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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Guitar and iPad join forces as the iTar

Starr Labs is developing a new iPad dock that uses the power and versatility of Apple's ta...
Starr Labs is developing a new iPad dock that uses the power and versatility of Apple's tablet, combined with its patented, button-based electronic guitar fingerboard to create a new digital instrument called the iTar

The phenomenal success of music-related mobile apps has forced many of us old timers to have a good rethink about the way we make music in the 21st Century. For many musicians - including The Gorillaz and Bjork - Apple's iPad is taking center stage in the production of modern music. Digital instrument innovator Harvey Starr is also looking at the iconic tablet as a way of giving more people the chance to experience the power of Starr Labs' custom-built electronic guitars at a fraction of the cost. Pairing the iPad with his company's button-based electronic guitar fingerboard, Starr is developing a new hybrid monster called the iTar.
                       The Starr Labs team showing some of the company's digital instrument creations - with Harv... The iTar will offer much more than a touchscreen digital guitar - iPad apps could see it b... The iTar can be transformed from a digital guitar to a virtual drum machine, courtesy of i... The iTar can mimic favorite guitar tones, emulate a bass or become a digital music interfa... Starr Labs has been making the acclaimed Ztar electronic guitars for nearly 20 years, attracting the attention of such luminaries as Stanley Jordan and Living Colour's Vernon Reid along the way. The arrival of the iPad has offered the company the chance to pair its patented, 6-string, 24-fret fingerboard technology with the powerful processor inside the popular tablet to create a versatile, creative and powerful new digital instrument.
The iTar won't come supplied with an iPad, of course, but the Bo-Diddley-like square body will be home to a dock for securing the tablet in place while performing. Starr Labs is currently working on an application that will provide virtual strings across the touchscreen display of the docked device, but users will also be able to create and store custom playing surfaces.
"If you want strumming bars (strings), an X/Y control pad, 2 joysticks and 5 knobs, you can have it," Starr Labs' Jason Begin told Gizmag. "If you want to trigger the fingerboard without strumming six strings, you can do that as well with a giant tapping surface on the iPad screen. The pairing of our fingerboard also allows users to have tactile control over other third party applications like synthesizers and samplers. It can also be used a simple button matrix for use with other music applications."
The coming together of iTar and iPad will offer much more than just a touchscreen digital guitar. Inventive use of apps could see users creating a full complement of backing musicians to support each performance, capturing great musical moments via a mobile recording studio and mixing desk, learning to play via onscreen video tuition and demos, or even running some video imagery in the background while belting out some tunes. There may even be interactive, Guitar Hero-like gaming possibilities to explore.
"Technically speaking, the iTar will be made of a high impact plastic that will withstand the bumps and bangs of its portable nature and due to its modular design, will break down easily for travel and storage," says Begin. "The fingerboard will be USB 2.0 bus powered via the iPad itself so there will be no need for batteries or clumsy wall warts. The docks will also feature professional quality I/O that you would find on our flagship Ztar models (MIDI/Audio)."
Planned options include an external MIDI connector, an extended-life battery module, and high quality external speakers. Starr Labs has also developed an interactive full RGB LED fingerboard as a deluxe option that can be custom configured by the user to create personalized graphics along the fingerboard, or tied in with gaming or learning apps. A stand-alone iTar fingerboard option will also be offered to iPad owners, which should appeal to non-guitar players that might like to use the surface as an array of mappable MIDI buttons.
There's also talk of extending the modular design beyond the iPad and into smartphone territory, and also branching out into other operating environments like Android.
"We're in the thick of development now," Harvey Starr told us. "The hardware is coming together nicely and I'm just making changes now for better functionality and ease of production. We should have working software in a few weeks."
The first production iTar system is scheduled to ship two months after the closing of its current Kickstarter crowd-sourcing appeal - around February 2012 - although Starr is also looking into other ways to fund the project. The planned list price will be US$199.
Starr told us that more information on the iTar will be available on the company's website in the next couple of weeks.

Nest Learning Thermostat learns user habits and programs itself

The Nest Learning Thermostat is capable of self-programming itself via its user's habits, ...
The Nest Learning Thermostat is capable of self-programming itself via its user's habits, activity sensors and Internet-gathered weather information

While programmable thermostats are nothing uncommon these days, many users adjust the temperature manually utilizing the thermostat's basic feature only. On the other hand, it's certainly difficult to develop an appropriate program corresponding to the volatility of daily life. Designed by a team led by ex-Apple engineer Tony Fadell, the Nest Learning Thermostat offers a new take on automatic temperature adjustment. Featuring a simple knob-based design, the unit is capable of self-programming itself via a combination of its user's habits, activity sensors and Internet-gathered weather information, thus increasing energy savings without much effort on the user's part.
Heating costs are usually 50 percent of an average household's energy bill. A properly programmed thermostat, however, can cut energy costs by 20 percent, Silicon Valley-based startup Nest indicates. Still, according to a 2011 study by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, 90 percent of thermostat users do not program their thermostats at all, sticking to the manual operation only.
It reportedly takes seven days for the Nest Learning Thermostat to come up with an initial personalized schedule for the user and bring noticeable energy savings. After installing the unit on the wall, users are required to answer a few questions about their household. The only thing that needs to be done in terms of operation, is setting the temperature reasonably by turning the brushed steel ring. A timer indicates how long it will take to reach the desired temperature.
Utilizing 150-degree activity sensors, the Auto-Away feature adjusts the temperature depending on whether someone is at home or not, while a WiFi connection takes the current weather and forecasts into account. A "Nest leaf" icon on the display indicates when the energy is being saved and after some time, the energy spending history becomes available.
The Nest is optimized for ease of use - operation is done via the knob, with the unit's front surface acting as a button. A proximity sensor automatically brightens the screen when the user approaches. Provided the device is connected to WiFi, settings can also be managed online, or via the Nest Mobile smartphone app for iOS and Android.
The Nest Learning Thermostat comes with three separate temperature sensors, AES-128, SSL/TLS, WEP and WPA/WPA2 encryption support for security, and the capability to pair multiple Nest thermostats, for simultaneously managing the temperature in multiple locations. Powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the unit displays its data via a 320 x 320-pixel 1.75-inch display with 24 bit color.
The Nest Learning Thermostat will be available by mid-November, priced at US$249.
Take a look at the following video explaining the self-programming feature:

Stretchy pressure-sensitive material could serve as robot skin

Stanford's stretchable pressure-sensitive material incorporates coatings of tiny 'nano-spr...
Stanford's stretchable pressure-sensitive material incorporates coatings of tiny 'nano-springs'

Robots, prosthetic limbs and touchscreen displays could all end up utilizing technology recently developed at California's Stanford University. A team led by Zhenan Bao, an associate professor of chemical engineering, has created a very stretchy skin-like pressure-sensitive material that can detect everything from a finger-pinch to over twice the pressure that would be exerted by an elephant standing on one foot. The sensitivity of the material is attained through two layers of carbon nanotubes, that act like a series of tiny springs.
The sensor material is made by first spraying nanotubes in a liquid suspension onto a thin layer of transparent silicone. Although the nanotubes are initially deposited in random clumps, some of them align with one another when the silicone is stretched for the first time, in one direction. Even after the material is allowed to rebound back to its original size, the clumps remain aligned, and will do so indefinitely.
When the silicone is then first stretched in a direction perpendicular to the previous one, some more of the clumps align with one another, facing in that direction. The result is a sheet of silicone coated with "nano-springs" that can be stretched in any direction, that will retain their orientation through repeated stretchings.
Two of these sheets are joined together face-to-face, with the nanotube clusters on the inside. Between them, however, is a third layer of silicone, which is more malleable. This layer stores an electrical charge, like a battery.
When the three-layered material is subjected to external pressure, the middle layer compresses, altering its electrical charge. The conductive nanotube coatings on either side of it, acting like the positive and negative terminals on a battery, detect this change. In this way, the material is able to register not only the fact that it is being pressed, but it can quantify the amount of pressure that it is being subjected to.
Complicating things is the fact that the middle layer will become thinner when the material is being compressed and when it's being stretched. The pattern of the pressure, however, should make it possible to deduce what's going on - compression tends to take the form of a spot of pressure, whereas stretching results in a line of pressure between two points.
Another transparent, stretchable pressure-sensitive material was recently demonstrated by scientists from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute of Silicate Research. It also incorporates electrodes that detect changes in electrical capacitance.
A paper on the Stanford research was published this week in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

WikiSensor app turns an iPhone into a peripheral-free radiation detector

The WikiSense app and some black tape turns an iPhone 4 into a radiation detector
The WikiSense app and some black tape turns an iPhone 4 into a radiation detector

Earlier this month, we reported on the Scosche RDTX-Pro that connects via a dock connector to turn an iPhone or iPod touch into a radiation detector. That device is set to go on sale in Japan from next month but if you're not in Japan or just don't want to shell out extra cash on any peripheral hardware, then the WikiSensor app might be worth a look - it won't be as accurate, but the only extra bit of kit you'll need is some opaque black tape.
                            WikiSensor app settings  WikiSensor app instructions  The WikiSense app gives an approximate reading of radiation levels To convert your iPhone into a radiation detector all you need to do is install the WikiSense app and stick some opaque black tape - electrician's tape should do the trick - over the iPhone's front-facing camera. Since the CMOS sensors used in smartphone cameras like the iPhone's don't just pick up visible light but also high frequency waves from radioactive sources, such as gamma and X-rays, covering the lens means only those waves make it through to the sensor. Once activated, the application then counts the number of impacts the sensor receives and translates that into a value in microsieverts per hour.
The makers of the app admit it won't give a precise reading, but rather an approximate one that should be validated by more professional tools if a reading above five microsieverts per hour is detected.
The team behind the app plans to develop a tool that uses data gathered from various users to generate a map showing radiation levels in different locations - hence the wiki prefix. With the ultimate vision of developing a platform that uses a network of devices - particularly smartphones - as a sensor network to measure various aspects of environmental quality, the company also has plans to develop apps to measure Wi-Fi waves, relay antenna waves, magnetic fields, earthquakes, greenhouse gases, UVA/UVB light, oxygen and temperature.
The WikiSensor app has only been calibrated for use with the iPhone 4 and is available now for US$0.99 from the iTunes App Store.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Microsoft HoloDesk lets users handle virtual 3D objects

The Sensors and Devices group at Microsoft Research has developed a new system called Holo...
The Sensors and Devices group at Microsoft Research has developed a new system called HoloDesk that allows users to pick up, move and even shoot virtual 3D objects
Does anyone remember the animated version of Star Trek from the 1970s? The Emmy-Award-winning series was the very first outing for the now familiar Holodeck, although it was called the recreation room back then. Despite some landmark advances in holographic technology in the years since - such as the University of Tokyo's Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display - nothing has come close to offering the kind of physical interactivity with virtual objects in a 3D environment promised by the collective imaginations of sci-fi writers of the past. While we're not at the Holodeck level just yet, members of the Sensors and Devices group at Microsoft Research have developed a new system called HoloDesk that allows users to pick up, move and even shoot virtual 3D objects, plus the system recognizes and responds to the presence of inanimate real-world objects like a sheet of paper or an upturned cup.
Unfortunately, the research team hasn't revealed too much about how its new natural user interface system works, but here's what we do know. It's about the size of a filing cabinet and is made up of an overhead screen that projects a 2D image through a half-silvered beam splitter into a viewing area beneath. A Kinect camera keeps tabs on a user's hand position within the 3D virtual environment, a webcam tracks the user's face to help with placement accuracy, and custom algorithms bring everything together in (something very close to) real time.
The user looks down through a transparent display into the viewing area where holographic objects can be picked up and stacked on top of real-world ones, and real hands can juggle virtual balls or shoot them at targets, or play with a non-existent smartphone. The researchers also seem to have included the ability to remotely collaborate on shared multi-user virtual projects. Interestingly, objects in the virtual world still appear to obey the laws of real-world physics, but that doesn't mean that they have to - the beauty of a virtual world is surely that anything is possible.
As you can see from the following proof-of-concept Microsoft Research video, the development does suffer from some jerkiness and image dilution when real-world objects enter the viewing area, and there are also a few placement and tracking issues, but it's a major step forward and in its current stage of development might find immediate use in gaming, education and design.

Rotundus GroundBot spherical surveillance robot broadcasts live in 3D

The Rotundus GroundBot spherically-shaped surveillance robot is equipped with a pair of ca...
The Rotundus GroundBot spherically-shaped surveillance robot is equipped with a pair of cameras providing its remote operator with a live video feed in 3D
Remote-controlled unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) have proven exceptionally useful in military applications, but according to Swedish company Rotundus, they can be equally well applied to civil security. Rolling through mud, sand, snow, or even floating in the water, the Rotundus GroundBot spherically-shaped robot is equipped with a pair of cameras, providing its remote operator with a live video feed in 3D.
GroundBot is virtually inaudible and comes with knobby tire treads for all-terrain operati... Groundbot has top speed of 10 km/h (6 mph) Rotundus GroundBot can be controlled remotely, or via a programmed autonomous GPS-based sy... Featuring a polycarbonate housing with high friction coating, Groundbot is slightly larger...
Controlled remotely or via a programmed autonomous GPS-based system, Groundbot can be equipped with wide-angled cameras (for 360-degree vision), night vision (IR) cameras, microphone and loudspeakers, as well as sensors for radioactivity, gas, humidity, fire, heat, smoke, biological material, explosives, or narcotics. GroundBot has all its sensors and cameras well-protected inside the hermetically sealed sphere, which means no sand, mud, water, or even gas can get inside. This makes it well-suited for uses such as investigating suspected gas leaks. It also withstands overturns, drops and knocks.
Able to move and turn in multiple directions with smooth acceleration and deceleration, GroundBot is driven via a patented pendulum-based mechanism. In order to start rolling, a built-in motor raises the pendulum located inside the sphere, thus changing the center of gravity. This causes Groundbot to roll in the desired direction.

With a top speed of 10 km/h (6 mph), GroundBot is reportedly virtually inaudible and comes with knobby tire treads for all-terrain operation, or without them for use on paved surfaces. It operates for 8-16 hours depending on mission profile, while it takes 3-4 hours to recharge its battery. Featuring a polycarbonate housing with high friction coating, Groundbot's size is comparable to an automobile tire, measuring 60 cm (23.6 in) in diameter, while weighing in at 25 kg (55 lbs).
According to Rotundus, Groundbot is suitable for security at places such as airports, train stations, power plants, borders and warehouses, and for applications such as perimeter protection and stadium/event surveillance. American Unmanned Systems has acquired an exclusive license for production, marketing and sales of the unit in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The following video presents Groundbot operating at an airport.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Waterproof fabric anntena could save people lost at sea

A life vest incorporating one of the fabric antennas, being tested in Finland
A life vest incorporating one of the fabric antennas, being tested in Finland
A patch about the size of the leather name tab on a pair of jeans could save your life one day - should you be stranded at sea, that is. In a project overseen by the European Space Agency (ESA), researchers from Finnish company Patria and the Tampere University of Technology have created a flexible fabric antenna, that can be sewn into life vests. Once activated, that antenna transmits its coordinates to earth-orbiting satellites, that can immediately relay the location to rescue personnel.
The device utilizes the Cospas-Sarsat worldwide search and rescue satellite system, an international project that has been in use since the Cold War. Cospas-Sarsat incorporates satellite-based receivers, that are continuously listening for emergency radio beacons from transmitters on ships, aircraft or people. When a signal is received, it is relayed to a ground receiving station, followed by a mission control center, and then a rescue coordination center.
When sea trials of the antenna were conducted, its location was attained within a matter of minutes.

Not only is the device flexible, lightweight, and wear- and waterproof, but it is also surprisingly small for an antenna that transmits at such low frequencies. Larger antennas are typically required for these frequencies, which are what Cospas-Sarsat is set up to receive.
Along with the life vest-mounted antenna, the ESA project is also developing one that could be attached to a diving vest. The device could perhaps find its way into the high-tech fisherman's gear being developed through the European Safe@Sea project, which is designed to stop a boat's engine when the fisherman falls overboard, and to inflate upon contact with the water.
Previously, wearable antenna technology has been focused more on military applications