We’ve seen our share of Glass parodies in the last few months, starting with a “How guys will use Google Glass” a hilarious Tumblr entitled “White men wearing Google Glass” and now, the big time, a SNL sketch on “Weekend Update.”

In the SNL sketch, Fred Armisen of Portlandia fame plays a tech-blogger who is showing off the new Google Glass hardware. He pokes fun at the functionality of the device, such as the touch gestures and voice commands. The sketch has some hilarious moments, including accidentally activating porn on Glass and rebooting the device, which requires Armisen to swirl his head wildly.

The tech community has clearly embraced Google Glass, only time will tell how the general public will accept the device. We’re still not sure when Google Glass will make it to the public realm, as developers are currently messing around with the features of the device.

Check out the SNL sketch below.

[Via: Business Insider]

Probably the most important new feature in the update is that Power Cubes can now be used. Power Cubes silently debuted a few weeks ago, but players were unable to use them until this update rolled out. Power Cubes can give the player extra Exotic Matter without needing to walk around and gather it. Power Cubes could also be used in other ways, but we’ll have to test them out first to see what they can do. Like anything else, you can receive Power Cubes through hacking a portal.

Check out what it looks like to use a Power Cube here.

New animations can now be found throughout Ingress as well. Likely the most interesting is when a player fires off an XMP Blaster. The animation is now an orange-ish color, which looks much better than the previous implementation. Other, less interesting, but welcomed visual tweaks include a bar that indicates how much XM gained or depleted before the standard  bar catches up on your XM meter. It’s actually not helpful at all, but it’s a nice and subtle piece of visual flair.

Take a look at the screenshots below.

As with any Ingress update, bug fixes are also included. Frankly, we don’t really care what’s fixed. We just know that the gameplay is much better than what it used to be and we’re glad that it’s getting better with each update. With that said, I’ve noticed the app force close on me a few times since updating to 1.23.1.

Be sure to hit up the Google Play Store to update Ingress, agents!

To stay up to date with the world of Ingress, be sure to go to the Niantic Project.com, as well as Decode Ingress. And of course, we’ll be keeping you informed here as well. Stay tuned!

While only briefly discussed and currently unusable until the next update, the report makes mention of Power Cubes, which recently popped up in the inventory selection menu within the Ingress application. From what we can tell, Power Cubes have a high amount of concentrated Exotic Matter (XM), in which a player/ agent can use to recharge either a specific resonator or portal. Power Cubes are given a level (L4, L5, etc. ) that translate into the amount of XM the in-app item holds and how much it can charge a resonator or portal. It remains to be seen whether or not Power Cubes can only be used on a resonator or portal of the same level.

The obvious benefit of Power Cubes, and this is to assume that their capabilities are indeed described above, is the ability to charge a portal or resonator without using your own XM.

The Alignment: Ingress was recently released, where it was initially believed to be fake. It’s currently available in the Google Play Store and Amazon. If you’re an Ingress agent, The Alignment will allow you to dive in deeper to the world.

From the Google Play Store:

From New York Times bestselling author Thomas Greanias — A New Adventure and a New Hero

The wait is over for fans of the worldwide bestselling Raising Atlantis novels. Archaeologist Conrad Yeats and Serena Serghetti return for the first time since The Atlantis Revelation in an all-new adventure that introduces adventurer and “exotic matter” tracker Hank Johnson. Their quest takes them to the dark heart of Africa in search of the secret behind King Solomon’s gold. But they unleash the curse of the legendary Queen of Sheba and must stop an ancient evil before it destroys the world.

The Alignment: Ingress is your portal into the larger world of Ingress, the new augmented reality experience from Google’s own Niantic Labs. Now you too, like Hank Johnson, can track exotic matter or XM, join the Enlightened or Resistance factions, and open your own transdimensional portals around the globe–and glimpse what’s on the other side. Visit www.ingress.com to learn how you can experience Ingress for yourself.

Drones

While location spoofing is “illegal” in the world of Ingress, no one said anything about attaching a device to a drone and play remotely. An agent (Cenobite) successfully did just this in Austria, and the results are pretty impressive.

There are a few more stories in the Ingress Report, so make sure to catch it below!

The Niantic Project website is updated daily, adding another piece of information that contributes to the incredibly intricate and multi-layered storyline. The Ingress Report is a bit different, but players of the game should enjoy what they see.

The faux news report covers the “discovery” of Exotic Matter, the trans-dimensional energy that Ingress players are fighting to control.  You’ll also see interviews with players from around the world, and other geeky fun. This is the first in a new series of “reports” from Niantic, which should be a nice treat for players and those patiently awaiting their invites.

We may still have some time until Ingress leaves beta status, but one thing is for sure: This geeky game will continue to gain traction. Ingress itself may dance around the “painfully geek” point, but that doesn’t make it any less fun to play.

If you’re interested in playing Ingress, and still haven’t requested an invite, you can do so here. You may also still be able to score an invite through an existing player that’s level 6 or higher. Last week, one invite was given to L6+ to recruit new agents.

Watch the Ingress Report below, and happy hacking!

[Via: NianticProject]

In short, Ingress is an augmented reality game that’s heavy on the sci-fi theme, and requires players to physically go to different locations on a map. This isn’t BioShock Infinite, so you’ll be without your hand cannon and Vigors, but you’ll get a little exercise in the process.

Since its debut last November, you can only level up to 8. For those of us who hit the L8 status early on, it’s been a bit of a waiting game to see what Niantic is cooking up to keep the game interesting. There have been a few updates that make the game itself significantly less buggy, it’s getting a bit boring for me, personally. That said, if you have an invite waiting in the Ingress app for you, maybe it’s time to recruit a new agent and take them under your wing.

If you’re still looking for an invitation to Ingress, be sure to check out the official site here and sign up for one.

[Via: AndroidCentral]

The tangerine colored dev kit was first listed on the 6th of March with a starting bid of $50, and in just a few short days, the price has skyrocketed to over $8,000.  While we’ve seen people make a nice chunk of cash on eBay from the Nexus 4, we’ve yet to see a Google device priced this high.

Google Glass has garnered quite a bit of fanfare (and distaste) since it debuted at last year’s Google I/O, but we’ve yet to see what you’ll actually be seeing behind that lens. The stupid lucky winner of the auction just might be surprised to see how bare bones Google Glass could be when they first strap them on. That will change, of course, but we’d say playing the waiting game would be the better option here.

Most of us here are excited about Google Glass, but throwing down that much cash right now seems a bit silly.

We know waiting can suck, but not waiting looks pretty pricey right about now.

[Via: Phandroid]

The new AR chip, dubbed the AREngine is slated to be released in ST-Ericsson phones beginning later this year. Metaio is still mum on details pertaining to what kind of AR features will be present. Even without these details, we can still expect the AREngine to make speed and performance increases, and extended battery life for devices using AR.

“The AR Engine will do for augmented reality what the GPU did years ago for the gaming industry. This is a great leap in the AR space, and we strongly believe that the AR Engine working with ST Ericsson platforms will help realize the Augmented City—the idea of a completely connected environment powered by augmented reality and made possible with next-gen, optimized mobile platforms,” said Metaio CTO Peter Meier

Whether or not AR integrated chips will bring a big impact on the mobile world is anyone’s guess, but it seems to be a logical next step in the evolution of augmented reality technology. With Google’s Glass rearing it’s awkward looking head everywhere these days, there’s no doubt that AR is here to stay. And Metaio, who has been at the AR game for way longer than Google, is helping to open up the future of AR technology.

[Via: TechCrunch]