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Well Done, Microsoft
The reveal of the Xbox One didn't go as Microsoft hoped. Gamers loved the system, but hated the absurd restrictions placed on the games. But Microsoft listened and just today reversed its stance on some of the more ridiculous policies. Good for them. Good for us. I mean, the outcry was hard to ignore. The memes, the...
techcrunch.com (6 hours ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Microsoft Heeds Gamer Feedback, Dumps Xbox One DRM Restrictions
Attention gamers: you win. The folks at Redmond infuriated many when it revealed that the Xbox One would come with a long list of potential caveats -- there was the automated 24 hour check-in to keep the console in playable condition, and the restrictions on who you could share disc-based games with, not to mention...
techcrunch.com (7 hours ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Microsoft Was Close To A Nokia Acquisition Before Talks Broke Down Recently, WSJ Reports
Microsoft and Nokia have gotten pretty cosy over the past few years, and at the time of the announcement of the Finnish company's decision to use Windows Phone OS to power its smartphones, many speculated it was the first overture for a coming acquisition. And that is apparently where things were headed, according...
techcrunch.com (9 hours ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Lytro Enables Its Camera's Hidden WiFi Chip, Launches A Companion iOS App (With Animated GIFs!)
It sure doesn't seem like many people have bought Lytro's crazy light-field camera (the one that lets you focus your photos after you take them) - but if you're one of those who did: go plug it in. Lytro has just released an update that enables the camera's dormant WiFi chip, along with an iOS app that lets you...
techcrunch.com (10 hours ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
The Open Source RepRap Simpson 3D Printer Design Reduces Friction, Uses Less “Vitamins”
This is the Grounded Experimental Delta 3D printer aka the Simpson, a project built by computer science teacher Nicholas Seward that does away with the excess frames, pulleys, and hardware associated with earlier models. Seward wanted a machine that could print itself and used "less vitamins," namely metal parts...
techcrunch.com (14 hours ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
A $100 Watch Can Tell If You've Had Too Much To Drink
The Japanese watch company Tokyoflash has long turned heads with their odd (if unreadable) designs but in a first they've added a breathalyzer to their Kisai watch, thereby allowing you to see just how drunk you've gotten at la Jetée.
techcrunch.com (15 hours ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Elon Musk Demonstrates The Power Of Transparency With First Tesla Model S Recall
Tesla just issued a "partial recall" for its Model S sedan. Per the company blog, some Model S vehicles made between May 10, 2013 and June 8, 2013 might have a defect in the mounting bracket for the left hand latch of the second row. Thus a recall is in place to strengthen this part. It's a small recall. It's just a...
techcrunch.com (15 hours ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Velodroom Does What Every Bike Light Should – Responds To Your Ride And Turns On And Off...
Tartu, Estonia-based startup Velodroom leverages tech to solve a problem any bike commuter can sympathize with – how to add lights to your ride that are convenient to use and require absolutely nothing from the rider besides a simple installation. The Velodroom light borrows some tricks from tech available in any...
techcrunch.com (16 hours ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
The Offline Glass Ensures You Talk, Not Text, At The Bar
Tired of your friends texting on their phones while they should be getting schnockered? This clever hack is called the Offline Glass and it's designed to ensure that you and your friends don't sit at the bar checking Wikipedia for who starred in The Greatest American Hero and whether Tabitha will totally come out...
techcrunch.com (1 day ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Kazam Is Another European Startup Hoping Against Hope To Inch In To The Smartphone Hardware Market
Hardware is so hot right now. So hot, in fact, that another European hardware startup is formulating an attack on the smartphone hardware space -- joining the likes of Finland's Jolla and Spain's Geeksphone to have a go at handset making. The newest comer stepping in with a plan to shake up the "status quo" is...
techcrunch.com (1 day ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
SunnyBot Is A Solar-Powered Robot That Tracks The Sun To Reflect Sunlight Wherever You Want It
Here's a neat greentech idea currently seeking crowdfunding on Kickstarter. SunnyBot is a microcomputer-powered robot that continually tracks the position of the sun, angling its on-board mirror so that it keeps reflecting the sun's rays onto a fixed point of your choice. The basic idea being to harness solar energy...
techcrunch.com (1 day ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Goji Is A Smart Lock For Your Home That Has Nothing To Do With Berries
Welcome to the era of the round, shiny in-home automation system. While Nest led the charge early on, a new device, called Goji, is taking up the mantle. The Goji is an automatic deadbolt that looks like HAL 2000's eye and can take pictures of folks who come to your door and allows you to lock - and unlock - your...
techcrunch.com (1 day ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Zuckerberg And Samsung Meet, Raising Questions About Facebook's Future Mobile Plans
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Samsung President Shin Jong Kyun this week to discuss how the two companies might work together to help Facebook reap more revenue from advertising sales targeted at mobile devices, according to Bloomberg. Kyun and Zuckerberg talked about possible partnerships between the two...
techcrunch.com (1 day ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Worried Who's Watching Your Web Browsing? Adafruit's Onion Pi Tor Proxy Project Creates A...
Adafruit Industries has put together a weekend project for people worried the NSA is watching how many reruns of Seinfeld they watch on their tablet. The Onion Pi Tor Proxy is a weekend project that uses the Raspberry Pi microcomputer, along with a USB WiFi adapter and Ethernet cable to create "a small, low-power...
techcrunch.com (1 day ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
If You Watch One Daft Punk Remix Performed By Robots (And Jack Conte) Today, Make It This One
Jack Conte, musician and founder of Patreon, has been on a tear lately with a set of unique music remixes performed by him and a group of pneumatic robots that fire off audio sequences to create some amazing music.
techcrunch.com (2 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Living In The Future With The Form Labs Form 1
"The future is already here - it's just not very evenly distributed," wrote William Gibson. He's right. Luckily, the future is mostly in my attic workshop. I've been lucky enough to have access to a Form 1 3D printer for the past week and have come away with a better sense of the platform, the way forward of 3D...
techcrunch.com (2 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Apple's 2013 13-Inch MacBook Air Sweetens The Deal For One Of The Best Available Computers
The MacBook Air was the only new Apple hardware to be announced and launched at WWDC this year (besides the new AirPort Extreme), and while it isn't a big change from the previous version, it packs some crucial improvements that really cater to the Air's existing strengths. The 2013 Air is really Apple pushing the...
techcrunch.com (2 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Lumu Launches Kickstarter To Fund Its Digital Light Meter For iPhone-Owning Photographers
Last we saw Lumu Labs it was in Hardware Alley at Disrupt New York where the Slovenian startup was showing off a prototype of its digital light meter plus iPhone app -- aiming to convince photographers to replace "bulky" traditional light meters with a pocketable gizmo that plugs into their iPhone. Now, Lumu Labs...
techcrunch.com (2 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
PIP Is A Bluetooth Biosensor That Aims To Use Your Phone To Gamify Beating Stress
Irish startup Galvanic has just launched a Kickstarter to crowdsource funding a wireless stress biosensor it's calling PIP. PIP is a Bluetooth biosensor that monitors its user's stress levels by measuring their galvanic skin response (GSR) as they hold the PIP pinched between thumb and forefinger. GSR means skin...
techcrunch.com (2 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Up Close With Casio's Latest Edifice Surf Watch
With summer coming and surf season in full swing, I thought I'd take a closer look at the Casio EMA100-1AV Edifice watch with tide graph and moon-phase data. Casio is best known for their G-Shock line of beefy (and some would say ugly) plastic sports watches so this steel-cased model is a departure for the brand....
techcrunch.com (3 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
This Week On The TC Gadgets Podcast: E3, The Death Of Symbian, And WWDC
It was a big week in gadgets, and thus, a big TC Gadgets podcast it shall be. This week, we discuss developments at E3, including Xbox One and PS4 pricing, the death of Nokia's Symbian OS, and of course, WWDC. Will you buy a PS4 or an Xbox One? Does despair fill you from nose to navel when you remember the good old...
techcrunch.com (5 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
PiCloud Is A Model Cloud Made Of Raspberry Pi & LEGO For Teaching Students About Web Platforms
Here's another interesting implementation of the $35 Raspberry Pi microcromputer -- or rather a stack of 56 Pis, linked together to form a model web platform called PiCloud, using LEGO bricks as bespoke racks for the Pi stacks. The project comes out of the University of Glasgow, and is intended as a teaching aid for...
techcrunch.com (5 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Samsung Flaunts Its Smartphone Lead By Opening An R&D Center On Nokia's Doorstep
Not content with following Nokia's past playbook, by saturating the mobile market with countless iterations of its smartphone hardware, pushing a whole Galaxy of gizmos at every price point and form-factor fancy you can think of, Samsung has gone one further. It's opened an R&D centre in Espoo, Finland, right on...
techcrunch.com (5 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
If Office Hits The iPad, Even Fewer People Would Buy A Surface
Remember this ad? The ad where Microsoft attempts to position the iPad as a chopstick-playing toy and the Surface as a PowerPoint-editing machine? Yeah, that's why we can't have nice things.
techcrunch.com (5 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Sony Turns Its Lackluster SmartWatch Into A Developer Playground
Back during the heady days of 2012, before the Pebble raised a crazy amount of money on Kickstarter, Sony quietly released an Android-compatible smartwatch of its own. By most accounts it wasn't very good, but that doesn't mean that Sony has relegated it to the trash pile. No, with hindsight being what it is, Sony...
techcrunch.com (6 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Amazon Creates A 3D Printing Store, Vaulting The Technology Into The Mainstream
If you thought you and your RepRap were safe from posers, you're sunk: Amazon has just opened a store for 3D printers and printer accessories that seems to, at the very least, allow smaller manufacturers to get a foothold in an increasingly tight market.
techcrunch.com (6 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Apple Reportedly Trying 4.7- and 5.7-Inch Screens On iPhones Next Year, Cheaper Model Coming In Fall
Apple is looking at various changes to its iPhone lineup over the course of the next year, according to a new report from Reuters, including two sizes of larger smartphone devices, in both a 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch flavor. The "phablet" plans are also being considered alongside a less expensive iPhone model, which is...
techcrunch.com (6 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Austin-Based CMR Demos Programmable Magnets That Changes Polarity And Strength On A Whim
Magnets are pretty basic - some poles attract, some repel, and you can use them to hold stuff up on your fridge. However, what happens when magnets can be "programmed" to react in different ways? Austin-based Correlated Magnetics Research has some magnets that can do some amazing - and slightly spooky - things.
techcrunch.com (7 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
You're Not Wrong, Microsoft, You're Just An Asshole
"We have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity," explained Xbox chief Don Mattrick. "It's called Xbox 360." With those snarky words Microsoft lost E3. That much was clear as soon as Sony's press conference started. And it's not because the Xbox One is a bad system. If we ignore...
techcrunch.com (7 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
Apple's iOS 7 Is A Smorgasbord For Game Developers, With Sprite Kit, Game Controller Support And...
Apple's developer bits are generally the bigger picture story that comes out of WWDC, and some details are slowly emerging about those 1,500 or so new APIs Apple has added for devs to take advantage of. Some of the better news is around new gaming technologies, which should result in much improved experiences for...
techcrunch.com (7 days ago) read full article at techcrunch.com
