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The only thing keeping robots down is you
The robots are coming. And I don't mean to the factory floor, or your kid's toy box. I mean to your living room, your office and your everyday life. The question is no longer a matter of if, but when. Some might even wonder why we don't already have a robot in every home. Designers will tell you they know how to build a successful home robot. They know the key is the ability to build social, if not emotional relationships. And they have a whole bag of tricks and research they can turn to for help. We haven't seen the level of artificial intelligence needed in consumer products yet, but it certainly seems as if we're getting pretty close in the lab. So if it's not a question of technology or design, what's the holdup?
A new audio app claims to treat tinnitus
Tinnitus affects the ears but it originates in the brain. The condition, which causes ringing in the ears, is mainly triggered by age-related hearing loss and prolonged exposure to excessively loud noise. But neuroscientific studies reveal that tinnitus is a symptom of abnormal hyperactivity in the brain's auditory cortex. While most people affected by it resign themselves to chronic pain, Tinnitracks, a new web-based app, claims to treat the cause of the problem through filtered audio therapy.
Orchard wants to cover Austin in inflatable, huggable trees
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-344018{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-344018, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-344018{width:629px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-344018").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Chaotic Moon needed something to soften its image. The "creative technology studio," known for stunts like a bitcoin-mining exercise machine and a drone that sprayed paint and flames, was starting to seem a little rough around the edges. So, it started work on Orchard, a giant inflatable and interactive tree built in collaboration with the design firm Gensler. Basically, it's a 30-foot balloon, loaded with sensors, LEDs and speakers. When you poke, push, hug or tackle the tree, it responds in different ways. It subtly changes the music, emits tones, displays ripples of color or even just locks into a single shade until you release your grip. The two companies are hoping to work with other partners and sponsors to build an entire orchard (hence the name) of these inflatable trees that will interact with not just the people touching them, but also each other and maybe even social media. For a full explanation from one of the designers, John Houser, check out the video above.
3M showed me how dirty my phone was at SXSW
I'm a certified germaphobe. In clinical terms, that makes me one of the 3.3 million Americans who suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Being at an event like SXSW where about 33,000 of my fellow digital comrades are coexisting in very public spaces, I'm always worried about keeping myself and my gadgets clean, especially my phone and laptop. And with good reason: scientists found that cell phones carry ten times more disease-causing bacteria than most toilet seats. So, when I heard 3M was on the ground at SXSW testing out how dirty people's phones were at its "LifeLab," I had to check it out.
Google ditched the steering wheel because people are unreliable
If you've ever wondered why Google decided to build its own car, well, you have at least part of your answer now. During a talk at SXSW, Astro Teller, the head of Google X, told the crowd that they decided to remove the steering wheel and brakes entirely because humans are not a "reliable backup" for the self-driving system. What does he mean exactly? Well, he believes that Google has already "mastered" highway driving. The company had put in hundreds of thousands of hours, autonomously cruising California freeways. The project had even reached the dog-fooding phase, in which Googlers test out the project in the real world. So employees that didn't work in the semi-secretive Google X division were essentially invited to beta test the vehicle and commute to work in a robot car -- under the condition that they pay very close attention and be the world's best bug reporters.
GE at SXSW: tracking brainwaves during BBQ tastings and using a 12-foot smoker
Two things define SXSW: spectacle and smoked meat. GE's managed to meld the two at its BBQ Research Center. Just up the street from the Austin Convention Center, General Electric's research arm set up shop with a 12-foot tall sensor-laden super smoker and a BBQ tasting room called Brain on BBQ. As you might suspect, tasters wear consumer-grade EEG headbands (the Muse variety) to track how their brainwaves change when eating savory smoked meat, tangy coleslaw and sweet banana pudding. GE's going to mine the data from every participant to see if it can glean some useful insight about the nuances of flavors, but really it's just a way for folks to see what's going on inside their noggin whilst chowing down. The whole setup is meant to draw attention to the company's R&D efforts in food and neuroscience, and show that GE's technology can be leveraged to improve most any industry.
Daily Roundup: VR films, Sonos impressions and more!
Happy Monday! Ease back into the week with a brand new edition of the Daily Roundup. First up, we take a look at why virtual reality is not the immediate future of film. Then find out what it's like to outfit your home theater with a Sonos system and we ponder what Elon Musk has up his sleeve that will "end range anxiety" for Tesla owners. Get caught up on these stories and more past the break.
Drones will make it easier to detect unexploded bombs in Laos
Drones are more than just flying robots designed for commercial deliveries and buying Crocs. Despite some lingering suspicion from consumers, unmanned aircrafts have been deployed for social good too. They can aid rescue missions, navigate tough regions and even put out fires. Now, Austin-based ArchAerial's new drone mission could potentially save lives in war-torn regions that are prone to accidents and fatalities from unexploded bombs.
The robotic star of 'Ex Machina' is toying with hapless SXSW attendees on Tinder
This post contains spoilers for the movie Ex Machina If you're guaranteed one thing at SXSW, it's that a marketing stunt will play tricks with your stupid human heart. This year, singletons looking for love on Tinder encountered Ava, a 25-year-old New Yorker with a startling resemblance to actress Alicia Vikander. Unfortunately, it's only after you've engaged in a lengthy back and forth that you'll be told that she's not interested in a temporary tumble in Texas. Instead, the whole thing is just a cruel ruse to promote Alex Garland's new film, Ex Machina.
NASA wants your help hunting for asteroids
"Asteroid hunters." It sounds like some Hollywood blockbuster / straight-to-DVD "classic" that already exists, but now you, yes you, can be one... from your PC. NASA has launched a desktop app that recruits civilians to help identify asteroids from telescope photography, helped by a special asteroid algorithm. Scientists announced the desktop app at SXSW during in a panel discussion where they elaborated on how muggles citizen scientists were helping their efforts to identify and tag asteroids. The app is another collaboration between NASA and Planetary Resources. (It's apparently all under a Space Act agreement, which is the coolest act we've heard of in a while.)
Google Now will soon show info from any app
Google Now only displays useful tidbits of knowledge from a handful of your apps right now, but the flood gates are about to fling wide open. Project director Aparna Chennapragada has revealed that Google plans to release a developer kit that lets any of your apps put their data into Now, not just those with special access. It's not clear exactly when this will turn up, but Chennapragada suggests that there shouldn't be collisions between competing software -- your app usage habits will determine which cards appear. While that may be a tad optimistic (it's easy to see two social networks vying for your attention), there's a good chance that Google Now will become a one-stop shop for things you need to know.
AeroMobil flying car set to take off in 2017, autonomous version to follow
AeroMobil has been around for five years, pursuing the dream of building a functional and (somewhat) practical flying car. Its third-gen prototype was revealed last October, and today at SXSW, AeroMobil CEO Juraj Vaculik revealed a bit more about the company's past and future and the challenges that remain to go from prototypes to fully fledged consumer vehicles - which the company plans to accomplish in 2017.
Yahoo hopes that you'll forget your password
Twitter isn't the only internet giant that wants to spare you from remembering passwords. Yahoo has just trotted out an optional login process that sends passwords on demand. Sign up and Yahoo will deliver a single-use password to your phone whenever you need to log in -- you can prevent someone from easily hijacking your account no matter what device you're on as long as your handset is nearby. This extra-secure option is only available in the US right now, but there's a good possibility that you'll see it in other countries before long.
Blood, sweat and bitcoin: Mining cryptocurrency with exercise
Even a company like Chaotic Moon, that has made headlines here for its odd, genre defying creations has to bow to the lure of trends every so often. Fitcoin (not to be confused with the several other apps of the same name) hops on the wearble and bitcoin bandwagon. It starts with any activity tracker that meets two requirements: an open API and an integrated heart rate monitor. For demonstration purposes the company chose a Mio. Then there's an app that measures the activity tracked and converts it into an appropriate amount of bitcoin -- in essence paying you to work out. Or, as the tag line puts it: Get ripped. Die mining.
Mischievous drone sprays paint, silly string and flames
We're still not really sure what a "creative technology studio" is, but it sure seems like a damn fun place to work. Apparently your job at one, like Chaotic Moon, is to just think of "awesome" ideas with little practical purpose and make them a reality. Why? Because you can. Last year the firm used a drone to tase a poor intern, and married an Oculus Rift to a Leap motion so we could punch sharks. This year it decided to try something a little less dangerous (and far less likely to end in a lawsuit). Tyrone Drone is a pretty standard drone with some simple modifications. Instead of holding a camera, he's holds and fires a spray can.
Bringing empathy to the Middle East through gaming
Navit Keren grew up in Israel. She's lived through the signing of historic peace treaties, and horrific terrorist attacks. Just as important though, she's witness to the dramatic deterioration of the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians. The biggest problem she sees, is a lack of empathy. Those living on the other side of the divide are not people, but enemies. "Others" to be feared and hated. Her effort to bridge the gap between the two sides is a pretty novel one: a location-based game. Welcome to the West Bank is merely a working title, but it gets right to the heart of the game. Israeli citizens, primarily teenagers, would play as Palestinian teenagers living in the West Bank. Basically she's asking people to walk a mile in someone else's virtual shoes.
'Game of Thrones' at SXSW: creating digital art with a Braavosi blade
HBO has made a habit of bringing a bit of Westeros to SXSW attendees. Last year, a virtual reality experience took folks to the top of the 700-foot ice wall defended by Jon Snow and the Night's Watch. This year, Game of Thrones fans get to turn a photo of themselves into a digital collage of swords, crow feathers and stag antlers by swinging Arya Stark's wooden practice sword given to her by Syrio Forel.
Robots need to make us happy and know when we're sad
Cynthia Breazeal has a pretty impressive resume. She's the director of the personal robotics group at the MIT Media Lab, creator of the landmark Kismet robot and now she's the founder, CEO and chief scientist at Jibo. If you're not familiar with Jibo, take a moment to go check out its incredibly successful Indiegogo page. The goal is to create the world's first "family robot." It's cute, friendly and smart. Or at least, it will be when it's delivered to customers. Breazeal acknowledges that other robots and artificial intelligences have made their impact felt in the home, but they've hardly become ubiquitous. For her the key isn't about building a robot that performs some specific function, but about building a relationship with the family, which is the core of any household.
Twitter's limiting a video competitor's access to its social framework
Not too long after Twitter bought its own live-video streaming company, it's cutting off the competition's access to its infrastructure. We're talking about the new, social-broadcast video darling Meerkat, of course. As Buzzfeed's sources tell it, the microblogging service began taking steps to break Meerkat's access to the Twitter social graph this evening, just as the former was gaining traction at tech's big coming out party, South by Southwest. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed that the video outfit'd been officially cut off, and said that the imposed limits are "consistent with our internal policy." That doesn't mean you can't log in to what amounts to a phone-based Ustream via your Twitter username, sync your follow list between the two or post tweets once you start streaming -- it just might be a bit janky for awhile.
Yahoo explains how you'll watch 'Community' season six
We're just days away from the debut of the new season of Community, but the move from NBC to Yahoo changes some things. In the US, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia you'll be able to watch on Yahoo Screen via PC, or apps (US only) on Apple TV, Roku and Xbox 360. So far broadcasters have also been announced for the UK (SET) and Australia (Stan), but there's no word on other countries. Of course, if you're at SXSW, Yahoo will be premiering the first episode a couple of days early on Saturday night. If there's still any confusion -- or if you're just getting ready for Seinfeld -- check after the break for the Community trailer, and a quick how-to from Gillian Jacobs (trust us, she doesn't Britta it) ahead of the premiere March 17th.
