Archive for September, 2011
Disney’s Appmates Turn The iPad Into An Interactive Playmat
"By gently pressing the figure down on the screen, the corresponding app essentially turns the iPad into an interactive playmat. Since the iPad can differentiate between characters, players will hear different bits of narration and dialogue depending on the figure they’re using. The app itself takes a sandbox approach to the Cars world: players can engage in races with other characters, complete missions to pick up some virtual cash, or just tool around scenic Radiator Springs. It’s an incredibly cool concept, and one that you can believe Disney will milk in coming months. "
TechCrunch
Scientists Can Now Extract, Record and Return Information To the Brain
"A Tel Aviv University team lead by Professor Matti Mintz have developed a synthetic cerebellum that can receive sensory inputs from the brain, analyze them, and return information to other parts of the brain! The device is now working in rats, and has effectively restored lost brain functions caused by damaged tissue. However, the most important thing is that this proves that brain-to-machine communication can work in a bi-directional way, with a machine getting information from the brain, analyzing it and then talking back to the brain."
Gizmodo
Wearable electronics: NASA develops memory-storing e-textile material
"The total capacity of copper/platinum/copper oxide resistive memory is defined by the number of intersections, so in the image above, the piece of memory being held between two (rather luminous) fingers would store just 28 bits of data. In this case, though, the researchers used copper wire that is 1 millimeter thick — but there’s no reason that it couldn’t be scaled down to just a few nanometers… and in that case, the capacity of an e-garment could be measured in gigabytes or terabytes."
ExtremeTech
HOSPI-Rimo: Meet Panasonic’s Cute Assistance Robot
"Panasonic Japan announced [press release in English] the development of the so-called HOSPI-Rimo yesterday, a cute “Communication Assistance Robot” specifically designed for medical use. HOSPI-Rimo (Remote Intelligence and Mobility) is supposed to make it easier for bedridden patients to get in touch with doctors or family members living far away (“virtual visits”)."
TechCrunch
Dynamic traffic management with iPhone
"SignalGuru is designed to detect traffic lights and track their status as red, amber or green. It broadcasts this information to other phones in the area that are fitted with the same software, and—if there are enough of them—the phones thus each know the status of most of the lights around town. Using this information, SignalGuru is able to calculate the traffic-light schedule for the region and suggest the speed at which a driver should travel in order to avoid running into red lights.”"
Are we nearly there yet?
.@Nabit_App let’s you capture a moment as action sequence photo
"Nabit lets you catch the right moment and turn it into an action sequence photo like we’ve seen in skateboard/snowboard/BMX magazines."
CreativeApplications.Net
Chemistry of the future: 3D models and augmented reality
"Olson’s lab prints 3D models of molecular structures, both targets—like the HIV protease enzyme in the video—and the drugs they’ve made to bond to those targets. The models are rigged up so that when Olson holds them in front of a webcam, they instantly interact with chemical analysis software his team has built. The result is a system that allows researchers to see, physically, how well the drugs fit their targets, and simultaneously test how well the two are likely to bond on a chemical level."
Boing Boing
Wii-based platform could help stroke victims recover at home
"While standard Wii games tend to be too difficult for recovering stroke patients, the WeHab system incorporates a number of features that make it better suited for therapeutic use. Within the hospital, therapists can use the system’s Nintendo Wii balance boards and web cameras to lead patients through customized rehabilitation exercises and feed the results into an accompanying software program, according to a Fast Company report. There data are logged, analyzed and visualized on a large monitor so that patients can see their own progress and adjust their posture accordingly."
Springwise
Fashion app to recommend and locate trending items
"Users take photos of their favorite bags, shoes and accessories and post them to Snapette, along with comments and where they found them. Users can then search by brand, store, description and by what’s new, near or trending, as well as comment on photos, share tips and recommendations. Each user has a “virtual closet” on their profile page that displays photos of items they’ve posted, like and want, with the option share posts on Facebook and Tumblr. Snapette has also partnered with boutiques in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London, and provides an exclusive view of these stores’ product offerings, under the a separate section on the app titled “Collections”."
Springwise
Virtual monkeys write Shakespeare
"Mr Anderson’s virtual monkeys are small computer programs uploaded to Amazon servers. These coded apes regularly pump out random sequences of text. Each sequence is nine characters long and each is checked to see if that string of characters appears anywhere in the works of Shakespeare. If not, it is discarded. If it does match then progress has been made towards re-creating the works of the Bard. […] A running total of how well they are doing shows that the re-creation is 99.990% complete."
BBC News
NASA to demonstrate laser beam communications system
"The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) is designed to enable NASA, other governmental agencies and the commercial space industry to undertake future, complex missions by providing significantly higher data rates for approximately the same mass, power, and volume as a comparable RF system. NASA says laser-based space communications will enable missions to use bandwidth-hungry instruments, such as hyperspectral imagers, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and other instruments with high definition in spectral, spatial, or temporal modes. Laser communication will also make it possible to establish a "virtual presence" at a remote planet or other solar system body."
Gizmag
WiFi firmware that can detect and route around interference from non-WiFi devices
"In Airshark: Detecting Non-WiFi RF Devices using Commodity WiFi Hardware (PDF), researchers from U Wisconsin (Madison) document a firmware for WiFi access points that can detect and dynamically adjust to interference from vacuum cleaners, baby monitors, and other non-WiFi devices that operate in WiFi’s radio spectrum. This kind of thing is the backbone of the theory of cognitive radio: devices that can use software defined radio, phased-array antennas, and cleverness to route around other devices in the band, which may, eventually, enable the a lot more data to occupy the radio spectrum. In Airshark’s case, the cleverness is in using the wireless cards on the computers and other devices as a sensing array to triangulate on interference."
Boing Boing
An actual working mind probe
"They watched two separate sets of Hollywood movie trailers, while fMRI was used to measure blood flow through the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes visual information. On the computer, the brain was divided into small, three-dimensional cubes known as volumetric pixels, or "voxels." "We built a model for each voxel that describes how shape and motion information in the movie is mapped into brain activity," Nishimoto said. The brain activity recorded while subjects viewed the first set of clips was fed into a computer program that learned, second by second, to associate visual patterns in the movie with the corresponding brain activity."
Kottke
News From The Future: Location Based Jewelry
"Just enter the name of your desired location and select the exact section. Within the blink of an eye the place’s distinctive landscape turns into a 3d-preview of the precious custom silver pendant. We cast the personalized jewelry with fascinating detail in 925 silver for you. You can compare the finished silver pendant with the real landscape we send you as a printed satellite image of the selected location."
MAKE
Scramble Suit / Face Tracking + Substitution
"It all kicked off about 2 months ago when Kyle McDonald posted ‘FaceOSC’, a tool for prototyping face-based interaction. The oF wrapper Kyle created is built on non-commercial open source FaceTracker code from Jason Saragih. Kyle included an example oF app with the ofxFaceTracker addon for openFrameworks which can be downloaded here. Then few days ago, Arturo Castro carried on the work by exploring different face substitution techniques. Using the same library, mesh obtained from a photo is matched to his own face in the video. Applying some color interpolation algorithms from Kevin Atkinson’s image clone code: methodart.blogspot.com/ gives it the blending effect that can be seen in the final footage."
CreativeApplications.Net
Objective Pain-Measuring Machine Means You’ll Have to Stop Faking Injuries
"Now researchers at Stanford have come up with a new method that takes scans of patients’ brains to determine whether they’re in pain, and to what degree. It’s still early in the development stages, but in the initial study, the machine was correct 81% of the time determining whether a heat stimulus was warm or painfully hot. That’ll have to get better, obviously, but it’s a start. And the real upshot, beyond maybe getting rid of those annoying questions, will be to see if patients who can’t communicate with doctors are in pain. The downside? It’ll be a heck of a lot harder to haggle about pain prescriptions every time you go in for a bump or bruise."
Gizmodo
New efficiency record advances spray-on solar cells
"In order to make the world’s most efficient colloidal quantum dot solar cell, researchers from the University of Toronto, King Abdullah University of Science & Technology and Pennsylvania State University developed a way to coat or passivate the quantum dots in inorganic ligands. This approach improves efficiency by reducing electron "traps" in the material and packing more quantum dots into the same amount of nanospace, while at the same time retaining the colloid characteristics of quantum dots bound together by organic molecules. […] The result is a colloidal quantum dot solar cell with a record efficiency of 6 percent. While current silicon solar cells run in the 14 percent efficiency ballpark, the 6 percent figure coupled with the inherent benefits of quantum dot cells (and the added bonus that inorganics can be manufactured at room temperature) makes this a significant development."
Gizmag
Ford turns test drives into online video games
"Unlike the conventional test drive which usually involves a quick lap around the block, Ford have set up an obstacle course to demonstrate the handling ability of the new Focus with drivers. What’s more, the test cars are equipped with telemetry technology, turning the data from the test drive in to a real-life computer game. Drivers score points by the way they navigate the course, accompanied by video-game sound effects. The experience is captured in personalized drive videos, 86 percent of which have been shared online, with an average of 18 views per video."
Springwise
Scientists Design A Novel Magnetic Cloaking Device
"Scientists from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona designed a magnetic cloak that’ll both shield an object from an outside magnetic field and prevent an internal one from leaking out. It’s an antimagnet and it’ll have various military and medical applications. […] Take, for example, a person with a pacemaker who needs an MRI. The magnetic field of the MRI would damage the pacemaker and potentially harm the patient. Likewise, the pacemaker’s metal would interfere with the MRI’s magnetic field and throw off the machine’s results. A magnetic cloak could potentially negate these effects and let patients with a pacemaker receive a successful MRI scan."
Gizmodo
Wireless system uses off the shelf components to monitor patients’ breathing
"Named "BreathTaking," the system consists of a network of off-the-shelf wireless transceivers (similar to those used in home computer networks), set up along the sides, top and bottom of the subject’s bed. Each of the transceivers – or nodes – transmits to and receives signals from all of the others, and they each take turns sending signals. As the subject’s chest and abdomen rise and fall with each breath, they impede the wireless signals that are being beamed across the bed. The data from the nodes is processed by a computer algorithm, that detects when too long of a gap has occurred between the signal interruptions. This would indicate that the subject had stopped breathing."
Gizmag
Hour-By-Hour Breakdown Of Media Consumption By Generation
"Though various insight can be extracted from the data presented, perhaps most notable, is that fact that gaming is still popular with Adult Millennials on down between 8pm-11pm and television between 8-11pm is still by far the most effective way for advertisers to reach each generation, but especially baby boomers. Nearly half of Adult Millennials are using Facebook between 9-5pm, and the consumption of books for both Adult and Teen Millennials is discernibly absent or paltry at nearly all times."
PSFK
Amazon Kindle Library Lending Program Launches Into Quiet Beta
"Thanks to the partnership, library patrons will be able to check out e-books from their local library on all Kindle models (Kindle 3, Kindle 2, Kindle 1 and Kindle DX) as well as through platform apps, including the Kindle Cloud Reader. Books are downloaded over Wi-Fi or USB, but 3G will not be supported. Amazon’s “Whispersync” technology will also preserve digital notes and bookmarks in case you later buy the book from Amazon or check it out a second time."
TechCrunch
Video: Mini Humanoid Nao Recharges Himself Autonomously
"Aldebaran has developed a charging station specifically for their flagship robot, the so-called NEST (NAO Energy Station), and plans to roll it out to existing Nao owners soon. After he’s done charging himself, Nao can unplug himself autonomously, too."
TechCrunch
Night Bright is an interactive installation of nocturnal discovery
"Night Bright is an interactive installation by Design I/O ( Emily Gobeille & Theo Watson) of nocturnal discovery where children use their bodies to light up the nighttime forest and discover the creatures that inhabit it. Children listed to sounds in the forest and play a nighttime game of hide and seek. Some creatures are curious and will investigate the light, while others are frightened and will hide in the shadows. Likewise, children can grow nocturnal plants and release fireflies from their flowers."
CreativeApplications.Net
Easy On – External Hard Drive by Diacre Nicolas
"A winner of the 2011 James Dyson Award, Easy On is a take-anywhere external hard drive that uses an ingenious hanging system to easily attach to the back of any computer. WiFi integration means the drive can be also be accessed without the use of bulky cables, making this the perfect drive to use when you’re on the run."
Yanko Design
Parkbud for iPhone: The Beautifulest Way to Remember Where You Parked
"Parkbud bills itself as a Car Locator and Parking app, which means it’ll help you remember where you parked your car. Just fire up the app and Parkbud will remember where your car is located through GPS with one click. It gives you a snazzy map with instructions on how to get back (and directions to other parking garages if you’re having trouble finding a spot). Parkbud also keeps track of your parking meter too (again, in a snazzy virtual parking meter)—it’ll show you how much time you have left on your meter and fire off an alarm once you get close to running out."
Gizmodo
Slow Tech
"Working with designer Afshin Mehin, Eccles’ eponymous design office created four concepts that "jam the communication channels." Starting with a friendly egg timer-styled device, Eccles explains the Social Timer is "the kind of thing your mum would use." Intentionally using iconic forms throughout the project to help illustrate the point, Eccles and Mehin envisioned the Social Timer as a tabletop object that would disable a particular type of communication for a shorter amount of time, such as a family dinner. The timers also have Facebook and Twitter symbols on the top like salt and pepper shakers, as a subtle reminder of their purpose."
Cool Hunting
City Scars – Safety Application by Joachim Falck-Hansen
"This concept by Joachim Falck-Hansen aims to bring focus to urban safety in the form of an application that acts as a digital channel where citizens can be informed and filter criminal events in areas that are relevant to their interest or geographic location. Through the City Scars app users can share “digital witness” information to local authorities and neighbors about crime and other issues. Overall a great application for bringing communities together!"
Yanko Design
I.T. Departments Lose Their Clout Over Phone Choices
"A survey published on Thursday by Forrester Research shed more light on the phenomenon by showing, for example, that 48 percent of information workers buy smartphones for work without considering what their I.T. department supports. “It’s great for information workers, who buy a device based on their individual working style,” said Matt Brown, a vice president and research director at Forrester Research. “It’s a big challenge for I.T. departments.” In many cases, employers reimburse employees for their phones as part of what are known as “Bring your own device” programs. In others, employees absorb the cost themselves."
NYTimes.com
SWYP: See What You Print
“Radically simple editing and printing: show people exactly what the printed page will look like, and make it as simple as possible to edit and format the print. Margins and scaling can be easily previewed and edited on the touch-screen before printing. Just like you would do with the real paper. Color results become predictable with a screen that is always calibrated to the printer. Unwanted print areas are easily spotted and can be removed by simply ‘swyping’ it off the screen.”
Artefact
Gamers Crack Code That Could Lead to New AIDS Treatments
Foldit was developed in 2008 as a means of discovering the structures of various proteins and amino acids—something computers can’t do very well—by turning it into a game. By inputting the experimental coordinates for the monkey virus enzyme, gamers – most of whom didn’t have a background in molecular biology – were able to accurately predict the structure of the protein, allowing scientists to pinpoint locations to stop the virus’ growth. The study, published in Nature Structure & Molecular Biology, details how incredible a step this is towards developing more effective therapies for HIV/AIDS patients. It’s also an important precedent that lays the groundwork for scientists and lay people to work together to solve new problems and save lives.
Gizmodo
Autonomous self-steering tractor could make farmers’ lives a lot easier
"To develop their tractor navigation system the team started by installing a linear propulsion system to press the tractor’s accelerator and steer. They then added a computer and various positional sensors, including a GPS system. Because traditional navigation systems aren’t good at dealing with multi-terrain conditions, different settings must be calibrated for each terrain type to enable the tractor to drive on both hard and wet terrain. The steering system the team developed analyzes the terrain conditions and estimates the expected wheel slippage. Taking into account the current terrain type and the model of the tractor, the system calculates the optimal speed and turning radius in real-time."
Gizmag
Memory City Will Turn Your Mountain of Flash Drives into a Byte-Sized Burg
"Memory City is like the Land of Toys in Pinocchio. It’s a place where thumb drives are free to exist as a critical mass of occasionally-accessed storage, and live a carefree existence. And on the plus side, they won’t turn into donkeys and corrupt your data. With your help, Memory City can grow to contain four USB drives, three USB caps, three SD cards, three mini-SD cards. Sadly though, a home is not a hub, and you’ll still have to plug them into your computer, one by one."
Gizmodo
Continuously Stream Videos On Just About Anything
"Show Me Non-Stop is an online video player that lets you play a continuous stream of videos based on your search term. You can be incredibly specific with the various key words that you type in, such as: ‘rabbits taking a bath,’ ‘people falling over stairs’ or ‘cute babies laughing.’ Show Me Non-Stop would then compile a queue of videos from YouTube and let you watch an endless stream according to your interest."
PSFK
Pipl Finds Your Long-Lost Friend, Co-worker, Ex, or Anyone Else You’re Looking to Cyber-Stalk
"People search engine Pipl scours the deep web to find as much personal information as possible on any person, then groups that information into a single identity you can scour for information. We’ve mentioned Pipl before, but it’s just updated with a new tool that organizes your results into identities, aiming to make the service more useful for common names. (Keep in mind, though, that you can also search by email, username, or phone number.)"
LlifeHacker
Backed By Top Notch Investors, Professional Search Engine Identified Aims To Rival LinkedIn
"Identified’s search engine, which was debuted earlier this morning, basically allows people to see how they appear when others look for them online, particularly in a professional context. The startup’s technology organizes and categorizes all professional information it can find on Facebook, and says it has thus far scored and indexed over 40 million professionals, 60,000 companies and 8,000 universities. Each Identified user is given a score, based on who and what they know according to their online profiles – a score they can improve by adding information and expanding their network. According to Facebook, less than 50 percent of user enter their professional information in their Facebook profiles, however."
TechCrunch
Researchers Develop Smartphone Brain Scanner
"Wearing the headset and opening an app designed by the researchers creates a simplified 3D reconstruction of the brain that lights up as brainwaves are detected. The smartphone provides a touch-based interface so the model can be rotated by swiping the screen. The app can also connect to a remote server for real-time brain state decoding."
PSFK
Origo – 3D Printer by Artur Tchoukanov & Joris Peels
"Consider this the “Easy-Bake Oven” of 3D printers. While it’s just a concept now, designers Artur Tchoukanov & Joris Peels see the Origo 3D printer as more of a take-home appliance that works with 3Dtin and is simple enough for children to use to bring their ideas to life!"
Yanko Design
‘Subconscious mode’ could boost smartphone run times by over 50 percent
"E-MiLi slows down the clock of a phone’s WiFi card by up to 1/16 its normal frequency in order to save power, but then kicks it back up to full speed when information is coming in. The phone uses the header of the incoming message to wake itself up from its "subconscious mode," so the clock is at full speed to receive the main message."
Gizmag
Why Yes, Ma’am, This Airbus A380 Was Printed On Demand By a Computer
"The printers use software that works out where the parts need to bear loads and places material just in those areas, halving the weight of the complete part without sacrificing strength. That saves energy, metal, and money. The complex, curving forms that result couldn’t be cast in a mold or carved out of a larger block even with the most advanced computer-controlled tools, but they can be printed in a succession of layers tens of micrometers thick."
Gizmodo
littleBits
"littleBits is a system of electronic parts for play and prototyping. Designed for children, artists, or anyone shy about soldering, littleBits make electronics easy, fun, fast and accessible. Ayah Bdeir talks about her simple and intriguing system of magnetically connected, expandable electronics."
MAKE
Clibe
"There are a myriad of creative applications for sharing videos, links and music, but few allow you to extend personal projects or ideas. Clibe—a digital sketchbook app that has just soft-launched—allows you to create on an iPad just as you would with paper and pen, and then share the book with friends or add it to Clibe’s public gallery space. Your entire notebook (which can also be kept completely private) lives in the cloud, so you are also able to access it from any computer. When someone shares a book with you all of their changes are reflected in your copy as well making it a living document."
Cool Hunting
‘Phantom Sensation’ Device Being Developed To Improve Sense Of Realism In Video Games
"The device uses a phantom sensation (an illusion which occurs when two points on your skin are stimulated at the same time, making it feel as if the space between them is being touched) to simulate the sensation of something going through your hand. A device such as this could be used to improve realism in a fighting game or first person shooter, to simulate the feeling of being stabbed or shot."
@PSFK
Scientists make first step towards bringing life to inorganic matter
"the ultimate goal of the project is to demonstrate that inorganic chemical compounds are capable of self-replicating and evolving, just like organic, biological carbon-based cells. Prof Cronin says the current theory of evolution is really a special theory of evolution because it only applies only to organic biology. He says that if he and his team are successful in creating life from inorganic matter, it could lead to a general theory of evolution."
Gizmag
RePro3D: Naked-Eye 3D Display Lets You “Touch” Virtual 3D Characters
"Here’s a 3D screen of a different kind: a research team at Japan’s Keio University has developed a display that allows users to “touch” virtual 3D characters. The way the so-called RePro3D works is that it combines a naked-eye, full-parallax 3D display with a tactile interface that lets users manipulate virtual objects in a 3D environment with their fingers."
TechCrunch
VideoSurf for iPhone and Android: Like Shazam for TV
"You know how Shazam can figure out what song is playing at the bar you’re at? VideoSurf can figure out the show that’s on TV. You just point the iPhone camera to the TV and then record it for a few seconds, And though it’s been done before and sorta unnecessary in today’s cable-riddled, DVR guide overkill world, it’s still pretty darn cool. Also, VideoSurf is more than a one trick pony, it also acts a recommendation service, connects your friends to the stuff you watch, lets you search and identifies trends on what’s hot right now."
Gizmodo
Intel Unveils Solar Laptop Chipset That Can be Powered by a Desk Lamp
"The processor giant just unveiled their Haswell CPU, a chipset that runs on nothing but direct solar power and uses 20 times less energy than equally powerful chipsets. In fact, this little bugger uses so little energy it has been displayed running off the light emitted from a regular lightbulb!"
Inhabitat
MIT’s Tiny Kinetic Generator Produces 100 Times More Power from Small Vibrations
"The labs at MIT are shaking things up – literally – as they just unveiled a tiny device that harvests energy from everyday, low-frequency vibrations. The breakthrough gizmo generates 100 times more power than other devices like it, and it can harvest electricity from a wide range of sources including footsteps, auto traffic, and even swaying bridges. Aimed primarily at supporting wireless sensor networks, the device could be used to create an ambient energy harvesting system right under our feet."
Inhabitat
UK service transfers shoeboxes of old photos to disc
"Knowing that pre-digital photos tend to be stored in shoeboxes and buried in cupboards, customers send in their photographs in just that — a shoebox. The pricing structure is based on whether customers send in a half or full shoebox, and assumes a full box contains approximately 1,000 photos — although Scandango aren’t concerned with exact numbers. The service uses state-of-the-art scanning technology to save photos to disc at 300dpi as part of the basic package, with a half full shoebox costing GBP 30 and a full box costing GBP 50. There is a 600dpi option available at a slightly higher cost, and the choice to save to a 4 GB USB Flash Drive for an additional GBP 12.50. Initial three months online storage comes free, and costs GBP 5 extra to store online permanently."
Springwise
Touch Vision Interface by @teehanlax
"Created by Teehan+Lax Labs, Touch Vision Interface is a combination of software and hardware to allow realtime manipulation of content on a remote device via touch interface on a mobile device. Instead of purely using mobile device screen as an input, the user views the remote content and applies the content simultaneously, better know but not necessarily a form of AR."
CreativeApplications.Net
Kleiner-Backed Erly Intelligently Captures All Of Your Social Experiences With Visual ‘Collections’
"Erly aims to capture all of your photos, status updates, news, videos and more around experiences with your friends. The startup, says Feng, will segment what he calls the ‘experience graph,’ into timeframes of the past, present and future. Feng says that for past experiences, you usually want to remember, retrieve, and share. For current experiences, you need to communicate and coordinate and record. And for future experiences, you want to discover and plan. All of Erly’s products will be built around these timeframes."
TechCrunch
Mediating Mediums – Architectural Augmented Reality by Greg Tran
"According to Greg, digital 3D is currently confused with the digital 2D representation of 3D material like that of Pixar animations or computer models. As he sees it, true digital 3D has potential to converge what is real and what is imagined, expressed here as a graphical user interface that exists not only within, but as architectural elements that provoke user interaction."
Yanko Design
A Prosthetic Limb That Lets Amputees Ride Bikes
"The Cadence concept also allows the rider to clip into the pedal, allowing for a more efficient ride. A split toe in the prothesis helps them see where to connect the foot to the clip. And the locking mechanism is made just for amputees, with a clip that’s freed with a backwards motion rather than a pivot of the leg, which is dangerous for amputees. But perhaps most attractive to cyclists is that the prosthetic’s form looks more like the high-tech equipment that they’re using. The sleek shapes and bright colors are more akin to a shiny racing bike or an aerodynamic helmet."
Co. Design
Bitcasa offering up unlimited cloud storage for $10 per month
"So how can a start-up afford to offer unlimited cloud storage out of the gate for just $10 per month? Dropbox charges that same rate for just 50GB, and they’ve been building out for a few years. The key is that a user’s data is never completely unique, or even mostly unique. Gauda explained at Disrupt that roughly 60% of individual user data is duplicated elsewhere. Those MP3s purchased from iTunes, photos, and even all those pirated movies are duplicated on many other users’ computers. Bitcasa uses a de-duplication algorithm along with compression technology to reduce the amount of storage space needed for each user. The upshot being that if two users have an identical file in Bitcasa, the service only keeps one copy and makes it available to both users."
ExtremeTech
Twitter Becomes Latest Tool For Hedge Fund Managers
"Traders have used an awareness of the population’s collective emotions to predict price movements for years. However, experts found that the instant nature of Twitter meant that those emotions could be gauged more accurately. Previously, it had been thought that a drop in the markets led to more negative feelings but it proved to be the other way around. Analysts at Derwent Capital Markets in Mayfair, central London, have launched a £25m fund that makes its investments by evaluating whether people are generally happy, sad, anxious or tired, because they believe it will predict whether the market will move up or down."
@PSFK
New Technology Reveals When You’re Lying Without You Even Knowing
"Scientists at Bradford and Aberystwyth Universities in the UK have unveiled a ‘real-time dynamic passive profiling’ system. The software is able to pickup and analyse subtle cues such as breathing and eye movement to accurately predict when a subject is lying. Unlike traditional polygraphs (better known as lie detectors), these passive profiling system don’t require the subject to be hooked up to any devices and can be used without the subject even knowing."
@PSFK
trayvu in-flight entertainment tray table tablet
"featuring an 8.9-inch touch screen and with current models running honeycomb, the device is viewable when the tray table is stowed in upright position, or can be flipped out and up when the table is lowered. applications on the system are tailored to flight needs, including not only entertainment sections for viewing TV, games, music, and movies, but also a ‘food and drink’ section that permits customers to order food and drinks directly from their seat. a built-in credit card reader enables clients
to ‘run a tab’ for these items or for in-cabin shopping."
DesignBoom
JiffPad Creates Personalized Medical Diagrams Via iPad
"Attempting to “reinvent healthcare communication,” Jiffpad is an app that lets doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other medical professionals communicate with patients via the iPad. Allowing users to select from already provided medical diagrams or upload pictures of their own, the app creates a “JiffTalk,” digitizing the communication between a doctor and a patient and creating a digital record of medical instruction that patients can then email home or share with their families. Consisting of mix-and-match visual components in categories like cataracts or angioplasty, the JiffPad is applicable across most medical practices. Because it is visual by nature, the app isn’t limited to one specific language"
TechCrunch
Joel Spolsky’s Trello Is A Simple Workflow And List Manager For Groups
"Trello centralizes around one “board”, where users in a group can create to-do lists, create and assign tasks to co-workers who can then update when a task is complete. For each project you can create a card, which includes communications, activity, attachments, updates and more. You can drag and drop members into these cards, and then drag cards into lists."
TechCrunch
Car Connectivity Consortium set to unveil its first MirrorLink products
"Previously known as Terminal Mode 1.0.1, MirrorLink is designed to allow automotive systems including digital displays, audio systems and steering wheel buttons to be directly linked with the driver or passenger’s mobile device. This connection could be wired or wireless, via existing technologies such as USB, Bluetooth, HFP and A2DP. The two-way connectivity would make it possible for the driver to use the car’s simplified, strategically-placed controls for smartphone-related tasks such as making phone calls, while also allowing users to download driving-related apps (such as navigation systems) onto their phones, then using them in their car.
Gizmag
List of If This Then That recipes
"ifttt.com is like Yahoo’s Pipes, but easier to use. Here’s a list of 728 useful "recipes" sorted by popularity."
Boing Boing
Everpix: All Your Photos, Automatically Organized And Accessible From Anywhere
"TechCrunch Disrupt finalist Everpix is a new service that automatically organizes and combines all your photo libraries into an elegant interface, whether they’re stored on the desktop or in the cloud. It supports traditional desktop software programs, like Adobe Lightroom, Aperture and iPhoto, for example, as well as online services like Facebook, Flickr, Picasa and Instagram. It will soon be able to automatically upload photos from all your mobile devices, too. And it even supports integration with Gmail. Everpix runs as a little utility on your computer (Mac-only for now), fetching the photos from online services and local galleries. You can configure which folders it should monitor, so it won’t import all the photos on your hard drive, and the online services you use. With the Gmail integration, Everpix discovers the photos sent you via email and organizes them along with the others. In a later release, IMAP support will be added to support other email programs."
TechCrunch
Openbucks: Buy Digital Goods Online With Subway Giftcards (And More)
"Openbucks, a startup that’s launching at the TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield, is looking to change this: they’re creating what they’re calling a ‘universal payment network’, that lets you use gift cards to buy goods and services online — in other words, you could use your Subway gift card to rent a movie, or buy some virtual goods. To do this, the company is partnering with brands — they have six to start, including Subway, CVS, Circle K, Sports Authority, Hess and CITGO. If you buy one of these gift cards and head online to a supported site, you can use the card to purchase digital goods. You can spend whatever value was stored on the card — there’s no exchange rate that depends on where you bought it. You enter the number on your gift card, hit submit, and you’ll get a receipt for the transaction, just like if you had used a credit card."
TechCrunch
Protocol.by Turns Your Email Signature into a Guide to How to Reach You
"you can add different contact methods, like Google Talk, AIM, voicemail, email, Twitter, SMS, and more. Drag and drop them into the order you’d ideally like someone to try and reach you, and then add your details for each service. Then copy the whole signature-complete with your custom Protocol.by link-into your email client. You’ll need to let people know that if they can’t get a hold of you, they should look at the Protocol.by link to find out how to reach you, and your email recipients have to be attentive enough to look and not just click reply for the service to work."
LifeHacker
Gimme Music: Quite Possibly the Easiest Way to Discover New Music
"When you fire up Gimme Music, the app will download a few random songs for you to listen to (I got 10 when I first opened the app). And then you can play those random songs straight from the app. There’s no rhyme or reason to what songs are delivered to your iPhone, it’s just music. I got a few tracks from Das Racist and Cover Girl and Peaking Lights and a bunch of bands, musicians and people I’ve never even heard of. But that’s the exciting thing! If you dig the song, keep it, go learn more about that artist, buy their album or whatever! If you don’t like it, delete it and forget about it, tomorrow will bring a new set of songs for you to listen to."
Gizmodo
Volvo’s Newest Concept Car Just Wants to Be Touched
"Dubbed the Concept You, this prototypical luxury sedan is packed to the gills with technology. The control center consists of a digital Driver Information Center (aka a dashboard), a Heads-Up Display that projects onto the front windshield, two large touch screens—one on the center console, the other between the rear seats, and two smaller screens on the aluminum and glass shifter paddles mounted on the steering wheel. The main screen, the one on the center console, activates just by looking at it. Granted it’s just a hidden infrared camera that registers the driver’s eye movement but that’s still pretty slick—though I’d find myself constantly trying to catch a glimpse of the screen before it turns on. And, rather than the unholy input puck of the BMW iDrive, the Concept You registers hand movements to turn on the system’s control mode. The front passenger can also use gesture activation but the menu options will differ from those offered to the driver."
Gizmodo
Crowdfunded windmill will generate energy for members’ own use
"A brainchild of the Dutch Energy Cooperative with support from the Doen Foundation, Windcentrale gives Dutch households a way to secure their own energy supply for years to come. Toward that end, it has divided up a single windmill’s output into units with an expected wind output of 500 kilowatt hours (kWh) each per year. Interested parties can purchase one or more of those units so as to supply their own household consumption, which averages about 3500 kWh. Power is delivered through the local utility, and during wind-free days it’s supplemented with the utility’s own, traditional supply. When members move, meanwhile, they can simply take their shares with them."
Springwise
This Cheap Air Drone Can Break Into Your Computer and Own It
"The SkyNET drone is a modified $300 Parrot quadcopter with a Linux computer, 3G card, a GPS unit and two Wi-Fi cards. This is how it works: Controlled by a botmaster using 3G, the drone or group of drones fly over any urban area looking for Wi-FI networks. As they find them, they automatically try to break in. Once they get inside the network, it searches for personal computers that can be compromised. Any computer that falls to the attack gets turned into a zombie without the user ever knowing it. After the infection process, the hackers can easily control the zombies remotely through the Wi-Fi drone-to-host connection."
Gizmodo
New Implant Can Monitor Tumors Continuously
"The roughly two-centimeter-long device, dubbed the IntelliTuM (Intelligent Implant for Tumor Monitoring), includes a self-calibrating sensor, data measurement and evaluation electronics, and a transmitter. All the components are contained within a biocompatible plastic housing. The device sensor detects the level of dissolved oxygen in the fluid near the tumor; a drop in that measure suggests the metabolic behavior of the tumor is changing, often in a more aggressive way. So far, researchers have tested the device in tissue grown in culture. The next step is to test it in live animals."
Technology Review
Computer-Generated Articles Are Gaining Traction
"“WISCONSIN appears to be in the driver’s seat en route to a win, as it leads 51-10 after the third quarter. Wisconsin added to its lead when Russell Wilson found Jacob Pedersen for an eight-yard touchdown to make the score 44-3 … . ” Those words began a news brief written within 60 seconds of the end of the third quarter of the Wisconsin-U.N.L.V. football game earlier this month. They may not seem like much — but they were written by a computer. "
NYTimes.com
Bo.lt Shares and Remixes Web Pages
"We’ve talked about URL shrinking, web page remixing using custom CSS, and social link sharing before, but free webapp Bo.lt offers all three services in one convenient package. Use it to make custom landing pages, creative wish lists, or just share and comment on nyan cat pics with your friends. Once you’ve added a URL, Bo.lt creates a copy of that page that you can edit, add comments that appear in the margins, and share on Facebook or Twitter with one-click. Your custom copy of the page remains as it is shared and commented on by your followers; you can even view page metrics and create custom landing pages; the original page is always one click away if someone down the line wants to go back to the source."
LifeHacker
LEDSSPORTS LED markings remove the clutter from multi-sport court surfaces
"Dutch company LEDSSPORTS looks set to solve one the major problems associated with the plethora of sports played on multi-purpose courts – LED court markings that can be turned on and off depending on the sport being played. Instead of the myriad lines on multisport surfaces which often confuse players, LEDSSPORT’s Pulastic ® LED Court illuminates just one set of markings at a time, while the others stay "invisible". The company also makes a range of other LED sports-related innovations, including a set of lights which function as a basketball shot clock."
Gizmag
HP Releases A Faux 3D Scanner For The Masses
"The $399 MFP prints, copies, and scans and has a special arm that swings up to scan 3D objects. For example, you could place a model on it and “scan” it (really “take a picture of it”) from different angles."
TechCrunch
MetaWatch Experiments
"MetaWatch is a line of hacker-friendly wristwatches that can be paired with smartphones to enable new kinds of lightweight interactions. In the same way that glancing at a wristwatch is faster and less disruptive than pulling out a pocket watch to check the time, you can imagine how glancing at a connected watch could be more convenient and sociable than pulling your phone out of a pocket or handbag to see cloud-based information."
The Incrementalist
Video: Vortex-Powered Wall-Climbing Robot Parachutes To Safety
"The huge variety of robots is a thing to marvel at. Just a few years ago, the best they could do was roll around or walk stiffly on poorly-hinged limbs. Now we have robots that gallop, slither, and fly like a bird. This mode of transportation is totally new to me, though. The Paraswift climbs up walls by generating a suction, then gets itself safely down by jumping off and deploying a little parachute. Why not, right?"
TechCrunch
Play video memo pad drags the fridge-magnet into the digital age
"the Play features a 2.4-inch color LCD screen and video camera housed in a talk bubble-shaped enclosure. Its magnetized back allows it to be easily stuck on the fridge to let people leave messages, make to-do lists or indirectly complain to someone who used the last of the milk. The device can store a total of three minutes of video – either in one long rambling message or broken up into multiple, shorter messages – and a flashing LED will let people know when there’s a message waiting to be viewed."
Gizmag
Starke Bikes Feature USB Ports To Charge Your Devices
"The bike maker Silverback‘s new Starke models feature a great addition for cyclists wanting to charge up their gadgets on the go. A USB port, which uses power generated from a dynamo front hub, sits on top of the head tube and can be used to charge things like mobile phones, MP3 players and GPS devices. The dynamo front hub is also used to power the bike’s lighting system"
PSFK
Chumby NeTV Networked In-line HDTV Interface
"Enter a website in an app on the phone and have it show up on your TV in a WebKit browser. Scroll the page on your phone and it will scroll along on your TV. Easily share photos from your gallery app directly to your big screen. Overlay smart TV content including Twitter, Facebook, sports scores, SMS, and email updates as it passes through the NeTV. These are just a few things you can do with the NeTV."
MAKE
Smule’s MadPad Turns Your Life Into A Video Soundboard
"MadPad lets you capture those fleeting sounds (that turn signal click-clack, that bus honk, a barking dog, a finger snap, or anything else) and arrange them into a video soundboard. Each sound (and its accompanying recorded video) is laid out at your fingertips, and tapping any of the soundboard’s squares fires off its paired event. A few dozen taps and a good bit of experimentation later, you’ve gone and turned those random sounds into something resembling a melody."
TechCrunch
On cigarette packages, QR codes reveal a nearby place to smoke
"Ronhill, a part of Adris Group’s TDR, worked with agency Bruketa&Žinic OM to create what it says is the world’s first interactive cigarette packaging. Specifically, included on the packaging for its Ronhill Unlimited line is a QR code. Smartphone users simply scan that code with their phone’s camera to get to a regional mobile website featuring a map showing not only the user’s current location but also places nearby where smoking is allowed. Users can also update the list of such places themselves"
Springwise
IBM and 3M to stack 100 silicon chips together using glue
"The end result, according to IBM, would be processors that are 1,000 times more powerful than those currently on the market — and a resounding shattering of Moore’s law. […] IBM and 3M hope that this adhesive will make chip stacking a simple matter of applying a blob of glue, slapping on a billion-transistor wafer, and then repeating the process 100 times. In reality, it will probably be more complex, but it will ultimately come down to how each of the chips are interconnected. In the video it looks like each chip would have a standard pin grid array on the bottom, and a ball grid array on the top… and everything would be simply connected in series."
ExtremeTech
Full-duplex technology could double wireless capacity with no new towers
"er this year, Stanford University researchers created a full-duplex radio that allowed wireless signals to be sent and received simultaneously, thereby doubling the speed of existing networks. Using the same approach, researchers at Rice University have now developed similar full-duplex technology that would effectively double the throughput on mobile networks without the addition of any extra towers."
Gizmag
The Lifespan of a Link
"Hilary Mason, Bit.ly’s lead scientist, found that links have different lifespans if they are posted on Facebook and Twitter or sent through e-mail or chat clients. After analyzing 1,000 popular links shared on bit.ly, Ms. Mason discovered that the average half life of a link on Twitter is 2.8 hours. On Facebook it’s 3.2 hours, and for e-mail and messenger services it’s 3.4 hours. This means a link gets an extra 24 minutes of life on Facebook compared to Twitter."
NYTimes.com
Grocery store coupons delivered in real-time via shopping cart tablets
"Shoppers begin by downloading the Smart Cart application to their smartphones. Next, they can search for product information and store coupons and draw up a shopping list. Then, once they’re at a participating retail store, the customer’s smartphone is automatically synchronized with a tablet PC installed in the shopping cart. After that, as they move about the store, shoppers receive a variety of product information and coupons relevant to their specific location in the aisles. The system’s indoor positioning technology uses both UWB and Zigbee to offer location information that’s accurate within one meter, SK Telecom says, and delivered to the shopping cart’s tablet via wifi. Once they arrive at the checkout counter, the tablet screen on their cart shows the list of purchased items, membership points and available coupons."
Springwise
Sony’s F65 CineAlta 4K Camera Is a High-End Hollywood Monster
"I’ve decided to name this beast Behemoth, so named for its having more power than Directors of Photography probably know what to do with. The F65 is the first in its class that captures cinema at 4096 x 2160, and it carries a specialized 8K CMOS sensor that takes images at 20MP. Sony literally wants your eyes to weep for being so weak in comparison. While on set, the camera can record 60 minutes of crazy-rich 16-bit Linear RAW video directly to a 1TB SRMemory card at 24FPS. Or you can switch to MPEG-4 SStP between projects if that suits your cinematographic needs. And DPs can control the whole thing via iPad or the new Tablet S."
Gizmodo
Breezy Launches Partner Network, Lets You Print On The Go At 1,000 Locations
"Here’s how it works: load up a document, be it through the Mail app or Dropbox, and you’ll be given the option to open it in Breezy. Once you’ve selected the document to be printed, just tap the Nearby Printers option to see all the participating printers nearby. Most of the Partner Network’s 1,000 printers are located inside hotels, although Breezy CEO Jared Hansen says that Breezy is making some in-roads with print and copy shops. A quick look revealed that a few Partner Network printers were near my neck of the woods – a pleasant surprise, considering the company hails from California. If there aren’t any near you, fear not — Hansen says that Breezy will have another 2,000 locations going online in coming months."
TechCrunch
Pixels Per Person: making WiFi networks tangible
"In images, WiFi connections are usually represented as a series of fluctuating waves derived from signal strength indicators that fall and rise according to the strength of the WiFi connection. This inspired the creation of a system that would not stay static, but would instead be in a state of constant motion. To represent this idea, each installation takes the form of a dynamic OLED surface modelled differently each time depending on the characteristics found on site. Organic LEDs (OLEDs) were specified for surface of the installations because they work both in the light and dark, and can therefore contribute to the spatial quality of the installation site at night.
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Pasta&Vinegar
Facebook Adds Microformats To “Download Your Info” Feature
"Facebook has quietly added support for Microformats to its “Download Your Information” feature, it appears. The addition provides developers with a way to parse the profile information, posts, photos and videos contained in a Facebook user’s account. Although the change doesn’t have a direct impact on what a mainstream user can do with their Facebook data – you still can’t export your Facebook contact list, for example – it’s an important step for Facebook to make in terms of loosening its formerly tight control over user data."
TechCrunch
Shuu.sh Rates Your Twitter Stream, Shrinks People Who Overtweet
"Shuu.sh is an interesting Twitter reader experiment that goes through your Twitter feed and determines who tweets too much and who tweets not enough. Then, it shrinks down the texts of the overtweeters and blows up the text of the quiet."
LifeHacker
Video Demonstrates Wickedly Cool Night Invisibility Technology
"360-degree cameras are mounted onto the vehicle, which capture its surroundings in real time. This visual and temperature information is processed by the Adaptiv computer, which creates a solution that is shown on a skin attached to the vehicle’s hull or ballistic armor plates. The skin is made of hexagonal thermal tiles that effectively act as pixels. They vary their temperature like a display, instantly making the object invisible under infrared surveillance. In addition to total invisibility, the computer can also mimic other objects, effectively disguising something as huge as tank into a small car or any other object, manmade or natural."
Gizmodo
Pop-up cinema powered by users’ smartphones
"Those wishing to view streamed footage within the structure simply plug their smartphone into a receiver which projects the image onto the display screen (which can be rolled up when no film is showing) while audio is played out of the built-in sound system. The steel tubes hide the wiring used to make the cinema run, and, according to a report on Fast Company’s Co.Design, the installation can be constructed in about one day."
Springwise
Atari Is Making an Arcade Joystick for the iPad
"Games like Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, etc. are infinitely more fun and nostalgic when played with the joystick. There’s no details on how it works but it’s probably similar to the iCade in that it connects to the iPad through Bluetooth. Judging from the bare bone looks of the Atari iOS controller, it might even be cheaper than the $100 price of the iCade."
Gizmodo
Netrobe Is A Virtual Closet For Your iPhone
"Inspired by the now infamous virtual closet in Clueless, Netrobe, an iPhone app out of Athens, Greece, attempts exactly this, helping you remember the individual items from your wardrobe by giving you a tool to catalog them. Netrobe allows iPhone users to mix and match individual items of clothing or accessories on a Styleboard, create outfits for events, pack entire suitcases or add inspirational images to a Lookbook."
TechCrunch
GPS Receivers Now Small Enough to Attach to Almost Anything
"This GPS logger weighs 10 grams, most of which is battery. Custom-made by Telemetry Solutions of Concord, California, it’s small enough to attach to a fruit bat for research purposes. Data can be downloaded directly from the chip upon recapture, or it can be downloaded wirelessly from up to 500 meters away."
Technology Review
@author Connects Readers And Writers On Twitter And Amazon
"To ask one of them a question, simply highlight a passage on the Kindle and type a question (100 characters or less) in the box, beginning with “@author” (e.g. “@tferriss”). Questions will be sent to authors on Twitter from the @author account and you’ll receive an email when your question has been answered. If you don’t have a Kindle, or want to ask a longer question, you can visit participating author’s individual page on Amazon and click the “Ask a question” button."
PSFK
App-based remote room monitoring system for iPad and iPhone
"Once the 3.14 x 7.63 x 2.16-inch (80 x 194 x 55mm) iZON Remote Room Monitor is positioned so that it can survey the room needing protection, it will begin recording a 30 second clip whenever its audio or movement sensors are triggered. The device will also send an alert via push notification to an iPod touch, iPhone or iPad running iOS 4.0 or later via the free Stem:Connect App – allowing users to live stream mono audio and video over Edge, 3G or Wi-Fi (if available) and see exactly what going on while they’re elsewhere."
Gizmag
‘World’s smallest electric motor’ consists of a single molecule
"Remember back in the old days, when nano-scale motors were a clunky 500 nanometers across? That record was subsequently broken with a 200-nanometer model, but has now been broken again, by a motor that’s just one nanometer wide. By comparison, the width of a human hair is about 60,000 nanometers. The new motor, created by scientists at Tufts University in Massachusetts, is reportedly the first one ever to consist of a single molecule. More specifically, the motor consists of a butyl methyl sulfide molecule that is located on a conductive copper surface. Arm-like structures made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms protrude from either side of the molecule, with one containing four carbon atoms, and the other containing one. While the sulfur in the molecule causes it to bond with the copper surface, the two arms are free to rotate around its base."
Gizmag
Cyborg Beetles Powered by a Wing and a Piezolectric Prayer
"- Trying out two different shapes, spiral and beam-like, with two different designs each, they were able to harvest about 45 µW of power from each beetle, and demonstrated that the closer they got to the base of the beetles’ wings, the more they could scavenge. Right near the base, they could increase their power output to 115 µW. – They estimate that if the generator can be hooked up directly to the beetle’s wing, though, they could increase power output by 10 times, enough to run the flight-control neural implants."
Gizmodo
Vizualize.me Creates an Infographic Resume for You in One Click
"Once in, you can choose from a number of infographic themes as well as specific colors, fonts, and background to customize your graphic resume. Each section—work experience, summary, skills, etc.—pulled from LinkedIn can be tweaked in Vizualize.me before sharing via email and your social network of choice."
LifeHacker
Etymotic HD-15 electronic earplugs only block the loud noises
"Etymotic Research’s HD-15 High-Definition electronic earplugs contain tiny microphones, that instantaneously cause the plugs to block incoming sound waves when they detect noises over a given threshold. When the noise has ceased, the earplugs let the user hear normally again. Not only do the HD-15s not impede hearing when it isn’t noisy, but with the flick of a built-in switch, they can also amplify ambient sound by 15 decibels. In either setting, they will still block sudden, loud impact sounds when they occur."
Gizmag
