Tech and Gadgets

[inchemwetrust]

Because we love the future don't we?

Drawing in VR!



http://www.engadget.com/2015/09/10/glean-keane-vr/

[Ben_j]

One of the advantages of working at a tech company on a 3D engine is that we get all sorts of VR stuff. We have the first two Oculus SDKs and lately we've been experimenting with the Cardboards. The latter has a lot of potential in my opinion. Not having to pay 300$ + plugging 5 cables to the computer and figuring out multiscreen quirks before you can do anything is a real plus, but obviously what you can do on a smartphone is more limited than having a full AAA game running in VR.
I wasn't too impressed by VR on the few experiences I've had (Team Fortress 2, Project Cars, Asseto Corsa, Oculus demos, Euro Truck Simulator 2 (yes, really.)...) I'm waiting for the final Oculus product, and I'm curious to see the HTC/Valve one, but in the meantime, getting a 20$ Cardboard and playing with the VR apps on Android is the most I would do 

[Fine Time]

If the final reviews are good and there's some fun stuff to do with it , i will be up for buying the Project Morpheus VR when it's released next year , a couple of decent games , a music visualizer , some cool apps and i'm sold (well , price point depending).

[Fine Time]

I finally got to try the Audioquest Nighthawk headphones today. I've always been impressed by Audioquest's  high end cables and these , their first headphones , didn't disappoint either. They're extremley comfortable to wear  and they sound awesome , .. a deep . rich , immersive sound , sort of speaker-like quality with good soundstage going on.  I would've liked to have heard some dance / electronica blasted through them but all that was available on the media player connected to them was Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight and some jazzy classical stuff. They impressed me enough though , not cheap at £500  , so i'd better start saving. The headphones i have at the minute are the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 (around ear) , great headphones for half the price of the Nighthawks. 

[Ben_j]

Microsoft kindly destroyed the MacBook Pro yesterday.

[inchemwetrust]

Man! You beat me to it!  I'll take the 256 w/  8 GB and D GPU.

I saw the keynote.  When i finished watching,  I looked at my laptop and said 'your close to retirement'!

When I saw that clipboard removed from the keyboard, I was gasping for air!

http://www.microsoft.com/october2015event/en-us/live-event

[Ben_j]

Man! You beat me to it!  I'll take the 256 w/  8 GB and D GPU.

I saw the keynote.  When i finished watching,  I looked at my laptop and said 'your close to retirement'!

When I saw that clipboard removed from the keyboard, I was gasping for air!

http://www.microsoft.com/october2015event/en-us/live-event

Yeah I was at work with everyone watching over my shoulder, then they all left when it seemed to be over and they showed the video again, this time with the screen detaching (which I suspected, seeing how thin the keyboard was and how thick the screen was, with vent holes like on the Surface), and I screamed "Come back ! It's awesome ! The screen is actually a Surface !".

I won't be getting one though, as I found out I have no use for a laptop anymore. Everything I used to do with a laptop (which is essentially browsing the web, going on Facebook and watching movies when I'm travelling) I can do with an iPad.

[Fine Time]

If  anyone's  into  high-end  digital audio  , or just wants  better  quality  sound  from  their  laptop  or  computer  i  heartily  recommend  these  two  system  add-ons / plug-ins ,..  the iFi  iPurifier 2   &   the AudioQuest Jitterbug.  I've  had  them in  my  desktop/dac/headphones  set up  for a while now  and  they  really  do  work.  There's  lots  of  technological  wizardry  going on  in these things  (that  i  don't  really  understand)  but  basically  the  iFi  iPurifier 2  makes  heavily  layered  music more  clear  &  defined  to  listen to  , each  instrument  has breathing  space  etc,  and  the  AQ  Jitterbug  acts  as  a noise  filter  &  removes  interference ( jitter )  which improves  dynamic  contrast  &  resolution  ... making  digital  music  sound  better (more analogue).