E.Dams-Renault wins Formula E’s first team title
The all-electric Formula E racing league is on the cusp of finishing its inaugural season, and it’s already handing out the first prizes. The E.dams-Renault team has clinched the Formula E’s first-ever team title after drivers Sebastien Buemi and Nicolas Prost respectively placed first and seventh in the initial race of the London ePrix, giving the organization a secure lead over Audi. The event wasn’t as exciting as others (Buemi took the lead early and held it), but it sets up what should be a fierce rivalry for the driver’s title in the last race on June 28th. Buemi is now just a stone’s throw away from frontrunner Nelson Piquet — you can be sure that both EV racers will be determined to finish out in front.
Whether or not it’ll be neck-and-neck in the following season isn’t so clear. Every team is currently driving the same Spark-Renault SRT_01E car, so no one can claim a technological advantage. That’ll change when teams are allowed to build their own powerplants, so you may see certain manufacturers pull ahead in the sophomore season.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: FIA Formula E
Samsung tech would nearly double your phone’s battery life
Don’t like that your Galaxy S6 conks out before you’re finished for the day? Samsung might offer some relief in the future. Its scientists have developed lithium-ion battery technology that promises much longer-lasting power packs. They use a silicon anode (which promises much more capacity than a typical battery), but grow layers of graphene on top to improve the density and longevity that would otherwise suffer. In experiments, they got batteries that were 1.5 to 1.8 times denser than what you get today. If your smartphone barely makes it 12 hours before giving up the ghost, this would theoretically give you 21 hours — enough that you wouldn’t have to panic if you forgot to plug in before bedtime.
You shouldn’t count on this upgrade showing up in the Galaxy S7 (or any other gadgets) for a while. This is still a research project, and it could take years before Samsung translates its breakthrough into real-world products. Should everything go smoothly, though, this could be crucial in just about any situation where adding a bigger battery just isn’t an option. Besides mobile devices, you could get electric cars that match the range of their gas-powered counterparts.
Filed under: Cellphones, Science, Mobile, Samsung
Via: PC Perspective
Source: Nature
Tougher encryption guidelines close a back door for NSA spies
The US’ National Institute of Standards and Technology is more than a little worried that its encryption guideilnes have been creating back doors for spies, and it’s changing its tune in order to plug those security holes. The agency is no longer recommending an NSA-backed number randomization technique that made it relatively easy to crack and monitor encrypted data. In theory, software developers who heed the new advice won’t have to worry that they’re laying down a welcome mat for government surveillance agents. NIST’s revision won’t do much to help privacy-conscious companies (they’ve already moved on to tougher safeguards), and it certainly isn’t an iron-clad defense against hacks. However, it could still make a big difference if it prevents less-informed organizations from repeating some big mistakes.
[Image credit: Sam Dal Monte, Flickr]
Filed under: Internet
Via: Martijn Grooten (Twitter)
Source: NIST
Robotic vines illustrate chaos theory and the Butterfly Effect
We’ve seen capacitive-touch-enabled plants before, but the robotic vines and leaves of Branching Systems are something altogether different. And, perhaps craziest of all, they respond to your presence. The leaves react to your inputs, and then nearby leaves react to those reactions and so on. Creator’s Project writes that your movements are the “catalysts that trigger the swift-paced and divergent” motions from artist Robert Wolfe’s installation. You see, the idea is to illustrate chaos theory and the Butterfly Effect: small changes that can have massive impacts on others. Want to peep it for yourself and inspect the vines for any robotic insects? The exhibit is on display in Santa Fe, New Mexico as part of this year’s Currents New Media Festival and you can check out a video tour just below.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/130923075
Filed under: Robots
Source: Peters Project
Uber’s latest service takes you across continents in a speed boat
Never mind using ridesharing services to get across cities — Uber wants to take you across continents. The company has launched a permanent version of its UberBoat service in Istanbul that shuttles you between Asia and Europe (that is, both sides of the city) in a speed boat. It’ll cost you at least 50 lira (about $19) versus the 2 lira (81 cents) for a public ferry, but you won’t be waiting long to get moving… and you won’t have to fight Istanbul’s notoriously bad traffic, either. Each craft also carries up to 8 people, so it’ll be more affordable if you’re traveling as part of a pack. You probably won’t use this often unless you’re regularly hurrying across the Bosphorus strait, but it should be more scenic than an overcrowded bridge or tunnel.
Filed under: Transportation, Internet
Via: Bloomberg
Source: Uber Newsroom
Fitbit tracking data comes up in another court case
When you wear Fitbit or any other fitness tracker and smartwatch, you not only monitor your physical activities, you also collect data about yourself — data that can apparently be used against you in investigations. In Lancaster, Pennsylvania cops responded to a 911 call by a woman who claimed she was raped by a home invader. The woman told the police she woke up around midnight with the stranger on top of her, and that she lost her tracker while struggling against her assailant. Unfortunately authorities found her Fitbit, and the device recorded her as active, awake and walking around all night. Combined with the evidence that was missing (tracks outside in the snow from boots she said the attacker was wearing, or any sign of them inside), an investigation led to her facing misdemeanor charges.
This isn’t the first time authorities used Fitbit data as evidence: last year, a Canadian law firm presented the plaintiff’s tracker info in court to show reduced physical activity for an injury lawsuit.As we know however, wearable data isn’t always 100 percent accurate, so we hope it isn’t used as a sole source of evidence. In this case, the evidence of a staged scene and testimony from the owner of the home are also reasons why the wearer is being charged with three misdemeanor counts. The case is headed to trial, but we already have enough evidence to suggest making sure the stories we tell match up with the ever-ubiquitous tracking devices on our wrists and in our pockets.
Filed under: Wearables
Via: Trusted Reviews
Source: Lancaster Online
Inhabitat’s Week in Green: hoverboards and a 3D-printed car
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green.
A working hoverboard has been the elusive dream of Back to the Future fans and transportation nerds for decades. Now, Lexus claims that it has built a prototype. The company’s SLIDE hoverboard uses magnetic levitation technology, similar to high-speed bullet trains, and it is cooled by liquid nitrogen. In other transportation news, the US Department of Defense is working with Malloy Aeronautics to develop a hoverbike for the Army. Getting stuck behind a big truck isn’t just annoying — it can be very dangerous. So tech giant Samsung has designed “see-through” trucks with rear-mounted video panels that display the road ahead.
Elon Musk’s high-speed Hyperloop could completely revolutionize transportation, but what will it be like to actually ride in it? Argo Design recently released detailed renderings showing its vision for a Hyperloop pod. Tesla’s electric vehicles are obviously better for the environment than traditional internal-combustion cars, but how do they actually perform? A new video shows the Tesla Model S P85D squaring off against some of the world’s fastest drag racers, and it more than holds its own. Tesla also celebrated the fact that Model S drivers racked up 1 billion all-electric miles, which translates to 570,000 tons of CO2 saved. Fans of classic sports cars can now go electric, too: British car company Morgan just announced plans to produce an all-electric version of its classic, sporty 3-Wheeler. And startup Divergent Microfactories unveiled the world’s first 3D-printed supercar.
Evaporation moves vast quantities of water through the air every day. But could that process be harnessed to produce renewable energy? Researchers at Columbia University believe it can, and they’ve created two devices that generate renewable energy from evaporation. In other clean energy news, the Indian government recently announced plans to boost the country’s solar production from 4.5 gigawatts to 100 gigawatts by 2022. Tesla’s Powerwall home battery could be a game changer that disrupts the existing energy grid. Last week, Inhabitat rounded up the many ways the Powerwall will change the energy landscape. C.F. Møller Architects just unveiled plans to build a massive 25,000-square-meter school in Copenhagen that will be entirely solar-powered. As attached as we’ve all become to our smartphones, they all need a recharge sooner or later. Soofa, a woman-owned company, is currently in talks with the city of New York to launch a line of innovative solar-powered benches that double as charging stations.
Bionic hand technology has taken some major steps forward in recent years. A 26-year-old woman from London recently received the world’s most advanced bionic hand, which can make precise movements and is anatomically accurate. In other tech news, the Japanese company Aldebaran has created a robot named Pepper that’s designed to understand your feelings. The robot sold out online in less than 60 seconds. London’s Design Museum has selected an unusual new technology as the winner of its Design of the Year contest: microchips covered in human cells that are designed to imitate the complexity of human organ tissue. The designers hope the microchips will eventually replace animals for drug and cosmetic testing. Rhinos are critically endangered, largely because of horn poaching. In hopes of curbing poaching, a San Francisco-based biotech company is planning to flood the market with 3D-printed synthetic rhino horns that are genetically identical to the real thing. Lego recently announced plans to invest $150 million to develop sustainable manufacturing materials that could one day replace the plastic used in Lego bricks. The bindi is a common ornamental mark that Indian women wear on their foreheads, and now one NGO is producing bindis that deliver essential nutrients directly to the skin. And in other wearable tech news, researchers in Australia have created a new type of stretchy sensor that could be worn on clothing or even skin to alert people about exposure to toxic gases.
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Household, Robots, Transportation, Wearables, Science
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket breaks up shortly after launch (updated)
Today is not a good day for private spaceflight. SpaceX and NASA have confirmed that a Falcon 9 rocket broke up shortly after launching on a resupply mission for the International Space Station. It’s not clear what caused the failure at this stage, but the vehicle started smoking right before it fell apart. The destruction won’t create immediate problems for the Space Station. However, it comes at a very bad time for SpaceX. The company has lost yet another chance to land its reusable rocket on a sea barge, and it only just got clearance to launch valuable missions for both NASA and the US Air Force — Elon Musk and crew may have to work overtime assuring officials that this kind of disaster won’t happen again.
Update: Musk reports that the explosion might have been due to an “overpressure event” in the rocket’s upper-stage liquid oxygen tank. At a press conference, neither NASA nor SpaceX had enough information to say what went wrong besides ruling out a problem with the first (lower) stage. NASA notes that the ISS crew still has a comfortable four-month supply buffer, but is understandably concerned that there have been three supply mission failures in the space of several months. Microsoft is no doubt worried, too, since the HoloLens headsets for its astronaut assistance project were on the SpaceX flight.
[Image credit: SpaceX, Flickr]
Filed under: Transportation, Science
Ryan Seacrest’s iPad keyboard is surprisingly good, but expensive
It’s hard to expect much from Typo, a company that was co-founded by Ryan Seacrest and whose legal tango with BlackBerry has forced it to stop selling phone keyboards. But with its new iPad keyboard, Typo has at least proven it’s worth keeping an eye on. For $189, you get a Bluetooth keyboard that actually feels like a decent laptop keyboard, as well as a cover to protect your iPad. There’s no shortage of iPad keyboards on the market, but Typo’s offering might be compelling to anyone who wants a premium laptop-like experience with their iPad. The only problem? It’s far too expensive for what you get.
Typo’s keyboard is made up of two main components: a case that fits around your iPad Air or iPad Air 2 (there’s also one for the iPad Mini), and a keyboard unit. A magnetic latch hooks the two pieces together, and the kickstand on the iPad case stabilizes everything. They keyboard portion sports a comfortable soft plastic wrist rest and a matte bottom finish, while the iPad cover is made of tougher plastic, offering a decent amount of protection. Once everything’s put together, the Typo cover ends up making your iPad look like an ultra-thin laptop — at the expense of a bit more thickness and weight.
I didn’t have any trouble pairing the Typo keyboard with my iPad Air over Bluetooth, and, most importantly, reconnecting to the Typo after turning it off took just a few seconds. That’s been a source of frustration for me with other Bluetooth keyboards. The keyboard itself is reminiscent of Microsoft’s Surface Type Cover (which is a bit curious after Typo’s legal brawl with BlackBerry). The keys have a surprising amount of depth to them when pressed down, especially since the Typo is so thin. For the most part, it felt similar to typing on a mid-range chiclet laptop keyboard. Typo is rechargeable via USB, and it lasted me several days with intermittent usage.
When it came to typing, I saw around 80 to 90 percent of my typical touch-typing speed. That’s pretty similar to what I’ve seen from most other tablet keyboards, though it wasn’t nearly as comfortable as Microsoft’s larger Surface Pro 3 keyboard. Typo also takes some getting used to: It’s not truly full-sized, and plenty of lesser-used keys (like the colon/semi-colon key) have been shifted around to make up for the lack of space. The main thing that slowed me down with the Typo was figuring out where many of those keys were moved to.
Like many laptop keyboards today, Typo also includes several device-specific buttons along its top row, which also houses the traditional function keys. The very first of these keys on Typo replicates the iPad’s home button, and there are also keys for launching spotlight search, contacts, calendar and media controls. I also grew to enjoy having Siri instantly accessible on the F5 key, which was ever so slightly faster than holding down the home button.
I was able to type this entire article on the Typo keyboard in multiple orientations — on a desk, on a park bench and while sitting on my couch — without much fuss. Given its kickstand, Typo is best used on solid surfaces, but I was also surprised by how functional it was on my lap (as long as you keep your legs straight). Typo’s biggest issue is that the magnetic connection between the keyboard and case is incredibly weak. Simply holding up the iPad on its own is enough to disconnect the keyboard. My iPad screen also fell hard on my legs several times when I tried to readjust Typo (the metal kickstand was especially painful).
As useful as it is for typing, the Typo cover ends up being pretty cumbersome if you just want to read or play games on your iPad. It adds a noticeable amount of weight to the svelte iPad Air and Air 2, and the protruding kickstand hinge made the tablet harder to hold. I ended up just yanking the Typo cover off when I wanted to browse Twitter, read digital comics and do other typical iPad-y things. The company was clearly more focused on delivering a decent typing experience than anything else.
For the most part, Typo is going up against Logitech’s iPad keyboards, which offer similarly great typing and Bluetooth connectivity for almost half the price (Logitech’s latest Ultrathin keyboard is currently retailing for $100 or less). And if you don’t need a wireless keyboard, you can save a bit more and get Logitech’s wired keyboard for $60. While Typo’s offering feels a tad more premium than the competition, it’s definitely not enough of a difference to justify that high price.
The biggest issue for Typo? It’s betting pretty much everything on its iPad keyboards. And while that’s a potentially lucrative market, especially since iOS 9 will make iPads more PC-like, Typo’s keyboards are simply too expensive to compete with widely available competitors like Logitech. There are many people who might want an iPad keyboard, but I’d imagine there are fewer who would pay around half the price of their iPad for the privilege of physical keys.
Filed under: Peripherals, Mobile
Apple Music arrives June 30th at 11AM Eastern, Beats 1 an hour later
Determined to try Apple Music and its accompanying Beats 1 radio the very moment they’re available on June 30th? The streaming service’s senior director, Ian Rogers, is happy to help those early adopter impulses. He says that iOS 8.4 (and thus Apple Music) will be available at 11AM Eastern on that day, and Beats 1 will go on the air one hour later. It’s not clear what you’ll hear if you tune in to the station right away, but the first slate of programming will include an interview with Eminem as well as appearances from everyone from Cara Delevigne to (unsurprisingly) Beats brand co-founder Dr. Dre.
And no, Apple hasn’t forgotten about iTunes Match and streaming the songs you already have. Eddy Cue notes that Apple Music will not only share the feature, but expand on it — the company is aiming to match up to 100,000 songs in your library (versus today’s 25,000) by the time iOS 9 shows up this fall. Unless you have a mind-numbingly huge music collection, you can safely assume that it’ll be available in the cloud.
Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Apple
Via: MacRumors
Source: Fistfulayen, Beats 1 (Twitter), Zane Lowe (Twitter)
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