Columbia researchers might have the key to wireless VR

The millimeter wave frequency has the potential to do a lot. So far it’s helping power 5G cell networks, but research from Columbia Engineering could expand that to self-driving cars and virtual reality headsets. It’s a little dense, but the key bit is that the team figured out a new nonreciprocal way to transmit the waves, by using “carefully synchronized high-speed transistor switched that route forward and reverse waves differently.” The school says it’s basically like two trains charging head on on the same track, with them switching tracks at the last possible second.

Columbia writes that this will enable circulators to be built into conventional chips and enable full-duplex or two-way wireless communication. Because so many devices are running in low-energy half-duplex, the frequency spectrum is getting congested. Moving to full-duplex means less congestion, and also higher bandwidth capacity.

So, how does this affect you and me? The school says the radar in autonomous cars “inherently” needs to run in full duplex mode, and be cheap. So these chips would play a part there. The silicon could also be used to create truly wireless VR headsets too, given how fast millimeter waves can transmit the surfeit of data VR requires.

The ultimate goal? Building a bigger array, of course.

Source: Columbia Engineering

The final season of ‘Longmire’ hits Netflix on November 17th

Netflix may have saved popular crime series Longmire after A&E cancelled it in 2014, but every cowboy has his last ride. The streaming service has announced that the sixth and final season debuts on November 17th. A trailer for the final act depicts Sheriff Walt Longmire considering taking off the badge for good and being forced to confront five seasons worth of criminals and past decisions. Based on the clip, it looks like this final installment will be jam-packed with shootouts and suspense.

When A&E cut Longmire, the show was reportedly the most-watched scripted series of all time on the network. However, the show was mostly popular among older viewers — and those of us with old souls. In the end, Netflix revived the series starting with season 4 and saw fit to extend the story for two more seasons.

If you’re not familiar with Longmire, the show chronicles the life of a Wyoming sheriff who is trying to balance his personal life, relations with a local Native American tribe and constant criminal activity all while searching for his wife’s killer. The series is based on the book by Craig Johnson and stars Robert Taylor in the lead role alongside Lou Diamond Phillips, Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) and a host of others. It’s definitely worth a watch if you’re into police/crime dramas, and you’ve got plenty of time to binge the first five seasons before the sixth begins streaming next month.

Oculus’ Santa Cruz gets closer to the future of wireless VR

Earlier today, Oculus announced Go, its first-ever consumer-ready standalone headset. But it’s actually been working on another standalone headset — Project Santa Cruz — for a while longer. I had a chance to try on a really early version of it last year, and it was so unfinished that an Oculus helper had to put it on for me. Today at Oculus Connect 4, I tried on the latest version of hardware as well as the new Santa Cruz controllers, and the difference is night and day. It felt like a completely finished product.

We weren’t allowed to take photos of the headset, but the photo seen here offers a good representation of what it looks like. From the mesh fabric surrounding the display to the adjustable head straps, the latest Santa Cruz prototype now looks almost like a wireless version of the Rift. It has an elastic strap along the top, while the rear plastic appears to be clad in a soft elastomer shell.

Putting it on was surprisingly easy — I just wore it like a backward baseball cap — and I was ready to go with just minimal adjustment. There’s an IPD (interpupillary distance) wheel on the left underside if you want to adjust that too. On the whole, the headset feels soft, snug and lightweight — easily one of the most comfortable VR headsets I’ve ever tried.

Then, an Oculus helper placed the new Santa Cruz controllers on my hands. They instantly feel much more compact than the Touch, with a fatter, stubbier grip. Also notable is the lack of a thumbstick; in its place is a large circular touchpad. One big reason for this design difference is that the Oculus folks wanted the infrared LED ring to face upwards, in order to get better tracking from the headset. And in order to move the ring to the top, some design adjustments had to be made. The grip and trigger buttons are still there, however, and feel easy enough to press.

I was instantly launched into a demo, where I was instructed to feed and play with an adorable dog-dinosaur creature hybrid. I used my virtual hands to pluck fruit from the tree and feed them to it, and I also threw a stick into the distance to have the creature fetch it for me. And because I wasn’t tethered to a PC, I could walk around the room with ease and didn’t have to worry about tripping over wires. Using the controllers as virtual hands felt pretty natural (thanks to the 6DOF tracking), and I got used to it fairly quickly.

I was then guided to yet another demo, and it was set in the Dead and Buried universe, where I was instructed to fend off zombies. This time, feeling untethered really made a big difference. I was able to swing around 360-degrees and shoot the undead that were coming at me from all sides. What’s more, I was able to walk around the room to pick up additional weapons and gear (they included a shotgun, dynamite and a big shield). I even pressed down on an Acme-style TNT bomb detonator to set off an area of explosion.

In a way, it was a little unnerving to have so much freedom. I caught myself not wanting to move too far forward, in fear of going outside of my zone and bumping into a wall. I had to sort of peek underneath my headset every so often to make sure I wasn’t too close to any furniture or obstacles. I wasn’t at all — the Oculus helpers would’ve told me otherwise — but I still felt overly cautious at times.

Another thing that struck me was the audio. I had no headphones on, and still the audio came through loud and clear. That is thanks to the Santa Cruz’s spatial audio tech, which lets you listen to the game audio without any headphones. I really appreciated this, because I was able to listen to the people around me while also interacting with the game.

On the whole, the experience was truly amazing. It was really as if I was using a Rift, but without being attached to a PC. It’s clear that truly wireless VR is where Oculus is going — while Go appears to be positioned as the entry-level version, Santa Cruz seems like the one you really want.

Of course, Oculus is quick to point out that Santa Cruz is still in prototype stage, and the final product might not look like this at all. The controllers might look and feel completely different in the end. Seeing as what I tried felt pretty great already, the final version of Santa Cruz seems very promising indeed. Oculus will be shipping its Santa Cruz headsets to developers next year, and we’re hoping it’s as good as we think it’ll be.

Google disables Home Mini’s top button so it won’t record everything

Google hasn’t even started shipping the Home Mini yet, but its launch has been marred by an unusual situation where some of the devices would record and upload practically any sound. As a result, Google says it’s taking the step of disabling all top touch functionality on the Home Mini. While owners can still control it using their voice and a volume switch on the side — that’s it. A software update for all existing Home Minis should roll out by September 15th, well ahead of the products retail debut on the 19th.

Google:

We take user privacy and product quality concerns very seriously. Although we only received a few reports of this issue, we want people to have complete peace of mind while using Google Home Mini.

We have made the decision to permanently remove all top touch functionality on the Google Home Mini. As before, the best way to control and activate Google Home Mini is through voice, by saying “Ok Google” or “Hey Google,” which is already how most people engage with our Google Home products. You can still adjust the volume by using the touch control on the side of the device.

Source: Google Support

DJI’s 6K drone camera is designed to make movies

You can certainly shoot movies with drones right now, but that doesn’t mean drone cameras are ideally suited to movie-making. They seldom have the resolution and image quality of the pro movie cameras you see on the ground, let alone the high-quality lenses. DJI is trying to fix that — it’s introducing the Zenmuse X7, billed as the first Super 35 digital camera tuned for pro drone cinematography. Its large sensor lets you shoot 6K RAW video (in CinemaDNG format) with 14 stops of dynamic range, promising crisp, editing-ready video with plenty of detail in low light. And like any good movie-grade camera, the glass plays a prominent role.

The X7 relies on a dedicated mount system built for carrying prime lenses. You have choices of 16mm, 24mm, 35mm and 50mm lenses, all of which have a maximum f/2.8 aperture. You should get a shallow, film-like depth of field for closer shots regardless of which lens you use. The 16mm lens has an ND 4 filter, while all the other lenses tout mechanical shutters.

Software may play as much of a role as the optics themselves. There’s a Cinema Color System to offer more flexibility in the editing booth, and a new mode imitates the behavior of film cameras to help preserve info.

To no one’s surprise, airborne cinematography won’t come cheap. The base Zenmuse X7 costs $2,699 by itself, while every lens save for the 50mm costs $1,299 (the long-ranged lens costs $100 less). Completists will probably want to buy a four-lens bundle at $4,299. At least you won’t have long to wait before you can start on your aerial magnum opus, as the X7 and its lenses start shipping in early November.

Source: DJI

Corn modified with E. Coli genes has more nutrients, requires less fossil fuel

Why it matters to you

Improving the nutritional content of the world’s largest commodity crop could have a major impact on agriculture.

Scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey and China’s Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences have come up with a way to improve the nutritional value of corn using smart gene-editing technology. By adding a single E. coli gene, the corn grows with an essential amino acid that is otherwise available in meat only. The resulting foodstuff could help transform nutrition for people in developing countries, and dramatically reduce worldwide animal feed costs.

The amino acid, methionine, is crucial for things like growth and tissue repair, while the sulfur found in methionine also protects cells from pollutants and slows the cells’ aging process. Because of its importance, a synthetic form of methionine is therefore added to field corn seed in a highly expensive process.

“What is [limited] in arable land has to be added as chemicals,” Dr. Joachim Messing, the study’s senior author, told Digital Trends. “Sulfur content in the soil is variable and usually not optimal for making seeds more nutritious. We have found a way that the plant can use the amount that is there more effectively. Instead of depending on fossil fuels to synthesize a supplement — in this case methionine — in a factory, the sun can do it now through the plant itself. This switch saves billions of dollars added to our food costs.”

Using the gene editing, methionine in the new corn kernels was found to have increased by 57 percent. In trials involving chickens, those chickens which ate the genetically engineered corn grew significantly faster than those that did not. “The level of improvement is best illustrated by the fact that no supplement will be needed,” Messing continued. The researchers also didn’t observe a yield loss with the growing of the new corn crops.

In the future, they hope to discover a way to grow corn containing this amino acid without resorting to genetic engineering. This might be possible by feeding plants with different types of fertilizer. They also want to replace another supplement in maize, called lysine, which is also important for growth. (And, for pop trivia fans, is the amino acid the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are genetically altered so they will not reproduce.)

A paper describing this research was recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Tooth Cracker 5000 is a device for splitting teeth and extracting stem cells

Why it matters to you

This device looks like a medieval torture implement, but it could help save lives by extracting crucial stem cells from teeth.

Stem cells are a crucial part of modern medicine and can be used to treat a wide variety of medical conditions. They are an undifferentiated cell which can multiply and become any cell type in the body, thereby making them extraordinarily useful. Now researchers at University of Nevada, Las Vegas have discovered a new way of harvesting these all-important biological cells by (get ready to wince!) extracting them from the root pulp inside every tooth. It’s more than worth it, too, since the process quadruples the number of stem cells which can be harvested.

“Stem cells in teeth were discovered relatively recently in 2003 by Dr. Songtao Shi using the baby teeth of his 6-year-old daughter,” Dr. James Mah, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “Since that time, many researchers have looked at teeth as a viable source of these cells, as humans lose teeth as part of the transition from baby teeth to adult teeth, and also as part of their dental care, such as removal of third molars or teeth for orthodontic crowding.”

Unfortunately, access to the dental pulp isn’t straightforward since teeth are encased in the hardest tissue found in the human body. Drilling and cutting into the teeth also isn’t an easy option because this creates heat and introduces contaminants, while the shape of each tooth makes it a difficult procedure to perform. That’s made all the worse by the fact that stem cells must be frozen as quickly as possible after being harvested.

With this in mind, the UNLV researchers on the project created a new device for cracking the tooth in half and removing the pulp. This is instrument the team, semi-jokingly, calls the Tooth Cracker 5000. It employs a clamp which holds each tooth in position so that a cutting implement can slice into them. The result is a perfectly halved tooth with an almost guaranteed success rate.

“Potential real-world application of this technology is to assist dental pulp stem cell researchers and companies that store dental stem cells with improving their yields,” Mah said. “At this time, we plan to improve upon the current design and conduct testing with a variety of tooth shapes, but we are open to collaborations with other researchers and industry.”

Google invests in Neverware, the company that puts Chrome OS on old computers

Google has invested in Neverware, a company that converts old Windows PCs to run Chrome OS.

Chrome is a fantastic web browser, and an even better operating system. Updates are seamless, it’s as secure as they come, and it doesn’t take much computing power to operate. While Windows is still dominant in the enterprise, Chrome is slowly gaining ground. The problem is that businesses have a lot of older Windows desktops and laptops, and it’s easier to just upgrade those devices to a newer version of Windows. Neverware’s CloudReady software helps with that; the tool can be used to convert old Windows desktops and laptops to run Chromium, the open-sourced version of Chrome.

Google sees the merit in Neverware, so much so that the search giant is investing in the company. Neverware announced that it has launched its Series B funding round, with Google listed as one of the initial investors. Neverware has been focused on the home user but plans to expand into the enterprise market. One key aspect of this will be integration with Google’s administrative tools, so devices converted with CloudReady will be just as easy to administer as a traditional Chromebox or Chromebook. Andrew Bauer, Neverware’s CEO, says:

Our Series B will be the first step of our expansion into the enterprise. With continuous support and endorsement from Google and other investors, we’re confident in our ability to bring to market an operating system specifically designed for organizations entering the era of cloud computing.

Are you interested in converting an old machine from Windows to Chrome? Let us know down below!

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Roku’s free ad-supported movie channel is available for everyone

A month ago, Roku announced that it was launching its own movie channel with both big studio flicks and small releases. The company planned a phased rollout to anyone using any of its post-sixth generation devices and TVs. Today, it’s finally available for everyone (so long as they’re using a Roku product made after June 2011).

The channel includes films from Lionsgate, MGM and Sony Pictures, but also Roku channel publishers like Popcornflix. It’s free for all users, so don’t expect to see new releases. Instead of additional fees, it relies on ads, though the company noted that fans should see half as many commercials as on a typical television broadcast. This is just the first of many such ad-supported channels in the next phase for Roku’, which had its IPO a couple weeks ago that saw its value jump to over $2 billion.

Users won’t see the channel unless they manually add it, either online or through their device’s channel store. The “Roku Channel” can be found under Streaming Channels in “Featured,” “New & Notable,” and “Movies & TV.”

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Roku

Google buys short-form audio startup to bolster its podcast efforts

60Db, the short-form podcast app, looks like it’s shutting down. The app’s developer Tiny Garage Labs has joined Google, according to a post on Medium. Haven’t heard of it? Well, then you probably won’t miss it much come November 10th. In the past year though, the team worked with some 80 editorial partners to produce “hundreds of audio stories.” What they’re up to next isn’t clear. As Business Insider notes, Google Play Music already has a section for podcasts, so perhaps this is a move to help revamp a seemingly abandoned portion of the mostly abandoned app.

If you’ll remember, Google Play Music only added podcast support last April when the service launched in 2013. Spotify, on the other hand, has steadily increased its push into the space, going so far as hiring former Maker Studios CEO Courtney Holt to lead its podcast division. Spotify also made a pact with WNYC earlier this year. So, yeah, while Google might be dominating the competition in terms of machine learning and mobile cameras, it still has some catching up to do when it comes to other aspects of its business.

Source: Medium