FARTHEST JOURNEY BY HOVERBOARD

Watch video  here

As far as hoverboards go, the promise hasn’t yet matched the reality in terms of how these levitating boards can change our lives, but it would seem they’re inching closer to becoming a viable mode of transportation. The latest piece of evidence: a new world record for a hoverboard journey.

As you can see in the video above, Canadian Catalin Alexandru Duru managed to travel 275.9 meters (905 feet, 2 inches) over Lake Ouareau in Quebec, and he used his own homemade contraption to do it. That effort obliterates the previous record, which stood at 50 meters.

“I will showcase that stable flight can be achieved with a machine one can stand on and control with their feet, just like in the movie Back to the Future Part II,” ,” says Duru. “In our case, the machine is propeller-based. The prototype can be used anywhere, but is usually tested over water because of how dangerously high it can fly (which is ironic considering that the movie joked that it can’t).”

The record was apparently broken in August last year, though the footage has only just been uploaded to the Guinness World Records YouTube channel. How Duru’s invention has developed since, and what he plans to do with it, aren’t quite clear — we’re hoping that someone manages to catch up with him soon to get a more detailed story on the technology behind his hoverboard.

Hendo Hover is the latest startup to have a crack at making hoverboards a reality, running a successful Kickstarter campaign for their own device last year. The company hopes to get prototype development kits out to backers at some point during 2015, but Duru’s invention looks a lot more ambitious.

 

APPLE HAS SOLD 2.5 MILLION SMARTWATCHES, BUT DEMAND HAS DIPPED

According to Slice Intelligence, 2.5 million Apple Watches have been ordered, with over half of those placed on the first day. Since then, demand has been much lower, with orders usually remaining under 30,000 per day (about 11 million sales a year). There was a small spike when the first shipments started (and prompted a flurry of reviews and unboxing videos) but generally speaking demand has stayed pretty flat.

Those aren’t disastrous figures for Apple — it took two years to shift the same number of iPods — and it’s worth noting Slice Intelligence’s data is based on a sample of just 14,000 people in the U.S. What’s more, sales will no doubt  pick up further when Apple Watch is available in stores.

 Nevertheless it’s a sign that this is going to be more of a niche device than a runaway success. With Apple selling 61.17million iphones over the last reported quarter, Tim Cook and his team might have been expecting a few more of those buyers to pick up an Apple Watch too.

Estimating just how many Apple Watches are finding a home is a difficult business. Thai analyst firm KGI Securities has lowered its initial prediction  to 15 million units sold in the first year, while Morgan Stanley has optimistically raised its own estimates to 36million. Even Apple won’t give us the full story at its next quarterly results briefing, as Apple Watch sales will be bundled in with iPods, Apple TVs, and other accessories.

TECHNOLOGY: VI-BAND HANDS-FREE HEAD MASSAGER MEANS NO NEED FOR...

TECHNOLOGY: VI-BAND HANDS-FREE HEAD MASSAGER MEANS NO NEED FOR...: It’s been a long day, and you have a screaming headache. You want to rub your temples, but you’re tired and your arms feel heavy and cramp...

VI-BAND HANDS-FREE HEAD MASSAGER MEANS NO NEED FOR A GIRLFRIEND

It’s been a long day, and you have a screaming headache. You want to rub your temples, but you’re tired and your arms feel heavy and cramp after like three seconds. But why should we have to rub our own temples in this day and age? We don’t. There’s a group of engineers out there ready to take care of that for us, and their campaign is up on Indiegogo

If this company of engineers had an “As Seen on TV” commercial, it would start like this: “From the inventors of the Sleep Shepherd — the hat that helps you sleep — comes the Vi-Band, the headband massager!” It’s a hands-free head massager that vibrates over your temples and forehead, built into a simple headband. Yep, a hand’s free head massager that doesn’t look like you’re trying to bring back the real Quaid.

Who wants to rely on a whisk, a girlfriend (we can be moody and our hands get tired too), a drunk, or a clubhound named Klauss to get a head massage? No one, that’s who. So Mind Rocket made the Vi-Band portable, affordable and rechargeable. Portable, because girlfriends, drunks, and weirdos from the club can be expensive to transport, and pointy metal contraptions don’t go over well with airport security. Affordable because relaxation shouldn’t be the exclusive domain of the wealthy; after the campaign is fully funded a Vi-Band will go for about $30. Rechargeable because, as the Vi-Band website says, “Your head’s comfort shouldn’t depend on a pink bunny with an affinity for percussion instruments.”

The Vi-Band is essentially a neoprene band with brushless vibration motors built into it over your head’s pressure points. You get a massage without begging anyone to do it for you, or annoying them and deafening yourself with electric buzzing. An integrated printed circuit board lets you select massage modes. The battery can be recharged via micro USB. Seems like the perfect accessory for long trips, to go with your curved neck pillow. Now you can actually sleep instead of just pretending you’re sleeping so the halitosis sufferer next to you won’t feel the need to speak in your direction.

The Vi-Band creators, Joe, Matt, Ryan and Tucker — aka Mind Rocket — are actually a team of rocket scientists with a serious sense of humor and possibly no girlfriends, as indicated by their YouTube video. Also, Matt and Ryan are twins. Check out their pics if you doubt it.

                                                                 

Different band prints are set to be released as rewards every $5,000 — this writer is especially fond of the fictional ’80s dojo designs. The bands inspired by genetically modified and martial arts-trained reptile aren’t bad either, but would probably be better as massagers and sleep masks, since otherwise they make it look like you have eyes on your forehead.

Back the campaign to put in your two cents (or $2) on which designs they should manufacture. Since, as we’ve said, this isn’t the group’s first rodeo, we can expect Vi-Bands to ship on time if they hit their funding amount. Already over 65 percent and 22 days still to go.

By Aliya Barnwell

 

 

ANDROID M FINGERPRINT

Google may be planning to introduce Android M at Google I/O in just another week. At least, Android L debuted at I/O last year, and the I/O 2015 schedule briefly made reference to Android M before a hasty Google revision. We’ve already talked a little about the new features we’d most like to see arrive with this next major version of Android, but what’s still a pipe dream, and what could actually happen? One change that’s picking up some new support is the plan to give Android built-in support for fingerprint scanning hardware.

You can already find a number of noteworthy Androids that offer users fingerprint scanners, but the platform has lacked a native framework for integrating the security they bring across the OS. Some early Nexus 6 code sure made it look like Google was planning to bake fingerprint scanner support into Android, hinting at a broader API, but that dream evaporated as the Nexus 6 launched without such hardware.

The system-wide fingerprint scanner support would reportedly allow developers to let users authenticate themselves with an easy swipe of a finger rather than stumbling with passwords. Granted, that’s what these scanners on current phones already do, but a cross-manufacturer API would just make it that much easier for independent devs to craft apps that take full advantage of that hardware.



Source: BuzzFeed

ATHOS SHORTS

 Hexoskin, unfortunately, doesn’t make pants. That’s where Athos comes in. They started their line of smartwear with shorts that measure movement and exertion, much like Hexoskin gear but using slightly different technology.

Fundamentally, however, they aim to satisfy the same need to perfect your training. Athos shorts have sensors over your major upper-leg muscle groups and a corresponding app (still iOS only) shows you which muscles are doing what. These shorts will tell you when you’re cheating in your squats or lunges and show which muscles are getting the most work. With a color-coded picture of your own ass, it’s easy to correct your form.

HEXOSKIN

At this point shirts offer the most obvious ways to monitor a person’s bio-data because most of your important parts are in your chest, meaning your heart and lungs. Designed by Carré Technologies, Hexoskin shirts hug you like no other piece of clothing and know more about you than your girlfriend. They measure heart rate zones, resting heart rate, and recovery, breathing rate, maximum oxygen consumption and minute ventilation, activity level, acceleration, cadence, steps, calories, and sleep positions. Yes, sleep positions. It’s probably the smartest smartwear.

The magic of the Hexoskin line is in the sensors and the amazing battery life of more than 14 hours. Three sets of sewn-in sensors handle the data: the breathing sensor bands around the bust and above the natural waist, the cardiac sensors, two on the bust and one on the right side above the waist, and the movement sensor above the right hip. These sensors connect to the Hexoskin device that tucks into the side pocket where it stores and transmits the data.

Hexoskin shirts are not exactly like other sports wearables, which are often designed to keep your phone in your pocket, your hands free and your eyes on the road. The depth of detection makes them useful for all kinds of health related issues. Using the Hexoskin apps, you can read and manage your data in real-time on your Android or iOS phone. That includes your ECG, a stunning picture of your heart beating in real time. If you have iOS you can also see your lung activity.

For those who already have a program to analyze your data, Carré Technologies was kind enough to supply Open Data API, so you can download the raw stats and do whatever you want with them. There’s also the dashboard for PC which can be monitored by a trainer or coach.

Put all of this together and you end up with a shirt that can provide information previously only available via a slew of ungainly wires attached to bland consoles that look like they belonged in a hospital. For this reason, Hexoshirts are already being used by the Brooklyn Nets, MIT, and NASA labs for health research, in addition to many other organizations.