By fnord12 | August 20, 2015, 2:05 PM | Comics | Comments (6)| Link

Smartphone for Daredevil

A tiny startup outside Chicago has created external hardware for a smartphone that enables a user to feel as well as see an image on flat glass. The user has the sensation of touching keys on a keyboard, for example.

...

The technology works by tricking the brain into feeling something that doesn't exist, not unlike the way a television fools the eye into perceiving motion. A tiny actuator in the housing makes the glass resonate at 38.7 kilohertz, an ultrasonic frequency that cannot be heard or felt. Tanvas's algorithms analyze images on the Moto G's screen, and the phone calculates where over the screen the user's finger is positioned. These data are translated into ultrasonic oscillations that create the illusion of something physical.

...

The TPad is capable of simulating smooth and raised shapes, abrupt edges and curved lines. Bas-relief images on, say, a coin can be faithfully represented. A scanned page's words and images might be made to feel as if they were on a raised surface.

Link

So, i like being able to write my notes, as opposed to Swyping them (takes forever. damn you, autocorrect!). But using a stylus on a tablet or phone is horrible. No friction. Mebbe this would fix that. And then mebbe our signatures when we sign for packages won't look so stupid.

By min | August 20, 2015, 1:44 PM | Comics & Science | Link

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Batgirl tortures fan

Mark Evanier has a fun story about Yvonne Craig, who recently passed away.

By fnord12 | August 20, 2015, 7:57 AM | Comics & TeeVee | Comments (1)| Link

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Marvel Sales

I've been slacking:

May.

June.

(Actually it looks like The Beat was slacking. May's post only came out on 8/6.)

By fnord12 | August 14, 2015, 12:01 PM | Comics | Link

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Bulk up, people

By fnord12 | August 11, 2015, 12:18 PM | Comics & Ummm... Other? | Comments (2)| Link

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SuperMegaSpeed Reviews

Ms. Marvel #17 - If i have a complaint, it's that the Kamala/Carol interaction felt less an actual reaction between the two characters that i know and more like a generic "fangirl meets her idol" situation. I guess what i was hoping for was more from Carol's side coming from her character's history, connecting it with things that Kamala is going through. There's a lot to draw on: Carol's costume iterations, her decision to carve out an identity for herself separate from Captain Marvel, her trials after Rogue stole her powers and memories, her bout with alcoholism, her decision in the early 2000s that she wasn't being the best she could be. A lot there that could have been used to connect with Kamala's identity struggles and self-doubt. Carol instead came across more like a generic authority figure. I still think the issue worked from Kamala's perspective, and it was fun. I have to admit i'm a little distanced from the whole story because of the connection to Secret Wars, which i'm not following, and in that context it seems a little weird for Carol to devote time to helping Kamala with her local problem, but just taking the story at face value this was fine. I also liked Kris Anka's cover, and wouldn't mind seeing those clean straight lines in the interior.

By fnord12 | August 10, 2015, 10:23 AM | Comics | Link

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Give it up for Tom Brevoort

For those of you too young to know, this is 100% true.

By fnord12 | August 8, 2015, 2:39 PM | Comics | Link

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The Big Guns of 1991

As was doing my prep work for covering 1991 for my Marvel Timeline project, these two covers stood out.

Big guns: not just for Cable, Deathlok, and the Punisher (and...).

By fnord12 | August 8, 2015, 12:05 PM | Comics | Comments (9)| Link

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SuperMegaSpeed Reviews

Daredevil #17 - Ok, so after my questions about Spider-Woman in the previous Speed Review, this issue opens with a demonstration that Julia still has her powers, or at least can still throw a punch. Beyond that, my comments about last issue continue to apply. Good story, good art, and the mental sparring between Daredevil and Kingpin turns out to have even another layer to it, which is great.

By fnord12 | August 1, 2015, 3:16 PM | Comics | Link

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Armor-dillo

My D&D players have thought to create shields made of dragon scales and backpacks made of landshark hides. One even turned a giant gorilla tooth into a helmet. But apparently you don't have to get so exotic:

Texas man shoots armadillo, gets hit in face by bullet ricochet.

Of course this isn't news to comics fans.

By fnord12 | August 1, 2015, 2:29 PM | Comics & D&D & Ummm... Other? | Comments (3)| Link

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