control

Virtual DJ Studio looks and feels like a professional mixing tool, but it's missing some of the more advanced editing tools you might need. True to that, it boils down some of the most common mixing tools into a few basic steps for rookies, although it would benefit from better labeling. The bigger downside is that you can't save your work without an upgrade.

Virtual DJ Studio opens with a relatively obnoxious audio file playing and a tutorial waiting for you. It lets you control nine different audio files at once. You can adjust the volume, add effects, … Read more

If you happened to watch Apple's WWDC keynote yesterday, you probably noticed that one of the biggest crowd responses -- the largest chorus of "oohs" and "ahhs" -- came when Tim Cook unveiled Control Center.

And no wonder: It took Apple six years to add a feature Android users have enjoyed since almost the beginning. If you wanted these capabilities on your iPhone, you'd have to jailbreak it and install SBSettings.

No more. Control Center has arrived -- or will arrive, anyway, once iOS 7 splashes down this fall -- bringing with it a … Read more

After learning a few keyboard shortcuts, my embrace of Mission Control has tightened. Because my 13.3-inch MacBook Pro has only so much screen real estate, I spread out the applications I use most frequently across a handful of virtual desktops in Mission Control in an effort to avoid feeling cramped when multitasking. I have come to rely on it and its virtual workspaces throughout the workday, and I get in and out of it more quickly now than when I relied solely on my MacBook's trackpad to navigate my way around it.

Without further ado, I present a … Read more

How close are we getting to actual brain control? It's starting to seem like it's not far off. On the sillier end of the spectrum, we've seen robotic ears and tails that respond to brainwaves, and more recently we've seen a brain interface for designing printable objects, a mind-controlled exoskeleton, and even mind-to-mind communication.

A team of researchers at the University of Minnesota has just added another exciting new technology to the list: a quadcopter that can perform feats of aerial agility, controlled entirely by the pilot's thoughts. … Read more

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. -- Stealth startup Atheer came out of the shadows at the D: All Things Digital conference here, unveiling its wearable 3D augmented reality platform that works on top of Android and potentially other mobile operating systems.

Atheer's technology employs stereoscopic glasses and a 3D camera to track hand movements to manipulate virtual objects in real space, similar in concept to the portrayals of gesture control in movies like "Minority Report" and "Avatar."

"We are the first mobile 3D platform delivering the human interface. We are taking the touch experience on … Read more

Microsoft's Xbox One controller will be one hardened piece of hardware.

Speaking to tech news site Pocket-lint in an interview published Wednesday, Microsoft accessories and hardware manager Bob Brown said his company has been testing the Xbox One's controller by pressing its buttons "over and over, between 4-5 times a second." Twenty controllers are being mashed with 2 million button presses each, according to Pocket-lint.

As each button is pressed, a computer analyzes its function to ensure it's sending a signal back to a console. If it doesn't operate correctly anymore, its errors are … Read more

Sherpa, a voice control app that promises a better experience than Apple's Siri, plans to beat Google at its own game on Google Glass.

Sherpa CEO and co-founder Xabier Uribe-Etxebarria unveiled the company's plans for the new app on Thursday in Spain, at the Sherpa Summit, an event with a lineup of speakers such as Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker and John Sculley, former CEO of Apple.

Uribe-Etxebarria said the voice command app is actually more suited for the Google Glass hardware than Google's own software.

"Right now, with Google Glass, it's not taking advantage of … Read more

The newly announced Xbox One is getting a new controller to go with it. It looks a lot like the Xbox 360's controller, but with what Microsoft says are 40 "technical and design innovations" on top of its 8-year-old predecessor.

So what's the big new change? Not the action buttons, directional pad, analog sticks, or triggers -- which are all in the same place. Instead, all these things have been refined. The thumbsticks, for instance, now have textured ridges and are now 25 percent easier to move, which Microsoft says will make long play sessions less … Read more