For more than 40 years, Queen has been one of the biggest rock acts around, selling out shows all around the world. Now, fans can experience a live performance by the band as never before, thanks to the release of a new virtual reality concert film dubbed VR the Champions.
The performance was recorded at Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi in May 2016, and features singer Adam Lambert in lieu of the band’s legendary original frontman Freddie Mercury. Queen perform some of their best and most beloved songs, including We Will Rock You, Radio Ga Ga, and — of course — We Are the Champions.
VR the Champions gives fans the opportunity to experience the show via 360-degree video, hovering above the audience and even flying among the band themselves as they perform on stage. It was shot in stereoscopic 4K, using a full-sphere surround sound technique known as ambisonic audio to make sure that the sound is just as immersive as the visuals.
The music industry has been taking notice of VR as of late — in May, LiveNation inked a deal with NextVR that will see a host of live concerts filmed and broadcast to VR headsets. However, Queen has more of a personal connection to the technology than most other acts, thanks to guitarist Brian May’s longstanding fascination with all kinds of stereoscopic imagery.
May was a driving force behind the Owl VR kit, an innovative method of offering VR content via smartphones inspired by Victorian stereoscopic techniques. VR the Champions can be enjoyed using the device, as well as other hardware like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR, and Google Cardboard.
“This is the fulfillment of a dream,” said May, who is credited as the project instigator for VR the Champions. “Through this unique Virtual Reality creation, fans around the world will for the first time be able to experience the excitement and energy of a Queen show in their own homes. Many of you have seen VR, but not VR like this!”
VR the Champions is available now via VRTGO, Universal Music Group’s proprietary VR platform, and is priced at $10.
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.