Tag: engadget

Run Android on an iPhone – with some heavy engineering and caveats

Familiar with cramming one operating system into somewhere it doesn’t belong , developers at Tendigi have just created a homemade iPhone case that lets you run Android on your iOS smartphone. (Well, kind of). Fortunately, because of the Android Open Source Project , it gave Nick Lee the freedom to clone the mobile OS and build his own local hardware. Before he went that far, Lee decided to test the concept — streaming Android across to an iPhone through a cable — with a Nexus 5. He needed tools that could communicate with iOS, as well as services that let USB cables play nice with an iPhone. Lee also crafted software that transmitted what was happening on the Android devices’ screen to the iPhone, while also send touch-input back. The next challenge: cramming it all into an iPhone “case”. See it working after the break. He then made his own tiny Android development board (all the technical specifics are here ), linking it to the soon-to-be franken-iPhone and its own power supply, prototyping and 3D-printing an enclosure to house it all and attach to the iPhone. It’s not the prettiest case, and really you’re ‘streaming’ Android to your iPhone screen, but it’s the man-hours thought that counts, right? Source: Tendigi

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Run Android on an iPhone – with some heavy engineering and caveats

Adidas will release shoes made from ocean plastic this year

Adidas is committing to integrating recycled ocean waste into a general-release shoe this year. The sportswear company showed off a shoe with a 3D-printed midsole made from up-cycled ocean plastic late last year , as part of a collaboration with Parley, an anti-ocean-pollution organization. That was a one-off concept shoe, but off the back of that the company is now showing off a product titled Adidas x Parley. The new limited-edition shoe’s upper is made from Parley Ocean Plastic and illegal deep-sea gillnets retrieved by the non-profit Sea Shepherd during a mission to protect sea life in the Southern Ocean. Announced to coincide with World Oceans Day, only fifty pairs will be made available, and they’ll be given away through an Instagram contest. A video posted by Parley for the Oceans (@parley.tv) on Jun 7, 2016 at 7:30am PDT More exciting than the limited-edition shoe is the promise of a bonafide commercial product coming soon. Adidas says it’ll be a world’s first, integrating Parley Ocean Plastic into one of its “top footwear franchises” in the second half of this year. That release is apparently possible due to the inroads Adidas and Parley have made in turning ocean plastics into “technical yarn fibres” that can easily be integrated into products. The new shoe will be one of an ongoing series of changes Adidas has made in an attempt to be friendlier to the environment. It’s already announced it’ll stop handing out plastic bags in its stores and end the use of microbeads in products like shower gels. If you’re interested in trying to snag a pair of Adidas x Parleys, the competition will run through to July 31st on Parley and Adidas’ various social media channels, where the rules will be shared in due course. Via: The Verge Source: Adidas

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Adidas will release shoes made from ocean plastic this year

4K copy protection removal shop settles for $5.2 million

Intel and Warner Bros. are still very much embroiled in a war on companies stripping copyright protection from 4K and Blu-ray videos. Hardware seller Ace Deal has agreed to pay the two industry giants $5.2 million to settle a lawsuit over alleged violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Supposedly, Ace Deal knowingly aided in piracy by selling devices that remove HDCP anti-copying measures, making it relatively easy to bootleg the latest 4K movie extravaganza . The shop has already pulled the offending gear from its online store and is barred from selling similar devices in the future, but the small outfit still faces a relatively big, potentially crippling payout. The verdict is a sharp contrast to what’s happening with LegendSky, which faced a similar lawsuit at the start of the year. It contends that its HDFury gadgets aren’t stripping HDCP, just weakening it (which is legal) — in fact, it counter-sued Intel and Warner Bros. for allegedly making defamatory claims and abusing their market position. Ace Deal didn’t have that defense, so it was far more likely to be on the hook. Source: TorrentFreak

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4K copy protection removal shop settles for $5.2 million

E Ink announces a color breakthrough, but it’s only for signs

There’s a small glimmer of hope for the seemingly doomed dream of color electronic paper . E Ink, which helped pioneer ePaper by providing the technology for Amazon’s Kindle, announced today that it’s finally developed a display that can show up to 32, 000 colors. Dubbed Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP), it’s a huge leap above the company’s aging Triton tech , which could only display around 4, 000 colors. Basically, it’ll be clear enough to be practically indistinguishable from color printed onto real paper. But don’t get your hopes up for an e-reader with ACeP just yet — for now, E Ink is positioning it for in-store signage as 20-inch panels. While it’s just as low-power as you’d expect, ACeP isn’t as sharp as E Ink’s black and white technology yet, which can reach up to 300 pixels per inch. ACeP only has a resolution of 1600 x 2500 pixels, which clocks in at 150ppi. It also takes a full two seconds for the display to refresh. Still, ACeP is a significant move for E Ink, which for years has been struggling to develop color displays that can go against increasingly sharp OLED and LCD screens. With Qualcomm’s Mirasol technology floundering, ACeP could end up being the color ePaper solution we’ve been waiting for. Source: E Ink (PR)

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E Ink announces a color breakthrough, but it’s only for signs

World’s first 3D-printed office opens in Dubai

The world’s first 3D-printed office building opened this week in Dubai , Reuters reports. The 2, 700-square-foot, single-story building was built in just 17 days using a gigantic, 20-foot tall 3D printer and a special mix of concrete, fiber reinforced plastic and glass fiber reinforced gypsum. Although the “printer” was massive at about two stories tall, 120 feet long and 40 feet wide, it only needed one staffer to make sure it was functioning properly. The rest of the 18-person construction crew consisted of installers, electricians and mechanical engineers who completed the job for a mere $140, 000 in construction and labor costs — or about half the price of a comparable structure built with conventional methods. Of course, the building is more than just another gold star in the UAE’s ultramodern playland — it will also serve, appropriately enough, as the temporary headquarters for the Dubai Future Foundation. Next year, the structure is scheduled to become the home of Dubai’s Museum of the Future . “This is the first 3D-printed building in the world, and it’s not just a building, it has fully functional offices and staff, ” the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Mohamed Al Gergawi said. According to Gergawi, Dubai plans to have 25 percent of the buildings in the emirate built via 3D printing by the year 2030.

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World’s first 3D-printed office opens in Dubai

ComiXology Unlimited offers all of the comics for $6 a month

ComiXology, Amazon’s online comic book service, unveiled a new unlimited content subscription option on Tuesday. The $6 per month ComiXology Unlimited plan gives subscribers unfettered access to the service’s entire archive, which includes titles from Image, Dark Horse, IDW and a bunch more — basically every notable publisher outside of Marvel and DC. ComiXology will continue to sell individual issues from the Big Two, it just won’t offer them on the unlimited plan. Via: Android Central Source: Comixology

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ComiXology Unlimited offers all of the comics for $6 a month

Paramount will end its lawsuit against ‘Star Trek’ fan film

Lawyers from Paramount/CBS have been pursuing the makers of a crowdfunded Star Trek fan film , Axanar , for months , but according to JJ Abrams, they’re finally going to back off. Abrams made the announcement at an event last night on the studio’s movie lot where the studio dedicated a street to the memory of Leonard Nimoy, premiered the second trailer (which you can watch below) for Star Trek: Beyond, showed about 15 minutes of footage from the movie, and announced plans to screen the flick on an outdoor IMAX screen at Comic-Con. At the Star Trek Beyond fan event JJ Abrahms announced that because of Justin Lin, Paramount was dropping the lawsuit against Axanar. — Axanar Productions (@StarTrekAxanar) May 21, 2016 According to Abrams, the movie’s director Justin Lin heard about the lawsuit, was personally troubled as a fan and pushed for a resolution. As you can see in the Periscope stream embedded below from Trek.fm , he said that in the next few weeks it will be announced that the lawsuit is going away. Now, in a statement to Buzzfeed reporter Adam Vary , CBS/Paramount lawyers have said that they are in settlement talks and plan to set up guidelines for future fan films. All in all, it’s probably a good call to stop antagonizing the fanbase before releasing a new movie, so it’s not too surprising that all of this news came at once. Breaking News: Star Trek Axanar lawsuit is going away… pic.twitter.com/Sgc8K983BO — Trek.fm (@trekfm) May 21, 2016 Via: Deadline Source: Axanar Productions (Twitter) , Axanar (Kickstarter) , Trek.fm (Twitter)

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Paramount will end its lawsuit against ‘Star Trek’ fan film

World’s largest solar power plant experiences minor meltdown

A small fire temporarily shut down the generator at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System near the California-Nevada border Thursday. According to the Associated Press , some wires at the power plant melted and caught fire after a misaligned mirror zapped them with concentrated sunbeams. When it is operating correctly, the array of over 173, 500 heliostats reflect and focus sunlight onto boiler towers that create supercritical steam to drive turbines and create electricity — enough to power some 140, 000 homes in California. It’s an efficient system that also has the unfortunate side effect of incinerating birds in mid-flight, but now we can also add “solar meltdown” to the list of potential power plant disasters. According to San Bernardino County fire Captain Mike McClintock, those misaligned mirrors were reflecting the sun’s rays onto electrical wires about 300 feet up one of the boiler towers. While images from the blaze show some damage to steam ducts and water pipes, no one was injured and workers at the plant reportedly had things under control in less than 20 minutes. One of the boilers was shut down for repairs, but the plant itself remained online.

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World’s largest solar power plant experiences minor meltdown

Makers of uncrackable ransomware hand over the key

The creators of a virus that forces users to pay to recover their own files seem to have turned over a new leaf. Security researchers at ESET are reporting that TeslaCrypt’s developers posted the master encryption key, enabling ESET to develop a free fix. According to the firm, the creators of the virus were “wrapping up” their activities, and when a researcher asked for the master key, it was simply handed over. ESET has subsequently been able to produce a decryption tool (available here ) that’ll enable anyone affected to get their files back. ESET has gone to great pains to point out that ransomware is still one of the largest threats to people’s data online. It advises that everyone should keep their operating system updated and use a good anti-virus, as well as making regular backups of anything they wouldn’t want to lose. There’s also the question as to why TeslaCrypt’s developers were so willing to hand over the keys, but let’s hope that they decided to do the right thing. The alternative is just too horrible to contemplate. Via: Bleeping Computer Source: ESET

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Makers of uncrackable ransomware hand over the key

Acura introduces a sleeker self-driving test car

As we creep ever closer to an autonomous-car future , one thing is for certain, most of the driverless cars we see being tested look hideous thanks to all the sensors strapped to the roof. Today Acura introduced its second generation Automated Acura RLX Development Vehicle with updated sensors and a more pleasing aesthetic. Gone is the spinning LIDAR system replaced with a more compact and robust version of the light detection and ranging technology. It’s also got updated RADAR, camera, GPS and higher performance GPUs and CPUs as well as what Acura is calling “more intelligent software algorithms to support more complex testing scenarios.” Acura and its parent company Honda have been testing autonomous cars at its GoMentum Station in the Bay Area since last year with a specially outfitted RLX (shown in the video below with the spinning LIDAR system). This new car will replace that vehicle.

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Acura introduces a sleeker self-driving test car