Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On , a column about consumer technology. The last Switched On discussed how many of the Risks and Challenges sections of Kickstarter campaigns fail to portray an accurate picture of what might go wrong. This was true in the case of the Auris Wily. It, like many campaigns, used this section of the campaign page in the exact opposite way it should be used; they allay concerns about risks and challenges. If the Risks and Challenges section of Kickstarter campaigns reflected reality, they might include some of the following things you should keep in mind for any device project you back: The company could get sued out of existence for patent infringement or something else. The product may turn out to be impossible to make or cost so much to make that it exceeds the amount of funds raised. The product may unintentionally do something illegal. An explosion at the factory could wipe out production. The contract manufacturer could have lied about its capabilities. A critical component for the product could become unavailable. A defect could be found that makes the product unsafe or unusable. The app that the product requires could be denied by Apple or Google. A critical team member may get hit by a bus. The bus may be driven by another team member with whom there’s been a falling out. That apparently earnest guy humbly telling you “Here’s where you come in, ” in the slickly produced pitch video could take the money and vanish to a comfortable retirement in Chile where he feigns a humble existence driving a bus. And of course, even if the project creator delivers working products in a reasonable time frame, there’s no guarantee that it will be around to support the product long enough to honor any warranty, or that a competitor will not come out with something that does what its product does better at half the price. Given the extended gestation of many crowdfunded devices, that’s a genuine possibility. Now, the odds of many of these things happening are very low. But so are many of the risks detailed in S-1s. And both kinds do occur. Indeed, many, if not all, of these scenarios have occurred with products in their early days and certainly happened with Syre and Jorno . All project owners should not be painted with the cavalier brush. All project owners should not be painted with the cavalier brush. Here are some good risks articulated by the developers of the impressive Dash earbuds that have raised more than a million dollars and pack a completely wireless MP3 player and fitness aid into a set of headphones: “Due to the incredible small size of The Dash, we use miniature components. For some of these we only have a single supplier. Even though we have a close dialog with our suppliers, we are not in control of their actions. Every component is highly integrated into and optimized within the design, and an unforeseen component alteration can delay our launch. As Kickstarter continues to contemplate the best way to protect consumers, it should require that these kinds of real risk factors be disclosed universally. “The Dash has a complex Bluetooth setup that we have tested vigorously in our labs. We might encounter real life applications, where we cannot guarantee for the quality of operations. We will continue to improve our software throughout the launch to improve functionality.” The bottom line is that making a hardware product to be delivered on a mass scale is extremely difficult and even the most experienced and resourceful companies in the world occasionally fail in attempting it. As Kickstarter continues to contemplate the best way to protect consumers, it should require that these kinds of real risk factors be disclosed universally. And if the project creators won’t do it, it should be stated on the campaign page or pledge page or both. In the meantime, by all means we should continue to back the projects that we believe in. But like anyone giving money to a cause — be it a venture capitalist funding a startup or a pedestrian sizing up a street beggar — understand the risks, analyze the authenticity and accept that your investment may be squandered. Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research , a technology, media and telecom advisory firm, and founder of Backerjack , which covers crowdfunded product innovation. He blogs at Techspressive . Filed under: Misc Comments

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Switched On: Understanding crowdfunding’s caveats, part 2

Rearview mirrors aren’t always as useful as you might like — bright headlights, weather or a basketball team in the back seats can make it tough to see what’s behind you. None of those should be a problem once Nissan’s new Smart rearview mirror reaches cars, though. The peripheral blends a traditional mirror with both an LCD and a rear camera that compensates for bad lighting. Flick a switch and the camera system takes over, giving you a clear view of traffic no matter the road conditions. The smart mirror will first show up in the ZEOD RC Le Mans racer, and Nissan plans to make it an option for everyday cars starting with Japan this spring. Drivers worldwide will get it in 2015. That’s just the start of the automaker’s plans, however. Since the smart mirror is as effective as a large rear window, Nissan expects the technology to influence car design; you may see more aerodynamic vehicles now that there’s less need for glass. Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: SlashGear Source: Nissan

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Nissan’s camera-equipped rearview mirror provides a clear view in low light

With the runaway success of Candy Crush Saga , it’s perfectly natural to wonder just how many people are dropping coin in freemium mobile games. One firm’s answer, however, might surprise you. A very small number — 0.15 percent, to be exact — of total mobile payers contribute half of monthly in-game revenue, according to in-app marketing company Swrve . The outfit also says that over 60 percent of the money made within the first two weeks of a player’s life is made on the first day. Meaning, if most people install a game and don’t make any purchases almost immediately, they likely won’t at all. The report comes from a limited sample, but designers hoping to build the next fragile confection-like phenomenon are probably studying it for secrets right now. We’ve embedded the provided infographic after the break should you want a peek at a whole lot of graphs for yourself. Filed under: Cellphones , Gaming , Tablets , Mobile Comments Source: Swrve

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Report: Less than one percent of mobile gamers responsible for half of all in-app purchases

If you’ve been dreaming of a Tesla but can’t afford a Model S and its $70k+ sticker price (before tax credits), the company is announcing a major step towards building an electric vehicle in your price range. CEO Elon Musk has targeted 2017 for building a vehicle that costs half that , and has released details ( PDF ) of the “Gigafactory” he expects to have building batteries by then . The company predicts that by 2020, it will pump out more batteries alone than the world manufactured in 2013, keeping prices down while Tesla ramps up production on the unnamed “Gen III” vehicle. To do that, it’s raising $1.6 billion from a group of investors — rumors suggest Model S battery provider Panasonic could be in for as much as $1 billion — in a pair of bond offerings, with an option for an extra $240 million. The plant isn’t built yet of course, but Tesla has pointed out four southwestern states (Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada or Texas) as possible locations, ideal for its solar and wind renewable energy plans. The plant will lower costs by working on the raw materials, cells, modules and battery pack enclosures all in one place, employing as many as 6, 500 people. Check out some details about what the Gigafactory will look like: http://t.co/L90AIYv8R8 pic.twitter.com/i5mEwMjFKA – Tesla Motors (@TeslaMotors) February 26, 2014 Filed under: Transportation Comments Source: Gigafactory (PDF) , Tesla Motors Blog , Tesla 8-K Filing

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Tesla’s raising $1.6 billion to build its battery ‘Gigafactory’ and mass-market $35k car

One of the greatest benefits of Automatic’s Link driving assistant dongle is that it finally made it possible to hook your car’s metadata to the web. You could then use your smartphone to do things like track your trips, note your parking spot and even figure out your Check Engine light problem without going to a mechanic. Well today, it’s about to go one step further thanks to a partnership with IFTTT . IFTTT, if you’re unaware, is a service that hooks up a variety of apps and services together with a series of “If This, Then That” formulas. Now with Automatic, you can create recipes that’ll prompt an action once it detects certain information from your car. For example, you can set it so that you get a text message every time the car starts up, or send a push notification to your spouse whenever you’re running late. You can automatically post trip summaries to Facebook, tweet if you’re ever in an accident or keep track of your mileage in a dedicated Google Spreadsheet. It even works with other Internet connected hardware — a possible recipe is to turn on all your Philips Hue lights as soon as you get home. IFTTT’s Automatic channel already has a pretty healthy set of triggers, but Lljuba Miljkovi, Automatic’s chief product officer, tells us they’re hoping to build more around activities like speeding or braking hard. “We see this as a step toward Automatic really being connected to the wider world, ” says Miljkovi. “For example, we announced that the Link now has iBeacon thanks to a software update. We really see third party integration as a big thing in our future We’re making it possible to add your car to the Internet of Things .” If that sounds like an exciting proposition to you, head on over to the source to find out more about the Automatic Link, IFTTT and its plans for an even more connected car . Comments Source: Automatic , IFTTT

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Automatic Link driving assistant can now auto-post to Facebook, other apps

We know that it’s no longer rare to discover alien worlds, but NASA just made it downright commonplace. The space agency has confirmed the existence of 715 exoplanets discovered using the Kepler space telescope , ballooning the number of verified planets to nearly 1, 700. Scientists validated the huge number of celestial bodies by looking for targets in batches — the more objects were clustered together, the more likely it was that there would be multiple exoplanet candidates. The bonanza helps illustrate the frequency of planets among the stars, and it has also uncovered four more potentially habitable worlds. Researchers might not but much closer to finding the Holy Grail of a life-bearing planet, but they’ll at least know where to focus their attention. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Via: Space.com Source: NASA

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NASA discovers 715 alien planets by looking for them in groups

Several companies and organizations have already come forward to test out iOS7’s Bluetooth-based iBeacon technology for tasks like shopping and navigation , but it could become a lot more commonplace in the near future. That’s because the Cupertino company has quietly released the iBeacon specification for its Made for iPhone program, signifying a stronger push to make the technology more widespread. In essence, it ensures that any future product that bears the iBeacon logo will be fully compliant with Apple’s standards. What does this mean for you? Well, as a brief reminder, iBeacon is a location-based technology that allows iOS products to talk to each other using low-power Bluetooth signals. This means that whenever you see something with that iBeacon logo, you know it should work seamlessly with your iDevice. If we dare speculate, this could pave the way for a potential iWatch — it makes obvious sense for it to communicate with the iPhone using iBeacon. Indeed, now that Apple is showing signs it’s pushing the standard forward, we wonder if this is a not-so-subtle hint to developers to start incorporating iBeacon into their apps. As rumors of an Apple wearable heats up, we think that’s certainly more likely than not. Filed under: Mobile , Apple Comments Source: 9to5Mac , Beekn

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Apple formalizes iBeacon Bluetooth spec in the hopes of wider adoption

It’s great to have speedy 802.11ac WiFi in a smartphone , but the technology doesn’t always live up to the promise; busy hotspots and walls often slow it down. They may not be as much of a problem once Broadcom’s new BCM4354 system-on-chip reaches handsets, though. It’s the first mobile part to combine 802.11ac with 2×2 MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) antennas, giving the wireless signal a more reliable path when there’s a lot of interference. In other words, you’re more likely to get close to the chip’s 867Mbps peak speed — Broadcom reckons that the hardware is up to twice as fast as a 1×1 MIMO design. Whether or not the BCM4354 is that quick in practice, you may not have to wait very long to try it out when the chip is already in production. Just who’s using it isn’t clear, but Samsung is boasting that the Galaxy S5 is the first smartphone to support 802.11ac with MIMO. We’ve reached out to Broadcom to check whether or not the 4354 is inside Samsung’s latest flagship, and we’ll let you know if it can confirm anything. Filed under: Cellphones , Networking , Mobile Comments Via: VentureBeat Source: Broadcom (1) , (2)

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Broadcom’s new 5G WiFi chip promises up to twice the real-world speed

Once a year, Samsung takes some of its best material and slaps it together into a premium flagship model called the Galaxy S. While 2014’s version — the S5 — came a bit earlier in the year than some earlier iterations, we’re no less excited to see it become the star of the show at Mobile World Congress. The new device will ship in April, although exact pricing and availability are still unknown. It features a refreshed design language, yet anyone who has used a GS phone recently will immediately recognize it as a Samsung flagship. Despite its familiar design, the GS5 has a few new useful hardware features, including a fingerprint scanner, heart rate sensor, and a toned-down TouchWiz UI on top of Android 4.4 KitKat. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all, however, was that Samsung didn’t overload its prized new smartphone with a heaping dose of new S-branded features. This is a marked departure from the company’s previous strategy of cramming in every software feature under the sun, which leads us to wonder if this is related to Samsung’s recent agreement to dial back the customization it does on Android devices. So what else is new here? Read on for a deeper dive. The new Galaxy retains the same 1080p Super AMOLED panel as the GS4 ; it’s just slightly larger, at 5.1 inches. With this in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the viewing experience is pretty much the same as its predecessor. Additionally, the GS5 comes with a swappable back cover, microSD slot and removable 2, 800mAh battery, which has a higher capacity than last year’s model. It’s also IP67-certified, which adds an element of water and dust resistance never before enjoyed by Galaxy S users (unless you count the GS4 Active , that is). As a result, the micro-USB 3.0 port at the bottom is protected by a tab that keeps water from getting inside. Samsung says the back of the GS5 is “leather-like, ” which basically means it’s a fancy-looking polycarbonate build. While the company already uses similar design language for the Galaxy Note 3 and Note 10.1 2014 edition , the look and feel is slightly different; it’s not quite as soft as the new Notes, and its small divots actually remind us of the original Nexus 7 . Though the sides have a metallic finish, company reps confirmed they’re actually made from a blend of polycarbonate and glass fiber. Still, we’re more confident of the durability here than we were with many of Samsung’s previous Galaxy phones. One of the biggest talking points for the GS5 is that new fingerprint scanner. It’s easy to see this as a response to Apple’s Touch ID implementation in the iPhone 5s , and while it’s hard to say if that was the primary motivation for the new feature, Apple’s not the only manufacturer to have integrated a fingerprint scanner, and we’re sure it won’t be the last. In this case, Samsung’s scanner, which works by swiping your finger down over the home button, has a few handy use cases. In addition to the obligatory phone unlock option, it also lets you fingerprint-protect a private data locker on your phone, in case you have confidential information you don’t want getting out there. Samsung also announced a partnership with PayPal which allows you to make online payments using the fingerprint method. Unfortunately, we’re still waiting to hear back on exactly how Samsung will implement security and privacy concerns with the scanner, so we’ll update you as soon as we know more details. The other major new hardware feature is the heart rate sensor, which is built into the same rear module as the LED flash. It works in conjunction with S-Health 3.0, which acts as a personal life coach of sorts. To monitor your pulse, hold your finger up to the sensor and leave it there while the phone does the rest of the work. As you continue to do this more often, S-Health remembers your history and even goes through the effort of graphing it and offering up other relevant information. It also acts as a pedometer and food monitor. Samsung plans to offer an open SDK for developers to incorporate the tech into their own apps. Of course, Samsung also put some emphasis on the camera as well. In this case, the GS5 comes with a 16-megapixel sensor that features UHD recording capability and real-time HDR (both photos and video) and a couple new modes that we’re excited to review. First, Samsung is introducing a selective focus feature that’s much like Nokia’s Refocus Lens, in which you can change the depth of field on an image after it’s taken. Additionally, it also has “Shot & More, ” which is essentially your standard suite of best photo, eraser and drama; the GS4 had the ability to do these modes, but the difficulty was in the fact that you had to know exactly which mode you wanted to use before taking the shot, whereas now you’ll be able to sort those details out after the shot is taken so you’re not wasting extra time. Lastly, there’s also a 2.1-megapixel camera on the front. The design philosophy behind this version of the Galaxy S involves a modern, glam look, and it even shows in the user interface. It’s still very much a TouchWiz device, but it has a much different appearance than previous versions. It seems to be less in-your-face (again, a likely consequence of Google’s intervention) with fewer tabs and menus. My Magazine is still around, but it’s now accessible by swiping from left to right, not down to up. The rest of the phone’s stats won’t come as any shock. The GS5 offers a top-of-the-line 2.5GHz Snapdragon 800 processor with 2GB of RAM, an IR remote, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 BLE/ANT+, Cat 4 LTE (up to 150Mbps down/50Mbps up) and your choice of 16GB or 32GB of internal storage; oddly, 64GB doesn’t appear to be an option, though you can add up to 64GB via a microSD card if needed. All told, it’s very much a run-of-the-mill Galaxy S flagship, but there are enough new hardware features and software tweaks to make it feel fresh. Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile Comments

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Samsung Galaxy S5 preview

If you caught our review of the YotaPhone at the end of last year, you’ll know we were cautious about recommending it — in fact, we said it was probably safer to hold out for a second-gen device. Well, here’s a surprise: that replacement is already at the prototype stage and it brings some big improvements that could undo many of the criticisms we leveled at the original. Most importantly, the rear E-Ink panel is now fully touch sensitive, which means you’ll be able to a lot more with this phone without ever needing to engage the traditional, power-hungry display on the other side. Calls, texts, emails, browsing, tweeting and more can be handled using the “always-on” 4.7-inch E-Ink display, with the only sacrifice being predictably slower refresh rates. Although we’ve been hands-on with a very early and fragile prototype, the physical improvements are immediately obvious. When you turn the phone over to its “normal” side, for example to watch video or use the camera, you’ll notice that the 720p LCD panel has been upgraded to a slightly bigger 5-inch, 1080p, AMOLED one. Android performance will also benefit from the inclusion of a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 instead of the old Snapdragon 600, and overall thickness has been reduced to 8.9mm (0.35 inches). Assuming that the price doesn’t soar much higher than the original’s 499 ($675), these are all very welcome changes. Unfortunately, it sounds like you still won’t be able to run the whole of Android (and all Android apps) on the E Ink side, despite the addition of full touch sensitivity. That’s a shame, because there are literally thousands of mainstream apps that could be put to good use in low-power mode (not least major e-book readers and music streamers). However, Yota Devices has a plan: It’s making its SDK open to everybody today, which should make it easier for developers to tweak their code to support the rear panel, and it says it’s still in talks with Google, Amazon and Barnes & Noble to make all those apps compatible. So, who knows? If they can get some of this support in place by the time this next-gen YotaPhone launches later in the year, we could be looking a drastically superior product. Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile Comments

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Dual-screen YotaPhone has a second shot at greatness