Ricoh offers Theta M15 360-degree spherical camera with video recording

Ref : foxgadget.com

Published Oct 28, 2014 | dpreview staff

Ricoh Theta M15

Ricoh has announced the Theta M15, a second version of its 360-degree camera. The M15 adds video recording to its portfolio, with clips up to three minutes. Like the original Theta, the M15 is capable of 360-degree spherical images, which can be viewed using Ricoh’s mobile app or theta360.com. Additionally, Ricoh will be releasing an API and beta SDK for independent app developers.

The Ricoh Theta M15 will be offered in several color options with a price tag of $299.95/£269.99.

The Grove HITOMI Los Angeles, US

Press release:

The New RICOH THETA – capture 360-degree images and videos in just one shot

RICOH IMAGING UK has today announced a new model of the RICOH THETA – the RICOH THETA m15.  This incredible device allows users to capture the area all around them – not forgetting above and below – all in a single spherical image. But that’s not all; this new spherical camera can also capture spherical videos!

Since the launch of the original RICOH THETA launch last year, the world’s first image input device1 has opened a new world of imaging possibilities. Users can now shoot game changing spherical images and video at any time, capturing more than they ever imagined.

The RICOH THETA m15, can now capture spherical videos up to three minutes in length with no stitch lines so you can share footage with your contacts that will make them feel like they’re right there!

This new model also enables Wi-Fi transfer at a rate almost twice as fast as the previous model yet all in the same small, lightweight and easy-to-carry design as before.

This new model is available in blue, pink, white and yellow, making the RICOH THETA even more fun and attractive device to carry around every day.

From the 14th November 2014, an API and SDK (beta version) will be released on theta360.com site to allow users to develop their own apps and add new exciting capabilities to their RICOH THETA.

Source : dpreview.com

Wristband drone grabs Intel Make It Wearable challenge $500,000 top prize

Ref : foxgadget.com

By Aaron Mamiit, Tech Times | November 4, 9:07 AM

The Nixie quadcopter can be worn while wrapped around the user’s wrist. The drone will then be able to launch into the air to capture images from hard-to-reach locations.

Intel gave out $500,000 as a prize to the developers of a wristband that can transform into a drone equipped with a camera.

The Nixie quadcopter, as the wristband-drone is named, is the winner of the Make It Wearable Competition held by Intel that the company hopes will ensure its top position in the emerging but lucrative wearable technology industry.

The Nixie quadcopter can be worn while wrapped around the user’s wrist. The drone will then be able to launch into the air to capture images from hard-to-reach locations.

Similar to a boomerang, the Nixie quadcopter will then return to its owner after it has done its duty. The drone then automatically syncs the images that it took to the user’s smartphone.

One of the primary uses for the drone is for rock climbers, who will then be able to take pictures of sights that are rarely seen by humans without compromising their safety.

Aside from that, the Nixie quadcopter has a broad range of uses that is only limited by human application. The drone can be used to look into cracks and crevices in search and rescue missions, capture intense action shots during sporting events, or simply take selfies from higher angles for bigger groups.

Intel launched the Make It Wearable contest back in January to urge both hobbyists and entrepreneurs to utilize the chips of Intel for the development of new wearable technology. The company looks to keep its processors in the forefront of this new trend in technology after falling second behind Qualcomm in tablets and smartphones, which is a trend that Intel was slow to adapt to.

The $500,000 prize, according to Intel, is meant to aid the winners of the competition to develop their prototype into a product that can be sold in the market.

“This was an experiment to see what we could do in this space and see what kind of creativity we could spawn,” said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich during the awarding of the winning group.

“The real value in this was the diversity of the teams and ideas,” Krzanich added.

Other finalists in the competition include a pad that will allow babies born prematurely to feel their mother’s heartbeat, and a necklace that provides cyclists with directions using pulses that are felt on the chest.

Second place went to Open Bionics, a low-cost prosthetic robot hand that looks to keep its price below $1,000, while third place went to ProGlove, a wearable production tool.

Team Nixie is made up of only three people, namely Christoph Kohstall, Jelena Jovanovic, and Michael Niedermayr.

Source : techtimes.com

Man buys foreclosed Florida home, finds corpse in bedroom

Ref : foxgadget.com

William Wilson bought the Cape Coral home in an auction Tuesday, but wasn’t expecting to find human remains inside when he went to inspect the property the next day. Neighbors say an older woman lived in the home, though the most recent piece of mail was from November 2011.

BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN    NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, November 6, 2014, 1:10 PM

Man buys foreclosed Florida home, finds corpse in bedroom

Police investigated after the new owner of this Cape Coral, Fla. home found human remains inside.

This Florida home comes with a unique addition: a corpse.

A Cape Coral man who bought the home Tuesday for $96,000 at a foreclosure auction was shocked to find the decaying remains lying on the master bedroom floor when he went to inspect the property the next day.

“You couldn’t tell who it was,” William Wilson told the News-Press of Fort Myers. “You couldn’t tell if it was a male or a female … it’s disappointing and a sad thing that nobody cared enough to check.”

The long-vacant, light pink home along SE 19th Lane was worn, with rusted gates and dead-bolts chained to the front door. Neighbors said an older woman in her 60s lived at the home with her sister, but she was reclusive and rarely seen, speaking little English, the paper reported.

Inside, authorities found mail from November 2011 and unpaid taxes dating back three years. The smell of decay floated through the home, Wilson told the News-Press, and all that remained was some skin and bones. The rest of the home was basically trashed, and Wilson found a birdcage covered with feces inside the living room.

“The inside was a mess,” Wilson told the Fort Myers broadsheet. “It looked like (someone) was packing to move. There were a lot of boxes, some pictures of children on the fridge.”

The home was built in 2007 and owned by Carmen Garcia-Viso, the paper reported. Her neighbor would use the driveway because he never saw anyone around, causing neighbors to speculate about what was inside.

“I had a hunch,” neighbor Gary Oben Jr. told the paper. “Either it was a grow house or there was a dead lady in there.”

Source : nydailynews.com

Scubus S puts HD video recording, underwater communications and HUD in your diving mask

Ref : foxgadget.com

By Loz Blain
November 2, 2014

Scubus S puts HD video recording, underwater communications and HUD in your diving mask

Development is well underway on the Scubus S, a diving mask that integrates a flashlight, a video camera, a heads-up display and a diver-to-diver communication system into its waterproof housing. It’s designed to make diving safer, as well as more fun.

Soon to go to the crowdfunding stage, the Scubus S integrates a bunch of basic capture and display technologies while putting an underwater spin on communications.

For starters, there’s an HD actioncam built in, capable of recording 1080p at 30 fps, or 720p at 60 fps. The lens offers a 135-degree angle of view (not as wide as the 170-degree GoPro view you’re probably familiar with) and still photos are taken at 12 megapixel resolution. Internal storage is 16 GB.

Scubus S puts HD video recording, underwater communications and HUD in your diving mask

Beside the camera, there’s an LED flashlight, which could come in very handy at the Scubus’ maximum 40 meter (130 ft) depth.

Poking out into view of your right eye is the heads-up display, which puts a bunch of digital information in view at all times. This includes the time, how long you’ve been underwater, a depthometer and the current water temperature, as well as information about whether the camera is recording.

There’s also a chat feature to allow communication between divers. As Bluetooth and other wireless technologies simply don’t work underwater, Scubus has chosen to use underwater acoustic wave propagation to get messages through.

Acoustic wave communication has proven effective in submarine communications, but it’s limited in a small device such as this – the maximum range will be around 100 meters (328 ft) and data rates are quite slow. So instead of being able to communicate via voice audio, or text messaging, you’ll just be able to select from around 20 pre-programmed messages such as “Emergency, help me now!” or “Take picture of me” or, presumably, “sure is wet down here.”

A wrist-worn controller gives you access to the Scubus chat menus and other functions, but it’s unclear how this controller communicates with the device itself.

The Scubus S doesn’t replace the wrist-worn dive computer like Oceanic’s Datamask HUD, which communicates with your air system and works as far as 100 meters (328 ft) under. The Scubus seems more tilted toward the recreational diving market than the Datamask.

Hopefully that means it’ll come in cheaper than the Datamask’s US$1000 price tag. No pricing for the mask is available yet – Scubus team member Noah Smith tells us there will be some options, and that more information will be available when the Scubus S Indiegogo campaign launches on November 10.

Scubus is positioning the S as “the world’s first augmented reality diving mask” – we’re not sure if a simple HUD qualifies as augmented reality, or whether given the Datamask’s years in the market it qualifies as a world first. But it does indeed look like a handy and fun gadget if it comes in at the right price.

Source :  gizmag.com

Human Barbie has been hospitalised after a vicious attack outside her home

Ref : foxgadget.com

6 NOVEMBER, 2014

Valeria Lukyanova says it was the culmination of a two-year hate campaign against her

Human Barbie has been hospitalised after a vicious attack outside her home

Valeria Lukyanova, better known to most as that woman who transformed herself into Human Barbie, was reportedly assaulted in a terrifying attack outside her own home earlier this week.

She claims that the assault in Ukraine is the culmination of a two-year long hate campaign of constant threats and abuse thrown by anonymous strangers, which began to surface after she started to receive worldwide attention for her doll-like appearance.

However Valeria is no longer looking quite so immaculately plastic, after she received dramatic injuries to her lips and head in what she says was a vicious attack at the entrance to her block of flats on Halloween.

Human Barbie has been hospitalised after a vicious attack outside her home

Valeria told the Daily Mail: “I came back home from a shop with bags and entered the door code when two men rushed from the dark and attacked me.”

They said nothing and did not try to rob me. It happened in a flash, they hit me on the head, several times on my jaw, then one of them began strangling me.If it wasn’t for my neighbour who who suddenly appeared, I don’t know what would have happened. They saw her and ran away.
She was hospitalised overnight following the assault: “I feel a little better, but my jaw is still hurting badly. I have been on the strongest pain killer for four days, but still woke in the middle of the night from horrible pains.”

Valeria has told her fans that she is speaking out against the alleged attack to address rumours that she has undergone further plastic surgery for her Human Barbie looks. Despite her miniature waist and various other exaggerated features, she has always denied having any cosmetic procedures other than breast implants.

Whether you’re a fan of her unusual looks or not, it’s unacceptable for a person to be treated in such an appalling way as a result of their appearance. We hope Valeria recovers quickly.

Source : cosmopolitan.co.uk

Christian Bale Exits Steve Jobs Movie (Exclusive)

Ref : foxgadget.com

10:56 AM PST 11/03/2014 by Borys Kit, Tatiana Siegel

Christian Bale, Steve Jobs

Sources say the actor came to the conclusion he was not right for the part and decided to withdraw

Christian Bale will not be Steve Jobs after all.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the actor has fallen off the Jobs biopic that is being directed by Danny Boyle.

The Sony project, which has a script by Aaron Sorkin and is being produced by Scott Rudin, Guymon Casady and Mark Gordon, was on track to begin shooting this winter for a quick turnaround.

Boyle is due in town this week to meet with actors and actresses for the movie. Seth Rogen is in discussions to play Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, but no official offer has been made. It is unclear how Bale’s departure will affect casting.

Sources say Bale, after much deliberation and conflicting feelings, came to the conclusion he was not right for the part and decided to withdraw. The script is said to be divided into three acts that detail Jobs preparing for three presentations that came to define his life and the life of the company he co-founded, lost and came back to.

On Oct. 23, Sorkin told Bloomberg TV that Bale was playing Jobs. “We needed the best actor on the board in a certain age range and that’s Chris Bale,” the writer said at the time. “He didn’t have to audition. Well, there was a meeting.”

Bale marks the second high-profile actor to receive an offer from Sony for the Jobs role but eventually pass. Leonardo DiCaprio also was in line for the late tech icon before moving on to shoot The Revenant. Neither had begun negotiations.

Source : hollywoodreporter.com

AeroMobil 3.0 Flying Car

Ref : foxgadget.com

We knew it would happen eventually. Soon you’ll be able to fly right over those annoying traffic jams thanks to AeroMobil. The prototype for the first flying car  is in the final stages of testing.

New AeroMobil 3.0 Flying Car

AeroMobil. Beautiful flying car. Beautifully integrated. Transforms in seconds from an automobile to an airplane. Gives you freedom to move.

AeroMobil is a flying car that perfectly makes use of existing infrastructure created for automobiles and planes, and opens doors to real door-to-door travel. As a car it fits into any standard parking space, uses regular gasoline, and can be used in road traffic just like any other car. As a plane it can use any airport in the world, but can also take off and land using any grass strip or paved surface just a few hundred meters long.

New AeroMobil 3.0 Flying Car

The current flying car prototype AeroMobil 3.0 incorporates significant improvements and upgrades to the previous pre-prototype AeroMobil 2.5. It is now finalised and has been in regular flight-testing program in real flight conditions since October 2014.

AeroMobil 3.0 Flying Car

The AeroMobil 3.0 is predominantly built from advanced composite material. That includes its body shell, wings, and wheels. It also contains all the main features that are likely to be incorporated into the final product, such as avionics equipment, autopilot and an advanced parachute deployment system.

AeroMobil 3.0 also implements a number of other advanced technologies, such as a variable angle of attack of the wings that significantly shortens the take-off requirements, and sturdy suspension that enables it to take-off and land even at relatively rough terrain.

Source : aeromobil.com