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The Oculus team just got bigger by two, with software engineer Tom Forsyth, formerly of Valve, and robotic scientist Dr. Steve LaValle of the University of Illinois both jumping on board. Forsyth previously worked alongside Joe Ludwig and Michael Abrash on Valve’s Team Fortress 2, which has a VR mode specifically designed for the developer version of the Rift. Valve’s developers were some of the first to get their hands on dev kits, and Forsyth’s considerable experience will be put towards the Rift SDK and a few secret R&D projects. LaValle also has some history with Oculus; he’s had a hand in developing VR hardware and software with the company since last September. As Oculus’ full-time principle scientist, LaValle will be working on things like sensor fusion, magnetic drift correction, and kinematic modeling. Though the Rift is still a long way off from being ready for consumer use, this savvy collection of industry talent could be a sign that big things are afoot for the VR company.

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Samsung has reportedly made a major investment in rival South Korea-based smartphone maker Pantech. Yonhap News was first to report the news and it says Samsung spent roughly $50 million for 10% of the company. Samsung’s motives are unclear, though the deal will reportedly “help further solidify bilateral cooperation in smartphone and other business areas.” Pantech is currently the No.3 phone maker in South Korea behind Samsung and LG, and the new investment makes Samsung the company’s third-largest shareholder behind Qualcomm and Korea Development Bank.

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Gmail users got a taste of Google’s new Hangouts feature this week, but it was missing the VOIP calling feature Voice users had come to love. Starting today, it’s back…sort of!

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Ben Marks, our pal at Collectors Weekly, says, “We just published an article on Zoe Mozert, Pearl Frush, and Joyce Ballantyne, who created some of the most memorable pin-up art in the 1940 and ’50s. While most people today associate pin-up art with male artists like Alberto Vargas, George Petty, and Gil Elvgren, the contributions of these women are every bit as important, and their work every bit as good. For her article, associate editor Lisa Hix interviewed a number of authorities on pin-up art, from art dealer and author Louis K. Meisel to Marianne Ohl Phillips, who got to know both Mozert and Ballantyne before they died.

“You find mistakes in the male paintings,” Phillips told me. “Elvgren’s got a famous painting where she’s got two left feet, and there are just these things that don’t fit every once in a while. The women never made those mistakes. I think they looked in the mirror a lot and they got things more right. The men tended to make the breasts larger, and they made the legs longer. The women tended to paint very proportionate women, more of a 36-26-36 look, whereas men would make them a little top-heavy.”

Three female artists who shaped the American Pin-Up

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Great discussions are par for the course here on Lifehacker. Each day, we highlight a discussion that is particularly helpful or insightful, along with other great discussions and reader questions you may have missed. Check out these discussions and add your own thoughts to make them even more wonderful!

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When Henry Ford was asked almost a century ago why he focused so intensely on making automobiles a mainstream in complete contradiction to what the experts thought at the time, his response was simple – “If I would’ve asked people what they wanted, they would’ve asked for a faster horse”. When Steve Jobs almost had a heart attack because Steve Wozniak had to honor a contractual requirement to show HP any of his inventions before being able to do anything on his own, HP responded with a blunt – “Steve, what are normal people going to do with a …

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The post Imagine a world without HTC appeared first on Pocketnow.

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Google’s like the gift that keeps on giving. Following earlier news of a Drive for Android update, the team from Mountain View today rolled out a new version of its Chrome browser for mobile devices. This update brings the same features we saw a little over a month ago in the Beta channel, however Google’s now deemed them ready for prime time. That (along with some undisclosed under-the-hood enhancements) includes the pseudo-fullscreen mode that’s triggered by scrolling the page and, for tablets, the ability to view the tab history by way of the browser back button. For those who decided to skip the experimental version, you’ll find the app in its stable form up for download at the Google Play link below.

Update: Google is back with additional news about its mobile Chrome browser, this time for the iOS version. In the coming days, iPhone and iPad users will find a new version of Chrome that allows users to submit voice queries into the Omnibox. The addition will mimic the functionality of Google Search for iOS, which accepts queries such as “How many miles from San Antonio to Dallas?” and “What’s the weather in Rome?” Likewise, the update will introduce the ability to open links in Chrome from other iOS apps, along with quicker reloading of webpages from the browser cache. Hop the break for a quick peek.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Google

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google Play, Google Chrome Blog

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Twitter finally added two-factor authentication and you should enable it right now. We probably don’t need to tell you why, but just in case you forgot about social engineering hacks you want to enable this feature to protect yourself.

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from Lifehacker

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BlackBerry announced earlier this month that its BlackBerry Messenger service will be coming to Android smartphones and the iPhone in the coming months. The company was initially criticized for once again being late to the game, with services like iMessage, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp having taken over the mobile messaging market. BlackBerry cofounder and former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis is optimistic about BBM’s future, however. The former executive told Bloomberg that he believes iPhone and Android users will be quick to embrace the once popular service.

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Today at CTIA 2013, Verizon announced an exclusive partnership with Jennifer Lopez to create a mobile company catered to the Latino market. Called Viva Movil, the new entity will be headed by Lopez and boasts Big Red, Brightstar and Moorehead Communications as partners. The idea behind this venture is to offer an enriched customer retail experience with specialized stores that feature device demos, dedicated play areas for children, bilingual staff and online options will be available on the company’s site, which went live today. Since Verizon is the exclusive wireless partner, it’s a safe bet that we’ll see devices that are branded to the carrier, albeit with a different marketing approach. As majority stakeholder and “kind of the Chief Creative Officer,” J Lo has a large amount of interest in the company’s success; in fact, the A-list celeb is sweetening the launch with her own exclusive line of smartphone accessories. The first store is slated to open mid-June, with more coming before the end of the year in other densely-populated Latino areas.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Verizon

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