1. Larklife Wristband - a 24/7 Personal Trainer That Never Quits
Lark on Monday introduced its new Larklife wristband, which is designed to track not only the number of steps taken or calories burned, but also food consumed and even hours of sleep. The principle behind the device is that getting in shape and staying fit isn't just about the time spent working out -- it's what you do the rest of the day as well. While there is no shortage of devices that can track your heart rate, calories burned and time spent exercising, Lark aims to make fitness monitoring a constant part of a user's life.
2. LibreOffice vs. OpenOffice, Part Deux
Well it's been a momentous few weeks for FOSS fans recently, not least because LibreOffice -- one of the most popular exemplars of free and open source software today -- celebrated its second anniversary late last month. "In just 24 months, we have achieved what many people thought was impossible when the project was launched," said Thorsten Behrens, SUSE developer and deputy chairman of the Document Foundation board.
3. Technology for the body on the road to cyborgs?
Speakers at a symposium on body-enhancement technology raised the idea that we may converge with our technology to the point that a superhuman entity emerges.
On September 2, 2010, Karen Throsby became the 1153rd person to swim the English Channel, taking 16 hours and nine minutes, and keeping herself going on handfuls of jelly babies.
Many Channel swimmers are purists: wetsuits are banned, never mind performance-enhancing drugs. The sport sees itself as an assertion of human ability in natural form. But Throsby, a sociologist researching the effects of extreme sports, takes a different view.
She was a speaker at Human Limits, a Wellcome Collection symposium linked to its Superhuman exhibition in London on physical and mental enhancement. The question it investigated was how much technology can humans use before they become something else — a cyborg, perhaps, or a superhuman, a post-human, or a trans-human. What are our limits?
Some speakers discussed the "singularity": the idea that in a few years' time, we may converge with our technology to the point that some as-yet inconceivable superhuman entity emerges.
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Others highlighted the fear we can feel when new inventions threaten our sense of who we are; uneasy about our authenticity, we look back nostalgically to an era assumed to be more human.
Throsby's contribution was to remind us that even something as apparently basic as marathon swimming involves many artificial techniques: gaining weight, acclimatising to the cold, monitoring one's psychology, and developing new micro-senses — an awareness of tiny differences in water temperature, a heightened kinetic sense of the body's balance and position, and so on.
It means self-transformation, and is filled with "uncountable, mundane bodily technologies". Channel swimmers use rubber caps, sunblock, Vaseline to prevent chafing, sleek swimsuits, and energy-boosting snacks. They are accompanied by boats with GPS.
And they use goggles, an invention variously attributed to Polynesians, Persians and the Inuit, but later improved by innovators such as first female Channel swimmer Gertrude Ederle, who smeared paraffin wax on motorcycle glasses in 1926 to make them watertight. More recently, goggles have been made with better rubber, adjustable straps, and prescription lenses. It would be hard to swim far or fast without them.
As always, successful technologies tend to disappear in their use, becoming almost indistinguishable from ourselves and our own efforts. A smartphone sits in our hand announcing "I am technology", but the spectacles through which we peer at its screen and the pocket into which we slip it feel as natural as our own hands and eyes. It takes a leap of thought to realise that Vaseline and jelly babies are technology, too.
Human Limits asked how much technology we can add before losing ourselves, but there is also the question of how human we remain if familiar enhancements are taken away.
These could include both devices and practices — our mastery of writing, our elaborate educations, our knives and fires and cooking-pots, our language, our laboriously polished social skills. At what point do we cross the line into being no longer ourselves?
As human beings, we tread a narrow ridge where we roughly know who we are — but the ridge does not run straight, or lead in a predefined direction. It is partly up to us to decide what a human being is.
"Man is rightly called and judged a great miracle and a wonderful creature," wrote the philosopher Pico della Mirandola in 1486. He opined that we are wonderful not because we live up with the angels, or down with more modest beasts, but because we occupy an intermediate realm in which we invent and alter ourselves.
"Neither a fixed abode nor a form that is thine alone nor any function peculiar to thyself have we given thee," he imagines God saying to man. "Thou, constrained by no limits, shalt ordain for thyself the limits of thy nature."
Of course we are hemmed-in by mishaps and errors, and technology goes wrong. But to a large extent we are our own works in progress. And when all goes smoothly, we don't even know it.
Lark on Monday introduced its new Larklife wristband, which is designed to track not only the number of steps taken or calories burned, but also food consumed and even hours of sleep. The principle behind the device is that getting in shape and staying fit isn't just about the time spent working out -- it's what you do the rest of the day as well. While there is no shortage of devices that can track your heart rate, calories burned and time spent exercising, Lark aims to make fitness monitoring a constant part of a user's life.
2. LibreOffice vs. OpenOffice, Part Deux
Well it's been a momentous few weeks for FOSS fans recently, not least because LibreOffice -- one of the most popular exemplars of free and open source software today -- celebrated its second anniversary late last month. "In just 24 months, we have achieved what many people thought was impossible when the project was launched," said Thorsten Behrens, SUSE developer and deputy chairman of the Document Foundation board.
3. Technology for the body on the road to cyborgs?
Speakers at a symposium on body-enhancement technology raised the idea that we may converge with our technology to the point that a superhuman entity emerges.
On September 2, 2010, Karen Throsby became the 1153rd person to swim the English Channel, taking 16 hours and nine minutes, and keeping herself going on handfuls of jelly babies.
Many Channel swimmers are purists: wetsuits are banned, never mind performance-enhancing drugs. The sport sees itself as an assertion of human ability in natural form. But Throsby, a sociologist researching the effects of extreme sports, takes a different view.
She was a speaker at Human Limits, a Wellcome Collection symposium linked to its Superhuman exhibition in London on physical and mental enhancement. The question it investigated was how much technology can humans use before they become something else — a cyborg, perhaps, or a superhuman, a post-human, or a trans-human. What are our limits?
Some speakers discussed the "singularity": the idea that in a few years' time, we may converge with our technology to the point that some as-yet inconceivable superhuman entity emerges.
Advertisement
Others highlighted the fear we can feel when new inventions threaten our sense of who we are; uneasy about our authenticity, we look back nostalgically to an era assumed to be more human.
Throsby's contribution was to remind us that even something as apparently basic as marathon swimming involves many artificial techniques: gaining weight, acclimatising to the cold, monitoring one's psychology, and developing new micro-senses — an awareness of tiny differences in water temperature, a heightened kinetic sense of the body's balance and position, and so on.
It means self-transformation, and is filled with "uncountable, mundane bodily technologies". Channel swimmers use rubber caps, sunblock, Vaseline to prevent chafing, sleek swimsuits, and energy-boosting snacks. They are accompanied by boats with GPS.
And they use goggles, an invention variously attributed to Polynesians, Persians and the Inuit, but later improved by innovators such as first female Channel swimmer Gertrude Ederle, who smeared paraffin wax on motorcycle glasses in 1926 to make them watertight. More recently, goggles have been made with better rubber, adjustable straps, and prescription lenses. It would be hard to swim far or fast without them.
As always, successful technologies tend to disappear in their use, becoming almost indistinguishable from ourselves and our own efforts. A smartphone sits in our hand announcing "I am technology", but the spectacles through which we peer at its screen and the pocket into which we slip it feel as natural as our own hands and eyes. It takes a leap of thought to realise that Vaseline and jelly babies are technology, too.
Human Limits asked how much technology we can add before losing ourselves, but there is also the question of how human we remain if familiar enhancements are taken away.
These could include both devices and practices — our mastery of writing, our elaborate educations, our knives and fires and cooking-pots, our language, our laboriously polished social skills. At what point do we cross the line into being no longer ourselves?
As human beings, we tread a narrow ridge where we roughly know who we are — but the ridge does not run straight, or lead in a predefined direction. It is partly up to us to decide what a human being is.
"Man is rightly called and judged a great miracle and a wonderful creature," wrote the philosopher Pico della Mirandola in 1486. He opined that we are wonderful not because we live up with the angels, or down with more modest beasts, but because we occupy an intermediate realm in which we invent and alter ourselves.
"Neither a fixed abode nor a form that is thine alone nor any function peculiar to thyself have we given thee," he imagines God saying to man. "Thou, constrained by no limits, shalt ordain for thyself the limits of thy nature."
Of course we are hemmed-in by mishaps and errors, and technology goes wrong. But to a large extent we are our own works in progress. And when all goes smoothly, we don't even know it.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/technology-for-the-body-on-the-road-to-cyborgs-20121003-26ytg.html#ixzz28kWe34rF
4. Apple orders 10 million iPad mini units
The rumoured iPad mini will be in between the current iPad and the iPhone.
4. Apple orders 10 million iPad mini units
The rumoured iPad mini will be in between the current iPad and the iPhone.
Apple has yet to unveil the iPad mini, but already a report says exactly how many will be available in time for Christmas.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Cupertino tech giant has ordered more than 10 million units be produced for the upcoming shopping season. The report cites unnamed Apple suppliers as its sources.
If Apple has indeed ordered that many units, it would be more than twice the amount of Kindle Fire tablets that Amazon.com ordered for the same time period, according to the report.
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The rumoured iPad mini is expected to be announced later this month. A report last week said invites for an announcement event are expected to go out on Wednesday.
The iPad mini is expected to have a 7.85-inch screen and have a coated aluminium backing. The rumoured tablet is expected to more closely resemble the iPhone 5 and new iPod Touch than the existing 9.7-inch iPad.
If Apple introduces the iPad mini it will face off against the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon.com 7-inch Kindle Fire HD, the top two 7-inch tablets already available.
Various recent reports have said factories in Asia as well as Brazil have begun production on the unconfirmed Apple device. Now it's just a matter of Apple making the device official.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/tablets/apple-orders-10-million-ipad-mini-units-report-20121009-27a0z.html#ixzz28kWmIIw0
5. For better Android tablet apps, Google makes best practices checklist
Monday, Google's Android Developer Relations team published the Tablet App Quality Checklist so that developers can "make sure that [their] app meets the basic expectations of tablet users."
This checklist serves as a best practices guide, and includes ten key items for developers to acknowledge in their development process: Core app quality, tablet-optimized layout, full screen utilization, full asset utilization, font and touch target accuracy, homescreen widget correctness, one single version for all devices, no required hardware features, declaring tablet screen support, and following Google Play publishing best practices.
Android tablet apps have historically had a bad reputation among the tech press. They "suck" according to at least a couple of publications because they do not live up to the example set by the iPad.
In fact, until Android profitability could be proven, some prominent app developers shied away from buildingtablet-specific Android apps. Google has made a point of showing that Android tablets are a viable app platform by publishing several developer case studies with their own statistics about Android tablet engagement.
So by setting up these guidelines, Google is hoping to tighten up the appearance of Android tablet apps, so they can make the platform shine a little more brightly.
6. Purple haze in photos from iPhone 5? You're holding it wrong
Apple tends to have unintentionally witty responses to most problems associated with the iPhone. Cofounder Steve Jobs told a user "you're holding it wrong" in response to "Death Grip". Now comes similar response to the purple haze in pictures taken with the iPhone 5.
Apple updated a knowledge base article in which it acknowledges the discoloration issue with the iPhone 5 camera, represented by a purple haze, flare or spot that appears due to the position of the light source. According to the Cupertino, Calif.-based corporation the problem isn't new and affects all iPhone generations.
According to the support info, when the light source is positioned at an angle that is usually barely outside the field of view it causes reflections onto the sensor from the surfaces inside the camera module. The proposed fix is to move the camera slightly to avoid light entering from the same angle, or by shielding the camera with one's hand, which is a rather pedestrian solution.
Digital Photography Review says the problem is more evident for the latest Apple smartphone compared to iPhone 4S. However, DP Review says the phenomenon is not unique to iPhone 5 and occurs on some other smartphones.
7. Apple Maps Accidentally Revealed A Top Secret Military BaseUh oh. Apple Maps, for all of its blurry, melting world faults, was actually a little too clear in one area: it revealed a top-secret, $US1.23 billion ultra-high-frequency radar of Taiwan for everyone to see. Um, that’s not good.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Cupertino tech giant has ordered more than 10 million units be produced for the upcoming shopping season. The report cites unnamed Apple suppliers as its sources.
If Apple has indeed ordered that many units, it would be more than twice the amount of Kindle Fire tablets that Amazon.com ordered for the same time period, according to the report.
Advertisement
The rumoured iPad mini is expected to be announced later this month. A report last week said invites for an announcement event are expected to go out on Wednesday.
The iPad mini is expected to have a 7.85-inch screen and have a coated aluminium backing. The rumoured tablet is expected to more closely resemble the iPhone 5 and new iPod Touch than the existing 9.7-inch iPad.
If Apple introduces the iPad mini it will face off against the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon.com 7-inch Kindle Fire HD, the top two 7-inch tablets already available.
Various recent reports have said factories in Asia as well as Brazil have begun production on the unconfirmed Apple device. Now it's just a matter of Apple making the device official.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/tablets/apple-orders-10-million-ipad-mini-units-report-20121009-27a0z.html#ixzz28kWmIIw0
5. For better Android tablet apps, Google makes best practices checklist
Monday, Google's Android Developer Relations team published the Tablet App Quality Checklist so that developers can "make sure that [their] app meets the basic expectations of tablet users."
This checklist serves as a best practices guide, and includes ten key items for developers to acknowledge in their development process: Core app quality, tablet-optimized layout, full screen utilization, full asset utilization, font and touch target accuracy, homescreen widget correctness, one single version for all devices, no required hardware features, declaring tablet screen support, and following Google Play publishing best practices.
Android tablet apps have historically had a bad reputation among the tech press. They "suck" according to at least a couple of publications because they do not live up to the example set by the iPad.
In fact, until Android profitability could be proven, some prominent app developers shied away from buildingtablet-specific Android apps. Google has made a point of showing that Android tablets are a viable app platform by publishing several developer case studies with their own statistics about Android tablet engagement.
So by setting up these guidelines, Google is hoping to tighten up the appearance of Android tablet apps, so they can make the platform shine a little more brightly.
6. Purple haze in photos from iPhone 5? You're holding it wrong
Apple tends to have unintentionally witty responses to most problems associated with the iPhone. Cofounder Steve Jobs told a user "you're holding it wrong" in response to "Death Grip". Now comes similar response to the purple haze in pictures taken with the iPhone 5.
Apple updated a knowledge base article in which it acknowledges the discoloration issue with the iPhone 5 camera, represented by a purple haze, flare or spot that appears due to the position of the light source. According to the Cupertino, Calif.-based corporation the problem isn't new and affects all iPhone generations.
According to the support info, when the light source is positioned at an angle that is usually barely outside the field of view it causes reflections onto the sensor from the surfaces inside the camera module. The proposed fix is to move the camera slightly to avoid light entering from the same angle, or by shielding the camera with one's hand, which is a rather pedestrian solution.
Digital Photography Review says the problem is more evident for the latest Apple smartphone compared to iPhone 4S. However, DP Review says the phenomenon is not unique to iPhone 5 and occurs on some other smartphones.
7. Apple Maps Accidentally Revealed A Top Secret Military BaseUh oh. Apple Maps, for all of its blurry, melting world faults, was actually a little too clear in one area: it revealed a top-secret, $US1.23 billion ultra-high-frequency radar of Taiwan for everyone to see. Um, that’s not good.
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