December 9, 2013
Written by Dave Mark
New capacitive sensing technique brings the concept of gesture detection into the real world.
Touché is a form of capacitive touch sensing, the same principle underlying the types of touchscreens used in most smartphones.
But instead of sensing electrical signals at a single frequency, like the typical touchscreen, Touché monitors capacitive signals across a broad range of frequencies.
This Swept Frequency Capacitive Sensing (SFCS) makes it possible to not only detect a “touch event,” but to recognize complex configurations of the hand or body that is doing the touching. An object thus could sense how it is being touched, or might sense the body configuration of the person doing the touching.
Watch the video to get a sense of the applications for this tech. For example, you might grasp a door handle in one way to leave a “do not disturb” message, another way to leave a “back in 5 minutes” message. The video offers a thoughtful peek at this world. Seems like the tip of the iceberg. Great stuff.
Want to learn how to program? Code.org is organizing a world-wide campaign to get people started with programming. Apple Stores are offering a free one hour Introduction to Computer Science course as their part of the campaign. From Apple’s web site:
It’s a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anyone can learn the basics of programming. “The ability to code and understand the power of computing is crucial to success in today’s hyper-connected world,” says former Vice President Al Gore. Apple Retail Stores will also host one-hour workshops for children and teens throughout the United States on Dec. 11.
December 11th is this Wednesday. Here’s the Apple Store locator link. Find your nearest store, then go to the store page and look for “The Hour of Code Youth Workshop” or scroll down and find events on Wednesday, December 11th.
Spread the word.
December 8, 2013
Written by Shawn King
Bored Panda:
Advertising doesn’t try very hard to conform to moral standards, but after looking back at some offensive, racist and sexist vintage ads – today’s ads are as good as gold.
I hate the vast majority of today’s advertising as much as the next person but ads like “Is It Always Illegal To Kill A Woman?” just make me shake my head in wonderment.
Written by Shawn King
Hypervocal:
2012 was a tough year to top in the unintentionally amusing world of live local news. Between the lady who flashed her boobs at the vacuum cleaner man, Jay Z’s sister interrupting a live newscast and the weatherman aroused by “moisture from John,” you wouldn’t be wrong to think we’d peaked.You would be wrong. Live local news brought the goods this year.
We all know that, for the most part, our local news sucks. I’ve watched it for years all over Canada and the US and generally, the quality is pretty awful But luckily, it delvers some gems like these.
This guy suffered a compression fracture of the T12 vertebra, 5 stitches to the eye, 6 stitches to the chin, severely sprained back, wrist and hand. multiple bruised areas. But he lived!
Cliff Strike 11/24/2013 from Subterminallyill on Vimeo.
Multi-Grammy award-winning artist LeAnn Rimes just released the new video for “Gasoline and Matches,” a single from her latest album, Spitfire. The video for the song, which also features Rob Thomas and Jeff Beck, was shot entirely on an iPhone, according to Rimes.
“Using the iPhone camera for the stop motion video made it easy, affordable and portable for us—because of time factors,” said Darrell Brown, the Co-Producer of the record and video. “I had to get Ian to Dublin to film LeAnn while she was there. I had to get Ian to New York State to film Rob. It was so easy to lug around three iPhones instead of other heavy gear. iPhone to film, IPhone for playback of song and iPhone to document the fun.”
[wpvideo kaGjIX9U]
Ian Padgham, the Director and Co-Producer, explained that he filled up a sketchbook of ideas for Rimes and Thomas before he even started shooting. He then set out taking the more than 8,000 pictures that were needed to produce the stop animation found in the video.
“It was such a cool experience, hanging out with them and shooting their video on my iPhone,” said Padgham. I wanted to do a scene with Rob blowing out a light for part of the song so I attached my iPhone to a stand in his back yard and filmed him do a bunch of scenes. Such a unique chance to do something different with truly wonderful artists.
Rimes said that she has wanted to record something with Rob Thomas for a long time and she’s very happy with the way things turned out.
“To create a video with my friends Rob, Jeff and Darrell was going to be fun,” said Rimes. “When we added Ian (the director) to the mix my expectations were blown away. I am so happy we made and shot the video this way!”
You can buy LeAnn’s new album, Spitfire on iTunes.
Amazing that this was allowed to happen. Watch right around 7 seconds in as the lone fan pops onto the screen. No one realizes he is there. Reminded me of Andy Samburg in “Andy popping into frame”.
I’m a sucker for this sort of trick. If you do try this at home, don’t blame me for any messes. But do post a comment if you get this to work.
The Copenhagen Wheel replaces your existing rear bicycle wheel to give your bike power assist and regenerative braking. It’s got built-in wifi, making it all tunable via a real time iPhone app. There’s even an SDK for developers.
I love great bike tech. This is a little pricy at $799, but I can see the value for commuters who face a lot of hills on their rides. You can preorder the Copenhagen Wheel from superpedestrian.com at $699 for a limited time. Watch the video to get the whole concept.
Written by Dave Mark
This is a big milestone for the US App Store. Worldwide apps hit one million in October.
December 7, 2013
Someone’s getting a punch in the face.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
An interesting take on a tasks app with lots of filtering options.
I hit the Siri button by mistake last night and before she could react, I yelled at her. Monique asked me who I was yelling at and I said Siri—that’s why the name shows up twice. Siri’s pretty smart.
Last night I posted a link outlining my annoyance with being bothered by apps that prompt—some would say nag—users to “Rate the App.” I received quite a few tweets and emails from developers explaining why they do it.
For instance, these tweets from Wil Shipley, a developer I have a lot of respect for:
We got REALLY boned with negative reviews until we added a “please rate” pane, which I hated having to do.
Went from 3-ish stars to 4.75-ish stars in one week, though. That’s life or death for a company like mine.
As long as the App Store has this much power, and ratings especially, we need to encourage positive reviews.
I think what bothers me is that the popup reminder to rate the app takes me away from what I’m trying to do. And if I do rate the app, it continues to ask me to rate the app. That’s annoying.
There has to be a better solution from Apple to encourage users to rate apps that works for everyone. Users should rate apps and give feedback to the developers so they can make the app better for everyone.
As with most things in life, there are two sides to every story.
Three deer were stranded on the ice of Minnesota’s Albert Lea lake. MedCity workers used a hovercraft to cross the ice, wrangle the deer, and slide them back to safety, all captured using iMovie and a GoPro Hero.
Up to this point, software has only been eligible for limited patent protection. The general thinking is that abstract concepts cannot be patented. The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear the case Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International.
From the SCOTUS Blog:
Alice International, an Australian company that is half-owned by the National Australia Bank Ltd., obtained patent protection on a method invented by its founder, Ian Shepherd, for exchanging financial instruments, with the aim of assuring that, when two parties have agreed to an exchange of currency or other financial goods, they actually deliver on the deal. Because such agreements are often delayed at least a few days in implementation, there is a risk that one side won’t live up to the agreement. The invented program works out a settlement arrangement to determine which side is obliged to deliver. It generates instructions to the institutions involved to carry out their agreement.
Decisions that affect the degree to which software can be patentable can have far reaching implications. Companies like Google and Netflix fall on one side, favoring looser protections, while others, such as IBM, favor more protections. As you’d expect, the Electronic Frontier Foundation opposes the current system, claiming:
Patents may have been created to help encourage innovation, but instead they regularly hinder it. The US Patent Office, overwhelmed and underfunded, issues questionable patents every day. “Patent trolls” buy too many of these patents and then misuse the patent system to shake down companies big and small. Others still use patents to limit competition and impede access to new knowledge, tools, or other innovations.
Interesting case.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Looks like a pretty good deal.
Written by Dave Mark
If bright and dazzling is your thing, these cases definitely bring the bling. If you need a visual cue, either as a hearing assist or an alternative to an audio alert, this might be just the thing.
The iCella 5 series flashing case covers the iPhone flash with a diffuser that sends the light bouncing throughout the case. Follow the headline link for an animated GIF. The case makes use of the iOS accessibility option that enables the flash for alerts (Settings > General > Accessibility > LED Flash for Alerts).
Not clear how this case impacts the flash when you take a picture, but it’s certainly an option to consider if you have the need or will be attending a holiday party this year and do a mean Ron Burgundy impression.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Thanks to Doxie for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS this week. Go paperless with Doxie – tiny and beautifully designed mobile scanners that scan everything, starting at just $149.
Doxie scans your paper: simply and automatically. Battery power and built-in memory means you can scan anywhere, then tuck Doxie away when you’re not using it. Once you’ve scanned everything, Doxie’s included Mac software makes organizing it all easy. Save, share, create searchable PDFs, and send to the cloud.
The Loop readers get free U.S. shipping and Guaranteed Christmas Delivery for all orders placed through December 19th. Order your Doxie today and give the gift of paperless.
Written by Shawn King
McLaren P1 vs. the Nürburgring-Nordschleife:
V/O: “The world’s most challenging racetrack. 154 bends. 20.83 kilometres. Too dangerous for Formula 1.
As Thomas von Hassel said on Twitter, “Oh good Lord – that noise.”
Written by Jim Dalrymple
I am in no way a good photographer, but I found this story very interesting.
Written by Shawn King
The Guardian:
“You’re having a dispute with your neighbour,” he hypothesised. “How would you feel if your neighbour went over and bought a commercial observation drone that they can launch from their back yard. It just flies over your house all day. How would you feel about it?”
Mr Schmidt, do you actually know what Google Maps and Google Earth do?
And as Peter Cohen said on Twitter, “I think it’s hilarious that the guy whose company is making self-driving cars has a bug up his ass about drones.”
Written by Dave Mark
I find it amazing that they went with this logo and theme. Logo looks like something from a Bond film. If nothing else, a bit tin-eared to all that’s been happening. Makes me think of evil villain laughter.
Written by Dave Mark
This is great design, especially well suited for avid campers. The PowerPot sits on a heat source, such as a camp stove, and generates electricity so you can charge your phone or tablet.
The original PowerPot debuted in April, 2012, but there’s a new model, with more power, better charging options. Good stuff.
Written by Dave Mark
Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Dave Foley, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson, together known as The Kids in the Hall, are gearing up to begin a world tour. They are starting with a run in Toronto and, if I’m lucky, they’ll perform in a venue in my neck of the woods sometime next year.
If you are a big KitH fan, you’ll enjoy the article linked by the headline. If you are new to them, here’s one of my favorite sketches.
Written by Dave Mark
Massive global search and destroy mission against ZeroAccess Malware.
The “botnet,” a group of connected programs, is used to redirect queries in search engines owned by companies such as Google Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft, to certain sites to steal money generated by ad clicks. It also creates automated Web traffic that simulates users’ clicks on ads, for which advertisers pay.
“Due to its botnet architecture, ZeroAccess is one of the most robust and durable botnets in operation today and was built to be resilient to disruption efforts,” Microsoft said in the statement. The malware relies “on a peer-to-peer infrastructure that allows cybercriminals to remotely control the botnet from tens of thousands of different computers.”
