Amazon is testing the “Octocopter”,
an unmanned drone that can deliver packages weighing up to 2.3 kg within 30
minutes after placing the order. Can you imagine flying robots delivering goods
right to your door? Can you?
I am sure for most people this
looks like science fiction, but according to Chief Executive Jeff Bezos it’s
not, and the service called prime air could start in five years and it will cover areas within a 10-mile
radius of distribution centres.
Amazon is not the only company
considering the idea of using unmanned drones for deliveries as Domino released a
video of the “Domicopter” last year, I guess we will see our dinner and christmas presents flying across
the city in the near future.
It is expected that robots will
replace human workers in the future; I have recently read an article about Moshe
Vardi, an IT professor at Rice University claiming that it may happen by 2045 and
it could put millions out of work permanently.
Some people claim that before the
end of this century, 70 percent of today’s occupations will be replaced by
robots and some jobs such as ballerinas, musicians, mathematicians, athletes,
fashion designers, yoga masters, fan-fiction authors and folks are considered
those that only humans will be able to do.
Well, I’ve got some news for you,
Z-Machines, a band made up of 3 robots, Mach on guitar, Ashura on percussion
and Cosmo on keyboard made their debut in Tokyo featuring Japanese group
Amoyamo, so I guess this people were wrong about those jobs that can be done only
by humans.
According to digitaltrends.com,
the robotic band has been created by Yoichiro Kawaguchi, an IT professor at the
University of Tokyo, and mechanical designer Naofumi Yonetsuka.
The band is composed of a 78
fingered guitarist fitted with 12 picks, an electronic octopus of a drummer who
can wield 21 drum sticks and make a sound that, according to Yonetsuka, is
"the equivalent of four people playing drums" and a keyboardist that
can shoot laser beams from its eyes.
I don’t want to sound pessimistic
but I would say it will be hard for musicians to compete against robots
with these super abilities, and it seems to me that the replacement of humans by
robots has already begun.
Mars one is looking to recruit people
to be sent to Mars in order to set up a human colony, according to the company’s
website the aim is to send 4 astronauts in 2023 and then 4 astronauts every 2
years after that, successful applicants need to take eight years of training
before their launch. The colony budget is £4billion and the project is to be
funded through sponsors and private investors.
The candidates must be
intelligent, creative, psychologically stable and physically healthy, so if you
think you meet the requirements and you want to become an astronaut you might
want to apply, but there is one more thing, this is a one-way trip as the
company claims once on Mars, there is no means to return to Earth. Mars is
home. Still want to apply?
Well, you might think not many
people are willing to live on Mars for the rest of their lives, I thought so
too, but according to the Daily Mail the venture has attracted 78,000
applications from more than 120 countries (3,500 Britons).
Mars One CEO and co-founder Bas
Lansdorp said in a statement: "With 78,000 applications in two weeks, this
is turning out to be the most desired job in history."
I wonder if people want to leave
earth due to the global financial crisis or if they are just looking for fame
as it will be filmed for a reality TV show, I guess living in an uninhabited
planet under constant danger forever will be the price of fame.
What would you do with a rare
black diamond? Well, according to CNN a Chinese business man “Joe” hired
English craftsman Stuart Hughes who designs luxury mobile phone to replace his
iphone 5’s home button with his family treasure, a 26-carat black diamond.
Hughes claims on his website that the device
includes a solid 24-carat gold chassis, 600 white diamonds, and 53 diamonds that
make up the apple logo on the back of the phone, and it took 9 weeks to make.
This iphone is estimated to be worth £10 million ($15.3 million) which makes it
the world’s most expensive iphone.
I would say it is the iphone with
the world’s most expensive button considering that only the home button has an
estimated value of $14.5 million, I wonder if this Joe guy is the kind of
person who always loses mobile phones.
We first saw them in video games, then clothes, stationery, toys...
Well, now the most famous birds in the world will get their own series, Rovio
has announced last Tuesday on its blog “Angry Birds Toons” an all-new animated
series coming on March 16th.
These episodes will last each about 3 minutes and will be
available online only. Rovio confirmed a Ukrainian TV channel will begin transmission
of the entire series next month, according to digitaltrends.
I guess more TV
channel will soon be interested in transmitting a series about these characters
that became an international phenomenon, so it seems a matter of time before
these funny birds turn into TV stars, and to top it off, movie stars as the
company has announced before to be working on Angry Birds the movie, expected
to be released in 2016.
TshirtOS about wearable
technology, well, this seems to be becoming fashionable; Techradar has been
told wearable computing is the next big thing Apple is working on. This time
the device is a watch obviously called iwatch.
At the moment there is no much official
information but there are certainly some leaks circulating on the internet and
the press; The Telegraph wrote that fresh leaks suggest that the device is far
more advanced than previously thought and Bloomberg wrote that a team of 100
Apple staff headed by senior executives has been assembled to work on the
product.
Some other rumours suggest that iWatch
will incorporate a curved glass display which wraps around the users wrist
increasing the potential screen-size. It will be able to connect with an iPad
or iPhone to receive text messages, social networks and it might even make
calls. It is likely to include a GPS sensor and could include a heartbeat
monitor.
I wonder what is coming next, iglasses?
ikeyring? ishoes? I would truly like to see this stuff.
This reminds me of an American television series “The Six Million Dollar Man”
about a former astronaut with bionic implants, I used to watch as a child. On Wednesday
news.discovery.com posted that after years of research, the first bionic eye will
soon be available in the United States. We may not see a bionic superhero
saving the world, but it could certainly be the beginning of a bionic humans era.
According to Discovery this
bionic eye, the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, created by Second
Sight Medical Products has already benefited 60 people in Europe and some of
them were completely blind. "The way the
prosthesis works (is) it replaces the function of the photoreceptors," Brian Mech, the
California-based company's vice president of business development told AFP. The system consists of 60
electrodes in the retina and a pair of glasses with a mini camera. Argus II is
meant to benefit people with retinitis pigmentosa, unfortunately not everybody with this disease
will be able to afford this bionic implant since Mech claimed "Argus II
is already available in several European countries for 73,000 Euros (£61,800 /
$97,500)" and he believes the price for the US would be higher, what makes me
think of a bionic millionaires era?
Facebook on Friday released the “poke app” for the iPhone, iPod
touch and iPad. The new app allows users to log into their Facebook account and
send pictures, 120-character messages and 10-second videos which will self-destruct
after being sent within a set period of time (1, 3, 5 or 10 seconds). Users
need to press and hold the message to see it, and once the message gets expired it
cannot be retrieved by either party.
Facebook said in a blog post "With the Poke app, you
can poke or send a message, photo, or video to Facebook friends to share what
you're up to in a lightweight way"
"When time runs out, the message disappears from the
app"
The idea that the end of the world would take place yesterday
was based on an interpretation of the ancient Mayan calendar which has a cycle
of 5125 years that ends on 21 December 2012. However the world didn’t end and
NASA released a video explaining why it didn’t happen.
After Apple launched its own maps app in September, the
system was criticised by users due to blurry satellite images, missing towns,
wrong location and misspelled landmarks. CEO Tim Cook offered a public apology
and advised users to go to Google Maps through the mobile Web browser.
Cook wrote "We are extremely sorry for the frustration
this has caused our customers, and we are doing everything we can to make Maps
better," Also he replaced the executive in charge of Apple’s mobile
operating system.
Google on Wednesday launched the new Google Maps app for
iphone which features 3D pictures, turn-by-turn directions and public transit
maps. The new mapping tool became the most downloaded free app in Apple app
Store just a few hours after its release.
Google wrote on its official blog "People around the
world have been asking for Google Maps on iPhone. Starting today, we're pleased
to announce that Google Maps is here, rolling out across the world in the Apple
App Store,"
Samsung last week
launched Galaxy Muse, a MP3 Player with Smartphone Sync Capablility that shares physical features and design
aesthetics with the latestGalaxy smartphones. The new device measures 1.7
inches tall by 1.25 inches wide, weighs 0.48 ounces and comes with a built-in
clip on back.
Galaxy muse offers touch-sensitive controls, four
GB of memory and it can play music up to six hours. Users have to install “Muse
Sync app” to sync Galaxy Muse to their phones. The app is currently available on
Google Play, marketplace or SamsungApps, for Galaxy S3 and
Galaxy Note 2 devices only.
Kevin Packingham,
chief product officer at Samsung Mobile said "The Galaxy Muse expands the
Samsung Galaxy product portfolio to offer music on-the-go in a compact and
lightweight player, with songs shared directly from our award-winning
smartphones,"
"Muse is the latest
example of Samsung delivering another outlet for content consumption across the
entire spectrum of consumer electronics."
Most of 100 million
users of Windows Live Messenger will be forced to switch to Skype as Microsoft
this week announced that the 13-year-old Messenger will be retired by March 2013
and will be replaced by Skype, except in China. Microsoft bought Skype
for $8.5 billion last year and claims users who switch to Skype will get better
support on mobile devices. Tony Bates,
president of the Skype division at Microsoft said "We want to focus our
efforts on making things simpler for our users while continuously improving the
overall experience.” In a blog post
Skype said “Now users just need to update to the latest version of Skype, sign
in using a Microsoft account and their Messenger contacts will be there."
Apple this week at an event in California launched a
new tablet half the size of its existing iPad called “iPad mini”. The device is
23% thinner and 53% lighter than the third-generation, it is 7.2mm (0.3in)
thick and weighs 0.68lbs (0.3kg). It features a 7.9 inch (20cm) display, a fast
A5 chip, FaceTime HD and 5 megapixel iSight cameras, ultrafast wireless and 10
hours of battery life.
Phil Schiller,
Apple's vice-president of worldwide
marketing said “You can hold it in one hand, this isn't a shrunken down iPad,
it's an entirely new design.”
"Others have tried to make tablets smaller than
the iPad and they have failed miserably"
Microsoft this week at the User Interface Software and Technology
(UIST) 2012 conference unveiled a motion sensor “Digits” that users can wear on
their wrists to track hand movement and orientation as well as finger motion.
“Digits” uses an infrared laser line, infrared camera,
infrared diffuse illumination, and inertial measurement unit to recognise hand and
fingers movements and recreate a 3d hand which replicates what the real hand is
doing in real time. It could be useful to interact with mobile devices, replace a mouse or control games without touching the screen on
tablets.
David Kim, a Microsoft researcher said “Ultimately, we would like to reduce Digits to the size of a
watch that can be worn all the time,”
“We want users to be able to interact spontaneously with
their electronic devices using simple gestures and not even have to reach for
their devices.”
Last week at an event in California Amazon has
unveiled three new Kindle tablets, a new
version of the current tablet and the Kindle Fire HD in two screen sizes, 7in
(17.8cm) or 8.9in (22.6cm).
The upgraded version of the existing device is faster
and has a longer battery; and it will cost £129. The Fire HD models run a modified version of Google's
Android operating system and they are powered by a processor made by Texas; They feature
two Wi-Fi antennas, stereo speakers, Bluetooth connectivity, an HDMI port, a
laminated touchscreen, MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) radio wave
technology, an 11-hour battery life, a camera, new gaming tools and 16
gigabytes of storage. There will also be a 32GB version of the 8.9in HD device
with 4G connectivity. The 7in Kindle Fire HD will cost £159 in the UK while the
8.9in Kindle Fire HD will be available in November. DNP9FQ5JWVYB Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said: "Not only does
Kindle Fire HD feature the most advanced hardware, it's also a service.” Bezos also announced the Kindle Paperwhite e-reader which
will be thinner than the Kindle Touch. It will have 62% more pixels, a higher
resolution screen, Backlit e-ink and eight weeks of battery life. Bezos said “It will have a touchscreen and be lit
with a fiber-optic lighting system that has been in development for four years “ Paperwhite will be released in October in the US.
Apple today at an event in San Francisco unveiled the new iPhone
5 which is 18% thinner and 20% lighter than the iPhone 4S and made of glass and
aluminium. It has a larger 4-inch screen which allows users to see five rows of
apps.
The new iPhone 5 will run IOS 6 operating system and features
a faster processor called the A6, an 8MP camera which has a better low-light
performance and faster image captures, a new "Lightning" connector which is 80% smaller than the old 30-pin dock connector and 4G LTE connection. It
also includes a full-screen version of the Safari web browser and an improved
version of the Siri voice-control system.
Vice president of marketing Phil Schiller said: "iPhone
5 is the best phone we've ever made."
iPhone5 will be available on September 21 in the United
States.
Samsung this week at IFA (one of the world's largest consumer electronic event) in Berlin has
unveiled the new Samsung Galaxy Note 2 “phablet”, a hybrid between a phone and
tablet. The new Samsung device
runs on Google's latest Android operating system Jelly Bean and features a
5.5-inch screen, an 8MP camera on the rear with an LED flash and a 1.9MP camera
on the front with HD video recording, 2 GB RAM memory, a 1.6 GHz quad-core
processor, WI-FI, HSPA+ and 4G LTE connectivity, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0 and a
3,100mAh battery. Also it includes the S Pen stylus which is thicker and uses a
new Air View feature. “Last year at IFA, we
launched the Galaxy Note, which opened a new category of smart mobile devices.
This year, again at IFA, we are delighted to introduce the Galaxy Note II,
which will encourage users to unleash their creativity.” Said Simon Stanford,
Vice President of Telecommunications and Networks, Samsung UK and Ireland. It will be available in Marble White or Titanium Gray colour, the release date is set as October in the UK.
The Chinese company Cubic Network claims Facebook has stolen its Timeline feature which allows people to tell the story of their lives in chronological order. The Chinese start-up founded four years ago claims they launched the same layout in 2008 andis suing Facebook for potential patent infringement. Mark Zuckerberg is believed to have attended a talk about the Timeline feature held by Xiong Wanli, the founder of Cubic Network at Stanford University.
Facebook unveiled its own Timeline feature in 2011, three years after Cubic Networks, at F8, the social network’s annual developer’s conference. Zuckerberg said at the conference: “Millions of people curate stories of their lives on Facebook every day and have no way to share them once they fall off your profile page; we have been working on Timeline all year; it’s the story of your life and completely new way to express yourself.”
Timeline has just been made mandatory in the UK, some users are not happy with the forced change due to the radical departure from the previous layout and the way members show their personal information.
Whiskey maker Ballantine’s and the London-based clothing company CuteCurcuit have developed “TshirtOS”, the world's first wearable, washable and programmable T-shirt which could announce a new era of wearable digital technology.
This prototype features a 1000 RGB LED screen, a USB port, two headphone sockets, an accelerometer, a built-in camera which according to its makers will be the smallest in the world, measuring 2.5 by 2.9 by 2.5 millimetres; and Bluetooth that allows TshirtOS to connect to your Smartphone to share Twitter and Facebook updates as well as Instagram pictures. Also it will be able to play music and videos.
Peter Moore, global brand director said “The T-shirt is the original canvas of self-expression. Whether you wore the Smiley Face, Che Guevara or Frankie Says Relax, your favourite T-shirt tells the world something about you. Ballantine’s has taken that thought andmade it bigger.”
The boardable robots era has come; the Japanese company Suidobashi Heavy Industry on Sunday in Tokyo at the Wonder Festival unveiled a 13ft combat robot called “Kuratas” which can be controlled from inside as well as remotely via 3G. Engineers Wataru Yoshizaki and Kogoro Kurata have been working on the robot since 2010, the company also released a video where the pilot Anna gives step by step instructions of how to operate the Kuratas.
Kuratas has 30 hydraulic joints which can be moved by the pilot using Motion Sensor technology, the diesel-powered robot weighs 4.5 tonnes and includes two humanoid arms and four wheeled legs, and it can run at a top speed of 10 km/h.
Kuratas is inspired by Japanese comic book “mecha”, it features a "shot-proof" armour and a futuristic weapons system which includes two gatling guns capable of shooting 6,000 BB bullets a minute, which fire when the pilot smiles; Suidobashi call this "the smile shot", and a Lohas launcher, a rocket launcher that fires water plastic bottles.
