Windows Phone Is Dead
Microsoft is giving up on what’s left of its telephone division, inherited from Nokia, which built Lumia. Some 1,850 people have lost their jobs. Windows’ telephone market share was less than 1%. You would be forgiven for scoffing at Microsoft, given their past arrogance. This said, Microsoft still thinks there is a future for its OS in the enterprise world.
⇨ PCWorld, “Windows Phone’s gutting continues as Microsoft kills what’s left of Nokia.”
Tough TG-Tracker
Olympus is revolutionizing the sports camera market (Action Cam) with truly impressive features: 4k with 5-axis stabilisation, GPS (Glonass, QZSS), compass, temperature and atmospheric pressure sensors, accelerometer, swivelling LCD screen, LED lighting, 30‑meter waterproofing, to name a few. All this at just 180g (152g for the HERO4 GoPro with its protective shell). It will give GoPro, with no image stabilisation, a run for its money… Delivery will start in July, with a pre-release price of CA $480.
⇨ PetaPixel, “Olympus’ Tough New Action Cam is a Beast with a Gaggle of Built-in Sensors.”
Telephone with thermal camera
Caterpillar’s S60 telephone is the first to offer a thermal camera (FLIR Lepton), which could come in handy in various applications. Further, it is extremely tough and waterproof. It has 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, a 4.7-inch screen and works on Android Marshmallow. Announced in February, it will be pre-released in June, in Europe only, for €649, or US $725 and CA $950.
⇨ Circuit Breaker, “You can preorder Cat’s thermal imaging smartphone in June.”
Mi Drone
Xiaomi unveiled its first drone at an eminently competitive price. The Mi Drone is equipped with a 4-k stabilisaing camera. It can fly for 27 minutes.
⇨ Circuit Breaker, “Xiaomi unveils the Mi Drone, costing $460 for 4K video or $380 for 1080p.”
⇨ Engadget, “Xiaomi’s Mi Drone is pretty affordable for what it does.”
Augmented reality for cyclists
Distantly related to Google Glasses, SOLOS glasses are designed for cyclists, and display speed, cadence, heart rate, distance, etc. These glasses are passive data posters, so you’ll need to couple them with external sensors (ANT+ or Bluetooth for cadence and heartbeat) and a telephone (speed, location, software). Its battery life is 6 hours. Available as of October via Kickstarter.
⇨ Engadget, “The US Olympic cycling team is training with smart glasses.”
Drone Star Wars
Created with drones and models printed in 3D. Bloody brilliant! (Design secrets revealed in this video).
⇨ Popular Science, “See ‘Star Wars’ Dogfights Recreated With Drones.”
Other Links of Interest:
- Google Maps goes down scenic route with ad-heavy “promoted pins”.
- Twitter relaxes 140-character limit, just a bit.
- 50-year-old Cobol code, 8-inch floppies, and PowerBuilder live on in US government IT.
- How Oracle made its case against Google, in pictures. And Google wins the six-year legal battle.
- Google to bring official Android support to the Raspberry Pi 3.
- The guy who inspired the modular Ara phone says Google can do better.
