Don’t talk to your smart home — have it sense your presence with RoomMe

Why it matters to you

If talking to your smart home devices has just become too much, you might want to check out RoomMe instead and have your smart home read your mind.

It wasn’t so long ago that the pinnacle of convenience was being able to talk to your appliances to get them to function. But alas, how quickly we grow inured to the technology of yesterday. Now, we want even more from our smart home devices — we want them to be able to read our minds. And getting close to achieving that desire is a new smart home solution from Israeli company Intellithings. It’s called RoomMe, and it purports to identify and adjust “everything in your smart home to your specific likings, no manual control required.”

In essence, RoomMe syncs with your smartphone, and learns what your preferences are when it comes to light, temperature, and even security, all by way of a few discreet sensors.

“Too many times instead of hearing what you ask for, Virtual Personal Assistants give you what they think you ask for,” the Intellithings team noted. “What if they could simply sense when you are in the room and give you exactly what you want, without [you] waving your arms or screaming into a device?”

This appears to be the future RoomMe envisions. Simply apply the settings you’d like for a certain room on your RoomMe app, then the RoomMe device will sense when your smartphone is in that room, and make adjustments accordingly.

But wait, you say, what if I live with someone with different preferences than I? Not to worry, RoomMe apparently has that covered, too.

If you and your roommate can’t agree on the ideal temperature setting (let’s say you prefer it to be cold at night while he or she prefers it to be warm), RoomMe will sense when you’re alone in the room, and lower the thermostat. But if you’re in there together, you can have RoomMe set a middle-of-the-road temperature so that everyone is happy (or at least equally unhappy). Similarly, you can program RoomMe to recognize certain people, and set your security devices to record when particular individuals (let’s say your nanny) is around.

Of course, it’s unclear as of yet exactly how precise this technology really is, but now that it’s launching on Indiegogo, brave early adopters can check out its effectiveness for themselves. It’s selling for $139 with a shipment date of May 2018.

Glass is back! Google takes the wraps off Glass Enterprise Edition

Why it matters to you

You might see the next version of Google Glass during your next doctor’s appointment, or on a factory floor.

Google Glass, Google’s augmented reality (AR) glasses, originally debuted in 2012, but was officially discontinued in 2014. But after nearly four years of skunkworks development, the search giant pulled back the curtain on Glass’ next chapter: An industrial, corporate version called Google Glass Enterprise Edition.

Glass Enterprise Edition (EE) isn’t new. It’s been tested and deployed across factories in the U.S. by more than 50 companies including agricultural machinery manufacturer AGCO, Boeing, General Electric, Volkswagen, and DHL, where it’s been equipped with custom apps that catalog parts by scanning their serial numbers. But now, Google’s making Glass available to more businesses through its existing network of supply chain partners.

Regulatory filings way back in 2015 gave a glimpse at the new Glass, and it hasn’t changed much since. Glass Enterprise Edition features a headband-like piece of metal that perched on the wearer’s nose, a frame that’s compatible with prescription lenses, and a ruggedized design built to withstand falls and exposure to moisture. The camera button, which sits at the hinge of the frame, does double duty as a release switch to remove the electronics part of the unit (called the Glass Pod) from the frame.

Other upgrades include a larger display with an expanded field of view, a beefier battery, an improved camera (from five megapixels to eight), a speedier Intel processor, and a high-speed 5GHz Wi-Fi chip.

Google says that Glass Enterprise Edition, which runs a stripped-down operating system that doesn’t support notifications or social media apps, has dramatically improved factory productivity. At AGCO, it’s reduced machinery production time by 25 percent and inspection times by 30 percent, and at DHL, it’s increased efficiency by 15 percent.

It’s also been a boon in medicine. Sutter Health and Dignity Health, two healthcare providers that have supplied doctors with Glass units optimized for note-taking, say the heads-up display has reduced the amount of time doctors spend on patient notes and other administrative work and doubled the amount of time they spend with patients.

“Now the Glass product team is back at X, and we’ll be collaborating with the Google Cloud team and our partners to help customers across a variety of business sectors make the most of Glass,” Jay Kothari, project lead at Glass, said. “Together, we’re looking forward to seeing more businesses give their workers a way to work faster and in a more focused way, hands-free.”

In many ways, Glass’s growth in enterprise is in line with industry trends. A recent Forrester Research report predicts that by 2025, nearly 14.4 million U.S. workers will wear smart glasses.

With Tuesday’s announcement, Google’s staking a claim for the future. “This isn’t an experiment. It was an experiment three years ago,” Korthari said. “Now we are in full-on production with our partners.”

$20 antennas can now help breach 256-bit encryption standards

Why it matters to you

This technique shows hackers don’t need bottomless wallets or even direct access to a system to breach heavy encryption.

Security researchers have devised a method of defeating AES-256bit encryption in as little as five minutes, and most importantly, you don’t need an expensive supercomputer to do it. The technique leverages radio hardware to measure the frequency changes in the magnetic field generated during encryption to record and decode the information from a distance.

Manufacturing and digital security often have the project management triangle in common. Defeating security and breaching encryption can rarely be done fast, well and without significant cost. But what this Fox-IT technique achieves is very close to that ideal, offering the ability to crack even complex AES-256bit encryption in a few minutes with relatively cheap, off-the-shelf hardware.

Although using more-expensive radio recording hardware can yield better results, the technique is capable of cracking software encryption using just a $25 USB stick and a small wire loop antenna.

By measuring the power output of the encrypting system, the snoopers can tell when an algorithm is receiving input data and later outputting it in an encrypted form. With a mixture of guesswork and correlation, the researchers are able to take that and begin to decode the AES algorithm. By attempting to figure out what the correct value (of 256 options) for each of the 32 bytes is, only 8,192 guesses must be made.

If you were to attempt to brute force hack the encrypted message itself, you’d be making an impossible number of guesses (two, to the power of 256). This technique makes the impossible not only viable but easy.

Better yet, the technique doesn’t require direct access to the encrypting hardware. The researchers were able to perform the technique from up to a meter away.

That was technically only possible because of ideal testing conditions though. In reality, the most even those with high-end equipment could expect to conduct such an attack is from 30 centimeters away. Still, being able to make such an attack from a distance with cheap hardware highlights the potential for new attack vectors against typically near-foolproof encryption systems.

Although breaking open someone’s obfuscated files is almost always going to be easier if you “extract” the decryption key from the owner, this system offers a new way for all sorts of organizations and individuals to target it. In turn, this should lead to better shielding for protected hardware in the future.

Tinder takes on a new look for itself to help you swipe right more easily

Why it matters to you

Finding love on an app can be hard, but Tinder wants to make it easier with its newly designed interface.

Looks may not be the most crucial thing when it comes to finding your partner, but when it comes to the tool you use to find said partner, then yes, aesthetics are all-important. No one understands this better than Tinder, which in many ways, seems to have catalyzed our societal obsession with swiping left and right to find love, and now, the dating app is swiping left on its own design and bringing in a new look.

“Over the past few months, we’ve been hard at work refreshing the user experience,” the team announced in a blog post. “Today, we’re excited to start rolling out a more seamless way to navigate Tinder for our users around the world.”

First and foremost, Tinder is allowing you to explore profiles more easily simply by tapping on the edge of a photo in order to move onto the next picture, or vice versa. If you tap on the bottom of a fellow user’s profile card, you can smoothly transition over to their complete profile view. This new interface promises to be more intuitive and faster than the previous iteration, and promises to help you find “everything you want to know about a potential match –from their bio and shared connections, to their anthem, top artists, or Instagram feed — quicker and easier than ever before.”

Then, of course, there is Tinder’s renewed focus on users’ looks by allowing photos to take up more real estate on the app. Now, when you are checking someone out, you will be able to check out a picture that extends right to the edge of your screen (because you should not need to squint at your potential significant other).

And finally, there is what you cannot see. Tinder notes it introduced new technology to power its app. “With a new look and feel, a new app architecture, and Apple’s new open-source programming language, we set out to reinvent the Tinder card stack,” the team notes in its tech blog. And if you’re interested in learning more about exactly how the engineers at Tinder allow you to swipe right (or left!) you can check out their engineering posts.

Close to the Metal Ep. 49: Build your own gaming desktop, or let someone else do it?

We spend a lot of time testing, working on, and reviewing gaming desktops. As lightweight laptops and 2-in-1s become increasingly capable of handling day-to-day tasks, more users who need extra power are sitting down at a desk to achieve it. But there’s more than one way to cook an egg, and that’s doubly true when it comes to gaming desktops.

The first option, and our personal favorite, is building the system by hand. Modern systems assemble so easily, that most of the work is in the planning. You have to find parts that work together, fill your power needs, and often aesthetic appeal comes into play. There’s also troubleshooting, which can be incredibly frustrating, or returns for products that didn’t work properly out of the box, which can take a week or more to come back. On the bright side, it’s the cheapest option, and you get a system tailor made for your needs.

If you don’t have the time, or expertise, to put something together, you can always pay someone else to do it. Boutique custom PC builders will help you select off-the-shelf parts, and then assemble, test, and often overclock them in their workshop before boxing them up and shipping them off to you ready to go. They run a premium, but range from modest builds to flashy showpieces with tempered glass and liquid cooling.

Finally, there’s the option right in the middle. Manufactures like Asus, Alienware, or Zotac will put together different gaming desktop models, with one or two options for price point. They tend to be slightly more expensive than building yourself, but as we’ve seen time and time again, there are often issues with these machines. We’ll talk your preference, our experience, and more on this week’s Close to the Metal.

Close to the Metal is a podcast from Digital Trends that takes a deep dive into computing and PC gaming topics. Each show, we’ll focus in on one topic, and leave no stone unturned as we show off the latest in hardware and software. Whether it’s the latest GPU, supercomputers, or which 2-in-1 you should buy, we break down the complicated jargon and talk about how user experience is affected in the real world. Please subscribe, share, and send your questions to podcast@digitaltrends.com. We broadcast the show live on YouTube every Tuesday at 1pm EST/10am PST.

Hacker steals more than $7 million in digital currency using a link switch

Why it matters to you

Digital currency is a growing, decentralized means for paying and receiving funds online, enough so that hackers will do anything to steal the virtual coins.

Security firm Tripwire reports that a hacker managed to steal more than $7 million in digital currency using a simple link switch. The hack took place on Monday during an event called an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to reel in investors of a cryptocurrency app called CoinDash. However, early investors quickly discovered that a link for depositing digital currency on the CoinDash website was not legitimate.

According to Tripwire, trading platform CoinDash began its ICO at 1 p.m. (GMT). Three minutes later, investors figured out that the link for sending ether, a type of digital currency, was taking them to the wrong deposit location. Thus, within those three minutes, the hacker managed to accumulate more than $7 million before CoinDash terminated the ICO and removed the page.

“This was a damaging event to both our contributors and our company but it is surely not the end of our project,” CoinDash said. “We are looking into the security breach and will update you all as soon as possible about the findings. We are still under attack. Please do not send any ETH to any address, as the Token Sale has been terminated.”

Ether is the digital currency of the world’s second most popular cryptocurrency network, Ethereum. This platform consists of smart contracts, which are essentially bits of code that will execute when certain requirements are fulfilled. These “apps” are listed on the Ethereum network using what is called a blockchain. Ether, abbreviated as ETH, is what’s used to pay for things and services listed on the Ethereum network.

So why not just use real world cash? Because digital currency is decentralized. It’s not managed by banks or the government. Plus, both the merchant and buyer can remain completely anonymous, with a transaction digitally signed and verified by an unknown miner on the associated network. Ether is similar to Bitcoin in purpose although technically they are completely different digital currencies.

Individuals who successfully participated in the now-closed ICO received “tokens” as proof in their investment in the CoinDash app. However, those who invested ether using the hacked address are reportedly now demanding a refund. After all, the CoinDash website was not locked down tight, enabling a hacker to insert a simple link that collected millions in stolen digital currency.

Others are reportedly questioning the theft. Was this a genuine hack, or a simple scam using a hack as a cover story? As Tripwire states, there is no evidence to suggest foul play. Even more, CoinDash is currently providing an online form for victims to complete as part of the company’s investigation into the hack. Victims are asked to provide their email address, wallet address, a proven transaction number, and the amount of ether sent.

Despite the hack, CoinDash said that it managed to secure $6.4 million from early contributors and whitelist participants. Those who sent digital currency to the wrong ether address during the hack will still receive tokens. Otherwise, investors who sent ether to the wrong address after CoinDash removed the ICO page will not receive investment tokens.

Lightroom Mobile update brings your favorite desktop tools to iOS

Why it matters to you

Lightroom Mobile fans will want to download the latest update for selective brush tools and details sliders, while Android users get a performance boost.

Lightroom Mobile pares down the desktop editor’s features for mobile devices, but now the app is borrowing more features from the full-fledged desktop version. iOS users can now edit only a portion of the image using the paintbrush tool and the touch interface. Android users will have to wait for the feature, but will still want to download the Lightroom Mobile update with a redesign that Adobe says is faster, more efficient, and more “Android-y.” Adobe launched both updates on Tuesday.

Adobe

Adobe

The selective brush allows Lightroom’s tools to be applied to only a specific portion of the image. While the feature has long been a part of the desktop editor, iOS users now have access to the tool on mobile for the first time. On the app designed for mobile, the paintbrush can select portions of the image using the touchscreen.

Devices with 3D Touch, including all iPhones since the iPhone 6s, allows the user to vary the effect just by changing the pressure on the screen. The iPad version also now supports Apple Pencil with similar pressure-sensitive effects.

The new-to-mobile tool allows users to mask out objects of pretty much any shape to apply effects. The tool also brings more options to the app’s existing but less specific mask tools. The linear and radial gradients that applied effects based on a shape were added in earlier versions, but those effects can now be fine-tuned, using the brush tool to erase the gradient from portions of the image. For example, the linear gradient is a popular tool for creating more dramatic skies — and now with the erase brush, it’s okay if there’s a tree branch jutting up into that sky because the user can paint over the branch to exclude it from the effect.

The iOS update also brings the “Details” tab from the desktop version into the mobile options. Like on the desktop version, the new Details section inside Lightroom Mobile gives photographers control over sharpness, as well as adding noise reduction tools.

The tablet version of the program also sees several adjustments — Adobe says the latest iPad version is designed to take advantage of the iPad Pro 2’s hardware that creates a much narrower gap between the iPad and the MacBook.

Adobe

Adobe

Adobe

The latest Lightroom Mobile update for Android is less about adding new features — and more about redesigning the entire program for a better experience. Adobe says the app was redesigned from the ground up for more speed and better performance. The user interface was also redesigned for a more natural experience, the developer says.

Adobe made Lightroom Mobile a free app back in 2015, though several of the program’s more advanced features requires a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud, including wireless syncing between desktop and mobile. Both the iPhone and iPad versions are now up to version 2.8.0 while the July 18 Android update sits at version 3.0.

Some robots steal our jobs — this one just writes poems at the beach

Why it matters to you

Beach-trawling robot poses some intriguing questions about whether machines can be creative.

Our current robots can do everything from laying bricks to carrying out complex legal work. In this increasingly dystopian, post-jobs world, it seems all mankind can do is wander the desolate beaches, waves lapping at our feet, and scratch futile poems into the sand, bemoaning what a cruel twist of fate we have sprung on ourselves. Oh, wait! It seems that robots can now do that job as well — based on a new robot poet project carried out by a graduate from the University of Edinburgh.

What Yuxi Liu has created for her master’s thesis is a project called “Poet on the Shore,” which takes the form of an autonomous, 3D-printed robot that potters around the beach writing poetry in the sand beneath its wheels. (We like to imagine it as what might happen if you trained a convolutional neural network on every episode of teen angst drama Dawson’s Creek ever!)

“‘Poet on the Shore’ is part of my master dissertation in Design Informatics, exploring sensibility, sociability, and morality of machines,” Liu told Digital Trends. “The project attempts to challenge the fundamental anthropocentric assumption regarding machines by giving the machine a voice.”

The idea is that the robot will eventually make use of its surroundings to generate poetry, much as a human poet may do. With this in mind, it’s equipped with various smart sensors for measuring external conditions, such as outside temperature and wind speed.

Liu says that the current prototype is not fully working in the sense of generating poetry, but she plans to work with machine-learning frameworks to make this possible. “I’m trying to work with TensorFlow and ConceptNet for the next step,” she said. What it can do in its current state is to automatically write out programmed poems, using an in-built device “similar to a drawing machine.”

Clearly, there is more to do, but the work touches on a point of real interest: Our assumptions about whether or not a machine can be creative. As Liu writes in her thesis, “‘Poet on the Shore’ is an attempt to challenge the anthropocentric assumption regarding machines by demonstrating the machine’s poetic sensitivity. The robot intervenes in the world. These interventions, expressed through the kinetic and poetic gestures, reveal its non-utilitarian existence: the verse it writes will eventually be washed away by the waves or winds.”

We look forward to the next step of the project. After all, who wouldn’t want to watch live-streamed future videos of a tortured artist robot forever scribbling self-destructing poems like they are Snapchat messages? That’s totes existential by Silicon Valley standards.

Olloclip Filmer’s Kit empowers smartphone videographers with lenses and grip

Why it matters to you

iPhone 7 and 7 Plus videographers interested in adding a slew of lenses and a grip can save cash with this new limited edition kit.

A video rig with five lenses and a stabilizer would normally fill up an entire backpack — but smartphone photography accessory company Olloclip is introducing one that takes up a much smaller footprint. On Monday, July 17, the company launched the Olloclip Filmer’s Kit designed to give smartphone videographers versatile tools without sacrificing portability.

The Filmer’s Kit itself doesn’t have any brand new products inside — except for the custom case created through a partnership with Incase to fit it all in — but packing all the accessories together gets consumers $300 worth of gear for $199.

The kit includes Olloclip’s Core Lens Set designed for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which includes the fisheye, super-wide and 15x macro lens along with the clip that attaches the system to the smartphone. The video kit also tosses in telephoto and ultra wide lenses, part of the Olloclip Active Lens set, bringing the total number of lenses to five.

Along with the smartphone lenses, the kit includes the Pivot, the company’s pivoting smartphone grip. The grip’s design makes the camera easier to hold, which Olloclip says leads to steadier footage. With a 225-degree rotation, the system also makes it easier to shoot video with a smartphone from any angle. The grip includes the smartphone clamp as well as a 1/4-20 mount and a cold shoe mount.

To expand the kit’s capability, the set also includes a GoPro mount adapter, which allows the grip (but of course not the lenses) to be adapted for use with a GoPro, a nice perk since the Pivot itself is waterproof.

All those accessories are placed inside a case produced by Incase and designed specifically to house the collection.

“Olloclip remains committed to finding new and exciting ways to making inspiring videos and photos fun and easy to capture on your mobile device. Partnering with Incase made sense to us since they, too, understand the importance of the photographic category and offer a complete collection aimed at the modern-day photographer and videographer,” said Patrick O’Neill, founder of Olloclip. “We also appreciate how Incase’s minimalistic and easy-to-use design language complements Olloclip’s design ethos by focusing on maximizing functionality while delivering the finest details and finishes.”

The Olloclip Filmer’s Kit is a limited edition item with only 2,000 available exclusively from Apple’s retail locations. The kit sells for $199, while pricing out the accessories individually would cost about $300.

One small step: How Reebok crafted a space boot for astronauts from running tech

Reebok doesn’t shy away from trying new things. The footwear giant has 3D printed shoes with goopy liquid rubber, grown them from corn and cotton, and on Tuesday, it announced a new product that’s truly out of this world: The Floatride Space Boot SB-01, developed for an upcoming mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Traditionally, astronauts walked around in tough leather boots with firm soles, which looked like cumbersome buckets of cement. But when Boeing sends astronauts to the ISS next year aboard its CST-100 Starliner, it wants to do better with a lightweight new spacesuit designed by the David Clark Company (DCC).

“They wanted a hybrid of a runner, sandal, wrestling boot, and aviator boot.”

On Earth or in outer space, no suit is complete without a pair of matching kicks. So DCC partnered with Reebok to develop the Floatride SB-01. The Space Boots use Reebok’s Floatride Foam, which adds cushioning to the midsole without weighing the shoe down like a traditional midsole. It’s the same cushioning technology found in the Floatride Run shoes Reebok released in April.

With astronauts currently testing the SB-01, Digital Trends caught up with Dan Hobson — vice president of Innovation at Reebok — to find out how the final space boot came from a projectile sandal, what tests are being conducted on the Floatride SB-01, and just how much of this boot is like Reebok running shoes.

Digital Trends: Who or what inspired the idea for Reebok to get into the astronaut business?

Dan Hobson: We routinely reach out to local innovative companies to hopefully partner with and share ideas on mutually beneficial projects. Space travel is something our team has always been interested in, so we called the David Clark Company, and that’s how it started.

We’ve partnered with David Clark Company in the past; our first project with them was a running jacket utilizing space suit technologies. They then asked us if we would be invested in developing some specialized footwear for their CST-100 suit. Shane Jacobs from David Clark Company said they wanted a hybrid of a runner, sandal, wrestling boot, and aviator boot.

How did you even begin to know what it would look like?

We had no idea what it would look like. That is an amazing position to be in because then we’re designing and developing in an environment without any preconceptions of what it should be or look like. We absorbed as much information as fast as possible from Shane, and from research on space-suit design, to understand the vast array of variables and parameters we would need to take into consideration.

We started simply by putting Shane in the suit and trying various footwear on him. One of those failed trials included a minimal sandal that shot off his foot when we pressurized the suit. We had multiple paths going simultaneously but for all of the iterations, we would make quick prototypes and test them, make modifications, and test again.

The Floatride Foam technology is central to this space boot. How will the space boot differ from the running shoes released in April with the same technology and in what ways will they be similar?

On the space boot, the rubber traction, the float foam, and the stabilizing foam that sits above the float foam are identical to the Floatride Run, so the feel underfoot will feel very similar.

“There are also some ‘easter egg’ nods to previous astronauts to be found in the boot”

The upper portion of the space boot is completely different. However, we still wanted to achieve the distraction-free ethos that we were using for the Floatride Run. The space boot uses a Nomex shell for fire resistance, and the inside uses a special mesh that stretches to a certain point, then locks out when the suit inflates, which allows the boot to always fit comfortably.

How closely did you work with David Clark?

We worked incredibly close with Shane, and there was total trust between our companies to try different iterations and give honest criticism. Early in the process, he would describe the feel, fit, and function we needed, and then we would brainstorm different ways to achieve it.

What tests are being run on the shoes by astronauts?

Obviously, lives are at risk, so space suit design is serious business, and testing is incredibly rigorous down to the most minute detail. Some basic tests involve climbing in and out of the CST-100 capsule, and running and jumping. Other tests involve being inside a pressurized suit and remaining in it for extended periods of time, which is uncomfortable to begin with, so the boot had to be irritation free.

How long did it take to develop the final shoe?

We started the project about two and a half years ago, and small changes are still a possibility.

Were there multiple iterations of the space boot? If so, how did you know it was right?

Yes, we had many iterations of the boot. We knew what direction was right because we tested every single iteration with Shane in the suit, pressurized and unpressurized.

It will supposedly be lighter and more comfortable, so astronauts can move quicker. Have you spoken with NASA or other companies looking to do manned space missions?

Previous astronaut footwear was built from off-the-shelf boots slightly modified, that performed adequately but was still heavy, cumbersome, and not really designed for space travel. The Space Boot is designed specifically to meet the astronaut’s needs which include being extremely light, flexible, and featuring a very high level of comfort. Our plan is to continue to work with DCC on future space programs. DCC already develops suits for NASA and other companies.

How did you get to the final look of the boot?

It was definitely function first but we knew that we wanted something that visually integrated seamlessly into the suit, and still had a clean, very modern aesthetic like the Floatride Run. There are also some “Easter egg” nods to previous astronauts to be found in the boot, if you know what you are looking for.