The Technology Thread

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A New Kind of MP4 File Lets Anybody Mix Parts Like a DJ

Even if making digital music has never been easier for beginners, a lot of the work DJs and producers do remains relatively opaque to less experienced people. A new music format could help change this.

Popular music production hardware/software company Native Instruments has created a new music format called a "Stem file" that will mike like multi-track mixing easier than ever. The new file comes with four stems in it. NI for example, suggests you could have stems for each a drum line, bass line, harmony, and lead in one file. From there if you've got a compatible piece of hardware or software you could sit the individual levels for those stems.

The most obvious use-case is the live rig for a DJ. Imagine being able to grab a drum line from a producer's track and pull it out of the mix entirely for dramatic effect. There are a lot of possibilities, though. The amateur at home might enjoy coming up with their own mixes for stuff.

The Stem file format is built inside an MP4 container. You make the special format using NI's Stem File Creator Tool. Still because the output is still an MP4, the product isn't a cumbersome proprietary format. The music will play in iTunes and on your phone natively. Of course, you'll need-Stem file compatible software to actually mix with the files.

Of course, this isn't the only multi-track compatible file format out there. The idea here is to create something flexible that is simple enough to market to a large audience, whole also not revealing too much of a producer's secret sauce.

The Stem file is an open format mean anyone will be free to produce their songs with it and build it into their hardware or software products. Of course, the success of Stems relies on large-scale adoption. And as with any open format, it'll be worth watching what kind of applications and uses people come up with outside the obvious uses for the format. We'll find out what the music creatives of the world can do when the Stem files launches in June.

http://gizmodo.com/a-new-kind-of-mp4-file-lets-anybody-mix-parts-just-like-1694525103

It's cool in theory but there is so much loss with an MP4 no DJ/producer in their right mind would ever play it live. Maybe to use the accapella but that's probably about it. We in the music community usually just send stems back and forth anyway so creating a new version of file for it and being in sub-par quality isn't all that exciting really. Talk to me when you figure out how to do this with WAV files, then I'll be excited

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A Light Bulb Made Using Graphene Will Go on Sale Later This Year

A new light bulb that's made using graphene will go on sale later this year, according to its developers—and it's said to be the first commercially viable consumer product to use the supermaterial.

The new bulb—developed by researchers at Manchester University where the material was discovered—uses a filament-shaped LED which is coated in graphene. The bulb, which is dimmable, is said to provide a brighter light than conventional LEDs, use up to 10 percent less energy and last longer, too. The Financial Times reports that the bulb could cost less than $20 when it goes on sale.

The bulb has been developed by a company called Graphene Lighting—of which Prof Colin Bailey, deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Manchester, is a director. "People are amazed at just how quickly we have managed to take it to market," Bailey told the Financial Times. "Sometimes it takes 20 years to get a new discovery out there."

The UK's National Graphene Institute, situated at Manchester University and where Bailey is now based, was opened earlier this month. In a press release, Bailey explained:

This lightbulb shows that graphene products are becoming a reality, just a little more than a decade after it was first isolated – a very short time in scientific terms. This is just the start. Our partners are looking at a range of exciting applications, all of which started right here in Manchester.​

It's still difficult to make graphene in large quantities, which make items that use it in bulk incredibly expensive. This new lightbulb uses a small quantity, making it economical to produce. Exact technical details about the bulb remain under wraps, but the team behind it suggest that it will be one sale by the end of the year.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3bcfbbee-d3...ill-go-on-sale-later-1694473498#axzz3VrIfhXxo

That's great news

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Microsoft's New Spartan Browser Is Taking Its First Step Into the Wild

As Windows 10 inches ever closer to its summer release, Microsoft's been adding new features piecemeal to the preview version of its next-generation operating system, and this may be the biggest update yet. Microsoft's brand-new browser, Spartan, is about to get its first taste of open internet.

We got a brief tour of Spartan at Microsoft's press conference in January, showing off features like live annotation, a mode built specifically for reading, and of course, Cortana integration. And now an early version is packed into the newest Windows 10 preview build. As is true with all preview builds, Microsoft warns in a blog post that this is not the final version, meaning expect some bugginess and a little rough-around-the-edges design.

[YT]4A5ZXWTIlHw[/YT]

Spartan is part of build 10049 and if you're a nerd you can install the new version and check it out for yourself. If you're a saner person, just sit tight and we'll put it through its paces ourselves very shortly. But even sight unseen, it has to be better than Internet Explorer.

http://gizmodo.com/microsofts-new-spartan-browser-is-taking-its-first-step-1694634892

They are going to have to do a lot to win me over from Chrome

 

[Teelie]

Guy invents an 8-Bit instant camera gun that prints images on receipts

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/guy-inven...hat-prints-ima-1693809340/+kcampbelldollaghan

More pics and a vid of it in action at the link

Awesome. A gun that shoots photos. I can just imagine the kinds of problems it can cause though. A kid at school would be expelled for possessing a "fire-arm" and cops would shoot him because he has a gun AND is taking photos of them shooting him with his camera-gun.

 

[Teelie]

Use Skype and a Webcam To Keep an Eye on Your Home from Anywhere

http://fieldguide.gizmodo.com/use-s...your-home-from-1693771841/+kcampbelldollaghan

The only downside is someone figuring out how to get in there and spying on you

Exactly what my fear would be and what I would say. I do not trust the internet with anything let alone with the view inside my house so someone can hack into the camera and spy on me or watch for me to leave so they can rob the place.

Skype was/is already known to have flaws in their security so I would trust them even less with the ability to peer into my home.

 

[Steelsheen]

Microsoft's New Spartan Browser Is Taking Its First Step Into the Wild

http://gizmodo.com/microsofts-new-spartan-browser-is-taking-its-first-step-1694634892

They are going to have to do a lot to win me over from Chrome

i hope Spartan isnt just IE renamed lol!

agreed with Chrome, although Chrome is getting pretty bloated too.

 

[Teelie]

i hope Spartan isnt just IE renamed lol!

agreed with Chrome, although Chrome is getting pretty bloated too.

From the tech news reports I have read this is a whole new browser that originally had IE incorporated into it before they ditched that idea.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Dyson Put a Filter In Its Bladeless Fan To Cool and Clean a Room

Following up on its first humidifier that used a UV light to kill germs in its water reservoir, Dyson has just announced an updated version of its Cool fan that now includes a built-in 360-degree glass filter to remove 99.95 percent of airborne invaders in a room. And not just any filter, but a high-efficiency particulate arrestance—or HEPA—filter as regulated by the U.S. government making it as effective as you can get in a consumer-grade appliance.

Since a fan is often pointed directly at people, the inclusion of a HEPA filter on the new Dyson Pure Cool means that any germs or allergens floating around won't be directed right towards them. And the use of a 360-degree filter means that all of the air being sucked into the Pure Cool's base passes through it and is scrubbed of all particles as small as 0.1 microns.

To torture test its new creation Dyson's engineers blasted smoke from 228 cigarettes through the filter without seeing any drop in airflow or performance. And hopefully it works just as well with pipe smoke, because everyone just looks cooler with a pipe in their mouth, right?

When available next month the Dyson Pure Cool will only be sold in China and Japan initially, although sadly there's no specific date for when you'll be able to buy it in North America or other parts of the world. But if you remember what the smoggy skies looked like during the Beijing Olympics, you'll be more understanding of why those living in China can probably benefit from getting their hands on these first.

http://www.dyson.com/fans-and-heaters/cooling-fans.aspx

They are always upping their game

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Now You Can Buy a Chromebook For Just $150 (And They're Getting Better)

Five years ago, Google CEO Eric Schmidt proclaimed that laptops would become disposable. We’re nearly there. Starting today, you can buy a new Chromebook for just $150—the cheapest price ever. And this spring, there’s a $250 Chromebook coming that looks pretty incredible.

Let’s put things into perspective. Chromebooks aren’t the only awesome cheap laptops on the block anymore. The HP Stream 11, a surprisingly capable $200 Windows machine, made sure of that. But now Google is going where Windows may not be able to follow: bargain-basement processors.

The $150 Hisense Chromebook.

The key to the latest batch of Google machines is the Rockchip RK3288, a piece of silicon from a company whose chips typically only feature in the cheapest smartphones and tablets—but now has a processor potent enough to power Chrome OS notebooks on the cheap.

In the case of the new Hisense Chromebook (pics above) and Haier Chromebook 11—available today from Walmart and Amazon respectively—that $150 still means fairly cheap, relatively flimsy laptops with pretty terrible screens. But they’re ones that boot in a flash from 16GB of solid state storage, have decent keyboards and trackpads for getting a little work done, and come with the promise of all-day battery life. They’re honestly not bad!

And that cost savings on the processor could translate to something pretty special if you’re willing to spend a little bit more on a machine.
Like, for instance, the $250 Asus Chromebook Flip.

Now this is what I’m talking about: a sleek 10-inch backflipping aluminum notebook. Not a flimsy piece of crap at all.

A laptop that not only technically doubles as a tablet, but actually feels thin enough and light enough to hold in one hand.

A Chromebook with a decent-feeling keyboard, trackpad, and touchscreen, for just $250.

And, as you might have noticed, a Chromebook with a revamped version of Chrome OS that makes more sense for touchscreens. Starting with the next big build, Chrome OS will flip into a full-screen touch mode when you tilt your device, just like you see above.

There’s a pretty decent virtual keyboard now, with auto-prediction and handwriting support.

The Search button on the keyboard will now take you to a single launcher with search, apps, and yes, Google Now cards.

And—this is pretty cool—Smart Lock can automatically unlock your Chromebook when your Android phone is nearby. If the Chromebook detects an Android phone logged into your Google account—just by being within Bluetooth range of 25 or so feet—you can simply tap your photo to log into the Chromebook instead of typing a password. It’ll even carry over your Google account’s two-factor authentication.

Oh, and Google’s opening up the floodgates for Android app developers to port their apps to Chrome starting today. The famous VLC media player is already on the way.

It’s hard to say just how compelling these Rockchip machines will be without a lengthy test. We’ve definitely seen that even the relatively lightweight Chrome OS can benefit from some extra headroom. As of last week, all of the top Chromebooks we recommend had relatively powerful processors and 4GB of RAM.

Either way, all the new software updates will come to every Chromebook. Look for ‘em soon.

http://gizmodo.com/now-you-can-buy-a-chromebook-for-just-150-and-theyre-1694699006

It's amazing how cheap this tech has become. Soon pretty much anyone in the world will be able to have a decent laptop to do stuff and connect to the net

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Google's Chromebit Turns Any TV Into a Chrome PC for Under $100

Google just introduced a whole new kind of Chrome OS computer—a dongle that plugs into any HDMI-equipped display. It’s called a Chromebit, and it isn’t your run-of-the-mill streaming stick. For under $100, you’re looking at a full computer that plugs right into your TV.

How is that possible? Well, it’s not exactly a new idea. Intel recently announced the Intel Compute Stick, a $150 HDMI dongle that does the same thing but with full Windows 8.1 on board. And Chinese companies have been selling Android HDMI dongle-computers for nearly a year, based on the Rockchip RK3288 processor. So now that Google’s rolling out Rockchip-based Chromebooks too, a dongle-PC was the logical next step.

Does that make the new Asus Chromebit any less impressive, though? Not one bit. It’s portable, cute, comes in three attractive colors, and has a super-smart swivel on the business end so you can plug it into practically any HDMI socket without needing an extension cable. (If you ask me, all dongles should feature that.)

In addition to your Rockchip RK3288 (with quad-core Mali 760 graphics) you get 2GB of RAM, 16GB of solid state storage, 2x2 dual-band 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a single full-size USB 2.0 port on one end. It won’t be the most powerful PC you could plug into a TV, but it shouldn’t be too bad for the browser-based OS. Google also expects it to make quite a splash with small businesses and third-world countries due to price and easy manageability.

Look for this one in the summertime... and don’t expect it to be the only Chromebit. Google product management VP Caesar Sengupta tells us we can expect other computer companies to build dongle-PCs as well. Oh, and don’t expect the Chromecast to go away, either. Google says the streaming stick is a totally separate product that fills a different need.

http://gizmodo.com/googles-chromebit-turns-any-tv-into-a-chrome-pc-for-und-1694793903

That is just freaking awesome. Allowing anyone access to a decent PC who has a tv is a game changer

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Amazon's New Dash Buttons: Just Push to Buy

Just when you thought American capitalism had reached its peak, Amazon is announcing the Dash Button. The idea is simple: You push a branded button, and Amazon ships that brand’s products to your home. The Dash Button is free for Prime Members. Just don’t let the kids near it.

While the Dash Button sounds like an April Fool’s Joke, it’s actually part of a long-standing Amazon initiative to make it stupid simple for you to spend money more seamlessly. Just shy of a year ago, Amazon announced Dash, a handheld wifi-enabled magic wand that helped your keep your pantry stocked. The new Dash Button is pretty much a simplified version of that, except you need a special button for each product, and you have to go with the brand that’s on the button. So if you install the Amazon Dash Button for Tide, Tide is what you’ll get.

https://www.amazon.com/oc/dash-butt...gizmodo.com/[t|link[p|1694768858[au|452356546 for your own brand-loving Dash Button. Once again, it’s free with Prime. And here are the participating brands:

This is just a new extreme for the world’s largest store, a store that makes it impossibly easy to buy things without overthinking it, or thinking it at all. The Dash Button joins other popular Amazon offerings like subscriptions for good you order regularly and the enterprise-focused Dash Replenishment Service—thought that’s still in beta. One day we’ll all be buying with buttons, though. Because if there’s one thing Americans like more than spending money, it’s pushing buttons.

http://gizmodo.com/amazons-new-dash-buttons-just-push-to-buy-1694768858

I'm a Prime member but I don't use any of those products like that so I will pass for now. Maybe one of these days if I settle down and have a family

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

littleBits' Tiny Toy Synth Kit Now Works With MIDI and USB

Launched in late 2013, the littleBits Synth Kit lets you snap together the different components of a synthesizer into an extremely minimal modular instrument. Today, littleBits is adding three new modulates to its lineup, allowing its toy synth to connect with other musical tools like, uh, your computer.

For those unfamiliar, littleBits is a modular electronics platform that lets you build up complicated circuits from individual electronic building blocks. The blocks are tiny self-contained circuit boards that snap together with magnets. It's fun with electronics without all the messy (and dangerous!) soldering.

The synth kit was designed in partnership with legendary electronic instrument company Korg. The kit ships with a many of the standard elements of a a real synth rig, like oscilators, filters, a sampler, and a keyboard. All of the electronics designs are supposedly simplified versions of real Korg circuits.

The synth makes some gnarly sounds but the only way to access it for now was through a headphone jack. No longer. littleBits now offers three new modules: MIDI I/O, USB I/O, and CV (control voltage). The MIDI I/O and USB I/O modules let you send and receive signals to or from the compatible external component of you choosing—like your computer or a controller like a MIDI keyboard.

The CV module is actually designed for connection to older-style analog components that use voltage to speak to each other. So if you were dying to incorporate your synth kit creations with your big-boy modular rig, that's an option now too.

If you don't know what any of that means, don't worry: littleBits is all about learning and the company has put together a series of videos on its YouTube channel explaining how the new modules work.

"Toy synths" are becoming increasingly popular because despite some of their limitations, they can be practical tools for experimentation. Constraints are a good thing! There's nothing more frustrating than infinite possibilities. Still, the synth kit was maybe a tad too limited before. It was hard to share the stuff you actually made with it. The new I/O helps.

The synth kit still costs $160 for everything you'll need to get started. The MIDI and CV modules will each cost $35. The MIDI module will cost $40.

http://littlebits.cc/kits/synth-kit

I want

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Genius Faceplate Puts USB Ports on Your Wall With No Wiring Needed

The days of having to wire up a complete replacement outlet to add a USB charging port will soon be long gone.

The same folks behind the SnapRays Guidelight, a replacement cover that added night lights to almost any outlet in your home without wiring, is back with an even better product. Their new SnapPower Charger cover can be installed on any outlet, but instead of lights it adds a USB port for charging your electronics.

The SnapPower Charger is simply a replacement cover plate featuring a pair of metal prongs that reach around an existing outlet and make contact with the screws holding its electrical wiring in place. Once the cover plate is snapped on and screwed into place so it's secure, the USB port instantly has power.

It's a brilliantly simple solution to the annoying problem of having to hunt down a power adapter when you want to just charge a gadget. And while the creators of the SnapPower Charger could easily charge a premium for their new product (and still sell millions) they're instead going the Kickstarter route and asking just $16 (or $12 for early birds) to pre-order one. They're even cheaper if you buy them in multi-packs, and are available in three different colors and two different styles. If you've never donated to a Kickstarter project before, this will probably be your first.

The crowdfunding campaign is hoping to raise a modest $35,000 to take SnapPower Charger from the working prototype to the consumer-ready stage, and as far as risk goes, the folks behind it have already brought the original version of the product to market with incredibly positive reviews on Amazon. So if everything goes smoothly, you could be replacing every outlet cover plate in your home with these as soon as August, without having to spend a dime on an electrician.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...usb-charger-in-a-coverplate-no?ref=nav_search

This is a freaking brilliant idea, I'm sure they will sell a ton of these

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

This Wristband's Tactile Vibrations Let Musicians Silently Keep the Beat

During a performance a band is completely reliant on its drummer for setting the rhythm, but what about during rehearsal when a musician is practicing alone? Or when a musical group doesn't have a drummer? That's where this new wearable comes in. It doesn't tell time, it doesn't have notifications, and it can't run apps. All it does is precisely keep the beat using strong but silent vibrations.

In theory an app running on a smartphone in a musician's pocket could do the same thing, but think of how many times you've missed a call because you didn't feel your phone's wimpy vibrations. The vibrating mechanism in the Soundbrenner Pulse is six times stronger than your smartphone's, so when it's worn on an arm or ankle to keep it out of the way, a musician will always be able to feel and follow along to the beat. Even in a loud venue.

The Pulse's BPM can be set or changed on the fly in many different ways. The wearable connects to an accompanying app on a smartphone over Bluetooth that allows the user to set a specific BPM with a touchscreen. The app can also be used to set the color of the Pulse's flashing light, or turn it off completely, and it even allows the wearer to customize the intensity of the wearable's vibrations.

Alternately, the BPM can be increased or decreased by simply turning the large white dial on the Soundbrenner Pulse while it's vibrating, allowing musicians to subtly slow or speed up the beat—up to 300 BPM—in the middle of a performance. And finally, if the wearer has a beat going in their head they can program the Soundbrenner Pulse to match it by either physically tapping it out on the wearable, or tapping it out on their phone's touchscreen within the app.

One of the most important ways musicians will use the Soundbrenner Pulse is to ensure that everyone on stage during a performance is synced to the same rhythm. So through the Pulse's wireless app up to ten of the wearables can be perfectly synced to vibrate all at the same time. The creators of the Soundbrenner Pulse claim it's far easier to setup and tweak than in-ear monitors, and less obtrusive since it can be hidden beneath the musician's clothing.

The creators of the Soundbrenner Pulse are going the crowdfunding route to help raise enough money through Indiegogo—some $75,000—to finalize the wearable's design and put it into production. During the first 24 hours the Pulse can be pre-ordered with a donation of just $115, but after that you're looking at $129 to reserve one. And if you'd rather play it safe and wait until November to pick one up, assuming it's successfully in production by then, the Soundbrenner Pulse will retail for $149 outside of Indiegogo.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/soundbrenner-pulse-wearable-device-for-musicians/

I can see this taking off in the music world

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

This ARM-Powered Chip Could Work for Decades on a Single Battery Charge

As everything around us, from phones and fridges to bicycles and trash cans, begins to connect to the Internet, there's an increasing desire for low-power chips. Like this one, which can last for over ten years on a single battery charge.

Made by Amtel, the SAM L21 32-bit ARM family of microcontrollersr is based on ARM technology. It draws 35 microamps per megahertz of processing power when it's active, and just 200 nanoamps when it's sleeping. That's so little power that it can run off energy drawn from your body—or a battery that will last a very, very long time.

It has some other clever tricks up its sleeve. Usually in a chip like this, sleep mode sees everything but the clock function shut down, meaning it has to wake every time connected devices need to communicate; this new Amtel chip has different sleep states, allowing connected devices to communicate with each other while the chip continues to use very little power.

Of course, the chips don't pack huge amounts of grunt. In fact, at best you're looking at a 42 MHz Cortex M0+ CPU core, 256 kilobytes of Flash memory, 32 kilobytes of static RAM, and 8 kb of separate low-power static RAM. Not enough to run a desktop OS, then, but plenty to run small programs, power hardware interfaces, read and record data from sensors, tweet and the like.

Pricing and availability has yet to be announced, but chip kits will be available for developers as part of a sample phase in the coming months.

http://arstechnica.com/information-...ip-aims-for-battery-life-measured-in-decades/

This is just the start

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Now Aerial Photographers Can Get 80 Megapixel Photos From a Drone Camera

PhaseOne has announced the world’s smallest 80-megapixel medium format camera—a high end, lightweight shooter designed specifically for aerial photography.
The iXU 180 will weigh in at a modest two pounds without a lens and has a low profile, gyro-mountable 3.8 x 3.6 x 4.3-inch body. It doesn’t sound that light (and a lens will add another pound), but when it comes to drones, every ounce counts. PhaseOne hasn’t announced pricing yet, but says the new shooter will ship in mid-April alongside a pair of 60 megapixel RGB and achromatic (read: black and white) variants.

A lot of technical mumbo jumbo, I know—but what it means for photography is stunning

http://gizmodo.com/now-aerial-photographers-can-get-80-megapixel-photos-fr-1694905418

I expect to see a lot more films using this now

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

5 Sad Facts About America's Ridiculously Slow Internet

http://forums.superherohype.com/showpost.php?p=30998519&postcount=162

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Here is a good one from Lifehacker about how to install a custom firmware for your WiFi router

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-choose-the-best-firmware-to-supercharge-your-wi-1694982764/+megneal

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

How to Restrict Your Kid (Or Friend) to One App Only on Android

Maybe you know that sinking feeling when you hand over your beloved Android smartphone, whether your niece wants to play The Sims or your friend wants to look something up on the web—you never quite know what state your device is going to come back in. The latest versions of Android have a feature that can help, and here's how to use it.

The option is called Screen pinning: It was introduced in Android 5.0 and it's been tweaked a bit in Android 5.1. It restricts whoever's using your phone (or tablet) to one particular app, and you can set a PIN or pattern unlock code to keep the device in this state (it would be pretty pointless for our purposes otherwise).

You need to enable the feature first of all. Head into Settings, tap Security and then choose Screen pinning. The two options that appear on screen let you toggle pinning on and off and associate a PIN lock with it. The exact wording of the second option will vary depending on how your Android device is currently protected.

With that done, tap the Overview button (that bottom-right square one) to see all of the apps currently in memory. Swipe the cards away until you see the one you want. When it's at the front in the center of the display, you'll see a pin icon. Tap this and the app goes full screen together with instructions on how to exit pinned mode.

Screen pinning is cancelled by pressing the Back and Overview buttons together, but of course to get into anything else your buddy or tiny relative is going to need your PIN code. It won't stop people dropping your phone onto a concrete floor or spilling coffee over it, but it's one way of restricting what others can do if you ever need to pass your device over.

http://fieldguide.gizmodo.com/how-to-restrict-someone-to-one-app-only-on-android-1694960894/+megneal

That's super useful

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Your Face Alone Can Reveal Your Biological Age to a Computer

If anyone's ever gazed into your eyes and told you that you look old, they might soon have an algorithm that agrees with them. A new study reveals that your face alone can be used to predict your biological age computationally, with a high degree of accuracy.

Using 3D scans of people's faces, the team from the Shanghai Institutes of Biological Sciences in China can identify facial features that change dramatically with age, such as the smoothness of skin and distance between mouth and nose. Using scans of 332 Chinese volunteers aged between 17 and 77, they've created a composite which can be used as a yardstick to estimate a new scan's biological age—rather than their actual, temporal age.

To check their results, they compared the predicted ages of the computer algorithm with bio-markers in blood samples, that reveal biological aging. While the algorithm sometime predicts participants are as much as six years older than their real age, bio-markers also reveal that they are biologically older—exhibiting signs of, say, higher cholesterol level than one would expect. Underestimates were equally accounted for in this way.

The technology could provide a means of estimating biological—rather than temporal—age quickly and easily. Indeed, the aim is to use the algorithm to create an app that can be used by doctors to quickly estimate biological age, reports New Scientist. In turn, those who appear to be aging faster than expected could be further examined and tested to establish why—be it lack of exercise, diet or something more serious.

It's not, of course, the ultimate test. After all, aging is currently thought to be caused by the gradual degradation of the tips of our chromosomes—and no 3D image can take that into account. But as a means of diagnosing those at risk, the technology could yet prove and efficient tool in keeping the world at least a little healthier.

http://www.newscientist.com/article...reveals-your-bodys-real-age.html#.VRvBdEaepW0

I would like to see what this says about me

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Your Keyboard Could Tell If You Have Parkinson's

An everyday technology is becoming the central figure in how scientists understand and diagnose Parkinson’s—the keyboard. Researchers at MIT are working on a method that would create keyboards that could actually tell whether you have this unfortunately common neuron impairment.

[YT]pthM_gR6VbQ[/YT]

It’s all mechanical—no apps or special software required. All the information is hidden in the precise ways we all strike keys on a keyboard. Ian Butterworth, who’s part of the team working on this bit of everyday-tech-meets-complex science project, explains exactly how this is possible:

There’s a subtlety to the way that we type, to the way our fingers interact with keyboards. When your finger moves down toward the key and senses that your finger impacts the key and that the key is depressed, your brain understands this and then sends back a signal to release the finger. When psychomotor performance is impeded, that time can fluctuate. And those are the types of things we’re looking into, are those subtle typing effects and how typing happens.​

The team tested the idea by using well-rested and fatigued test subjects, since fatigue is a type of neuron impairment. After pumping the data through pattern recognition and machine learning algorithms, the differences between the two behaviors were striking.

The problem with Parkinson’s is that sometimes symptoms don’t surface years after onset. Imagine using your keyboard while you’re working, like normal, while it actively monitors for any concerning changes in neuron impairment that could be evidence of a serious disease or disorder. It’s well-known that by the way we type, we divulge secrets about ourselves. People are even finding ways to eliminate the password by sensing the way you type. This all seems way more useful than Bluetooth.

http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/typing-patterns-diagnose-early-onset-parkinsons-0401

So cool when we learn how to use old things for new discoveries

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

This Supercapacitor Is Paper-Thin, Stores Energy as Well as a Battery

A team of researchers from UCLA Berkeley has developed a new supercapacitor which is paper-thin, super-fast to charge and can match batteries with its energy storage density.

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers explain how they've developed the supercapacitor. Using laser-scribed graphene in combination with manganese-dioxide, the team has produced a supercapacitor which is one-fifth the thickness of a sheet of paper. The production methods don't require complex dry labs or or extreme temperatures, either.

Supercapacitors are attractive because they charge in seconds as opposed to hours. But they currently lack the energy density to plausibly power most energy-hungry devices.

The new device, though, can hold 42 Watt-hours of energy per liter—comparable to a lead acid battery. It also charges incredibly quickly and can survive 10,000 recharge cycles. In tests, it was able to be quickly charged from energy generated by a solar cell during the day, hold charge until the evening, then power LEDs overnight.

But along with its clear energy storage potential, the device is also incredibly thin. The team behind it—no strangers to the development of supercapacitors—suggest that it could be used in wearables or inside medical implants. With a combination of fast charging, respectable energy density and small size, it's hard to disagree. Now we just need to wait until it looks less like a grade-school science project and more like a commercial device.

http://phys.org/news/2015-04-scientists-quick-charging-hybrid-supercapacitors.html

That's a pretty big deal

 

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Amazon's Plan For The Future Of Shopping Is More Than Just Buttons

Yesterday, Amazon announced that it was introducing a physical One-Click button, in its ongoing effort to remove any friction or thought from the mindless ordering process. But one detail from the announcement escaped most people’s notice: the fact that Amazon wants to integrate its auto-buying technology into everything with a logic board.

The ‘Dash Replenishment Service’, as Amazon’s plan for retail domination is known, is relatively simple: all your kitchen gadgets, from fridges to coffee machines, will be integrated into the Amazon service. The devices will either feature a physical Dash button built in, or circumvent the human altogether, and automatically order you more coffee or milk or beer when you’re running low.

It’s not a totally new idea — actually, I think The Stepford Wives had a fridge that nagged you when you’re running low on things. But the fact that Amazon has implemented its plan in the real world — and is encouraging manufacturers small and large to use it — is a bit more awesome/terrifying, depending on your point of view. It’s also a far better indicator of what Amazon ultimately wants to be — an effort-free retailer that takes your money without a second thought, and delivers you goods and services without thinking about it.

Launch partners include some big names like Whirlpool, Brita, and Brother, but Amazon promises that you can integrate anything into DRS “with just 10 lines of code”. Oh yay.

http://gizmodo.com/amazons-plan-for-the-future-of-shopping-is-more-than-ju-1695160314

I wonder if this will catch on though?

 

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This Exoskeleton Boot Saves Energy In An Ingenious Way

After millions of years of evolution, your feet are still not perfectly energy efficient. Enter exoskeletons. Researchers have created a new boot that, unlike other exoskeletons, makes walking more efficient without an extra battery or power source.

The boot contraption reduces the energy it takes to walk by about 7 percent. That may not sound like a lot, but keep in mind this is without a bulky battery pack for power. And it works differently from exoskeletons that give you superhuman strength, which are really a matter of expending less energy over a longer period of time, so total energy expenditure is the same.

Here, it’s a more subtle process of finding tiny inefficiencies and correcting them. It is human walking, optimized. For example, one inefficiency is that our muscles use energy even when they’re locked in place. Not so for a mechanical clutch. Davide Castelvecchi explains in Nature:

The researchers’ exoskeleton structures, built of lightweight carbon-based materials, have a spring that connects the back of the foot to just below the back of the knee, where it attaches with a mechanical clutch. When the Achilles tendon is being stretched, the clutch is engaged and the spring, rather like an additional tendon, stretches and helps to store energy. After the standing leg pushes down, unleashing elastic energy, the clutch releases and absorbs the slack in the spring, in preparation for the next cycle..​

The downside though, as you can hear in the video below, is that you sound like a robot squeaking through the woods. The researchers hope to refine the boot, so that energy gains apply regardless of speed and terrain. No word on the squeakiness though.

[YT]EM0V4CaLOdU[/YT]

http://www.nature.com/news/exoskeleton-boots-improve-on-evolution-1.17237?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews

Cool idea

 

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Comcast Is Offering Gigabit Internet Speeds—But Probably Not for You

Any news of improvements to America’s creaky internet infrastructure is usually good news, but don’t get too excited about Comcast’s new 2 Gigabit-per-second internet service. For the time being, not many people are actually going to be able to access the fiber network.

Comcast’s so-called “Gigabit Pro” is exactly what it sounds like: gigabit speed internet. It’s actually the same gigabit speeds the company’s been offering business customers for five years, except the new service will send fiber directly to people’s homes.

In an interview, Comcast’s Steven Restivo told me that the fiber network would eventually reach homes in both urban and rural areas across the United States. Since existing gigabit offerings like Google Fiber focus on cities, this sounds like progress. But here’s where the caveats come into play.

First of all, Gigabit Pro is rolling out slowly, starting with a select number of homes in the Atlanta metropolitan area that also happen to be close to Comcast’s existing fiber optic infrastructure, the same one that’s been serving business for years. Comcast promises the service will be available to 1.5 million customers next month, but that doesn’t mean that everybody with access will be willing or able to pay for the service.

This is the second caveat. Comcast very clearly states in the press release that customers’ homes will need to be “within close proximity of Comcast’s fiber network” to get Gigabit Pro service, which would “require an installation of professional-grade equipment.” Restivo explained that this means installing gigabit-read hardware inside and outside of the home. It also involves a layer new fiber to cover the last mile of infrastructure from the Comcast plant to that new professional-grade equipment.

Add that setup cost to the cost of the service itself and you’re looking at a decent chunk of change. The fastest plan Comcast currently offers in Atlanta— something called “Blast!®”—costs $80 a month and offers download speeds “up to 105 Mbps.” The new Gigabit Pro plans will offer speeds that are nearly 20 times as fast as that. So will it cost $1,600 a month? Probably not, but it will be most expensive.

We won’t know exactly how expensive until early May when Comcast reveals the pricing structure. Meanwhile, about an hour and a half north of Atlanta, the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee offers its citizens gigabit speeds for just $70 a month. Google Fiber is about the same, though the municipal broadband speeds in Chattanooga are even faster. And it’s growing.

So sit tight Braves fans. Faster internet is on its way—if you live in the right place and have the cash. Based on the teeth-grating grift that was the Verizon FiOS rollout, everybody else ought to be very patient and skeptical about Comcast spreading its new Gigabit Pro service across the country.

http://gizmodo.com/comcast-is-offering-gigabit-internet-speeds-but-probabl-1695221732

Gotta start somewhere I guess