Is Dyson going to release a robotic vacuum cleaner?
When companies tease a product, there’s sometimes a subtle clue or two hidden within the video or images. Sometimes, however, a company can reveal too much, and Dyson’s “Project N223″ certainly seems to hint, pretty strongly, that we’re going to see a Roomba-style vacuum cleaner. After all, there’s plenty of clues in the video, some obvious, some less so. Given that we had a fair chunk of free time, we decided to go deep, so if you’d like to see some Zapruder-level analysis, click through to the gallery.
Filed under: Misc
Source: Dyson
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Mystery of Death Valley’s sailing stones solved with GPS and time-lapse
After decades pf theories and attempts to solve the mystery of Death Valley’s sailing stones, a trio of scientists have finally caught the process on tape. Their study started years ago, when two of them (a biologist and an engineer) hauled 15 GPS-equipped rocks onto Racetrack Playa, the dry lake where the famous stones are found. It wasn’t until 2013, when a planetary scientist made their two-man band a trio, that they hit the jackpot, though. Apparently, it takes a precise combination of water, ice and wind for the rocks to move. First, the water that floods the lake (which happens rarely) should be around 3 inches deep, so when it freezes, it forms thin, windowpane-like ice sheets beneath the rocks. Then, it should be sunny the day after that in order for the ice to crack, be blown by 10mph winds and propel the rocks forward.
The stones the group caught on cam moved only a few inches per second, but some remained in motion for as long as 16 minutes and most sailed on the wet ground several times, so they traveled as far as 200 feet. Death Valley’s sailing stones almost always make it to various lists of nature’s mysteries, and we wouldn’t even be surprised if there are people who truly believe they’re moved by ghosts or aliens. If you need to see it happen to believe those findings, make sure to the watch time-lapse video below and read the team’s paper published in PLOS One.
[Image credit: Wikimedia, Mike Hartmann]
Filed under: Science
Via: Livescience
Source: Plos One
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Android Lemon Meringue Pie gets spotted in Chromium issue tracker as build LRW50D
The Chromium issue tracker is often a good place to spot a new Nexus device or build of Android, and today appears to be our lucky day. Sported by a device known as the “New Nexus7″ – make of that what you will – a certain build of Android has been spotted with build number LRW50D. We know it is Google convention to always start the build number with the letter of its code name, at this point suspected to be Android Lemon Meringue Pie. What follows is usually a series of unique identifiers that let us know exactly when the build was created. In this case, it appears the build is from the 19th of August, 2014 and is the fourth version of the build that day. Naturally, the date isn’t an exact science due to some code inheriting dates, but it’s definitely in the right ballpark.
The “New Nexus7″ part of this story is probably of no consequence – this is most likely just the 2013 Nexus 7 – however it’s clear that it was running some form of Android L when this issue was made. Myce.com, who found this issue, also notes that numerous references to “lmp-dev” were made in the code; we know that “lmp” is also referenced within the Android SDK itself, which originally gave birth to the Lemon Meringue Pie rumours.
Source: myce.com
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Samer Zayer’s Arus Icon Pack will have you reaching for your Google Wallet again
Samer Zayer is a designer who has done some incredible work: Neon Glow icon pack, Paper icon pack, Flatee icon pack, the list goes on. It’s time for his latest creation to grace the eyes of the world, however, this time with the Arus icon pack, which offers a set of rounded square icons which just jump off the screen like little bumps.
The best thing about Samer’s icon packs is that they always come with a huge number of customized icons right out of the box, and Arus is no different – the Arus icon pack is shipping with 1300+ icons, and has an icon request option in the dashboard app to add even more apps to Samer’s to-do list. There are also cloud based wallpapers that can be found in the dashboard app, and both icons and wallpapers are constantly updated by the man himself. If you’re interested to keep track of updates and his new projects, you can circle Samer here on Google+.
If you like what you see, you can pick up the Arus icon pack from the Play Store now for $1.49 USD (see link below).
Icons: Arus icon pack
Price: $1.49
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A sheep dog’s herding instinct may teach robots a lesson in crowd control
Here’s a noodle-scratcher to occupy yourself with for a few moments: what makes a sheep dog so darned good at rounding up the woolly ruminants they’re named after? A possible answer – according to The Telegraph, researchers at Swansea University believe those dogs are constantly searching for and minimizing the gaps between the sheep before it herds them all forward. What’s the big deal? Well, those very same researchers think that behavior can be boiled down into an algorithm that could be used to (among other things) program robots to replace those savvy canines. Sure, some old-school shepherds may scoff, but using awkward-looking machines to round up livestock isn’t exactly new territory. And if a robot can “understand” how to steer some relatively dumb animals around a field, it stands to reason that logic could be used to guide other organisms around… like humans trying to escape a burning building, for instance. No, really! Swansea University’s Dr. Andrew King says there’s a whole host of ways to adapt that animal knowledge into robotic know-how, like “crowd control, cleaning up the environment, herding of livestock, [and] keeping animals away from sensitive areas”.
Source: The Telegraph
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Amazon will stream in 4K starting this October
Earlier this year, Amazon said that its 2014 original series lineup would be shot and eventually streamed in 4K to Samsung UltraHD TVs, and now we know when — sometime this October. It was Samsung that actually revealed the date, revealing it would support Amazon’s Prime Instant Video UHD streaming on most Samsung 4K TVs. There’s no word if Amazon’s 4K service will hit other manufacturer’s UltraHD models, but Samsung noted it has also expanded 4K content in Europe to Netflix, Wuaki.tv, Chili and Maxdome. Like Sony, Samsung has other plans to make sure you’re not wasting all those pixels, as well. It recently did a live 4K stream of a Placido Domingo opera in Europe and released a 500GB drive with 40 recent 4K movies and documentaries.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Samsung, Amazon
Source: Samsung
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New Photos of Claimed iPhone 6 Parts Show Closer Look at Rear Logo, Revamped Speaker
New photos of various components said to be from the iPhone 6 have been shared by Nowhereelse.fr (Google Translate), giving us a glimpse at both internal and external parts to be used in the device.
The first set of images show SIM card trays and home buttons in a range of three different colors, which may indicate that the iPhone 6 will keep the same space grey, gold, and silver options from the iPhone 5s. This is in line with a previous leaks, including one from last month which also showed SIM trays in three different colors. The SIM trays shown in the photos also appear to be slightly curved, and was likely designed with the iPhone 6′s thinner, rounded chassis in mind.
Another set of photos shows the embedded Apple logo, which has also surfaced in other leaks. However, Nowhereelse indicates that the logo scratches under regular pressure with a knife, and contrasts prior speculation that the logo was made of scratch-resistant metal. Apple has not used an embedded Apple logo on its mobile devices since the original iPhone back in 2007.
Finally, the last set of photos show the internal speaker and vibrator motor of the iPhone 6. Both components appear to be different than their predecessors found in the iPhone 5s, as the internal speaker appears to be larger while the vibrator motor now sports a rectangular design.
According to Re/code, Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 6 on Tuesday, September 9. It is likely that the 4.7-inch version of the device will go on sale about a week later, while the 5.5-inch version may be released at a later time due to production delays. A report yesterday from Re/code also stated that Apple will unveil a wearable device at the event.
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Sky Sports News HQ app comes to Now TV boxes
Following Sky’s big Sky Sports News rebrand, it was only a matter of time until the updated channel made its way to the broadcaster’s Now TV set-top box via an app. Already delivering breaking news on smartphones and tablets, the new Sky Sports News HQ app comes to the £10 streamer today, offering 24/7 access to sports updates, breaking news and highlights. While access to the app isn’t free, there are a couple of easy ways unlock it, as long as you subscribe to Sky’s existing Now TV packages. One way is to buy a Sky Sports Day Pass or the new Sky Sports Week Pass, which will allow you to access the channel for up to 30 days after your current pass has expired. Sky’s making it available to Entertainment or Sky Movies pass holders too, meaning that if you’re already putting money down to catch up with the Lannisters or watch Sandra Bullock float around in space, you’ll be able to follow all of the latest player movements come Transfer Deadline Day.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Sky
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Experimental app can detect jaundice in newborns with just a snapshot
Want to make sure your newborn baby’s jaundice-free? There’s an app for that! A team of researchers from the University of Washington have developed an app that can diagnose jaundice among infants just by taking their pictures. Since the condition’s typically diagnosed by the excessive yellowing of one’s skin, it’s not too odd to develop a tool that can detect it with just a snapshot, just like that app that can spot skin cancer through a smartphone. You simply place a color calibration card (which helps the software determine lighting and flash conditions, as well as account for the baby’s skintone) on the baby’s tummy, take a picture and then upload it to the cloud for analysis. The algorithm quickly does its job, and you get the results and the baby’s bilirubin levels almost instantly.
Bilirubin’s the yellowish byproduct of red blood cell breakdown that’s usually processed by the liver. Since newborns’ livers don’t function like adults’, over 60 percent of infants experience elevated levels of bilirubin, or in other words, jaundice. While some babies can rid of the excess bilirubin themselves, others need treatment and medication, as jaundice left untreated for a long time could be lead to brain damage or to a serious disease called kernicterus. Although blood tests are still more accurate, the team’s goal it to replace other types of screening techniques with their diagnostic tool, and to make it work on babies of every ethnicity. Before that happens, though, they still have to test it on 1,000 infants, especially those with darker skins — and hope that it gets FDA clearance in the future.
Filed under: Science
Source: University of Washington
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All this ping pong table needs to throw a rave is a strobe light
Your souped-up table tennis setup for Saturday night beer pong sessions would tremble in shame in the presence of Stiga’s new Studio table if it could. This is one fancy table, you see, with its own 2,800W sound system that features eight 6 x 9 speakers, subwoofers, an amplifier and Bluetooth connectivity so you can blast songs about owning a dozen Lamborghinis and making money rain from your phone or tablet. It even has LED lighting and mic input for those days you want to go all out hosting parties. Crazy, right?
Here’s what the table’s PR says:
Handmade in the United States, the STIGA Studio Table is a stunning masterpiece that is the perfect storm of design, entertainment and performance. The STIGA Studio Table’s 2800-watt sound system delivers unparalleled sound quality through its powerful 360-degree free-standing audio – featuring a QSC CXD series professional processing amplifier, two Kicker 12″ Solo-Baric L7 Subwoofers and eight Kicker KS Series 3-way 6×9 speakers. Compatible with smartphones and MP3 players using Bluetooth Technology, the STIGA Studio Table perfectly projects amplified sound in all directions. To complement its sleek, visual design, the STIGA Studio Table features vibrant LED down-lighting – providing endless combinations of electrifying color that can be set to integrate with the audio system to react to the beat of the music in real-time. The STIGA Studio Table also includes a microphone input with separate volume control allowing users to sing over music delivering the most thrilling karaoke experience.
Of course, you need to spend some serious dough to get this 700-pound entertainment center to your home. The company will ship it for free and provide premium installation service, because this table will cost you, oh, just $14,900. Availability’s apparently very limited, though, and those burning to spend 15 grand on a ping pong table (we’re not judging) will have to contact Stiga through its website or by phone (800-467-1421).
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Source: Stiga
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AIVAnet 
