#Haptic Feedback Technology

[virtualrealitynewstoday]

Bstick：重塑虛擬現實互動，掌中的觸感革命

在科技飛速發展的今日，虛擬現實（VR）不再是遙不可及的夢想。隨著Bstick的誕生，我們進一步邁向了真實與虛擬無縫對接的新紀元。這款手持式虛擬現實力回饋控制器，以其獨特的設計和功能，重新定義了我們與數位世界的互動方式。 首先，Bstick的設計極為人性化。它摒棄了現有骨骼外骼手套式產品的不便，讓使用者無需忍受穿戴上的困擾。其簡潔的棒狀設計，不僅便於握持，更提供了傳統產品無法比擬的實在握感和震動體驗。這種設計，基於人體工學元素，將功能性放在首位，呈現出簡單而有效的外觀。 此外，Bstick的多功能性也是其一大亮點。無論是遊戲、醫療、虛擬訓練還是健身，這款產品都能派上用場。其六面不同類型的設計，讓任何人都能輕鬆上手，為各種內容提供更豐富的互動體驗。 更值得一提的是，Bstick在提供娛樂體驗的同時，也極大地促進了虛擬現實在醫療、復健、健康護理以及專業技能訓練等領域的應用。其直觀的棒狀模…

[aurosoulart]

can't remember when/what i followed you for but i've seen you a lot and i am so, so happy for your success.

thank you!!!! 😭❣❣❣

it's honestly surreal how fast all this happened. never in my life could I have dreamed that art would lead towards working with cutting-edge technology like this......... or that art & tech would become so seamlessly blended!!

like honestly? I'm just a big fish in a small pond right now regarding the accessibility of the tools I'm using. it fills me with so much inspiration and wonder imagining what other artists will create with spatial computing once this all becomes more affordable

I'm expecting an Art Nouveau level of culture shift around how we view and interact with art - AR paintings you can walk inside of (this is what I'm working on), animated holograms in museums, virtual objects you can TOUCH with haptic gloves...... ALL of this (and more!!) exists RIGHT NOW and is literally no longer in the realm of science fiction.

I know I keep rambling about this but... it's mind boggling!! I'm CREATING these things and I STILL can't believe they're real.

[sonsofks]

Sobrecarga de Emociones: Stray Souls se Renueva con un Parche Monumental para PC y Consolas

Jukai Studio y Versus Evil Impactan con un Monumental Parche que Transforma la Experiencia en el Thriller Psicológico Stray Souls ¡Cuidado con lo que te espera en el mundo aterrador de Stray Souls! La exitosa colaboración entre el estudio independiente Jukai Studio y Versus Evil ha dado un giro monumental con el lanzamiento de un parche impresionante para su juego de horror psicológico,…

[egg-witch]

As usual I am thinking too hard about the biology of fictional characters so. Thoughts I am compelled to share about Boothill below

Canonically he has synthetic, blue blood. This would cause his skin tone to seem quite strange and greyish. Extra so if he's as pale as he is in-game but this would still be apparent with most darker skin tones as well. Man's gonna be looking a bit like a zombie

The intent here is debatable but I also choose to interpret that same line to mean that he does *not* have a synthetic heart - the original's still in there, just running on new juice

Related to this and also the fact he can seemingly have a bullet explode in his mouth without serious repercussions I am going to assume that his skull and whatever else would be left of his skeleton have been enhanced or replaced (having human bone marrow in there making new blood cells would likely mess with things if they replaced that whole system)

This is very funny to me because it seemingly means instead of just putting his brain inside a whole synthetic body the doctor went to the trouble to keep his original face, despite replacing/augmenting his teeth, eyes, tongue and, one can extrapolate, his entire damn skull. He was ready to give up everything except his pretty complexion I guess...

(Unless his face *is* synthetic and intellitrons just have no desire for a realistic human face with the capacity to emote? The rest of boothill's body seems flexible in a way that would suggest a good synthetic equivalent to human skin, so... it's plausible)

Speaking of, I really do not subscribe to the idea that he can't feel anything from the neck down. Do you know how hard it'd be to do anything as a human with a meat brain (or even as a robot for that matter) without any haptic feedback? If they have the technology to make him a whole new body that has equal or better mobility and general function than the old one then they can make it feel things, I promise. Probably not in all the same ways human flesh can feel things, especially if a lot of it is rigid plating, but it'd still be conductive to heat and electricity at least

I know the reason his model is that way is bc it's just a different texture on the same default character model, hence it bending and stretching like a soft body - building, rigging and animating a humanoid body that truly moves like a rigid machine would be an absurd amount of work and also limit the visual design, his canon design straight up would not be able to move or work if all those parts really were rigid no matter how you approached it lol. but it is very hot and looks cool which is what really matters. so I've settled on most of the "plating" being tough but still somewhat flexible, not actually metal but an advanced synthetic material of some sort. and then material more like an artificial skin between joints and in the parts that need extra stretch and flexibility. he's harder (and heavier) than a human but he's not a tin can

Based on screwllum's dialogue that he can and does eat regular food (but the phrasing implies that he could also eat other stuff? And there's that exchange from one of the light cones where ruan mei makes a joke about him having to drink machine oil) and the implication that the doctor who gave boothill his new body was an intellitron, I think boothill must have something similar - he can still eat normal food but also process other things. Idk if the fuel hatch on his back is a redundancy then or what. Could just be that nobody anticipated he'd think gasoline tastes good lmao

(side note while it's kinda implied in game that his weird tastes are a result of an augmented mouth and tongue I like to think he was always like that. He was eating rocks out of the garden as a kid and licking rusty old coins and stuff u can't convince me otherwise)

(also this is getting off track but this guy clearly has some kinda fixation on like. machinery. I think even though he did it for unrelated reasons he thinks his cyborg body is very hot and probably also has a little bit of a thing for intellitrons ngl. which is interesting given his history and the associations one would first assume he'd have with that kind of technology and aesthetic, but. can't fault a guy for knowing what he's into)

Whoops this got super long

Stay tuned for the sequel, "KC analyses boothill's personality way too seriously"

[simping-for-kamski]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIJAH!

To celebrate I'm sharing this pic!

And I posted chapter 3 of The Heist!

The RK800’s eyes flickered. Unit 52 had finally been dispatched from CyberLife and the Administrator was fully committed to the operation. CyberLife VR suits easily resembled Level D hazmat suits, although the glasses sooner provided Augmented Reality than protection, and the facial mask was both part of the haptic feedback net and the main olfactory transfer system. The Administrator’s suit was tailored specifically for him, sleek against his body, turning him into a being of ivory, ebony and turquoise with silver touches—plastic, all of it, and vacuum-tight. “Honest opinion. Do I look good?” he’d asked Chloe. She’d smiled. “It really highlights how thin and wiry you’ve become. It’s like a plugsuit from Evangelion made love with a set of holographic stickers. It would look perfect in a music video by Lady Gaga, twenty years ago.” The Administrator pushed the glasses up his nose and nodded. “Thanks.” So, Unit 52—Connor—had been dispatched, and the VR suit was coming to life around the Administrator. Sensory feeds were being transmitted, and soon, the Administrator was one with the suit, and one with Connor. “We are now bonded,” he murmured.Everything Connor saw, he saw. Everything Connor heard, he heard. Every touch, sensation, shift in temperature or smell was relayed over to him. Thank goodness the tastes weren’t part of the experience. Connor was delivered to the DPD and told that he wasn’t, in fact, meant to attend the newly discovered crime scene, but to first “make himself useful” and “find Hank.” Find Lieutenant Anderson was thus Connor’s first objective. “This is so disrespectful…” the Administrator muttered in disbelief. “They’ve got that top-of-the-line android to assist them, a model equipped with the most sophisticated and advanced portable forensic technology, and…” He sighed. “Honestly, I can’t even fault them for treating him like that.”

Would you want to be in the Administrator’s place?

[stevebattle]

CanguRo RidRoid (Ride + Roid) (2018), Future Robotics Technology Center (fuRo), Japan. CanguRo, 'kangaroo' in Italian, is a transforming robot vehicle with an automotive intelligence. "In robot mode, CanguRo operates like a buddy droid in a movie. As a loyal partner, it follows its master in shopping malls, giving help at times. Sometimes it works as a communications terminal, letting its master chat with friends and family members. Even from some distance away, CanguRo comes to its master upon a call from a smartphone or tablet. The fully automatic operation is based on scanSLAM—fuRo’s proprietary SLAM technology. CanguRo is a partner robot that never leaves the side of its master. When the master wishes to travel, CanguRo automatically transforms itself into ride mode. In ride mode, CanguRo supports its master as an integral part of his or her body. As the master leans right and left to make a turn, CanguRo actively transforms its body and leans accordingly. It gives the master a sense of integration, like slalom skiing. CanguRo has a built-in body-sonic system. According to the travel speed, CanguRo generates pulses like heartbeats, transmitted via the saddle to let the rider recognize the current speed by haptics. The steering has a force feedback, which directly transmits the radius of the turn to the rider’s arms. All these sensory functions are implemented to produce a sense of human-machine integration."

[satoshi-mochida]

Until Dawn remake launches this fall

From Gematsu

The Until Dawn remake will launch for PlayStation 5 and PC this fall, publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Ballistic Moon announced.

Here is an overview of the game, via Sony Interactive Entertainment:

About

When eight friends return to the isolated lodge where two of their group vanished a year prior, fear tightens its icy grip, and their mountain retreat descends into a nightmare with no escape. Immerse yourself in a gripping slasher horror rebuilt from the ground up with stunning visuals in Unreal Engine 5. Enhanced by movie-like cinematography, refined gameplay mechanics and more, venture into a thrilling exploration of an isolated mountain where nothing is as it seems. Face your fears and determine who survives until dawn, rebuilt and enhanced for PlayStation 5 console and PC.

Key Features

Cult Horror Rebuilt – Immerse yourself in a gripping slasher horror rebuilt from the ground up with stunning visuals in Unreal Engine 5. Enhanced by movie-like cinematography, refined gameplay mechanics and more, venture into a thrilling exploration of an isolated mountain where nothing is as it seems.

Their Fate in Your Hands – Create your own gripping tale as you take control of nine unique characters portrayed by an all-star cast, including Hayden Panettiere, Brett Dalton, and more, and decide their fate through your choices. Through dynamic animations and nuanced facial-capture performances, learn what makes each character tick, and who among the group has what it takes to survive.

Terror Never Looked So Good – Explore a rich and detailed environment that will leave you breathless with every step. With new visual enhancements for PlayStation 5 consoles, the original game has been rebuilt from the ground up—utilizing cutting-edge visual technology to bring the nightmare to life.

Rebuilt for a New Generation – Discover new collectibles, all-new environments to investigate, and re-cut narrative sequences that deepen the mystery further. Through the DualSense wireless controller, interact with the world like never before, and get closer to the action with an all-new, immersive third-person camera. Plus, enjoy a brand-new musical score and reauthored audio that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the journey.

PlayStation 5 Features

Ultra High-Speed SSD – With seamless scene-to-gameplay transitions made possible by the PlayStation 5 console’s ultra high-speed SSD, stay fully immersed in the heart-pumping horror and face your fears without a moment’s respite.

Adaptive Triggers – Experience the resistance of a firearm’s trigger, pick up objects in the environment, and feel the weight of your decisions through adaptive triggers as you survive the mountain’s horrors.

Tempest 3D AudioTech – Pinpoint every breathless whisper, unknown footstep, and chilling scream through 3D audio, as you navigate the darkness relying on each of your senses to stay alive.

Stunning Visuals – Rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5, the power of PlayStation 5 consoles brings the horror to life with realistic lighting and ray traced character shadows. Explore the eerily-lit interiors of the lodge, the clawing darkness of the mines, and moonlight-bathed mountain wilderness in stunning detail.

Haptic Feedback – Feel the footsteps of friends and foes alike intensify with proximity, and every bump and scrape as you claw through the darkness on the run from a killer. From the clicks of a digital camera to the supernatural power of nearby totems, the DualSense wireless controller’s haptic feedback connects you to your environment like never before.

Watch a new trailer below.

Gameplay Trailer

[republicsecurity]

Together and not

Inside their dimly lit resting stations, IOT5E and M10EW reclined comfortably, their helmets securely fastened, immersing them in the film "Godzilla's Buddy." The film's virtual reality overlays synchronized seamlessly with the conscripts' helmets, creating an engaging spectacle.

IOT5E: (via helmet channel) This Godzilla film is a wild ride, isn't it?

M10EW: (responding through the channel) Absolutely. Did you catch that scene with Godzilla and his new buddy tearing through the city? The visuals are stunning.

IOT5E: (nodding) Yeah, the attention to detail is incredible. It's like we're right there with them. And the haptic feedback adds a whole new layer to the experience.

M10EW: (enthusiastically) Right? I could almost feel the vibrations as they stomped through the city. The director really nailed the immersive aspect.

IOT5E: (pauses) You think this is a metaphor for something? Conscripts bonding with unexpected allies, maybe?

M10EW: (chuckles) Well, it's a Godzilla film, so who knows? But I like that interpretation. It's like us, conscripts finding camaraderie in unexpected places.

IOT5E: (reflects) True. In the midst of our duties and resting in these cupboards, we still find ways to connect, even if it's through films about giant monsters.

M10EW: (laughs) Yeah, that's the downside of these high-tech helmets and armor suits. No cuddling during movie time.

IOT5E: (jokingly) Maybe they'll add that feature in the next upgrade. Virtual reality cuddle simulations for conscripts in resting stations.

M10EW: (playfully) Sign me up for that! It'd be a revolutionary advancement in conscript comfort technology.

IOT5E: (chuckles) Until then, we'll just have to settle for discussing films through our helmet channels.

As they bantered about the limitations of their armored suits and the potential for futuristic upgrades, the camaraderie between IOT5E and M10EW continued to thrive, even in the absence of physical closeness.

[demifiendrsa]

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - PC Reveal Trailer

The PC version of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will launch for Steam and Epic Games Store on July 26, 2023.

Pre-orders include early access to the in-game items “Carbonox Armor Set” and “Pixelizer Weapon.”

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart first launched for PlayStation 5 on June 11, 2021.

Screenshots

Overview

About

The intergalactic adventurers are back with a bang in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart!

Go dimension-hopping with Ratchet and Clank as they venture onto a PC near you for the very first time. Help them take on an evil emperor from another reality as you jump between action-packed worlds and beyond.

With their own universe next in the firing line, dust off the dynamic pair’s outrageous weaponry and stop a dimensional collapse in its tracks!

Unite the double team supreme with a cast of familiar allies and new faces, including newcomer Rivet. She’s a Lombax resistance fighter from another dimension, who is just as determined to take out the robotic scourge.

Enjoy a dazzling interdimensional adventure. Built from the ground up by acclaimed studio Insomniac Games and brought to PC by Nixxes Software, you’ll go beyond what you see with in-game actions coming to life in your hands via the DualSense wireless controller. Haptic feedback and adaptive trigger technology create lifelike sensations: feel the hum of a spacecraft vibrate across the surface of the controller, or the kick of pulling your trusty Enforcer’s trigger.

PC Features

Blast your way through an interdimensional adventure as Ratchet and Clank make their way to PC for the very first time!

Wrap your eyes around delightful, diverse dimensions, with ultra-wide support for 21:9, 32:9, and 48:9 (triple monitor support) resolutions!

See the omniverse brought to life with the option of unlocked frame rates! You can also enjoy ray-traced reflections, as well as newly added, ray-traced shadows for exteriors.

Witness the very latest, performance-enhancing upscaling technologies for yourself, including NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 2, Intel XeSS and Insomniac Games’ Temporal Injection. NVIDIA Reflex and image quality-enhancing NVIDIA DLAA are also supported.

Play with the DualSense controller to experience haptic feedback and dynamic trigger effects. Or choose mouse and keyboard—with a wide range of control customization options.

Includes support for achievements and cloud saves on PC game launchers.

[spidermannotes]

PlayStation 5 Console - Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Limited Edition Bundle

What's in the box?

This console has a disc drive.

Game requires download before it can be played. Voucher code supplied within box, redeemable on PlayStation™Store.

Only 1 DualSense included.

1 Player.

PS5 bundles will ship separately when additional items are in the order.

A signature will be required upon delivery for this product.

Limited Edition PlayStation®5 Console 

Limited Edition DualSense® Wireless Controller

Base

 HDMI Cable

 AC Power Cord 

USB Cable

Printed Materials 

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 voucher for a digital copy of the Standard Edition of the game* (redeemable from Oct 20, 2023)

Pre-order incentive items: 

Arachknight Suit for Peter early unlock (includes three color variants). 

Shadow-Spider Suit for Miles early unlock (includes three color variants). 

Web Grabber gadget early unlock. 

+3 Skill Points. 

ASTRO’s PLAYROOM (Pre-installed game)**

PlayStation 5 Console Features

Lightning Speed - Harness the power of a custom CPU, GPU, and SSD with Integrated I/O that rewrite the rules of what a PlayStation® console can do. 

Stunning Games - Marvel at incredible graphics and experience new PS5™ features. Play a back catalog of supported PS4™ games. 

Breathtaking Immersion - Discover a deeper gaming experience with support for haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and 3D Audio*** technology.

Game Features

Experience an original Marvel’s Spider-Man single player story. Switch between two playable Spider-Men, Peter Parker and Miles Morales, while exploring Marvel’s New York. Wield Peter Parker’s new symbiote abilities and Miles Morales’ explosive bio-electric venom powers. Fight a rogues’ gallery of Marvel’s Super Villains – including Kraven the Hunter, Lizard, an original take on Venom, and many more!

Available at Amazon.

[aurosoulart]

finally got around to recording and subtitling my performance at the Augmented World Expo 😤 it's 6 minutes long, but worth the watch if you wanna understand more about what I do!

this was part of a competition centered around using XR technology (virtual reality, augmented reality, spatial computing - whatever you want to call it) to fight climate change.

we were the only ones competing in the category of Replace - and I gave this performance showing how Figmin XR, a software that can create free-to-download digital objects (aka 'digital twins'), could be used to massively reduce material waste in the future.

AR glasses and haptic feedback technologies are still in their infancy, and they're not YET at the stage where they can be as ubiquitous as smartphones - but as someone lucky enough to work with them every day, let me tell you:

this stuff is powerful. being able to to see, hear, and FEEL digital objects in 3D space changes the wiring of your brain. it's truly indescribable unless you've experienced it yourself, but everything feels real, like it's there with you, especially if it's something you've brought into existence with your own two hands. I share my virtual inventory with my friends - we play with confetti together, paint together, make things together - all in-person, the entire process feeling so natural that we forget all of it is just made out of light.

this is the entirety of what Figmin's mission is about - empowering people to re-learn the joy of playing (which so many of us don't have the time or money for anymore!), while also reducing material waste in the process.

once this new form of 3D computing finally becomes accessible to the public (and it will - it's too magical to be forgotten), we could see a huge cultural shift of innovation similar to what happened with the rise of the internet and personal computers in the first place.

and, like the original PC, it's only going to get better once it does reach people. I'm not going to say that every person out there will use XR for good (we all know how corporate greed goes by now), but that doesn't mean it's inherently bad or scary.

all technology is still just a tool, and we can still use it to connect with one another, to learn, to create... and, hopefully, to change the world for the better.

[discodeerdiary]

I hate touchscreens. We built futuristic visual-interactive technology without developing haptic feedback tech to replace what we lost in the old models.

[livastia-universe]

Just finished the game Chorus, and it actually has me doing some pretty serious brainstorming right now! For a while I’ve been contemplating trying to implement greater degrees of human/MAI interfacing between the driver and their charge, and I guess I’m finally pulling the trigger and doing it.

Pictured is a sort of complex haptic/sensory suit that a driver or pilot would wear and get hooked up to their unit in, where the bright green represents a map of feedback locations and other sensory systems. The suit allows the driver to feel everything that their MAI does in the form of either vibrations, pressure, or tens unit-like electronic shocks. Yeah - unfortunately the pain aspect would probably be required for reduced human/MAI sensory disparities. You can’t have the driver thinking that they’ve had a rock thrown at them when the reality is that they’ve been shot at. The helmet serves the purpose of protection first, then senses second - as with other dark grey parts of the suit, but it also provides real time external audio, and, when paired with the AR headset, a look through the eyes of the MAI. The AR headset’s viewpoint is controlled by the wearer’s eyes functioning as a sort of cursor along the peripherals.

On top of the human being able to sense things from the MAI via the suit, it also sends information to the MAI: in addition to the driver’s sensory feedback, they get vitals information like body temp, heart rate, oxygen levels, and other readings that help deduce state of health or threats to life within the hull.

This is a technology that was likely lightly experimented with during the war, but it only saw the interiors of a rare few MAI as it was quite janky and sometimes even distracting in its early days. Most plausibly, it would have been possible to greatly refine and turn into something usable by the 2030s or 2040s.

Everything here is cool and all, but I actually have something really important to share along with this……………..this suit makes it possible to now hug an MAI and have them be able to feel it wrap the whole way around them. I rest my case.

bonus doodle of a driver and MAI touching each others’ faces by touching their own faces LMAO

[popcornapocalypse]

Sunstruck (Dys/Sol)

Summary:

“Tell me what you want, baby,” Sol says.

Dys’s cheeks go pink again at the endearment, and he swallows a few times before speaking. “I want… I want to suck your cock.”

“Good boy. Thank you for telling me.” They tangle their fingers in Dys’s hair and smile when he gasps.

Sol rubs their cock across the side of Dys’s face and the haptics hum gently at the base. Sol’s breath catches at the sensation. They’re wearing both the internal and external feedback mechanisms today, so this is going to be fun. Dys tries to turn his head to mouth at their cock, but Sol tightens their grip on his hair and he immediately stills.

--

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Video Game) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dys/Sol (I Was a Teenage Exocolonist) Characters: Dys (I Was a Teenage Exocolonist), Sol (I Was a Teenage Exocolonist) Additional Tags: Rough Oral Sex, Face-Fucking, Blow Jobs, Deepthroating, Hair-pulling, very mild humiliation, Grinding, Dom/sub, Subspace, Domspace, AO3 why is domspace not a tag, Consensual Kink, BDSM Scene, Communication, Safewords, Explicit Consent, Nonverbal Communication, Aftercare, i mean that tag very seriously like a third of this fic is aftercare, Dom Sol (I Was a Teenage Exocolonist), Sub Dys (I Was a Teenage Exocolonist), I headcanon them both as switches but this is what they're doing in this scene, Established Relationship, POV Third Person, Nonbinary Sol (I Was a Teenage Exocolonist), They/Them Pronouns for Sol (I Was a Teenage Exocolonist), listen this is speculative fiction about futuristic gender affirming technology, I have no idea how to tag that other than i guess, Sex Toys, Prosthesis, basically Sol has a high tech prosthetic cock, if you can't make your own nanoprinted is fine, oh i almost forgot to add, Praise Kink

[kicksaddictny]

PlayStation Portal Remote Player

According to Sony

Since launching PS5, we’ve been amazed to see how players around the world have embraced the generational leaps we made in the gaming experience, such as the heightened feeling of immersion delivered by the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers in the DualSense wireless controller. Our PlayStation community continues to give us a reason to challenge ourselves to bring new innovations to the market for all players to enjoy. That’s why today, we are especially pleased to share new updates about our upcoming hardware products. 

In May, we gave a quick peek at our dedicated PS5 remote play device – now called PlayStation Portal remote player, and our first wireless earbuds, called Pulse Explore. Today we’re pleased to share more details about these products and reveal a new PlayStation over-the-ear wireless headset, Pulse Elite. Both Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore deliver low latency lossless audio from PS5 and PlayStation Portal using our new PlayStation Link wireless technology.

PlayStation Portal remote player will launch later this year for 199.99 USD | 219.99 EURO | 199.99 GBP | 29,980 YEN. We’ll have more details soon on when pre-orders begin for PlayStation Portal.

[razieltwelve]

Scrolls? (Final Rose)

Scrolls are probably the single most common electronic device that people have. In Final Rose, they function as a combination of mobile phone and laptop. Thanks to the marvels of miniaturisation technology, a scroll that can fit into your pocket or clip onto your belt can also unfold to the size of a laptop without any real difficulty.

Basically, just about every adult has a scroll and so does pretty much every teenager. You won’t always see scrolls in people younger than that since communicators (i.e., mobile communication devices) are often given to children rather than scrolls to prevent them spending too much time online.

Scrolls can vary dramatically in terms of price and capabilities.

The cheapest scrolls are quite affordable for anyone working a steady job. They won’t have the best cameras, the fastest processors, or the best display quality. However, they’ll get the job done at an affordable price. Although Dia Technologies basically rules the scroll market, one of the keys to their success has been their range of budget scrolls. These scrolls offer more bang for the customer’s lien than anyone else and are also immensely durable. There are actually plenty of jokes about hunters using their Dia Technologies scroll as improvised weapons, and there are actual videos of hunters stabbing Grimm with them and the scroll still working afterward.

At the top end are scrolls that boggle the mind. I’ll give you an example. Diana’s scroll is the latest and greatest - a custom model that she put together using custom parts. Its feature include:

Orders of magnitude more processing power and processing speed than any standard scroll on the market

Holographic projectors

Customisable holographic keyboard with haptic feedback

Its own transmitter and receiver to allow for completely independent and wireless communication, complete with encryption

Its own miniature generator, so it doesn’t have to be charged

Inbuilt shields that can withstand heavy weapons fire and inbuilt propulsion units, so it can travel to her location if necessary

Scrolls at that level can cost more than cars with some even costing as much as a house. For obvious reasons, the only people who have those tend to be the exorbitantly wealthy.

In any case, scrolls are so widespread because they can do so many things and do them well. Need to speak to your family on the other side of the world? Just give them a call. Need to research and write that assignment? Go ahead, use your scroll. Almost anything digital that a normal person would ever want to do can be done on their scroll.

For this reason, theft of scrolls is a big deal. In general, all scrolls are registered and protected by a combination of passwords and biometric data, including Aura scans. Furthermore, scrolls can generally be tracked, so actually stealing one and getting away with it is difficult since the tracking unit is generally placed in a position where you’d have to junk the scroll to get rid of it.

To alleviate privacy concerns, access to scroll location data is strictly controlled and generally requires the consent of the owner to obtain. That said, there are loopholes and the like, just like on Earth, that have been taken advantage of from time to time.

At Beacon, every student has a scroll although there is variance in how good those scrolls are. However, anyone whose scroll does not meet the minimum requirements will be issued with one. That said, the engineering students are frequently asked to do modifications and improvements.