BitTorrent Sync Alpha isn’t ready to equal rivals like Dropbox or Google Drive without a mobile component. It’s a good thing that BitTorrent just launched Sync Beta, then — the more polished release includes an Android app that syncs with computers and shares files with fellow Android users. The update also brings versioning through SyncArchive, which stores previous file iterations in a folder. Sync Beta is available on both Android and the desktop today, and BitTorrent promises that an iOS equivalent is coming in the near future.
On Monday, I had the opportunity to sit down for a chat about indie development with Exato Games co-founder John Getty. Getty, whose studio just released the voxel-based shooter Guncraft, was happy to share with me some of the insights he’s gained during his years as an independent developer.
Who didn’t read X-Men comics as a kid? My favorite mutant was, of course, Wolverine, but Colossus was pretty cool too. This robot arm looks like a piece of him.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries recently showed off what it calls the world’s first stainless steel robot arm with seven joints, or “degrees of freedom.”
The arm, which moved flasks around in a display at the Interphex Japan pharmaceutical trade show, is designed for automated experiments with dangerous chemicals that ultimately could lead to discovering new drugs.
Because the MSR05 arm is made of stainless steel, it can be sterilized with hydrogen peroxide gas to ensure its sterility.
Apart from strangling foes, the stainless steel, robotic arm can be used for tasks such as washing, loading, and weighing. Kawasaki Heavy’s robot arms traditionally have been used for spot… [Read more]
It can’t do battle with an insane Star Wars-themed bunk bed, but for kids who are a little more grounded in reality, this Volkswagen Camper Bunk Bed is an awesome alternative. Yeah, it doesn’t have lasers, but a surfboard ladder is equivalently awesome.
Jay-Z’s Magna Carta album release with a Samsung-centric app has lit the flame for some rather simple privacy invasion concerns. While many apps request the data this media-touting title does, the scale of this release found itself the subject of chatter from officials at U.S. civil liberties group the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC). This week Samsung fires back.
Samsung has made clear that they’ve had no intention of selling the information the app collects, nor do they use said information for malicious – or unwarranted – purposes. What information, you might ask? According to EPIC, no less than “massive amounts of personal information… including location data” which they’d then use for “hidden spam techniques.”
This app, they say, promotes itself with these hidden spam techniques to users the initial user is connected to without the knowledge of the user. Of course if you’ve used the app yourself, you’ll know what they’re talking about: sharing through Facebook and Twitter.
“We are aware of the complaint… and believe it is baseless. Samsung takes customer privacy and the protection of personal information very seriously.
Any information obtained through the application download process was purely for customer verification purposes, app functionality purposes and for marketing communications, but only if the customer requests to receive those marketing communications.
Samsung is in no way inappropriately using or selling any information obtained from users through the download process.” – Samsung Representative
If you wanted to see a set of lyrics from one of the Magna Carta Holy Grail songs before the launch of the album, the app required you to share the fact that you were doing so with Facebook or Twitter. At this point in time, sharing is not only still voluntary – it’s relatively hard to do. You can read the full app Privacy Policy for more information if you do so wish.
We’ve been hearing and seeing a lot about Tesla‘s Model S sedan, which is an all-electric car that looks to break all stereotypes about the greener technology, with CEO Elon Musk proving that electric cars don’t need to be small compact go-karts. However, we’ve never seen the inside of the Tesla factory where they make the Model S, until now.
Wired was able to get a look inside the Tesla factory floor and see how the Model S is made. Of course, robots are a big part of the production line, with a whopping 160 robots lining the factory to complete certain tasks like cutting metal, welding it together, and shaping components.
However, Tesla also has a huge army of human workers as well. In fact, they have 3,000 of them to do the more skillful and detailed work that robots just don’t have the capabilities to perform. Perhaps the most impressive thing about the factory is that the car starts with all raw materials, meaning that the Model S starts out as a roll of sheet metal, and almost all of the parts needed are made in-house.
From there, robots cut the sheet metal into panels and presses carve out and shape exterior car parts, like the hood, doors, trunk lid, fenders, etc. Once the body shell is put together, it’s taken to the painting department where robots prep, primer, and paint the body shell. From there, it goes to general assembly, where workers play a more important role, like installing the interior and engine.
In the end, it takes anywhere from 3-5 days to make a Tesla Model S, and while the company relies a lot on automation and using robots (even for installing the interior car seats), Tesla’s 3,000 employees make sure that the finer details are complete and a Model S is ready to hit the road.
If you’ve been following the saga of Google Glass, you should by now the phrase to activate the wearable computer is simply “OK Glass.” But according to a report, that wasn’t the only phrase considered to be used in order […]
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the world’s first stainless steel robot with seven degrees of freedom. But before I explain what that means or why it matters, kindly take a moment to watch this Kawasaki Heavy Industries bot dance. Nice moves!
Despite HTC launching the Desire 200 and Desire 600 earlier this year, it looks like there’s still a bit of room left for the Desire family to grow. According to an invitation we’ve just received from the anxious Taiwanese smartphone maker, it’ll be launching a device called the Desire 500 next week, on July 23rd. The text in the invite has the slogan “Energy of the young, imagination of the boundless,” which makes us think this might be a lower-end device targeted at first-time smartphone owners. We saw a leaked document from a European operator referencing the Desire 500 earlier this month, so this phone may very well launch outside of Asia. If it doesn’t, though, we’d happily settle for a Butterfly s.
Google Maps released some big updates for both its Android and iOS applications recently, but today, Google Maps’ web application has received its new interface which the company revealed just a few months ago without needing to be invited into the new Google Maps.
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