Monday, December 17, 2012

Will Wild OLED Installations Like These Be The Light Fixtures Of Tomorrow?

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5968779/will-wild-oled-fixtures-like-these-be-the-lights-of-tomorrow

OLEDs have a lot of potential for awesomeness, like putting a flexible screen on your holiday sweaters. Well, maybe that's a bad example. These prototype light fixtures developed by Philips, on the other hand, are significantly better ones.

As Dietmar Thomas of Philips Lumiblade explains:

OLED is the first light source that is a surface light source. All other lights sources are point light sources, starting with the flame, the candle and going up to the light bulb and the LED. For the first time you don't need a system to spread the light. The system is built-in.

And that fact, along with the thin form factor allows for all kinds of weird installations you couldn't (or wouldn't want to) make with strandard light bulbs. Everything from pulsating light walls to fixtures that actually are your ceiling.

For the moment, OLED lights tend to be prohibitively expensive, especially if all they're doing is acting like a light bulb and looking cool, but Thomas is confidant the prices will fall quite a bit in the next five years, making these kinds of setups far more affordable. The sooner we can all get trippy, flashing light displays for living room raves, the better. [Dezeen]

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How to Get Siri to Provide Google Maps Directions, No Hack Required

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5968968/how-to-get-siri-to-provide-google-maps-directions-no-hack-required

Ask Siri for directions, and by default she'll throw up an Apple Maps solution. Which means you'll get lost. But it's actually really easy to get her to give you directions using Google's maps—and it doesn't even require a hack.

As JailbreakNation shows in this vide, adding the phrase "via transit" to the end of your Siri voice command forces the software to use Google Maps instead of iOS's native cartographic car crash. So instead of saying "take me to the nearest [INSERT DESTINATION]", just say say "take me to the nearest [INSERT DESTINATION] via transit", and you're golden. Easy! [YouTube]

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Homemade self-balancing unicycle uses an Arduino to keep upright

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/16/homemade-raptor-unicycle-uses-an-arduino-to-keep-upright/

Homemade Raptor unicycle uses an Arduino to keep upright

On the whim of a coin flip, Nick Thatcher once decided between building a homemade Segway, or a self balancing unicycle. Even though the powers of fate chose the former, Thatcher's thirst to build wasn't quenched -- he built the one-wheeled scooter anyway. The Raptor looks a lot like a Ryno unicycle built from spare parts -- a chain driven wheelbarrow wheel powered by a 350w geared motor, a pair of batteries wired in series, some PVC and polycarbonate, an IMU gyro and an Arduino UNO -- all hobbled together to form a one-wheeled electric mount. Thatcher says the scooter can push 10mph safely, but faster speeds tend to outpace the gyro's corrective efforts. Still, the bike promises between 90-120 minutes of face-plant free fun, provided the rider is at least a little balanced. The motorized unicycle isn't for sale, but peek on over to Thatch Industries for a parts list, or scoot on past the break to see the bike in action.

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Via: Hackaday

Source: Thatch Industries

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Oppo previews sample shots taken with Find 5's Sony-made Exmor RS sensor

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/16/oppo-previews-find-5-13-megapixel-exmor-rs-sensor/

Sony Exmor RS

Sony pulled the plug on the original specs for its next-gen Exmor RS sensor, pushing a rollout for those modules into the new year. So while that move, made for quality control purposes, guarantees that a new batch of Xperias outfitted with the tech won't appear until 2013 at the earliest, imaging fanatics curious for a preview can get a sneak peek courtesy of Oppo. Baked into the Chinese manufacturer's newly announced Find 5 -- a quad-core S4 Pro Android Jelly Bean handset with a 5-inch 1080p display -- is the top shelf 13-megapixel version of Sony's sensor tech. Oppo's provided a few curated snapshots taken with the camera on its site and, as you'll see, the resulting images are rich with color and exhibit a fine level of detail. We'll reserve judgement until we can get our hands on a review unit for extensive testing. Until then, feast your eyes on the samples at the source below.

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Via: Xperia blog

Source: Oppo

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Bloomberg: HTC backing away from plan to build a five-inch Windows Phone

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/17/htc-windows-phone-screen-size/

Bloomberg HTC backing away from plan to build a fiveinch Windows Phone

We've been fans of super-sized live tiles ever since the OG Titan came around, but maybe we can't count on HTC to push things any further. According to Bloomberg's sources, the Taiwanese manufacturer has given up on a project to create a Windows Phone with a display larger than five inches. Instead, it'll focus all its big-screened efforts on Android, much as it's already doing with the Droid DNA (shown above) and Japanese Butterfly.

The reason? Well, that bit's unclear. Microsoft mobile OS doesn't currently play nice with 1080p, which puts a limit on the pixel density of any big device -- but then there's always the potential for software updates, and besides, the 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II is hardly being held back by its 720 lines. Bloomberg does mention another, more plausible reason, which is that HTC simply believes the WP market is too weak to haul a juggernaut.

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Source: Bloomberg!

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