This week we had a bunch of PlayStation VR news, an upcoming NBA stadium is being built with VR experiments in mind, we had a sneak peek at a potential Apple AR device, AI development is moving into recognising emotions and impending hugs, and one developer made a cake that screams when you cut it. This was a good week.
Does anyone else think the PlayStation Move controller looks super strange?
Virtual Reality
If you’re in Sydney and looking to learn the basics of Unity and VR, sign up for my Virtual Reality Workshop I’m running at Academy Xi on the 4th July!
I’ve heard this a few times now — PlayStation VR’s weakness is the Move controller.
If you’d like to try it and you live in the US, PlayStation VR demos are coming to US retailers soon!
SteamVR now supports Oculus Touch controllers.
This VR Pong game tricks the player’s brain in a weird and wonderful way!
VR Care is an open source VR headset to distract burn patients during hospital treatment.
It turns out, consumers are less eager to spend lots of money on VR since last year — now the top headsets desired are the Samsung Gear VR, followed by the PlayStation VR. That’s according to this survey at least.
The Sacramento Kings’ new stadium is designed for virtual reality experiments.
Voices of VR discussed simulation theory, AI and more with Cris Miranda.
Nonny de la Peña says virtual reality will let us understand the world in ways photography never could.
Here are some of the ways developers are dealing with VR-induced queasiness.
OSVR will be offering HDK 2 display upgrade for older headsets.
StarVR’s latest headset prototype has a massive 210 degree view of view!
Augmented Reality
Apple won patents for a transparent AR device with wrap-around display which may be a sign of a future AR focused iPhone.
Pokemon Go could be released by the end of July with the Go Plus accessory to cost $35.
How stores will use augmented reality to make you buy more stuff.
These short Google Tango videos showcase some of the potential of AR on smartphones.
Not sure what Google’s Project Tango actually is? Forbes has you covered.
Wearables
Pebble added two new Time Round watch designs to its Kickstarter campaign. They don’t have heart rate monitoring but they look fancy!
Also in Pebble land — Pebble’s SDK 4.0 developer preview is out with early access to Pebble 2 functionality.
Fitbit is introducing a new “Sleep Schedule” feature to help you get a good night’s sleep. It sounds really similar to what Jawbone’s UP app does.
Here’s yet another stress detecting wearable, however this one does all sorts of other things too!
These ultra-thin solar cells can be bent around a pencil.
Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Vehicles, Robotics and Drones
Bright minds in AI have a fascinating look at what’s next for artificial intelligence.
Amazon is working on teaching Alexa how to understand your emotions.
Meanwhile, MIT has worked out a way to predict high-fives and hugs.
In the natural progression of things, here’s why we will all soon be sharing our deepest secrets with robots.
So… here are the hidden risks of the bot explosion covered by TechCrunch.
Looking to learn about AI and machine learning? Here’s a nice guide to getting started with TensorFlow from O’Reilly.
FAA are about to announce new rules for small commercial drones.
Why AI will break capitalism.
Ultimate Ears’ Bluetooth speakers now work with Siri and Google Now!
Microsoft brings its IFTTT rival to iOS but The Next Web says it’s not ready for prime-time.
Is the combo of chat and AI changing the face of CRM?
It turns out Apple’s Photo app has a level of image recognition that isn’t documented!
Sphero’s SPRK+ and its Lightning App will bring robotics and coding to students. It’s also stronger with a scratch resistant coating. If I didn’t just get a BB-8, I’d be grabbing one of these. Super cool.
This popular Chinese virtual assistant will soon control millions of robots.
Unmanned combat robots are starting to appear on the battlefield.
Elon Musk and OpenAI want to build a robot that will do housework.
Internet of Things
Here is a video of a screaming cake. Coded in Scratch. Need I say more?
Piper raised $2.1m to combine Raspberry Pi and Minecraft to teach kids to code.
Most existing IoT won’t work with Apple’s Home app due to privacy and security concerns.
However, quite a few products (August, Canary, Withings, Kuna, D-Link, Ring) are reportedly gaining HomeKit support in the coming months.
This single-molecule switch has gotten us closer to light-powered computers.
This guy hacked his car’s dashboard to show “Reddit Shower Thoughts” using a Raspberry Pi.
There’s a lot of cool Raspberry Pi projects happening right now. StarPi is a Raspberry Pi based Astrophotography System. Wow.
Make your very own Slack channel notification sign with a Particle Photon!
If Slack isn’t your thing but you’re into productivity — how about a fancy Pomodoro Timer built with a Particle Photon?
Benny Estes spoke to me about rapid prototyping for the Internet of Things using their IoT tool, Cayenne, and Raspberry Pi (and very soon, their platform will also support Arduino which is super cool!).
Working on Something?
If you’re working on something neat (or know someone who is) and have some experiences to share, I’m always on the lookout for groups to feature in a Dev Diner interview. Say hi!
I’m also on the lookout for VR developers and designers to share their knowledge on best practices in VR — Get in touch with me!
To the growing numbers subscribed to this newsletter, thank you! I hope the newsletter is helping keep you on top of the crazy world of emerging tech! I’m available via email, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat! Say hi!
PatCat
Would you like to republish this article in your own publication?
Contact Dev Diner to request official republication of this article.
Contact Dev Diner to request official republication of this article.
Want more?
A neat way to add I/O with the physical world — the Wio Terminal
The world of micro-controllers and maker creations is a vast and ever-growing one that can be super intimidating to newcomers. Should you start with an Arduino? A Raspberry Pi? What's an ESP something something? How do you add a screen? Sensors? The team at Seeed Studio are trying to make things easier and their Wio Terminal looks like a nice option for those who want to start with a screen and some sensors.
Building a 3D printed AR headset with The Triton Project
It's always exciting to stumble upon another AR headset being developed! Graham Atlee has been putting together The Triton Project, an exciting new headset similar to Project North Star that can be put together with off-the-shelf parts! Here's a Q&A with Graham on how it came about and how you might be able to get your hands on one!