Oculus CEO clarifies: one Oculus Rift headed to consumers, supports Android and PC

Despite contrary reports, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe says that only one version of his company's consumer-ready virtual reality gaming headset is planned for launch. "We will be delivering a single Oculus Rift," Iribe tells Engadget. After giving a keynote during GamesBeat 2013 this week, it was widely reported (based on this VentureBeat piece) that two versions of the consumer Oculus Rift are being prepared for launch: one PC version, one Android. That is not the case according to Oculus. "We will be delivering a single Oculus Rift which is a tether to multiple different devices," Iribe says. The device is able to tether to a variety of laptop/desktop OSes (Windows/Mac/Linux), "and now we're looking to also support tethering to a mobile device."

At launch, Android support is slim -- not exactly a surprise considering the horsepower required to run VR -- but Iribe promises it won't require next-gen, Kepler-grade mobile GPUs. "I don't think it's going to require that full Kepler capability. I think we'll be able to deliver on an even earlier chipset than that." He says that newly hired CTO John Carmack is producing impressive results already on existing mobile hardware. "I think people will be pretty surprised with what set of devices we're able to make this work on. We are focused on just a few right now, basically just to stay focused so that we can deliver a great experience on a couple devices first. Then over time we'll have that span out," Iribe says.

Of course, he won't say what devices those are just yet, but we'd bet they'll be of the Snapdragon 800 variety -- something powerful. The company never specifies "mobile" as tablets or phones, and Iribe didn't say during our interview. When we followed up, the official company line is this: "We're testing the latest Android phones, tablets and gaming devices to see what delivers the best VR experience." Devs have yet to receive the Android SDK from Oculus; Iribe admits it's "taking a little bit longer," but he promises it's for the best. "When we do release it, and we say it works with this set of devices, and here is the SDK, and here are the demos and samples...when people try them they're blown away with how well they work. It's coming soon, but not ready to release a date."

As for Carmack's vision of a standalone, Android-powered, wireless VR headset, that's longer term. "Right now, on our roadmap for V1, we are still focused on a PC-based product with Android compatibility as well. But a tethered product," Iribe says. "That's why we're optimizing for Android, but the Oculus Rift will have a cable that goes down to another device which provides the CPU/GPU computing -- whether that's a laptop, a desktop, or potentially a mobile device, that's always been our focus for V1, that continues to be our focus for V1." Beyond that, however, is where things get really interesting.

"We definitely all have the same, shared longer-term vision of having the headset be capable of running standalone with the option of plugging into an external computing device with a wire -- maybe it's even just a cell phone in your pocket --to get extra computing," he tells us, sounding more excited by the second. Echoing Carmack and Rift creator Palmer Luckey before him, Iribe describes the future he sees for VR:

"That's exciting! And what we're really excited about is you'll have this mobile, semi-untethered experience. And then you will be able to tether it to a PC to get that highest fidelity. And there'll be this incredible ecosystem of both PC content and mobile content. And there's gonna be a lot of great experiences on both."

There is still no release date for the consumer version of the Oculus Rift headset beyond "2014," though we expect it won't be too long before we know more.

[Image credit: Michael Clinard]

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/01/oculus-rift-consumer-version-interview/?ncid=rss_truncated
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Syria peace envoy: No talks without opposition

UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi speaks in a press conference in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. Brahimi urged during his days-long visit to Damascus that both the Syrian government and the opposition attend a planned peace conference in Geneva. (AP Photo)

UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi speaks in a press conference in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. Brahimi urged during his days-long visit to Damascus that both the Syrian government and the opposition attend a planned peace conference in Geneva. (AP Photo)

UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, center left, accompanied with Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, center right, leaves a hotel after a press conference in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. Brahimi urged during his days-long visit to Damascus that both the Syrian government and the opposition attend a planned peace conference in Geneva. (AP Photo)

UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi speaks in a press conference in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. Brahimi urged during his days-long visit to Damascus that both the Syrian government and the opposition attend a planned peace conference in Geneva. (AP Photo)

In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, people try to extinguish a fire on the roof of a building, allegedly caused by shelling in Homs, Syria, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. President Bashar Assad's government met a key deadline in an ambitious plan to eliminate Syria's entire chemical weapons stockpile by mid-2014 and avoid international military action. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP Video)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, speaks with U.N.-Arab League envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Assad told the Arab League-U.N. envoy Wednesday that foreign support for the armed opposition must end if any political solution to the country's conflict is to succeed, state-run media said. (AP Photo/SANA)

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria warned on Friday in Damascus that there can be no peace talks without the opposition while making yet another plea for both sides in the civil war to come to the negotiating table in Geneva later this month.

Lakhdar Brahimi, who wrapped up his days-log visit to Damascus as part of a Mideast tour meant to muster regional support for the conference, appeared uncertain about prospects for the meeting.

"We will say it's happened only when it happens," he told reporters at a press conference in Damascus, acknowledging that the Geneva gathering cannot take place if the opposition refuses to take part.

In a possible sign the Damascus meetings had not gone too well, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi slammed Brahimi for equating between the opposition and the government in the press conference.

"Brahimi ... wants to satisfy all parties at the expense of truth and the Syrians alike," al-Zoubi told Al-Mayadeen TV, adding that Brahimi should be a neutral and evenhanded broker.

Brahimi's plea came as Syrian state TV and opposition activists said the army captured a strategic town in the country's north believed to be the home of a chemical weapons production facility and storage sites.

Safira has been the scene of three weeks of intense fighting as the army kept trying to retake the town from rebels who have been in control there for more than a year.

The capture came just hours after officials said Israeli warplanes had attacked a shipment of Russian missiles inside a Syrian government stronghold — a development that threatened to add another volatile layer to regional tensions from the Syrian conflict.

An Obama administration official late on Thursday confirmed the Israeli airstrike, but provided no details. Another security official said the attack occurred late Wednesday in the Syrian port city of Latakia and that the target was Russian-made SA-125 missiles.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the attack. There was no confirmation from Syrian officials, and state media made no mention of the reports.

Since Syria's civil war began in March 2011, Israel has carefully avoided taking sides, but has struck shipments of missiles inside the neighboring country at least twice this year.

The Syrian military, overstretched by the civil war, has not retaliated, and it was not clear whether the embattled Syrian leader would choose to take action this time. President Bashar Assad may decide to again let the Israeli attack slide, particularly when his army has the upper hand on the battlefield inside Syria.

The U.S. and Russia have been pushing for a peace conference that would bring both sides of the Syrian conflict to the table in Geneva later this month.

More than 120,000 people have been killed so far in the war, now in its third year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based watchdog that closely monitors the violence in Syria through a network of activists across the country. The U.N. said in July that 100,000 Syrians have been killed, and has not updated that figure since. Millions of Syrians have been uprooted from their homes because of the fighting.

Brahimi warned that if the crisis goes on, expectations are that those directly affected by the crisis may reach half of Syria's total pre-war population of 23 million people.

"It is time for Syrians to cooperate and for others in the region and outside to cooperate with them to end this crisis," Brahimi said.

The envoy, who met this week with Assad and Damascus-based opposition groups, said the Syrian government has confirmed it would attend.

The deeply fractured Syrian opposition groups are split on whether to attend the Geneva talks. They also disagree over conditions for taking part — from demands that Assad step down right away to guarantees that he would not be part of a negotiated solution for the country's future

This time, Brahimi appeared to put the onus on the opposition, saying talks in Geneva cannot "go forward without the opposition."

"The participation of the opposition is essential, necessary and important," he said.

The opposition is made up of different factions, many of them politicians based in exile — the majority of whom are part of the main umbrella group, the Syrian National Coalition. There are also the Damascus-based opposition groups. But even within the Coalition, there are deep splits about whether the opposition should attend without international guarantees that Assad would step down.

Assad himself has said he will not talk to members of the Coalition whom he considers agents of the West, nor with armed rebels. The rebels themselves are a mix of various groups, from the mainstream Free Syrian Army to the extremist but powerful and effective al-Qaida-linked groups.

Although unconfirmed, Safira is believed to be one of two sites that chemical weapons inspectors were unable to visit because of security concerns.

The town is also strategic as a supply route for Syrian government forces in the contested city of Aleppo.

Syrian activists in Aleppo province confirmed the rebels had withdrawn from Safira overnight under heavy fire, leaving it to government troops.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-11-01-Syria/id-e854535ab32348dfb4b8097267d69681
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Lindsay Ellingson Heats Up UNICEF Masquerade Ball

She’s always a welcome sight to behold, and last night (October 30) Lindsay Ellingson was scorching hot at the 4th Annual UNICEF Masquerade Ball in New York City.

The 28-year-old SoCal cutie donned a flirty mask and worked the arrivals area at The Angel Orensanz Foundation in a shimmery navy gown with a gold underlay and long train prior to the festivities.

Lindsay has been preparing for the forthcoming Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show since September, and unlike other Angels, she’s not worried about being skinny.

She told press, "I like to add curves. I think it's sexier and more feminine to be more full. So, I add like almond butter, peanut butter, protein shakes to my diet, just to feel a little sexier and curvier. I also step up my workouts. But I try not to stress about it because that's never good."

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/lindsay-ellingson/ellingson-masquerade-1074255
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Motorola makes updating the Moto X camera easy, moves app to Google Play

In a continuing trend of moving what traditionally would be system apps out of the operating system, Motorola has just plopped the camera application for the Moto X into the Google Play Store.

Listed as new in this release are:

• Brightened camera viewfinder so it's easier to see
• Enabled quick capture for more enterprise IT policies
• Bug fixes

And, more important, it means you won't need a system update to improve the Moto X camera — which has been the most disappointing part of this phone for us.

This isn't the first time we've seen this happen, of course. The Touchless Control feature for the Moto X (and new Verizon Droids) is in Google Play, having just been updated with a new "Find my phone" feature. Motorola's Droid Zap feature also is in Google Play.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/GKskmrGrDTE/story01.htm
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Democrats Back on the Obamacare Grind

President Obama is asking Democrats to “grind it out” and stick with him and his embattled new entitlement program despite a disastrous launch and new revelations that he misled voters with claims about being able to keep their insurance.

That may work for the blue-state true believers the president spoke to in Boston on Wednesday, but “grind it out” isn’t exactly an ideal swing-state strategy. With approval for Obama and ObamaCare damaged in the rollout crash and concerns mounting rather than receding, the president’s request is a substantial one. “Grind it out” means grinding down their own poll numbers.

 

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2013/11/01/democrats_back_on_the_obamacare_grind_318995.html
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Colorado voters deciding how to tax pot

DENVER (AP) — A pro-pot jingle in Colorado last year went like this: "Jobs for our people/Money for schools/Who could ask for more?" Nearly a year after Colorado legalized recreational weed, voters get the chance to decide exactly how much more — in taxes.

On Tuesday, voters decide whether to approve a 15 percent pot excise tax to pay for school construction, plus an extra sales tax of 10 percent to fund marijuana enforcement.

Some pot activists are campaigning against the taxes, arguing that marijuana should be taxed like beer, which has a tax rate of 8 cents a gallon. They've handed out free joints at tax protests.

"Our alcohol system is regulated just fine with the taxes they have, so we don't see any need for this huge grab for cash from marijuana," said Miguel Lopez, volunteer coordinator for the small opposition campaign to Colorado's pot tax measure.

While polls suggest the tax is going to pass — even in this state where voters frequently reject new taxes — it is very much an open question how much the state is going to reap.

A projection prepared for voters by state fiscal analysts predicted the taxes would bring in $70 million a year. But an early draft of Colorado's first budget after retail sales begin, the 2014-15 fiscal year, doesn't include an amount they expect in pot revenue.

Washington state isn't counting on pot revenue, either.

Voters in that state set tax rates when they approved legalization last year. Taxes will be 25 percent, levied at least twice and up to three times between when the pot is grown and when it reaches the customer, plus sales tax.

Marijuana's tax potential is an important question for the prospects for pot legalization in other states. If pot proves a tax windfall for Colorado and Washington, other states may be inclined to look favorably on legal weed.

But if recreational pot smokers in the two states stay in the black market to avoid taxes, while the price tag for regulating a new industry balloons, marijuana legalization could suddenly look like a bad deal.

That's why many in Colorado's marijuana industry are pushing the tax measure. They say that because most people don't use marijuana, the public needs to see a public benefit from making the drug legal.

"Taxes are an opportunity for marijuana to show it can play a valuable role in the community," said Joe Megyesy, spokesman for the campaign promoting the tax measure.

Support for the marijuana taxes extends even to politicians who opposed legalization in the first place, including Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and Republican Attorney General John Suthers.

"I think everyone sort of realizes that the die has been cast. We're really doing this, and if we're going to move marijuana out of the shadows, we need to regulate it and tax it," said Sam Kamin, a University of Denver law professor who studies drug policy and served on the Colorado panel that helped write state marijuana regulations.

Still unclear is how the new marijuana market responds.

Colorado's medical marijuana framework will remain in place, with a much lower taxation rate. Heavy pot users could save a lot of money by paying nominal annual fees to be on the state medical marijuana registry and paying only regular sales taxes on their pot.

Colorado also allows growing pot at home without a license, allowing users to avoid taxes entirely.

Surveys suggest that 20 percent of pot smokers consume 80 percent of the pot, so the behavior of the heavy user has significant tax consequences, said Beau Kilmer, co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.

It's too soon to say what will happen to recreational pot prices after retail sales begin next year. But if current prices hold, Colorado's proposed tax rate would add about $50 to an ounce of medium-quality loose marijuana, roughly the amount that would fit in a sandwich-sized plastic bag.

Precise projections for the pot tax burden on the user are dicey.

Like alcohol, marijuana can vary widely in potency, quality and price. Both Washington and Colorado plan to use taxes based on price. By contrast, alcohol is taxed by the gallon and cigarettes by the pack, regardless of how expensive the booze or smokes are.

Another unknown is how much regulation will cost.

Colorado has approved an ambitious seed-to-sale tracking scheme that includes extensive video surveillance of licensed growing sites and radio-frequency identification tagging. That could end up costing more than the 10 percent special sales tax produces, warned Colorado State University economists in a report issued in April.

Kilmer said that Colorado and Washington are aware they're treading into uncharted waters on marijuana taxation. Voters and consumers, he said, should be prepared for big changes in pot tax rates and regulatory schemes.

"Flexibility is clearly going to be the key here," Kilmer said.

___

Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-11-01-Marijuana%20Taxes/id-3a617350d53a43baaa5f4634b4fa5ac6
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The Nexus 5 is official, Play Store now taking orders

Here comes Google and LG's next big thing

Today brings an end to all the rumors, leaks and speculation — the LG-made Google Nexus 5 is finally official and the Google Play Store is now taking orders.

Here's the long and short of it: This year's Nexus handset is a 5-incher with a 1080p display, a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU and 2GB of RAM. Storage comes in 16 and 32GB configurations. The Nexus 5 is the first Nexus device to ship with an OIS (optical image stabilization) camera — an 8MP unit — which should compensate for hand motion in photos. It's also packing a 2300mAh battery and wireless charging capabilities.

Two Nexus 5 models will be offered, a North American version with CDMA support, 7-band WCDMA and 9-band LTE, and an international version with 6-band WCDMA and 6-band LTE. For a full list of radio bands and other technical info, check out our full Nexus 5 specs post.

Prices in the UK start at £295; in the U.S. it's $349 for 16GB and $399 for 32GB. It's available to order now on Google Play Store in several countries with 1-2 day shipping times; brick-and-mortar stores in the UK should have it tomorrow (Nov. 1).  The first thousand UK buyers who pick up a Nexus 5 from Carphone Warehouse on-contract can claim a free 16GB Nexus 7 (2012). Carphone's on-contract prices start at £32 per month on 3G and £37 on 4G, both from O2.

Naturally, the Nexus 5 runs the all-new Android 4.4 KitKat, which we're still in the process of learning about amid today's announcements. Stay tuned for additional info just as soon as we get it.

Keep it locked to Android Central for more on today's Nexus and Android 4.4 KitKat news as it breaks.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/NTqaDR1zIyY/story01.htm
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