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Bring voice control to your home on the cheap with a Raspberry Pi
Siri, Cortana and Google Now are all inspired by the computers that Dave Bowman, Captain Picard and Iron Man use on a daily basis. But what if you wanted to turn your home into a voice-activated haven without those sorts of resources? Well, thanks to a Princeton students Charles Mash and Shubhro Saha, you can. The pair developed Jasper, an open-source, always-on voice control system that works on a Raspberry Pi and can easily be customized for your needs. All you need is an internet connection, one of the tiny educational boards and a USB microphone and you can ask the system to do whatever your coding ability allows. All we need now is for someone to kidnap Stephen Fry or Paul Bettany so our computer has the right level of sniffy British snark in its voice. Image credit: Cryteria/Wikimedia Commons (Hal 9000)
The Game Archaeologist: Myst Online: Uru Live
The impact of Myst in 1993 was akin to an atomic bomb going off in the PC gaming world. The leap forward in graphical fidelity (aided by the large storage capacity of a CD-ROM and all of the full-motion video and gorgeous images tucked into it) captured gamers' imaginations and made this adventure title the best-selling PC game of all time, at least for several years. Brothers Robyn and Rand Miller's story about a stranger who had to solve puzzles through a good-looking (if deserted) landscape was devilishly difficult, yet that challenge kept players coming back for months and even years. The Myst franchise surged forward at that point, with several sequels, remakes, and ports selling like hotcakes through the final game's release in 2005. Yet something interesting happened along the way when an offshoot of the series -- Uru: Ages Beyond Myst -- evolved into an MMO. With a focus on multiplayer exploration and puzzle-solving instead of non-stop combat, it may be one of the very few MMOs out there that eschews fighting for brainpower. It's an oddity, no doubt, and despite it being an incredibly niche title, it has fascinated me enough to pull me into a research rabbit hole. So let's take a look at Myst Online: Uru Live!
DARPA gives the public a one-stop shop for its open-source code
Ever wish you could help DARPA build our future robot overlords? Wish no more, friends, because DARPA's new open-source program will let you in on the action. DARPA's making the DARPA Open Catalog, a collection of the publically releasable elements from its findings over the years, available to public. Why is Uncle Sam's far-out research wing willing to share its secrets? Free labor, folks. The goal of the program is to get the science and R&D communities to test and evaluate the catalog, and ultimately, build communities around government-funded software and research. All the goodies are available right now to would-be tinkerers and mad scientists. And, keep in mind that the more folks that take advantage of DARPA's generosity, the more info it'll add to the catalog. Gotta give a little to get a little, right?
Samsung's NX300M smart camera is its first to run Tizen OS
Samsung's refreshed NX300M smart camera has already been on sale for more than a month in Korea, but only now is one of its features coming to light. At a recent developer summit, the company confirmed that the 20.3-megapixel shooter is actually running a camera-focused build of its open-source Tizen software. Samsung has relied on Android for some of its cameras so far, but has also quietly released Tizen-powered developer tablets and ported the OS to the Galaxy S4, showing off what it can do without Google's help. To that same end, Nokia announced today it will power "maps-related functionalities" in future Tizen devices, giving Samsung (and its partners) a chance to further reduce its dependency on Google services.
Live from Expand: The Power of Free: Exploring the Open-Source Revolution
From Wikipedia to Firefox to Ubuntu and Android, open-source software has had a major impact in all of our lives over the past several years. We've brought representatives from Mozilla, Wikimedia and Canonical together to discuss how open-source software is driving the software industry. November 10, 2013 2:25:00 PM EST Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from New York City right here!
VLC media player returns to the App Store
After a two and a half year absence, multi-format video player VLC is set to return to iOS. The new VLC app has already gone live in some regions, but should be in all stores, including the US store, by 11PM EST. Once the app goes live, you can download it here. A version of VLC was removed from the App Store in January of 2011 because of complaints from one of VLC's lead contributors who alleged that version of VLC for iOS violated the GPL license. The new version of VLC, released today, is licensed under Mozilla Public License v2, which is applicable to apps distributed on the App Store. Here's some of VLC iOS features: Wi-Fi Upload: Allows users to upload files directly to the iOS version of VLC through a web browser on the PC or Mac. Dropbox Integration: Play media directly from Dropbox or download it for offline playback. Download from Web: Download files from any web server for offline playback Network Streams: Play any network streams support by VLC media player for desktop operating systems 3rd-Party App Integration: Any app with a 'share' dialog can use VLC for iOS for media playback Video Filters: Video playback can be modified for brightness, contrast, hue, saturation or gamma in real time. VLC 2.0 for iOs is a free download.
T-Mobile Poland to ship Firefox OS-powered Alcatel One Touch Fire starting tomorrow
We knew good and well it was coming, and now we've both a date and a launch partner to hone in on: that's "tomorrow" and "T-Mobile Poland," respectively. After going big (as opposed to home) at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, Mozilla has just announced that the Firefox OS-powered Alcatel One Touch Fire will ship tomorrow in Poland for 1 zloty (practically free, for those curious) in combination with "a very attractive tariff." Market launches in additional European countries will follow in the fall, with German handsets to be marketed via Deutsche Telekom's second brand congstar. DT's subsidiaries in Hungary (Magyar Telekom) and Greece (COSMOTE) will also initiate sales of the handset this fall, but pricing in those regions has yet to be revealed. As for word on a US release via Sprint? Still waiting, sadly.
EMW kick-starts JuiceBox, a $99 Level 2 DIY charging station
Electric vehicle charging stations aren't cheap: one of the most affordable Level 2 (240V) units sells for $450 and only supplies 16A. Electric Motor Works (EMW) -- which is best known for its electric conversion kits -- wants to change this with JuiceBox, a 15kW Level 2 EV charger that costs just $99 in kit form (plus $10 shipping). The device, which is launching on Kickstarter today, supplies up to 62A and operates on both 120V and 240V. It's built around an Arduino microcontroller and EMW is making both the hardware and software open source. But wait, there's more! The company is also crowdfunding a Premium Edition of JuiceBox ($199 in kit form) which adds time-of-day charging, a color LCD, ground-fault plus output protection (for outdoor use) and a unique enclosure (hopefully as funky as the one in the picture above). While the DIY kits only require basic assembly and soldering skills, you'll be able to buy fully assembled versions for $100 more. At $329 (shipped), a ready-to-use JuiceBox Premium Edition undercuts other similar charging stations by several hundred dollars. The catch? You'll have to supply your own cables (or buy them separately from EMW), including one with a standard J1772 EV connector. Hit the source link below to check out the campaign, and take a look at the PR after the break.
Incredipede's Linux version goes free
The adorable picture above is letting you know that Incredipede on Linux is now absolutely free. Incredipede developer Colin Northway says he made the Linux version free "because Linux users are such strong supporters of indie games," and because he enjoys its open source philosophy. Incredipede is available for Linux right here, and though it will run fine out of the gate Northway includes a list of tweaks to make it extra pretty. Incredipede is also on sale on Steam for $5 through June 24. This is all part of an "Open Source Appreciation Week," and 50 percent of sales directly through Northway's Humble Store hub will benefit FlashDevelop and Box2D, two open source programs that he used to create Incredipede.
Paranoid Android's HALO does Chat Heads-inspired multitasking, goes open source
It's been a couple months since we first saw the fruits of team Paranoid Android's labor around in-app pop-up window multitasking, and it looks like Paul Henschel and co. are finally sharing the finished product. HALO, as it's called, loosely combines the ideas behind Samsung's Multi Window and FaceBook's Chat Heads into a slick multitasking interface. The feature is activated from the notification tray. It places an icon -- or halo -- on the display, which can be moved around very much like Chat Heads, or dismissed by double-tapping and dragging it towards the red X at the top. Swiping sideways from the halo shows a series of white lines and text bubbles that match and highlight the notifications in the status bar. Releasing your finger is like tapping on the selected notification, but instead of launching full-screen, the app opens in a pop-up window on top of whatever's already running, just like Multi Window. The background app continues to run while you interact with the foreground app -- to dismiss the pop-up window, simply tap outside of it. Other cool functionality includes swiping up to dismiss the last notification and the ability to pin apps permanently to the halo. But what's really most exciting is that team Paranoid Android's decided to make HALO open source so anyone can be involved. Check out the awesome demo video after the break.
Chromium browser cops reset feature to clean up malware messes
Mopping up after malicious software can land you in a browser quagmire full of sketchy search engines, toolbars or worse. Google's latest version of its open-source Chromium browser now has a remedy for much of that thanks to a 'reset profile' setting discovered by code tinkerer François Beaufort. You can revert the defaults for search, homepage, content settings and cookies all in one go, while also disabling extensions. Since Chromium features often pop up later in Chrome, that means your life may soon be easier after your, ahem, friend has a brush with the dark side of the internet.
Google's updated security roadmap details increased friction, reliance on hardware
A lot has changed in the security realm since 2008 -- remember Alicia Keys' recent attempt to convince us her Twitter account was hacked, when we all know she still uses an iPhone even as BlackBerry's Creative Director? Pranks aside, the consumer world alone has been overrun with mass data hackings -- everyone from Evernote to Microsoft to Sony to RSA has felt the wrath. To combat all of this, Google is revamping its five-year security plan, which calls for a complex authentication code replacing the conventional password in due time; in other words, Google is going to make it harder to access your accounts when initially setting up a device, but hopes you'll deal. Eric Sachs, group product manager for identity at Google, put it as such: "We will change sign-in to a once-per-device action and make it higher friction, not lower friction, for all users. We don't mind making it painful for users to sign into their device if they only have to do it once." The documents also suggest that two-step verification may soon become less of an option, and more of a mandate. Sachs straight-up confesses that Google didn't predict the current level of smartphone adoption back in 2008, but now realizes that utilizing mobile hardware and apps as friction points for logging in makes a lot more sense. A huge swath of Google users are already carrying around a product that could be used as a verification token, so the obvious solution is to make use of that. We're also told that learnings from Android will be carried over to Chrome, and further into the world of web apps. No specific ETAs are given, but trust us -- half a decade goes by quickly when you're having fun.
Liveblog: Google's Eric Schmidt at Dive Into Mobile 2013
Fresh off of a trip to North Korea, Google's executive chairman has found himself on stage here in New York City. Eric Schmidt is kicking off the second day of D: Dive Into Mobile 2013 here in the Big Apple, and we're just a few feet away -- you know, so we can liveblog every last word of it. And, to ogle his fashionable sneakers. For those looking for a glimpse into yesteryear, you can relive our liveblog from Schmidt's D9 keynote in 2011 right here. Head on past the break for today's interview!
AMD offers open-source Linux driver for hardware video decoding
AMD's Unified Decoder has been the object of envy in the open-source community for some time. The silicon, which ships on the company's Radeon graphics cards, offers hardware-accelerated video decoding -- but thanks to legal and DRM issues, couldn't be used on Linux machines. AMD, however, has somehow scythed through the red tape to offer a driver that'll let those same Linux users access to the golden chalice of video decoding. The new patch allows for hardware accelerated playback of H.264, VC-1 and MPEG file formats on which Radeon HD 4000 - 7000 series card is jammed into your HTPC, although we should offer the usual warning that as there's no public documentation, you might have to do some tinkering to make it work.
Harlem Shake open-sourced for iOS apps
The Harlem Shake YouTube dance meme, if you ask me, ended about three weeks ago -- which I think was right around when it started. But that hasn't stopped the developers at Velos Mobile from creating an open-source Objective-C class for iOS projects that will take all of an app's standard UIViews, and shake them up, Harlem-style. Even if you're not a developer, you can see the effects of the code below. As old and tired as these meme is, it's still pretty funny to see the standard iOS controls get down to the dubstep. As Velos Mobile says, "Please don't ship this." Developers can add it in their own code, and we may even see some apps make videos with it, but it's a pretty much just a silly hack rather than an actual feature. Still, it's good for a laugh or two on this Friday afternoon.
Backblaze announces 180 TB Storage Pod 3.0 open source design
So, you take a few hundred thousand RAW photos and capture a couple thousand hours of HD video, and before you know it you're out of storage space. Wouldn't it be nice to have 180 TB available to store all of those bits? Never fear, online backup company Backblaze has just announced the third generation of their open-source Storage Pod design, now new and improved for up to 180 TB of safe storage at a cost of less than US$0.06 per GB. The first-generation Storage Pod was designed for Backblaze's need for reliable mass storage on the cheap. That first design back in 2009 provided 67 TB of storage at a cost of $7,867. The latest incarnation can handle 45 4 TB drives for a total of 180 TB of storage at a cost of $10,718 -- almost triple the storage for about $3,000 more initial cost. Backblaze's design is free and open, and there are even full plans, parts lists and build books that are freely available. If you decide that building a Storage Pod 3.0 is out of the question due to time or lack of assembly skills, there are companies that sell you one or more.
Adafruit's Limor Fried takes on the Engadget Questionnaire
Every week, a new and interesting human being tackles our decidedly geeky take on the Proustian Q&A. This is the Engadget Questionnaire. In the inaugural appearance of our questionnaire on Engadget, Adafruit founder Limor Fried opens up about her love for her Metcal MX-500 soldering station and the joys of open-source build projects. Follow us after the break for more from Limor.
Photoshop v1.0.1 released free to everyone, including Australians
Our Antipodean chums might be getting a raw deal on modern versions of Photoshop, but at least they can try 1989's vintage without paying. The Computer History Museum, with Adobe's permission, has released the source code to version 1.0.1 free to citizens of the world, just as it did with MacPaint back in 2010. It's just a shame that current CEO Shantanu Narayen isn't feeling so generous to those on the southern hemisphere.
Dune 2 ported to Javascript, play it for free in your browser
Dune 2 is a Westwood Studios game put together back in 1992, and it's probably best known for being the prototypical RTS, one of the first games to put together all of the elements that later led to the genre that made StarCraft and Command & Conquer so popular. An open-source recreation of the game was started up a few years ago, and that version has now been ported to HTML 5, which means the original can now be played online in your browser.This version is authentic, but t's obviously not as easy or user-friendly as you might expect from a more modern real-time strategy game. It's a nice trip down memory lane, or maybe just a free introduction to a piece of PC gaming history.
Bunnie Huang building an open, ARM-based laptop, might even sell you one if you ask nicely
How do you follow-up creating Chumby, exposing illicit microSD card production and building an open-source radiation detector? If you answered "go to Disneyland," then you aren't Andrew "Bunnie" Huang -- who is now designing and building his very own laptop. Powered by an ARM Cortex A9 and running Linux, the hardware is NDA-free and as open as he can make it, with documents already online for you to study. He's expecting to finish validation and testing in the next few months, and may even offer a few for sale on Kickstarter -- although he does warn that it won't come cheap, so if you're looking for a machine to noodle around on, just get an EeePC.
