pyconaut

In 2014 Valve was sued by the A.C.W (Australian Consumer Watchdog), over their refund policy which at the time was conflicting with Australian Consumer Law.  And on the 22/12/2017 Valve had their appeal dismissed meaning that they still have to pay the $3million fine, as well as follow through with consumer guarantees
Not much else to say other than that this should lead to a domino effect, with all stores selling digital content hopefully starting to do the right thing, and provide proper refund policies in Australia.  Valve might even put some actual effort in after this to pre-emptively avoid having to give refunds by actually curating their store.
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/12/icymi-the-australian-federal-court-says-yep-valve-misled-gamers-alright/
 
Edit:
Here's a video on the situation
 

@alex73630 posted this on discord, and I thought I would Share it with the forums.
 
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/consumer-electronics/audiovideo/haptx-inc-reveals-new-haptic-glove-for-virtual-reality
https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/20/haptx-gloves-vr/#/
 
Haptx (formerly AxonVR) has finally publicly showed their haptic VR gloves, which are looking much better then their CES variant. 
 
As they say in the ieee article 
This is a big deal for immersion in VR, and is going to be very useful going forward.
 
I am very excited about this as a VR developer, and can't wait to try them.  The one thing I can am worried about is the time it will take for this to get into consumer hands.  As I have worked on tech product launch timelines before, I can say that it will take no less than a year to get the cost of the (current) device down to under 2000 dollars, and will more then likely be delayed multiple times due to production issues, and changes in final design.  I am guessing the current prototype cost is above 10000 dollars per unit.  Though as long as they keep it platform agnostic (vive will be old school by the time it gets to consumer cost) it should work well as a developer and consumer device in the future.
 
Part of the reason I am guessing the cost is so hi is because of the cost of micro-fluidics and micro air engineering is very hi.
 
 
 
What do you guys think.

@alex73630 posted this on discord, and I thought I would Share it with the forums.
 
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/consumer-electronics/audiovideo/haptx-inc-reveals-new-haptic-glove-for-virtual-reality
https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/20/haptx-gloves-vr/#/
 
Haptx (formerly AxonVR) has finally publicly showed their haptic VR gloves, which are looking much better then their CES variant. 
 
As they say in the ieee article 
This is a big deal for immersion in VR, and is going to be very useful going forward.
 
I am very excited about this as a VR developer, and can't wait to try them.  The one thing I can am worried about is the time it will take for this to get into consumer hands.  As I have worked on tech product launch timelines before, I can say that it will take no less than a year to get the cost of the (current) device down to under 2000 dollars, and will more then likely be delayed multiple times due to production issues, and changes in final design.  I am guessing the current prototype cost is above 10000 dollars per unit.  Though as long as they keep it platform agnostic (vive will be old school by the time it gets to consumer cost) it should work well as a developer and consumer device in the future.
 
Part of the reason I am guessing the cost is so hi is because of the cost of micro-fluidics and micro air engineering is very hi.
 
 
 
What do you guys think.

Drat, didn't see that should have looked harder.  

Actually this would be considered mixed reality, and more specifically be Augmented Virtuality.  
 
this article explains it well
https://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2017/05/13/microsoft-insists-calling-ar-vr-mixed-reality-maybe/

I think some of you might find this quite interesting.
 
https://nerdist.com/wall-of-lava-lamps-protect-internet-traffic/
 
I knew that a lot of crypto companies use analog methods to create a part of each key, but I didn't know Cloudflare uses lava lamps.  If that isn't retro cyberpunk, then I don't know what is.
 
I think this is quite a great way to do crypto, and it also shows how easy it can be to make your own personal crypto key setup, I think I would personally use a few layers of analog (camera looking through a kaleidoscope, and the kaleidoscope looking at a lava lamp, and each image is modified by a audio stream from a microphone outside my window by a tree).  
 
What do other people think of this?
 

I think some of you might find this quite interesting.
 
https://nerdist.com/wall-of-lava-lamps-protect-internet-traffic/
 
I knew that a lot of crypto companies use analog methods to create a part of each key, but I didn't know Cloudflare uses lava lamps.  If that isn't retro cyberpunk, then I don't know what is.
 
I think this is quite a great way to do crypto, and it also shows how easy it can be to make your own personal crypto key setup, I think I would personally use a few layers of analog (camera looking through a kaleidoscope, and the kaleidoscope looking at a lava lamp, and each image is modified by a audio stream from a microphone outside my window by a tree).  
 
What do other people think of this?
 

I think some of you might find this quite interesting.
 
https://nerdist.com/wall-of-lava-lamps-protect-internet-traffic/
 
I knew that a lot of crypto companies use analog methods to create a part of each key, but I didn't know Cloudflare uses lava lamps.  If that isn't retro cyberpunk, then I don't know what is.
 
I think this is quite a great way to do crypto, and it also shows how easy it can be to make your own personal crypto key setup, I think I would personally use a few layers of analog (camera looking through a kaleidoscope, and the kaleidoscope looking at a lava lamp, and each image is modified by a audio stream from a microphone outside my window by a tree).  
 
What do other people think of this?
 

Just noticed this a few minutes ago.
http://www.pcgamer.com/leaked-photos-show-an-intel-nuc-with-kaby-lake-cpu-and-vega-gpu/
 
I already guessed AMD x Intel was going to go after small form factor to combat MXM on Nvidia, but I did not think it would be so soon.
 
As Pc gamer Said,
As I said in the post I was writing about VR a few minutes ago, this will help bring down the cost of VR significantly in the long run as small form factor designs lower the cost of VR backpacks.  I also think this will cause Nviidia to double down on MXM form factor cards, which will make laptops and small form factor desktops much cheaper to upgrade (currently upgrading my Sager SLI laptop from dual GTX 765M's to GTX 980M's would cost $1000 dollars at the very least (dual 1080's draw to much power as LTT has shown (I am not carrying another 3 pound power brick))).  Also based on the NUC specs, it should be able to drive current gen VR.
 
This has become the age of mini computers, but none have nearly enough RGB.  
 
@LinusTech Have Luke build a new VR backpack with one of these NUC's, and RGB!

Just noticed this a few minutes ago.
http://www.pcgamer.com/leaked-photos-show-an-intel-nuc-with-kaby-lake-cpu-and-vega-gpu/
 
I already guessed AMD x Intel was going to go after small form factor to combat MXM on Nvidia, but I did not think it would be so soon.
 
As Pc gamer Said,
As I said in the post I was writing about VR a few minutes ago, this will help bring down the cost of VR significantly in the long run as small form factor designs lower the cost of VR backpacks.  I also think this will cause Nviidia to double down on MXM form factor cards, which will make laptops and small form factor desktops much cheaper to upgrade (currently upgrading my Sager SLI laptop from dual GTX 765M's to GTX 980M's would cost $1000 dollars at the very least (dual 1080's draw to much power as LTT has shown (I am not carrying another 3 pound power brick))).  Also based on the NUC specs, it should be able to drive current gen VR.
 
This has become the age of mini computers, but none have nearly enough RGB.  
 
@LinusTech Have Luke build a new VR backpack with one of these NUC's, and RGB!

Just noticed this a few minutes ago.
http://www.pcgamer.com/leaked-photos-show-an-intel-nuc-with-kaby-lake-cpu-and-vega-gpu/
 
I already guessed AMD x Intel was going to go after small form factor to combat MXM on Nvidia, but I did not think it would be so soon.
 
As Pc gamer Said,
As I said in the post I was writing about VR a few minutes ago, this will help bring down the cost of VR significantly in the long run as small form factor designs lower the cost of VR backpacks.  I also think this will cause Nviidia to double down on MXM form factor cards, which will make laptops and small form factor desktops much cheaper to upgrade (currently upgrading my Sager SLI laptop from dual GTX 765M's to GTX 980M's would cost $1000 dollars at the very least (dual 1080's draw to much power as LTT has shown (I am not carrying another 3 pound power brick))).  Also based on the NUC specs, it should be able to drive current gen VR.
 
This has become the age of mini computers, but none have nearly enough RGB.  
 
@LinusTech Have Luke build a new VR backpack with one of these NUC's, and RGB!

I have a bit of insight
To hopefully help answer the last question , It is a bad buy, unless you already have a current gen VR device, and are planning to skip the stuff about to launch.  There are two reasons for this, the first is that the next vive and rift will be wireless variants with slightly improved hardware, and a "hopefully" lower cost.  And any next gen wired versions will be to much for the the TPcast.  I am guessing it can't even sustain the new Samsung mixed reality odyssey as it has 1440 x 3200 (1440x1600) at 90hz.  
 
next vive
https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/14/16648112/htc-vive-focus-standalone-headset-announced-daydream-cancelled
next rift
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/12/16463844/oculus-santa-cruz-standalone-headset-prototype-hands-on
 
I help with VR dev in silicon valley sometimes, and most of us agree that if cord cutting matters, VR backpacks are better for the time being, (especially if you are planing to get a computer specific for VR and want to use multiple headsets).  But wait a few more months, CES will bring a lot of new stuff and costs of VR should drop significantly by summer 2018, especially if nvidia doubles down on MXM cards to combat intel + AMD small form factor stuff.  
 
first look AMD x INTEL
http://www.pcgamer.com/leaked-photos-show-an-intel-nuc-with-kaby-lake-cpu-and-vega-gpu/
 
current best VR backpack
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/vrbackpack/overview.html
this thing is nuts.  32gb RAM, i7 pro 7th gen, and a nvidia Quadro p5200 (16 GB video RAM)
 
I really hope HP sends LTT one soon.

Just noticed this a few minutes ago.
http://www.pcgamer.com/leaked-photos-show-an-intel-nuc-with-kaby-lake-cpu-and-vega-gpu/
 
I already guessed AMD x Intel was going to go after small form factor to combat MXM on Nvidia, but I did not think it would be so soon.
 
As Pc gamer Said,
As I said in the post I was writing about VR a few minutes ago, this will help bring down the cost of VR significantly in the long run as small form factor designs lower the cost of VR backpacks.  I also think this will cause Nviidia to double down on MXM form factor cards, which will make laptops and small form factor desktops much cheaper to upgrade (currently upgrading my Sager SLI laptop from dual GTX 765M's to GTX 980M's would cost $1000 dollars at the very least (dual 1080's draw to much power as LTT has shown (I am not carrying another 3 pound power brick))).  Also based on the NUC specs, it should be able to drive current gen VR.
 
This has become the age of mini computers, but none have nearly enough RGB.  
 
@LinusTech Have Luke build a new VR backpack with one of these NUC's, and RGB!

Just noticed this a few minutes ago.
http://www.pcgamer.com/leaked-photos-show-an-intel-nuc-with-kaby-lake-cpu-and-vega-gpu/
 
I already guessed AMD x Intel was going to go after small form factor to combat MXM on Nvidia, but I did not think it would be so soon.
 
As Pc gamer Said,
As I said in the post I was writing about VR a few minutes ago, this will help bring down the cost of VR significantly in the long run as small form factor designs lower the cost of VR backpacks.  I also think this will cause Nviidia to double down on MXM form factor cards, which will make laptops and small form factor desktops much cheaper to upgrade (currently upgrading my Sager SLI laptop from dual GTX 765M's to GTX 980M's would cost $1000 dollars at the very least (dual 1080's draw to much power as LTT has shown (I am not carrying another 3 pound power brick))).  Also based on the NUC specs, it should be able to drive current gen VR.
 
This has become the age of mini computers, but none have nearly enough RGB.  
 
@LinusTech Have Luke build a new VR backpack with one of these NUC's, and RGB!