A good acronym also hints at what it does, and Visteon's new intelligent in-car concept, HABIT, is a good example of that. The Human Bayesian Intelligence Technology system -- to give it its full name -- learns the behaviour of drivers so it can automatically change the temperature, heat the seats and drop that Biohazard album just when you need it most. Factors such as weather, time of day and real-time road conditions all play a part, plus, of course a log of all your typical in-car interactions. It promises to go above just warming your behind on a cold morning though, offering intelligence that would be able to divine local radio stations that play your kind of jam when you're out of town. It could also seamlessly mix these with your local / tablet / smartphone library and internet sources. Sound a little too creepy? Wait until you see the computer-generated demo video presenter past the break.

Filed under: Peripherals, Transportation

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Via: Autoblog

When Valve's first hardware hire, Jeri Ellsworth, tweeted back in February that she was fired from the company, we were disappointed but also intrigued by what she meant by "time for new exciting projects." Well we finally saw what she's been up to here at at Maker Faire 2013. It's called Cast AR, and it's a pair of 3D augmented-reality glasses that she and former Valve programmer Rick Johnson were working on at Valve before they left.

The model we saw is still in the early prototype stages, but the concepts are already in place. Perched atop a pair of active shutter glasses are a couple of miniature LCD projectors, which bounce images from a connected computer onto a special reflective surface at a 120Hz refresh rate. A camera module sits on the eyewear's bridge and monitors an array of infrared LEDs embedded in the reflective surface. This allows for quick and accurate head tracking. Join us after the break for our impressions and our video interview with Jeri Ellsworth.

Gallery: Cast AR hands-on at Maker Faire 2013

Filed under: Gaming, Wearables

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If we're to find a common thread in this week's collection of stories, it'd be nature's guiding hand. How it inspires science, how we seek to imitate it, and how unnatural the future of policing could be. This is alt-week,

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Most approaches to capturing 3D models of real-world objects involve multiple cameras that are rarely cheap, and are sometimes tricky to calibrate. The University of Glasgow has developed a method that ditches those cameras altogether. Its system has four single-pixel sensors stitching together a 3D image based on the reflected intensity of light patterns cast by a projector. Reducing the pixel count lowers the cost per sensor to just a few dollars, and extends the sensitivity as far as terahertz wavelengths. Real-world products are still a long way off, but the university sees its invention as useful for cancer detection and other noble pursuits. Us? We'd probably just waste it on creating uncanny facsimiles of ourselves.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Via: New Scientist

Source: University of Glasgow

What you're looking at above is a demo board carrying a next-gen Wolfson WM5110 audio chip for smartphones. This bit of silicon isn't in any market-ready handsets just yet, hence the DIY setup, but given Wolfson's well-cemented partnership with Samsung there's every chance this'll be the audio hub in the next Galaxy S, as well as potentially in other manufacturers' phones coming out in 2014.

One of the WM5110's headline features is the ability to handle high sample rate music tracks at 24-bit and 192KHz, aka "studio master" or "better than CD quality" sound. Such skills are generally reserved for pricey standalone DACs like iRiver's AK100, which allows Wolfson to claim that this is the first implementation for inside a smartphone. We have an ears-on video for you after the break, but it's not much use for judging audio quality -- the event was too noisy even for us to attempt that, so we'll just wait to do another audio round-up in more controlled conditions -- but at least there's some proof of principle. On the other hand, if you're unconvinced as to whether 192KHz is even a worthwhile spec to have in smartphones, then read on to learn about some of the WM5110's other abilities, which have a more practical bent.

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Mobile

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USSR and the USA. Batman and Joker. Christoph Waltz and... well, everyone. It's pretty tough to look at the world's best-known rivalries and exclude one of history's finest -- that being, of course, Sonic and Mario. The gritty battle between Nintendo and Sega gave fans on both sides plenty to converse about over the years, and one might say that the video game industry as a whole benefited from the back-and-forth. Now that Sega is a shell of its former self, though, the company's most iconic character is turning to its archrival in search of shelter. On the console side, Nintendo will be the exclusive home for Sonic games going forward, with the Wii U and 3DS set to become the homes for the next three titles -- details of which should be revealed "in the coming weeks." (Update: Looks as if Nintendo has outed a few more details. Sonic Lost World and Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games have been name-checked in particular.)

Meanwhile, Android users will be pleased to know that Sonic the Hedgehog was released today in the Google Play store. It's available for $2.99, while iOS users are also being granted a free update to coincide.

Filed under: Gaming, Mobile, Nintendo

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Via: Joystiq

Source: Nintendo, Google Play

Project PlayStation Input Output has been trying to load PlayStation 1 game images through the game system's parallel I/O port since 2010, and now it's ready to show off the first prototype. If piracy is your aim, then modchips that let users play burned discs and emulators that have been available through the console's 19-year history should suffice, but this project aims to bypass those methods. The potential benefits include easier homebrew support and playing of ripped discs on the original hardware without worrying about wearing out an aging console's laser. Eventually the team wants to load games and saves from an SD card, but in this demo video it's playing Klonoa: Door to Phantomile from an attached PC. As seen in the nearly ten minute video it does work, albeit slowly. As the video notes, optimizations for the USB controller and CD sectors that should speed things up have not been implemented yet. According to its FAQ, the PSIO team aims to have a final version done this year, you can check out the fruits of their labor after the break.

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

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Source: PSIO, PSIO (YouTube)

Earlier this week, we learned of Sony's plans for a 13.3-inch e-ink slate with stylus support pitched at students, and now Diginfo has caught up with the prototype device at the Educational IT Solutions Expo in Japan. The A4-sized tablet is said to be the first piece of hardware with an E Ink Mobius display that's flexible and light due to its new plastic construction. Co-developed by Sony and E Ink, the display only contributes 60g to the overall weight, which is apparently 50 percent lighter than similar screens built with glass. Sony says the software isn't quite as slick as it'd like it to be just yet, but nevertheless, you can check out people scrawling, annotating and highlighting on the prototype in the video below.

Filed under: Sony

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Source: DigInfo (YouTube)

When it comes to hunting down humans running speeds, MIT's cheetah might come second to Boston Dynamics' own high-velocity quadruped, but by substituting pneumatics with motors, MIT's version apparently runs far more efficiently. At the recent International Conference on Robotics and Automation, the Institute of Technology showed of its newest version, which reached a top speed of 13.7 mph. To accomplish this, the runner still needs parallel support bars to constrain movement in one dimension, reducing any roll, yaw -- and the chances of a pretty expensive fall. The team says the new version's cost of transport (COT is power consumption divided by weight, times velocity) is around 0.52. In comparison, Honda's Asimo has a hefty COT of 2.

This impressive efficiency is down to the use of electric motors over hydraulics, with a new "three phase permanent magnet synchronous motor" providing the necessary torque. Researchers also used biometric principles to conserve energy and reduce stress on joints, including Kevlar tendons across the back of the legs. With all those efficiency increases, it mean that MIT's cheetah can theoretically run while carrying its own power source. We've added a video after the break, where you can see the bot hit its top speed while carrying some battery dummy weights.

Filed under: Robots

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Via: Spectrum IEEE

Source: MIT Biomimetics

"It's more like Tumblr." That's how one BlackBerry rep described BBM Channels to us, the company's new social networking service announced this past week at BlackBerry Live in Orlando. While Channels, alone, may initially seem like nothing new -- it's an iteration of a social communication model we've seem countless times before -- the service actually speaks more to BlackBerry's forward-facing strategy for BBM as a device-agnostic mobile solution. And, certainly, with the BBM messaging service heading to Android and iOS later this summer, BlackBerry only stands to gain from making its platform more robust, more engaging and more attractive to the big name brands, personalities and publications that draw followers.

Gallery: BBM Channels

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Software, Mobile, Blackberry

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While Google presented its nearly four hours of recorded keynote glory in one giant clip, BlackBerry had the decency to split things up into four more-manageable segments. In the first installment of BlackBerry Live Keynote 2013, you can catch CEO Thorsten Heins chatting up some stats before hopping into the passenger seat of a QNX-equipped Bentley. Later during the show, we hear from Alicia Keys, the company's Global Creative Director, before taking a look at BBM Channels (which we imagine the performer already plans to use as a replacement for Twitter). You'll find all four parts of the company's keynote embedded right after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Blackberry

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Via: MobileSyrup.com

Source: BlackBerry (YouTube)

Looking for some entertainment on an upcoming cross-country flight? That might just be the only reasonable excuse for sitting through all 3 hours, 51 minutes and 25 seconds of Google's recorded keynote. The I/O presentation, now available for playback on YouTube, covers many of the company's announcements from yesterday, including All Access, Hangouts, a bounty of developer tools and that Galaxy S 4 running stock Jelly Bean that we weren't expecting to see. All that and more can be yours if you click past the break.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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When Lego introduced the Mindstorms EV3 earlier this year, it bundled building instructions for five "hero" models, several of which can be seen in our CES hands-on. But that complex kit of sensors, modules and bricks lends itself to endless possibilities, and Lego community members have come up with 12 more designs, three of which were unveiled today. These include a dinosaur, a guitar and a whack-a-mole-style arcade game.

From our brief hands-on, all three models seem worthy additions to the original lineup. We enjoyed the sauntering steps of the mini triceratops and the way it snaps and backs off from obstacles, the fun bloops and bleeps of the guitar, and delighted in the sheer satisfaction of bopping a popped "mole." The latter two, particularly, are decidedly whimsical implementations compared to the usual ambling robot -- and we can't wait for Lego to reveal the rest of the bonus models later this year.

Filed under: Robots

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Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi has announced that the series' next racing title will arrive later this year, with a demo scheduled to appear this July, ahead of a holiday launch. Expect a heady 1,200 cars to make the new edition, with 33 locations (and 71 layouts) to drive them around. Polyphony Digital has developed a new game engine for Gran Turismo 6, one that "pushes the limits of the PS3," but the incoming game might make another appearance on the incoming PlayStation 4. At a 15th anniversary event at the Silverstone racetrack in the UK, Yamauchi teased to IGN that they had a PS4 version "in mind, but for this holiday season, we thought it would be best for users to release on [the] PS3." Gran Turismo remains Sony's most successful franchise ever and has sold over 70 million copies to date. Sony adds that we'll hear even more about the sequel at E3 -- likely alongside a next-generation console we can see.

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

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Via: Joystiq

Source: PlayStationEU (Twitter), IGN

Don't think that the Galaxy S 4 has a lock on the concept of touch-free input. Panasonic has bolstered NTT DoCoMo's summer lineup with the Eluga P P-03E, a 4.7-inch Android phone whose one-handed interface can involve even less finger contact than Samsung's flagship. Its central Touch Assist feature lets owners unlock their phone, answer calls, preview content and enter text by hovering a digit just above the glass. The handset is no slouch outside of its signature trick, either -- it carries a 1080p LCD, a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, 32GB of expandable storage and a sizable 2,600mAh battery. Japanese customers will have their chance at Panasonic's above-the-screen magic in late June, although we wouldn't count on the Eluga P reaching the US anytime soon.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Panasonic (translated)

The XO Tablet that One Laptop Per Child was shuttling around the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center at CES back in January wasn't quite the final version of the company's first consumer-facing device. Now, a few weeks out from its official June 1st online availability, OLPC's finally got its hands on the shipping product. It's designed by Vivitar, a price-conscious manufacturer hand-picked by retail partner Walmart, marking the first time that the educational company didn't have a direct hand in the creation of its hardware, a big change from the custom components that have traditionally gone into its XO line.

OLPC's made some tweaks to the software, which runs atop of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, taking more advantage of the swipe functionality while navigating through its "I Want to Be An..." UI, which builds the child's experience around dream jobs like astronaut, artist and doctor. It's a super simplified interface built with an even younger target audience in mind than its XO laptops (ages 3 and up, according to the company). The tablet will come pre-loaded with 200 apps (100 in English and 100 in Spanish) and 200 books (also 100 English, 100 Spanish), including selections from content partners like Sesame Street and Oxford University Press. The idea is to offer up enough content so the child can be sufficiently entertained / educated even when not online.

Gallery: OLPC XO Tablet final version hands-on

Filed under: Tablets

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So much of what children are taught in the sciences amounts to abstractions. It's a shame, really -- concepts of the universe are so much easier to extrapolate when we can see them for ourselves. OLPC's looking to give the classrooms it serves more access to the very big and very small with two new attachments that we had the opportunity to check out on a recent visit to the company's Miami office. First off is a telescope that secures to the side of its XO-4 laptop with a vice grip, utilizing the device's built-in camera. There's also a microscope that sits atop a swiveling base and plugs directly into one of the laptop's USB ports. Both peripherals run on Fedora-based software designed by the company.

OLPC will be bringing these out as soon as it can get the price down through manufacturing. For the France-designed telescope, the company is aiming for $10, with a potentially lower price on the microscope. The idea is to get one of each in a classroom, rather than the one-to-one approach of its XO line.

Gallery: OLPC working on XO laptop telescope and microscope peripherals

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As a part of the 7 Techmakers and a Microphone panel tonight at Google I/O, Project Glass Staff Hardware Engineer Jean Wang dropped in this slide reflecting on the process of developing the headset. We've seen pictures of a few early Glass prototypes before, but as she describes, this shows off the full process from strapping a cellphone to a pair of goggles along with a pico projector shining directly into the wearer's eyes. The jump from off the shelf components to custom 3D-printed materials is represented in the third version (top right), and allowed the progress seen along the bottom row.

She also got a laugh pointing out that the Glass-inspired SNL skit starring our friend Fred Armisen wasn't "too far off" the team's initial efforts in gesture and voice control. The panel itself focused on a series of TED-style segments featuring seven women discussing being technical leaders inside their company. You can check out the entire thing embedded after the break or just zoom to the Google Glass part (6:13) for more details.

Filed under: Wearables, Google

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Via: Danny Sullivan (Twitter)

Source: Google Developers (YouTube), Google Developers

Yes, there's a fleet of camera-equipped, remote-controlled blimps live-streaming a bird's-eye view of Google I/O on YouTube, right now. It's called Google AirShow and it's taken over the airspace within Moscone Center. We briefly chatted with Chris Miller, a software engineer with AKQA (the company that put the dirigibles together for Google), about the technology used in each aircraft. It all begins with an off-the-shelf model airship that's flown manually via standard a 2.4GHz radio. Each blimp is outfitted with a servo-controlled USB camera and 5GHz USB WiFi dongle which are both connected to a Raspberry Pi board running Debian, VLC and Python. A custom-designed Li-polymer battery system powers the on-board electronics. The webcam encodes video as motion-JPEG (720p, 30fps) and VLC generates a YouTube-compatible RTSP stream that's broadcast over WiFi. Python's used to pan the servo-controlled camera via the Raspberry Pi's PWM output. The result is pretty awesome. But don't just take our word for it -- check out the gallery and source link below, then watch our hands-on video after the break.

Gallery: Google AirShow at I/O 2013

Filed under: Cameras, Misc, Transportation, Internet, Alt, Google

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Source: I/O AirShow 2013

Google Glass is a lot of things, but it's hardly a superstar when it comes to the world of sports. Though we've seen proof it is at least water resistant, it doesn't feel particularly durable and isn't entirely well-suited to wearing while, say, sweating profusely during a lengthy climb on a road bike. Recon Instruments has what it thinks is a solution: the Jet. It's a pair of sporting sunglasses with an integrated, Android-powered display that could make things like running and cycling far more exciting -- or at least far more information-packed. Join us after the break for our impressions.

Gallery: Recon Instruments Jet hands-on

Filed under: Wearables

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Google loves to use I/O as a platform for sharing its creativity with the world. This year, one of the masterpieces is a circular edifice consisting of two lines of Chromebook Pixels, with each keyboard on the outside. Ultimately, the artistic monument appears to highlight the Pixel's touchscreen and high-def display, as it flashes a wide variety of colorful imagery and music as you interact with each monitor. We have a gallery of images and a brief video below, showing off some of what this clever spheroid of Chrome OS can do.

Update: we learned that the company in charge of designing and building the Pixel circle is Obscura Digital.

Gallery: Google IO Chromebook Pixel circle

Filed under: Displays, Laptops, Google

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According to Bernhard Seefeld, product management director at Google Maps, "this is the most significant overhaul of Maps since it launched in 2005." We sat down with both Seefeld as well as Jonah Jones -- lead designer of Google Maps -- following a marathon keynote to kick off Google I/O. Their slice of the event centered around the desktop refresh of Google Maps, but there's actually a lot more to be excited about than what was announced today. Essentially, the preview that I/O attendees were granted access to is the first instance of Maps for desktop using vectors instead of tiles. In lay terms, that's a far sexier rendering engine, and users of the mobile Maps products will already be familiar with how it feels. Seefeld affirmed that the new desktop Maps is slightly quicker to load, but you'll want a WebGL-supporting browser to take advantage of the bells and whistles. (In our tests, the Maps experience was far superior in Chrome compared to Firefox.)

We toyed around with the new layout for a bit, and overall, it looks and feels better. Refreshing, you could say. The search box is now entirely more useful, popping up intelligent cards beneath places you search for. You'll have glanceable access to operating hours, surrounding traffic and recommended places -- that's not new, it's just surfaced in a more sensible way now. There's also dedicated shortcuts to directions and starring. Visually, it looks a lot nicer, the zooms are a little cleaner, and the search box is a tad more useful. Street View is accessed via the search box now, and there's a toggle on the right side that overlays Google Earth data and (impressively) shows it from varying degrees of tilt. The magic really begins after you sign in with your Google account. If you've starred or rated a restaurant using Google Maps or Google+, for example, it'll automatically populate recommended eateries that your friends have rated highly. If, of course, your friends are using Google+.

Gallery: Redesigned Google Maps for Desktop hands-on at Google I/O 2013

Filed under: GPS, Software, Google

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Source: Google Maps preview

If you have a smartphone connected to AT&T, you just got a bit more incentive to hop over to WiFi whenever possible. The new Google+ Hangouts app group video chat feature appears to be disabled whenever you attempt to connect via the cellular network. We tested the feature using a Verizon handset as well -- we were able to stream video just fine. It's not entirely clear whether AT&T has specifically blocked access to the service, but regardless of the reason, we're all too familiar with the carrier's desire to keep video chat off the airwaves. We can only hope that we'll be able to use Hangouts to its full potential soon, just as we can with Apple's FaceTime.

Update: AT&T has reached out with a statement. From what we can tell, Hangouts won't fall under the first category outlined below, as it replaces a pre-loaded app (Google Talk).

All AT&T Mobility customers can use any video chat app over cellular that is not pre-loaded on their device, but which they download from the Internet. For video chat apps that come pre-loaded on devices, we offer all OS and device makers the ability for those apps to work over cellular for our customers who are on Mobile Share, Tiered and soon Unlimited plan customers who have LTE devices. It's up to each OS and device makers to enable their systems to allow pre-loaded video chat apps to work over cellular for our customers on those plans.

Filed under: Cameras, Wireless, Software, Google

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Via: SlashGear

It apparently wasn't big enough to garner a mention earlier today, but Google has now followed up its slew of I/O keynote announcements with the news that it's moving Google TV to the latest versions of Android (that'd be 4.2.2) and Chrome. What's more, it also says that it's "refactored" Google TV so that its OEMs can update their devices to future versions of Android faster than they're currently able to -- in a "matter of weeks rather than months," according to Google. Likewise, Chrome for Google TV will now be on the same six week upgrade cycle as its desktop counterpart going forward, and it'll also now come with support for hardware-based content protection.

As for those with existing Google TV devices, though, the company's only saying that they can expect to see updates in the "coming months." We've yet to hear from most Google TV manufacturers themselves yet, but LG has chimed in to say that it will be updating its devices to Jelly Bean sometime in the third quarter of this year. You can get a look at what the update will bring in the video after the break showing off high performance apps enabled by NDK support, and an LG remote control app that has two-handed control for games and updates reflecting the action on-screen.

Update: Some have asked what this means for the future of Flash on Google TV. We've confirmed with Google that this does mean the end of Flash on Google TV since it's no longer supported on the newer versions of Android, and the build that was in Google TV was already out of date. The update will bring more enhancements to HTML5 streaming and interactive content -- hopefully the sites some users frequent will expand their technology platforms just as quickly.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google, LG

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Source: Google TV Developers, LG

Sending money with Google Wallet wasn't a tremendously difficult affair before today, but Mountain View's now discovered a clever new way to part you from your cash. "Over the coming months," the company will roll out a new payments feature within Gmail, letting you attach money just as you would an image or document. After clicking the new "$" symbol within the composer, you'll type in an amount and select the source of your funds. Then hit Attach, click send, and say goodbye to your Greenbacks. It's that simple. You can probably get a solid feel for how this works just from looking at the image above, but given the onslaught of announcements today, we'll forgive you for needing a more comprehensive explanation. Goog's got your back, too -- there's a demo video waiting just past the break.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Google

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Source: Gmail Blog