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Inside the Nike+ Accelerator: Fueling the quantified-self movement
Imagine setting aside three months of your life to pursue a dream. As romantic as the idea may seem, it requires a gut check somewhere along the way. Recently, a handful of entrepreneurs said goodbye to their families and loved ones, and in some cases, flew across the globe for an opportunity to do just that. Some put their budding companies on hold, while others came only with an unwavering belief in their idea. In all, 10 companies converged on the Nike+ Accelerator in Portland, Ore., this past March, each united with the goal of building products that integrate with Nike's line of fitness trackers. It's hard to underestimate the sacrifice, or the opportunity. With less than three weeks to relocate, many had to act quickly. But with a vote of confidence from Nike and its accelerator partner, TechStars, support from a vast network of mentors and industry contacts -- and just as importantly, early access to the Nike+ API -- it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get a head start over the competition in the burgeoning wearables industry. From the moment these entrepreneurs touched ground at PDX, the clock was already running. In just 12 weeks, they'd pitch their products to potential investors at Demo Day -- first in Portland on June 10th, and again in San Francisco on the 20th. It's a lot to accomplish in three months, and certainly unfamiliar territory for Nike as well. But even amidst the breakneck speed, one must hit the pause button and ponder Nike's motivation behind the accelerator. Ten companies were certainly given an upper hand, but can the same be said for Nike itself?
Node gives your iPhone sensory input
Sensor technologies are all the rage right now, and for good reason. As a kid one of my favorite watches was a Casio with a temperature sensor in it, yet my iPhone 5 has to traverse a network of hardware devices to tell me the temperature, and even then the sensor is miles away. If we want our devices to be smarter, they're going to need more sensory input about our surroundings. I interviewed Dr. George Yu, the man behind the Node, a platform for sensory input which happens to work with iOS devices. Today there's news of the Lapka set of sensors for your iPhone, and a few days ago I read news of the SCOUT, a sort of personal medical Tricorder (although nowhere near as powerful as the ones featured in Star Trek). While Lapka looks nice, how many people really need to measure radiation on a regular basis? Also, logging your EM field for the day is great, but what's the practical use? What's been lacking in the past has been a sort of basic utility device with attachments that you can add as needed, all of which enable your iPhone to "see" the world around it. As if the iPhone were compatible with Batman's utility belt. Enter Node, a sort of Wiimote-meets-Tricorder device that's more of a platform than iOS accessory. It's designed to be functional, has high-grade equipment inside and is hacker friendly. Dr. Yu founded Variable Technologies after building a gas sensor for the government which attached to the iPhone. When the product was never brought to market, Yu's passion for tinkering took over and a Kickstarter project launched the first round of Node base units and sensors. While we rarely cover Kickstarter projects because they are often one-off products which often fall short of expectations, Variable Tech's use of the Kickstarter platform was merely the beginning. It, along with some years of experience in building the gas sensor, allowed Yu's team to go from concept plans to product in 11 months. He says they can now go from the concept of a sensor to actual production in a mere three months. This isn't just a company rethinking iPhone sensors, it's rethinking how we make hardware. Speaking of hardware, the Node is exceptionally well built. The white plastic cylinder looks and feels as tough as a Wii remote, and the internal components were chosen for performance, not price. In particular, the Bluetooth module is fast, making connecting much less of a chore than in the past. Compared to some other devices the pairing was fast indeed, and Bluetooth 4 is now supported across all Apple mobile devices. A simple USB port connects for charging and this "Kore" unit contains motion sensors like the iPhone and Wii remote, allowing you to wake the device up my a gentle shake. The Node is based on the Kore unit, and additional sensors are attached at either end of the Kore's cylinder. The Clima module is like my old Casio, with a temperature gauge and barometer, ambient light and humidity. Other sensors currently shipping include the Therma, a point-and-shoot temperature sensor, and the Chroma, a color sensor. The Chroma sounds puzzling at first, but if you've ever tried to match colors on a wall when you go to the paint store, only to discover this nifty thing called "automatic white balance" is driving you insane, you will immediately understand the Chroma's utility. Of course Variable Tech has much more planned, and I saw the Oxa gas sensor in person although it is not yet shipping. That sensor goes back to Dr. Yu's roots, and yet is still one of many more sensors in the works, he assured me. He envisions "modules like apps," and at the rate they are able to execute, I'd say that's about right. As I said earlier, the Node is a platform. Instead of a locked-down, proprietary method of exchanging data, the Node has an API. Data files are kept clean and simple. The hardware itself can even be tinkered with, similar to Arduino. The awesome thing is that developers can write applications for the Node platform, opening up a whole new world of possibility for sensor-based apps. In years gone by dedicated hardware would be required for these tasks, and the costs were higher as a result. But the Node starts at $149, and sensors are around $75 (more or less, depending on the cost of components). Even if you bought the range of sensors (and the flashlight) you're looking at a cheaper, more powerful toolkit than what a trunk full of gear would have been just five years ago. That's significant, and the sensory evolution has only just begun.
Jade Dynasty dev diary previews Spring Content Update
There's a new content update coming to Jade Dynasty later this month, and Perfect World Entertainment has released an accompanying video dev diary that aims to give interested fans an early look-see. The video is hosted by Jade Dynasty community manager Greenthorne, and he walks us through a brief demo of the game's new Chroma skills. These skills are affinity-specific and grant access to a wide range of powerful abilities. Chroma skills are quite devastating, and as such, aren't easily obtained. Greenthorne hints at a series of trials that players will undergo in order to unlock the skills and also mentions that skill power may be increased by contributing to the destruction of the game's dragon gates via various quests. User interface enhancements are also coming courtesy of the Spring Update. The events list has been renamed JD Revelations and now features information relating to weekly events, dungeon timers, battlegrounds, level requirements, and bosses. The boss tab is particularly interesting given that it tells a player just about everything worth knowing about various Jade Dynasty boss mobs including respawn rate, recommended level, and related loot drops. The tab even provides an auto-routing function for players having a hard time navigating to a particular boss. Check out the new enhancements in the video after the cut.
Chroma feature movie player
Chroma is a video player for OS X "optimized for playing feature movies." Though there are many free options that will play most anything that Chroma will (QuickTime with Perian, VLC, mPlayerOSX, etc.), nonetheless Chroma has some nice features that may make it worthwhile for watching features in particular. These include "IntelliAspect" which eliminates the black (letterboxing) bars when viewing in full screen, built-in AVI/Divx support, built-in DVD support, fine-grained scrubbing controls, and a "Picture-In-Picture" Overlay mode, "which presents the movie in a small square in a corner of your screen, on top of your regular desktop."Chroma is $22 and a demo is available from mirailabs. If Chroma is worth the price it's for rather subtle niceties like the IntelliAspect and the scrubbing controls. If you just want to play videos, one of the free options will likely be fine.
