Tag: gadgetry

E Ink announces a color breakthrough, but it’s only for signs

There’s a small glimmer of hope for the seemingly doomed dream of color electronic paper . E Ink, which helped pioneer ePaper by providing the technology for Amazon’s Kindle, announced today that it’s finally developed a display that can show up to 32, 000 colors. Dubbed Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP), it’s a huge leap above the company’s aging Triton tech , which could only display around 4, 000 colors. Basically, it’ll be clear enough to be practically indistinguishable from color printed onto real paper. But don’t get your hopes up for an e-reader with ACeP just yet — for now, E Ink is positioning it for in-store signage as 20-inch panels. While it’s just as low-power as you’d expect, ACeP isn’t as sharp as E Ink’s black and white technology yet, which can reach up to 300 pixels per inch. ACeP only has a resolution of 1600 x 2500 pixels, which clocks in at 150ppi. It also takes a full two seconds for the display to refresh. Still, ACeP is a significant move for E Ink, which for years has been struggling to develop color displays that can go against increasingly sharp OLED and LCD screens. With Qualcomm’s Mirasol technology floundering, ACeP could end up being the color ePaper solution we’ve been waiting for. Source: E Ink (PR)

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E Ink announces a color breakthrough, but it’s only for signs

US Customs seize 16,000 counterfeit ‘hoverboards’

The US Customs and Border Protection has prevented 16, 000 counterfeit “hoverboards” from making it to people’s homes. Authorities have seized a warehouse full of the controversial two-wheeled scooters stamped with fake trademark logos and equipped with unauthorized batteries in Chicago. They believe the goods they collected amount to $6 million overall, at least for now. That figure will grow even bigger, since the warehouse is expecting a “massive amount of shipments” to arrive in the next few weeks. These self-balancing scooters became a huge hit last year, so numerous questionable manufacturers took advantage of the craze and released subpar, non-quality controlled versions to stores. They’ve been all over the news in the past few months for spontaneously catching fire and burning people’s houses down. At least one incident took place in Illinois. Due to the hazard inferior-quality hoverboards pose, the scooters had been banned from many airplanes , universities and even from NYC’s trains and buses . Last year, UK authorities also seized 15, 000 units after inspecting shipments at seaports and airports. [Image credit: US Customs/Flickr ] Via: Mashable Source: US Customs and Border Protection

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US Customs seize 16,000 counterfeit ‘hoverboards’

Oculus Rift will ship with VR platformer ‘Lucky’s Tale’

Evoking the days of when consoles shipped with actual games, Oculus just announced a second bundled title for its upcoming Rift VR headset: Lucky’s Tale , a platformer from Words with Friends creator Paul Bettner. Earlier this month, the company also revealed that Eve: Valkyrie will also come every Oculus Rift. For the most part, Lucky’s Tale looks like a typical platforming title along the lines of Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie — the big difference is that the Rift serves as a virtual camera. But even if it doesn’t look very original, another free game will certainly make the Rift more appealing to mainstream consumers. While there’s still no official launch date or price, Oculus says the Rift will launch in the first quarter of 2016. Source: Oculus

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Oculus Rift will ship with VR platformer ‘Lucky’s Tale’