Meet the new, reversible USB

The official design for the next-generation, reversible USB has been finalised, and it can be plugged in upside down.

USB 3.0

 

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has announced that it has finalised its redesign of the USB.

Called USB Type-C, the specification -- which was announced last December -- aims to solve several problems with current USB design; possibly the most exciting of which is the eradication of "right way up" with a reversible plug. Like Apple's Lightning connector, it can be plugged into its port either way.

The new USB is also designed both to be small enough to fit mobile devices, yet robust enough for laptops and tablets.

"Interest in the USB Type-C connector has not only been global, but cross-industry as well," said USB 3.0 Promoter Group chairman Brad Saunders. "Representatives from the PC, mobile, automotive and IoT industries have been knocking down our door anticipating this new standard. This specification is the culmination of an extensive, cooperative effort among industry leaders to standardize the next generation USB connector as a long-lasting, robust solution."

The USB is comparable in size with micro USB 2.0 Type-B connectors, with a port size of 8.4 by 2.6mm, yet will be compatible with SuperSpeed USB at 10Gbps (USB 3.1). It will also support USB Power Delivery up to 100W, with additional support for scalable power charging and future USB performance needs.

It won't, of course, be compatible with existing USB plugs and receptacles. While the industry begins the slow transition, USB Type-C ports will coexist with other USB ports on devices, and new-to-existing cables and adapters will be made available so that consumers will be able to use the new connector with their existing tech.

The specification for USB Type-C can be downloaded from the USB Implementers Forum.

Article by Michelle Starr

The World's First Commercial Space Launchpad Is To Be In South Texas

Elon Musk has announced that Space X is to build the world's first commercial space launchpad-and it will be near Brownsville in south Texas, reportedly America's most impoverished region.

The state is pushing over $15 million into the facility, which is hoped to create 300 jobs and inject $85 million in capital investment into the local economy. The cash injection comes from numerous sources, including $2.3 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund and $5 million from the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation.

Governor Rick Perry explained that "Texas has been on the forefront of our nation's space exploration efforts for decades, so it is fitting that SpaceX has chosen our state as they expand the frontiers of commercial space flight." The plan is contingent upon final approval of local agreements and receipt of additional required permits, but, otherwise, an economy in need looks like it's about to get a hi-tech shot in the arm.

Article by Jamie Condliffe.

Meet Intel's SoFIA, the super-cheap smartphone chip created in Singapore

The company is trying to bring the cost of smartphones down to as little as $50.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich demonstrating a SoFIA-based phone at IDF Shenzhen 2014.

SINGAPORE -- Poke around an industrial suburb here and you might stumble across a building whose signage tells you it belongs to a German company named Infineon. But back in 2011, Intel purchased the wireless portion of this business and renamed it Intel Mobile Communications.

Outside, the place retains the Infineon branding, as the other parts of the company still exist, but depending on the floor you visit, it's definitely Intel inside. This Singapore office is the home of SoFIA -- short for "Smart or Feature phone with Intel Architecture" -- a technology that holds the key to Intel's future as a force in the mobile world.

What is SoFIA?

Announced last December, SoFIA is a new mobile chip that's set to debut at the end of this year. Designed for budget smartphones, SoFIA is set to give Qualcomm and Mediatek a run for their money in this rapidly growing part of the market.

Intel has packed a dual-core Atom Silvermont processor into a 28nm system-on-chip (SoC) design that also crams in a 3G modem. An LTE 4G quad-core version will appear at a later stage. Intel declined to reveal more about performance at this point, saying only it expects it to be on par with current offerings from its competitors.

"Dual-core" should mean basic smartphone functionality and a reasonable user experience, but Intel is surprisingly bullish on how much a phone powered by SoFIA will cost. A spokesperson told CNET that "Intel's SoFIA could pave the way for smartphones costing as little as $50 in Indonesia and other emerging markets."

Intel is apparently still in discussion with its phone-making customers and declined to reveal any names. We do know that earlier this year at Mobile World Congress, Intel announced agreements with Lenovo, Dell, and Foxconn, while Asus is already churning out Intel-powered phones and tablets. It's no great leap to guess where we can expect the first SoFIA-powered handsets to come from.

SoFIA's beginnings

While the idea originated at Intel, it was the former Infineon team in Singapore that got the ball rolling.

The final concept of SoFIA, however, was solidified away from the hustle and bustle of Singapore's city, at a small beach resort. Loh said the location was "free of distractions" for the team as they worked on nailing down the design.

The end result was the foundation of the new SoC, and a plan for Intel's renewed assault on the mobile market.

Why SoFIA?

Integration is key to SoFIA, Intel says, specifically to reduce costs. SoFIA integrates the 3G modem and the processor, although other wireless features such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi would be on other chips. This means phone makers can choose which parts to include or exclude to match their budget.

Integrating everything into a single chip is possible, but one reason this wasn't done is time. "The RF technology actually has a longer lead time to integrate. If you try to integrate everything, your time to market will be challenging," says Loh.

Instead of taking the "super smartphones" approach, which Loh calls a "beauty contest" where the most powerful phone wins, Intel's philosophy is that SoFIA should be "good enough to fulfil the user experience."

"In this segment, the performance is tied to the user's need and you're not going to see 4K 5-inch displays," he added.

What SoFIA means for Intel

Interestingly, SoFIA isn't made at the company's own foundries. Instead, Intel will have Taiwanese foundry TSMC making the initial wafers to "speed time to market." The company has plans to bring manufacturing back in-house in the future.

Furthermore, there are plans to transition to a 14nm design next year. This will give it a lead over the competition when it does, especially in power efficiency. Rival Qualcomm's plans for a similarly sized 14nm chip have not been confirmed -- though rumors persist of the company's plan to engage Samsung for trial runs. Given the timelines, it's very possible Qualcomm will have 14nm chips in 2015 as well.

In the meantime, Qualcomm will have the lead with its upcoming 20nm chips, but these are meant for higher-end devices than SoFIA's target segment. While the average consumer won't much care, the effects trickle down in the form of more performance, even at a low price.

Intel still has plenty to do to catch up. The company is far behind its competition, according to IDC data, with less than 1 percent of smartphones sold in the first quarter of 2014 running Intel chips. SoFIA, when it's finally available, won't be a game changer overnight.

"It's not even about giving Intel an edge; it's about just keeping them in the ballgame in the first place," said IDC analyst Bryan Ma. "They still need some time before moving SoFIA to 4G, and in the meantime, competitors like Qualcomm and MediaTek are still expected to drive the bulk of the smartphone market.

"In my opinion SoFIA is a necessary move for Intel, and in fact is encouraging evidence of the 'new' Intel way of thinking: being much more flexible (and in turn, faster) rather than insisting on having everything done completely on Intel technology," Ma added.

The future of Intel in Asia

Intel isn't just looking to its Singapore lab for new ideas. According to an Intel spokesperson, the company's factory in the nearby Malaysian city of Penang is the birthplace of many of the smartphone and tablet reference prototypes it's working on.

Whether or not Intel's bet on SoFIA pays off, it shows the company is looking to Asia for more than just hardware partnerships. Given Intel's reputation as the behemoth of the semiconductor business, even current heavyweights of the mobile industry will be smart to have a plan in place for when SoFIA makes its presence felt.

Qualcomm's 2015 Snapdragon Chips Promise Lightning Fast Phone

Qualcomm has just revealed the specifications for its 2015 mobile chips-and if you thought this year's offering sounded good, you are in for a massive treat when you read about these newer slabs of silicon.

The two new Snapdragon chips, known as the 810 and 808, are both 64-bit, and billed as high performance hardware designed for flagship Android devices. They aren't joking.

Both chips, made using 20 nanometer production techniques, will be smaller, lighter and more power efficient than this year's offering. But the octa-core 810 is the one you really care about: it will sport four Cortex-A57 cores for power-intensive tasks, along with four lower-power Cortex-A53 cores for other times, to keep power consumption down. The chip will support 4K displays, LPDDR4 RAM-that's faster and more efficient than the current LPDDR3 standard- as well as packing voice activation and dual Image Signal Processors for better imaging. Phew.

In terms of the GPU, the on-board Adreno 430 is supposed to be 30 percent faster than the current 420, while Cat 6 LTE-Advanced is baked right into the chip. Finally, there's a 2-stream multi-user MIMO, which, in simple terms, means your Wi-Fi connection will be way faster, too. As for the 808, it will feature just six cores-two A57 and four A53-and support 2K displays. Its Adreno 418 GPU will be 20 percent faster than the current Adreno 330.

All told, that's a lot of features to squeeze into a pair of chips. If Qualcomm delivers on its promises, the phones of 2015 should melt our faces off. We can't wait.

Article by Jamie Condliffe,

DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ makes it easier to grab smooth aerial video, photos

DJI's Phantom 2 Vision is pretty much the benchmark for ready-to-fly (RTF) quadcopters for aerial photos and video. Well, it was the benchmark until the new Phantom 2 Vision+ arrived.

The quadcopter itself seems unchanged from the Phantom 2 Vision. You'll find all the same convenience features like color-coded, self-tightening propellers for easy installation and replacement, and a slot-loading battery pack (no connectors to mess with here) that delivers up to 25 minutes of flight time. If you don't stop to charge up its batteries or read the manual, it can go from out of the box to up in the air in about 10 minutes.

The camera on the Vision+, though it looks different, also seems to be the same, at least in specs: an f2.8 lens paired with a 14-megapixel 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor that can capture Adobe DNG raw or JPEG images and video at up to 1080p at 30fps. You can also control ISO, exposure compensation, and white balance, and choose from 140-, 120-, or 90-degree field of view.

 

 

The biggest change is what is supporting the camera. With the original Vision, the camera was on an antivibration platform stabilized only on the tilt axis and the tilting range during flight (remotely controlled through the mobile Vision app) had a range of 60 degrees. The Vision+, however, has a three-axis gimbal similar to the one available for use with a GoPro camera on the Phantom 2.

The gimbal actively stabilizes the camera in roll, pitch, and yaw directions keeping the video looking smooth even with sudden movements. Plus, the camera can now do a 90-degree tilt letting you shoot straight down.

DJI PHANTOM 2 VISION+

 

 

 

The quadcopter's integrated GPS autopilot system allows it to hover at a specific altitude and hold its position so you can get the exact shot you're after. The GPS also gives you a return-to-home fail-safe that will signal the Phantom to fly back to your takeoff spot and land in case you travel out of range or simply panic.

And if you're after more of a drone experience, the Phantom 2 Vision+ is fully compatible with DJI's Ground Station capabilities, which lets you plot a GPS path for the Phantom to navigate autonomously.

Also new for the Vision+ is increased range for the Wi-Fi extender. Sitting on a bar attached to the radio controller, the extender delivers the first-person view from the Vision+ camera to an Android or iOS device using the DJI Vision app (that can also be clamped on the controller). The Vision was capped at 300 meters, but the Vision+ can travel up to 700 meters (2,296 feet) away.

The app not only lets you pilot from a first-person perspective and control the camera, but it's also what delivers important telemetry and flight information such as altitude, direction, flight distance, and speed.

Lastly, DJI added a safety feature to prevent flights that are too close to large and small airports.

We'll have a full review in the near future, but if you know you want one, the DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ is available for pre-order for $1,299.

Article by Joshua Goldman

Google gives peek at its Ara modular phone project

Meet some of the folks at Google's advanced-tech team working to design phones you yourself can build. Watch them snap pieces together!

Project Ara's team uses electro-permanent magnets to keep phone modules in place.

 

Google is offering a quick glimpse into a future in which you'll be able to build your own phone.

The software giant released a short video to introduce some of the members of its Advanced Technology and Projects group, the folks behind Project Ara.

The idea of a modular phone is seen as a potential next step in the evolution of smartphones, bringing personal customization of mobile devices to a new level and potentially remaking the industry itself. For now it remains an idea, with many technical and practical hurdles to overcome.

It's been the subject of intense interest since it was unveiled as the possible next leap from Motorola's heavily customizable Moto X. The ATAP group is remaining with Google even as Lenovo buys the rest of Motorola Mobility.

The video offers only brief glimpses into what a modular phone may look like, but does include interesting tidbits like the team's plans to use electro-permanent magnets to keep the components together, with the pieces secured through a burst of a charge.

There are also some renderings that flash by as you're introduced to other team members, and a hint of just how many individual modules you can fit into one phone.

Google plans to hold its first Ara developer conference on April 15.

Google shares rose 0.8 percent to $574 in premarket trading this morning.



 

Article by Roger Cheng.

Meet the next-gen USB cable that could sweep away all others

The upcoming USB cable design is reversible, has no right-side-up or upside-down problems, and will click when you plug it in. Expect the new design on the market as soon as this year.

The USB Type-C connector, which governs ports and cables, will be smaller than typical USB ports on PCs but bigger than those on mobile phones.USB Implementers Forum

So now we know what the next-gen USB cable will look like.

The new design, called USB Type-C, is designed to replace today's multitude of cables and fix a number of their shortcomings. Type-C USB jacks will be small enough for mobile phones, the cable will be reversible end-to-end so it doesn't matter which end you attach to your computer and which to your digital camera, and as with Apple's Lightning connector there will be no upside-down when it's time to actually plug the cable in.

The USB Implementers Forum, which oversees the Universal Serial Bus specification, announced its plans for a new USB cable and port in December but hadn't settled on the exact physical design of the connector. Now it's done, and the new cables could arrive in months, the USB IF said Wednesday at the Intel Developer Forum conference in Shenzhen, China.

"The specification is anticipated to be completed in July 2014. We could see products with the new cable by end of year," the USB IF told CNET.

USB has a remarkable history of success, starting in PCs but now connecting everything from tablets to headphones and appearing in everything from cars to TVs. But with the success has come complexity. One issues is that there's an inconveniently large number of connectors, so people can't always find the one they need amid the tangle in desk drawers or suitcases. Another is that today's cables often have different connectors at each end. And when fumbling around the back of a PC or trying to plug a phone into its charger late at night, it can be extra work to be sure you get the cable plugged in right side up.

Type-C cures all these ills, the USB IF argues.

But along with the difficulties of dragging the entire PC, phone, tablet, and gadget ecosystem into the future, USB Type-C faces another challenge from the USB IF itself: a new attempt to encourage wireless USB data transfer after last decade's effort flopped. Cables still have advantages, though, including the ability to charge and power devices and fast data-transfer speeds. Although the new wireless USB in principle can reach into the gigabit-per-second range with 60GHz 802.11ad wireless networking, Type-C cables will support USB 3.1's 10Gbps rates.

 

Expect new USB Type-C ports to live side by side with old-style ports for awhile.USB Implementers Forum

 

The USB prong itself measures 8.3x2.5mm, smaller than the plugs that fit into a PC's USB ports today but larger than the 6.85x1.8mm of the Micro-USB B-type those widely used in mobile phones. Cable supported cable lengths won't change.

Other attributes of the Type-C design, according to the USB-IF:

• It'll make an audible click when plugged in correctly.


• It's designed to accommodate future USB incarnations with higher data-transfer speeds.


• It'll support USB's growing role in carrying power to operate and charge devices through the USB Power Delivery technology.


• It's designed to be plugged and unplugged 10,000 times.

With so many USB devices in the market today, don't expect an immediate transition to the new cable. It's likely PCs will include new and old port styles side by side, and that people will have use for cables and adapters that bridge the old and new styles.

Article by Stephen Shankland

This quarter-sized chip platform could power future Android Wear devices

While Intel has backtracked on its "Edison" chip size claims, another Android Wearpartner is claiming that its system-on-chip is the size of the proverbial SD card. Imagination Technologies (MIPS) has just revealed the Newton platform based on its MIPS architecture, built by chip-making partner Ingenic. It uses Ingenic's power-sipping, Android-compatible 1GHz JZ4775 CPU (similar to that in the GEAK watch), to help it give smartwatches and other wearables 30 hours or more of battery life. A laundry list of other features is also baked in, like support for up to 3GB RAM, 720p video, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, MEMS sensors, health care sensors and USB support. Device makers can pick and choose those options thanks to the modular design, which also allows for rapid prototyping. In theory, that will help Android Wear hardware makers turn their designs into products more quickly -- and fulfill Google's ambitious product launch timetable.

Article by Steve Dent

LED lighting is so 2012: LG bets on an OLED lamp

LG is joining an industry effort to infuse the humdrum lighting market with the excitement -- and profits, and complexity -- of the computing and electronics business.

LG's OLED Table Lamp LG Electronics

Several companies offer smartphone-controlled LED light bulbs these days, but LG Electronics is trying to advance the state of lighting with another approach, too: an OLED table lamp.

The Korean company, which already has a strong home-appliances business, unveiled its OLED Table Lamp on Monday at the Light+Building 2014 trade show in Frankfurt. Instead of using conventional light-emitting diodes (LEDs), its light source is the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology that can be formed into a sheet.

The table lamp, like the company's new LED bulb, the Smart Lamp, has an LG app for iOS and Android that lets you control the bulb over Bluetooth. The app can adjust the lights to set modes for movies or reading, or dim gradually at night and turn on with an alarm.

There's nothing that prevents companies from equipping old-style incandescent or fluorescent lights from wireless control systems, but people generally see those products as commodities to be purchased at the lowest cost available. As the electronics and computing industry tries to expand into the previously humdrum lighting market, though, remote-control apps offer a reason to charge significantly more.

 

LG Electronics' Smart LampLG Electronics 

Wirelessly linked lighting eventually could ease integration with home-control systems that can help people save power and money, communicate with home theater and security systems, and maybe even coordinate with power companies and other homes for smoother operation of the electricity grid.

Newer electronic lighting technologies also offer consumers some novelties such as variable-color lights that can be tuned for different moods. And some believe that with OLED lighting, homeowners eventually can move to sheets of illuminated wallpaper. That'll require a bigger shift in lighting habits away from traditional bulbs, though.

The $60 (£36) multicolor Philips Hue bulb, introduced in 2012 and updated this year with the $40 (£24) Lux white-only bulb and $60 Tap remote control system, has pioneered the market for these higher-end, connected bulbs. But others are also selling products, including involved in the market, including the $30 (£18) Insteon LED Bulb, the $70 (£42) Lumen LED Color Smart Bulb, and the $40 Belkin WeMo Smart LED Bulb.

Even consumers excited about the new lighting prospects will have to tread carefully, though. Some of these systems, such as Philips' and Belkin's, require a separate control hub that costs extra, often bundled in a starter kit.

That may sound like a pain, but don't be surprised if, in a few years, wiring new houses for light switches starts becoming a relic of the pre-wireless era.

Article by Stephen Shankland.

Why Samsung's F8500 is the last great plasma TV

Contrary to what the company indicated at CES, Samsung won't bring to market any new plasma TVs for 2014 -- aside from a single mainstream 64-inch model. That leaves the carryover F8500 as default champion of non-OLED picture quality.

The Samsung PNF8500 from 2013, distinctive O'Keeffe-esque stand and all, will continue to be sold through 2014. 

Last year the superb Samsung PNF8500 series of plasmas was our third-favorite TV overall for picture quality, losing out to Panasonic's VT/ZT series by a nose. Now that those two are gone, never to be replaced, the 8500 is top dog for picture quality.

Now Samsung has officially confirmed to CNET the reports that, aside from a single 64-inch model, it will not be making any new plasma TVs in 2014. It will, however, continue producing the 8500 and a couple of other models "through 2014."

That new TV, the PN64H5000, "falls between the [2013] F5300, which is our Full HD entry series, and the F5500," according to a Samsung spokesperson. In other words, it promises mainstream-level picture quality that is, at best, a match for the PNF5500 series.

So long, H7000, we hardly knew ya

The PN64H5000 should be a fine TV, but it's hardly the kind of world-beater the company mentioned as a possibility at CES. That TV, described to the CES Daily in an article with the hopeful title "Samsung Affirms Plasma Commitment," was supposedly the H7000 series. It was said to offer similar picture quality to the F8500 but at a price $300-$700 less, an appealing combination indeed. It will not be brought to market.

"Given the popularity of the award-winning F8500 series and requests from retail partners, Samsung will carry over the series into 2014 instead of adding a new midtier series," said a company statement supplied to CNET, when we sought an update on the H7000.

Of course anything is possible, and perhaps Samsung will reverse course and decide to resurrect the H7000, or another plasma series entirely, after all. But the company isn't promising anything, and remarks made at CES by John Ryu, vice president of Samsung's Visual Display R&D office, are telling.

Ryu said that he doesn't think plasma has a future beyond 2014 at his company. He cited the difficulty of making a cost-effective 4K version -- reportedly a factor in Panasonic's pull-out -- and the overall cost of production compared with LED LCD.

 

The 8500 plasma from 2013 may also produce the best non-OLED picture of 2014. 

Another nail in plasma's coffin

Plasma is on life support as it is, and Samsung's confirmation of its lack of commitment to developing the technology further in 2014 represents more bad news. If I was a betting man, I'd wager 2014 will be the last year Samsung and LG, the last two makers of plasma TVs left, continue selling them.

In the meantime, here's a look at Samsung's full 2014 plasma lineup. All of them, until Samsung decides to finally pull the plug, will be available for sale throughout 2014.

Series	Sizes (inches)	Year introduced
PNF8500	51, 60, 64	2013 (carryover)
PNH5000	64	2014 (new)
PNF5300	51, 60	2013 (carryover)
PNF4500	43, 51	2013 (carryover)

 

Samsung also told us, in response to our queries, that club versions (special models for certain stores) of the 5300 and 4500 series will continue to be produced throughout the year. The PNF5500 series, meanwhile, will not be available after the second quarter of 2014.

The PNF8500 series will continue to work with upcoming Evolution Kits, the 2014 version of which will be available in May (model SEK-2000, $249).

Unless we actually review an OLED TV, I expect the PNF8500 to remain at the top of our Best TVs: Picture quality list throughout the remainder of the year. It's just that good, and none of the new TVs I saw at CES will necessarily perform any better overall. No, it can't offer the amazing value of the dearly departed Panasonic ST60, but at least it's still available -- for now.

And since Panasonic is out and LG's plasmas aren't in the same league, the Samsung PNF8500 is the last great plasma TV.

Article by David Katzmaier

Nvidia announce GeForce GTX Titan Z, brings 12GB VRAM for $3,000

Nvidia are currently on-stage at the GPU Technology Conference (think GDC for people who really love cores). They've just announced the GeForce GTX Titan Z, a $3,000 dual-Keplar GPU graphics card that can supercharge PCs with a total of 5,760 processing cores, and 12GB frame buffer memory. To my untrained eye, then, it essentially sounds like two Titan Blacks duct taped together. I'm sure that in practice it's a little bit more complicated.

A press release from Nvidia explains why their dual-GPU solution is such an attractive prospect for super-high def gaming. "Unlike traditional dual-GPU cards, Titan Z’s twin GPUs are tuned to run at the same clock speed, and with dynamic power balancing. So neither GPU creates a performance bottleneck. And that performance is delivered in a card that is cool and quiet, rather than hot and loud. Low-profile components and ducted baseplate channels minimize turbulence and improves acoustic quality."

However they're tuned, it's a serious amount of money. A single GTX Titan can be secured for around $1,000, so you'll be a paying a heavy premium for Nvidia's tweaking. The company say they're building the Titan Z for "next-generation 5K and multi-monitor gaming", so are clearly targeting those prepared to go large in their home rig.

The announcement comes ahead of AMD's own dual-GPU reveal, which is expected to be made later this week.

Panasonic HX-A500 wearable 4K camcorder claims 'world's first'

The gnarly Panasonic HX-A500 waterproof wearable camcorder shoots sick 4K video of your extreme adventures.

The Panasonic HX-A500 is a wearable 4K camcorder.Panasonic

If you like your extreme sports in extreme detail, the HX-A500 -- which Panasonic reckons is the world's first 4K 25p wearable camcorder -- is about to take to the slopes.The waterproof A500 shoots eye-wateringly high resolution 4K video at 25 frames per second while attached to your head or clipped to your body. It comes in two parts: a 31g (1.1oz) camera bit and a 119g (4.2oz) body unit with a 1.5 inch, 115,200-dot colour LCD screen.

Clip the camera on your clothes, attach it to your helmet or place it anywhere you want; or combine camera and body into one with an included case for shooting one-handed. You can shoot your adventures on the slopes, the beach, or the waves with the A500, as both units are dustproof and waterproof, happily swimming down to 3 metres for 30 minutes.

Other shooting options include gnarly Levelling Correction to automatically straighten tilted videos; rad Image Stabilisation function to cut down on blur as you're bumping and bouncing across track or piste; and sick slow motion at 200 frames per second, 100 fps in 720p, or 50fps in full HD. The camcorder connects to other devices via near-field communications and Wi-Fi, talking to the Panasonic Image App on a tablet to edit, share and even broadcast your extreme adventures live to the Internet.

Slightly less wearable new cameras that shoot 4K video include the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 camera and Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone. Other, lower-resolution wearable cameras include the Looxcie 3, the always-snapping Autographer and the mighty GoPro Hero3+.

The Panasonic HX-A500 goes on sale in the UK in May 2014, costing £380 ($626). Oh, that, plus the four grand to buy a TV you can actually watch your video on.

Google turns down military money for robot competition

The bipedal Schaft robot, the top scorer in a DARPA competition last year for disaster-response scenarios, will compete in the finals, but now with funding just from Google.

Schaft, a Japanese company focusing on a humanoid robot, is one of several small robotics firms that Google has acquired.Schaft

 

Google will pay its own way through a robotics competition, deciding against accepting money from the US military for a humanoid robot that topped the charts in a contest for disaster-relief scenarios.

Last year, Google acquired the Japanese robotics firm Schaft that built the bipedal robot that earned the highest score at the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) for a machine that can handle disaster zone tasks including climbing ladders, navigating debris, opening a door, and shutting off a valve.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a Department of Defense unit that seeks to advance technology, had funded the work before Google's acquisition, but Google told DARPA it's moved the project to the self-funded category.

"Team Schaft...has elected to switch to the self-funded Track D of the program," DARPA said in a statement Friday.

Schaft and another robotics company that Google acquired, Boston Dynamics, both had accepted DARPA funds. Stepping away from the military funding avoids some politically touchy entanglements for a company that's far more interested in bringing automation to consumers' lives than to the battlefield.

DARPA is funding eight teams to move from last year's trials competition to the finals. That stage had been scheduled 2014, but DARPA is now setting the competition for some time between December 2014 and June 2015.

Boston Dynamics had been working on a bipedal humanoid robot project called Petman, a sequel to earlier projects inspired by quadrupedal animals.

Article by Stephen Shankland

LG's first smart light bulb flashes when you get a phone call

LG isn't about to let household heavyweights like Philips corner the connected lighting space -- it just unveiled the Smart Lamp, its first take on the concept. The 10W LED bulb gives Android and iOS users a familiar level of control over their illumination, including a light-based alarm clock and a security mode that pretends you're at home. There are a couple of noteworthy tricks in this initial offering, however. The light connects through both Bluetooth and WiFi, letting it pull the sync-based stunts we've seen in a few other bulbs: it can flash when you get a phone call, or (with Android) pulse to the beat of the music. The Smart Lamp is more expensive than ordinary LEDs at 35,000 won ($32) in LG's native Korea, but it could be a good deal if you don't need the many-colored lighting of Hue and similar systems. Unfortunately, there's no word on whether or not it's coming to the US.

Article by Jon Fingas

GDC's alternative arcade: a gallery of crazy, homemade game controllers

The idea of the gamepad is so entrenched in our mind, it's easy to forget that there are other ways to play video games. No, we're not talking about the PC gamer's keyboard and mouse, or even the traditional arcade stick -- but custom, purpose built controllers made to augment a specific experience. At GDC 2014, we found an interactive gallery full of them. The event, Alt.Ctrl.GDC serves as a showcase for indie game experiences that aren't fully accessible without specialized hardware, but to us, it was simply an alternative arcade of creativity.



The wooden control board for Analog Defender looks more like a missile control console than video game, but it had our attention right away. The complicated array of arcade buttons, protected toggles and switches control a complex Space Invaders clone, tasking players with managing power, weapon modes and special attacks by frantically mashing buttons and changing analog input plugs. The learning curve is steep, but the novelty of the controller makes it an easy climb -- the experience is fresh, despite the game's nostalgic familiarity.



Not every controller in the showcase was custom built from wood, switches and spare wire: Rakete, a collaborative moon lander game, cannibalized old guitar pedals to give four players their own rocket accelerators. The game forces four pilots -- each controlling only one thruster -- to work together to keep their craft aloft.



Some of the hardware we saw was familiar, too. Please Don't, Spacedog uses a MIDI controller to explore the body-displacement effect of the Oculus rift -- challenging players to use a complex controller without being able to physically see their hands. It's also probably the world's only canine-astronaut simulator.



Of course, you don't need an Oculus Rift to create a virtual reality. The designers behind Roflpillar used a sleepingbag, some pulleys and a sensory isolation tent to create a two-player caterpillar simulator. Frankly, it's pretty intuitive: wiggle to move. It's also hilarious.



Ever thought you'd play a video game without a screen? Now you can -- but you'll need some help. Bonus Look is a game that splits the functions of a computer between two players, giving one player the screen and arrow keys and the other almost everything else. The "pilot" controls the player character's actions, but can't get more than a few steps without the help of the blind "wizard." The screen-less second player also has access to a cryptic ASCII map, burned into a sheet of wood. It's an absolutely bizarre twist on cooperative gameplay, but figuring it out is half the fun.



Speaking of games without screens, Choosatron was easily one of our favorite games in the exhibit. This "deluxe adventure matrix" is pretty simple under the surface: four buttons, a thermal printer and an Arduino board -- but it was enough to turn choose-own-adventure fiction into a passable game. Plus, players get to keep their freshly printed epic for posterity, and we're suckers for souvenirs.



Alternative controller types don't always mean alternative games, either. Canabalt 100p offers the same endless running experience we all know and love -- it just adds a few dozen extra runners. The game uses a standard MIDI keyboard as a control device, assigning each piano key to a specific avatar. Just how manycharacters you can play as depends on the size of the piano, so sadly, our demo fell short of the promised 100.

Alt.Ctrl.GDC's exhibit of quirky controllers isn't likely to rock the industry, but its perspective on gaming is refreshing. By discarding the standards we've grown accustomed to, it creates an opportunity explore the idea of what electronic gaming is. We often think about the visual aspect of the experience -- but how we experience the game is just as important as how the game looks. Sometimes, the controller makes (or breaks) the game.

Article by Sean Buckley

Google's 3D-sensing phones are taking a trip to the International Space Station

It's arguably cool enough that Google is working on smartphones that can scan your surroundings, but now those devices are slated to take a spin in space too. How's that for living in the future? NASA first started sticking smartphones to machines back in 2011 when it used Samsung's Nexus S as the brains for a trio of robotic SPHERES satellite that use bursts of carbon dioxide to putter around the International Space Station. Those aging handsets will soon get the boot, as two of Google's Project Tango smartphones will hitch a ride on Orbital's Cygnus spacecraft when it resupplies the ISS in May. Why? The space agency is interested in seeing if the phone's spatial sensing abilities can help those floating robots navigate their surroundings better than they can right now. If it's lucky, NASA's zeal to upgrade the SPHERES' brains could ultimately lead to the development of a roaming robot that works as well outside the station (or around an asteroid) as it does inside a tin can hurtling around the earth.

Article by Chris Velazco

Remember the desktop PC? Intel is trying to reinvent it

Intel thinks there's a future in the desktop PC. And it tried to prove that this week at the Game Developers Conference.

New desktop designs include portable AIOs with batteries.

Intel this week tried to breathe some life into a device category that's not exactly fertile ground: the desktop PC.

At the Game Developers Conference, the chipmaker said it was reinventing the desktop PC.

In the GDC release, Intel goes on to cite "tiny PCs," small Steambox gaming systems, and portable AIO (all-in-one) PCs in the kitchen as reinvention.

Probably better, however, to call it a tweak to the desktop PC's internals, at least as far as Intel is concerned. Those modifications include the chipmaker's first 8-core processor for gaming rigs.

"For those who demand the highest processor core count and memory bandwidth on the desktop, Intel will deliver an 8-core, 16-thread Intel Core processor Extreme Edition in the second half of this year," Lisa Graff, an Intel vice president and general manager, said at GDC earlier this week.

That 4th generation Intel Core Haswell chip will also support the new, faster DDR4 memory standard.

Other changes to the desktop that Intel mentioned are: an upcoming 5th generation Broadwell chip -- which will be Intel's first 14-nanometer processor and the first desktop chip to feature its own Iris Pro graphics (currently popular in laptops such as Apple's MacBook Pros) -- and an unlocked Haswell processor for the overclocker crowd.

"Intel is optimistic about the enthusiast segment," said Nathan Brookwood, the principal analyst at Insight 64. "There's not a lot of competition in the high-end segment" so it's a space that Intel can own, he said.

"Intel's desktop business is its No. 2 business at 43 percent of client [processor] shipments and was growing more than other segments for Intel in '13," the spokesman added.

Article by Brooke Crothers

 

 

Tech Retrospect: Virtual reality for the PS4 and two new smartwatches for Android

Miss a few stories this week? We'll get you up to speed with this rundown of all the tech news.

There was a time when virtual reality was widely regarded as the next big thing. That time, sadly, was about 20 years ago and very few have taken the immersive technology seriously since then. Now, it's making a comeback -- in a very big way. That's largely thanks to Oculus VR, the company behind the Oculus Rift. This week that company unveiled a new version of its endlessly improving headset, called Dev Kit 2. It's $350, has a 1080p display, and using a camera can very accurately track your head movements in full 3D-space, including leaning left and right.

Hot on the heels of that, Sony made waves by announcing its own virtual reality headset, destined for the PS4. Called Project Morpheus, it's just a concept at this point, likely at least a year away from release, but our own brief impressions were good. The system has LED lights on it, not only giving it a futuristic look but also helping the PlayStation Eye camera to track it a la the Move controllers -- which some games will use for extra immersion.

LG and Motorola debut first Android Wear smartwatches

 



2014 was widely expected to be the year of wearables, and so far it has not disappointed. Google took the wraps off of Android Wear on Tuesday, a simplified, intuitive version of Android designed for smartwatches. The experience, stylishly shown in the video above, makes it clear that the intent here is to be quite a bit more involving and interactive than the "tiny moments of awesome" the Pebble team works to deliver. LG and Motorola were the first to display prototype devices, showing the G Watch and 360 , respectively. Look for both to launch a little later this year, at or around Google I/O in June.

 

Apple launches 8GB iPhone 5C in Europe, drops iPad 2

Love Apple products but don't always have the need (or the budget) for the latest and the greatest? Apple made a pair of changes this week targeted just at you, dear reader -- though the first applies only if you're outside of the US. The colorful iPhone 5c got a new flavor, 8GB, costing 559 euros but, for now at least, not shipping to the US. The company also finally turned the iPad 2 out to pasture, bringing back the fourth-generation iPad in its place. It's $399 for a 16GB, Wi-Fi-only model, the same price as the Retina-enabled iPad Mini -- which would still be my choice of the two, if I'm being honest.

 

Google and Viacom finally settle outdated lawsuit

Remember when media companies actually thought that having their content on YouTube was a bad thing? Those days were roughly seven years ago, a time when Viacom sued Google because it wasn't happy that some of its episodic content was appearing on the streaming video service. Now, the lawsuit is over, the two having settled for undisclosed terms -- though it's widely believed that no money has exchanged hands. No surprise, given that Viacom has had a number of quite successful YouTube channels for some time now.

 

Microsoft rifles through private Hotmail account to gather evidence on former staffer

In a move that can only be described as perfectly understandable but still a little bit disconcerting, it was revealed this week that Microsoft dug through the private Hotmail account of a technology blogger to help track down leaks of proprietary information. A former MS software architect was leaking code snippets and other confidential information to the blogger in question and, while the move appears to have been legal, it certainly makes us journalists think twice about what we share over email. The former employee, Alex Kibkalo, was ultimately arrested for sharing trade secrets.

 

SimCity offline mode finally arrives, a year too late

When the latest SimCity launched last year, gamers were aghast. Not about the game -- it was quite good, by most accounts. The problem was it needed a constant connection to EA servers in order to work, and those servers were completely flooded during the game's launch. The publisher's hamfisted antipiracy attempt prevented all those people who had actually paid for the game from playing it. Finally, a patch has been released handing the key to the city over to even those players without a constant connection. This is at least good news for the inevitable shutdown of those once-overloaded servers.

 

Galaxy S4-powered Lego creation breaks Rubik's Cube-solving world record

5.27 seconds is awfully quick for solving a Rubik's Cube. For two years, it was the Guinness World Record -- and now it's been beaten. 3.25 seconds is the new record, set by the same team but via a new robot built using Lego Mindstorms kits powered by a Samsung Galaxy S4. Sound impressive? It is -- but it's even more impressive to watch. Check out the video above, and then enjoy your weekend.

Musk, Zuckerberg, Kutcher invest in AI firm Vicarious

The three are joining in on a $40 million round that will help Vicarious toward its ambitious goal: translating the brain's neocortex into code.

Three prominent figures in the technology world have invested serious cash into a company that's trying to make a major move in artificial intelligence.

Tesla chief Elon Musk, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, and actor and venture capitalist Ashton Kutcher have invested $40 million into Vicarious, a company that's studying the human brain's neocortex and attempting to translate its function to computer code, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The neocortex is an essential element of being human, providing the functions that allow us to think, see, move, and much more. Speaking to the Journal in an interview, Vicarious co-founder Scott Phoenix said that his company's goal is to build "a computer that thinks like a person."

Vicarious is part of a broader robotics and artificial-intelligence movement sweeping the tech world. A slew of major companies, including Google and Amazon, are looking to leverage robotics, and Google is especially interested in enhancing artificial intelligence.

Vicarious can't say how long it will take for it to achieve its goal of creating a robot that can think like a human, but the company believes it's only a matter of time before it happens.

Can you say, "Battlestar Galactica"?

Artilce by Don Reisinger

 

 

Moto 360 will use sapphire glass, wireless charging

The wireless charging capability falls in line with Motorola's previous tease of a "secret" method, while sapphire glass would give the smartwatch a more scratch-resistant shell.

Moto 360.

Motorola has touted the premium materials for its upcoming Moto 360 smartwatch, which could include a step-up for its face.

The Moto 360 could employ a sapphire glass face, according to games and gadget blog G for Games, which cited unnamed sources.

In addition, the site reported that the Moto 360 could also use an OLED display, as well as magnetic induction wireless charging.

These rumored details seem to fit in with what Motorola has hinted at with the Moto 360. Sapphire is often used in watches and is a premium material that would set the Moto 360 apart from other devices. Other smartwatches, following the lead of smartphones, have used Corning's Gorilla Glass.

The idea of wireless charging was already speculated upon when Motorola confirmed there would be no USB port for charging. Jim Wicks, the Motorola executive in charge of the Moto 360, would only say that the company was working on a "secret" method of charging the device.

OLED display technology, meanwhile, is commonly used in smartphones and has been touted for its energy efficiency. Wicks wouldn't go into details but noted that power management was a priority for the company.

Article by Roger Cheng