Tag: videos

August unveils a Homekit-enabled lock, keypad and doorbell camera

August Home Inc, makers of the August Smart Lock , announced the forthcoming release of three new products as well as a new service at a press event in San Francisco today. The new product lineup includes a second-generation Smart Lock, a Smart Keypad and a Smart Doorbell Camera. The lock itself offers a number of design improvements over its predecessor including a magnetic faceplate that won’t pop off every time you manually engage the lock as well as a stainless steel indicator on the lock sleeve. Plus, being Homekit-enabled, the new Smart Lock will allow users to issue voice commands through Siri rather than opening the app itself. It’s available for order today and will retail for $230. The older generation locks will be discounted to an even $200. The weather-proofed keypad will make granting temporary access to service providers (say, the delivery guy or your dog walker) much easier. Instead of forcing folks to download the August app just to use a one-time Bluetooth code, users will be able to program a 4 – 6 digit PIN into the keypad themselves and then share the code via text message or what-have-you. And, like the older shared BT codes, these PINs can be set to last for as many hours, days or uses as you’d like. The keypad will retail for $80 when it becomes available in the next few weeks. The Doorbell Cam is also weather-proofed, Wi-Fi enabled and pretty darn clever. It’s equipped with a standard motion detector but will also turn on the camera when it detects movement near the door. So instead of issuing a push notification every time a car drives past your house, the motion detector will also turn on the Wi-Fi camera (which is equipped with human-detection software) to ensure that the movement is actually a person standing on your stoop, not just parking at the curb. The camera will retail for $200. What’s more, the camera integrates with the rest of the August devices allowing you to remotely unlock your door for the delivery guy and record both him entering and exiting the residence. This ensures that he doesn’t swiped stuff from your house while dropping a package in the foyer. Plus, this way, you’ll never miss a delivery. The only drawback is that the camera is powered by your existing doorbell wiring so if you don’t have a doorbell already installed on your door (like me) you are SOL. Finally, August is expanding the scope of its temporary access system to allow services, not just individuals access to your door. “We’re announcing a new service that we call Access, ” August co-founder Jason Johnson told Engadget . “Probably the best way to describe it is, much like, new transportation apps like Uber helps consumers find service providers [in this case, drivers for hire – ed.] are in third party transportation logistics, we’re in third party service logistics. We help consumers find services that have integrated with our platform and we help them connect in a trusted and secure way.” The company announced 12 initial launch partners today including Sears, Postmates, Pro.com, Handy, Fetch, Shyp, BloomNation, Envoy, Rinse, HelloAlfred, Wag!, Pillow, and Doorman. Instead of having to give partial access to a delivery person every single time you order from Postmates, users will be able to grant access to Postmates the company. This may seem like a security issue however it’s not that far off from what many August users already do with trusted service partners like these. Plus, the lock maintains copious logs about who opened which August-locked door with which access code so tracking down the responsible party should your valuable go missing during a delivery will be a piece of cake.

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August unveils a Homekit-enabled lock, keypad and doorbell camera

Facebook’s ‘On This Day’ feature has controls to filter out sad times

Facebook’s On This Day tool is a nice feature when it recalls good times that may have slipped your mind. It has a tendency to bring up events and people that you might prefer to forget, though, and the social network added preferences to curtail the sadness. On This Day now has controls that’ll let you filter out specific people and dates so the feature doesn’t remind you of those bits of nostalgia you’d rather not revisit. Facebook has come under fire for toying with our emotions and digging up the past before, and there’s already been some criticism of On This Day since it launched in March. By adding preferences, Zuckerberg & Co. are offering a way to keep those bad memories at bay. It’s a nice touch, since you never know exactly when the memory machine will pop up in your News Feed. If you’ve noticed On This Day posts there, the new controls should be available for you to tweak. Via: The Verge

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Facebook’s ‘On This Day’ feature has controls to filter out sad times

Adobe and Dropbox make it easier to edit PDFs from the cloud

Dropbox got cozy with Microsoft Office back in the spring, offering a way to easily edit files stored in its cloud-based repository. Now, Dropbox is getting friendly with Adobe Document Cloud, too. More specifically, the company is playing nice with Adobe Acrobat DC and Acrobat Reader to serve up quick and easy access to edit PDF documents . Once you connect your Dropbox account with the Adobe apps, you’ll be able to pull in files without leaving the app. What’s more, when you’re browsing files in Dropbox, you’ll have the option to open a PDF in the appropriate Adobe app to edit, e-sign, comment and markup the file as needed. And as you might expect, no matter how you open the document or which device you’re using, everything automatically syncs in Dropbox across desktop and mobile. PDFs are by far the most common file format stored with the could-driven storage service, and now its improving the workflow for power users. The new functionality goes live on the desktop today with iOS integration arriving “in the coming months.” Android users can expect to employ the PDF-editing workflow next year. Slideshow-328120

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Adobe and Dropbox make it easier to edit PDFs from the cloud

DNA nanomachine detects HIV antibodies in minutes, not hours

Current methods for detecting the antibodies that indicate HIV infection are agonizingly slow and cumbersome. However a new DNA nanomachine developed by an international team of researchers (and funded, in part, by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) could shorten the process to a matter of minutes. The DNA-based nanomachine is designed and synthesized to recognize and bind with a specific target antibody, even within biologically-dense and complex samples like blood. When these “machines” do bind with the target antibody, the joining causes a structural change that generates a little burst of light. A test that used to require hours of careful, complex and downright expensive prep-work could now take as little as five minutes. And the sooner that doctors are aware of the infection, the sooner they can start treating it . What’s more, these nanomachines can easily be customized to detect a wide variety of antibodies. “Our modular platform provides significant advantages over existing methods for the detection of antibodies, ” Prof. Vallée-Bélisle of the University of Montreal, a senior co-author of the paper, said in a statement. “It is rapid, does not require reagent chemicals, and may prove to be useful in a range of different applications such as point-of-care diagnostics and bioimaging.” The team hopes to further develop the technology, making the signals even easier to detect. “For example, we could adapt our platform so that the signal of the nanoswitch may be read using a mobile phone , ” Simona Ranallo, University of Rome PhD student and first-author of the paper, said in a statement. “This will make our approach really available to anyone! We are working on this idea and we would like to start involving diagnostic companies.” [Image Credit: lede – LightRocket via Getty Images, inline – Marco Tripodi] Source: University of Montreal

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DNA nanomachine detects HIV antibodies in minutes, not hours

This video proves China has the most insane traffic jams on Earth

“This is what happens when people come back from vacation in China and try to get into Beijing. And you thought your puny traffic jams were crazy.” (more…)

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This video proves China has the most insane traffic jams on Earth

These 8K displays may end up on your next tablet

Most of us have barely touched 4K content, but the keen folks in Japan are already showing off some 8K displays, and we’re not just talking about those of conventional TV sizes. At CEATEC, NHK brought along three upcoming 8K panels that may end up on future tablets, laptops and monitors. These include JDI’s 17.3-inch LCD that was just announced last week, as well as Ortus’ insanely sharp 9.6-inch LCD (that’s a whopping 915 dpi!) from May, and Sharp/SEL’s 13.3-inch OLED display. Even though the OLED panel was unveiled back in June last year, it’s still by far the best 8K display out of the three; it’s as if you’re looking into another world, thanks to the combination of high contrast, strong vibrancy plus insanely sharp resolution. Alas, there’s no launch date for any of these just yet, but a spokesperson from NHK hopes to see these come out before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which will be broadcast in 8K .

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These 8K displays may end up on your next tablet

Windows 10 is now installed on 110 million devices

With Windows 10 being a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8 users, it’s no surprise that many have jumped at the chance to see what Microsoft’s latest OS has to offer . In fact, only a day after its release, the company counted 14 million installs , which sky-rocketed to 75 million less than a month after that. At the “Windows 10 devices” event today, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson provided a brief update, announcing that figure has now reached a whopping 110 million. That’s quite the number, especially considering Windows 10 has only been out for around 10 weeks . The overwhelming majority of installs are coming from regular consumers, too, with just over 8 million attributed to business PCs. Get all the news from today’s Microsoft event right here .

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Windows 10 is now installed on 110 million devices

Android Marshmallow begins rolling out to Nexus devices today

As expected , Nexus owners are in for a treat this week as Google’s latest OS revisions begins rolling out to select devices. According to a post on the Official Android Blog , the Nexus 5, 6, 7 (the 2013 model), 9 and Player are all in line to receive the over-the-air software update starting today. The newly released Nexus 5x and 6P handsets, of course, come with Marshmallow already installed. [Image Credit: Shutterstock] Source: Android Blog

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Android Marshmallow begins rolling out to Nexus devices today

Adobe’s ‘core’ design apps are now all touch-friendly on Windows

When the Surface Pro 3 was announced last spring, Adobe revealed that it was working on touch-friendly versions of its design apps for Windows. At today’s Max event , the company announced that its collection “core” apps are ready to accept your swipes and taps on compatible devices, like Microsoft’s slate, with new Touch Workspaces. Photoshop and Illustrator already had some touch-based features, but now there’s an expanded software lineup that’ll let you get hands-on with your work across audio, video, motion graphics and graphic design projects. This means that Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects and Audition all accept input with your fingers, in addition the regular ol’ keyboard, trackpad or stylus. And Photoshop’s finger-friendly tools have been revamped to improve performance. Adobe’s timing couldn’t be better either, as Microsoft is poised to announce some new devices in a matter of hours. Source: Adobe

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Adobe’s ‘core’ design apps are now all touch-friendly on Windows

Daimler tests a self-driving, mass-produced truck on real roads

Daimler’s dreams of self-driving big rig trucks just took one step closer to reality. The automaker has conducted the first-ever test of its semi-autonomous Highway Pilot system in a production truck on a public road, driving an augmented Mercedes-Benz Actros down Germany’s Autobahn 8. While the vehicle needed a crew to keep watch, it could steer itself down the highway using a combination of radar, a stereo camera array and off-the-shelf systems like adaptive cruise control. The dry run shows that the technology can work on just about any vehicle in the real world, not just one-off concepts. This doesn’t mean you’ll see fleets of robotic trucks in the near future. Daimler had to get permission for this run, and the law (whether European or otherwise) still isn’t equipped to permit regular autonomous driving of any sort, let alone for giant cargo haulers. Still, this could make a better case for approving some form of self-driving transportation. Even though there’s still plenty of work left before this tech can handle any situation, it’s good enough that it can be trusted in run-of-the-mill vehicles at high speeds. Source: Daimler

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Daimler tests a self-driving, mass-produced truck on real roads