Hasta La Gadget!

After living in New Orleans for a number of years of my life, I can speak from experience that hurricanes can be serious business. So the more we can learn about how hurricanes and tropical storms work, the more prepared that we can be for disaster, and the more lives and property can be spared from nature’s fury. In the interest of learning more about these storms, one university has built the world’s only category 5 hurricane simulator.

The machine, dubbed the “Wall of Wind” (WoW) is basically an array of twelve massive, 700 horsepower fans, which can generate sustained winds of up to 157 MPH. Specialized technology allows it to emulate the wind turbulence of a real hurricane, and it can even simulate the driving rains of a real storm through its water-injection system.

The Wall of Wind is installed at Florida International University’s International Hurricane Research Center, at a cost of about $8 million (USD). The simulator will be used to test the structural integrity of building materials and construction techniques with the goal of improving safety and survivability of the deadliest of tropical weather.

[FIU News via Gizmodo]

Apple’s iPhone 5 is here, but there are still plenty of people in line. A lot of you might be asking, “Why?” Who better to answer than the people in line themselves? I interviewed some of the first people in line at Toronto’s Eaton Centre flagship Apple retail store, including one guy who has been at the front of the line for three years and counting. Check out why they lined up, what they think of iOS 6, and some candid about iOS 6 Maps from even the most faithful.

Apple has defended its contentious Maps app, arguing that it is “just getting started” with the iOS 6 replacement to Google Maps, and highlighting the fact that it can push out updates incredibly quickly. Excitement around iOS 6 quickly got hung up on how the new Maps app fell short, with users reporting missing locations, along with incorrectly labeled roads, points-of-interest, and even cities. “We launched this new map service knowing that it is a major initiative and we are just getting started with it” Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told the NYTimes. “We are continuously improving it.”

Apple’s argument is that it can keep tweaking Maps on its servers, with users invisibly getting an improved experience as the service develops. ”As Maps is a cloud-based solution, the more people use it, the better it will get” Muller explains. “We’re also working with developers to integrate some of the amazing transit apps in the App Store into iOS Maps. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better.”

Although iOS 6 Maps has met with praise for its bundled turn-by-turn navigation, something Google never enabled for Google Maps on iOS before, as well as the visually pleasing “flyover” 3D view option, it’s more fundamental issues that are causing headaches. Some of Apple’s data appears to be out-of-date, meaning businesses now closed or moved are incorrectly included, while satellite data lacks the close-up detail of Google’s service.

Potentially more dangerous are incorrect driving directions, which could lead drivers to attempt the wrong turns or even try to travel the wrong way down a one-way street. It’s possible to report an error in a point-of-interest on the map to Apple from within the Maps app itself.

Apple has not said when users can next expect a significant improvement to the service, though with the iPhone 5 freshly on sale in stores today, we’d guess the company is working fast to polish off the most obvious rough edges.

Apple: iOS 6 Maps is “just getting started” (so forgive the bad data) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Motorola and Samsung just caught a break from the law after a few hard knocks. A Mannheim, Germany court has ruled that neither company infringes on an Apple patent covering how an OS responds to and ignores touch events. While we don’t yet know the full details, patent lawsuit guru Florian Mueller suggests that the German judge took the same point of view that thwarted Apple’s claims in the Netherlands and the UK: the particular patent was just too broad to stick. It’s a potentially important win, as a ruling of violation could have led to serious problems with keeping Android-based Motorola and Samsung devices in stores; other patents are more easily circumvented. However, it’s still something of a Pyrrhic victory for a pair of companies that have lately been facing the threat of near-term bans and steep damages.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

German court rules that Motorola, Samsung don’t violate Apple touch event patent originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kickstarter’s founders are getting worried about what people think — and in particular that the crowdfunding platform will be perceived as an Amazon for uninvented gadgets. As such, they’re tightening the rules on product pitches to prevent anything too nebulous getting through the vetting process. Projects using simulations or renderings are prohibited from today, forcing creators to demonstrate working prototypes of their inventions. The site is also adding a section called “Risks and Challenges,” where contributors have to demonstrate their business, tech and planning acumen by explaining how they’ll cope with problems that arise further down the road. Finally, Kickstarter is also preventing job-lots of products being offered as a funding reward (except for things like Ardunio-esque sets, where it’s reasonable to expect multiple units) — ending the days of getting 30 nuclear-powered iPhone cases for the low, low price of $1,000.

Filed under: Internet

Kickstarter tells users ‘We are not a store,’ tightens rules for hardware pitches originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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