Samsung’s Golden Galaxy S4 Posted: 25 Sep 2013 01:39 PM PDT Samsung clearly don’t want to be left behind in the gold rush. Following the release of Apple’s gold iPhone, Samsung has announced it will be launching its very own golden phone.  The new Gold Edition Galaxy S4 will be available in two options, a Gold Pink model or a Gold Brown. The technology company has been showing off the new handsets on its United Arab Emirates social media outlets. It is unlikely that these luxurious handsets will reach global distribution but instead look to be targeted at a well-off demographic, similar to the one that the Nokia Oro was aimed at. But at least Samsung can say it too has a golden flagship product. |
NASA Declares Deep Impact Mission Lost Posted: 25 Sep 2013 09:09 AM PDT On Friday 20, 2013 NASA officially declared the comet hunting Deep Impact mission lost. Although the loss was unexpected, the mission team were more than happy with the $267 million unmanned spacecraft's performance. In the little under 9 years from launch, the spacecraft had managed to travel 4.7 billion miles throughout space sending back a plethora of information that as previously unknown about comets.  Communication Lost The last contact was made on the 8th August but since then there has been nothing from the spacecraft. Nobody on the Deep Impact mission team is entirely sure about the specifics which caused communication to fail between control and the spacecraft but it's thought that the most likely reason is a problem with time tagging. A problem with fault protection software reading dates after a certain day could have caused the computers to constantly reboot resulting in the spacecraft losing its place so that radio signals were interrupted and the solar panels pointing the wrong way. The electronics would have become frozen without and the craft would have been inoperable. A good Life Although the team were looking forward to receiving valuable data from Deep Impact for years to come, they're extremely happy with its performance. The space craft lasted up to 3 or 4 times longer than anyone anticipated. The launch of the comet seeking spacecraft came about in 2005. Its first mission was to intercept comet Temple1 with an impact, blasting material from the comet that could be studied. The mission was a complete success and from there on out, the comet hunter was able to provide much more information through various missions. On its travels, Deep Impact has:
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Welcome Back To Life, Simplenote! Posted: 25 Sep 2013 08:03 AM PDT Simplenote has been dubbed as the “first great notes app“, and in spite of a rocky recent history, it seems that its fans have not lost enthusiasm for the app. The notes app scene has not been idle, with many apps coming into the picture, but with Simplenote’s comeback, the classic app might just be the talk of the town again.  If you think about it, Simplenote may not be up to par with all the other notes app out there, especially with developers making sure their new apps can do practically everything. On the other hand, Simplenote does what it says on the tin: keep notes on a day-to-day basis. Simple. Plus syncing with the cloud. Now, thanks to Automattic, Simplenote has been given a new lease on life. The app is now available on iOS, Android, and Mac. The main thing going for the app is that it was built to go fast, and again, stay simple. Users who lean toward all sorts of functionalities for their notes apps might have a beef with, for example, the fact that you can’t refresh or save your notes. They are, however, automatically synced as you go, so there is no need to worry about losing your notes. Simplenote also allows collaborative editing, in the principle of Google Docs. With this new launch, Simplenote is being offered for FREE. Premium features are going to be turned off – at least until the development team finds a “significant value” they can provide. If you’re thinking why should you give up existing apps such as Evernote (which I liken to a notes app on steroids), here’s something from Matt Mullenweg that you can chew on: “You don't open a letter with a chainsaw.” That may be bordering on exaggeration, but if all you really want is a notes app that works – fast and efficiently without all the bling – then Simplenote is what you need. |
James The Robot Bartender Knows When You Want A Drink Posted: 25 Sep 2013 06:24 AM PDT James the robot bartender will chat, serve and recognize when you want drinks thanks to the partnership of a team of professors from Germany, Scotland and Greece. The birth of robot bar tenders isn't particularly newsworthy as there have been other attempts before James. However James, the Joint Action in Multimodal Embodied Systems robot is different to its predecessors due to his social skills.  People are Messy While it's been proven that robots are more than adept at mixing a whole host of drinks, the reality of them functioning as well as a human bar tender in a real life situation has always been unlikely. As a rule, robots like clean orderly situations. The chaotic atmosphere of the average pub serves to confuse robots. Robot bartenders in the past have only been able to mix drinks for patrons that have expressly ordered the drinks via a smart device. In reality though, patrons don't like to use devices to order drinks, they prefer to use the traditional signals to indicate that they want a drink. Determining an Order During the project, the European team decided that in order to be able to teach James the social skills necessary for a bar tender, they would have to research people's behaviors when ordering drinks in pubs. Cameras were placed in a number of pubs throughout England and Germany. When the footage was watched, the team discovered that 90% of people who wanted a drink would simply move closer to the bar where they could stare directly at the bar tender who picked up on the signal and took the order. For robots, the subtlety between somebody leaning against the bar and somebody staring over the bar at the bar tender is difficult for them to process. The team had to enable James the robot bar tender to process the information that people were presenting through body language and react in the appropriate way in a split second. A new Bartender is Born The results, published in Frontiers of Psychology show that progress is definitely being made. The project runs until January and the team hopes to bring robotics forward to the point that robot-human interaction is far more natural. |
The Dish On YouTube’s Offline Videos Posted: 25 Sep 2013 05:00 AM PDT There is no arguing that YouTube is the site to go to for video content. Whether it’s music, how-tos, or simply stupid, fun videos, YouTube has got something for everyone. And while there are some people who would not touch the site with a 12-foot pole, YouTube’s stats show that they have the upper hand. Did you know that more than 1 billion users – unique! – visit YouTube each month? Even more mind blowing is the fact that more than 6 billion hours of video are watched each month. That equates to almost an hour for every single person on Earth! And according to Nielsen, YouTube bests any cable network in the US, reaching more US adults in the age range 18-34. (Source) So what’s up with YouTube? There’s the saying that you should not fix it if it ain’t broke. Why are they making some considerable changes? Well, it’s not exactly NOT broke. Or, at the very least, there are certain things that needed improvement, and that’s what the YouTube team has done with recent updates. I don’t know about you, but where I come from, mobile Internet still has a lot of room for improvement. While things have really looked up in recent years, there are still times when I want to curse my telco for being so dumb. And that’s where the ability to watch YouTube videos even without a net connection comes in very handy. In a blog entry last week, YouTube announced that they are going to soon launch a feature that will allow viewers to watch offline videos. There are some important details to know about this upcoming feature:
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Space Mission To Jupiter’s Moon, Europa Posted: 25 Sep 2013 02:31 AM PDT Just lately there has been alot of talk about missions to Mars and further exploring what can be found on the planet. But a group who call themselves Objective Europa want to go where no one else has thought of going, Jupiter’s moon. The group are looking into the feasibility of sending a one-way crew to this icy moon, which is called Europa, in order to search for knowledge and extraterrestial life.  Objective Europa currently is only an online group and are not attached with any legal organisation. The group has stated its aim by saying, “Our purpose is to establish the foundation for and carry out a crewed mission to Jovian ice moon Europa through international crowd-research and participation.” The team is made up of some interesting names and give the possible mission some credibility. There is Kristian von Bengtson, co-founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals, a non-profit organisation that aims to launch humans into space. He is a Danish architect but specialises in manned spaceflight. Another team member is Michele Faragalli, who is a rover mobility specialist for the NASA contractor Neptec Design Group. Jacques Cousteau’s son, scientist and diver Pierre-Yves Cousteau, is an ambassador for the group as well as being a team member. At the moment this mission is nothing more than a concept but the group have opened up various research topic for discussion. They will need to gather information and find out whether it is feasible to send a manned mission to Europa, as well as do cost analysis. So the race is on, will humans land on Mars or Europa first? |
View And Purchase World Renowned Art With The Artsy App Posted: 25 Sep 2013 12:56 AM PDT The digital collectors of art, Artsy.net recently announced the release of their own app for iPhones and touch iPod. The company has been working relentlessly to bring the art world into the online space by connecting with galleries, museums and art fairs around the world to display images of the works on the start up's website. So far, the 150,000 registered users of the site are able to browse and purchase over 60,000 pieces of art from some of the leading galleries around the world. The Artsy App is a further step in Artsy's mission to make art accessible to all.  Art in Your Pocket Carter Clevelend, the founder and CEO of Artsy, spoke about the online art network telling LA Times'Culture Monster that "This is the first time such a large selection of artworks from world-renowned institutions has been made available to the public all in one place." The app for iOS7 will serve to increase the visibility of works from various artists, allowing the user to carry thousands of images of famous works of art in their pocket. The price of work ranges from hundreds to millions with artists such as Monet and Jeff Koons Free and Simple The app itself is similar to the site. Users can browse the collections of art and if they see something they like they can view a 2D high-resolution image to scale in a virtual art gallery setting. If the user wishes to buy the work, they can do that with a single tap of the finger. Any works below $10,000 can be bought directly through the Artsy app but dearer pieces will prompt the app to connect the user with the gallery to complete the transaction. For those who never want to miss the birth of a new masterpiece, the app will keep them updated of the upcoming fairs and exhibitions from around the world. The app is updated daily to keep its users abreast of all the exciting action. Educating the Masses The app allows people who wouldn't necessarily go to an art gallery browse works online and even ask experts for advice before purchasing any pieces. Artsy intends to break down some of the barriers between the art world and the general public. The big vision is to make art accessible and as popular as music is. |
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