Remember that time last year when Esquire embedded an E Ink display in its front cover and everyone you know rushed out to buy one, and how the scheme saved the once-doomed print magazine market? Well, it appears that the periodical (and the industry as a whole) are again in need of a dramatic technological sales boost -- this time in the form of augmented reality. When the mag hits the newsstand on November 7, readers (and their webcams) will be have a chance to scan some QR codes and partake in the technology that's been known to teach children about architecture and help jaded club kids party underwater -- except this time the unsuspecting public can look forward to seeing Robert Downey Jr. emerge from the front cover to spew what the AP calls "half-improvised shtick on Esquire's latest high-tech experiment for keeping print magazines relevant amid the digital onslaught." With that kind of content -- alongside a computer-animated snowstorm and a dirty joke or two from Gillian Jacobs -- can anybody doubt that traditional media will soon be back on its feet?

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Esquire hopes augmented reality will trick people into reading originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, viewable eyewear (such as that made by Vuzix) might look like fun, but even with the display balancing on the bridge of your nose you need find a place to place the video source. What our man Pascal Brisset did is design a Linux system around a Gumstix Overo Fire computer-on-module, a Vuzix VR920 head-mounted stereoscopic 640 x 480 display (complete with 3D tilt sensor and 3D magnetic compass), WiFi, and Bluetooth modules -- the whole shebang resides in (and on) the eyewear, just the thing for secure telepresence and augmented reality applications (or just extra-private web browsing). And he did it all for under a grand. In order to implement his design, Pascal had to design and custom manufacture a digital-to-analog video converter board using direct-to-PCB inkjet printing. As Hack A Day notes, one can easily question the wisdom of "a pair of microwave transceivers and a LiPo battery strapped directly over one's eyes and brain," but that's the price of progress, right?

[Via Hack A Day]

Filed under: Wearables

Homebrew head-mounted Linux system for telepresence, looking silly originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, viewable eyewear (such as that made by Vuzix) might look like fun, but even with the display balancing on the bridge of your nose you need to find a place to wear that video source. What our man Pascal Brisset did is design a Linux system around a Gumstix Overo Fire computer-on-module, a Vuzix VR920 head-mounted stereoscopic 640 x 480 display (complete with 3D tilt sensor and 3D magnetic compass), WiFi, and Bluetooth modules -- the whole shebang resides in (and on) the eyewear, just the thing for secure telepresence and augmented reality applications (or just extra-private web browsing). And he did it all for under a grand. In order to implement his design, Pascal had to design and custom manufacture a digital-to-analog video converter board using direct-to-PCB inkjet printing. As Hack A Day notes, one can easily question the wisdom of "a pair of microwave transceivers and a LiPo battery strapped directly over one's eyes and brain," but that's the price of progress, right?

[Via Hack A Day]

Filed under: Wearables

Homebrew head-mounted Linux system for telepresence, looking silly originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, there still isn't a fix for the problem some people seem to be having with receiving text messages on their HTC Hero, but it looks like a workaround has been discovered for another pesky issue that can put a strain on the phone's battery life. Apparently, the phone has a bit of trouble going back into sleep mode after you send a text, or after you simply turn on the phone and immediately disable the screen without any activity. While some fairly elaborate fixes were tried by some users initially, it looks like the simplest actually works the best: just don't use the default SMS app to send texts. Instead, you can use a third-party app like ChompSMS or HandCent, which apparently have no problems letting the phone go back to sleep after you send a text. Of course, an official fix would still be the best but, in the meantime, you can hit up the link below for all the necessary details on making the (hopefully temporary) switch.

[Thanks, Sean]

Filed under: Cellphones

Workaround for HTC Hero battery life issues discovered originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, there still isn't a fix for the problem some people seem to be having with receiving text messages on their HTC Hero, but it looks like a workaround has been discovered for another pesky issue that can put a strain on the phone's battery life. Apparently, the phone has a bit of trouble going back into sleep mode after you send a text, or after you simply turn on the phone and immediately disable the screen without any activity. While some fairly elaborate fixes were tried by some users initially, it looks like the simplest actually works the best: just don't use the default SMS app to send texts. Instead, you can use a third-party app like ChompSMS or HandCent, which apparently have no problems letting the phone go back to sleep after you send a text. Of course, an official fix would still be the best but, in the meantime, you can hit up the link below for all the necessary details on making the (hopefully temporary) switch.

[Thanks, Sean]

Filed under: Cellphones

Workaround for HTC Hero battery life issues discovered originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments