|
Monday September 14, 2009
|
Because of a scheduling snafu, we missed the first segment of the TechCrunch50 conference on Monday. But we were in time for the "New Frontiers" segment, which included a couple of interesting hardware products.
Spawn Labs
has developed a so-called HD-720 platform that allows a PC user to log in to a game
console, such as a Microsoft Xbox 360, from a network-connected PC. As of now, Spawn only works with the Xbox 360.
To set up products, you'll need the Spawn HD-720 applicance, which connects to
a game console. A game cline tis needed for the PC. With a username and
password, the PC and the applicance connects, and the game can be
played in 720p resolutions. If bandwidth is limited, the video
resolution will degrade to maintain the frame rate.
The problem is latency: on a network it's 100 ms. The company knows
ways to get to 70 ms, playing across the Internet can add up to 50 ms.
To the right of each virtual console appears an icon, which shows if
the console is being played right now. If it's not busy, the Spawn
player launches, and the user can play. Remote users can be added via
Spawn adapters, or other can simply tune in as spectators. Naturally,
gameplay sessions can be recorded as well.
Spawn will add social networking and the other elements of the PC to
"revitalize" the video game console market, according to David Wilson,
the company's chief executive. The problem, as one panelist pointed
out, is that only one game can be played at a time: the disc that's in
the console.
What's the business model? Attracting gamers who want to play with a
friend across town without driving across town. If they're too far
away, the latency may hurt playback. The panelists evaluating the
product seemed dubious with this very narrow business model.
The appliance is priced at $199, and is available today from the Spawn Labs site.
iTwin
is intended to be $99 consumer electronics device, made up of two
indentical parts about the size of USB keys, called Twins. One device
plugs into a computer. A box pops up. You drag and drop files into a
folder. Take the other half and plug it into another device on another
computer, and presto! the files are shared between the two devices.
"Plig it here, plug it there, and it's done." Kal Takru, the chief
operating officer
It works in reverse, too. With iTwin, you
don't need any software, or ID or passwords. The twins are paired and
generate a random number that are shared between the two devices. We
call iTwins the "cable-less cable," Takru said.
iTwin's looking
for funding; the company's founders currently work for the Singaporean
government. It launched in Singapore, and the company hopes to bring it
to the U.S. One obstacle: Microsoft's Don Dodge claimed that his
company has solved the problem with Live Mesh, for free.
ToyBots,
meanwhile, imagine sa toy that comes with a robust online world.
Normally, toys cannout iunteract with that online world. And the toy
can be refreshed with an iPhone app. Other players could also interact
with the toy remotely. The company showed off an early prototype,
called Woozee.
The toy "woke up" and alerted Carrie Feigel, the
director of marketing, of a new message, including a voice mail
message. An accessory pack included a virtual T-shirt and a mohawk for
the toy's online avatar. Refreshing the toy with a guitar adds new
songs and a new personality, according to Feigel. The firmware will be
open-sourced, he said.
An accelerometer inside the device also
tunes it into an actual controller, and a GPS inside it allows it to
act as a virtual tour guide. You never know what reaction the Woozee
will have, Feigel said.
The technology that the toy is
predicated on 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, touch sensors, and other gizmos. The big
announcement is that the company is going to partner with a 3G provider
to power something called "The Toybots Magic Network" that will be tied
to other toys by other manufacturers. That, plus the announcement of a
retail partner, will be announced in a week. It appears that
consumers will buy the toys (possibly subsidized by a wireless
provider) and pay micropayments for additional content. Honestly, this
sounded a bit cheesy, but the target market is children, especially
little girls.
Still, what do I know? The panelists hauled up a guy from Best Buy, who felt that ToyBots worked the best to serve an unmet market need. Keep an eye on them, I guess.
|
|
|
|
Mixx It
Digg It
Stumble
More...
September 15, 2009 12:49 AM
Thanks for this post on Spawn Labs products. One factual inaccuracy - the product supports Xbox 360, Xbox, PS2, PS3, and Gamecube. Another point is that the product lets you play around the house when another person is tying up the TV, and also you can play at home on your console/TV while a friend plays with you from their computer remotely over the Internet in the same game session. In both of these cases, being able to load a different DVD doesn't matter. In the event that you are traveling and can't load another DVD, you can load all kinds of games onto the hard drives of modern consoles and play as many of those as you want while traveling without worrying about DVDs, and the industry is pushing hard in this direction even more in the future. Finally, there is plenty of research to indicate that a normal human being won't detect latency up to about 75-85ms, and console games have some latency just displaying on a TV already. Direct evidence from gamers who have played the product hands-on indicates they have a great game play experience on the home LAN and a very good game play experience over the Internet.
September 18, 2009 9:42 AM
I want to get information about Spawn. So I search here. Thanks for sharing such nice information here. I like this site and will visit it in future.