Hewlett Packard Enterprise developing 'The Machine'

Business Insider reports: [edited]

HPE has come a big step closer to launching a computer that it's been talking about, researching, and developing since 2014.

It uses a new kind of memory to be able to store and instantly analyse mind-boggling amounts of data. The current prototype that HPE is showing off today contains 160 terabytes (TB) of memory, enough to store and work with every book in the Library of Congress five times over.

But this new kind of memory can expand far beyond that. HPE expects to be able to build a machine that reaches up to 4,096 yottabytes, enough to hold 250,000 times all the data currently stored in the world. The Machine can crunch through "every digital health record of every person on earth; every piece of data from Facebook; every trip of Google’s autonomous vehicles; and every data set from space exploration all at the same time", HPE CEO Meg Whitman wrote in a blog post.

Not only has the company invented a new kind of memory to build this computer, but the company is breaking from its long-standing partnership with Microsoft and building a new operating system, based on Linux, to run this computer. It is also using ARM chips as the main processor, not Intel chips.
------------

Jim Kovaleski – Urban Nomadic Gardener

Boing Boing reports: [edited]

Justin Rhodes profiles Jim Kovaleski, an urban market gardener who leases other people's residential yards for planting produce, which he harvests and sells up and down the east coast of the United States.
------------

Glowee Bioluminescent Light

InnoEnergy reports: [edited]

Glowee develops a lighting system that does not consume any electricity, requires no power supply, and produces very little CO2 or light pollution.

Twenty-five-year-old design graduate Sandra Rey is a woman with a mission. For three years she has had a vision of a world lit by an inexhaustible, living and eco-friendly source of bioluminescence, the phenomenon that enables fireflies to glow and anglerfish to lure their prey. “I want to see a world where bioluminescence is part of everyday life,” says Sandra. Glowee, the company she founded, develops biological systems that reproduce this chemical reaction.

What Glowee makes is a gel made up of (nonpathogenic and nontoxic) bacteria in a nutrient solution in which the microbes thrive. The resulting culture comes in transparent pods of various shapes and sizes that emit a glow until the microorganisms eventually die.

Sandra claims that the product’s entire life cycle equates to half the CO2 emissions of an equivalent LED system. What’s more, the cold, soft light it emits will not disturb urban fauna and the system’s inherent portability makes it suitable for isolated communities and facilities. The product has a host of marketing applications, from shop windows to road signs and street furniture. In the longer term, it may be used in building materials and even in paints.

Originally translated from La Tribune.
------------

Lyrebird

Lyrebird reports: [edited]

Lyrebird will offer an API to copy the voice of anyone. It will need as little as one minute of audio recording of a speaker to compute a unique key defining her/his voice. This key will then allow to generate anything from its corresponding voice. The API will be robust enough to learn from noisy recordings.

[Ed. Check out the demos, very impressive.]
------------

Early Macintosh Emulation

Internet Archive Blogs reports: [edited]

The Internet Archive can now emulate the early models of the Apple Macintosh, the black-and-white, mouse-driven computer that radically shifted the future of home computing in 1984.

The first set of emulated Macintosh software is located here.
------------

Shopify launches Burst royalty free image site

TechCrunch reports: [edited]

Shopify’s Burst site offers all its images royalty-free, under the Creative Commons Zero license.

Artists for individual photos are linked, so you can credit them if you want to.
------------

Extra portion of SpaceX rocket recovered

Reuters reports: [edited]

Shortly after the main section of SpaceX’s first recycled Falcon 9 booster landed itself on a platform in the ocean, half of the rocket’s nosecone, which protected a communications satellite during launch, splashed down via parachute nearby.

Measuring 13 metres long and 5 metres in diameter, the nosecone is big enough to hold a school bus. It separates into two pieces, exposing the satellite, about 4 minutes after liftoff. As a test, SpaceX outfitted the fairing with thrusters and a steerable parachute.

After some debate about whether the nosecone could be recovered, Musk said he told his engineering team, “Imagine you had $6 million in cash on a pallet flying through the air that’s just going to smash into the ocean. Would you try to recover that? Yes, you would.”
------------

Dell releases 8K monitor

engadget reports: [edited]

Dell's 31.5-inch 8K monitor, the Ultrasharp 32 is available on Dell's online store for initial shipping in mid-April. Assuming you've got a spare $5,000 to spend.

The Ultrasharp 32's 7,680 by 4,320 pixels and 100 percent Adobe RGB and sRGB colour support will benefit artists and photographers that need to view and edit massive files. It has a maximum 33.2MP resolution and 280 PPI density, and you'll need to pipe in the visuals over two DisplayPort 1.3 ports.
------------

Boiled Egg Topper

If you love boiled eggs, but dislike burning your fingers when cracking the shell, this is an elegant solution.

Place it on the top of a boiled egg, raise the plunger and let it drop. A sharp ridge on the inside of the stainless steel plunger cuts into the egg shell. The top can then be removed with the help of a sharp knife. Marvellous.
------------

First on-site printed house

Apis Core reports: [edited]

The first house printed using mobile 3D printing technology has been built in Stupino town, Moscow region. Printing of self-bearing walls, partitions and building envelope were done in less than a day. The area of the printed building is 38m². The interior includes a hall, a bathroom, a living room and a compact functional kitchen.

The construction cost of the printed house amounted to $10,134. This cost includes all the works that were done to make a complete house: work and materials for the construction of foundation, roof, exterior and interior finishing works, installation of heat insulation of walls, windows, floors and ceilings.

As the printer prints self-bearing walls and partitions, it saves up to 70% compared to traditional construction techniques.
------------

AirSelfie

AirSelfie reports: [edited]

AirSelfie is a pocket-size flying camera that connects with your smartphone to let you take HD photos of you, your friends, and your life from the sky. Its propellers can carry it up to 20 meters in the air, letting you capture photos and videos on your device.

The anti-vibration shock absorber and 5 MP camera ensure high quality images. And its 61g form slips into a special phone cover and charger (available for iPhone 6/6S, iPhone 7/7 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, Huawei P9 and Google Pixel).

Available to pre-order: £229.00
------------

Boston Dynamics' Handle

Boston Dynamics reports: [edited]

Handle is a research robot that stands 6.5 ft tall, travels at 9 mph and jumps 4​ ​feet vertically. ​It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge.

​​​Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance and mobile manipulation principles​ found in the quadruped and biped robots we build, but with only about 10 actuated joints, it is significantly less complex. Wheels are efficient on flat surfaces while legs can go almost anywhere.
------------

Svalbarði Polar Iceberg Water

Business Insider reports: [edited]

Harrods has a new product on its shelves: a bottle of 'luxury water' retailing at £80, harvested from icebergs in the Arctic Ocean.

The brand's founder, Norwegian-American businessman Jamal Qureshi founded the brand after collecting melt water from the Norwegian territory of Svalbard in 2013 as a gift for his wife. "Four years later," the company said in a statement, "the whimsical, selfless thought has transformed into an epicurean product, which is redefining the very notion of drinking water."

Qureshi collects batches of the water by chartering an icebreaker with the permission of the Governor of Svalbard and travelling to the icebergs of Kongsfjorden, which is 1,000km from the North Pole. Once 15 tonnes of ice is gathered, it is melted and bottled by hand in order to "capture the water in its purest form."

The brand says that the water has "an exceptionally light mouthfeel with a unique terroir – the taste of snow in air and evokes recollections of snowflakes on the tongue".
------------

Creative Commons Updates Its Image Search Engine

TechCrunch reports: [edited]

The engine pulls in photos from Flickr, 500px, Rijksmuseum, the New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art as its initial sources.

In addition to having a more modern look-and-feel, the new CC Search lets you narrow searches by license type, title, creator, tags, collection and type of institution. It also includes social features, letting you make and share lists of favourite images, as well as add tags and favorites to individual items.

You can save your searches for quick access in the future and the engine also makes it easier to apply the necessary attribution, when available, by offering pre-formatted copy you can click to copy and paste.

The beta search engine is available here.
------------

London - Somerset - London, 11 & 12-02-17

London - Somerset 11-02-17
Music to Watch Girls By - Andy Williams
Rockit - Herbie Hancock
Heart Of Glass - Blondie
I'm Your Man - Wham!
What's Love Got to Do With It - Tina Turner
Just Lose It - Eminem
Each Time You Break My Heart - Nick Kamen
The Gambler - Kenny Rogers
Lean on Me (Ah-li-ayo) - Red Box
99 Red Balloons - Nena
You Make My Dreams (Remastered) - Daryl Hall & John Oates
The Reflex - Duran Duran
Mo Money Mo Problems (feat. Mase & Puff Daddy) - The Notorious B.I.G.
Build Me Up Buttercup - Foundations
i - Kendrick Lamar
Howzat - Sherbet
Maggie May - Rod Stewart
How Will I Know - Whitney Houston
Victim of Love - Erasure
Pharaohs (feat. Roses Gabor) - SBTRKT
Seasons (Waiting On You) - Future Islands
(TSOB) The Sound Of Philadelphia - MFSB
Us - Regina Spektor
C-H-E-M-I-C-A-L (Edit) - The Chemical Brothers
She Taught Me to Yodel - Frank Ifield
Beat It - Michael Jackson
Your Love Is My Drug - Ke$ha
Maneater - Daryl Hall & John Oates
The Blow Up - Blackalicious
Bat Out Of Hell - Meat Loaf
I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
History - Mai Tai
You Got It - Roy Orbison
Candyman - Christina Aguilera
Walk On The Wild Side - Lou Reed
I Beg Your Pardon - Kon Kan
All Right Now - Free
Dance Yourself Dizzy (7 Inch) - Liquid Gold
F*k Yeah Ace of Hearts - XXXChange
Fill My Little World - The Feeling
Wannabe - Spice Girls
Grace Kelly - MIKA
Cheesecake - Louis Armstrong
Listen to Your Heart - Roxette
Waiting for a Star to Fall - Boy Meets Girl
Pass Out - Tinie Tempah
Cheap Thrills - Sia feat. Sean Paul
Baba O'Riley - The Who
The Sound - The 1975
Spinning Around - Kylie Minogue
Up Town Top Ranking - Althea And Donna
She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals

Somerset to London 12-02-17
Fireflies (UK Radio Edit) - Owl City
Tonight's The Kind Of Night - Noah and the Whale
Give me some kind of sign girl - Brenton Wood
Barbra Streisand (UK Radio Edit) - Duck Sauce
Where the Light Gets In - Primal Scream
I Drove All Night - Cyndi Lauper
Teenage Kicks - The Undertones
Wow - Beck
Rockabye (feat. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie) - Clean Bandit
Jolene - Dolly Parton
The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Don't Think I'm Not - Kandi
The Love I Lost (Single Version) - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes & arranged by Bobby Martin
Rest of My Life (feat. Usher & David Guetta) - Ludacris
September - Earth, Wind & Fire
Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) - Beyoncé
Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
My Sharona - The Knack
If I Had A Hammer - Trini Lopez
Life Is A Rollercoaster - Ronan Keating
The Favourite Band of a Dead Man - Man & The Echo
If You Let Me Stay - Terence Trent D'Arby
Babooshka - Kate Bush
Price Tag (feat. B.o.B) - Jessie J
Just Got Lucky - Jo Boxers
Evacuate The Dancefloor - Cascada
Don't Let Me Down (feat. Daya) [Illenium Remix] - The Chainsmokers
Bad Reputation - Avril Lavigne
Rum and coca cola - The Andrews Sisters
Airplanes (feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore) - B.o.B
I Should Have Known Better - Jim Diamond
Does Your Mother Know - ABBA
Bad Girls - M.I.A.
High - The Cure
Umbrella (Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel Radio Edit) - Rihanna
The Ballroom Blitz - Sweet
Tilted - Christine and the Queens
My Favourite Waste of Time - Owen Paul
Save Your Kisses For Me - Brotherhood Of Man
It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls
Who's That Chick? (feat. Rihanna) - David Guetta & Rihanna
Smarty Pants - First Choice
FloriDada - Animal Collective
110% - Jessie Ware
Moves Like Jagger (feat. Christina Aguilera) - Maroon 5
Le Freak - Chic
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
You're The First, The Last, My Everything - Barry White
Telephone - Lady GaGa & Beyoncé
Levels - Avicii
You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate
How Bad Do You Want It (Oh Yeah) - Sevyn Streeter
Your Drums, Your Love - AlunaGeorge
Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel
Move It Like This - Baha Men
Dancing in The Moonlight - Toploader
On the Regular - Shamir
XXXO - M.I.A.
Black Betty - Ram Jam
Titanium (feat. Sia) - David Guetta
Go! (feat. Mai Lan) - M83
Here I Come (Broader Than Broadway) - Barrington Levy
Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
Don't Cha - The Pussycat Dolls
Mr Loverman (feat. Chevelle Franklin) - Shabba Ranks
Alive - Empire of the Sun
Call Me - Spagna
Dilemma - Nelly Feat. Kelly Rowland
Punching In a Dream (Single Version) - The Naked & Famous
Live And Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings
Moving On Up - M People
Thunder In My Heart Again (Radio Edit) - Meck & Leo Sayer
Home - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Don't Deny Your Heart - Hot Chip
5.7.0.5. - City Boy
Lo Sforzo (The Stress) - Ocelot
Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler
Don't Talk To Him - Cliff Richard & The Shadows
It's My Party - Lesley Gore
Walking Back to Happiness - Helen Shapiro

Image by brook jordan
------------

AI conquers No Limit Texas Hold 'Em

Wired reports: [edited]

An AI built by two Carnegie Mellon researchers has defeated four top players at no-limit Texas Hold ‘Em — a particularly complex form of poker that relies heavily on longterm betting strategies and game theory.

Over the past twenty years, machines have topped the best humans at checkers, chess, Scrabble, Jeopardy!, and even the ancient game of Go. But no AI had ever beaten the best at such an extreme game of 'imperfect information', a game where certain elements, such as the cards on the table, are hidden.

Carnegie Mellon professor Tuomas Sandholm and grad student Noam Brown designed the AI, which they call Libratus, Latin for 'balance'. Across 20 days of play, Libratus topped its four human competitors by more than $1.7 million.

According to the human players that lost out to the machine, Libratus is aptly named. It does a little bit of everything well: knowing when to bluff and when to bet low with very good cards, as well as when to change its bets just to thrown off the competition. “It splits its bets into three, four, five different sizes,” says Daniel McAulay, 26, one of the players bested by the machine. “No human has the ability to do that.”
------------

The origin of ampersand

Medium reports: [edited]

The symbol “&” is an amalgam of the letters 'et', Latin for 'and'. The character is known as an ampersand.

It began with American children learning their ABCs. In the 1830s the alphabet started incorporating the symbol '&' as the 27th letter. Reciting the end of the alphabet would be confusing if it were 'X, Y, Z, and'.

So a couple of words of Latin were incorporated into the chant, 'X, Y, Z, and per se and'.

'Per se' is Latin for 'by itself'. Through routine repetition the phrase 'and per se and' transmogrified into 'ampersand'.

And it stuck.
------------

V for Wikipedia

Daring Fireball reports: [edited]

V for Wikipedia is an opinionated iOS app with nit-picky typography hailed by no less than Erik Spiekermann as the “best on the small screen yet.” It is a gorgeous app, and it’s amazing how much better Wikipedia reads when it looks good.

The map visualisation lets you explore nearby places. It is even usable on the Apple Watch.

Price: £4.99
------------

Human-powered centrifuge

Gizmodo reports: [edited]

Inspired by an ancient toy, researchers from Stanford University have developed a hand-spun centrifuge.

A centrifuge is an essential tool for hospitals and labs across the world, but they are expensive, bulky, and require electricity. In poor regions these instruments can be hard to come by, thus limiting the ability of point-of-care healthcare workers to do their work.

In demonstrations, the paperfuge was able to centrifuge blood at 20,000 RPM — a speed comparable to those exerted by conventional benchtop centrifuges. The paperfuge was able to separate pure plasma from whole blood in less than 90 seconds, and to isolate malaria parasites in 15 minutes.

The 20p 'paperfuge' can reach spinning speeds of 125,000 RPM, and exert centrifugal forces equivalent to 30,000 Gs. It’s a hundred times faster than previous non-electrical centrifuges, and is the fastest rotational speed recorded for a human-powered device.
------------

Lucky Knot Bridge

NEXT Architects reports: [edited]

The proposed steel pedestrian bridge in the Chinese mega city Changsha will be 185 metres long and 24 metres high.

The bridge is a key project in developing the area’s public space, and was designed with recreational, ecological and tourist activities in mind.

The bridge connects multiple levels at different heights (the river banks, the road, the higher-placed park as well as the interconnections between them). The final shape of the bridge is the result of - literally and metaphorically - knotting all these routes together.

The bridge will offer a spectacular view of the river, Meixi Lake, the city of Changsha and the surrounding mountain range. With its LED light arrays, the bridge is set to become a landmark attraction in the route that traces the path of the Dragon King Harbour River.
------------

Nintendo Switch

Trusted Reviews reports: [edited]

Nintendo Switch will be released in the UK on 3 March, priced at £280.

At home, the Switch sits in a "Nintendo Switch Dock" that's used to connect to your TV. Once removed from the dock, it transitions to portable mode.

The gamepad will be rechargeable through the console. The battery life can range from 3 to 6 hours depending on the game you're playing. The gamepad's screen is 720p. There is a stand provided.

Nintendo Switch will include two detachable controllers known as "Joy-Cons", which can be used as part of the portable tablet or during local multi-player. Just like the gamepad, these will be charged through the console.
------------

Alzheimer Treatment Allows Dentin Regrowth

Motherboard reports: [edited]

Researchers at King’s College released a study stating they’ve discovered a medicine that can prompt teeth to regrow over cavities or injuries.

Researchers realized that an experimental Alzheimer’s drug called Tideglusib had the side effect of encouraging dentin growth, which is the bony part of the tooth made of calcified tissue. It makes up most of the tooth, just above the pulp but under the hard enamel.

Tideglusib, used in clinical trials as a neurological drug as a way to encourage brain cell growth, encouraged the tooth to generate more stem cells and grow dentin over the exposed area, according to the report.

Normally, a tooth only grows a tiny layer of dentin over an injury — not nearly enough to save a tooth from needing to be drilled or removed to prevent infection. But when Tideglusib is applied to the injured spot on the tooth, it blocks the enzyme that usually stops dentin growth, glycogen synthase kinase (GSK-3), and the whole spot heals up by itself.
------------

weatherHYDE

weatherHYDE reports: [edited]

billionBricks is a Singapore based non-profit design and innovation studio providing shelter and infrastructure solutions for the homeless and vulnerable.

[WeatherHyde is] a life saving fully insulated, lightweight emergency kit that provides maximum privacy and protects the homeless and vulnerable from extreme weather. The only reversible tent that protects in both winter and summer, it is woman friendly and enables a single person, tool-less installation within 15 minutes and does not need any anchoring.

weatherHYDE has been awarded the Iron A' Design Award in the category of Social Design in 2016 by the grand jury panel of the A’ Design Award & Competition which consists of internationally influential press members, established designers, leading academics and prominent entrepreneurs.
------------

Somerset to London, 28-12-16

Bring Back That Leroy Brown [2011 Remaster] - Queen
Black Or White - Michael Jackson
Mary of the 4th Form - The Boomtown Rats
Two Hearts (2016 Remastered) - Phil Collins
Here Comes Summer - The Undertones
Two Doors Down - Mystery Jets
Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil
Always On My Mind - Pet Shop Boys
He's Gonna Step On You Again - John Kongos
The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson
Rehab - Amy Winehouse
The Golden Path (ft wayne coyne) - The Chemical Brothers
This Is the Remix - Girl Talk
Hey Ruby, Shut Your Mouth - Ruby and The Party Gang
Brændt - Lis Sørensen
Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson
Too Young - Phoenix
Gasoline - The Airborne Toxic Event
You Got The Dirtee Love, feat. Dizzee Rascal - Florence + The Machine
Bagboy - Pixies
Stuck On Repeat (Edit) - Little Boots
Bruises - Chairlift
It's A Sin - Pet Shop Boys
King Creole - Elvis Presley
Try - Nelly Furtado
You & I (feat. Shara) - Ellusive & Telykast
Just Like Paradise - David Lee Roth
What You Know - Two Door Cinema Club
Eyes Without A Face - Billy Idol
In The Air Tonight (2015 Remastered) - Phil Collins
Electric - Melody Club
Standing In The Shadows Of Love - The Four Tops
Bad - Michael Jackson
City Of Blinding Lights - U2
Best of Friends - Palma Violets
One More Night (Cutmore Club Mix) - Maroon 5
Good Night Moon - Shivaree
Kiss With A Fist - Florence + The Machine
That's Not My Name (LA Riots Remix) - The Ting Tings
Easy Lover - Phil Collins & Phil Bailey
One Nation Under a Groove - George Clinton/Funkadelic
My Pretty One - Cliff Richard
Break Away - The Beach Boys
TVC 15 - David Bowie
I Wanna Prove to You - The Lemon Twigs
Hammer To Fall [2011 Remaster] - Queen
Common People - William Shatner
------------

London to Somerset, 26-12-16

What Have I Done To Deserve This? - Pet Shop Boys
Boom! Shake the Room - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
Frozen - Tegan and Sara
You Can't Hurry Love - Phil Collins
Sigourney Weaver - John Grant
Lady Marmalade - Labelle
There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis - Kirsty MacColl
O.N.E - Yeasayer
Inhaler - Foals
Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) - Pet Shop Boys
Tilted - Christine and the Queens
Birmingham Blues - Electric Light Orchestra
Suburbia - Pet Shop Boys
Monkey Wrench - Foo Fighters
Rolling In The Deep [Explicit] - Adele
Rhythm Is a Dancer - Snap!
Hey Mama, Close to Me, For Your Love - Black Eyed Peas vs the Cure vs The Zombies
She's a Rainbow (Radio Edit) - World Of Twist
Chinese Rocks - Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
Get What You Want - Operator Please
Friday On My Mind - The Easybeats
Going Under - Evanescence
Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley
Apache - Micheal Viners Incredible Bongo Band
When The Haar Rolls In - James Yorkston
My My My - Armand Van Helman
On Your Radio (Radio) - Richard Lanham
Green Light (Radio Edit) - Roll Deep
Save The Last Dance For Me - The Drifters
Opposites Attract - Paula Abdul
Superstar - Aeroplane
Pop Culture - Madeon
Hold on to Love - Peter Skellern
Testify (feat. Crystal Waters) - Hifi Sean
Use It Up And Wear It Out - Odyssey
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough - Manic Street Preachers
Sussudio (2016 Remastered) - Phil Collins
These Boots Are Made For Walking - Nancy Sinatra
Private Idaho - The B-52's
High Horse - The Jim Jones Revue
------------

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II Review

Digital Photography Review have published a full review of Olympus' flagship Micro Four Third camera.

Snippets from the conclusion follow:

"The Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II is befitting of the term 'flagship,' and performs every bit as quickly as such a title implies - and it should, given the $2000 MSRP (body-only). In terms of outright speed, the E-M1 II is unmatched in the world of Micro Four Thirds cameras, and gives many higher-specced cameras with larger sensors a run for their money. But the fact remains, the sensor in the E-M1 II is only a quarter of the size of a full-frame, 35mm-sized sensor, and you can purchase a camera with one of those larger sensors for less money."

"The E-M1 II's build quality is top-of-class. The body is made of aluminium and magnesium alloys and feels sturdy. Everything is weather-sealed and the camera proved itself in the continuous rain and cold weather in Iceland."

"Ergonomics are about as good as its gets. The grip is just right, allowing for one-handed shooting with lighter lenses, and the front and rear dials are perfectly placed. The camera is a customisable to the point where it's over-the-top. Twelve buttons and dials can have their function changed, with separate settings for still and video shooting."

"Its biggest feature is undoubtedly its in-body 5-axis image stabilisation. It can reduce shake by a claimed 5.5 stops. We've been able to take handheld 2 second exposures."
------------

Neural Network-based Image Colorization

Satoshi Iizuka, Edgar Simo-Serra & Hiroshi Ishikawa report: [edited]

We provide a service that uses AI to automatically colorize black and white images based on "Let there be Color!: Joint End-to-end Learning of Global and Local Image Priors for Automatic Image Colorization with Simultaneous Classification" Iizuka and Simo-Serra et al. SIGGRAPH 2016.

[Here's some I made up earlier, Ed.]

Thanks to Brook Jordan for the link.
------------

'Conventional' Digital Camera Sales Plummeting

Statista reports: [edited]

“The best camera is the one that’s with you”. This phrase, attributed to photographer Chase Jarvis, explains the impact that smartphone cameras are making on the world of photography. The cameras built into our phones may still be inferior to dedicated digital cameras, but they keep improving and have the advantage of being part of an item that we already carry around with us.

When the first touchscreen smartphones arrived in 2007 and 2008 members of the CIPA, an association of the world’s camera makers, shipped almost 120 million digital cameras.

In 2015, CIPA members shipped 35.4 million digital cameras, down more than 70 percent from peak sales in 2010 – the year that Instagram was launched.
------------

Google Music Using Big Data To Build Playlists

Wired reports: [edited]

Google knows where you are, what you’re doing, what you’re thinking and watching and searching for and chatting with your friends about. Which means nobody should be better equipped to soundtrack every second of your life than Google Play Music. The company’s taking advantage of its smarts to deliver you the sounds [it thinks ed.] you want.

Next time you open Google Play Music on any device, the first thing you’ll see is a list of playlists you might like, plus a short description for why the app made any given selection. It’s a bit like Google Now, the predictive feed of everything you probably want to know about right now, except fully focused on music. Think of it as a super-smart, hyper-personalized set of radio station presets. Just open the app, tap one, and go.

To do all this, the Play Music team is tapping into the full Google Data Machine for the first time. It’s choosing playlists by looking at the music you’ve listened to before, of course, but also your search history, your YouTube plays, even what’s in your email and calendar. It considers that data alongside things like time of day, location (a bar is different from a library is different from your office), the weather, and more. So you like classical at work, but you need a boost because it’s raining and you’ve been in meetings all day, plus it’s almost time to get to the gym? Play Music might show you Epic Movie Scores, followed by your favorite workout jams.
------------

Moley Robotic Chef

Forbes reports: [edited]

In 2018, Moley will launch the world’s first integrated cooking robot — a robotic kitchen that has access to a number of famous chefs and their recipes. And it will clean up after itself as well.

Two articulated robotic motion capture systems record each movement of the master chef. Among the hundred dishes included in the beta version is Tim Anderson’s crab bisque, a particularly difficult recipe that requires striking the right balance between tomatoes, crabmeat and spices. It took Anderson five attempts to make this soup with the motion capture system.

Once the movements have been recorded, the user can choose the number of portions, type of cuisine, dietary restrictions, calorie count, desired ingredients, cooking method, chef, etc. from the recipe library, before placing pre-packaged containers of measured, washed and cut ingredients on designated spots, and pressing 'start'.

Price: $92,000.
------------

Microsoft Surface Studio

Released date, early 2017.

Full specifications here

Review by illustrator Gabe at Penny Arcade here
------------

Iceland taps into energy of molten magma

New Scientist reports: [edited]

Drilling into hot rocks to tap geothermal energy is one thing. Drilling deep enough to tap the energy from magma oozing into volcanoes is quite another, offering a massive increase in the potential to exploit Earth’s inner heat.

That is the task of a rig now drilling 5 kilometres into the rugged landscape of old lava flows in Reykjanes, at the south-west corner of Iceland. Drilling began on 12 August. By the end of the year, the Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) hopes to have created the hottest hole in the world, hitting temperatures anywhere between 400 and 1000 °C.

At that depth, pressures are more than 200 times atmospheric levels. The consortium of energy companies and researchers behind the project expects the water to be in the form of “supercritical steam”, which is neither liquid nor gas and holds much more heat energy than either.

A well that can successfully tap into such steam could have an energy capacity of 50 megawatts, compared to the 5 of a typical geothermal well, says Albertsson. This would mean some 50,000 homes could be powered, versus 5,000 from a single well.
------------

Nintendo Switch

The Guardian reports: [edited]

Nintendo has unveiled its new console, the Nintendo Switch, which will be released in March 2017.

The console is a hybrid machine, half portable and half traditional console.

The device, which takes games loaded on cartridges, can be used as a traditional console like a PS4 or Xbox One, with the machine docked with the TV and a wireless controller, called the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, used to play games on it.

But it can also be used in a number of portable modes. The main body, which has a screen, can be undocked from the hub and carried away. Owners can then either attach controllers (called “Joy-Cons”) to its side, and use it like a portable games console – think a massive PS Vita – or prop up the screen and use the wireless controllers instead.

A second type of wireless controller allows owners to dock the two mini controllers to either side of a wireless body, and play using that. The Joy-Cons are included; the Pro Controller is an optional accessory.
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BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100 Concept

SFGATE reports: [edited]

The BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100 motorcycle is the latest incarnation of BMW's Vision Next series, which celebrates 100 years of the German brand with forward-looking concept vehicles from Rolls-Royce, Mini, and BMW.

It's a bike that has self-balancing systems to keep it upright both when standing and in motion. Several systems — one BMW calls a "Digital Companion," which offers riding advice and adjustment ideas to optimise the experience, and one called "The Visor," which is a pair of glasses that span the entire field of vision and are controlled by eye movements — correlate to return active feedback about road conditions to the rider while adjusting the ride of the bike continuously depending on the rider's driving style.

It also uses a "flexframe" that's nubile enough to allow the bike to turn without the joints found on today's motorcycles. The idea is that when a rider turns the handlebar, it adjusts the entire frame to change the direction of the bike; at low speeds only a slight input is required, while at high speeds it needs strong input to change course.
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Playstation VR

Trusted Reviews has published a 10/10 review of Sony's recently released virtual reality goggles.

Snippets follow:

"Priced at £349.99, it’s significantly cheaper than the Oculus Rift (£549) and HTC Vive (£759)."

"PlayStation VR is simply the best virtual reality headset you can buy right now. It’s cheap while not compromising on performance and quality. The headset is simply stunning and incredibly comfortable to wear, and the games already available are some of the best VR experiences I’ve ever played."

"Compared to the Oculus Rift it offers a far more comfortable gaming experience at a much lower price point. Against the Vive it may not offer the level of detail and immersion, but is close and doesn’t require the installation of additional sensors in your home and will not demand as much space for many games, either."

"I was so excited about virtual reality, but this was replaced with frustration the longer I tried to use the Oculus Rift. Now? I couldn’t be more enthused, and it’s all thanks to PSVR."
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Elbo Chair – Designed With The Help Of Algorithms

Wired reports: [edited]

THE ELBO CHAIR is unusual piece of furniture.Arthur Harsuvanakit and Brittany Presten of Autodesk’s generative design lab created the chair, but they didn’t design it.

Harsuvanakit and Presten collaborated with Dreamcatcher, Autodesk’s generative design CAD system. They fed the software a digital, 3-D model of a chair inspired by Hans Wegner’s iconic Round Chair and the Lambda Chair, from the design studio Berkeley Mills. Then, they stipulated how much weight the chair must support and insisted that the arms clear a human body. With that, Dreamcatcher started iterating.

The software churned out hundreds of designs, optimising as it went. It shaved dead weight and adjusted joint placement to improve load-bearing abilities, creating thinner, more intricate structures. “It gets bonier as the iterations go higher,” Harsuvanakit says. “It’s cool to let it go too far — some of them look like bug skeletons to me.” Every so often, he and Presten would pick a design, and the software would propagate a new lineage based on their selection.

Harsuvanakit calls the Elbo a collaboration between human and machine. Dreamcatcher might spin out solutions a designer might not think of, but at a certain point the human mind overrides the algorithm. The look and feel of the final object did not originate in the designer’s mind, but it requires his sign-off.

The Elbo is CNC-milled from wood. This posed new challenges. Dreamcatcher’s materials library doesn’t include wood so Harsuvanakit and Presten designated 'nylon', which Harsuvanakit says is the most suitable ringer for walnut wood.

The final design performs well. The Elbo has 18 percent less material than the hybrid model the designers started with, and shows fewer signs of stress in its joints.
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Sisyphus Tables

Kickstarter reports: [edited]

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was condemned to roll a boulder up a mountain for all eternity*. In my art, Sisyphus is a kinetic sculpture that rolls a ball through sand, forever creating and erasing beautiful patterns.

I have been creating Sisyphus sculptures for nearly 20 years, and have large, 3-meter diameter permanent installations in Switzerland, Germany and Australia. Over time I have come to view Sisyphus as more than a kinetic art piece: it is an instrument. As a musical instrument plays songs, Sisyphus plays paths.

My goal with this Kickstarter is to get Sisyphus into people's homes for them to enjoy as both furniture and art, but also, to inspire a community of composers to write ’music‘ for it.

Remaining pledge prices for 2 foot diameter tables start at $795.

*In Greek mythology Sisyphus was the king of Ephyra (Corinth). He was punished for his self-aggrandising deceitfulness by being condemned to roll an immense boulder up a hill, watch it come back to hit him, and then repeating the procedure again for eternity [ed].
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Toyota ‘Kirobo Mini’ Robot Baby

Fortune reports: [edited]

Toyota has unveiled a doe-eyed palm-sized robot, dubbed Kirobo Mini, designed as a synthetic baby companion in Japan.

Toyota’s venture aims to tap a demographic trend that has put Japan at the forefront of ageing among the world’s industrial nations.

“He wobbles a bit, and this is meant to emulate a seated baby, which hasn’t fully developed the skills to balance itself,” said Fuminori Kataoka, Kirobo Mini’s chief design engineer. “This vulnerability is meant to invoke an emotional connection.”

Toyota plans to sell Kirobo Mini, which blinks its eyes and speaks with a baby-like high-pitched voice, for 39,800 yen (£300) in Japan next year. It comes with a cradle that doubles as its baby seat designed to fit in car cup holders.
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Bicycle Packaging Idea

Cycling Weekly reports: [edited]

Bicycles in big cardboard boxes have a tendency to get dropped, bashed or crushed by delivery companies, which spurred Dutch manufacturer Vanmoof into action to find a solution. Instead of putting a picture of a bike on the box they printed a picture of a large flatscreen TV instead and saw instances of delivery damage drastically reduce.

“No matter who was doing the shipping, too many of our bikes arrived looking like they’d been through a metal-munching combine harvester. It was getting expensive for us, and bloody annoying for our customers,” creative director Bex Rad wrote on the company’s blog.

“Earlier this year our co-founder Ties had a flash of genius. Our boxes are about the same size as a (really really reaaaally massive) flatscreen television. Flatscreen televisions always arrive in perfect condition. What if we just printed a flatscreen television on the side of our boxes?

“And just like that, shipping damage to our bikes dropped by 70–80%.”

Thanks to Conrad Gempf for the link.
Image via: Twitter/@jasongay
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Variable Fonts

Adobe Typekit Blog reports: [edited]

Jointly developed by Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Adobe, a variable font is “a single font file that behaves like multiple fonts”. A single font file gaining an infinite flexibility of weight, width, and other attributes without also gaining file size.

The OpenType font file specification now includes a new technology: OpenType Font Variations, which allows type designers to interpolate a font’s entire glyph set or individual glyphs along up to 64,000 axes of variation (weight, width, etc.), and define specific positions in the design space as named instances (“Bold”, “Condensed”, etc.).

For fonts to actually show up anywhere, a rendering engine has to make typesetting and rasterisation calculations. Rendering engines are complex, and will need to be developed before Variable Fonts become viable, along with browsers and design software to support the rendering engine.
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iPhone 7 Plus Camera Review

Austin Mann reports: [edited]

I’m writing from deep in the Nyungwe rain forest in southwest Rwanda. We’ve been tracking gorillas in the north, boating Lake Kivu in the west, and running through tea plantations in the south — all with the iPhone 7 Plus in hand.

Alternating between wide (28mm) and telephoto (56mm) lenses has fundamentally changed the way I see and shoot with my iPhone, including landscapes, wildlife, and people. The 2x zoom is an especially great upgrade for portraiture.

It works exactly as I hoped. It is super quick to switch between lenses, even while you are rolling video.

In terms of quality, I found the the 2x zoom lens to be equally as sharp as the iPhone wide-angle. However, I do not recommend the digital zoom beyond 2x. The quality of digital zoom degrades quickly and I find it unusable for photography (although it’s actually kind of nice as an animal spotting tool).

The 2x works in ALL modes (photo, video, time-lapse, slo-mo, and even pano).

The iPhone 7 features a completely redesigned camera system with a faster f/1.8 lens which leads to better auto focus, a better ability to freeze motion, and shallower depth-of-field. I also noticed an improvement in the the dynamic range of the sensor.
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Budnitz Model E

Budnitz Bicycles reports: [edited]

Budnitz Model E is the lightest electric bicycle in the world (13kg). The twin-tube single-arc cantilever frame is crafted from 3AL 2.5V titanium alloy.

Geometry is tuned for exceptional lateral stability, minimising energy loss as you pedal. It flexes in just the right places to absorb the shock of gravel, curbs and rough pavement without a clunky front suspension. Also available in 4130 Cro Moly Steel.

Model E pairs a Gates Carbon Belt Drive with a Zehus Bike+ 250W electric rear hub. Motor, sensors, and 30V L-ion 160Wh battery are sealed within the high polish aluminium rear hub. The entire drivetrain is free of oil, completely protected against rain, grit and road debris and virtually maintenance free.

It provides electric assist up to 15 MPH for a range of 20-100 miles. Coast downhill or pedal backwards to return power to the hub. Use bluetooth interface to control multiple modes and power output. Integrated slope sensors offer more support on hills and a hub locking feature adds additional anti-theft security.

Price: from $3,950 to frankly exorbitant
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Néit Smart Collapsible Hard Case Luggage

'Early Bird' prices start at £149.
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Shaper Origin

Wired reports: [edited]

The Shaper Origin is built to take the mystery — and most of the skill — out of cutting shapes from a piece of wood. Grab Origin by the handles, place it on a piece of wood, and start tracing along the edges of the shape on Origin’s touchscreen. The drill bit will automatically correct for your wobbly, inexperienced hands.

About the size and heft of a toaster, Origin is one part augmented-reality machine and one part robot. When you place it on a surface, it takes a picture of its surroundings. Removable strips of tape covered in domino-like markings help it get its bearings. As you move the tool, it refers to the picture and tape to keep track of its location. Veer off the path you are tracing and it will automatically stop cutting.

Ships next year for around $1,500.

More information available here.


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Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Business Insider UK reports: [edited]

The Note 7 is made from two identical pieces of curved glass fused together with a metal band, making it feel thinner and lighter than it actually is. However, the glass on the back is a magnet for scratches. The Note 7 can survive under a few feet of water for up to 30 minutes.

Although the Note 7 has a larger screen than the iPhone Plus (5.7 inches versus 5.5-inch), it is smaller, making it feel more comfortable in your pocket and even better in your hand.

This year's model has an improved S Pen with a sensitive tip that feels more natural to write with. There's also a new feature that lets you grab portions of videos and turn them into GIFs. The camera is the best smartphone camera yet.

Battery life is excellent, enough to get you through more than a day. It also comes with wireless charging, which works with any standard wireless charger. You can also enable fast charging if you use one of Samsung's charging plugs or wireless charging pads.

The iris scanner is better in theory than in practice. Though more secure, it's an impractical way to unlock your phone, and it doesn't work well in bright sunlight.

Another weakness is the software. Samsung makes big modifications to Android, which often gums up the experience. Samsung has a horrible record of updating its software, and there's no guarantee you'll be getting the new Note features a year from now.

The Note 7 comes with 64 gigabytes of storage, with the option to get a free 256 GB memory card when you buy the phone.

Price: £719
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China Launches Quantum Communications Satellite

Tech Crunch reports: [edited]

China has launched the world’s first quantum communications satellite.

Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), named Micius after the philosopher, lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center into a sun-synchronous 500km orbit.

QUESS is an experiment in the deployment of quantum cryptography. Inside QUESS is a crystal that can be stimulated into producing two photons that are 'entangled' at a subatomic, quantum level. Entangled photons have certain aspects – polarisation, for example – that are the same for both regardless of distance; if one changes, the other changes.

The trouble is that photons are rather finicky things, and tend to be bounced, absorbed, and otherwise interfered with when traveling through fibres, air, and so on. QUESS will test whether sending them through space is easier, and whether one of a pair of entangled photons can be successfully sent to the surface while the other remains aboard the satellite.

If this is possible, the entangled photons can be manipulated in order to send information; the satellite could, for example, send binary code by inverting its photon’s polarisation, one way for 1, the other way for 0. The ground station would see its photon switching back and forth and record the resulting data. This process would be excruciatingly slow, but fast enough for, say, key creation and exchange – after which data can be exchanged securely by more ordinary means.

The critical thing about this is that there is no transmission involved, or at least not one we understand and can intercept. Whatever links the two photons is intangible and undetectable — you can’t entangle a third one to listen in, and if even if you managed to interfere with the process, it would be immediately noticed by both sides of the process, which would see unexpected changes to the photons’ states.

As you can imagine, an undetectable and perfectly secure channel for digital communications is of enormous potential value for an endless list of reasons. China is early to the game with QUESS, but they’re not the only ones playing. Other quantum satellites, though none quite so advanced, are in the ether right now, and more are sure to come. The experiments from the whole set will definitely be interesting – if anyone can find a way to explain what’s going on in them.
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Google Duo

The Wall Street Journal reports: [edited]

Duo, which is available for iOS and Android, has a single purpose: one-on-one phone video chats. There are no video filters, no group chats, no texting and no GIFs. Duo’s interface and setup are as bare bones as the app’s purpose. You sign up with just a phone number. On the main screen, there is one option. Tap “video call” to scroll or search your contact list for someone to call. That’s it.

On the most important issue — video quality — Duo performed in line with other chat apps I’ve used. The visuals were sharp over Wi-Fi and blurry over most cellular connections. Google says Duo can switch to an audio-only feed if video quality deteriorates too much, though I never ran into that scenario. Duo’s calls are encrypted end-to-end, as with some other apps.

Duo has one feature called “knock knock” that sets the app apart from its competitors. If someone calls you using Duo, a notification shows you a video preview of the caller before you pick up. Seeing a video stream of your friend waiting for you to pick up is fun, but it wasn’t a compelling enough feature for me to try to convince dozens of people I care about to download another app.

Duo can only be used on phones. I use a tablet daily, and I have laptops for work and personal use. If I want to video chat with a colleague at work or a friend while lounging on my couch with my tablet, Duo isn’t an option. Even if I wanted to convert to Duo exclusively, I’d need to keep around Hangouts and FaceTime (or both).

If you absolutely desire a stripped-down video-chat app, and think you can convince others to download one more messaging app, Duo is good enough for a look. Just don’t expect it to replace your other messaging apps.
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No Man's Sky

Trusted Reviews reports: [edited]

No Man’s Sky is a survival game. A chance to explore 18 quintillion planets, scrambling for resources, battling against an oppressive sentinel force, fighting off bounty hunters and pirates in space while discovering and naming all the phallic-looking flora and funny-looking fauna. In my first few hours with the game, it is all of this and more.

Starting on my first planet – which I later named “mine” – because it’s definitely not yours – I begin searching for minerals and materials to repair my damaged ship. Everything is new, everything is exciting. The lush red and purple landscape is awash with new experiences, chances to learn how No Man’s Sky ticks. Within an hour I have learned that Sentinels are mean, how to mine resources, learned new language, which resources are most beneficial, the fact my backpack is the size of Jiminy Cricket’s pocket, all while exploring a gorgeous new world.

No Man’s Sky broke far too frequently to consider it an anomaly. Often my game crashed while trying to warp to a new solar system, which is even more frustrating when the game has certain save points, meaning at times I’d have to go back to a space station, craft the energy cells and try and warp to the solar system once more, only for the game to crash again. The game's instability dulled my initial excitement and willingness to persevere further.

No Man’s Sky is a good game and will certainly provide everyone who plays it with something unique.

However, the fundamental gameplay isn’t deep or rewarding enough to stick around and explore many of the planets the game has to offer. With such basic combat and inventory management, it quickly wears thin and you’ll feel like you’re dragging yourself from system to system.

Available on PS4 & PC. Price £46.00
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Miniature Organic Robotic 'Ray'

Associated Press reports: [edited]

The idea of taking apart a rat's heart and transforming it into a tissue-engineered stingray first came to Kevin Kit Parker during a trip to the New England Aquarium with his daughter. Four years later, a robotic ray that swims toward light has made the cover of Science Magazine and is pushing the limits of what's possible in the design of machines powered by living cells.

It's remote-controlled, guided by a blinking blue flashlight. Each burst of blue sets off a cascade of signals through the cells, which have been genetically-engineered to respond to light. The contraction of the tissue creates a downward motion on the ray's body. When the tissue relaxes, the gold skeleton recoils — moving the fin upward again in an undulating cycle that mimics the graceful swimming of a real ray or skate.
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Transit Elevated Bus

BBC News reports: [edited]

China's long-awaited "straddling bus" ran its inaugural test in Hebei province this week. Powered by electricity, the bus is able to carry up to 300 passengers in its 72ft (21m) long and 25ft wide body.

The trial run was conducted on a 300m-long controlled track in the north-eastern city of Qinhuangdao. The vehicle is expected to reach speeds of up to 60km per hour, running on rails laid along ordinary roads. Up to four TEBs can be linked together.

"The biggest advantage is that the bus will save lots of road space," the project's chief engineer, Song Youzhou, told state-media agency Xinhua earlier this year. "The TEB has the same functions as the subway, while its cost of construction is less than one fifth of the subway," another engineer Bai Zhiming told news outlet CCTV.


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Huge Wind Turbines For Liverpool Bay

BBC reports: [edited]

State of the art wind turbines with a diameter bigger than the London Eye are being assembled at Belfast Harbour. The 32 turbines are destined for the sea off Liverpool.

Once running, they will generate enough electricity for a city twice the size of Belfast - about 230,000 homes.

At peak operation each turbine can produce the same amount of energy in one day as contained in 22,600 barrels of oil.
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