Fully Charged: Netflix’s VR browsing interface, Samsung’s tablet rainbow shines upon London, and Facebook is paying Oculus Rift bug bounties

Netflix creates Oculus Rift VR browsing prototype

Yesterday, Netflix published the results of its latest Hack Day, in which developers have free reign to dream up new functionality based around the streaming video service. One of the prototypes really stands out: Oculix, a working virtual reality interface that uses the Oculus Rift headset and Leap Motion controller to let you use gestures to explore the service’s offerings in 3D.

Whether or not this will actually turn into something useful down the line remains to be seen, but it’s an interesting vision for now. Check out Netflix’s blog post for other notable prototypes, including one that uses Philips Hue lightbulbs to match the colour of what you’re watching.

[Source: Netflix]

Samsung builds a rainbow out of 150 tablets

Tacking a vivid rainbow upon the London skyline with the help of 150 Galaxy Tab S tablets, Samsung on Tuesday evening unveiled the “Midnight Rainbow,” which measures 26×14 feet and chains together the devices to create the colourful effect.

It was assembled at Observation Point on Southbank, and was designed to show off the sharp AMOLED display in grand fashion – but it only remained in place until yesterday afternoon. If you missed it, the Midnight Rainbow lives on in the photo above.

Or you can do Samsung a solid and pick up 150 tablets for a makeshift recreation. Or maybe just buy one for yourself; as our review below espouses, it’s a rather excellent Android option on the smaller end of the tablet pool.

READ MORE: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 8.4 review

Facebook paying Oculus Rift users to report bugs

The tens of thousands of lucky Oculus Rift development kit owners probably feel pretty lucky to get in on the ground floor of something huge. We bet most of them didn’t know that using the hardware extensively could make them a fair amount of money, as well.

Facebook has just lumped Oculus in on its bug bounty program, which pays at least US$500 (£300) per eligible reported bug from a independent security contractor – and there’s no maximum on the amount paid.

Facebook reportedly paid US$1.5 million (£900,000) for such bug reports across its properties last year, so… get to work, Rift dev kit owners. It’s likely to pay you sooner than whatever VR experience you’re working on will.

[Source: The Verge]

About

Andrew writes features, news stories, reviews, and other pieces, often when the UK home team is off-duty or asleep. I'm based in Chicago with my lovely wife, amazing son, and silly cats, and my writing about games, gadgets, esports, apps, and plenty more has appeared in more than 75 publications since 2006.