Man uses Samsung Gear VR to virtually attend the birth of his child over 2,400 miles away [VIDEO]

While you’re still thinking up reasons why you should pick up one of the soon-to-be-many VR headsets available on the market, one man was able to watch the birth of his child in 360-degrees. Over the weekend, Samsung Australia uploaded a video to YouTube showing how they were able to bring a man — over 2,485 miles away — closer to his family using the Samsung Gear VR headset.

It’s what Samsung is calling the world’s first “live virtual reality birth” using the Samsung Gear VR. Once strapped in, the man was able to watch the entire birth of his child live, in stunning virtual reality, almost as if he were in the room. Of course, it would take a great deal of effort to set something like this up and as Samsung notes, requires more than just a headset (360-degree camera, streaming equipment, Galaxy Note 4).

Not matter what your thoughts on virtual reality are, you have to admit — that’s pretty damn cool. The 6-minute emotional video can be found below. Bring a tissue.

Woman uses Pizza Hut app to escape hostage crisis [VIDEO]

It’s hard to even imagine what one would do in a hostage situation. For one Florida woman, she used a combination of wits and the all too familiar Pizza Hut app to call for help. Held at knife point all day by her ex-boyfriend, the woman persuaded her ex to let her quickly order pizza for her 3 children using the Pizza Hut app.

The man, who had initially taken her phone from her agreed, and it was then the woman used the app’s “special instructions” field to request help. The Pizza Hut where the order was placed quickly notified local law enforcement who was able to show up at the home and defuse the situation. The boyfriend was eventually arrested and is now being held on a ,000 bond.

[ABC News]

Google uses robots to test latency on Android devices [VIDEO]

This behind-the-scenes tidbit by Googler François Beaufort may not be useful for the common user to do anything practical, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Google apparently uses an automated robot to test latency in Chrome OS and Android.

The robot’s job is to simply provide consistent strokes of input so Google can get an accurate reading on how fast the device responds to your touch. They do so using Touchbot, a web-based latency test engine that provides common touch and scroll scenarios.

In fact, the latency engine they use is completely open sourced and has been publicly implemented for you to try on your Android device by clicking right here. The results obviously aren’t great — the team knows they still have a lot of work to do to eliminate lag in Google Chrome — but it’s nice to know that they treat it seriously enough to use something like a robot for testing procedures. Take a look at the quick video of it in action above.

[via Google+]

Inbox by Gmail now uses natural language recognition to suggest reminders to add

Inbox by Gmail has just gotten a lot cooler for those who make use of Google Reminders. The app can now automatically suggest reminders to add by using the company’s natural language engine.

It does so by examining the contents of an email and determining whether a reminder could be set. For instance, an email from your wife saying “Don’t forget to get the milk tonight” could automatically set a reminder for later that night to pick up milk. Simple and easy on our end, which is what this whole natural language engine is all about.

Google has also made it so that making a reminder in Google Keep can make them show up in Inbox. Clicking a reminder in Inbox can take you back to its entry on Keep where you can view additional notes you may have added with the reminder.