Subscribe to Gizmag's RSS feed
Follow Gizmag on Twitter
Software
Willow Garage offers free robots to researchers
By Ben Coxworth
14:07 February 9, 2010 PST
Imagine if every time someone wanted to develop a new piece of software, they first had to design and build a computer to run it. Not only would this greatly add to the time and expense required for software development, but it would also mean that all of us consumers would have to own multiple computers. Well, that’s what it’s like in the field of robotics. Because there is no robot-equivalent of the PC or Mac, every time someone wants a robot that can do something new, a new robot has to be built from scratch. Wouldn’t it be easier if there were one standard robotic platform, for which people just designed new hardware or software? Californian robotics company Willow Garage seems to think so, which is why they’re giving ten of their PR2 robots to deserving research organizations. Read More
Tech firm InteraXon to transmit brain waves across Canada
By Ben Coxworth
15:44 February 7, 2010 PST
If you’re attending the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia this month, you’ll have the chance to transmit your brain waves across Canada. When they reach their destination, the province of Ontario, they'll produce a custom light show on one of three prominent Ontario landmarks - presumably to the amazement of thousands of onlookers. While this might sound like technology straight out of an X-Men movie, it is in fact the latest accomplishment of Toronto-based tech firm InteraXon... and it could be just the tip of the iceberg in the field of thought-controlled computing. Read More
Symbian, the world’s most widely used smartphone platform, is now open source
By Darren Quick
18:48 February 4, 2010 PST
When Nokia acquired the former Symbian Software Limited in 2008 a new independent non-profit organization called the Symbian Foundation was established. One of its main goals was to create the Symbian platform used on more than 330 million mobile phones worldwide as a royalty-free, open source software. Now, less than two full years later and four months ahead of schedule that goal has become a reality with the foundation announcing the completed open source release of the Symbian platform source code. Read More
Comprehensive E-reader comparison chart
By Gizmag Team
19:20 January 30, 2010 PST
If you’re looking to purchase an e-reader and just can’t fathom the minefield of differences, check out this chart that comprehensively compares Amazon’s Kindle 2 and Kindle DX, Sony’s Daily Edition, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Plastic Logic’s Que proReader, and Apple’s iPad in 20 categories including hardware spec, software and content. Read More
WiNRADiO PFSL-G3 field strength logger now with TETRA protocol
By Ben Coxworth
01:03 January 22, 2010 PST
Whether you’re tracking a moose, trying to locate a sinking ship, or conducting a little spying, you’re going to be using a field strength logger. One of the slickest units currently available is the WiNRADiO PFSL-G3 Portable Field Strength Logging and Surveillance System. Whereas such systems used to consist of several pieces of equipment, the PFSL-G3 is all contained in one portable, compact, rugged unit. It also now comes with an optional TETRA control protocol decoder, allowing users to prioritize signal traffic by importance. Read More
Intelius Date Check - only minutes to find out if your date is hiding something
By Jeff Salton
00:32 January 22, 2010 PST
Information-gathering company, Intelius, has released an app called Date Check that in minutes scans billions of publicly available documents stored on numerous databases and hidden in countless files to ascertain if the guy (or girl) you just met is worthy of a second date. Does he/she have a criminal record, hold the job they say, live with mum and dad or a spouse and kids or earn enough to keep you happy? The company says it’s like having a private investigator in your phone but we’re guessing privacy advocates have other ideas. Read More
enTourage announces eDGe dual screen eBook reader
By Mick Webb
03:07 January 9, 2010 PST
When is an eBook reader not merely an eBook reader? When it’s an enTourage eDGE reader. Unveiled this week at CES the clamshell designed reader is billed as the world’s first dualbook, with a 9.7” black and white E-ink screen on the one side and 10.1” LCD color touchscreen on the other. Along with 4GB of internal memory and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capability, the unit functions as a mini-netbook, notepad and audio/video recorder. Read More
Microscopic 'ants' can transport objects inside a microchip
04:16 December 29, 2009 PST
A collaboration between MIT, Boston University and German researchers has produced a new system that could soon be used to move tiny objects inside a microchip. The system is self-assembling, can be controlled via software and can transport particles up to 100 times the size of the beads carrying them. The objective is to give scientists new insights as to how cells and other objects are transported by tiny cilia throughout our bodies. Read More
ProFORMA software creates a 3D model of an object in minutes using a webcam
By Jeff Salton
18:58 November 29, 2009 PST
Cambridge University PhD student Qi Pan has designed software that creates textured 3D models in slightly more than a minute using a stationary camera, such as a webcam. Conventional off-line model reconstruction relies on a number of phases - there’s an image collection phase that can be quite quick, followed by a very slow reconstruction phase, which requires a long time to verify a model obtained from an image sequence is acceptable. This new software creates a 3D model on-line as the input sequence is being collected. As the user rotates the object in front of a camera, a partial model is reconstructed and displayed to the user. Read More
Amazon Kindle beta for PC available to download
By Paul Lester
14:20 November 16, 2009 PST
Amazon is perhaps the best placed to really push the eBook reader as a global solution and with recent announcements confirming that local libraries will be offering eBook rentals there seems to be plenty going on in this area to warrant further support. To this end, Amazon has officially released its Kindle software for the PC, allowing users to purchase, download and read hundreds of thousands of books from the official store. Read More
Esquire magazine to release augmented reality edition
By Paul Ridden
15:04 November 15, 2009 PST
After experimenting with things like origami (May edition) and e-ink (October 2008 edition), Esquire magazine is running a special "augmented reality" edition in December where readers use custom-designed software and a webcam to interact with the pages being viewed and get access to 3D animated video content. Read More
What invisible objects will actually look like
By Darren Quick
19:52 November 12, 2009 PST
Over the last few years we’ve covered the development of “invisibility cloaks” using metamaterials – man-made structured composite materials exhibiting optical properties not found in nature that can guide light to achieve cloaking and other optical effects. In 2006, scientists at Duke University demonstrated in the laboratory that an object made of metamaterials can be partially invisible to particular wavelengths of light - not visible light, but rather microwaves. A few groups have even managed to achieve a microscopically-sized carpet-cloak. Now researchers have developed software that can show what such a cloaked object will actually look like. Read More
Ants inspire military strategy software
By Gizmag Team
17:45 November 9, 2009 PST
Ant colonies aren't called superorganisms for nothing. In some species, millions of individuals can act as a single entity to protect and feed the colony. This behavior has led to over 200 different species being called "Army Ants", so in a way it's no surprise that these mechanisms have been used for the basis of new software that helps troops to define the best path within a battle field. Read More
Cry Translator iPhone App tells you why your baby is crying
By Paul Lester
21:33 November 8, 2009 PST
Most new parents would agree that working out exactly why a baby is crying and coming up with the right solution can be extremely stressful, so why not turn to the wonderful world of technology to solve the problem? The Cry Translator is an iPhone application that translates a baby’s cries, categorizing them with one of five possible reasons: hungry, sleepy, annoyed, stressed or bored. Read More
Software to detect objects inside videos
By Jeff Salton
23:57 November 3, 2009 PST
Researchers at the University of Missouri (MU) are developing software that would enable computers to perform video analysis tasks, such as alerting emergency services if a video surveillance camera detects a person falling and not getting up. The software could also be used to search inside videos and look for certain objects, such as basketballs or footballs, hence reducing the time taken to locate a certain game or scene. Read More
Microsoft launches long awaited Windows 7
By Mick Webb
20:13 October 22, 2009 PDT
After much anticipation and speculation, Microsoft has finally released its long awaited Windows 7 operating system. Aiming to make it easier for users to “do the things they want to do on a PC”, Microsoft’s successor to the largely ill-conceived Vista brings a host of new features to the table. Read More
The interactive 3D Virtual Autopsy Table
By Paul Ridden
16:17 October 20, 2009 PDT
Swedish researchers have developed an interactive touchscreen 3D autopsy table that allows pathologists to examine virtual representations of real bodies in minute detail and from numerous viewing angles. Using data provided by scans of an actual body, the table allows the user to remove layers such as skin and muscle, add or remove tissue and circulatory systems, zoom in and out and cut through sections with a virtual knife. The video below is a "must watch". Read More
CyberLink TrueTheater Enhancer gives YouTube videos a spit and polish
By Darren Quick
01:10 October 16, 2009 PDT
I’ve always considered YouTube an example of “two steps forward, one step back.” Although it has provided a seemingly endless supply of video to keep us entertained, if not informed, it does so with often low quality video at a time when television services around the world have shifted to digital broadcasts offering improved high definition (HD) picture and sound. CyberLink is looking to bridge the divide with its TrueTheater Enhancer software that is designed to give YouTube content a spit and polish. Read More
Belkin’s Easy Transfer Cable for Windows 7 makes upgrading smoother
05:11 October 10, 2009 PDT
Upgrading to a new operating system is a notorious mess — you need to find all of your data and user settings (often spending hours doing so), burn them to a DVD or other support and then copy them all to the new OS. Belkin's "Easy Transfer Cable" for Windows 7, a USB 2.0 cable with accompanying software aims to make the whole process much easier by guiding you through the transfer process, automatically finding your data and settings and streamlining the transition from XP or Vista to the upcoming Windows 7. Read More
That's him, officer - the Police sketch artist evolves
By Darren Quick
23:59 October 6, 2009 PDT
Human memory is a notoriously unreliable thing that can be easily influenced. That’s good news for criminals and bad news for law enforcement agencies that often rely on eyewitnesses to provide a description of a criminal. Around the world, law enforcement agencies employ sketch artists to piece together faces in a process similar to assembling a Mr. Potato Head toy. The witness describes key features, such as hair length, nose size or sharpness of the chin, and the artist combines them to create a likeness. Research into psychology suggests that this kind of method doesn’t take into account how the memory actually works, so researchers have developed new software that helps witnesses recreate and recognize suspects using principles borrowed from the fields of optics and genetics. Read More
Flash 10.1 coming to Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, BlackBerry, Android and Symbian
By Darren Quick
21:36 October 5, 2009 PDT
Adobe claims that Flash content is present on more than 85 percent of the top 100 websites, and that approximately 75 percent of all web-based videos use Flash. In good news for the growing numbers of people accessing the Internet on their mobile phones, Adobe has unveiled its Flash Player 10.1: Full Flash software to bring an integrated Flash experience to browsers on Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, WebOS and Windows Mobile smartphones – but not iPhone. Read More
Google investigating smart charging solution for electric vehicles
By Paul Ridden
02:52 October 5, 2009 PDT
A lesser-known fact about the operator of the world's most popular Internet search engine is that it's been running a small fleet of hybrid vehicles for the past few years to support its effort to reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use and stabilize the electrical grid by accelerating the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles. Google engineers have put the cars through numerous tests to both prove and improve electric vehicle technology whilst publishing the results on the Internet. More recently, Google has confirmed that the fleet is currently running smart software to enable communication between the grid and the vehicles. Read More
Cyber 'ants' patrol PC networks against computer worms and other threats
00:46 September 29, 2009 PDT
In looking for highly efficient ways to solve complex problems, we've often seen researchers mimic the solutions found by nature over billions of years: smart fabrics inspired by pine cones, spectrum analyzers modeled after the human ear and powerful search-and-optimization genetic and evolutionary algorithms, to name just a few. The latest piece of news comes from Wake Forest University, where the group dynamics of ant colonies have inspired security software to fight computer worms and other threats. Read More
DEMO: Xerox 'Color By Words' uses simple language to get great pictures
By Jeff Salton
19:22 September 24, 2009 PDT
If you’re not a graphic designer, you may have struggled in the past to get your personal photos looking their best when relying on your printer’s color adjustment settings. Complex color wheels, sliders, brightness and contrast editors, and highlight tools all look handy – until you try to use them. Xerox has devised Natural Language Color Editing technology that allows you to adjust the colors in your printed documents by accessing plain English phrases. A drop-down Color By Words menu on your computer offers phrases like: ‘Make the blues a lot more vibrant’, which will then do just that across the entire document or image. Combining words can form thousands of different phrases to deliver the results you want. You can watch the demo video below or test drive the technology for yourself via the link at the end of this story. Read More
Freeze your hard disk with the USB Windows Icebox
15:16 September 20, 2009 PDT
Almost every PC user knows about the importance of making regular data backups — often from their own, unfortunate personal experience. But, due to laziness and technical difficulties, only a small percentage of users actually performs regular maintenance other than updating antivirus software. The Windows IceBox is a convenient solution to this problem that plugs into your USB port and immediately freezes changes on your selected hard drive partitions, virtually eliminating the need for maintenance. Read More
windykites1
- February 9, 2010 @ 19:22 UTC
