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2012 Apple Design Awards showcase standout apps on iOS, OS X
While we tend to get caught up in keynote hoopla, Apple's WWDC event is about connecting with the third party developers of software for its various platforms and it highlighted a few with its annual Design Awards yesterday. While 2011's winners included standouts like Infinity Blade, selections for 2012 included high profile pics like the Paper sketchbook app for iPad, the game Limbo on OS X, National Geographic's National Parks iOS app and several others. Hit the source link to see all the winners including student projects daWindci and Little Star, along with descriptions of why they were picked. Unsurprisingly, tight integration with the various APIs and services Apple is pushing (plus a polished and widely appreciated user experience, of course) is the way to its heart -- worth keeping in mind for those hoping to be in the winner's circle for 2013.
Apple announces Apple Design Award winners at WWDC
Corrected to list Where's My Water as an iPhone winner and D1 Drum Machine as an iPad runner up. Apple has announced the winners of this year's Apple Design Awards at the WWDC conference, and 2012 is apparently the year of games on the Mac. Two games, Deus Ex and Limbo, have claimed both spots in the Mac ADAs this year, which is the first time in my memory that two games have done so. Games have won before but usually it's in specifically game-centered categories, and productivity apps are usually highlighted. This year it's two games that originally started out on Windows and Xbox, which is pretty crazy. Drawing app Sketch is also highlighted on the Mac. The iPhone winners are Where's My Water and the great game Jetpack Joyride, with the National Geographic's National Parks app as a runner up. D1 Drum Machine is a runner up on the iPad, where Bobo Explores Light and Paper took the win. And both of the student winners are on the iPad: Da Windci and Little Star. All of these are really great apps that highlight some fine examples of what Apple developers can do. Apple has picked this out of the bunch to represent their highest design values. Congrats to all of the winners on their great success!
Daily iPad App: Paper by FiftyThree may make you an artist
I am not an artist. I love art, but don't have the necessary skills (except for those I've picked up on my own) to really do anything that I'd want other people to see. When some of the early iPad drawing/painting apps started coming out, I eagerly bought them to try, but found that my lack of talent was just transferred to a new medium. A new iPad app, Paper by FiftyThree (Free, in-app tool purchases available) may actually help me to become a half-decent artist. After you've downloaded Paper, you have a one tool available - Draw. Draw is an expressive ink pen that responds much like the steel-nibbed pens we used in art class in 7th grade, except there's no way to drip ink on yourself or the page. All of the other art tools -- Color, Sketch, Write, and Outline -- are available through in-app purchase for US$1.99 each or as a combined "Essentials" purchase for $7.99. Launching Paper, you see three Moleskine-like notebooks on the screen. To open one for viewing, you tap on it, and you're immediately rewarded with a two-page view of the notebook. To zoom in on a set of pages, make another tap; to get back to the notebook view, you pinch two fingers together. New notebooks can be added from the main screen of the app by tapping a "+" button, or erased with the tap of a trash can button. You can name each notebook, and give it a cover photo or texture. Once you're in a page view in a notebook, you can begin to draw or paint. I immediately purchased the Color (water painting) and Sketch (pencil drawing) tools; I frankly wish I had just spent the full $7.99 and bought the Essentials. When drawing or painting, you can either use the eraser tool or a "rewind" function to get rid of mistakes. Rewind uses an swipe and rotate gesture to "turn back the clock" on your misdeeds. The tools are all available from a tool tray that slides up with a swipe and can be put away with another swipe. I found myself grabbing a tool and color, then dropping the tray out of sight so I could concentrate on my work. For each tool, you have a limited palette of nine colors. Unfortunately, you can't change that palette. The Fifty-Three team says that they want people to concentrate on creating, not getting picky about colors. While this works well with some tools, like Color, which let you blend transparent colors, it's kind of annoying with the pen and pencil tools. You can layer different colors, of course, so I'm not sure that alternative palettes are a definite need -- instead, Paper users just need to understand how to layer colors properly. A quick look at the comments on the FiftyThree support forums shows that many people are asking for alternative palettes. I've dabbled in watercolors in the past, and I found the Color tool to be the closest thing yet to a watercolor set for the iPad. The tool works just like a watercolor brush, letting you build up color by laying on more "paint," blend colors, even use the white paint like a gouache. I didn't try the Write and Outline tools, but they are essentially fine and broad point markers for marking up your paper. The Sketch tool is also the best pencil-drawing tool I've found for the iPad. Using my Adonit Writer Pro stylus with Paper, I felt like I was really drawing on a piece of paper. Speaking of the paper, your "canvas" is 2048 x 1536 pixels, so it takes advantage of the Retina display. Images that you create can be shared through Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter or by sending an email. When you share an image, it's exported as a JPEG at 1024 x 768 pixels. I found a good way to get full-resolution images -- I just do an iPad screenshot, and then the image shows up in my Photo Stream in full resolution. How good is Paper? Let's just say that every other "art app" that I purchased in the past has been taken off of my iPad. I love the concept and execution of this app, and it's going to be my sketch and watercolor pad from now on. Paper makes me wish that I hadn't spent a lot of money a few years ago putting together a portable watercolor kit...
Will creativity tools be the "next wave" of iOS apps?
Blogger Erica Ogg over at GigaOM's The Apple Blog brought up an interesting point in a post today, wondering aloud if creativity tools will be the next big wave of iOS apps. There have always been creativity tools, like painting and drawing apps, in the App Store, but Ogg based her comment on two beautiful and well-designed apps that appeared last week and have caught a lot of attention from buyers. Those two apps are Snapguide and Paper. Snapguide (free) provides a simple way for anyone to create and share step-by-step how-to guides, while Paper by FiftyThree (free, with in-app tool purchases) is one of the best iPad sketching and painting apps I've ever seen and used. Both of the apps have immediately resonated with iOS users, who find the creative aspects of these apps as appealing as the traditional consumption-oriented apps that have been so popular on the iOS platform. Ogg notes that "the debuts of Snapguide and Paper are showing that not only are developers making apps that make the iPhone and iPad more of a creative tool, but that users are responding." Many more developers may find themselves moving away from the heavily populated world of game app development to try the clear blue skies of creativity apps.
Paper: the iPad sketchbook app from the brains of Courier (video)
Go figure -- Microsoft's Courier project lives again... as an exclusive app on Apple's iPad. FiftyThree, a company that features folks who previously worked on the aforesaid Courier initiative, has just put forth a monumental effort dubbed Paper. The app, which is available for free in the App Store, is a sophisticated sketchbook with a highly unique user interface that's seemingly designed with the budding artist in mind. Put simply, the company feels that this app is "where ideas begin," enabling users to capture mental light bulbs as sketches, diagrams, illustrations, notes or drawings before sharing them across the web.Of course, "free" only gets you in the door; in-app purchases ($2 per brush, for example) keeps the creators in business, but it's unclear at this point if a paid edition will be offered for those who aren't much on cherry-picking what they do and don't want to pony up for. Not surprisingly, the app ships with native support for the new iPad's Retina display, and while fingers are welcome, a capacitive stylus is recommended. Eager to see more? Peek the video just after the break, and get your download on in the source link.
MIT's laser-powered camera can detect objects hidden around corners (video)
One of the most thrilling things about human existence is that you never know what's lurking around the corner. It could be a newborn baby, a sweet job, a delicious churro -- doesn't really matter, because it's a surprise, and surprises are fun and surprising. Just don't tell that to the doldrum dwellers over at MIT, because apparently, they don't agree. The same team that created a camera with light-speed shutter rates has now expanded upon their project, with a camera capable of seeing around corners. Literally. To do this, the system uses a so-called femtosecond laser to send out extremely short light pulses -- so short, in fact, that their entire lifespan is measured in quadrillionths of a second. To capture an object lurking around a corner, the device aims its laser at a nearby wall, thereby allowing the light to bounce around the room before eventually landing on the concealed object. Once it hits the jackpot, the light will reflect back onto the wall, and eventually return to a detector, which can gauge the exact location of the object based on the distance the laser traveled. This happens over and over again at different angles, meaning that the system will ultimately be able to get a general idea of the hidden room's layout. Researchers hope that their system will eventually be used in emergency rescue situations, or to help drivers see what's around the bend, though there's no telling when any of that could actually happen. For a diagrammatic rundown, check out the video after the break.
New York Times nears half-million online subscriber mark, halves free article allowance to celebrate
The New York Times just gave you more reason to consider making the jump to a paid online subscription -- beginning in April, that free article allowance will see a 50-percent cut, from 20 monthly articles to just 10. This modification comes one year after NYTimes.com launched its infamous content paywall, and following an announcement that the publisher has signed up 454,000 digital subscribers. Paying readers will receive a 12-week subscription that they can gift to anyone on the fence about swiping for access, and smartphone and tablet app users will continue to have access to the "Top News" sections for free. You'll also be able to read articles linked from other sites on the web, including your inbox, and can access five free posts a day that appear in search engine results. Completely unfettered access will range in price from $15 to $35 per month -- you'll find full details in the PR just past the break, and at the source link below.
Biological computer can decode images stored in DNA chips, applications remain unclear
Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute and Technion–Israel Institute of Technology have taken biological computing one step further, with a new molecular machine capable of decoding images stored on a DNA chip. Though it's referred to as a "biological computer," the researchers' machine isn't much like a CPU at all -- unless your CPU was manufactured in a test tube filled with a smoothie of DNA molecules, enzymes and ATP. Once they found the right mix, the team proceeded to encrypt images on a DNA chip and used their Turing machine-like creation to decode them, with fluorescent stains helping to track its progress. The above image, read from left to right, gives a more literal idea of what the system can do -- basically, it takes a hidden image and extracts a given sequence. Storing data on DNA isn't anything new, but decrypting said data in this fashion apparently is. The applications for this kind of organic computing remain a bit fuzzy, but it's pretty clear that whatever follows probably won't look anything like a typical computer. The team's findings were recently published in a paper for the journal Angewandte Chemie, the abstract for which is linked below. For a slightly more readable explanation, check out the full press release after the break.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: electric taxis, paper robots and a cathedral of 55,000 LEDs
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. This week Inhabitat saw the light as we reported on several spellbinding new projects around the world -- including an incredible cathedral made from 55,000 LEDs and a glowing prefab pod building modeled after the genetic structure of plankton. We also showcased a luminous forest of thousands of "Frozen Trees" and a high-flying F-Light made from a recycled airplane, and also reported on Toshiba expanding its line of LEDs. Meanwhile, as the lights fire up Lucas Oil Stadium we shared seven ways Super Bowl 46 is going green, took a look at the first organic concessions ever to offered at a Super Bowl, and got things cooking with six delicious recipes for game time snacksEco transportation also blasted off from the starting line as London's first zero-emission electric taxis hit the streets, and Stanford unveiled plans for electrified roads that automatically charge EVs. We also saw Scotland launch the world's first hybrid sea-going ferries, while Agence 360 did cyclists a favor by designing a nifty ultra-compact foldable bike helmet. Meanwhile, Chevrolet announced plans to put environmental impact stickers on all of their cars by 2013, the sun-powered solarGT car set off on a race across the United States, and we brought you a gorgeous set of long-exposure photos that make speeding trains look like laser beams.In other news, renewable energy was a hot topic this week as researchers at MIT found a way to make solar panels from grass clippings, another team of scientists developed a hip-hop powered biomedical sensor and Britain mulled plans to install a new breed of radioactive waste-recycling nuclear reactors that could power the UK for 500 years. We also brought you several fun designs for aspiring little builders - a set of awesome paper robots and an industrial workbench for tots. Finally, since Valentine's day is around the corner we shared 10 red-hot gifts, along with 14 sexy sustainable skivvies.
Magnetic soap could make your next oil spill less oily
Instead of spending millions upon millions to clean up the next oil spill, why don't we just all pitch in and buy some soap? That's basically what researchers at the University of Bristol are proposing, with a new kind of soap that's apparently like no other. This soap, you see, is magnetic, which means it could be easily removed from water without leaving behind any hazardous chemicals -- a potentially major selling point for cleanup crews and environmentalists alike. To create it, the team collected water with chlorine and bromine ions, and used it to dissolve iron particles, creating a metallic core. They proceeded to test their creation by placing the soapy particles within a test tube, underneath layers of water and oil. Much to their delight, they were able to remove the particles with only a magnet, ostensibly providing a template upon which disaster response crews may build.
Samsung Galaxy Note Notepad hands-on at CES: it's like a Note, but analog
What if Samsung made a Galaxy Note, but instead of throwing a dual-core processor, a few megabytes (or gigabytes, whatever) of RAM, and random pieces of silicon between the front and rear covers, it included an undetermined amount of paper? What it we lived in a world where that type of activity was not only okay, but encouraged? What if the Note is actually the Notepad in a parallel universe? What if the aforesaid parallel universe is reality in Las Vegas, Nevada? Think about it.
Sony demos paper-fueled battery; Paper Mario runs for life
Remember Sony's sugar high from a few years back? Sony has been trying to get electric results from glucose-based batteries for some time. But with the competition showing off cool concepts like Coke-powered phones, Sony's Bio Battery program brought its latest development to Eco-Products 2011 in Tokyo. This info just might be worth the paper it's printed on because, well, the battery runs on paper. By using the enzyme cellulase, the device can break down the glucose from cellulose-rich paper or cardboard, which generates enough energy to run a small fan. It's not quite ready for prime time, but given the potential of easily turning junk mail into electricity at a more portable scale, this is certainly worth a continued look.
Reports: American Airlines wins FAA approval for in-cockpit iPads, will launch Friday
If you fly as an American Airlines premium passenger, you'll get to play with a Galaxy Tab. If you actually fly the plane, though, you'll have to make do with an iPad. According to ZDNet, the carrier has already won FAA approval to use iPads "as electronic chart and digital flight manual readers," making it the world's first airline to be totally tablet friendly. A source close to the situation tells ZDNet that AA "will begin iPad operations on B-777 aircraft" before expanding to other planes, and that both first and second generation devices have been cleared for cockpit use. An AA pilot, meanwhile, tells TechCrunch that the company's tablets will feature JeppTC (a flight chart app available in the App Store), and that all onboard slates will be required to fly with an extra battery. The program, slated to kick off this Friday, could also offer substantial savings in paper and fuel costs. According to Seattle Pi's estimates, a single iPad would replace some 35 pounds of paper per year, translating to approximately $1.2 million in saved fuel costs. Insiders say United and Delta are pursuing similar initiatives, with the latter reportedly looking for an Android-specific solution, though at the moment, only American Airlines has won the FAA's seal of approval.
Berg's Little Printer churns out RSS feeds with a receipt and a smile
It's hard to think of a device more aptly named than BergCloud's Little Printer. It's little. It prints. It even smiles at you. And why wouldn't it? It's adorable. Equally notable is what it produces -- RSS feeds printed out on grocery store-style receipts. All you have to do is hook it up to your router, configure your RSS subscriptions from your smartphone and press a button to print them out. The Little Printer connects wirelessly to a small box that's plugged into your router. This box, in turn, interfaces with the Berg Cloud (also unveiled this week), providing constant updates and pulling down any web content you've selected. If, for instance, you want to print out Foursquare updates, you can use the app to add them to your queue and print them out for later reading. It's basically like InstaPaper... with more paper. BergCloud has already struck partnerships with ARUP, Foursquare, The Guardian, Nike and Google, though more are on the way. No word yet on pricing, but the device is slated to go up for pre-order sometime next year. Check it out in action, after the break. [Thanks, Dave]
Researchers create spinal cord connectors from human stem cells, heralding breakthrough
It's taken many years and more than a bit of brainpower, but researchers at the University of Central Florida have finally found a way to create neuromuscular connectors between muscle and spinal cord cells, using only stem cells. Led by bioengineer James Hickman, the team pulled off the feat with help from Brown University Professor Emeritus Herman Vandenburgh, who collected muscle stem cell samples from adult volunteers. After close examination, they then discovered that under the right conditions, these samples could be combined with spinal cord cells to form connectors, or neuromuscular junctions, which the brain uses to control the body's muscles. UCF's engineers say the technique, described in the December issue of the journal Biomaterials, marks a major breakthrough for the development of "human-on-a-chip" models -- systems that simulate organ functions and have the potential to drastically accelerate medical research and drug development. These junctions could also pay dividends for research on Lou Gehrig's disease or spinal cord injuries, though it remains unclear whether we can expect to see these benefits anytime soon.
Europhysics Letters publishes first paper submitted from space, your homework excuses now deemed invalid
Couldn't find the resources? Too much commotion? Had to run your pup to the vet? Save it. Alexander Alexandrovich Skvortsov took the time to detail a series of experiments aboard the International Space Station back in July of 2010, and rather than just noting 'em in his flip-pad, he worked with Sergey Alexandrovich Volkov to submit the work to a highly-regarded journal on the 27th of October, 2011. Unsurprisingly, EPL (Europhysics Letters) has just published the work, making it the first piece of its kind to ever hit the public after being submitted... from space. For those curious, the paper itself reports on "the measurements of the speed of sound within complex plasmas." And now we all feel dumb.
Researchers use inkjet acumen to create wireless explosive sensor from paper
Meet Krishna Naishadham and Xiaojuan (Judy) Song. They're researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and those little devices they're holding may one day save you from an explosive device. This petite prototype is actually a paper-like wireless sensor that was printed using basic inkjet technology, developed by professor Manos Tentzeris. Its integrated lightweight antenna allows the sensor to link up with communication devices, while its functionalized carbon nanotubes enable it to pick up on even the slightest traces of ammonia -- an ingredient common to most IEDs. According to Tentzeris, the trick to such inkjet printing lies in the development of "inks" that can be deposited at relatively low temperatures. These inks, laced with silver nanoparticles, can then be uniformly distributed across paper-based components using a process called sonication. The result is a low-cost component that can adhere to just about any surface. The wireless sensor, meanwhile, requires comparatively low amounts of power, and could allow users to detect bombs from a safe distance. Naishadham says his team's device is geared toward military officials, humanitarian workers or any other bomb sniffers in hazardous situations, though there's no word yet on when it could enter the market. To find out more, careen past the break for the full PR.
Researchers use wireless network to monitor breathing, could save lives
When Neal Patwari and his team of researchers developed a wireless network capable of seeing through walls, we assumed they were simply looking to cultivate their Alastor Moody-like superpowers. Turns out, they had far more important things on their minds. Patwari and his colleagues at the University of Utah have now penned a new study in which they demonstrate how their motion detecting technology could be used to monitor breathing patterns, as well, potentially enabling doctors to keep closer track of patients with sleep apnea or babies susceptible to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). To do this, Patwari reclined on a hospital bed and surrounded himself with 20 wireless transceivers operating at a frequency of 2.4GHz, as pictured above. He then timed his breathing at about 15 breaths per minute (the average rate for a resting adult), which he measured with his array of nodes and a carbon dioxide monitor. The engineer ultimately found that his system's algorithm could accurately measure respiration within 0.4 to 0.2 breaths per minute -- a relatively low error rate, since most monitors round off to the nearest full breath. Patwari says this development could offer a non-invasive and low-cost alternative to the devices used in most hospitals, and hopes to implement his technology into at-home baby monitors, as well. He acknowledges, however, that it will likely take at least five years before any of that happens -- so don't hold your breath. Full PR after the break.
Kokuyo's CamiApp brings paper back to note-taking (video)
Between Samsung's Galaxy Note and the Boogie Board Rip, a mini-trend emerged at IFA last week with companies attempting to bridge the gap between paper notebooks and digital devices. Japanese office supply manufacturer Kokuyo is looking to get in on the action, utilizing devices that consumers already own. In August, the company's CamiApp was released for iOS, with an Android version coming later this month. The app scans and digitizes handwritten text, letting users edit, highlight, email, tag and share the information with apps like Evernote and Dropbox. The apps are specially designed to work with forthcoming "smartphone-friendly" paper notepads from the company. According to Kokuyo, the notebooks have "special features" that make digital capture easier. Eight different notebooks will be made available tomorrow. The company is also working on making the CamiApp notebooks available overseas.
Erasable e-paper shown off, erased, shown off again (video)
Researchers at Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute are giving the world a peek at i2R, a new type of easily erasable e-paper. The technology uses a thermal printer and cholestric liquid crystals, letting users write and erase its contents up to 260 times. It can print different colored inks and could potentially be used for things like ID badges and signage. The sheets currently cost around $2 a piece to produce and should be available to us consumer types in about two years.
