Immersive Infections
[Philip Lelyveld comment; This article describes a series of progressively more malicious hacks to VR and AR experiences. The author argues for making sure that the systems are secure before they are widely deployed. With all the money flowing into VR, though, its not going to happen.]
Technology, historically, has moved at a very fast speed, usually with the unfortunate result of the tech including security holes and vulnerabilities that are used later by malicious actors. For as badly as I know that many of us (myself included) want this technology, I think it is far more important to take the proper time needed to make sure it can’t be abused, because the danger of having exploitable technology attached to your face is far greater than not having access to Facebook due to ransomware.
MIT Students Create An Ice Cream Printer
[Philip Lelyveld comment: this type of flash-freeze ice cream was tried a few years ago for 'popcorn' ice cream. Creating custom shapes will be interesting.]
Three students at MIT, Kyle Hounsell, Kristine Bunker, and David Donghyun Kim, have created a homemade ice cream printer that extrudes soft serve and immediately freezes it so that it can be layered on a cooled plate.
The system is a proof-of-concept right now but they were able to print some clever shapes out of the sweet, sweet cream.
The team built the printer as part of Professor John Hart’s class in additive manufacturing. They used a Solidoodle printer to control the plate and the stream and froze the ice-cream as it came out with liquid nitrogen. As you can imagine, it melted quite often, resulting in a pool of sweet, edible sadness. As a man who can eat three gallons of ice cream in a sitting, I could imagine this thing just 3D printing all over my head.
See the full story here: http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/16/mit-students-create-an-ice-cream-printer/?ncid=tcdaily
Can you answer these 4 questions and save the media industry from Taylor Swift?
Unlike the music industry, the software industry knows CDs aren't coming back, and they're trying all sorts of things to deal with it:
- Multerer, who works on the Xbox, is of course fond of pointing out that games and interactivity create tons of value: he often describes American Idol as nothing more than a video game. "It is a two-hour cut-scene followed by one hour where everybody picks up their game controller (their phone) and votes, followed by a one-hour cut scene," he writes. "It is brilliantly designed so that you can't DVR it (skipping the commercials) without losing your ability to vote. The act of copying it lowers its value. The voting is a virtual scarcity."
- Ephemerality creates literal scarcity; things that go away have incredible value while they exist. That's why TV networks pay enormous amounts of money for the rights to broadcast sporting events like the World Cup and awards ceremonies like the Oscars: they force people to tune in and watch in real time, because once they're over their value falls to zero. And it's why ephemeral messaging apps like Snapchat are worth billions: the app makes messages from your friends feel valuable by simply deleting them after a few seconds.
- Communities also create value: a bunch of people talking about the same thing is great, and a bunch of people you know and trust talking about the same thing is incredibly valuable. Twitter pops up alerts letting you know when a lot of people are talking about the same thing; Facebook drives so much traffic when people start sharing things that it's changing journalism. It's spectacle on a five-inch screen, and you're checking your phone just to keep from missing out.
See the full story here: http://www.vox.com/2014/7/15/5901977/can-you-answer-these-four-questions-and-save-the-media-from-taylor-swift?curator=MediaREDEF
Thread Group Formed to Promote IP-Based Networking Protocol
The news follows the recent formation of two other groups interested in creating standards for the Internet of Things. We recently reported that the AllSeen Alliance (backed by Qualcomm, Microsoft and 50 others) and the Open Interconnect Consortium(backed by tech companies including Intel, Broadcom, Dell and Samsung) both plan to develop standards for wirelessly connecting devices to each other and the Internet.
However, the Thread Group is proposing a wireless “mesh” network in which devices communicate with each other similarly to how they interact with a home Wi-Fi router.
See the full post here: http://www.etcentric.org/thread-group-formed-to-promote-ip-based-networking-protocol/
Amazon Fire Gives Developers Chance to Liven Up 3D Market
Amazon’s new Fire smartphone features sensors and front-facing cameras that provide a different perspective depending on how users hold, view or move the phone, leading to the expectation that it should increase demand for 3D applications. This 3D display tech is called dynamic perspective. Mobile software developers are hoping that Amazon’s advertising efforts and massive scale will promote 3D more successfully than other 3D phone makers have in the past.
“Four sets of cameras and infrared lights track users’ motions with special software — letting players zoom into games like the upcoming ‘Saber’s Edge’ by bringing their heads closer to the screen or peek into a map in Yelp Inc.’s app to view ratings,”
See the full story here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-11/amazon-clout-gives-fire-phone-chance-to-rekindle-3d-dream.html
British Airways Has A New Way Of Tracking Customers’ Emotions During Flights
When a flier feels anxious or uneasy, the blanket turns red, and when the flier is relaxed and happy, the blanket turns blue.
BA started testing its new toy on flights from London to New York. Not surprisingly, the study found that passengers were most anxious during take off and landing and were happy when they were eating and drinking.
See the full story and video here: http://www.businessinsider.com/british-airways-tracks-happiness-with-blanket-2014-6?imm_mid=0bf94c&cmp=em-na-na-na-newsltr_20140710_elist