Tech Coverage on Mashable

Please click here if the email below is not displayed correctly.

Sunday, July 08, 2012
TRENDING STORIES IN TECH & GADGETS Spider-Like iPhone 5 Design Is Creepy Yet Cool [PICS] Designing for Context on Multiple Devices The Furby Is Back ALL STORIES IN TECH & GADGETS Apple May Not Include NFC in the iPhone 5 [VIDEO] Saturday, July 07, 2012 3:57 PM Emily Price In the battle for your mobile wallet one company has been noticeably silent: Apple. Google has its own mobile payment service: Google Wallet, and Microsoft even announced in June that it would be adding a digital wallet service with NFC capabilities to Windows Phone 8 that would store credit card and mobile payment information. So, where is the world's favorite fruit company? In its announcement of iOS6 mobile payments were left off the agenda. The company unveiled Passbook, a service for keeping track of tickets and coupons, but not credit cards. According to the Wall Street Journal, some Apple engineers fought for mobile payment functionality. However, the decision -- a very intentional one -- to leave mobile payments out of iOS 6 was made anyway. The reason? "Apple is always a comfortable number two," said Piper Jaffray Analyst Gene Munster to the Wall Street Journal. "They let their competitors do their market research for them." Mobile payments are expected to hit $600 billion worldwide by 2016; however, most mainstream consumers are still not adopting them. NFC, the technology that allows you to tap your phone on a surface in order to pay, also isn't expected to be available in most merchants for another few years. SEE ALSO: Mobile Payment Smackdown: Square vs. PayPal Here According to the WSJ, Apple doesn't want to be the one facilitating mobile credit cards payments when the service isn't ready, for fear that customers will blame Apple for merchant's failures during the process. Under that logic, we may not see Apple deploy NFC or mobile payments in the iPhone for some time, and especially not in the upcoming iPhone 5. What do you think about NFC? Would you like the ability to make payments by taping your iPhone at a point of sale or is the technology still a little too new for your comfort? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Could We Build Star Trek's Starship Enterprise? Saturday, July 07, 2012 1:42 PM Space.com Since its first appearance on the original "Star Trek" series in 1966, the Starship Enterprise has become a symbol for space travel. Recently, an anonymous engineer claimed that an approximation of this iconic ship could be built in the next two decades. But just how close is mankind to zipping through the stars at warp speed? On the website BuildTheEnterprise.org, a self-proclaimed engineer who identifies himself only as "BTE-Dan" suggests that a working facsimile of the iconic ship could be built and launched over the next 20 to 30 years. The ship would require a few modifications, but would look a great deal like Captain Kirk's famous ship. Built in space, the ship would never visit the surface of any moon or planet, and so would never need to reach the high speeds necessary to escape surface gravity. The engines would be powered by nuclear reactors onboard the ship, and use argon rather than xenon for propellant, saving a few hundred billion dollars in cost. As an added bonus, BTE-Dan notes that argon can be mined from the atmosphere of Mars. Although such a ship would a lack a warp drive (the technology that allows the "Star Trek" version to zip between stars across the galaxy), it could reach the moon in three days and Mars in three months. BTE-Dan suggests it might function as a combination of a space station and a space port, allowing humans to orbit planets and moons within the solar system while using a "universal lander" to travel to and from their surfaces. Such a spaceship could house 1,000 people within its gravity wheel. The entire ship would be more than 3,000 feet (almost 1 kilometer) long, with its central disk making up nearly half its length. According to the website, much of the technology needed to build the ship described is within our grasp, including the rotating gravity wheel, which could be suspended by electromagnets within a vacuum to eliminate mechanical wear and tear. Also easily within reach, he claims, are a 1.5 GWe (gigawatt electrical) nuclear reactor safe to carry in a spacecraft, and composite materials that would save mass, add strength and improve radiation shielding. Design challenges BTE-Dan describes himself as a systems and electrical engineer who has spent the past 30 years employed at a Fortune 500 company. He is presently declining interviews. Though the prospect of a real-life Enterprise is appealing, the proposed ship is not without problems. Adam Crowl, an engineer with Icarus Interstellar Inc., a nonprofit foundation dedicated to interstellar exploration, pointed out that a spaceship built with a sufficiently powerful nuclear reactor would need large thermal radiators, ruining the classic Enterprise look. "Engineering physics doesn't respect our aesthetics," he told SPACE.com by email. BTE-Dan's ship is essentially an iconic replica of the famous starship, and may not be practical. "I would love to see 1,000 people go to Mars, but I need convincing that they need to be on the Enterprise to do so," said Crowl. Other engineers said the similarities between BTE-Dan's ship and the Enterprise are only skin-deep. "He wants to build something using foreseeable technology that just looks like the Enterprise," said Marc Millis, an aerospace engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center. "It's nowhere close to being what the Enterprise is." Still, the site received so many visits soon after its launch that it crashed, revealing how appealing the idea is to many people. Today's technology Though some aspects of the Enterprise are far out of reach today, many are within our grasp, and some are part of our daily lives. Sliding doors, futuristic in the 1960s, now welcome almost every grocery store visitor, and today's flip-open cellphones resemble Star Trek's tricorders. The touch-screen devices ubiquitous today even look like those used in the 1990s episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." "If you had shown someone an iPad in the 1990s and told them it was 23rd century technology, they would have believed you," Richard Obousy, co-founder and president of Icarus Interstellar Inc., told SPACE.com. Advances with 3D printers also provide opportunities for voyages through space, allowing the replication of parts while using materials found at the destination. Andreas Hein, an aerospace engineer also with Icarus Interstellar, suggested that it might not be long before such printers make food similar to the way meals were synthesized by replicators on the Enterprise. Additionally, engineers working at NASA's Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory, informally known as Eagleworks, are working on a Q-thruster that bears a striking resemblance to the impulse engines on the Enterprise. Nuclear woes Millis suggested the next step in rocket propulsion will likely include utilizing a nuclear power source, an option that is stymied by the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He acknowledged that the barriers aren't just political ones, as people are nervous about the idea of launching nuclear rockets from Earth's surface, despite the fact that it could be done safely. Obousy agreed that nuclear rockets could provide the necessary thrust, pointing to the large, multi billion-dollar projects around the world seeking ways to unlock fusion as an energy source. Of course, such projects primarily focus on powering homes and cities on Earth, but once unlocked, fusion could be used to travel through the stars. "In terms of propulsion technology, fusion engines are potentially within a generation or two," Obousy said, though he added that sudden technological jumps could accelerate the process. Visiting a planet without being seen may also be not too far out of reach. "We're doing things with meta-materials that'll allow practical cloaking, maybe even invisibility," Crowl said. Gravity presents one of the greatest challenges: The Enterprise of television and the movies lacks a gravity wheel, instead utilizing synthetic gravity. According to Millis, if we could find a way to master gravitational forces, such technology could also be utilized in tractor beams or the ship's propulsion. Warp speed ahead "Star Trek"-like propulsion remains a key problem. Fans are familiar with the warp drive, which accelerated the ship faster than the speed of light and allowed its crew to zip between stars. Such travel defies our present understanding of physics. "I think this is one of the most important aspects that prevents an Enterprise-type ship in the near future," Hein said. Obousy agreed. "One of the staples of these warp drives is that they require an exotic form of energy that we have not been able to create in the labs, dark energy being the salient example," he said. Dark energy is the unexplained force behind the accelerated expansion of the universe. Scientists don't yet understand what it is, which makes it a challenge to use in propulsion. A warp drive would require an enormous amount of energy. Theoretical calculations using dark energy to move a starship would require more energy than that contained within the planet Jupiter, making it uneconomical. In the "Star Trek" universe, the warp drive relied on antimatter. When matter and antimatter annihilate one another, the energy produced is immense. Though such an energy source could conceivably power the ship, it is available only briefly. Crowl pointed out that antimatter technology itself is developing rapidly. Ultra-high intensity lasers may soon allow it to be directly created from energy, and useful amounts may be trapped in the magnetic fields of planets like Earth and Saturn. But, like dark energy, antimatter may prove to be more trouble than it's worth. "Using antimatter right now is very expensive," Millis said. "But that doesn't mean that it always will be." When mankind finally travels to the stars, we may have to forgo warp speed for something else, such as the manipulation of space-time itself. According to Albert Einstein, nothing in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light. But Millis points out that such limits do not necessarily apply to space-time. Theories in peer-reviewed journals explore the possibility of surrounding a craft with a bubble of space-time that expands and contracts, perhaps allowing it to exceed the speed of light. "It's the difference between moving a pencil across a piece of paper or moving the whole paper," Millis said. Beam me up, Scotty Another potential challenge to recreating the "Star Trek" universe is the system of matter transmission. The crew often traveled to a planet by transporter, beaming from the Enterprise directly to the surface by way of machines that could scan a body, atom-by-atom, and then recreate it in another place. Recent advances have been made in quantum teleportation, but Obousy and Millis both stressed the difference from "Star Trek"-style travel. In quantum teleportation, "it's not the same photon you started out with, but a replica," said Obousy. Such travel would require enormous precision. "If you were going to recreate a human being transported from one place to another, you'd want to make sure everything's in the exact place," he said. Millis suggested that, rather than matter transmission, scientists might one day learn how to utilize very small wormholes for travel. "Of course, if you put mass through it, it might make the wormhole collapse," he noted. Ultimately, the greatest challenge to replicating the Star Trek journeys may not come from the technological front. "One of the things that I really liked about watchingwas the very good behavior of the crew," Millis said. "The prejudices and petty human differences that make up so much of television are pretty much absent. When I think about relative impossibilities, I think it will be easier to make technology for the starship Enterprise than to finally make humans behave that honorably." Visit www.buildtheenterprise.org to see more details on the proposed construction of a real-life Enterprise. Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Image courtesy of iStock, BrendanHunter 7 Apps You Don't Want To Miss Saturday, July 07, 2012 12:33 PM Emily Price It can be tough to keep up with all the new apps released each week. But you're in luck: We take care of a lot of that for you, creating a roundup each weekend of some of our own new and updated app highlights from the week. This week we found a few water-based games that require you to come up with a little strategy in order to win, and we found an old favorite game that has finally made its way over to Android. iPhone owners saw an update this week to a popular music app, and got a new photography app that will let you take some pretty unique shots. Another app will help you keep up-to-date on everything going on at the Tour de France, and another will keep you in-the-know when it comes to your body, helping you get advice from a doctor without ever leaving your home Scroll through the gallery above for a look at this week's app highlights. Still looking for more? Check out one of our previous Apps to Check Out for some other interesting mobile apps worth a look, and let us know about your own app highlights from the week in the comments. Researchers Transmit Electricity Through Solid Concrete Saturday, July 07, 2012 11:34 AM Geekosystem The dream of having electric cars without limited range is one step closer to reality thanks to a Japanese research group. The researchers, from Toyohashi University of Technology, showcased an experiment with the ability to send up to 60 watts through almost four inches of solid concrete. The technique they are using isn't exactly new but the fact that they managed to squeeze out between 80 and 90%t efficiency is. The group, led by Takashi Ohira used a set of modified tires set on top of the concrete which then sent the electricity to light an incandescent bulb to provide a much more visual clue that the transfer of energy was actually happening. According to the researchers, the high conductivity of the concrete used in roads and the cheap cost of materials could eventually lead to much more massive amounts of energy being produced and transmitted through as much as eight inches of concrete. It's a good thing that the technology scales because the output needs to be multiplied by 100 if it were to ever truly power a vehicle like a car. Any practical use of this technology is still a ways off and yet the precedent is now there to show that it's possible. We just need more power. And if there's something humans are always looking to gain, it's more power. (Tech-On! via The Verge, image credit via BastiaanImages) Designing for Context on Multiple Devices Saturday, July 07, 2012 9:54 AM UX Magazine It's crucial to understand the user and the context in which an app or program will be used. The more unobtrusive and transparent the experience is at the time of use, the better the design. This means the user does not have to think about the device he is using, changes in the environment or changes in context and can rely on great functionality and ease of use independent of his situation. In today's world, smartphones, tablets, laptops and smart TVs provide different services in different contexts. These services are consumed by a variety of users and require different interaction models, use cases and planning. For this reason, UX professionals should first design for the context of use in order to provide better experiences and ultimately enhance the intended purpose of the product. The Multiscreen App Ecosystem Designing for context is especially important when designing for a multiscreen ecosystem, where multiple devices are all a part of one product. Michal Levin, a UX designer at Google, describes multiscreen ecosystems in terms of three main categories. The first is consistent experience, where the application and the experience are similar across all screens. For example, the Google Search application provides the same search experience across all devices. The second category is the complementary experience, where devices work together and communicate with each other in order to create a unique experience. An example of this is Padracer, a racing game where the user's iPhone serves as the steering wheel and the iPad screen as the racetrack. Another example of a complementary multiscreen experience is SlingPlayer for mobile devices. A Slingbox is a device that allows you users to stream live television from their living room to mobile devices. Using the SlingPlayer application, users can watch or record their favorite programs from a remote location. Each device complements the other and the experience could not exist with just a single device. The Continuous Multiscreen Experience The third category of app ecosystems the continuous multiscreen experience, which is possibly the most important category for a contextual multiscreen design. For a continuous experience across several devices, UX professionals must evaluate when and where a product will be used in order to assess the optimal experience for the user at the time of use. AllRecipes is an example of a continuous ecosystem where one can search for recipes online using a desktop computer and add ingredients to create a shopping list. While shopping, this list is accessible using a smartphone, the device most likely to be carried while shopping. The app also allows one to scan products using the camera and receive additional recipe ideas with greater ease. When it's time to cook, an iPad can be brought into the kitchen for a cook-friendly interface with large fonts and big buttons so the user can touch the tablet with a knuckle in case of wet or messy fingers. The tablet's larger screen is a perfect size for the kitchen, much like a traditional cookbook resting on the counter. Eventbrite is another great example of a continuous multiscreen ecosystem. Users can register for an event through the Eventbrite website and receive an email ticket that they can print. Alternatively, users can download the mobile app for easy access to tickets and event information. The mobile app is ideal in this case because users will most likely take their smartphones to events to use a unique QR code as a ticket, which the app displays in high brightness and contrast for easy scanning in dark environments. But the Eventbrite experience shouldn't end there. The makers of Bizzabo, a new app designed to improve the social experience of conferences, believe in the importance of eye contact, handshakes and face-to-face meetings. Their mobile app allows event organizers to import Eventbrite event information and engage directly with their attendees, while enabling professionals to network efficiently at conferences and meetups. This continuous experience is a natural evolution to the Eventbrite platform. Additional Categories of Multiscreen Ecosystems Precious, a studio based in Hamburg, Germany, published a collection of additional multiscreen categories and scenarios to help understand and define strategies for the multiscreen world. It's a handy reference for discussing solutions for digital products and services. Understanding The Story Sarah Doody writes, "A product is more than an idea, it's more than a website, and it's more than a transaction or list of functionalities. A product should provide an experience or service that adds value to someone's life through fulfilling a need or satisfying a desire." Understanding how people use a product and telling their stories helps designs create better critical paths and experiences for each platform when designing for a continuous multiscreen ecosystem. For example, a social network might decide that image sharing plays a significant role in developing the value of the product by enhancing user engagement. Although the website is the perfect platform for sharing and keeping in touch with friends, the critical path in the smartphone application can be directed towards the camera. Smartphones are carried everywhere, so a camera is always at arm's reach. The images can then be synched with a tablet, which is an ideal platform for image sharing and manipulation because of its larger screen. Those images can be streamed directly from the tablet to a smart TV when friends come to visit, rounding out a great value for people who use the entire ecosystem. Contextual Paths When we understand how context affects usage for each device, we can create contextual paths to help guide the design for a multiscreen ecosystem. For example, a responsive website for a large city tells visitors what to do when in town, shows maps of public transportation and provides directories of municipal services. To adapt to the context of a mobile platform, this same website should provide different paths according to the context to accommodate users on the go, typically by focusing on location-specific information such as bus routes. To determine these paths, designers can utilize web analytics to evaluate what users look for when using different platforms. Device for Context After doing some research I have accumulated some experience in understanding the basic context assumption for the various device types: Smartphones The idea that smartphone users are generally on-the-go outside the home, using the device as a substitute or a replacement for the personal computer is a misconception. Rather, smartphones are becoming a platform of their own and not a substitute for the computer, both at home and on-the-go. However, it is safe to assume that the smartphone is always within reach throughout the day. With the rise of other convenient devices for media consumption (e.g., tablets), users mainly use smartphones for micro-tasks: looking for quick information, killing time and social sharing. Because the smartphone is always within reach, the context of use could be understood in terms of the application's intended purpose. Evernote is an example of this. In its mobile app, Evernote understands the mobile context and provides quick access for text notes, photo capture and voice dictation. By utilizing the device capabilities and providing a quick way to save ideas, Eventbrite turns smartphones into a great note-taking platform. Our Mobile Planet is a great resource for understanding the mobile consumer. The insights within this website are a result of an extensive technology research project commissioned by Google for understanding the smartphone adoption and usage around the world. Tablets People may use smartphones to look for a quick article to kill the three minutes waiting for a train. But once on the train, they may take out the iPad for the hour it takes them to ride home (Usability of iPad Apps and Websites). Tablets are used in environments not conducive to a keyboard and mouse such as lying in bed, watching television or standing. Because of its lighter weight in comparison to a laptop, the tablet is easily carried. However, its main usage is within the home. Most tablet owners use the device daily for an average of 90 minutes a day, mostly on weekdays. Because the screen of a tablet is larger than that of a smartphone, the tablet is ideal for reading and viewing media such as images and movies, and the larger virtual keyboard is more convenient for writing emails and note-taking. However, the tablet is not currently considered a work tool for most people, nor is a replacement to the desktop computer -- it is merely a more convenient way to consume media and surf the web away from the office desk or the typical computer environment. As technology advances, future tablets will have the power to replace the laptop PC. With the upcoming release of Windows 8, an operating system geared to touch devices and personal computers, there will most likely be a shift in the market, and perhaps one day the tablet (with an auxiliary keyboard) may replace the laptop altogether. Tablets are a perfect platform for reading. Pocket (formally known as Read it Later) is a great example of an app that uses the tablet to enhance a consistent multiscreen experience. When the user finds something on the Web while using a desktop PC or laptop that he wants to view or read later, he simply puts it in Pocket. Pocket captures those reading items and displays them in a clean, easy-to-read layout on a tablet (or a smartphone), creating a personalized magazine for the individual user. Personal Computers (Desktop or Laptop) People use personal computers for two completely different functions: for work and for leisure. Because personal computers are found in almost every home and office, it is essential to consider them when designing for a multi-screen ecosystem. Oftentimes, users will look for an application or find something they're interested in while surfing the Web on a personal computer, and then continue the interaction onto other devices. Personal computers are also used to backup files and images, and users often revert back to the computer for the most important tasks in their daily routines. Mouse and keyboard ergonomics and the advanced processing powers of personal computers provide an efficient working environment. When designing multiscreen ecosystems, UX professionals can utilize additional devices to serve as auxiliary screens. For example, with Adobe Nav and a network connection between an iPad and a computer, users can move the Photoshop toolbar onto the tablet and customize it to more easily access the toolbar without crowding the main interface, creating an even more efficient environment. Smart TVs Smart TV is a general term for a new generation television viewing experiences where the TV (or a specialized device connected to it, such as an Apple TV) has Internet connectivity and can run applications (e.g., Netflix) and video processing utilities. Designing for television screens is also known as "designing for the 10-foot experience" because, from the distance of the living room couch, the apparent size of elements on the screen is noticeably smaller compared to a computer screen, where the user's eyes are typically less than two feet from the display. When designing for the context of smart TVs, one can assume that users are in a very comfortable setting in their living rooms, often wanting to relax, to be entertained and to interact with people who are in the room with them. The preferred television input device is a remote control. For the most part, people don't want to use a mouse and keyboard when they're watching television. This means the UI has to be simple and obvious, and users must be able to navigate with their thumbs without looking at the input device. With devices like Google TV or Apple TV using AirPlay, smart TVs can integrate with other devices such as smartphones and tablets. For example, a tablet can be used as a program guide and as a way to read more about the program currently being watched. Or for a multiscreen experience, a user can begin watching a show on her laptop and then switch to her television for a more comfortable environment. The move between each device is synced and seamless to the user. Following up his 2011 article Re-Thinking User Interface Design for the TV Platform, Jim Mischel noted in an interview: "A good way to satisfy the television user is by presenting a simple user interface on a tablet or phone. The tablet/phone presents the interface, and the user's input on that device controls the television. Note that this is only important when dealing with short-format content. If the user is going to watch an hour-long television show or a two-hour movie, then web interfaces like Hulu, or cumbersome cable TV-like interfaces are okay. The user is willing to put up with a little aggravation if the reward is an hour or two of uninterrupted entertainment. But if the user is watching YouTube videos or consuming other short format content, the user interface has to be simple. Really simple. The user can't be bothered with having to go through a ton of menus every three minutes." The television could also serve as an extension to other devices, using the large display for streaming media or images from the tablet or using a high-quality sound system for better audio experiences. A good example of this is Sting 25, an app celebrating the life and work of the musician Sting. It allows a dual-screen AirPlay viewing of exclusive concert footage wirelessly on a smart TV while exploring additional content on an iPad. A natural user interface (NUI) is an emerging concept in human-computer interaction and refers to an interface that allows a user to control a tool or digital content using relatively natural means of communication. The goal of NUI is to make computing and technology simple to use, everywhere around us, accessible to people with minimal technical expertise, reliable and more intuitive. With a motion-sensing input device technology like Microsoft's Kinect, the living room environment becomes a setting for an even greater TV experience. For example, face recognition software could detect a person and flip through his favorite channels as he taps two fingers together or waves his hand, and a voice command could initiate more complex actions. Here is a demonstration of gesture controls by PrimeSense, an Israeli Company specializing in NUIs: Designing for context is about aligning the purpose of a product with the user's requirements at any given time or in any given situation. By evaluating each platform against the story of the users and how (or where) they use the product, designers can create better flows across and within the ecosystem. Creating these product ecosystems turns smart devices into smart displays. These smart displays follow users throughout their day and help drive the experience, allowing users to engage with the product more than ever before. Top image courtesy of iStockphoto, TommyL		TOP STORIES TODAY Apple May Not Include NFC in the iPhone 5 [VIDEO] 7 Apps You Don't Want To Miss Researchers Transmit Electricity Through Solid Concrete 20+ Beautiful Camera-Themed iPhone Cases Could We Build Star Trek's Starship Enterprise? TOP TOPICS Trending 7,089 followers Mobile 5,081 followers Social Media 73,739 followers Gadgets 8,221 followers Entertainment 3,627 followers Business 38,051 followers Video 4,035 followers Watercooler 16 followers YouTube 14,429 followers Marketing 9,751 followers
Manage Subscriptions   Login to Follow   Jobs   About Us   Advertise   Privacy Policy You are receiving this email because you subscribed to it from Mashable.com. Click here to unsubscribe to future Mashable Newsletters. We're sorry to see you go, though. © 2012 Mashable. All rights reserved. Reproduction without explicit permission is prohibited