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Drones will watch Australian beaches for sharks with AI help
Humans aren't particularly good at spotting sharks using aerial data. At best, they'll accurately pinpoint sharks 30 percent of the time -- not very helpful for swimmers worried about stepping into the water. Australia, however, is about to get a more reliable way of spotting these undersea predators. As of September, Little Ripper drones will monitor some Australian beaches for signs of sharks, and pass along their imagery to an AI system that can identify sharks in real-time with 90 percent accuracy. Humans will still run the software (someone has to verify the results), but this highly automated system could be quick and reliable enough to save lives.
The best vacuums
By Liam McCabe This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter, reviews for the real world. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. After putting in hundreds of hours of research on 330 different vacuums, and testing dozens of them over the past three years, we've found that the Shark Navigator Lift-Away NV352 is by far the most effective, reliable vacuum for its price, and will be a great fit for most people and in most homes.
ICYMI: Amazingly old sharks and drones for the sea
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A new study just published in Science details the carbon dating process used to find the average age of Greenland sharks is 272, along with pegging one at a likely age of 512. Those engineered shark cell injections for longevity can't come soon enough. By comparison, the Reef Scouts from Ocean Lab are relatively new additions to the sea, with multiple water drones that flock together when only one is controlled. If you're interested in the animatronic shark suit in today's opening, that video is here. The video of a 43-week clean-up on a Mumbai beach is here; use it to get your somehow, still-not-recycling family members onboard. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
ICYMI: Underwater robot snake, Earth's ocean saving and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-54715{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-54715, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-54715{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-54715").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Princeton researchers discovered ocean currents can move most anything around the globe within 10 years; which could help replenish dying ecosystems... and also spread around pollution. Norwegian engineers came up with a mechanical snake for underwater sea inspection and simple repair jobs near oil drills. And Harvard wants to encourage kid programming with a new robot that can be used by kindergartners to high schoolers. Once that's conquered, the answer is clearly to make the MIT open-source duckcar. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
'Little Ripper' drones take flight to find sharks and save lives
After playing host to fourteen shark attacks last year, the Australian state of New South Wales has been eyeing up drones for help. The state government's new "shark strategy" calls for tiny aircraft to monitor the waters around southeast Australia, and that's what a $250,000 remote-controlled drone — affectionately named Little Ripper — will do for a six-month trial period.
Of course there's a shark in this 'Call of Duty' Exo Zombies video
Carrier, the latest map for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's Exo Zombies mode, is a seafaring vessel infested with hordes of ravenous former-humans. Since it's on the open seas, of course the ship has a tank with a monstrous, toothy shark just chillin' inside. The shark isn't the intended star of this trailer -- Bruce Campbell and the zombie-slaughtering gunplay is -- but anything with that many teeth is sure to steal the show. See for yourself below. Exo Zombies Carrier is part of the Supremacy DLC pack, due to hit Xbox Live on June 2, with additional platforms to follow.
3D printing shows why sharks are so deadly efficient
A shark's fearsome teeth don't end in its mouth, as its skin is also made up of millions of sharp, microscopic "denticles." That roughness helps sharks slip through the water more efficiently by reducing drag, but how exactly? To better understand, Harvard researchers studied a Mako shark's skin, then figured out how to 3D print a simulated version onto a flexible substrate (see below). As expected, the faux sharkskin reduced drag significantly at slower speeds, but surprisingly increased drag in faster currents. After adding a simulated swimming motion, however, efficiency improved dramatically -- showing that denticles only work in concert with a shark's sinuous movement. All that helps them swim seven percent faster and burn six percent less energy than if their skin was smooth. That might not seem like a lot, but let's see you hunt down and kill a seal with your bare teeth. (A decoy seal is pictured above.) [Image credit: Discovery Channel]
Scientists get a shark's eye view using wearable computers
Sure, Sharknado and Sharktopus are fun to watch with friends on a weekend, but they also prove that sharks still get a bad rap. Clearly, what we've learned about the animal's behavior since Jaws came out isn't nearly enough, so a group of researchers are attempting to find out more... by strapping a bunch of gadgets to a bunch of sharks. Think of these things as a combination of a GoPro and a sportsband -- they're equipped with sensors and cameras that monitor and video a shark's adventures.
HTC outs Desire 700 and 501 handsets in Taiwan, sets sights on the mid-range market
As if that recently announced trio of Desire smartphones wasn't enough, HTC today introduced a couple more, this time in Taiwan. Meet the Desire 700 and Desire 501, both aimed at the mid-range market in said Asian territory. For its part, the 700 (pictured above) features a 5-inch, qHD display alongside BoomSound speakers, an as-of-yet undisclosed quad-core Snapdragon chip Spreadtrum's quad-core 1.2GHz Shark SoC, 1GB RAM, 8GB of internal storage and a 2,100mAh battery. The 501, on the other hand, packs those same traits but with a smaller 4.3-inch, WVGA screen and a dual-core 1.15GHz ST-Ericsson U8520 -- oh, and it comes in a few different colors. HTC is pricing its dual-SIM-packing Desire 700 at NTD 13,900 (about $470), while the Desire 501 will be available with a cheaper NTD 9,900 price tag. Update: Engadget Chinese had some hands-on time with the new Desires, so be sure to check that out right here!
Hungry Shark Evolution swims back to life with 3D graphics
For a long time, one of my favorite games on iOS was Hungry Shark. It's a simple but addictive game that allows you to control a shark that swims around a wonderfully inventive undersea world eating as much as you can -- whether that was other fish, swimmers or even mad scientist villains straight from a James Bond movie. Hungry Shark spawned a series of sequels and went on to be downloaded more than 40 million times. Now Future Games of London, the company that brought you the original Hungry Shark, has released Hungry Shark Evolution, a complete revisioning of the undersea world. Hungry Shark Evolution has ditched 2D graphics for some eye-catching 3D ones, which makes the game visually stunning. The game also adds some cool new features such as a massive free-roaming undersea world, 45 missions and the ability to unlock other sharks including a Mako, Hammerhead, Tiger and Great White. Hungry Shark Evolution hits the App Store today. For US$2.99 it's worth the fun. It's also formatted to fit the iPhone 5's new screen.
Liquidware team crafts laser tripwire that tweets intruder alerts, keeps fake sharks at bay (video)
Laser tripwire security systems can be expensive propositions that don't always work as planned -- just ask Raytheon, which saw its $100 million Perimeter Intrusion Detection System for JFK International Airport undermined by one wayward jet skier. Taking that as a form of dare, Justin Huynh and teammates at Liquidware have devised a much cheaper (if also much smaller) tripwire of their own. Any interruption of a laser pointer's beam is caught by an Arduino light sensor that promptly sends the alert to an Android-running BeagleBoard xM; if a toy like Bruce the shark dares cross the line, the BeagleBoard sends a Twitter message to let the authorities, or at least Huynh, clamp down on the trespasser. The invention won't replace Raytheon's handiwork anytime soon, although Huynh notes that additional or more powerful sensors could theoretically catch real, muscle-bound sharks and not just their plastic counterparts. The supply checklist and source code are waiting on the company's project page below, so those who'd like to ward off miniature invasions can get started today.
Autonomous Wave Glider bot launched to track sharks, beam real-time data to your iPhone and iPad
When they're not breaking world records, fuel-hating Wave Glider seabots like to indulge in other hobbies, like shark tracking. One of the vessels has just been launched off the coast near San Francisco (vid after the break), adding a mobile worker to the existing local network of buoy-mounted receivers. They monitor the movements of electronically tagged sea life, including the fearsome Great White, picking up signals within a 1,000-foot range while researchers from Stanford University analyze the data from the safety of the shore. Better still, the free Shark Net iOS app gives anyone the chance to track these things, and activity should increase as the monitoring network (hopefully) expands along the west coast and more bots are introduced. You didn't think the world's fascination sharks was limited to only a single single week, did you?
Krater gameplay trailer looks cool, interesti -- whoa, that's a shark
We're sure Krater, the top-down post-apocalyptic RPG from Fatshark, looks like a great game. We assume it does, but we can't know because there's a vicious shark in the intro of the above gameplay video and we about died and couldn't watch the rest. If you're brave enough, give it a go yourself.
Jaws debuts on Blu-ray August 14th remastered and upmixed (video)
Universal Pictures promised it would celebrate its centennial by bringing classics out of the vaults and onto Blu-ray discs and now one of our most anticipated flicks, Jaws, finally has a release date. Steven Spielberg's 1975 hit will come home in "digitally remastered and fully restored" form with an upmixed 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack August 14th. The soundtrack and picture have both been carefully restored in a process undertaken in conjunction with Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment, as they went back to the original 35mm film and repaired it frame by frame. Also packed in will be four hours of bonus features, including an all new documentary The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact & Legacy of Jaws. If you're wondering about the restoration process, there are a couple of samples included after the break, plus a video about it and teaser trailer for the Blu-ray disc -- we're gonna need a bigger boat.
Google dives deep to bring underwater photos of the Great Barrier Reef this September
Your next trip to the Great Barrier Reef could be from the comfort of your home now that Google's partnered with Catlin SeaView Survey, the University of Queensland's Global Change Institute and the Underwater Earth organization to document this amazing ecosystem. Equipped with a special underwater camera capable of withstanding depths of 328 feet, the survey aims to photograph 50,000 shots in 360-degree panoramic view and incorporate them into Google Earth and Google Maps. Dubbed "Google SeaView," it seeks to open opportunities for increased conservation as well as a free look for wanna-be world travelers who can't afford a plane ticket down under. As an added perk, the collected data may also be used to help future ship captains navigate through the treachery of the intricate coral highways. Check past the break for more info on the survey and plenty of footage teeming with aquatic wildlife.
League of Legends prepares for Fizz patch
All this week, Riot Games has been releasing snippets of information on upcoming League of Legends champion Fizz, the Tidal Trickster. Fizz's mechanics preview gave a first glimpse into the sea monster's skills, including his ability to dodge attacks with his trident and to call a shark to eat the target enemy. A new art spotlight video gave us our first look at the champion and showed off both his signature trident weapon and one mean-looking shark. Today Riot published a patch preview video for the upcoming Fizz patch, detailing all the other changes coming with the update. Ranged carry champions are the focus of rebalancing efforts in the coming patch, with Caitlyn, Kog'maw and Graves being nerfed and Corki, Miss Fortune and Tristana due for buffs. With tournament season approaching, Riot is being careful to make these changes very minor to avoid upsetting current lane balance. Sona's auras are being nerfed a little, which isn't a surprise as Sona's usually the obvious choice for support. The season two summoner spell changes we discussed earlier in the week will also be going live with this patch, along with revamped mastery trees. Skip past the cut to watch the full video in HD.
Splitfish FragFX Shark 360 starts shipping for your first-person shooting pleasure
What better way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Halo than the release of a new way to first-person shoot people on the Xbox 360? Splitfish today announced that its FragFX Shark mouse / analog stick hybrid controller device thingie is finally hitting the Microsoft console. The peripheral offers in-controller setup, customizable precision and should give you around 50 hours of play time on two AA batteries. The $80 device uses 2.4GHz wireless, but, as outlined before, requires a wired controller to get in on the action. More info in the press release after the break.
Splitfish FragFX Shark to surface for Xbox 360, make friends with wired controller
Splitfish is finally bringing its flagship PC and PS3 mouse controller to the Xbox, albeit packing an odd wireless caveat. Although the FragFx Shark 360 is billed as an identical twin to its PS3 counterpart, this half-gamepad and rodent combo, much like a XIM adapter, needs a wired Xbox 360 gamepad to act as an intermediary between itself and the console. That wired controller plugs into the Shark's wireless USB dongle; the macro-equipped "fragchuck" and mouse themselves are completely untethered. It sounds a little janky, but if your faith in mouse superiority is strong, you may be forgiving it for its faults come late August. Hit the break for a full list of features and glittery PR wonder.
Gartner and IDC dispute Android's dominance over Symbian in Q4 2010
According to Gartner's latest mobile sales numbers, the rise of Android hasn't been quite as meteoric as you might think -- even with 888.8 percent growth in 2010. Last month, Canalys quoted Android as the top earner for smartphone platforms in Q4 of last year, beating out Symbian for the top spot, but Gartner says it ain't so. In fact, IDC already quietly chimed in on the topic a few days ago saying that Symbian was still the smartphone OS "market leader." Gartner's numbers do show Android overtaking Nokia's Symbian devices in unit sales, but it points out that the OS' use across a variety of brands in Q4 actually "kept Symbian slightly ahead of Android." Symbian ultimately outsold Android by more than 44 million units last year, but considering the little green robot's astronomical growth in 2010, we'd say even super star is an understatement. Check out the PR after the jump to see how the rest of the competition stacks up.
Chew through the undersea ecosystem in Hungry Shark Trilogy HD
I have a new favorite iPad game, and it is Hungry Shark Trilogy HD. Maybe it's because I have an unreasonable fear of sharks that I love Hungry Shark so much. It allows me to control the very thing I fear. In Hungry Shark Trilogy you play as the shark, and your mission pretty much mimics a shark's real life: your only goal is to eat and keep eating. While a singular goal might seem rather monotonous, it's anything but. The Hungry Shark world is full of things to explore. As you chomp and bite your way though dozens of kinds of fish, penguins, scuba divers and seagulls, you'll discover just how rich the undersea environment is. There are hidden caves, sea mines and secret objects galore. As the shark, the more you eat, the more you grow and the stronger you become, which comes in handy when you come across the best boss of any iPad game -- the giant crab. Eating also allows you to earn points, which unlocks other Hungry Shark episodes, or levels, in the game. Hungry Shark Trilogy HD for iPad is an update to the popular Hungry Shark series for iPhone. And if you've played Hungry Shark on the iPhone, you'll be blown away by the game on the iPad. The game really shines on the iPad's larger screen, and the developers at Future Games of London have been able to work a lot more background detail into the ocean environment. The iPad version also offers all three "episodes" of the Hungry Shark iPhone games in one. It also gives the user two ways to control the shark: via the iPad's built-in accelerometer, or by onscreen joysticks. My only gripe with the game is that I wish it had an option where you didn't have to continually eat to survive. That way you could take your time and fully explore the game's undersea worlds. Hungry Shark Trilogy HD is available on the App Store now for US$4.99.
