iphone – Page 259 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Vuze camera shoots 3D VR video for under $1,000

You can already get affordable virtual reality cameras , and low-cost 3D cameras have existed for years. However, getting both in one package is another matter — it’s entirely possible to pay a five-digit price if you’re not careful. That’s where HumanEyes’ new Vuze camera (no, not that Vuze ) just might save the day. The UFO-like rig combines eight cameras to capture 3D VR footage for $899, or low enough that you can get one solely to make amateur Google Cardboard videos. It promises to be headache-free, too, between a new seamless image stitching technique and quick, near real-time processing. The gotcha? Vuze won’t ship until August, so you probably won’t be using it to document your summer vacation. It will ship with goggles, a selfie stick and a tripod, though, so you may well have everything you need to shoot and preview the VR footage you were hoping to get. Here’s hoping that this represents the start of a trend: it might not be long before VR creation is practical for just about anyone with a bit of cash and the willingness to dabble in a relatively new format. Source: HumanEyes Technologies

Intel, Warner sue over device that strips 4K copy protection

The media industry was more than a little alarmed when 4K bootlegs of Amazon and Netflix streams showed up this November. Weren’t these feeds supposed to be relatively safe from pirates? It’s no surprise, then, that they’re doing something about it. Intel (through its Digital Content Protection brand) and Warner Bros. are suing LegendSky for offering HDFury, a series of devices designed to strip HDCP copy protection from many sources, including streams. The two plaintiffs claim that HDFury violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s anti-circumvention measures, making it all too easy to rip and share 4K video. They also allege that LegendSky is dishonest when it says it meets HDCP’s licensing requirements. LegendSky hasn’t said how it’s handling the lawsuit, although it may not have much success fighting back. As TorrentFreak notes, 4K stream rips started surfacing mere days after the first HDFury boxes started shipping. Even if Intel and Warner can’t draw a direct link between the two events, the timing certainly looks suspicious. And while HDCP is notorious for being a nuisance to legitimate viewers, it’s not very likely that people are buying HDFury solely to reclaim some convenience. As it stands, it wasn’t too hard to see this coming. With 4K Blu-ray movies on the way, Warner and other studios are no doubt eager to minimize the related piracy before it really takes off — streaming was just the tip of the iceberg. Source: TorrentFreak

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Intel, Warner sue over device that strips 4K copy protection

New WiFi standard offers more range for less power

The WiFi Alliance has finally approved the eagerly-anticipated 802.11ah WiFi standard and dubbed it “HaLow.” Approved devices will operate in the unlicensed 900MHz band, which has double the range of the current 2.4GHz standard, uses less power and provides better wall penetration. The standard is seen as a key for the internet of things and connected home devices, which haven’t exactly set the world on fire so far. The problem has been that gadgets like door sensors, connected bulbs and cameras need to have enough power to send data long distances to remote hubs or routers. However, the current WiFi standard doesn’t lend itself to long battery life and transmission distances. The WiFi Alliance said that HaLow will “broadly adopt existing WiFi protocols, ” like IP connectivity, meaning devices will have regular WiFi-grade security and interoperability. It added that many new products, like routers, will also operate in the regular 2.4 and 5GHz bands. That should open the floodgates to a lot of new 900Mhz-enabled devices in the near future, and not just smart toasters. The group said that the new standard “will enable a variety of new power-efficient use cases in the smart home, connected car … as well as industrial, retail, agriculture and smart city environments.” How about just a better WiFi connection from the spare room?

Netgear transforms your power plug into a fast WiFi hotspot

2016 is here, and the flying cars and hoverboards are disappointing , to say the least. Worse yet, we still can’t get a decent internet connection in our man cave, but Netgear is at least trying to solve that problem with a string of new devices for CES 2016. The most interesting is the PowerLine WiFi 1000 , a product the company claims is the first to marry gigabit powerline (aka HomePlug ) with 802.11ac WiFi. (The Devolo DLAN 1200+ also does the trick, but it’s only available in Europe.) The idea is to plug the base unit into an electrical plug and hook it up to your router, then plug the WiFi extender into another socket. You can then connect via 802.11ac WiFi in a remote room to your device of choice. That should help you avoid connection woes in remote sections of your house or behind walls. However, powerline connections often fail to work well in houses with “noisy” electrical setups and speeds are always much lower than the maximum specified. Nevertheless, it could may solve a problem dead spot in places where you can’t run an ethernet cable and WiFi extenders won’t do the trick. The Powerline WiFi 1000 Kit is now available in the US for $119.99. Speaking of WiFi range extenders, Netgear also launched the Nighthawk X4 AC2200 (2.2Gbps) and AC1900 (1.9Gbps), the first such devices to feature Multi-User MIMO tech. What that jargon means is that the extenders multitask by sending separate WiFi streams to each user so that everyone gets faster speeds with less waiting. Both devices have 802.11ac WiFi, Beamforming+ and four internal antennae that cover up to 10, 000 square feet. The units are now available in the US for $169.99 for the X4 AC2200 and $139.99 for the slightly slower AC1900. Netgear also unveiled the Nighthawk X4S AC2600 router , a mid-priced model aimed at the gaming and streaming set. The company said it built on its popular Nighthawk X4 AC2350 router by adding a bunch of new features like quad-stream architecture on both 2.4 and 5GHz bands, Multi-User MIMO and 160MHz bandwidth. The company claims that the latter feature will provide better support for upcoming smartphone tech. The other features, meanwhile, will let you connect more devices and stream faster with lower latency and higher bandwidth. Other features include a pair of USB 3.0 ports and an eSATA port to easily add storage to the device, which also functions as a smart hub. It’s also got VPN support for secure remote access and the MyMedia app for DLNA connectivity. The Nighthawk X4 AC2350 is now available at a suggested price of $269.99 in the US.

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Netgear transforms your power plug into a fast WiFi hotspot

Build a Magic Mirror with a Raspberry Pi and an Old Monitor

One of the trademark devices in nearly every Hollywood blockbuster version of the future is a smart mirror that shows off a daily schedule, clock, weather, and other important updates. Blogger Dylan Pierce built his own powered by a Raspberry Pi. Read more…

Turn Your Goals Into If-Then Statements to Account for Roadblocks

With any goal, pitfalls are usually inevitable. You want to eat healthier but your coworker brings cupcakes. You want to save money but your car needs work. To stay ahead of setbacks, give your goal an if-then plan. Read more…

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Turn Your Goals Into If-Then Statements to Account for Roadblocks

Now we can 3D print ceramics

Despite being able to build just about anything with 3D printing, until now items have been limited to polymer plastics, a handful of metals and glass . However, researchers at HRL Laboratories have announced a significant advancement in additive manufacturing: the ability to print ceramics . The trick, the HRL team figured out, was to not heat ceramic powder. Doing so generates too many microscopic flaws that can lead to cracks and fractures. Instead, the team developed a material they’re calling “preceramic polymers” that convert to ceramic when heated. Essentially, the HRL team prints out the 3D design using these preceramic polymers and then fires the resulting item (like in a kiln) to harden the material into ceramic. This material is compatible with stereolithography , a popular 3D printing method wherein a laser is used to solidify a liquid polymer. What’s more, the team figures it can print out a highly detailed and complex ceramic part 100 to 1000 times faster than conventional stereolithography by using an ultraviolet light and patterned masks. This advancement could prove a boon to the aerospace industry which already relies on ceramic components for everything from wing panels on planes to the internal mechanisms of orbital rockets. DARPA has awarded the team a development contract for an ablative ceramic aeroshell — essentially a heat shield for spacecraft as they enter an atmosphere — as HRL’s ceramics are reportedly 10 times stronger than the ceramic foam currently commercially available. [Image Credit: Getty] Source: MIT Tech Review

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Now we can 3D print ceramics

‘Final Fantasy XV’ hits the road in 2016

Final Fantasy XV has been in development for what seems like an eternity. But being New Year’s Eve (or Day, depending on where you live), changes are afoot: Final Fantasy XV and its all-dude bro’d-trip will release in 2016. The news comes by way of a Square Enix blog post written by none other than the game’s director, Hajime Tabata. “In development, previous phases required wisdom and strength, ” he writes. “However, moving toward the final phase will focus on effort and willpower.” Sure! He goes on to vow that every developer working on it will work their hardest right to the end. “We will do everything we can do to finish FFXV to create an experience we are incredibly proud of and one that you will enjoy and treasure.” In case you’re feeling celebratory, you could always fire up the demo from earlier this year, or, barring that, watch us do the same in the video below. Source: Square Enix

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‘Final Fantasy XV’ hits the road in 2016

Hackers get Linux running on a PlayStation 4

In the two years since the PlayStation 4 first went on sale, hackers have enjoyed limited success in their efforts to open up the console. In June, a Brazilian team claimed the first PS4 “jailbreak, ” which involved the cumbersome process of copying the entire hard drive of a hacked machine using a Raspberry Pi, but it took until this month for a tinkerer to fully circumvent Sony’s content protections . With a proper exploit in the wild, homebrew group fail0verflow took on the challenge of installing a full version of Linux on the system. It achieved its goal this week, giving the homebrew community hope that the PlayStation 4 will soon become a worthy tool in their arsenal. Although exact details of the exploit have yet to be disclosed, it appears that the fail0verflow team took a WebKit bug recently documented by GitHub user CTurt and then turned things up a notch. CTurt’s workaround focuses on the PlayStation 4’s Webkit browser, which is tricked into freeing processes from the core of the console’s operating system by an improvised webpage. The PS4 is powered by Sony’s Orbis OS, which is based on a Unix-like software called FreeBSD and is therefore susceptible to common exploits. With a route into the console’s system, fail0verflow then identified weaknesses in the PlayStation 4’s GPU. Engineers from semiconductor company Marvell were called out specifically and accused of “smoking some real good stuff” when they built the PlayStation 4’s southbridge chip. Before you start dreaming up your next DIY computing project, you should know that this proof-of-concept relies on PS4 firmware 1.76. Sony recently issued firmware 3.11 to consoles. While the bug has now been patched, it’s believed the jailbreak could be altered to achieve the same outcome on more recent firmwares. Incidentally, the WebKit bug identified here is the exact same one that affected Apple’s Safari browser, which put iOS 6.0 and OS X 10.7 and 10.8 at risk in 2013. It shows just how common WebKit-based software now is. While PS4 owners won’t be able to install pirated games anytime soon, fail0verflow’s achievement shouldn’t be dismissed. Sony went to a lot of trouble to ensure that unsigned code could not be run on the console. The company requires that the machine runs on the very latest software, meaning hacker groups still have a long way to go before the PlayStation 4 is made truly open to hobbyists — just like the PlayStation 3 officially was when it first hit shelves almost a decade ago. Via: VentureBeat

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Hackers get Linux running on a PlayStation 4

AT&T to ditch most two-year phone contracts on January 8th

AT&T’s long affair with the two-year contract continues to wind down, Engadget has learned. According to an internal document sent to employees this morning, new and existing customers will only be able to get new phones by paying the full price upfront or in installments over time . The move is set to take effect on January 8th, so you’d better act fast if you (for some reason) really want to lock yourself down for a few more years. Just to be perfectly clear, this move applies to all of AT&T’s phones. Once the new year rolls around, even flip phones and non-smartphones with keyboards (what AT&T likes to call “Quick Messaging Devices”) must be bought outright or with an installment plan. What’s less clear is the status of wearables like the Samsung Gear S2 and tablets, which are currently sold (and promoted heavily ) with two-year contracts. It’s also possible (if not likely) that AT&T will keep multi-year contracts around for large corporate accounts, and we’re looking into both situations. AT&T’s vague, highly vetted statement says the change is being made for the sake of “aligning… service offerings with customer and industry trends”. Well, we can’t argue with that. While smaller, scrappier carriers like T-Mobile have already bailed on the multi-year contract model, AT&T has been slower to act. This June, the company stopped offering contracts for smartphones to customers through local dealers and partner retailers like Best Buy and Apple. The option to ink a contract remained for people who bought basic phones or went straight to an AT&T store and asked specifically for a contract extension. The message? Payment plans like AT&T Next were the future. That sentiment was echoed when Verizon stopped pushing two-year contracts a few months later . The thing is, people who had those contracts could keep them and still get subsidized phones if they wanted — an option that won’t be available to AT&T customers. Still have questions? Feel free to refer to the FAQ our tipster friend also provided:

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AT&T to ditch most two-year phone contracts on January 8th