Hasta La Gadget!

As a long-time runner and a recent recipient of a Nike+ SportWatch GPS I can safely say I’ve been bitten by the exercise data bug. The satisfaction of uploading your latest round of physical exertion and transforming it into digital bits and bytes that can be analysed and compared against past performance is pretty darn cool. But the Nike+ SportWatch is far from perfect. The biggest issue I have encountered so far is patchy and/or sluggish GPS linking (a problem flagged up by my TC colleague John Biggs in his 2011 review).

If the GPS sensor takes its time to connect it keeps you grounded in your running shoes waiting for the digital hook-up in the sky to get on with it. And if the connection fails entirely (which has happened to me on a run in a rural part of Wales), far from motivating you to get moving the SportWatch makes you feel there’s no point in working out since your effort will go unrecorded and therefore wasted (this is not, I should add, an attitude I used to have before owning the watch — so it’s a perfect example of the double-edged nature of technology).

Enter Leikr: a sports watch that wants to do things better — including by making the GPS link process faster, thanks to “a snapping fast custom made GPS system” which includes downloading GPS almanac data to the watch to help it “fix on the satellites faster” and a custom GPS antenna that is “fine tuned” for Leikr, rather than using a standard ceramic GPS antenna module.

I can’t testify to its speed, since I haven’t had a chance to test it, but speedy GPS linking is one of the advantages being touted as part of the Leikr Kickstarter pitch. Other sports watch annoyances the team behind Leikr want to overcome include overly bulky devices, irritatingly counterintuitive interfaces, and small, non-colour screens.  They are undoubtedly aiming for the pro, endurance end of the sports watch market, rather than the Fitbit/Jawbone UP casual activity tracker masses but don’t let that put you off. You are serious about your running right?

“During our training we have tried different GPS watches and we have never been completely satisfied with them: too bulky, too difficult to operate, slow in getting the GPS signal, small screens and little to show:  honestly quite boring stuff,” the team writes. ”We were looking for the perfect device to support our training and we could not find it. Last year we decided to take the chance and realize our long wanted dream of a training GPS watch that every athlete would desire.”

Leikr — which incidentally means ”game, sport, play” in old Nordic (the company being founded in Denmark) – has a two inch colour display (with a resolution of 320×240 pixels) — meaning there’s enough space on screen to display multiple data points simultaneously, such as time, speed, distance, calories, heart rate etc, or to show a map view that allows you to track your position as you run and see where the route is taking you. While the face of the watch is much larger than the average sports watch display, the thickness has been squeezed to 10.65mm to keep the overall bulk down. Gorilla Glass toughens it up, weight is around 55 grams, and run data syncs automatically over Wi-Fi when you’re back at your desk. There’s 8GB of on board storage for your maps and runs, and a 500Mhz engine inside. Battery life is reportedly up to 6 hours of active (GPS) use — long enough for an average runner to complete a marathon and still have juice to spare.  

Leikr’s maps are powered by OpenStreetMap, which the team claims is a first for this kind of gizmo (Nike+’s SportWatch GPS is powered by TomTom, for instance), while the watch integrates with social fitness tracker community Endomondo for analysing training, sharing and comparing with friends. The Leikr team isn’t just concerned with making the hardware though. On the software side, they will offer a portal where workouts and programs can be downloaded to the device — customised to your appropriate fitness level — and the team’s pitch talks about wanting to be there at every step of your training, from planning to executing to analysing.

So who’s building Leikr? No, it’s not Apple. But the core team does include some mobile expertise — specifically ex-Nokia talent, from Nokia’s now shuttered Copenhagen R&D lab, such as Lars Moeller, Director, R&D Management, who spent 12 years at Nokia R&D – bringing, in their words, “years of experience making the best in mobile devices” to the GPS watch space. The Leikr is Linux-based (the watch will be upgradeable via the Leikr portal as the software evolves) and also uses the (formerly Nokia owned) Qt application framework. “This solution allows us flexibility and reduced power consumption,” the team writes. “Our development team has years of experience developing on this framework.”

The Leikr Kickstarter goal is $250,000 — to bring the watch to the U.S. market initially. Currently the project has raised more than $23,500 with 29 days left to get funded. The first batch of 50 Leikrs offered at the lowest pledge rate to receive a watch ($149) has already sold out.

It’s a safe bet that a fair few children of geeky moms and dads will be finding a rectangular-shaped parcel under their holiday tree tomorrow. And when they rip off the shiny wrapping those lucky kids will find an oh-so-tasty Raspberry Pi inside: a $35 mini computer that can play Blueray-quality video and has more graphical power than a Nintendo Wii — although none of that will be immediately obvious. The Pi is a learning tool not a plug-and-play toy.

The first thing the kids are likely to notice after they winkle their Pi out of its antistatic packet is that it looks a bit weird. If they’ve grown up surrounded by slick, shiny consumer gadgets like iPhones and iPads they may never have handled an uncovered circuit board before. Reclaiming electronics from the sealed box approach is all part of the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s plan to get kids learning to code – curiosity being an essential component of learning and creativity.

So in the spirit of stripping away a few more layers, I’ve been asking the Foundation what the secret is to making a $35 mini computer. The basic recipe is this: having extremely skilful cooks who can craft batch after batch of Raspberry Pis as quickly as possible, and with as few duds as possible.

Many Raspberry Pis are made in the UK, in Sony’s Pencoed factory in Wales which landed a multi-million pound contract to manufacture Pis for one of the Foundation’s Pi licensees, Premier Farnell, back in the fall. Premier Farnell also has two locations in China which produce Pi but the majority of its production (70 percent) is in Pencoed, and in January the factory will account for its entire Pi output. (The Foundation can’t disclose exactly how much of the Pi pie each of its licensees accounts for.)

Sony’s Pencoed factory makes an average of 4,000 Model B Pi‘s every day — or one every 7.5 seconds. Which is hard to imagine when you consider the intricacies involved in churning out thousands of double sided PCBs (printed component boards) with surface mount components on both sides and plated through hole components on the top — with blobs of molten solder being laid down in just the right spots, and the correct components stamped on them at a rate of 5.5 parts per second. And doing it all on a very tight budget.

Boards are made in panels of six Pis which go through four “key processes”: mounting the bottom surface components, mounting the top surface components, mounting the plated through hole components; and then testing and packing.

Pi on a budget

Of course, making a Pi is nowhere near as complex as making a modern smartphone, but the balancing act here is keeping the price down without eroding the distributor’s business model. The most costly components in the Pi are the Processor and Memory core silicon, closely followed by the connectors.

With a $35 price tag (and just $25 for the forthcoming Model A Pi) components have to be bought at the right price but also the right quality — since manufacturing defects also have to be minimised and squeezed out of the production process till they’re barely ever there. It’s no good slowing production either: demand for Pi is so high they have to be able to make thousands per day.

“To achieve the low price whilst still yielding a sustainable business model requires skillful manufacturing optimisation and parts procurement,” says Pi hardware designer and Foundation trustee Pete Lomas (no relation!). “The production line has to run efficiently and deliver a very low failure rate. Component vendors must be selected for both quality and price and any potential changes passed through a detailed selection procedure. It is little use saving 40 cents on the components if the failure rate of finished Raspberry Pi rises. Equally every defect is aggressively pursued to understand it’s root cause and eliminate it.”

“Test failures” do still exist of course, but Lomas says that “to our knowledge” fewer than 100 boards have been returned by users as defective — meaning less than 0.1 percent of boards have slipped through the quality-control net. “Of these, some had physical (transit) damage and others had no fault found, so the actual figure is somewhat lower again,” he adds.

Selling like hot cakes

In terms of keeping up with demand, Lomas admits the Foundation was initially caught on the hop — having drastically underestimated people’s appetite for Pi — which resulted in shipping delays in the early months. “We were caught out by a massive increase in interest in the Pi in the very early days,” he says. “Whilst we were setting up for a modest production run of 20,000 units the expressions of interest overtook us by a factor of 10. At that point we decided to engage with our partners Premier Farnell and RS.

“Even with their significant resources, the logistics of getting components for a hundred thousands of Pis and getting them built was a challenge.”

Unlike an electronics giant like Apple or Samsung, the not-for-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation and its suppliers were not in a position to stockpile components prior to launch to scale up for the unexpected surge in demand. (And let’s face it, even Apple can’t always keep up with demand.) Another delaying factor is long lead-times on some of the Pi components, says Lomas.

“[Our partners] didn’t have the opportunity to stockpile before launch (unlike, say, Apple), so things were always going to be tricky. Scalability also depends on the components and the lead-time on some parts, especially the processors, is significant and still can present issues a year in to manufacture.”

The Foundation is expecting to sell about a million Pis in its first year of operation — a far cry from the original 20,000 production run it budgeted for.

Baked in the U.K.

The Raspberry Pi was born in the U.K., so it’s only natural the Foundation wanted Pi to be made in the UK too. Sony’s Pencoed factory was chosen because it ticked a variety of boxes, says Lomas — not least, being open to visits from children to see Pi making in progress.

“Making Raspberry Pi in the UK is a desire that we had on day one. The Foundation’s aim is to encourage children to develop an interest in programming, electronics and related engineering subjects. Having the manufacturing of Pi in a place that we could provide opportunities for ‘show and tell’ was also important and the overall philosophy of the Sony management and staff has been a significant enabler for this,” he tells TechCrunch.

“Sony Pencoed was chosen because both their world-class technical capability and their enthusiasm for the Raspberry Pi project overall. We also should not forget that they offered our licensees a viable cost model on a par with the ‘all in cost’ of Far East manufacture. Equally from a technical point of view, the management and resolution of any design related production issues or optimisations is much easier when they are only a few hours away.”

The factory now has more than 22 staff dedicated to Pi production. The overall lead time from first contact with the factory to hitting “volume production” was around 14 weeks — giving an indication of how long it took Sony to devise the Pi production line. Now there’s a “rolling production forecast” between Premier Farnell and Sony which allows for “a degree of production flexibility” with around a month’s notice, says Lomas.

“The only process that Sony did not already have in their production process was Package on Package. Within the introduction programme they researched the process in depth, selected and installed the equipment and ran trials to validate the process before introducing it to the Pi line,” he adds. 

Another helping of Pi

Asked whether Sony’s factory could scale up to greater production capacity in the future, Lomas says there is “significant extra capacity” that could be brought on stream. “Ultimately it is the licensee’s decision where to place additional capacity, but overall the Sony experience has been excellent,” he adds.

There has been no let up in demand for Pi, according to Lomas, but the Foundation believes its existing Pi factories have enough capacity to keep up with demand. “We hope that in the next few months we will reach equilibrium where manufacturing is balanced (as much as it ever can be) with demand. We have options to increase capacity with our existing manufacturers and so additional factories would in all probability not be required.”

For more on Pi production, Lomas has written an excellent, blow by blow account of the various stages and processes of Sony’s Pencoed Pi production line — such as the reels of surface mount components used to keep production ticking along, how Pi boards are baked (yes really) in giant ovens to make sure all the components are properly adhered, and the perils of “lava accidents.”

The Foundation has also put together a video montage showing some of the Pi production stages:

Berlin-based OpenStreetMaps map app maker, Skobbler — which claims its map engine is ‘on a par with Google’s’ and last month relaunched into the Android app market with a hybrid online/offline map paid app (ForeverMap2) – is hoping to corner the map market on Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, being as there’s no Google Maps app pre-installed or available for download on the Fire app store. Skobbler’s ForeverMap2 for Kindle Fire is expected to go live later today, having been approved by Amazon, giving Kindle Fire users another alternative to existing map apps on the Kindle Fire App Store – such as MapQuest, Nokia’s Here and Microsoft’s Bing maps.

Nokia’s Here is currently ranked second in the free download Navigation section of Amazon’s Appstore for Android, while the MapQuest app is ranked number one.

“The Kindle Fire has been wildly popular but with no Google Maps and no pre-installed map like most other mobile devices, this is a real opportunity to establish ourselves as the leading brand on this platform, and as a provider of the best map app for its users,” said Skobbler’s co-founder Marcus Thielking in a statement.

Skobbler reckons ForeverMap2′s combination of speedy map engine tech plus OpenStreetMaps data and fully featured offline maps give it the edge over rivals. “We feel that we have pretty much a map engine that is on the same level as Google’s — pure technology wise. And that’s way ahead of our competitors — the non-Googles, including Nokia by the way — out there,” Thielking told me last month.

Other features included in ForeverMap2 include address search, location finder, route calculation and POIs — which all function in both online and offline map versions

Skobbler says it is aiming to become the number one maps offering on the Kindle Fire. The company is taking a different tactic with the Kindle Fire than Google’s Play Store — offering ForeverMap2 as a free download with the offline maps component of the app only available via in-app purchase (on Google Play the app is a paid for download with one country offline map included in the initial price).

ForeverMap2 offline maps on the Kindle Fire app are priced at $0.99/£0.69 for Cities; $1.99 for States; $2.99/£1.99 for countries; $5.99/£3.99 for continents; and $9.99/£7.99 for a global offline map.

Asked how ForeverMap2 can beat Nokia’s Here (also free to download, and offering users the ability to “save map areas & wander without data coverage”), Thielking claims Here offline maps are very limited when compared to ForeverMap2′s fully featured offline maps — noting that Here only lets users download a “certain amount of map tiles”, at a “certain level of detail”. The size that can be downloaded is also “limited” — for instance, he says “you can’t get the entire city of Berlin”. Finally he says Nokia’s method gobbles up a lot of data — claiming that downloading Berlin offline maps via Here takes around 50MB of data.

Skobbler has also made its app available for Barnes & Noble’s NOOK Color, NOOK Tablet and NOOK HD/HD+ slates — in two versions: a free version with online maps, and a paid version which costs $5 that includes offline maps. Thielking says the reason for the two versions is that B&N’s store does not support in-app purchases at present.

Barnes & Noble’s Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets went on sale in the UK towards the end of last month — without an on-board video service. That was due in early December and has been added today, as B&N has expanded its licensing partnerships — including with BBC Worldwide, HBO, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, STARZ, and Warner Bros — to offer the Nook Video service in the U.K. Content from other studios will be added in future, B&N added.

The addition of the Nook Video store brings the tablets in line with Amazon’s similarly priced Kindle Fire slates — which offer a video service powered by Amazon-owned LOVEFilm.

Nook Video offers TV shows and movies in standard and HD formats, for streaming and downloading from the Nook Store. Downloaded videos are stored in the Nook Cloud — enabling Nook owners to watch the content on other devices (once the free Nook Video apps launch).

B&N’s tablets are also compatible with the UltraViolet platform — meaning UV-branded digital content bought via other channels will also be viewable on the Nook HD and HD+, once a user’s UltraViolet account has been linked to the Nook Cloud.

Release follows below

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–NOOK Media LLC, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced its NOOK Video offering of films and TV shows is available in the UK for NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ customers through new and expanded licensing partnerships with major studios and leading content providers including BBC Worldwide, HBO, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, STARZ, and Warner Bros. Entertainment. Barnes & Noble is also the first digital retailer to offer UltraViolet titles in the UK, bringing unmatched convenience and portability to customers’ compatible digital video collections.

NOOK Video features a diverse digital collection of popular classics, blockbuster hits, new releases, original television series and local favourites available for streaming and download. NOOK customers across the UK can now shop and experience their favorite movies and TV shows like never before seen in spectacular colour and stunning definition on NOOK HD, the world’s highest-resolution 7-inch HD tablet, and NOOK HD+, the lightest full HD tablet, for an unparalleled portable entertainment experience. Offered in standard and HD formats, videos that are streamed and downloaded from the NOOK Store will be stored safely and securely in the NOOK Cloud, so NOOK Video content can also be enjoyed on other devices via soon-to-launch free NOOK Video apps.

NOOK Video offers something for everyone in the family to enjoy, including Sherlock, Call the Midwife, Game of Thrones^®, True Blood^®, Ted, The Bourne Legacy, The Amazing Spider-Man^™, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Men in Black 3, Spartacus, Party Down, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Happy Feet Two, and many more. The company is also planning to make content available from other leading studios, to be announced.

The launch of NOOK Video makes it the first digital retailer of UltraViolet titles in the UK, making it easier than ever for UK customers to integrate compatible physical DVD and Blu-ray Disc purchases and digital video collections across their devices. As the first UltraViolet-enabled tablets to seamlessly integrate a customer’s compatible digital video collection across their devices right out of the box, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ customers can now easily link their UltraViolet accounts to the NOOK Cloud allowing them to view their previously and newly purchased UltraViolet-enabled movies and TV shows via NOOK devices and NOOK Video apps. In addition to purchasing a digital version via NOOK Video, customers can shop for DVDs and Blu-ray Discs with the UltraViolet logo, add them to their digital collection, and instantly watch compatible titles from the NOOK Cloud.

“We purposefully designed our new NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ tablets with stunning high resolution displays for unmatched reading and entertainment experiences, and we’re excited to expand our content partnerships to bring NOOK Video to our growing base of UK customers,” said Jonathan Shar, Vice President & General Manager, Emerging Digital Content, NOOK Media. “NOOK Video provides customers with the flexibility to enjoy their favorite movies and TV shows wherever they go and however they choose – all in spectacular digital quality.”

“We’re excited to be part of the initial video offering by NOOK in the UK,” said Claude London, Digital Director, BBC Worldwide Consumer Products. “We hope that this partnership will provide consumers with flexible access to our wide variety of content including some of our major new releases and well-loved back catalogue.”

“Barnes & Noble becoming the first UltraViolet retailer in the UK is going to change the way consumers purchase and enjoy their digital movie libraries,” said Jim Wuthrich, President, International, Warner Home Video and Digital Distribution. “With UltraViolet-enabled movies, consumers know their collection is stored securely in the cloud and can be accessed across numerous devices, including the NOOK HD and NOOK HD+. This convenience, combined with the ability for consumers to share their digital libraries with up to five family members, makes NOOK Video a very compelling destination to purchase movies.”

BitInstant may be aiming for a Bitcoin debit card, but it looks like a European Bitcoin exchange will beat it to the punch. After working with French financial regulators, Bitcoin-Central has hammered out a deal with French payment processor Acoba and France’s Credit Mutuel bank to become a payment service provider, which allows it to function much like a bank. According to Bitcoin-Central, it’s the first exchange of the digital currency to be licensed to operate as a bank and function within the framework of European regulations. Customers will now have funds held under their name — rather than that of the exchange — at Credit Mutuel and insured by the Garantie des dépôts, the French analog of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). Soon, users of the service will be able to order debit cards that can use Bitcoins and Euros for purchases and cash withdrawals. Yearning for some direct deposit action? In a few months, the organization will be able to accept direct deposits and even automatically convert hard-earned cash into Bitcoins. The virtual bullion has taken its lumps, but this is a development that fans of the currency can be proud of. For more details, tap the bordering source link.

[Image credit: Zach Copley, Flickr]

Filed under: Misc, Internet

Comments

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Bitcoin Forum