New Technology News

Friday, February 21, 2014

Building hardware projects has become immensely simpler thanks to Arduino and Raspberry Pi. But Visionect scratches a far more-intersting itch: e-paper interface design.

At its core the device is a very simple cased or uncased e-ink reader. It consist of a very simple, waterproof device with an e-ink screen and allows programmers to build HTML5-based applications that can be pushed directly to the platform. Built as less of a dev kit than a thin client system, you use the Visionect screen as sort of a dumb terminal for your web projects although the system does allow for complex app development.

It should cost about 240 Euro when it launches. The Slovenian Team added a 120Mhz processor which powers the very basic terminal features of the device. Most of the heavy lifting, then, is done on the Visionect servers and pushed to the devices as needed.

It’s an interesting strategy – cheap hardware and a focus on cloud services – and I suspect it could catch on in situations where an e-ink interface would be ideal due to environmental concerns. In other words, don’t think of this as a denuded Kindle but instead a Star-Trek-esque flat control panel that is weatherproof and won’t be overpowered in sunlight.

via The Digital Reader

testfinaltechnews

Visionect Is A Low-Cost Platform For Building E-Paper Applications

8:08 PM

Unknown

Building hardware projects has become immensely simpler thanks to Arduino and Raspberry Pi. But Visionect scratches a far more-intersting ...

Back when we first found out about investor Tim Draper’s plan to break California into six different states (including one for Silicon Valley), we weren’t sure how far the unorthodox plan would go.

But, just this week, Draper got the green light from the state to go ahead and collect signatures to put his plan on the California ballot.

To be sure, he’ll still need to gather about 800,000 signatures to put it before the voters; and, even if it were successful at the ballot box, it could face opposition from federal authorities.

Without a groundswell of support, Draper will have to pay an army of signature gatherers to stand outside grocery-store parking lots and bus stations to wrangle residents for their approval. Such campaigns can pay $3 a signature or more to signature gatherers (a.k.a. the folks that sit outside grocery stores with a clipboard), but Draper told me that he’s willing to put money into a campaign to see this project through.

Earlier this year, the state of California put out an official analysis of what would happen to California if Silicon Valley became its own state. Given the Valley’s high concentration of wealth, a lot of funding for schools and social services would be stripped away from the less financially successful parts of the state if it somehow succeeded.

But Draper says that California has become too unwieldy in its current form and needs to be decentralized. Specifically, the proposed six new states are Silicon Valley, West California, Jefferson, South California, Central California and North California.

It’s still a long shot, but Draper seems to have made it through the first hoop.

testfinaltechnews

Plan To Make Silicon Valley Its Own State Gets Green Light To Collect Votes

4:54 PM

Unknown

Back when we first found out about investor Tim Draper’s plan to break California into six different states (including one for Silicon Vall...

In December, TechCrunch reported that Microsoft had met its earlier promise to bring rich 3D imaging of several cities to Windows 8.1 through a new Bing Maps Preview application. Today, Microsoft extended that work to include 15 new cities.

Why the gap between release and new content? The company had to go out and, well, collect the information contained therein. You can snag the app here, if you are a Windows 8.1 user.

What cities are among the newly added? Here’s the full list: Duisburg, Dresden, Spain, Marbella, Murcia Montgomery (AL), Bakersfield (CA), Sacramento (CA), San Francisco (CA), Gainesville (FL), Tallahassee (FL), Columbus (GA), Baton Rouge (LA), Shreveport (LA), Gulport (MS), Seattle (WA).

Why should you care? The update signals continued investment by Microsoft not only in its set of Bing-powered applications for Windows 8.1, but also that Bing itself has the budget to spend on — presumably — expensive projects to highlight its own competence. That and given Microsoft’s work to harmonize the Bing app experience between Windows Phone and Windows 8.x, that this technology will land on smartphones in the future.

testfinaltechnews

Microsoft Adds 3D Imagery Of 15 New Cities To The Bing Maps Preview App For Windows 8.1

4:09 PM

Unknown

In December, TechCrunch reported that Microsoft had met its earlier promise to bring rich 3D imaging of several cities to Windows 8.1 throu...

In this week’s episode of Ask A VC, VegasTechFund’s Jen McCabe joined us in the studio to talk hardware, and more.

As McCabe explained, she’s particularly excited about hardware that can help turn ordinary interactions into a connected experience. With some consumers in “wearable fatigue,” there are many opportunities in other areas of health where connected devices can be game-changing. McCabe and I also talked about her newish role as a VC, and why there aren’t more women at traditional VC firms.

Check out the video above for more!

testfinaltechnews

Ask A VC: Vegas Tech Fund’s Jen McCabe On The Next Big Hardware Opportunity

4:08 PM

Unknown

In this week’s episode of Ask A VC, VegasTechFund’s Jen McCabe joined us in the studio to talk hardware, and more. As McCabe explained, she...

Of all the Samsung Galaxy S5 rumors to hit this week, the one that had me sit up straight and pay close attention is the rumor that the new Galaxy S5 may be both waterproof and dustproof. This is a big deal, because it would be the first major flagship smartphone with wide and popular distribution to be waterproof. Of course, Samsung last year offered the Galaxy S4 Active, a variant of its regular Galaxy S4. The Active had a slightly bigger case and was IP67 certified: It could withstand a 30-minute submersion down to about 3 feet of water.

testfinaltechnews

Samsung's New Galaxy S5 Might Ship Bathtub-Ready

3:12 PM

Unknown

Of all the Samsung Galaxy S5 rumors to hit this week, the one that had me sit up straight and pay close attention is the rumor that the ne...

A new space observatory expected to launch by 2024 will seek out Earth-sized planets and super-Earths orbiting distant stars, the European Space Agency announced Wednesday. Dubbed "PLATO," for "PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars," it will use 34 small telescopes and cameras to search for planets around as many as a million stars spread over half the sky. It will monitor those stars for tiny, regular dips in brightness as their planets transit in front of them, temporarily blocking out a small fraction of the starlight.

testfinaltechnews

Europe's PLATO to Hunt for Earth Look-Alikes

2:09 PM

Unknown

A new space observatory expected to launch by 2024 will seek out Earth-sized planets and super-Earths orbiting distant stars, the European...

Tickets are officially sold out for the MWC Bubble Over Barcelona Meetup and we couldn’t be more pleased. If you’ve managed to snag a tick, you’ll be able to join Mike Butcher, Natasha Lomas, Ingrid Lunden, and myself on February 24, 2014, at 10pm-midnight at the official TC MWC meet up held in cooperation with Bubble Over Barcelona.

This is a global mobile meet up designed to mix innovators and influencers in town for Mobile World Congress. We are doing this in a majestic, historic mansion in the Eixample district where all the nighttime action occurs away from the conference venue. There will be three open bars set up across the two-floor building to encourage mingling, along with a large terrace overlooking the city so you can enjoy the views.

Date: Monday, February 24, 2014

Time: 10pm-12:00pm midnight

Location: El Palauet, Passeig de Gràcia 113 – 08008 Barcelona

Buy tickets here.

We’re also going to hold a mini pitch-off at the event, inviting around 10 entrepreneurs to take the stage to pitch to a panel of expert judges. The five entrepreneurs will get two free tickets each and the winner will get a table at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York and two runners up will get a ticket to the event.