GEAK unveils Eye and Mars smartphones with 13MP cameras, budget prices

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/17/geak-unveils-eye-and-mars/

GEAK may be focusing its attention on wearable tech like the Ring and Watch, but it still has a pair of new offerings for those who like old-fashioned smartphones: meet the 5-inch Eye and 5.8-inch Mars. Both are tailored to photo junkies with 13MP, backside-illuminated rear cameras as well as strong front cameras that shoot at 8MP (Eye) and 2MP (Mars). Differences between the handsets revolve mostly around performance and screen size. The Eye keeps things modest with a 720p IPS display, a quad-core MediaTek MT6589, HSPA+ data, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Spring for the extra-large Mars and you'll upgrade to a 1080p IPS LCD, a Snapdragon 600 and 2GB of RAM. Either way, you won't be paying a lot for the imaging prowess -- when pre-orders start on June 25th, GEAK will ask ¥1,999 ($326) off-contract for the Eye and ¥2,999 ($490) for the Mars. Just don't expect either to leave China when there's no word of international plans.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: Engadget Chinese (translated)

Source: GEAK (1), (2)

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Raspbmc's June build brings a slew of tweaks: cloud backups and more coming in July

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/18/raspbmcs-june-build-brings-a-slew-of-tweaks-cloud-backups-and/

The Raspberry Pi-focused XBMC port Raspbmc's June changelog is a lengthy one. Among the changes are new settings, new skins, support for the Stealth Nighthawk F117A device and changes to make booting up faster, among many other things. Getting this month's update should only require rebooting one's Raspberry Pi, and a few new mirrors that have joined the network should make downloading the updated software even faster. That's not all however, because the July update is promising Linux kernel updates, Raspbmc "Cloud" features with automatic settings backup / restore across multiple devices and an unspecified "special announcement."

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Raspbmc

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Raytheon's updated JTACs situational awareness system eyes-on (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/17/raytheons-updated-jtacs-situational-awareness-system-eyes-on/

Though you may think drones do all the fighting these days, actual soldiers on the ground are still used to call in airstrikes. Sometimes it's still necessary to visually confirm targets before the flyboys create a smoking crater. Though the army has toyed with smartphones and other means to connect soldiers, Raytheon has created a new JTACs (Joint Tactical Air Controller system) prototype for ground forces to let them separate friendlies from enemies and relay the information to strike forces. The system consists of a chest-worn computer, heads-up monocle viewer and wrist-worn display, which together let the solider select a target merely by looking at it and pressing a button. They can also tag friendly forces the same way or send update situational data to the rest of the team, whether they're on the ground or flying a fighter overhead. That assistance from the ground will make it easier for those at the yoke to differentiate between friendlies and targets.

We tried the prototype ourselves in a limited, 2D environment here at the 2013 Paris Air Show and, without any help getting set up, were able to tag targets as red diamonds and friendly forces as amber squares. Everything we did was also displayed on second screen, simulating the ability to send live updates to other soldiers or the base. Impressive as it was, the whole thing is merely a prototype for now, though, that could eventually change. The military AR system is part of a larger platform called AWARE, which Raytheon hopes to eventually deploy. For a detailed explanation about how it works, check out the video after the break.

Filed under: Wearables

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GEAK Ring puts NFC on your finger, unlocks phones and shares your contact card

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/17/geak-ring-nfc-finger/

Some say NFC is dead, but GEAK from Shanghai wants to prove them wrong. Announced alongside the GEAK Watch earlier today was this GEAK Ring, a tiny NFC-enabled wearable device that stores your identity. The ring's pitched as an intuitive way to unlock your phone -- just hold it with the hand that's wearing the ring, and it'll unlock without having to type in the password; plus it'll stay awake as long as it's held in the same hand. Another feature is that since the ring has your contact details stored (presumably rewritable), you can also use it to share your contact card with other NFC-enabled devices. But of course, given the risk of NFC cloning, you should treat GEAK's solution as a convenience rather than a more secure method.

At launch, this ring will only be compatible with the GEAK Eye and GEAK Mars quad-core phones that were also announced today, but it'll support other devices from the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi and Oppo starting in November. GEAK will be taking pre-orders from August 8th, and it'll cost Chinese buyers ¥199 or about $30 each. It'll sure go nicely alongside that Google ring.

Filed under: Wearables, Mobile

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Via: Engadget Chinese

Source: GEAK (Chinese)

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What A Map Of Kickstarter Usage Tells Us About America

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/map-of-the-day-what-kickstarter-tells-us-about-invention-in-the-united-states-2013-6

There's an outstanding new paper out on NBER today by Ajay Agrawal, Christian Catalini and Avi Goldfarb that looks at the simple economics of crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, where people post project ideas that they hope to get funded from the masses.. 

While the whole paper is absolutely worth a read, one map at the end gave us a fascinating look at who is getting all that Kickstarter money and for what. 

Check it out:

 

Some of the more interesting findings:

• California and New York dominate when it comes to funding, especially in both the arts and technology. Minnesota is also a hub of tech funding, and Texas has kickstarted games. 
• Massachusetts is evidently a hub of fashion
• Tennessee has a lot of musicians looking for startup funding. 
• People are really into the food from North Carolina.

See the whole paper here >

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