HTC Viveport VR store launches globally

HTC is launching its VR app store, Viveport, globally. The store has been available in China since April, but it's now ready for fans in over 30 countries.
HTC already teamed up with Valve to offer seamless access to VR games, but with this announcement, it is working on bringing in the cool non-gaming experiences to users. The Viveport already offers categories such as education, design, art, social, video, music, sports, health, fashion, travel, news, shopping, creativity tools, among others.

    Also launching today is Viveport Premiers - a list of titles that debut on Viveport. Here are some of the Premiers games:

• Google Spotlight Stories: Pearl
• Lifeliqe
• Stonehenge VR
• The Music Room
• All-new edition of the Blu
• World of diving
• Fantastic contraption
• Everest VR
   All of the games that do appear in Viveport could loosely fall into those categories as well. 
  
  Viveport may not restrict itself to Vive-compatible software, either. The company told Venture Beat that while there are no Oculus VR titles in Viveport users should “stay tuned for news on that in the future.”
  Viveport's available to VR users now. Over the next 48 hours, HTC is offering several Vive games for just $1, including theBlu, Mars Odyssey, Stonehenge VR, The Music Room and Firebird – La Peri.

Google launches Waze Rider carpool program in San Francisco

Google has its own ride-sharing program that is now going live in San Francisco. The service is called Waze Rider and only recently opened to the public after testing in the area for several months in a private Beta. Waze Rider just has a few significant differences from other ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft.

For starters, the service is not for profit. The drivers earn $0.54 per mile, and because this payment is low, it allows for the service to slip under the radar of regulations that Uber and Lyft are required to follow. Also, drivers and riders are only allowed to participate in two rides per day (as per the initial Beta test), this would equate to commuting to and from work or school.                 

The idea of the service is to let drivers fill the empty seats in their cars on their commutes to and from work, only to break even with driving costs. Thereby reducing the number of cars on the road. And for an area like San Francisco, wide use of this service could reduce traffic a lot.

The Journal reports that drivers only need to submit their general schedule, as well as home and work addresses. As of right now, Google doesn’t have plans for requiring drivers to provide proof of insurance, nor photos of the car. Again, Waze Riders is only meant to fill empty seats.

The Journal’s reporter took a ride from San Francisco to Oakland with the service. Initial impressions showed there were still bugs in the app itself, namely the inability to use Waze as the primary method of navigation. The trip cost the rider only $6.30 whereas a rival service would cost an estimated $23-$30 for an Uber or Lyft during Rush Hour. A great deal considering the ~11 mile ride.

Daniel Craig offered 150$ million to return as James Bond.

Seems like Sony is going to all lengths to keep Daniel Craig intact in 007's tuxedo.

According to sources, the channel is throwing millions at the 'Skyfall' actor to keep him on board as the series' main character, reports the Independent.

The reports further suggest that executives have offered the actor 150 million dollar to play Bond in two more feature films.

While no assurance of whether the 48-year-old actor has accepted the offer or not has been revealed yet, in an earlier interview he said, "I'd rather slash my wrists" than playing Bond again despite being paid a rumoured 65 million dollars for the film.
                                       


However, a source said that the offer has played to Craig's advantage.


"He has played a genius hand. Everyone knows how much executives adore him, and the idea of losing him at such a crucial time in the franchise isn't an option as far as all the studio honchos are concerned," the source said.

On the work front, the actor is currently filming Steven Soderbergh's film 'Logan Lucky', alongside Channing Tatum and Adam Driver.

However, names like Tom Hughes, Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston and Aidan Turner have been coming up to be the fresh frontrunner to get the "License to kill."

Garmin Fenix Chronos watch looks good in a suit or up a mountain

Garmin has some cool activity-tracking watches in the Fenix 3 series, but it just unveiled the definitive model - Fenix Chronos. A premium watch with high-end tracking features and a price to match.

Note that this isn't an Android Wear smartwatch, but it can show notifications from your phone. And while it looks good enough to wear with a suit, that's not where it wants to be.

The Garmin Fenix Chronos wants to go hiking. It has a 3-axis compass, altimeter and barometer, GPS and GLONASS too - its battery can last up to 13 hours of GPS-based navigation. If you enable the UltraTrac mode, the battery life extends to 25 hours (the watch uses GPS intermittently, relying on an accelerometer the rest of the time). The omnidirectional EXO antenna promises good reception everywhere.

It wants to go diving too - it's waterproof up to 100m (330ft). Other features include a heart rate monitor, step and stair counter, calorie counter as well. Compared to the Fenix3 HR watch, the bump for the HR sensor is noticeably smaller, making for a more comfortable fit.

Compared to older Fenix 3 models, this one has a red button - a long press takes you to the stopwatch


                     

The Fenix Chronos uses Garmin's Chroma display, 1.2" big. It has the readability of classic black-and-white LCDs, but this one can render color too. The screen is protected by a domed sapphire glass.


The base model comes with a 316L stainless steel casing and a leather strap. You can upgrade to a steel strap for an extra $100, but that makes the watch heavy (184g). For $1,500 you can have the Titanium version - just 104g! And it comes with a fancy wooden box if that will fill the hole in your heart and wallet.

                     
 

HTC sold 15,000 $800 Vive virtual reality headsets in 10 minutes

Virtual reality is still in its early days, but it’s amazing how capable it is of making your bank account look a lot less impressive.

HTC revealed today that is has sold more than 15,000 HTC Vive VR kits in the first 10 minutes after it went on sale for preorder. That’s not bad for an unproven technology that costs $800 and requires a $1,000 PC. This comes as companies like Facebook, Google, and Samsung are all moving into this sector. Investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts VR could grow into a $110 billion business by 2020 along with the similar augmented reality tech that mixes digital images with the real world — and Vive is one of the consumer products that could drive those revenues.

Vive is a PC peripheral (from HTC and its partners at Valve) that you wear over your eyes and ears. This enables you to feel like you are inside of a game or a simulated experience. And unlike other VR devices, Vive has a number of extra sensors that can track your movement around a room. This amps up the feeling that you are present in another place, and it is the main selling point of the Vive compared to its competition.

HTC Vive is the second major high-end VR headset to go on sale this year. In January, Oculus VR — a subsidiary of Facebook — starting selling its Rift head-mounted display for $600. The company didn’t share any numbers about that performance, but the first shipments sold out in a matter of minutes. That pushed new orders from March into April and then into May by the end of the first day. Today, new Rift preorders won’t ship until July.

These early successes are showing that VR has a lot of interest. This is something we’ve seen with mobile virtual reality and devices like Samsung’s Gear VR (that it builds in partnership with Oculus) and the Google Cardboard phone holders. This market is on track for $861 million in spending this year.

Many people have wondered if the build up to VR over the last few years will lead to any money, and now we have several products where consumers are showing they’re ready to part with their cash. Now it’s just up to software developers to built momentum on top of that.

WhatsApp update adds PDF sharing

        

       WhatsApp is now rolling out an update for the Android and iOS versions of the app that adds document sharing. More specifically, PDF sharing.

You can now press the attachment sharing button to see the option to attach documents. On Android it will show your file manager to attach any local PDF files you may have. On iPhone, it will let you attach files from other storage apps, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.The update is now rolling out and should be available to everyone soon

Apple is selling the View-Master VR through its own stores

Apple is now officially selling the View-Master Virtual Reality Starter Pack through its own stores, both physical and online. It is similar to Google's Cardboard, but with View-Master's signature reels added on top, has already been available for both Android and Apple devices, but it's only now that the Cupertino company has made it available in its own retail chain.
    
                         
 
Additionally, Apple stores are carrying the Experience packs (the reels, plus a card), each priced at $14.95. You need the card to unlock the experience in the app on your phone and to enjoy the augmented reality features.

                                

The retro-styled View-Master is back — and this time it's been fused with virtual reality. View-Master maker Mattel has announced that it's partnered with Google to create a new version of the device that utilizes the company's Cardboard VR tech.

                                 

The original View-Master utilized a small, colorful reel, which users placed in the device to see images with a 3D effect. For the VR version, you'll need a smartphone running a custom Mattel app to recreate the effect (the device will also work with any other Cardboard-compatible app for more traditional VR experiences). The reels will still exist, however, and will be sold separately to provide different experiences, like giving you a view of Alcatraz or other iconic locations like a space shuttle. Mattel calls these scenarios "360 degree photospheres."

The new device isn't expected to ship until the fall. The unit will retail for $29.99, while additional reels will come in packs of four for $14.99.