NewTech Tooday

Thursday, 7 April 2016

Group of 10- to 14-year-olds win $15,000 playing 'Minecraft'

If your kids are going to play video games anyway, then you may want to make sure they're really good at it. Why? Well, take for example this group of grade and middle school kids from Maryland who got a $15,000 shared college scholarship for winning the second Super League Gaming World Championship in Minecraft. Super League Gaming is a four-week league wherein participants play games in theaters. The 10- to 14-year-old players calling themselves Live2Craft bested 450 other groups of all ages (mostly grade- to high school-aged, though) from 68 cities across the US.

While the 5-person team won the scholarship prize, the top-scoring player in the league is from another team in California: a 10-year-old kid named Julien Wiltshire. He was also the first season's top scoring player and even took home a $5,000 scholarship prize. This time, he defeated almost 2,000 other gamers -- twice the number of the first season's participants -- earning him the right to brag that he's now a two-time Minecraft champ. He might also be gearing up for the third season starting on April 30th, so if your younglings want to join, it may be wise to start training them pronto.

Ubisoft breaks out the banhammer for 'The Division' cheaters

Ubisoft knows that cheating is running rampant in Tom Clancy's The Division and it's out to change that. Between hacks where enemy bullets can travel through walls to homing bullets, trying to enjoy the game the way its meant to be played is a bit fraught at the moment. But come the game's April 12th update, PC players, at least, will have platform-specific tools at their disposal to report the jerks according to a Ubisoft Twitch stream.

Typing "/report [username]" while playing will flag the possible offender's account for Ubisoft to look at, and if the gaming company determines nefariousness is at play they'll get a three day suspension. Repeat offenders? That's grounds for a permaban. It's a reasonable expectation that if this doesn't curb the cheaters, the three-day time-out will give way to nothing but permabans a la what Ubisoft did with Rainbow Six: Siegehackers in January.

There are some pretty welcome glitch fixes en route as well. Those address issues where missions wouldn't start, wouldn't complete, non-player characters are able to shoot through walls and glitches where folks could get stuck in place on a piece of architecture in the environment, among other bugs.

Stream Android games to Twitch without a smartphone

Bluestacks' desktop emulator now works with the broadcasting service.

Twitch committed to mobile gaming by sponsoring a Vainglory tournament and now it'll be easier to stream Android games thanks to Bluestacks. As a reminder, Bluestacks makes an Android emulator for PC (or Mac) that lets you run most any mobile app or game on the desktop. The new app, called Bluestacks TV, works in two ways. First off, you'll be able to watch selected Twitch streams on Bluestacks, as if you were watching a Twitch Stream on mobile. At the same time, mobile game broadcasters will be able to stream directly to Twitch via the Bluestacks emulator without using a smartphone.

The latter feat is by far the most difficult of the two, according to Bluestacks, and will be a boon to mobile game broadcasters. Normally, you need a phone or tablet, wires to connect to a PC and a webcam. "A lot of people have tried to crack mobile game streaming, but the multiple-device issue makes it really hard," says Bluestacks VP John Gargiulo. "This consolidates everything onto one PC, which is the device of choice for gamers anyway." To show off the tech, Bluestacks TV will host a mobileHearthstone tournament on Twitch that kicks off today at 9 AM ET.

Purists might argue that streaming from a PC via emulation isn't exactly in the spirit of mobile gaming. Nevertheless, Bluestacks reportedly has 130 million users, so the partnership exposes a lot of those folks to Twitch and vice-versa. It will also make things easier for mobile Twitch broadcasters and developers alike. "We've been approached to put an SDK in our games, but that's bandwidth we don't have," developer Mark Zhang told Bluestacks. "The fact that millions of people can stream Castle Clash to Twitch without us doing anything is massive."

Panasonic's airline seat puts you in a high-tech cocoon

Panasonic has launched the most techie airplane seat we've ever seen, complete with its own app, user programmable mood lighting and a 4K TV. It revealed the product, called "Waterfront," at Hamburg's Aircraft Interiors Expo (yes, there's a show for everything), where it was spotted by The Points Guy. Since this is Panasonic's first foray into high-end airliner seats, it teamed up with B/E Aerospace, Formation Design Group and Denny e-bike designer Teague.

The most you might expect from an airline seat is WiFi and a private screen, but Panasonic's Waterfront goes way beyond that. To start with, it has an app that pairs with your seat via pulsing lights from the in-flight screen. Once it's set up, you can use it to tweak seat lighting down to individual zones like the water bottle and front pocket. It also controls the entertainment system, which features a 24-inch 4K TV, the first Ultra HD in-flight system so far. To take full advantage of that, it'll presumably need some kind of 4K airliner streaming player, which doesn't exist right now as far as we know.

Zach Honig/The Points Guy

The app lets you program a video and music playlist and remembers your settings for the next flight. It also adjusts your seat, puts up a "do not disturb" sign (complete with a wake-up call time for the crew) and tells you where to claim your bags on arrival. Other high-tech features include wireless phone charging, universal power, an HDMI input to let you watch your own movies, and even a built-in camera (for video chats, presumably). The seat is apparently as comfy as you'd expect, considering the price you'll have to likely pay to claim it. However, it won't arrive until 2019, so there's plenty of time to save up.

First official look at GoPro's 'Omni' VR camera rig

It was almost a year ago we learned that GoPro was planning a sphericalcamera rig for VR. Back then, that was pretty much all we knew. The announcement came at the same time that CEO Nick Woodman confirmedthe rumors his company was working on a drone (that we're still eagerly waiting for). We'd seen some prototypes of the rig before, but it wasn't until February, GoPro gave finally it a name: Omni. Today, for the first time, we get to see what the final product actually looks like (hint, much like the last prototype as most of the updates are internal, but that's it above). And we've got a sample of the sort of image you might expect from it below.

You may remember, this isn't GoPro's first VR-friendly camera tool. A day after we learned about the spherical array, GoPro unveiled Odyssey, a 16-camera rig designed in partnership with Google's Jump VR platform. That beast (once you included all the cameras you needed) cost a budget-melting $15,000 and is only available in limited numbers. Omni, on the other hand, should be a little more accessible, and is an all-GoPro product.

Omni uses six GoPro Black cameras -- a cost of $3,000 if bought separately. That said, pro, or pro-sumer users -- to whom this should appeal most -- are the ones most likely to already have a number of GoPros in their kit bag. If that still sounds expensive, that's the name of the game it seems. Other spherical rigs like Nokia's Ozo at the top end costs a whopping $60,000. Or unproven names like Orah at $3,600. Unlike Odyssey, Omni won't record in 3D, but the company claims that hardware inside the rig will ensure "pixel-level" synchronization between the cameras. It's also designed to work seamlessly with Kolor, the VR-video software companyGoPro bought last April. Right now, though, it doesn't look like it'll work with cameras in the waterproof housing, as earlier images suggested.

There are similar 3rd party mounts you can buy right now, of course. These tend to cost a couple of hundred bucks upwards, but you're on your own when it comes to synching the cameras, and stitching the video together. You can even 3D print a basic rig for less than a dollar's worth of filament. Omni is the first all-official spherical offering coming to market from the camera-maker itself though.

GoPro hasn't shared details of the price of the Omni rig just yet. But it has confirmed you'll be able to buy an all-in-one bundle with cables and cameras, or just buy the rig and use your existing GoPros. The company is showcasing it at NAB (April 16-21) along with a slew of spherical content and "other professional solutions" -- which include its HEROCast wireless transmitter for broadcast. Pricing and pre-order info should be available before then.

With Omni out in the wild, there's just one thing left in the GoPro workshop that we haven't yet laid eyes on, and that of course is its Karma drone. Details of that still remain a mystery, though we do know it'll work with existing GoPro cameras, and likely come in a foldable design. It could even work with Omni, but spherical video from up in the sky isn't usually that effective. There's no confirmed date for Karma yet, but if we were pinning the tail on that calendar-donkey, we'd aim it for somewhere just after June 9th.

SYNEK's wine system ensures a perfect pour across styles

Nearly two years ago, SYNEK launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund its countertop beer system to keep fresh suds available on tap at home. After raising $650,000, it launched successfully and received a warm reception for that product. Now the company is tackling another vice: wine. As you probably guessed, the Somm by SYNEK is also a countertop system that holds 2.25-liter canisters of vino -- that's about three standard-size 750ml bottles worth. Somm, which we'd guess is short for sommelier, adjusts temperature and aeration to fit the wine being poured in an effort to give your a perfect pour every time.

Gallery: Somm by SYNEK counterop wine system | 8 Photos

There's a companion app that allows you to keep tabs on supply levels and get more info on the wine you have resting inside. The software also allows you to browse Somm's selection of wine and offers suggestions based on your drinking preferences. Currently, there are 10 styles and over 30 varieties available to choose from, and that's just the beginning. SYNEK has an in-house sommelier team that handles the curation, tasting wines before they're made available and selecting new options based on user ratings.

When it comes to the canisters, or Sylos, over two liters is a lot of wine to get through before drinking something else. Don't worry, though, you can easily swap out the container for another one and SYNEK says it'll retain its shelf life. In terms of price, each Sylo will set you back between $15 and $150. When it comes time to re-order, you can do so through the mobile app. If the canister system sounds somewhat familiar, Kuvee's smart winebottle that we recently put through its paces handles the wine supply in a similar fashion, albeit in smaller quantities.

While SYNEK's beer setup has a stainless steel exterior, Somm offers designs that borrow aesthetics from the barrel room of a vineyard. You can choose from beachwood and dark oak outer shells that give the dispenser a more natural look. There's also a stainless steel option if you don't care for the wood-grain material. If all of that sounds too good to pass up, Kickstarter backers are privy to a $100 discount on the Somm, cutting the price to $200. Backers will also get the chance to order exclusive wines that won't be available to everyone. What's more, SYNEK says unlike the beer gadget, it's ready to go into production with this wine version and plans to ship in November of this year.

Reddit's official mobile app launches on iOS and Android

nd Android apps, three months after revealing that it was working on the latter. The company has historically neglected its mobile users, and bought the unofficial iOS client Alien Blueat the back end of 2014. This new app lets users browse, update and view the site through customized themes as well as a day / night mode for reading. If you're looking for an excuse to get the app tout suite, the site is offering three months of Reddit gold to those who sign up during the launch week.

If you're an Alien Blue loyalist, there's a mixture of good and bad news if remarks made by product manager Ashley Higgins are anything to go by. In a posting to the relevant subreddit last month, she revealed that Alien Blue would linger around for existing users who wanted to stick with it. Then again, the team behind the app will move over to "focus our energy on the new flagship app." She added that "Alien Blue will be unavailable for download by new users once the new app is released."