usa – Page 15 – Ken May

This $300 cybernetic arm gets its smarts from your cellphone

Iron Man isn’t the only one 3D-printing artificial limbs these days. But unlike the mechanical hand delivered by Robert Downey Jr, this recently unveiled prosthetic from Japanese manufacturer Exiii costs just $300 and leverages your mobile device’s computing power to act just like the real thing. The Ghost in the Shell future we’ve between waiting for came took a step closer to reality. The Handiii bionic limb’s exterior is completely 3D-printed. This not only keeps each unit’s initial production costs low (it’s already dropped $50 since we last saw it at Maker Faire Tokyo ), the technique also makes fabricating replacement parts faster and easier as well. But despite its bargain-basement price, the Handiii is packed with electronics. An EMG sensor detects electrical impulses emanating from the user’s remaining limb stump and converts those impulses into physical movement through a series of servos. What’s more, it connects wirelessly to your cell phone or tablet using the mobile device’s CPU to interpret these signals and initiate movement. Unfortunately, there’s already a waiting list for these handy devices, partly due to a backlog of existing orders. Its creators are also focusing on getting these arms into the hands of academic and industrial researchers — potentially as an open-source platform — before beginning deliveries to the general public. Filed under: Wearables , Science Comments Via: TechCrunch Source: Exiii.jp

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This $300 cybernetic arm gets its smarts from your cellphone

Facebook wants to save you a click by hosting other sites’ content

As if Facebook couldn’t get any bigger , it’s looking like The Social Network wants to start natively hosting content from news organizations. As The New York Times ‘ sources tell it, Zuckerberg and Co. have been in talks with at least six media companies about publishing their content directly on the site — no link-clicking required. The initial round of publications apparently includes The New York Times , Buzzfeed , National Geographic and our sister publication The Huffington Post . The reason? Websites take too long to load, and Facebook says that on mobile, the average eight-second page-load takes too long. The ourfit has a vested interest in mobile , hence it stepping in. Some of that load-time comes from advertisements, of course, which is how publications keep the lights on. From what the NYT says, it doesn’t seem like this pitch is going over too well, and probably for good reason. Facebook hasn’t exactly established much of a revenue (or traffic-data) sharing precedent, and at this stage, the whole deal looks very one-sided: Users stay on Facebook longer while news organizations sacrifice audience info and advertising income in exchange for eyeballs on its content. The argument here is that it could help a story get more views because, like its native video posts , these news stories would gain favor in the social media juggernaut’s curated news feed . Whether that’ll balance out for publications in the long run is anyone’s guess at this point. [Image credit: Alamy] My quote has gone viral but is being stolen by others. Read the original piece here http://t.co/7jrNn8XHcN pic.twitter.com/aO2dO25T55 – Tom Goodwin (@tomfgoodwin) March 21, 2015 Filed under: Internet , Mobile , Facebook Comments Source: The New York TImes

Light-emitting fabrics could reinvent your ’90s wardrobe

Researchers who are obviously Saved by the Bell fans have developed clothing fibers that could turn you into a walking neon sign. Rather than OLED or LCD tech, the team exploited polymer light-emitting electrochemical cells (PLECs) that are rugged enough to be used in fabrics. They created a millimeter-sized fiber that’s decidedly high-tech — it consists of a thin steel wire coated with nanoparticles and an electroluminescent polymer, topped by a transparent carbon nanotube outer layer. A prototype fabric glowed for several hours, but so far, the light colors are limited to blue and yellow. However, PLEC tech has a theoretical life span of thousands of hours, and more colors are technically possible. The fibers could feasibly “be woven into light-emitting clothes for the creation of smart fabrics” or used for biomedical applications, according to lead scientist Zhitao Zhang from Shanghai’s Fudan University. However, there are a few hurdles to clear. The fibers are too short to be woven into clothing and, like your old Christmas tree lights, are still too unstable. On the other hand, they require less power than LEDs and are transparent and conductive — meaning they have potential to be used for human- or solar-powered wearables. We could also see them in future invisibility cloaks if combined with tiny cameras. For now, it’s just a rough prototype, but display tech often goes from concept to reality a lot faster than other scientific pipe dreams . Filed under: Wearables , Science , Alt Comments Via: Spectrum IEEE Source: Nature

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Light-emitting fabrics could reinvent your ’90s wardrobe

There’s now a super-speed PCIe SSD you can actually buy

Samsung has taken a commanding lead in next-gen SSDs that blow away old-school models , but it finally has some competition. Kingston’s HyperX Predator PCIe SSD is now available with read speeds touching 1.4GB/s. That’s still a far cry from Samsung’s latest SM951 SSD , which reads at a ridiculous 2.2GB/s. But unlike Samsung’s OEM-only model, you can actually purchase the Predator PCIe and jam it into your own PC build or laptop. You’ll need an M.2 SSD slot to do so (preferably with four PCIe lanes), but if that’s missing, Kingston will supply a PCIe slot adapter for an extra ten bucks or so. Write speeds run at 1GB/s, and random read/write IOPS are a scorching 130, 000/118, 000 random. For that, your wallet will also get scorched: it’s around $460 for the 480GB model ($230 for 240GB), or nearly double a regular HyperX 480GB SATA III drive. But that matches the price of Samsung’s similar XP941 model , and prices will likely fall quickly now that there’s some competition. Anyway, the performance is also more than double, and you can’t put a price on bragging rights . Filed under: Storage Comments Via: Tom’s Hardware Source: Kingston

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There’s now a super-speed PCIe SSD you can actually buy

Packing peanuts are the key to fast-charging batteries

Hate buying some new gadget, only to wind up with a sea of packing peanuts that do little more than spill on to the floor? Don’t be too quick to toss them out — they may be the key to a new generation of lithium-ion batteries. Purdue University researchers have developed a heating process that converts these shipping leftovers into anodes (where lithium ions are stored during charging) made from carbon. On top of eliminating waste, this technique should lead to batteries that recharge much faster. The carbon anodes are only a tenth as thick as their commercially available counterparts, so they don’t produce nearly as much electrical resistance. There’s still some refinement necessary before you’re buying peanut-powered devices, mostly in terms of capacity. Lab samples last for a respectable 300 charging cycles without losing capacity, but you’d need more for hardware that’s going to be used for years. However, the approach is already practical: it’s cheap, simple and easy to implement on a large scale. It won’t be at all shocking if you can one day buy a quick-charging phone and send the packing foam back to help make more phones, rather than throwing it in the trash. [Image credit: Joey Yee, Flickr ] Filed under: Science Comments Source: Purdue University (Phys.org)

Pakistan orders cellphone users to provide their fingerprints

Pakistan is determined to prevent terrorists from using untraceable cellphone accounts to coordinate attacks like that in Peshawar , even if it means eroding civil liberties in the process. The country has ordered cellphone users to have their SIM cards verified through fingerprints, theoretically discouraging extremists from relying on local carriers to communicate or trigger bombs. People have until April 13th (carriers have to comply by April 15th) to get their digits on the record if they want to keep their cell service intact. It’s questionable as to whether or not the sacrifices will be worthwhile. Terrorists may simply turn to SIM cards from other countries and roam on Pakistani networks when necessary; in fact, people living near the Afghanistan border are already more likely to have foreign service. Also, the sheer scale of the fingerprint program could leave many upstanding people in the lurch. There are roughly 50 million SIM cards that haven’t been registered so far, many of them in rural areas where participation is difficult. And even if Pakistan makes the deadline, that’s not exactly a resounding victory — it still means that tens of millions of residents are losing some of the freedom that comes with anonymity. [Image credit: AP Photo/B.K. Bangash] Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile Comments Source: Washington Post , BBC

DC airport tries using face recognition to catch imposters

If you come to the US through Washington DC’s Dulles airport in the near future, don’t be surprised if Customs and Border Protection takes your snapshot before letting you through. The agency has confirmed to Motherboard that it will be testing a facial recognition system which captures a photo and compares it against your passport picture to see if you’re an imposter. The relatively short (2 to 3 months) trial won’t rely solely on face detection to flag suspicious travelers, but it could give customs agents a way to double-check identities without relying so heavily on keen eyes and intuition. As you might guess, this government-backed face detection is raising a lot of privacy concerns. CBP won’t directly link photos to people and promises to delete the images once the experiment is over, but critics are worried that the timestamps would make it possible to link a person to a given portrait. Also, there’s no guarantee that a full-fledged program would be as respectful of your privacy as officials attest — the TSA misrepresented what its millimeter wave scanners could do, for example. While there’s no certainty this trial will prove successful, let alone lead to an Orwellian future for air travel, it’s easy to understand why you’d feel anxious. [Image credit: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images] Filed under: Transportation Comments Source: Motherboard

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DC airport tries using face recognition to catch imposters

Movie piracy app Popcorn Time thinks it can thwart a shutdown

About a year after Popcorn Time’s death and resurrection show , comes news that app is taking even more of the legwork out of watching pirated movies online. To further stretch the meaning of “legal, ” the service is moving to a peer-to-peer streaming system so that its userbase (which is apparently growing by 100, 000 downloads per day) hosts the requisite data, according to Wired . “Making all our data available via P2P will mean that Popcorn Time will no longer rely on domains and centralized servers, but only on its user base, ” an anonymous software engineer said. “After everything we went through, this will be our sweetest revenge and our biggest victory.” So there’s that. Wired says the application will use the same P2P protocol for streaming that BitTorrent does , so if the central servers are knocked offline the service itself should remain operational. Another forthcoming addition will issue software updates for the app via P2P downloads that take advantage of “cryptographic signatures” to ensure that no malicious code proliferates the community. The interview is a really interesting, but the engineer seems incredibly cavalier about what the app is doing and how long it can outrun the law. Reading through it reminded me a lot of the attitude the original Pirate Bay crew had before the shutdowns and litigation ensued. We all know how that turned out. Filed under: Home Entertainment , Internet , HD Comments Source: Wired

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Movie piracy app Popcorn Time thinks it can thwart a shutdown

Streaming music sales in the US beat CDs for the first time

Sorry, Taylor Swift , but streaming music isn’t going anywhere. In fact, revenues from streaming services like Spotify and Rdio overtook CD sales last year — a first for the music industry — according to data from the RIAA . Streaming sales hit $1.87 billion last year, a 29 percent jump from 2013, while CD revenues fell 12.7 percent reaching $1.85 billion. Naturally, digital downloads still rule the music realm — accounting for 37 percent of the total market and $2.57 billion in sales — but it’s also worth noting they dipped a bit last year. At this point, it’s not a matter of if streaming music will overtake digital downloads, it’s simply a matter of when . The big problem for artists, though, is that they don’t make as much from streaming services as they do from downloads or CDs (that’s basically Swift’s entire beef). Don’t be surprised if you end up paying more for your Spotify subscription at some point soon, as those services rush to ramp up their pay outs. Filed under: Internet Comments Via: CNET Source: RIAA

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Streaming music sales in the US beat CDs for the first time

Microsoft clarifies Windows 10 upgrade process for pirated copies

Yesterday, we heard that Microsoft planned to give people with pirated copies of its software a free way to upgrade to Windows 10. According to Reuters , Microsoft’s goal with this plan was to combat piracy in China, though the idea was to expand said offer beyond that country. Well, as it turns out, it won’t be that simple — and, frankly, is anyone really surprised? Microsoft tells The Verge that it will provide “a mechanism” for pirates to upgrade to the latest version of its OS , but they will have to go through the Windows Store in order to get a genuine (read: officially supported) upgrade. In other words, those with a non-genuine copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8 will have a way to get Windows 10, but there’s no confirmation that it will be at no cost. “We will provide a mechanism for non-genuine Windows 10 PC devices to ‘get genuine’ via the new Windows Store, whether they are upgraded versions of Windows or purchased.” Although Microsoft isn’t making the situation any easier to understand, a company spokesperson did tell The Verge that the upgrade practice described above “will be consistent globally.” Exactly what the process will be like is yet to be determined, but we’re sure the Redmond-based company is going to have more details to share on that front as we get closer to the launch of Windows 10 . Filed under: Desktops , Laptops , Software , Microsoft Comments Source: The Verge

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Microsoft clarifies Windows 10 upgrade process for pirated copies