mobility
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FileMaker Go launches today for iPad and iPhone
Mobile databases: they're a good thing, as Martha might say. Back when Palm ruled the handheld space and HanDBase was the king of the data portability castle, it might have been hard to imagine the iPhone/iPad world of today -- but the challenge of taking your data with you on the road is still just as present now as it was a decade ago. For Mac users, and a hearty helping of Windows users too, the database of choice for small to medium business and home use is FileMaker. Although there's already a third-party mobility solution for FileMaker DBs and the iDevices (via the US$9.99 FMTouch application and development suite), the notion of FileMaker on the move gets a big authenticity boost today as the Apple subsidiary announces FileMaker Go for the iPhone and iPad. The two separate applications ($19.99 for the iPhone/iPod touch version, $39.99 for the iPad version) don't allow the creation of new databases -- you'll need FileMaker 7 or higher for Mac or Windows to tackle that. Once your databases are created, however, you can access them remotely over WiFi or 3G (given the proper networking configuration for your server, or a hosted FM provider) and update records, search and browse on the fly. You can also operate in fully mobile mode, with a copy of your database sent via iTunes, email, Dropbox, box.net, etc. and stored in its entirety on the iDevice. While there's no record-level sync built into the product that would allow you to 'rejoin' a database to its parent once it's been on the road, FileMaker VP Ryan Rosenberg told us that there are script-based sync solutions available from FileMaker's developer network if you have to reconcile detached DBs back into a master file. We'll be diving into these apps with gusto once they are available on the App Store later today. The potential for mobile recordkeeping, audit and customer service applications built on top of FileMaker and the iPad is huge -- can't wait to see what some of the experienced FileMaker development folk can do with this new capability.
Rex, the robotic exoskeleton, aims to make wheelchairs obsolete
New Zealand isn't exactly known for being a hotbed of tech innovation, but this set of bionic legs might just realign that perception a little bit. The product of seven years of development work, the Rex exoskeleton is capable of supporting the full weight of a person -- making it suitable for paraplegics -- and moving him or her around in a familiar bipedal fashion. It's operated using a joystick and control pad and is simple enough for handicapped users to self-transfer in and out of. The best news, perhaps, is that it's about to go on sale in its home country this year, with an international launch following in 2011. The worst news? Probably the $150,000 (US) initial asking price, but then we'd hardly say we're qualified to judge the value of being able to walk again. Video and full press release after the break. [Thanks, Kurt and Simon]
The Mog Log: Each answer I give you will only lead to more questions
This column may or may not contain any real answers. But it will contain a lot of emotionally satisfying climaxes, and maybe even bring back parts from columns that we've already finished. Unfortunately, there's no way to continue the analogy without making it sound like I was disappointed with the end of a certain well-known television show, which I wasn't. So let's move straightaway to the newest collection of questions and answers about Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV. (And if we could get an island in the latter? That'd be awesome. Just saying.) Kaio asked: "What purpose does it serve to jump on top of roofs or jump off mountians with no consequence?" I've got to say that I do tend to fall with the camp that allows jumping. It's not a deal-breaker if I can't, but it's similar to people complaining about the pretty-line maps found in Mass Effect 2 and Final Fantasy XIII. Sure, it's not like it restricts much of your practical movement, but the fact that the choice is there makes you feel as if you could go anywhere you want. That having been said, it sure seems odd that every single character in most games is able to leap to Mario-like heights without even a warm-up stretch, right?
NSF backs development of laser-guided robot wheelchairs
It's been well over a year since we last saw the laser-guided, self-docking wheelchair developed by folks at Lehigh University, and now the team is back with an altogether more ambitious project. According to associate professor John Spletzer, the recipient of a five-year CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, the goal is to "extend the autonomy of the wheelchair so it can navigate completely in an urban setting and take you wherever you need to go." This will be done by equipping robotic chairs with laser and camera sensors (which the team developed for the 2007 DARPA Grand Challenge) as well as exhaustive, Google Street View-esque maps of the city where they will be operating. Of course, these guys will be operating in a busy urban environment, so in addition to large-scale 3D maps, they must be equipped with motion planning features for operating in dense crowds and a changing environment. It's too soon yet to say when these things might become available commercially, but if you're a resident of the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Allentown, PA, you might have your chance to test one soon enough. [Via PhysOrg]
Healer survey contains a wealth of information about healing
If you've ever wanted a close-up look at the game's healing zeitgeist, Miss Medicina has it -- she recently started up a survey/meme of healers around the WoW blogosphere, and the answers are now in and posted on her site. They make for some interesting weekend reading, especially if you're interested in healing and what healers think of it. I'm sure there's lots of conclusions that could be drawn out of this (I'll let you all come up with some in the comments as well), but just reading through them on my own, it seems like there's a few threads between them. The majority of healing seems to be done in 10-mans, which probably isn't too surprising, given that's where most of the endgame players are right now as well. There's no clear winner on class or spec (all four healing classes are represented pretty evenly, though I didn't really crunch the numbers), though there are quite a few priests, and of those, things seem to be split between holy and disc. In terms of a favorite spell, there's almost no crossover at all -- people are all over the place, from Beacon to Penance to Circle of Healing. To hear these guys tell it, healers have all kinds of fun spells to play with. In terms of a weakness to healing, two main answers appear: mana regeneration (always an issue with mana-heavy classes like healers) and mobility. Shamans and druids have problems with big burst healing, and paladins say they need more group healing strength, but almost everyone mentions either mana or movement. There's a lot more to look through, too, in terms of how healers evaluate their performance and addon recommendations from everyone. As a look inside the healer "scene," there is a ton of information in there about what healers are up to out on the realms.
Honda introduces new walking assist machine, doubles as bionic wedgie maker
For a company most famous for its wheeled products, Honda certainly seems quite focused on things to help people get about on their own two feet, introducing another new prototype machine with just that in mind. Unlike the earlier Walking Assist Device, which is intended just to help patients re-learn how to walk, the new (and cunningly named) Walking Assist Device with Bodyweight Support System is for anyone who needs a lift -- even those who are perfectly healthy. To use it you basically straddle a bicycle seat with robotic legs, tie it to your shoes, and then (gingerly) go about your business, uncomfortably demonstrated in a video after the break. The legs support your body when you crouch and give little tugs on your feet when you walk, making bipedal mobility less of a strain. A Honda engineer said "It reduces stress, and you should feel less tired." Less tired, yes, and less exercised too. We envision a future where spindly robotic legs shudder under the weight of our grossly obese frames -- but maybe we've seen Wall-E too many times.[Via Associated Press]
Scattered Shots: Pet talent trees in the Wrath Beta
Welcome to another edition of Scattered Shots, the other WoW Insider weekly Hunter column. Daniel Whitcomb is your guest host again this week. So, we theorized about talented pets a bit quite a few installments of Scattered Shots ago, but now we have the actual trees live and testable on the Wrath Beta, and they seem to be firming up nicely. There's a few promised changes yet to come, such as the removal or lowering of focus costs on many major abilities and talents, and it's still very possible that Blizzard may make changes here and there before live, but I think they're solid enough at this point that we can look at each tree and make some solid predictions about how people will use them and how various talent builds might look.
Lichborne: PvP, grinding, the Unholy tree, and you
Every weekend in Lichborne, Daniel Whitcomb will take you through the ever-changing (Beta) world of World of Warcraft's first hero class, the Death Knight. With a new Beta Build on the test servers, Death Knights have received a massive amount of talent changes. Many of them have been hinted at on the test servers for eons, and I've covered much of them in last week's Lichborne. The new disease changes are in, as is the changing of Chains of Ice's Snare component to an undispellable physical effect. You can check out the full list of changes here. Among the new changes is a very extensive revamp of the Unholy tree, which features quite a bit of talent consolidation and quite a few new and interesting mechanics and abilities. In fact, I'd have to say that the current build may very well mark the rise of the Unholy Tree, with the changes making it an amazing tree for grinding and PvP. As a disclaimer, there's still lot of bugs in this build. Many abilities don't seem to be working quite right, especially Blood Caked Blade (which only hits for 1-4 damage based on the number of diseases instead of 60% weapon damage per disease), Raise Dead, and Night of the Dead. Because of that, it's often hard to say how or if an ability would be better or worse if it actually worked. Therefore, I'll be discussing the abilities based on if they actually did work, backed with some feel for them from Death Knight play on the Beta Servers.
Scattered Shots: The dev team takes on PvP
Welcome once again to Scattered Shots, WoW Insider's spot for all things Hunter, except for the stuff Big Red Kitty covers. Daniel Whitcomb will be your host today (a day late, for which he apologizes) as David Bowers tries to shake off some extra aggro. The state of Hunters in PvP is perhaps one of the most debated subjects in WoW PvP. Some call Hunters overpowered for their dispelling Arcane Shot (which is going away in Wrath, to be sent to the non-damaging Tranquilizing Shot), while others point to their low Arena representation and the ease of using line of sight to negate most of their DPS and Abolish Poison to get rid of their main PvP utility as proof that they need buffs. Regardless, even the devs acknowledge that Hunters probably need some help in PvP, and class designer Koraa recently spoke on the subject on the Beta forums. In his post, he covered the problems he sees Hunters having, and how Blizzard will be helping with those moving forward into Wrath. Unfortunately, his solutions seem confused in and of themselves. They involve giving Hunters more melee attack power (instead of more way to break from melee so they can use their ranged weapon) and a variety of talents scattered around many trees in such a way that it will be difficult for a solid PvP build to get them all. And, as I mentioned in a post yesterday, they still aren't giving pets resilience. Other Hunters such as Megatf have done an excellent job responding to some of Koraa's points in the thread itself, but I'd like to address and respond to the post myself in this week's column, and see how they stack up to the problems Hunters face in small scale Arena PvP.
iPhone vs. the world
BusinessWeek.com has a really interesting article online today theorizing about the potential impact the iPhone 3G will have on other smartphone manufacturers and the wireless industry at large. The $200 introductory price point can lure lots of customers over to AT&T and put the price crunch on other smartphone manufacturers. Plus, now that the phone has been out for a year, consumers are more eager to upgrade. As the article points out, the trend of cell phone carriers subsidizing the price of handsets was on the wane, but now that the iPhone 3G is going to be released at a subsidized price, other manufacturers might want to follow suit, and that may mean cutting their prices on bulk orders. Even before the 3G announcement last week, Apple has already forced the other mobile players to up their game. Not only are future phones adopting more iPhone-centric interfaces and features, wireless carriers who can't offer the iPhone to their customers are spending more to remind users of their offerings. According to the BusinessWeek article, Verizon's ad budget increased 30% in the first quarter of 2008. While AT&T is surely going to continue to benefit from being the sole iPhone carrier in the United States, they also stand-out as being expensive. To help cover iPhone subsidies, AT&T is raising the data plan $10 a month. As BusinessWeek mentions, this could be an area that other carriers could seize on. By offering more features for less money, other carriers have an incentive that while not as flashy as the iPhone, might be more financially practical for lots of customers. Still, as I said in last night's talkcast, I think the $200 price point is going to vastly reduce the barrier to entry for lots and lots of users. The data plan price increase is going to be more a determent for existing iPhone users, not new users to the fold. Just as the iPod really hit its stride when it became available for under $400, the $200 pricepoint on the iPhone is going to be extremely tempting for anyone approaching the end of a cellular contract. The other phone manufacturers SHOULD be concerned; the war for mobile domination will not be won or lost based on the iPhone 3G, but Apple is a very, very deft opponent.
Black Motorola KRZR K1m comes to Telus
Looks like Canada's Telus Mobility got hooked up with the Motorola KRZR K1m in yet another shade -- this time, black. We've been waiting for a while to see when new K1m colors would start showing up, and here's a pretty decent first stab at black we think (or second stab, if you count Sprint's). Anything new besides the color here? Very doubtful. If you just bought that pretty solver K1m from Telus recently, we feel for ya. Just don't break out the Sharpie marker for that new black-colored mod, mkay?[Via HowardForums, thanks Jay]
Sweden develops MICA: the intelligent, autonomous wheelchair
There's not much like getting off the couch and moving around a bit (well, not always), and a Swedish dissertation has uncovered an intelligent wheelchair that sports remote-controlled or autonomous operation. Sven Rönnbäck of Luleå University of Technology in Sweden has developed the Mobile Internet Connected Assistant (MICA), which offers up a presumably comfortable looking set of wheels to those who lack the ability to move on their own. Similar to the technology found in the Good Bytes Cafe, this wheelchair utilizes the built-in "distance-metering sensor to discover the surfaces that are available," and the technology can also be used to "ensure that the wheelchair is being used in a safe manner." The target market is "severely handicapped individuals who would otherwise find it difficult to steer a wheelchair," as these folks could take full advantage of the head-controlled interface in order to instruct the machine where to go next. Best of all, the device can learn and store maps of one's home, giving blind and visually impaired individuals the chance to cart around their crib without worrying over foreign objects foiling their plans. While we haven't heard of any VCs grabbing hold of this marvel just yet, we're sure that opportunity isn't too far away, and we're all about finding new ways to blaze a path. [Warning: PDF link][Via Gizmag]
ATRS to make entering / exiting vehicles easier for handicapped individuals
While there's certainly smart enough wheelchairs to get you around town without mauling a lamppost or taking out a crowd of bystanders, a Pennsylvania-based team has developed a system to get wheelchair-bound individuals in and out of their cars a lot easier. Engineers at Lehigh and Carnegie Mellon have partnered with robotic startup Freedom Sciences LLC and Freedom Lift Corporation to unveil the Automatic Transport and Retrieval System, which will supposedly "enable wheelchair users to drive while sitting in standard automobile seats that meet federal safety regulations." Currently, motorists are forced to use cumbersome, bolt-in attachments that typically require heavy modifications to the car in order to operate; the ATRS system, however, uses remote controls, wireless technologies, and "lasers" to assist drivers into a standard seat, roll their wheelchair "autonomously" to the loading dock, and close up the rear door, all while parked in the driver's seat. Sensational as it may sound, the system doesn't come cheap (nor with a wheelchair), and will cost handicapped individuals (or insurance companies) between "$15,000 and $20,000" when it goes on sale next spring.
Standing Wheelchair offers heightened opportunity for paralyzed individuals
While this new adaptation of a wheelchair may resemble a certain human transporter device, the humbly-named Standing Wheelchair just might be regarded with a tad more sincerity than the dear 'ole Segway. This two-wheeled cruiser was designed to give those who have lost some of their motor functions -- paraplegics in particular -- a new way to experience the world. Pending the device actually getting built, the engineering would seem quite impressive, ditching the unfashionable style often times associated with wheeled contraptions for the handicapped, and instead blending functionality with (fairly) unobtrusive lines that shouldn't draw the wrong kind of attention at first glance. Currently, those unable to walk unassisted have to resort to less-than-ideal methods to get around, and even when carted in a traditional wheelchair, they're forced to view the world a few rungs lower than the average joe (unless, of course, they're using the iBOT). Apparently this device solves that dilemma, and offers those with paralyzed lower limbs a new way to make use of their legs. While little detail is given on how the wheels are actually controlled, we can (hopefully) assume that sufficient safeguards were built-in to prevent certain catastrophes from occurring (i.e. peeling out from under you) -- while ideas to mobilize the disabled are often glossed over (or just not taken seriously), it's quite possible this Standing Wheelchair concept could raise a few eyebrows.[Via Mobile Mag]
