Sony has announced development of a small, lightweight, rugged HD action camera intended to target the extreme sports market and compete with the popular GoPro 11-megapixel HD Hero2.
Sony’s blog on Tuesday posted an early look at its upcoming “action camera,” not providing a formal name just yet.
“Sony’s developing a new type of hi-def wearable video camera for POV and action sports,” reads the post, “and we’re giving you — our stellar fans — the first look at the device!”
“Specs are scant at this point, though the company offers a few bits of information — vital for such a device, Sony’s SteadyShot image stabilization technology is included. It also incorporate an Exmor R CMOS image sensor and an ultra-wide angle Carl Zeiss Tessar lens,” reports Digital Trends.
“That means, whether you’re shredding major powder, jumping out of a plane, or kayaking through an epic waterfall, you’re capturing super high-quality video of it to show off to your family and friends,” explains the Sony post. “And there’ll be ruggedized and waterproof housings available so the camera can do its job in even the most extreme environments.”
Vizio announced its Co-Star this week, a Google TV-based set-top box priced at $99. The product aims to compete with the Apple TV media box and similar products from Roku and Sony.
The Co-Star provides access to the Google Play App Store, live gaming, and a Bluetooth remote control with a a touch sensitive trackpad, QWERTY keyboard and game controls. It comes preloaded with Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and iHeartRadio.
The product also features 802.11n support, one USB port, HDMI in/out ports, and an option to use a wired Ethernet cable.
“One big advantage the device has over other Google TV set-top boxes is its support for cloud-based gaming service OnLive, which lets you stream popular video games to other platforms,” reports VentureBeat. “Essentially, this makes the Co-Star a legitimate game console competitor.”
Availability has yet to be announced, but pre-orders start next month. The post features a collection of detailed images.
News Corp.’s board has approved a proposal to split the media conglomerate into two segments, separating its publishing business from its entertainment operations.
The process should take about a year and will require the board to approve a a final detailed plan. The split is expected to be formally announced today.
“One company will house entertainment businesses like 20th Century Fox, Fox broadcast network and Fox News Channel while another houses the publishing assets, which include The Wall Street Journal and the Times of London along with HarperCollins book publishing and News Corp.’s education business,” reports WSJ.
Publishing interests currently generate significantly less profits than News Corp.’s TV and film operations, and continues to face competition from the growing popularity of online news outlets.
“For the entertainment company, its overall profit margin will be higher without publishing,” suggests WSJ. “Its stock market valuation is expected to rise above that of News Corp.’s current valuation, analysts say, as the publishing assets are seen as a drag on the stock.”
“Moreover, without the taint of the phone-hacking scandal at News Corp.’s British newspapers, the entertainment company may have an easier time doing certain acquisitions, say people familiar with the situation.”
Smithsonian takes a look at the new generation of robots that are increasingly starting to learn how to think and adapt.
“It’s the first time we’ve had this level of technology that allows machines to solve problems on their own, to interact with their environment, to analyze visual images, and to manipulate their environment based on that,” explains technologist and author Martin Ford, who believes that within a decade machines will surpass humans in doing routine work.
Futurist Ray Kurzweil believes machines will soon be more intelligent than humans, but we should find it encouraging rather than threatening.
Kurzweil suggests “that by mid-century, humans and robots will merge in some form,” notes the article. “Maybe we’ll be able to live forever in a body of artificial parts. Or our consciousness will live on inside a computer, a kind of humanoid software. Whatever shape it takes, Kurzweil already has a name for it — singularity.”
“Five years ago, he likes to point out, who would have thought that hundreds of millions of people around the world would be walking around with devices as powerful as smartphones,” notes the article. “Or that almost half a million people could have jobs in the business of making mobile apps.”
The article cites various examples of robot tech development and examines possible implications regarding human jobs. (Be sure to check out the video of the i-SODOG Robot Dog that can be trained through your iOS or Android smartphone.)
Travel site Orbitz has segmented its website into Mac and PC users based on the fact that Mac users will typically be willing to pay $20 to $30 more per night for a hotel room, reports the Wall Street Journal.
“The sort of targeting undertaken by Orbitz is likely to become more commonplace as online retailers scramble to identify new ways in which people’s browsing data can be used to boost online sales,” notes WSJ.
Forrester Research places the average household income for Mac computer owners at $98,560, as compared to the $74,452 average income for PC owners.
“From an analytics perspective, targeting by operating system and pricing accordingly may not be such a bad idea,” adds CNET. “The bonehead move of the century is Orbitz yapping about it. Orbitz did note that pricing by OS is just an experiment.”
Execs at Orbitz point out that the experiment is merely highlighting different offers to Mac and PC visitors, not offering the same room to different users at different prices. According to Orbitz CEO Barney Harford, the news has been misinterpreted since the full story was hidden behind the WSJ pay wall for many readers.
“[It’s] nonsense that we’d charge Mac users more for the same hotel, which is unfortunately the incorrect impression that many readers seem to be drawing from this article’s ‘subscriber content preview,'” he writes via email to NPR. “However, just as Mac users are willing to pay more for higher end computers, at Orbitz we’ve seen that Mac users are 40 percent more likely to book 4 or 5 star hotels as compared to PC users, and [that’s] just one of many factors that determine which hotels to recommend a given customer as part of our efforts to show customers the most relevant hotels possible.”
Start-up CloudMine originally envisioned developing a sophisticated data sync and storage app solution.
Over time, its efforts transitioned to the development and launch of a new back-end platform designed to streamline the app development process for others.
“CloudMine wants to take the back-end focus away from engineers so they can focus on the part users actually interact with,” reports Digital Trends. “To be specific, tasks like data storage, user account management, password encryption, any sort of permissioning, dealing with public and private data, and scaling.”
During its beta period, the service charged for pay-as-you-go API usage until CloudMine learned that approach made its clients nervous. Now clients have the option of paying 5-cents per active user or working with CloudMine to create a custom pricing plan.
“CloudMind is a product of Startup Weekend (which it’s now a global sponsor of), and though it’s in its infancy, it’s already home to about 1,500 clients who have made about 1,500 apps with its service,” explains the post. “They range in shape, size, and form — from college kids building weekend projects to creative agencies working as third party builders-for-hire to Fortune 500 companies.”
Following weeks of speculation, Microsoft has announced it will purchase enterprise social networking start-up Yammer for $1.2 billion.
The deal marks Microsoft’s largest acquisition since the $8.5 billion Skype deal.
“The acquisition of Yammer underscores our commitment to deliver technology that businesses need and people love,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Yammer adds a best-in-class enterprise social networking service to Microsoft’s growing portfolio of complementary cloud services.”
“Yammer operates like a gated Facebook: A business can set up a private network where employees can post announcements, share files, create events, swap messages and more,” reports CNNMoney. “It also offers more traditional corporate features like a content management system and an ‘extranet’ that businesses can use to communicate with outside contacts like customers and vendors.”
Microsoft is betting that corporate America is ready to integrate social networking tools with traditional office and enterprise tools.
“Yammer will become part of the Microsoft Office Division, run by Kurt DelBene, though the Yammer team will continue to report to [CEO David] Sacks,” reports AllThingsD in a related article. “The plan calls for Yammer to stick to its current track of developing its own service, while Microsoft pushes ahead to nudge further adoption alongside SharePoint, Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics and Skype.”
David Brady and a team of researchers at Duke University have developed a gigapixel camera that records more than 30 times the data captured by conventional cameras. The AWARE2 camera project is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
“The new camera is not the first to generate images with more than a billion pixels (or gigapixel resolution),” notes MIT’s Technology Review. “But it is the first with the potential to be scaled down to portable dimensions.”
The AWARE2 prototype has 98 micro-cameras, each with 10-megapixel resolution, all positioned behind a shared lens. Eight graphical processing units work in tandem to correct distortions, while multiple cameras behind a shared lens make it possible to process different portions of the image separately.
Hardware required for the AWARE2 is expected to shrink as computer processing power improves.
“Imagine trying to spot an individual pixel in an image displayed across 1,000 high-definition TV screens. That’s the kind of resolution a new kind of ‘compact’ gigapixel camera is capable of producing,” notes the article.
Brady says gigapixel cameras could revolutionize digital photography, image surveillance and video broadcasting. His team hopes to offer a version of the camera by the end of next year for $100,000.
Nintendo has announced the August 19th availability of the new $200 3DS XL, a larger version of its portable console with improved battery life.
“Unlike the Nintendo DS Lite, which released just over a year and a half after the original DS, the 3DS XL does not make necessary improvements to the look and ergonomics of the 3DS,” reports Digital Trends. “The Lite made the DS more compact but dramatically improved its screens and comfort. The 3DS XL increases the size of the 3DS’ screens by 90 percent, with a 4.88-inch top screen and a 4.18-inch bottom screen.”
The new size (close to that of the iPad when the clamshell is unfolded) may make the 3DS a more usable device for some gamers.
The battery life has been improved, offering 30 minutes more play time than the original. Additionally, the 2GB SD card of the original DS has been replaced with a 4GB card.
However, Digital Trends suggests these are the only improvements. “The screens are bigger but the resolution is not improved. The 3DS XL also fails to add the most necessary hardware improvements like a second analog slide pad for improved control of the three-dimensional games,” explains the post.
Mashable takes a look at how augmented reality — although still in its early stages of deployment — is already beginning to impact retail businesses and the consumer shopping experience.
“Augmented reality technology typically overlays the virtual world on top of the real-world environment through a device, such as a mobile phone or a tablet,” explains the article. “But certain companies are redefining the bounds of virtual reality experiences by home-growing their own unique AR technologies and platforms.”
For example, the GoldRun AR platform is available in app form for iOS and Android devices. It can customize AR-based experiences to be shared via Facebook and Twitter.
“GoldRun specializes in interactive experiences accessible directly on the app platform, which hosts various campaigns at one time,” notes Mashable. “For example, clothing retailer H&M can hold a virtual photo-based scavenger hunt, while New York Giants fans can virtually try on the Super Bowl XLVI championship ring and share photos online.”
“We’re creating a platform where we can use augmented reality to create a one-stop shop, based on the concept of using virtual brands to create geo-specific or geo-targeted virtual photo opportunities,” explains Shailesh Rao, co-founder of GoldRun.
Holition is a marketing firm and AR laboratory that has created an interactive digital platform that is complex on the back end, but seamless for consumers who want to try on virtual goods via a Web cam and Internet connection.
“We are pursuing active ways in which the other senses can be integrated into augmented spaces, whether that be touch or sound,” says Holition brand director Lynne Murray. “A lot of our brands say, ‘About 50 percent of our product is ensuring customers can feel the weight of it.’ So, we’re looking at how to include haptic interfaces to our experiences to allow us to communicate multiple sensory experiences.”
ETCentric reported from January’s CES about companies such as Lego developing AR kiosks. Retailers are already letting customers try on clothing and jewelry virtually. Macy’s in Culver City, California recently conducted a demonstration of full body scans of customers in the Fox Hills Mall courtyard.
Paul Adams — former lead researcher of social Web and mobile applications at Google — is currently a researcher at Facebook where he focuses “on researching and designing better ways for businesses and people to communicate and interact,” according to his website.
Marketing firm Simply Zesty has posted a compelling video featuring a presentation by Adams in which he discusses the history of social media and why he firmly believes Facebook has a strong future.
“He is one of the best thinkers when it comes to social and this video that Facebook has just shared shows his thoughts on how advertising works on Facebook and why the world will continue to become more social,” explains Simply Zesty.
“One of the biggest takeaways from the video are his three huge trends to watch: 1) The Web is being rebuilt around people, 2) The amount of information you can access is increasing exponentially and 3) All this information will be available everywhere,” suggests the post. “Those three points perfectly describe where social is at right now. Unlike most sales videos that all the big networks release, this is actually massively useful at showing where the world is headed.”
ETCentric staffer Phil Lelyveld adds: “This 20 minute video articulates part of the foundation of the ETC’s “Big Data”/Metadata project. He says that the future is about our friends, our interests, and our friends’ interests.”
Researchers from the Object-Based Media Group at MIT’s Media Lab have developed an alternative to installing over-sized TVs in order to create a more immersive viewing experience in the living room.
The cost effective approach uses additional side and ceiling screens that are positioned to target a viewer’s peripheral vision.
“And instead of simply stretching the video image to completely fill the area the viewer can see, the Infinity-By-Nine system, developed by Daniel Novy and V. Michael Bove Jr., uses custom software that generates and renders a real-time extension of the image on either side of the TV,” reports Gizmodo.
“Because the viewer’s peripheral vision is never in focus, the extensions being generated only have to be crude blobs and blurry shapes to sell the effect,” adds the post. “Which also means the Infinity-By-Nine system can run on consumer-ready hardware, instead of requiring a room full of state-of-the-art supercomputers.”
Initial testing of the multi-screen system has shown that viewers are increasingly drawn into the story and universe. “And it has even been found to create the illusion of feeling other sensations, like heat when an on-screen explosion feels like it’s completely surrounding the viewer,” notes Gizmodo.
The post includes a video introduction to the Infinity-By-Nine system.
Amazon Studios has announced the first four series projects selected for its development slate — three comedies and one children’s show.
“They become the first submitted scripts to be selected for the Amazon Studios Series Development Slate, extending their option on the projects and awarding their creators $10,000 in options as a result of their intention to turn them into a TV series that will be distributed through the company’s digital video streaming service, Amazon Instant Video,” reports The Next Web.
The four projects include the animated comedies “The 100 Deaths of Mort Grimley” and “Magic Monkey Billionaire,” the mockumentary “Doomsday” and a children’s project called “Buck Plaidsheep.”
Clive Barker is reportedly working on a rewrite of “Zombies vs. Gladiators,” one of 16 film projects currently being developed for Amazon Studios since the division’s launch nearly two years ago. Some 9,000 movie scripts and 1,000 series pilots have been submitted since the launch.
“In practice, it means that Amazon Studios is becoming an additional, crowdsourced content source for Amazon, while the company is increasingly venturing into original programming,” adds The Next Web.
If the programs make it to production, they will be available for streaming on Amazon Instant Video or possibly licensed to Warner Bros. and other TV companies.
Measurement firm comScore recently released its “State of the U.S. Internet” report that measures trends in social networking, mobile, online advertising and e-commerce.
According to the study, “unique visits to social networking sites have increased by 6 percent year-over-year,” reports TechCrunch. “The company also re-confirmed that Pinterest remains the fastest-growing social network as of Q1 2012, and its users rival only that of LinkedIn in terms of buying power.”
Distribution of the worldwide Internet audience — 41 percent Asia Pacific, 26.6 percent Europe, 14.6 percent North America, 8.9 percent Latin America and 8.8 percent Middle East-Africa. (The report notes that in 1996, two-thirds of the Internet population was in the U.S.)
Social networking growth — Pinterest +4377 percent, Tumblr +168 percent, LinkedIn +67 percent, Twitter +58 percent and Facebook +4 percent.
In March of this year, 62.9 percent of phone purchases were smartphones. The number of mobile users is projected to pass the number of desktop users by 2014.
Amazon, Apple, Walmart, Target and Netflix were among the top retail sites in Q1 2012, with Amazon showing an impressive 30 percent growth in its number of unique visitors year-over-year.
“Online shopping has been impacting brick-and-mortar sales, too, thanks to what comScore dubs ‘showrooming,’ which you know as the process of using offline retail stores to look at products up close, then buying online,” explains the post. “Thirty five percent of people told comScore they had ‘showroomed,’ but chose to buy online for better prices.”
While comScore predicts U.S. online ad spending will grow 18 percent in 2012, monetization remains a challenge.
Global TV shipments fell 8 percent from the previous year and 32 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012, reports the NPD Group.
“Soft demand and cautious expectations about the upcoming year in many parts of the TV supply chain have led to a slowdown in shipments,” explains Paul Gagnon of NPD DisplaySearch.
“Key component prices, such as LCD panels, are not expected to decline much in 2012, and many brands are concentrating on improving their bottom line,” he adds. “Both of these trends will contribute to slowing unit volume among a price conscious consumer market.”
Despite declines, demand for larger screens continues to grow, with the average LCD screen size increasing to more than 35-inches for the first time.
Samsung maintains the largest market share in flat panel displays with 26 percent, while LG has 15 percent and Sony 9 percent.
China remains the largest region for TV shipments, followed by the Asia Pacific market region that includes India, Korea and Australia.
