TAG Heuer's uber pricey $1400 smartwatch will be released by November
Luxury watch company TAG Heuer will release a Google Android Wear-powered device by the end of the year, sporting a whopping $1,400 price tag. The custom watch could be available in October, but shouldn't launch any later than November, according to company officials.
Following the same idea as other smartwatch manufacturers, TAG Heuer hopes the Apple Watch helps bring additional attention to the wearable market. "The more they sell, the more a few people will want something different and come to TAG Heuer," said Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of TAG Heuer, in a statement to Bloomberg.
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Discrete and integrated GPUs working together with DX12 provides gains
We've known for a while that DirectX 12 will be providing some serious gains in performance, as well as the ability to join GPUs and their VRAM, but over the last few days we've been learning more about DX12 thanks to Microsoft's Build 2015 conference.
This premise isn't anything new, as the likes of AMD, LucidLogix Virtu and other technologies have tried this - but it has never taken off like DX12 will. Microsoft's new DirectX 12 Multiadapter technology creates a specialized coherent link between every GPU available inside of the PC, and lets them work together to provide as much performance as possible.
One of the demos used to showcase this impressive technology was a demo created by Square Enix called "WITCH CHAPTER 0 [cry]". This demo was powered by four NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X video cards, with 63 million polygons per scene and massive 8K x 8K highly detailed textures, showing off the next generation of graphics. The DirectX 12 Multiadapter technology was using both the integrated GPUs and all four Titan X cards for added performance. The single adapter/discrete option was seeing an average of 35.9FPS, but the multiadapter using the discrete and integrated GPUs was providing 39.7FPS.
There's much more to this story, so check out the source if you want to get blasted with some serious numbers and information.
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Google Glass competitor from Allwinner will cost just $199
Google Glass was quite the product, and while it didn't receive widespread use or universal praise, I personally thought it was a great device on the market. For one, it was something completely new - there's nothing quite like it, and if it was done right, it could turn into something very useful.
Inside of the Allwinner wearable, we'll find their own A33 processor, with Taiwanese design firm Coretronic provided the design work on the device. It will look quite similar to Google Glass, but cost nearly 1/10 of what Mountain View was charging. It will feature Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but right now there is no release date for Allwinner's Glass competitor.
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The first DirectX12 powered CryEngine tech demo is here
A couple of engineers working at Snail Games took just six weeks to port King of Wushu from DirectX 11 to DirectX 12 in CryEngine, with the results of this work in the video below.
There are over 10,000+ drawcalls in the DX12 tech demo of King of Wushu, over 20,000+ polygons per character, with one of the big differences between the DX11 and DX12 versions of the game being CPU and GPU utilization. Under the DX11 version of the game, CPU utilization is fine at around 99%, but GPU utilization hovers at an average of 83%. Once DX12 is enabled, the GPU usage shoots up to 98-99%, which is a sizeable jump in performance from switching APIs.
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Analyst: Apple will find a way to 'iron out' problems with Apple Watch
An issue with the Apple Watch's taptic engines has slowed the wearable's rollout, but Apple will resolve the problems and move on, according to an analyst. This is the first new product under CEO Tim Cook's leadership, so expect reported problems to be thoroughly investigated.
The popular Silicon Valley company is closely watched by consumers, analysts, and the media, typically fixing issues with its products sooner rather than later. Analysts still believe millions of Apple Watch units will be sold this year, helping give a major boost to the wearables market in 2015.
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Toshiba's ChihiraAico humanoid robot serenades shoppers in Japan
The Toshiba ChihiraAico humanoid robot was first shown off during CEATEC last year, and recently completed a 15-minute singing performance alongside humans. Although Toshiba designed the robot to speak to department store guests, including using Japanese sign language, a singing performance was a unique way to promote the robot.
"We chose a very realistic appearance and movement, which can be used for the service industry," said Hitoshi Tokuda, marketing head for the business development division at Toshiba, in a press conference earlier in the year. "We plan to extend our technology to an automatic response. We plan to use [ChihiraAico] with elderly people who have conditions such as dementia and she can be connected to a counselor or doctor."
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Oracle publicly downplays rumored desire to purchase Salesforce
Cloud computing company Salesforce is reportedly speaking with advisers regarding a possible takeover, with rumors pointing towards Oracle opening up the checkbook. Even if Oracle doesn't make a move, and Microsoft, IBM, SAP, or another company steps in, Oracle believes it is in a win-win situation.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is a former executive at Oracle, and remains friends with Oracle chairman and CTO Larry Ellison. If a takeover doesn't occur, Ellison previously stated that his company would leapfrog Salesforce as the No. 1 software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider by the end of the 2015.
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Activision preparing Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 for Nintendo Wii U?
Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 will officially be available for the PC, Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4, but it's possible the game title could be released for the Nintendo Wii U. The game is scheduled for release on November 6.
It's hard to tell what Activision is planning, as they could simply be referring to other Wii U titles - and Black Ops 3 may not be included.
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Graffiti 'artist' uses drone to tag massive Kendall Jenner ad in SOHO
Drones are being used for a lot of new and innovative purposes, and a few rather questionable activities. It looks like drone graffiti could be a future trend, with a tagger taking aim at a billboard featuring a Kendall Jenner ad.
Graffiti removal is a costly effort in metropolitan areas, so this certainly could push the boundaries even further. It may take some time for KATSU and other taggers to develop a stable platform for drone graffiti, but it certainly may end up a major headache for a lot of people.
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Researchers create ape-inspired robot that could explore the moon
National space programs have shown new interest in lunar exploration, and it's possible robots could roam the moon's surface. The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) has created an iStruct Demonstrator, also known as "Charlie," a robotic ape that can you different locomotion styles.
"We chose the ape because it allows us to study several locomotion modes," said Daniel Kuhn, DFKI researcher, in a statement to CNN. "For example, they have quite good quadrupedal walking abilities but they can also perform stand-up motion and walk on two legs - their ability to do this is greater than other animals. This change in posture and walking form interested us."
The US, Japan, China and India all plan to explore the moon, even though interest also is increasing for research missions to Mars. The lunar surface dates back more than 4.5 billion years, with a large amount of inner solar environment which can be collected an analyzed.
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Night Terror uses augmented reality to turn your living room into game
Want to try a unique gaming experience? Night Terrors is a mobile game that will use augmented reality to scare the hell out of you.
"If the game needs the player to go down their hallway, it manipulates the player to go there," said Bryan Mitchell, the game's developer, in a statement on Reddit. "If the game doesn't want the player to see or move, it presents a situation where seeing and moving will get the player 'killed.'"
"As an example, the game might kill the LED for story reasons, play heavy breathing sounds (spatialized right behind the player) and have this thing move closer and closer to the player. As whatever that thing sniffing around in dark is looks for the player, the player's imagination does the heavy lifting."
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Russian military said to be developing mind-controlled exoskeleton
Military technology has become absolutely fascinating in the past few years, with autonomous drones, robots, smart technology, and exoskeletons advancing nicely.
"The Russian Army is set to receive mind-controlled exoskeletons," the Russian Sputnik media source said. "The wearable robots will be controlled by brain waves and will increase the strength and endurance of the serviceman wearing it by several times."
The US military and other governments are trying to create their own exoskeletons to help carry added payloads. Lockheed Martin and the US Navy are currently testing the Fortis exoskeleton, with the private defense contractor hoping it will one day be available for the commercial market. Meanwhile, the Okinawa National College of Technology has created a Skeletonics exoskeleton that could make future breakthroughs.
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Mayweather vs. Pacquiao offers piracy websites lucrative night
Saturday night will feature one of the most anticipated boxing matches in recent history - and that will bring with it a likelihood of major Internet piracy. HBO and Showtime already prevented two piracy websites from showing the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight, but there will be plenty of other illegal options for viewers.
The standard definition pay-per-view will be $89.99, while the high-definition PPV will cost a whopping $99.99. Restaurants and bars have to invest thousands for the right to broadcast the fight, so a smaller number of establishments plan to air the fight, or pricing rather outrageous cover charges.
UFC PPVs and WWE events are available online, in addition to free sports streams, but Mayweather vs. Pacquiao could prove to be especially great for pirates. So, how are you planning to watch the fight?
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Boeing 787 Dreamliner glitch can make it lose power, FAA reports
In a bid to make skies safer, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned that a software fault could result in loss of power mid-flight on the gigantic Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
This issue is said to take 248 days of usage for the fault to occur, rendering it as an unlikely thing to happen in real-world circumstances. However, this model of aircraft has reportedly experienced some other issues resulting in extended boot up times.
My father used to tell me to run the car for a little before speeding off on a cold morning, it seems the 787 Dreamliner is no exception.
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Valve's Dota 2 International raises over $1.5m in under 24 hours
Professional money-maker Valve games released its community Compendium yesterday for the upcoming International 2015 tournament, seeing 25% of all money spent by the community towards this being donated toward the total prize pool.
I'm not the best at math, but if Valve are donating 25% of their income toward the prize pool this means that they've cashed more than $5 million US overnight.
It's certainly great that Valve are supporting the community with this continued event, but have you stepped back and thought to yourself about how much money they are pulling in from this? There is no denying that Valve are good when it comes to making money.
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Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) Cinema Movie Review
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Since its purchase by Disney in 2009, the theatrical arm of Marvel as headed up by producer Kevin Feige has undoubtedly gone from strength to strength, churning out hit after hit - regardless of whether the property is well known, as in Iron Man or niche as in Guardians of the Galaxy. But success of course comes with its own drawbacks and when it comes to following up the third highest grossing film of all time, the studio has clearly erred on the side of doing exactly the same as before.
Without doubt, the first Avengers was a huge spectacle; a 3D tour-de-force which gave audiences something they'd never seen before - namely six superheroes fighting on screen together battling a charismatic villain and a commanding army astride massive warships destroying the city below. But by pulling out all the stops, it makes taking it to the next level very hard. It's obvious that the filmmakers have tried, but the problem is that there's very little to Age of Ultron that we haven't already seen.
The film opens with what should be an impressive opening sequence, with digital crap flying everywhere, things blowing up and the superheroes jumping about in impressive super slow-mo looking buff and, well, cool. But rather than 'hell yes, they're back', I was struck with more of a 'ho hum, here we go again'.
I don't want to sound like an old grumpy man, because for the most part I dig the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. They really do give fans what they want to see - they're real popcorn, big-screen, crowd-pleasing events. They make a lot of people happy and they make a ton of bank. But they aren't infallible.
The cast, led by Robert Downey Jr., are uniformly superb - you simply cannot fault Marvel casting. They've all played their characters a number of times and by this stage have a very good handle on how to play them. As with the first outing, Joss Whedon performed a solid job in balancing the wide lineup and allowing each character their own moment to shine. Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye is gifted a bit more of a backstory this time, but even so, his character still feels mostly perfunctory to proceedings - although this is addressed in the film's narrative. Unlike the first film, the villainous Ultron is considerably weaker, aiming to wipe out the human race, but achieving very little towards that aim. He might be voiced impeccably by David Spader, but the frequent use of humor unfortunately undermines his menace. He's certainly not up to the standard set by the deliciously smarmy Loki in the predecessor.
Age of Ultron is a fun ride. It delivers everything it promises and what fans expect. The problem is that there's a danger in constantly trying to please fans. With the Age of Ultron, that mentality has finally caught up with the studio. Hopefully the Russo brothers can reinvigorate the franchise with the upcoming Infinity War sequels in the coming years.
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