Up-goer Five Text Editor

Theo Anderson reports:

Can you explain a hard idea using only the ten hundred most used words? It's not very easy. Type in the box to try it out.

Thanks to Conrad Gempf for the link.
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Asus Chromebit

Wired reports: [edited]

About the size of a cigar, it’s a tiny PC. But it’s a PC. If you plug it into an LCD display or a TV, you can run the sort of software you typically run on a personal computer, from word processors and spreadsheets and email to online video.

This is the Asus Chromebit, and it will reach the market this summer, priced at less than a hundred dollars.

Google pitches it as something that lets you walk up to any LCD display and instantly transform it into viable computer, whether it’s sitting on a desk in a classroom, mounted on the wall in an office conference room, or hanging above the checkout counter in a retail store or fast food joint.

The device is part of a new wave of machines that use Chrome OS, an operating system built for the internet age. Based on the Google Chrome web browser, the OS is designed for use with internet-based applications such as Google’s Gmail email service and its Google Docs word processor, reducing our dependence on the bulky local software that traditionally runs on PCs.
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DxO ONE

Digital Photography Review reports: [edited]

The DxO ONE connects to your iPhone via a Lightning adapter. Weighing 108g 67mm tall, 48mm wide x 25mm deep, the DxO ONE is small enough to fit in your pocket, yet features a 1"-type BSI-CMOS sensor. That means great low light sensitivity due to the BSI design, and fantastic Raw dynamic range. Combined with the bright F1.8 lens, you'll get far better image quality than your iPhone's camera, with better low light performance and control over depth-of-field.

DxO is a leader in digital image-processing. The SuperRAW feature captures four Raw images in rapid succession, then combines these images in the desktop software using spatial and temporal noise reduction algorithms to generate a high quality, lower noise image. Simple image averaging of four images should lead to a 2 EV increase in noise performance due to shot noise considerations alone which, by itself, is impressive. But there's even more going on.

If there's any subject movement, the algorithm takes the sharpest representation of that subject. Furthermore, the quartet of shots are carefully analysed for motion blur to attempt some de-blurring of the image, which simulates image stabilisation.

Connect the camera to your iPhone, and you're instantly taken to the App store to download the camera app. A couple of steps later, and you're on to taking your first photo. After your app is already installed, connecting the ONE to your iPhone launches the app.

Price: $599
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Splitting Colors Optical Illusion

Brain Decoder reports: [edited]

The Best Illusion of the Year Contest winner was "Splitting Colors,". We start off with two identical, flickering coloured stripes that remain unchanged throughout the demonstration.

Different surroundings make these stripes appear completely different. When the stripe is flanked by a yellow/blue pattern, drifting to the left, it changes appearance, and looks red and cyan, drifting to the right, while the same stripe, flanked by a red/cyan pattern drifting to the right, suddenly looks yellow and blue, drifting to the left.
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London - Somerset - London, 12-06-15 & 14-06-15

London - Somerset, 12-06-15
Lousy Connection - Ezra Furman
Back of The Van - Ladyhawke
Jeepers Creepers - The Puppini Sisters
Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
Pumped Up Kicks (original) - Foster The People
Girl You Know It's True - Milli Vanilli
John, I'm Only Dancing - David Bowie
Moonlight shadow - Maggie Reilly
One Way or Another - Blondie
They Don't Know - Tracey Ullman
Little By Little - Oasis
Candy Girl - New Edition
Restless Year - Ezra Furman
What Is Love - Haddaway
So Right, So Wrong - Linda Ronstadt
Millionaire (Radio Edit) - Kelis
Crazy Crazy Nights - Kiss
Time Bomb - Rancid
Heaven Is A Halfpipe - OPM
Down On The Corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Cigarettes, Women And Wine - Chicory Tip
You and Me Song - The Wannadies
If I Can't Have You - Yvonne Elliman
Tell Me When - Human League
Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman) - Joe Tex
Dr Fell - Juliet Turner
One Week - Barenaked Ladies
I'm So Excited - Pointer Sisters
Let's Hear It For The Boy - Deniece Williams
This Is The World We Live In - Alcazar
OK Fred - Errol Dunkley
Little Red Corvette (album) - Prince
Let Me Be Your Fantasy - Baby D
Your Woman - White Town
You Are The One - a-ha
Beware of The Flowers - John Otway
I Can Make You Feel Good - Shalamar
Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter - Herman's Hermits
If You Let Me Stay - Terence Trent D'Arby
Body Rock - Maria Vidal
Hi-Speed Soul - Nada Surf
It Doesn't Have To Be This Way - Blow Monkeys
I Touch Myself (Soda Club Radio Mix) - m*a*s*h feat. Stacie D
Mono - Courtney Love
Battleship Chains (Kick 'n' Lick Remix) - The Georgia Satellites
Ring My Bell - Anita Ward

Somerset - London, 14-06-15
Reptilia - The Strokes
Victoria - The Kinks
Don't stop, never give up - S Club 7
From Despair To Where - Manic Street Preachers
Like Toy Soldiers (clean) - Eminem
When Will I Be Famous - Bros
Short People - Randy Newman
Special - Garbage
Juke Box Jive - The Rubettes
Babooshka - Kate Bush
Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) - The Offspring
Umbrella (Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel Radio Edit) - Rihanna
Rock N Roll High School - Ramones
Breathe In - Lucie Silvas
All Star - Smash Mouth
Flash Bang Wallop - Tommy Steele
Mmm Bop - Hanson
A Design For Life - Manic Street Preachers
Screamager - Therapy?
Together In Electric Dreams - Human League
Don't Talk To Him - Cliff Richard & The Shadows
Shout - Lulu
Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
Tiny Dancer - Elton John
Your Love Is My Drug - Ke$ha
Mister Sandman - Emmylou Harris
That Happy Feeling - Bert Kaempfert
La Dolce Vita - Ryan Paris
I Should Have Known Better - Jim Diamond
Footloose - Kenny Loggins
Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad - Tammy Wynette
Puppet On A String - Sandie Shaw
Clair - Gilbert O'Sullivan
Going for Gold - Shed Seven
An Honest Mistake - The Bravery
Alright, Alright, Alright - Mungo Jerry
Would You Love a Monsterman - Lordi
Save Your Kisses For Me - Brotherhood Of Man
Best Friend - Toy Box
Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) (bootleg?) - Frank Wilson
Get Down On It (extended) - Kool & The Gang
Us - Regina Spektor
I Wanna Be the Only One - BeBe Winans/Eternal
Since Yesterday - Strawberry Switchblade
My Prerogative - Bobby Brown
bette davis eyes - Kim Carnes
I Should Be So Lucky - Kylie Minogue
Monsters and Angels - Voice of the Beehive
All Night Long - Lionel Richie
(The angels wanna wear my) red shoes - Elvis Costello
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Google Project Soli

Airows reports: [edited]
Google is developing a new interaction sensor using radar technology that can track movement with impressive accuracy. It's the size of a small computer chip and can be inserted into everyday objects.

Thanks to Keith Seckel for the heads-up


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Batteriser

TechHive reports: [edited]

Batteriser is a simple metal sleeve that promises to give consumers up to eight times more life from their disposable batteries, AAA through D.

A completely new alkaline battery is rated to generate 1.5 volts, but once its output drops below 1.35 or even 1.4 volts, it effectively becomes useless to many devices. The battery’s chemical cocktail is still loaded with juice, but the circuitry in many gadgets (especially more sophisticated ones, like Bluetooth keyboards and bathroom scales) considers the battery dead.

This is where Batteriser comes in. It’s essentially a voltage booster that sucks every last drop of useable energy from ostensibly spent batteries. So, instead of using just 20 percent of all the power hidden inside of your Duracells and Energizers, Batteriser makes effective use of the remaining 80 percent.

Voltage boosters are nothing new, but Batteriser scales down the technology to the point where it can fit inside a stainless steel sleeve less than 0.1 mm thick. Roohparvar says the sleeves are thin enough to fit inside almost every battery compartment imaginable, and the combined package can extend battery life between 4.9x for devices like remote controls and 9.1x for various electronic toys.

Batteriser will cost $10 for a pack of four when it goes on sale in September.
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