There’s no denying that 360 video is wonderful, immersive and, in some cases, almost exhilarating . But YouTube isn’t content: Apparently it’s building capabilities that will allow it to stream 360-degree video live. Read more…
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YouTube Said To Be Working to Stream Live 360 Video
Sam Machkovech Say hello to the HTC Vive Pre—the near-final version of the VR system. The headset comes complete with two tracking wands and two laser-tracking stations. 12 more images in gallery SEATTLE, Washington—Valve and HTC took the wraps off of their latest, near-final version of the Vive virtual reality system at this month’s CES, but we barely got a chance to play with the refreshed headset. That changed on Wednesday thanks to an event hosted in Valve’s hometown of Seattle, where the company offered Ars 12 lengthy demos of upcoming games and apps. Our detailed impressions of those dozen demos are forthcoming, but in the meantime, we have good news. The pre-release Vive Pre hardware may not be phenomenally better than the original Vive dev kit, but every change has made an already-impressive VR system feel that much more complete, comfortable, and worth salivating over. Like the original HTC Vive dev kit , the Vive Pre asks users to wear a VR headset whilst walking around a pre-defined, real-life space and holding motion-tracked wands in each hand. These wands’ main buttons are still a gun-like trigger and a thumb-accessible, clickable trackpad; in addition, the handle has a button on each side of the controller’s grip, and those are now positioned for easier hand access. New menu buttons have been placed above and below the trackpad, as well. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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HTC Vive Pre impressions: A great VR system has only gotten better
If Safari is crashing when you search from the address bar this morning, you’re not alone. It seems the browser is facing difficulties on both iOS and OS X. Read more…
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Search Is Crashing Safari on iOS and OS X (and How to Fix It)
There’s all sorts of expensive R&D facilities working frantically to make body-enhancing skeletons into actual things, but the research isn’t limited just to big companies. Two years ago, a YouTuber showed off his Elysium -inspired suit curling 170lbs; last weekend, he decided to life a Mini Cooper. Read more…
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Here’s a Homemade Exoskeleton Jacking Up a Small Car
It looks like interest in the iPhone is finally waning. For the first time since its creation in 2007, Apple is reporting a year-over-year dip in demand for its pricey pocket computer. That said, Apple still sold a lot of iPhones! Read more…
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iPhone Sales Have Finally Stalled
Apps die—often. It’s all part of the technological circle of life where alpha predators in multi-billion dollar dens feast on more vulnerable, less cash-infused prey. And one company that has always had an insatiable T. Rex-level hunger is Apple. Read more…
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Every App That Apple’s Tried to Kill
Apple’s iPad Pro and Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 look a lot alike. Both are big tablets, both connect to slim keyboard covers, and both offer a stylus for drawing and note-taking. But after spending some time with these potential laptop replacements, I found that they’re really quite different, particularly when it comes to productivity. Read more…
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Pro Tablet Showdown: iPad Pro vs. Surface Pro 4
Yahoo’s business may be struggling , but millions of people still visit its site to read the news every day. That gives the company unique insights into browsing and reading habits, and today the company has released a huge swath of that data. The “Yahoo News Feed dataset” incorporates anonymous browsing habits of 20 million users between February and May of 2015 across a variety of Yahoo properties, including its home page, main news site, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Movies and Yahoo Real Estate. All told, the data set is a whopping 13.5TB and covers 110 billion unique interaction “events.” Yahoo calls it the “largest machine learning dataset” ever publicly released, and we’re inclined to believe them — there aren’t very many companies who could accumulate this much browsing data. It’s a huge amount of data, but fortunately you don’t need to worry about advertisers mining it to make more targeted ads. Yahoo is specifically releasing it only to the academic research community to help people build more effective recommendation algorithms. As noted by the MIT Technology Review , the data set includes includes headlines that Yahoo’s personalization algorithms show to visitors, a summary of the article, and which specific articles people click. There’s also some demographic data for about 7 million users that includes age, gender and location — but it’s all been anonymized. Improving recommendation algorithms is particularly relevant right now, as some of the biggest web properties rely on good recommendation engines to engage with their user. Netflix, Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook (just to name a few) all rely on serving their users relevant recommendations to keep them engaged with their products and services. Yes, it’s a way for those companies to make more money, but it also generally makes for a better user experience — as long as those recommendations are good. Yahoo’s huge data release will probably go a long way towards meeting that goal. [Image credit: Noah Berger/Bloomberg via Getty Images] Source: Yahoo (Businesswire)
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Yahoo releases massive 13.5TB web-browsing data set to researchers
VLC is one of those fantastic little apps we’ve all come to love , and today Apple TV users can finally get in on the action with the new Apple TV app. Read more…
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VLC Arrives on the Apple TV with Support for Multiple Streaming Options and Video Formats
Forget having to remember which New York City subway stations have WiFi — by the end of this year, you won’t have to pick and choose. State governor Andrew Cuomo has promised that every underground station will get WiFi by the end of the year, guaranteeing at least some kind of internet access while you’re waiting for your train. Complete cellular service will come slightly later, with end-to-end access ready by early 2017. Either is heartening news if you regularly commute underground, since Transit Wireless (which is handling the service) had previously targeted late 2017 for full WiFi service. There should be more in the works, too. Cuomo has proposed a contactless payment system that would let you use your smartphone or newer bank cards to pay your fare, rather than busting out your MetroCard or some tickets. The current proposed phone system looks a bit clunky with its QR-based scanning, but NYC buses and subways won’t get this feature until 2018 — hopefully, it’ll include NFC-based payments (such as Apple Pay or Android Pay) by then. Both the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad will have mobile ticketing within half a year. And yes, the city plans to drag trains (and buses) into the modern era. You’ll get real-time arrival data for all subway lines, and more countdown clocks. Also, subway cars will start getting USB charging ports this year (400 will have them by next year), and every new bus delivered from this year forward will have WiFi hotspots. In short, NYC’s mass transit system will soon revolve around mobile. While there will still be gaps in coverage (most notably when you’re in the middle of some tunnels), they may soon become the exception rather than the rule. [Image credit: AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews] Via: NY1 , The Verge Source: MTA , Gov. Andrew Cuomo (Twitter)
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New York City’s whole subway system gets WiFi in 2016