Monday, June 27. 2011
PossessedHand: Technology group develops device to move your fingers for you
Via PhysOrg
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Image: Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo
In an interesting meshing of robotics and prosthetics development, Japanese researchers from Tokyo University working in conjunction with Sony Corporation, have created an external forearm device capable of causing independent finger and wrist movement. Introduced on the Rekimoto Lab website, the PossessedHand as it’s called can be strapped to the wrist like a blood pressure cuff and fine tuned to the individual wearing it. The PossessedHand sends small doses of electricity to the muscles in the forearm that control movement, and can be "taught" to send preprogrammed signals that replicate the movements of normal wrist and finger movements, such as plucking the strings of a musical instrument.
Though the signals sent are too weak to actually cause string plucking, they are apparently strong enough to cause the user to understand which finger is supposed to be moved, thus, the device might be construed to be more of a learning device than an actual guitar accessory.
Currently devices that do roughly the same thing are done with electrodes inserted into the skin, or work via gloves worn over the hand, both rather cludgy and perhaps somewhat painful. This new approach in contrast, is said to feel more like a gentle hand massage.
Image: Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo
Though the original purpose of the PossessedHand seems to be as an aid to help people learn to play musical instruments, something that has inspired a bit of criticism from the musical community due to the fact that nothing is actually learned when using the device; the hand basically becomes an external part of the instrument, while the brain remains passive; it seems clear the device could be used in multiple other ways. For example, it could be used by hearing people to assist in speaking with deaf sign-language users, or to help people type who have never learned how, or perhaps more importantly to help paralyzed people or those suffering from a stroke.
Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo
In these instances it’s not always imperative that the user actually learn anything new, just that they are able to communicate when they want to. If the programming of the device could be made to work in real time in other ways, by the user, then its value would greatly increase. For example if a person could speak out loud into a microphone and those words could then be captured and translated to sign-language and transferred directly to their fingers, deaf people would instantly be able to communicate with anyone they meet who is willing to wear the cuff.
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ASUS Eee Pad Transformer 2 Launch In October
Via TechTree
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ASUS is a well-known Taiwanese computer components manufacturer. The company stepped into the tablet industry a couple of years ago. The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is the company's latest Honeycomb tablet with a unique form factor. This tablet comes with a keyboard (purchased separately), which transforms it into a mini laptop or netbook when docked to the tablet. The tablet hasn't seen the wider market yet, with countries like India still awaiting the launch of the tablet. Now it seems like the company is already planning a successor to the tablet powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 3 CPU, and apparently running Android Ice Cream Sandwich. The tablet could be launched in October or November this year. Previous rumours suggested that ASUS was planning to have a successor to the Eee Pad Transformer running on the Windows 8 platform, but this new rumour seems more likely. Also, the fact that this news comes from a supplier chain of ASUS in Taiwan, makes it seem much more plausible.
The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is a regular Honeycomb tablet with a 10.1" display. It stands out in the crowd of tablets because it comes with a keyboard (which can be bought separately), literally transforming it into a netbook. A similar feature is available with the Motorola XOOM, allowing it to be paired with a Bluetooth wireless keyboard. The Acer Iconia Tab is already available in India, and with the XOOM, Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Eee Pad Transformer launching soon, the tablet market in India could heat up in no time.
The Eee Pad Transformer runs on a 1 GHz dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU, which is seen in most Honeycomb tablets. The Tegra 3 processor codenamed Kal El is a quad core CPU capable of running each core at up to 1.5 GHz. The Kal El is said to be up to 5 times faster than the Tegra 2 processor, so we can only imagine the snappiness of that beast.
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Personal comment: This kind of "hybrid" hardware demonstrastes perfectly how "new" the so-called "concept" of tablet is! Starting from a laptop, removing the keyboard and installing a lightweight OS... in order to install back a keyboard less than two years later. Now, thanks to all hardware constructor's tablets and hybrid models, one can easily think and admit that any laptop can be "transformed" to a tablet and reverse, and, as end-user, we may now request this kind of feature for all laptops without any power of functionality drawback... making mobile computing hardware converging again to one global solution valuable for any kind of use.
comScore offers digital traffic stats for May 2011, Android dominates US smartphones
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It’s very clear that in the smartphone world the Android OS is dominating when it comes to the number of phones selling and popularity with buyers. The Android smartphone is also dominating when it comes to the number of people surfing the web on the OS, at least in some countries. The latest numbers from metrics firm comScore are in and they show the amount of non-computer device internet traffic based on OS. The stats are broken down by iOS, Android, other smartphones, and feature phones.
In the US, Android smartphones are generating 35.6% of the traffic to the web from a smartphone. The iPhone is generating 23.5% of the traffic in the US. Interestingly in the UK, iPhone generated 29.9% of web traffic with the Android platform at 15.1%. Some of that is likely the fact that the iPhone is on all carriers in the UK and only two in the US.
When it comes to the tablet market, the iPad makes 21.8% of web traffic with all Android tablets accounting for 0.6% of traffic from tablets. The numbers in the UK looks similar on the tablet front with 21.3% for iPad and 0.3% on Android tablets.
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Friday, June 24. 2011
Five fingers mouse
Via TechnoLookers
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Amenbo Mouse
If you want to feel different sensations are not just a classic mouse, which is pretty cool, his name is Amenbo Mouse, a mouse equipped with a touch of beauty to five fingers with a shape similar to a human hand. A study conducted by the Japan Twin Research & Development Co. has successfully developed a mouse is truly revolutionary.
And now, they’ve officially showcased his creations mouse with Amenbo name, a new input device is a mouse that will not waste the function of one finger but will give a touch sensor for the fifth finger. Each finger will get the mouse pad itself with sensors, which are all connected to a single base with a flexible material that allow movement. The device can detect pressure and finger movements, and is ideal for many uses.
“We put sensors on each fingertip mouse, and can enter the coordinates for each finger as well as downward pressure from each finger means actual hand movements are being fed into a PC .. For example, is allow the PC to receive data for the various needs of the toes “said the Japan Twin Research & Development Co..
One example application for this system is to manipulate the data in 3D CAD. Sometimes in order to manipulate the data in 3D CAD or rather need to use a 3D mouse and normal mouse using both hands, but in this Amenbo mouse system functions can be combined and operated with one hand, and much more usefulness depends on the user’s needs.
As we can see from the demo video below, mouse Amenbo able to perform with good movement to move the 3D object, the mouse Amenbo own work through connection to a computer USB port connection, unfortunately for more complete information including the marketing has not been disclosed.
Wednesday, June 22. 2011
Japanese researchers create self-propelled endoscope capsule
Via Slashgear
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The endoscope has been the go to tool for doctors that need to look inside the digestive tract of a patient since the 1980?s. These things are generally long, black cables that are forced through the mouth of up the bum of people when the doctors need to check for things like colon cancer or stomach issues. In 2008, we talked about a new development in endoscope tools that placed the camera into a small pill shaped capsule that the person swallowed to get a look at their innards.
The problem with that camera capsule was that it could only follow along and take photos inside the body using the muscle contractions of the patient’s body. Some Japanese researchers have taken that endoscope capsule to the next level and attached a small propulsion system to it that allows the camera to swim through the digestive tract. The new capsule has what appears to be a flagella type mechanism on the back that uses a magnetic propulsion system.
The doctor is able to control the capsule using a joystick to get it to take photos of whatever part of the digestive track is needed. The device has been nicknamed “mermaid” and it would have to feel strange moving around inside the body. It is certainly better than a four foot long tube crammed down your throat.
Tuesday, June 21. 2011
Firefox 5 out now
Via Slashgear
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Mozilla has just released Firefox 5 today after only a few short months since the previous version launched. The predecessor was deemed as the last major release version before Mozilla embarks on a Google Chrome model that will bring shorter faster release cycles. Rather than having new features sit waiting for a major release, now smaller bundles of new features will be pushed out as they become ready, making for new releases as quick as every six weeks.
This latest update brings over 1000 new features for both desktop and Android versions of the browser. Firefox 5 isn’t a major overhaul outwardly, but does bring a lot of change under the hood that includes performance and stability enhancements as well as privacy improvements and new CSS animations and improved JavaScript support.
Performance wise, Firefox 5 uses new HTTP optimizations that accelerates content and makes it much faster than before. The “Do not track” option that was introduced in Firefox 4 is now more visible to users and appears as an interface item for users to select whether or not they want websites to track them. New CSS animations support will allow for “Flash-like” dynamic content.
Friday, June 17. 2011
Kinect for Windows SDK beta released
Via slashgear
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Microsoft has released the Kinect for Windows SDK beta, as expected, allowing PC developers to use the motion-tracking accessory. A free 100MB download, the SDK offers support for the depth sensor, color camera and quad-microphone array, along with all the clever skeletal-tracking systems that Xbox 360 game developers have had access to.
There’s also integration with Windows’ speech recognition API. That potentially means developers will be able to use the microphone array – which can pinpoint which user is talking thanks to beam formation – to transcribe speech to text, open and control applications, and more.
Microsoft has thrown in plenty of technical documentation, samples, all the drivers you’ll need and support for C++, C#, or Visual Basic. This current iteration of the SDK is only for non-commercial purposes; Microsoft says it will be releasing a commercial version later on. You’ll obviously need a Kinect sensor, too, which currently costs around $140.
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Tuesday, June 14. 2011
Rule 110 in HTML5 + CSS3
iTunes costs as much as $1.3B to run yearly
Via asymco
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The iTunes store continues to grow. The data that Apple published in the last event included the following:
- 15 Billion iTunes song downloads
- 130 million book downloads
- 14 billion app downloads
- $2.5 billion paid to developers
- 225 million accounts
- 425k apps
- 90k iPad apps
- 100k game and entertainment titles
- 50 million game center accounts
As this data is added to the existing data and cross-referenced additional insight into the economics of iTunes is emerging.
Since we know something about the average price of songs and apps, and we know the split between developers and Apple (and roughly between music labels and Apple) we can get a rough estimate of the amount Apple retains to run its store.
The following chart shows iTunes “content margin” by month. This margin is what Apple “keeps” after paying content owners but before paying for other costs like payment processing and delivery/fulfillment which should be accounted as variable costs. Strictly speaking this margin is not “gross margin”.
If we add the content margins from music and apps and assume the store runs at break even we can get an idea of what it costs to operate the store. The latest number is $113 million per month (from a total income of $313 million/mo.). It implies over $1.3 billion per year.
Much of that cost does go into serving the content (traffic and payment processing). Some of it goes to curation and support. But it’s very likely that there is much left over to be invested in capacity increases.
I would like to hear alternative opinions, but my guess is that much of the capex that went into the new data centers Apple built came from the iTunes operating margin.
Friday, June 03. 2011
HTCdev coming Summer 2011 with OpenSense API
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