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Engadget Daily: Facebook tackles anonymity, Vaio post-Sony, and more!
Zuckerberg and Co. are in hot water regarding the social giant's real-name policy, but it looks like all the outcry may have paid off. Well, sort of. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours, including Facebook's purported anonymity app, Vaio's new hybrid tablet, a magical product called Carrot, and more!
The scientists behind blue LEDs earn this year's Nobel Prize for physics
This year's Nobel Prize for physics was awarded for something quite useful to us all. While the honor typically goes to the likes of Higgs Boson research and other massively complex discoveries, a trio of Japanese scientists earned the award for work on blue LEDs. The third color of light emitting diodes can combine with red and green to create white light -- something you have have seen in those bright and efficient LED bulbs. Since the group developed the tech back in the 90s, companies packed blue-hued bits inside TVs and other displays, in addition to replacing energy-draining bulbs for a load of uses (traffic lights, car headlamps, etc.). Not only do white LED lamps/bulbs cut down on power use, but they also last longer than both incandescent and florescent options. What's more, that efficiency is constantly on the rise. [Photo credit: Jim R. Bounds/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Nike's LED basketball court boosts training with motion tracking
Wearables have become popular among athletes for monitoring training progress, but on its recent Rise campaign stop in Shanghai, Nike took a different approach. Inside the so-call House of Mamba, NBA star Kobe Bryant hosted 30 young players from all over China who trained on a full-sized LED basketball court -- complete with projected graphics and motion tracking. The playing surface displayed reactive visuals based on players' movements for drills based on Bryant's own regimen. A dozen athletes will compete this weekend in Beijing with three winners moving on to the Nike World Basketball Festival in Barcelona next month. Curious to see how it works? Well, there's a pair of videos after the break that show just that.
Lightfreq is like the lovechild of Jambox and Hue
Since the death of the incandescent bulb we've seen light-emitting oddities of all kinds pop up, but for the most part, they've been rather, well, silent. LightFreq is aiming to change that, however, with a smart lightbulb that has a built-in speaker and customizable color output. The speaker connects to an app on your phone via Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi, as does the light itself, allowing you to beam your music from room to room and even have your tunes and lights follow you, automatically turning them off after you pass by and illuminating the next before entering. The LightFreq also acts as an intercom system, wherein you can broadcast voice messages from your device to an individual unit in another room or all bulbs at once. The features don't stop there, as you can even set individual colors for specific push notifications and alerts on your phone; a flashing red-to-blue pulse when your police-officer dad calls, for instance.
GE promises smart light bulbs without the usual steep prices
Many smartphone-controlled light bulbs cost a pretty penny, even if you're not interested in mood-setting colors or other elaborate tricks. How are you supposed to afford enough bulbs to illuminate your entire abode? That's where GE's new Link bulbs could save the day. While you'll need a hub ($30 by itself) to get everything connected, the LED-based white lights cost just $15 to $25 each -- in contrast, Philips' upcoming Lux models are $40 a pop. There's also a kit that includes two 60W-equivalent bulbs and a hub for $50, or half as much as you'd pay for an equivalent Lux bundle.
MIT's Local Warming system warms you while you wander
Thought experiment time, folks: what would do you if you wanted to warm up a few people in a big, chilly room? Prevailing logic says to crank up the heat, but let's be honest here: sometimes the prevailing logic sucks. The folks from MIT's Senseable City Lab project have cooked up a more efficient (if slightly kookier) way to go called Local Warming. Their approach? To create a prototype LED spotlight that shoots a beam of heat at you as you walk around the room. In case you were curious, yes, it's all much safer than it sounds.
Toyota's LED-lit concept car lets your kids customize the hood
If you complained about your family's drab-looking car when you were a kid, you're going to love the latest incarnation of Toyota's Camatte concept. The vehicle lets children (and creative adults) customize the look by translating their drawings to nearly 7,000 LED lights on the hood; you could change styles at a moment's notice without having to swap panels (as with the 2012 Camatte) or break out some paint. There's no word on the possibility of this technology reaching production models, although we wouldn't count on it in the near future -- even if higher energy consumption isn't a factor, a light-up hood could get quite expensive. Still, Camatte raises hope that cars will one day be as unique as their drivers.
Philips helps to re-create Times Square in a Moscow shopping mall
Russia and the US may not be best buds right now, but that hasn't stopped the former building a homage to one of New York's famous landmarks in its newest shopping mall. The VEGAS Crocus City teamed up with Philips' booming lighting business to build a scaled-down version of Times Square, complete with the red bleachers found on the TKTS booth on 47th street. Naturally, the lighting company supplied both jumbo screens and its Color Kinetics LEDs for the inside and outside of the building, which can show off 16 million colors and broadcast text and graphics depending on what's required. We bet the team over at the Allianz Arena are now casting some envious glances east.
ASUS introduces us to the 'world's largest' curved LED monitor
ASUS announced a slew of high-profile devices at its press conference yesterday, but the company's booth at Computex still turned up a few gems today. Among them: a prototype of a 32-inch curved LED monitor, which ASUS says is the largest of its kind.
This $40 plastic ring is the first point-and-shoot accessory you actually need to own
There's a lot of junk you can buy to stick on your camera. Point-and-shoot enthusiasts are likely acquainted with those pricey screw-on lenses that let you capture at a slightly wider angle or zoomed a bit further in, while action cam owners probably have bags of expendable mounts. You can also add on a case or customize your wrist strap, or purchase a mélange of other rubbish that won't make even the slightest difference when it comes to your photography. But Olympus has managed to create an aftermarket gadget that's actually a must-have: a plastic ring diffuser that provides killer light for your macro shots.
Samsung's first Smart Bulb is Bluetooth-only and lasts 10 years
Though it got beat to the punch by arch-competitor LG, Samsung has just released its debut smart LED bulb, literally called the "Smart Bulb." It looks nothing like the multi-tiered model we saw at the FCC, but retains the Bluetooth-only spec -- unlike the WiFi-based Philips Hue and LG's WiFi/Bluetooth Smart Lamp. That'll give you direct control of up to 64 bulbs via a smartphone app, similar to how the Lumen bulb works. However, you'll need a ZigBee Bluetooth hub for home automation, and there's no word yet if that'll be included. The bulb will dim down to ten percent power with a color range between warm and cool white, meaning the disco-like tricks of the Philips and Lumen models are out. There's no word yet on the price, but Samsung said the Smart Bulb would last a prodigious 15,000 hours or around 10 years under normal usage. Given that, if it's in the same $32 range as LG's bulb, we think we can swing it.
LG's first smart light bulb flashes when you get a phone call
LG isn't about to let household heavyweights like Philips corner the connected lighting space -- it just unveiled the Smart Lamp, its first take on the concept. The 10W LED bulb gives Android and iOS users a familiar level of control over their illumination, including a light-based alarm clock and a security mode that pretends you're at home. There are a couple of noteworthy tricks in this initial offering, however. The light connects through both Bluetooth and WiFi, letting it pull the sync-based stunts we've seen in a few other bulbs: it can flash when you get a phone call, or (with Android) pulse to the beat of the music. The Smart Lamp is more expensive than ordinary LEDs at 35,000 won ($32) in LG's native Korea, but it could be a good deal if you don't need the many-colored lighting of Hue and similar systems. Unfortunately, there's no word on whether or not it's coming to the US.
Samsung's new Ultra HD TVs arrive soon with (or without) curves for $2,500 and up
We got our first peek at Samsung's latest high-end HDTVs -- including the new curved shape that it says creates a larger viewing "sweet spot" -- at CES back in January, and now they're just about ready to come home. Of course the new shape isn't all there is to offer, and while Samsung isn't joining LG in pushing any new OLED TVs, it is expanding its lineup of Ultra HD screens and bringing more 4K content to watch thanks to a new deal with Fox. There's also upgraded Smart Hub software with multitasking to pull in streaming video and live TV all at once, new quad-core CPUs to boot it all up in just 1.8 seconds, and a simpler pebble shaped remote for control. That massive 105-inch Ultra HD TV we were drooling over is still penciled in to launch during the second half of this year, but if you're looking for a more modest upgrade, then we have new details on price and release for most of the other models (LCD only, no word on plasma).
Toshiba sticks to what it knows with new LED HDTV range
Toshiba's already spilled the beans on its 4K TV line-up for this year, and right on cue, it's just revealed the new range of 2014 LED sets that might interest us folk still clinging on to the regular HD era. The entry-level 3 series gains a number of new recruits, all with some smart TV features, baked-in WiFi and Freeview HD, in the UK at least. The L3 range is full HD, with 40- and 48-inch options, while the lone W3 model is a 32-inch, 1,366 x 768 affair. With the same resolution and screen sizes from 24 to 40 inches, the D3 series also have DVD players on board, and all of the above are slated for launch in the US and UK later this month.
This is the thinnest LED that anyone can make
Companies have been racing to slim down LED backlights as devices get ever thinner, but the University of Washington may have just beaten everyone to the finish line. Its scientists have developed an LED that, at three atoms thick, is easily the thinnest LED to date -- in fact, it's impossible to build something thinner using current knowledge. The key ingredient is tungsten diselenide, the thinnest known semiconductor. A single sheet of the material is less than a tenth as thick as a conventional LED, but still emits measurable light. It's flexible and strong, too. On a basic level, the technology could be handy for optical circuits, nanolasers and other areas where miniscule lighting is necessary. However, the researchers also see uses for their LED in mobile devices -- it could end up in wearables and other gadgets where even a slight difference in thickness could make a big impact.
Philips' smart lighting tells you where to go in the grocery store
Ever spent ages wandering the grocery store while looking for a hard-to-find ingredient? If Philips brings its new connected retail lighting to your local supermarket, you may always know where to go. The technology uses light-based communication to create a positioning grid for your smartphone, telling you just what route you'll need to take to get everything for that recipe. Naturally, shopkeepers can also use the system for location-based discounts and suggestions; if you're looking for dessert ideas, the lights can point you to the pastry section. Philips is already testing its smart illumination with a handful of stores, so it might not be long before you're shopping with extreme efficiency.
Panasonic ups its smart TV game with the VIERA Life+ Screen, complete with voice and facial recognition
Panasonic's taken to the stage at CES and has just revealed the VIERA Life+ Screen in an effort to "redefine what a 21st Century TV should be." Televisions under this banner are kitted out with Xbox One-like facial recognition that will display information relevant to users on an "Info Bar" relegated to the lower part of the screen. Voice recognition has also been baked into the set along with a feature called "myStream" that helps you keep favorite channels organized. And of course, it wouldn't be 2014 without social integration, particularly content sharing and Facebook notifications. When it comes to picture quality, the line of sets shown off today boasts a 4K LED display (which is said to look just as good as the company's old plasma tech) and will come in 58 to 65 inches when it arrives this year, with an 85-inch -- the firm's first LED TV of that size -- joining it later in 2014. Even if you aren't in the market for a UHD TV, every one of the outfit's 4K and 1080p sets fresh out this year will have the VIERA Life+ Screen moniker attached.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: doggie translator, full-size Lego hot rod and skyscraper cemeteries
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. Do you ever wish you knew exactly what your dog is thinking? A team of designers from the Nordic Society for Invention and Discovery is playing Doctor Dolittle -- they've developed a doggie headset that can read animal brainwaves and translate them into human speech. That's just one of the many amazing scientific breakthroughs we've witnessed this week. South Korean scientists developed the world's first nanobot that can both detect and treat cancer. Rawlemon unveiled a gigantic crystal ball that can magnify solar energy 10,000 times -- that's enough to harvest light from the sun, moon and clouds. For the first time, researchers at the University of Cambridge used an inkjet printer to print living retinal cells, which could be used to replace defective eye tissue. And this week, Inhabitat interviewed Natural Machine's Chief Marketing Officer Lynette Kucsma to talk about an amazing new 3D printer that can cook up edible designs.
Nike's LunarENDOR QS Snowboard boots will make you the flashiest rider on the slopes
Nike is betting that maybe one or two snowboarders like to showboat. So if you're more corkscrew, than chicken salad, the firm's LunarENDOR QS boots -- complete with 30 LED swoosh -- might catch your eye. If not, they'll certainly catch everyone else's as you tear down those nighttime black runs. Back in daylight, you can save power by switching off via the power button on the cuff. That said, we know any self-respecting, gear-loving riders out there will have enough juice to keep their whole techno-shredding set-up going all day. You'll have to wait until mid-December though before you can pull on your regular sneaks and head to a store to get a set.
Tokyoflash Kisai Console gets a wooden makeover, retains futuristic watchface (video)
Somebody at Tokyoflash HQ probably decided that 2013 is the year for wooden redesigns of its old tricky timepieces. A more natural version of its 2011 Kisai Console watch is the latest in a string of makeovers, which includes the Rogue SR2, Stencil, Zone and Maru. Like the re-releases before it, the new Kisai Console retains the original device's watchface that looks like the interface of a sci-fi-esque computer or control panel. The only difference is that its steel case and strap have been replaced by a handcrafted sandalwood bracelet in either red (with green LEDs) or very dark brown (with green or blue watchfaces). Those inclined to wear one of the migraine-inducing watches -- the video after the break sheds light on how it works, though -- can get one now from Tokyoflash for a launch price of $109 until November 14th.
