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A first look at Google Daydream apps

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A first look at Google Daydream apps

When we got to try out the HTC Vive, we pretty much knew it was a game changer, but  after taking a first look at some Google Daydream apps, this could disrupt the VR marketplace. The Vive’s paddles made infinitely more sense once we actually tried them out, but the device itself, while brilliant, is bloody expensive.

Google’s Daydream project, like Google Cardboard before it, has sights set on premium VR experiences at barrier breaking prices. The Google VR YouTube channel has been lighting up lately with some early videos of experimental apps.

Puzzle

Combining shared objectives with virtual reality allows people to break the ice in a whole new way thanks to Puzzle. The two players are seen to be helping each other out and being only delighted to have solved the position for some jigsaw pieces. Don’t let our sarcasm take from how impressive and close to the Vive this simple Google Daydream app is.

Animator

Again showing the power of the handheld Daydream controller, Animator is a quick clip demonstrating how users to move objects around and record their movements. The short clip also shows the program’s physics engine. Of all the Google Daydream apps on show, this is perhaps the most impressive as it fully demonstrates how immersive interactive VR can be with the use of paddles.

Puppeteer

To demonstrate the power of a smartphone’s physics engine, the Daydream team have created the Puppeteer app. This shows the joints of a skeleton moving independently based on the inputs of the user’s controller.

You can expect to see more apps emerge in the coming months for the Google Daydream, so be sure to like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to keep in touch with what is likely to be the big Christmas present of 2016.

Duet is a great use for your old iPad

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Duet is a great use for your old iPad

The life cycle of technology means even cooler stuff is condemned to that drawer where tech goes to die, but former Apple engineers have now developed a great use for your old iPad.

Duet allows you to use your old iPad as a secondary display for either your Apple or Windows device. Right now you fall into one of two categories: why would I need that or good lord that’s amazing. If you’re the latter, read on.

Duet is a great use for your old iPadThe best part of Duet is the quality of the user experience. The developers, using all of their past experience with Apple, have created an experience that users will genuinely enjoy as if they are using a HDMI or VGA secondary screen. Connect your iPad or iPhone to your device using either a Lightening or 30-pin cable, download the PC or Mac software and the iDevice software. From these simple actions you’ll have a secondary display, which can increase productivity by up to 48%. Really not a bad use for your old iPad at all.

If you are using Duet with OS X on Mac, you will have the extra benefit of being able to interact with your secondary screen via touch. Visually, you will also enjoy Retina Display at 60 frames per second, with the developers claiming zero lag. It’s never been easier to carry a secondary display with you on your travels.

Admittedly, Duet is likely one of the more expensive applications you’ve had to mull over, coming in at €19.99. But, upon delivering their promises the developers deserve more than one of two pints, having found a great use for your old iPad and saving it from the drawer of death.

How will automation affect transportation

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How will automation affect transportation

With the likes of Tesla leading the way when it comes to automated automotives, we can expect to see further developments creep into our daily lives in the coming years. Flying cars might be a little far fetched, but just how else could tech and automation affect transportation in the near future?

Logistics

Big developments will follow when large shipping companies see a way to save money. This formula has made logistics one area of particular development when it comes to automation driving innovation.

Otto

self driving trucksLong distance haulage is a massive international business, involved in 70% of the items we buy. Drivers are often expected to cover huge distances under challenging circumstances. This can lead to regulations around rest times being ignored, leading to tiredness and ultimately accidents. It’s terribly human, which is where the team behind Otto comes in.

Otto have created sensors which can be installed on trucks after 2013. These sensors detect the road ahead. Once the roads have been detected, autopilot kicks in, taking control of the truck. Currently, Otto is limited to 5% of American interstate which may seem a little underwhelming, but at the same time, it’s only a matter of time until this expands and becomes more commonplace worldwide.

The goal of Otto is to reduce the human workload involved in long distance haulage, ultimately reducing the number of accidents and possibly reducing the costs for end customers. Otto can be retrofitted to post-2013 trucks for $30,000 which certainly offers a tempting development for haulage companies.

Cargo Ships

Rolls Royce automated shippingRolls Royce, best known for their gorgeous cars, have recently outlined plans for automated cargo ships. Headed up by Rolls Royce’s Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative, these ships would be centrally monitored with an individual controlling several ships through a VR headset. These ships would require few or no human inputs and nobody on board. This makes for a const effective and efficient method of transporting cargo long distances, with positives results on shipping costs.

Consumer markets

Aside from big businesses, there is also huge potential for innovation among everyday transportation users.

Autopilot

Like Otto, autopilot could reduce the likelihood of accidents on our roads. Unlike Otto, Tesla have been testing this on a much wider array of roads. Autopilot does more than simply provide the user with the coolest gadget money can buy, but because it reduces the likelihood of accidents, car insurance premiums will also be reduced in the long term. This isn’t our first time to discuss Tesla of course: you can read more on their air filtration system and unique problems faced by Irish adopters.

Empowering those with different abilities

The sheer power of technology and human will forced us to remove the word “disabilities” from this article. This is perfectly portrayed through Arrow Electronics’ SAM project. The SAM project surrounds Sam Schmidt, former Indy Racing League driver who was involved in a severe racing accident in 2000. Schmidt was left quadriplegic, but determined to drive again, he teamed up with Arrow Electronics in 2013.

Arrow Electronics Sam project

This was the birth of the Semi-Autonomous Motorcar (SAM) project. The project would involve creation of a steering system controlled by Schmidt’s head movements along with breath controlled throttle and brakes. The potential for systems such as these to re-empower those who have had their abilities taken away from them. Such is the power of tech.

 

Brexit: Is the United Kingdom on track for a dystopian future?

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Brexit: Is the United Kingdom on track for a dystopian future?

British news outlets have been enjoying the sensational events of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union with sound bites that would not be out of place in futuristic thrillers. “Britain opts out of the European Union”. Donald Trump touches down in the UK as the result was announced. He continues to draw parallels between the Leave campaign and his own run for the US Presidency: a campaign which to date has been more successful than many expected.

Indeed the news is frightening to watch, but the news could easily be a precursor to some of our favourite dystopian movies too.

Children of Men

It’s over ten years since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, and just over eight years since then initiated Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. In the years that followed, the international economies fell into chaos and for reasons unknown, widespread infertility has left humanity on the brink of collapse.

Following the exit from the European Union, the United Kingdom was somehow able persevere, maintaining the only working government in the world. All foreigners have been declared illegal immigrants and are rounded up by British forces to be deported.

V for Vendetta

Just four short years have passed since the British people realised their democratic power and the decision was made to leave the European Union. Away from the EU, where the “St. Mary’s Virus” has ravaged the population and the United States which has been divided by civil war (likely caused by Trump), the UK is now ruled by a fascist police state headed up by a man bearing resemblance to Nigel Farage.

In this police state, those perceived to be undesirables by the government, including immigrants and Muslims, are rounded up and placed in concentration camps.

Braveheart

Many years after the decision to leave the European Union, the United Kingdom went into severe technological decline leaving the nation resembling the late thirteenth century. Scotland

The Scottish never voted to leave the European Union and after being forced to leave the bloc, widespread public unrest followed. After diplomatic attempts failed, a young leader came to the fore by the name of William Wallace. Wallace leading the Scottish waged a bloody war on the English in search for their independence.

 

Should you put tape over your webcam?

Marty
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Should you put tape over your webcam?

This week saw Instagram reach over half a billion active monthly users which is naturally headline material. Of course that means the headlines have been dominated by a 1cm squared piece of insulating tape on Mark Zuckerberg’s webcam.

Why does Zuckerberg tape is camera?

Some industry professionals have confirmed the Facebook founder is on the ball in terms of web security. Malware is a very real problem facing today’s computer users. Malware installs itself on your computer, looking all innocent before getting up to divilment. One claim outlines how webcams can be activated when you are unaware by this malware, which records your actions and keystrokes on your keyboard. This is the threat Zuckerberg is protecting himself from.

So should you put tape over your webcam?

Just a few months ago, we said this was all a little too “tin-foil hat” for our liking. To be honest, it’s probably not a bad idea to cover up your webcam. You can even get little caps for your devices that slide back and forth. Short of that, a little bit of tape will do the same job. The likelihood of you being targetted are slim, but at the same time, there’s no harm in being safe.

Is this just scaremongering?

Web security should be taken very seriously and the underlying message here should not be ignored. Keeping your WiFi secured, using unique logins or passphrases for different accounts, remaining vigilant while online and installing software is extremely important. At the same time, you shouldn’t refuse to explore the internet amid fears your identity will be stolen through your webcam. There are real fears about online behaviours, but the internet is such a brilliant resource for a wide range of topics, so don’t panic.panic with computer online

It’s quite likely that you will see laptops in offices and Starbucks around the country now don the insulating tape of justice. The Zuck has done it so everyone will need to be on-par with his security precautions. Yet for all his insulating tape and protection, he still got hacked last month. Even worse, most of the damage was caused by his use of the same login details for multiple sites.

How many people will attend the EURO 2016 Dublin Fanzone

Marty
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How many people will attend the EURO 2016 Dublin Fanzone

Robbie Brady has done the business and Dublin County Council have been left with no choice but to erect a EURO 2016 Dublin Fanzone. Not everyone has been lucky enough to be in France for what has already been an epic journey, with some of the best videos known to man emerging in the past two weeks. At long last, a much overdue EURO 2016 Fanzone is set to be erected in Smithfield for our clash with France on Sunday.

With that boxed off, how many people can you expect to be there? Well there are a few factors.

Online interest in the EURO 2016 Dublin Fanzone

Google Trends is a great site which gives you insight into what people are searches for online. Today has seen one thing dominate in Ireland: the construction of a EURO 2016 Fanzone.

interest in euro 2016 fanzone dublin
This table shows the volume of interest in constructing a EURO 2016 Fanzone in Dublin

Okay, we know we’re being biased to Dublin here and we do apologise, but that is some spike in interest. Such interest in the term “fanzone” or “fan zone” hasn’t been seen since, no prizes for guessing, June 2012. There is much more interest in the team watching our last sixteen game against France than there was for us facing Croatia, Spain and Italy in the 2012 European Championships.

interest in the term fan zone
This table shows the search interest in the term “fan zone dublin”

Outside of France, there are few places showing interest in contructing their own fanzone quite like the Irish, include our Northern friends. Below shows areas with a large quantity of tweets using the term “fanzone”.

fanzone trendsmap
Areas with large volumes of tweets with the term “fanzone”

The GAA matches

The GAA have already pushed back the throw-ins of Kildare vs Westmeath and Dublin vs Meath to accommodate those wishing to view the Ireland v Frace clash. In a historic move, the GAA have also decided to show the second-half of the game in Croke Park. This will likely reduce the number of people heading towards the EURO 2016 Fanzone in Smithfield, but not by much.

The weather

Smithfield has no roof. Ireland in general has no roof. According to MET Éireann, we can expect some light showers on Sunday but nothing of biblical proportions. Temperatures of about 13°C will be accompanied by very gentle breezes of between 7 to 11 knots. Nothing a half decent hoodie won’t put manners on. We’re looking good again.

The bag of cans

If you’re looking for to have a bag of cans for the Boys in Green, you’re out of luck. As the game is an early kick off (2PM) it’s very likely beer will be banned in the Dublin Fanzone. Like Paddy’s Day, this will be viewed as a family and group event, with Dublin County Council most likely opting for ease of security and making this a non-alcohol event. There will be no shortage of pubs available to view, with McGowans of Phibsboro currently getting my stamp of approval.

The verdict on how many will be in the EURO 2016 Fanzone in Smithfield

It’s very hard to predict how many will be there, but it’s guaranteed to deliver an electric atmosphere and an outlet for the poor souls who couldn’t make France to practice all these songs we’ve been seeing on Facebook. If we were to go out on a limb and make a prediction on attendance numbers, we’d have to follow suit with the fans behind this flag …

 

Number26 Review: Europe’s most modern bank account

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Number26 Review: Europe’s most modern bank account

After a few months of living with what the creators call Europe’s most modern bank account, we bring you our Number26 review.

What is Number26?

In Ireland, we have a pretty turbulent history with banks. A lack of transparency and value has led many to despise the vast majority of processes that involves banking. Number26 is a banking reinvented for the modern day customer. They’ve just received $40 million in Series B funding and support from the likes of PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. We’ve already gone into more detail before so you can catch up here.

The Number26 Review: What was it like living with such a new bank?

Starting out, there was hesitation. The monthly wages go into my normal Bank of Ireland account where, for the past few years, they wait patiently for me to spend them. Admittedly, I am an early adopter for services, but transferring hard earned cash into a relatively unknown entity cause me to stop for a moment. I would take a more staggered approach, transferring €5 before trying a more sizeable sum.

number26After two days, the €5 was transferred into my account. As soon as this was complete, a notification popped up on my smartphone. This is the first big advantage of a modern bank. You’ll receive notifications for all account activity, including failed charge attempts. The app that accompanies the service is simply the best banking app on the market. Number26 have this down to a tee. It’s well designed, but also incredibly functional. From fingerprint access to organising your spend into categories, the app will improve your banking experience.

Given the time of year, I brought the card along for holidays to Germany. Germany is infamous for having shops that don’t accept major card but others are quickly adopting contactless payments: which the Number26 card supports. The big benefit in using Number26 internationally is the lack of stupid charges imposed by traditional banks. To protect this facility, the people behind Number26 were forced to cancel accounts as users were regularly withdrawing cash, costing the bank huge fees.

What does the future hold for Number26 in Ireland?

Currently, having a Number26 account feels more like having a prepaid credit card than another bank account. In Germany, customers can enjoy more features, like withdrawing cash in selected shops and overdraft authorising within a few minutes through the app. Hopefully such features will come to Ireland in the future and with the $40 million Series B investment, improvements should hurry along nicely.

Number26: The verdict

It’s early days for Number26, but between the app interface and the savings to the user because a modern bank has fewer overheads, Europe’s most modern bank is definitely worth joining. I’m personally using my traditional account for savings and transferring my spending money into Number26 as a form of management. It’s worth a pop for that alone. You can sign up for Number26 over on their website.

Is Elon Musk destined to become a super villain?

Marty
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Is Elon Musk destined to become a super villain?

Some people are destined for greatness: the late, great Muhammad Ali, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela have all lived lives which have improved the world. It would make sense that with certain people destined for greatness, there are some destined to be pure evil. One of my personal favourite individuals in the tech world is Elon Musk, but it’s hard to ignore the fact he bears the traits of most super villains.

He has an enormous wealth

After founding and selling PayPal, Musk didn’t decide to retire young. Instead he continued to invest in huge companies, notably Tesla and is showing no signs of slowing. The South African is currently worth over $12 billion, a fortune which is still increasingly steadily.

Everyone knows that the best bad guys from the Bond movies have inordinate sums of cash at their disposal for creating bombs capable of destroying the world.

Musk certainly has the cash the bank roll research and development of huge missiles and rockets. Thankfully he never would…right?

Elon Musk has funded a space rocket

He actually would. Following the sale of PayPal, Musk turned his attentions to building rockets and developing a space tourism programme. That all sounds great and progressive for humanity’s long term plans in space considering the reduced spend by Nasa right? Or does it sound like the workings of a man who has an interest in easy access to chilling out in the earth’s orbit while he wreaks havoc on land? Whether it be a space station or moon base, all the best evil guys from Hollywood have some sort of access to space.

You can always trust the nice guy. Sure your gut says this guy is sound and there is absolutely nothing to worry about. He’s a charming family man, who despite being a hugely powerful figure, you would never hesitate to let him chill out with your family and friends.

There are decent connections to the Bond franchise too

Musk has already planted the seed for his plans. He recently made it clear via Twitter that the new Tesla Model S is capable of limited spells negotiating water.

To accompany such aquatic abilities the developers hid an Easter egg within the computer system to mimic the Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me.

The Tesla also now features more gadgets than your average Bond car meaning Musk should hope to be safe from various attacks thanks to features like Bioweapon Defense Mode.

Whether or not Musk will become the super villain he deserves to be is beyond question. You can engage with full on tin-foil hatted madness at stopelonmusk.org. Then all that remains is just how long his journey down this path will take and who will be our James Bond to take him on.

Crowdfunded: iPress – Forget ironing clothes

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Crowdfunded: iPress – Forget ironing clothes

There are few on this earth who enjoy ironing clothes, but thankfully a new Kickstarter campaign by the name of iPress aims to rid the world of this inconvenience.

What problem does the iPress solve?

Without trying to be overly dramatic, the team behind the iPress might actually be solving the greatest problem to plague mankind for years: ironing clothes. Ironing clothes is time consuming, boring and, for some, rather difficult. We’re sure there is more than a few reading this who simply opt to wear a jumper into the office to cover up the creases.

How does it work?

The iPress is a fancy clothes hanger that can apply tension to your garments. Naturally, when stretched, clothes lose that creased look temporarily. Once stretched with the device, wet clothes can be hung up on normal hangers, while dry clothes must be spritzed with water first. The creators do claim that this is science and not magic, but we are struggling to believe it.

How much will it cost?

The iPress has set a funding goal of $20,000 on Kickstarter. With all of the Super Early Bird pledge options sold out for $19 a pop, you can still get your hands on one of these life changing devices for $25 each. For this pledge, you will get one iPress Hanger in white. The $30 option will also get you the sprayer. The team behind the device have committed to delivery of your order by November 2016, shipping to everywhere in the world, but charging $9 for the service.

You can back the iPress on Kickstarter now and get set to change your life for ever*.

*May not change your life for ever.

Vibe: Out the ticket tout

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Vibe: Out the ticket tout

If you’ve been following EURO 2016 and the Balls.ie facebook group you’re sure to have seen endless amounts of banter and fun being had over in France with the Boys in Green. Slightly less craic are tickets that go for above face value from touts looking to turn a profit.

euro 2016 ticket touts

Lucky enough, there is a team vowing to “out the tout”.

vibe tickets meetupVibe was founded in 2013 by Luke Massie. Luke was a little miffed that so many ticket holders would flog their in-demand tickets for a profit, taking advantage of die-hard fans, desperate to attend big events. Vibe is more or less Tinder for tickets, offering three simple elements to improve the secondhand ticket markets. You can sell tickets up to 24 hours prior to an event, but tickets from fans selling at face-value and meet other like-minded fans from communities, know to the creators as ‘Vibers’.

Currently, the end users must arrange the payment terms themselves, but this is something the developers are currently working on. This development is likely to be hurried along by Vibe’s participation in Virgin Media Business Voom 2016. Vibe has reached the final of this year’s Voom, meaning they will be pitching to Richard Branson in an effort to nab a share of a €1.2 million prize pot.

How they plan to make money, we don’t know. Vibe is a completely free service, and promises to stay that way. So for now, if you’re desperate to catch that big concert or football final, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Vibe is currently available for iOS with an Android version on the way soon. You can also follow their twitter account for further updates on available tickets.

https://twitter.com/KqtieQ/status/744624646834782209

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