Author: kenmay

Soft thermometer sticker monitors temperatures remotely

Add / Remove The digital thermometer market is worth USD 800 million, so it is no wonder we have seen devices such as the Kinsa Smart Ear Thermometer trying to break into it. However, while most offerings simply rework the classic thermometer design for the smart era, Fever Scout from VivaLnk is an innovative new product that offers continuous temperature monitoring for parents of sick babies. Fever Scout is a wearable thermometer in the form of a soft patch. It is reusable, rechargeable and connects to a companion smartphone app via Bluetooth. To begin, parents attach the patch to their poorly child and launch the app. Then they can monitor their child’s temperature on their smartphone and receive customized notifications if they develop a high fever. The device is particularly useful during the night, when checking the child’s temperature is likely to disturb them and do more harm than good. Fever Scout is currently available to preorder for USD 59, it is expected to ship in early 2016. How else could health monitors be adapted to be more child-friendly? Website: www.vivalnk.com/feverscout Contact: inquiries@vivalnk.com The post Soft thermometer sticker monitors temperatures remotely appeared first on Springwise .

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Soft thermometer sticker monitors temperatures remotely

Steel Treatment Paves the Way For Radically Lighter, Stronger, Cheaper Cars

Zothecula writes: Radically cheaper, quicker and less energy-intensive to produce than regular steel, Flash Bainite is stronger than titanium by weight, and ductile enough to be pressed into shape while cold without thinning or cracking. It’s now being tested by three of the world’s five largest car manufacturers, who are finding they can produce thinner structural car components that are between 30-50 percent lighter and cheaper than the steel they’ve been using, while maintaining the same performance is crash tests. Grain of salt: the positive claims here are mostly coming from the company responsible for the process. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Steel Treatment Paves the Way For Radically Lighter, Stronger, Cheaper Cars

Nintendo invents a gamepad built from a touchscreen

Nintendo has said precious little about its plans for the NX (other than that it won’t be like a Wii U ), but it might have hinted at what’s coming through some recent paperwork. The console maker has filed for a patent on a gamepad design where a touchscreen would cover the entire front panel. You’d still have familiar elements like analog sticks (poking through the display) and shoulder buttons, but the usual front-facing buttons would be replaced by context-aware touch. The move would give you the adaptability of a smartphone interface with the primary controls you’re used to in a TV system — you could even use the controller on its side, or get visual effects when you press buttons. It wouldn’t require a gigantic body like the Wii U’s gamepad, either, and a card slot could take game data directly. This is just an application, and there’s no certainty that Nintendo will use this design any time soon, if at all. However, as The Verge notes , the would-be patent does line up with rumors that Nintendo will use Sharp’s free-form displays in a future product. Theoretically, this could be the technology behind the NX’s standard-issue gamepad. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal has heard that the NX would include a “mobile unit” that could be used separately from the main console. Given the presence of that card slot, it’s possible that you could play titles solely on the gamepad and take it with you — who needs separate TV and handheld consoles when your NX is both at the same time? The finished machine could be far less exciting, but it’s evident that Nintendo has at least been thinking about non-traditional hardware. Via: SlashGear , NeoGAF Source: USPTO

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Nintendo invents a gamepad built from a touchscreen

This electric car took almost a decade to build

We drive the Arcimoto SRK from Mark Frohnmayer’s Oregon-based electric carmaker to see how the eighth-generation concept stacks up against previous prototypes.The last time we checked in with Arcimoto, the Oregon-based electric carmaker was on the fifth version of its “everyday electric” SRK prototype. The year was 2011 and Arcimoto President and Founder Mark Frohnmayer was brimming with ideas to further improve the company’s SRK concept. Now, four years and three generations later, we catch up with Frohnmayer and the team at Arcimoto to see how the company’s eighth-generation SRK improves on its predecessors in every way. “A few weeks ago we finished our generation-eight prototype, ” said Frohnmayer. “It’s certainly a huge leap beyond what we had on the road in 2011 and this is what we’re actually intending to bring to the marketplace late next year.” By dropping nearly half the weight of previous versions, the eighth-gen SRK improves on range, performance and price, at a target MSRP of $11, 900. “The notion of the SRK was to be a product that anybody could afford, ” said Frohnmayer. Have an RSS feed? Click here to add Translogic . Follow Translogic on Twitter and Facebook . Click here to learn more about our host, Jonathon Buckley.

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This electric car took almost a decade to build

MST3K Breaks Kickstarter Record

the_Bionic_lemming writes: Raising over 6.3 million dollars in just one month MST3K fans helped push the new 14 episode series past the Official Kickstarter Veronica Mars total of $5, 702, 153 by raising $5, 764, 229 On Kickstarter. $600, 000 + Was added to the total from the Add on store at MST3K.com . And what’s more, they did it with only 48, 270 backers compared to 91, 585 Veronica Mars backers. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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MST3K Breaks Kickstarter Record

Disney’s FaceDirector changes facial expressions in movies

The new tool out of Disney Research’s labs could turn an ingénue’s semi-decent attempt into a finely nuanced performance. This software called FaceDirector has the capability to merge together separate frames from different takes to create the perfect scene. It does that by analyzing both the actor’s face and audio cues to identify the frames that correspond with each other. As such, directors can create brand new takes during post-production with zero input from the actor. They don’t even need specialized hardware like 3D cameras for the trick — it works even with footage taken by regular 2D cams. According to Disney Research VP Markus Gross, the tool could be used to lower a movie’s production costs or to stay within the budget, say, if it’s an indie film that doesn’t have a lot of money to spare. “It’s not unheard of for a director to re-shoot a crucial scene dozens of times, even 100 or more times, until satisfied, ” he said. “That not only takes a lot of time — it also can be quite expensive. Now our research team has shown that a director can exert control over an actor’s performance after the shoot with just a few takes, saving both time and money.” Considering the lab also developed a way to make dubbed movies more believable and to take advantage of incredibly high frame rates , we wouldn’t be surprised if filmmakers arm themselves with an arsenal of Disney Research tools in the future. It’s probably hard to visualize the way FaceDirector works without seeing an example, so make sure to watch the video below to see it in action. Source: Disney Research (1) , (2)

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Disney’s FaceDirector changes facial expressions in movies

DHS Deployed Plane Above San Bernardino To Scoop Up All Phone Calls After Attack

schwit1 writes: Federal investigators looking into the San Bernardino massacre deployed a spy plane overhead after the attacks in an apparent attempt to find additional suspects. The Department of Homeland Security is said to have put up the single engine craft over the California city and ordered it to make repeated circles overhead. The craft would likely have been equipped with Dirtbox technology which can scan tens of thousands of phones in one go to identify suspects. The report adds to the intrigue about whether or not there were accomplices in the San Bernardino attacks, which took place last Wednesday and were the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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DHS Deployed Plane Above San Bernardino To Scoop Up All Phone Calls After Attack

6,000 Year Old Death Pit Points to One Hell of a Brawl

Scattered hand bones, severed arms, cracked skulls: if one thing is clear from this Neolithic burial pit, it’s that some some serious shit went down 6, 000 years ago. Read more…

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6,000 Year Old Death Pit Points to One Hell of a Brawl

9 planets where aliens could liveWhen NASA scientists announced…

9 planets where aliens could live When NASA scientists announced earlier this year that they had found evidence of liquid water on Mars, imaginations ran wild with the possibility that life could exist somewhere other than here on Earth. Scientists continue to explore the possibility that Mars once looked a lot like Earth — salty oceans, fresh water lakes, and a water cycle to go with it. That’s exciting stuff. So where else are they looking? What exactly are they looking for?

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9 planets where aliens could liveWhen NASA scientists announced…

Is This California Pier the First Victim of El Niño?

Southern California residents witnessed a foreign substance falling from the sky as rain swept through the region over the last 24 hours. The storm also brought huge waves to the coast which ended up smashing the city of Ventura’s pier. Read more…

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Is This California Pier the First Victim of El Niño?