LG adds brighter, more portable projectors to Minibeam lineup

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/17/lg-adds-brighter-more-portable-projectors-to-minibeam-lineup/

For the very truly dedicated cord-cutters out there, LG has just announced two new portable, battery-powered projectors that can be set up blissfully free of any audio, video or power cables. The two models in LG's Minibeam lineup will debut next month at IFA 2016 in Berlin and hit retailers in the US shortly after.

First up is the PH450U (and the PH450UG version with built-in TV tuner), which LG claims is among the brightest battery-powered, short-throw projectors at 450 lumens. The projector only needs 13 inches of distance to put up an 80-inch screen, and can actually be set up sideways to project an image on any horizontal surface -- in case you want to project some trippy visuals on the dance floor at your next house party. According to LG's estimates, users should be able to get about two and a half hours of screen time out of the internal battery, so you won't be having any outdoor Godfather marathons without a backup battery just yet, but you can still stream a couple episodes of Stranger Things in your blanket fort before you need to plug in. The PH450G will retail for $649.99 when it goes on sale in September.

The second addition to the Minibeam lineup, the PH150G comes in at a diminutive 1.1 pounds for a cool $349.99. While the less expensive model needs more room to work, it can put up a 100-inch screen and has the same two and a half hour battery life as its short-throw sibling. (At 150 lumens, the brightness rating also takes a hit.) Both models offer wireless mirroring or streaming from a smartphone or tablet, plus the ability to stream audio out to Bluetooth headphones, portable speakers or home audio setup.

Source: LG Newsroom

Wikiverse turns Wikipedia into a visual universe of articles

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/18/wikiverse-turns-wikipedia-into-a-visual-universe-of-articles/

I've spent (too) many lazy evenings hopping from one Wikipedia entry to the next, reading things that could be useful for trivia night. It's fun enough, but this website that visualizes Wiki as a universe could make the experience even better for a lot of people. You can zoom around to visit clusters of stars representing interconnected topics -- clicking on one will load the article itself right within the interface. Since each star is visually connected to related entries with colored loopy lines, you can hop around like you would on the actual Wikipedia website.

Wikiverse is the upgraded version of an old Chrome experiment we covered back in 2014 called WikiGalaxy. It's designed by French computer scientist Owen Cornec who wanted to find a way to display entries in "a more engaging way." From what I can see, the new version is a lot more colorful compared to the older one. Cornec originally wanted to color code stars according to their super-categories, but he told us he wasn't able to do so because there are too many super-categories to count. Instead, he decided to use colors to differentiate clusters from each other and to indicate whether an entry is within that cluster or in another one. Wikiverse also feels faster than its predecessor, even on browsers other than Chrome, so you'll have zero issues pretending to be a spacecraft exploring a universe of knowledge.

Source: Wikiverse

Samsung plugs IBM's brain-imitating chip into an advanced sensor

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/14/samsung-ibm-truenorth-chip-advanced-sensor/

IBM's TrueNorth, a so-called "cognitive chip," remarkably resembles the human brain: its 4,096 cores combine to create about a million digital neurons and 256 million synapse connections. In short, like everyone's favorite complex organ, it operates extremely quickly and consumes far less energy than typical processors. Samsung has taken the chip and plugged it into its Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS) to process digital imagery at a blindingly fast rate.

Typical digital cameras max out 120 frames per second, but a DVS-equipped gadget can capture an incredible 2,000 fps. Unlike a conventional sensor, each pixel on Samsung's only reacts if it needs to report a change in what it's seeing, according to CNET. That high speed could be useful for creating 3D maps or gesture controls. At a press event on Thursday in San Jose, the company demonstrated its ability to control a TV as it recognized hand waves and finger pinches from ten feet away.

DVS is efficient like its TrueNorth chip base, and only consumes about 300 milliwatts of power. That's about a hundredth the drain of a laptop's processor and a tenth of a phone's, a Samsung VP said at the event. But we still have a ways to go before we approach the minimal power requirements of the human brain, he said, which can process some tasks at 100 million times less power than a computer.

Source: CNET