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ICYMI: Spinning synthetic veins and emotion-sensing smartwatch apps
Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers from Vanderbilt University are using commercial cotton candy machines to spin synthetic capillaries. Instead of sugar, the machines spin polymer fibers which are then coated in hydrogel and backed. The heat malts the polymer and hardens the hydrogel which then acts as scaffolding for human cell cultures. We also take a look at an emotion-sensing smartwatch app from MIT. It pairs an iPhone 5S with Samsung's Simband wearable to record and analyze conversational speech, then guess as to the emotion being expressed. And finally, it's TLDR day, where we read you the top headlines of the week that you might have missed while watching American democracy slowly crumble before your eyes. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @engadget or @mskerryd.
Computex's most excessive PC mod is a cotton candy machine
Asia's biggest tech show regularly delivers on the PC case mods. If they're not labors of love courtesy of international case-modders, then it's a company producing the case mods itself. MSI possibly went too far commissioning this blood sugar-baiting monstrosity. PC modder Mike Petereyns was responsible for the MSI "Cotton Candy," made to coincide with the company's 30th anniversary, pairing the state fair diabetes trap with the PC producers' own GFX (GTX780Ti), camouflage motherboard and white liquid cooling system. Oh and someone was making cotton candy for everyone. Which always helps draw a crowd. Elsewhere,there was a vibranium-tinged Marvel tribute. Have a look at that in the gallery below.
ICYMI: Cotton Candy body parts, robotic bartender and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-27934{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-27934, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-27934{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-27934").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Vanderbilt University scientists whipped up some human capillaries by using a cotton candy machine to properly shape channels for the blood vessels. A Kickstarter project is selling a tiny video camera attachment with a flexible cord to aim and drop it into places you normally can't see, like inside a car engine. And the University of Maryland is training a robot to make drinks by watching a human; a process that is far more adorable than you'd first think.
Cotton candy machines help create artificial organs
You may have seen some pretty unusual ways to make artificial organs, but Vanderbilt University might have just topped them all. Its researchers have developed a technique for making the templates of artificial organs using a cotton candy machine -- that's right, the machine whipping up treats at the county fair could effectively save your life. The team discovered that the same centrifugal process that melts sugar into delicious, fluffy strands also turns hydrogel into cell-friendly microfibers that behave like capillaries in the human body.
FXI's Cotton Candy finally starts to ship, hopes your sugar rush remains (video)
Way back at CES, FXI's Cotton Candy was a sweet looking slice of Android and / or Linux mini-PC. Since then, the pendroid club has seen quite a few more join its number. However, if you were one of the faithful that got on-board with FXI's particular take on the form-factor early, then that little box of ARM Cortex A9 joy is finally available to buy. We've received word that pre-orders are now finally ready to be fulfilled, with early buyers getting developer versions. This of course means that you might pay a small price for such eager adoption, with a list of limitations including mixed video playback and streaming support, as well as potential issues with power from USB hosts. That said, we suspect that if you've been able to wait this long, these are small prices to pay, along with the $199 asking price, naturally. Give the source a whirl to get your teeth into one now. [Thanks, Michael]
How it's made: Join us on a tour of the MK802 mini PC factory (video)
Getting to grips with the Android 4.0-toting MK802 mini PC earlier this month just left us wanting more. Luckily, ARMdevices.net recently took a tour of the Shenzhen factory where it's born to bring us a hands-on straight from source. The MK802 is one of a couple of devices we've seen recently, around the size of a USB stick and pre-installed with your favorite flavor of Android. And since its release, even those who aren't keen on frozen desserts have been toying with the little droid. To see a blow-by-blow of how it all fits together, hit up the ten-minute tour after the break, but don't expect Foxconn levels of glamour. As you can see from the painter at the beginning, Health & Safety isn't top of the agenda. [Thanks, Justin]
$74 MK802 PC-on-a-stick beats Cotton Candy to market, has ICS on board
Unless you're lucky enough to live in Scandinavia, you'll have to wait till the end of summer to get your Cotton Candy fix. Aching to nab yourself a computer-on-a-stick before then? If you're willing to step down in specs, the Chinese-made MK802 could be the PC in your pocket. For $74 (versus $199 for the Cotton Candy), this 7-ounce device gives you a 1.5-GHz Allwinner A10 CPU, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and, like the Cotton Candy, Android 4.0. FXI's version, on the other hand, packs a dual-core 1.2-GHz Samsung Exynos processor, and while the MK802 offers an HDMI port, the Cotton Candy includes an HDMI connector. The MK802 is slightly bulkier than its sweetly named competitor (3.5 inches vs. 3.1), but that Android logo on the front does wonders for its design cred. AliExpress.com is currently selling the MK802 with free shipping to the US -- click the source link for a gander.
FXI Cotton Candy ICS-on-a-stick gets May release date, sweetened design
Is that an Ice Cream Sandwich riding shotgun atop your Cotton Candy stick? It may sound like a delicious carnival delight, but munching on this bad boy will send you to the hospital faster than a family pack of deep-fried Oreos. Keeping up the confection theme, FXI has coined the treat in question as Cotton Candy, and we got our first taste of the refresh back in February at Mobile World Congress, where we went hands-on with the bite-size computer-on-a-stick. FXI reps promised a March ship date at that point, but the refreshed model appears to have been worth the wait, with a 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor, quad-core ARM Mali-400MP graphics and support for Android 4.0 and Ubuntu, along with embedded virtualization clients for Windows, Linux and Mac. There's a gig of DRAM on board -- up to 64GB of storage will come in the form of a bring-your-own microSD card. There's a 1080p-ready HDMI port at one end of the 3-inch stick and a USB 2.0 connector on the other side, along with a female micro-USB port for peripheral connectivity. Customers with pre-orders in Scandinavia (FXI is based in Norway) should expect their $199 Cotton Candy devices by the end of the month, while those in the rest of the world (including the US of A) will need to hang tight until the end of the summer. There's a MWC-era hands-on awaiting you just past the break.
Intel enters mini-computer fray with Core i5-powered NUC
The mini-computer game has so far been dominated by upstarts such as FXI and Raspberry Pi, but a big name is getting ready to join the party, too. Intel first demoed its NUC (Next Unit of Computing) at PAX East in April, but details are just hitting the web now. One standout spec is the NUC's 10 x 10-cm (4 x 4-in) form factor, which places it between the Raspberry Pi and Mini-ITX boards in terms of size. Moreover, the NUC packs a Core i3 / Core i5 Sandy Bridge chip with last-gen Intel HD 3000 graphics, and sports Thunderbolt, HDMI and USB 3.0 sockets on the back. There's a heatsink and fan assembly on board, too, and the mini PCIe connectors leave the door open for added functionality. Because it runs an Intel Core i5 CPU instead of the ARM processors found in options such as the Cotton Candy and Raspberry Pi, the NUC promises to be a more powerful mini-desktop. But don't get too excited: Intel envisions it as a component in digital signage instead. Look for Intel's mini-PC at a kiosk near you in the second half of 2012, when it's expected to drop.
Hands-on with FXI's Cotton Candy, now available for pre-order (video)
By now, we hope you're mighty familiar with FXI's Cotton Candy -- the much anticipated pocketable computer that just became available for pre-order. We've previously shown photos of the device running both Ice Cream Sandwich and Ubuntu, but now we're able to bring you a video demonstration that may help you better understand what this tiny beast is all about. At the core of the Cotton Candy system is the Exynos 4210 SoC, which capably pushes 1080p video without batting an eye. As such, FXI hopes the miniature computer will gain traction with consumers who want an unobtrusive (and silent) media center or gaming setup in their home. To this end, the company will include the Polkast app for easy access to content and will also bundle games with the system -- though it's not yet able to share specific titles. Those with a sweet tooth may taste the delights of Cotton Candy in March, which will sell for $199.
FXI's Cotton Candy gets a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich and Ubuntu, we go hands-on
This petite stick of USB-HDMI actually houses a ARM Cortex A9 dual-core processor and is capable of running its own OS. But then, you knew that already, right? So what's new? Well, it's now capable of running both Android Ice Cream Sandwich and we've got Ubuntu running on the show floor. The dongle can connect to these operating systems through the USB connection and while Cotton Candy itself has no internal memory, it can all be stored on micro-SD. There's still the Ubuntu hiccups that are to be expected, but the prototype device still deals out a Firefox browser and the usual Ubuntu niceties. Marvel at Gingerbread-powered Angry Birds on a MacBook, or widescreen Ubuntu and ICS. They're all in our gallery after the break.
FXI's Cotton Candy could turn every screen you own into a cloud client
It's a truth universally acknowledged, that a user in possession of a good number of devices must be in want of a unified way to use them all. As it stands, that mythical interface doesn't exist; but hopefully that's set to change soon. Norway's FXI is heralding a device codenamed Cotton Candy; a USB/ HDMI stick that can connect to nearly anything that's packing a display. Inside the stick is a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 and quad-core ARM Mali-400MP GPU that can handle 1080p video, 802.11 b/g/n WIFi, Bluetooth v2.1 and microSD card storage, expandable up to 64GB. Plug it into a laptop or desktop and you'll be able to use a thin-layer client to access your personal cloud, or via HDMI into a HDTV to be controlled using Bluetooth peripherals, smartphones and tablets. Being able to open "your" desktop on any device means you can conduct presentations, access media content and surf the web without ties. FXI is a new player in the market, but the founder was previously the brains behind Falanx, which created the technology that powers ARM's Mali GPUs. It's working with various manufacturers with the aim of partnering up to get the devices into stores in the second half of next year, the expected cost being under $200 -- although we'd pay more if they threw in a bag of the real, teeth-destroying stuff.