Tag: stumbleupon

Apple Said To Be Exploring Inductive Charging And Solar Power In iWatch Testing

Apple’s work on an upcoming smartwatch includes explorations of induction charging and solar-powered batteries, according to a new report from the New York Times . As part of a larger piece about battery tech in general, the NYT revealed that Apple has been working on tests involving wireless induction charging for the smartwatch, and methods for incorporating solar panels into the display to draw power from the sun, and potentially ambient light. Both of these are noted as technology in the testing phase for a wrist-mounted Apple wearable, which means they’re not necessarily very far along and likely not on tap for an Apple iWatch should it arrive sometime within the next year. The solar charging in particular, for example, is said to be years away from making its way into shipping product, according to the NYT’s source. It does address a major pain point with current wearable tech, however, which might inform a hypothesis of what Apple is focusing on with any wrist-based smart device it is working on. We’ve heard from 9to5Mac that the iWatch will have a health and fitness focus , working with a new app that will come pre-installed on iOS 8 called “Healthbook.” Hardware details remain thin, but Apple did previously look into  motion-based kinetic charging , which also lends credence to rumors that it’s exploring a range of power options. Battery life for wearables is a huge concern, and the reason why is continued adoption: No end user is eager for the chance to have to remember to charge yet another device, of course, and the problem is made worse when, in forgetting to charge a wearable even once, they notice no overall impact to their lives. The double challenge then is to build a smartwatch that becomes integral to a user’s general routine, such that they’ll actively remember to charge it with the same frequency as their phone, and also to make it so that charging is a fairly infrequent requirement. Apple has managed to sell a lot of things to people who neither users nor critics ever would’ve predicted they’d “needed” to begin with, with the iPad being the big shining example. They can probably do the same for the smartwatch, and these reports of their progress in its development signal to me they’re innovating in the right areas. iWatch concept at feature image created by Todd Hamilton .

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Apple Said To Be Exploring Inductive Charging And Solar Power In iWatch Testing

iPhone 5s Owners Gobbling “Unprecedented” Levels Of Data, Study Finds

Users of flagship smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone 5s and Samsung’s Galaxy S4 are continuing to suck down more data than their tablet-wielding counterparts, according to a large-scale survey of mobile data consumption in 2013 conducted by JDSU (which last year  bought mobile data analytics company Arieso , the company that previously ran the annual survey). Last year’s mobile data consumption survey , which looked at 2012 data, also found flagship smartphone device users outpacing the data consumption rates of tablet users. But the most data thirsty phone users of all have an iPhone 5s burning a hole in their pocket. As with the 2012 study, the 2013 survey examined the data demands of more than one million subscribers using more than 150 different devices over a single, 24-hour weekday in a Tier-1 European market, which had a mixture of urban and suburban morphologies. But for the first time the survey also studied a developing market for comparative purposes — with a further  one million+ subscribers studied in this market over the same 24-hour period.  To ensure statistical validity the study only looked at the data demands of popular devices — i.e. those represented by at least 1,000 subscribers (conversely, the most popular devices had subscriber rates of well over 10,000 apiece). The results are pretty telling about the habits of flagship smartphone owners, if not entirely surprising. You guys are a data-demanding bunch. Especially if you happen to own the latest iPhone. Continuing the trend of the past three years’ findings, the 2013 study found that mobile subscribers using Apple’s flagship smartphone are the most data-hungry smartphone users of all. And they’re getting hungrier still: users of the new iPhone 5s are even more data-hungry than previous top-of-the-line iPhone owners — with the study describing them as the most voracious smartphone users it’s yet seen, with “unprecedented increases in uplink and downlink data demands”. According to the findings, iPhone 5s users demand 7x as much data as iPhone 3G users in developed markets (the study uses the iPhone 3G as its mid-range benchmark device), and 20x as much data in developing markets. The most data-demanding device in 2013 was the iPhone 5 — but iPhone 5s users are demanding a fifth (20%) more data than iPhone 5 users in developed markets, and 50% more data in developing markets. Owners of Apple’s current flagship phone also have a greater data consumption than the Android-based Samsung Galaxy S4, which had a 5x data generation rate vs the iPhone 3G in developed markets and 11x in developing markets. The SGS4 did rank a lot higher for uplink data generation — coming third in developed markets (vs sixth place for the iPhone 5s). The study goes on to note that the average user of the SGS4 generates almost as much uplink data as eleven iPhone 3G users in the developing market it analysed. T he SGS4′s “prolific” uplink data generation usage is described as “consistent with the improved high-resolution 13-megapixel primary camera and the 2-megapixel front-facing camera”. (The iPhone 5s has an 8MP rear camera.) Both Apple and Samsung are amply represented in the top data gobbling devices across developed and developing markets, as the below tables from the report show: The report also flags up the relatively reduced amount of data consumption by users of the lower cost iPhone 5c compared to previously released iPhones. ”This is consistent with the marketing of the device relative to the new flagship iPhone 5s,” the report notes. Bottom line: even though the iPhone 5c is a shiny new iPhone, it’s not a flagship iPhone so the owners of this device have more modest data consumption habits (on average). On the tablet front, Apple’s fourth-gen iPad has replaced the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 in the top tablet spot in the studied developed market (relative to 2012’s study). No sign of the iPad Air as yet, but it’s a little too early for that device to crop up on the analysed networks (being as it went on sale in November, when the data was being gathered). The study also points out that — as with the don’t-call-it-cheap-but-it’s-not-a-flagship iPhone 5c — Apple’s lower priced tablet, the iPad mini, yields lower data consumption rates than its flagship tablet models. The report notes that iPad mini users consume only 80% of the downlink data consumed by 2nd and 3rd generations of iPads. “Similar to the iPhone 5c, the iPad mini was not intended to be a flagship device and instead has sought to occupy a niche position in the market,” it adds. Another characteristic of mobile data consumption detailed by the study applies to the hungriest 1% of all subscribers. The report notes that these users consume more than  half of the downlink data volume — which it describes as “broadly consistent” with the trends reported over the past two years in developed markets.  However the device-types these hungriest of data-hungry mobile users are conducting their bandwidth hogging activities on has seen a bit of a shift. The report notes that in the developed market being analysed, smartphones now constitute the majority of “extreme devices”, taking a 63% fraction vs 40% in 2012′s study. While tablet device usage among this group has  experienced the largest relative decline, dropping from 6% in 2012 to 2% in 2013.  It’s possible this is a consequence of smartphones getting bigger and thus more tablet-esque — aka the rise of the phablet — allowing extreme users to choose a compromise device that’s quasi-pocketable (compared to a full-fat tablet), and thus able to appeal to their desire to remain tethered at all times to the Internets, while still being large enough to eyeball most of the stuff they want to on the go. There’s no doubt phablet usage is on the up — e arlier this week analyst Juniper Research forecast that 120 million palm-stretching phablet units are expected to ship annually by 2018 , up from an estimated 20 million in 2013. A nd with some  signs that tablet sales might be softening , it seems logical to connect the swelling waistlines of the average smartphone as a contributory factor in swelling rates of data consumption among phone users. Bigger smartphones, after all, often more screen real-estate for performing data-consuming activities. And, unlike tablets, these gizmos are merely a handy pocket away from users’ fingertips. The report also touches on the role being played by LTE/4G in encouraging data-gobbling — noting that the higher speeds supporting by this next-gen cellular tech are doing the equivalent of pouring lighter fuel on the data consumption bonfire. “The most extreme 0.1% of all users consume nearly half of all downlink LTE data,” the report notes. “Extreme behavior in UMTS required ten times as large a fraction (0.1% -> 1%) to get to half of all downlink data. As such, we can declare that LTE users are ten times more extreme than UMTS users.” In other words, throw LTE into the mix along with powerful, fatty phablets and increasing levels of mobile data gluttony is a given. It’s almost enough to make you pity the poor carriers whose networks have to shoulder the burden of “extreme users” and data-diva flagship owners. *Almost* “The faster the speeds that mobile operators provide, the more consumers swallow it up and demand more,” concludes report author Dr Michael Flanagan. “One would expect a honeymoon period in which early adopters test their toys. But for 4G users to consistently exhibit behaviour 10 times more extreme than 3G users well after launch constitutes a seismic shift in the data landscape.”

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iPhone 5s Owners Gobbling “Unprecedented” Levels Of Data, Study Finds

Google Unveils Smart Contact Lens That Lets Diabetics Measure Their Glucose Levels

This isn’t Google Glass in a contact lens, but it may just be Google’s first step in this direction. The company’s Google[x] lab just teased a smart contact lens on its blog that is meant to help diabetics measure their glucose levels. The company says it is currently testing prototypes of this contact lens that use a tiny wireless chip and a miniaturized glucose sensor. These chips are embedded in between two soft layers of lens material. In its announcement , Google notes that scientists have long looked into how certain body fluids can help them track glucose levels. Tears, it turns out, work very well, but given that most people aren’t Hollywood actors and can cry on demand, using tears was never really an option. According to Google, the sensor can take about one reading per second, and it is working on adding tiny LED lights to the lens to warn users when their glucose levels cross certain thresholds. The sensors are so small that they “they look like bits of glitter.” Google says it is working with the FDA to turn these prototypes into real products and that it is working with experts to bring this technology to market. These partners, the company says, “will use our technology for a smart contact lens and develop apps that would make the measurements available to the wearer and their doctor.” [image via recode ]

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Google Unveils Smart Contact Lens That Lets Diabetics Measure Their Glucose Levels

SolarCooler Keeps Your Brews Icy With The Power Of The Sun, But It’ll Cost You $1K

Every year at CES, the Eureka Park outpost where they stick the scrappy startups is the best damn part of the whole shindig. This is where all the people with a screw loose or a decided lack of good common sense come to peddle their spaghetti-cooking robot or aroma-powered computer – or, as happened this year, their solar-powered beer cooler . SolarCooler is a “world first,” which is a common epithet at Eureka Park, and it’s currently undergoing crowdfunding on Indiegogo. The startup is looking for $150,000 to make their portable refrigerator (it even makes ice!) a reality, but it’s currently looking like it’ll need a real groundswell of support to get there. Here’s the big issue: the entry-level model costs just under $1,000, and that’s a special backer-only price. Retail for the SolarCooler is $1,200, which is bound to be a bitter pill to swallow even for the most ardent of tailgaters. Still, this is essentially a solar-powered 12V battery backup for everything combined with a cooler that offers true, continuous refrigeration, so that price tag starts to look at lot more reasonable when you consider its other potential uses. It also has a lot of potential to help out in commercial and medical settings as a transport for goods that need to be kept cool when direct power is in scarce supply and loading up a device with a significant number of batteries would make it cumbersome to use. SolarCooler is pursuing a flex funding goal, meaning it walks away with whatever it raises, and the founder seems keen on building it whatever the outcome, but there are still over 40 days left in the campaign, so it could still turn into a Cinderella story. All I know is I like beer, and I like it cold (that ‘best served at room temperature stuff’ is BS) so SolarCooler makes sense to me.

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SolarCooler Keeps Your Brews Icy With The Power Of The Sun, But It’ll Cost You $1K

The Battle of the Tooth Worm

I come across a lot of strange objects in my research: books bound in human skin , prosthetic noses made of silver , iron coffins with safety devices to prevent premature burial. But perhaps one of the strangest objects I’ve seen is the one pictured on the left. This is a depiction of the infamous tooth worm believed by many people in the past to bore holes in human teeth and cause toothaches.  But before I tell you about this fascinating piece of art, let me give you a quick lesson in dental folklore. Tooth worms have a long history, first appearing in a Sumerian text around 5,000 BC. References to tooth worms can be found in China, Egypt and India long before the belief finally takes root (pun intended) into Western Europe in the 8th century. [1] Treatment of tooth worms varied depending on the severity of the patient’s pain. Often, practitioners would try to ‘smoke’ the worm out by heating a mixture of beeswax and henbane seed on a piece of iron and directing the fumes into the cavity with a funnel. Afterwards, the hole was filled with powered henbane seed and gum mastic.  This may have provided temporary relief given the fact that henbane is a mild narcotic. Many times, though, the achy tooth had to be removed altogether. Some tooth-pullers mistook nerves for tooth worms, and extracted both the tooth and the nerve in what was certainly an extremely painful procedure in a period before anaesthetics. [2] The tooth worm came under attack in the 18 th century when Pierre Fauchard—known today as the father of modern dentistry—posited that tooth decay was linked to sugar consumption and not little creatures burrowing inside the tooth. In the 1890s, W.D. Miller took this idea a step further, and discovered through a series of experiments that bacteria living inside the mouth produced acids that dissolved tooth enamel when in the presence of fermentable carbohydrates. Despite these discoveries, many people continued to believe in the existence of tooth worms even into the 20 th century. The piece of art at the top of the article is titled ‘The Tooth Worm as Hell’s Demon.’ It was created in the 18 th century by an unknown artist, and is carved from ivory. It is an incredibly intricate piece when you consider it only stands a little over 4 inches tall. The two halves open up to reveal a scene about the infernal torments of a toothache depicted as a battle with the tooth worm, complete with mini skulls, hellfire, and naked humans wielding clubs. It is, without a doubt, one of the strangest objects I’ve come across in my research; and today, I pass this random bit of trivia on to you in the hopes that you may use it someday to revive a dying conversation at a cocktail party. 1. W. E. Gerabek, ‘The Tooth-Worm: Historical Apsects of a Popular Belief,’ Clinical Oral Investigations (April 1999): pp. 1-6. 2. Leo Kanner, Folklore of the Teeth (1928).

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The Battle of the Tooth Worm

Nokia Closes Out 2013 With 92% Of The Windows Phone Market

The fine folks at AdDuplex have provided Paul Thurrott with an early look at their final Windows Phone market data for 2013 , giving us in the public a final look at the key statistics of Microsoft’s smartphone platform’s OEM and device makeup. The figures are much as they have been all year, only more so. Nokia continues to control the lion’s share of Windows Phone hardware, ending the month up a few points at 92.1 percent (this is a calculation of usage share, tracked through AdDuplex’s network). And the Lumia 520 handset continues to dominate its brethren, with a new high of 39.3 percent share. And that Windows Phone 8 grew against the now-fading Windows 7.x system, with record relative market share of 78.3 percent. Windows Phone’s 2013, if you had to put it into basic trends, would be that Nokia cleaned up, and its Lumia 520 was the weapon of choice. Thurrott well describes the current low-ending of Windows Phone (bolding original): Almost no high-end phones are popular . Worldwide, only the Lumia 920 makes the top 10 list for usage among all Windows Phone handsets, and if you look just at Windows Phone 8 handsets, only two high-end devices make the list: The Lumia 920 and the 925. In the US, there are three: The Lumia 920, 928, and 1020. All the rest are new low-end devices or old devices. The Lumia 1520 phablet doesn’t appear anywhere in this report. What this means is that the sales momentum that Windows Phone has comes at the cost of per-unit revenue. Margin pressure increases at lower price points. The list of sacrifices that had to be made to produce the Lumia 520 is not small . So, as we tally what could be the final month in which Nokia rules Windows Phone, it’s important to note that rising unit volume has come at a cost. The Lumia 1020 is a hit among a subset of the technology elite, but perhaps few else. Can you build a mobile empire on predominantly low-end phones? Apple managed the opposite, so perhaps this, too, is possible.

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Nokia Closes Out 2013 With 92% Of The Windows Phone Market

Partnership With Chinese App Store Shines A Light On The Hidden World Of Jailbreak Groups

Jailbreak releases for new iOS products are major events. In the early years, release teams would celebrate major holidays with a new jailbreak or SIM unlock and millions of anxious users would rush for the latest software. Much has stayed the same – the excitement, the rush to jailbreak. But something has changed: jailbreaks have become big business. Take Evasi0n, for example . After launching an iOS 7 jailbreak users found that, on computers with the language set to Chinese, the program automatically installed a program called TaiG (Tai-Gi or Tai Chi). This Chinese app store offered Chinese-language apps but a little something extra, as well: pages and pages of cracked, pirated games. The group made “around a million dollars” in placement fees for adding TaiG to Chinese iPhones. While the actual number is currently unknown, my source explained that the rumors were true and that the fee was well within that “order of magnitude.” The Evasi0n team , for their part, responded online to allegations that they had been paid to put pirated app stores on users’ phones. Yes, we have benefitted financially from our work, just as many others in the jailbreak community have, including tweak developers, repo owners, etc. Any jailbreak from us will always be free to the users but we believe we have a right to be compensated in an ethical way, just as any other developer. However, the interests of the community will always be the most important thing to us. When releasing the jailbreak, we pledged all our donations to foundations supporting the interests of the community. We are deeply upset at how we have inadvertently distressed the community and we are focused on fixing it. “We are very upset that despite our agreement and review by their team, piracy was found in the store. It was not acceptable and they have been strenuously working to resolve the problem in good faith, and have removed all instances of it that we have brought to their attention,” they wrote. “The jailbreak works and people should use it,” said Jay Freeman aka saurik , creator of Cydia , a popular “feature store” that allows users to shop for tweaks and updates to their iPhone’s OS. “The thing that bugs me [about TaiG] is there’s tons of piracy in it. We’re not about piracy. It used to be that if you wanted to pirate you did have to jailbreak. That’s no longer the case. But people still look at us we’re those pirate assholes,” said Freeman. Jailbreaking is a business now. Saurik himself makes a living off of having his app installed on jailbroken phones and the Evasi0n team, among others, make money selling space in their apps. In short, things have come a long way since the lone hacker spent time cracking iOS in his spare time. What does the TaiG partnership mean? Very little, in the long run. Even George Hotz aka Geohot, a well-known early iPhone jail breaker, attempted to sell his own jailbreak technique to unidentified buyers for $350,000 to a commercial customer. In the end, Evasi0n released theirs for free, heading potential for-pay jail breakers off at the pass. That they made money for adding TaiG, in fact, should be immaterial. That the TaiG app store contains pirated material, however, is another matter entirely. Now that jailbreaking is a business, people want to get paid, but not this way. “They do good work and I think they deserve money for it,” said Freeman.

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Partnership With Chinese App Store Shines A Light On The Hidden World Of Jailbreak Groups

Apple’s New Mac Pro Goes On Sale Dec. 19 Online And In Retail Starting At $2,999

Apple has just announced that its new Mac Pro computer , featuring that signature ‘Darth Vader’ design, will be available for sale starting tomorrow, Thursday Dec. 19 beginning at $2,999. There’s another version with better specs for $3,999, and a number of custom order options that will vary the prices upwards from there. Orders kick off tomorrow online through Apple’s official web-based store, as well as in retail stores and at authorized resellers, according to Apple’s official announcement, so conceivably we could see the first customers actually take theirs home tomorrow, though it’s much more likely that orders will kick off first with stock arriving at locations gradually over the next few days. The $2,999 configuration of the Mac Pro features a 3.7GHz quad-core Intel Xeon E5 processor, not one but two AMD FirePro D500 workstation GPUs with 2GB of dedicated RAM per unit, 12GB of system RAM and a 256 flash storage module. The $3,999 version boosts the processor to a 3.5GHz six-core version, provides 3GB of dedicated RAM to each of those workstation GPUs, 16GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage. Custom configurations allow for 8- or 12-core processors, AMD FirePro D700 GPUs with 6GB of RAM, a maximum of 64GB of system memory and up to 1TB of flash storage. Apple first revealed the new Mac Pro back in June at its annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference. The sleek black cylindrical unity is assembled in the U.S., and features a design that maximizes cooling through a jet turbine-like system that funnels air through the top opening. It features an all-black aluminum enclosure, and comes in at under 10 inches tall. It dramatically reduces its size versus the previous version, and to do that, moves the modularity outside of the case thanks to six Thunderbolt 2 ports, as well as four USB 3.0 connections on the back. It can power up to three 4k displays, too, and also features two Gigabit Ethernet jacks and an HDMI 1.4 UltraHD out. At Apple’s special event in October, we got the chance to go hands-on with the new Mac Pro , and found it to be incredibly silent while working, despite the amount of power contained under the hood. It features a number of impressive details like the back panel that automatically lights up when it detects the computer is being moved to help you see which ports are which, especially handy if you’re working in a darkened studio. IMG_0117 IMG_0116 IMG_0115 IMG_0114 IMG_0126 IMG_0125 IMG_0124 IMG_0123 IMG_0122 IMG_0121 IMG_0120 IMG_0119 IMG_0118 IMG_0079 IMG_0077 IMG_0075 IMG_0074 IMG_0073   View Slideshow Previous Next Exit The price range of this new Mac Pro means that as its name implies, it’ll likely be most sought after by working pros who’ve been clinging to their aging silver aluminum models and holding out for something more, but it’s a device that shows Apple is still invested in its longtime bedrock of creative professionals. It’s also a demonstration device in terms of showcasing Apple’s hardware engineering, and a way for Apple to highlight its efforts to bring at least part of its manufacturing and assembly chain back home to the U.S. It’s definitely a machine we’re eager to test more extensively, and we’ll report back once we do.

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Apple’s New Mac Pro Goes On Sale Dec. 19 Online And In Retail Starting At $2,999

UK Home Office Clarifies Rules Against 3D Printed Guns

The UK Home Office has clarified the rules against 3D printed guns, finally stating unequivocally that 3D-printed firearms are prohibited under the Firearms Act 1968. According to an informational release, it is an “offence for an individual to possess, purchase or acquire any component part of a firearm without a certificate.” 3D printed guns have yet to be officially criminalized in the US but it is increasingly harder to find and download the plans to the first 3D-printed gun, the Liberator from Defense Distributed. In fact, this original zip-gun style 3D model has been eclipsed by a real, fireable pistol made entirely out of metal and 3D printed using laser sintering . Regardless, the average consumer is miles away from being able to print a real gun at home, but that hasn’t stopped the UK authorities from fully outlawing the practice. The release states: [blockquote]The manufacture, purchase, sale and possession of 3D printed firearms, ammunition or their component parts is fully captured by the provisions in section 57(1) of the Firearms Act 1968. The definition of firearm in the Act includes any component parts. 3D printed firearms are subject to strict control in the following respects: a. under section 1 of the 1968 Act, it is an offence for an individual to possess, purchase or acquire any component part of a firearm without a certificate; b. under section 3 of the 1968 Act, it is an offence for a person to manufacture or possess for sale a component part of a firearm acting by way of trade or business; and c. under section 5 of the 1968 Act, it is an offence for a person to manufacture, possess, purchase, sell, transfer or acquire a component part of a prohibited weapon without the authority of the Secretary of State for the Home Department or by Scottish Ministers in Scotland. [/blockquote] Considering the possible threat from 3D printed guns is approximately zero, it’s brave of the UK Home Office to get out in front of the problem. In fact I’d wager that the moment 3D metal sintering becomes an amateur pursuit we will have far more societal problems to deal with than 3D-printed pop guns. via 3Ders

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UK Home Office Clarifies Rules Against 3D Printed Guns

Facebook Admits To Limiting ‘Organic Reach’ In Favor Of Paid Ads

This isn’t anything new for most of us, but it is the first time that Facebook has openly admitted to it (that I’ve noticed anyway). According to a story by Ad Age , a leaked document which was basically a 3-page sales deck outlined that Facebook expects “organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline over time” and marketers are told they should consider paid distribution “to maximize delivery of your message in news feed.” We here at Kosher Metal have noticed for a while now that our posts get seen by an average of about about 2% – 10% of our total number of fans/followers. It is highly frustrating to say the least. Needless to say, if you got here from a Facebook link then we highly recommend that you subscribe to the blog so you can stay updated on all the Metal news, videos, etc. that we post. If you are on Facebook and don’t like our page then do us a solid and do that here . We, the bands and pages who are on Facebook need to get more creative (in a non-spammy way) when it comes to utilizing Facebook as a guerrilla marketing and promotion tool. It’s not time to give up….just time to start thinking about how to be more engaging and stand out from the rest. You can read the full story on the “leaked document” here .  

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Facebook Admits To Limiting ‘Organic Reach’ In Favor Of Paid Ads