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Why does Clothbot want to climb up your pants?

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 23:43:43 +0000

(Credit: Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)

Robots climbing up your leg -- are you cool with that? Chinese researchers certainly are, arguing they could become electronic pets, or even "mobile" phones.

Presented this week at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in St. Paul, Minn., Clothbot was developed by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

As seen in the video below, the machine crawls up folds in clothing, slowing making its way up trouser legs or even the back of a shirt. It uses a pair of gripper wheels to create and cling to a fold in the cloth.

Weighing some 140 grams, it has a tail that helps it maneuver. Its destination and ultimate purpose, however, remain mysterious.

According to IEEE Spectrum, in their research paper "System and Design of Clothbot: a Robot for Flexible Clothes Climbing," author Yuanyuan Liu and colleagues propose three applications: "a tiny pet climbing on human bodies," "a movable phone on our shoulder which frees human hands," and finally, "body inspection."

And you thought the TSA was bad.

(Via IEEE Spectrum ) [Read more]

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Sony’s new $600 Alphas

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Shot with the Sony Alpha SLT-A37

(Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)

Read the reviews

The spring showers of cameras continues with two new entry-level Alpha models from Sony: the compact interchangeable-lens replacement to the E-mount Alpha NEX-C3, dubbed the NEX-F3, and the replacement for the A-mount SLT-A35, the A37. Along with the A37 comes a new A-mount lens that Sony will be offering as a kit, the 18-135mm f3.5-5.6.

Both cameras are based on the same 16-megapixel sensor and use the same generation of image-processing engine. So which one deserves your $600? It depends on what you need. The F3 is compact and relatively lightweight, but the A37 performs better and offers more direct-access controls.

Here’s what Android fragmentation really looks like

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:49:49 +0000

Samsung's Galaxy S II is the most prevalent Android device, trailed by almost 4,000 others.

(Credit: Screenshot by Eric Mack / CNET )

Open Signal Maps is a nifty free Android app and Web site that crowdsources where the strongest and weakest cell signals are. But along the way, it's also managed to amass a ton of data about what kind of Android devices are out there in the wild and they pulled it all together into some visualizations that dramatically show the extent of Android fragmentation.

OSM started logging the Android devices that download the app six months ago and created the above visualization -- the interactive version on the site is a little more informative -- from a sample size of 681,900 devices. What it reveals is that Samsung's Galaxy series, particularly the Galaxy S II, is far and away the top dog, followed distantly by the HTC Desire series. After that, it turns into quite a mess of devices ranging from other heavy hitters like Motorola's Droids down to the Hungarian Concorde Tab, which showed up once.

Fragmentation might no... [Read more]

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Lenovo intros new Ivy Bridge ThinkPads, including X1 Carbon ultrabook

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:01:00 +0000

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon ultrabook.

(Credit: Lenovo)

If you're looking for "new and exciting" regarding Lenovo's newest ThinkPad laptops, you'll have to hone in on the small details. For instance, Lenovo's latest lineup of third-generation Intel Core i-series processor ThinkPads have adopted the more modern raised keyboards that have been seen on models such as the ThinkPad Edge and X1.

Lenovo ThinkPads: T, W, L, X, and X1 (photos)

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 review: Dual-core in a quad-core world

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

While the Tab 2 10.1 uses a PLS screen, its color accuracy unfortunately isn't up to standard.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was one of the premier Android tablets when it launched in 2011, with specs that, at the very least, matched top tier Android tablets of the time.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 feels almost like a disappointing prequel, rather than a full-fledged "we've improved on every feature!" sequel.

I mean, when a premium tablet gets a follow-up, it's not a crazy thing to expect a lot from said follow-up; however, Samsung went the "budget" route with the Tab 2 10.1, limiting its advances. The problem is, since the Tab 2's announcement, two Tegra 3 tablets (from Asus and Acer) have been released at very similar (or in Asus' case, lower) prices than Samsung's offering.

Still, the Tab 2 10.1 includes an IR blaster, its unique Touchwiz UX interface, and comes with 50GB of free Dropbox storage for a year.

Check out the [Read more]

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Fun with lasers: Try popping 100 balloons

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:17:22 +0000

(Credit: Screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)

There are many ways I can think of to have fun with a laser, especially one described as "the world's brightest laser you can legally own." Popping balloons isn't one of them, but YouTube tinkerer WorldScott's stunt is interesting anyway.

In a bid for a record, he lined up 100 red balloons in front of a Spyder III Krypton and fired away.

As seen in the vid below, it took a while for the 750-1,000mW laser, fired through a focusing lens, to pop each balloon, but it eventually did the trick.

The green beam left a trail of red balloon fragments in its wake. Fortunately it wasn't powerful enough to penetrate the far wall.

Got a deck? Solar panels now a plug-in appliance

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Power deck: plug-in solar panel appliances being tested.

(Credit: Screen capture by Martin LaMonica/CNET)

It's a green-energy geek's dream do-it-yourself project: attach a few solar panels to your deck and watch your electric bills go down. Now one company is selling such a product.

SpinRay Energy has developed a system that lets consumers install up to five solar panels on their decks and plug them into an outdoor power outlet. People can install one panel at a time, and get up to 1,000 watts of power with five installed.

The main electrical components of the system have the UL safety certification, including the solar panel and the microinverter, which converts direct current from the panels to household alternating current. If there is a loss of grid power, the panels will stop delivering current because it could be a danger to line workers, according to the company.

SpinRay Energy is selling the DIY kit through a few retailers, including Amazon. There are just a few reviews, but people who installed the panels say they work as advertised. The deck kit, sold for $1,099.95 on Amazon, comes with brackets that attach to a deck or for setting up panels in a yard. The panels should qualify users for... [Read more]

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Crave giveaway: Zoom Q3HD HD video recorder

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 07:00:00 +0000

As an added bonus, it kind of looks like a sci-fi weapon.

(Credit: Zoom)

Congrats to Angela C. of Spartanburg, S.C., for beating out almost 2,700 giveaway entrants to win last week's freebie, a 42-inch Vizio 3D TV. This week, we've got another great prize, the Zoom Q3HD.

The handy HD pocket camcorder, compatible with Windows and Mac, is basically a Flip camera with the microphones and recording quality of a high-end audio recorder. It captures video in 1080p at 30fps or in 720p at both 30 and 60fps in MPEG-4 H.264 (MOV) video format. Three lighting settings -- Auto, Concert, and Night -- let you capture your star subjects just so.

Audio recording settings allow for recording quality up to 24-bit/96kHz WAV.

So who might like the Zoom Q3HD? CNET's Donald Bell pegged it as one of his top tech gifts for musicians in 2010 (he should know what rock stars like -- he's in a band!), noting that in today's YouTube-centered world, music fans expect to see great live videos from their favorite musicians.

We can think of all kinds of people who'd appreciate this gadget, though -- journalists, proud parents, podcasters, or just about anyone wanting to upload high-quality... [Read more]

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Create an avatar and speak Japanese with NTT DoCoMo

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:31:13 +0000

Memorizing the Gettysburg Address for school? Do it with an avatar of Abraham Lincoln.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET)

NEW ORLEANS--After you've covered the big news and handled the new phones, it's always fun to walk the CTIA show floor and seek out the weird and wonderful. There's usually plenty of sights to behold and you always can count on NTT DoCoMo to lead the way.

Smart shoes step up the wearable-computing pace

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

This prototype demonstration shows from above how a person could use pinch gestures to operate a smartphone. In actual use, the phone would not need to be held in the other hand, and the shoe sensor would be small enough to fit in a shoe.

(Credit: Screen capture by Martin LaMonica/CNET)

A group of researchers says shoes may be the next thing in the busy field of wearable computers and gesture interfaces.

Computer scientists from the Telekom Innovation Laboratories, the University of Munich, and the University of Toronto this week published a paper on ShoeSense, a wearable computing system for a smartphone.

It's one of many gesture interface-related papers being presented this week at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2012) conference, which is sponsored by the research arms of Microsoft, Google, eBay, and other tech companies.

What a ShoeSense sensor would look like.

(Credit: Telekom Innovation Laboratories)

Wearable computing got a high-profile plug when ... [Read more]

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