If you’re at all familiar with mobile processors, you’ve likely heard a lot about 32nm vs. 28nm construction when comparing the current generation of chips from companies like Qualcomm and others. That refers to the size of the processor, where a smaller number is better in terms of power consumption, fitting more transistors in less space for more efficient processing. Currently, it’s hard to get past around the 20nm when creating individual patterns for data storage on today’s disk drives, which is another area in addition to processors where Moore’s Law applies. Today though, HGST, a Western Digital Company, announced a breakthrough that allows it to produce patterns as small as 10nm, via a process called “nanolithography,” meaning that it can essentially double the current maximum storage capacity possible in hard disk drives, given the same-sized final product. HGST’s process, which was developed in tandem with Austin, Texas-based silicon startup Molecular Imprints, Inc. doesn’t use the current prevailing photolithography tech, which is limited in how small it can go by the size of light wavelengths, which is what allows it to get to the 10nm threshold, and hopefully beyond even that in time, HGST VP of Research Currie Munce told me in an interview. The upshot of all this is that HGST hopes to have the process ready for wide-scale commercial production by the end of the current decade, with a process that makes the resulting storage both affordable and dependable enough to be used widely by customers who need ever-increasing amounts of storage. The number of customers who fit that description is increasing rapidly, too: the advent and growth in popularity of cloud services means that big companies like Facebook, Apple and Amazon are continually building and expanding new data centers in search of greater storage capacity. HGST’s nanolithography process could double the storage capacity per square foot at any of those facilities, without having the same effect on power requirements, which is clearly an attractive proposition. While the process looks well-suited to disk-based storage, where redundancies and workaround can account for minor imperfections at the microscopic level, Munce says that HGST nanolithography is less well-suited to the task of creating mobile processors for smartphone like those mentioned above. “If you don’t connect the circuits properly on a processor it doesn’t work at all,” he explained. “On a hard disk drive, we can always have error connecting codes, we can always use additional signal processing to cover up a few defects in the pattern that’s created.” Still, for HDDs and computer memory (RAM), HGST’s breakthrough could have a massive impact on cloud computing, mobile devices and the tech industry as a whole, and all within the next five to six years.
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Beautiful design and utility are, in many ways, paramount when it comes to home electronics. That’s why I was really impressed by the the new AM05 space heater/cooler from Dyson. It’s a completely quiet, blade-less system that comes in a black and nickel color scheme that looks like it fell off of Boba Fett’s Slave 1. The AM05 is the successor to the AM04 and is 33% more powerful. It has a stock simple remote control, a nice front temperature readout, and a tilting head. In short, it’s a Dyson product – a little expensive ($399 for a fan is wild), a little weird, and a lot high tech. I tested the device a bit over the past few days and it works a treat. Setting the heater in my cold attic filled the room up with hot air immediately and it looks and feels far safer than similar heaters. This is a fan I’d trust, say, in the kids’ room. Why is this on TechCrunch? There are a few companies with both design and technology chops. Sonos comes to mind as does Apple. Bang & Olufsen are also in that category. But I think what’s most important about a company like Dyson is that they took commodity hardware and made it alluring. Who hasn’t gone to Target and looked at some off-brand vacuum and stacked it up against the surprisingly expensive yet strangely beautiful Dyson. I like when Dyson makes new stuff because it proves that there are people out there still thinking about the future of things that suck and blow.
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For better or worse, the advent of smartphones and tablets mean that we’re rapidly moving away from the more tactile user experiences that were the hallmark of a bygone era in computing. As it turns out, the folks at Fujitsu are eager to close the book on the days of the physical keyboard if what they were showing off here at MWC was any indication. Tucked away in a corner of Fujitsu’s booth here in Barcelona’s Fira Gran Via was a gentleman typing out words onto a tablet via a keyboard for anyone who would watch him. It sounds like a completely mundane occurrence, except the keyboard he was typing on wasn’t actually there. Here’s the idea: thanks to some clever software and the front-facing camera on a tablet, Fujitsu has worked up a way for users to type on just about any flat surface. The software is purely a prototype at this point, but it doesn’t need anything in the way of exotic gadgetry to work properly — it appeared to be running just fine on a generic Fujitsu Windows 8 tablet, albeit with a lamp of sorts to keep the user’s hands nice and bright. Using the gesture keyboard seems so simple when you’re watching it live — a person calmly tapping on the surface of a table is actually typing out sentences — but the underlying tech is nothing to sneeze at. There’s some serious machine learning going on here, as the system gets a feel for the features and movements of a user’s hands to determine their placement on a keyboard that really isn’t there. Sadly, that means there’s a fair amount of optimization that needs to happen before someone could actually start using it. The Japanese gentleman pecking out missives on top of a table was kind enough to let me try it anyway, and while the camera clearly noticed my hand it wouldn’t track any of my finger inputs. Apparently, the software is capable of using skin color to figure who it should actually be accepting input from — at that moment the system was setup to only track his alabaster hands, so my brown mitts were promptly ignored. Certainly a bummer for me, but a still useful feature, especially since one can never tell how many alien hands they’ll encounter as they try to get some work done on the go. Fujitsu is considering turning this into a working product for inclusion on some of its tablets and smartphones and has been at it for a while now — company researchers published a paper on the concept back in 2011. Still, the gesture keyboard strikes me as one of those things that may be too clever for its own good in that it’s a very neat solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist. Trying to get some work done on a tray table on a plane? There’s plenty of room for a physical keyboard. Stuck slaving away in close quarters? Just pound out some text on the touchscreen. The gesture keyboard is clearly very cool (it hearkens back to those neat laser keyboards) and I’d certainly love to a take it for a long-term spin, but I doubt that Fujitsu’s keyboard-less keyboard approach is one that will take the world by storm — for now. Its value as a standalone typing solution is questionable, but if Fujitsu baked it into a tablet or a phone as a novel alternative? Or better yet, if Fujitsu found some willing, ambitious OEM to license it to? Sign me up.
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Apple announced a new milestone for its iTunes U online digital education outlet, which has just crossed the 1 billion download mark. Alongside the announcement, Apple has also informed us exclusively that the company has so far sold more than 8 million iPads directly into educational institution worldwide. iTunes U became a standalone app, complete with its own course marketplace and catalog in June 2012. At the time, iTunes U had served up over 700 million downloads. The additional 300 million downloads mean that the pace of engagement for iTunes U is growing rapidly. iTunes U was introduced in May 2007, meaning that it took the educational product a full five years to rack up just a little over twice that amount. The rapid growth over the last nine months has likely been the result of a combination of factors, including the introduction of the standalone app and an increase in the adoption of iPads in educational settings. AllThingsD reported earlier that to date, Apple has sold more than 4.5 million iPads to U.S.-based educational institutions, a figure which Apple confirmed to us as correct. Thanks to some clever calculation on the part of 9to5Mac’s Jordan Kahn based on publicly available information, it looks like the vast majority of that number was sold recently, over the past year in fact. Apple CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly stressed how important the education market is in the context of the iPad, and the fact that it’s doing so well with institutional sales both at home and abroad backs that up. Apple also shared some details about school participation in iTunes U today, noting that more than 1,200 universities and colleges, and over 1,200 K-12 schools host over 2,500 public courses on iTunes U, along with thousands more private courses available only to enrolled students. Some big institutions are embracing iTunes U with particular vigor, Apple notes, including Standford and The Open University, both of which have racked up over 60 million content downloads alone. Some of the more popular individual courses have around 250,000 students enrolled, Apple noted. Greg noted in a recent article that online education is fast replacing physical colleges, with startups like Coursera reaping many of the benefits. Apple has the advantage of being a very early player in this space, and the ubiquity of its iPad tablet is clearly helping the company add a lot more momentum to its efforts to help institutions embrace online learning.
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OUYA, the Kickstarter-funded Android gaming console, has already shipped developer consoles, but had yet to specify an exact date when backers could expect their production devices. Today, the company announced that it will be shipping the first OUYA consoles out to backers beginning March 28, ahead of a June retail launch. The gaming hardware startup shipped its first developer consoles starting December 28, in keeping with its anticipated deadlines from the project outset. A March 28 date for final hardware is also in keeping with OUYA’s original timeline, which called for a March 2013 launch window for OUYA consoles and controllers. OUYA says to expect it to take “a few weeks” for shipments to be sent out to all backers, who will receive tracking numbers and estimated delivery dates once the consoles begin leaving for their destinations. Alongside the shipping announcement, OUYA CEO Julie Uhrman also announced some new information around games coming to the platform. Porta’s Kim Swift and Airtight Games are working on an OUYA exclusive, and Minority Media will provide an adventure puzzle game this upcoming fall that makes full use of the OUYA’s touchpad and button controls, something Uhrman says is a first for the platform. Tripwire Interact’s The Ball is also coming to OUYA in March, and the firm is developing an OUYA exclusive for later release as well. Finally, the OUYA update from the company includes the news that Kellee Santiago, co-founder of Journey studio thatgamecompany is joining the startup to head up developer relations. Clearly, OUYA wants to do everything it can to address criticism around its gaming library.
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MYO, the gesture control armband from Y Combinator-backed Waterloo startup Thalmic Labs, has managed to rack up over 10,000 pre-orders over the course of its first two days of pre-order availability. At $149 a pop, that means the young company has already managed to secure around $1.5 million in gross revenue, so long as they actually ship hardware. The MYO, as Ryan pointed out on Monday, is a wearable control device for smartphones, PCs and other electronics that uses lower-power Bluetooth 4.0 to connect, which also has a boatload of sensors on board to help it detect electrical activity in arm and hand muscles to detect movements at the earliest possible stage. It’s the latest in a series of devices trying to make sci-fi type interfaces a reality, and could be among the most accurate yet. Thalmic Labs co-founder and CEO Stephen Lake explained in an interview that while the team expected some kind of response to its launch, there was no way they could have anticipated quite this level of interest. “I think we knew that there was going to be a lot of people interested in the technology, since it’s such a cool technology, and there are so many good potential applications for it,” he said. “We’re not completely surprised, but the amount of attention it’s got is more than anyone could’ve expected.” Lake had some ideas about why people are so interested in traditional modes of interaction for computers. He said he believes people are looking around for something different, and that MYO is a case of the “right technology at the right time.” “There’s a lot happening right now with the form factor and how we’re connected to technology,” he said. “A lot of the technology that’s coming out, and Google Glass is a perfect example in the realm of wearable technology, is really going to change not just how we input information into the computer, but just how we interact with technology, and make our devices an extension of ourselves instead of an outside thing you’re interacting with.” The interest from consumers eager to try out the MYO has likewise attracted a lot of interest from distributors and retail partners, Lake said. His inbox has been flooded with “thousands” of emails from companies wanting to be a distribution partner for MYO all over the world. He wasn’t at liberty to share any details on early stage discussions at this point, but it seems reasonable to expect the MYO will get a splashy launch when it’s ready to come to market. Developer interest has also grown by leaps and bounds thanks to the initial response from buyers and media, Lake said. Building out that community is key, just as it is for other innovative input and interaction hardware like the Leap Motion Controller, and Lake says Thalmic will have a dedicated developer website with support forums and more information up and running as soon as possible to help deal with the influx of attention.
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We’re positively sure no one ever in the history of the world looked at a soccer ball and thought of it as anything more than just a soccer ball. That’s why we’re a little astounded at SOCCKET, just a normal soccer ball… that also doubles as a portable generator. You take SOCCKET and play around with it just as you would with an ordinary soccer ball. Dribble, score some goals, take a few good-natured kicks at people’s heads. SOCCKET then takes all of that kinetic energy from rolling around and hitting people’s heads and converts it into electrical energy. SOCCKET also includes a tiny LED lamp that can be plugged into the ball. 30 minutes of play with SOCCKET can power the lamp for 3 hours. SOCCKET’s aim, of course, is to be a little more than a novelty item gathering dust on the shelves of The Sharper Image. What may seem like a cool “gimmicky” gadget to us is surely a lot more than that to developing regions of the world with limited access to electricity. That’s probably why SOCCKET is currently being tested into “resource-poor” areas of North America, South America, and Africa. When you add that factor to soccer’s (aka football’s) overall popularity worldwide, this all sounds like it could be a real winner. SOCCKET is currently fundraising over at Kickstarter, with a starting pledge of $89.
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A new patent application by Apple published by the USPTO this week describes a stand for the iPad that uses magnets to hold the Apple tablet in place. iPads already come with fairly powerful magnets built into their frames, something Apple introduced along with the very first model to make the iPad compatible with its smart cover. The patent describes a magnetic stand which would be able to hold the iPad firmly in place in a number of different settings, and perform various functions. Some examples provided in the patent include mounting the iPad to a tripod, a treadmill, or a music stand, and even attaching two iPads together via a hinge that would allow iPads to be used together in a book-style configuration. The patent text says that the mounting device would work together with a shielded, in-built magnetic component on the target device (which the iPad already has), thus enabling for a much stronger connection that would normally be possible, since powerful unshielded magnets could have an adverse effect on internal electronic components. The mounting system described in the patent does more than just provide for a stand that can grip the iPad firmly: different permutations also include data connections, so that in the book type instance, for example, both tablet devices have a wired connection built in to their portion of the hinge, making communication between the two tablets possible. That would mean things like flipping pages in a book would actually have an effect on both tablet displays simultaneously, instead of each acting independently. The patent also goes into a lot more detail about how an in-car mount might work with an iPad. A rotational sensor could be used to activate and deactivate the tablet, for instance, meaning the iPad could have an on and off position (likely portrait and landscape respectively), and there’s also potential to have a tablet-to-vehicle connection initiated when a car detects a specific “magnetic signature.” That, combined with wireless connection direct to a car’s communication system, would effectively render a person’s iPad a unique and personalized in-car entertainment device and control console. The patent describes a driver issuing voice-based commands to the iPad, which are passed on to the car to change the car’s “configuration.” The communication would be two-way, too, with the car feeding  ”car status information “ back to the iPad, which would also be able to handle navigation duties and play back music through the connected car’s stereo. At first glance, this patent application by Apple is just about using the iPad’s magnetics for more than simply holding onto a cover. But digging in deeper, it’s actually about turning the iPad into pretty much exactly the kind of in-car accessory I recently hoped for aloud in a post bemoaning the current state of in-car entertainment systems. Overall, this patent could do a lot to help expand the iPad’s dominion even further, by turning it into a carry-anywhere intelligent, integrated media console for a variety of different devices and applications that currently have less than impressive built-in versions of the same.
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Barnes & Noble has reported Q3 2013 earnings for the fiscal three-month period ending January 31, with a loss of $0.18 per share on quarterly revenues of $2.2 billion. That’s down 8.8 percent from the same period last year, when B&N reported gains of $0.71 per share. Net losses in Q3 totaled $6.1 million, a clear drop from net earnings of $52 million a year ago. Analysts predicted revenues of $2.4 billion, and an EPS of $.54. Last quarter saw revenues of $1.9 billion and losses of $0.04 per share. Q3 has been a messy one for the retailer, which started out as a college text book store. The holiday period, which is usually a sure spike for retailers, left Barnes & Noble with a 10.9 percent sales decrease on B&N retail and BN.com from the same time last year. B&N blames this on declining Nook hardware sales at its retail locations. Reports are floating around that Barnes & Noble may spin out its Nook hardware business, or perhaps focus its OEM vision on partnerships with Microsoft. Barnes & Noble denies the reports, with CEO William Lynch stating today that the company is adjusting the Nook strategy and righting the segment’s cost structure. But based on the widening losses compared to Barnes & Noble’s glory days, a drastic change could be needed. The Nook segment had revenues of $311 million during the nine-week period ending December 29, which was a 12.6 percent decrease from last year’s holiday Nook sales. All in all, Q3 saw a 26 percent YOY drop in Nook retail. Barnes & Noble announced on January 28 that it would shutter nearly 1/3 of its retail stores, bringing its total from 689 to between 450 and 500 over the next decade. Luckily, digital content sales rose 13.1 percent over that same nine-week holiday period, indicating that a departure from hardware and a focus on digital products could be the saving grace for the company. The company also said on Valentines Day that it expected the Nook business to post an increased full-year loss, exceeding the $262 million loss seen in fiscal 2012. Though, B&N also expected losses to be less than $3 billion.
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Google has officially shut down registrations for its #ifihadglass round of Google Glass pre-orders/applications. The competition was first announced on February 20, alongside a video asking prospective Google Glass buyers to take to Twitter or Google+ using the #ifihadglass hashtag to explain why they deserve one of the first-ever Google Glass Explorer Editions. Along with the social post, users also filled out an application here. Today, however, the window has closed. Google didn’t say just how many sets of Google Glass would go out in this round, but the slow and steady approach makes sense for a product like Glass. Rather than let anyone get a try, Google is ensuring that only the most die-hard Glassholes get the device, which is still in its developer/beta phase. With more people using the product, Google buys itself a bigger test base and lures in developers without disappointing anyone. The company timed the competition nicely, letting The Verge’s Joshua Toposlky go hands-on with Google Glass on Feb. 22. What’s it like to use Glass? @joshuatopolsky of @verge goes behind the scenes w/ @projectglass goo.gl/zjCUg #ifihadglass — A Googler (@google) February 26, 2013 There were some pretty interesting submissions made via Twitter, which you can browse here. This is one of my favorites, considering that Google Glass was spotted on eBay earlier this week, and has been subsequently removed. #ifihadglass I would sell it on Ebay because enough foolish people overvalue and overestimate its usefulness. — Matt (@matttk) February 28, 2013 In the meantime, we’ll just have to wait for Google to open up another round of pre-orders.
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Google has yet to release the Mirror API that will open Google Glass as a platform, but developers of some of the more popular mobile apps today are gearing up for when wearable computing products, like Glass, will. Today, speaking at a keynote at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Dennis Crowley, CEO of social location app Foursquare, highlighted Google’s new headgear as an example of how mobile screens are evolving, and later he told TechCrunch that Foursquare is looking at how it can evolve along with that. “Anywhere there’s a screen, we want to put our stuff on it, whether that’s on a phone, or a watch, or whatever,” he said. He also added that Foursquare hasn’t yet worked with Google Glass itself. This week at MWC, Google did not have a formal presence at the main exhibition, but it’s been here nevertheless. Apart from the many Android device makers here — with the biggest of all, Samsung, taking stand space in multiple halls and even the train station nearby — Google had its usual Android party and there have been Google Glass sightings both at the official event and elsewhere. Wearable computing devices like Google Glass, which make interacting with services ever more seamless, dovetail with how Foursquare is trying to make its services more automatic and easy to use, requiring less proactive input from consumers in order to function. Crowley said that Foursquare is gearing up to launch a new feature in the next couple of weeks that builds on this concept, enhancing the “contextual awareness” (his words) introduced by existing services like Radar. (Introduced in 2011, Radar alerts users to when they are near places that they have flagged in their app.) “The best version of Foursquare is the one you don’t think about using,” he told TechCrunch on the sidelines of today’s keynote. And while for Foursquare part of reaching that goal is to be on as many platforms as possible, it’s also about integrating with other applications, furthering its own position as a platform for location services. The company already works with 40,000 developers to power location services, including Path, Instagram and Evernote. “We’re slowly starting to become the location layer for the Internet,” Crowley said. In January, Google started to run its first hackathons, in San Francisco and New York, for developers interested in Google Glass and getting an early look at the Mirror API. More from TechCrunch’s longer conversation with Crowley coming soon.
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With 3D printing on the verge of going mainstream, you can manufacture almost anything. As of November 2010, you can add a 3D-printed car to that list, too. The Urbee 2 is a two-wheeled hybrid assembled entirely from parts spat out of 3D printers, reports Wired. Just as Makerbot and Form 1 have changed the way we perceive manufacturing, Urbee is seeking to change the way we build cars. Urbee is the brainchild of Jim Kor and his team at Kor Ecologic, a company solely dedicated to the future of 3D vehicle manufacturing. Their website expands upon their grand vision for the future of the automobile, a few points of which we’ve listed below. “Use the least amount of energy possible for every kilometer travelled. Cause as little pollution as possible during manufacturing, operation, and recycling of the car. Use materials available as close as possible to where the car is built.” Kor’s aim is to make the cars of the future light, energy efficient, and easy to manufacture. The manufacturing process of the Urbee takes place entirely inside RedEye, a 3D printing facility that was also used to produce the world’s first 3D printed motorcycle. Kor says one of the virtues of 3D printing is the added flexibility that’s impossible to produce with sheet metal. Instead of producing a multitude of parts that would assembled later, the 3D printers can spit out a single, unibody part that makes manufacturing a heck of alot easier. Kor simply uploads the models for each part into the printers and 2,500 hours later (that’s something like 105 days), Kor has all the plastic parts he needs to assemble his car. That’s right, the world’s first 3D printed car is also a plastic car. Kor has assurances that the Urbee will be perfectly safe to drive out on in the road. “We’re calling it race car safety,” Kor tells Wired, “We want the car to pass the tech inspection required at Le Mans.” And the car isn’t entirely made of plastic. The engine and the base chassis, of course, will be made of steel. Good luck, Urbee. You may look like an oversized computer mouse, but you’ve come a long way from the days when you looked like this.
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Just as some people are put on this earth to create things, others are prone to destroy everything they touch. Those people should probably spend some time with the Caterpillar-branded CAT B15, an aluminum-and-rubber-clad Android smartphone that (inadvertently) encouraged people to work on their stress issues here at MWC. Naturally, Caterpillar isn’t actually making the phones — it’s a very far cry from the engines and bulldozers that the company is better known for. The device itself is made by a licensee called Bullitt Mobile, a U.K.-based company whose sole reason for existing seems to be churning out these sorts of rugged handsets. In fact, It’s actually rather hard to get a firm idea of how tough this thing actually is. Sure, it’s completely dust-proof (assuming all the ports are properly closed) and the 4-inch display is swathed in second generation Gorilla Glass, but it’s all sort of abstract until you hold the thing in your hand the feel the urge to heave it somewhere. In spite of its considerable chubbiness, the B15 is actually lighter than you’d expect, though it’s still going to elicit some stares should you shove the thing into your pocket. In a classic case of brawn vs. brains, the B15 isn’t the snappiest thing you’ll ever see with its dual-core 1GHz Qualcomm processor and but it’s still got enough horsepower to handle most daily tasks. If anything, performance is aided by the fact that the particular build of Android loaded up on the B15 is totally stock — no garish, cumbersome UI to be found here. And perhaps best of all, the 4-inch display recognizes touch input even when it’s wet — mostly. After a booth representative shot down my attempt to hurl the thing like baseball (not a huge loss, my fastball is pretty lousy), I settled for dunking the B15 in some water a few times. For the first few instances, things worked fine, but at some point you’ll eventually have to wipe the thing down for it to start behaving properly again. Hardly a big deal, but those of you looking for an Android-powered diving buddy will have to look elsewhere (especially because it’s only waterproof until you go deeper than 1 meter). In the event that your current smartphone is just too puny to keep up with your lifestyle, the CAT B15 will be available in March for €395 — try not to hurt yourself until then. Click to view slideshow.
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It takes a lot to stand out at a trade show the size of Mobile World Congress. But here’s one device that caught my eye today: an e-ink smartphone. Unlike Yota Phone, the Russian startup that’s using e-ink as a second screen to augment the back of a powerful high end smartphone in a bid to stand out in the uber crowded Android space, this prototype device has just the one screen. A single e-ink screen on the front of the device — so it’s a true e-ink phone. It’s also a true smartphone. There were two prototypes on show at Eink‘s stand, both with a 1GHz chip inside and one (the white one) with a 3G chip in it. The other had Edge connectivity. The phones run Android but, as you’d expect, the OS has been simplified with a custom UI that strips back the functionality to focus on the applications that make sense for a fully e-ink smartphone — such as a reader app, a dialer and email. The UI also includes a web browser since certain types of webpages can be viewed on an e-ink screen. It won’t support video of course but text-based sites can still be read. The black prototype device (pictured below) also includes a backlight for reading in the dark. Both screens are capacitive, but as you’d expect with e-ink the refresh rate can be a little slow. Ghosting on the screen from past renders can be removed by shaking the device. The technology can support both portrait and landscape orientation so the e-ink smartphone could be turned on its side to switch the orientation to more of an e-reader sized width. Both devices felt incredibly lightweight. Why do you want an only e-ink phone? Price for one thing. Battery life for another. Not to mention visibility in bright sunlight. Put all those factors together and this could be the perfect device for some emerging markets where electricity is at a premium. The prototypes are proof of concept at this point but Giovanni Mancini, director of product management for E-ink — the company which makes the screen — said the Chinese OEM which has made the prototypes, Fndroid, is talking to telcos and could launch a device this year. So how much would this e-ink smartphone cost? Mancini said the device maker would set the price but in his view it would be comparable with a feature phone price tag. A big theme of this year’s MWC has been smaller mobile players — from open source OSes like Firefox that are seeking to drive openness and accessibility and drive down the cost of devices, to mobile veterans like Nokia focusing afresh on building smarter feature phones to target cost-conscious users in emerging markets. So it’s interesting to see companies toying with the idea of an entirely e-ink smartphone to cut device costs while preserving key smartphone functions such as access to the internet and email. Click to view slideshow.
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I love hardware. That’s why I want you guys to bring some of the coolest hardware projects imaginable to Disrupt NY this year. That’s why I want you guys in our Hardware Alley. Hardware Alley is a one-day celebration of hardware start ups both young and old. The goal has always been to show off amazing hardware that we have written about over the past few months, as well as a few surprises. Last Disrupt we featured the guys from Thermovape, Makerbot, and Lit Motors. This year we want to fill Disrupt NYC with more amazing companies. For more details on Disrupt head over here. We’re looking for new or even unlaunched products, as well as potential Kickstarter projects. Prototypes are fine as long as they’re amazing. You can see the previous Hardware Alley participants here. You can sign up here. Bootstrappers can contact me directly at john@techcrunch.com if you need a break on price. Hope to see you in the alley… the Hardware Alley. Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our amazing sponsorship team here sponsors@techcrunch.com.
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If you’re into DSLR photography, remotely controlling the thing is a pretty common want for new users and seasoned veterans alike. Satechi’s BT Smart Trigger, which starts shipping today, is a remote that works with a range of Canon DSLRs, connecting to the camera’s hot shoe and giving them full control over their camera’s shutter. It also doubles as an intervalometer, making it possible to get those cool time lapse and extended exposure shots that never fail to draw the appreciation of photography fans. The Smart Trigger connects to your camera via USB, and rests in the hot shoe mount normally reserved for flashes and other accessories. It communicates with the iPhone via Bluetooth 4.0, meaning it’s a low power consumption device which can get up to 10 years of battery life, and has a range of 50 feet. The trigger app works with iPhone and iPad, and features both a basic standard shooting mode, as well as Manual Shot, which allows for long exposures (like the ones where you see people writing things in the air with sparklers), or Time Shot, which captures a series of images that are then stitched together to generate time-lapse images (like the lightstream photos you see of nighttime cityscapes with busy thoroughfares). The Satechi Bluetooth 4.0 Smart Trigger might not be able to relay a live feed of the camera’s digital viewfinder, as Canon’s official remote app can with the Canon 6D’s built-in Wi-Fi radio, but at $44.99 it’s an excellent option for amateurs and enthusiasts looking for an easier way to take time-lapse and long exposure specialty shots, using the iPhone they already know and love. Satechi also says that Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note 2 compatibility will be coming sometime in March, so owners of two of the most popular Android smartphones will be able to join in on the fun at that time, too.
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Yota Devices, the Russian company that has nerds like me excited with its combo e-ink/LCD display smartphone designs, today announced at MWC that it has entered into a software licensing agreement with Qualcomm to help it bring LTE-capable smartphones, modems and routers to market. Yota becomes the first Qualcomm software licensee in Russia with the deal, and for Qualcomm, it means securing a partner in a key target area in terms of future mobile market growth. “Russia is strategically important to us as we expect strong growth in the number of 3G smartphones over the next two years,” Qualcomme Europe President and Senior VP of QTI Enrico Salvatori is quoted as saying in a release announcing the news. As a hardware company, Yota Devices already has a lot of expertise under its belt from building modems and routers, including its own self-branded designs starting in 2010. The arrangement with Qualcomm will help them work directly with QTI at every stage of the design process of new devices, which will help the Russian firm better compete on a global scale with established OEM handset and mobile device manufacturers. Yota announced earlier this month that it will begin mass producing its innovative e-ink phone in Signapore, with commercial launch planned first for Russia by the second half of this year, and then expanding to Asian markets. The YotaPhone features an e-ink display on the back of the handset, which can show relatively static and notifications info while sipping power, allowing a user to only turn on the more power-hungry LCD screen on the front when they need to view video, for instance, or browse the web. The YotaPhone is powered by a 28nm Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. With Qualcomm’s backing, Yota improves its chances of becoming a global contender in the smartphone market. The firm has made waves with its first smartphone design, but now it has to ship the device before we get a better idea of just how much demand there is out there for a dual-splay handset.
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Big screens are the talk of the town at MWC. Got nothing else to announce that makes your handset stand out from the crowd? Throw a huge screen on the sucker. Or just put phone features in a tablet and call it a day. Apple seems to be the only smartphone OEM out there without a giant-screened smartphone, but designer Peter Zigich has created a concept of what a Cupertino phablet could look like, should Apple ever feel the need to big it up. In a new blog post, Zigich envisions a number of different concepts for a next-generation iPhone, including a design that gains screen real estate simply by shifting the home button to the side of the device, clearing the entire front for display. That adds an extra row of apps, above and beyond the five plus dock available on the iPhone 5. A recessed, side-mounted home button actually makes a lot of sense, especially with one on each side for convenience/ambidextrous use, as Zigich has placed them in his mockup. Would Apple actually add a button to its design in the real world though? Never, say I. Zigich’s basic iPhone 6 redesign borrows cues from the iPad mini to reduce the size of the bezel around the display, which is feasible if Apple integrates its accidental screen edge touch filters to the smartphone. The designer also employs the same tricks in developing an iPhone mini concept, and what he calls an “iPhone 6 XL,” or an iOS powered equivalent of a Galaxy Note-style handset with a big ol’ screen. With his nearly edge-to-edge screen, Zigich says that his concept is still perfectly usable with one hand, which has been a sticking point for Apple in the past, at least in terms of the public line it has taken regarding bigger displays on smartphones. And the squat iPhone mini uses the same size screen as is found in an iPhone 4/4S, but in a much smaller package thanks to the new placement of the home button(s) and the shrunken bezel elements. These concepts are excellent in that they don’t venture too far from Apple’s current design, making them look and feel like something we could actually see out of Cupertino, but despite their merits I doubt we’ll see Apple unveil very similar designs at any upcoming event. Still, with rumors of different screen sizes and new iPhone SKUs flying, it’s interesting to see a material take on how exactly Apple might go about that kind of product differentiation.
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Leap Motion today announced that its innovative motion controller for PCs will start shipping to pre-order buyers beginning May 13, and will launch in the U.S. at Best Buy locations on May 19. Full retail price for the Leap Motion Controller will be $79.99, the company announced, $10 more than the pre-order asking price. If you’re looking for an earlier release date than the official retail launch, Leap Motion continues to accept pre-orders for the controller through its own website, for both international and U.S. customers, and American buyers can now also pre-order Best Buy as of today. Pre-orders direct from Leap will be shipped out to customers based on their spot in line. So far, Leap Motion has had pre-orders in the “hundreds of thousands,” the company tells me, though it isn’t releasing more specific numbers. Leap’s controller ships with built-in support for Windows 7 and 8, as well as Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.8. It is bundled with Airspace, Leap Motion’s dedicated app store, where it will offer partner titles that incorporate Leap Motion controls, including games, utilities, art apps and more. Leap is also finally revealing some of those partners, including Autodesk, Corel Painter, Disney games and Double Fine’s music title Dischord. The Weather Channel will also field a Leap Motion compatible app, and ZeptoLabs has made Cut The Rope ready to work with the 3D input device. “We’ve talked about our app store as a key way to distribute software that our developers are creating,” Leap Motion VP of Marketing Michael Zagorsek explained in an interview. “We’re not going into it too much right now, because we didn’t want to overshadow the launch date news, but we realize that we really need to shift the narrative of the company more and more to the apps that we’re working to create.” The app store is a crucial one for Leap Motion to tell. It has managed to secure immense pre-launch consumer and tech industry attention thanks to some very impressive demos of Minority Report-style interaction with the computers we already know and love, but sustaining the momentum it has built will depend on making sure early adopters feel there’s a strong reason to keep using the Leap Motion Controller, rather than forgetting it in a closet. The Airspace software marketplace, which will be both a standalone downloadable app itself, as well as a web-based storefront, will be a big part of achieving that goal. I should be very early in the Leap Motion Controller pre-order queue, and can’t wait to get my hands on (or floating in the air above, as the case may be) this device. For now, this demo of Realmac Software’s Clear for Mac to-do list being controlled by a Leap Motion Controller will have to suffice. document.getElementById('wpcom-iframe-form-e5e427f008c5187eec2fc7e24f993c93').submit();
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Mobile chipmaker Qualcomm has a track record of pushing new capabilities into its chips faster than its competitors in a bid to carve out a bigger chunk of the market. Last year, for instance, its LTE Snapdragon processor helped it to take a 48 per cent revenue share in H1 (Strategy Analytics‘ figure), helping to drive more LTE handsets into the market which in turn accelerated the rate of 4G adoption. The company made an interesting acquisition last November, buying some of the assets of an Israeli company called EPOS which makes digital ultrasound technology. Ultrasound may seem an odd technology to push into consumer electronics but Qualcomm clearly sees it as another differentiator for its chips, thanks to its potential to offer some novel additions to the user interface space — both for stylus-based inputs and even touch-less interfaces like gestures. Discussing Qualcomm’s interest in ultrasound at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow in Barcelona, Raj Talluri, SVP of Product Management, explained that to put the technology to work in mobile devices an ultrasound transmitter could be located in a stylus, with microphones sited on the mobile device that can then detect the position of the pen. Samsung has already included a capacitive stylus with its Galaxy Note phablet but Talluri said an ultrasound-based stylus would extend the capabilities — allowing a stylus to be used off-screen, say on the table top next to where your phone is resting, and still have its input detected. “It’s is better [than a capacitive stylus] in some key different ways which we’re working on getting to market – for example you could write here [on the table next to the phone] and it will still detect where it is. So let’s say you have a [paper] notepad… and you have a phone [nearby on the table] and you can start writing on your notepad it will actually also be transcribed into text on the phone because what happens is the ultrasound can be used to calibrate any reasonable distance,” he told TechCrunch. The technology could also support gesture-based interactions by positioning an ultrasound transmitter on the mobile device. “There are many use cases of ultrasound,” said Talluri. “You could put a little ultrasound transmitter here [on the corner of the screen] and transmit stuff and then when you cut the ultrasound field [by swiping above the device's screen] you can do gestures. “There’s many different things you can do with it, once you have it. So we’re working on it and hopefully we’ll get it to commercial products.” Talluri would not be drawn on the likely timeframe of bringing this technology to market in Qualcomm chips, or which device makers Qualcomm is working with. “We haven’t announced anything yet. There’s clearly a lot of work to be done on it. We’re working on it we’re just not ready to announce,” he said. “We are very interested in in, that’s why we acquired the assets.” He would say that Qualcomm is looking at both phone and tablet form factors for the ultrasound tech but added that it could work “anywhere” — including in wearable devices, such as Google Glass. The system also doesn’t necessarily require new microphones to function — opening up the possibility of ultrasound-enabled accessories that can be retrofitted to existing devices to extend their capabilities. “The other nice thing is that we find that the microphones [on existing mobile devices] that we put in to use for speech can also detect ultrasound waves — so you probably don’t need special microphones. There are lots of interesting ways to do it… You just need a transmitter somewhere,” said Talluri. Discussing how mobile chipsets are generally going to evolve, Talluri said in his view the focus will be, not so much on on simply adding more and more cores, but rather on getting all the various chipset elements to work together better. “We think the next generation of innovation is going to be more on heterogeneous compute. Right now if you look in the phone we’ve got CPUs, we’ve got GPUs, we’ve got video engines, we’ve got audio engines, we’ve got cameras, we’ve got security blocks but they all do one thing at a time.  Ideally you just want to say I want to do this and it should just go map itself to whatever its logical place is and if that place is busy it should work on something else, maybe not optimally,” he said. “That’s what I mean by heterogeneous compute. Every block should be able to do other things so that’s kind of where I think SOC in general will evolve to. How can you take advantage of the silicon that you put inside the die to do multiple things, not just one thing at a time. I think that’s a more interesting concept than just put more cores.”
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After Sony released a string of curious Android tablets that failed to catch on, the company had no choice but to go back to the drawing table and try something different. That something different wound up being the Xperia Tablet Z, easily one of its most conventional designs yet — a choice that may end up paying off nicely. Now that the decidedly non-kooky Xperia Tablet Z is gearing up for an appearance stateside, we tracked one down here at MWC to get a glimpse at what Sony’s tantalizingly thin tab brings to the table. First things first — if you’re a fan of minimalist industrial design, then you’ll find a lot to like here. Sony’s bright 10.1-inch Reality Display (running at 1,920×1200 no less) is the clear focal point of the device’s face, and there’s nothing else save for a Sony logo, an IR blaster in the corner, and an easily missed 2-megapixel camera. The display is also aided by one of Sony’s Mobile Bravia engines, which means colors can easily take on a lurid cast unless you dial it down. Meanwhile, the back is a matte black slab devoid of any detail other than a small Xperia logo and an 8.1-megapixel camera in the top- right corner. One could easily call it dull, but “understated” feels like a better fit because of how nice it feels. The Tablet Z weighs in at a scant 1.09 pounds, and its trim waistline is only 6.99mm thick — for a bit of perspective, the iPad mini is just a hair thicker at 7.22mm. In order to keep the weight as low as possible Sony resorted to an almost entirely plastic body. That sounds like the recipe for a chintzy-feeling tab, but that’s definitely not the case here. Despite being very light, the Tablet Z has a remarkably solid, premium feel to it. There’s a little bit of give to be felt if you grab the thing by the sides and give it a twist so it may suffer from some long-term issues down the road, but it’s a far cry from some of the overly creaky, plasticky tablets that still pepper the market. Click to view slideshow. A quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset and 2GB of RAM are tucked away inside the Tab Z’s waterproof chassis, and my time with the Tablet Z was largely lag-free. When faced with the prospect of putting out tens of devices for public consumption at Mobile World Congress, most companies typically try to do something to keep we nerds from mucking around with them too much. Not so here — I was able to download and install Quadrant from the Google Play Store to get a slightly better idea of what the Tablet Z is capable of. Over the course of three trials the Tablet Z consistently put up scores in the low to mid-7,000s and topped out at 7601 — devices like the Nexus 10 and Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 usually hover around the mid-4,000s. Granted, this is a synthetic benchmark and doesn’t provide a complete picture of performance, but it’s clear that Xperia Tablet Z is no slouch. I only really have one gripe with Xperia Tablet Z — the custom UI that Sony has loaded on top of Android. Longtime readers may know that I’m an avid proponent of leaving Android untouched, and Sony’s implementation just doesn’t do it for me. In fairness, it’s lighter and less cumbersome than some of the other overlays currently clogging up other Android devices so you may disagree, but the occasional bit of visual stutter while rifling through menus, and the fact that background images were distorted when set, raised some flags. That said, Sony has added some neat features to help make up for it, such as a universal remote app that doubles as a programming guide, and a revamped new gallery that displays geotagged photos on a globe. At an early morning press address yesterday, Sony Mobile CEO Kuni Suzuki pointed to a renewed focus on bringing the company’s “cutting-edge technology and resources” to Sony Mobile, and confidently called 2013 a “breakthrough year.” Naturally, it’s too early to tell if that actually pans out, but certainly not impossible. The Xperia Tablet Z is a (hopefully not so) rare return to form for Sony, and here’s hoping that the rest of 2013 is full of products as well-executed as this one.
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BlackBerry may be launching a new platform in certain markets to try to win back users, but it’s focusing on service additions in other places where the BlackBerry install base remains strong. Today it’s officially launching BBM Money in Indonesia, in partnership with PermataBank and Monitise to bring real-time mobile payments to BlackBerry’s platform-specific social network and messaging service. The service (tipped late last year) allows BlackBerry users to create a mobile money account attached to their BBM identity, and use that to transfer money to other BBM contacts, as well as purchase airtime credit for their device, or move money to bank accounts. The mobile payments play will mean that million of Indonesian BBM customers will be able to quickly conduct business transactions right in the service where many of them already communicate on business matters, and allow merchants and others to quickly accept payments with the devices they already own without requiring the involvement of any third-party device or software. Market saturation of phones overall in Indonesia is high, and BlackBerry is the number one selling smartphone in the country, which makes it a logical place to launch a mobile money service that requires both parties to have BlackBerries to work. Monitise Group Strategy Director Richard Johnson went into more detail about just why the Indonesian market was such a perfect fit for this launch. “BlackBerry Messenger is the dominant short message communication platform in Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world with 240 million people,” he said in an interview. “There is also the country’s 90 percent mobile penetration and the fact that BlackBerry is the number one selling mobile smartphone there – more than half of all smartphones sold in Indonesia are BlackBerry devices. At a global level, what is really exciting here with real-time chat evolving through real-time engagement, is that you are effectively taking a social network and turning it into a payment network.” Users aren’t charged for sending money between BBM contacts, or topping up their airtime minutes on a prepaid SIM using the service. They do incur normal banking and mobile rates, however, depending on their specific bank’s policies regarding fund transfers, and on their mobile plan. It work with any device running BlackBerry OS 5 or higher, with BBM 6 or higher, though it isn’t available on BB10 (which is of little consequence, since it has yet to launch in Indonesia anyway). BBM Money does two key things for BlackBerry: It helps entrench the service in markets where BlackBerry is still the smartphone platform of choice, and it offers yet another opportunity for service differentiation to continue to help evolve BBM into something more than similar offerings from Apple (iMessage) and third parties (Kik, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger). Should the pilot go well, I’d expect to see further launches in other markets where BlackBerry needs to dig in to help keep its lead, like Nigeria and South Africa.
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document.getElementById('wpcom-iframe-form-3abe36c75b0174708e0080b67b531046').submit(); A new Kickstarter project called the Ego! Smartmouse blends together some recent trends in computing, including hardware identity authentication and 3D motion control to come up with a unique input device that wears many hats. The Ego! is a mouse in the traditional sense, allowing you to control your desktop or laptop computer, and it also has on-board file storage, can work as an authentication device for various services, and features built-in acceleration and motion detection to work like a Wiimote for controlling games. The Smartmouse packs its own Linux-based OS into its compact design, with a 400 MHz ARM9 processor and up to 8GB of onboard flash storage. It connects via Bluetooth, has a gyroscope, compass and optical mouse sensor in addition to its accelerometer, and also includes a built-in VGA camera, touch-sensitive surface, vibration motor and notification LEDs. It charges via micro USB, and the project creators say it’ll get a decent amount of battery life thanks to the use of low-power tech. Created by UK-based design firm Laura Sapiens, the Ego! Smartmouse is the product of a team with strong engineering and interaction design backgrounds. CEO Matteo Modè comes from an industrial and automotive engineering background, and the founding team also includes expertise in embedded security, consumer electronics, computer vision and embedded systems. As you can see in the demo, the Ego! looks to be equally at home on the desktop, controlling media center PCs from the couch, or working with gaming applications to provide 3D controls. It can also automate routine tasks like opening a browser and logging into an email account, and be used as a presentation tool in combination with a projector. The on-board camera makes syncing the Ego! as easy as pointing the mouse at a QR code displayed on-screen (eliminating messy discovery and pairing procedures), and in an office setting it can be used to quickly and easily transfer files between workstations. The team is looking for £20,000 in funding, with early pre-orders starting at just £70 for a 2GB black or white version of the Ego!, including international shipping. Higher storage is available for £110 (4GB) and £120 (8GB), both of which also offer up new color options as well.
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Surface Pro fanboys? Take notice. Your hot little tablet will soon be the runner-up in the ever-growing category of “incredibly expensive Windows 8 tablets aimed at a tiny, but rabid demographic”. Razer just announced that the Edge and Edge Pro gaming tablet will ship in late March, with the startup accepting orders starting on March 1st. All joking aside, the Razer Edge is pretty damn exciting. Born from the minds of Razer’s fans, the Edge is a hardcore gaming tablet — no tired Fruit Ninja demo here. With a dedicated GPU and either a Core i5 or Core i7 CPU, the Edge can power through nearly any PC game on the market. What’s more, Razer designed modular accessories for the Edge. There’s a large gaming pad, keyboard, and dock, allowing the Edge to essentially morph into different products as needed. I spent sometime with the Edge at CES 2013 and was instantly impressed. It ran Dirt 3 seemingly as good as my monster desktop. But, also like my gaming PC, the Edge is expensive. The Core i5 Razer Edge costs $999 while the Core i7 Razer Edge Pro costs $1299. Plus, each one of the accessories are sold separately. Just the Gamepad Controller is $249. A fully decked-out Razer Edge Pro with Gamepad Controller rings up for $1,698. Ouch. The Microsoft Surface Pro has so far won over some Windows loyalists. They like the full computing power combined with the svelte form factor. The Surface Pro, with its Core i5 CPU, can power through most daily tasks and even handle some games, but, quite frankly, the husky Razer Edge is fully capable of beating it up and stealing its lunch money.
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In a roundtable discussion with reporters today, Google’s head of Android Andy Rubin came right out and flatly denied the search giant was considering the launch of retail locations. “Google has no plans and we have nothing to announce,” Rubin was reported as as saying by AllThingsD’s Ina Fried. Curiously, Rubin’s explanation for why Google doesn’t need stores was basically the exact opposite of argument from third-party observers about why it does. Rubin said that consumers “don’t have to go in the store and feel [products] anymore,” according to ATD. That’s a pretty marked contrast to what a lot of people have been saying about why Google might want to get into the brick-and-mortar biz. Just last week, MG suggested that “average consumers are never going to buy [Google's] projects online without having tried them first,” in fact. Apple has had success providing experience-based shopping environments, after all, which helped greatly in evangelizing and popularizing the concept of the iPad. But Rubin believes that consumers these days are better served by online tools, including review sites and word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and social connections, to the point where a hands-on experience isn’t necessary. He added that he believes Google’s Nexus program is still relatively young, and not “far enough along to think about the necessity of having these things in a retail store.” Looking at Google’s hardware efforts in the wake of the Chromebook Pixel announcement last week, it does seem that the company is still in a largely experimental mode when it comes to fielding its own devices. A significant retail investment might not make sense until Google decides more firmly what works and what doesn’t with its hardware lineups in terms of meeting current customer needs.
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