firehose

Apple appears to have some interest in Lytro-style refocusable cameras. In a patent filed in 2011 and granted today, Apple describes a camera that would be able to switch between capturing two types of images: low-resolution images that could be refocused after capture, and high-resolution photographs that can't be changed. To do both, the camera would include an adaptor with a "microlens array" that would slide between the camera's lens and sensor when capturing a refocusable image, and slide away when capturing a traditional photo. The image above depicts the cross section of such a camera while the adaptor's microlens array — labeled "430" — is positioned to shoot a refocusable image.

While a number of companies have attempted to mimic Lytro's camera with just software, no one has recreated anything quite like its novel hardware. Apple doesn't hide that it's taken inspiration from Lytro either: it references Lytro founder Ren Ng's own patent, but argues that it doesn't describe the perfect solution. "There remains a need for a method to enable a camera system to be switched or changed between a low resolution refocusable mode and a high resolution non-refocusable mode," the patent reads. Though the patent mentions that such a camera could be included on a mobile device, there's no way to tell from the text alone whether Apple has any further plans for this idea.

Hackers have allegedly stolen over a thousand bitcoins from the European payment processor BIPS in a theft that's now valued at over $1 million. BIPS tells Mashable that most of the bitcoins — 1,295 in total — came from the company's own holdings, but "several consumer wallets" were also compromised in the hack. The payment provider says that it was initially hit with a DDoS attack on November 15th, followed by a second attack on November 17th that managed to take the funds. Though BIPS disclosed some information on the attack just two days later, full details don't appear to have been given until last Friday.

"You may want to find alternative storage solutions as soon as possible."

BIPS says that the attacks appear to have originated from Russia and neighboring countries. It's now turning to law enforcement for help, but BIPS says that it'll first ask users for permission to turn over data about their bitcoins. Even with law enforcement's involvement though, users likely won't be seeing their lost bitcoins again — and at a time when they've becoming increasingly valuable. Because of the rapid fluctuation of Bitcoin's price, the stolen bitcoins were only worth around $650,000 at the time of the alleged theft, while they're now significantly more valuable.

Since the hacks, BIPS — which offers a free online wallet for storing Bitcoin — has been telling bitcoin owners that they should really be storing large quantities of the digital currency offline, where it can't be hacked. "Web wallets are like a regular wallet that you carry cash in and not meant to keep large amounts in," Kris Henriksen, BIPS founder, writes in a forum post. "Please be advised that attacks are not isolated to us and if you are storing larger amounts of coins with any third party you may want to find alternative storage solutions as soon as possible."

Another major hack took around 4,100 bitcoins from the wallet service Inputs.io earlier this month, then worth over $1 million as well. While Bitcoin hacks have contributed to crashes in the currency's pricing in the past, Bitcoin has only been rising lately — likely only making the currency all the more attractive to hackers.

Valve's official Steam Machine prototype isn't cheap, but it won't be the only Steam-powered video game console available come 2014. This morning, iBuyPower revealed a prototype of its own upcoming Steam Machine, which will go on sale for just $499 next year. For the price of an Xbox One, the computer will offer a multicore AMD CPU and a discrete AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card — that's a $180 GPU all by itself — and come with Valve's Steam Controller as part of the package deal.

The company says the box is bigger than a PlayStation 4 but smaller than Microsoft's Xbox One, and comes standard with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 500GB hard drive. The glossy white case also has a fully customizable light bar running down the center channel, and an integrated power supply. You won't have to find room for a power brick on your home entertainment center shelves.

For the price, you won't be getting Windows, only Valve's Linux-based Steam OS, which could be an issue starting out. While Valve has quite a few games running on Linux already, and says that major game developers will be building triple-A game titles specifically for Steam OS in 2014, it's not quite the same as having the entire Windows catalog as a fallback. Still, iBuyPower says that existing Steam for Linux games should run quite well, at full 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second. We're looking forward to see just how much power iBuyPower can provide for under $500.

Double Fine Productions now owns the publishing and distribution rights to the downloadable games Costume Quest and Stacking, and the studio is teaming up with the previous rights holder, Nordic Games, for retail versions in 2014, the companies announced today.

Costume Quest (2010) and Stacking (2011) were originally published by THQ, and the company held the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade rights when it filed for bankruptcy in December 2012. (Double Fine retained ownership of the intellectual property for both titles.) Double Fine was "optimistic" about getting the rights back and attempted to do so, but Nordic Games took control of them as part of a $4.9 million acquisition during THQ's second bankruptcy auction this past April.

"I am pleased that we have regained full control over Costume Quest and Stacking, following a daring and top-secret midnight raid on the Nordic Games headquarters in Vienna," said Tim Schafer, Double Fine president and CEO, in a press release today. Schafer told Polygon this past May that he wanted to reacquire the games' distribution rights because he had an "emotional attachment" to them, and because the studio has a mission to "own everything that we make."

"We support the right of independent developers to control their own distribution, and we were pleased to have the opportunity to work with Double Fine," said Klemens Kreuzer, managing director at Nordic Games.

Double Fine and Nordic Games are also working together to bring Costume Quest and Stacking, as well as the cult classic Psychonauts, to retail on Windows PC and Mac in North America and Europe. All three games are scheduled to be released during the first half of 2014. Psychonauts was originally released in 2005 on PlayStation 2, Windows PC and Xbox.

"We can't wait to partner with Double Fine for this upcoming retail launch of three of its most excellent games," said Lars Wingefors, owner and CEO of Nordic Games. "However, I feel compelled to point out that we were happy to transfer distribution rights for Costume Quest and Stacking back to Double Fine in an entirely non-secretive and heist-free manner." Terms of the deal between the two companies were not disclosed.