In the way of iOS Car integration
It’s been over half a year since Apple announced iOS in the Car integration with over a dozen automakers, and we’ve not heard much from Cupertino about this feature since then. Today, a video leaked that shows off exactly what the interface currently looks like, and it’s quite promising. It’s still just an emulation running in OS X, but it does give us a solid idea of what we can expect from 2014′s in-dash user experience.
There are very interesting screenshot provided by an iOS developer. In this screenshot, it shows the emulator running with the iOS 7.1 beta, and it looks substantially different. The user interface has been thoroughly polished, and the aesthetic better matches the look of Apple’s current UI motifs. If the rest of the software has seen as much work as the user interface, a public release might be in the cards in the next couple of months.
We know that traffic, directions, music, and messaging are all going to be available with Apple’s system, but what about third-party apps? Many of us spend hours in the car every single day, so customized apps and notifications would be welcome additions. It’s also worth noting that Apple’s lackluster mapping solution can’t be swapped out for Google Maps here, and that could turn off a number of wary travelers. If Apple wants iOS in the Car to gain traction in the long run, third-party apps are absolutely a must. How long will we have to wait for Apple to take the hint?
Creativity: Mind-Body Dissonance benefits
Did you ever have to smile politely when you felt like screaming? In these situations, the emotions that we are required to express differ from the ones we are feeling inside. That can be stressful, unpleasant, and exhausting. Normally our minds and our bodies are in harmony. When facial expressions or posture depart from how we feel, we experience what is call mind–body dissonance. And in a fascinating new paper, they show that such awkward clashes between mind and body can actually be useful: they help us think more expansively.
When we think expansively, we think about categories more inclusively, we stop privileging the average cases, and extend our horizons to the atypical or exotic. Expansive thought can be regarded a kind of creativity, and an opportunity for new insights.
Huang and Galinsky, two psychologists, have shown that mind–body dissonance can make us think expansively. In a clever series of studies, they developed a way to get people’s facial expressions to depart from their emotional experiences. Participants were asked to either hold a pen between their teeth, forcing an unwitting smile, or to affix two golf tees in a particular position on their foreheads, unwittingly forcing an expression of sadness. While in these facial configurations subjects were asked to recall happy and sad events or listen to happy and sad music.
The team found that people are more likely to consider a camel a vehicle in conditions where their expressions different from the emotions caused by music or autobiographical memories. In a further study they showed that this effect is not limited to facial expressions and emotions. They asked people to play either dominant or submissive roles in a game, while sitting in postural positions that have been shown in other research to reflect power or weakness. Once again, the dissonance between mind—feeling dominant in a game—and body—sitting in a constricted position—lead to more expansive thinking.
These curious findings have some significant implications. They back up a growing body of evidence that cognition is “embodied,” meaning that our physical actions directly influence the way we think.
The new research also adds support to work showing that facial expressions influence our emotions. Participants in the Huang and Galinsky studies reported that their facial configurations influenced their moods, confirming that emotions are intimately connected to the body. There is also a large body of evidence showing that emotions influence how we think.
Huang and Galinksy’s work contributes by showing that conflicts between the emotions created by the body and the emotions elicited by other sources, such as music and memory, do not just influence what we think, but how we think.
The most exciting aspect of this work is that Huang and Galinksy find that mind–body dissonance has a positive payoff, even though it can feel unpleasant. There are conditions under which is it good for us, not just polite, to express emotions that differ from how we are feeling. We can also increase empathy for others by mimicking their expressions, even when we don’t share their feelings.
Now Huang and Galinsky have discovered a new benefit to adopting expressions that don’t originate from within. Doing so leads us to think more flexibly: our categories become more inclusive. This may help with creative problem-solving, as well as social conflicts. When we experienced mind–body dissonance, the foreclosed begins to look feasible. Inner conflict shakes us from cognitive complacency and makes us receptive to new possibilities.
SONY: the future of virtual worlds
Sony may move into the territory market dominated by the Oculus Rift and other virtual-reality headsets with an upgrade to its head-mounted display. With a prototype head tracker attached, the visor-like entertainment device becomes an immersive game environment.
The company’s HMZ-T3W headgear has been around since September of last year, although it was designed to be primarily a video device. The idea is you slip on the display, sit back and press play. The headset will create a virtual 750-inch screen in front of your eyes, complete with surround sound, giving you a cinematic experience wherever you are.
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A head tracker, which Sony showed a prototype of at CES 2014, takes the experience to the next level. With the tracker, which is located right behind your head, the virtual environment it creates can respond to your head movement — perfect for games or even interactive videos.
Sony has no info on if or when its head-tracking version of the headset will become available, but you can buy the regular HMZ-T3W today for $998.
More details : http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/174226-ces-2014-sonys-new-vr-headset-squares-off-with-the-oculus-rift
The start-up specialized in virtual headgear : http://www.oculusvr.com/
Can iWatch save your life?
iWatch does not exist yet, but the wildest rumors are already running on the hypothetical future shows connected to Apple. Latest: Experts in blood tests have been poached by Apple.
That should revive speculation about the watch connected project from Apple. While nothing concrete filter on the mysterious ” iWatch ” a writer who specializes in Cupertino , Mark Gurman says Apple is currently hiring experts blood test .
Why ? To develop a gifted watch, capable of monitoring the health of the wearer . On the website 9to5Mac , the blogger explains that two new recruits have swelled the ranks of Apple , and not just any .
Two important recruits
The first , Nancy Dougherty , worked until last December as a product manager in a start -up called Sano Intelligence, and was responsible for the development of a small jewel of technology, Sano patch capable of controlling the blood of his own continuously . All without needle and painlessly. ” The embedded camera sensors do not hurt , it’s the same feeling that a piece of sandpaper that you rub on the arm ,” détaillait an employee of the company. ” However, they will measure the level of glucose in the blood, to check the proper functioning of the kidneys “.
Second recruit: Ravi Narasimhan , poached by Apple while working at R & D company Vital Connect , which develops portable biosensors department: small wearable devices that can detect a change in the body and allow the data storage . Vital Connect and markets the ” HealthPatch ” that is worn on the chest and transmits its.
See also : http://9to5mac.com/
EyeLock Myris Brings Eye Scanning to Devices
The myris is computer mouse-size device that scans your eye. You plug it into the USB port on your computer, tablet or some other device. Pick it up, flip it over, look at it, and the sensor will immediately scan your eye to verify your identity.
Why would you ever want to do that? Because your iris is the ultimate master password: While a fingerprint has a one in 10,000 chance of resulting in a false positive, according to EyeLock, with an iris it’s more like one in 1.5 million. Verify with two eyes, and the chance of error goes down to one in 2.25 trillion.
Once your eye has been scanned and recorded, EyeLock’s software acts as a password manager. When it’s time to log in somewhere, you can just look at the scanner, and the software will use your iris to unlock the password of whatever service you’re trying to access. The myris is compatible with Windows PCs, Macs and even Chromebooks. It supports up to five different users.
Of course, things would be extremely bad if the tiny file that contains your iris scan ever fell into the wrong hands, but EyeLock says the system is designed to ensure that the files can’t be used to “hack” a person’s eye-dentity. Not only do the files never leave the device, but the scanners themselves simply aren’t designed to receive data from a file rather than a live scan. So even if a hypothetical hacker got your scan, they couldn’t do anything with it.
EyeLock plans to release myris later this year to both consumers and enterprise customers. No price has been set.
How to innovate to reduce discrimination against women
Is there really a discrimination again women?
The film shows what kind of images are showed by some commercial medias. The film showed American medias but in all industrialize countries, we can found these movies that gives this women’s vision.
Beyond medias, is there really some discriminations against women, and especially in industrialised countries ? Simple fact allows us to see the evidence; in Europe, in Russia and Australia, Women are less paid from 17% in comparison with Men, in United States 19%, in UK 21%, in Japan 33% and in Korea 38%. There is no country without any discrimination against women but Scandinavian and New Zealand countries have low discriminations.
But there are other discriminations that have higher consequence.
What are the ratio of Women who have Top Board responsibility?
The best, in Norway, 39% of Board seats are attributed to Women. In USA, 15,7%, in France, 12,7%, in UK, 12,5% and in Germany 11,2%. In the BRICST countries, Brazil, 5,1%, Russia 5,9%, India 5,3%, China 8,5%, South Africa 15,8% and Turkey 10,8%.
Women managers are 20% less paid that men in France; average salary discrimination is around 17% for all categories of Women jobs. Higher the level in the hierarchy is, higher the inequality is.
Anyway, progress is there but the equality will be long to obtain in the current trend…
In 1980, 25% of managers were female; in 2010, 38%.
25% of worldwide countries have legal restrictions on women’s right to work. There is some reductions of restrictions, decade after decade.
Around the world, almost 20% of national parliamentary seats are now occupied by women, up from 17.2% five years ago.
It will take more than 50 years in the current trend to reduce completely the discrimination against women. Can we accelerate the trend? It is up to all of us, women and men to be informed and to make some concrete actions to reduce them.
Check this very interesting blog with a lot of statistics about women’s discrimination
TOP5 rules to unleash your creativity
The first few years after I decided to take my creative writing seriously, I couldn’t overcome the nagging feeling that my fiction was simply a glorified hobby–like knitting or fishing. Plenty of people helped reinforce that. I’d be at a party filled with people who worked sensible office jobs when someone would find out I was writing a novel and tell me they’d been meaning to take up the hobby themselves if only they had more time.
But it’s hard to justify carving out time every day in your busy schedule for “just a hobby.” Music wasn’t just a hobby for Lou Reed. Inventing wasn’t just a hobby for Steve Jobs. They dedicated their best work to their creative endeavors. Lots and lots of people are creative when they feel like it, but you are only going to become a professional if you do it when you don’t feel like it.
Creative work is hard. It’s painful. It takes a whole lot of time. And if you don’t consciously set aside that time, it won’t happen.
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1. Put creative work first.
Setting aside time every day to do creative work keeps your momentum going.
2. Your inbox can wait. Seriously, it can.
Most of us compulsively check email without stopping to think about it. Why? The same reason it’s hard to resist piling your plate high with bad-for-you foods at a buffet.
3. Recognize your body’s limits.
Our bodies follow ultradian rhythms, cycles that last around 90 minutes–at which point most people max out their capacity to work at their optimal leve
4. Set boundaries and dive deep within them.
Try making rules for yourself and see what happens. George Harrison, lead guitarist of the Beatles, told himself one day that he would pick up a book at random, open it and write a song about whatever words he read first.
5. Start today.
Striving for perfection in everything you do can be so daunting it keeps you from getting started in the first place.
Q4 2013 : Worldwide PC market share declines
Worldwide PC Shipments Totaled 82.2 Million Units In Q4 2013, A 5.6% Decline From Q4 2012.
Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide PC Shipments, Fourth Quarter 2013 (Preliminary) (Units Shipments are in thousands)
Vendor 4Q13 Shipments 4Q13 Market Share 4Q12 Shipments 4Q12 Market Share 4Q13/4Q12 Growth
1. Lenovo 15,279 18.6% 14,013 16.1% 9.0%
2. HP 13,779 16.8% 15,059 17.3% -8.5%
3. Dell 10,030 12.2% 9,482 10.9% 5.8%
4. Acer Group 5,540 6.7% 7,046 8.1% -21.4%
5. ASUS 4,988 6.1% 5,610 6.4% -11.1%
Others 32,595 39.6% 35,840 41.2% -9.1%
Total 82,211 100.0% 87,049 100.0% -5.6%
International Data Corporation (IDC) today released their Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 82.2 million units in the Q4 of 2013, representing a 5.6% decline in numbers YoY. When you consider the full year 2013, total shipments declined -10.0% from 2012, a record drop reflecting the changes in mobility and personal computing affecting the market.
The declining trend is no surprising given that the consumer interest is moving towards more mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
Check the computer without touching screen!
Check the computer with hands and without touching the screen ?
Zoom , change the page , edit an image using gestures or eye recognition? With its American futuristic technology , Leap Motion , a start -up , has embarked on this adventure. Inspired by the virtual control used by Tom Cruise in the movie Minority Report , the Leap Motion technology is a small box . Once connected to a computer or a TV, it will allow any direct through hand movements remotely.
HP , Google … they want Leap Motion!
In 2013, the U.S. computer maker Hewlett Packard announced that it signed a contract with the start up Leap Motion to integrate a solution for 3D control in its computers. A few days later, Google celebrates Earth Day and Google Earth Service offers a new way to discover the world by enriching the Leap Motion technology. Integrated to whatever robot, Leap Motion technology , in the service of persons with reduced mobility can revolutionize their lives.
The case is available for purchase and costs about 80 euros.
See the Leap Motion web site : http://www.leapmotion.com/
Context Computing: a new age begins
I was in San Francisco in November 2013 and I had the opportunity to see a conference from Robert Scoble and Shel Israel about their last book “Age of Context”. This age of Context Computing will revolutionize the way to image the interaction with devices and will concretely enter in our life in 2014 with the electronic Glasses and interactive watches. And this is only the beginning as explained the lecturers ; in the next ten years, you will find the context programs in your cars and probably in all devices that you can imagine: toothbrushes , industrial machines, refrigerators, televisions , … and probably everywhere in more than 10 years!
From the 70s and 80s , for 20 years , we have evolved into the age of the batch computing. Humans keyboarded data during the days ; and during the night batches calculated data from those entered manually .
From the 90s and 2000s, for 20 years again, we entered into the age of the event computing. Humans keyboarded data ; and immediately by clicking on a button, program was launched to calculate synchronously or asynchronously data.
From the 2010s with tablets and their sensors and more significantly from 2014 with the new usage of the new electronic Glasses or interactive Watches, we are entering in the age of context computing . Computers or devices are equipped with sensors for sensing the temperature , brightness, heartbeat , blood pressure , speed, racing acceleration or position in space; and depending on the context , the developments made interacts with humans when a context is recognize; the system provides contextual information in order to help people with the aim to be more effective. This may seems firstly trivial, but this is for me also a revolution.
Don’t hesitate to read the excellent article from Forbes published in October 2013 : Contextual Computing: Our Sixth, Seventh And Eighth Senses.
Don’t hesitate to buy the book “Age of Context” that gives really the possibilities of the future major revolution of the computing : Age of Context from Robert Scoble and Shel Israel .
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