GEEKAPOLIS.COM GADGETS - TECH NEWS

Kinect Made This Interactive LED Amphitheater Happen [VIDEO]

flyingmelody — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:39:04 +0800

In Lyon, a group of designers and engineers dreamed up an alternative to outdoor music festivals: a Kinect-powered interactive amphitheater that radiates light based on the footsteps of attendees.

The pyramid was custom-built for Nuits Sonores, an annual EDM festival housed primarily inside a giant warehouse in Lyon. Organizers tapped London interactive studio Is This Good? and Lyon architects Looking For Architecture to create an installation where concert-goers could dance facing performers.

The result is a five-tier system made from semi-transparent plastic embedded with LEDs, controlled by an OpenFrameworks script which draws information about the location of attendees from six nearby Kinects. The lights turn on when a person moves or jumps onto one of the platforms, and the intensity is changed as their movements are tracked. Check it out in the video below:

[Creative Applications]

Google Introduces Project Loon to Bring Internet to Remote Areas

flyingmelody — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:39:04 +0800

Google has confirmed plans for 'Project Loon', a mission that will launch internet-delivering balloons into the sky over remote locations in areas of the world (such as in jungles and mountains) that have poor Internet connection.

Before you think it's a bit far-fetched, Google has it all figured out. Google Blog says the balloons will sail freely in the winds, but movement will be controlled with wind and solar power. But if Project Loon takes off, Google needs a more solid plan to manage a bunch of balloons around the world, which will require a lot of complex algorithms and computing power.

Google's choice to use balloons are because they can fly twice as high as commercial planes over rough terrain, mountains and jungles. The balloons can than connect to the Internet without much complex physical infrastructure in place on the ground. So instead of having to set up an entire network, the balloons connect with specialized antennas on the ground. This connection communicates with a ground station that connects to a local Internet service provider.

The project started this week with a test in the Canterbury area of New Zealand, where Google launched 30 balloons with 50 testers on the ground trying to connect to the Internet.

[Google]

Reebok CheckLight Warns Athletes of Severe Head Concussions

flyingmelody — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:19:59 +0800

American football isn't exactly the safest sport due to head concussion-related injuries. Now, a sportswear company has come up with a device that could help amateur and professionals play a bit more safely.

Reebok and MC10 developed a device called CheckLight, a sensor skullcap that can be worn under a helmet. This skullcap can measure the impacts on the wearer's head. Side-mounted LED lights flash yellow or red to indicate the severity of impact in real-time.

CheckLight's indicator lights hang from the back of the neck, where a teammate can easily spot and notify the wearer if the red light indicator is flashing. But Reebok is careful to note on its website that the device is not a certified concussion diagnostic tool.

The device is washable, and will sell for $150 on the Reebok website later this month.

NASA's Hubble Detects a New Planet Forming

flyingmelody — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:12:32 +0800

NASA's Hubble Space telescope has found evidence of a planet forming some 7.5 billion miles away from its star. This makes it the first planet that has been found to be at such a distance from its star.

The finding is significant because it brings into light our current theories about how planets are formed.

Hubble detected a gap in a disc of gas and dust that was swirling around TW Hydrae, a red dwarf star 176 light years away from Earth. The gap's existence was suspected to be caused by an unseen planet's gravity sweeping material and creating a path in the disk, similar to a snow plow.

NASA estimates that the planet is a tiny one, but still 6 to 28 times bigger than Earth. It's also got a wide orbit, which means it's moving slowly around its star. Theories about how planets are formed are now being challenged because planets are thought to form over tens of millions of years.

The TW Hydrae is only 8 million years old. So in theory, it should be an unlikely star to host a planet. Astronomers are even more confused that TW Hydrae is only 55 percent as massive as our own sun.

John Debes of the Space Telescope Institute in Baltimore, who led the research team that identified the gap, said, "it’s so intriguing to see a system like this. This is the lowest-mass star for which we’ve observed a gap so far out."

Here's What iOS 7 Will Look Like on the iPad

flyingmelody — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:05:09 +0800

German site Apfelpage used a simulator feature on Apple's XCode developer platform to provide us a look at what Apple's iOS 7 will look like on the iPad.

The changes are minor, and it's pretty consistent with what we've already seen from iOS 7. Firstly, we can see the same revamped icon set, new apps, and Control Center that the iPhone has. But the Notification Center gets to a fullscreen size on the iPad. And the Control Center only takes up a tiny bar at the bottom of the screen, while on the iPhone it uses up about half of it.

Apps like maps, contacts and calendar are simpler and cleaner, and for the most part, the iOS 7 on the iPad looks like what you'd expect.

[TheVerge]

Twist-Off Cork Will Change the Way You Store Unfinished Wine

flyingmelody — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:55:13 +0800

After four years of research, cork manufacturer Amorim and bottle-making company O-I have now come up with the Helix cork that will change your life forever.

The wine-stopper product makes your bottle resealable, and is aimed at the "popular premium" wine market. Its resealability is a huge advantage in the eyes of consumers, who want to be able to reseal bottles of wine. They much prefer cork to other methods of wine stoppering such as screw tops. O-I Europe president Eric Bouts explains:

Cork is still by far the preferred stopper. Our research has found that at least 80% of consumers prefer the cork and glass combination for their wine. It has the highest-quality image in the market and now we have made it easier to use. And it is still the most sustainable option.

The Helix cork is being unveiled at Vinexpo in Bordeaux, but its creators say it may be two years before we start seeing it on shelves.

[The Drinks Business]

The Eurocopter X3 is The Fastest Helicopter In The World

flyingmelody — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:47:53 +0800

Helicopters are usually built for hovering more than speed, but this Eurocopter X3 is built for both. Based on the Eurocopter EC155, the X3 is a hybrid.

In addition to its five blade main and tail rotors, the X3 is outfitted with a pair of stubby wings, similar to those aboard the Mi-24 HIND but with propellers, that provide up to 80 percent of the aircraft's lift. A pair of 2270 HP Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 turboshaft engines drive all four rotors and allow for a 12,500 foot service ceiling and incredibly fast speed.

The X3 blew through the previous air speed record for helicopters by cruising at 255 knots (293 mph) during a 40-minute flight over Southern France. This achievement comes after the X3 topped 260 knots (302 mph) just days before. “It’s no exaggeration to say that the X3 is clearly in its element at high speeds.” said Eurocopter test pilot Hervé Jammayrac. “While flying at both 255 knots and 263 knots, the X3 performed exactly as it has throughout its flight envelope, exhibiting outstanding stability and providing a low vibration level without any anti-vibration system.”

The X3 has amassed over 140 hours of air time since its maiden flight in 2010.

[Eurocopter]

Jagjit Chodha's Fruit Bowl Warns You Before Your Fruits Mold

flyingmelody — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:19:57 +0800

Design student Jagjit Chodha created a fruit bowl that alerts users when the fresh produce it holds begins to go bad. The bowl is fitted with a sensor that can detect an increase in ethylene, a compound that is released when fruit matures.

This is great considering people waste more food than they intend to simply by forgetting about it until it's gone past its maturity date.

Chodha's fruit bowl is on show at the Made In Brunel Show at London's Brunel University.

Apple Doesn't Give the NSA Direct Access to Their Servers

flyingmelody — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:19:57 +0800

Apple claims it has not been involved in the NSA's PRISM program. The tech giant has released a statement called "Apple's Commitment to Customer Privacy" saying that it does not provide "any government agency" with direct access to its servers, and that "any government agency requesting customer content must get a court order."

This however doesn't mean that agencies aren't asking for data. Apple revealed that the company has received between 4,000 to 5,000 requests from U.S. law enforcement for customer data from December 1, 2012 to May 31 2013.

"Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities," claims Apple.

Read Apple's full statement here.

This is the First GIF to be Sent Into Space

flyingmelody — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:58:49 +0800

Since we've pretty much accomplished doing things on earth, our human appetite to do everything beyond earth is quickly growing.

Lone Signal is a project that will allow people to transmit messages into space. Scientists wouldn't advise getting in touch with extraterrestrial intelligence just in case it comes back to bite us in the ass, but people are anxious to send digital junk into space.

The first GIF will launch into space on Tuesday when the project takes off. It was designed by conceptual artist Kim Asendorf. The project is named "Humans Watching Digital Art". Will an alien pick it up? Maybe. What will they do with it? No idea.

The target? Gliese 526 — a whopping 17.6 light years away from us here on Earth. Yeah, not the kind of place you can easily send an email to. According to Asendorf, it’s “identified as a potentially habitable solar system in The Catalog of Nearby Habitable Systems.”

[PetaPixel]

Here's a Comprehensive Look at MacBook Comparisons in One Cheat Sheet

flyingmelody — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:52:36 +0800

If you were looking for a full breakdown and comparison of the entire MacBook lineup, this guy has done it all for you. RyanBane put together a comprehensive comparison between each model, option, specs and more, with information from Apple and around the net. Check out the image attached or visit RyanBane's public Google doc here.

Mozilla Wants Scientists to be More Open On The Net

flyingmelody — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:39:46 +0800

The process of publishing research online hasn't really changed much, even though initiatives like CERN are able to coordinate thousands of scientists towards common goals as a result of the internet.

People are starting to notice this, and science-focused social media services are emerging - one of which is Mozilla's Science Lab, which will promote open web practices.

The Creative Commons science program was started by Kaitlin Thaney, and the Science Lab's first focus will be digital literacy specifically designed for science. The project partners up with Greg Wilson, who founded Software Carpentry, a program that helps researchers feel more comfortable with web resources.

It seems like this is the next step beyond the traditional academic publishing system, and it'll make research more accessible to people who aren't scientists too.

[Mozilla]

Paperback Biography of Steve Jobs to be Released in September

flyingmelody — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:01:10 +0800

Publisher Simon & Schuster will be releasing the critically acclaimed and bestselling Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson as a paperback on September 10.

Simon & Schuster said the paperback version of Steve Jobs: A Biography will have an afterword that wasn't included in the hardcover when it was published in November 2011 - a month after Jobs' death on Oct. 5, 2011.

The cover of the paperback version of the late Apple CEO's biography will feature a young Jobs in a photo taken in 1984 by South African photographer Norman Seeff.

Seeff said about the photo session, "We drove over to his house and we sat in that large unfurnished living room and we were just in conversation. My fundamental approach is not to try and take photographs, but to create an authentic, honest relationship so that they forget that the camera is even there."

22-years later, Albert Watson (in 2006) took a photo of an older Steve Jobs - which adorns the hardcover version of the book. Steve strikes a similar pose to the one he did in 1984.

Watson spoke about his experience in that 2006 Jobs photo session. He said to Jobs, "Think about the next project you have on the table," and then just before he shot the photo, Watson says he "asked him to think about instances where people have challenged him."

Watson added, “If you look at that shot, you can see the intensity. It was my intention that by looking at him, that you knew this guy was smart. I heard later that it was his favorite photograph of all time.”

Google Has Plans to Abolish Child Porn Pics With New Database

flyingmelody — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:39:47 +0800

Last weekend, Google announced their plans to remove child pornography images from the web by using a new picture-sharing database. The program will allow search engines and other web companies to exchange information about images of children being abused or raped.

The Telegraph reported that the program will be operational within the year. Pictures that have been flagged as inappropriate, especially by child protection companies such as the Internet Watch Foundation, will be then cleared from the web.

Right now, flagged or earmarked images are difficult to eliminate entirely due to the absence of a web-standard database. The new program increases transparency between web-engines and hopefully speed up the process of tracking down and totally erasing these types of pictures.

"We are creating an industry-wide global database of ‘hashed’ images to help all technology companies find these images, wherever they might be. They will then be blocked and reported," Google spokesperson Scott Rubin told the Telegraph.

Only Samsung Users Can Grab Jay-Z's New Album First - For Free

flyingmelody — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:39:46 +0800

In a Samsung commercial aired during game five of the NBA Finals, rapper Jay-Z surprised fans by announcing a new album called Magna Carta Holy Grail. Then he further surprised his fans who use Samsung devices: One million owners of the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note II will get exclusive access to the album first on July 4. And it'll be free, as long as they upload an app associated with the album on June 24.

MagnaCartaHolyGrail.com features a countdown to July 4 and promotes the Samsung commercial and features a countdown to July 4. Samsung owners will get the album two days before its release.

"We don't have any rules; everybody is trying to figure it out," Jay-Z says. "That's why the Internet is like the Wild West, the Wild Wild West. We need to write the new rules."