Slacking, Magic, And Soon (I Hope) A surprise!

Hey guys,

First thing is first… I need to apologize… I’ve been slacking off… shirking my daily duties. Our last post was in august on the 28th, and it wasn’t even my post. So I’m sorry. But thank you for keeping upin the spirit if you are… If you aren’t, blame me… but I’m going to try to get you back in the groove of nerddom.

Starting with this!

No not Disney cartoons... The magic carpet.

And who out there wouldn’t love to get their hands on one of these! A magic carpet?! Damn straight! A Princeton graduate (unnamed via my sources), has a working “magic carpet.” Although, sadly not at truly fantastical floor covering, the device is still impressive, using electrically charged fibers to create pockets of air under a slip of plastic seems rather mediocre, but when the unnamed inventor combines it with solar energy, we may have a viable option for hovering travel! Please check out the incredibly low res (and only) video at Engadget!

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Subtitle Glasses, Folding Cars, and an Eyeborg

Well, TC has been having some internet problems, and has been away for a while. I decided I’d do up a little post for him, so he won’t feel as bad coming back.

For August 25th:

Another set of theater glasses.

Sony has been working on a set of glasses that you can wear while watching a movie that displays subtitles for personal use. This could improve the theater experience for the hearing impaired and those who have a different primary language. They’ve been in development for a while, but were recently tested on a UK individual, and it’s said that they’re aiming for UK-wide trial in theaters next year.

Learn more about them here.

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Glowing Glucose Monitor Developed in Japan

Diabetics, listen up! Scientists in Japan’s Tokyo U. have developed a new glucose monitor, an implant which glows when exposed to high glucose levels. When compared to it’s previous iterations it is said that this has an improvement in both stability and accuracy, as well as being only 1 mm thick and requiring no oxygen to operate. In lab testing indicates the tech to work in mice for 140 days at a time!

So your days of stabbing and testing may soon be over, let me know what you think about it in the comments!

I call this one Mimiko. Means "glowing ear"

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section below, or by email at technical.confessions@gmail.com, on Facebook as Technical Confessions, or on twitter @techconfessions.

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See Ya Next Time!

fusionGarage’s GridOS Seems to Impress Even Skeptic’s

Hey all, I’d like to apologize for my absence yesterday, However I dug up a real goodie for today.

It's called Grid, and you ask me, it's here to stay.

Grid is a mobile OS based on Android, developed by fusionGarage . It runs Android apps, came from Android code, but it’s not android…

There are obvious differences from the popular mobile OS, even just looking at the lock screen. Compare, on Android’s tablet UI you are presented with a small circle and a clock, to unlock you simply move the circle in any direction a small amount and the device unlocks.

As you can see simple, too simple for me.

Not that I prefer complex, but simplify too much and you sacrifice security. With fusionGarage’s Grid, you are presented with something simple, yet secure. Something you do near every day.

You sign your name.

Simple, intuitive, secure.

You unlock your Android Powered Device and see this;

A soft, sleek, scrolling customizable home screen.

Easy on the eyes, and well designed. Lots of space. By moving your finger in a left or right direction on the screen, you can reveal many, many screens! In fact sometimes too many. I know even on an Android cell phone I sometimes found myself struggling to find more to fill my home screens. Five in total!

With Grid, that’s not an issue. They’ve removed widgets and just found ways to satisfy you with the experience they provide!

You have clusters.

A cluster is a grouping of applications of a corresponding theme (e.g. Social networking, music, movies)

You move around the home screen in two dimensions not one, from cluster to cluster, and you feel open but not obligated to use all of your grid space. Your home screen is like its own world. It’ll likely fill itself over time, and you even have an interactive map in the top corner to quickly travel to different clusters! Simple as a tap!

Now if you happen to own both the Grid10 AND Grid4 (mobile smart phone running same OS) you can actually sync the state of certain applications (such as a playing movie) on your Grid10, and continue from exactly where you left off on your Grid4! Games, movies and more can be synced and taken anywhere!

Even the apps you know and use on your Android Powered Tablet will run on your Grid1o as well!

I’m not one to rave on and on about one product as you guys know, but I think fusionGarage has its first official fanboy.

There you go. Any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section below, or by email at technical.confessions@gmail.com, on Facebook as Technical Confessions, or on twitter @techconfessions.

Well guys, that’s today’s Technical Confessions. As always, if you like what you read here, please subscribe and ALWAYS comment!

See Ya Next Time!

Ice Cream Sandwich Leaks to The Open Market, And The 10,000 Year Clock

Hey guys, looks like I’m out of big stuff for the moment, so I’ll pop back to my two story format for now.

Google’s upcoming Mobile OS has been leaked out to open waters, with a companion in the good ole black box. No version number yet, and no huge visible upgrades (new colors, new drop down notifications, couple new functions.) This is however still a very early build, so from what I’ve seen so far things will pick up, and fast. Got some pics coming you’re way!

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Augmented Reality, New Reality?

Hey, readers. Digest this! People who think like me, enjoy the thought that augmented reality could be a wave of the future. Right now, I’m here to explain to everyone what augmented reality is, and why it’s a huge leap forward.

Augmented reality is a function of essentially any device with a camera (assuming it has the processing power, or connects to something that does.) What it does? Well it changes the world… Digitally. Augmented reality is any program that takes what you see, and alters it! adding information, directions, toys, mimicry, anything that isn’t there in real life can be added.and what is there in real life can be altered!

Let me show you, here we have a video of a man interacting with a digital 3D video of himself… ON HIS DESK! This works on a simple principle. Record, Program, Play. Record the video, Program your device to detect a marker (a small card or paper with distinct shapes and colors), then have the device play the video on top of the camera’s view where it sees the maker! It’s a simple overlay (not to say it’s easy to do!) The only problem, you need the marker to use the software. More advanced programming can allow for more advanced features, like interaction!

Interaction was the second key step in augmented reality becoming our new reality! This is the EyePet from Sony’s PSP developers. A game on a mobile platform, the EyePet is interactive via the PSP’s mic, buttons, and even real world items (i.e. the swing/pencil.) Interaction is a big part of life, and we need to be able to interact with our reality, digital or not. But even at this stage, as you see in the video, the marker is still needed.

This is where augmented reality seemed to have held for just a bit, but now we have this (sorry, it’s in japanese.) What you see here is a Sony developed augmented reality called SmartAR… It works without markers! It’s early in development, but seems smooth enough to use in daily life! The system works on recognition of real world shapes, not marker shapes. This is because it can use high definition technology to find the edges of items such as coffee cups, books and even the desk you’re reading this from.

Now if you combine Sony’s SmartAR software with these!

DARPA's Hologram shades!

These bad boys will have an integrated HD cam and projective lens. Basically, it’ll take the data given and overlay it inside the lens, so you’ll see it as an overlay to the item you look at! Imagine, you send yourself data to the shades from google maps on your smartphone, and it places a line on the floor for you to follow!  The phone crunches all the numbers, and the glasses show you the way! Impressive yes? This is the future, and after that only time will tell!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section below, or by email at technical.confessions@gmail.com, Facebook at Technical Confessions, or on twitter @techconfessions.

Well guys, that’s today’s Technical Confessions. As always, if you like what you read here, please subscribe and ALWAYS comment!

See Ya Next Time!

Fun And Functional Kinect Hacks

Good morning readers!

Today I’m going to show you a little something.

Microsoft Kinect

This is The Kinect for the Xbox 360. Keep in mind however, that what you are about to see is far from the limit. There are many projects running right now which use a Kinect sensor as the interface. Some that will even change lives.

Take, for example the WiGo project. This is a project directed toward the disabled. If you watch here, you’ll see a man in a wheelchair shopping, something we find rather easy, but he’s having a bit of a rough with it! But keep watching and you see the hack… A shopping cart that follows him wherever he goes! of course it’s not perfect yet, but if it makes it to market, it’ll make life easier for the disabled, and others likewise.

One for fun next? Okay, if you look here you’ll see a FULLY automated flying drone, which see’s in 3D and can actually navigate around obstacles without assistance! hows that for cool?

What’s next? Monkey see monkey do?

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section below, or by email at technical.confessions@gmail.com or twitter @techconfessions

There you have it! Today’s Technical Confessions. As always, if you like what you read here, please subscribe and ALWAYS comment!

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4.5 Million FPS & Oxygen In Space, Still No Teleporters

Europe today leading the way in two fields! One being high speed video, the other, well you see. I will, However say it’s huge!

This is the closest I've seen to what is expected here!

We’ve all see those really cool looking high speed camera shots of balloons popping and whatnot, yes? If not, Here is a beautiul video of a soap bubble at 10,000 frames per second (FPS.)

You can see quite clearly every detail of the bubbles regression back to it’s soapy origin. However what if you wanted to watch light move? 10,000 FPS wouldn’t cut it. That’s why European scientists are building a camera with a speed so fast it will catch events at 4.5 Million FPS and attaching it to a microscope. To get a look at things we’ve yet to see in so many smaller than sight things. The camera will receive some of it’s power from an incredibly fast flash, that will pelt its microscopic targets with ultra-bright X-rays. the flash itself will last only two femtoseconds, or two quadrillionths of a second. For context, a femtosecond is to a second, what a second is to about 31.7 million years.

Honestly, I cant wait to see this camera in action in 2015! I wish I had a TARDIS.

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Neural Network created at Caltech, Already playing games

Hey guys. Been a bit busy with my side project, missed a post. but in it’s place i give you history in the making.

Basically, looks like a bunch of microscopic string.

Caltech is making history today by creating a primitive form of a brain, called a !neural net! A reactive network made of DNA strands, basically a collection of neurons arranged to fire off when stimulated.

A team led by Lulu Qian, Strung together many DNA strands to create rudimentary bio-mechanical circuitry and by using the four bases of our genetic code in specific sequences, they were able to program a different response based on various inputs.

For a proof of  success they quizzed the primitive brain with a game of 20 questions. the circuit nailed it, every time!

Check out the PR next page!

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Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet

 

So, this is the ThinkPad Tablet, Pretty and Practical

Lenovo finally has a release date for it’s upcoming IdeaPad Android tablet. Sporting Honeycomb, a full file explorer, fullsize USB port, and encryption!

So why are everyone’s panties in a bunch about how this slim, slick piece of machinery looks? For one, it looks great, and for two WHO CARES? It’s a business tablet! You can doc edit through Google docs, runs a secure, stable OS and has a sick set of hardware!

Anyway, Lenovo’s ThinkPad Tablet will finally hit retailers’ shelves on August 23rd.

Sources are listed: Engadget, Lenovo

Sadly, a slow news day today… But I’ll be back tomorrow with everything I can find

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section below, or by email at technical.confessions@gmail.com or twitter @techconfessions

Well guys, that’s today’s Technical Confessions. As always, if you like what you read here, please subscribe and ALWAYS comment!

See Ya Next Time!