DORA offers a realistic telepresence experience through Oculus Rift
Many commercial telepresence robots are merely screens or iPads on moving platforms. DORA (Dexterous Observational Roving Automaton), however, promises to make users feel like they’ve been transported to another location when it does become available. The system was created by a team of University of Pennsylvania roboticists who want to provide people a more immersive telepresence experience without draining their bank accounts. Their robot is paired with an Oculus Rift headset, which can track the user’s head movements and orientation, whether up/down, left/right or forward/backward. That data is wirelessly transmitted to the robot’s Arduino and Intel Edison microcontrollers, prompting its camera-equipped head to follow the user’s movements.
Here’s how one of DORA’s creators, Emre Tanirgan, describes the experience:
You feel like you are transported somewhere else in the real world as opposed to a simulated environment. You actually get to see people interacting with you, as if you were actually there, and it’s difficult to recreate the same experience in a virtual environment right now.
Done right, the setup can make you feel like you’re really in the meeting room, the office or wherever the telepresence robot is. However, perfecting the system hasn’t been easy for the roboticists, who are still trying to reduce the lag time between the user’s movements and what’s shown on screen. The current lag time is around 70 milliseconds, and shifting to WiFi or 4G from using radio link for the wireless data transfer could increase it even more. That’s why the team’s aiming to bring it down below 60 ms, since too much lag could lead to motion sickness.
Once DORA’s ready for deployment, the team will first make it available to museums offering virtual tours and emergency responders. After them, ordinary consumers could come next, though that obviously wouldn’t happen anytime soon.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/124993083?color=f51128&byline=0&portrait=0
https://player.vimeo.com/video/125286769?color=f51128&byline=0&portrait=0
Filed under: Robots
Via: IEEE
Now available, Dell Venue 10 7000 starts at $499
We recently took a look at Dell‘s newest line of Android tablets, including the Venue 10 7000 and the Venue 8 7000. We even took the 8-inch tablet for a test spin, which we found to be a solid offering from a company we do not usually associate with tablets.
Starting today, the 10-inch version, the Dell Venue 10 7000, is up for sale starting at $499.
Taking the approach that the Venue 8 is for play, the Venue 10 7000 is being promoted as the Android tablet you need for your work place. It even has an optional attachable keyboard dock, not unlike what you would find in the ASUS Transformer line of tablets.
Equipped with a 10.5-inch display at 2560 x 1600 resolution, this Intel Atom Z3580 powered tablet offers 2GB of RAM, 16GB or 32GB of internal storage expandable up to 512GB through a micro USB card reader, and runs Android 5.0 Lollipop.
The Dell Venue 10 7000 is priced fairly competitively, but is not in impulse buy territory. $499.00 will get you the base tablet with 16GB of storage. Adding the keyboard dock bumps things up to $629.00, and to get your hands on the 32GB model, which is only available with the keyboard dock, you are looking at $679.00. That’s laptop territory.
If you are interested in picking up the Venue 10 7000, head on over to the Dell website for more details.
What do you say, is a Dell Venue 10 7000 in your future?
This article originally appeared on our sister site TabTimes.
Marilyn Manson released his latest album on early PlayStation CDs
The ’90s are back in style, in more ways than one. Kill Screen has revealed that Marilyn Manson released his latest album (The Pale Emperor) on the black CDs used for original PlayStation games, made in the same Sony plant. No, they’re not meant to rekindle two of your fondest teenage memories. Manson’s art directors chose these discs because they help underscore the album’s themes of darkness and light. They start out pitch black, but a newly-added thermal layer turns them white when you play them — clever, isn’t it? With that said, you’ll probably have a hard time appreciating this thematic trick. While you might still be a Marilyn Manson fan, the odds are that you ditched CD-based music a while ago.
[Image credit: Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images]
Filed under: Gaming, Storage, Sony
Source: Kill Screen
Google adds More Now Cards
Google Now is a fantastic way to stay updated on things like stocks, sports scores, or travel times using Google Now Cards. The cards display up-to-date information every time you open the Google app, however, up until now the cards have been a bit lacking in compatible apps.
That will all change soon with 70 more apps being added to Google Now. Some examples of the additions are ZipCar ride reservations, Spotify playlists, news updates from ABC News, Eat24 food updates, Runkeeper fitness reminders, and OpenTable bill paying.
In order to get the new cards, be sure to keep your app updated frequently, and you should start seeing more cards added within the next few weeks.
Source: Inside Search Blogspot
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Samsung’s profits are down, but it believes the S6 will change that
Samsung’s latest earnings numbers reveal that the company did better in the first quarter of 2015 than at the end of 2014, but its overall profits are still down while the competition’s are rising. The company earned an operating profit* of 6 trillion won ($5.6 billion) for January to March 2015, eclipsing the 5.3 trillion ($5 billion) won it earned last quarter. However, that’s not enough to match its performance from the same period last year, when it boasted an $8 billion operating profit. Samsung’s mobile division, for one, has shifted dramatically this past year. The company recaptured the top spot from Apple in the list of manufacturers with the biggest smartphone shipments for the first quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. Unfortunately, tablet and feature phone sales decreased, resulting in an overall loss in revenue.
In fact, the division’s operating profit slid down from a healthy 6.43 trillion won ($6 billion) for Q1 2014 to only 2.74 trillion won ($2.6 billion) for Q1 2015. Samsung clearly needs a compelling product to compete with Cupertino’s iPhone sales, and the South Korean corporation believes the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are the answer. The company expects an increase in global earnings by selling 23 million S6 and 23 million S6 Edge units this year. It seems to be struggling to keep up with the demand for the wraparound screen version of its new flagship, but it did promise to “resolve the difficulty in supply.”
Outside the mobile division, Samsung’s semiconductor business continues to flourish, with an operating profit of 2.93 trillion won ($2.7 billion), up from last year’s 1.95 trillion won ($1.8 billion). The Display Panel division’s also doing well thanks to an increasing demand for UHD TVs, earning a 520 billion won ($490 million) profit that’s much larger than last year’s 80 billion ($75 million).
*Operating profit = revenues – cost of sales – operating expenses
Source: Reuters, Samsung Tomorrow, Samsung (PDF)
Lenovo Launches ThinkCentre Chromebox
Lenovo has added another member to its ThinkCentre Tiny business desktop family: the ThinkCentre Chromebox. The one litre device is made with education and small business in mind, giving a user all the power necessary to learn or serve customers more efficiently. The minuscule desktop combines efficiency with affordability to make the best choice for a desktop for a school or small business. The Chrome OS is easy to set-up and use, and also easy to control for any IT Managers. The desktop will also combine with the Tiny-in-One to provide a 23-inch all-in-one experience.
The Chromebox Tiny will be released in June and will cost $200, and the Tiny-in-One is already available for $280.
Source: Lenovo
Come comment on this article: Lenovo Launches ThinkCentre Chromebox
Android 5.0 Lollipop heading out to Verizon Galaxy S4 devices
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Those of you still rocking a Samsung Galaxy S4 with Verizon are in for a treat. Big Red has announced today that Android 5.0 Lollipop is now rolling out to Galaxy S4 devices across america. Like all the other Lollipop updates it brings along the colorful and vibrant Material Design look mixed with very beautifully fluid visual animations. You will also get the lock screen notifications, ability to set privacy and priority notification settings, a shortcut on the lock screen for the phone and the camera along with the Chrome browsers tabs being located in the Recent apps page.
As with any software OTA you will want to make sure your Galaxy S4 is charged over 50%, a solid Wi-Fi connection and some time to kill for the update to download and install. To check for the update you will want to head into your devices Settings > About Phone > Software updates > Check for updates then choose Download now if it is available.
Via: Verizon Wireless (PDF)
The post Android 5.0 Lollipop heading out to Verizon Galaxy S4 devices appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
T-Mobile launches exclusive LG G4 preview program to get the hype going
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Today was a big day for LG. The LG Watch Urbane landed on Verizon and AT&T websites for consumers to purchase. It was also the official unveiling of the LG G4. Not that we needed it a big event with all the leaks that happened over the last few months, but still, we do like a good press event to get the details straight from the manufacturer. We know Sprint will carry the device sometime in June and is giving would be buyers a chance to win one. T-Mobile is taking things a little further though with an exclusive LG G4 preview program that is sure to get a lot of sign ups generated.
Starting today through May 25th anyone who signs up for the chance to be selected, could get their hands on an LG G4 before it even launches. Whats even cooler, is they are giving away one device a day from now through the 25th. That equates to 28 lucky people getting their hands on one a month a head of schedule. While it might be a long shot, it never hurts to through your name into the hat. If you are curious to see what Des has to say about the device, check out the first look over the device and a bit more in-depth look at the camera.
I have a feeling the LG G4 is going to do really well for the company. The manual mode on the camera with RAW output, manual shutter speed and the 8MP front facer. The removable battery and expandable memory option, u to 2TB, could be a deciding factor for those that were wishing Samsung kept up that tradition in the Galaxy S6.
All that aside, be sure to direct your browser over to the sign-up page and keep your finger crossed.
Source: T-Mobile
The post T-Mobile launches exclusive LG G4 preview program to get the hype going appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
iPad App Issue Delays ‘a Few Dozen’ American Airlines Flights
Issues with an app on iPads provided to pilots on American Airline flights have delayed “a few dozen” flights, making it difficult for planes to take off and causing them to return to the gates to fix the issue, according to The Verge.
An American Airlines pilot’s iPad
“Some flights are experiencing an issue with a software application on pilot iPads,” American Airlines spokesperson Andrea Huguely later told The Verge. “In some cases, the flight has had to return to the gate to access a Wi-Fi connection to fix the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers. We are working to have them on the way to their destination as soon as possible.” Another spokesperson said that the issue affected “a few dozen flights” across the airline. “We’ve identified the issue, we’ve identified the solution, and we are working on it right now.”
Passenger Bill Jacaruso was traveling to Austin from Dallas / Fort Worth when his flight was delayed. He told The Verge that the pilot got on the intercom and told the passengers that his co-pilot’s iPad had went blank. About 25 minutes later he got on the intercom again, noting that his iPad had also went blank. At the time, the pilot said that all 737 airplanes were affected, but 45 minutes later he said the issue was affecting “random” American Airline planes. Another passenger told The Verge that “two systems” had failed and needed to be rebooted.
American Airlines received FAA approval for iPad use by pilots in the cockpit back in 2011. In 2013, the airline company began giving its pilots Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) containing the iPads, the first major commercial carrier to do so. The EFB’s goal is to use the iPad to replace the 40 pounds of manuals and maps that pilots usually carry. The iPads also come with a long-life battery that keeps the iPad powered for 24 hours.
Hulu reportedly lands ‘Seinfeld’ streaming rights
According to a report by Variety, tomorrow Hulu will announce that it has won the bidding war for streaming rights to the Seinfeld series. The deal is said to be worth nearly $1 million per episode (a WSJ rumor puts the figure at about $700k per ep), adding up to some $180 million or so, enough to bring the complete series to a streaming service for the first time. According to the earlier rumors, Amazon and Yahoo were also in the running for the series, although streaming giant Netflix had dropped out, apparently deciding to focus on original shows and its deal for the Friends series. The deal should be announced tomorrow during Hulu’s “Upfront” presentation for advertisers and the media, scheduled to start at 8:30AM.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Variety, Wall Street Journal
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