Lego Mindstorms EV3 kit gets an education, school-friendly platform to ship August 2013

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/24/lego-mindstorms-ev3-kit-gets-an-education-school-friendly-platf/

Lego's new Mindstorms EV3 kit isn't all just gun-firing robots and killer scorpions. Unfortunately, there's also some learning to be done, with the new Mindstorm EV3 kit ready to land in schools this August. Lego reckons the kit touches on several curriculum areas like computer science, math, engineering mixed with (we hope) a little fun -- c'mon, it's class-time Lego!

We got to have a brief play with it back at CES, and as far as Lego goes, it appears to have more than enough additions to keep young minds ticking over, including Linux firmware that connects to Android and iOS apps, infrared and its very own 3D construction guide from Autodesk. The core kit includes the EV3 brick nerve center, a rechargeable battery, sensors, motors, a pile of bricks, a new ball wheel and (thankfully) instructions. Added to that, the teaching set includes a "customizable curriculum", digital workbook and 48 step-by-step tutorials to get the lil' tykes started.

Filed under: Robots

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Nintendo has another tough year, sells just 390,000 Wii Us in the last quarter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/24/nintendo-announces-another-testing-quarter-tktkt/

While there's no shortage of 3DS iterations headed to the market, Nintendo is having a harder time selling its new Wii U. Profits for the year are also half of its own predictions, despite the fact that Nintendo reduced its rosy estimates in the interim. Net sales are down 1.9 percent over the last year, down to 635 billion yen, but most importantly the company has managed to turn its net income into positive figures, netting 7 billion yen over the last year, compared to a 40 billion yen loss the year before. Following its initial launch, Wii U sales have slowed substantially, with only 390,000 units sold since December (now totaling 3.45 million), while the 3DS continues to sell in healthier numbers, with Nintendo shifting 1.25 million handhelds in the same period.

Focusing on the next year, the company maintains that it'll increase net! income to 10 billion yen in the next twelve months, with a focus on selling "the compelling nature" of its gaming hardware, as well as pushing its 3DS more in foreign markets. The financial statement adds that the games maker plans to concentrate on "proactively releasing key Nintendo titles" starting the second half of this year "in order to regain momentum." Those key titles will have to hit hard, as certain competitors' new consoles are creeping closer.

Filed under: Gaming, Nintendo

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Panasonic launches $500 Lumix DMC-LF1 enthusiast compact with WiFi, NFC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/24/panasonic-DMC-LF1-enthusiast-compact/

Panasonic's just unveiled the 12-megapixel Lumix DMC-LF1 compact for fans of high-end compacts like Canon's S110 who may not want to snap with a smartphone camera. But the social set will still be able to share images to their handset or tablet thanks to the LF1's built-in WiFi with NFC pairing and included app. Meanwhile, most cellphones definitely can't compete with the 1/1.7-inch, 12-megapixel CMOS sensor and 28-200mm equivalent f2.0-5.9 Leica zoom lens. Other specs include 1,920/60i video with AVCHD and MP4 recording, POWER OIS, a 200K EVF, a variety of shooting modes like panorama, and full manual control. There's no set arrival date, but it'll run a hefty $500 or so -- perhaps a hard sell against certain photo-clever handsets.

Filed under: Cameras

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Artist âNanofacturesâ Paintings Using a 3D Printer and Molecular Modelling Software

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5995293/artist-nanofactures-paintings-using-a-3d-printer-and-molecular-modelling-software

What does art look like in the age of "hacked matter," when anyone can print anything on-demand? That's the question Shane Hope, a California-based visual artist, is trying to answer. In "Nano-Nonobjective-Oriented Ontographs and Qubit-Built Quilts," his new show at Chelsea's Winkleman Gallery, Hope is showing a collection of amazingly intricate paintings, each containing thousands of individual 3D-printed models.

Hope's chosen medium is "nanofacture," a neologism that describes design at a molecular level. He builds his paintings using a cobbled-together toolkit of hard and softwares, starting with a molecular modeling software called PyMol and ending with a RepRap 3D printer. RepRap, if you'll recall, is an opensource DIY system that can print its own parts, meaning you can make more printers as long as you've got one. Hope has a slew of the things printing parts, like an army of mechanical studio assistants ready to do his bidding.

"Accelerating progress in nanometer-scale science and technology continues to expand the toolkit with which we can eventually assemble things from the atom up," Hope explains in an artist's statement. "This will potentially give rise to nearly costless systems for controlling the structure of matter itself." That's pretty far down the conceptual rabbit hole, but the paintings stand on their own. Each piece is an intricate universe of microscopic forms and generative patterns, woven into the canvas bit by bit. It's hard to describe the level of density and detail—in fact, Hope can't even talk about them without using a 210-word run-on sentence (read it here, but gird your loins).

So how does he know when to stop printing? In an interview with the Institute for Emerging Ethics and Technologies, he revealed his secret: "My pieces are finished when even I myself almost can't look away."

[Check out "Nano-Nonobjective-Oriented Ontographs and Qubit-Built Quilts" at Winkelman Gallery until May 4]

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CHART OF THE DAY: The Growth Of The iPhone Business Comes Crashing Down (AAPL)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-iphone-quarterly-growth-2013-4

There's no way around it: The iPhone business as currently constructed is slowing down significantly. In the March quarter, unit growth was just 7%, down from quarters in years past where it was up triple digits.

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