Fans of the Monster Hunter franchise will be pleased to learn that during Nintendo Direct, producer of the game, Ryozo Tsujimoto announced that Monster Hunter 4 will be released in Japan come 14th of September. There will also be two […]
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While we’re still scratching around with Ultrapixels and OIS, scientists in Singapore claim they’re working on something that could change the entire field of photography. Researchers at the Nanyang Technological University have developed an image sensor made out of graphene that’s 1,000 times better at capturing light than traditional CMOS or CCD sensors, all while using 10x less energy. These new sensors may initially be used in surveillance equipment and satellites — when they do eventually end up in regular cameras, however, they’re promised to be five times cheaper than the sensors they’re replacing. Combine this with the work being done on graphene batteries, and we’re that much closer to the perfect smartphone.
Filed under: Cameras
Via: C|Net
Source: Science Daily
Owners of self-driving cars may have to undergo extra testing in order to “upgrade” their license to handle the next-gen vehicles, the NHTSA has suggested. Tentative enthusiasm for self-driving cars by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration comes with the possibility of more stringent drivers license testing, with the new challenges of safely interacting with autopilot systems deemed sufficiently novel that the existing test would be insufficient.
Advocates of self-driving technology, such as is being tested by Google among others, welcomed the NHTSA’s new public stance on automated vehicles, announced this week. The government agency set out five levels of potential autonomy, ranging from fully manually operated cars as are on the road today, dubbed “Level 0″, through to models that can handle the entire trip with no more human interaction than setting the required destination.
Such “Level 4″ vehicles aren’t yet in testing, the NHTSA points out, with cars like Google’s test fleet falling into “Level 3″ where a driver might be called upon to take over should the autopilot deem itself insufficiently capable to handle the current road conditions.
It’s that potential to be summoned back into the driver’s seat that has the NHTSA concerned, however, with suggestions that while the technological aspect of such cars is being heavily researched, the human factors are still poorly understood. That could include how a human driver monitors the performance of the autopilot, so as to ensure any problems are quickly spotted, and the transition between self-driving and regular modes.
The NHTSA has begun the evaluation process to address these questions and more, which is expected to be completed – in its first phase, at least – within the next two years. “One of the main end products of this initial research program would be recommendations for what requirements are needed for the driver-vehicle interface,” the NHTSA says, “to allow safe operation and transition between automated and non-automated vehicle operation.”
However, the agency is already making one recommendation, which is that drivers in the few states where self-driving cars are already permitted for real-world testing should add in an extra endorsement – if not an entirely separate license – to authorize them to get behind the semi-autonomous wheel. That testing process should include a minimum number of hours in a self-driving car, as well as having received instruction from the vehicle’s manufacturer as to how it works and how to safely operate it.
“The training course should be submitted to the state agency that issues driving licenses for approval prior to the taking of that course by any person seeking a driver’s license endorsement certification. The course should include providing an understanding of the basic operation and limits of self-driving vehicles, and knowledge of how to resume control of such a vehicle in the event that it cannot continue to operate automatically” NHTSA
The suggestions in the Agency’s policy document are all voluntary at this stage, and it’s early days for any actual laws – or even proposed laws – to emerge. Nonetheless, it looks likely that as we wait for “Level 4″ cars to arrive, there’ll be some extra requirement on top of current licensing procedures for drivers to undertake, given the new and unusual ways that self-driving cars will interact with those behind the wheel.
VIA: WSJ
Self-driving cars might demand new license tests for drivers is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
America has a major and passionate obsession with bacon. It is something that has reached absurd proportions when you can buy bacon wallets, bacon ties, and bacon shoes. It has become bacon-paloosa out there! Now you can indulge in your pork product passion in a more useful way by making your own bacon with The Original Baconkit.
The Japanese Yen against the US Dollar has weakened dramatically in recent months – from less than 78 yen to the dollar on October 1 to a recent high of over 103 yen to the dollar on May 19.
Source: http://www.oanda.com
The weaker yen has been, so far, once of the biggest differences in the Japanese economy during the recent so-called “Abenomics” – a set of very aggressive fiscal policies implemented by new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe.
Generally this has given a very big boost to the Japanese economy, helping make Japanese manufacturing costs cheaper in foreign terms and helping exports and stimulating the economy.
But, as pointed out in a recent analysis of Apple products, it has made the cost of foreign technology more expensive in Japan. The following data shows some of the price increases of Apple products recently here in Japan, up as much as ¥16,000 for the 128GB iPad Retina Display (Wi-Fi + cellular model).
◆iPod touch
・iPod touch(32GB) ¥24,800 -> ¥29,800 (¥5,000 UP)
・iPod touch(64GB) ¥33,800 -> ¥39,800 (¥6,000 UP)
◆iPod nano
・iPod nano(16GB) ¥12,800 -> ¥14,800 (¥2,000 UP)
◆iPod shuffle
・iPod shuffle(2GB) ¥4,200 -> ¥4,800 (¥600 UP)
◆iPod classic
・iPod classic(160GB) ¥20,900 -> ¥24,800 (¥3,900 UP)
◆iPad mini(Wi-Fi)
・iPad mini(16GB) ¥28,800 -> ¥32,800 (¥4,000 UP)
・iPad mini(32GB) ¥36,800 -> ¥42,800 (¥6,000 UP)
・iPad mini(64GB) ¥44,800 -> ¥52,800 (¥8,000 UP)
◆iPad mini(Wi-Fi＋Cellular)
・iPad mini(16GB) ¥39,800 -> ¥46,800 (¥7,000 UP)
・iPad mini(32GB) ¥47,800 -> ¥56,800 (¥9,000 UP)
・iPad mini(64GB) ¥55,800 -> ¥66,800 (¥11,000 UP)
◆iPad 2
・iPad 2(16GB、Wi-Fi) ¥34,800 -> ¥39,800 (¥5,000 UP)
・iPad 2(16GB、Wi-Fi＋3G) ¥45,800 -> ¥53,800 (¥8,000 UP)
◆iPad Retina Display model (Wi-Fi)
・iPad Retina Display model (16GB) ¥42,800 -> ¥49,800 (¥7,000 UP)
・iPad Retina Display model (32GB) ¥50,800 -> ¥59,800 (¥9,000 UP)
・iPad Retina Display model (64GB) ¥58,800 -> ¥69,800 (¥11,000 UP)
・iPad Retina Display model (128GB) ¥66,800 -> ¥79,800 (¥13,000 UP)
◆iPad Retina Display model (Wi-Fi＋Cellular)
・iPad Retina Display model (16GB) ¥53,800 -> ¥63,800 (¥10,000 UP)
・iPad Retina Display model (32GB) ¥61,800 -> ¥73,800 (¥12,000 UP)
・iPad Retina Display model (64GB) ¥69,800 -> ¥83,900 (¥14,100 UP)
・iPad Retina Display model (128GB) ¥77,800 -> ¥93,800 (¥16,000 UP)
What happens when you take a standard home video camera and enable it to
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When Ubuntu Linux was still in early development back in August 2004, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth filed a tongue-in-cheek first bug: that Microsoft had a majority of PC market share. Little did he realize that he’d have an excuse to cross that bug off the list in 2013. Since computing now includes phones and tablets, he argues, that leaves the traditional PC (and therefore Windows) in the minority versus Android, iOS and other platforms. Whether or not you agree with that market interpretation, Shuttleworth is ready to move on — he feels it’s better to polish Canonical’s own cloud, desktop and mobile efforts than to target someone else. It’s undoubtedly easy for Shuttleworth to make peace when the battle is supposed to be over, but we can’t object to such a healthy attitude.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Microsoft
Via: NPR
Source: Ubuntu (1), (2)
A tablet with the industrial build and design of the HTC One would be something to watch out for.
(Credit: Aloysius Low/CNET Asia)
Remember late last year when there was a rumor that HTC would be getting into the Windows RT tablet game with 7- and 12-inch versions? Well, Bloomberg is reporting that the 12-inch slate has been scrapped.
Bloomberg’s source disclosed that the tablet would have cost HTC too much and the weak demand for RT tablets meant that the company had to be more selective about the products it brings to the market.
Instead, the focus will be on two 7-inch tablets — one running RT, and the other Android. Both devices will be launched at the same time in either September or October.
(Via Bloomberg)
This story originally appeared at Crave Asia under the headline “HTC reported to scrap 12-inch Windows RT tablet.”
Related Links:
Asus CEO ‘very optimistic’ about Windows 8 tablets
Android poised to overtake Apple in tablets, ABI says
Acer to launch Win 8 tablets with smaller screens this year
Why the Nexus 7 succeeded where others failed
What’s new about Windows Blue (FAQ)
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Whenever someone throws out a superlative word, you cannot help but wonder just how the heck did they arrive at such a conclusion. Was the label warranted just because of some in-house tests, or has it been independently verified? That is the big question that we have concerning the Razer Blade, but since Razer has been pretty much a reliable company for the longest time in the world of gaming, it goes without saying that to see Razer slap on the label of “The World’s Thinnest Gaming Notebook” on the Razer Blade is a trustworthy saying. In fact, the Razer Blade comes across as thinner than a dime, sporting a 14” HD+ display, running on a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, alongside NVIDIA GTX 765M as the graphics card of choice.
Just how thin is the Razer Blade? If you have a dime in your pocket, you get an idea on how amazingly thin it has become, where it measures in at a mere 0.66” thin – making it thinner than your regular smartphone for most of the case, unless you settle for one of those models from Huawei or ZTE that are obsessed with the thickness (or rather, the lack of it) of your smartphone. With that kind of dimensions, the Razer Blade is hands down the winner when it comes to packing in more power-per-cubic-inch compared to any other laptop in the world.
Underneath the hood, you will find that the Razer Blade packs in a future 4th generation Intel Core i7 processor, the most recent NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M GPU that ensures the kind of graphics which pop out from your machine is top notch and minimizes dropped frames, while taking advantage of today’s modern solid-state storage technology where it boasts of boot speeds of up to four-times faster compared to the traditional 5400-RPM notebook hard drive. Of course, since this is a gaming notebook, it is imperative that the display itself ought to be worth its salt considering the amount of time you are going to spend looking at it, hence the Razer Blade boasts of a stunning 14” LED-backlit HD+ display, with a custom-designed trackpad and backlit gaming grade keyboard to get you going right out of the box, all crammed into a rigid all-aluminum chassis. 8GB RAM is accompanied by a choice of either 128GB, 256GB or 512GB SSD. Pricing for the Razer Blade starts from $1,799 onwards as it is made available for pre-order from June 3.
Press Release
[ Razer Blade is thinnest gaming notebook in the world copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
There’s no shortage of places to get Android apps, and while that can be confusing to users, it’s also frustrating for developers who have to manage multiple versions of their software depending on which of the 36+ download stores they’re distributing through. Into the fray steps the One Platform Foundation, with the backing of Yandex, Opera, and SlideME, with a new archive wrapper for Android apps – dubbed AppDF – that will, the goal is, eventually allow the same software to be submitted to multiple stores simultaneously.
The AppDF formate is basically a ZIP archive with the .appdf extension, created using a special HTML5 AppDF Editor tool. The archive contains not only the APK application file itself, but screenshots, graphics, video, price details, content ratings, customer support, and other media used for the app store listing.
According to Yandex, it takes roughly 30-60 minutes to package up an Android app to suit each different download store. The goal of the OPF is to standardize that process, something which Yandex claims could save developers 300 hours of work a year, excluding updates, if they wanted their app to be available through every store.
It’s still early days for AppDF, and that means right now there are only a few places that will actually accommodate the wrapper. That, unsurprisingly, consists of Yandex’s Yandex.Store, Opera’s Mobile Store, the SlideME store, and the CodeNgo self-publishing platform, though the OPF claims that “several other appstores are working on AppDF implementation” including Appland and Aptoide.
There are still some limits to what can be done, beyond the relatively small number of app stores that support AppDF. Potentially most limiting is the absence of in-app billing: OpenIAB (open in-app billing) is a work-in-progress, the OPF says, with the group currently working on a prototype system that supports Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Samsung Apps, and the SK T-Store. That’s not ready for deployment, however, and isn’t expected until the next version of AppDF.
Exactly when that version will arrive is unclear; v1.0 of the AppDF specification was only finalized on April 8. OPF also intends to add a tool that will pull app descriptions from Google Play, essentially using the official store as a master distribution hub.
The proliferation of app stores is the flipside to the oft-cited Android “fragmentation” issue. Just as the range of OS versions in use has grown, as Google releases new updates and manufacturers and carriers struggle to bring older phones and tablets up to speed, so software distribution has fragmented, with new stores springing up to get a slice of the app spend pie. OPF certainly seems to attempt to address that complaint, though whether it will succeed will depend on how quickly it can encourage third-party download stores to adopt the AppDF format.
One Platform Foundation targets end to Android appstore fragmentation is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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