ICYMI: Pollution sea vacuum, SpaceX’s success and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: SpaceX successfully landed its reusable rocket, from a height of 125 miles– then Elon Musk and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos traded Twitter jabs for our entertainment. Scientists from Cambridge University found that oil droplets change into artificial shapes like octagons when frozen in soapy water, then return to their normal shape when heated. And a nearly $4,000 gadget for sailors aims to clean up the dirty marinas where debris and oil spills often mar the seafaring beauty.
Your jock friends will enjoy this tennis racket hacked to sound like Maria Sharapova does when she plays. If only the thing could make you talented too.
Please share any interesting science or tech videos with us! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
Magellan’s new dash cam gives you a 340-degree view
GPS specialist Magellan has announced a number of new dash cams, including a high-end model with a hyper-wide field of view. The RoadMate 7670T-LM is a navigation system that also offers dual HD cameras, each with 170-degree wide-angle lenses. The idea is that you mount one at the front of the car and one at the rear to offer a video feed with a “340-degree field of view.”
Pedants among you may point out the error in Magellan’s math. Because of the distance between the two cameras, there will be far more than “20 degrees” missing from the combined feed of the two cameras. That said, both can rotate independently to cover any blindspots, and the system also lets you hook up an additional (and optional) three external cameras for a better view.
All this video feeds into the main navigation unit, which has a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen. From there you’ll be able to view and record two feeds at any given time (the front cam + one other). It’ll also use those cameras to do some basic autonomy, with lane departure and front collision avoidance warnings. We don’t have a firm price or release date for the unit yet — the new range starts from $179.99, but expect this to be quite a bit higher than that — but we’ll update you on that as soon as we can.
Magellan’s new dash cam gives you a 340-degree view
GPS specialist Magellan has announced a number of new dash cams, including a high-end model with a hyper-wide field of view. The RoadMate 7670T-LM is a navigation system that also offers dual HD cameras, each with 170-degree wide-angle lenses. The idea is that you mount one at the front of the car and one at the rear to offer a video feed with a “340-degree field of view.”
Pedants among you may point out the error in Magellan’s math. Because of the distance between the two cameras, there will be far more than “20 degrees” missing from the combined feed of the two cameras. That said, both can rotate independently to cover any blindspots, and the system also lets you hook up an additional (and optional) three external cameras for a better view.
All this video feeds into the main navigation unit, which has a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen. From there you’ll be able to view and record two feeds at any given time (the front cam + one other). It’ll also use those cameras to do some basic autonomy, with lane departure and front collision avoidance warnings. We don’t have a firm price or release date for the unit yet — the new range starts from $179.99, but expect this to be quite a bit higher than that — but we’ll update you on that as soon as we can.
Apple’s New Hardware Chief Johny Srouji Awarded Nearly $10 Million in Stock
Apple’s newly promoted Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji was awarded 90,270 restricted stock units on October 5, 2015, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The restricted stock units awarded vest 12.5% in semi-annual installments over a four year period.
Srouji now has a total of 217,305 restricted stock units and 101,881 common stock units, which together amount to just over $34 million at AAPL’s current trading price of around $107 per share. The latest batch of 90,270 RSUs are currently valued at approximately $9.6 million, but will not fully vest until October 2019.
Apple often rewards high-level executives with RSUs based on their performance. In August, for example, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue received 560,000 and 350,000 restricted stock units respectively worth over $97 million combined. Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts also received 113,334 restricted stock units as a signing bonus upon joining Apple in May 2014.
Srouji was promoted to Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies on December 17, as part of a larger executive team makeover that saw Jeff Williams promoted to COO and marketing chief Phil Schiller take over App Store leadership across all Apple platforms. Tor Myhren, chief creative officer at ad agency Grey, will also join Apple in early 2016 as Vice President of Marketing Communications.
Srouji joined Apple in 2008 to lead development of the A4 chip for iPhone 4, and he now oversees silicon and hardware technologies, including batteries, application processors, storage controllers, sensors silicon, display silicon and other chipsets across Apple’s entire product line. Prior to Apple, he held senior positions at Intel and IBM in the areas of processor development and design.
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Samsung to integrate SmartThings control into its 2016 smart TVs
Samsung has big things planned for the home automation space next year it seems. The company has just announced that its entire line-up of 2016 smart TVs will be internet-of-things ready and can connected up to the company’s SmartThings platform.
In case you missed it, SmartThings is an open IoT platform that allows users to control other smart home devices. This includes products such as lights, thermostats, alarms and even security cameras. Samsung’s announcement means that all of its 2016 smart TVs will be able to act as a hub for your entire smart home. However, Samsung states that an Extend USB adaptor is required in order to support the full range of devices.
“The 2016 line-up of Smart TVs will offer consumers new possibilities and cement Samsung’s market leading position, as the first company to launch IoT ready TVs.” – Hyun Suk Kim, President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics
Samsung is integrating its smart home control into a TV interface, so customers won’t need to use separate apps for different products. For example, Alerts from motion sensors or video from a camera can be viewed directly on the TV screen. Samsung is also creating some useful new features for your living room, including a Cinema Mood that adjusts your lighting and surround sound speakers for a more cinematic viewing experience.
Read more: Done Deal: Samsung acquires SmartThings
Samsung says that activation date of its SmartThings TV features will vary depending on the region. The company will be showcasing its 2016 smart TV line-up during CES 2016 at the beginning of January.
Samsung Electronics announced that its entire 2016 Smart TV line-up will be Internet of Things (IoT) ready and connected with the SmartThings platform. SmartThings is an open platform that allows users to connect, manage and control smart devices and IoT services.
Among the 2016 Smart TVs, all Samsung’s 2016 SUHD TVs will apply IoT hub technology, allowing the TV itself to act as the controller for the entire smart home. Samsung developed its own IoT hub technology with SmartThings for 2016 SUHD TVs.
SUHD TVs can connect with and control Samsung devices and SmartThings sensors, as well as more than 200 other SmartThings compatible devices. These include everything from connected lights and locks to thermostats and cameras, from a wide range of high quality third party manufacturers. For the full support of connectivity with SmartThings compatible devices, SmartThings Extend USB adaptor is required.
At CES 2016, Samsung will showcase the future of TV and demonstrate how Samsung’s Smart TVs are at the center of the expanding IoT ecosystem.
“The 2016 line-up of Smart TVs will offer consumers new possibilities and cement Samsung’s market leading position, as the first company to launch IoT ready TVs.” said Hyun Suk Kim, President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics.
“With Samsung Smart TVs working with the SmartThings technology, we have an opportunity to reach millions of households,” said Alex Hawkinson, CEO and Co-founder of SmartThings. “Applying this technology into current household devices is a major step forwards that will make it much easier for everyone to experience the benefits of a smart home.”
SmartThings allows consumers to access all of their smart devices directly from their smartphone and SUHD TV, rather than having to control individual devices with a multitude of separate apps. With the SmartThings application, people can easily connect and manage all of their smart home devices and services through a single, simple user interface.
With an outdoor camera connected to their Samsung Smart TV, customers can check when visitors arrive and choose to open their front door, directly from their sofa. Motion sensor alerts can also pop-up directly on the TV screen, if movement outside the home is picked up, providing more security and peace of mind, whether at home or away.
The SmartThings application’s Cinema Mood also makes it easier than ever to create the perfect home theater environment. It enables consumers to automatically adjust everything from ambient lighting to surround sound, so they can instantly provide the optimal movie viewing experience.
While each 2016 SUHD TV will be enabled with this SmartThings technology, the functionality will be activated regionally as SmartThings expands its platform availability.
Intel swallows one of its rivals for $16.7 billion
After getting the all-clear from the European Commission, Intel has wrapped up its $16.7 billion acquisition of fellow chip maker Altera. The deal is the company’s biggest buyout to date, and will help it keep enterprise customers happy with faster, more complex silicon. As the Wall Street Journal explains, technology giants such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft currently use Intel’s Xeon processors for computational work. Some, however, are bolstering them with field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) sold by Altera, which are useful because they can be reprogrammed. Intel will sell the two together starting next year, but its long-term vision is to combine both onto a single chip.
That eventual hardware, Intel says, will produce dramatic speed improvements — up to double the performance available currently, which should help companies with strenuous tasks like facial recognition (hello, Google Photos). “We’ll invent new products that make amazing experiences of the future possible – experiences like autonomous driving and machine learning,” Intel CEO Brian Krzanich added. The dream of a chip which combines an Intel processor and Altera circuitry is a little way off though — the WSJ says it won’t happen until 2017 at the earliest.
Source: Intel, Wall Street Journal
LG G3 and Sprint G Stylo begin receiving Android 6.0 Marshmallow
There was plenty of speculation that LG was on the verge of releasing a Marshmallow update for its last generation LG G3 flagship when the source code appeared a couple of weeks ago and the update is now officially here. As an added bonus, US carrier Sprint is also rolling out Marshmallow for its LG G Stylo.
The company’s Poland executive, Jaroslaw Bukowski, said in a tweet that Android 6.0 Marshmallow is rolling out for the LG G3 in Poland as we speak. Oddly though, the message has since been deleted, so LG is probably once again testing its Marshmallow launch in Poland before it rolls out to the rest of the world. This could take a bit of time. LG did the same thing with its Lollipop update path and Marshmallow for the LG G4.
As this update is rolling out in Europe, we’re going to assume this is for the D855 model only for now. Other variants will have to wait for a regional version of the update to arrive.
LG isn’t just updating its flagship devices to Marshmallow though, the G Stylo is also receiving the same Android 6.0 upgrade. Today Sprint has started pushing out its latest update to the handset. Unfortunately, there has been no word on when T-Mobile will update its version of the smartphone.
See also: Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates roundup – December 18, 2015
The update brings the version number to LS770ZV7 and it contains all the familiar Marshmallow tweaks to the OS, such as Doze and Google Now on Tap. Sprint says that the update should appear sometime over the next few days, so keep an eye out for that OTA notification or head on over to settings to force a manual check.
Statistics: Android users were all about phablets this holiday season
It is no secret that smartphones are getting larger. Reports from Medium (and plenty other firms) have been showing a constant increase in display sizes. Is this something people like? Some wouldn’t says so, but there is a reason for this trend, and at least part of it must be demand.
I, for one, happen to prefer larger smartphones, and it seems many of you would agree with me. At least that is what the latest Flurry report seems to corroborate. According to the Yahoo-owned insights blog, 54% of all Android devices activated between December 19 and 25 were the so-called “phablets”. These are pretty much known as over-sized smartphones.
See also: Worldwide Phablet Shipments to Surpass Portable PCs in 2014 and Tablets by 2015
But I have to wonder what exactly constitutes a “phablet” or large handset? What are the size standards used for this research? Sadly, this is not mentioned in the report, but they do state “small phones” are those 3.5-inches or smaller. Of course, these handsets are nearly extinct, so we are still left in the dark.
Medium Android phones follow phablets as the second highest statistic, with 35% of all activations accounting for these. By the way, things were different on the Apple side. Most iOS activations were for medium phones. We can assume this would be the size of the iPhone 6 and 6S they are talking about… right?
When accounting for all major mobile operating systems, we can see that sizes have been growing year-over-year, taking into account activations during the same periods of time.
And of course, all those shiny new devices will bring a herd of people to the app stores. This means that there will be high app download traffic, something Flurry also caught a glimpse of. It seems app downloads were up by 120%.
See also: Best Android phones (December 2015)
We just have to wonder how much phones will continue to grow. They have to stop somewhere, right? Growth can’t continue rising uniformly anymore. I mean, 5.5-6.0 inch devices are pretty normal now. I say we keep it that way.
Did any of you guys get a smartphone for the holidays? How big is it? Hit the comments to let us know.
China launches a disaster prevention satellite
Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, is reporting that the nation has launched its “most sophisticated observation satellite,” ever. Gaofen-4 is reportedly the country’s first geosynchronous high-definition imaging satellite and has been designed to watch over us and keep a look out for natural disasters. The craft will also, as part of China’s earth observation project, help out with weather prediction and forest monitoring. It’s the fourth of seven planned craft, each one expected to zoom around the planet for upwards of eight years. The name may not ring a bell, but it was a Gaofen satellite that recorded footage of what was thought to be debris from MH370.
[Image Credit: China Foto Press / Getty]
Via: NASA Spaceflight
Source: Xinhua
HTC Vive passes through the FCC
With CES just around the corner, manufacturers all over the world are gearing up to unveil their latest smartphones, tablets and wearables — and HTC is no different. Earlier today, the Taiwanese company’s Vive Virtual Reality (VR) headset made its debut appearance at the United States of America’s official cellular certification authority, the FCC, where it gained the right to be sold in North America.
Unfortunately, the paperwork that accompanied the VR doesn’t disclose anything about the internals of the device, but we do know where the certification labels will sit on the headset, controllers, base station and link box. Up until now, the unit has always been powered by video cables which plugged directly into the headset, but this filing suggests that HTC may have found a way to wirelessly transmit video.
Source: FCC
Come comment on this article: HTC Vive passes through the FCC
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