gaming – Page 21 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

London adopts e-paper signs for real-time bus schedules

Picture the scene: it’s raining and you’re waiting for a night bus in London, with very little charge on your phone. Wouldn’t it be great if the bus stop had some up to date arrival times? So you didn’t have to pull out your phone and refer to Citymapper or Google Maps? Transport for London (TfL) is now trialling e-paper displays at a small number of bus stops which show timetables, route maps and real-time travel information. The screens are roughly the same size as a conventional bus stop sign — equivalent to three A4 sheets of paper, stacked on top of one another — and include some colourful buttons for illumination and page switching. The hope is that the new displays will be both readable and environmentally friendly. Like a Kindle, they should be readable in bright sunlight and require less power than a conventional full-colour screen. TfL says they can be charged from a solar panel too, and retrieve bus arrival information over 3G. For now, it’s only available in one location, near Waterloo Bridge, although the plan is to introduce a further three in Parliament Square, Piccadilly Circus and Sloane Square next month. They’re be trialled until the autumn — a full roll-out would probably be too expensive, but this should give TfL a better idea of its future viability. Via: BBC

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London adopts e-paper signs for real-time bus schedules

Pandora has to pay higher royalties starting in 2016

Pandora and similar services like iHeartRadio and SiriusXM will have to give a bigger part of their earnings to music labels starting January 1st next year. The Copyright Royalty Board has ruled that online radio stations have to pay labels 17 cents per 100 song plays by non-subscribers and 22 cents per 100 plays by subscribers. Pandora’s rate used to begin at 14 cents per 100 plays, and even then it was never profitable — in fact, it had to pay over $400 million in royalties in 2014, which was already 44 percent of its revenue. Pandora’s chief executive Brian McAndrews seems to be OK with the price increase, though. In a statement, he said : “This is a balanced rate that we can work with and grow from. This decision provides much-needed certainty for both Pandora and the music industry.” The ones who sound unhappy with the decision are the music labels, which wanted a much, much higher royalty hike. Record label representative SoundExchange was pushing for a heftier 25 cents per 100 song plays, causing Pandora investors to panic. The company’s stocks plummeted before the Royalty Board’s decision came out, and then it rose by 22 percent during after-hours trading. SoundExchange’s spokesperson told The New York Times : “It’s only fair that artists and record labels receive a market price when their music is used. We believe the rates set by the C.R.B. do not reflect a market price for music and will erode the value of music in our economy.” The group says it will review the decision and consider its options, which means it’ll likely continue to demand a higher royalty rate. Hopefully, that doesn’t translate to more expensive monthly fees for Pandora One in the future. [Image credit: Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Pandora Media] Source: The LA Times , TechCrunch , Copyright Royalty Board , The Washington Post

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Pandora has to pay higher royalties starting in 2016

‘Plants Vs. Zombies’ is becoming a theme park attraction

If it’s not Mario or Shepherd and the Mass Effect crew , it’s… plants and zombies. Cedar Fair Entertainment , which runs 14 park attractions across the US, is working with EA on two attractions for Great America in California, and Carowinds in North Carolina. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare will be adapted into what the theme park is terming a “digital attraction”. This means that it’ll be able to substitute in and reprogram the ride later for sequel content — which sounds a whole lot like its namesake. Carowinds will get the PvZ attraction, which will open next year. Source: Journal Now

Nintendo invents a gamepad built from a touchscreen

Nintendo has said precious little about its plans for the NX (other than that it won’t be like a Wii U ), but it might have hinted at what’s coming through some recent paperwork. The console maker has filed for a patent on a gamepad design where a touchscreen would cover the entire front panel. You’d still have familiar elements like analog sticks (poking through the display) and shoulder buttons, but the usual front-facing buttons would be replaced by context-aware touch. The move would give you the adaptability of a smartphone interface with the primary controls you’re used to in a TV system — you could even use the controller on its side, or get visual effects when you press buttons. It wouldn’t require a gigantic body like the Wii U’s gamepad, either, and a card slot could take game data directly. This is just an application, and there’s no certainty that Nintendo will use this design any time soon, if at all. However, as The Verge notes , the would-be patent does line up with rumors that Nintendo will use Sharp’s free-form displays in a future product. Theoretically, this could be the technology behind the NX’s standard-issue gamepad. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal has heard that the NX would include a “mobile unit” that could be used separately from the main console. Given the presence of that card slot, it’s possible that you could play titles solely on the gamepad and take it with you — who needs separate TV and handheld consoles when your NX is both at the same time? The finished machine could be far less exciting, but it’s evident that Nintendo has at least been thinking about non-traditional hardware. Via: SlashGear , NeoGAF Source: USPTO

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Nintendo invents a gamepad built from a touchscreen

This electric car took almost a decade to build

We drive the Arcimoto SRK from Mark Frohnmayer’s Oregon-based electric carmaker to see how the eighth-generation concept stacks up against previous prototypes.The last time we checked in with Arcimoto, the Oregon-based electric carmaker was on the fifth version of its “everyday electric” SRK prototype. The year was 2011 and Arcimoto President and Founder Mark Frohnmayer was brimming with ideas to further improve the company’s SRK concept. Now, four years and three generations later, we catch up with Frohnmayer and the team at Arcimoto to see how the company’s eighth-generation SRK improves on its predecessors in every way. “A few weeks ago we finished our generation-eight prototype, ” said Frohnmayer. “It’s certainly a huge leap beyond what we had on the road in 2011 and this is what we’re actually intending to bring to the marketplace late next year.” By dropping nearly half the weight of previous versions, the eighth-gen SRK improves on range, performance and price, at a target MSRP of $11, 900. “The notion of the SRK was to be a product that anybody could afford, ” said Frohnmayer. Have an RSS feed? Click here to add Translogic . Follow Translogic on Twitter and Facebook . Click here to learn more about our host, Jonathon Buckley.

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This electric car took almost a decade to build

Disney’s FaceDirector changes facial expressions in movies

The new tool out of Disney Research’s labs could turn an ingénue’s semi-decent attempt into a finely nuanced performance. This software called FaceDirector has the capability to merge together separate frames from different takes to create the perfect scene. It does that by analyzing both the actor’s face and audio cues to identify the frames that correspond with each other. As such, directors can create brand new takes during post-production with zero input from the actor. They don’t even need specialized hardware like 3D cameras for the trick — it works even with footage taken by regular 2D cams. According to Disney Research VP Markus Gross, the tool could be used to lower a movie’s production costs or to stay within the budget, say, if it’s an indie film that doesn’t have a lot of money to spare. “It’s not unheard of for a director to re-shoot a crucial scene dozens of times, even 100 or more times, until satisfied, ” he said. “That not only takes a lot of time — it also can be quite expensive. Now our research team has shown that a director can exert control over an actor’s performance after the shoot with just a few takes, saving both time and money.” Considering the lab also developed a way to make dubbed movies more believable and to take advantage of incredibly high frame rates , we wouldn’t be surprised if filmmakers arm themselves with an arsenal of Disney Research tools in the future. It’s probably hard to visualize the way FaceDirector works without seeing an example, so make sure to watch the video below to see it in action. Source: Disney Research (1) , (2)

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Disney’s FaceDirector changes facial expressions in movies

Apple increases iCloud Music Library limit to 100,000 tracks

Apple has made good on its promise to increase the iCloud Music Library limit to 100, 000 tracks. This was previously set at 25, 000, so the change increases the cap threefold. The move was first teased in June , with Eddy Cue, the company’s SVP of Internet Software and Services, promising it would arrive before the year’s end. Via: The Verge Source: MacRumors

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Apple increases iCloud Music Library limit to 100,000 tracks

USPS will email you images of what’s in your mailbox

We’ve all done it. Take a few minutes to walk to the mailbox only to discover it’s either empty or filled with junk that immediately goes in the trash. The US Postal Service is testing a new tool that will save you a trip if there’s nothing interesting to be found. The feature is called Informed Delivery and it sends up to 10 images a day of what’s in your physical mailbox to your email inbox. Via: The Next Web Source: USPS

Apple game of the year ‘Monument Valley’ is now free on iOS

If you’re looking for a free iOS game, an interesting new option has just opened up. Puzzle-adventure game Monument Valley managed to pull off the hat trick of being fun, zen and beautiful all at the same time — which helped garner it Apple’s Game of the Year and Design awards for 2014. The title, normally $4, is now showing as “free, ” though there’s no word on how long that offer will last. After launching in May last year, it had earned $5.8 million by January 2015, mostly from sales to iOS gamers (creator Ustwo said that only 5 percent of Android sales were paid). Via: @Wario64 (Twitter) Source: iTunes

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Apple game of the year ‘Monument Valley’ is now free on iOS

Amazon wants augmented reality to be headset-free

Augmented reality (AR) isn’t all headsets and funny glasses . Amazon wants to turn it into something that you can interact with in your living room, judging by a couple of the company’s recently approved patents. The ” object tracking ” patent shows how a system of projectors and cameras could beam virtual images onto real objects, and track your hand while you interact with them. The other, called ” reflector-based depth mapping , ” would use a projector to transform your room into a kind of holodeck, mapping the depth of objects and bodies in a room. Via: Bloomberg Source: USPTO (1) , (2)

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Amazon wants augmented reality to be headset-free