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Facebook App Gets Audio Recognition for Music and TV Shows
Microsoft’s Smartwatch Will Also Work with iPhones and Android Devices
This is what a PS1-themed DualShock 4 controller would look like
Samsung Launches Simband, a Digital Health Platform
Intel to Let People Build Their Own 3D-Printed Robots
Apple’s WWDC 2014: What You Need To Know

Facebook App Gets Audio Recognition for Music and TV Shows

Posted: 03 Jun 2014 07:00 AM PDT

With listening to music and watching TV becoming more social experiences, the Facebook app will be updated with audio recognition.

These days, few people watch TV shows or listen to music alone. Not in the figurative sense anyway. Audio service last.fm is a good example of the latter, with the website and app including software called the 'Scrobbler' which 'scrobbles' the music that you're having a song and dance to on your phone, tablet or laptop and shares it with your friends and last.fm network. On the TV side of things, people livetweet and share images about the TV shows that entertain them for 20 minutes or more, making the stationary water cooler moments a global, more easily accessible experience; without a water cooler or a workplace in sight. Now, Facebook is looking to build on that, now announcing plans to add audio recognition to its official app.

Not only will the Facebook app allow you to identify the song or TV show by hearing it with your device's microphone, in the case of music it will allow you to share clips of the track directly to Facebook. The songs will show up on your profile as a 30 second clip from either Rdio, Spotify or Deezer and if you don't have an account with one of those audio services or if you don't have a preference, Facebook will select one for you at random. Meanwhile, the information that you can share about TV shows even comes down to series episodes and titles meaning that you can better avoid spoilers by directly telling your Facebook friends which episode you're watching.

An obvious concern about the app's listening feature is what it will or won't share. Thankfully, the feature is 'opt-in' meaning that you don't have to switch it on if you don't want to, thus avoiding some unfortunate mishaps when your friends realise that you like listening to Nickelback/Justin Bieber mashups. It's unclear of the exact date when the update will be rolled out, but Facebook say that the update to the app will be available in the next few weeks so we'll keep you posted once we know more.

Source: Facebook

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Microsoft’s Smartwatch Will Also Work with iPhones and Android Devices

Posted: 03 Jun 2014 06:30 AM PDT

Having realized that making wearables that are compatible only with one’s own smartphones and tablets would push people away, the Redmond giant hinted that its smartwatch will also work with iOS and Android devices.

Windows Phone, or whatever modified version of this mobile OS will be powering Microsoft’s smartwatch, has a tremendous downside: a very poor app ecosystem. The company might be able to compensate for that by making the wearable compatible with other operating systems, namely with iOS and Android, the big players of today’s mobile market. This is not the only good news that Microsoft has in store for us, as Forbes has learned that the smartwatch will be packed with an array of sensors that track the heart rate of the wearer. The collected data will be synced with iPhones, Android smartphones and Windows Phones.

Microsoft seems to follow in Google’s steps, as the search giant likes to have its apps on more platforms than just Android. Microsoft's Xbox Kinect division is in charge with optical engineering the device so that it measures heart rate continuously during the day. This feature certainly helps Microsoft’s smartwatch differentiate itself from Samsung’s Gear Fit, whose heart rate monitor needs to be turned on manually. The battery should keep the smartwatch functioning for up to two days, depending on the wearer’s usage habits.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, stated at a conference last week that “It’s time for us to build the next big thing,” and a cross-platform smartwatch might be just that. Some may think that the Redmond giant is late to the game, but Apple has yet to launch its long-awaited iWatch.

Cross-platform or not, as long as it only acts as a companion for smartphones (regardless of the OS they’re running), Microsoft’s smartwatch won’t stand a chance against the standalone smartwatch that Samsung is rumoredly working on.

Continuous heart rate tracking is definitely a sought-after feature, especially among fitness buffs and people who like to diagnose themselves while also trying to circumvent traditional health care. Future doctors had better start learning how to interpret all the data collected by wearables, or else they’ll be left behind, at least from this point of view. The quantified self concept will also be transformed when devices such as Microsoft’s smartwatch will hit the market.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the patent that suggested that Microsoft will enter the smartwatch market and the Microsoft smartwatch rumor from last year.

This is what a PS1-themed DualShock 4 controller would look like

Posted: 03 Jun 2014 06:00 AM PDT

The PS4 is, as of now, the fastest selling console of this generation. Yet, as exciting as the future is, we can’t help but look back and remember what made it so special.

Reddit user Dalto11 was messing around with Photoshop, and created a very special rendition of the ultra-sleek DualShock 4, the default controller system for Sony’s latest console, the PS4. This version uses the colors of the classic PS1 console that came out in late 1994, and the result is stunning: sleek, but classical. Some redditors liked it so much that they even requested a mock-up version of the console itself, which Dalto was happy to provide. Lo, and behold!

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Samsung Launches Simband, a Digital Health Platform

Posted: 03 Jun 2014 05:30 AM PDT

The South Korean company seems determined to improve its line of wearables with a new digital health technology platform that relies on sensors to track such body functions as blood pressure, respiratory rate and heart rate.

Samsung unveiled this new platform at a recent event that took place in San Francisco. Simband, as this digital product is called, is not currently bundled with any commercial products, but it is very likely that the South Korean tech giant will be launching new wearables to support it. For the sake of demonstrating Simband’s functions, Samsung used a wristband, but it’s more probable that this technology will find its way in a smartwatch.

Simband is supposed to post all of the data it collects to SAMI, a cloud-based open software platform that stores it securely for future reference. As Samsung stated, “The combination of Simband-designed sensor technologies and algorithms and SAMI-based software will take individual understanding of the body to a new level.”

The South Korean company is collaborating with university researchers in order to help improve healthcare. Michael Blum of the University of California at San Francisco explained how Samsung’s digital health platform is able to achieve that “Our bodies have always had something to say but now, with advanced sensors, algorithms and software, we will finally be able to tune into what the body is telling us. Validation of these technologies will improve the quality of data collected and help advance the ability to bring new products to market quickly.”

According to Young Sohn, President and Chief Strategy Officer, Device Solutions at Samsung Electronics, Simband “provides an exciting opportunity for the brightest minds in the technology world to come together to develop the products that will, for the first time, put individuals in the driver’s seat in understanding their own health and wellness. At a time when health care spending is at record levels and when the number of people over the age of 60 worldwide is expected to exceed more than 1.2 billion by 2025, digital health is an incredibly important area for innovation. We believe this initiative will be an essential first step and we invite developers and partners across the globe to join us in creating the technologies of the future that will help make people’s lives healthier.”

All we have to do now is wait for Samsung to launch products that will make use to the fullest of this platform.

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Intel to Let People Build Their Own 3D-Printed Robots

Posted: 03 Jun 2014 05:00 AM PDT

3D printing and robots are both huge revolutions in technology right now and now they'll be coming together with a brand new Intel project.

3D printing is facing a huge surge of popularity right now off of the back of it's two main benefits – it allows production of things to become cheaper and quicker than ever before. Too, robots offer a similar host of benefits, having been found in manufacturers' production lines (controversially replacing human workers in many cases) due to the ease of use that their automation offers. So what happens if you put the two together? You get Intel's brand new project which looks to let consumers build their very own robots via the means of 3D printing technology, which is a very intriguing pairing of two very hi-tech technologies.

Intel's own example of their project is Jimmy. A 3D-printed robots, Jimmy is a walking, talking, dancing and tweeting robot companion who Intel say they built using the aforementioned crafting technology. To put together Jimmy and other 3D-printed robots like him, Intel are offering a $1,600 kit that provides consumers with the important stuff: a motor, batteries, a processor and wires, while the info you'll need to 3D-print the rest of the parts will be posted online by Intel. While the cheaper kit will offer Intel Edison (the chipset that is also marketed as Intel's 'computer on a chip' technology) meanwhile, the more expensive $16,000 research version with pack in Intel's Core i5 processor.

What's also important to note is that as the technology is open source, almost any sort of modification of the software can be downloaded, edited and shared. Has someone online found a way to make their robot dance in time to the music? If they'll provide the files to you, you'll be able to take that technology and perhaps you'll be able to modify it and see your robot dance and then tweet about which song it is that they're boogying too. The project will reportedly be available later this year so we'll keep you posted once we know more.

Source: re/code

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Apple’s WWDC 2014: What You Need To Know

Posted: 02 Jun 2014 01:10 PM PDT

Apple did their WWDC 2014 keynote today, that is their conference where they employ to present their software and hardware news. This year in particular there was no revolution waiting to happen, but lots of building up on their existing platforms and goodwill. There is a new iOS version, the eight one, for iPhone y iPad, but people were mostly excited about the possibility of an iWatch. Sadly, those news never came.

Apple spent the first portion of their keynote talking about their current and past success, with numbers to back it up. They talked about the massive attach rate for their latest OS, Mavericks, in comparison to Microsoft’s Windows 8, while confirming that the new entry in the series will be called Yosemite. This is following the latest Apple tradition, of calling their OS’s after Californian locations instead of great felines. Yosemite will come out after summer, and it will be free. Also, they confirmed we will be getting a new iteration of the Safari browser, faster and more compatible than ever.

Apple announced a new service called iCloud Drive, meant to become a direct competitor to Dropbox and Google Drive. This new service will work on Windows too, and offers 5 GB for free. We’re thinking maybe a future announcement will confirm a bigger capacity if users are willing to pay.

Apple have gotten ambitious, and they’re talking of better interaction between their gadgets and computers, so users can begin work in one and continue in the other, or even pick up phone calls from the new iMacs by syncing them with an iPhone.

All in all, Apple did what was expected of them, and being that we’re so used to them causing a revolution all the time, this leaves us thinking that it wasn’t all that good of a conference. They keep building on lifestyle, and improving, but this is not a revolution like some of us were led to believe.

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