Andy Rubin wants to give you a free dashcam, in exchange for the data
While Andy Rubin is probably best known for his involvement as one of Android’s founders, his ambitions certainly don’t end there. After leaving Google in 2014, Rubin has been involved with a number of projects, including creating his own tech incubator called Playground Global. Rubin has also invested in a number of companies such as CastAR, and is rumored to be working on a return to the mobile game. And now Rubin seems to have his sights set on creating a massive real-time visual map of the world, using dashcams.
In an interview with Wired, Rubin talked a bit about his latest project and how he would like to give away a specialized dashcam to those who signed up to work with his program, and in exchange they would give him the data collected from it. This data would be used to create a map of traffic areas in real-time, allowing drivers to potentially get a much more realistic look at traffic conditions before they headed into these congested areas.
The idea of a service that gives you real-time street views and traffic views sound pretty cool we have to admit, but Rubin doesn’t talk at all about the obstacles that would be involved.
First, there’s the cost of free dashcams. Rubin isn’t exactly the richest man in the world, and so he’d need some pretty big partners to pull off the financials needed. Also, they’d need to convince enough people to use dashcams in order to make the information collected truly useful. More than likely that would mean demoing the program in a select city/region and slowly rolling it out to other areas. Lastly, if the idea is real-time traffic analysis, these dashcams would have to access a mobile network, and that’s a whole other cost to consider.
Barring these potential obstacles, would you be interested in a free dashcam if Rubin was offering? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
iPhone puzzle games are no match for this robot
Puzzle & Dragons is a ridiculously popular mobile game in Japan that tasks players with matching coloured orbs in order to take down enemy monsters. If you’ve played Pokemon Shuffle before, it’s just like that. To help with the trickier stages, YouTube user Junya Sakamoto has developed a robot that can play the game for him. Oh, and it’s unbelievably good. As Kotaku reports, a connected laptop is able to analyse the board and pick out the optimum combos, triggering a flurry of moves that would be almost impossible to replicate with your pinkie. Color us impressed, although we suspect developer GungHo won’t share our enthusiasm.
Via: Kotaku
Source: Junya Sakamoto (YouTube)
Fighting games to fairy tales: The unlikely story of ‘Unravel’
Unravel is a thoughtful, heartwarming game that feels like mix of LittleBigPlanet, Limbo and Hans Christian Andersen’s Thumbelina, all wrapped up in a cozy sweater your grandmother just finished knitting. If it weren’t a digital-only title, its disc would probably smell like freshly baked gingerbread cookies and sunshine.
The game stars Yarny, a tiny creature made of red yarn who voyages into the Swedish wilderness to collect an old woman’s memories. Yarny uses his body’s thread to solve platforming puzzles, allowing him to cross rivers, leap over gulfs and fight off beastly bugs. More importantly, though, Unravel tells this grandmother’s story, offering snapshots of a life filled with family, love and heartache.
Unravel is a departure for developer Coldwood Interactive, whose releases include Ski-Doo Snow X Racing, Freakout, Move Fitness and The Fight: Lights Out. This shift didn’t happen by accident, according to creator Martin Sahlin: “Unravel was basically a reaction to those previous games, an effort to do something completely different.”
Coldwood decided to try something new after releasing one game in particular. Sahlin doesn’t call it out by name, but he describes a fighting title that “was flawed, but people still liked it.” That sounds a lot like 2013’s The Fight: Lights Out, which Joystiq described as “cloyingly basic” with frustrating motion controls — but it seems plenty of people played it anyway.
“The game reached hundreds of thousands of players,” Sahlin says. “I was looking at those numbers, and they made me feel bad: We’d had the attention of a massive audience, a chance few artists ever get, and we didn’t have anything meaningful to say. Our game was just a distraction, a time waster.”
Sahlin wasn’t ready to settle for shallow commercial success. Video games have just taken their first steps into the mainstream art world, pushing the boundaries of storytelling and audience interaction in fantastic, creative new ways. Sahlin is one small force driving the industry’s evolution, a traditional game developer who sees the potential for emotional resonance in pixels and code.
“I figured that whatever we made next, we had to speak from the heart,” Sahlin says. “It didn’t have to be world-changing, but it had to be sincere. It had to have meaning.”
Yarny’s threads represent love and the way it connects people with unbreakable, sometimes tangled, bonds. Sahlin actually created Yarny out of wire and spare thread while on a camping trip with his own family in the Swedish countryside.
“It’s full of symbolism,” Sahlin says. “It lets you go on a quest to do something good, it gives you a look at the world from a different perspective and it shows that even a tiny, fragile hero is still capable of great things.”
Unravel may be more fairy tale than fighter, but Sahlin wants it to appeal to every person, from traditional gaming fans to newcomers, when it hits PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on Feb. 9. “I hope they’ll find something useful and worthwhile in it, but whatever that thing is, I want it to be theirs. Hopefully it’s a happy, positive, uplifting thing.”
‘Happy Birthday’ settlement puts the song in the public domain
Since 1988, Warner/Chappell has had an iron grip on the copyright for “Happy Birthday to You.” Artists couldn’t sing it on a recording without paying up, even though it’s virtually ubiquitous in real life — it’s widely considered the most popular English-language song in history. At last, though, logic appears to be taking hold. In the wake of a lengthy class action lawsuit, Warner has agreed to a $14 million settlement that will put “Happy Birthday” in the US public domain well ahead of 2030, when the label expected the copyright to run out. So long as the ruling holds, you can expect to hear those very familiar strains all over music, movies and TV shows in the near future.
As you might guess, Warner isn’t doing this as a kindness. It’s estimated to have raked in $50 million through licensing “Happy Birthday” in the past few decades, and the plaintiffs believe the label would have scooped up to $16.5 million more if the lawsuit hadn’t happened. Rather, the settlement will head off an outright loss that would have proven much more costly. A federal judge had already ruled that Warner’s lyrics copyright was invalid — the company faced the real possibility of having to pay full compensation to everyone who’d licensed the tune in the past.
It’s rare to see any company settle a licensing case like this by agreeing to a public domain release. However, this suggests that copyright isn’t always sacrosanct among media giants. They’re willing to end their battles if the cost of holding on to royalties is too high. You probably won’t see this happen very often, but the fact that it happened at all is noteworthy.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
France tells Facebook to stop moving user data overseas
France’s privacy regulator has told Facebook that the site is in violation of the country’s data protection act. Furthermore, the social network has been given just three months to get its act together, or it’ll face the threat of sanctions. The charges leveled against the site include the fact that it pushes data relating to its European users to servers based in the US. That’s been a bone of contention across the continent, which is why the provisions governing such actions — Safe Harbor — were declared invalid last year. That means that Facebook’s been sending your private messages to servers accessible by the NSA without any permission.
The invalidation of Safe Harbor is one of several contentious issues that the regulators are picking up on. For instance, authorities found that Facebook’s use of cookies to monitor visitors is in violation if French Law. In addition, the site is charged with not making it clear enough that it collects data on the sexual orientation, religion and political views of its users. Finally, Facebook sells people’s personal data for targeted advertising, but provides people with no way to control who gets that data. Even though Europe has already agreed (in principle) a replacement for Safe Harbor, it looks as if Facebook will still have to weigh up if it’s worth remaining in France with these additional conditions.
Via: PC World
Source: CNIL, (2) (.PDF)
Instagram app now supports multiple accounts
A new update to the Instagram app for Android and iOS devices was announced yesterday which should come as welcome news for a number of you. Available in the 7.15 version of the app is support for multiple user accounts.
Once you have the update you will be able to hop back and forth between various Instagram accounts. No longer will you have to log out of one profile to log back into another; it will as simple as tapping the account.
As to how notifications will work, Instagram says you’ll receive them for any accounts that have them turned on and active.
The post Instagram app now supports multiple accounts appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple Stores Now Offering Belkin Screen Protector Application
As of today, Apple Stores across the United States and around the world are offering a new system that allows Apple Store employees to apply Belkin-branded screen protectors for iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus, and 6s Plus customers. Many stores across the world began rolling out the Belkin ScreenCare+ Application System last week, but the system is officially available in retail stores starting this morning.
Belkin’s ScreenCare+ Application System lets Apple Store employees accurately and precisely apply screen protectors using a ScreenCare+ machine. When a customer purchases either a Belkin TrueClear Invisiglass Screen Protector or a Belkin TrueClear Anti-Glare Screen Protector, an Apple retail employee who has been trained in the application method will bring the ScreenCare+ machine from the back of the store.
Using the machine, the employee will clean a customer’s iPhone display and then apply the screen protector directly in front of the customer. Should a mistake be made during the application process, a new screen protector will be applied at no cost to the customer.
The Belkin screen protector application service should greatly cut down on the hassle involved with applying a screen protector at home. With Belkin’s machine, there’s less room for error as alignment is automatic and there’s little chance of dust or debris accidentally getting stuck under the screen protector.
ScreenCare+ is available at Apple Stores worldwide, but screen protector application is limited to Apple’s latest iPhones – the iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus, and 6s Plus. Belkin’s Invisiglass screen protector is made from an ultra-thin, flexible glass that absorbs shock and is shatterproof while preserving the natural feel of the iPhone. The Anti-Glare screen protector reduces glare to improve visibility in bright light while also protecting the iPhone display from damage.
Screen protectors can be purchased from Apple retail stores and applied by Apple Store employees starting immediately.
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NASA’s Curiosity offers another 360-degree peek at Mars
Less than two weeks ago NASA posted a 360-degree video on Facebook that showed the perspective of its Curiosity rover on Mars. It was an exhilarating view, but the way it had been created — by stitching together lots of different photographs — meant the final video offered a strange, fishbowl-like picture. Thankfully, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has uploaded a replacement to YouTube which is lightyears better than the original. While it’s still a static shot — so more of a panorama than a true 360-degree video — it’s another mesmerizing look at the Red Planet.
The component images were captured by Curiosity on December 18, 2015 using the Mast Camera rig, otherwise known as Mastcam, which sits on top of the robot’s vertical arm. In the video you can see the Namib Dune, which forms part of the Bagnold Dunes dotted along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. NASA notes that, after analysing images taken from orbit, scientists believe the dunes can move as much as one meter during a normal Earth year. A portion of Mount Sharp can be seen on the horizon and of course, Curiosity itself is visible down below on the surface.
You can watch the video in your browser and click around to change the perspective, but for an immersive experience we recommend using the YouTube app on your phone or a Google Cardboard — with the gyroscope sensor you can look around naturally, which is always pretty fun.
Via: The Verge
Source: NASA JPL (YouTube)
3Doodler is back with a cute, safe 3D printing pen for kids
Even from their earliest moments of Kickstarter success, one thing was clear to the team at 3D printing pen startup 3Doodler: they’d have to build a version just for kids. Now, after releasing a streamlined upgrade to the original and pushing to get these things into classrooms, they’ve finally done just that. Meet the 3Doodler Start, a curvier, cuter version of the pen meant for a new generation of pint-sized makers.
In case you haven’t been keeping up with the movers and shakers in the maker space, 3Doodler’s formula is dead-simple. Each pen comes with a starter pack of plastic strands — stick one in the pen, turn it on, and extrude that plastic into fanciful figures or faithful reconstructions. In a way, you yourself become a 3D printer, except your brain is the software that gives form and substance to your ideas. The new pen will set parents and school boards back $50 a pop (or $40 if you’re the type who pre-orders), making it half the price of the 3Doodler 2.0 the team released around this time last year. And before you ask, yes, that means the team had to make some notable compromises.
For one, there’s only one extruding speed, and it seemed pretty slow while playing with a very early model at our CES stage. There’s also only a single temperature setting too, but that helps keep the 3Doodler Start’s plastic extrusion tip from getting hot enough to burn anything (or anyone for that matter). Seriously. This is easily the most impressive thing about the Start — while playing with the pen, co-founder Daniel Cowen encouraged me to doodle on my skin, a move that would’ve meant a bit of yelping and lots of cold water splashing around just last year. The hardware team can’t take all the credit for this kid-friendly plastic extrusion though; 3Doodler has also developed a new kind of biodegradable plastic filament that melts at lower temperatures. Oh, and the pièce de résistance? The Start thankfully uses a standard MicroUSB port for charging — that’s one less chunky, specific wallwart to keep track of.
Interest piqued? It would’ve nice to get these before the holidays so as to keep teeming hordes of kids occupied, but the Start should make for a hell of a summer distraction — the first units are expected to ship this May.
Source: 3Doodler Start
ICYMI: Robot news round-up, 3D hand scanner and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: iRobot sold its line of military robots to a US-based firm to focus on Roomba and a new chameleon robot changes color to blend in; a student built a 3D scanner with cameras and Raspberry Pi that is much cheaper than any other scanner; and a new pedestrian detection software from the University of California, San Diego, is nearly as fast as the human brain.
We also wanted to give you a look at the latest certified Guinness World Record, this one for turning a mobility scooter for the physically impaired into a speed machine at 107.6 miles per hour.
As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
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