Are you on the fence about buying an Oculus Rift because you haven’t actually tried one? If so, just head on over to a Best buy this weekend.
Starting May 7, 48 Best Buy stores across the country are offering demos of the VR headset. These include the Oculus Dream Deck (basically a series of tech demos), ‘The Climb’ and ‘Farlands.’
Given that there will probably be quite a few people looking to give the experience a go, Oculus is letting gamers schedule demo sessions up to a month in advance at liveculuom .
They will also have units for sale, although Best Buy warns that the supplies are “extremely limited.” If you can’t make it to the physical store, Amazon and Microsoft will start selling the Rift on May 6 at 12PM ET.
Via The Verge
LG’s first laptop for the US is a MacBook Air rival
LG is launching its range of Windows laptops for the first time in the US, kicking things off with the slim and light Gram series .
Available in two sizes and a range of configurations, the new laptops are lighter than the MacBook Air . The 14-inch variant weighs only 2.16 lbs — that’s 0.8 lbs less than Apple’s offering, but a wee bit more than 2.03 lbs MacBook.
Both the 13-inch and 14-inch versions are only half an inch thick and feature a 1080p IPS display in a carbon magnesium and lithium magnesium chassis.
They also come with HDMI and USB 3.0 ports as well as slots for microSD cards.
If you’re interested in the 14-inch model, you can choose between an Intel i7 2.4GHz processor with a 256GB SSD for storage, or an i5 2.2GHz chip with a 128GB SSD.
Both variants pack 8GB of RAM, along with a Wolfson Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) for high-quality audio output. LG promises up to 7.5 hours of battery life.
The i7 model costs $1399.99, while the i5 version will run you $999.99.
For $899.99, you can get the 13-inch model with an i5 processor, but without the DAC.
The laptops are available now at Microsoft stores across the US, as well as online at microsoftstoreom and Amazon .
➤ LG Electronics Makes Laptop Debut In U.S. With Windows 10 ‘Gram’ Series [PR Newswire]
The first Apple HomeKit products are on sale now
Apple announced HomeKit , its smart home solution, exactly a year ago and the first products are finally arriving.
A pair of lighting kits from Lutron and a HomeKit-compatible hub for Insteon’s smart home system are available today, with a smart thermostat from Ecobee , a power outlet from iHome and a series of Elgato home sensors coming in July.
In case the concept has slipped from your mind in the intervening 12 months, HomeKit lets companies build apps that can interact with any other hardware using the standard.
Siri can also control those devices. However, you’ll need an Apple TV to help out if you want to command your stuff when you’re away from your house.
Lutron’s lighting kits ($229.95) allow you to adjust your lights and turn them on and off. Insteon’s $149.99 Hub brings its existing connected switches, outlets, thermostats and light bulbs into the HomeKit ecosystem.
Ecobee’s $249 thermostat is a Nest competitor that can be controlled remotely, while iHome’s as-yet-unpriced Switch is a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connected plug.
Elgato’s sensors are priced between $39.95 and $79.95 and connect with a central hub called Eve . They’ll let you do things like measure air quality, monitor the weather, check energy usage and see whether doors and windows are open.
You can expect to see a lot more HomeKit-enable products appearing over the next couple of months. And don’t be surprised if we get more news on Apple’s plans for the connected home at WWDC next week.
That rumored Apple TV refresh could have a part to play…
➤ Apple HomeKit [via The Verge ]
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