waze spokesperson, Julie Mossler, replied that “These relationships keep citizens safe, promote faster emergency response and alleviate traffic congestion.”

At this year’s MWC conference in Barcelona, Mossler emphasized the benefits of offering Waze as a default app on Android devices: “If a leading telecom preinstalls Waze in his handsets, a large percentage of the population would immediately have access to blocked roads, dangerous intersections traffic and more in real time.”

Considering the sorts of bloatware some manufacturers ship with their devices, the addition of a truly useful app will seem like a breath of fresh air to Android users. However, it would be fair to allow uninstalling the app, as not all Android users are drivers and vicecersa.

While this may be great news for drivers who want to get to their destination fast and safe, there will surely be more such reactions from law enforcement agencies from all around the world.

Now that the Android version of Waze has a bright future ahead, it’s time for the Windows Phone app to get some love. On the other hand, iOS users don’t seem to care that much about Waze, as the chances of it coming pre-installed on iPhones and iPads are null.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Waze 3.0, or one of the first stories about the social mapping apps.

Valve partners with HTC for VR headset Vive

Posted: 03 Mar 2015 05:00 AM PST

HTC and Valve have surprised everyone by teaming up for a new, virtual reality headset called Vive.

A virtual reality headset co-designed by the video game giants Valve and the hardware masters at HTC is coming out soon, and it’s name is Vive. The heaset is coming out this spring, and will be featured at the next Game Developers Conference taking place next week, just so we have another event to look forward to after WMC.

Vive is a new headset with two 1200 x 1080 displays capable of 90 frames per second, aimed to “eliminate jitter” and achieving “photorealistic imagery” in HTC’s words. The idea is to achieve a 360-degree view, giving users a “full room-scale” experience. Users will be able to get up, walk around and explore virtual spaces, and even interact with it giving it an augmented reality edge too.

The headset will be made available with some HTC wireless controllers meant to help the users navigate the interface, because just viewing in 3D is not enough for playing games or navigating spaces. Regardless, versatility is the name of the game and what the companies want for this headset is to not have only one use: ” While the Vive will certainly play nice with games, but it’s also about other experiences, including virtual reality through partners like HBO, Lionsgate, and Google.” HTC talked about it at MWC, and their hopes of it becoming a mainstream success for the entire world. they want to make it available for live concerts in real time, learning history or “reliving memories”

We’ll keep you updated once the Game Developers conference takes place and we see more of it, but the Vive might be the next big thing not only for gamers, but for the tech world at large.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at Valve's former economist is now in charge of Greece and Valve Steam Controller Gets Redesigned (Again).

Xiaomi Yi Action Camera Gives GoPro Hero a Run for Its Money

Posted: 03 Mar 2015 04:30 AM PST

China’s largest smartphone vendor couldn’t have missed the mobile world’s greatest conference of the year. At MWC, Xiaomi exhibited its latest creation: the Yi Action Camera.

Now that smartphones manufacturers have learned about Xiaomi’s true potential, it’s time for another industry to fear for its products. Action camera makers such as GoPro represent Xiaomi’s most recent target, and the weapon used for destabilizing this industry seems to have better technical specs on paper, while also carrying a smaller price tag of only 399 CNY (the equivalent of $64). For an extra 100 CNY ($16), Xiaomi will offer a travel version of the camera, which comes with a selfie stick. Various other accessories, such as pet mounts (much in the vein of Sony’s Action Cam pet mount) will be launched at a later point in time.

Xiaomi made a habit from delivering companion Android apps with most of its gadgets, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Yi Action Camera also comes with one. For the time being, the app is only available in Chinese, but an English version should be available, too, in the near future, if not from the company itself, then from the MIUI forum members.

The 16 MP Yi Action Camera is capable of recording video in 1080p at 60 fps, while the $130 GoPro Hero can only handle 1080p at 30fps and 720p at 60fps. That’s not the only part where Xiaomi outshines GoPro, as the Yi Action Camera also comes with 64GB of internal memory, double of what the Hero has to offer. It remains to be seen how the Sony (an Exmor R CMOS) sensor behaves in real life scenarios, and if the image quality is at least as good as of Xiaomi’s competitors, GoPro can really pack their bags and go home, as the game is over.

Word has it that the Yi Action Camera won’t be available outside of Xiaomi’s home country, but in the age of Internet, that’s hardly a problem. Unlike certain smartphone models, which work exclusively in China (that happens when they support only LTE TDD bands instead of FDD-LTE, even though this has hardly been the case with Xiaomi’s devices), the sports camera should work all over the world, as long as there are Chinese online stores willing to ship it there. Granted, it won’t come at its launch price, as these stores have a tendency of adding a premium while also offering free worldwide shipping.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Xiaomi Mi Bluetooth gaming controller, or the Kodak sports and action camera.

Mad Catz Launches New Gaming and Multimedia Controllers

Posted: 02 Mar 2015 12:55 PM PST

Having realized that a lot of gamers nowadays also play on their mobile devices, besides their PCs and consoles, Mad Catz has added to its current product line a couple more controllers that work equally fine with smartphones and smart TVs.

Named S.U.R.F.R. and L.Y.N.X. 3 (Mad Catz seems to love placing dots between letters, even though the names are not actually acronyms), each of the two new controllers was made with different purposes in mind, even though gaming seems to be a common denominator of both.

S.U.R.F.R., as its name suggests, was made for browsing the Internet or for using social media apps on smart TVs. For that purpose, it features a keyboard in the middle and gaming/multimedia controls on the sides. Keep in mind that the S.U.R.F.R. multimedia controller could prove useful even if you don’t own a smart TV, just as long as the device you’ll pair it with features Bluetooth connectivity.

In that regard, S.U.R.F.R. might also prove great when using along an Android set top box, or even an Android mobile device. PCs aren’t a problem, either, but both surfing and gaming are done better with a proper keyboard and mouse. One thing that’s revolutionary about this controller is the unique A B X Y and d-pad configuration. It should be noted that the B, X and Y buttons also double as music playback controls when not used in a game.

L.Y.N.X. 3, on the other hand, was obviously designed with mobile gaming in mind. Using its stand, gamers can attach their Android smartphone to the controller and game away. This product relies on the same Bluetooth connectivity to pair to smartphones and tablets, and just in case gamers want to play on a larger display, L.Y.N.X. 3 can be converted to a more conventional gaming controller, despite its unusual design. Simply put, this device looks as if some mad cats ate parts of its body. Just as in S.U.R.F.R.’s case, L.Y.N.X. 3′s buttons can also be used for controlling media.

You can pre-order S.U.R.F.R. and L.Y.N.X. 3 from the Mad Catz website for $80 and $70, respectively. Assuming that you sign up now, you should receive your order in May, when the manufacturer estimates that these will be ready for shipping.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Xiaomi Mi Bluetooth gaming controller, or the solar Bluetooth 4.0 gaming controller case for the iPhone.