Touch-based games have become wildly popular on smart phones, but they pose a dilemma: either fingers obscure some of the on-screen action or valuable screen real estate must be devoted to control areas. The PS Vita portable game console solves this problem by incorporating a touch pad on the rear of the device. This pad is particularly useful for augmented-reality applications, which can overlay digital information anywhere in the field of view provided by the built-in camera.
The first Android-based see-through wearable display, the Moverio uses two micro-projectors to create separate images for each eye, allowing it to play 3-D movies overlaid on the wearer’s view. In addition to videos, users can download Android applications via Wi-Fi and control them with a handheld track pad.
Designed for police use, this camera clips to a pair of glasses and records video evidence from the point of view of an officer. The camera has a continuously looping buffer, so at the moment the officer decides that an incident warrants recording, the previous 30 seconds are stored too. Live video from the camera can also be streamed to a smart phone.
A heavy-duty machine developed by iRobot, which has previously built a series of relatively small military robots used largely for reconnaissance, is capable of pulling a car or climbing over obstacles almost half a meter high. It can also be fitted with a rocket that drags a chain along the ground to clear a path through a minefield.
The 2Net Hub provides a single collection point for the wireless data generated by a plethora of home health devices that use a variety of communication standards, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and ANT+. Data stored by the hub can be transmitted to a cloud operated by Qualcomm via a cellular connection, making it possible to share the information with doctors or insurers.
With the PadFone smart phone, there’s no need to sync files and applications between a phone, a tablet, and a laptop, or to buy three separate devices at all. The Android phone slips into a larger screen, powering it as a tablet: the system will automatically let you continue working with whatever application you were using at the time you docked the phone. The screen, in turn, can be plugged into a keyboard, which doubles as an additional battery pack.
Soraa has developed an LED that is bright enough to replace a 50-watt halogen bulb but draws only 12 watts. Most LEDs emit light from a thin layer of gallium nitride on a substrate of either silicon or sapphire.
Soraa’s Premium LED has a gallium nitride substrate instead; using the same material for the substrate and the emitter means more current can be run through the LED, resulting in more light output from a given area.
The PT Pen can turn any laptop screen 16 inches or smaller into a stylus-based touchpad, allowing it to be used as a virtual whiteboard or sketch tablet. The PT Pen can also be used to annotate documents, and it works with the handwriting recognition software built into most operating systems. The position of the stylus is determined with ultrasound.
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These online communities are redefining how we find and share information, but will operators be able to assuage privacy concerns?
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