Leap Motion delayed until July 22 for further software testing

Those eyeballing Leap Motion’s upcoming 3D gesture controller will have to sit tight a bit longer as its launch has officially been pushed back to July 22. The decision, according to CEO Michael Buckwald, was made to give the company more time to test the device before putting it in the hands of consumers.

In a note to customers, Buckwald said the reality is they very likely could have hit the May 13 ship date but it wouldn’t have left time for comprehensive testing. He said the only way they felt 100 percent confident they could deliver a magical product was to push the date back. The device was originally scheduled to ship earlier this year before being pushed back to May.

In the interim, Leap will begin a beta test with the 12,000 or so developers that already have the device in their hands. The beta will give these developers full access to the product’s features including OS interaction.

Buckwald pointed out that this extra round of beta testing was to focus primarily on software, not hardware. That’s good news for Leap as more than 600,000 gesture controllers have already been made. Either way, however, it must be a bit disappointing for those that already have a unit on order.

If you aren’t familiar with the device, the 3-by-1-inch module is able to track the movement of all 10 fingers on both hands up to 1/1000th-millimeter accuracy with no visible latency. If you need a visual on exactly how the technology works, I encourage you to check out our post on Google Earth with Leap Motion integration.

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By: Unknown On 10:37 PM

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Google Maps and TiVo integration on Nintendo Wii U delayed beyond January

Nintendo's Wii U was supposed to get TVii when the console launched back in late November. That did not happen. Then, when it did launch in late December, two key features were missing: TiVo and Netflix. Despite insistence that the former would arrive in January 2013, Nintendo tells us that both are delayed beyond January to an unknown point in "early 2013." The company specifically notes that said integration is planned for the United States.

Google Maps and Street View, custom-tailored for the Wii U's tablet-like GamePad, were also given a January 2013 launch window when we first heard back in early December that they were headed to the Wii U. As it turns out, those are also delayed, albeit to a more precise "first quarter of 2013." This news comes on the heels of below expectation Wii U console sales, and word of not one, but two console updates coming later this year aimed at optimizing the hardware -- an issue we struggled with during our review of the console last year.

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By: Dilusha On 6:07 PM

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Atom-based Windows 8 tablets delayed until Jan. over driver issues

Although system builders were supposed to dash off the starting line with seemingly dozens of Windows 8 tablets following the operating system's October 25 launch, most major players seem to have stalled at the gates -- particularly when it comes to Atom-based devices.

Intel's Clover Trail platform is expected to power various slates, including Dell's Latitude 10, which was previously scheduled to ship well ahead of Christmas on December 12 but has recently been updated with a shipping date of January 22, more than a month late.

Likewise, HP's Clover Trail-powered Envy x2 convertible has been pushed from an unspecified day in November to January 8, while Asus and Lenovo still lack hard release dates for the Intel-based VivoTab Smart and ThinkPad Tablet 2, but they likely won't arrive this year. InformationWeek notes that Acer's W510 is the only noteworthy Clover Trail tablet on shelves, and it's only available in limited quantities.

According to unnamed sources cited by InformationWeek, these setbacks are the result of ongoing driver complications. It's said that PC makers are having trouble coding drivers that are stable enough to pass Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certification, which is required before the slates are made available for purchase -- a situation Intel and Microsoft have declined to comment on.

Although manufacturers clearly hoped to launch their devices in time for the holiday shopping season, DISCERN analyst Cindy Shaw noted that some vendors won't necessarily be greatly affected by the delay. "HP and Dell are conceding they've given up on the consumer, so missing the holiday season is not that big of a deal. They're not missing that magical time of the year," Shaw said, adding that the companies should still be hustling to ship their devices if they intend to secure enterprise sales.

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By: Dilusha On 8:53 AM

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