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Tag: Microsoft

SoftKinetic Gesture Recognition Platform

Posted by Andrew at 8:36 AM on February 16, 2012

SoftKinetic CameraMicrosoft can rightly claim to have brought gesture recognition to the consumer market through Kinect for Xbox in 2010, but SoftKinetic has been in the business since 2007, providing hardware and software solutions for the consumer electronics and professional markets. Andy and Courtney find out more from Virgile Delporte.

SoftKinetic are team of mathematicians, 3D imaging specialists, software engineers and game designers that have developed both hardware and software components of an end-to-end solution that can be incorporated into new products. The 3D middleware platform, iisu, lets content and video game developers, arcade and fitness equipment manufacturers develop their next interactive product or solution without needing a deep understanding of how the technology behind gesture recognition actually works.

If you want to have a play, SoftKinetic’s DepthSense Professional Kit, which includes a camera, is available from their store for just $499.

Interview by Andy McCaskey and Courtney Wallin of SDR News and RV News Net.

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Posted in 3D, ces, Gaming, Interview, Special Media

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j5 create’s Wormhole Station

Posted by Andrew at 8:33 AM on January 31, 2012

j5create logoj5 create‘s background in USB display adaptors means they know a thing or two about using both hardware and software to create unique solutions. j5 Create’s Wormhole cable is one such solution as it joins two computers into one…and they don’t even have to be running the same OS. Fred shows Jeffrey and Steve some of the benefits of this innovative technology, which won a CES Innovation Honoree award.

At its most basic the Wormhole switch is simply a USB 2 cable that connects between two computers, but clever software allows the computers to work together, with one keyboard and mouse being shared between the two. The OS of the two devices doesn’t have to be the same and an Android tablet being controlled by a Windows PC is perfectly possible. Files can be seamlessly transferred between the two machines as well. Pretty smart.

Moving on to a second product, j5 create has a very desirable line of small docking stations for laptops that are little more than foot-long shiny tubes with a plethora of ports. Branded “ultrastations” and connecting via USB 3, these take full advantage of the faster data rate to provide a myriad of connections, including HDMI, through a single USB 3 cable. Nice.

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of The Geekazine Podcast and Steve Lee of Netcast Studio.

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Posted in Android, Apple, ces, google, IPAD, Microsoft, Special Media, USB, Windows

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GNC-2012-01-19 #735 Back in the Saddle

Posted by geeknews at 1:15 AM on January 20, 2012

Finally back in the saddle, after getting back from Vegas I got violently ill and was down for the count on Monday. Glad to be back and still on the mend. The studio is in a state of shambles as the gear has been arriving over the past couple of days. I have a great deal to catch up with you all. One thing make sure you are subscribed to the Special Media Feed we are going to be pushing a boatload of content at you and we do not want you to miss a single interview from CES. Lots of gold in those interviews.

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7 Charged / Arrested as FBI raids Megaupload
MegaUpload Mega Bank Accounts.
Mega Loot Seizure.
Mega Bandwidth.
Mega Anonymous Attack.
Anonymous Attacked Sites.
Did you help Anonymous?
MegaUpload Alternatives.
Driven to Piracy.
Vice President goes Fund Raising during SOPA Blackout!
Senate Leaders Back Off Privacy IP Act.
SOPA / PIPA Sponsor Bail Ship.
RIAA cannot stand it.
Copyright Forever?
NASA says no UFO?
Massive Saturn Storm.
Gemini Digital Archive.
90 Million Google+ Users @ 60% per day!
Google Gigabit Network Delays.
Google TV Versus Android TV (Weird)
Google TV Updates Annually.
R&D headed to Asia?
To Many Ads get Penalized by Google.
Kodak RIP?
Anticrop.
Jailbreak Now?
iConvert!
250,000,000 Android Devices.
Very Bad Timing.
TWC App for iPhone now as well.
Google Q4 results.
Microsoft Q2 Earnings.
Apple Education Announcements.

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J5Create’s Wormhole Station

Posted by Andrew at 12:25 AM on January 18, 2012

j5create logoJ5Create may be familiar to Apple Macintosh users as they’re designers of aesthetic Mac accessories, but their latest gadget will be of interest to those of us with a foot in the PC camp. Here Todd talks to John about their new Wormhole Station.

The Wormhole Station combined with the Wormhole cable creates a keyboard and mouse switch which not only controls both a PC and a Mac from one mouse and keyboard but also moves files seamlessly from one computer to the other. Even cooler, you can set the configuration up so that moving the mouse cursor off one side of Mac screen transfers the cursor to the PC screen. It’s a bit like having a dual monitor setup, only with two OSes!

If you like the sound of this, it’s available in both laptop and desktop configurations. Available now, the Wormhole Station will set you back $109.99 and the cable is $39.99. The CES folk like it so much, they gave the Wormhole Station an Innovation Honoree Award.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

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Posted in Apple, ces, mac, Operating Systems, Special Media, USB

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I Feel Stupid

Posted by Andrew at 7:25 AM on December 28, 2011

Windows Phone 7Over the break, there’s been a bit of discussion by some of the big names regarding the reasons why Windows Phone 7 handsets haven’t been flying off the shelves this holiday season. Charlie Kindel started the debate with “Windows Phone is Superior; Why Hasn’t It Taken Off?” and largely faults the relationship between the OEMs, Microsoft and the carriers.

MG Siegler responded with a fairly weak response largely citing the mantra of “too late and not enough apps” but as can be seen from today’s news of 50,000 apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace, the latter argument really isn’t that valid.

As usual, Robert Scoble hits the nail on the head. People buy Android or iOS because it’s a safe bet and they don’t want to look stupid or uncool by buying something else. Microsoft Windows Phone 7 and RIM’s Blackberries simply don’t have the gold-plated appeal of a sure-thing.

And he’s right. I was a big Palm fan and look how that turned out. I do feel stupid. After spending years waiting for Palm to move from PalmOS to WebOS and then HP promising to do big things. I bought in with a succession of Pre phones and pre-ordered a TouchPad. Maybe I shouldn’t be so shallow and have a less of an ego, because WebOS is a great operating system and even with the smaller app selection, it does 99% of what I need a phone to do. But when everyone else is, “Have you got this app and that app” on their Galaxy S IIs and iPhone 4Ss, you do feel a bit of a chump.

So thanks, HP. I feel stupid.

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Posted in Android, Apple, application, blackberry, Geek Culture, google, HP, HTC, iOS, IPAD, iPhone, Microsoft, mobile, Operating Systems, Palm, smartphone, tablet, Windows Phone 7

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Microsoft’s Last CES?

Posted by Jeffrey Powers at 6:14 PM on December 21, 2011
microsoft logo

microsoft logo

I’m not sure if Microsoft is following Apple’s footsteps from a few years ago, but it was announced earlier today that after CES2012, Microsoft is pulling out of Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

From Microsoft’s Blog: “We have decided that this coming January will be our last keynote presentation and booth at CES. We’ll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the PC, phone and entertainment industries, but we won’t have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing.”

For the last 20 years, Microsoft has been a big part of CES. The opening keynote has been given by Microsoft’s Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer during those 20 years.

Now, there have been some posts that say Microsoft is pulling out completely. As far as this blog goes, it sounds like Microsoft is only relinquishing the Opening keynote spot. Not the Microsoft booth.

Still, one has to wonder what this means for the Consumer Electronics Show. The opening keynote was always a hot ticket for the show – How do you replace that? Better yet, is there anyone that can replace that?

 

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XBox adds Voice, Gestures with TV Update

Posted by Jeffrey Powers at 9:28 AM on December 5, 2011
Xbox 360

Xbox 360

A new interface for XBox 360 game console users allows you to use your voice to navigate through the games, TV shows, movies and music.

Steve Ballmer showed off this technology back in September, but starting this Tuesday, this becomes reality. It adds not only remote gesture control, but also remote voice commands. Therefore, if you don’t have a Kinect motion controller, you still can control without a remote.

The Associated Press got a special demonstration of the new features. When the Microsoft employee said “XBox Bing ‘Iron Man’,” a search for Iron Man came up. When the employee said “XBox, show movies,” a list of movies from various sources appeared.

With over 57 million XBox units sold, Microsoft is expecting to make a real impact in the cord cutters market. Adding pay channel partners like Verizon FIOS means that XBox will get into the Over the top TV market with a vengeance. You will have to use over-the-air or alternate cable methods to get network TV like NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox.

The real question is how this will affect your household. Will you cut your cord over this update? Will you start to use the XBox as more than a gaming system?

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Apple Wins on Black Friday, Could They Be Losing on Cyber Monday?

Posted by Jeffrey Powers at 7:25 AM on November 28, 2011

 

apple

apple

Apple sold more than 4 times what they normally do on Black Friday – was said in a report on 9to5Mac. But here we have Cyber Monday, and Apple is back to full price. Are they missing on another record sales day?

It was the first time in a long while that Apple put discounts on their products like that. But this Black Friday, they broke the norm and gave discounts on Macbooks, iMac, iPods and iPads. The best deal out of the lot was the Macbook Air, which was $898. A 16 GB iPad was discounted to $450. What was really missing was the 4S discount (which I would have updated iPhone if there was a $30-50 discount).

However, after Friday, the prices jumped back up to their original amounts. While stores like Best Buy have some great discounts in accessories, the only deal tablets will be anything but Apple.

Is a One day a Year Sale for Apple Good or Bad?

This is the true question: Would Apple continue to have 4x the sales if they would have participated in Cyber Monday? What about Saturday or Sunday?

No matter what, this Cyber Monday will continue to bring some great deals. Microsoft’s $299 Dell computer is already sold out. Amazon Cyber Monday will have computer accessories go on sale all week.

Black Friday Weekend Brings 24% increase

The numbers are coming in and there is a 24% increase this year. 14.1% comes from mobile devices. This means people are using their smartphones and tablets to buy gifts. Of course, it’s a lot different than having that old Pentium computer in the den and slow internet connections. Best part is you could shop while lying in bed, so the kids wouldn’t peek and see the cool stuff your getting them.

So now the question is: Will Cyber Monday be as fruitful as last year? They stole the crown in 2010 for the busiest shopping day of the year. Now that people have had a whole weekend to get some great deals, will Monday continue to overshadow, or be overshadowed?

Tuesday is Eco-Day in Cyber Week?

A lot of retailers are using the whole week to make deals. Last Saturday was “Shop Local” day, which people were encouraged to visit the Mom-and-Pop shops. Tuesday is Eco-Day, buying items that are green in nature. No word if Wednesday and Thursday are going to get categorized.

So we could be having a great holiday season, but we are far from over in shopping. A lot of deals are to be had, so keep your eyes out. CyberMonday.com is a website to watch for today, but CyberWeek.com will be on the case all week long.

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GNC-2011-11-07 #719 On the Road!

Posted by geeknews at 8:35 PM on November 7, 2011

I want to thank the Gadget Professor Don Baine for stepping in while I was in Los Angeles. Many of you asked how to get more of Don’s show, well you can subscribe to The Gadget Professor here at GNC in the second column of the website.. Ok lost of tech and I get you all caught up on the past week.

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My FordTouch.
EA Need for Speed.
60 Seconds in Life of a Mobile User.
Tokyo Copy / Paste.
Ford Focus ST.
Ford Fiesta ST.
Google+ Brand Pages.
HDD Prices Skyrocket.
Time Warner Outage.
Best Buy Home Energy Section.
Siri to all iOS Devices.
Zuckerberg mentored by Jobs.
Xbox 360 gains TV traction 25 and under.
Google Direct Connect.
Adobe sells Elements on Mac App Store!
RIAA wants DMCA Changed.
Asteroid inbound and Close Pass.
Big iPhone Security Bug.
US Chamber of Commerce Sinking Ships.
Justice Department Reverse Lying Request.
Next Rover ready for Launch.
Nook Tablet Feature.
Giant Windows Phone 7 in NYC.
Microsoft Scores Samsung VP.
Siri for all my Friends.
War in Cyberspace.
Vivid and Google TV?
Google playing with Search.
Reader and FeedDemon Fall out.

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Android Handsets More Unreliable

Posted by Andrew at 2:15 PM on November 3, 2011

Android LogoWireless expert WDS is reporting that high failure rates in Android handsets are costing mobile network operators as much as $2 billion per year in dealing with repairs and returns. Reviewing the four leading mobile operating systems, its study found that Android-based devices seemed more prone to failure as 14% of technical support calls on Android were for hardware, versus 11% for Windows Phone, 7% for iOS and just 6% for BlackBerry OS.

Simplistically, Android handsets were twice as likely to suffer a hardware fault that an Apple or RIM device. The study suggests that cheaper hardware, software customisations and OS updates all contribute to the failure rate and in turn, the increased impact on the network operators to provide technical support and customer service. WDS analysed over 600,000 technical support calls from July 2010 to August 2011.

“One thing we must be absolutely clear on,” says Tim Deluca-Smith, Vice President of Marketing at WDS, “is that our analysis does not find any inherent fault with the Android platform. Its openness has enabled the ecosystem to grow to a phenomenal size, at a phenomenal rate, and it’s this success that is proving challenging.”

He added, “The Android customer experience differs enormously between devices and this means that the way in which Android devices are retailed and supported must consider factors such as the hardware build and quality of components.”

If you are thinking about buying or upgrading your smartphone, you might want to bear this research in mind before you purchase.

The full WDS whitepaper can be downloaded from this page.

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Posted in Android, Apple, blackberry, Microsoft, RIM, smartphone, Windows Phone 7

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