iRing
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IK Multimedia's iRing music motion controller arrives
Ever since the invention of the theremin back in 1928, musicians have sought a way to create music simply by moving their hands. The theremin was an early electronic instrument that provided many of those eerie sounds heard in bad horror and sci-fi flicks from the mid 20th-century and never really reached mainstream. Now IK Multimedia has announced another way to wave your hands and magically create music with the iRing motion controller (US$24.99). The iRing consists of two double-sided "rings" that are placed between two fingers on each hand. One has three black dots on it that are placed in a triangular pattern, while the other has three dots in a row. Your iOS device picks up the 3D position of your hands by recognizing and tracking those dot patterns, then translates the position into MIDI information. At $25, it's certainly more affordable than the much-ballyhooed Leap Motion Controller ($80). Of course, "hardware" is of no use without apps to generate some practical output, and that's why the company provides iRing Music Maker and iRing FX/Controller to musicians for free. The former app uses loops that can be remixed by waving your hands in front of your iPhone or iPad, changing beats, controlling rhythmic elements, playing synth parts, or controlling effects. iRing FX/Controller is billed as a real-time audio effects processor and MIDI controller for skilled musicians. IK is also offering developers a free SDK and licensing program to take advantage of the iRing in their own music apps. TUAW will have a full review of the iRing and iRing Music Maker in the near future.
iRing adds gesture-control capability to iOS music apps (video)
This year's CES has introduced us to a number of devices that cater to specific people. That includes IK Multimedia's iRing accessory, designed for aspiring DJs who'd like to control their iOS music apps with gestures... and a dash of showmanship. So long as a user's wearing the iRing, the iDevice's front camera picks the gesture controls up, and the peripheral's accompanying app translates them to commands music software can understand. According to the company (the same one responsible for a few other music accessories for iOS), the iRing's capable of controlling not only basic music apps, but also advanced ones designed for those who mix their own tunes. It also comes with a couple of its own music-editing apps that one can use to add effects and create non-stop loops. Those who prefer waving their hands in the air over poking at on-screen controls can get the iRing in various music and electronic retailers worldwide for $25. Update: We've just gone hands-on with the iRing at CES and gave it a whirl with iRing Music Maker, one of two apps (the other is FX Controller) that it can take advantage of at launch. The iRing setup consists of two plastic "rings," which have an array of three dots on each side. One end of the plastic peripheral has the specks ordered into a triangle, while the other side has them in a line. An iOS device's camera recognizes the dot formation and controls the mapped function. Push one hand in and out to cycle through music effects or use your other paw to vary intensity. It works as promised, but we wouldn't consider it terribly useful -- unless, of course, you're a DJ only interested showmanship.
McGill University researchers show off lunar rover prototype with unique 'iRing' wheels
We've already seen researchers at the University of Chicago and Cornell use coffee grounds to develop an entirely different type of robotic hand, and it looks like some folks at McGill University in Montreal, Canada have also been taking a similar approach to quite literally reinvent the wheel. That's being done as part of the Lunar Exploration Light Rover (or LELR) project, which is aiming to build a lunar rover that's light and able to navigate difficult terrain (i.e. the surface of the moon) with ease. One of the key aspects of that, of course, are the wheels, and the McGill researchers' solution is something called the "iRing" -- a wheel made of a chainmail-type fabric and filled with "granular particulate matter" (or tiny pieces of metal). That creates a wheel that's heavy and sturdy enough to avoid bouncing around on the moon, but still flexible enough to absorb shocks and overcome any obstacles. Will it actually wind up on the moon? That remains to be seen, but the researchers expect the final prototype of the complete rover (which could even carry a crew) to be complete in the spring of 2012. Be sure to hit up the via link below for the best look at the rover on video.
iRing: Automator application for creating ringtones
We posted yesterday on the MacRumors tutorial on creating ringtones from your own music by changing the file extension. Well the guys over at applegazette have put together iRing a simple Automator application that, well, automates the process. Pretty much all it does is take the AAC file, change the extension, and put it into iTunes. Apparently iTunes has to be closed for it to work properly, but if you don't want to go through the rigamarole by hand, this might be handy.iRing is a free download from applegazette.Update: Alas, events have overtaken this post (which was written the night before). The iTunes 7.4.1 update breaks the very vulnerability this uses. It's against our policy to remove posts, but we should note that this will only work with iTunes 7.4.Update 2: Apparently the guys over at applegazette have updated iRing so that it works again with 7.4.1 (see the comment below)
