Heat Seek temperature monitors want to keep NYC tenants warm, bring scummy landlords to justice
Ugh. Landlords from hell. They leave doors damaged and plumbing to rot, don’t care that killer molds are growing behind the walls, and in NYC, they couldn’t care less if you freeze in the winter. Since it’s darn hard getting an inspector to come and verify a heat violation, a new KickStarter project called Heat Seek NYC wants to give people the power to gather their own evidence using simple internet-connected temperature sensors. These Heat Seek sensors constantly monitor indoor temperature and upload the results online like Nest does, so they can be accessed through an app monitored, say, by a lawyer building a tenant’s case.
They come in two types: the more expensive “hub” that’s connected to the internet and the cheaper “cell” that wirelessly transmits data to the hub. In case there are several tenants in one building who need their indoor temps monitored, for instance, they can get several cells and a single hub. These sensors aren’t just for people getting cheated by scummy lessors, though. According to the project’s creators, they’re also working with responsible, law-abiding landlords to determine areas of their building that need to be patched up to prevent heat loss.
If you need to get some temp monitoring done, you can get one of Heat Seek’s hubs or cells (with a February 15, 2015 ETA) through the Kickstarter campaign for at least $60. Even better, most of the project’s funding options are a buy-one-give-one deal. So, you’re putting a cell or a hub in the hands of an NYC tenant (the project aims to distribute up to 1,000 sensors) who truly needs it when you purchase one.
Filed under: Household
Via: The Verge
Source: Kickstarter
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Water-powered phone chargers are coming to downtown Seoul
Unless you’ve made a habit of carrying around a solar charger, topping off your phone outdoors can be a bit of a challenge. Well, unless you’re living in South Korea. The city of Seoul just announced that it’s building a series of outdoor recharging stations along the Cheonggyecheon, a manmade stream in the city’s downtown area. The chargers won’t draw from the city’s power grid, however — they’ll draw current from a collection of hydroelectric turbines embedded in the stream. The project’s developer says the stations will be able to fully charge most devices in 2-3 hours. If the five stations currently in production turn out to be a hit, the city says it will consider expanding the network. See? Low battery life is no excuse for avoiding the great outdoors.
[Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Cellphones
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‘BioShock’ for iOS Now Available Worldwide [iOS Blog]
Following hints of a release earlier this summer, the iOS version of 2K Games’ original first person shooter BioShock is now available in the App Store. Rumored since 2008, BioShock on iOS is a port of the full, original game first released in 2007.
Set in 1960, BioShock asks players to take on the role of Jack, a plane crash survivor who finds his way into the defunct underwater city of Rapture. Jack has to fight his way out of the city, battling Big Daddies and other enemies while using an array of heavy weaponry and taking advantage of genetics-altering plasmids that grant him super powers. Over the course of the game, players also discover the rich history behind the creation of Rapture and its eventual fall.
One of the greatest first person shooters of all time, BioShock comes to iOS!
BioShock is the “genetically enhanced” first person shooter where you can turn everything into a weapon: the environment, your body, fire and water, and even your worst enemies.You are a cast-away in Rapture, an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces, and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. No encounter ever plays out the same, and no two gamers will play the game the same way.
Earlier this month, our sister site TouchArcade went hands on with BioShock for iOS, and found that it runs “like a dream on iOS hardware” but had somewhat poor virtual controls as is common with first person shooters on a touchscreen. It does, however, work very well with a Bluetooth controller, which makes it “just like playing on a console.” The game’s graphics were slightly toned down to make it run on iOS, removing the fog and dynamic shadows, but TouchArcade says “you’d be hard-pressed to tell.”
BioShock is limited to newer iOS devices, including the iPad Air, Retina iPad mini, fourth-generation iPad, and the iPhone 5/5c/5s.
BioShock can be downloaded from the App Store for $14.99. [Direct Link]
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LG sort of officially announces the LG G Watch R, releases hardware specs
After teasing its latest wearable device on Facebook earlier today, LG has gone and done something rather unusual. It has kind of announced the LG G Watch R, releasing its specs and images, though its press release is worded such that the “official” announcement will only happen at IFA 2014. Still, we’re not complaining now that we can see the device in it’s full glory, and glory it is. Rocking that circular shape we had been suspecting, the G Watch R looks a lot more like a mainstream watch with its raised circular frame, which maybe be a point of familiarity for potential smartwatch buyers.
LG is proudly flaunting the 1.3-inch circular display of the G Watch R, saying it is the first wearable to use a P-OLED (Plastic OLED) display for “stunning image clarity”. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact the G Watch R is powered by a Snapdragon 400 clocked at 1.2GHz, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, 410mAh battery and will also be IP67 rated. What all this technology is going to do to the battery life remains to be see, but the G Watch R is certainly an impressive engineering feat. Naturally, the device will run Android Wear and can also monitor heart rate thanks to a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor.
LG hasn’t released pricing for the device, but it says it will be available starting Q4 2014, so keep your eyes and ears open for new information in the coming weeks.
What do you think about the LG G Watch R? Are you swayed now that you know what it looks like? Let us know your opinion.
Source: LG Newsroom, The Verge
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Who needs phones? The Samsung Gear S can make calls, has 3G modem
Previously we suspected that Samsung‘s latest wearable device would be called the Samsung Gear Solo and would be able to be used as a standalone devices to make calls. That wasn’t far from the truth as Samsung has officially detailed the new device, called the Samsung Gear S (oh, so close!), which is able to make calls and also has mobile data capability thanks to a 3G modem. It is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor which is behind a curved, 2-inch AMOLED display. And all the above is going to be running on a 300mAh battery.
Considering that LG’s (sort of) announced LG G Watch R runs on a 410mAh battery without a 3G modem, we can’t imagine the Gear S is going to last terribly long. Having said that, Samsung does say typical use will get you 2 days battery life and it is running the Tizen operating system instead of Android Wear. Whether that will save the Gear S a massive amount of battery life remains to be seen.
Samsung says the Gear S will start becoming available in October this year but hasn’t yet specified prices.
What do you think about the Samsung Gear S? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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Samsung’s Gear S smartwatch doesn’t need a phone to get online or make calls
Samsung is taking the wraps off of yet another new smartwatch, but the Gear S (not Solo) has a twist: there’s a 3G modem inside. While it may not be especially fast, that means that even when it’s outside of the range of a Bluetooth-connected phone or WiFi, it can still send and receive messages or make calls. It has a 2-inch AMOLED screen plus a dual-core 1GHz CPU inside along with GPS, heart rate and motion sensors, all powered by a 300mAh battery Samsung says can last up to two days. It runs Tizen instead of Android Wear, with pedestrian navigation available from from Nokia’s HERE and support for Facebook. In the run up to IFA next week Samsung is also bringing the Gear Circle headset (yes, we also figured they’d save that name for a round watch) that pairs with a phone over Bluetooth, letting users hear notifications, use voice commands or listen to music through the earbuds.
Both devices will go on sale in October, although there’s no word on a price for either. The Gear S is outfitted for all kinds of fitness tracking, either through Samsung’s S Health or Nike+ Running, it’s IP67 dust and water resistant, packs 4GB of storage and 512MB RAM. The Gear Circle has a magnetic clasp so it fits around your neck while not in use, a touch sensor and battery with up to 11 hours of talk time. So will either of these wearables break into our gear bag or wardrobe? We’ll have a better idea next week after getting our wrists/necks on them during the IFA 2014 show in Berlin.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Samsung
Source: Samsung
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Pentax’s latest DSLR has glowing LEDs to tell you what mode it’s in
If you’re intimidated by most DSLRs with all their knobs and buttons, you might want to take a look at Ricoh Imaging’s Pentax K-S1, a new mid-range camera that’s just one of many shooters the company’s releasing this year. It packs in plenty of performance — a 20-megapixel sensor and sky-high sensitivity of ISO 51200 — along with an interface that’s more reminiscent of a smartphone than a camera. According to Ricoh, the K-S1 “eliminates many of the complexities of a DSLR” with a friendlier “flat field” user interface that should be easy to navigate due to the luminous 3-inch 921,000-dot LCD, back-lit selection dial and four-way navigation. There are also various built-in LEDs that light up when certain features are in use. For example, the mode dial will glow green when it’s toggled to take still shots and it’ll glow red if it’s in video mode, as you can see in the video after the break.
If you’ve got Face Detection turned on, the number of lit-up LEDs on the grip gives a quick visual cue as to how many faces it’s detected and you could also use the grip LEDs as a countdown timer.
Aside from the simpler interface, the KS-1 also boasts a variety of features that would be of interest to camera enthusiasts: in-body shake reduction, an AA filter simulator, a 100-percent field of view glass pentaprism viewfinder and 5.4 frames per second shooting with a shutter speed of 1/6000. Optionally, the KS-1 also supports Pentax’s FLUcard, which lets you tack on extras like Wi-Fi transfer, wireless live and the ability to use your camera remotely with your smartphone, tablet or computer.
To make it even more obvious that the KS-1 is meant as a “fun” mid-range camera, it’ll come in a whole host of different colors. The standards are black, blue and white, but you can also choose one from either the Fabric Collection or the Night Sky Collection — the former calls on its fashion inspiration with cotton beige, tweed gray, linen brown and denim blue, while the latter flaunts hues such as Sunset Orange, Dusk Gold, Moon Silver, Midnight Black and Dawn Purple.
If all of that sounds intriguing to you, the KS-1 along with a 18-55mm kit lens will retail for $799.95, while the body-only version is just a touch cheaper at $749.95. Both will be available in September.
Filed under: Cameras
Source: Pentax K-S1, Ricoh
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LG officially reveals circular G Watch R with improved design and familiar features
Not one to wait around for trade shows to officially begin before flaunting its new products to the world, LG is no longer teasing the G Watch R, its upcoming circular Android Wear smartwatch — it’s showing it off in all its glory. And just as the company hinted at on Sunday, it comes with a 1.3-inch Plastic OLED (P-OLED) full 360-degree display. LG says that it isn’t trying to replace the original G Watch, but rather offer another choice: The R is an elegant device that looks and feels more like a classic watch than its squarish predecessor. Good timing, too, since it’s going to be competing head-to-head (wrist-to-wrist?) against the Moto 360, a similarly shaped watch that will likely be available next week.
Admittedly, the R’s design looks like a substantial improvement over the original — the first one looks and feels much more like a reference device than a consumer watch — so we’re excited to see how it is in real life. Unfortunately, the components don’t seem to be much better than the original G Watch. The single most important factor on any smartwatch is battery life, and just like it is on LG’s and Samsung’s existing Wear devices, the outlook doesn’t look promising; the R comes with a 410mAh battery, a mere 10mAh improvement over its square counterpart. That means we shouldn’t expect to get more than a day or so on a single charge.
Nearly all of the other guts are the same, too. It comes with interchangeable 22mm straps, a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset with 512MB of RAM and 4GB internal storage. It’s also rated IP67 for water resistance (up to one meter of water for thirty minutes), just like the last one was. However, there’s two notable new features: It comes with a heart rate monitor underneath and what appears to be a power button on the side.
One of the more interesting aspects of the R isn’t what it has, but what it lacks: A black bar at the bottom of the 1.3-inch, 320 x 320 display. Motorola uses this “flat tire” on the 360, so while the front of the watch is circular, the display itself is not. Reps have explained that this bar houses the ambient light sensor and some drivers for the display. We’re not sure yet if the bar’s absence means that the R simply won’t have these same features, or if they’ve been relocated elsewhere on the device. We’ve reached out to LG for more details. LG says that the R will go on sale in early Q4 of this year, which suggests that it’ll be out in October or early November. The company isn’t ready to disclose pricing, but it says that cost will vary by market.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Wireless, Mobile, Google, LG
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Get an early Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Quad HD wallpaper here now
I won’t mince words: the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is one of the most anticipated devices of 2014. While its size as a phablet isn’t the most appealing for some, it’s undeniable that it will be Samsung‘s stand-out flagship device to round out 2014, as it has been in the past. It will also be Samsung’s first device to incorporate a Quad HD display, what is also affectionately known as 2K resolution. Naturally, this means huge, beautiful wallpapers, of which one has already been released in the wild, thanks to SamMobile. We’d embed it on our site, but at 16.1MB, it exceeds the maximum file size for images, so if you want to check it out, you can download the full resolution Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Quad HD wallpaper at the link below:
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Quad HD wallpaper
The wallpaper is more than sufficient for most desktops, let alone a mobile device. The Note 4 is expected to have a Snapdragon 805 processor clocked at 2.7GHz and a 5.7-inch Quad HD display. Rumours about it’s shape and form factor appear to be inconclusive, but Samsung has scheduled its UNPACKED event for September 3rd at IFA 2014, so we won’t have long to wait before we get to see what Samsung has in store.
Source: SamMobile via Droid-life
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The LG G Watch R will be the first wearable to “fully utilize its circular shape”
I am so excited for IFA 2014. Not only because it is IFA, but because there are several devices that I am genuinely excited about seeing. One of these devices is the LG G Watch R, a wearable device that LG has started teasing just before the main event. LG has since put up another teaser on its Facebook page, this time showing even more of its circular frame, and has accompanied the picture with a phrase that says the G Watch R is the first device to “fully utilize its circular shape”, whatever that means.
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The most striking thing about the G Watch R is of course the fact it is circular, a trait that only the Moto 360 had previously. Now you may argue that shape is a purely subjective characteristic, however many agreed that when the first Android Wear devices were announced the Moto 360 was still the device to wait for. That thought process may have to change now that LG is set to launch it’s own circular device, and we’re intrigued as to whether the device will do anything different to the other Android Wear wearables.
What do you think about the LG G Watch R? Which do you prefer: the Moto 360 or the LG G Watch R? Let us know your thoughts.
Source: Facebook via TalkAndroid
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AIVAnet 