3D Systems bestows Creative Director title on will.i.am
If Alicia Keys and BlackBerry have taught us anything, it’s that music stars aren’t always the best equipped to become the creative director of a tech company. In spite of her songwriting prowess, the “Girl on Fire” singer couldn’t do much to reverse the phonemaker’s eroding fortunes. We’ll say this for will.i.am, however: This isn’t the Black Eyed Peas rapper’s first ballgame. Though, again, his gig with Fusion Garage head Chandra Rathakrishnan also kind of seemed doomed from the outset. Given the sort of show 3D Systems has been having this CES, however, things are definitely looking up for the 3D printing giant. So, maybe they’ve just got a feeling about the guy.
Kickstarter ends 2013 with $480 million in funding, proof that dreams came true
Kickstarter is now a relatively mature company, but that doesn’t mean that it has stopped growing — far from it. The crowdfunding pioneer says in its year-end review that it generated $480 million in pledges from three million people during 2013, a big jump from the $274 million and 2.2 million contributors that it attracted in 2012. It’s also eager to show that the contributions of years past have led to real products. It notes that big-name 2012 projects like the Oculus Rift and Pebble reached backers last year, while more recent successes like the Veronica Mars movie are on the cusp of release. Not everything that Kickstarter touches will turn to gold, but its results suggest that crowd power is here to stay.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Kickstarter
BMW’s autonomous car, or how we drifted into love with a robot
BMW promised, under the banner of its ConnectedDrive platform, to demonstrate some autonomous driving at this years’ CES, and wow did it deliver. Labeled as ActiveAssist, the technology describes both partially and highly automated driving and we were definitely out to sample the highly automated variety. Highly automated driving, as the name suggests means the car will essentially drive itself with you sitting as passenger “up to the car’s dynamic limit”, or as we discovered to about 80 MPH.
The prototype research cars on hand were tuned for CES by removing the external sensors to make them, more than likely, more pleasant to look at. We chose the M235i — because who wouldn’t, given the choice? — though there was a diesel 6-series Grand Coupe as well. Seeing as the sensors were missing, the car was following a pre-defined path, but still completely reactive to its environment. The most compelling example of this was on the second lap of the infield track set up at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, when we drifted. Yeah, we put our faith in robot hands and got very sideways through a wet section of the track. I was watching the wheel as we slid and was almost hypnotized seeing the wheel constantly spinning to correct our trajectory and keep the slide going.
Sure, the reality of being transported about by your car is a long way off, maybe as much as 10 years. But all the small pieces that spin off from this technology into cars today make the small steps to robot domination fun. Consider things like active cruise control, which can stop the car completely, then resume driving or self-parking cars and it is easy to see that gradual progress. We for one love where this is going, but we wouldn’t be hurt to see it let us race our own cars, you know? Find the video tour and our interview with BMW’s Werner Huber just below.
Filed under: Robots, Transportation
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: the EFF’s Julie Samuels
Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney Julie Samuels has quite possibly the greatest job title in the history of job titles: The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents at EFF. She’ll join us to speak about how said stupid patents are hampering innovation.
Nokia Lumia Icon shows up on Verizon’s test site with 20-megapixel PureView camera, 2,420mAh battery
We’ve been seeing leaks of Nokia’s upcoming Lumia 929 for a while, but this time it comes from a pretty official source: Verizon. Earlier today, the phone showed up on Verizon’s test manager site under the name Nokia Lumia Icon, flaunting the same design we saw back in November and, unsurprisingly, a 20-megapixel PureView camera. The site doesn’t betray too many specifics about the phone, but does mention a hefty 2,420mAh battery with support for wireless charging. There’s a price too, but don’t expect it to be final: The test site lists the phone at $777 with or without contract. Want a gander? We’ve headlined this post with a screenshot of the page, but you can find a direct link at the source link below.
Filed under: Cellphones, Nikon
Source: Verizon
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Sennheiser CEO Daniel Sennheiser
Daniel Sennheiser has one of the most familiar names in the world of audio. His family has been in the industry since the middle of the last century, and five years ago, his turn came to take over. We’ll discuss Sennheiser’s consumer division and how the company distinguishes itself in the always-competitive world of headphones.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video
Hulu’s original TV shows for 2014 are a mix of new series, new seasons and foreign transplants
Competing video-streaming services have discovered that just like other TV options before them, original and exclusive content is one of the best ways to attract new viewers. As a result, each one is building up a warchest of shows, and Hulu’s plan to double the amount of original content it has starts with this new lineup for 2014. This year’s highlights include the return of original series like The Awesomes and East Los High plus a few new shows including a reality-TV parody called The Hotwives of Orlando and supernatural comedy Deadbeat. The Behind the Mask documentary series that goes deep into the lives of sports mascots will also return, while Hulu reaches overseas for dramas like the original Swedish version of The Bridge and several BBC collaborations.
These shows are meant to compete with Netflix’s hits and give viewers a reason to pick Hulu’s partially ad-supported streams over Amazon Prime — a service that’s also picking up soon-after-broadcast TV and launching its own series. Will they be successful? We don’t know yet, but you can see a preview trailer after the break.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Hulu Blog
Cambridge Consultants wants to make you a better basketball player through the power of technology (video)
I am a terrible basketball player. But, that should come as no surprise: I’m relatively short and a tech journalist by trade. Cambridge Consultants is confident it can improve my game, however. The company is working on a collection of technologies that can be used to analyze your performance in a particular sport and provide data, tips and coaching to help you fully realize your physical potential. For demonstration purposes, it brought a system it’s calling ArcAid to CES. It starts with three cameras mounted behind a backboard. Two of them are used to watch the ball as it flies through the air, calculating speed, angle and arc; while a third watches to see if you actually sink the shot. If we had been using an actual basketball, the cameras would have even been able to track its spin, but to avoid damaging the booth behind them Cambridge Consultants went with a blue foam ball instead. I took a few tosses and, as you’ll see in the video below, things did not go so well. With each attempt, a giant screen to the right would tell me if I needed to shoot harder, aim farther to the left or lower my arc.
This is, of course, just a rudimentary implementation. The system can support other sensors, like accelerometers, or track movement across a larger field. So, for instance, it could tell you where on the court you’re having the most success, and even help you identify if a particular angle of attack is throwing off your aim. Obviously, the system isn’t limited to basketball. You could tackle tennis, baseball or even boxing with the right combination of software and sensors. Even with a couple of years of tutelage under the ArcAid system, I’ll never make the NBA, but at least maybe I’ll finally be able to beat my little sister at a game of HORSE.
Filed under: Misc
White House agrees to fund International Space Station until 2024
The International Space Station just got another lease on life. The White House has approved funding that would keep the floating lab running until “at least” 2024, as long as other countries also chip in. The additional funding should help both general science research as well as the human endurance studies that NASA needs for voyages to asteroids and Mars. The extension is primarily good news for those who want a long-term human presence in space; it’s the second extension past the original 2015 decommissioning timeframe. It’s also potentially good for business, though, as the deal will give SpaceX and other private spaceflight companies a better chance at growing their fledgling operations.
[Image credit: NASA]
Filed under: Science
Source: White House
AIVAnet 