Tag Archives: virtual-reality

VR’s new mission: Reunite immigrants with family back home

Marleny, a Guatemalan immigrant in New York, hasn’t returned to her home country in over 15 years. But a few months ago she was able to tour her grandfather’s land in Valle del Rinconcito, Guatemala. She could see the palm trees swinging about and her mom inviting her to explore the estate, talking to her …

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Uber will charge you $15 if you leave your phone behind

Uber just launched an initiative to show its drivers some TLC. As part of its “180 Days of Change” program, Uber will now charge you $15 if a driver has to make an extra trip to return a lost item to you, the ride-hailer announced this week. The fee was imposed in Boston and Chicago Tuesday, and is set to …

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Find out if your PC is running Windows 10 Creators Update

Depending on when it was put together, the new laptop or PC you just unboxed may or may not have Windows 10 Creators Update installed. It’s a major update that was released in April and one to which you should upgrade.  Microsoft isn’t so forward as to slap Creators Update branding all over Windows so you’ll need understand Microsoft’s numbering …

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Google Daydream VR will work with 11 phones by 2018

Eleven phones will support Google’s Daydream virtual reality software by the end of 2017, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai said in parent company Alphabet’s earnings call Monday. The statement was later confirmed to CNET by a Google spokesperson. Here’s what Pichai said (via Seeking Alpha): “We continue to work on the next generation of computing platforms, virtual and augmented realty. By the …

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Donald Trump: Apple CEO has promised to build US factories

President Donald Trump wants to make the iPhone American. In an interview Tuesday, Trump told The Wall Street Journal that Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised to build three manufacturing facilities in the US. The facilities would be “big plants, beautiful plants,” he told the paper.  “He’s promised me three big plants — big, big, big,” Trump said, referring to …

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MS Paint will survive, be available on the Windows Store

The demise of once-beloved computer programs is always a source of misery for lovers of retro tech. The latest victim is the much-cherished Microsoft Paint, the canvas upon which many artistic visions have been realized over the years. The feature will be discontinued with a Windows 10 Fall Creators update, replaced by Paint 3D, but it will still be available in …

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Baobab’s VR bunnies want to take over your brain

This is part of our Road Trip 2017 summer series “The Smartest Stuff,” about how innovators are thinking up new ways to make you — and the world around you — smarter.  Snowflakes flutter around my face, taking me back to my childhood in Ohio where I’d tilt back my head to gaze at the swirl of tiny crystals spiraling toward my …

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Razer may be making a phone

It’s been a long time since Razer was satisfied building merely gaming mice, keyboards, and headphones. Every January, the company shows off a crazy new computer at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — remember the three-screen laptop? — and now, Bloomberg reports Razer is working on a phone as well. We don’t know much about the device, mind you …

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Facebook’s plan to win VR: slow + steady + games + Reddit

Last week, I argued that the first generation of VR headsets might not be worth buying, even at half the original price. This week, two Facebook executives tried to convince me otherwise.  In an interview — leaning on a huge, ornate wooden table that would fit right into Game of Thrones — they explained that technological advancements such as eye …

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Google doodle honors media visionary Marshall McLuhan

Nearly 30 years before the World Wide Web was invented, Marshall McLuhan predicted the web technology we have today, as well as its impact. A Canadian philosopher and professor who specialized in media theory, McLuhan rose to prominence in the 1960s with his theory that society is shaped by technology and the way information is shared. Google‘s Doodle on Friday …

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