| iCRAFT robotic feeding arm (eyes-on) Jun 13th 2012, 17:32  We're back for another day of exploring the Northeastern University labs. We checked out a handful of projects yesterday, including the HyCycle, a runner-up in the school's Capstone award. Today we checked out the winner: iCRAFT -- that's short for eye-Controlled Robotic Arm Feeding Technology. The project was developed by a group of seven electrical and computer engineering students looking to create an inexpensive solution for helping the disabled and elderly feed themselves at home. As the Apple-esque name implies, the project utilizes eye-tracking to help the user feed him or herself. The hardware side of the project involves a robotic arm and controller (which run a combined $640), a hacked Creative webcam and IR light (around $114), three bowls, a water bottle and a custom built power supply. On the software side, the team used the open-source ITU gaze tracker software, combined with a custom GUI. The whole thing is designed to be simple to use right out of the box -- though, being in prototype stage, there were naturally a few hiccups in the process. It didn't work perfectly when we demoed it today, but it certainly wasn't much more buggy than what many companies try to pass off as finished products. Continue reading iCRAFT robotic feeding arm (eyes-on) iCRAFT robotic feeding arm (eyes-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | ARM vows Mali-450 graphics will liven up mid-range smartphones Jun 13th 2012, 17:28  ARM is still cooking its next-generation Mali-T604 mobile graphics, but it has what could be a massive lift to performance coming considerably sooner through the Mali-450 family. The architecture is almost almost literally two Mali-400 chips (the same that powers the Galaxy S II) grafted together, and the maximum eight cores accordingly run up to twice as quickly as what we saw just a year ago. The real achievement might be just be targeting the Mali-450 at a more down-to-Earth audience: where the 400 was all about conquering the high-end, ARM wants the 450 to focus on mid-range and even entry-level phones. Design work for the new Mali video should be done before the end of 2012, although it'll be up to chip manufacturers to carry the torch and finish work that likely won't show in phones and tablets until 2013. ARM vows Mali-450 graphics will liven up mid-range smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  EETimes | Email this | Comments | | Nokia Lumia 610 review Jun 13th 2012, 16:00  Lumia, Lumia, Lumia. Who would have thought, way back at Nokia World 2011, that the name would come to ring as affectionately as it does today? The first three releases in the family, the 800, 710 and, most recently, the 900, all provided such a fluid, well-rounded experience that we found it easy to overlook certain weaknesses in their spec sheets. Low-res 480 x 800 displays and single-core processors were largely forgotten in the face of a fresh aesthetic and matching OS that stood out from the smartphone crowd. Which brings us to Lumia number four: the 610. As a budget phone currently going for free on a £15-per-month contract in the UK, it's been built on Nokia's belief that Windows Phone will run on almost anything: the merest of Snapdragon S1 processors (clocked at just 800MHz) coupled with a few crumbs of RAM (256MB). Overall, those specs make previous Lumias -- with their S2 chips, 512MB and 1.4GHz clock speeds -- look almost futuristic. The question is, can WP really come this cheap and survive intact? Read on and you'll find out. Continue reading Nokia Lumia 610 review Nokia Lumia 610 review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | ConnecTV officially launches, gives you more ways to bug your buddies Jun 13th 2012, 15:41  We went hands-on with the ConnecTV app while it was in open beta earlier this year. Now the social TV app is officially, uh, official -- launching nationwide with backing from television's old guard. Although ConnecTV doesn't double as a remote a la Dijit or BuddyTV, it does play nice with Facebook and Twitter, allowing users to socially rave about Alton Brown's cherry couscous pudding or razz followers of a rival team while watching a game on TV. ConnecTV says the app also syncs with content from Apple TV, Boxee, Hulu, Netflix and Roku from the past seven days. Do note that "nationwide" currently means integrated content from 85 local stations across the US' top 40 TV markets. ConnecTV also plans to expand that number to 215 stations. The app is available for free for PC browsers and the Apple iPad, with iPhone and Android smartphone and tablet versions set for release within the next 45 days. For more details, feel free to dip your toes into the celebratory PR after the break. Continue reading ConnecTV officially launches, gives you more ways to bug your buddies ConnecTV officially launches, gives you more ways to bug your buddies originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jun 2012 11:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | ConnecTV.com | Email this | Comments | |
