Wild High-Tech Goggles Give You Superhero Senses

Wearable computing is exploding. Google Glass has geeks atwitter, Oculus Rift is garnering great reviews from fanboys, and gadget blogs and Wall Street alike are waiting for another aluminum-clad icon to emerge from Apple HQ. However, innovation in this area isn’t confined to billion-dollar companies or VC-funded startups A team of designers from the Royal College of Art are trying to put a new face on wearable computing—literally.

Their creation, Eidos, is a pair of masks that use off-the-shelf sensors and custom software to augment the vision and hearing of their wearers, conferring superhero-ish powers in the process. Technology in the face mask lets users isolate and amplify audio signals of their choosing, the glasses display “ghosted” images of objects in motion, and the unique look of the products will irresistibly draw the attention of any passersby.

The glasses display “ghosted” images of objects in motion.

The look of these devices has a distinct art school feel, but Team Eigos—comprised of Tim Bouckley, Millie Clive-Smith, Mi Eun Kim and Yuta Sugawara, sees killer apps for many different types of users. “The vision device gives a similar effect to long-exposure photography, revealing otherwise hidden traces of movement, but it does this live,” says Clive-Smith. “This is remarkable at revealing patterns and allows you to pick out the details of motion you wouldn’t normally realize.” Coaches could use this technology to help players improve their form in real time rather than waiting until after a game to correct bad habits. Choreographers could start adding special effects to their performances combining the elegance of ballet with Michael Bay-inspired special effects. The Eidos audio system would help friends in a busy train station stay focused on each other’s conversation by drowning out the din or help students with learning disabilities better focus on their teacher.

While it might be hard to imagine a coach or first grader wearing these masks, Team Eidos views them as experimental equipment. “The aesthetic is an exploration into the merging of digital technology with the organic form of the body,” says Clive-Smith. “The result is exaggerated wearable form which also highlights the experimental nature of the project.” She notes that the aesthetic of the devices would be changed for applications that required a more sedate appearance.

An example of the ghosting effect Eidos can provide. Photo: Team Eidos

While Eidos might not have the versatility of Google Glass, nor the outrageous power of Iron Man’sarmor, there are some impressive technical ideas at work under the dramatic, 3-D printed veneer. Unlike traditional hearing aids that transmit sound exclusively through the ear canal, Eidos also transmits sounds through the teeth in a process called bone conduction, which creates a sensation that people are speaking directly inside your head. With tweaks to the software the devices could become accessories used at a broadway show or in more mundane, practical settings.

Despite their theatrical appearance, Team Eidos sees their project as serious business and is hard at work on productizing the technology. They’are also putting their avant garde taste to work on taste buds and creating a new product that will alter the perception of flavor.

Original Article at - http://www.wired.com/design/2013/07/eidos-sensory-enhancement/?mbid=social10301004#slideid-154161

Written By - 

BY JOSEPH FLAHERTY

07.30.13

6:30 AM

By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28

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Sony and Panasonic sign basic agreement to jointly develop standard for professional-use next-generation optical discs that could store up to 300GB

Tokyo, Japan - July 29, 2013 - Sony Corporation (‘Sony’) and Panasonic Corporation (‘Panasonic’) today announced that they have signed a basic agreement with the objective of jointly developing a next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs, with the objective of expanding their archive business for long-term digital data storage. Both companies aim to improve their development efficiency based on the technologies held by each respective company, and will target the development of an optical disc with recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015. Going forward, Sony and Panasonic will continue to hold discussions regarding the specifications and other items relating to the development of this new standard. 

Optical discs have excellent properties to protect them against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored. They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve. This makes them a robust medium for long-term storage of content. Both companies have previously developed products based on the Blu-ray™ format, leveraging the strengths of optical discs. However, both Sony and Panasonic recognized that optical discs will need to accommodate much larger volumes of storage in years to come given the expected future growth in the archive market, and responded by formulating this agreement. 

Sony previously commercialized a file-based optical disc archive system in September, 2012. Based on optical disc technology that Sony cultivated for its XDCAM series of professional broadcasting products, this system houses twelve optical discs within a compact cartridge as a single, high-capacity storage solution. Each disc within the cartridge holds 25GB capacity, offering a total range of storage capacities from 300GB to 1.5TB.

In July this year, Panasonic launched its ‘LB-DM9 series’ of optical disc storage devices. This series uses a dedicated magazine of just 20.8mm thickness to house twelve 100GB optical discs. A maximum of 90 magazines can be stored, providing a total storage capacity of 180TB. In addition, Panasonic adopted a newly-developed changer system together with RAID technology to offer rapid data transfer performance of up to 216MB/s, while also ensuring high reliability by protecting data from unforeseen faults.

In recent years, there has been an increasing need for archive capabilities, not only from video production industries, such as motion pictures and broadcasting, but also from cloud data centers that handle increasingly large volumes of data following the evolution in network services. Both Sony and Panasonic have a proven track record in developing Blu-ray Disc™ format technologies, and by actively promoting the adoption of a new standard for next-generation high-capacity optical discs, they intend to offer solutions that preserve valuable data for future generations.


Original Page:
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201307/13-0729E/

By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28 Give us a call today: 281-554-5500 or visit Friendly Computers to schedule an appointment.

97-year-old creates beautiful digital paintings with MS Paint!

Microsoft Paint gets a lot of flack due to its basic set of features—in fact, it’s about a basic as graphics apps come (hey, what do you expect for a freebie app that comes on every Windows PC?). That didn’t stop 97-year-old Hal Lasko from making some downright incredible digital paintings with it.

In an eight-and-a-half-minute video, Hal describes how he started with painting in MS Paint, and how he woke from a dream then “went to the computer to see if I could do what I dreamed I could do.” Hal is no stranger to art and design—he is a retired graphic artist, and would actually hand-draw typefaces for use in various print forms.

The Pixel Painter from The Pixel Painter on Vimeo.

Even more incredible? Hal suffers from macular degeneration, so his vision is poor. Take a few minutes out of your day to watch the video, then visit his site where you can see more examples of his work and buy prints of his digital paintings. You may never look at Microsoft Paint the same way again.

[Hal Lasko, Vimeo via Gizmodo]

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Original Article Found at: http://www.techhive.com/article/2045112/stop-bashing-ms-paint-one-97-year-old-uses-it-to-make-beautiful-digital-paintings.html

Written By: Nick Mediati

@dtnick

By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28

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Google's profit squeezed by mobile woes

The company's Motorola smartphone division continues to lose money, and a rise in mobile ads has squeezed the company's profits.

Growth in Google's mobile business drove the average cost per click on ads served by Google lower by 6%, when compared to the same period last year. That's the seventh consecutive quarterly decrease.

The number of paid clicks rose 23%, but advertisers still refuse to pay as much for mobile ads as they do for desktop ads. That's why the average cost-per-click has fallen even as the number of paid clicks increase.

"Clearly mobile has had an impact," said Google CFO Patrick Pichette on a conference call. "But it's one of many factors at work."

The search giant reported that its second-quarter net income rose to $3.23 billion, or $9.56 per share. Though profit rose 15% from last year, Google's results badly missed Wall Street analysts' earnings expectations of $10.78 per share.

Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) sales jumped to $14.1 billion, up 19% year-over-year. That also fell short of analysts' estimates of $14.4 billion.

Within the past year, Google rolled out what its executives call "enhanced campaigns" which help marketers more easily run targeted ads on both the desktop and mobile platforms. Google CEO Larry Page hinted that the company won't feel the impact of these campaigns for some time.

"It's the very early stages of a major change," Page said.

Pichette also said he is excited about Motorola's upcoming product line, but investors were quick to point out that Google's smartphone division continues to lose money. It logged an operating loss of $218 million in the second quarter, following a $179 million in the previous quarter.

Shares of Google fell 4% in after-hours trading. Google's stock price had been steadily rising this year, gaining more than $200 in 2013.

Google rival Yahoo (YAHOY) reported quarterly results on Tuesday. Yahoo's sales fell slightly short of both Wall Street's expectations, but it also recorded a 46% jump in quarterly profit when compared to the same period a year ago. Microsoft (MSFT,Fortune 500) also reported disappointing quarterly earnings Thursday. 

By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28

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Microsoft shakes up management - again

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Microsoft COO Kevin Turner refuses to lose

COO Kevin Turner told the 15,000 attendees at its partner conference that Microsoft is delivering innovation faster than any customer or partner can embrace it.

(Credit: Microsoft video screenshot)

If Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had a twin brother, it would be his COO Kevin Turner. Like Ballmer, he stalks the stage like a hungry bear and verbally shakes the audience by the lapels into joining the war effort to beat the competition.

Speaking at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston Wednesday before 15,000 attendees, Turner said: "We have high respect but no fear of competitors. ... We are doubling down and making sure we are fighting and evangelizing our story."

The doubling down and product story is about devices and services, which is likely to be at the center of an expected Microsoft reorganization taking place Thursday.

A slide from COO Kevin Turner's presentation depicting how Microsoft views its competition.

(Credit: Microsoft)

On the device side, Turner said that the PC market, which has been in decline, is not how Microsoft views its future market opportunity. With its unified Windows operating system strategy, Microsoft will measure its success by its market share of nearly 3 billion devices in 2017, according to Gartner Research.

Microsoft's 2.5 billion device market opportunity for the coming year.

(Credit: Microsoft)

However, Microsoft has a long way to go to catch up with rivals in the tablet and phone arena. Turner said that Microsoft's ecosystem, which builds Windows devices and mobile apps, is 18 to 24 months behind where he wants it to be, but it is "catching up."

He characterized Microsoft as a "distant third" in the smartphone race, but said the company will "keep fighting and keep after it and make sure we get the share we need to drive." For the three-month period ending May 2013, Android had 52 percent of U.S. smartphone sales, followed by iOS with nearly 42 percent, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Windows grew nearly 1 percent year over year to 4.6 percent. IDC estimated that Microsoft had 3.2 percent of worldwide share in the first quarter of 2013.

Turner told the partner audience that Microsoft is "finding its rhythm in phones" and expressed pleasure that Windows Phone is now the "No. 3 phone OS on the planet" and is growing at a rate 6 times faster than the rest of the smartphone platforms. He also said that Windows Phone has more market share than Apple's iOS in 10 "big" countries. The largest carrier in Russia, OAO Mobile TeleSystems, recently dropped the iPhone.

"[Apple] was demanding too much, and the Windows Phone's popularity helped them understand they don't need the iPhone," Turner said.

Turner concluded, "If you bet on Microsoft, you are not going to ask anymore, 'Hey, where is the innovation?' The challenge going forward is how do we keep up with it." He also said that Microsoft is delivering innovation faster than anyone can embrace it, and that the company's new fiscal year, which began July 1, will be the biggest year of innovation in its 38-year history.

Microsoft has been making a major pivot, turning its massive battleship around over the past few years, to become more viable as a device and services company as the PC business fades. Turner told his business partners during his keynote that competition is a test of will and that great competitors refuse to lose. He gave an example of the Microsoft fighting spirit in regaining 250 business accounts for cloud Office that had gone over to Google Apps. It's a start at recovering huge territory that was lost over the past decade as Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung, Facebook, Salesforce, and others colonized the new world of mobile devices and services.

By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28 Give us a call today: 281-554-5500 or visit Friendly Computers to schedule an appointment.

Samsung tops Apple in Fortune Global 500

The Apple-Samsung war extends far beyond smartphones and patents.

Fortune on Monday released its Global 500, a ranked list of the world's biggest companies by revenue. Samsung Electronics nabbed the 14th spot in the list with revenue of $178.6 billion last year. Apple was close behind in 19th place with $156.5 billion in revenue.

Samsung jumped from 20th place last year, after securing $149 billion in revenues. Apple was all the way back in 55th place in 2012 with $108 billion in revenue.

Despite their success at winning the technology space, it appears neither Samsung nor Apple should expect to hit the top spot anytime soon. Royal Dutch Shell is this year's top Global 500 company with $481.7 billion in revenue.

Here's a brief list of some of the top technology industry companies in the Global 500:

• Samsung -- 14th place
• Apple -- 19th place
• Hon Hai Precision Industry -- 30th place
• NTT -- 32nd place
• AT&T -- 34th place
• Hewlett-Packard -- 43rd place
• Verizon Communications -- 48th place
• Hitachi -- 54th place
• IBM -- 62nd place
• China Mobile Communications -- 71st place

By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28

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Apple files for 'iWatch' trademark

(CNN) -- It's been a while since we've heard anything concrete on Apple's rumored "iWatch" device, but Bloomberg now reports that Apple has filed on June 3 to trademark that name in Japan.

This doesn't necessarily mean anything -- companies file for protective trademarks all the time -- but it's one more indication that Apple is dabbling in wearable computing.

iWatch rumors have been flying for most of the year, but we still don't have a clear idea of what the gadget might look like (or what it would do) if it ever comes to market.

hardware" would be coming out this fall and throughout 2014, but whether he meant new product categories like an iWatch or simply refreshes of Apple's existing products (like the new Mac Pro) is anyone's guess.

Either way, there's no need to worry if the iWatch doesn't pan out -- you can always rely on the Pebble watch or the rumored devices from Samsung, Google, or Microsoft to cover your unsightly naked wrists.

By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28

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Microsoft turns to resellers to bump up Surface sales

Microsoft is expanding distribution of its Surface tablet/PC devices via authorized distributors and resellers, company officials said Monday.

Starting in the U.S., Microsoft is authorizing CDW, CompuCom, En Pointe, Insight, PC Connection, PCM, Softchoice, Softmart, Software House International, and Zones to sellSurface Pro and RT devices. "Over the next few months," Microsoft officials said, they will authorize commercial distributors and resellers in more countries.

Authorized Surface resellers will be able to offer Microsoft's extended warranty, as well as their own services, including asset tagging, custom imaging, kitting, onsite service and support, device recycling, and data protection, according to Microsoft.Microsoft also plans to expand its education offer for the Surface RT -- offering devices for $199 via qualifying schools and universities purchasing direct from Microsoft -- into the commercial channel starting with the U.S. resellers "in the coming weeks," officials said.

When Microsoft launched the Surface RT, it originally did so in eight markets, only three of which had physical stores. Microsoft officials said Surfaces are currently available in 29 markets and 10,000-plus physical stores worldwide.

By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28

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