Instacube Puts Your Photo Stream on Display

"Digital photo frame" displays have been around for a long time. You probably bought one for your parents in like 2005, and since then it's probably been playing back the same thirty pictures you loaded onto it for them, collecting dust on a shelf.

The developers of the Instacube want to change that. Over at Kickstarter, a pledge of $99 to $149 will reserve your Instacube - a sleek, square display that integrates with Instagram to exhibit your photo stream live.

The Instacube (which thankfully isn't actually a cube) will be 7.5" square, housing a 6.5" square LCD display. In addition to the touch-capacitive screen, the housing features tactile buttons for controlling power and switching feeds, along with a heart shaped "Like" button. It comes with 4GB of internal storage, but it syncs with Instagram over WiFi, so it seems unlikely you'd ever fill it.

The Instacube's single-purpose interface (Insta-face?) is built on Android. It runs on a rechargeable lithium ion battery (the developers told IGN they're planning to include a USB port for charging), so you can take your friends' breakfast pics wherever you go.

The only thing we weren't blown away by is the display's resolution: 600x600 isn't terrible - in fact, it's competitive with similarly priced devices, and Instagram pictures currently max out at 612x612 pixels anyway - but it isn't future-proof either. Plus, Instagram's normalized aspect ratio will banish the ugly-black-bar effect of squeezing vertical photos into a horizontal display.

It's worth noting that the device will require access to Instagram's API. While that's not necessarily cause for alarm, if Instagram's Facebook overlords were to revoke API access for some reason, the device would become an expensive paperweight just like that.

As of writing, the Instacube is about a third of the way to its $250,000 funding goal on its first day.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN. 

Source : ign[dot]com

The VR Headset of the Future Just Launched on Kickstarter

When you think of "wildly successful peripherals" virtual reality headsets are probably not the first things that come to mind. But a recent slew of head-mounted displays (HMDs) seems to indicate the timing's right to retry.

Oculus launched its ultra-high-tech VR headset's Kickstarter a little earlier today, and already it's found plenty of support and full funding. So what makes them so special?

While the technical specifications are subject to change, currently the Oculus Rifts are set to features ultra-low latency head tracking with 6 degrees of freedom (DOF), 110 degrees diagonal field of view, a resolution of 640x800 per eye, stereoscopic 3D rendering, and weigh around .22 kilograms.

But what's all that tech talk mean for an everyday user? It means the Oculus Rift's will feature a far larger display than those others out there and track your head without the lag you might consider synonymous with head-mounted virtual reality.

John Carmack has been a vocal supporter of the Oculus Rift - praising the device, and saying that the angles offered by the Rift were so impressive he ditched plans for his own HMD as soon as he tried these out.

Other big players praising the Oculus Rift includes Cliff Bleszinski of Epic, Gaikai, David Helgason at Unity, and Michael Abrash and Gabe Newell of Valve.

• Check out the Oculus Rift Kickstarter

The Oculus Rift isn't your average consumer-facing Kickstarter - they're only hoping to get enough funding to produce development kits. This allows the Kickstarter goal to start with a much lower goal - in this case a $250,000 goal that has already been doubled. It also means there's not as much incentive to buy big if you're not making games.

If you're not a developer, you can show your support by pledging one of the low tiers and in turn pick up a pretty sweet poster or shirt, or you can pledge $275 or more and receive a prototype device with Doom 3 BFG edition, the first Oculus-ready game, or as we like to call it, "The most expensive version of Doom 3 ever."

What do you think? Could the Oculus Rift's finally be the VR headset we've been waiting for? We're cautiously optimistic, and we'll update you as we know more.

Nic is the Editor of IGN Tech. He loves technology almost as much as Skittles, Boyz II Men, and Pitfall! You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com