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Amazon brings one-hour Prime Now deliveries to Leeds
Amazon has further extended its Prime Now delivery service to parts of Yorkshire, offering one-hour shipping in Leeds and two-hour in windows Bradford, Wakefield and Huddersfield. It comes just a week after the online retailer launched in Surrey and ensures it now covers many of the UK's biggest cities.
Uber now offers fancier cars for trips in Manchester and Leeds
Sometimes you really want to make a good impression. Uber already offers two luxury transport options in London, UberExec and UberLux, and now the former is available in Manchester and Leeds too. Before now, these cities had access to just two Uber services: Uber X and Uber XL. Both are designed to be as affordable as possible, with Uber X offering a Toyota Prius (or similar) and Uber XL supplying minivans. UberExec, meanwhile, is a premium option that lets you hail a Mercedes E-class, or an alternative but equally stylish vehicle for your next meeting. Uber is currently available in four UK cities -- London, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham -- but a host of others are mentioned in its online job listings, so we suspect it won't be long before the company expands once more.
Uber launches in Leeds, its third UK city
Uber's UK footprint might be small, but it's already come in for some heavy criticism, especially in London. As competitors ready new services in an attempt to leverage more custom, Uber has decided its ready to expand beyond London and Manchester by heading to Yorkshire, or more specifically, Leeds. As of now, city residents will be able to pull out their smartphone to hail an UberX ride (the company's lowest-priced service) to move about the city. Hailo already operates in the area, but only offers traditional taxi pickups, giving Uber the opportunity to steal a march its rivals with its popular private hire service.
Leeds turning telephone boxes into free WiFi kiosks, crowdsource your memories for posterity
Public WiFi projects don't normally involve antique restoration and historical crowd sourcing, but that's exactly what's going on in Leeds. Local telecoms company aql is renovating Giles Gilbert Scott's iconic red telephone boxes in the area, adding solar panels, networking equipment and giving them a blue paint-job. While the boxes will be locked to keep the wireless gear secure, the company has added touch screens to the outside, letting locals make emergency calls and leave messages that share their memories about the area -- a better fate for the hardware than inspiring this portable monstrosity.
New Apple Stores set to open in UK and Germany
We heard earlier this year that Apple was planning to expand its retail business "disproportionately outside the US," and it looks like that plan is being put into motion starting now. In addition to a new Apple Store opening up this Thursday in Leeds, UK, the company has posted job listings for stores opening soon in both Munich and Dusseldorf, in Germany. So there are three stores starting up in Europe, and Apple's expanding in other countries as well -- it now has retail locations in 13 countries around the world, after opening up a store in Turkey last year. And Apple's also expanding inside the US, bringing 20 of its local stores to larger spaces. I live right near the Santa Monica, Calif., Apple Store, and it seems that store was one of those that moved: Apple found a new location right down the street from the original, with a much larger space that's reminiscent of the company's flagship Grand Central Terminal store. The new space features high ceilings and lots of space above tables of course filled with various Apple goodies to buy. Most of the innovation we talk about from Apple comes with its new product releases, but it's clear the company is working hard on innovating in the retail space as well.
Activision enlists former Rockstar bosses to help with new UK studio
Former Rockstar bossmen Mark Washbrook and Mark Lloyd are helping establish Activision's freshly announced UK studio. The studio, based in Leeds, will focus on mobile development and is led by Team17 co-founder Martyn Brown. Brown hopes to eventually have a staff of 40 at Activision Leeds.Washbrook established Rockstar London, which worked on mobile aspects of Manhunt 2 and online features of Max Payne 3. He left Rockstar in February 2011 and worked as game director at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for six months.Lloyd was studio head of Rockstar Lincoln for 12 years, but left in March 2011 to found his own games consulting service, Titanium Consultancy, which has since been voluntarily dismantled.Activision Leeds was established in November, but is just now blipping on public radar. Washbrook and Lloyd could be at Activision Leeds for the long haul or as initial consultants; Activision hasn't clarified.
Leeds researchers tout gel-based batteries as better, safer and cheaper
They're some fairly bold claims, but a team of researchers at the University of Leeds say they've managed to develop a new type of polymer gel that could lead to batteries that are safer, cheaper to manufacture and more flexible than traditional lithium-ion batteries. That last detail could have some particularly interesting consequences, as the researchers say it allows for batteries that can "shaped and bent to fit the geometries of virtually any device." What's more, all of that apparently comes with no compromise in performance, and the team has already licensed the technology to Polystor Energy Corporation, which is now conducting trials to commercialize the battery cells. The only catch is that there's not so much as a hint as to when such batteries might actually be available.
Metamaterials used to focus Terahertz lasers, make them useful
Forget old and busted X-rays, T-rays are the future, man! It was only recently that we were discussing Terahertz lasers and their potential to see through paper, clothes, plastic, flesh, and other materials, but that discourse had to end on the sad note that nobody had managed to make them usable in a practical and economically feasible way. The major hurdle to overcome was the diffusion of Terahertz radiation -- which results in weak, unfocused lasers -- but now researchers from the universities of Harvard and Leeds seem to believe they've managed to do it. Using metamaterials to collimate T-rays into a "tightly bound, high powered beam" will, they claim, permit semiconductor lasers (i.e. the affordable kind) to perform the duties currently set aside for sophisticated machinery costing upwards of $160,000. Harvard has already filed a patent application for this innovation, and if things pan out, we might be seeing body scanners (both for medical and security purposes), manufacturing quality checks, and a bunch of other things using the extra special THz stuff to do their work.
British Library packs its least requested items into new, robot-operated facility in Leeds
The British Library's just taken the wraps off a new facility up in Leeds where they'll now house some lesser used items (things like patent specs and Martin Amis' diner receipts). The new digs are a £26 million (that's about $43 million) building in West Yorkshire controlled by seven robot operators capable of pulling items and taking them to a retrieval area when they've been requested by librarians. Hit the BBC Source link to check out the futuristic system for yourself.
Players to get hands-on time with Star Trek Online at Eurogamer Expo
Some people have already gotten into the closed beta for Star Trek Online, but for the rest of us it's going to be a waiting game. There may be good news for some of our UK-based readers, though. Those in attendance at this week's Eurogamer Expo will get to experience both ship-based action and ground combat firsthand in a Star Trek Online demo Cryptic Studios has set up. According to Eurogamer, Cryptic will allow Expo attendees to fight a fleet of Klingons and follow that up with an away mission on a planet's surface, where they will encounter the "Guardian of Forever." Eurogamer Expo will run October 27-28 in Leeds, and October 30-31 in London. You can check out the full details of this public hands-on of Star Trek Online in the Eurogamer announcement. %Gallery-28615%
Assassin's Creed 2 playable at Eurogamer Expo, major publishers backing show
We're a bit wary of more convention-style events in the already event-filled year, but the Eurogamer Expo this year is promising something we've yet to do at any convention before -- get our hands on Assassin's Creed 2 before its November release. Taking place in both Leeds and London (October 27/28 and 30/31, respectively), attendees will be treated to a smattering of playable titles from a handful of major publishers.Though we might argue that the show could come a bit earlier in the year -- didn't that other convention in October not do so well? -- a chance to play a mess of major holiday releases early sounds perfectly fine to us. Microsoft, Sony, Capcom, EA and a few others will be there, so for our friends across the pond who can't make it all the way to PAX, this seems like your best bet. %Gallery-49869%[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
University of Leeds developing artificial finger for sensory studies
If you were a tad freaked out by a robotic hand clothed in cucumbers, we promise this one's a bit tamer. A team of researchers at the University of Leeds have put forth a proposal to create an "artificial finger" in order to better understand why we react differently to different textures / surfaces. The finger will purportedly be used in testing rigs that "measure variables such as friction and compliance," and when combined with data from "a series of self-report experiments," the team aims to identity relationships between certain surface profiles and emotions. Of course, this kind of analysis would be a marketers dream come true, and let's face it, you know we couldn't resist picking up a Winnie the Pooh DAP that was inexplicably fuzzy.[Via Core77]
Rockstar Leeds refocusing on the next-gen
Will there ever be a San Andreas Story? It seems increasingly less likely. Rockstar Leeds, the talented team behind the first two PSP GTA games and the PSP port of The Warriors is looking to do its own thing, and work on original IPs for the "next gen." Studio head Gordon Hall explained to Develop, "We're going to be branching out further into next-gen - we've done original work on an existing franchise, but now we want to work on new IPs, and are looking at what we can do on Xbox 360 and PS3."However, Leeds isn't done quite yet with the portables. "It's not over for handheld for us - there's more coming there - but our new focus will be on the new formats." Hopefully, we'll see one more incredible project out of Rockstar Leeds for the PSP before they move on to greener (and more powerful) pastures.[Via Joystiq]
HP inkjet printer kicks out environmentally friendly circuit
It's been nearly three years since we first reported on printable circuit boards, but researchers in the UK are still working to hone the process. Leeds University's Seyed Bidoki was recently able to load a "standard Hewlett Packard inkjet printer with a solution of metal salts and water" and print out an actual electronic circuit. The mysterious "silver salt solution" and vitamin C mixture could be used to "pave the way for safer and cheaper electronics manufacturing," and moreover, this cheap and easy alternative should certainly be a hit with the environmentally conscience crowd. This method utilizes a water-soluble base, which differs from the less green solvents used in polymer ink / graphite paste varieties from before, but even individuals working with the project admit that ousting the current regime will be difficult. Still, the crew is pressing forward with this toxin-free approach, and hopes to elicit the help of "industrial jet printers" before long to speed things up.
Regenerative house to grace Greece mountainside
You've got plenty of options when it comes to healing your own body, but patching up your domicile usually requires days of back-breaking labor and gobs of cash to boot. Thankfully, that awful process could be nearing its end, as a £9.5 million ($18.64 million) European Union-funded project sets out to develop self-healing walls for your average home. The idea is to develop "special walls for the house that contain nano polymer particles, which will turn into a liquid when squeezed under pressure, flow into the cracks, and then harden to form a solid material." The technology would prove quite useful in areas where earthquakes are prominent, and in an effort to test things out before shoving it out to contractors everywhere, a swank villa is being erected on a Greece mountainside to collect information. The house's walls will be built from "novel load bearing steel frames and high-strength gypsum board," but more importantly, they will contain a smorgasbord of wireless sensors and RFID tags meant to collect, store, and disseminate critical data regarding "any stresses and vibrations, temperature, humidity, and gas levels." Now, who's the lucky lad(s) that get to call this their home research dwelling?[Via Physorg]
