Virtual reality games now one step closer to actual reality

Considering how new the idea of competent virtual reality gaming is, it's no surprise that developers aren't lined up out the door to implement the technology quite yet. There are plenty of excited developers and gamers who want to take advantage of the Oculus Rift, but until the device proves itself on the market, it will be a niche product. Unless, of course, the team at Oculus VR starts bringing on developers itself to make games for the Rift.



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Posted in 2013 at 05:30AM, December 21

The next big thing coming to Samsung’s laptops: Pleather?

Samsung may use the same kind of faux leather design — or "pleather" — seen on the Galaxy Note 3 smartphone and Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) tablet in future notebook models, according to a person that reportedly attended a Samsung S Academy event and posted details about it on Korean site Seeko . The new Ativ Book 9 family will reportedly run Windows 8.1 and feature four 2W speakers for improved sound, as well as a leather-like case complete with a stitching effect along the edges. A supposedly leaked image shows an Ativ Book 9 Style laptop that has a white faux leather lid. In addition to the unreleased Ativ Book 9 models that could be unveiled at next month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the company will apparently stick with plastic in future mobile designs as well. Despite rumors that the company may soon use metal in its upcoming Galaxy S5 flagship device, recent reports have suggested that the company may stick with plastic for the device.

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Posted in 2013 at 03:00AM, December 21

The recording industry’s nightmare: A government-backed torrent site

A new torrent-indexing site comes from Spain using search technology financed by the government and developed by a P2P veteran who managed to defeat big music labels in court. Pablo Soto was cleared by a court in 2011 in a case pursued by big labels including Universal, Sony, EMI, Warner and the “Spanish RIAA” Promusicae which were seeking €13 million in damages from Soto’s company that created various file-sharing services. The court found Soto’s software to be “totally neutral,” TorrentFreak reports, while the labels argued it was designed to infringe on their copyrights and profit from them.



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Posted in 2013 at 01:45AM, December 21

Spotify surges after launch of free streaming

Spotify finally caved to the pressure last week and introduced its own ad-supported free streaming feature for mobile users. The smartphone version is restricted to Shuffle Play and artist/album radio stations, but that hasn't stopped users from downloading Spotify in droves. According to CNET , Spotify saw four times the number of downloads since the feature launched last week. The company hasn't released any official numbers yet, but there's little doubt that free streaming would fail to draw a crowd. Spotify also climbed into the top 10 in the App Store in 20 markets, including the U.S. after the rollout. There's still plenty of catching up to do before Spotify can overtake Pandora, but it's certainly on the right track.

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Posted in 2013 at 12:30AM, December 21