Epson’s smart glasses are for tech-loving mechanics

For the mall-pounding public, smart glasses are a hard sell. The combo of dorky looks and, well, lack of actual need has strangled the few attempts to commercialize them. Epson (of printer fame) thinks trade and industry is where the market/money is, and is adding another smart headset to its professional-friendly range. The Moverio Pro BT-2000 (yah, really) is based on Epson’s existing BT-200 model, with a more rugged design and a juicier specification. This time around, Epson is tempting engineers with a 5-megapixel stereo/3D camera with depth sensing, head tracking and support for augmented reality, like if Dickies made HoloLens.

Factories and workplaces of the near future, at least those with the BT-2000, would have engineers sharing what they are doing, beaming images directly to other headsets for remote viewing — be it for training or remote support (thanks to WiFi and Bluetooth conenctivity). Or, working on a tricky motor, with the schematics or next step right there in your peripheral vision. The Android-based software also adds scope for custom applications, plus there’s support for voice control. There’s no word on price, so we can’t say if there’s scope for consumers to consider them as an industrial-strength alternative to Google Glass (stranger things have happened). We’ll also have to wait until the autumn release to see if the big world of business bites too.

Filed under: Wearables

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Asteroid Day seeks to find a way to protect our planet

NASA has recently teamed up with the National Nuclear Security Administration to look into the possibility of using nukes to save the Earth from serious asteroid threats. Both organizations have been studying the option for quite some time — they ran computer simulations in the past, and NASA has even designed a nuke-equipped interceptor years ago — but now they’re exploring the possibility together. They’re particularly concerned about huge “dinosaur killers” measuring 164 to 492 feet in diameter and will most likely deploy weapons only if humanity’s threatened by rocks that big. To put that in perspective, when a 60-feet, 7,000 ton asteroid crashed in Russia in 2013, it burned and blinded people despite being relatively small. The agencies’ deal was closed just in time for the first Asteroid Day on June 30th.

The event was founded in December and supported by Richard Dawkins, Bill Nye, Chris Hadfield and Brian May (an astrophysicist whom you might know better as Queen’s guitarist), among many other scientists. It aims to raise awareness about asteroids and to bring brilliant minds together, in order to conjure up ideas on how we can protect our planet in case an asteroid heads our way. After all, sending deep-sea oil drillers to space will likely only work in a Hollywood movie. Some scientists want to send an asteroid-monitoring observatory to space called Sentinel, others are developing different methods, such as using sunlight to obliterate parts of a particularly huge rock.

NASA’s and NNSA’s plan to send nukes to deflect asteroids is another possibility, but we’re sure some scientists like Purdue University’s H. Jay Melosh would “like to see it as a last-ditch option.” Several locations in the US, Canada, the UK and other places around the world are holding events for Asteroid Day. Make sure to check the official website if you want to participate in any of them.

[Image credit: Elenarts/Getty]

Filed under: Science

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Via: PopSci

Source: The New York Times, Asteroid Day

Time Warner Cable faces net neutrality complaint

Time Warner Cable has made history by being one of the first (if not the first) broadband providers hit with a net neutrality complaint. Virtual server and streaming media provider Commercial Network Services (CNS) has submitted its grievances against TWC to the FCC, claiming the company is violating net neutrality’s “no paid prioritization” and “no throttling” sections. In its complaint, the company said TWC only gives it access to congested traffic routes and refuses to deliver its content through low-latency connections — that is, unless it pays up.

TWC told The Register and The Washington Post that it does have free arrangements with operators “who exchange high volumes of traffic at multiple locations and where there is a mutual exchange of value,” but unfortunately, CNS doesn’t quality for the same deal. CNS has only filed an informal complaint for now, but it might file a formal one in the future. TWC, on the other hand, remains confident that the FCC will take its side. A spokesperson told The Register:

TWC’s interconnection practices are not only ‘just and reasonable’ as required by the FCC, but consistent with the practices of all major ISPs and well-established industry standards. We are confident that the FCC will reject any complaint that is premised on the notion that every edge provider around the globe is entitled to enter into a settlement-free peering arrangement.

You can read the full complaint right here to decide for yourself.

Filed under: Misc

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Via: Broadcasting & Cable

Source: FCC (Scribd)

Qualcomm pushing faster image capture with hybrid auto focus

In the current day and age where we don’t like to miss a beat, it is important for many of us to be able to quickly whip out our phones and capture something dear to us before it’s gone.  In this respect, Qualcomm has expressed that our smartphone cameras could work faster.

They have begun pushing their powerful Snapdragon processors to help in the matter, targeting the lag in focusing.  Qualcomm wants a hybrid auto focus system to be utilized, which has different focusing technologies at its disposal.

Traditional auto focus uses contrast focus, where the lens moves and scans through the entire possible range of focus points, then chooses the best one.  If this sounds time consuming, it is.  This is why Qualcomm proposes two more efficient focusing methods in its hybrid system:  Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) and Laser Auto Focus.

You may have already heard of some smartphones moving on to PDAF (commonly found in DSLRs too).  PDAF essentially works using masked pixels on the sensor that create an out of phase effect, like the separation between your eyes.  The processor then calculates the phase difference and moves the lens accordingly to get into focus.

Laser auto focus shoots beam pulses out and as the beam bounces back (like radar), the distance is known.  We’ve seen this debut on the LG G3.

There are situations when either-or methods work better.  Hence why Qualcomm has stuffed support for both options in their Snapdragon processors.  For instance, laser auto focus would not be hindered in low light conditions.  But the laser doesn’t get a successful return 100% of the time.  The processor is made to intelligently switch between both methods.

These advance auto focus technologies are already in Qualcomm’s current midrange (Snapdragon 615) and top-end (Snapdragon 810) SoC offerings, it’s just up to the manufacturer on the utilization.

It’s great to see Qualcomm keeping up and providing the tools OEM’s need to get us snappy quickly.  Is this a priority in your choice of a smartphone?

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