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Dutch cyclists can ride over a 3D-printed bridge
A town called Gemert in the Netherlands just became home to the first 3D-printed cycling bridge ever. It took its creators at Eindhoven University three months and 800 layers to complete the 26-foot-long bridge, but now it's open and ready to support hundreds of cyclists a day. The researchers had to develop a new 3D printing technique that uses steel reinforcement cables to create pre-stressed concrete. Once they were done laying out all its layers, they tested the bridge by placing a five-ton weight on top of it. Their efforts paid off: while they'll surely improve the method even more, they believe they're now capable of using the technique to build even bigger structures.
Mixed reality comes to your iPhone thanks to the Bridge headset
There's something more than a little magical about seeing the world in front of you being devastated by dragons or augmented with arrows pointing you to your next meeting. Alas, while mixing realities like that with our smartphones is already possible, the tech still is a long way off from reaching its potential — just look at early, disappointing efforts like Lenovo's enormous Tango phone. Luckily, startups are chasing the mixed reality dream too, including one — Occipital — that has a solid track record of solving the tricky problems that pop up when blurring boundaries between worlds. That's why the team's new mixed reality, the Bridge, seems so impressive right out of the gate.
Philips Hue now responds to your Siri commands
One of the frustrations of choosing an Internet of Things device is finding one that plays well with the other smart appliances in your home. Philips' Hue lighting platform is already pretty extensible, but today it's finally gained support for another big partner: Apple. With its new Homekit-enabled bridge, Philips will let you control your lighting via Siri (and supporting third-party apps), whether your bulbs are old or new.
Microsoft has iOS devs building the 'bridge' for Windows 10 apps
It's no secret -- even with its fast start, Microsoft needs more apps on Windows 10, across PCs, tablets and phones. Many of the most popular ones are already built for Android, iOS or even older versions of Windows, but supporting another platform can be tricky. To solve that problem, in April Microsoft announced "Windows Bridge" tools to make it easy for those developers to reuse already written code in new Windows apps. Now it's ready to live up to that promise, and is releasing an early look at the bridge for iOS today. More importantly, it's even opening up the source code (Github) for the Bridge tool itself so the people who will use it can help make it better. If you'd rather use apps than make them, then this doesn't necessarily mean you'll see ported over iPad or Android apps simply running on your PC, just that developers won't have to change so much of the stuff in the background to make them work.
This origami-inspired emergency bridge accordions into shape
Eat your heart out, GI Joe Bridge Layer. A team from the Graduate School of Engineering in Hiroshima University has developed a temporary and portable bridge design that unfolds itself like an accordion across damaged or missing spans. It's being touted as the "fastest, largest, strongest and lightest" expanding bridge on Earth.
San Francisco's Bay Bridge keeps its computer-controlled lights
The 25,000 computer-driven LED lights on San Francisco's Bay Bridge were only meant to be part of a two-year art project, but it looks like they'll eventually become a permanent (and frankly, rather pretty) part of the landscape. The non-profit behind the lights, Illuminate the Arts, has raised the $4 million necessary to both cover the costs of new gear and reinstall the lights after they're taken down during cable maintenance. From then on, transportation authority Caltrans will pay the $250,000 a year it takes to keep the illumination running. There will be a period where the bridge will go dark, but it should resume shining in January 2016 -- conveniently, just ahead of the influx of tourists attending Super Bowl 50. Not all San Franciscans are fans of the installation (they argue that it's out of sync with the region), but these LEDs are here to stay. [Image credit: Chris Marra, Flickr]
You can now unplug Sonos kit from the router
Sonos has made a name for itself as a wireless home audio system. The problem is -- up until today -- that you still needed to plug something into the router (one of your speakers, or a "Bridge" device). What's new today? Sonos has come good on its promise, letting you drop that pesky "last cable" -- ignoring power leads, of course -- completely (excluding Sonos 3.1 and 5.1 cinema setups). The update means you can set up your Sonos system on your home WiFi network just like your phone, TV or anything else. Via the mobile app, punch in the credentials, and let all your Sonos speakers sort themselves out. You're still encouraged to use a Bridge if you have multiple devices and want to guarantee a more robust connection between them, though. Which brings us neatly on to "Boost," a new souped-up hub, that Sonos has announced it'll introduce later this year for "the most challenging home WiFi environments" -- paradoxically, that's probably baller-style cribs and basement conversions alike. No word on price for Boost, but depending where how you live, you might not want to chuck that CAT5 just yet. Read in for instructions on testing this with your existing set-up (don't just pull the cable).
HooToo TripMate Elite: A travel jack-of-all-trades
Traveling in the mobile age can be an exercise in trying to pack all of your tech gear so that it's easily accessible during the journey. For short trips, you might be able to get away with as little as a charging cable and an external battery pack for your favorite iOS device. For longer journeys, you might need to carry a MacBook Pro, an iPad, an iPhone, a Wi-Fi hotspot, and more in addition to the aforementioned items. Accessory manufacturer HooToo has just the solution, packing a dual USB wall charger, a 6,000 mAh battery pack, and a combo personal cloud/travel router/Wi-Fi hotspot into one package called the TripMate Elite (US$59.99). Specifications: Dimensions: 3.2 x 3.2 x 1.1 inches (82 x 82 x 28 mm) Weight: 7.15 ounces (203 grams) CPU: Ralink RT5350 Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n, 2.4 GHz, up to 150 Mbps WAN port: RJ-45 Ethernet, 100 Mbps Battery capacity: 6,000 mAh Charging time: Through built-in wall plug, 3.5 hours. Through micro-USB, 8 hours Output: 1 x 5V/1A, 1 x 5V/2A Personal cloud capability can address up to 4TB of storage Design: Not too much to say about the design of the TripMate Elite, which is about the same size and shape as one of the old Apple AirPort Express devices. On one corner is a foldable US wall plug for charging. On top is a single power button and LEDs for battery level, Internet connectivity, and wireless status. The back side is covered with ports -- the two 5V USB ports, an Ethernet jack for connecting to a wired network, and a micro-USB connector if you want to charge the TripMate Elite that way. There's also a reset button on the back. All of this is wrapped in shiny black plastic, the kind that picks up fingerprints way too easily. A small gray felt carrying case is included, not only for protecting the device, but it also does a bang-up job of cleaning off those fingerprints. There's also a flat USB to micro-USB cable for charging the battery pack if you choose not to just plug the TripMate Elite into a wall socket, and a small user manual with instructions. Functionality: As a battery pack and charger, there's not much to say -- you plug the TripMate Elite into a wall socket and charge the battery pack, and you can also connect an iPhone and iPad to the device at the same time for charging. The battery pack will give an iPad Air about 1/3 of a full charge, but can charge an iPhone 5s about 2.5 times. The Personal Cloud feature really attracted my attention as a way to back up photos and video from iPhone or iPad to a USB flash drive or to be able to watch movies or browse photos without taking up a ton of space on my iDevices. It's simple: you just plug a flash drive (or really any USB drive) into the outermost USB port, turn on the device by holding down the power button for three seconds, and the TripMate Elite starts broadcasting. To send files from the USB drive to your iPhone or iPad (or vice-versa), you just need to have an app called HooToo TripMate (free) installed on your device and sign onto the Personal Cloud network with a default password. Unfortunately, for looking at photos the app doesn't work too well. It is obviously a bad port from Android or something -- the app doesn't fit the full screen of the iPhone 5 series, and when you look at photos in landscape view, there's no way to tap on the photo and go to full screen. The controls are always in view. When watching videos, it is possible to get the controls to go away, but I found that streaming was so slow that it was better just to transfer the movie file to my iPhone or iPad, then watch it. So much for storing everything on a USB flash drive. The TripMate Elite works well as a travel router. There are three different modes: Access Point (AP) Mode, in which you turn an Ethernet connection into a shared Wi-Fi connection; Router Mode, where you connect the device to an existing DSL or cable modem to act as a wireless router; and Bridge Mode, where you take an existing Wi-Fi connection and re-broadcast it with a different SSID. Setup is quite easy; it's done from any web browser by pointing at a specific IP address, then using a web front end to make the appropriate setting changes. Conclusion For $60, HooToo's TripMate Elite is priced about $40 less than Apple's travel-friendly AirPort Express, although the latter supplies dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi but doesn't have a battery pack or dual charger built in. While the hardware itself is pretty cool, the HooToo TripMate app leaves a lot to be desired. Use the device as a travel router, battery pack, and charger, and you'll be happy. As for the Personal Cloud capability? Meh. Rating: 2-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible
Incoming Sonos update will liberate your speakers from your router
One of Sonos' big selling points is its wireless functionality. Not only does it mean you can set the hardware up easily, wherever you like, it also keeps your man-den, pool house, or conservatory cable free (power cord aside). One small fly in that ointment is that you need to plug at least one of your Sonos speakers into your router, or buy the firm's "bridge" unit usually at an extra cost. More good news from the firm, then. Apparently that's going to change in the not too distant future. The boffins at Sonos have cooked up a software update to allow all your hardware to create the mesh network it uses for streaming, without the need for plugging anything into the router. You'll soon be able to configure speakers with your smartphone, and once that's done, Robert's your mother's brother. If you live in a huge country pile, or military bunker, you might still need to give the system a leg up, and plug a component in to your router directly, but for the rest of us, it's one less cable to care about. Good times.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Möbius strip bridge, intelligent beehives and the SeaOrbiter
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Apple's new headquarters is perhaps the most hotly anticipated building in the country, and the company just released a new set of images of the spaceship-shaped building. The new renderings provide a detailed look inside the ring-shaped building. Another ambitious proposal could be coming to life: The folks behind a futuristic marine-research vessel known as the SeaOrbiter just launched a crowdfunding campaign. Construction on the knife-shaped vessel is expected to begin next spring. On the gadget front, a pair of engineering students at Duke University has discovered a new way to charge smartphones with WiFi -- and they say the power-harvesting device is even more efficient than a USB charger.
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online Las Vegas recap
It's been a couple of weeks since my last entry, and to be honest, I'm still recovering. The Official Star Trek Convention was an absolute blast. Thousands of Trek fans descended upon the Rio Suites and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, for four solid days to celebrate all things Star Trek. One of those things, of course, was Star Trek Online. Contrary to its showing in 2012, Star Trek Online was the focus of not just one but two complete formal panels this year. The first featured two of the STO devs in a discussion with actress Denise Crosby, who voiced the characters of Empress Sela as well as Lt. Tasha Yar. The second panel was co-hosted by Massively and Trek Radio and featured a panel of STO devs who talked about the game and gave us some great sneak-peeks at Season Eight works in progress!%Gallery-196194%
Leef's Bridge USB flash drive lets you share files between your smartphone and computer
Sharing files between devices using the cloud is fine, but California firm Leef Technology believes it has a more direct approach: a USB key. Aptly named Bridge, the flash drive lets you copy files from any Android 4.0 or higher device with a micro-USB connector, then transfer them to your Mac or PC by popping out the larger end. It's similar to the micro-USB OTG dongles we've seen at Computex earlier this year, despite the difference in design. You can nab the double-ended peripheral in either 16GB ($18) or 32GB ($28) from Amazon or Leef's website (at the source), and a 64GB GB version will be out in July. Who knows -- maybe that'll finally put an end to the cat video and selfie clutter on your cloud service.
Western Digital My Net router leaps to 802.11ac speeds, gets a bridge to keep it company
Western Digital only just broke into the networking field this spring, but it's already settling in as a regular with a quick performance upgrade. The company's fledgling My Net router line is making the leap to bleeding-edge 802.11ac WiFi through the release of the AC1300 (above), which sees the expected boost to a quick 1.3Gbps and supposedly outpaces its rivals with a unique horizontal 3-by-3 antenna layout. Whether or not that lead is real or just marketing bluster, WD isn't as concerned about the symbolic link to its storage brand this time around -- it's relegating any hard drive sharing to two USB 2.0 ports and relies on either the fast wireless or four gigabit Ethernet ports for local media. Going with the AC1300 will carry a typical 802.11ac premium at $190, but there's also a more focused $150 My Net AC Bridge (pictured after the break) for those who just need four or fewer of their Ethernet devices linked over extra-speedy WiFi.
Netgear intros sharing-savvy N750 Premium Edition router, powerline and WiFi adapters for media fans
Netgear is giving its home networking the same sort of tuneup going into the fall that you'd give your car -- not a complete overhaul, but enough to keep it running in top form. Headlining the pack, the N750 Premium Edition router you're looking at above upgrades the original N750 through a better ability to play with others: the dual-band WiFi hotspot's ReadyShare file access expands to the cloud, while its USB support now envelops Apple's AirPrint and Time Machine as well as TiVo Storage. Media sharing mavens also get their own, more specific add-ons. The Powerline Media Extender can pipe audio (and USB printing or storage) over a 200Mbps link, with a major emphasis on AirPlay streaming; the N900 4-port WiFi Adapter is a slightly less exotic, 450Mbps wireless-to-Ethernet bridge for multi-device home theaters. If Netgear's refresh is tempting enough to prompt a trade-up, you can snag the N750 Premium Edition immediately for $120 or wait until September and October for the respective launches of the N900 adapter for $80 and the Powerline Music Extender in its single pack ($99) or dual-device starter kit ($139) editions.
Bang & Olufsen unveils Playmaker wireless audio bridge, makes sure AirPlay and DLNA speak Danish
Bang & Olufsen has been slowly but surely adapting to a wireless world. Its new Playmaker (shown at center) brings that evolution to audio: with the receiver linked up, any AirPlay- or DLNA-friendly audio device can beam its sound to a set of the Danish firm's designer speakers. Wireless audio bridging isn't anything new by itself -- we know at least one rival that might say it's old hat -- but the company is promising clean and powerful sound through a built-in DAC that can drive even the beefiest of BeoLabs, like the 2,500-watt BeoLab 5. We can look forward to the Playmaker reaching stores before the end of the month, but we'll pay a premium for all that theoretical power. The bridge by itself costs $425, while a special bundle with BeoLab 3 speakers will set listeners back an eyewatering (if ear-melting) $4,310.
Sonos Sub review
More Info Sonos' wireless Sub adds extra thump to your Sonos system for $700 (ears-on) Sonos Play:3 review Sonos S5 ears-on review: a premium iPod speaker dock without the dock Every audio product Sonos has delivered so far has worked on the assumption that you would never need anything else after you bought it, whether it's linking to a sound system you already owned or an all-in-one system that Sonos built itself, like the Play:3 or Play:5 (born as the S5). The newly released Sub, by its nature, is entirely dependent on having one of the two Play speakers, and shows the company is becoming more of a traditional audio brand with a full ecosystem. A primary Sonos component can now be just the first step in a growing collection that improves as you expand it -- much as you'd buy a basic stereo, then better speakers, then more at a high-end audio shop. The Sub's $699 price certainly catapults any Sonos system into high-end territory, however, and sets some decidedly lofty expectations for how it will perform. We'll find out after the break if the sheer power and a few clever tricks are enough for the Sub to be an essential ingredient of a wireless home audio setup.%Gallery-158435%
Buffalo beats others to the 802.11ac WiFi punch, ships 1.3Gbps router and bridge
As intrigued as we were by the Netgear R6300's high-bandwidth chops, it won't be the one to claim the early 802.11ac WiFi crown with a shipping product. That distinction is instead going to a Buffalo AirStation router and a matching bridge, both of which should be on shelves now. Either can hit the eye-watering 1.3Gbps peak speed of the standard if you get cozy on the 5GHz band -- and if you have a computer or mobile device that recognizes the spec, for that matter. The duo still has a more leisurely paced 2.4GHz, 450Mbps WiFi option as well as a quartet of Ethernet jacks if you prefer your gigabit speeds the old-fashioned way. Both the router and the bridge will set you back $180 each, so there's not much of a penalty versus high-end alternatives to satisfy your need for network speed.
Engadget Giveaway: win a limited edition Sonos Play:3 and ZoneBridge, courtesy of Sonos!
We're not settling down after last weekend's crazy pair of giveaways -- in fact, we're just getting started! When it comes to bragging rights, a solid limited edition product to show off can't be beat, especially when it's a highly coveted Sonos system. New York artist / musician Hisham Bharoocha of Black Dice fame has taken his stenciled styling talents to no more than 150 limited edition Sonos Play:3 systems (some of which can be seen below), and one of them may end up in your hands alongside a ZoneBridge thrown in for good measure. You know the drill -- read the rules, leave a comment below and keep those fingers crossed!
RIM shows off new features for PlayBook 2.0 at DevCon
All eyes are on Amsterdam this morning, as RIM hosts DevCon Europe. Among all the usual avowals about how well things are going are a few nuggets of the new and the noteworthy. One such morsel was a demonstration of new BlackBerry Bridge features. Now, swipes and touches from your BlackBerry handset get translated over to the Playbook, as well as keyboard input. This means you can use your phone much more like a controller, while taking advantage of the PlayBook's generous display. The calendar also gets a healthy dose of social lubricant, showing you info about the people you'll be meeting, and stressing how busy you are by visually emphasising dates when you are busier. Fortunately, PlayBook 2.0 is slated for release this month, so the more eager amongst you shouldn't have to wait long to give it a spin.
BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 hands-on (video)
Highlighting RIM's presence at CES 2012 is the official unveiling of PlayBook OS 2.0. On track for a February arrival, this release will deliver many features that productivity-minded users have pined for since the tablet's arrival. First and foremost, we were given a demo of the PlayBook's new email client and address book. The new software is functional and intuitive, which offers a unified inbox, application integration and ties to social networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn. Also quite nice, the calendar displays both day and agenda views, along with the individuals you'll meet during the day. We also saw a quick demo of the BlackBerry Bridge functionality, which offers integration between the smartphone and tablet. While the PlayBook fell on its face a few times during this bit, we ultimately saw the smartphone successfully push web links and pictures to the tablet for easier viewing. Due to the Bridge hiccups, we noticed the PlayBook took especially long to boot, which RIM states is due to the support for Android apps. We were given a quick demo of this feature as well, and much to the company's relief, this segment went quite flawlessly and without fanfare. Be sure to check the full demonstration just after the break.
