The world gets its first real look at the Hololens UI today, thanks to a leaked two-minute tutorial video that shows off the interface in first person.
In the video a user launches applications using a layover called the “Shell,” which closely resembles the start menu from Windows 10. There are a few pinned tiles, and you can see a complete list of every application installed by clicking “all apps.” Users open things by “air tapping,” a technique the video demonstrates multiple times from its first-person perspective.
There’s a little bit of weirdness: at one point Kristina Horner, the tutorial’s host, explains that users “may have to look up and down, as well as left or right” to find an interface element. It seems like some taps don’t quite register, too. Still: it’s a computer interface overlaying reality, and that’s just plain cool.
The tutorial is for something called “Actiongram,” which allows users to drag 3D models, which the firm designates as holograms, into real-world surroundings and create 3D-supplemented videos. There isn’t an official Actiongram website right now, but Microsoft has applied for the trademark “Actiongram,” and other footage from the program has leaked recently.
Twitter user @h0x0d, who according to WinBeta.org first found the leaked video above, also found some early looks at Actiongram’s functionality. There’s this alien pet, for example, which creators can add to 3D videos:
Whip the Alien Pet pic.twitter.com/PyvYuPKd75
— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) February 23, 2016
And there’s footage of Horner dancing alongside a hologram:
VIDEO: Actiongram How-To videos 3 : Best Practices https://t.co/olVYOwDd5u pic.twitter.com/AUspFp79ez
— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) February 23, 2016
It’s not all flashy futuristic stuff, though: there’s also some old-school troubleshooting. For example, here’s a seemingly official, and totally mundane, tutorial for hard-resetting the HoloLens after a crash:
Tip: how to "hard restart" HoloLens when it crashed pic.twitter.com/1uENTjgtd2
— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) February 23, 2016
Microsoft has kept HoloLens information relatively close to the vest, so it’s fascinating to see these sorts of details. We’ll keep you up-to-date with anything else that emerges.
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.