A first-time CES entrepreneur, age 82

On the first official morning of CES, Carol Staninger stopped and started her motorized wheelchair through the cavernous Sands Expo and Convention Center, trying — sometimes failing — not to clip the herd of eager attendees who overlooked the octogenarian at chest height.

A service elevator took Staninger, with gray hair, a pale-yellow jumper and silver brooch, to the show floor. She politely received a flyer from an over-perfumed woman representing a French shoe company. She consulted her flip phone to find the rest of the team. And eventually, Staninger arrived at her booth in the trade show’s startup section, opposite an electric-skateboard showcase and a Korean company selling iPhone cases with embedded stun guns.

“I have arrived,” she said to her team.

More than 170,000 people from 150 countries are at this year’s CES, but it’s rare to see an 82-year-old startup entrepreneur. For Staninger, president of Ancer LLC — a blend of her name and her two children’s, Andrea and Eric — it’s her first CES. The last time she even passed through Las Vegas was the other side of the year 2000.

Raised in Winter Haven, Florida, she started working for a local hospital at age 19 and remained there for 42 years, mostly as a secretary. Her first brush with technology was in the 1960s, when she was introduced to an IBM electric typewriter. “I embraced technology, word processors and computers,” she said. “It just made things better.”

In the summer of 2016, well into her retirement, she read news reports of infants who died after being accidentally left in hot cars. Often left in safety seats that face backward in a momentary lapse of caregiver concentration, there were 42 such deaths last year in the US and 742 since 1998; the majority are children 12 months or younger.

“You see a little child, and you know this child will never grow up,” she said. “He’ll never walk on the beach, never have children, never grow up. His life is over before it began.”

Staninger began conceptualizing a monitor for children left in a back seat, shopping it first to the Florida Polytechnic Institute then to Charles Ferrer, president and CEO of Florida manufacturer CMS WorldGroup.

Called Save Our Loved Ones, its prototype is a motion monitor slightly smaller than a home fire alarm attached to the inside of a car’s roof. It links to a keychain fob. When the fob is 15 feet or more from the car, the sensor looks for movement and sets off an alarm if it detects even a slight chest expansion of 1 mm. Under a collaboration between Ancer and CMS Worldgroup, Staninger and Ferrer aim to release the product by fall 2018. They expect it to retail at $300, with the hope that it becomes integrated into car manufacturing in the future.

In the meantime, she’s thinking of new safety-oriented businesses too: for instance, a sensor for heavy mowers to sense depressions in thick vegetation and stop crashes. “One idea leads to another,” she said.

In her five days at CES, she and Ferrer are aiming to license or sell the Save Our Loved Ones — particularly given Staninger’s age and her investment of $170,000 in the project so far. “We’re focusing primarily on the larger communications companies, larger device manufacturers, to gauge their interest,” said Ferrer.

“I’ll go anywhere, speak with anyone,” Staninger said. “I’m just going to experience whatever happens.”

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Vortx blows air at your face while you’re gaming and it’s great

Vortx is ridiculous. It’s a cube that you place on your desk, next to your PC or laptop, and it blows hot or cold air in your face, depending on what’s happening on-screen. The air responds dynamically to the action: If you’re running through the fiery hellscape of Doom, the fan blows hot and fast, but if you’re watching a YouTube video about climbing Mount Everest, it shoots out gusts of frigid air. So, yes, it’s ridiculous — but it’s also really cool in action.

Developers don’t need to add any special software to their games or videos for Vortx to work. Its Environment Experience algorithms read the on-screen action all on their own, meaning Vortx syncs automatically with major games like Destiny or Overwatch, or any YouTube video. Founder Timothy Sun says there’s a lot going on in an experience like Overwatch, so Vortx can’t respond to every single detail, but it still definitely works with that game.

Vortx is available for pre-order now for $120 and it’s due out this year.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

How humans will learn to love the robots of tomorrow

For the Perfect Strangedroids discussion panel on Wednesday, Engadget hosted a trio of robotics experts.. Sabri Sansoy, CEO and Chief Roboticist of Orchanic; Nader Hamda, Founder and CEO of Ozobot; and Stu Lipoff, IEEE Life Fellow and President of IP Action Partners all took the Engadget stage at CES 2018 with senior editor Andrew Tarantola moderating.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

JVC and Kenwood’s new head units pack wireless Android Auto

After a tease at the end of 2017, JVCKenwood has spilled the beans on its head units (yes, plural) with wireless Android Auto support. Its core JVC brand has unveiled two models, the DVD-equipped KW-V940BW and disc-free KW-M845BW, that let you keep your Android phone in your pocket while using its in-car interface on your center stack. They also support Apple CarPlay, as the image above suggests, aas well as JVC’s WebLink (for controlling apps like Waze, YouTube and Yelp). Music fans can control Spotify, iHeartRadio and Pandora directly from the receiver or stream music from up to five phones with a “DJ” feature.

Both models have relatively basic resistive (pressure-based) 6.8-inch touchscreens, four 50W outputs (or three 4V pre-amp outputs) and one backup camera input, although this keeps the prices relatively low: the V940BW sells for $700, while ditching DVD lowers the M845BW’s price to $600.

If you want to splurge, the company’s Kenwood brand is offering a trio of units with more finger-friendly capacitive screens, two camera inputs, a proprietary dash camera connection and additional model-specific perks. The top-of-the-line DNX995S includes both built-in Garmin navigation and DVD support for $1,500, while the DDX9905 drops Garmin to lower the price to $1,100. And if you don’t need discs, the DMX905S not only lowers the price to $850, but throws in a larger 6.95-inch display.

JVCKenwood hasn’t detailed availability for the new units. However, its lineup is definitely important if you want to use your Android phone as the heart of your infotainment system. Google has been talking about wireless Android Auto since 2016, but there’s been precious little support for it. This creates a genuinely accessible option that won’t require buying a new car.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Source: MediaWire (JVC), (Kenwood)

Mac exploit lets you change App Store preferences with any password

Apple’s Mac password troubles aren’t over yet. Users have discovered that it’s possible to change Mac App Store preferences in macOS High Sierra using any password. You do need to login as an administrator, which is supposed to unlock preferences, but you’re allowed to use any password you like if the preference is locked and you need to get access again. Other sections still require a correct password.

We’ve asked Apple for comment on the apparent bug and will let you know if it can provide a response, although we’ve learned that this shouldn’t expose users and that it should be fixed with the upcoming macOS 10.13.3 update (the fix is already present in the beta).

It’s not going to be a serious issue when an intruder needs admin-level access, but it could be a concern if an attacker already has those privileges. They could loosen your password restrictions for downloads (say, to go on a shopping spree without your consent) or force automatic updates if they know a newer app or OS release is vulnerable. And of course, this illustrates that the company still has avoidable security hiccups to address.

Via: MacRumors

Source: Open Radar

This phone’s in-display fingerprint sensor is a taste of things to come

I just picked up a Vivo phone, laid my thumb on its screen and voila: I unlocked it. That might not sound like much, but titans like Apple and Samsung have reportedly struggled to squeeze fingerprint sensors beneath their own displays. And yet here I am, with a prototype phone from a company most have never heard of, touching a finger to glass and watching a phone come to life.

What’s really impressive is how conceptually elegant this setup is. The whole thing is made possible by a Synaptic CMOS sensor — which is basically just a very tiny camera — laminated to the back of an OLED panel. (LCDs are a no-go because of their backlights.) The light from the OLED display itself illuminates your fingerprint, which the sensor “sees” and checks against the print stored on the phone. Of course, none of this will matter to the people who actually try it. Aside from the fact that you can’t actually see the sensor, it works just like you’d expect it to.

That’s not to say it worked all the time, though — at first the sensor often didn’t recognize my finger. This phone definitely isn’t ready to go on sale, so it’s hard to say if my frequent failed attempts were because of non-final software or a sensor that just didn’t work very well. Thankfully, whatever the issue was seemed to resolve itself.

Now, I’m very taken with how clever this approach is, but it also has some potentially fundamental pain points. For one, people screw up their screens all the time. A crack running across the display or a few well-placed scratches could mean what the sensor sees no longer matches up with the stored image of your fingerprint. Then again, it seems likely that you could login another way and re-register your finger to make that stored print the new normal. (A Synaptics rep stopped short of confirming this outright.)

More importantly, the sensor might not recognize your fingerprint if it’s distorted — say, if you’re pressing your finger onto the screen harder than you were when you registered it. Needless to say, this is going to take a lot of getting used to — hopefully, it won’t be too long before we get to try a sensor like this in a more polished phone.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

The ASUS ‘Bezel-free kit’ is a messy multi-monitor solution

A quick trip to Asus’ off-site location at CES 2018 revealed routers, gaming PCs, the NVIDIA Big Format Gaming Display and its new bezel-hiding kit. That last one helps gamers (or productivity hounds seeking an edge) to link monitors together, while also using optics to hide the seam where each bezel meets. There are no filters, software or effects at play here — it’s simply an optical device that refracts light around the monitors’ plastic edges.

So how well does it work in practice? That depends on your expectations. It’s in no way a competitor for the seamless bliss of extreme widescreen curved monitors that can truly envelop gamers in another world. But, it does hide the seam and, with time, could eventually fade into the background of many games. The blurry lines where the monitors meet aren’t that much worse than a car’s A-pillar, however, at first, they stick out considerably.

We’d need an extended play session to figure out if they remain noticeable (and perhaps some tweaking to make sure each monitor is calibrated evenly.) There’s no word on how much the Bezel-free kit will cost, but it’s expected to go on sale later this year.

ASUS:

Bezel-free Kit is an accessory that enables gamers with multiple-monitor setups to visually eliminate the gaps where their displays connect, creating the appearance of one extra-large, wraparound monitor for a totally immersive gaming experience. Bezel-free Kit consists of vertical lenses and easy-to-attach mounts that connect the edge of each monitor at a 130-degree angle — the angle determined through extensive testing to provide the best viewing experience. An optical device that requires no software or power to operate, Bezel-free Kit uses light refraction to make the monitor edges disappear to the viewer. It provides an innovative, simple and effective method of increasing field of view and dramatically enhancing gameplay.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Deepframe brings augmented reality to a huge screen

It’s easy to feel a bit disillusioned with all of the hype around augmented reality. We’ve seen basic examples of AR take off, with apps like Pokemon Go, but that’s not exactly immersive. AR glasses, meanwhile, are still finding their legs. But Realfiction believes there’s another approach: Its large 64-inch screen called Deepframe. It basically takes the AR experience we’ve seen from things like Meta’s glasses, and transforms it into something that a whole crowd of people can see. While it’s not something you’d ever get at home, it could change the way we interact with stores and museums.

Like other AR solutions, Deepframe relies on optics for its magic. It actually reflects the output from a display in front of it — in my demo, it was from a 65-inch 4K OLED. The Deepframe itself doesn’t have any electronics. With this setup, you’ll be able to scale the resolution of what the screen shows just by upgrading your source display (for example, an 8K TV would be even sharper). In addition to the standalone Deepframe, potential customers can also embed it into an existing window or structure.

So what can you do with a screen like this? Since its main focus is on AR, it’s entirely meant to bring digital objects into the real world. I saw a CG velociraptor hopping around the screen, and I was surprised by how sharp it appeared on the screen. It wasn’t exactly life-like, but it looked like it was almost in the room with me. I also briefly chatted with Realfiction CEO Clas Dyrholm through the display (he was in a separate room), which felt like chatting with a Star Wars hologram. At one point, he made the dinosaur instantly appear alongside him, something that looked like it would take hours of rendering just a few years ago.

Devindra Hardawar/AOL

Realfiction has been delivering limited holographs to stores for years, but Dyrholm sees Deepframe as a huge step beyond that. It’s something museum guides could use to interact with digital objects and characters, giving attendees a size comparison between them and a giraffe, for example. In stores, customers could use the display to interact with expensive or hard to find items. As one example, Realfiction created a demo for a car company that doesn’t have showfloor space for actual cars. Instead, customers can use Deepframe to take a look at new vehicles, and even customize them in AR with a mobile app.

I also briefly went behind the scenes to turn myself into a Deepframe hologram. For the most part, I was surprised by how simple the company’s setup was. In the room next to the display, there was a Canon DSLR capturing video and pushingit through a gaming laptop, which then processed it into AR imagery. A small webcam in front of the Deepframe itself let me see who was watching the screen, and I was able to chat with them through a microphone. A small remote let me turn my holographic AR stream on and off, and also make the velociraptor appear beside it.

Experiencing Deepframe was enough to make me think it has potential. It gets rid of the cumbersome equipment requirement for AR, and instead gives us a simple window into the digital world. While the company isn’t talking about exact pricing yet, Clas says customers should be able to get Deepframe up and running for about $50,000 to $60,000. Obviously, that’s far out of reach for most potential buyers today, but there are certainly deep-pocketed early adopters who might take the leap.

US Senator questions Apple about slowing older iPhones

Senator John Thune, chair of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, has sent Apple CEO Tim Cook a letter with questions about the company’s decision to slow older models of iPhones, Reuters reports. In December, Apple admitted to slowing older iPhones in order to prevent spontaneous shutdowns and later reduced its battery replacement price to $29 as way of apology for its lack of transparency.

According to Reuters, Thune’s letter asked if the company had considered the possibility of free battery replacements or rebates for those who had replaced them prior to when the reduced cost was put into place. He also asked if Apple had notified customers of the slowdowns and if there had been similar strategies used with older iPhones.

Apple has faced quite a bit of backlash over the slowdowns. French officials opened an investigation into the practice this week and dozens of class-action complaints have been filed against the company in the US. In his letter, Thune said, “Even if Apple’s actions were indeed only intended to avoid unexpected shutdowns on older phones, the large volume of consumer criticism leveled against the company in light of its admission suggests that there should have been better transparency with respect to these practices.”

The senator wants a response from Apple by January 23rd.

Via: TechCrunch

Amazon opens up virtual Dash Buttons to third-party developers

If you’re a regular Amazon shopper, you’re probably aware of the virtual Dash buttons on the site’s homepage. The site will auto-generate buttons that allow you to re-buy your most recently purchased items with one click. You can also create your own Dash buttons. Today, Amazon announced the Virtual Dash Button Service (VDBS), a developer kit that will allow third parties to create Dash buttons and display them inside their own devices with screens.

Amazon also announced that new companies have joined Dash Replenishment. The program measures the supply and use of consumables; when you’re running out, it will automatically reorder more of whatever it is you’re using. HP is now developing printers that automatically reorder ink, while 3M is working on air filters that can order their own replacements. Kenmore’s new line of appliances will automatically reorder supplies, such as air filters and laundry detergent, while illy’s new coffee maker (that is now available for purchase) will reorder capsules.

It might be a little weird, having an appliance or gadget that automatically re-orders its own supplies, but it’s hard to deny the convenience. If you’re a Prime member and have already signed over your life to Amazon, then this is just the next step in what you need arriving at your door when you need it.

Source: Amazon