Designing for displays. That don’t exist yet

Devices are changing all the time. But what if the device you were designing for wasn’t flat? Or rigid? What if it hadn’t even been invented yet? Rosie Campbell did just that …

What if you could decorate the walls of your home with electronic wallpaper, and change the content at will? This might sound like science fiction, but with a trend towards larger, more flexible, lower-power displays, we believe some form of ‘smart wallpaper’ could plausibly be with us in the not-too-distant future.

Smart wallpaper is just one example of how our screens might evolve. Not long ago, almost all our web browsing took place on a desktop monitor. Now, many of us own numerous electronic rectangles of all shapes and sizes, and we’re increasingly adopting novel technology like wearable tech, flexible displays, virtual reality headsets and more.

Prestigio Multipad Visconte 3

The Multipad Visconte 3G from Prestigio is a typical representative of the new entry-level range: compact and not very light, but functionally not inferior to more expensive Windows tablets.

Even at first glance, the Prestigio Multipad Visconte 3G makes a better impression: the housing is not only more stable, but it is also very attractive with its dual-color back made of bright aluminum at the bottom and the patterned plastic in the upper third. The center features the logo of the Cyprian manufacturer which operates worldwide in 85 countries and has been carving out a spot in the German market with strong sales since 2014. The Smart Home, Android and Windows products are sold not only in IT specialist shops, but also in stores such as Amazon.

Work horse

With the Galaxy Tab Active, Samsung is offering a particularly robust 8-inch tablet. What does it have to offer besides toughness?

Samsung has smartphones and tablets in its product portfolio for virtually every niche and every use. With the Galaxy Tab Active for a not insignificant 499 euros, the Koreans are now closing one of the last gaps and launching a very special B2B and outdoor tablet into the market.

3D printing: dreams unrealised

Mark Pickavance looks at the world of 3D printing and wonders why we don’t all own one of these amazing machines?

A few years ago, I saw my first demonstration of a 3D printer and told everyone that I knew that this was most certainly the ‘next big thing’.

I’m still excited about the technology and the possibilities, but for numerous reasons, 3D printing just hasn’t gone mainstream in the way I thought it would.

Is the dream of a 3D printer in every home dead, or is it just waiting for something special to happen that will elevate it from geek gadget status?

Titan Souls

Boss battle compendium delivers the epic writ small

Titan Souls! That sounds familiar, and very deliberately so. The title of this genre-eluding indie-something makes very deliberate reference to the games of Hidetaka Miyazaki – Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls and now Bloodborne – a reference which is both warranted and not.

Unwarranted because Titan Souls isn’t an RPG. You won’t develop skills, up your stats, or slowly carve out a character build – instead you’ll stay the same huddle of appealing pixels, a dot-eyed hunter with a bow, a single arrow and a good line in dramatic diving-out-the-way. While you will explore a mysterious landscape, there are no NPCs to engage with, no regular supply of enemies to grind, no villages to discover. Instead, there are environmental puzzles – puzzles which imaginatively toy with the limited ways you have of interacting with this world of stone steps and clearings – and, most of all, there are bosses.

At wit’s end

With development of its marquee puzzles finally at an end, the long-awaited follow-up to independent classic Braid is drawing closer. Matthew Pellett gets lost inside upcoming adventure The Witness, and discovers a PS4 legend in the making

When Sony unveiled PS4 for the very first time back in February 2013, it wanted to fully showcase its goals for global console domination. And the best way to do that involved a New York media conference starring a carefully selected group of developers and games; not there to simply promise greatness, but actually show it.

Uber: changing the face of urban transportation

THE NEXT BIG STEP FOR TAXI SERVICES

For more than a century now, we have had taxis in some shape or form. They've always been pretty much the same - sure, the cars have become more sophisticated, safer and economical with the passing of the years, but otherwise, the basic premise of the taxi service has long been familiar. Things look like changing now though, in large part thanks to a certain service known as Uber.

Certainly, one might have thought that the technology associated with taxi services - even the very ways in which they operate - would have changed more profoundly over the years, at least when one considers that our city streets are more choked up than ever with cars. The need for quick and convenient urban transportation has clearly never abated - so how is a service like Uber responding to it?