Toyota and Oculus partner for VR driving simulator for teens

Hoping to make driving safer for the next generation, Toyota partners with Oculus to create a Toyota-branded driving simulator that will be used for Toyota’s TeenDrive365 program. It puts the teens inside a real yet stationary car and uses virtual reality technology to simulate actual driving. They will have to use the pedals properly and face distractions such as traffic noise, passengers, text messages, and radio noise.

It uses 360-degree head tracking for a more immersive experience and the Rift has a 100-degree field of view, which is beyond ones peripheral vision. It will also make use of RealSpace 3D audio to add depth to sound. They hope to make teens more comfortable with driving before they head out to the streets.

Source: Toyota | Via: SlashGear

Microsoft creates new budget Lumia

Microsoft isn’t looking to challenge the flagship smartphone market. And that is evident with the new budget Windows Phone from the company. The Lumia 435 will retail for around US$80 before tax. The specs are similar to the Lumia 530 but slightly better. It carries a 4-inch WVGA display, 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage. It has capacitive keys as well and yes, you even get full Office suite. Not a bad deal, if you ask us.

Source: Microsoft Devices | Via: Engadget

Fujifilm releases X-A2 selfie-focused compact ILC

Fujifilm Canada recently announced the X-A2 which is a new compact Interchangeable Lens Camera that features a 175° tilting LCD with face and eye detection for fast and fun pictures.

Starting at CAD $ 549.99 with a newly-developed FUJINON XC16-50mm II (24-76mm) F3.5-5.6 OIS zoom lens. It will be available in Canada on February.

The X-A2 is an affordable entry point into the X-Series line of digital cameras and delivers outstanding image quality using its large 16.3 Megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, easy operation and wireless image transfer for quick photo sharing. Hit jump for the full set of features.

Click to read more ...

Cogito enables activity tracking feature on existing watches

Cogito entered the market with analog smart watches that integrated notifications by way of icons on the watchface. The benefit of their approach is that their watches don't look like uber-geeky smart watches and they don't need to be recharged, at all.

Cogito Classic and Cogito Pop watches now have their activity tracking feature unlocked. This is great news for owners of Cogito devices which now have even more functionality than when they bought them. Hit jump for the announcement and instructions on how to enable the feature.

Click to read more ...