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Apple’s WWDC 2014 – What To Expect

0
10 years
by in FastNews, Recent Posts, TechSpots

Every year, the tech world explodes with a gigantic amount of rumors and speculations and concepts of what might come out of this years WWDC. Apple’s big developer conference always brings something surprising and amazing to the table, despite all the attention it’s getting. Last year, iOS 7 was announced, the biggest change to iOS ever. That one change boosted along the flat design movement, and the expectations are high for what will happen this year. Of course, another complete redesign probably won’t happen, as it’s to soon to throw another curveball that the industry, so what changes they actually did do to warrant the title of iOS 8 is still a mystery.

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Now, before I start, I want to warn you of something. Don’t kill the messenger, but there is a tiny, tiny amount of information about any of Apple’s software updates, which will reportedly feature in this year’s WWDC. Apple is known for their incredibly strict ruling about these kinds of things, so correct leaks are very rare. But, there is a general idea of what will come out, so I make what I can with what’s out there.

iOS 8

For instance, something that we are sure that will come out is iOS 8. Pictures of a big “8” banner, with a watery background, were taken at the site of the conference in the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. As I said earlier, it’s way to early to redesign the system again, so the changes made will most likely by new features and improved specs.

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Speaking of new features, a pretty solid rumor has been going around about Apple’s delve into the health and fitness market, Healthbook. In a article by 9to5Mac, Healthbook was reported to have many functional abilities, such as heart rate, nutrition, blood sugar level and steps taken monitors. Because the iPhone M7 chip isn’t really capable of collecting all that information, (though a new chip they introduce theoretically could) it is assumed that Healthbook will be a hub for many other third-party applications and products.

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Besides that, there are some other smaller rumored features, such as iTunes Radio getting it’s own app, a Siri upgrade, a music recognition app in partnership with Shazam and a hinted at new mobile payment system. Other than the rumors that I’ve mentioned so far, Apple has kept it’s release pretty watertight. There are so many possibilities in this release, new features that could be added, it’s just the way Apple wanted it. A surprise to blow your brains out.

OS X 10.10

Along with iOS 8, we know that OS X 10.10 will also be released, in the same way we know iOS 8: a big “X” banner. Though unlike iOS 8, where the water backround doesn’t matter, OS X banners tend to relate to the name of the system. This year, the backround was of El Capitan, a gigantic rock formation in Yosemite, indicating OS X Yosemite or OS X El Cap.

Because of the last WWDC’s iOS overhaul, it’s expected that this year the OS X UI and design will get the attention. Most likely, the still slightly textured and skeumorphic OS X will look more like the flat iOS 7. Also, some of Apple’s own music and photo apps might get a redesign to match the overall flat design, but there is incredibly little known about OS X 10.10.

iWatch

I’m sorry to burst your bubble, Apple fans, but it’s looking like the hotly anticipated iWatch will not be released this WWDC. First of all, the WWDC is historically used for software, not hardware updates. Also, sources familiar with Apple’s general plans were reported to say that they will most likely not release the iWatch, just adding on to the already pessimistic attitude surrounding the release of the iWatch.

iwatch-concept

An iWatch Concept

Even though the whole media industry is probably overdoing this whole thing, nobody can doubt the importance and excitement surrounding this release. After the software is sent out to the millions of developers out there, eager to get their hands on the new features and capabilities. The whole next year in tech may change drastically depending on what comes out of tomorrow’s keynote speech. On a completely separate note, make sure to check back here for the official Fast Forward WWDC 2014 keynote speech live blog at 10:00 to 12:00 AM PT!

TOTW: Solar Roadways Raise 1.6 Million On Indiegogo

0
10 years
by in Recent Posts, TOTWs

In the last few weeks, one couple, Scott and Julie Brusaw, from Sage, Idaho were getting a lot of press for their ingenious idea and video. Their idea and company, Solar Roadways, is basically their own way to help the world in our increasingly difficult struggle against Global Warming. The basic idea is that Solar Roadways wants to replace every paved road, parking lot, playground, school, highway and sidewalks on the planet with their own special solar roadways. These roadways aren’t poured like cements, it’s just a bunch of thick, expensive hexagonal solar panels built to withstand the weight of cars and people that you have to lay down one by one. A long, arduous process. Still, these panels pay for themselves, since after all, they are solar panels.


Along with the awesome solar part, there are other perks of switching to solar roadways. For instance, a set of multicolored LEDs are embedded into the panels, allowing for street lines, parking lot lines, obstacle warnings and even the pressure of the steps of wild animals in the road will be brightly displayed at night, which will definitely stop some accidents and keep the world more organized. But, wait, you have to pay for the batteries or electricity to charge those LEDs, right? Nope! Solar panels!

And that’s not all, folks! For any of you who live in cold, snowy places such as Russia, Michigan and Antarctica, this will be good news for you. Using the solar energy it harvests, the panels and heat up and completely melt the snow right off the road, leaving it safe for cars and bikes. No more days snowed in.

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A test that Solar Roadways conducted. One side used the heating, one didn’t.

Now, this sounds hunky-dory and all, but these things are not cheap. So, just to get started, Solar Roadways put out an Indiegogo campaign with a hopeful goal of 1 million. Luckily, the internet is full of forward thinking, generous people, and Solar Roadways has raised 1,646,456 dollars, already breaking the record for the highest amount raised and most people backed, previously set by the Nikola Tesla Museum at 1.3 million. This alone is astounding news for the Brusaws, but the money will only keep rolling in, as they still have 22 days left in their funding period.

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A concept of what Solar Roadways could look like in the future.

Not only is solar roadways a more safe alternative than average concrete, but having microchips and LEDs in the roads will open up a infinity amount of possibilities. Who knows? Using the pressure sensors, the chips could talk to automotos cars, adding another layer of protection for any of you doubters. If the energy from the roads will be public, everybody could potentially have an electric car. The company even says that it can cut the greenhouse gas levels by %75. Were all talking about how big of a deal Global Warming is, with report after report saying how well all be flooded in 100 years, but nobody is really doing something about it. Solar Roadways amazing project and idea, and hopefully they will get enough funding to produce it all over the world.

Top 3 Videos Of The Week

0
10 years
by in Videos Of The Week

Here are the top 3 tech videos of this week:

#1. Solar FREAKIN’ Roadways

Solar FREAKIN’ Roadways is a quirky, funny yet at the same time very serious video promoting a great and innovative Indiegogo campaign for, you guessed it, solar roadways. These roadways are relatively small tiles, that yes, do generate energy using the sun, and with a great quantity of it, will pay for itself and overall help the world, but the problem is the very hard and expensive manufacturing process. The materials and solar panels do work, they just need your money to get it up and running. This great video highlights all that and more about the plan, and after all, it’s solar FREAKIN’ roadways! How awesome is that!

 #2. moon hoax not

Beside for the unprofessional and grammatically incorrect title, this is a depth video on the conspiracy theories about the Apollo 11 moon landing, and the many, many many ways it isn’t possible is. From the technology needed to make the hoax to the video of the moon landing itself, this video will change the minds even the most paranoid conspiracists. As it says in the video, we weren’t there, so we don’t know for sure that it was really, but after watching this, I would be willing to bet my life on it.

#3: TV Globo Opening F1 GP Brasil 2013 Directors Cut

As a promotion for the Brasil Globo F1 Cup, (as the title states) this short but creative animated video documents the history of F1 facing using a kid’s racing toy cars, which take turns transforming into new generation cars. Each time a car transforms, it jumps ahead of the other one, just to find the other car had transformed into an even better car, and so on. Although it is short, the animation and idea was very cool and unique.

AOTW: Piano Tiles – Simple, Yet Addicting

0
10 years
by in AOTWs

After a while, most mobile games get old. You think, “Oh, this is really cool! I will play this for at least a year!” and then just forget about it after 2 weeks, maybe even deleting it because of lack of space. This is the unfortunate life of the average game. But there are some, the few and the far, that stick with you no matter how long you play it. These games build up a legend, with big names such as Angry Birds, Candy Crush, Badland and others. And I now have one more game to add to that list. And it’s called Piano Tiles.

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Piano Tiles rides the app fad wave perfectly. Starting with Flappy Bird, many quick, unprofessional and easy to make games have been rising to the top of the App store free list, with games such as Stay In Line and Make It Rain. Piano Tiles is one of these games. The game engine is really, really simple. The starting screen (on classic mode) consists of 4 rows of rectangular blocks, with more and more rows on top of that. In each row, there is one black rectangle. Basically, you have to click on the black block. Over and over again. As fast as you can.

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The goal of the game depends on the mode you are playing in. In classic mode (my favorite), you have to get 50 as fast as you can. In Arcade, you have to keep up with the gradually speeding up blocks. There are five modes in total with Classic, Arcade, Zen, Rush and Relay. It all makes for a great and, yes, extremely addicting game. It is one of those games where, even when you get your high score, you think, “Phht, I can do better than that.” And then you play it again.

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In the past month, Piano Tiles has been one of my favorite games. It’s not one of those time suckers like Clash Of Clans where you can’t stop for half an hour without ruining everything you’ve done. You can play it in a really short time span, and if you are cut off and have to stop in the middle of the game, who cares. The whole game only takes 10 seconds anyway. And I have to say, even though it is really simple, they really pulled it off. The playing experience is great, and the seamlessness between tapping the rectangles makes for great, quick play.

And yes, I really do play the game. To prove it, here are my top scores for Classic and Arcade. Comment if you can beat it.

Classic(50) – 7.464

Classic(25) – 3.767

Arcade(regular) – 257

Arcade(fast) – 156

TOTW: OutRunner Robot Easily Beat The Legged Land Speed Record

0
10 years
by in TOTWs

Robotics, especially humanoid, walking and speed robots has been advancing at a rapid pace in the last few years. For instance, the Boston Dynamics robot Cheetah recently broke the tethered robot land speed record, with around 16 miles per hour. This amazing robot even attracted Google’s attention, and keeping with the trend, Google went and quickly acquired the robotics company. Another example of a robot making headlines is Honda’s Asimo robot, claiming to be the most advanced humanoid robot ever. All these robots display new and innovative ideas, and these ideas, if executed correctly, is what makes robotics interesting and exciting.

Kickstarter has always been a harbor for innovative and new ideas, launching great companies such as Pebble, it is only logical that once in a while these to media would combine. And they did in OutRunner.

OutRunner is a completely new design of running robot, hoping to be the fastest in the world. The design consists of a center block, which contains all the mechanical and computing electronics. Branching out from that on both sides are 3 legs, all facing upward(and downwards) like a windmill. These legs alternate at a rapid rate while running, propelling the lightweight machine forward. The OutRunner team based this design off of a hum running, so that the alternate legs propel the robot at the correct time.

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Currently, OutRunner has made 43,000 out of their needed and pledged 150,000. They really should have a problem though, because of the significance of the robot. Just during testing, not even with the finalized robot, the OutRunner beat both untethered and treadmill running robot land speed records, with  25 mph untethered and 45 mph on a treadmill. For $299, you will receive a OutRunner Core, the basic OutRunner unit. This version, unlike the older iterations, has three legs on each side, and can be easily controlled using a simple controller. In another video on their Kickstarter page, they show that it can navigate slight variations in terrains, such as gravel, slow inclines and rough grass and dirt.

This robot certainly shows something about the future of robotics: there is still things to reinvent and innovate, and there most likely will always be. After all, records are meant to be broken, and with so many creative people striving to break them, it is inevitable that sooner or later, they will be broken. This robot is a great example of that, and also how amazing products and ideas still need to be funded. Everything does. Props to the OutRunner team to making such as new a creative robot, and hopefully they will get all the funding they need.

 

Top 3 Videos Of The Week

0
10 years
by in Uncategorized

Last week, I wrote an article about the top 3 videos of last week, featuring Chalk Warfare. Since there are still so many videos out there, I thought I would do it again. Here they are:

#1. How To Survive A Robot Uprising (Robopocalypse)

Another great Epipheo video comes in first this week, this time highlighting what would happen and how to fight back when the upcoming robot uprising (robopocalypse) finally gets here. Amusing and great graphics accompany Daniel H Wilson, who is the author of many robot based best-sellers, through a educational and potentially lifesaving video.

#2. A Lovely Sunny Day


This charming video starring Bert (yes, from Sesame Street) and Zachary Levi is basically a fun way of saying to the whole population, “YOU’RE ADDICTED TO TECHNOLOGY!”, which is probably true. Along with a catchy song, this video is sure to atleast get a couple people out and about. Unfortunately, unlike Zach and Bert, I probably would miss my little screen.

#3. Humans VS Robots: Table Tennis

We know that sooner or later, robots will be better than us a pretty much everything. Skills such as speed, hand-eye coordination and fast thinking (such as sneaking up on somebody and throwing a water balloon at them) all are motor controls that we used to think were only human. Now, we know that’s not true. But have we gotten to the point that robots are better than us? This video shows what happened when the world class table tennis player Tim Boll was matched up against the Kuka KR Agilus, the fastest robot on earth.

FastNews: Anyone Can Now Buy Google Glass

0
10 years
by in FastNews

Google Glass has been the talk of the town in the technology world since the announcement of it way back in June of 2013 at the Google I/O. Google Glass pretty much started the wearable wave, and was the inspiration for many smaller startups such as Recon Jet and others. Just the idea of having a always accessible computer on your face was astonishing in itself, not even taking into account the drawbacks. For instance, one of the biggest setbacks for many people is the design itself. Many internet-goers have maing to very clear how nerdy and uncool Glass looked. It was rumored that Google were designing complimentary regular glasses that were custom made to fit Glass, and that would be the logical thing to do. That turned out to be true, as we learned today.

Google has come out with 6 different pairs of glasses: 3 frames, 3 shades. The three come in slightly different variations to the main category, and overall this is a big improvement from the geeky design they had previously. But don’t get me wrong, the geeky design is still in the top left corner of the glasses, but the well designed pair of regular glasses certainly dilutes the nerdiness.

One more big change has been made to Google’s Glass project. As of today, you can officially buy Google Glass, if you live in the US. It is still in beta, but they have released the Explorer Program to anyone who wants it. For $1,500. The price is also a setback, and many people will wait until it goes down, which it will eventually. Google hinted at this when they released a one day sale to get into the program a couple months back. The program is still held only in the US, and will undoubtable be later released into other countries. It will be interesting to see what changes they make from now to the final version, and also what the feedback will be from the many new Explorers that will join.

AOTW: The Fourth Dimension App Explains Everything 4D

0
11 years
by in AOTWs, Speculations

The human mind is amazingly complex, able to imagine anything we want in our “minds eye”. You can sort of see it, but the picture is not really complete, blurry and needs a lot of focus to complete. But you know this, you’re human. (hopefully) We can even imagine pictures that don’t exist. Especially that don’t exist. So, it would seem that we would have a fairly easy time imagining a fourth dimension. Like, what is it? I can’t even formulate any examples of guesses of the fourth dimension would look like. Our brains just can’t process this.

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To explain this problem, many people use the popular “Flatland” example. Imagine a place that only lives in 1 dimension. These people can only move up and down on a flat line. That’s it. They’re just points on a line. If you were one of these people, the possibility of going sideways would be impossible. They wouldn’t even know what “sideways would be. Now imagine a 2D world. Flatland. These people are shapes, who only know moving up, down, left and right. If we speculate what it would be like, such as in the 2007 animated movie “flatland”, people could only see lines. But they could move.

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They of course would think of a “3rd dimension” as a dumb theory that nobody would take seriously. It just wouldn’t be possible to them. This is the basis of the story, Flatland – A Romance Of Many Dimensions, by Erwin Abbott, set in Shapeland, or the 2D world. The narrator, named simply “the Square”, guides the reader through this victorian era like place, full of castles and kings. The Square eventually visits “Lineland” and “Spaceland”, the latter of which he couldn’t even imagine beforehand. This great novel was written in 1884, and still holds up logically true today.

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But back to the fourth dimension. There are some ways to imagine the fourth dimension, such as the shape of a tesseract. A tesseract is 4D shape, when translated into a 3D shape looks like a cube inside a cube, with lines connecting the corners. But what does it look like in the fourth dimension? Well, that’s where the app The Fourth Dimension app comes in. This app shows you the answer to this and more is an interactive and animated page by page story. The app thoroughly explains everything about the fourth dimension, and the whole thing takes about 10-15 minutes to complete, though totally worth it. With sprinkles of humor throughout, going through The Fourth Dimension app is a great learning and entertaining experience.

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Top 3 Videos Of The Week

0
11 years
by in Videos Of The Week

There are tons of videos out there on the web, utilizing pretty much every different aspect of technology: VFX, augmented reality, robotics, animation, smartphones, everything. Unfortunately, there is a enormous amount of technological videos out there, way too many to go through in one day, so I have brought together the top three videos for this week. And yes, there will be one next week. Here they are:

#1: Chalk Warfare 3.0

Chalk Warfare is a brilliantly made video about a group of people playing a war game, using only chalk to draw on their surroundings. Once they draw, their drawings come to life, creating weapons from bows and arrows to shotguns, and from the Halo energy sword to a full on Iron Man suit. Directed and edited by 17 year old Sam Wickert and Eric Leigh, the whole Chalk Warfare series (3 videos) is a great example of creative usage of VFX programs and Photoshop. 

#2 What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains

This great Epipheo video is about everything to do with the internet, and how our incredible dedication to our computers will affect our brains. The video goes way back to the dinosaur/caveman age to discuss why we like and are really internationally addicted to out computers, maybe even enough to in the future to give up our humanity. Along with the great content, the video is animated in a seamless way, creating a great watcher experience.

#3: Robot Band Squarepusher × Z-MACHINES

Squarepusher x Z-MACHINES is a video documenting what happened when Squarepusher (a digital music artist) teamed up with the robotic band Z-MACHINES. Z-Machines is a completely robotic band, consisting of a drummer playing 22 actual acoustic drums, and a 78-fingered guitarist, playing an actual electric guitar. Since these robots can move much faster than the average human, all the instruments (especially the drums) sounded amazing, and much more clean and consistant. (as you would expect from a robot) Add in great camera work, and you get a great video.

TechSpot: Shaq-Fu is Back

0
11 years
by in TechSpots, Uncategorized

Back in 1994, EA and a couple other game developing companies decided to make a game drawing from the insane popularity of the basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, commonly known as Shaq. That’s how Shaq-Fu was born, and to be honest, it was a complete flop. Called the worst game ever. By the makers of the game itself. There is even a website out there called Shaqfu.com which is dedicated to collecting and destorying all copies of the original Shaq-Fu and stopping the production of the new one. 

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That’s right. Shaq-Fu is back. After 20 years since EA’s disastrous release of the game, Big Deez Production decided to team up with Shaq to bring it back. Supposedly, they had gone through many other Shaq themed games, such as Shaqman, O’Neal Of Fortune and Shaq To The Future, but ended up picking Shaq-Fu. This may seem like a bad (or at least misguided) choice, but Shaq and Big Deez seem set on recreating a better game and clearing Shaq’s name in the gaming community. On of their slogans is ” This time we won’t FU it up.”, poking fun at their previous failure.

Shaq-Fu is basically a fighter/beat-em-up type game. It is Shaq against some evil looking enemies, with your health bar at the top right and the enemy’s in the top right. With modern technology (such as 3D characters and better visual effects), if they do it right, the game could actually be good. So far, what they have put out looks cool. I mean look at this. Shaq looks like the Hulk. No wonder he’s funding this. Who, with the money, wouldn’t fund a game about themselves.

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Since Shaq is incredibly wealthy, he could easily pay for this game all by himself, with extra money to spare for his custom size 23 shoes, but they want to bring it to the public and show potential investors that they have the public interest. So Big Deez put it on Indiegogo, and I have to admit, they have some pretty sweet “perks”. For instance, for only $150, a motion capture artist will make a custom move based off of a video of yourself performing you move, or you can make a voice over for one of the characters. For 400, Shaq-Fu artists will create you likeness into a Shaq-Fu style character. Some of the rewards are ridiculous, though, like the $35,000 perk where Shaq will DJ your party. And someone payed for it.

The whole game is a big maybe. After the flop of the original game, it might be hard to convince people that this game is much better than it’s predecessor. The goal of Big Deez is “to build a game that would kick ass even without Shaq.” This wouldn’t really work, unless they got another celebrity to fund it, but well just have to wait until the release to see what they do and the quality of the game they create.

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