A360. Blog

smartercities:

This High Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal System (HCPVT) can harness the energy of 2,000 suns and provide fresh water and air conditioning in remote locations. The prototype HCPVT system under development uses a large parabolic dish, made from a multitude of mirror facets, which is attached to a tracking system that determines the best angle based on the position of the sun. Once aligned, the sun’s rays reflect off the mirror onto several microchannel-liquid cooled receivers with triple junction photovoltaic chips — each 1x1 centimeter chip can convert 200-250 watts, on average, over a typical eight hour day in a sunny region.
Read more: http://huff.to/11vTQGE

This High Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal System (HCPVT) can harness the energy of 2,000 suns and provide fresh water and air conditioning in remote locations. The prototype HCPVT system under development uses a large parabolic dish, made from a multitude of mirror facets, which is attached to a tracking system that determines the best angle based on the position of the sun. Once aligned, the sun’s rays reflect off the mirror onto several microchannel-liquid cooled receivers with triple junction photovoltaic chips — each 1x1 centimeter chip can convert 200-250 watts, on average, over a typical eight hour day in a sunny region.

Read more: http://huff.to/11vTQGE

Google Now for iPhone and iPad

(Source: youtube.com)

Adapteva Launches $99 Parallella Open Computing Platform

Sphero – Robot Ball You Control With Your Smartphone

A Remix of Daft Punk and Skrillex Songs by Jack Conte

(Source: jackconte, via shoutsandmumbles)

Update Petman by Boston Dynamic

tl;dr: Petman has a gasmask now.

The PETMAN robot was developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from the DoD CBD program. It is used to test the performance of protective clothing designed for hazardous environments. The video shows initial testing in a chemical protection suit and gas mask. PETMAN has sensors embedded in its skin that detect any chemicals leaking through the suit. The skin also maintains a micro-climate inside the clothing by sweating and regulating temperature. Partners in developing PETMAN were MRIGlobal, Measurement Technology Northwest, Smith Carter, CUH2A, and HHI.

[via nerdcore]

(via emergentfutures)

smarterplanet:

Could Minuum finally evolve the virtual QWERTY keyboard? | Crave - CNET
Did you know the QWERTY layout originated in the 1870s? It might be time for a makeover. The up-and-coming Minuum virtual keyboard minimizes the de facto standard into something far sleeker and sexier.
When in use, a virtual keyboard shouldn’t take up half of your smartphone or tablet screen, but it does, and it sure is ugly. If you’re tired of keys hogging up precious screen space, check out Minuum — a simple, yet intelligent single-row reinvention of the QWERTY layout.
Simply put, the Minuum keyboard, which is gaining traction on crowdfunding Web site Indiegogo, seems attractive as it doesn’t require much space to use. It intelligently predicts what word you’re going for through auto-correction algorithms, similar to a full-size virtual keyboard.

Could Minuum finally evolve the virtual QWERTY keyboard? | Crave - CNET

Did you know the QWERTY layout originated in the 1870s? It might be time for a makeover. The up-and-coming Minuum virtual keyboard minimizes the de facto standard into something far sleeker and sexier.

When in use, a virtual keyboard shouldn’t take up half of your smartphone or tablet screen, but it does, and it sure is ugly. If you’re tired of keys hogging up precious screen space, check out Minuum — a simple, yet intelligent single-row reinvention of the QWERTY layout.

Simply put, the Minuum keyboard, which is gaining traction on crowdfunding Web site Indiegogo, seems attractive as it doesn’t require much space to use. It intelligently predicts what word you’re going for through auto-correction algorithms, similar to a full-size virtual keyboard.

Hyper-Realistic CGI Is Killing Photographers, Thrilling Product Designers

singularitarian:

Computer-generated images are moving out of theaters and onto store shelves and catalog pages, thanks to software that makes it nearly impossible to distinguish the real from the photorealistic.

(via futurescope)

new-aesthetic:

“Stop The Cyborgs’ was founded in response to the Google Glass project and other technology trends. The aim of the movement is to stop a future in which privacy is impossible and corporate control total.”
About | Stop The Cyborgs
NB Addendum: “Two things are quickly lost in any internet debate: humor and nuance. So in retrospect we should have guessed that people would find it hard to read past the name ‘Stop The Cyborgs‘. We thought it would be a bit of fun – a suitably cyberpunk sounding opposition group. However we have been variously accused of hating technology & hating anyone who isn’t 100% biological. This is not the case. We love technology and we love people. Indeed we even wear clothes and create technology ourselves. Some of us might even have metal bits.” Read more…

“Stop The Cyborgs’ was founded in response to the Google Glass project and other technology trends. The aim of the movement is to stop a future in which privacy is impossible and corporate control total.”

About | Stop The Cyborgs

NB Addendum: “Two things are quickly lost in any internet debate: humor and nuance. So in retrospect we should have guessed that people would find it hard to read past the name ‘Stop The Cyborgs‘. We thought it would be a bit of fun – a suitably cyberpunk sounding opposition group. However we have been variously accused of hating technology & hating anyone who isn’t 100% biological. This is not the case. We love technology and we love people. Indeed we even wear clothes and create technology ourselves. Some of us might even have metal bits.” Read more…

(via futurescope)

digithoughts:

60 billion mobile apps where downloaded in 2012
Google Play and the Apple App Store together accounted for nearly 40 billion of the total 60 billion mobile app downloads in 2012. The rest of the downloads were mostly Android downloads from third party Chinese app stores. The mobile app market mirrors the smartphone hardware market: The largest volumes come from Android, while most of the money comes from iOS. One important difference. When it comes to apps, developers — not the hardware vendors — take the lion share of the money.
A few good outtakes from the Berg Insight report:

Revenues from applications, including direct revenues and in-app ad revenues, reached € 6.4 billion in 2012. Apple’s App Store is the clear leader in monetisation of mobile apps and will keep the number one position during the forecast period.
Third party app stores pushed Android to become the leading platform in terms of app downloads during 2012. While many Western third party app stores are struggling, the situation is different in other parts of the world. Third party app stores are especially popular in China and other markets where Google Play hasn’t become the default on-device app store.
Every app can find its own way to success, but common strategies today among many of the top revenue generating app developers are to publish apps featuring a social layer on more than one platform using free to download monetisation.
Like almost no other digital product, mobile apps represent a global opportunity with more or less instant worldwide distribution.

For those of you with extra interest in this market, the summary of the report contains pretty detailed data on download numbers, revenue split between direct and in-direct (ad) revenues, Google Play and Apple App Store revenues etc.
Source: Berg Insight, report summary (pdf-link)

60 billion mobile apps where downloaded in 2012

Google Play and the Apple App Store together accounted for nearly 40 billion of the total 60 billion mobile app downloads in 2012. The rest of the downloads were mostly Android downloads from third party Chinese app stores. The mobile app market mirrors the smartphone hardware market: The largest volumes come from Android, while most of the money comes from iOS. One important difference. When it comes to apps, developers — not the hardware vendors — take the lion share of the money.

A few good outtakes from the Berg Insight report:

Revenues from applications, including direct revenues and in-app ad revenues, reached € 6.4 billion in 2012. Apple’s App Store is the clear leader in monetisation of mobile apps and will keep the number one position during the forecast period.

Third party app stores pushed Android to become the leading platform in terms of app downloads during 2012. While many Western third party app stores are struggling, the situation is different in other parts of the world. Third party app stores are especially popular in China and other markets where Google Play hasn’t become the default on-device app store.

Every app can find its own way to success, but common strategies today among many of the top revenue generating app developers are to publish apps featuring a social layer on more than one platform using free to download monetisation.

Like almost no other digital product, mobile apps represent a global opportunity with more or less instant worldwide distribution.

For those of you with extra interest in this market, the summary of the report contains pretty detailed data on download numbers, revenue split between direct and in-direct (ad) revenues, Google Play and Apple App Store revenues etc.

Source: Berg Insight, report summary (pdf-link)

(via emergentfutures)

Following