Nintendo Wii U 8GB Basic set recall confirmed by GameStop

Reports of a potential recall for Nintendo's 8GB Wii U Basic starting cropping up yesterday morning, with sources indicating GameStop would no longer be selling the unit come mid-month. Now, CNET has just confirmed with the retailer that this is indeed taking place. On June 18th, all GameStop locations are expected to begin returns of any unsold Wii U Basic inventory. We've reached out to Nintendo for comment on the matter, but have yet to hear back. We'll update this should more official details come to light.

WiSee uses WiFi signals to detect gestures from anywhere in your house (video)

Have you always dreamed of controlling your TV by flailing in the next room? Researchers at the University of Washington have just the system for you: WiSee, a gesture-recognition interface that uses WiFi to control things like sound systems and temperature settings. Since WiFi signals are capable of passing through walls, WiSee can detect gestures made from neighboring rooms, breaking free from the line-of-sight method relied on by devices like Kinect and Leap Motion. Unlike those two, WiSee doesn't require an additional sensor; the software can theoretically be used with any WiFi-connected device and a router with multiple antennae to detect Doppler shifts created by movement. The prototype was tested in both an office environment and a two-bedroom apartment, and the team reported a 94% accuracy with a set of nine distinct gestures. If you watch the video, embedded after the break, you'll notice that each user performs an identifying motion prior to the control gesture. It's a trick the team picked up from studying Kinect's solution for distinguishing between specific individuals in crowded rooms. Intrigued? Head over to the source link to read the report in full.

Yahoo gives search a redesign, unveils Google-esque nav bar

Yahoo has been a busy little bee recently, updating its various properties andsnatching up new ones. Now its giving its Bing-powered search page a facelift. The redesign is actually quite subtle. The color scheme remains the same and there's still a sidebar, though, the various search tabs have all been pushed to the left rail. The look is flatter, boxier and more modern with quite a bit of empty space. In fact, the padding on the right side has been expanded, leaving much of the screen strangely bare. In addition to the updated aesthetics, the company has introduced a new navigation bar that sits glued to the top providing shortcuts to the homepage, your mailbox, Flickr and other Yahoo-owned properties. The nav bar will also be rolling out to these other services soon, providing a Google-esque way to quickly hop around. Now Yahoo just needs to figure out how to serve up actually useful results. When our search for sushi on Staten Island turned up only one restaurant actually in the borough and a query for "old fashioned recipe" spit out a pile of pancake plans, we knew that there was still quite a lot of work to be done.

Odin Mobile set to launch as first US mobile carrier for the visually impaired Mobile

Sure, cellphones for those who have issues with sight aren't new, but Odin Mobile is aiming to be the very first US mobile carrier specifically tailored to improve accessibility for the visually impaired. When it launches in late July, the T-MobileMVNO will offer Qualcomm's Ray low vision-friendly smartphone for $300 -- which is slated to arrive at Amazon on June 6th -- and more affordable handsets from Emporia. Odin Mobile also plans to send user guides in Word format and HTML via email, and promises that its customer support team will know the ins and outs of the accessibility features in its phones. As if that weren't enough, the firm vows to donate two percent of its revenue from voice and text services to organizations that help the visually impaired. Head past the break for the press release or hit the source link to peruse the company's devices and plans.