Lenovo aims to change how you think about and use your personal devices

Lenovo has announced that it will be holding its second annual tech world conference on June 9 in San Francisco, CA. The company will be launching the first Project Tango-enabled phone with Google, as well as unveiling some new tech that was designed by Motorola. With this new technology, Lenovo hopes to be able to change the way we interact with and feel about our most personal devices.

From Lenovo’s announcement:

Tech World 2016 will also host major product announcements; we’ll launch the world’s first consumer Project Tango-enabled smartphone in partnership with Google. Project Tango brings augmented reality to your smartphone, including gaming, navigation, and other utilities. This device gives you a totally new way to experience the world – enabling you to do things never imagined, from indoor mapping your way around a museum to creating a 3D gaming environment to visualizing how a new refrigerator fits into your kitchen.

Lenovo will also announce new mobile technology designed by Motorola that will dramatically change the way people think about and use their most personal devices – in a snap.

The conference will be held on June 9 in San Francisco, California. It will be interesting to see what Lenovo brings to the table, and how the company will use its Motorola acquisition to further its product lines.

Personal electric plane won’t need an airport

Now that hoverboards are an honest-to-god thing, we have to say we’re pretty disappointed with how flying cars have worked out. Another company has jumped into the fray with a vertical take-off plane called the Lilium that can soar at 400 km/h (250 mph). We’d normally say they’re dreaming with the specs: A 10,000 foot ceiling, 500 km (310 mile) range and helicopter-like takeoffs, all on battery power. However, it’s hosted by a European Space Agency (ESA) incubator and the team from the Technical University of Munich plans manned tests next year.

The Lilium has wings and flies like a regular plane, but takes off like a helicopter by swiveling its ducted fan engines, much like DARPA’s VTOL X-Plane concept. The engines, batteries and controllers are all redundant for safety, and it can take off in a space as small as 50 x 50 feet. The inventors want to certify it in the light sport aircraft (LSA) category, meaning pilots with as little as 20 hours training could fly it in good weather conditions. To start with, though, it would be confined to airfields and take off like a regular airplane.

The plan is to eventually get it approved for vertical takeoffs, which would be fully controlled by a computer rather than a pilot. It will feature fly-by-wire joystick controls and a touchscreen, panoramic windows, a retractable landing gear and recharging system that could plug into regular power. Thanks to the ducted engines, it’ll be much quieter than helicopters during takeoff and landing.

Despite the ESA’s backing, the project has a lot of hoops to jump through. As we’ve mentioned, certification for regular airplanes is already time-consuming and expensive, and the Lilium hardly qualifies as regular. Getting it approved for vertical takeoffs is really a stretch, as the only comparable aircraft is the V22 Osprey, which cost billions to certify. Also, 500 km on battery power sounds very dubious, considering the high performance.

However, the inventors have already flown a half-scale prototype (above) and plan to fly a full-scale model this summer, with manned flights ambitiously scheduled for 2017. However, we’ve heard that tune before from Terrafugia, AeroMobile and numerous other wannabe flying cars, and we’re still waiting.

Source: ESA

Spotify is making its own video shows

Spotify is rapidly scaling its video ambitions with a slate of original series. The Swedish company has announced a dozen new shows which it says will be available later this year for both free and premium users in four countries — the US, the UK, Germany and Sweden. As with its current video offerings, which include TED Talks and clips from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, you’ll only be able to watch them on an Android or iOS device. Notably, all of them will be music themed, centering around live performances, artist interviews or documentary-style narration.

Some of the highlights include Rush Hour, a show which challenges two hip hop artists to make a new remix or collaboration in the back of a van. Stuck in Los Angeles traffic, they’ll need to put the track together before arriving at a secret stage in a parking lot. There, they’ll have to perform the track to a crowd of rambunctious fans. Another, Landmark, will be a documentary series explaining moments or movements in music history. Along with exclusive interviews and archival footage, there will be a companion podcast breaking down the tracks in each episode.

Spotify is the leader in music streaming. To continue growing, however, and beat back its rivals, the company is expanding into other types of media. It wants the service to be known as a destination for podcasts and video, not just an app for listening to the new Kanye West record. Whether people want that functionality is, for now, unclear, but that hasn’t stopped other companies from making similar moves. Google Play Music now offers podcasts, for instance, while Tidal and Apple Music are developing their own original video series. Everyone hopes that all, or some of these features will convince people to subscribe or switch services.

“We are developing original content that is rooted in music, pop culture, and animation that is driven by the passion and sense of humor of our audience,” Tom Calderone, Global Head of Content Partnerships at Spotify said. “We are working with artists, producers and partners who understand that the Spotify audience has a strong connection to artists and wants to go deeper into their worlds, see their performances and expressions, and hear their stories.”

Source: Spotify, Bloomberg

Hyperloops tap into government research to float pods

One of the two competing Hyperloop companies has made a major announcement concerning how it’s going to make high speed transport a reality. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has signed a deal with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to harness Inductrack, a form of passive repulsion technology. Traditional MagLev systems require a constant supply of power, adding cost and complexity to most bullet train systems. By comparison, passive repulsion operates with a single series of magnets that can be mounted on each capsule. That’s going to make Hyperloop a lot cheaper and easier to maintain, which should hopefully encourage more cities to consider buying one.

If you’ve ever held a magnet against something metallic and felt it try to push itself away, then you understand the basic principles of passive repulsion. In this context, the Hyperloop capsule would have a series of magnets aligned around the outside of its frame. The magnets would be arranged in a Halbach array, which would align the magnetic force outwards, rather than in towards the passengers. If successful, then each pod would hang in mid air, not touching any surface and ensuring friction-free travel. That lack of resistance, combined with the Hyperloop’s near-vacuum environment, is what enables it to reach such high (theoretical) speeds.

It looks as if passive repulsion is going to be a key component of Hyperloop projects, and this isn’t the first time it’s been discussed in this context. Earlier this year, Arx Pax, the makers of the Hendo Hoverboard demonstrated how its magnetic field architecture technology could be used to keep a pod afloat. There are cost implications either way, however, since Arx Pax’s system only works against surfaces covered with aluminum. Inductrack, by comparison, requires braided copper wire to be run along the inside of the Hyperloop tube.

If you’re not all caught up with the current state of Hyperloop, then now is as good a time as any to check out our detailed explainer on the subject.

Apple Accepting Red Cross Donations for Alberta Fires Relief

Apple is now accepting donations to the Canadian Red Cross through iTunes in Canada to help people affected by large wildfires in the Fort McMurray, Alberta area.

iTunes donations to the Canadian Red Cross can be made in the amount of $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, or $200. iTunes Store credit cannot be used to make a donation and no tax receipt will be provided.

The Fort McMurray wildfires began on May 1 and have since grown to reach over 200,000 hectares in size, damaging communities and forcing over 80,000 residents to evacuate to southern cities such as Edmonton and Calgary.

Apple facilitates Red Cross donations to support many relief efforts worldwide, including for the recent earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador.

Tag: Red Cross
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Spotify Announces 12 Original Shows Launching Before the End of 2016

Spotify today announced 12 new original series coming to the music streaming platform this summer and fall, which the company hopes will keep its users drawn into the service more often (via Bloomberg).

The shows will surround music and pop culture in general and be “centered around three main themes – music performances, music profiles and music culture,” with episodes lasting up to fifteen minutes each.

The new video offerings come about a year after Spotify began showcasing clips from Comedy Central, ESPN, and MTV within the app. Now the company intends to get into the original programming game, with new shows like Landmark, a documentary series detailing important moments in music history, and Rush Hour, which will force two artists to quickly collaborate on a setlist of songs that they must then perform live.

The company has even netted a few well-known actors and producers for some of the shows, like Tim Robbins, who will produce a “mockumentary series about a competition to become the next dance music phenom.” This first phase of 12 shows will be focused on music, and Spotify intends to speak with artists to figure out ways it can incorporate the video initiative into upcoming album launches.

Tom Calderone, the company’s content partnerships chief, said that the second phase of programming is already planned, as well, focusing on animated and comedic series “tailored to the service’s young audience.” Calderone mentioned that one of the biggest hurdles the company must face is educating its users about the shows, and somehow promoting each series within the iOS app, which now has better tools for user visibility thanks to an all-new tab bar update. An update to the Android app is expected sometime this summer.

While Calderone has plenty of experience making shows people watch, Spotify has little experience getting people to watch much of anything. Videos are buried in the current version of the app, “down there with how to unsubscribe and the privacy policy,” Calderone joked.

“It will be our job to make this stuff famous,” Calderone said. “We have a ways to go.”

Spotify gave no specific launch date for the shows besides a vague summer and fall estimation. The company did confirm that each series will be available for both free and paid users to watch in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden.

Since Apple Music launched, rumors began swirling that the company was working on launching its own slate of original shows. Although iTunes chief Eddie Cue has said recent announcements aren’t a signal that the company intends to delve deeper into original programming, it has confirmed a few series are in the works, including one starring Dr. Dre and another that will “spotlight the app economy.”

Tag: Spotify
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Samsung Galaxy Note 6 in pictures: Renders, and leaked photos gallery

The Samsung Galaxy Note series has had a strong following since it first pioneered the phablet. After a period where the Note 5 skipped release in some countries, Samsung is expected to come back swinging with an international Note 6 release.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 6 is rumoured to be a seriously premium handset with metal build, large 5.8-inch QHD display, Snapdragon 823 processor with 6GB of RAM, 12-megapixel Super OIS Plus camera, 4000mAh battery and of course the S Pen. There may even be an edge style curved model.

Rumoured specs aside though, the look of the Galaxy Note 6 is very interesting. Since there is now a Galaxy S7 edge+ it will be tough to see how this fits in. Especially if this new model features the high quality build of the S7 series. But as we said earlier there’s a loyal Note fan base who will always prefer S Pen interactions on the solid Note than anything else.

At the moment, with an expected reveal in August or September, there have been very few leaked photos. But there have been plenty of concept renders from fans and designers. We’ve compiled everything so far and will continue to update this gallery as more images appear.

READ: Samsung Galaxy Note 6: What’s the story so far?

The AiraWear massage hoodie is absurd, but it works

I’ve loved the idea of Tware’s AiraWear massage hoodie ever since I heard about it at CES earlier this year, and not just because I enjoy back rubs (who doesn’t!). It’s just such a loopy idea that I’m unreasonably happy someone was willing to conceive, design, prototype and sell it. The wearable is not nearly as good as dedicated massage chairs or pads, but it does provide some muscle relief. And while the current prototype is fragile and I wouldn’t be comfortable wearing it in public, it may succeed on sheer chutzpah alone.

The AiraWear seems like a spacesuit in terms of the complexity of plumbing and wiring. A pump inflates plastic cushions that push six hardened foam points at your lower, mid and upper back. The massage harness is sewn into what seems like a good-quality hoodie that comes in blue, black or gray. The whole thing weighs 2.6 pounds, which isn’t bad for such a complex wearable, but I did notice the weight after wearing it around for a few hours. It takes about two hours to charge from a standard micro-USB slot on the motor and gives you up to six hours of massaging.

That said, it’s easy enough to use. After charging it up, there’s a simple-to-use app that runs on Android or iOS. For the review unit, Tware supplied an Android phone with CyanogenMod installed, though the app will run on most iOS or Android devices when it’s released commercially. It communicates with the jacket via Bluetooth, and after I twisted the metal logo on front to power it on, it quickly paired up.

You can run one of four programs: “Relax” massages all three regions, “Shoulder” and “Lower Back” target those specific zones and “Sleep” gives you a lighter all-over treatment. (You can also have it nag you about your posture, but more on that later.) For now, there’s no fine control over the force, and each program runs for exactly 15 minutes: no more, no less. However, the company has promised that you’ll eventually be able to save custom massages or choose from a library.

The device gives an acupressure-style massage by pushing six modules into your back fairly hard. As such, it can’t knead or target different back areas like massage pads with roller-style mechanisms. It does feel good in limited doses, but if you do it too much, it can get a bit painful, since it keeps pushing the same spots over and over again. In addition, the pressure isn’t equal on all three regions of the back; it pushed me harder in the middle of my spine than on the upper or lower part. Still, after a good half-hour, I did feel a bit better than before.

Tware says the hoodie is ideal for de-stressing at the office or even on the go. A photo (above) shows someone using it on a subway train, but I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable doing that. While the company says it’s “100 percent discreet,” the mechanism really shows beneath the fabric, so someone might think you’re carrying something underneath. I can also see it freaking out airport security personnel, whether you’re wearing it or storing it in a carry-on bag. It looks even more bizarre when you’re using it for a massage because the modules really protrude from the fabric.

The posture control feature is actually pretty great, though the AiraWear is massive overkill for that job compared to, say, the Lumo Run clip-on posture monitor. When it detects your posture going wrong, the subtle push to the lower back is a strong reminder to get with the program.

The AiraWear is pretty complex, which may pose reliability problems. There are tubes, wires and motors baked in, and things can easily get tangled up. When I used it, the tubes that transport air from the motor to the massage modules popped out twice, stopping the treatment. I was able to pop them back in, but the problem could easily stump a user not willing to check the guts. In addition, the power button on the front seems a bit fragile. Hopefully, the company will make everything simpler and more solid for the final commercial product.

I love that the AiraWear is one of more insane concepts out there. However, the acupressure massage is not as good as you get from a portable massage cushion that can heat, knead, roll and vibrate. In addition, it’s pretty delicate for a product that’s meant to be worn when you’re out and about. That said, Tware does have a track record in building similar products, so it’s not a huge risk for the crowdfunding price of $109. For that sum (and not a lot more) there will probably be enough takers who want the craziest gadget on the block. Tware says it will be launching soon on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.