Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Vuzix brings offline Nuance voice control to its smart glasses

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/24/vuzix-brings-offline-nuance-voice-control-to-its-smart-glasses/

If the only news you're waiting to hear from Vuzix is the smart sunglasses the company announced in January, well, this story isn't for you. But if you have one of the company's M100 smart glasses, then read on, because Vuzix has just released a big software update (version 2.0) with significant changes to the Android-based platform. Most significant, perhaps, is OS 2.0's offline Nuance integration for voice control -- and yes, that means it doesn't need the internet, at all, to work. The upgraded platform also promises longer battery life and faster performance, comes with redesigned user interface and desktop launcher, and supports Bluetooth Low Energy for music streaming and phone calls. As a nice plus, you can now download future updates over the air, while devs get a new SDK. All M100s from here on out will come preloaded with OS 2.0, but if you already dropped a grand to get one long ago, you can download the updated software from the Vuzix website.

Filed under: Wearables, Mobile

Source: Vuzix

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

The Evacuator Makes Jumping Out a Window a Sane Way to Escape a Fire

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-evacuator-makes-jumping-out-a-window-a-sane-way-to-1638163153

The Evacuator Makes Jumping Out a Window a Sane Way to Escape a Fire

If a fire starts on a high floor in a skyscraper, there's a good chance it could cut off the means of escape for everybody on the floors above. But a Dutch company wants to solve this problem with technology that's not dissimilar to what stuntmen use to stay safe.

This Flapping Device Makes Electricity From Wind Rushing Past Your Car

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-flapping-device-makes-electricity-from-wind-rushin-1638351487

This Flapping Device Makes Electricity From Wind Rushing Past Your Car

As far as car accessories go, we have to admit this one looks pretty silly. But the Samsung scientists who made it could also be onto something. The flapping tongues inside are actually coated with gold, and when they rub up against a smooth plate, electricity is created through something called the triboelectric effect. It could be a whole new way to harness wind energy.

ARM's new processor should add oomph to smart appliances and drones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/23/arm-cortex-m7/

Microhip. Digitally Generated Image isolated on white background

If you have any smart device -- be it a phone, tablet, router, wearable or otherwise -- there's a good chance ARM's Cortex lineup is responsible for the brains behind the scenes. The company just announced the latest processor in its M-series, which is a set of low-power processors capable of handling embedded devices like smart home appliances, drones, automotive and wearables, which is focused on making said devices even more powerful. The M7, as it's called, comes with a 400MHz processor, packing more than twice the punch as the 168MHz M4 that came before it (and will continue to be available to manufacturers). It comes with support for more displays, motors, voice controls, connectivity, audio performance and improved GPS accuracy. In other words, the infamous Internet of Things should become even stronger and more powerful. ARM says that manufacturers are already building devices with the chip embedded, so it won't be long before we get to see if the extra power actually makes a difference in our everyday lives.

Filed under: Wearables, Wireless, Mobile

The Most Talked-About Food In Every State

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/popular-food-on-twitter-in-every-state-2014-9

durian fruit

Researchers at the University of Arizona have released a study that reveals America’s food preferences based on the most commonly used Twitter hashtags.

Spotted on FirstWeFeast, the researchers analyzed 3.5 million tweet with food hashtags that were taken from Twitter’s API between October 2013 and May 2014.

The original purpose of the study was to determine if what people hashtag and talk about on Twitter can convey information about their community and health, such as their likelihood of diabetes, their weight, and even their political preferences.

What they found was that our food preferences can actually reveal a lot about us. Diabetes sufferers, for example, were more likely to tweet about Mexican, fried food, or bacon. Food also delineated party lines, with Democrats tweeting about vegan food, brunch, and the deli counter, while Republicans were all about lunch, snacks, and #party.

The researchers created visual maps of the food patterns they found as well, such as which foods each state hashtagged the most on Twitter.

fav foods arizona university twitter results

Some of the findings were unsurprising, such as Texans loving brisket and Wisconsinites favoring sauerkraut. But other states had bizarre results, such as the spiky fruit durian being popular in Maine or Alaska loving to tweet about the herb tarragon.

It should be noted that these results don’t necessarily show the state’s favorite food, but the food that is most often hashtagged on Twitter. New York’s “prune” result for example was not about the fruit at all, but i! s instea d the name of a popular NYC restaurant.

fav foods by city arizona university twitter results The researchers also filtered out the highest-weighted hashtag results for some major US cities where, it seems, everyone loves to get drunk. Mixed drinks were one of the most popular hashtags across the board (especially if they were bottomless), as was #wine, #foodie, and #brunch.

fav meal arizona university twitter results Last but not least, researchers broke down the findings by region for the West, Midwest, South, and Northeast. The Midwest was most likely to tweet about breakfast and recipes, the Northeast loved its brunch, the South favored lunch as well as mixed drinks like bloody marys, and the West tweeted most about dinner and #foodporn.

You can read the paper online here or play with this interactive tool that allows you to create your own graphic visualizations.

SEE ALSO: The Best Food You Can Eat In Every State

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's Life on Facebook!

Join the conversation about this story »

$30 Million And Three Years Later, Mysterious Payments App Clinkle Finally Launches

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/clinkle-payments-app-is-live-2014-9

clinkle launches

At long last, the mysterious — and often controversial — payments app Clinkle is finally live.

And it looks like it's a way different app than what it was first positioned to be.

"Our goal is to completely modernize how payments work," the app's founder, Lucas Duplan, told Business Insider last year. "What we're trying to do is basically take your phone and have it for the first time be able to rival cash and credit cards. We've developed a way for consumers to download an app, no hardware needed, and achieve scale from a software point of view."

Instead, it now looks like it's a prepaid debit card program. And it looks like it's only available in "select colleges," according to its site.

Clinkle will send you a physical card, which you can load and reload with money.

Clinkle debit card

You can then earn what Clinkle calls "Treats." Treats can also be sent to friends. They can do things like refund a purchase you made, or even pay for a friend's purchase. But it's still a little unclear how these Treats work.

Clinkle can also be used to send money to friends, kind of like Venmo or PayPal.

Clinkle signup

And that's about it. There are no fees to load money onto the card or use treats, although there are some fees involved, which are explained in the cardholder agreement.

Clinkle Treats

This is a very different approach for the app, which was supposed to replace credit cards and cash. But it might not be a big surprise.

After Apple announced its mobile payments system, Apple Pay, Clinkle told Business Insider that it's no longer focusing on its original plans: "Last year, we made the decision to focus our product around consumer engagement, not the hardware layer of storing payment instruments, so we are excited that this will give customers yet another way to use their Clinkle card," Duplan told Business Insider in an email after the Apple event. "We look forward to working with Apple and others that will likely enter the space."

SEE ALSO: Uber's Biggest Rival Acquired A Startup That'll Help Make Rides Cheaper

Join the conversation about this story »

Soft octopus robots are equal parts speedy and graceful

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/23/octopus-robot/

Octopus robot in action

Soft robotics can go a long way toward recreating the graceful movements of fish and other animals, and it now looks like they're helpful for replicating some of the stranger creatures on our planet, too. A team of Greek researchers has developed an octopus robot that uses silicone tentacles and webbing to move as elegantly as the real thing -- it's convincing enough that small fish will follow along. It's also much faster than a previous attempts, which used stiff plastic to plow through the water. While the original robot moved along at four inches per second, its squishier successor moves along at a healthier seven inches. That's not nearly as quick as the real deal, which can reach 25MPH in bursts, but it's far more consistent with what you'd expect from a real critter this size.

However attention-getting this mechanical cephalopod may be, it isn't just for show. Scientists believe that a camera-equipped version could observe sea life without disrupting it, unlike conventional robots or humans. There's no timetable for when that would happen, but it won't be surprising if eight-armed automatons are eventually scouting underwater ecosystems everywhere.

Filed under: Robots, Science

Via: Science News, Gizmodo

Source: IEEE/RSJ

Vizio's affordable 4K TVs finally arrive

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/23/vizio-affordable-4k-tvs/

It feels like forever since Vizio introduced the world to its P-Series of Ultra HD televisions, but today is finally the day that the company is bringing them to market. For starters, what caught most everyone's attention back at CES was Vizio's asking price for these 4K TV sets, starting at $1,000 for the 50-inch model and going all the way up to $2,500 for 70 inches of high-resolution goodness. Aside from the low cost and UHD features, the P-Series also sport LED backlighting and Smart TV capabilities, making these a well-rounded package overall. Vizio's putting the P-Series up for grabs today on its website, while other US retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart are expected to carry them at a later point.

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD

Via: The Verge

Source: Vizio

Microsoft's new adapter beams video from your PC (or Android) to a TV

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/23/microsoft-wireless-display-adapter/

Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter beaming video from a Surface Pro 3

Want to wirelessly share video from your Surface without worrying about whether or not your TV can handle it? Microsoft now has you covered. Its simply titled (and previously hinted at) Wireless Display Adapter can beam content from Miracast-capable Windows 8.1 PCs and Android devices to any HDMI-equipped screen. Since you're just mirroring your output, you can easily watch movies and presentations on a grander scale without requiring explicit app support, like you do with Chromecast. The add-on should reach North America in October for $60 -- a fairly reasonable outlay if you want to avoid tethering yourself to the living room set.

Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter on a TV

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Peripherals, HD, Mobile, Microsoft

Source: Microsoft

Mobile Chrome apps get improved notifications and sign-ins

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/22/chrome-apps-for-mobile-upgrade/

Chrome Apps for Mobile

Google's Chrome Apps for Mobile project has been handy for developers who want to repackage their websites as native apps for your phone, but the resulting projects have been limited in what they can do -- it's pretty obvious that they're recycled. As of now, though, they'll behave much more like apps built from the ground up for your Android and iOS devices. A new version of the project lets you provide your identity to these apps by signing in, and they can send you rich notifications with content previews, much like what you're used to on Android. There's also much better support for messaging and other services that need to talk to servers. Developers will have to build these features into their software before you'll notice the difference, but don't be surprised if the lines between native and web apps suddenly get very blurry.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Google

Via: The Next Web

Source: Chromium Blog

Adobe buys Aviary to bring photo editing to more mobile apps

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/22/adobe-buys-aviary/

Image editing via Aviary

The world of image editing has changed a lot in the past few years -- you're now about as likely to tweak a photo on your phone or tablet as you are on your PC. Adobe is clearly aware of this shift, as it just bought Aviary and its cloud-savvy image editing platform for an unspecified amount. The two firms will work together on bringing Adobe's editing tools and Creative Cloud services to more mobile apps. That photography app you just downloaded on your phone could create Photoshop-friendly pictures, for example. There's no set timetable for integrating Aviary into Adobe's software platforms, but the quick turnaround from the Behance acquisition suggests that you'll see more powerful mobile editing suites within a matter of months.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Software, Mobile

Source: Adobe, Aviary

MakerBot's Bre Pettis opens a workshop for 3D printing innovation

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/22/bre-pettis-stratasys-bold-machines/

When MakerBot announced that Bre Pettis would be stepping down as CEO earlier this month, we knew he wasn't going far. Today, the 3D printing guru's new project was revealed. The Pettis-led Innovation Workshop at Stratasys is called Bold Machines, and it looks to push "the frontier of 3D printing technology." Leveraging Solidscape 3D printers and devices both of the aforementioned outfits, the studio will work alongside "innovators" to flex its muscle. So, what's on tap to start? A movie made entirely with 3D-printed characters. The film focuses on Margo, a detective whose parents have gone missing during a space exploring expedition, and a businessman's evil schemes. In fact, you can go ahead and print your own Margot figure now, and production files for other characters, including the sinister Mr. Walthersnap (pictured with Pettis above), will be made available for at-home printing in the future.

Filed under: Peripherals

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Bold Machines (1), (2), (3)

UPS now lets you use 3D printers in nearly 100 US stores

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/22/ups-3d-printer-expansion/

UPS Store 3D printing

UPS' experiment with in-store 3D printers apparently went off without a hitch -- the shipping service has expanded the availability of 3D printing services from six test markets to nearly 100 locations across the US. While the hardware is still concentrated in a relatively small batch of cities, such as New York and Chicago, there's now a much better chance that a shop near you has the gear for printing everything from prototypes to a one-of-a-kind phone cases. There's no word of any additional rollouts at this stage. However, it's reasonable to presume that more stores will get on-the-spot object making if it proves popular with crafters nationwide.

Filed under: Peripherals

Source: UPS (1), (2)

Monday, September 22, 2014

The Dallas Cowboys Are The Most Expensive NFL Team To Go See In Person

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/dallas-cowboys-nfl-team-fan-cost-2014-9

If a fan wants to go see the Dallas Cowboys in person this season it will cost them $166.70 on average according to the Adult Cost Index (ACI), once again the most expensive team in the NFL.

The ACI is calculated using data collected by Team Marketing Report from surveys of teams. Similar to Team Marketing's Fan Cost Index (FCI), which looks at the cost of attending a game for a family of four, the ACI is the cost for a single fan to purchase an average-priced ticket, one beer, one soft drink, one hot dog, and half the cost of parking at the stadium. The biggest difference between the FCI and ACI is that we have removed the extraneous costs (e.g. caps, programs) and assume the fan shares the cost of parking with one other person.

The average ACI in the NFL this season is $117.81, up 3.9% from last season ($113.42). Of the 32 teams in the NFL, 22 have an ACI of at least $100.00.

NFL Adult Cost Index

Join the conversation about this story »

Foolish Scientists Have Just Created Shape-Shifting Metal

Source: http://gizmodo.com/foolish-scientists-have-just-created-shape-shifting-met-1637571666

Foolish Scientists Have Just Created Shape-Shifting Metal

Most movies are works of fiction, but the plots are based on real-world ideas. Including, apparently, the nightmarish future put forth in Terminator 2. A team of researchers from North Carolina State University decided the world would be a better place with terrifying shape-shifting T-1000s, and so have developed a way to control and manipulate liquid metals. Maybe they didn't watch the whole movie?

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)