Watching someone hit a ball more than 400 feet in the air with a glorified piece of wood is a scene best experienced live, but for baseball fans looking forward to tuning into the Home Run Derby this year, there is an alternative that can get you almost as close to the action. Today, Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) has announced a partnership with virtual reality company NextVR to make the 2016 T-Mobile Home Run Derby available for on-demand viewing, in virtual reality.
NextVR will capture the on-field slugfest and crowd reactions with numerous virtual reality cameras set up around the field. From those cameras, fans will be able to see Baltimore Orioles outfielder Mark Trumbo and other MLB stars smack home runs around San Diego’s Petco Park. The VR home run derby will be available to watch on the Samsung Gear VR from the MLB channel on the NextVR app, downloadable in the Oculus Home when you dock your phone into the headset.
“MLBAM is a known innovator in sports technology and we are honored to work together as we continue to provide premier entertainment and sporting events in virtual reality,” said NextVR Executive Chairman Brad Allen in a press release announcing the news.
While the MLB has not live streamed games in virtual reality like the NCAA and the NBA have, America’s pastime has been setting up tours in VR. This summer, the MLB will embark on a We Are Baseball tour, a state-of-the-art exhibit allowing fans to experience Baseball Hall of Fame artifacts and footage without trekking to Cooperstown in Otsego, New York. As part of the tour, VR company Jaunt will provide fans with virtual reality experiences of watching spring training from a few MLB teams and even the Kansas City Royals’ ring ceremony for winning the 2015 World Series.
The VR content from the Home Run Derby will be available to view directly after the live airing in the NextVR app. The 2016 T-Mobile Home Run Derby airs tonight on ESPN at 8 P.M. EST.
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.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.