The most expensive, most intricate bike locks you can buy are really only guaranteeing that your bicycle’s frame doesn’t get stolen. Everything else, from your wheels to your seat, are fair game if not taken with you or somehow secured. But that ‘somehow’ could very well be these clever Sphyke miniature combination locks, which make it impossible for your ride to be disassembled without knowing the passcode.
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Ford was quick to embrace in-car mobile app integration through its AppLink technology, but it wants a true industry standard to boost adoption. The company is tackling this problem this today by acquiring Livio, best-known for its Livio Connect in-car app gateway. Valued at under $10 million, the buyout will help Ford create a single app interface that any automaker could use. Mobile developers would only have to support one format to reach many infotainment units — as long as Ford’s rivals are willing to set aside their own platforms, of course. In the meantime, Ford is being cautious. It intends to keep Livio as a separate brand that will serve GM and other existing customers for the foreseeable future.
Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation, Mobile
Ford Motors today is announcing the acquisition of Livio Radio, a maker of a platform for in-car apps, with a focus on audio and music services. This is the car-maker’s first technology acquisition in 13 years. The Ferndale, MI-based startup — now a subsidiary of Ford’s Global Technologies Group — will continue to operate under the original name. Neither party has disclosed the terms of the deal, only stating that Ford paid less than $10m for the in-vehicle app maker.
“It’s not everyday that something you start out of your bedroom gets acquired by a Fortune 500 company,” Livio CEO and founder Jake Sigal told me following today’s announcement.
I visited Livio in late 2012. It’s a small office on a busy road in Ferndale, Michigan. Cement floors. Gadgets and tradeshow props strewn around. The culture was vibrant. You could say, infectious. All the engineers work out of a single conference room, circling around a single table. Sigal told me today they have since outgrown that single room and there are now engineers spilling out into the hallway. Sigal says Livio Radio has an amazing culture focusing on their team.
“It’s hard to believe that in 2008 I decided to go do my own thing and we hired great,” he said. “We really are a team here.”
Ford CTO Paul Mascarenas says purchasing Livio Radio was about acquiring the talented 11-person team behind Livio Radio, the company’s intellectual property and the ability to forge a standard for automotive apps.
This is Ford’s first technology acquisition since October 2000 when it partnered with Qualcomm on the ill-fated Wingcast, a joint venture aimed at developing wireless data services for vehicles.
Exact terms of the deal was not disclosed. The two companies have been in talks since early this year. Mascarenas indicated that the whole deal cost less than $10 million and funds were provided solely by Ford Global Technologies Group. Myine Electronics, LLC, doing business under the name Livio Radio, had raised $2.15 million in two funding rounds.
“We couldn’t do what Livio has already done,” Mascarenas said. “Their own intellectual property complement’s Ford’s App Link.
Right now, nearly every automotive OEM uses its own proprietary automotive application platform. Since pivoting from making Pandora radios over a year ago, Livio has been developing a universe platform aimed at bringing apps into cars.
“We connect smartphones to work with head units in automobiles,” Joey Grover Livio Radio’s mobile tech room told me at CES 2013 (full interview below), adding that the company was attempting to get as many apps in the car as they can. At the time, this list included apps like Accuweather, TuneIn, Rdio and Grooveshark.
Livio’s founder and CEO Jake Sigal noted that this is a great opportunity to work towards an industry standard. Under the terms of the deal, Livio is still free to continue its work with other OEMs. Livio currently provides solutions for other automakers including General Motors with Sigal noting it’s easier to push the industry towards a standard if you’re not just some startup in metro Detroit.
Sony has decided to introduce a trio of new SXRD projectors at CEDIA 2013, where among them include a couple of 4K models as well as a Full HD model for the masses. Of course, having plenty of money is one thing, but to know what to do with it is another, and for those who feel like flirting with a new projector simply because they have the means to might want to check out the brand new VPL-VW1100ES and VPL-VW600ES. Both of these will offer a DCI-approved 4,096 x 2,160 pixel resolution, where the VPL-VW1100ES remains at the top of the range projector from Sony as it arrives with a bundled 4K player, an in-home service visit, a replacement lamp and tablet controller – all for a cool $28,000, of course.
As for the VPL-VW600ES, it will be pretty much similar to the model that was introduced in Europe back in October, touting a wallet bustin’ $15,000 price tag, too, with the option to bundle it with a tablet controller. Of course, for those who do not have the kind of bottomless wallet or bank account to draw from, there is the Full HD capable VPL-HW55ES model that delivers enhanced optical efficiency and an improved cooling system. [Press Release]
Sony Announces New Projectors At CEDIA 2013 original content from Ubergizmo. 
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While most of the world associates the classic control-alt-delete keyboard command with soft reboots and frozen applications, a small portion of the population battles with the bizarre concept of the command as a login as well. Windows NT users, specifically, recall using the command as a means to turn on their desktops — something that Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates is finally calling “a mistake.”
In a wide-ranging interview on-stage at Harvard University, Gates regaled current students of his alma mater with tales of his time at the school. But apparently Harvard Campaign co-chair David Rubenstein couldn’t forego his chance to get an answer — or at least an apology — from Gates on the bizarre login procedure. Gates admitted, “It could’ve had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn’t wanna give us our single button. It was…it was a mistake.” Of course, Gates laughs it off, having moved beyond guilt over software released 20 years ago. Head below for the full video, and jump to the 17-minute mark should you wish to see the exchange over Windows NT first.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Via: Geekwire
Source: YouTube, Harvard Campaign
Using telescopes and a photography technique used to capture the flow around moving objects, scientists at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center managed to capture some incredible images that show exactly what a jet does to the air when it goes supersonic.
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Pakistan’s devastating earthquake this week killed hundreds, with a death toll that’s certain to rise. While the country recovers, the world has become fascinated by a geographic side-effect of the disaster: the quake was so powerful that it created a new island
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Big data is big money, so when the power goes out and data centers go offline, companies like eBay stand to hemorrhage revenue. Which is why the mega auction e-tailer’s been hard at work setting up a “greener” data center in South Jordan, Utah to avoid costly and unpredictable blackouts. The now operational site incorporates thirty fuel cells developed by Bloom Energy, a company with roots in NASA’s Mars program, that turn natural gas into electricity via an electro-chemical process. What’s more, eBay, using recovered energy generation technology provided by Ormat, is also attempting to offset its carbon footprint by harvesting the “heat waste” generated from natural gas pipelines and turning that into energy for its Utah site. Barring any unforeseen power failures, the company’s green data center won’t ever have to rely on the local grid. And that independence should ensure eBay users keep bidding and buying and filling the company’s coffers.
Filed under: Science
Availability on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition begins in the United States on the 10th of October, while the name suggests that Samsung will be starting the Automobile-structure naming-scheme for devices right here in 2013. While the 2014 model of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 will be ready to roll in its Wi-fi-only […]
Building collapses are a tragic and overwhelmingly fatal occurrence in the developing world. But that could soon change once NASA and the DH’s revolutionary, handheld radar unit comes to fruition. It scans for and identifies buried building collapse victims based solely on their breathing patterns and heartbeats.
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