Google's revolutionary futuristic looking smart connected eye-wear Google Glass was introduced in 2013, and was made available for the public in 2014. Unfortunately, it wasn't very successful, as it received a great deal of criticism and legislative action due to privacy and safety concerns, and the company discontinued the product in 2015. That said, Google is back with the second iteration of the wearable dubbed Google Glass Enterprise Edition, and the search-giant this time is focusing on the enterprise segment instead of public. Google says that the Google Glass Enterprise Edition was already being used and tested by hundreds of employees at companies like GE, Boeing, DHL and Volkswagen for the last two years, and will now be available to more businesses.
The Google Glass Enterprise Edition has been developed by Google X, Google's research and development arm. Like the previous iteration, the new version is a small, lightweight wearable computer with transparent display that brings information to the users line of sight. It is also able to snap photos and shoot videos. You can even clip it onto glasses or industry frames like safety goggles. The second iteration of Google Glass comes with an upgraded hardware like improved camera, powerful processor, better wireless networking and extended battery life. The camera has been upgraded from 5MP to 8MP, and the wearable now offers up to eight hours of battery life. Addressing privacy concerns the new Enterprise edition of Glass gets red LED light that turns on when recording video. The company has also customized the wearable for worker in industries like manufacturing, logistics, field services and healthcare, so that people can get things done in the workplace easily. It mentions that workers at AGCO, an agricutural machinery manufacturer, are using the wearble to reduce the work load. It claims that machinery production time have been reduced by25 percent and inspection times by 30 percent, as the Glass can pull information easily hands-free. Meanwhile mechanics at GE (improved efficiency 8 to 12 percent), DHL workers (increased supply chain efficiency by 15%) and doctors had similar results as well. Source | Via
Besides Mi Laser Projector, Xiaomi at its Mi Ecosystem event in China introduced upgraded Mi Ninebot. The new Mi Ninebot Plus offers improved stability and able to climb over obstacles like bumps easily, as well as it is easier to hop on and get used to the controls. It has integrated machine learning system, and based on initial usage, Ninebot Plus learns metrics such as speed, balance, agility, recovery, and braking, and after extended usage these metrics will be adjusted accordingly to best suit the user. It also has improved front light that is now incorporated with signal color. The light will change color according to the direction you head towards.
The Ninebot Plus also comes with a remote that allows users to control its movements. You can also use it as a trolley to pick your groceries or use it to walk your dog and intelligently follows you when it is within 20m range.
Other features and upgrades include 800w motor, maximum speed of 18km/h, 11-inch anti-slip tyres that automatically balances when locked, strengthened magnesium alloy chassis that can hold person up to 100 kg, IPX6 rating for water resistance. It can travel up to 35km on a single charge, and weighs 16kg.
There's also an optional Mi Ninebot Plus Camera, which can be attached to the Ninebot Mini Plus. It features 3-axis OIS, 1080p Full HD, 104 degrees wide angle and allows you to video real time.
The Mi Ninebot Plus will be available in China starting July 14 for CNY 3499 ($514 | Rs. 33,000). Via
HTC has announced a new VR headset called HTC Link, designed to be work with the company's latest flagship HTC U11. It is currently available in Japan, and HTC has no plans for a wider-release. Even though it works with HTC U11 smartphone, the HTC Link also has its own built-in display with two 3.6-inch screen bearing the resolution 1080 x 1200 and 90Hz refresh rate. It boasts six degree-of-freedom motion tracking, first for a smartphone-based VR headset and offered 100-degree viewing angles.
The HTC Link includes external sensors (to track the controller), USB Type-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack, LED markers for the head-mounted display and 2800mAh battery. It also features a special Ghost In the Shell-themed VR experience content, and comes bundled with a set of motion controller, stereoscopic camera and a set of earbuds. Interestingly, HTC is also working with Google on a new standalone VR headset with 6DOF tracking running on Google's Daydream platform. It will break cover later this year. Via
Popular drone maker DJI has announced Spark, an easy-to-use, fun-to-fly mini camera drone, that is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It can be controlled by hand gestures, and users can launch, guide, take photos, shoot videos and land the drone without using remote control. When Spark takes off from you hand, it automatically enters Gesture mode. It features a new advanced gesture controls like PalmControl, which lets users control Spark with hand movements. You can even simply send off the drone and take your selfie, and call it back with just your hands.
There's a new QuickShot Intelligent Flight Mode, that will allow the Spark to fly along a preset flight path while recording a short video and tracking a subject along the way. These modes include Rocket (sending Spark straight up into the air with the camera pointed down), Dronie (flying up and away from your subject), Circle (rotating around the subject) and Helix (spiraling away from a subject as it flies upward). Each QuickShot will enable the Spark to automatically create a 10-second video that is ready to be shared on social media.
DJI has also introduced two new modes for the Spark: Pano and ShallowFocus. In Pano Mode, the camera creates horizontal or vertical panoramas by automatically adjusting its gimbal and heading, taking a series of pictures and stitching them together. ShallowFocus allows you to put part of a picture into sharp focus while the rest of the image is softened, creating photographs with a shallow depth of field.It also features TapFly and ActiveTrack modes as well, that is found on DJI's other drone models.
The drone's FlightAutonomy system consists of the main camera, a downward-facing vision system, a forward facing 3D sensing system, dual-band GPS and GLONASS, a high-precision inertial measurement unit, and 24 powerful computing cores. These features allow Spark to hover accurately with vision system assistance at up to 98 feet (30 meters) and sense obstacles from up to 16 ft (5 m) away. It also allows for 720p real-time video transmission from up to 2 km away. In terms of specification, Spark includes two-axis gimbals that can help stabilize images, 1/2.3" CMOS sensor that captures 12MP photos and shoots stabilized 1080p videos. It packs high-energy density LiPo battery and has a maximum flight time of up to 16 minutes. It weighs 300g and is small enough to fit any bag. Using the optional remote controller, you can switch the drone to Sport mode, and Spark's speed potential go up to 31 mph (50 kph). It is also compatible with DJI Goggles for an immersive FFPV flight experience. The Spark will be available in five different colors: Alpine White, Sky Blue, Meadow Green, Lava Red, and Sunrise. Pricing starts at $499 for the basic package, that includes the drone, a battery, a USB charger and three pair of propellers. There's a Spark Fly More Combo priced at $699, and includes the drone, two batteries, four pairs of propellers, a remote controller, propeller guards, a charging hub, a shoulder bag and all necessary cables. It will be available for pre-order at store.dji.com, authorized dealers, and flagship stores in mid-June.
Garmin has announced VIRB 360, a compact, rugged, waterproof and fully spherical 360-degree action camera. The VIRB 360 is capable of capturing high-quality video up to 5.7K at 30fps and take 15MP stills. The camera includes four built-in microphones for 360-degree audio. It can also automatically stabilize and stitch up to 4K 30fps spherical footage in-camera as well. Anything beyond that will be unstitched.
The camera comes with a sunlight readable display that shows battery status, storage capacity and video modes. It also has built-in GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, ANT+ and NFC for connectivity. Maximum microSD card capacity is just at 128GB. Thanks to the built-in GPS and numerous other sensors, the VIRB 360 provides customizable G-Metrix data overlays in a captivating 360-degree augmented reality setting.
You can choose between different recording modes such as time lapse, manual and more, while photo modes include single capture, burst shooting, and time lapse. It also supports voice commands to start and stop recording, capture photos and more. It also offer livestream capabilities to post to YouTube or FaceBook Live through the VIRB app. The camera provides only one hour battery life while recording. It is waterproof to 10 meters, and is built to withstand overheating and wet conditions. The Garmin VIRB 360 has been priced at $799.99 and is expected to be available in June.
After the massive success of Switch, which is expected to sell 10 million units, Nintendo has announced their new handheld portable gaming console called Nintendo 2DS XL, which is scheduled to launch in North America in July 28. The new Nintendo 2DS XL is lighter, sporting a clamshell design and sits between the Nintendo 2DS and Nintendo 3DSXL hand-held systems. It packs the same power as the New Nintendo 3DS XL including the same large screen (4.88-inch for the non-3D top screen / 4.18-inch for the touchscreen on the bottom), the C-Stick/ZL/ZR buttons, extra processing power and built-in NFC support for amiibo cards and figures, but as the name suggests, the visuals will be displayed in 2D only.
Even though, the console lacks 3DS's stereoscopic capabilities, it can still play the massive library of Nintendo 3DS, new Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS games in 2D. Nintendo says more games are on the way, including two, that will be available on the same day as Nintendo 2DS XL will hit the market - Hey! PIKMIN and Miitopia. The Nintendo 2DS XL is priced at $149.99 (Rs. 9,500) and will be available in black/turqoise color. It will also release in Japan on July 13 for 14,980 yen, and get an optional Orange/White color variant. Nintendo also plans to launch the New 2DS XL in Europe during July. Source | Via
Popular drone maker DJI has introduced DJI Goggles, a FPV (First person view) headset, that lets you control select DJI drones' yaw or the camera gimbal simply by moving your head left or right, thanks to an embedded accelerometer and gyroscope for head tracking. However, you won't have full control over the drone's path, instead you'll have to use the remote controller sticks. There's also a mode, where you can let your friend wear the headset to control the gimbal, to give them birds eye view of the world, while you use the master controller to pilot the drone.
DJI Goggles combines a pair of large ultra-high-quality screens, long-range and low-latency wireless connectivity, and direct control of photo and video capture. It will be compatible with Mavic Pro, Phantom 4 and Inspire Series drones. The headset reminds us of the PlayStation VR in size and design, but there's more to it including Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution per eye, a touchpad for navigating menus, headphone jack, microSD card slot, micro-USB port, HDMI and six hours of battery life. There's two viewing mode: one in 720p resolution at 60fps and another in 1080p at 30fps, both with a latency of 110ms. The DJI Goggles are priced at $449 (Rs. 28,900) and are now available fro pre-order, shipping will start in May.
Flying car start-up Kitty Hawk backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, has released a video introducing its "Flyer" flying car prototype. The Flyer is an all-electric ultralight aircraft, that is designed to operate in uncongested areas in the U.S and must be flown only over water, whichis a bit disappointing, because this is not the first thing that comes to mind when we think of flying cars. However, Kitty Hawk believes that the Flyer is just the beginning of innovation process of flying cars. The company says, that the Flyer is safe, tested and legal to operate in the U.S, under US federal regulations for ultralight aircraft. Also, owners won't require a pilot's license to operate Flyer, but a two hours of training is required, to learn how to operate the machine. The introduction video of the Flyer shows a single-seat aircraft with two pontoons and a spider-like platform, taking off from a lake and hovering above the water, where it is meant to operate. It is propelled by eight rotors and takes off and lands vertically, just like helicopter. The craft weighs about 200 pounds (100kg), and can fly at speeds up to 25 miles per hour (40 kph), and can hover at 15 feet (4.5 meters) above water. Kity Hawk says that the final design of Flyer will be different from that of the prototype. The Kitty Hawk Flyer will be available for sale by the end of this year in U.S, and the company has no plans to release in other markets. The company is also offering a $100 three-year membership, under which, members have priority placement on the wait list, and a $2,000 discount on the Flyer. The membership, also gives users access to flight demonstrations and test flights throughout the year. The Pricing of the Kitty Hawk Flyer is not known. Source | Via
Xiaomi has introduced a new and the 77th product under its Mi Ecosystem also known as MiJia brand in the form of a 3-axis Shooting Stabilizer designed specifically for smartphones. Xiaomi's 3-axis Shooting Stabilizer is based on three-axis stabilization technology, that is built-in with high-precision screw and acceleration sensor with real-time detection of the smartphone space station. This allows for three directional adjustment in the space angle compensation, so that the smartphone always maintains a balanced gesture for shooting stable and smooth pictures.
There's also a inbuilt brushless motor holding, that rotate the 3-axis shooting stabilizer from 9-degrees to 30 degrees, for a 270 degrees rotation, without distortion of the screen for smooth slow motion videos.
The device offers four shooting modes - horizontal movement, omni-directional movement, locking direction and vertical mode. It packs 1050mAh battery, which according to Xiaomi provides up to four hours of shooting time. It sports one-piece telescopic folding storage design, made of ABS and fiber glass materials. It measures 266mm x 53mm x 43mm, and the height can be further shortened to 209mm length, making it easy to carry around and store. The Three-axis Shooting Stabilizer is priced at CNY 799 ($166 | Rs. 7,500) and is available through Xiaomi's crowdfunding Mi Home platform. Via
DJI has introduced a new version of its Phantom 4 drone called Phantom 4 Advanced and its offers some new features at a lower price tag. The DJI Phantom 4 Advanced looks is similar to the Phantom 4 drone but includes an upgraded camera if 1-inch 20MP sensor, that is capable of shooting 4K videos at 60fps. The video processing has also been improved and now supports H.264 4K videos at 60fps or H.265 4K at 30fps, both with a 100Mbps bitrate. The new drone also gets a larger 128GB microSD card support and up to 30 minutes flight time (battery life).
Like the Phantom 4 Pro, the new Advanced model also comes with a number of automatic flight modes like Draw, ActiveTrack, TapFly, Gesture and Tripod. The drone is also equipped with FightAutonomy system, that is made up of 5 vision sensor, forward-facing obstacle system, dual-band satellite positioning (GPS and GLONASS) and ultrasonic range finder. Thanks to the Flight Autonomy System, the drone can hover precisely in places without GPS and fly in complex environments. There's also a Advanced+ variant, that includes a controller with built-in 5.5-inch 1080p screen. DJI says that screen is more than twice as bright as conventional smart devices, making it ideal for outdoor use. The Phantom 4 Advanced and Phantom 4 Advanced+ are priced at $1349 and $1649 respectively, and will be available from store.dji.com from April 30. DJI also announced that the original Phantom 4 model will reach its end of life (EOL) on April 30, 2017, the day when Phantom 4 Advanced+ will go on sale. However DJI will continue to provide after sales support. Source
