Google starts pre-orders for Daydream VR in some countries

It’s not yet Canada’s turn but Google’s affordable virtual reality headset is coming to the US, UK, and Germany soon. The Daydream View VR headset is now available for pre-order in those aforementioned countries and is set to ship next month. It’s made with a breathable fabric surrounding the viewer and is recommended to run with Daydream-ready phones, like the Google Pixel XL. The Daydream VR retails for $79 USD (around $100 CAD). We’ll let you know once we get word about local availability.

Source: The Next Web

Birdie lets you throw your GoPro in the air without destroying it

Drones are obviously the easiest way to take footage with your GoPro. But if you don’t have one of these on hand (or don’t want to spend unnecessarily on one), a shuttlecock-like accessory called Birdie might be your answer. Obviously taking inspiration from badminton, the contraption lets you throw a GoPro in the air without damaging it. While it won’t stay up in the air for too long, it could provide you with some interesting footage or photos. You can throw it straight up or ahead towards something or someone. Birdie first appeared as an Indiegogo project but will soon be up on Amazon for $49 USD (around $60 CAD).

Source: SlashGear

IBM to provide CANet with data analytics for cardiovascular research

IBM partners with the Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) to provide an important tool for the digital age: data analytics. The partnership launches Heart-SIGN (System for Information Gathering and Networking), a cloud-based analytics platform designed to “manage, monitor, store, correlate, and analyze” data generated by all CANet research projects. CANet makes use of IBM BigInsights on Cloud and Watson Analytics to build the platform meant to inspire new ideas and share research related to heart rhythm disturbances. Heart-SIGN will serve as a data resource for research and clinical practice on arrhythmia. It can also help researchers identify specific needs of patients, track them through the system, and measure outcomes.

The platform is also designed to provide evidence-based recommended starting points to answer questions that might have taken researchers years to investigate. These are all put in a single, dynamic interface to help “achieve faster and more cohesive clinical outcomes.” Millions of people in Canada experience irregular heart rhythms or arrhythmias, with some experiencing sudden cardiac death and others getting disorders like atrial fibrillation and syncope.

Nintendo Switch is a new home gaming system coming in March 2017

Nintendo provided the first glimpse of its new home gaming system and revealed that it is called Nintendo Switch. In addition to providing single and multiplayer thrills at home, the Nintendo Switch system also enables gamers to play the same title wherever, whenever and with whomever they choose. The mobility of a handheld is now added to the power of a home gaming system to enable unprecedented new video game play styles.

It is great to see Nintendo innovating a new space in gaming. With a console that's at home connected to an HDTV and also capable of morphing into a powerful mobile gaming device for travelling and even interactive on-the-go gaming, it is touching upon areas that neither Sony nor Microsoft really have any answers for right now plus it is something different from casual mobile gaming found on smartphones and tablets.

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