Rue Liu

Bing Upgrades With Real-Time Twitter Feed

Mar 262011

Microsoft announced today that its Bing search engine will begin implementing tweets into its news search results as well as integrating more with Facebook. The Bing Team feels that the addition of the social media giants will help users “make more informed decisions in search by surfacing the kind of information you can only get from your friends, often in real-time.”

Bing will show all the relevant tweets related to headlines in Bing News and augment the search results you get depending on what your friends “like.” Google did something similar to this last month by altering its search results based on whether certain information was shared by your friends. On Facebook you can now directly post search results from Bing on things like movies, artists, musicians, and TV shows.

Microsoft and Facebook have a pretty close relationship since 2007 when Microsoft outbid Google to invest $240 million in the social network. Bing is now the default search engine on Facebook and other deals have been struck between the two tech leaders. There will likely be more integration between Facebook and Microsoft in the near future.

Brain Waves Harnessed To Play Music

Music, Technology No Responses »

Mar 252011

Using the power of the brain has long been a science fiction staple. Eduardo Miranda, composer and computer-music teacher, has created a system where someone can play music with their mind. The brain-computer interface tracks and picks up neural impulses from your brains and translates them into musical notes. The type of technology is not entirely new as other types of brain-computer interfaces let people control prosthetic limbs and even type on a computer with their thoughts.

To use the system you have to don an EEG skull cap and concentrate on four “buttons” on a screen. When a user focuses on a button, their brain fires of a unique series of impulses specific to each button and those impulses are captured by the skull cap. A series of notes is played for each respective button. Since this type of interface is not intrinsically known, calibration is needed for each user. It takes a user with locked-in syndrome, a paralysis of the entire body except the eyes, about two hours to calibrate the system during trials at the University of Essex.

Miranda came up with the idea of using brain waves to make music over ten years ago and now its getting closer to fruition. He realized that this type of device would have a large impact in music therapy. He is hoping to develop and refine the system so that it doesn’t take so long to calibrate. In the future the device will use algorithms to predict which notes the user wants to play.

The Color App May Serve a Purpose After All

Technology No Responses »

Mar 252011

Color is a new image sharing app that launched earlier this week and garnered a lot of attention with its large initial funding of $41 million. The company and its investors obviously believe they have a hit on their hands, but many are still wondering how the app would be useful. All Things Digital dug up an old Onion video that suggests just how the Color app could come in handy.

The video is funny because it’s a plausible idea of trying to piece together an incident through pictures taken, just not taken to the extremes portrayed in the spoof. What Color does is share pictures people have taken with everyone in real time. The app uses your location to determine who gets to see your pictures, with no filtering or privacy settings. Users will get to see and share pictures, texts, or videos with people around their location and other members they’ve expressed an interest in by viewing their pictures, liking them, or commenting on content.

The creators of Color feel that subscribing or “friending” someone is outdated. With Color relationships are implicit rather than explicit. So for large gatherings like a wedding, sporting event, or party, Color could let you share pictures with people you don’t actually know. A user’s interest may change over time and Color will augment a user’s list of contacts to reflect that. The app is now available to download for iOS devices and Android, with RIM and Windows Phone versions coming soon reportedly.

Kodak Seeks $1B In Royalties From Apple, RIM

Technology No Responses »

Mar 252011

Kodak is seeking more than $1 billion in royalties from electronics giants Apple and RIM over a patent in digital camera technology the companies employ in the cameras of their mobile devices. The International Trade Commission is going to announce whether it will review an ITC judge’s earlier decision that ruled in favor of Apple and RIM and said that the companies did not violate patents.

The patents in question deal with low resolution image previews. Kodak has already received close to $1 billion in a settlement from Korean tech companies LG and Samsung related to the same patent. The judge that ruled in the LG and Samsung case was a different ITC judge than the one from the Apple and RIM case. The ITC can’t enforce monetary damages, but it can block imports that infringe on U.S. patents. That is more than enough reason to compel companies to settle.

Kodak initially sued Apple back in January 2010 over the patents and alleging that Apple’s iPhone infringed on their patents. Apple came back with their own countersuit about several digital imaging patents they alleged Kodak of violating. An ITC judge ruled in favor of Apple and RIM in January of this year and said that the patent in question was invalid because it was an “obvious variation of an earlier invention.”

Kodak CEO Antonio Perez told Bloomberg that his company “deserves to win,” but we’ll just have to wait and see how the ITC rules. Kodak has been struggling mightily with the rapid decline of the camera film market. In the past year Kodak has lost almost half of its market value and revenues fell to $7.2 billion, nearly half the amount it made in 2005. The company is making income mostly from its patent portfolio nowadays. It licenses its digital imaging technology to around 30 companies, which include Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson, and Nokia.

Facebook Questions Lets You Ask And Answer Almost Everyone On Facebook

Technology No Responses »

Mar 252011

People are always connected now and it doesn’t take much effort to find out what your friends are feeling or doing, or for them to know the same about you. Facebook is the ultimate place to disregard common privacy concerns and now with the launch of a new questions-and-answers service, you can let the whole Facebook universe see and help with what you’re pondering. Dubbed “Facebook Questions,” the service has been in beta testing since July.

Facebook Questions shows up at the top of your news feed and profile pages and is like an option you can share like pictures, videos, status updates, and links. You can create your question and let others freely answer, or you can create a limited number of answers people can choose. After typing your question you click “Add Poll Options” to make the possible choices people choose. You can even set up a picture with your question if you want to decorate it. So if you want to poll people with the question “What should I eat tonight?”, you can add a picture of a hamburger and make it one of the choices, or just let people freely type in their answer.

The new feature is very much like Yahoo! Answers and allows people to poll the entire Facebook community. If you see another question that interests you, you can “Follow” it and you will receive notifications when a new answer is submitted. There is no privacy settings for Facebook Questions so be careful because it’s not limited to only your friends, anyone can respond. Facebook suggests that if you want to poll only your friends, just make a status update and put your question there.

Comcast Xfinity TV iOS App Gets Updated With More Shows, Features

Technology No Responses »

Mar 252011

Comcast today launched an update for their Xfinity TV iOS app. The app lets your iOS device function like a TV remote—finding your favorite shows and movies, controlling your channels, and scheduling DVR recordings. Certain TV shows can even be streamed to your iPad via a WiFi connection.

The update brings more shows and channels including the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim and BBC. But more importantly, are the additional customization features. You can now mark channels as favorites and access channel history to flip back to previously viewed channels. A custom channel listing can be created to display just the shows on your most watched networks.

It’s not clear when Comcast will offer streaming of live TV such as that boasted by Time Warner Cable’s iOS app. However, the current Xfinity app does allow you to play certain movies and TV shows on your iPad via a WiFi connection. The app is free to download from the iTunes App Store.

[via Electronista]

HTC Inspire 4G To Finally Get Real AT&T 4G Access After FCC Filing

Technology No Responses »

Mar 252011

We reported last month about the HTC Inspire 4G controversy, where AT&T claimed the device did not support HSUPA while users believed the device’s HSUPA was intentionally disabled. The fog never did clear up on the matter except that AT&T backtracked later with news that some of their 4G devices would soon get an update to enable HSUPA. Today, the surfacing of an FCC filing document confirms such an update for the HTC Inspire 4G.

The FCC Class II Permissive Change filing document is dated March 8, but Test Reports from the FCC were not sent back to HTC until March 23, which may partially explain the long delay of getting the HTC Inspire 4G up to speed. The filing approves HSUPA and HSUPA+ connections for the device.

HTC Inspire 4G users can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that an update is on its way that should uncap data speeds for the device to enjoy its true 4G potential. However, when exactly this software update may be released is still uncertain.

[via Android Community]

Apple Releases iOS 4.3.1 For Minor Bug Fixes

Technology No Responses »

Mar 252011

The fresh scent of iOS 4.3 has yet to wear off, and Apple is already releasing an update. Today, iOS 4.3.1 has just been unleashed to bring us minor bug fixes and some other improvements.

The update will fix the image flickering issue that the Apple Digital AV Adapter was experiencing with some TVs. It will also fix the graphics glitches on the fourth generation iPod touch. It also resolves some issues related to activating and connecting to some cellular networks along with issues authenticating some enterprise web services.

There were rumors earlier in the week that claimed an imminent iOS 4.3.1 update within the next two weeks would fix a battery life issue. However, this actual update doesn’t seem to address that matter specifically. The update is also only available to GSM versions of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, and third and fourth generation iPod touch. Folks using the CDMA versions from Verizon will have to wait.

[via MacRumors]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Red News

Rue Liu

Bing Upgrades With Real-Time Twitter Feed

Brain Waves Harnessed To Play Music

The Color App May Serve a Purpose After All

Kodak Seeks $1B In Royalties From Apple, RIM

Facebook Questions Lets You Ask And Answer Almost Everyone On Facebook

Comcast Xfinity TV iOS App Gets Updated With More Shows, Features

HTC Inspire 4G To Finally Get Real AT&T 4G Access After FCC Filing

Apple Releases iOS 4.3.1 For Minor Bug Fixes

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