Firefox OS apps run like native apps on Android

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/13/firefox-os-apps-run-on-android/

The beauty of apps written for Firefox OS is that they're basically just web apps -- they're built primarily on Java Script and HTML5. That means if you can run the app on Mozilla's mobile operating system, you can run them in its browser too. In fact, if you install Firefox 29 on Android, you can run so-called Open Web Apps (OWA) on your Google-powered phone. Not only that, but they're not confined to the browser. Apps installed from the Firefox OS Marketplace are treated just like native apps. They get their own icon in the launcher and home screen, can be uninstalled from the menu and run without the usual browser UI clutter (such as an address bar or back button). Of course, the performance probably won't match truly native apps, and most won't abide by Android's interface conventions. Still, there are some developers who might enjoy the idea of building an app once and running it across all platforms.

Filed under: Software, Mobile

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Via: Android Community

Source: Mozilla

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New littleBits modules make the Synth Kit more powerful and versatile

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/13/littlebits-midi-cv-usb/

Click 'em together, make some noise. Littlebits are like Lego for music nerds (like us). That's fun and all, but currently, once you've built your mini-modular synth creation, there isn't really much else you can do with it. That won't be the case for much longer though, as three new modules are coming along to spice things up.

We are raising the ceiling of complexity of what you can do with littleBits, adding wireless control, programmability, and now audio control to allow you to make sophisticated electronics in a fraction of the time and cost, allowing for whole new experiences. -- Ayah Bdeir (Founder, littleBits)

A new MIDI block lets you hook into music making software like Ableton or Logic, while the CV block means you can connect your littleBits to older/analog gear. If you just want to play with sound, a USB I/O module will let you pipe the littleBits' audio directly into your PC. No word on price, but expect to see them come to market in time for the (now noisier) holidays.

Filed under: Misc, Science

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Source: littleBits

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Architects Turned A Tiny 425-Square-Foot Loft Into A Dream Home

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/425-square-feet-manhattan-micro-loft-2014-6

New York City is chock-full of laughably small, awkwardly shaped apartments. Which is why it takes a good imagination to not only make them livable, but actually desirable.

The designers at Specht Harpman Architects recently worked wonders on a 425-square-foot loft on the Upper West Side.

The space, at the top of a six-story brownstone, has 25 feet of vertical space and even access to a rooftop — giving them plenty to work with.

Check out the photos below to see the new micro-loft.

This was the space before. It was run down, with exposed brick walls and dated paint.

For such a small space, it didn't have much room for storage.The architects' solution was to create multi-level “living platforms" in order to squeeze everything in, but still make it feel open.One of their goals was to create a flowing interior "that dissolves the notion of distinct 'rooms.'"A cantilevered bed on steel beams floats over the main living space on the third floor.And the tiny bathroom is tucked beneath the stairs.Which now have a ton of storage space. They feature built-in drawers and shelves, similar to Japanese kaidan dansu.  The roof garden at the top allows light to radiate throughout the apartment. Pretty impressive. It's hard to tell that this was still the same apartment.Compare it again to the new space:

Job well done. 

SEE ALSO: The 10 Most Expensive Homes For Sale In New York City

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These Drones Could Be The Construction Crews Of The Future

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-drones-could-build-bridges-2014-6

Scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, have developed cool drones that can weave cord into rope bridges, reports New Scientist's Hal Hodson.

Each quadcopter drone is equipped with a spool of strong plastic cable that runs out behind it as it flies. One end of the cable can be secured by making several turns around a pole. The drones are positioned and directed autonomously from the ground by a central computer fitted with a camera that watches them as they fly. For example, to loop cables around each other, the computer directs two drones to fly through certain points at an exact time. In this way, the fleet can tie complicated knots and form large, regularly repeating patterns strung between fixed structures.

For now, these drones are only capable of building tensile structures like the one above. Ammar Mirjan, who collaborated with Augugliaro's on the architectural side of the project, said that currently "something possible would be a structure like a bridge or a connection between existing buildings."

Successful positioning — and, by extension, movement — is one of the key problems roboticists have to solve in order to build a worthwhile robot capable of complex tasks. Given that virtually unlimited workspace that drones have access to (the sky), that problem gets solved much more easily. And if this advantage can continue to be refined, it's easy to imagine this evolving to the point that drones do our building for us.

Koushil Sreenath, roboticist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, told New Scientist that "you [could hypothetically] just program the structure you want, press play and when you come back your structure is done. Our current construction is limited, but with aerial robots those limitations go away."

Hodson says there's interest in drones-as-construction-crew at other institutions too:

At the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Neri Oxman and her team are using robots suspended on cables to build structures. And at the University of Pennsylvania, the General Robotics Automation Sensing and Perception Lab is using drones with robotic clamps to build towers of magnetic blocks.

Check out the full video demo from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology below.

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drag2share: Google set to launch a health-tracking platform called Google Fit

source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/13/google-launching-google-fit-health-platform/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

Not to be left behind by Apple, Google could soon launch its own health-tracking platform for mobile devices. Forbes reports that the search giant is working on a new service, tentatively called Google Fit, which will pull in data from third-party fitness wearables and health apps and combine them into one central app. It's not known if Fit will be delivered as a standalone app or come embedded inside future versions of Android, but it would likely operate as Google-made version of Apple's HealthKit, a service that lets companies like Nike feed in fitness data, and Samsung's own fitness framework, SAMI. An open platform would also lend itself to running on top of Google's upcoming Android Wear platform, allowing smartwatches and fitness bands to feed data into Fit's open APIs. Mirroring Apple, Google is set to unveil its new health-centric service at its own developer conference, Google I/O, which kicks off on June 25th. It has a lot of wearable talks planned for the event, so we won't have long to wait to learn more about what Google has planned.

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