Oculus is opening Rift preorders today to put VR in the hands of people around the world, and the company is also going to give a free Kickstarter Edition Oculus Rift to all of the Kickstarter backers who pledged for a Rift development kit. In a letter obtained by Wired, Oculus said those who pledged … continue reading
Cortana has been pulled out from the Google Play Store because saying “Hey Cortana” was causing problems for the microphone of several Android devices. The saying was interfering with Google Now’s “Ok Google” feature, according to Android Community. It’s not determined yet if the microphone problems are the sole cause of the removal of the … continue reading
Atlassian has officially set its IPO at US$21 a share, raising $482 million, the New York Times reported. The price is above the previously reported expected range, which was at about $16.50 to $18.50 per share for $370 million. According to the Times, the IPO price values the company at $4.38 billion. “Today is a … continue reading
Samsung has announced a new browser designed for its virtual reality device, Gear VR. Internet for Gear VR is designed to enable users to browse the Web in a more immersive atmosphere without having to download VR content. “As a pioneer in the mobile VR industry, Samsung has continually worked to provide our users with … continue reading
When you ask Siri what she thinks of Microsoft’s personal assistant Cortana, her answers range from “I really have no opinion” to “I’d rather not say.” To any unsuspecting human, those might seem like reasonable answers, but in a girl’s world, the world of passive aggression, those are some fighting words. And that might only … continue reading
Cortana for Android is now available to users through a public beta. According to Microsoft, the application for Android is similar to Cortana for Windows PC or Windows Phone. It features the ability to set and get reminders, search the Web, and track information such as flights. Currently the hands-free capability for Cortana is only … continue reading
Meteor has revealed its road map to Meteor 1.2 and beyond. Version 1.2’s anticipated release will take place later this summer, with ECMAScript 6 compatibility, support for Angular and React, and a faster and more flexible build pipeline. Beyond version 1.2, Meteor is focusing on SQL support, better ways to work with REST and microservices, … continue reading
Let’s Encrypt, the initiative to encrypt HTTPS across the Web, has announced its launch schedule. The first certificate will be given out the week of July 27, with general availability coming the week of Sept. 14. “If we stay true to the schedule outlined above, we will have built an innovative [certificate authority], capable of … continue reading
Hyundai has announced ahead of Google I/O later this week that the 2015 Hyundai Sonata is the first consumer vehicle to integrate Google’s Android Auto automotive OS. Hyundai will offer 2015 Sonata owners with navigation features in a free software update that integrates Android Auto into the car’s interface. Android Auto will provide Sonata features … continue reading
Microsoft has announced that the Microsoft Build Engine, the build platform for .NET and Visual Studio, is now available on GitHub. According to Microsoft program manager Rich Lander, the MSBuild sources that are being published on GitHub will be aligned with the version being shipped in Visual Studio 2015. In addition, the company plans to … continue reading
Ever since Apple launched its digital personal assistant Siri on iOS devices, companies have been trying to develop their own speech-recognition and natural-language-processing technologies. BlackBerry has the BlackBerry Assistant, Google has Google Now, and Microsoft has Cortana, for instance. The evolution of these virtual personal assistants started out as a way for these companies to … continue reading
After Microsoft’s surprise reveal of Windows Holographic and HoloLens, the Star Wars metaphors began to fly, with “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope” quotes lighting up social media. For us, a different reference came to mind: “Pay no attention to the OS behind the hologram…” Two-thirds of the way through a relatively unexciting … continue reading
