For over 25 years ResMed has been providing medical equipment for sleep-disorder breathing. They are clearly not a johnny-come-lately, jumping on the latest hi-tech bandwagon. This fall ResMed introduced the S+, a no-contact sleep tracking device developed for the consumer.  This differs greatly from wearables such as the Basis Peak and the Jawbone UP systems that promise to track sleep as well as steps, calories, and activity.

The ResMed S+ uses a combination of respiratory and biomotion sensors that not only monitor your motion and breathing while you sleep, but the temperature, light and noise in your bedroom as well. In addition to the biomotion sensor device, ResMed S+ has a smartphone app for iOS or Android. The application connects to the ResMed proprietary cloud and your nightly data is compared to hundreds of thousands of recorded nights of sleep from their other medical prescription respiratory devices. The app makes suggestions for a better night’s sleep based on the data it collects.

Getting a good night’s sleep is something all of us need and want. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 60 percent of people report they have problems sleeping almost every night. Continual sleep problems can lead to next-day drowsiness and increases in health related issues like congestive heart failure, obesity, and diabetes. Many people suffer from sleep apnea which is when you stop breathing during the night. Such individuals, usually, wake up with a snort for air, which disrupts a good night’s sleep. As you might guess, sleep apnea can be fatal. Do you have sleep apnea? Take the quiz provided by ResMed.

Now that you understand the importance of the information provided by ResMed S+, let’s take a look at what you get in the ResMed box for $149.95.

The post ResMed S+: High Tech Help for Good Night’s Sleep appeared first on VR World.

While at Pepcom-San Francisco Kington’s representative introduced us to Kingston’s second-generation MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 battery charger and storage device. We were hoping for a significant improvement over the first generation. We were not very enthusiastic about last year’s first generation MobileLite Wireless unit. It was strictly a wireless card reader with internet pass thru capability, plus a portable battery for charging your mobile devices. The case design and functionality left a lot of room for improvement. We have Verizon’s expensive LTE data service which is great stateside. Other BSN* editors have wireless coverage from carriers that work best at their stateside offices. However, our editors travel outside the USA and several of them live in other countries. So stateside wireless data package coverage suddenly disappears or becomes outlandishly expensive.

Specifications

This is where the Kingston MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 steps up to store that data until you can get somewhere convenient to transfer it. It also extends your storage, streams your media, charges your devices, reads from USBs and SD cards, and allows you to connect to the web with it acting as a portable router. For those of you shooting multi-megabyte RAW photos with a Canon or Nikon DSLR camera, simply put your SDHC card into the MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2. It will easily store those images until you get back to a place with a secure high-speed WiFi or wired network. Then you switch over to your second SDHC card and continue shooting the event. If you have a partner with you, they can take the MobileLite G2 with your SDHC card in it to the nearest secure WiFi and send the images and data files to your home or office webserver via FTP.

With its built-in 3.8v Li-ion battery at 4640 mAh, it can last for up to 13 hours of continuous use. That will keep your mobile devices alive, until you get back to your car or a location with 110V shore power.

Packaging

Kingston’s package explains the features on the front and inside flap of the box.

Just three items are in the box: a 1.5 foot USB 2.0 cable, a microSD to SD card adapter, and the MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 device. You will have to download the Kingston MobileLite Wireless app from the appropriate app store – Google Play, Apple App Store, or Amazon Apps. We tested the MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 application with the HTC One M8 (Android 4.4.4).

There is no documentation with the unit. You have to go to Kingston’s website for the manual. Your data storage is with an SD card, either the micro-SD format using an adapter or a standard SD card. For this review, we are using the Kingston 32GB SDHC Class 10 card with 30MB/S transfer capability.

The Kingston MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 includes 3G USB dongle support for direct connections and is compatible with Android 4.0+, iPad (2, 3rd Gen, 4th Gen, mini, Air), iPhone 4/4S/5, iPod Touch (iOS 7+), Kindle Fire, and Kindle Fire HD. When connected via USB to a PC, it can act as a USB 2.0 card reader for the system. For a desktop PC, it is compatible with many operating systems including Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (SP1), Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Mac OSX V. 10.6.X+, and Linux v. 2.6.x+. The MobileLite Wireless G2 has an 802.11 g/n WiFi access point that supports WPA2 data encryption. WiFi is one of the ways to access the MobileLite G2 when using a smartphone or tablet, thus having a fast and secure 802.xx connection is important.

User Experience

The white bezel has six buttons, LEDs, and ports. Below from left to right, first is the battery LED/ power which indicate remaining battery time. Pressing the larger white Power button (fourth from left) makes the LED change colors. Green indicates 51 percent to 100 percent battery charge is remaining. Orange indicates 25 percent to 50 percent remaining, and red indicates less than 25 percent battery charge is remaining. Next is WiFi LED which indicates current status of WiFi broadcast. The next LED to the right is for Bridged that lets you know if the MobileLite G2 is bridged to an Internet gateway via WiFi or with the Ethernet cable port.

The larger Power button turns the MobileLite G2 on or off with a short one second press. Holding the power button down for three seconds will put it into WiFi mode. Next to the right is the Reset button. Holding it down for more than 10 seconds will reset the MobileLite G2 to its original default configuration. The Micro-B USB port is a multi-function port. It is the way you charge the MobileLite G2. Or you can connect to a standard USB port on your computer for data transfer. The microUSB port is to charge the device’s internal 4640 mAh battery. The battery charge status indicator LED makes sure you charge the MobileLite G2 before you walk out your home/office door.

On the opposite side of the white bezel is the Ethernet port. Using a standard Cat 5e/6 cable you can connect the MobileLite G2 to your wired network. This allows you to create a hotspot for wireless Internet access. On the end of the white bezel is the SD card slot and a USB 2.0 port. The USB port works with the USB Standard Type A plug, the most common USB male end connector.

Kingston’s MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 app on our HTC One M8 was minimalistic. There is no GUI, it is just like an old-fashioned bare bones file directory app. This is the place where we went back to the 13 page owner’s manual. It was not very informative. The manual could use some better examples. We suggest Kingston partner with a software developer to build a full-featured GUI application. That would take care of the only short coming we found. Using our 14Mbps WiFi connection at 100 feet distance we were able to quickly load multiple music files and large video files from the Cobra ultraHD dash cam (which will be our next review). The app helps you make folders for keeping track of music, videos, and data. The app does include a basic photo viewer as well as a music player.

Conclusion

The Kingston MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 is a light weight device which has an amazing number of features. All the Mobile G2’s features worked, however, you should allow yourself a bit of time to learn how to use them all. Pricing of the Kingston MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 at Amazon is only about five dollars more than the eyeFi Mobi 8GB WiFi card. Plus the MobileLite G2 has battery charging with up-to 13 hours of functionality and you can use any microSD or SD card for storage. BSN* rates it as a must-have for everyone, especially those readers who have one of the older smartphones or tablets without a micro-SD expansion card slot. Special thanks to Kingston for providing the MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2 charger and storage device, and the Kingston 32GB SDHC Class 10 card and to David Leong, and Shealyn Johnson for their assistance.

The post Kingston MobileLite Wireless Mobile G2: Review appeared first on VR World.

While at Pepcom-San Francisco we met with Kington’s David Leong and Shealyn Johnson. They introduced us to their HyperX Cloud gaming headset. Kingston developed the Hyper X Cloud headset with the assistance of Qpad, a peripheral company based in Sweden. Qpad has helped others launch their headsets. That immediately raised our expectations because of the positive reviews for the Qpad QH-90. The Hyper X Cloud headset is aimed at price conscious “pro” gamers. Pricing has a wide range from $80 at Amazon to $114 at Tiger Direct. BSN* considers the price point something that made us want to take a closer look.

The packaging has a colorful format in English and several Romance languages with the features listed on the back.

HyperX Cloud Headset Shelf Boxing

The specifications, as expected, are better than a lot of lower priced headsets, starting with closed ear cups, 53mm drivers, and frequency response range of 15Hz to 25,000Hz.

Slide the outer box off of the inner matt black box and you notice it has the stylized HyperX logo. Kingston put time and effort into showing that this headset is going to be special.

We lifted the lid of the inner box and found an introduction letter by HyperX General Manager, Anres “G8V1k1ng” Willumsen. Under the letter is a foam pad covering the parts. The inner box is also foam padded and at one end is a cover, again with the HyperX logo, which hides the carry pouch and a collection of cables. Software to control volume and tone was missing.

G8V1k1ng Introduction to HyperX Team

Under the foam pad are all the goodies in their own plastic bags. Kingston really did themselves proud in packing this product.

The detachable microphone has its own slot inside the black inner box as does the control box which has a one meter braded extension cord. The airline adapter has its own spot in the upper corner of the box. Additional cables are inside a black mesh padded bag.

All the parts in full view

A volume control wheel and a multi-function button are on the side of the control box. The multi-function button can answer or hang up a phone call when attached to a smart phone and pause music when attached to a music player. The Y-cord, two-to-one adapter that lets you use the headset with a smartphone or tablet.

There is a two meter extension cord with color-coded male ends, and the airline seat’s sound adapter. The Y-cord, two-to-one adapter plugs into the dual-prong airline adapter for those long overseas plane rides.

The Kingston HyperX Cloud is a well-built headset. The aluminum head band has foam padding and is covered in stitched soft leather with the HyperX logo. The headband is flexible, yet has a gentle clamping on your head. Several different people tried the headset and it accommodated sizes from youngsters to full-sized football player. The headband connects the closed ear cups with a hinge and there are braided cables to each cup.

There are optional soft velour cups for the headset. They will change the sound because they are permeable. One problem I had was it took me nearly an hour to switch from the leather ones to the velour and back to the leather ones. I would not recommend trying this just before you sit down to play a game or listen to music. The slot for slipping the elasticized edges of the cups back into the cups slot is a really tight fit which is good for listening, but difficult for changing out.

The microphone has a foam windscreen cover with a flexible six-inch boom. In the photo below you see the small plug that can be inserted into the left ear cup where the microphone plugs in.

How does music sound? Everybody hears sound differently. Younger people have better hearing than us older folks. Also how much variation in musical styles you are familiar with will affect your expectations.

When I first tried the Kingston HyperX Cloud headset, I plugged it into the ASUS A55M-AUSB motherboard. I found that neither the treble highs, the bass lows, nor the volume matched my expectations. Next I tried the ASUS F2A85M Pro motherboard which was only a small amount better. Finally, I switched to the MSI A88XM-E45 gaming motherboard and I got the performance I was looking for. I immediately noticed the difference in symphonic music with the clear separation of the orchestra’s instruments. Then I switched to hard driving Jimmy Hendrix feedback guitar solos from Woodstock turned up all the way. The headsets didn’t distort.

I tried a couple of different movie DVDs and the actor’s speech was clear over the background sounds. Explosions were distinct and didn’t fuzz out like some inexpensive stand-alone speakers do. Jet engine aircraft sounded like they do on the runway tarmac. Next I plugged them into an older Onkyo receiver and DVD changer using the Y-cord, two-to-one adapter. The response range was very good to my ears. I even dozed off wearing them and awoke without any pain from having them on for a long time. The HyperX Cloud headset uses 60ohms and is capable of 150 watts input. The 53mm drivers are capable of driving sound levels that can be painful. Overall, the sound was bright and BSN* recommends gamers use a proven gaming motherboard with this headset. When I had the velour ear cups installed, although cozy, I noticed a considerable drop in volume and the highs and lows were just not there.

The microphone worked well for Skype and passed the compatibility testing for Dragon’s Naturally Speaking speech-to-text application . The latter can be a problem for some so-called gaming headsets. If as a gamer, you want that ultimate 3D surround-sound experience, you will have to double or triple the price of Kingston’s HyperX Cloud headset. If you play mainly story driven games and isometric games, this headset will do the job. The Kingston HyperX Cloud headset build quality is very good and the comfort level is excellent. It is a very good quality audiophile headset that is being sold to the price conscious gamer.

BSN* recommends Kingston get our value award.

The post Kingston HyperX Cloud Gaming Headset Review appeared first on VR World.

ecoATM, a division of Outerwall who is also the parent company of Redbox and Coinstar (Nasdaq: OUTR), has a nationwide network of 1,510 automated electronics recycling kiosks located in shopping malls and stores. The kiosk will take your old phones, tablets, and MP3 players and turn them into cash on the spot.

Last week at Pepcom-SF, BSN* spoke with Juli Spaventa who demoed a unit for us. The kiosk requires only a few steps to recycle your device.

ecoATM kiosk at Pepcom-SF

You simply follow the on-screen prompts and insert a valid government-issued ID. ecoATM uses a state-of-the-art ID scanner and AssureTec Reader validation software that not only photographs the ID but validates its authenticity by examining the ID for holograms, watermarks, or other specific authentication methods used in all 50 states. Spaventa said they have 29 patents on their one-of-a-kind kiosk. Fake ID’s may get you into the nightclub, but they won’t get you cash for a stolen phone.

After your ID is validated, an ecoATM’s security person checks to see you match the ID by watching you from the web cameras in the kiosk. All this only takes a couple of minutes. If the technician cannot confirm you are the person in the ID you presented, then game over – the transaction is canceled.

Assuming your face matches your ID, the kiosk dispenses a tracking decal to put on your device. After affixing the decal, you put your device into the kiosk and it scans your device’s condition and compares it with a database to make an offer based on the market value and current condition. At that time, you can accept ecoATM’s offer or it will return your device out of the kiosk. If you accept the offer, you must use the thumb print reader which keeps the thumb scan as part of your security information. Then your cash is available just like a bank ATM.

We decided to check out a kiosk at a local mall. While there, we noticed another benefit – no-cost charging station on one side of the kiosk. A man was just starting the process of recycling his older iPhone for cash. We asked him if we could follow along.

Alan inserts his valid California ID

Alan applies decal to his old iPhone

When the man, who simply identified himself as Alan, was finished and had his cash, he said: “This is way better than having it lay around in a drawer”.

Some law enforcement agencies have been quoted in past articles about ecoATM saying it is too easy for a crook to get cash for a stolen phone. So we contacted ecoATM’s HQ about that. They called back and responded to our query. Their spokesperson confirmed that the transaction we watched followed their standard security verification processes. The spokesperson said that less than 1 percent of the phones recycled by ecoATM are proven to be stolen. Many of the stolen recycled phones end up being returned and the crook caught like this story from San Francisco. She also explained another aspect of their kiosk for customers who might be wary of presenting personal information. We were told that only law enforcement can get a print out of any specific transaction with the person’s information and the information about the device that was recycled.

A few law enforcement agencies have acted like they want the kiosks removed because of the potential for fraud. They didn’t react that way to Target, Home Depot, or Walmart when millions of their credit card numbers were compromised. Could it be because ecoATM is a new company, law enforcement is trying to hold them to a double standard when compared to big box stores?

ecoATM can prove there is a second life for 75 percent of all devices collected. For the remaining 25 percent, ecoATM partners with R2 certified e-waste reclamation facilities to ensure that those materials are responsibly reused and recycled. ecoATM holds Responsible Recycling (R2) and ISO14001 certifications, confirming the company’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards of electronics recycling, as well as ISO27001 certification for information and personal data security. ecoATM’s tracking system is much better than using Craigslist or a questionable phone reseller to recycle your devices.

The ecoATM spokesperson told BSN* that a Forrester Research study said 57 percent of American device owners have an idle phone laying around their home, yet only 22 percent of those owners say they have previously recycled cellphones they no longer use. The company has already collected more than three million devices. The collection of all those devices enabled the recovery or reuse of 879,000 pounds of recyclable materials that’s nearly enough plastics, metals and potentially toxic materials to equal the weight of two Boeing 747-400 series airplanes.

ecoATM does recommend that everybody write down the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) or Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID) number of their device. MEID is a form of ESN (Electronic Serial Number). Normally they are hidden below or under your device’s battery. This location will help you find those numbers.

The post ecoATM Recycles Your Tech for Instant Cash appeared first on VR World.

At Pepcom – San Francisco 2014 we met with the staff of Ring, a video doorbell company that offers home security in a unique way.

Ring Video Doorbell at Pepcom-SF

Originally known as Doorbot, they had a successful crowdfunding campaign raising $250,000 and created a first-generation product by fall 2013. Doorbot decided to change their name to Ring (a privately held company) and redesigned their hardware for the home security market. Ring’s brochure says they have wide angled HD video, smart motion detection, and cloud recording.

Ring founder and CEO Jamie Siminoff said to Techcrunch that Doorbot’s first-generation hardware had shortcomings and was a good learning experience. Siminoff said, “With the Ring doorbell, early on when we were designing it, we decided what we were really doing was designing the alarm system literally turned inside out. Not an alarm system that copied what ADT is doing, what Canary is doing, or even what Dropcam was doing with its window and door systems, but actually building some kind of pre-crime system.”

Lowe’s Big Box DIY (do it yourself) home improvement store recently did a study on Smart Home interest among 2,000 randomly chosen respondents. They found security was at the top of the list.

Next in their survey finding was fifty percent of respondents wanted a DIY solution and not paying a monthly fee to an alarm company.

Thus Ring’s assumptions are right on target for what most home owners want – security- and that they want to install it themselves.

Ring’s motion detector sensor hardware and algorithms are able to detect both near and far movement, during day time or at night.

Ring alerts users to motion as soon as it’s detected

Often criminals ring the doorbell before they try to break into a house. When someone presses the Ring video doorbell, the user can have a near instant look at who is out there. With a smartphone and the Ring app you have two-way communication like a phone call and that makes it easier to talk with whoever is at the door. Wide-angle video is also recorded to the cloud in HD resolution.

Who is that at the door?

Ring’s installation is a simple three steps:
1. Download the free Ring app (iOS and Android)
2. Connect the doorbell to your WiFi network (using the app)
3. Mount the doorbell

The unit specifications are below:

Ring’s Video Doorbell is priced at $249 and begins shipping this week. It comes in four different finishes, and free cloud-based video recording until January 1, 2015, at which time subscription options will be available. The device can record 720p video at 30fps, has infrared LEDs for nighttime recording and features a 5,200mAh rechargeable battery – The unit doesn’t require electric power, but you have to charge the battery – for sure before going on vacation.

BSN* has requested an evaluation unit for testing to confirm that it works as well as the demo we saw at Pepcom- SF 2014.

The post One Ring and You’re on Candid Camera at Pepcom SF appeared first on VR World.

The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) continues their attempt to exert control over all airspace, all the time. They conceded, however still holding a stiff rein, when announcing they would allow seven movie companies to fly unmanned aerial systems (UAS), for filming motion pictures and television programming in US airspace.

In a foiled attempt to regulate what goes on in our skies, this spring the FAA lost a decision by an NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) judge in FAA vs. Pirker. The judge decided the FAA had not properly filed regulations to control UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) – also called drones. The FAA was tripped up by trying to say they could control all access to the airspace, no matter what was flying. Their problem was they had never said anything about model airplanes. Today’s private use and commercial use drones are more similar to model airplanes than anything close to passenger carrying aircraft.

In the FAA Modernization Reform Act of 2012, Congress acknowledged the model airplane community has acted in a responsible manner. Therefore, model airplanes are exempt from FAA Flight Regulations because the Congress classified them as recreational – hobby use.

The Congress, as part of a budget bill passed in 2012, mandated the FAA to establish a roadmap for getting UAS integrated into the national airspace. Congress provided four years of funding for the agency work on developing the rules. In 2013, the FAA designated drone test sites in six states — Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia. That program will run until 2017. Commercial and military drones are supposed to be granted expanded access by no later than Sept. 30, 2015.

In June, the FAA gave a special exemption for commercial drones in the Arctic to monitor oil pipelines and ocean wildlife. Thursday’s announcement is the first approval for commercial drones inside the continental US. Dozens of commercial applications have poured in to the agency since AeroVironment won approval to fly over land in Alaska to monitor BP (formerly known as British Petroleum) pipeline operations out of Prudhoe Bay.

At Thursday’s FAA’s announcement MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) CEO Chris Dodd said: “Today’s announcement is a victory for audiences everywhere as it gives filmmakers yet another way to push creative boundaries and create the kinds of scenes and shots we could only imagine just a few years ago.”

In spring of this year with assistance by the MPAA, seven Hollywood production companies requested regulatory exemption to allow them to use SUAS (small unmanned aerial systems) for filming. Those companies are Aerial MOB , Astraeus Aerial, Flying-Cam, HeliVideo Productions, Pictorvision, Vortex Aerial, and Snaproll Media.

The companies each said they would film on closed sets with extra safety precautions that will essentially be safer than using conventional aircraft. They plan to fly within sight of the remote pilot, with aircraft traveling no faster than 50 mph and no higher than 400 feet off the ground. The firms said the operators will hold private pilot certificates, keep the SUAS within line of sight at all times and restrict flights to the “sterile area” on the set. In granting the exemption, FAA accepted these safety conditions, adding an inspection of the aircraft before each flight, and prohibiting operations at night. The agency also will issue Certificates of Authorization (COA) that mandate flight rules and timely reports of any accident or incidents.

Previously we reported that Amazon was researching package delivery by drones. In Europe, the delivery company DHL has been testing their package delivery drone along the Rhine River. Today, DHL plans to start sending packages, medicine and other necessities by flying approximately 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from Norddeich, a village in northern Germany, to the island of Juist, a small island community off the north coast of Germany .

DHL’s parcelcopter prepares to take off

Many commercial drone companies say the FAA is a damper on them making money. Attorney Timothy Ravich, a Florida Board Certified Aviation Lawyer, made this important point at a recent “drone” conference in Los Angeles. He cautioned attendees that it “just takes one unscrupulous or sloppy or truly reckless UAS operator to ruin it for the rest of UAS operators who want to do the right thing and want clear guidance on how to accomplish legitimate business objectives”. Ravich explained that it is illegal to operate a SUAS for any commercial purpose unless there is an FAA Waver or COA. Agricultural use of drones has sometimes bypassed this by affiliating with a university or college agricultural research program.

Many pilots are opposed to SUAS’s because they are disruptive technology that could very well limit their job opportunities. Ravich said that today’s drones are much like the Internet was in the mid-1990s. They present a huge opportunity, for those that properly launch their businesses and do not become entangled in FAA regulations.

The post Strict FAA Stoops to Bless Drone Use for Making Movies appeared first on VR World.

Oracle used the Imagination Summit 2014 in Santa Clara, California to announce their affiliation with Imagination Technologies of the UK. The collaboration is aimed at enhancing Java for embedded applications, including those used for the Internet of Things (IoT) and to optimize Java for the MIPS CPU architecture.

Oracle shared their vision of the Internet of Things at the Imagination Summit 2014

The MIPS32 and MIPS64 systems will gain support through Oracle’s Java Development Kit (JDK) for developing, debugging, and monitoring Java applications. Developers can use Java in various applications including routers, wireless access points, residential gateways, networking equipment, and mobile devices. Krishna Yarlagadda, President of Imagination in North America, indicated that his company is extremely committed to growing the MIPS ecosystem.

Henrik Stahl, Oracle’s VP of Product Management for Java & Internet of Things, appeared on stage at the Imagination Summit 2014

Imagination’s BusBridge 2 Module features an easily configurable, high-performance, low latency MIPS core interface. It is designed for semiconductor manufacturing companies, ASIC developers, and system OEMs who want to quickly integrate a MIPS core into an AHB-based system. AHB is a bus protocol introduced in Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture version 2 from ARM.

Imagination’s BusBridge 3 family of synthesizable functional blocks help SoC designers integrate MIPS32 CPU’s into the most popular high performance chip bus hierarchies. The OCP2AXI bridge works to connect the MIPS32 OCP{Open Core Protocol) interface to an AXI system bus while the OCP Splitter, a small, synthesizable function block has an OCP input that expands to two OCP outputs. Downloads and User Guides are available on line. Imagination also provides a MIPS Developer Forum.

Additionally a joint effort between Oracle and Imagination will be aimed at improving Java on systems involving Imagination’s PowerVR graphics, a product for multimedia processing, including 2D and 3D graphics. The PowerVR architecture is based on Tile Based Deferred Rendering (TBDR), in contrast to Immediate Mode Rendering (IMR) used by most graphics engines in the PC and games console worlds.

The post Imagination and Oracle Join Forces, Java Addresses the Internet of Things appeared first on VR World.

Last week ARM invited a group of journalists and analysts to Austin Texas to hear about their server, mobile, and wearable developments. ARM and their partners presented in-depth explanations of their version of the ARM architecture.

On the first day of the conference, HP’s Dwight Barron gave an overview of their Moonshot system.  They have been refining the specifications since its late 2009 inauguration.

Moonshot’s design differs from the traditional servers which have been the general-purpose workhorses of the data center. These boxes have proved to be jacks-of-all-trades, able to run operations for organizations of every shape and size. They started with proprietary operating systems and a warehouse sized room with less computing power than today’s smartphones. In the past, one could choose from several operating systems and server architectures. Today, operating system options are limited and most run on the Intel x86 architecture.

Barron explained that the cloud and mobile applications have changed the assumptions of traditional IT departments. Now IT has to balance rack space density, power consumption, thermal efficiency, and costs. Power is one of the major controlling factors in the data center.

The cloud uses more power than Japan.

The microserver SoC (System on a Chip) typically has a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 15 to 20 Watts or below, compared to 90 plus Watts for a high-end server. The microserver chassis has the circuitry related to networking, storage, and cluster communications along with integrated cooling and power supply. Thus, the shared resources reduce the complexity of the overall design.

Barron showed a typical dual processor, HPC server motherboard versus the SoC based Server motherboard. The dual processor general purpose motherboard requires system RAM for the processors, dual GPU’s with their RAM as well as the overhead of a PCIe switch, storage controller, and NICs. Each of those separate chipsets consumes power and creates heat. The SoC server motherboard starts with an integrated die having all those features in silicon, which greatly reduces required power and significantly decreases heat. The SoC cartridge and the Moonshot integration will reduce the latency of the wires between the traditional HPC server’s sub-systems.

New era app focused silicon

To prove that Moonshot is a viable approach, HP put in a production configuration. At the HP.COM website there are approximately 100 applications for browsing and downloads. HP.COM’s website gets approximately 300 million hits per day. It was running on 46 HP legacy servers consuming just over 115,000 Watts per day. Replacing that legacy configuration with six Moonshot systems lowered the power consumption to 6,000 Watts and reduced the rack space usage by 89 percent.

HP 300m hits 94% less power

Barron gave a lengthy explanation of why mobile users and cloud services require application focused silicon for the servers. HP will offer server cartridges from multiple vendors – AMD, Applied Micro, Intel, and Texas Instruments. Applied Micro and Texas Instruments are based on the ARM architecture. This provides customers with the option of picking a server cartridge tailored for specific services, like High Performance Computing (HPC), gaming, telecommunications, finance, seismic imaging, Big Data analysis, web serving, and video analysis, to name a few.

TI  has developed hybrid ARM processors that mix anywhere from one to four Cortex-A15 (32-bit) cores with one to eight TMS320C66x digital signal processors into a single SoC. These combinations in the Moonshot can be used in application specific work such as pure cloud infrastructure workloads – servers, switches, routers, network control planes, and telecommunication switches with applications such as VoIP and LTE.

Applied Micro’s X-Gene 1 eight core SoC with ECC (error-correcting code) memory. The platform is capable of running a full LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) software stack. The X-Gene implements the ARMv8 ISA which is a full 64-bit architecture that is backwards compatible with 32-bit ARMv7. The CPU features hardware virtualization acceleration, MMU virtualization, and advanced SIMD instructions.

Barron said that ARM architecture and HP’s Moonshot will bring new performance levels and reduced power consumption to the data centers.

There was an interesting announcement in last Friday’s Digitimes. “Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) and Hewlett-Packard (HP) will establish a joint venture specifically for producing servers for cloud computing and offering related supporting services, according to Foxconn.”
“The partnership reflects innovation in HP’s server business model through combining Foxconn’s R&D capability and manufacturing expertise, with HP’s market leadership in cloud computing products and related services to enable both companies to offer cloud computing solutions which will change existing market game-playing rules, HP CEO Meg Whitman said.”

Paul Teich, CTO and Senior Analyst, Moor Insights & Strategy, said, “HP and Foxconn’s partnership should help both of them address substantial challenges in continuing cloud computing R&D investment in spite of purchasing pressures that might lead to a ‘race to the bottom’ for prices and margins.”

BSN is planning a hands-on evaluation of the performance of an HP Moonshot with the Applied Micro X-gene cartridge. We will let you know the results as we did with our May 2011 comparison of ARM to x86.

The post HP Moonshot Using ARM 64-bit SoC appeared first on VR World.

Cub Cadet showed their award winning RZT-S ZERO, a fully-electric zero-turn riding mower with steering wheel control and four-wheel steering technology.

The ZERO is an extension of Cub Cadet?s proven, award-winning line of zero-turn mowers. The ZERO is more about what you don?t get ? there is zero noise, zero gasoline or oil, zero gasoline emissions, and zero belts or filters to change.

The Cub Cadet ZERO received honors at CES in the Eco Design and Sustainable Technologies category of its annual Innovations Design and Engineering Awards. This year?s other winners include Samsung Home Appliances, LG Electronics, Allure Energy, and SWITCH Lighting. The RZT ZERO also received the coveted Breakthrough Award from Hearst Media’s Popular Mechanics in October.

?When you start the RZT S ZERO, it?s shockingly silent even when you engage the blades,? said Jeff Salamon, Cub Cadet?s Director of Marketing. The ZERO?s advanced dual motor, direct drive power management system provides plenty of power for a full 60 minutes of continuous cutting with no battery fade. Just plug the battery in overnight to a 110VOLT wall socket and the ZERO is charged and ready to go the next day.

The ZERO is the only fully electric zero-turn rider that is controlled by a steering wheel and patented four-wheel steering technology. This provides incredible maneuverability on all types of terrain and allows for greater straight-line tracking as well as traction and stability on hills. In other words, you won?t topple over riding a Zero.
ZERO’s "no compromise" cutting performance is an advantage that produces the Cub Cadet Signature Cut that customers have come to expect. The product is Cub Cadet’s latest achievement in a history of innovation dating back to 1961.

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NASA?s EV program exceeds anticipated results by reducing greenhouse gases beyond their expectations. A pilot program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center has found that electric vehicles driven by employees are reducing greenhouse gas emissions at a much higher rate than expected. "The numbers are 10 times better than we thought we’d ever see," said Frank Kline with Kennedy’s Sustainability office.

All federal agencies are under a presidential order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For NASA, the goal is a 12.3 percent reduction by 2020. The executive order includes a category that judges how much gas is emitted from sources that are not controlled by the agency. This includes things ranging from the gases produced by an airliner carrying a NASA employee on assignment to the emissions from an employee?s car during the daily commute.

Kline added, ?No one?s ever done a pilot where you get actual numbers. It?s always been estimates only. The biggest one is federal employee commutes ? that?s the easiest target to go after. If we want to stop you from producing greenhouse gases, electric vehicles don?t produce any greenhouse gases.?

An electric car taking part in a program to investigate potential ways to lower emissions is seen plugged in at Kennedy.

Image Credit: NASA

?The average car puts out about a pound of carbon dioxide per mile,? Kline said. ?We?re reducing that by 3/5ths by letting you plug in at the Kennedy Space Center.? Even with electric cars, the reduction is not 100 percent because even though an electric car itself produces no emissions, the power plant that made the electricity produced greenhouse gases in the process.

The program is working with 10 Kennedy workers who commute daily and plug in their electric vehicles at the center?s charging stations. In return for receiving free charging, each of the workers fills out a spreadsheet each day documenting how many miles were driven and the road and traffic conditions.

Calculations made from that information is showing a dramatic reduction in the amount of emissions from the daily commute.

?The numbers are really insane,? Kline said. ?The program?s first three months only cost $148, and we eliminated over 15,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Over a whole year, we?ll save over 60,000 pounds and that?s just with 10 drivers.?

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center employs about 8,000 people. The potential to significantly alter the amount of emissions from daily commutes by installing even a modest network of outlets is compelling, Kline said, and not very expensive. ?If you just put some infrastructure in and get people to plug in, you can do more to reduce carbon dioxide and you won?t have to spend multi-million dollars,?

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On Tuesday, rumors started popping up on the Internet that Sony Corp was selling its money-losing PC business to an investment fund and will focus on smartphones, according to a Japan-based report.

Sony Corp stocks advanced the most in more than eight months in US trading after the Nikkei newspaper reported the company is in talks to sell its personal-computer business to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), a Tokyo-based private equity firm specializing in business restructuring.

On February 3, Sony denied a Nikkei report that it was discussing creating a venture for the PC unit with Lenovo Group.

The new entity would continue to sell PCs under the VAIO brand and also handle after-sales service. To facilitate the transfer, Sony will take only a small stake in the firm, which will try to solidify its business base at home.

Sources told Nikkei the sale price of Sony?s PC business is estimated at 40 billion yen to 50 billion yen ($391 million USD to $489 million). Sony’s PC business has a staff of roughly 1,000. Many of them, including executives, will be taken on by the new firm, but some others will be transferred to different departments within Sony. The parties are discussing having Sony’s PC site in Nagano Prefecture continue handling R&D and production under the new company. Misato Suzuki, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for the company, said Sony uses contract manufacturers in China to make VAIO notebook computers.

In August of 2012, JIP bought the mobile-phone retailing business run by Olympus Corp?s ITX unit for JPY53 billion ($676 million USD). Japan Industrial Partners specializes in turning around troubled firms and has taken part in restructuring Yamaha and JVC since its founding in 2002.

This is a very interesting rumor about Sony selling their VAIO PC division, because on January 30, it was announced there was an agreement to transfer all of NEC’s shares in NEC BIGLOBE- an NEC subsidiary which is the fourth largest ISP in Japan – to Japan Industrial Partners IV Investment Limited Partnership. Sources familiar with those negotiations say the transaction was around 70 billion yen ($666 million USD).

If the rumored takeover by JIP of Sony?s VAIO PC division are true, that would mean JIP has bought nearly a billion dollars in Japanese high tech companies in less than a month.

Everyone is waiting for an official announcement from Sony.

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iHealth announced two new personal health care products at CES. Adam Lin, President of iHealth Lab said in their press release, ?These new products bring continuous vitals monitoring to a whole new level. We designed these products with the users in mind. They are ergonomically engineered to be comfortable and easy to use, while delivering robust, accurate measurements that can be easily shared with health care professionals using the latest wireless technology.?

Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor

iHealth unveiled the industry?s first 24 hour wearable blood pressure monitor that connects to a user?s mobile device via Bluetooth or a PC through a USB cable, for simplified data transfer. The new technology allows for a sleeker, lightweight monitor that is worn inside a vest. It provides constant monitoring without changing a user?s normal daily routine. The monitor can be set to obtain blood pressure readings over a long period of time at regular intervals of 15, 30, 45, 60 or 120 minutes.

Such readings are useful in helping doctors get a clearer picture of how an individual?s blood pressure changes throughout the day. Twenty-four hour blood pressure monitoring is commonly used to better understand cases of suspected nocturnal hypertension, ?white-coat? hypertension ? caused just because you find yourself in a clinical setting ? or resistant hypertension where anti-hypertensive medications fail to control high blood pressure. The device is compatible with both iOS and select Android devices. It uses a rechargeable battery and will store up to 200 measurements.

Wearable Pulse Oximeter

The other new entry in the iHealth wearable suite of products is a pulse oximeter designed to continuously monitor blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) and pulse rate. The new design uses a fingertip sensor that connects directly to a sleek and comfortable wristband, making it ideal for measuring blood oxygen levels during normal daily activity or while sleeping. Pulse oximeters are commonly used to detect OSAS (Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome) and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).

The product stores up to 1,000 hours of data, uses Bluetooth 4.0 BLE and is compatible with iOS devices and select Android devices. Data is displayed on the mobile device and automatically stored in the cloud, making it easy to manage and share results.

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We have had literally dozens of backpacks over the years and they were all very similar in design. Until TYLT?s Energi+ Backpack, which is being called the backpack of the future, was sent to us.

At $199 it is price competitive to comparable battery-powered backpacks. With TYLT?s built-in rechargeable 10.4 amp hour lithium-ion battery pack you can charge three devices simultaneously. Admittedly, you can?t charge a laptop, but it easily handles smartphones, tablets, music players and anything else that charges via USB cables.
This is a very high quality backpack. There is excellent padding, for even your heaviest items and a large internal storage compartment. The bag is water-resistant and has 13 pockets and 10 different zippers. There is even a special zippered Pocket Protected hardened shell for your glasses and smartphone. That compartment has power cabling routing so you can charge your phone – more on cable routing in a bit.

I charged the 10,400 mAh battery pack in 6 hours, 35 minutes, faster than the 7 to 8 hours the company claims. There are two 1 amp USB ports for phones and small devices and one 2.1 amp for tablets. Cabling comes with the bag and the bag has Velcro straps and pass-throughs strategically placed to keep the cables out of the way. Amazing in today?s typically on-line instructions, TYLT?s Energi+ Backpack has a simple quick-start paper manual with clear instructions for all the electronics.

The battery and cables come in a separate pouch. The separate pouch is really handy for putting things into for those airport TSA inspectors.

The manual shows how easy the battery fits into a special pouch which exposes the battery level indicator LEDS and the four USB ports. A 15-inch laptop will easily fit on top of the battery in a lay flat arrangement. You can easily use a 2 amp smartphone charger (iPhone or Samsung Galaxy) and route that through a zipper side pocket pass-through and plug into the battery for charging. After a day at CES-2014, I simply recharged the built-in 10.4-amp lithium-ion battery pack. I was ready for the next day?s smartphone and tablet charging.

Cable routing takes a few moments to choose which options work best for you. Also the cables provided will not look as neat and tidy as the ones shown in their manual.

We were able to simultaneously charge a HTC One smartphone from 14 percent to 80 percent, a LG Cosmos phone from 20 percent to 95 percent, and a 7-inch cheapy tablet from 12 percent to 38 percent. Using only the HTC One, it charged from 16 percent to 98 percent in an hour and thirty five minutes. These may not sound like great numbers, but, they are really outstanding when on a trade show floor, or in an airport, looking around for an unused power outlet.

Look at TYLT?s Energi+ Backpack, from the front side, opposite of your back and the straps. The first pocket, slightly to left of center, has a rubber-lined zipper and extends for most of the entire height of the bag. To the right and left of this pocket are two zippered pockets with outer padding to protect the contents. The right pocket contains a hydration pocket net that you can pull out and use to carry a water bottle. At the top of this first pocket is another zippered compartment with a single zipper. The pocket is not very deep and is lined in soft blue material.

The next compartment working towards the back of the backpack is the largest volume compartment accessed with two large zippers. The two zippers go all the way down to the bottom of the backpack with elastic flaps allowing almost full access to the large and deep compartment. There are two pockets on the opening flap, the upper one has a white net material that lets you view the inside contents. On the back side of the deep compartment is another zipper full-width pocket. There are small net pockets on each side of the deep compartment for storing pens, flashlights, and that important ?stuff?.

At the top of the backpack is the Protect Pocket which has a rigid holder than can be removed from the pocket. The holder has a center wall to keep contents protected. This is a great place to store sunglasses and phones. There is pass-through opening for the 1amp USB cable to charge your phone.

Behind the deep compartment is a thin blue padded tablet compartment. We tested it with a 10-inch tablet and also found we could fit a 13-inch notebook in that compartment ? notebook is shown in tablet compartment below.

A headphone pocket is on the left shoulder strap. The left shoulder strap also contains a NFC (Near Field Communication) tag. I used the NFC Task Launcher with my HTC One to have a top launch for Wi-Fi.

One of the real surprises with the TYLT Energi+ Backpack was the pass through slot which doubles as padding for your back. You easily slide the back pack over your roll around suit case handle and it is centered and stays there ? not like trying to twist the straps around the case?s handle.

We had no problems with any TSA inspections, even though there is a battery and cables. They are neatly routed cables and not everything tossed into a bag as you hurry to catch your plane. TYLT Energi+ Backpack is one of the most comfortable, device-friendly backpacks we’ve ever used – and we’ve used a whole lot of them over the years.

At CES 2014, BSN spoke with TYLT?s product manager. He said the only consistent complaint about the backpack is the lack of a chest strap. You really need one of those when you load it down with lots of stuff.

We consider this a ?must-have? backpack for any serious road warrior who makes their living traveling all the time. Based on that, we are awarding TYLT’s Energi+ Backpack with our Pro-sumer/Enthusiast Editor’s Choice Award.

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At CES? Pepcom 2014, iHealth Labs showed their latest in wireless mobile enabled health products.

iHealth claims that their wearable ECG that monitors heart activity continuously without the need for cumbersome wires or connections is a first. The electrodes and monitor are ergonomically designed into a single, lightweight unit that attaches directly to the user?s chest. It can easily be worn under clothing throughout the day or night. The data can be transferred directly to a user?s mobile device. The information is automatically pushed to the cloud where health care professionals can easily access it to check on your progress.

The unit is very flexible making it comfortable as it sits on your chest over your heart. It is approximately 5 inches in length, less than1/2 inch in height..

Ambulatory ECG?s are commonly used to test for abnormal heart rate or rhythm (arrhythmia) that is often sporadic, like electrical problems in your automobile that won?t show up for the mechanic. It is easier to prove to the doctor those odd thump bumps or flutters you feel when she can see the results of extended measurement periods. The new device uses Bluetooth 4.0 BLE to transfer data to iOS devices and select Android devices. You can also transfer data to a PC using a USB cable. The product uses a rechargeable battery and stores up to 72 hours of data.

Below are two samples of the ECG information displayed on a tablet:

BSN* is looking forward to testing the new wireless ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) after CES.

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During ARM’s TechCon 2013 in Santa Clara, we had a chance to meet with Cavium?s Director of Product Marketing, Rishi Chugh. Cavium was showing their Project Thunder ARMv8 processors, which are supported in Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander), the latest release from Canonical. But, unfortunately their Project Thunder was only a simulator, not real silicon.

ARM Cortex-A57 64-bit IP announced October 2012

Cavium is jumping into the ARMv8-based Project Thunder SoC (system-on-chip) family and targeting the cloud computing data centers. Cavium?s Project Thunder is a family of highly integrated, multi-core SoC processors that will incorporate highly optimized, full custom cores built from the ground up. They are based on 64-bit ARMv8 ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) into an innovative SoC that are expected to redefine features, performance, power and cost metrics for the next-generation cloud and datacenter markets.

Cavium?s Techcon 2013 demonstration was in a private suite away from Techcon?s Exhibit Hall. Rishi Chugh and his assistant showed their final beta of a binary compatible, cross-compiler, simulator running on a mid-range laptop. This is Cavium’s Thunder software development platform which will be shipping in a few weeks.

HP?s Moonshot is part of ARM?s Project Thunder platform. Moonshot is the world?s first software defined web server which is designed from the ground-up to use various manufacturer?s Project Thunder ?blades? with their Moonshot backplane. Cavium’s Thunder developer platform with Ubuntu Server 13.10 was also being shown at HP’s Moonshot Discovery Lab on ARM Techcon 2013 exhibitor?s floor. This offered developer attendees a first-look at how they can get a head-start on porting, developing and testing on future cloud centric servers.

Cavium?s cross-complier approach is an interesting way to expedite designing unique features into their highly optimized 64-bit custom cores and SoC implementations for the cloud and datacenter markets. This approach means a much quicker development cycle instead of the traditional FPGA. It allows more ?tweaking? and a faster time-to-market, which is excellent for every company concerned with the bottom line.

ARM?s evolution from version 5 to version 8

Chugh said that his boss, Amer Haider, VP Business Development, has a brief video explaining some more of the benefits of using Cavium?s Project Thunder.

The processors will be offered alongside the Cavium’s existing lineup of Octeon MIPS 64-bit and Nitrox security processors.

Rishi Chugh explained their Project Thunder leverages significant amounts of their in-house IP and builds upon Cavium?s proven track record of developing and delivering, multi-core SoC processors with industry-leading performance, scalability and integration based on both the MIPS and ARM architectures. He said that Cavium has chosen to offer either MIPS or ARM architectures based upon the client?s target-end-market, industry trends, installed software base, ecosystem and customer demand.

Chugh said Ubuntu 13.10 Server preview for developers on Project Thunder can be downloaded from their web site.

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Photo source: dailydotcom

If a country?s national leader uses that country?s normal mobile phone network and talks state secrets "in the clear," NSA and a lot of other countries will be listening in.

How I learned about the limitations of mobile radio communications:
When I was a manufacturer?s rep selling to public safety 9-1-1 dispatch centers, we had several lines of encrypted radios for both the base station and the hand-held field units. Most of local law enforcement has that kind of radio which works on encrypted radio channel frequencies as well as ‘plain old voice’ channels.

When there is a bank robbery with hostages or a SWAT team is sent out because of a barricaded felon, some of their communications become encrypted. This is why you see those large trucks or large motor-homes used as law enforcement mobile command posts. Thereby, the encrypted radio communications are localized.
Go back and look at the flap when President Obama first was elected and he kept his Blackberry phone. Suddenly, for ?official communications? his old personal Blackberry was replaced by an official $3,350 specialty model.

The Sectéra Edge by General Dynamics, seen above, was a PDA/brickphone with both GSM and CDMA wireless capabilities introduced in 2008. It was developed under an $18 million NSA contract and was fully encrypted using at least 256-bit technology, and possibly 512 bit. There were techy types who even rumored it was 1024 bit encryption.

Breaking an encryption system amounts to first having the computer processing power. That kind of processing power in a workstation costs in the $20,000 to $50,000 price range. Having the ?right? software to do the job requires another $20,000 to $100,000. Plus, you need to have a knowledgeable operator. Then there is the time factor. Properly converting encrypted analog foreign language voices to ones-n-zeros digits and running it through the whole process of analysis is not as fast as they do it in ?Chuck? the comedy spy TV show would have you thinking it is done.

Here is a link on how encryption can be broken.
Our manufacturer?s rep sales were such that we didn’t chase those ultra-dark, three-letter, never use their name, agencies headquartered near the McLean, Virginia area.

When I started selling these kinds of handheld field radios in the late 1980s to the average law enforcement agency, 128 bit encryption was all they could afford to purchase. [Some locations are still working with that 1980s technology.] Now 256 bit encryption is the entry level for their specialty frequency field radios.
Back then it required adding a small encryption board onto the chassis of their field hand-held radios. Now that the processing power has exponentially increased in all kinds of hand-held devices, this sort of encryption stuff is now software based.

You can add 256 bit encryption software to the average 2012 or later Apple iOS or Android smartphone with just software. However, you can bet a deluxe meal at a fast-food drive-up window, using that sort of encryption stuff on your personal mobile phone will "flag it" at the mobile carriers network and you will IMMEDIATELY be put on somebody?s federal watch list and then your problems have only just begun.

Do not forget, all ‘cell phones’ are just dual channel, low-power, and hand-held radio units. ANYTHING that uses radio frequencies can be simply listened to by another radio unit.

The way NSA does much of their listening is at the fiber cable level of the World Wide Web – think about that name for a moment. The NSA has legal access to the undersea fiber trunks that feed the telco distribution systems of every country. Because, ALL the telco fiber eventually comes back to the USA. This is why the minor nations want the UN to take away the USA’s control of the Internet. Then they can really CONTROL their population?s information flow in-n-out of that country or region or combine with multiple nations to control a whole continent.

If a country?s national leader uses that country?s normal mobile phone network and talks state secrets "in the clear", the NSA and a lot of other countries have heard it. This is why there are laser-based communications systems that beam direct to space and come back down the same way by point-2-point laser. Dang tough to be in the right place to "listen to" that type of multi-billion dollar communications systems. This is the kind of communications systems that is used for secure nuclear missile launch facilities. However, those [secret] super secure sites still have people walking around using personal cell phones talking "in the clear" over normal cell network carriers about "stuff" they should obviously NOT be saying over unsecure devices.

Back in 2007, I wrote about the NSA "listening to" fiber at the San Francisco AT&T building on Folsom Street in Room 641A. Nobody blinked their eyes over it, because it was on a tech website site. We were not a highly respected, international newspaper, known to take on controversial stories.

Gleen Greenwald and Edward Snowden

Gleen Greenwald writing about Edward Snowden’s NSA information on the Guardian is a ‘perfect storm’ that combines lots of rumors, some facts, and counter-rumors and counter-facts. As they say in the news media biz: ‘that one has legs’. The story will never go away, no matter
what sort of legal threats the director of the NSA aims at journalist.

Now we are told the NSA listened to 70 million French phone calls, 65 million Spanish phone calls, and President Obama claimed he ?knew nothing about spying on friendly governments?. However, Fox News claims the president knew all about it. In contrast, USA Today reports the White House reaffirms the president ?knew nothing? .

The NSA has clearly been caught with their hands and feet in this honey pot and it is much worse than a Winnie the Pooh’s comment of, ?Oh bother".

If you wanna know how ‘un-knowledgeable’ the George W. Bush’s White House was about emails and cell phones, read David Gerwirtz’s book: "Where Have All the Emails Gone?: How something as seemingly benign as White House email can have freaky national security consequences."

The ?elephant in the room? now is: how are the various heads of state going to smooth this over, so they can ?smile for the cameras? while standing next to each other?

The post Editorial: Thoughts on NSA Spying on German Chancellor?s Mobile Phone appeared first on VR World.

Samsung is approaching design from the perspective of how users interact with their technology. As devices become thinner and lighter with more stunning displays, Samsung is concentrating more on building a meaningful relationship with technology.

Samsung Design America, newly located in California?s Silicon Valley, is headed by Dennis Miloseski who told Katie Fehrenbacher and the audience at GigaOM Mobilize: ?We staff multiple disciplines across experience design, UI design all the way to industrial design and into engineering. We?re situated in San Francisco, ? because . It gives us a chance to work in completely new ways where we can co-create with companies that are in the [Silicon] valley.?

Let?s not forget that Samsung lost a $1 billion lawsuit with Apple which centered on design patents. It?s no wonder they are emphasizing a new approach.

Dennis Miloseski talks with Katie Fehrenbacher at GigaOM Mobilize about Samsung?s new philosophy

Samsung?s position lets them work on the living room, with some robotics, in the internet of things, and with appliances. They hope to be able to introduce new types of platforms, new ways for devices to communicate with each other towards a more unified Samsung. Miloseski emphasized: ?Samsung is one of the few companies in the world that reach across many of the devices in your life.?

Their goal is consistent design integration across all the Samsung product lines. The design studio currently is concentrating on mobile products. Samsung is attempting to move from a technology brand to more of a lifestyle brand, by looking at user?s behavior and how they are starting to interface with their mobile devices.

He sees wearables as a new frontier. Samsung will think of them in ways where they actually change the way we live our life. He says: ?We really care about how hardware, software and services come together.? They plan to work with partners in a new way where a service partner would have a broad reach across all their devices in an ecosystem.

Since Samsung is a Korean based company, with a new emphasis on their Silicon Valley presence, Fehrenbacher asked: ?What are your strategies for designing global international products given variety of markets, variety of languages?? Miloseski responded: ?We do it with a lot of really deep user research and ethnic graphic analysis of what needs are in these different markets.?

His example was the Galaxy Note> phone used in the US for entertainment, media and web browsing. The large screen design resulted from a need in Asian speaking cultures where it is much easier to actually write the glyphs or the characters of their language.The increased screen size turned a phone into a more productive device. Samsung is focusing less on specific features and more on how certain things enrich the way we live.

Another example is the Samsung Galaxy S4 a Life Companion with Floating Touch and hand gesture recognition. It monitors the health of the user through data regarding workouts, weight levels, blood glucose, and blood pressure. As a camera, it can monitor the user to start or stop a video. All this in a lightweight polycarbonate body.

Samsung is looking for partnerships through their Silicon Valley location. Miloseski said Samsung was meeting frequently with a lot of interesting companies that are doing work in spaces that align with the mobile industry, some of which are start ups.

Miloseski emphasized that Samsung is into ?Really understanding user experience, really understanding what matters to users and not just shipping products for the products sake.?

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Rob Chandhok, President of Qualcomm Interactive Platforms, sat down with Kevin Tofol of GigaOM to discuss the horizontal eco system for the Internet of Everything. He shed some light on AllJoyn and wearable computing such as Toq (pronounced ?talk?), Qualcomm?s new and different smartwatch.

Qualcomm Interactive Platform Pres (left) talks with GigaOM Sr Writer

Chandhok is very conversant in all things technical. In combination with his BS in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, he holds 22 patents in software technologies. He has been instrumental in many of Qualcomm?s projects and shared insights with attendees into the company?s philosophy. He told us that the purpose of AllJoyn initiative is thinking about all things near me. Qualcomm’s goal is to continue building connectivity around the evolving standards and lead the industry into more advanced protocols.

Chandhok said their initial question was, "How do I make mobile phones speak to each other so developers could build multi device experiences?" The question has expanded to include consumer electronics and appliances. One of Qualcomm?s goals is to create a world of interoperable API?s. He noted that ?the very first API? was the fact that you could fetch an image and that is how advertising started.? API is focused on services, things people would use. They stayed away from M2M because it will be highly regulated.

Qualcomm Atheros developed the QCA4002 and QCA4004 networking platforms which include the IP stack and full networking services on the chip to enable customers to add Wi-Fi to virtually any product with minimal development effort or cost. The QCA4002/4004 platforms also feature the AllJoyn software framework, which enables the "Internet of things near me" by providing seamless connectivity and communications among a diverse set of products, applications and services to create compelling, proximal user experiences.

For now, Qualcomm is pushing its AllJoyn standard for household goods, and not for the industrial internet of things (though Qualcomm as a company is offering connected products in non-consumer verticals). AllJoyn is designed to work over any physical layer. Chandhok thinks this is, ?a course correction industry needs to take.?

He pointed out that the Internet is agnostic to the physical layer it runs, wired and wireless protocols on the Net. Yet, ?on the device side we say: Here?s the radio you must use, it?s Bluetooth, ZigBee or Z-Wave." He continued saying that people who want to build experiences on top of that need to know all those radios or build boxes that have seven radios in them that result in a type of Tower of Babel. Here is a Protocol that developers can think about, people who build systems can map it to physical layers, and then we innovate on the radios. There are new things coming, such as 11AH? for Internet of Things in the WiFi family. That needs to move at a different pace than upper level protocols according to Chandhok.

White appliances have a long life span. The question arises: where will the chips and daily communications standards be in the future? Chandhok said homeowners never have a single brand, and those items evolve over time, many are held long term, such as refrigerators. Tofol acknowledged the difficulty saying his, ?home automation system uses so many different protocols. There is no easy solution out there for the consumer.?
Chandhok wants developers to say ?There?s an API for that.? He would like to see them compete on the experiences they create where they can say ?I have a better home controller that works with all those devices.?
AllJoyn has been Open Source for over 2 years. Chandhok responds: ?It?s a shocker to a lot of people that Qualcomm would do that. It shows how much we believe in it, all the way up to Paul Jacobs, the CEO. We want to stop single point, vertical solution, to make this eco system work.?

Why would Qualcomm do this? Chandhok explains: ?Qualcomm gains if more things are connected, we sell more connectivity. We are good at building connectivity; other people are good at creating experiences.?

The discussion moved from AllJoyn to Toq, the Qualcomm smartwatch which was announced at Uplinq. There, Paul Jacobs told attendees. ?It?s a second screen for your smartphone, and it is always on,? That calls battery life into play. The watch design showcases Mirasol MEMs Display technology which helps battery life and provides video capabilities. The battery itself is in the watch band, not the watch. When questioned about battery life, Chandhok emphasized ?Days, not weeks.? Toq uses Qualcomm-backed WiPower LE wireless charging, and connects to an Android phone via Bluetooth. The objective is for Qualcomm partners to pick up and run with this. Historically Qualcomm had produced inside devices, not direct consumer devices, such as their new smartwatch. Jacobs pointed out at Uplinq: ?Qualcomm isn?t turning into a consumer electronics company.?

Qualcomm?s smartwatch has several different watch faces, one matches the time with upcoming calendar appointments, another that displays both time and weather. Toq can also control the phone?s music player, display text messages and send one of several preset replies. Designed specifically as a companion to a smartphone, Toq?s settings are controlled from an app that runs on an Android smartphone.

Kevin Tofol admires Qualcomm?s smartwatch, Toq

Chandhok continued with the benefits of Toq pointing out that ?Watches are more jewelry, but this is more productivity. I may want to put
on a different watch for fitness, fashion, or productivity. I don?t want my services to be disparate from each other. What does it mean for the apps on my phone to take advantage of another display or devices. That makes it harder [for Qualcomm] to do, but makes it better for the consumer.?
Qualcomm?s intent was to provide value and productivity, such as seeing the calendar at a glance, not having to use four clicks to get to it. Chandhok stressed that ?Toq lets you pick what apps interrupt you on your wrist. If it is just a gadget, it is not interesting to the consumer.?

Below, we’ve got our own hands on with the Toq back at UPLINQ in September.

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Prior to the opening of GigaOM Mobilize, vendors were scurrying to set up their booths. The event?s Headline Sponsor was Netbiscuits, followed by Prime Time Sponsors Synchronoss, Xively, Carriots, Salesforce, YP Local Ad Network, Qualcomm, ArcSoft, Ericsson, Accellion, Intel, Citrex and HP. Over 12 companies signed on as Showtime Sponsors, and 15 were listed as Partners.

Vendors had a lot of work to do preparing their booths for the onslaught of attendees. We caught a feel for the showroom floor before it was ?ready for prime time?. ArcSoft caught our eye immediately located next to the larger-than-life wooden figures.

The location of ArcSoft?s booth was easy to find

Todd Peters, ArcSoft President North America spoke on the revolution of imaging technology. The topic was appropriate for the head of a company known for developing embedded multimedia imaging technologies and applications. The company?s efforts reside in more than one billion mobile phones. Consumers use ArcSoft to create digital photos and videos on phones, tablets, and cameras from such well-known companies as Nokia, LG, Samsung, Qualcomm, Nikon, Olympus and Sony.

Michael Deng, ArcSoft’s CEO, founded the company with funding from family and friends. Since the founding in 1994, ArcSoft has grown to include scientists, engineers, and talented programmers. It just seemed fitting that ArcSoft, so focused on artistic endeavors would reside beside the carved wooden figures of Stephan Balkenhol, a renowned German artist. They are just one example of his many pieces on public display around the world.

Last week, ArcSoft announced that its digital photo makeover app, Perfect365, reached 10 million downloads. Emphasizing the artistic bent of the company, Peters said: "We see the face as the palette, our users as the artists and our technology as the brush, together making a beautiful image." 

The vendors at GigaOM came together to show off their talents in other fields as well. They came to discuss the Internet of Things, BYOD, and mining mobile big data. Netbiscuits, a web-hosted software suite that lets companies develop mobile websites and apps, was appropriately the Headline Sponsor of the GigaOM Mobilize conference.

The CEO of Netbiscuits, Michael Neidhoefer, addressed how companies can walk the mobile advertising tightrope. One of the challenges of the mobile industry is creating ads that are not only effective, but money making for the platform that delivers them. Delivering those ads to the targeted individual appropriate to time and place while not being seen as invasive or causing a privacy issue is tricky.

By knowing a user?s bandwidth, processing power and battery life, a developer can use those facts when designing a mobile app. Neidhoefer says developers should strive to create a personalized experience. To do so they need to recognize when to stream lower resolution video to users with less bandwidth or other underperforming abilities. He said most companies restrict their mobile testing to seven different devices, thus restricting their potential satisfied customer base. Netbiscuits helps their customers with analytical tools allowing them to segment their market based on device profiles. "We do real time testing of all devices that hit the market… quality assurance. We also do testing and back fixing of sites they develop." Netbiscuits serves enterprise customers such as eBay and Coca-Cola.

When asked how the company name was derived we learned that No, it has nothing to do with British pastries, break time snacks, nor cookies implanted on your computer as a result of browsing the Web. Neidhoefer explained that they built a development framework alongside a device data base which they still use for their products. They had pre-programmed code features which were the biscuits.

After (Net)biscuits, it was time to visit some Carr(i)ots

Keeping with a quasi-food related naming convention, Carriots is the next Prime Time Sponsor on our list of vendors. Their name is derived from CARRying the Internet Of ThingS. It just seemed obvious to complete the logo with a wireless carrot replacing the "I" in the company name.

This Madrid, Spain based company spun off from Wairbut’s Machine to Machine (M2M) division. Its intent is to help anyone build applications for the Internet of Things. Carriots is a platform as a service (PaaS) designed for IoT (Internet of Things) and M2M projects connecting devices to the Internet and the Internet to the devices. They explain how it works in five simple steps on their website.
 
Accellion, another Prime Time Sponsor, provides secure mobile file sharing. It promises productivity solutions to enable secure, anytime, anywhere access to information while ensuring enterprise security and compliance. They count the US Securities and Exchange Commission and NASA among their enterprise customers. Customers can deploy in private or hybrid cloud or FIPS 140-2 certified environment. The company just announced their new embedded PDF annotation feature of its Mobile App for iOS whereby mobile users can securely conduct contract negotiations and annotate confidential documents on-the-go. Users don?t need to open sensitive documents in unsecure third party services when working via a mobile device. A GigaOM Pro whitepaper provides real world examples from Accellion customers.

The showroom floor was filled with vendor booths, conference rooms were filled with stim
ulating discussions. GigaOM Mobilize was an exciting and exhausting two days filled with opportunities to learn and do in-person, face to face networking.

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William Ruh (Twitter), vice president of General Electric?s software and analytics center, heads a team that develops software that is changing the way we think about machines. GE works with industry to leverage mobile and big data on the production line. The software powers the Industrial Internet, a living network of intelligent machines and systems designed to advance industry and improve people?s lives.

GE’s roadmap to Industrial Internet. Source: GE

M2M (machine to machine) is important to enterprise. For example in the aviation industry it requires significant data to pinpoint specific devices so that preventative maintenance can take place at regularly scheduled intervals to take care of problems before they ground aircraft and cause loss of passenger revenue because of delays.

If M2M sensors were to measure all of the critical data points in an aircraft for normal flight, they would have hundreds of terabytes of raw data. Ruh, a Computer Science alumni of California State University Fullerton, said it was obvious that we have to develop better analysis tools, to reduce big data?s output into a format that is easily understood by non-technical management.

To put a fine point on it, he said that at GE, a one percent increase in fuel efficiency on their gas turbine powered electric generation systems would be a $6 billion per year savings in jet fuel alone. GE’s Fuel and Carbon Solution use onboard computers, sophisticated software and proprietary analytics to optimize jet fuel use, reduce operating costs, and cut carbon dioxide emissions.

Ruh said that GE is the 14th biggest software maker in the world. All the coding was done by developers in separate "silos" in the corporate structure which limited progress. In 2011, GE hired designer Craig Petroff and put him in charge of user experience for all of their new software development. He was tasked with creating a system that will bring all of GE’s industrial machines, from wind turbines to hospital hardware to jet engines, on the one cloud connected, contextually aware, super efficient platform. The project has grown from four people to close to 800.

GE’s Bill Ruh talked about big data and M2M applications

Ruh sees M2M wireless measurement devices as the trend in gathering big data. Engineering cheaper sensors will drive large amounts of data to the enterprise community. Those large amounts of data will allow the creation of better analytics. When your analysis covers millions of repetitious bits of information, discrepancies leap out if your algorithm is properly written. M2M will allow people to be more productive because they will be looking at larger amounts of data, rather than sending a technician out to do measurements with a handheld device.

Security is an important part of M2M architecture. Standards are evolving, but there are still a lot of standalone (silo) devices that have no way to communicate with each other. M2M standards and protocols are not in the industrial world like they are in the consumer world. For example, many wireless sensors are built around the 2G mobile protocol and very, very few of them use LTE 4G protocol for communications.

GE is interested, like everyone else, in the latest low-power technology, from handheld devices to new batteries for the Tesla motor car. GE has hired 700 people in Silicon Valley to create products and services for internal use, as well as for sales to customers. The GE investments? division last year invested $125 million in equity in small startup companies to foster their ability to sell into the industrial world.

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