Sony has announced PlayStation VR2, an updated virtual reality headset for the PlayStation. It's a big upgrade, featuring an OLED screen, 110-degree FoV, 4K HDR, 120Hz frame rate, eye tracking, 3D audio, vibration motor, single cable for data & power, all-new controllers and is overall slimmer and lighter for increased comfort. There's four external cameras that allow for inside-out tracking so "your movements and the direction you look are reflected in-game without the need for an external camera". Sounds excellent. The bad news is that existing PSVR games don't work with it and it is only for the PlayStation 5. There's 11 games announced for launch (list here). Sony let journos try it out at the Tokyo Games Show and from all accounts it is very good. The PSVR2 will go on sale in Australia Feb 22nd, 2023 with pre-orders kicking off November 15th. The RRP is $879.95.
TomTom is one of those companies that was made largely irrelevant in most people's minds because of the smartphone, but they still exist and today announced the "TomTom Maps Platform". The press release is very buzzwordy, but simply put they're gonna take OpenStreetMap and blend it with their own map, field work and data sources. This is great news as you'd hope TomTom would also be feeding back into OpenStreetMap rather than just being a leech. They even say in the press release that they see themselves "closer to the enthusiast mapmakers that make open map data what it is, rather than the Big Tech companies that often make use of it". They'll make this new map public around Q2-2023. At this point every map is either OSM (Apple, Microsoft, Meta all use it or use someone like Here or TomTom that ultimately use OSM) or Google.
Tumblr has confirmed that it will no longer restrict content featuring "nudity, mature subject matter, or sexual themes" and have added a way for users to label their content as such. That might sound like porn is back on the menu at Tumblr, but the new guidelines clearly state that "visual depictions of sexually explicit acts remain off-limits on Tumblr". I don't know what's changed over the last 4 years, particularly considering Automattic's CEO's recent (and excellent) post about how difficult it is to legally host adult content in 2022, even if Tumblr wanted to. Good luck to the Tumblr moderators. If anyone can push the limits what is "mature subject matter" it's the lovable freaks on Tumblr.
Color snapshot of a man throwing his hands up as he sits at a computer in an office (MIT Museum)
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