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Sixth Sense creator to release code, wearable gesture interface becomes a reality for all

by Darren Murph posted Nov 7th 2009 at 10:12AM

If we're being honest (and trust us, we're being honest), Pranav Mistry's Sixth Sense contraption has always baffled us. It's kind of like Sony's Rolly. It looks cool, it sounds rad, but we're fairly certain only 2.49 people actually know and fully comprehend how it works. That said, we're more than jazzed about the possibility of having wearable gesture interfaces gracing every human we come into contact with, and rather than attempting to make his invention "comply with some kind of corporate policy," he's purportedly aiming to release the source code into the wild in order to let "people make their own systems." Nice guy, huh? All told, the Sixth Sense can be built for around $350 (plus oodles of unpaid time off), and we're ~~pretty~~ certain that a few talented DIYers can get this thing whipped into shape far quicker than Mega Corp X. So, how's about a release date for that code?

[Via AboutProjectors]

Windows 7 receives 7,000 domino salute (video)

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 28th 2009 at 8:21AM

If 7,000 dominoes fall in a forest of cheering Microsoft employees, do they make enough noise for us to care? We don't usually tell Microsoft how to run its promotions, but a domino installation that takes a full three minutes to topple is pretty much an open invitation for "slow boot-up" jokes, and a climactic finale that revolves around a hot air balloon version of your logo crashing against a glass ceiling might also create the wrong impression. Ah well, these guys are engineers and not choreographers, after all -- you can see the fruit of their labor after the break.

[Thanks, Colin]

Continue reading Windows 7 receives 7,000 domino salute (video)

Tata DoCoMo launches per-character SMS pricing, and this headline just cost us close to a rupee

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 10th 2009 at 7:36AM

Never mind "nickel and diming" -- Indian joint venture Tata DoCoMo is now rupee and paising (a paise is a hundredth of a rupee) customers who sign up for its new "Diet-SMS" messaging plan. Unlimited and ultra-high-allowance messaging plans are now commonplace in some parts of the world, but on the other end of the spectrum, Diet-SMS is actually a regression from the old practice of charging by the message -- you get charged by the character. The good news is they don't charge for spaces and characters are just a single paise each, which works out to about two-hundredths of a US cent at current conversion rates -- but still, the fact remains that a 160-character SMS costs Tata DoCoMo exactly the same to handle as a 1-character one. What's worse, you just know this is going to give rise to a new ultra-efficient shorthand notation that makes "LOL" look like a novella.

[Via textually.org]

To proceed another five miles, TXT 'DESIGN FLAW' to your Reva electric car

by Tim Stevens posted Sep 9th 2009 at 9:02PM

Not long ago a motorcycle with a fuel gauge was basically unheard of and even "low fuel" idiot lights were rare. Riders used advanced (and generally inaccurate) mathematics to calculate remaining mileage and, when the engine inevitably sputtered, switched over to a reserve tank that would let them nervously motor along a few more miles. Reva, an Indian company set to start shipping electric cars next year, plans to resurrect that most irritating sequence of events in their two-door NXR -- albeit with a modern spin. Now, instead of reaching down and turning a dial to get to that precious extra juice, drivers will need to call or text Reva HQ. Some overworked customer service agent will then remotely activate the "reserve battery," which surely doesn't even exist, to give a bit of extra range. We pity the fool who runs out of charge somewhere outside of cell range, but not quite as much as the designer who pitched this terrible idea.

Two-mic system detects fetal heart rate anomalies, prenatal beat sampling

by Ross Miller posted Aug 30th 2009 at 4:59PM

Patel Institute of Engineering and Technology's A.K. Mittra and associates have devised a clever and inexpensive early warning detection system for monitoring the fetal heart rate of that bun months-long in the oven. With two microphones -- one placed on the pregnant soon-to-be mother's abdomen and one inside the bedroom -- hooked up to a nearby computer, the two audio feeds are used to estimate and subtract the ambient room noise for a better read on the baby's vitals just before the woman goes to bed. Converted to a wav file, if anomalies are detected it's immediately compressed to MP3 and sent to the doctor for further testing. An efficient plan, to be sure, and we can only hope the baby is healthy and hyper-intelligent enough to give normal heartbeats and start recording his or her first LP.

Tata Motors moves first $2,500 Nano in Mumbai

by Laura June posted Jul 17th 2009 at 7:01PM

We've been following the development of Tata Motors' Nano -- a teeny little car whose main claim to fame is its tiny price tag of about $2,500 -- since way back when it was only an announcement. Well, today the cycle is complete: the first Nano has officially been sold to Mumbai resident Ashok Vichare, who says he bought the car (his first) because it's the smallest and cheapest sold in India. The company held a lottery to decide who could purchase the first 100,000 Nanos, and says its got a waiting list of about a year for further cars.

India issuing biometric IDs to all 1.2 billion citizens

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Jul 16th 2009 at 1:23PM

While not busy being the destination of Westerners seeking spiritual growth and the birthplace of the beloved Bollywood song and dance flick, apparently India is home to some 1.2 billion people -- many of whom possess no proof of identification whatsoever. According to The Times (UK), less than seven per cent of the population are registered for income tax, and the voting lists are terribly inaccurate. Hoping to bring the nation's census data into the 21st century, India has created the Unique Identification Authority. Under the direction of Nandan Nilekani, one of the founders of Infosys, the plan is to outfit every one of the nation's citizens with a biometric ID card that contains personal data, fingerprint or iris scans, and possibly even criminal records and credit histories. Gathering the data is projected to cost at least $4.9 billion, a figure that's likely to soar once the ball gets rolling. While the Government expects that the first cards will be issued within 18 months, analysts say that project won't likely reach "critical mass" for at least four years.

[Via Switched]

Video: Roomba hacked to trail sand on your floor

by Joseph L. Flatley posted May 12th 2009 at 4:46PM

Of all of the Roomba mods we've seen, this is definitely one of them. Just in time to celebrate its entry into the Robot Hall Of Fame, the heads at iRobot have mashed up the happy-go-lucky autonomous vacuum with an old inkjet printer, creating a device that can not only indulge in something called Rangoli, but look great doing it. Just make sure you have another one of these guys on hand to sweep up after you're done playing. As you are no doubt aware, Rangoli is a traditional form of Indian sandpainting -- but we're guessing that the "iRobot" and "i (heart) Robots" messages are not among the motifs one usually finds in front of people's homes and places of worship on the Subcontinent. Check it out on video after the break.

Continue reading Video: Roomba hacked to trail sand on your floor

India bids mythical $10 laptop adieu, turns to OLPC

by Tim Stevens posted Apr 28th 2009 at 7:54AM

What's worse than a $10 laptop that winds up costing $30? A ~~$10~~ $30 laptop that's not really a laptop at all. India is shrugging off the disappointment surrounding its apparent failure to bring home-grown tech to its youth, but thankfully isn't giving up on the kids, ordering a whopping 250,000 OLPC XO laptops. Waiting this long to drink the Negroponte Kool Aid means 1,500 schools will get the latest and greatest models, featuring VIA C7-M processors and bumped up storage. The plan is for a total of three million portable computers for Indian schools this year, and while it's unclear just how many will be little, green, and different, that's a whole lot of lappys regardless.

Tata Nano photographed at official unveiling party

by Darren Murph posted Mar 29th 2009 at 8:08PM

Make no mistake, that thing you see pictured above definitely looks no nicer than $2,000, but hey, at least it actually is just $2,000. Indian Autos Blog was on hand at the Tata Nano's official unveiling in Mumbai, and naturally, it fired off a number of images to share with those of us not able to hop a flight to see it in person. The car is set to take showrooms around the nation by storm starting this Wednesday, but for those of us stuck elsewhere on the planet just longing for a (new) beater car for under two large, the pics in the links will simply have to suffice.

[Via AutoblogGreen]

Tata's $2,000 Nano car to hit Indian streets in July

by Darren Murph posted Mar 23rd 2009 at 11:23AM

After getting official over a year ago, missing its original production plan and eventually hitting a wall with respect to production, Tata's long-awaited Nano vehicle is all set to take to the streets this July. According to a fresh report over at Reuters, the world's cheapest car (100,000 rupee, or $1,980) is expected to be the hottest thing around when it ships in India in a matter of months. In fact, there are so many orders waiting to be filled, initial owners will be "randomly selected from bookings made between April 9 and 25." We're also told that a European variant will be launched by 2011, and while a US model is still a possibility, no firm launch date has been given there. Good luck getting your rear into one, and be sure and shoot us a few hands-on shots if you do.

India's $10 laptop is not a laptop

by Thomas Ricker posted Feb 4th 2009 at 3:28AM

You know what was missing from the so-call "unveiling" of India's $10 laptop yesterday? Photos. Now we think we know why. The $10 laptop is not a laptop at all, the display-less and keyboard-less prototype device demonstrated is just a 10 x 5-inch wide slab that stores (and apparently prints) distributed learning materials which can later be retrieved by an impoverished child... using a laptop and paper he can't afford to purchase. It's also said to cost $30 and could be a component to a low cost laptop in the future; a claim that is fiercely disputed by Taiwanese component makers. Still, without any official photos of the device or specs posted to one of the many government agencies involved in the project, well, we still can't say we're 100% confident saying what this device is. Not that chest-thumping rhetoric and purposeful misinformation should be a surprise from politicians seeking re-election.

Update: Added that image to the right of what's purported to be the non-laptop prototype by The Hindu (and we're not going to argue with the Hindu).

[Via OnlyGizmos, Thanks Shrikanth G.]

Read -- Not a laptop 1
Read -- Not a laptop 2
Read -- Taiwan's laptop industry skeptical

Google's Internet-equipped magic bus lights across India

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Feb 3rd 2009 at 5:28PM

When you spend all of your workday bloggin' it's easy to lose sight of the fact that some folks don't have access to basic utilities, or HDTV, or -- the horror! -- the Internet itself. In the time-honored tradition of Hippies and earnest seekers alike, Google has headed to rural India, where it will be focusing its philanthropic endeavors (or perhaps its shrewd marketing endeavors) for the next month and a half. The company's Internet bus will roll through towns in the state of Tamil Nadu, providing connectivity via satellite, and content and instruction in both English and Tamil to people whose only previous exposure to the online world (if any) has been via cell phone or cyber cafe. This is all part of a broader scheme to expand into the Indian countryside, and if the trip is a success more are sure to follow. The company's services already include transliteration, news, bidirectional machine translation, and soft keyboards for a number of Indian languages, and a host of kick-ass Ravi Shankar tunes now available on Google Video.

India 'unveils' $20 laptop, the Sakshat

by Paul Miller posted Feb 3rd 2009 at 12:42PM

As expected, India's government unveiled the jointly-developed "$10 laptop" today, now priced at $20. Unfortunately dubbed Sakshat, which ironically translates as "before your eyes," the laptop is slated to ship in six months, with specs in line with what we've heard already: 2GB of storage, WiFi, Ethernet and 2 watts of power consumption. In fact, there really isn't much "unveiling" going on at all, since there's still no published image of the thing, or information about the screen size, RAM or processor. Some folks are also still skeptical as to whether a laptop can really be produced at such a low cost, since most LCDs alone would put it over budget, but we suppose we'll find out this summer. The laptop itself won't be subsidized, but the government will shoulder 25 percent of the cost of broadband for colleges, and there will be free e-learning textbooks available to students online.

India's $10 laptop coming February 3rd, take that Negroponte

by Thomas Ricker posted Jan 30th 2009 at 8:05AM

Get ready, India's $10 laptop is set for its first unveiling on February 3rd. Ok, so it's not quite $10... $20 actually, but that's far better than the $100 some were estimating. It's also much better than the $200 per OLPC XO deal that Negroponte wanted to reportedly charge the Indian government more than 2 years ago -- an offer rejected by officials with a promise to young Indians to do it better and for less. According to some reports (we can't find anything official), the laptop will feature 2GB of memory, WiFi, fixed Ethernet, expandable memory, and consume just 2 watts of power. The Devil's in the details, they say, but with any luck, India will be swimming in cheap silicon within the next 6 months if the project can keep to schedule... that's a big IF.

[Via TechTicker, image courtesy of FMCKids]

Read -- Unofficial specs
Read -- February 3rd unveiling