Geek News

Nvidia’s big push into the world of autonomous vehicles has attracted a vast amount of customers for what is still early stage technology — over 320, by the company’s count. This week at CES the company announced that it’s finally making Xavier, an AI chip made for self-driving vehicles that Nvidia announced in 2016, available to customers. And the company’s also adding a few marquee names to its list of self-driving technology customers, including Uber and VW. Volkswagen announced that it will use Nvidia’s Drive IX platform in some of its upcoming vehicles, including the I.D. Buzz electric bus. Drive IX is a software developer kit that Nvidia created to tap into the power of Xavier, and Volkswagen will use it to build in features like... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2Ejovkg"

NVIDIA is diving into curious new territory with its next GeForce Experience update: filters. With a new beta feature called Freestyle , you can spice up your gameplay with 15 different filters. Because who wouldn't want to play Grand Theft Auto V in sepia tones? While it doesn't seem particularly useful, there's likely a crowd of gamers who might actually enjoy re-experiencing their favorite titles in new ways. So far, Freestyle supports 100 games, and it'll likely get even more come its official release. And speaking of filters, NVIDIA has also added more to its Ansel in-game camera. You'll also be able to combine multiple filters for even more creative screengrabs. The new features will be available in the company's GeForce Experience software on January 9th -- just be sure to enable "Experimental Features" to see them. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018. Source: NVIDIA via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2qDSiCj...

Volkswagen's been talking about its intelligent co-pilot system for upcoming vehicles since last year's CES when it introduced Yui . So it's no surprise that this year it announced it's teaming up with NVIDIA to bring that plan to fruition. Both companies appeared on stage at NVIDIAs press event alongside the I.D. Buzz electric microbus for the announcement. The two companies said they would initially work on an "Intelligent Co-Pilot" system that will gather data from both in and outside the car. Throw in some gesture and natural language voice controls and then fuse all that with what the AI has learned about the driver and you got yourself a helpful AI assistant. So when the I.D. Buzz hits the market in 2022 expect it to ship with some sort of virtual co-pilot. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018. Source: NVIDIA via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2m7G7s1"

Nvidia is unveiling what it calls Big Format Gaming Displays (BFGDs) at CES today. The displays are 65 inches, and PC makers like Acer, Asus, and HP will be manufacturing them as 4K HDR displays. Essentially they’re giant gaming monitors with G-Sync, perfect for a high-end gaming PC. The displays will also have Nvidia’s Shield integrated into them, so there will be plenty of streaming apps and support for the Google Assistant. The addition of G-Sync in such a big display is a surprise, alongside support for 120Hz refresh rates with a 4K resolution. Acer announced a 27-inch 4K HDR monitor with G-Sync at 144Hz last year, but the monitor still hasn’t been released. Acer never even priced that particular display, and Nvidia isn’t revealing... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2qDVopS"

We've seen the rumors and speculation about an Apple TV, but it turns out NVIDIA beat them to the punch. At CES today, the company unveiled its "Big Format Gaming Displays," monstrous 65-inch 4K screens with a ton of embedded technology. That includes NVIDIA's own G-SYNC and built in Shield functionality, as well as 120Hz panels and low latency. And no, this isn't meant for your living room -- NVIDIA envisions people using them on their PC desks. Developing... Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018. via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2qyXVl2"

For 2018, AMD is building on its major innovations from last year: its new Ryzen CPU architecture and Radeon Vega graphics. Indeed, Vega is so versatile even its main competitor, Intel, has tapped it for its upcoming high-performance laptop chips . At CES, AMD revealed the Radeon Vega Mobile GPU, a dedicated graphics offering that'll go toe-to-toe with NVIDIA's GTX 10-series. Additionally, it'll be bringing Vega graphics into upcoming Ryzen desktop chips, as well as a new machine learning product. While we don't know much about the Radeon Vega Mobile GPU yet, it's not exactly a surprising announcement. Gamers have been waiting eagerly to see when AMD's new graphics hardware would make it into high-powered laptops. In October, the company revealed that Vega was coming to its new Ryzen mobile processors. It was only a matter of time until it had a more powerful dedicated offering. AMD is also positioning it as something you'd find in ultrathin notebooks, a...

As the need for more powerful processors in the emerging self-driving and semi-autonomous car grows, NVIDIA is making sure it stays ahead of the trend. At CES, the GPU-building powerhouse unveiled the Xavier SOC for AI car systems the company announced at last year's CES . The Xavier has over 9 billion transistors with a custom 8-core CPU, a 512-core Volta GPU, an 8K HDR video processor, a deep-learning accelerator and new computer-vision accelerators. NVIDIA says the SOC can perform 30 trillion operations per second using only 30 watts of power. NVIDIA says that's 15 times more efficient than the previous architecture. Important for EVs where everything that pulls from the battery reduces vehicle range. All those huge numbers means that the Xavier can crunch more sensor and vehicle data for the AI systems that will power self-driving vehicles. That should make OEMs and ride-hailing companies working on autonomous cars very happy. Artificial intelligence is already processo...

French company Helite has been selling wearable airbags in some shape or form for many years. Typically, it's targeted bikers, horse riders, light aircraft pilots and other people with dangerous hobbies. This year at CES, it's pitching the Hip'Air, a 2.2-pound belt that detects when an elderly person is falling and deploys an airbag. A typical fall, a Helite spokesperson explained, takes 400 milliseconds. Using gyroscopes and accelerometers, the Hip'Air' can detect a fall within 200 milliseconds of it beginning. The belt will then begin to deploy its built-in airbag, which takes a further 80 milliseconds. Our managing editor Terrence O'Brien took a tumble for the greater good and the Hip'Air worked as advertised. It'll launch this March in Europe prior to a US release in September. At approximately $790 (plus $50 for each one-use gas canister), it's a lot of money to pay for peace of mind. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 201...

L'Oreal introduced a new wearable UV sensor today that you can stick on your nail. It's truly just a sensor; it doesn't pair over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to your phone. Instead, it's NFC-enabled so you can scan it with your phone to retrieve the UV data it's collected. It should work with both Android and iOS. The UV Sense, as the company calls it, is meant to help people track how much time they spend in the sun without being overbearing. The nail sticker is a statement, but not a massive one. The UV Sense will determine long you've been outside, and once synced with your app, provides a score that says whether you're spending too much time in the sun. The amount of sun everyone can handle varies, L'Oreal tells me, so it'll ask you some... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2CDYhII"

Merge Labs, a San Antonio-based company known for its inexpensive, toy-like AR/VR products, is making a Nerf-like toy gun that supports mixed reality games from a smartphone. Called the “6DoF Blaster,” the plastic toy gun has a shoe for your smartphone, so you can prop a smartphone up where your gun sight would normally be. In the demo we saw at CES today, the iPhone X inside the gun was running a Merge VR first-person shooter game, one the company said was built on Apple’s ARKit platform. The gun has four buttons: a trigger, a reload button, a zoom button, and one that slows down enemy fire. But the more interesting (and slightly confusing) part about the product is really its name, or rather what its name signifies. “6DoF” stands for... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2AEIiZk"

Two years ago, at CES 2016, we found a pair of smart shoes that can be "laced" by simply tapping a virtual button on a smartphone app. Now, the company behind those sneakers, Zhor Tech, has brought its latest creation to CES 2018: a connected shoe insole. The device is loaded with sensors that count your steps, detect your fatigue levels, analyze your posture and detect any rough vibrations around you. Zhor Tech says that its Safety insole is designed for people who work in construction or other field jobs like that, as it helps them keep better track of their work activity. If someone slips, for instance, the insole can detect that and alert a manager or another supervisor. Of course, the whole system comes together in an app, where users can view detailed, real-time information and share it with other people. The same technology can be built into a shoe's midsole, according to Zhor Tech, but right now there are only plans to sell the insole to companies that make sa...

Patients with spinal cord injuries, according to assistive technology company Neofect, face three major challenges navigating their day to day lives: Opening and closing doors, brushing their teeth and picking up objects like a glass of water. For those who may be wheelchair bound with limited use of their hands, Neofect has developed a robotic glove that wraps around the palm as well as index and middle fingers. Called NeoMano ("new hand" in a Latin/Spanish amalgamation), the glove connects to a rubber pad that can be controlled with an elbow or arm to activate grip and release motions. The mechanism itself is straightforward: two wires run down the length of each finger and triggering the grip reels them in, allowing users to pick up objects up to about 1kg. Neofect says the lightweight glove is designed to be worn every day. Founded in 2010, the company formerly made the Rapael Smart Glove to assist hand-eye coordination in stroke rehabilitation. The prototype NeoMano ...

I know what you're thinking, and yes — these are some dorky-looking AR glasses. What they lack in style, however, they arguably make up for in battery life. The ThirdEye X1 packs two hot-swappable batteries with a combined 2400 mAh charge — more than any of its competitors, apparently. That means the glasses, which project a 90-inch virtual "screen" roughly 10 feet in front of you, can last all day provided you have plenty of fresh batteries. At CES 2018, I was able to put them on and get a brief glimpse of its AR capabilities — unfortunately, though, the team at the booth could summon little more than a misty loading screen. (Lame.) The team says its glasses are unique because it's developing both the hardware and software in parallel. They're meant primarily for enterprise customers — think engineers, doctors and teachers — who might need to wear them for long periods. The company says it could have potential as a consumer product too, however. A sports broa...

Mymanu's Clik+ headphones come with a big promise: live translation between 37 languages. We saw something similar recently from Google and Bragi , but both of those are operating as a middleman, serving up the audio with an app doing the heavy lifting. Let's be clear, Mymanu also uses an app for translation, but the Click is designed to bring us one step closer to the app-free translation device we really want. Prototypes of the Clik have been around for a while, but here at CES we were able to finally test it for ourselves. After a successful Indiegogo campaign last fall, the headset is poised to go into production, with an expected delivery date of March this year. When we asked how the translation worked, we were told that it's a combination of the app, the cloud, and when Clik is involved (the app is available on its own), there is a processor inside that improves the experience. We tested the service with one of our Chinese speaking editors, and she claims the t...

There's more to your eyesight than just whether or not you can see. Often, your vision can be a window to other health issues, like autism, Parkinson's and even whether you have a concussion. That's the idea behind RightEye's EyeQ system , which aims to revolutionize the optometrist office with eye-tracking tech to not only diagnose issues, but to offer therapeutic measures to correct them as well. At CES 2018, the company released a brand new all-in-one EyeQ terminal that incorporates a PC, a monitor as well as a Tobii eye-tracking camera that promises to do all of that and more. According to CEO and co-founder Adam Gross, EyeQ has already been in use in schools, certain clinics and hospitals, and is also in use by Major League Baseball to test their athletes. Aside from having a new terminal, RightEye is also introducing a slew of different EyeQ tests that can assess everything from Brain Health to whether or not you have autism. One particularly useful test is ca...

SureFire is laying the foundation for a post-Wi-Fi world. Its new platform, ARON, is a communications system designed to transmit real-world data via infrared light, allowing users to access an augmented reality view of their immediate surroundings. It's a lot like Google Lens -- but it doesn't rely on Wi-Fi, cellular data, geolocation or orientation tools. ARON stands for "augmented reality optical narrowcasting" and it's able to transmit any type of digital file format, including high-definition video and images, up to 400 meters during the day and 1,200 meters at night. The data travels on square beams of infrared light, creating a secure connection between the device -- whether a smartphone, car, computer or wearable -- and the sensor in the real world. Ditching Wi-Fi and data creates a secure connection, but it would also come in handy wherever internet connectivity is weak or nonexistent, and in the face of natural disasters, which typically wipe out Wi-...

Falls are an enormous problem for the elderly — and one company believes the solution is an $800 belt with airbags. Hip’Air from Helite looks like an overstuffed belt, only with sensors inside that can tell when you’re about to fall, allegedly within 0.2 seconds. Then, two airbags inflate right above your hips to absorb the impact. It’s not surprising that a company that makes motorcycle airbag vests would believe that their technology will also work for other types of falls. Uninflated, the HipAir is surprisingly light and has a plastic buckle on the front; inside is an inflator and a sensor. Arrows tell you which way to wear the belt, and it beeps if you put it on the wrong way. It’s not uncomfortable, but it’s not invisible either,... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2EkK4B0"

Swiss watch company MyKronoz has a new version of its ZeTime hybrid smartwatch, the ZeTime Petite, which solves one of the biggest problems with the original ZeTime — it makes it smaller, with 39mm case size. The MyKronoz ZeTime was a crowdfunding project that looked to offer the best of both worlds when it came to smartwatches, combining a full color touchscreen overlaid with a pair of mechanical analog watch hands when it launched late last year. Size aside, the rest of the ZeTime Petite is pretty much identical to the original, with a stainless steel case, sapphire glass, and a variety of watchbands in different materials and styles. The only other notable difference is that the smaller size leads to a smaller screen, down from 1.22... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2AGaOKc"

There are plenty of automatic cat feeders out there, but Catspad is the first connected food and water dispenser for cats and small dogs. Not only can it automatically deliver both to your pet, it can differentiate between pets to dispense different amounts to each. The Catspad works with an app and an identifier for your pet, which can either be a microchip (if your pet has one), or a Catspad collar tag. When the pet then approaches the Catspad unit, it recognizes the individual animal, dispensing the amount of dry food designated for them and temporarily activating the fountain (the fountain can also be set to run continuously). Any number of things can be automated and detected by connecting to Wi-Fi via the Catspad app. Food can be... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2CR4swE"

I didn’t need to know much more about the 32-inch Thunderbolt 3 5K ultrawide monitor that LG announced last month . Just knowing it really existed would suffice for me to want it on my desk immediately. Now that I’ve seen the 32UK950 in person under the glaring lights of a Las Vegas exhibit hall, I can confirm that I do, in fact, want it on my desk immediately. As promised, it actually does have single-cable Thunderbolt 3 connectivity, a 21:9 aspect ratio, HDR support, 98-percent P3 color gamut coverage, and over eleven million pixels. We still don’t know pricing or availability, but these are trifling matters when it comes to desire. The 32UK950 is, therefore I want. Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2CBL8Qu"

The time before the big companies hold their grand CES events is a chance to check out the products from smaller outfits, and today I got to grips with one such project in the form of the Orosound Tilde . This is a noise-cancelling headset designed primarily for office use, and its distinctive feature is a focus cone of 60 degrees in front of the user where sound is allowed through. That way, goes the premise, you can filter out all the surrounding noise you don’t care for while holding a fruitful conversation with the coworker in front of you. The Tilde has been in development for two years and was successfully funded on Kickstarter in late 2016. Orosound was initially confident enough to promise backers their Tilde earphones would be in... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2m5mOj6"

Smartphones are great for getting you where you want to go. But when you're on two wheels, it can be tough to keep track of your progress. You either have to pull over, or attach your device to the handlebars. Velco's "Wink" smart handlebar solves that issue while also adding additional security to any bike it's attached too. The Wink handlebar uses lights adjacent to both grips that indicate which direction you need to go after the rider has created a path with the companion app. If the right light is illuminated, you turn right, if the left, you turn left. If both are illuminated, you go straight. It's turn-by-turn navigation without the non-stop barrage of notifications coming from your phone. But if you're someone that needs to be connected, the Wink will notify you when you receive a text message or call. On the security side, the handlebar is equipped with GPS and can be tracked in case your bike is stolen or more embarrassingly, you forgot wh...

A delicate balance must be struck when using action cameras, between capturing your adventures and keeping your hands free. But with Orbi's 360 degree camera glasses, you'll no longer have to choose. In development as a crowdfunding project since 2016, the Orbi Prime glasses are finally set to begin shipping, the company announced at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. The water-resistant frames hold a pair of HD cameras at each temple and can record up to an hour of 1080p video onto the onboard microSD card between chargings. The Orbi's associated mobile and desktop apps enable users to quickly edit and stitch together their recordings, though the glasses also offer built-in WiFi so that you can share these videos without having to first offload them to a PC. The Orbi Primes are expected to begin shipping to IndieGoGo backers around April, according to a company rep, and will retail for just over $400 once they do go on sale. Click here to catch up on the latest news from C...