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Amazon launches eco-friendly Aware products as part of its climate promise
Amazon is trying to boost its green credentials by launching its eco-friendly Aware products line.
Tobii uses PC cameras to keep people from peeking at your screen (updated)
Tobii is putting its camera technology to work in a very practical way: it's making your day-to-day computing just that much more private and, ideally, more personal. A new version of its Aware software uses your PC's Windows Hello-capable camera to, among other things, blur and lock your screen when you're not looking. You won't have to worry that someone will peep a confidential email when you step away from your computer for a few minutes. The screen can automatically dim when you walk away, too, so you won't feel quite so guilty about wasting power.
Nest Cams can automatically detect your doors
Nest is improving both its apps and its camera smarts. An update to both iOS and Android apps (if your phones and tablets are on the latest versions) focuses on notifications, with Nest Aware subscribers getting the bulk of the benefits. Over the next few weeks, Aware customers will see automatic door detection appear on both their indoor and outdoor Nest Cam feeds. The cameras will attempt to recognize motion patterns over time, feeding the data into deep learning algorithms to make it all automated, automatically creating "activity zones" around doors it picks up. The cameras can then send you notifications when there's movement in that area. You'll also be able to redraw activity zones if your camera detects something different -- or if there's multiple doors.
Aware launches A-View netbook with detachable screen, for $150?
Details are a bit light on this one, but Taiwan's Aware Electronics looks to have taken advantage of the now-happening Global Sources trade show to introduce a new netbook with a fairly significant surprise up its sleeve: a detachable screen. Other than that, about the only thing known about the netbook is that it'll come equipped with just 512MB of RAM, an 8GB SSD, and your choice of Windows or Linux for an OS. The real kicker, however, is the price, which will supposedly be just $150. That would seem to be at least somewhat feasible for the emerging markets that Aware is targeting with the device, though it seems to be pretty unlikely that it'll be selling for that price 'round here anytime soon.[Via GadgetMix]
Adobe demos Photoshop CS4's content-aware scaling
In a QuickTime screencast, Adobe's Russell Brown demonstrates content-aware scaling, a feature of Photoshop CS4, due to be released this month. A lower-resolution YouTube demo from Lynda.com is available here, if you don't want to download a huge QuickTime movie. The content is different, but you'll get the idea. Adobe licensed an algorithm that senses "dead" areas in photos, and resizes the image to avoid squashing or stretching every object. In the video, Brown demonstrates resizing an image of four golfers, interactively removing space between and around the golfers, but leaving the golfers' proportions correct. He also demonstrates resizing a Volkswagen bus, making it a more "economical" size, but automatically keeping the wheels round. For those looking for a compelling reason to upgrade to Photoshop CS4, this might be it. If not, what is? Let us know by leaving a comment. [Via Swissmiss and Michael Sippey.]
Aware Electronics shows off A-Pad convertible netbook
As you're no doubt all too well aware, there's certainly no shortage of netbook options out there these days, but the number of convertible netbooks is considerably more limited -- a situation that little known Aware Electronics now looks set to somewhat rectify. It's apparently now set to jump into the game with this 7-inch number, which packs an Aday5G 800MHz X86 processor (all bets are off on that one), 4GB of NAND Flash, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth (with optional 3G and GPS), an integrated webcam, dual USB ports, an SD card slot, and the LINOS Linux distribution for an OS. Nothing particularly standout there, but Aware is promising that this one'll sell for $300 when it launches in two months, which certainly evens things out -- assuming that you can actually get one for that price.
All the World's a Stage: A good roleplayer is a good person first
All the World's a Stage is a source for roleplaying ideas, commentary, and discussions. It is published every Sunday evening.Gamers, and citizens of the Internet in general, are not known for being very sociable people. To me, it's always been a big mystery why John Gabriel's GIF Theory seems so apt for so many of us. It's hard for me to fathom why people enjoy acting rude, crude, or unpleasantly in any situation. I hear them telling me "because it's fun!" but personally I can't imagine getting any kicks out of it.The roleplaying community is one of those few online spaces where things actually seem a bit different, however. Many people are not roleplayers at all, but they join up on RP servers just because roleplayers care about things like grammar and seem to be more polite in general. Since roleplaying is an inherently cooperative activity, people who want to roleplay first have to be willing to communicate nicely with others. There are, of course, players on RP realms with whom real communication seems impossible, but those people usually aren't actually roleplayers to begin with. They get about 10 seconds of attention before most roleplayers start ignoring them completely.To be a good roleplayer, one must first be a good person. The qualities of character that open doors of friendship and cooperation in real life are the same qualities that will help make roleplaying a positive and rewarding experience for you in WoW. Even if one wants to play an evil character, one must do it in such a way that others can tell you're actually a really nice and caring player behind the evil mask. Sometimes it's also handy to remind oneself how not to act like that proverbial Internet Fudgewad. All the World's a Stage is your weekly source of roleplaying tips and helpful ideas that many players can benefit from. Be sure to read on below, follow the 10 commandments of roleplaying, and avoid acting like Mary Sue in order to assure surefire protection from the evil voice of Internet Fudgewaddiness within us all.
iRobot adds swank mapping kit to PackBot
iRobot has unleashed yet another semi-autonomous robot ready to take on whatever the battlefield throws at it, but this one's got a much better feel of where it's headed. The PackBot with Mapping Kit ups the ante by "creating a real-time two-dimensional structural map for the soldier while on the move in theater," essentially enabling the operator (and his / her squad) to see what's just ahead without having to slip into potentially dangerous scenarios to find out. Apparently, the kit utilizes an array of sensors and artificial intelligence to relay the structural map while "simultaneously detecting and avoiding obstacles in its path." Heck, let's just strap a railgun on this thing and let the soldier kick back at the base.[Thanks, Jonas]Read - Press releaseRead - PackBot with Mapping Kit homepage
Students design socially-activated phones
While the Smellophone will certainly get you one step closer to joining the social via your mobile, students at the University of Dundee are taking social activation to new heights with its lineup of prototype phones. Similar to sensor-laden gear that sends out a variety of feedbacks when a specified event occurs nearby, the six phones that were created by second year students from the College of Art, Science and Engineering's product design course actually supported "intimacy and sensuality" along with collaborative music making. Two particularly moving devices were the Aware (pictured), which reportedly "sends a tingle down your back if a friend is nearby," and the Boom Tube, which "allows people to make music together." Who knew customized ringtones would lead us to this?