A new report indicates that the current malware infection rate for mobile devices is 0.68 percent, leading researchers to believe that at least 16 million devices were infected with malware at the …
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Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-mattel-new-virtual-reality-view-master-2015-2
Google and Mattel are teaming up to put a new spin on the classic "view master" toy, the two companies announced at an event Friday morning.
Starting in the fall, Mattel will sell a view master powered by Google Cardboard technology that will give kids a taste of virtual and augmented reality.
Buy Mattel's headset, pop in an Android phone with the view master app (or any other Google Cardboard app currently in the Google Play Store) downloaded, and you'll be able to explore simulated 3-D worlds.
Mattel will also sell "experience reels" that will offer other exclusive augmented reality content that you can't get on the apps. For example, Mattel will sell a San Francisco-themed reel that will use augmented reality to let kids explore different tourist destinations.
"We're using Google Cardboard platform to reimagine the view master like kids have never seen before, using the power of virtual reality, augmented reality, and photo-spheric images," Mattel SVP Doug Wadleigh says.
The device will launch this fall and will cost around $30. It will be able to accommodate Android phones of all sizes (with other operating systems likely following).
"Our goal is to make virtual reality accessible for everyone," Google's Mike Jazayeri says. "The more people — like Mattel — making viewers, the better for everyone."
Although Mattel's view master device wasn't ready for us to test, we got to try out its experience reels in the Google Cardboard headset! .
In many ways, it really was similar to a classic view master experience. As you looked around the 3-D world, you could press a button on the side to switch scenes. We got to try out Mattel's space-themed reed, San Francisco reel, and dinosaur reel, the three the company has developed so far.
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NOW WATCH: 14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do
Memex is a different kind of search engine. The open source software indexes Web content Google isn't designed to catch and presents search results graphically to reveal hidden connections among them. It was built by Darpa, the U.S. military's research arm, and runs in a Web browser. It's being u...
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/02/12/a-search-engine-that-finds-online-criminals/
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Hundreds of Miami police officers aren't happy with Waze's police-finding feature, and they're not content with asking Google to remove it. According to NBC Miami, a number of cops in the city are taking matters into their own hands, downloading the app and inundating it with fake police sightings. We're sure a lot of people love the app for that particular feature, as they can use it to make sure they're driving well below the speed limit in the presence of law enforcement. Some American officers told AP last month, though, that the app could pose a threat, as wanne-be cop killers can easily use it to find a target.
Sgt. Javier Ortiz (president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police) for one believes that it "puts [them] at risk, puts the public at risk, because it's going to cause more deadly force encounters between law enforcement and suspects." But not every law enforcement officer out there shares Ortiz's opinion, such as Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel: "If someone is suffering mental illness and they want to commit a heinous crime or hunt a deputy or a police officer; they don't need Waze to do that," he told the news outfit. Despite getting flak from authorities, Waze's developers stand by the feature, telling NBC Miami that police partners support it, because people tend to drive more carefully when they know cops are around.
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/13/olympus-air-lens-camera-prototype-accessories/
Filed under: Cameras
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/12/dell-chromebook-11-gxtx2a/
After winning a Best of CES Award last month and then releasing what appears to be everyone's favorite new laptop, Dell is already back in the news: The company today announced not one, but four new products. And they run the gamut too, including a Chromebook, a Windows laptop and a tablet that runs either Android or Win 8. While this might seem like a random assortment, they all have this in common: They're aimed at classrooms, and were designed to take a beating from careless children.
Starting with the new Chromebook 11, it takes the place of last year's model, with a more durable design that includes a 180-degree hinge that can stay intact even if students decide to dangle the laptop by its screen. (They do that sometimes.) Dell also sealed both the keyboard and trackpad, making them immune to the occasional chemistry-class spill. As for the 11.6-inch, 1,366 x 768 display, school districts can configure it with either a touchscreen or an anti-glare panel but either way, it's covered in Gorilla Glass to ward off scratches. On the inside, the Chromebook runs a new Intel Celeron CPU, along with a 10-hour battery and a faster 802.11ac WiFi radio. Nothing revolutionary there; just a spec bump.
If anything, it's the lid that's most interesting. Dell installed a so-called Interactivity Light that glows red, blue or yellow depending on the context. For instance, a student could use an onscreen dashboard to have the light shine red when they have a question, or blue when they want to raise their hand. (Maybe yellow if they want to join in a conversation.) As it happens, Dell already has a kids' laptop with an LED indicator that shows if kids are online, but Dell imagines even more use cases here. Perhaps teachers could split the class into smaller discussion groups by automatically assigning each student a color, or maybe students could use their colors to silently cast votes -- "Which Presidential candidate would you vote for?" and what have you. Surely developers will have some ideas there too.
Lastly, Dell unveiled two 10-inch tablets for classrooms: the Venue 10, which runs Android Lollipop, and the Venue 10 Pro, which uses Windows 8. Both have a plastic shell, available in blue or black, with a reversible keyboard dock that allows you to put the screen in facing away from you. (Think: Something similar to "Stand" mode in Lenovo's Yoga line.) The screen can also be configured with up to full HD resolution, and comes standard with a pressure-sensitive Wacom pen digitizer. That said, you'll need to pay extra for the stylus, which means the tablets are more "pen-ready" than anything else. Finishing our tour, both models have a microSD reader, SIM tray for optional LTE, lock slot, full-sized and micro-USB ports and a network activity light to show teachers when kids are doing something online. Both pack a quad-core Intel Atom processor and are rated for 10 hours of runtime. The only difference: The Android version has NFC to support Google's "Bump" feature.
The Chromebook is on sale today, starting at $249. There will also be a Windows 7/8 version (the Latitude 3160) available in March, which features the same design, except it has an Ethernet jack and is missing an Interactivity Light. That'll be slightly more expensive, at $299-plus. The tablets meanwhile, will go for $299 $330 regardless of which OS you pick. If you want a keyboard in the box, the price goes up to $349 $380. Look for those in March as well: the 3rd for the Venue 10 Pro, and the end of the month for the Android-based Venue 10.
Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Google, Dell
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/12/amazon-fire-tv-sling-tv/
Dish's Sling TV streaming service is expanding quickly: Now it's available on Amazon's Fire TV gadgets, in addition to Roku devices, iOS, and Android. On top of that, Amazon is offering a pretty sweet deal. You can get its $39 Fire TV stick for free when you sign up for three months of Sling's service (which'll cost you $60), or opt for $50 off the Fire TV set-top box. Now that Sling TV is open to everyone, Amazon's deals will likely be tempting to many buyers. And really, having an extra streaming stick on-hand is always useful -- especially if you've got multiple TVs around the house. We had mostly positive things to say about Sling TV in our preview, and it's also adding new channels over the next few weeks, including AMC's portfolio.
Source: Amazon
The SPDY protocol was introduced by Google in 2009, aiming to make web browsing much faster and more secure than sites running hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). HTTP has been the standard networking protocol that powers the web since it came to be, though it used to be much slower and less secu...
http://www.androidauthority.com/google-discards-apdy-as-http2-becomes-standard-586633/
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Quantified-self enthusiasts – those who are somewhat obsessed with using technology to better understand themselves, their daily habits and personal trends – have been fortunate to have a wide variety of niche apps to choose from for measuring everything from athletic activity, to travel time, an...
http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/11/instants-new-android-app-lets-you-track-just-about-anything/
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Krakow-based RoboCore has just launched on Kickstarter and is looking for a mere $50,000 to help you build better robots. The device is essentially a brain for your robotic projects. It is compatible with LEGO MindStorms and allows you to control multiple servos and sensors. You can also stream a...
http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/11/robocore-is-a-core-for-your-robo/
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Matt Mullenweg's WordPress content management platform is one of the most influential pieces of software on the Internet, running more than 19 percent of websites (including VentureBeat). But before Automattic, the parent company of WordPress, was on the path to being a billion-dollar company, Mu...
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I'm not what you would consider a "gamer." I dabble in mobile titles like Monument Valley and occasionally play Super Smash Bros. or Mario Kart with friends, but few games manage to grab my attention for very long. Yet there's a new iPhone game I haven't been able to put down for the past two wee...
http://www.cultofmac.com/311929/king-thieves-addictive-new-game-makers-cut-rope/
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To build your dream home, you have to live through the nightmare of constructing flat-pack furniture. That is the sad truth now acknowledged by many. But for one group of American students, this was also the realisation that led to a video game that has generated a lot of buzz. Home Improvisation...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31133955
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Police are unlikely to ever have a Minority Report-like ability to get inside would-be criminals' heads, but they may already have the next-best thing. Developers like PredPol are offering "predictive policing" software that tells cops where and when crimes are likely to happen based on the location, the nature of the crime and the time of day. The software knows that there's a good chance that a burglary or gang slaying will lead to similar activity in a given area, or that you'll see drunken fights outside of a dive bar in the early morning. Theoretically, police just have to patrol these areas more often to stop crime before it starts.
There are some signs that the strategy may be working; as Forbes notes, early results in cities like Atlanta, Los Angeles and Santa Cruz saw both reduced crime rates and better prediction compared to conventional analysts. However, the jury's still out. Without more extensive studies, it's hard to know whether the drops are directly related to predictive software or can be chalked up to other factors, such as crooks moving to other areas. Also, the tools could tempt police departments into leaning too much on code instead of understanding neighborhoods and tackling deep-seated problems. If the software is both proven effective and used wisely, though, it could cut back on unnecessary tragedies and familiarize rookie cops with known trouble spots.Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/10/samsung-expands-its-search-for-the-next-big-thing/
It all sounds a little bit Google, in the good kind of way, and at least a more interesting approach than wave after wave of iterative smartphones, tablets... and wearables. The company is looking to make up for the severe dip in smartphone sales it's experienced recently -- another successful product line could pick up that slack, especially if it ties into its profitable component business. While this new innovation team will apparently have no direct links from the corporate beast that is Samsung Electronics, however it'll still be headed up by the company's head of mobile, JK Shin, so read into that what you will.
"The main purpose of the team isn't to develop single devices for any imminent results, but to develop solutions to go with Samsung's manufacturing capabilities," said another Samsung spokesperson, adding that the team would pull technicians, strategists and product managers in from the company.
Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Transportation, Wearables, Science, Samsung
Source: Korea Times
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