Dozens of Former Apple Employees Team Up to Launch ‘RearVision’ Vehicle Camera
A group of three former Apple engineers, along with around 50 various designers and workers also formerly employed by Apple, have created a new startup in the vehicle accessory market, called Pearl, and today announced pre-orders on their product “RearVision.” The $500 device is an attachable license plate accessory that connects via Bluetooth to an iOS or Android smartphone, displaying a 180-degree rear-view field of vision when backing up your car (via The Verge).
The RearVision unit comes with a dongle that connects with a vehicle’s on-board diagnostic port to help communicate and determine the car’s speed, and battery power isn’t a concern since the device charges using an integrated solar panel. Bryan Gardner, one of the co-founders of the company, said that one full day of sun equates to an entire week of charge for the device, and the RearVision can store one month of battery in its reserves.
Otherwise, the device functions like many integrated rear-view cameras: when backing up, the device’s dual-camera system automatically sends video to the connected smartphone in optional portrait view (with two levels of zoom) or landscape view. Two alternate alerts emit from the smartphone when the RearVision camera wants the user to slow down for a passerby or another car, and a more insistent sound when a collision might be imminent and the driver should stop the car completely.
Once the car is in forward motion above 10 mph, RearVision shuts off the rear-view camera and moves into a “Home Screen” section of the app. Here, users can choose their favorite and most used driving apps — Google Maps, Apple Maps, Spotify, Apple Music, etc — and place them in the Home Screen of RearVision’s app, which is generally a launching shortcut to quickly access the designated apps while on the move.
Gardner hopes that the company’s angle to support an install base of users (who have older cars without pre-installed rear-view cameras) will help promote safety in the automotive industry. The National Highway Safety Administration recently put into motion a ruling that will make all new cars launching in 2018 and beyond come with such technology ready for the user, but that still leaves a large swath of used and pre-owned vehicles without the ease-of-mind rear-view cameras can provide.
While the government can insist new cars get safer, they can’t do anything about older vehicles. That is both a crisis and an opportunity. “There’s about 7 percent of new car inventory that comes in the market every year. That leaves more than 90 percent of the cars are not new every year,” says Bryson Gardner, Pearl’s co-founder and CEO.
“We saw the entire industry focused on new cars. So we figured let’s focus on the existing install base. ” Gardner confirmed that the company already has other products in mind, but was coy about exactly what would come next. “If you were to go buy a Mercedes and there’s a driver awareness package, all of the things in there is the most important to get into the car in the short term.”
Those interested can pre-order the RearVision today for $499.99, with Pearl promising its knowledge of the Apple supply chain will help greatly in eliminating “any of the manufacturing pitfalls that have become common among small hardware startups.” The company also says that set-up is simple and doesn’t require anything besides a screwdriver and your smartphone. As of writing, the predicted shipping date for Pearl’s RearVision camera is sometime in September.
Tags: Pearl, RearVision
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Massive iPhone 7 leaks reveal OLED screen, dual camera, 256GB, Lightning adapter and more
The good ship Apple appears to have an iPhone 7 shaped hole in its hull as the smartphone is leaking all over the net. Lots of rumoured specs have suddenly emerged from a number of different sources.
First up, the widely rumoured OLED screen has made another appearance. According to Asian website Nikkei, Samsung is spending $6.8 billion on OLED production this year to supply Apple, thought to be for the iPhone 7. The orders appear to be for 5.5-inch OLED display panels.
Next, the Lightning port has long thought to become the sole connection on the device, with Apple rumoured to ditch the 3.5mm headphone slot. Japanese site Otakara continues along those lines.
It reports that Apple will ship its EarPod headphones with Lightning connections only, as part of the iPhone 7 package. But Apple is also rumoured to be throwing in a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter that will allow current headphones to work on the new phone. The rumours go on to say the 3.5mm jack space left on the phone will be filled with an additional speaker.
Finally, leaked images from Rock Fix, a Chinese repairs shop, have appeared via Weibo and show what’s claimed to be the iPhone 7 dual camera unit. It also features 256GB storage from SanDisk and a dual-SIM unit, apparently.
Pretty much everything leaked afresh from these sources has already been rumoured before. This suggests that the Apple rumour mill could be getting it spot on this year, taking a lot of the surprise out of Apple’s expected iPhone 7 unveiling event in September.
READ: Apple iPhone 7: What’s the story so far?
Best PS4 games at E3 2016: God of War, Days Gone, Spider-Man, Horizon: Zero Dawn and more
With the E3 gaming expo 2016 done and dusted, the front runners in the gaming world unveiled their biggest and best titles. None more so than Sony, its PlayStation 4 looks set to go from strength to strength in 2016 and beyond.
With some top-drawer exclusive titles unveiled, some favourites from previous years finally slated with a released date, and PS VR – the company’s £349 virtual reality hardware – also set for a 13 October release date, there’s plenty to look forward to.
Some were surprises, such as the revamped, refreshed God of War — a PS4 exclusive title that reimagines the smash-em-up franchise with a new story and greater heart.
Sony also snagged Hideo Kojima, of Metal Gear Solid fame, to bring his next title, Death Stranding, to PS4 and bypass Xbox One in the process.
READ: E3 2016: All the launches, games and consoles at the show
However, there was no new PS4 console hardware to show off at the show, unlike Microsoft, which unveiled its Xbox One S and forthcoming “most powerful console in the world” Project Scorpio. We know there’s a PlayStation “4K” in the works, codenamed Neo, but that’s as much as the company has said about it thus far.
Even so, with a bevy of first- and third-party titles on the horizon, the future looks like a serious one for gamers, whatever genre you favour. Here’s our rundown of the best PS4 games from E3 2016.
Fitbit introduces a new tool to help you get a good night’s sleep
If you purchased a Fitbit with the hopes of improving your workout plan but ended up using it to track your sleep, you might want to check out the latest addition to the official Fitbit app. The new Sleep Schedule feature is meant to help guide you to and maintain a better, more consistent sleeping pattern.
If you’ve got the official Fitbit app you can use it to set special goals based on the data your device has already gleaned from previous nights, customize special bedtime and wakeup targets for consistency and set up reminders to make sure you stay on track.
These are only the beginning when it comes to special tools Fitbit is planning on adding to its app as a collaboration with doctors at the University of Arizona, Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University. A panel of sleep experts at the various institutions worked to put together the new suite of features so you can sleep a little more soundly with the Fitbit of your choice.
If you’d like to see if you can whip your off-kilter sleeping habits into shape, you can check out the official Fitbit app here.
UE adds Google and Siri voice integration to its Boom speakers
Today, Ultimate Ears is pushing out a software enhancement that’s available for both the UE Boom 2 and Megaboom Bluetooth speakers. With an app refresh and OTA update, users will now be able to access Google Now or Siri by pushing a button on the speakers themselves, as long as they’re connected through the UE app on the host device. Since the Boom 2 and Megaboom are both IPX7 water resistant, this could be perfect for beach or pool time, letting you keep your phone or tablet out of harm’s way. Friends can also use this to find a song they want without hassling you for your phone or lock screen code.
This new feature also puts the speakers in competition with devices like the Amazon Tap, which also requires a button push to access Alexa, its on-board smart assistant. I had few hours for a quick preview of the update using both of the compatible UE speakers and an Android device, and while the service works, there’s certainly room for improvement.
For this test, I was using a Nexus 5X running Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 and the first step is making sure the speaker is connected through the respective UE Boom or Megaboom apps. These speakers are Bluetooth LE, so the phone should detect the speaker and allow you to remotely power up if needed. This doesn’t always work the first time out even if the speaker is already connected to the phone, so if you run into trouble, I’d recommend turning Bluetooth off and on again, which usually gets things sorted.
There aren’t currently any indications of this new feature in the UE app’s “how to” section or settings, but the next step should confirm that things are working properly. Just do a quick press of the small Bluetooth button on the top of the speaker and wait to hear the audible prompt, which is the same as when you say “OK Google” or press the microphone icon for voice control on your phone. Both the Bluetooth button and the power button will flash during this interaction. If you’re playing music while dropping into voice control functionality, it will pause and listen for your inquiry. You can ask to play a specific song or inquire if there are any restaurants nearby and the system will respond confirming the song play request or, in the second instance, provide details and offer a few next steps, listening for additional responses.
The UE Boom 2 was the first device I tried this new functionality with, and the experience wasn’t ideal. There’s a significant delay before the audible prompt plays, and when it did, the volume seemed very low — the music was at medium, but this tone was a whisper. When it did work, the beginning portions of responses were occiasionally clipped and seemed to pop-up into the proper volume after a hesitation. It’s hard to tell if any of this had to do with my phone’s processing power, but that said, when I switched over to the Megaboom, things went a good deal better. The speaker generally understood my speech without error (searching for Steel Pulse no longer resulted in Seal) and the volume levels of both the tone to begin speaking and its responses were more audible. I did still hear some clipped responses, though.
Using Google Now through the speaker did seem a bit different than direct interaction on a phone or tablet, but the experience will shift somewhat depending on the device, OS and apps, since UE isn’t crafting the experience itself. When asking about nearby restaurants, Google would list some options, offer me the best choice and tell me I could say: directions, call, details or next. Invariably, saying “directions” would loop back into “where do you want to go.” Saying “next” would resume playing music where I last left off, and so far, this is the only way music has resumed playing if I dropped into the voice assistant mode. I had hoped that if I used the voice assistant feature while playing tunes, it would resume the session once my interaction had been completed. So far, that’s not been the case.
All-in-all, this seems like a decent new — and free — addition to two already stellar Bluetooth speakers, at least when it works well. Like many new features, it could take a bit of familiarity with the quirks to navigate more successfully through the system. Of course, you don’t have to use the updated functionality, but when you’re lazing about in a pool and the craving for pizza strikes while your phone is 40 feet away, it may seem like the best thing ever.
Android Pay Day offers UK discounts for mobile payments
Now that Android Pay is available in the UK, Google wants to make sure people are actually using it. The company has come up with a promotion called Android Pay Day, which offers discounts every month on the Tuesday before your next pay slip. The scheme kicks off today with two deals; firstly, in Starbucks, you can get two-for-one on Frappucinos; the second is a £5 voucher (ANDROIDPAY5 for new users, ANDROIDPAY2.5 for existing customers) that you can redeem inside the Deliveroo app, provided you select Android Pay as your payment method at checkout.
These discounts are designed, no doubt, to educate people about the different ways they can spend with Android Pay. Most Brits will know they can use their phone to pay at physical stores — they’ll have seen iPhone users doing the same with Apple Pay. But it’s possible, or rather likely, that users are less familiar with Android Pay’s second role as a digital wallet. Android Pay Day could, therefore, be an important tool for raising awareness among the Android-wielding public. Success will ultimately hinge, however, on Google promoting the monthly rewards effectively — if no-one knows they exist, they won’t have an impact on adoption.
A good start would be a promotions page like the one it’s set up for US customers.
Source: Android Pay Day
Ultrasound implant can help chemo drugs reach brain tumors
One of the biggest problems with brain cancer treatment is that only a limited amount of chemotherapy drugs make it through. See, our brain’s blood vessels are tightly lined with cells to keep out toxins and pathogens. The bad news is that it also hinders medicine from reaching tumors. A team of French scientists have recently tested a promising answer to that issue: an ultrasound implant that they designed to temporarily make this “blood-brain barrier” permeable. They ran a pilot with 15 patients suffering from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, and results showed that their technique successfully allowed more medicine to pass through.
Doctors can implant the small (11.5mm-diameter) device, officially named SonoCloud, when they remove parts of a tumor or take tissue samples for biopsy. When it’s time to administer chemo, they’ll inject microscopic bubbles into the patient’s bloodstream, which pass through those tightly guarded blood vessels. They’ll then activate the device to beam ultrasound into the brain for two minutes to excite the microbubbles. The vibrating bubbles open the barrier to chemotherapy drugs for up for six hours, letting in five to seven times the amount of medicine that typically make it to tumors in the brain.
Despite demonstrating that the technique works, the team still has to conduct a bigger clinical trial. Dr. Ekokobe Fonkem, a neuro-oncologist from Texas, told HealthDay News that the researchers still have to prove that it doesn’t cause side effects. “They have to make sure there is no room for bacteria to get into the brain and cause meningitis, which can be fatal.” And that’s exactly what the team wants to do. The team plans to raise money to conduct a bigger clinical trial in 2017, involving 200 patients from Europe and the US. If everything goes well, the team said SonoCloud could be commercially available as soon as 2020.
Via: Scientific American
Source: Science Translational Medicine, US National Library of Medicine
Fully-autonomous drone launcher never needs a pilot
Having UAVs conduct routine aerial surveillance is already having a transformative effect on farming and and energy production but they can only operate when there’s a human at the controls. That’s about to change thanks to an autonomous drone system that not only flies but also maintains itself. Tel Aviv-based UAV Airobotics has debuted a completely automated patrol drone system of the same name that is capable of operating with virtually no human intervention.
The system is composed of three parts: the drone itself, the “Airbase” robotic base station and the command software. It uses an “Optimus” UAV that can carry a 1-kilogram payload for up to 30 minutes. When the UAV finishes its patrol, it will land atop the base station whereupon a robotic arm will automatically swap out its battery and payload. All of this is controlled by the integrated software which enables users to pre-program flight paths as well as view real-time video and data feeds. The Airobotic system will likely find use in the mining and oil and gas industries as an aerial mapping platform, though it could easily be applied to any repetitive delivery or flyover task.
Source: Airobotics
Ultimate Ears’ UE Boom 2 and UE Megaboom Updated With Siri and Google Now Integration
Ultimate Ears today announced a firmware update that brings Siri and Google Now integration to its UE Boom 2 and UE Megaboom speakers, making it easier for iPhone and Android users to play and control music on the devices without needing to access their phones.
With Siri integration, pushing the Bluetooth button on the UE Boom 2 or the UE Megaboom activates Apple’s virtual assistant, allowing users to do things like request specific songs through Apple Music, place phone calls, and more. Google Now integration offers similar capabilities on Android devices.
“Music lovers can now truly stay in the moment, playing their favorite song from the middle of the pool or even while diving off a cliff with their UE speaker in hand,” said Charlotte Johs, general manager of Ultimate Ears. “No matter how wet, muddy or wild the situation, with Siri and Google Now voice integration on UE BOOM 2 and UE MEGABOOM, fans no longer need to pick up their phone to play DJ. Now, they can just say it to play it.”
Ultimate Ears is known for creating waterproof, shockproof speakers that are able to hold up to the elements for listening to music at home and on the go, and Siri integration should be a welcome addition for iPhone users who often use their UE speakers in wet or dirty conditions.
The firmware update can be installed through an update to the UE Boom and UE Megaboom apps, which is available today.
The UE Boom 2 and the UE Megaboom can be purchased from the Ultimate Ears website for $200 and $300, respectively. Both the UE Boom 2 and the UE Megaboom are also available from Amazon.com at slightly lower prices.
Tag: Ultimate Ears
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Microsoft Launches ‘Flow’ Workflow Service Management App for iOS
Microsoft yesterday launched a management app for its online workflow service and IFTTT competitor, called Flow.
For those unfamiliar with the idea, services like IFTTT let you connect different digital platforms and automate actions between them, like having all Gmail attachments save to a Dropbox account, or making every new entry added to a contact list sync to a Google spreadsheet.
Flow first debuted in April as a web service for creating workflows for two or more cloud services, simplifying things like file synchronization and data organization. But Flow also supports a number of other triggers, like receiving a text message when a particular person emails you, or automatically following a Twitter account that mentions your business in a tweet and adding it to a database.
With the launch of the iOS app, Flow now supports workflow options for more services, but keeps the focus on integrations with Microsoft’s own business tools, such as Office 365, Dynamics CRM, PowerApps, and Yammer. Automation for business-related services like MailChip, GitHub, Salesforce, and Slack are also supported.
The iOS app lets users manage existing ‘flows’ created from the web service, allowing users to disable them, view their properties, and generate error checking reports to ensure they’re working properly. There’s also a searchable activity feed in the app that shows all recent Flow actions, which can be tapped to get more details on.
The app also supports push notifications for trigger issues, and Microsoft promises it will soon include the ability to create new workflows without having to sign into the web-based service.
Microsoft Flow is a free download for iPhone and iPad on the App Store. [Direct Link]
Tag: Microsoft
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