16 TECH NEWS
Top Gadgets For 2014
News
Polaroid Socialmatic camera
LG's Home Chat
Oculus Rift vs. Sony HMZ (project morpheus)
5 year old exposes Xbox Security Flaw
Nasa's Robot Surgeon
The concept was created in 2012, but only now in 2014. The Android-based Socialmatic could revive the beloved Polaroid as we know it, enabling users to print stickers of their sepia-tinted images, and customise them using the 4.5 inch touchscreen.
The next generation of home appliance is here, with LG Home Chat. Not sure what to buy from the supermarket? Use LG Home Chat to text your fridge to check whats in it. You can also text your washing machine to start a load whilst you're out and about, or tell your robotic vacuum cleaner to start tidying up.
A five-year-old boy who worked out a security vulnerability on Microsoft's Xbox Live service has been officially thanked by the company. Kristoffer Von Hassel, from San Diego, figured out how to log in to his dad's account without the right password. Microsoft has fixed the flaw, and added Kristoffer to its list of recognised security researchers. The company also gave him four free games, $50 (£30), and a year-long subscription to Xbox Live.
Nasa's Robonaut 2 has the makings of the perfect space surgeon. In truth, it can't even walk in zero gravity yet, and perhaps its most impressive physical feat to date has been to catch a floating roll of duct-tape. For example, once it can give an injection, it will be able to find the same spot on a human body and use the same angle for the needle again. But in the short-term Robonaut 2 faces a more mundane role as the space station's cleaner.
He sees the robot eventually being used to perform intricate medical operations like endovascular surgery, where a patient is operated on through their large blood vessels.
There have been huge techonological advances in the gaming industry in 2014, with both Oculus Rift and Sony's HMZ battling it out to create a new first person device. Although, many fans have been angered by the buy-out of the Oculus Rift by Facebook, a financial boost may be the only way to compete with market giants such as Sony.