accelerator
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Clubhouse tackles privacy issues with its drop-in audio chats
Clubhouse is making some big changes to its drop-in audio chat, including an end to requiring phone contacts and starting a program to foster creators.
Stanford researchers manage to put a particle accelerator on a silicon chip
In scientific pursuits, like the search for dark matter, researchers sometimes use high-power particle accelerators. But these giant machines are extremely expensive and only a handful of them exist, so teams must travel to places like the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, California, where Stanford University operates at two-mile-long particle accelerator. This may change, though. Researchers believe they have developed an alternative: a laser-driven particle accelerator that fits on a silicon chip.
Intel's latest acquisition is a $2 billion push into AI
Intel just spent approximately $2 billion to acquire Israel-based AI firm Habana Labs. The partnership will "turbo-charge" Intel's AI offerings for data centers, Intel said in a press release.
NYC wants tech companies to help with its biggest transit problems
Anyone in New York City can tell you that the public transit system, from the subway to the buses, is a mess. Overcrowding, traffic congestion and widespread delays are constant issues that commuters have to deal with. So the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), alongside the Partnership for New York City, is asking for some help, and it has created an accelerator focused on tech solutions to NYC's transit problems.
Target wants to improve your shopping by fueling Indian technology startups
We usually associate Target more with bargain pricing than technology leadership, but the big-box retailer is about to defy those expectations with plans for a startup incubator in Bangalore, India. When it launches in January, the Target Accelerator Program will finance young tech firms specializing in content aggregation, data, mobile and search. Only one or two companies will make the cut each year, but Target hopes that their projects will improve our shopping experience. TAP is also a clever way to compete against digital-savvy retailers like Walmart, which already has an Indian footprint -- Target may spot clever ideas (and buyout candidates) before they reach competitors.
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?
Nike selects ten companies to participate in Accelerator program
A couple of months after Nike opened its Accelerator startup program for registration, the sportswear giant has deemed just ten companies out of hundreds of applicants to be worthy enough to jump on board the Nike+ API train: FitDeck, GoRecess, Chroma.io, CoachBase, GoFitCause, HighFive, Sprout At Work, GeoPalz, Incomparable Things and RecBob. Selected ideas range from a deck of fitness cards to interactive gaming rewards. As a reminder, the TechStars-run program was designed to encourage companies to use Nike-collected data from devices like the Fuelband and the Sportswatch. As a reward for getting picked, the winners will undergo a three-month retreat in Portland, Oregon, where they'll develop and bring those solutions to fruition. Each company gets $20,000 to use to their advantage, along with expert advice from Nike-selected mentors. At the end of it all, they'll get to pitch their ideas to industry leaders and angel investors in the hopes of taking it to the next level. To find out what each selected participant offers, have a peek at the Nike source link below.
Nike+ opens up its APIs, lets developers see what NikeFuel really is
It looks like Nike+ is making moves to get more people playing with its gear. The Next Web reports that Nike has opened up its APIs on the company developer site today, which means devs now have a way to hook into the data all those FuelBands and SportWatches generate. Among these streams of info is access to a chronological list of user activities, GPS data, and the amount of NikeFuel earned both in total and on an individual activity basis. If that's got you dreaming up fitness apps and games, head on over to the source armed with your Nike+ login info, and that treasure trove of data can be yours to play with, too. TNW goes on to point out that the APIs were freed in conjunction with Nike's Accelerator startup program, on the off chance that any of those apps are part of a worthy business plan. In case you weren't aware, the Accelerator startup incubator's run by TechStars, the same people who also provide seed money and business guidance to aspiring Kinect devs. So, idea-men and women should feel free to embrace the Xbox collaboration possibilities knowing their angel funding's coming from folks who'll understand them. Sound like something you're into? The deadline to apply is February 3rd, so those applying best be ready to hit the ground running when the Accelerator starts a month later.
Box Accelerator may triple cloud upload speeds versus its rivals, comes to syncing apps soon (video)
Upstream speeds are frequently the bottlenecks for cloud storage: an entire company might be held back waiting for that last presentation video to go online before the big meeting. Box wants much more parity through Accelerator, a custom infrastructure that should make uploads hum. It uses Amazon's EC2 for help, but the real magic comes through a mix of Box's own network and special prioritization. Accelerator goes beyond just location to factor in the browser, OS and other criteria that could affect a data packet's journey. The company claims through outside studies that its average 7MB/s speeds make it the upload king by a wide margin, to the tune of 2.7 times its fastest worldwide rival and 3.1 times any of its American counterparts. Peak speeds are up to 10 times faster than before, if you go by the company's word. Most of the focus is on corporate customers and speeding up access near the provider's ten global access points, but Box is planning both to ramp up performance in more areas and bring Accelerator to the company's syncing platforms in the near future -- an obvious lure for would-be Dropbox customers.
Neutrinos can transmit messages through walls, mountains, planets
Neutrinos may not travel as fast as we first hoped, but then they have other special abilities to make up for it. Being almost massless, they can penetrate the thickest barriers, which ought to make them ideal message carriers. To illustrate the point, scientists sent the word "Neutrino" on a beam of particles through 240 meters (800 feet) of solid stone and received it loud and clear on the other side. The same approach could potentially be used to send a message right through the center of a planet, making it possible, according to one of the researchers, to "communicate between any two points on Earth without using satellites or cables." The experiment required the latest particle accelerators at Chicago's Fermilab, which flung the neutrinos over a 2.5 mile track before firing them off at an underground receiver, but it proved the principle: Shrink the accelerator down to the size of a smartphone and neutrino messaging could be huge. Or it could die in a format war with quantum teleportation.
Turbo-charged AVC encoding for PSP
ADS recently announced a new product called InstantVideo To-Go, which is supposed to be a video encoder accelerator. Using this USB key-shaped accelerator allows you to encode PSP-compatible video (in AVC format) insanely quickly. A DVD can take up to 5 hours to encode, but with this device, it'll take only 20 minutes. It'll work with a slew of media formats, including MP4, MP3, AVI, WMV, MOV, RM, JPG, and TIFF. It'll cost $80.[Via DCemu]
