Hasta La Gadget!

This week we had a brief chat with Will Powell, a developer responsible for some rather fantastic advances in the world of what Google has suddenly made a very visible category of devices: wearable technology. With Google’s Project Glass nearer and nearer reality with each passing day, we asked Powell how his own projects were making advances at the same time, and how he saw advances in mobile gadgets as moving forward – and possibly away from smartphones and tablets entirely.

Those of you unfamiliar with Powell’s work, you can hit up the following three links and see the videos of the projects he’s done throughout this post. Some of the products Powell uses are the Vuzix STAR 1200 AR glasses, Raspberry Pi – the fabulous miniature computer, and of course, a good ol’ fashioned ASUS Eee Pad Transformer.

• Raspberry Pi takes on Google’s Project Glass
• DIY Project Glass makes Google’s AR vision real
• Will Powell brings on AR vision real-time translation

SlashGear: Where you working with wearable technology before Google’s Project
Glass was revealed to the world?

Powell: Yes at Keytree we were working with wearable technology before the unveiling of project glass. I was working on CEO Vision a glasses based augmented reality that you could reach out and touch objects to interact or add interactive objects on top of an iPad. I have also had lots of personal projects.

SG: What is your ultimate goal in creating this set of projects with
Raspberry Pi, Vuzix 1200 Star, etc?

P: I would say that the ultimate goal is really to show what is possible. With CEO Vision at Keytree we showed that you could use a sheet of paper to interact with sales figures and masses of data using the SAP Hana database technology. Then creating my own version of project glass and now extending those ideas to cover translations as well, was just to show what is possible using off-the-shelf technology. The translation idea was to take down barriers between people.

SG: Do you believe wearable technology will replace our most common mobile tech – smartphones, laptops – in the near future?

P: Yes I do, but with an horizon of a couple of years. I think that with the desire for more content and easier simpler devices, using what we are looking at and hearing to tell our digital devices what we want to find and share is the way forward. Even now we have to get a tablet, phone or laptop out to look something up. Glasses would completely change this because they are potentially always on and are now adding full time to at least one of our fundamental senses. Also many of us already wear glasses, according to Vision Council of America, approximately 75% of U.S. adults use some sort of vision correction. About 64% of them wear eyeglasses so people are already wearing something that could be made smart. That is a huge number of potential adopters for mobile personal information delivery.

I think we still have a way to go with working out how everything will fit together and how exactly we would interact with glasses based technology. With the transition from a computer to tablets and smartphones we opened up gestured with glasses we have the potential to have body language and real life actions as interaction mechanisms. And it would be the first time that there is no keyboard. There is also the potential for specifically targeted ads that could end up with us having some parodies come true. However, I do think we will have an app store for a glasses based device in the next few years.

SG: What projects do you have coming up next?

P: I have many more ideas about what glasses based applications can be used for and am building some of them. I am creating another video around translation to show the multi lingual nature of the concept. Further to that, we are looking at what areas of everyday life could be helped with glasses based tech and the collaboration between glasses users. The translation application highlighted that glasses are even better with wide adoption because Elizabeth could not see the subtitles of what I was saying without using the TV or tablet.

Stick around as Powell’s mind continues to expand on the possibilities in augmented reality, wearable technology, and more!

Wearable technology developer exclaims massive adoption potential is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

As Apple‘s Q3 earnings unfold this week it’s become clear that the Apple TV is the unsung hero of the day with massive sales compared to this same quarter last year. Apple TV sales have risen 170% over last year at this time, with 1.3 million units being moved here in Apple’s fiscal Q3 2012. Apple on the other hand is still calling this product a “hobby” as sales are nowhere near what the iPhone and iPad have racked up for the quarterly report.

To further drive the point home, Apple didn’t release information on the Apple TV inside their normal sales report, relying instead on the question and answer section to allow the facts appear on their own. Asking what Apple was planning on doing with the Apple TV and what their “updated thoughts” on the system were, the response was simple.

“We sold 1.3 million last quarter, up more than 170% year over year. That brings our fiscal year to 4 million units. This is pretty incredible. It’s all still at a level that we would call a “hobby”, but we’ll continue to pull the string to see where it takes us. Apple is not one to keep around projects that we don’t believe in. There are a lot of people here that believe in Apple TV, and we’ll continue to invest.”

Past quarters yielded numbers such as 100,000 units sold in the first month of sales of the Apple TV back in 2007, with well over a million units sold by the holiday season of that year. The fourth quarter of 2008 had unit sales tripling the fourth quarter of 2007, and the first quarter of 2009 again tripled sales compared to the same quarter the year before as well.

Stick around as Apple’s investment in the Apple TV continues, and check the timeline below to keep up to date with the last few blips on the system as well.

Apple TV sales boom 170% as “the hobby” gets serious is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The folks at Samsung have sent our invites to the press for a “major” Galaxy-line announcement on the 15th of August, fueling rumors that a second-generation Galaxy Note device is in the works. As Samsung has already announced and released their king of smartphones, the Galaxy S III, it’s time for their queen, if you might call it that, of devices in either the Galaxy Tab or the Galaxy Note line to appear. One might also hypothesize that it could be a combination of the two.

On the other hand, Samsung has just pushed forward their USA version of the Samsung Music Hub which might mean they’re getting ready for more in-device content delivery. Generally the word “major” in a press announcement from a hardware company, though, means a brand new device.

Have a peek at our portals for the following to see if you can track down what Samsung is getting at:

• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• Samsung Galaxy S III
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
• Samsung Galaxy Note

Or perhaps it’s something we’ve never seen before at all! Stick around here with SlashGear to follow this epic event as it unfolds!

Samsung sets Major Galaxy announcement for August 15th is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

You know the drill, walking through that mine field, only to lose another good flashlight when you drop it on one of those puppies. Well if this is a concern of yours, the EXP-LED-51 from Larson Electronics should see you right. The latest in its like of hazardous location devices, the rugged LED torch is rechargeable, has 180 lumens of output and rated for 50,000 hours of service in the (dark) field (480 hours on one charge in the lowest power mode). For the man (or woman) on the move, the EXP-LED-51 also comes with a 12V car charger, as well as the standard VAC outlets. How much for this level of resilience? That’d be 320 bulletproof dollars.

Continue reading Explosion-proof flashlight could be the first to outlive its owner

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Explosion-proof flashlight could be the first to outlive its owner originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 23:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After approximately one week of being off the listing of environmentally friendly products entirely, Apple has decided to return to EPEAT after “many loyal Apple customers” expressed concern. Apple’s hardware engineering chief Bob Mansfield has posted a letter that expresses Apple’s change of heart and reassures the public that Apple never lapsed for a moment on their green initiatives and environmentally sound hardware manufacturing. The letter also lets it be known that their relationship with EPEAT has “become stronger as a result of this experience” and that they’ll continue their work with ENERGY STAR as well as IEEE 1680.1, the standard on which EPEAT is based.

Mansfield’s letter makes it clear that Apple’s work with green initiatives has surpassed that which EPEAT measures. Apple has made moves, the letter notes, to remove harmful toxins from the manufacturing process and has made an effort to reduce the amount of non-recyclable elements in their products as well. Have a peek at the full letter to see Apple’s decision in short.

“We’ve recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT rating system. I recognize that this was a mistake. Starting today, all eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT.

It’s important to know that our commitment to protecting the environment has never changed, and today it is as strong as ever. Apple makes the most environmentally responsible products in our industry. In fact, our engineering teams have worked incredibly hard over the years to make our products even more environmentally friendly, and much of our progress has come in areas not yet measured by EPEAT.

For example, Apple led the industry in removing harmful toxins such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). We are the only company to comprehensively report greenhouse gas emissions for every product we make, taking into account the entire product lifecycle. And we’ve removed plastics wherever possible, in favor of materials that are more highly recyclable, more durable, more efficient and longer lasting.

Perhaps most importantly, we make the most energy-efficient computers in the world and our entire product line exceeds the stringent ENERGY STAR 5.2 government standard. No one else in our industry can make that claim.

We think the IEEE 1680.1 standard could be a much stronger force for protecting the environment if it were upgraded to include advancements like these. This standard, on which the EPEAT rating system is based, is an important measuring stick for our industry and its products.

Our relationship with EPEAT has become stronger as a result of this experience, and we look forward to working with EPEAT as their rating system and the underlying IEEE 1680.1 standard evolve. Our team at Apple is dedicated to designing products that everyone can be proud to own and use.” – Mansfield

Have a peek at our timeline below to get the full story and resulting uproar that surrounded this EPEAT saga with Apple. And don’t forget, San Francisco government officials: you can once again buy that MacBook you were eyeing a month ago, have at it!

[via Apple]

Apple returns to EPEAT after customer call to action is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.