Concept smartwatch uses the whole screen as a joystick (video)

It ain't easy using a smartwatch, especially if you have gigantic fingers. So, a team from Carnegie Mellon University developed a concept smartwatch that turns the whole screen into one relatively big input mechanism. By that, we mean you can pan, twist, zoom, tilt and click the screen by physically moving the watchface -- the whole thing (sans the bracelet) is essentially a joystick. As you can see in the video after the break, the team ported a bunch of apps to show how the technology works. Since the device features several ways to interact with software, it's a lot easier to set the time, scroll down a calendar and navigate a map. And, yes, the technology makes it possible to play Doom quite effectively even on a tiny screen. Now we can only hope that someone with serious design chops comes and transforms this fledgling tech into a smartwatch that actually looks good.

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Google no longer mining student Gmail accounts for targeted ads

Google makes no bones about scanning our emails for advertising purposes, but the company has suddenly become a bit more timid when it comes prying into students' messages. According to the WSJ, Google has stopped scanning the 30 million accounts that are registered under its free-of-charge Google Apps for Education program. These users -- including students, teachers and administrators -- were never actually shown ads, but their personal information was still collected so that Google could make use of it for targeted advertising elsewhere on the web. The decision to stop collecting this data could well have something to do with a lawsuit started in California last year, in which students claimed Google's monitoring violated wiretap laws. Even if the search giant isn't too worried about that specific case, it may well fear the bad PR that has started to stem from it.

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Secret's anonymous confession box comes to the UK, Ireland, Australia and NZ

Ever wanted to tell the world that you stuck your genitals into a bowl of jam (or vegemite) without compromising your reputation? Secret, the app that lets you anonymously bare your soul to the world has landed in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. While you're likely to see the odd eye-rolling confession of sexual misconduct, Secret was also the venue that first broke the story that Google's Vic Gundotra was leaving the company. At least when you're caught using the app, you can say that you're hunting around for more of the latter, not contributing that time you were seen doing something unspeakable to a toasted sandwich.

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BioShock gets an HD remake, sort of

When it launched almost seven years ago, BioShock was quite the looker thanks to its stylized aesthetic and the custom version of Unreal Engine 2 under its hood. The game has held up pretty well in terms of visuals (all that water!), but it's certainly starting to show its age. Don't get us wrong, we love the original. It's just that we wouldn't turn down a new version of the game running with all the bells and whistles that Epic's next-gen development tools offers, either. Well, as Kotaku has spotted, an enterprising indie dev has kindly done something along those lines.

What you see in the fan-made video below is the result of YouTuber noodlespagoodle taking assets from the 2007 release and dropping them into Unreal Engine 4. In doing so, Andrew Ryan's failed paradise somehow feels even more moody and claustrophobic than before, the iconic Big Daddies all the more menacing. Sadly, the clip is pretty short and has us jonesing for a shiny new Eve hypo. With the fate of BioShock up in the air, however, it's anybody's guess if something like this could actually happen.

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MIT students raise cash to give $100 in Bitcoins to every undergrad

Starting this fall, every MIT undergrad will have at least $100 worth of Bitcoins to their name, thanks to a couple of students who've raised half a million to do so. But, they're not just doing it so their schoolmates can eat something other than ramen -- this is actually an official project by the school's Bitcoin Club, so professors and researchers from the institute can study how students spend their virtual money. This initiative, started by computer science sophomore Jeremy Rubin and MIT Bitcoin Club president Dan Elitzer, was funded by MIT alumni and people with vested interest in the currency. The two masterminds believe this move is necessary for MIT to continue being at the "forefront of emerging technologies." Rubin even said:

Giving students access to cryptocurrencies is analogous to providing them with internet access at the dawn of the internet era.

[Image credit: George Frey/Getty Images]

The students can't use their stash (that's 0.2247 BTC, according to current exchange rates) to shop from Amazon, but they're free to spend it on whatever they want. So, here are a few suggestions:

Go to Yelp to find local businesses that accept Bitcoins and hopefully eat something better than canned goods. Access Square Market to buy from and support small businesses, if $100 is chump change to them. Get a Bitcoin debit card, so they can use their Bitcoins to pay in any establishment that accepts Mastercards. Rubin and Elitzer are still working out how to distribute the money to 4,528 undergrads. But once they've accomplished that, MIT might have the biggest concentration of people with access to the cryptocurrency.

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