drag2share: The Best Smartwatch On The Planet Just Got Better For Android Users

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/pebble-smartwatch-for-android-2014-3

Pebble has announced new official partner apps for its smartwatch and is opening the Android arm of its app store.

This news comes just one month after the company launched its app store for iOS devices.

The new app partners are eBay, Evernote, and Time Warner Cable.

Pebble's app store runs on your iOS or Android phone as an app unto itself. A few of our favorite app offerings so far are Tiny Bird for getting a quick Flappy Bird fix on your watch, and 7-Minute Workout for breaking a sweat.

When not running apps, the Pebble lets you view incoming tweets, emails and text messages right from your wrist.

Pebble first gained attention back in 2012 when it raised more than $10.2 million on Kickstarter from almost 69,000 people. Last May, Pebble raised a $15 million Series A round led by Charles River Ventures.

SEE ALSO: REVIEW: The best smartwatch in the world

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drag2share: Punching virtual sharks for points with the Oculus Rift and Leap Motion

source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/07/punching-virtual-sharks-for-points-oculus-rift-leap-motion/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

"This could be a science lesson on the innards of sharks."

Chance Ivey, game design lead for Chaotic Moon's whimsical Oculus Rift demo SharkPunch, was only half-joking when he made that comment to me as I exploded a megalodon with my fist in virtual space. That's because the minigame, which incorporates a visor-mounted Leap Motion controller to let users punch sharks in 3D, actually has firm roots in an educational simulator the Austin, Texas-based company's been developing for prospective clients. Yes, that connection may be hard to swallow at first -- after all, how does a frenzied, and fun, game of shark carnage assist players with learning? The simple answer is that it doesn't, but by no means does that lessen SharkPunch's educational origins in the slightest.

Chaotic Moon's proper Oculus Rift education demo begins by placing a user within a virtual classroom. At the front of this room is an interactive periodic table that the "student," acting on instructions from a nearby teacher, uses to pull elements together and create a molecule of H2O, also known as water. Once that goal's been achieved, the molecules begin to multiply in a chain filling the room and, eventually, transforming into water; water which then floods the classroom. It's at this point the student finds him/herself immersed in an undersea environment populated by swimming fish. Chance told us that it was this tempting virtual environment that prompted a multitude of users to wonder aloud, "Can I punch those fish?" If you've ever submerged yourself in the Oculus Rift's VR world, you'd understand the impulse.

drag2share: Samsung Just Launched An Ad-Free, Free Music Service

source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/AukMgXgWEAA/samsung-launches-milk-2014-3

Samsung is diving into the music space with its launch of Milk, an ad-free radio service available exclusively for its flagship Galaxy devices.

Milk has 200 genre-based radio stations and 13 million songs. It's powered by Slacker – a radio app pre-programmed onto some Android phones. Galaxy users can download Milk for free. 

Samsung says that its trying to make new music discovery simple and organic. You don't have to sign up or log in when you use Milk: Music just starts playing. 

The user interface revolves around a dial that displays up to nine genres at once, ranging from rap to classical. But you can also create your own personal stations based on your favorite song or album, just like you would on Pandora (but without the ads).

When explaining the name of the app to Business Insider, a Samsung representative said that it wanted its music experience to be rich and fresh. It should make you feel a satisfied "warm and fuzzy" feeling like you would with a tall glass of milk.

Presumably, Samsung wants users to ditch Pandora or Spotify to use Milk, as it positions itself more and more as a multimedia giant. 

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Article: Google updates Text-to-Speech engine with new and high-quality voices

Text-to-Speech version 3 brings news languages and higher-quality voices for English US and English UK. If you use the voice synthesis capabilities of your smartphone, for things like reading books aloud or interacting with Google Now, you probably use Google’s Text-to-Speech engine, although Sam...

http://www.androidauthority.com/google-text-to-speech-high-quality-voices-354394/

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Article: Bosch And Hillcrest Make A Bet On Wearable Head-Mounted Computing With New All-In-One Sensor System

Head-mounted computing probably still seems a bit far-fetched to most every day users, but component manufacturers and tech suppliers are already gearing up to provide a future supply chain with the parts it needs to build such devices affordably and easily. Bosch Sensortec and Hillcrest Labs are...

http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/06/bosch-and-hillcrest-make-a-bet-on-wearable-head-mounted-computing-with-new-all-in-one-sensor-system/

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