#Apple Patents Learning Computer Vision For Gesture Control Apple has a new patent (via Appleinsider) for 3d gesture control,
specifically describing the tech used to help a computer identify hand motions made by a user.
meaning it would make gesture interaction theoretically less painful for users, and therefore more likely to be used at all.
The key innovation Apple made with the iphone interaction model was based getting touch input right its capacitive screens
In 2013, Apple acquired Primesense, the company which powered much of the tech that went into the original Kinect sensor.
Some speculated at the time that Apple might be interested in using Primesense tech to add gesture-based input to Apple TV
and the document credits former Primesense employees as its creator t
#Square Brings Accountability To Email Marketing Square is in the process of building up a series of products and services that use its payments platform as a foundation.
The latest, launching today, is an email marketing tool gives physical businesses the same advantages of online stores.
Square Marketing is a set of tools that lets brick and mortar businesses act more like online retailers when it comes to setting up
and tracking the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Email marketing has grown more sophisticated over the years,
and the space is crowded with companies like Mailchimp, Marketo, Salesforce and Constant Contact. Now Square is throwing itself in the mix,
hoping to differentiate itself the same way that it making that effort with Square capital:
data. The tool allows users of Square payments services to click through an ngage your customerslink from their Insights dashboard,
which gives them an overview of their current business collated from data gathered via sales.
The dashboard has been around a while, but it has existed without a way to actually do anything about the trends it was telling businesses that they were experiencing.
They might bounce out to an email tool to craft a campaign and send it to a list of emails gathered via paper,
or by hand using clerks at the counter. A retail store I worked at used to gather them by requiring an email with every transaction
but that requirement can slow down transactions, and is really only practical if a user terminal was involved in the flow.
And half the time you end up with fake emails and unverifiable information. Square data is already easier to gather
and far more likely to be accurate because it tied directly to the customer payment accounts.
If theye paying by card the Square flow asks them for an email for a receipt
and because youe talking about money here people are more likely to give accurate info.
All of that leads to a Square business having a core list of emails for customers that is ready to act on.
Enter Square Marketing. Firing up the tool provides you with a list of customers pre-sorted into three groups:
loyal customers, casual customers and lapsed customers. Already youe far ahead of a dumb list of emails,
which contain no such contextual data. You can also add your own lists of emails gathered via conventional means.
You can choose groups based on trends that youe seeing and the type of campaign you want to create.
If you have a loyal customer, youe going to want to send them notices of special events or community notices.
show you delivery data as well as eadnotifications for your emails. But Square takes the next step here by allowing you to actually see
if those customers take action on your email with a visit and a purchase. It hard to overstate the importance of being able to directly track the return on your investment in this email marketing by equating it with dollars spent in your establishment.
Unless youe been in small business retail or sales and have tried to craft a marketing campaign
This is the kind of thing that has made marketers so hot and bothered about the possibilities of beacons small devices that track visitors via apps installed on their smartphones.
But square does it without any additional hardware by leveraging the fact that they own the payments stack.
The emails are affordable, if a bit pricier than similar levels in services like Mailchimp. You can pay $0. 10 per email on an s you gobasis or $15/mo for unlimited emails to 500 customers.
The cost isn quite analogous to any other service because of Square unique ability to track customer visits
and price is always a strong pull especially for small businesses. Square Marketing feels like a solid add on for current customers.
It lets them cut down on the number of moving parts they have to keep track of to make their email marketing effective.
a CRM, an email service and tracking software to attempt to link those emails to return customers hey can just click a link in the insights dashboard of their Square account.
Square says that sellers using the service have seen open and redemption rates that are double the ndustry averageand that Square sellers generated almost $1m in sales tied to promo redemptions.
slick analytics tools and cleverly executed email marketing will lead to new business, not just retention and satisfaction.
The setup and execution of a campaign are so simple already that it makes sense to let those sellers using mobile devices primarily to collect campaigns to do it just as easy as those sitting at their desktops.
and they can do it right from their phones that a tectonic shift in that arena. The suite of tools Square is building out like Register
and Capital make a very strong case for adopting its payments platform, which is the end goal.
But growth is core to Square underlying payments business, which thrives on scale. So whether that resonates with new users will be key i
#Apple Patents A System To Broadcast Your Availability For Calls Apple has a new patent,
that would use contextual information including your current time zone, ringer silence status, battery life, location and cell network strength to automatically determine whether youe available for a call and display that information to friends.
The new Apple patent details a system that would use all relevant signals from a mobile phone,
including whether it been placed in airplane mode, or set solely to vibration. Using a combination of various bits of information,
with the user of the phone sending status able to specify which contacts specifically should be able to have access.
It would appear in contact cards on the iphone, with status polling happening on demand to ensure youe looking at current information.
and data analysis can more reliably predict what youe doing with your phone at any given time.
Apple could probably expect users to play along. Still, the system ultimately depends on the calling party respecting the message,
me a working system to control electronics in the home using an open and very usable chip interface.
Shaped like the Nest thermostat, the Control is actually a removable button/dial that you can carry from room to room to control lighting
and appliances. ilvair Control is the world first fully configurable, gesture-driven, wireless controller that lets customers manage their everyday appliances
His cofounder, Szymon Slupik, is an expert in onnected technology. The Bluetooth-powered device can stick to your wall
or you can put it on any surface. You can tap it, slide it, and spin it to activate various parts of your home automation system
Theye raised $3. 3 million to build out the product and they are already placing their specialized chips in OEM products around the world including Freemont
CA-based Soraa who is using the technology in their connected LED lamps. ee built the unique architecture where devices form a native,
said Han. he devices can be configured easily with just a smartphone app. The separation of the control plane from the power plane makes a foundation for fully configurable ecosystem.
-and-forget nature of the connection software. Each object connects to the controller app automatically with no pairing
a feature that will impress folks who have tried to connect to Bluetooth light bulbs in the past. The martphone-centricapproach lets the company add tools like the Control to the mix as well.
and may be coming to a light bulb or teakettle near you b
#Gaming Startup Code Kingdoms Exits Beta On A Quest To Get Kids Coding Changes to the computing curriculum in England,
which arrived last September requiring schools to teach bona fide programming skills to kids as young as five,
are shaking out into increased opportunities for edtech startups in the U k. Making learning to code accessible,
fun and engaging is the jumping off point of London-based startup Code Kingdoms, which has launched today out of beta, after trialling its game for the past year with around 25,000 kids and 700 schools.
Its educational Javascript teaching software targets the six-to 13-year-old age-range and can be played either as a web app via the Code Kingdomssite,
or as an ios app. There are actually two versions of Code Kingdoms: one that free for schools to use,
which strips out the gameplay element entirely so it becomes purely a simplified educational tool for teaching Javascript;
and another version that kids can play at home in their spare time which is first and foremost a game,
So a sort of learning ite ode Kingdom is a game that teaches kids how to code
since youe inevitably competing in that same ntertainment space Using a game and game mechanics as a wrapper for teaching coding also brings native stickiness to the learning experience,
earning a currency or working towards a goalwe didn have those so what we were having is really good
The idea for Building code Kingdoms followed on from Targett and his cofounder spending time volunteering in schools teaching kids programming,
as part of corporate social responsibility programs when they worked for Intel and ARM. In schools they were using the MIT graphical programming language Scratch,
but spotted what they saw as an opportunity to update Scratch approach and teach a real programing language,
rather than a pseudo-language. ost things out there are designed for teachers, or for how adults perceive kids to be learning nothing really designed to make it really fun for kids,
so we wanted to make it super fun for kids so they get excited about learning to code computer science,
and then hopefully go on because theye excited to actually explore it as a career, or look at it in other subjects,
says Targett. He argues that Scratch is no longer up to scratch for England schools as it does not teach a real programming language which is a requirement of the new curriculum.
He also reckons it pretty dated now, having being built for an earlier, desktop computing world, rather than the modern mobile-focused space.
Other relatively new entrants in the each kids codingspace include U k. startup Kano which involves both DIY hardware
and learn to code software, and similarly offers a graphical interface to simplify programming. But Targett argues Kano is a platform on
which the Code Kingdoms product could happily sit. So doesn seem them as like-for-like competition.
He says Code Kingdoms is also working with various other learn to code outreach organisations, such as Code Club and Teach First,
Of course it is also possible to learn Java coding via making Minecraft mods but Targett reckons that uite a step upin terms of ability required. e want to bridge that gap,
profitable business so Code Kingdoms is not a not-for-profit. There is very much a business plan here.
So, while it giving its software to schools for free it aiming to monetize via the play at-home game version of the product using schools as its low-cost distribution mechanism to get in front of lots of kidseyeballs.
In future it plans to sell premium content for the non-schools version of its software to kidsparents,
says Targett. e see schools as a channel to acquire users, he notes. he kids will discover the product in their class
and playwe thought this was a really good way to acquire users very cheaply that are engaged very.
more teachers engaged. We get a lot of goodwill from our teacher community. It also a pretty delicate balancing act when free educational software at school morphs into a money-hungry parent pesterer at home.
But that the balance Code Kingdoms is aiming to strike. e plan to have premium content in the app
which is noneducational, it more entertainment focused, so a kid that doesn want to spend money can still learn,
adds Targett. The startup has raised around $410, 000 to date, including from U s.-based seed fund Sparklabs Global Ventures,
#Airware Launches Its Commercial Drone Operating system Drones could save businesses big money by doing dull, dirty,
The problem is that drones can be difficult to program and pilot. Airware is out to change that with today launch of its Aerial Information Platform.
Commercial businesses can now license Airware Flight Core autopilot technology, Ground Control Station for dispatching drones,
and its cloud platform for customizing missions and collecting data. With well over $40 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins,
the four year-old Airware is perhaps Silicon valley premier drone startup. Airware integrated hardware software, and cloud system lets enterprises customize drones to check on gas pipelines,
survey farm land, inspect cell towers, patrol property, or do search & rescue, Now wel see just how many businesses will pay a monthly subscription for Airware to power their drones for industrial inspections, agriculture management, anti-poaching, and more.
Consumer drone makers are growing fast as quadcopters become the hot new toy for kids and adults alike.
China DJI is said to be raising money at a $10 billion valuation. But long-term, theyl likely be commoditized as hardware makers around the globe clone
and undercut each other on price. It the way drones improve efficiency for heavy industry that could be the enduring moneymaker.
Whatever companies makes the software that runs these drones would make serious profits for years to come.
Take to The Skies Earlier this week, Airware bussed investors, customers, and a handful of reporters from San francisco to an isolated farm in Petaluma, where the startup showed off its platform with a variety of drones built for different use cases.
The company hoped to demonstrate how its system can be customized to let any drone do any job.
Following a brief introduction by Airware CEO Jonathan Downey, CTO Buddy Michini demonstrated Airware core technologies:
the Flight Core autopilot system, which provides the brains to each drone that Airware powers,
the Ground Control Station that lets a single user operate a fleet of drones from a Windows laptop or tablet,
and a cloud platform that lets companies manage the various jobs to be done in the field
and ensure theye complying with flight regulations. Rather than having to pre-program a drone,
manually pilot it, and then painstakingly dump the data back to your servers, Airware can handle the whole process.
The goal is to reduce the drone piloting expertise needed to get complicated missions flown.
Drone operators just set up the standard Airware control system enhance it with cloud widgets to customize their drone to the day use case,
and the data flows back automatically. Operators can just trace a flight path on a map instead of driving the drone in real-time.
After explaining what was happening behind the scenes, the startup had several of its biggest customers speak about their use of the platform in their own drones.
French drone company Delta Drone showed of its drone capabilities for surveying farmland and dig sites using flight plans generated Airware Ground Control Station.
Users simply draw out a geofence for the drone to stay within and give it parameters like required altitude.
It wasn the flashiest demo wee ever seen with a drone after taking off it went to a set height
and stayed there, essentially patrolling the region defined in the app, moving back and forth along the field like a lawn mower, pushing slightly farther away with each pass.
But commercial drone use isn supposed to be sexy. It supposed to get the job done safe, fast, and cheap.
After several similar demos, Drone America CEO Mike Richards spoke about using his company larger drones with Airware software for missions outside of traditional industrial uses.
One use case that could save lives: replacing lifeguards at beaches with drones carrying floatation devices that can identify people in distress.
One of the new things shown off during these demos was support for fixed-wing drones,
which can cover regions of roughly 1, 000 square acres rather than the 100 acres a quadcopter can handle.
It was easily the most exciting flight of the day, launching via a catapult, flying several quick passes around the the whole area,
and landing with a couple of bounces on the thick grass. After several more investors and customers spoke about their reasons for backing the company
the group broke out into discussions. During this time, Michini explained Airware plug-in system, which lets customers create widgets for the Ground Control Station in the C# programming language.
These widgets are actually the main reason Airware is sticking with Windows for its tablet app.
Instead of requiring customers to build their own app with the exact drone interface needed, building on Windows will allow them to download the same app to each tablet
but provide different interfaces by simply checking off which widgets should be available to different workers in the field on the cloud backend.
Michini was excited also to talk about the App Core which will provide a full-on Linux computer for developers to work with in addition to the standard Flight Core autopilot and Ground Control Station integration.
When it rolls out to select Airware partners this summer, this new system will let customers take advantage of more advanced sensor
and image processing tools without sacrificing an interface that actually usable for operators in the field.
Essentially, third-parties will be able to develop plug-ins to let drones handle even more niche missions. Little Copters, Big Business This is
when Downey joined in and the subject shifted to business. Downey told Techcrunch that every customer starts on a paid basis
since theye mostly industrial or nterpriseclients who already have their own drones, there no need to offer a free tier just yet
and because these customers pay a subscription, Airware can roll out new products like App Core without having to find new companies to sell to or upsell its current customers.
Airware costs $2500 per drone per year. But the company doesn have to race to revenue just yet.
It just added investment from Intel capital to the money from GE, A16z, Kleiner, First Round, Google Ventures,
and other prestigious funds. The benefit to customers like GE is clear. Plenty of companies need to inspect factories and pipelines
monitor farm land, and survey big tracts of land. Planes and helicopters can be terribly expensive for collecting this overhead video and measurement data, though.
Meanwhile, sending humans around in trucks or dangling them in climbing harnesses can be slow and risky.
Drones are more than just war machines. Downey grew up the son of pilots, then built his own drones at MIT.
Now his company Airware is going to teach them to do our bidding, and even save some lives g
#Researchers Create The Ultimate Smartphone Ultra Zoom To See And Measure Strands Of DNA Researchers at the University of California,
Los angeles, have created a smartphone ultra-zoom solution that allows scientists in the field to image and size DNA.
The tool, which uses a little 3d printed box that acts as a high-resolution microscope, can be used to see objects as small as two nanometers in width. or perspective,
that makes DNA about 50,000 times thinner than a human hair, said Aydogan Ozcan, the UCLA professor involved in the project. urrently,
imaging single DNA molecules requires bulky, expensive optical microscopy tools, which are confined mostly to advanced laboratory settings.
In comparison, the components for my device are significantly less expensive.##The device is intended for use in remote laboratory settings to diagnose various types of cancers and nervous system disorders, such as Alzheimer,
as well as detect drug resistance in infectious diseases. To use the camera it is necessary to first isolate
and label the desired DNA with fluorescent tags. Ozcan says such laboratory procedures are possible even in remote locations and resource-limited settings.
To scan the DNA, the group developed a computational interface and Windows smart application running on the same smart phone.
The scanned information is sent then to a remote server in Ozcan laboratory which measures the length of the DNA molecules.
Assuming you have a reliable data connection, the entire data processing takes less than 10 seconds. Considering current methods require non-portable heavy machinery and computers,
this seems like a godsend for researchers in the field. The team is currently using the tool to etect the presence of malaria-related drug resistance. g
#Eyewire Is Making Neuroscience Research Cool Again Editor note: Kevin Raposo is a tech blogger who writes for Knowtechie,
which he launched. When he not catching up on all the latest startups budding out of the Boston tech scene,
he holding his post down as a media relations manager at EZPR. Thanks to a little startup sprouting up from Boston,
I was able to map out a small section of a neuron through Eyewire, a company that gamifying its neuroscience research
in order to enlist the help of people from all over the world. To understand how the brain works,
scientists need to figure out how electrical impulses travel through its vast network of 85 billion neurons,
connected through 100 trillion synapses. And to do this, they need to map the structure and connections of all these neurons.
Enter Eyewire, a company that crowdsourcing this mapping process with a fun and addictive online game. think that exploring the brain is the greatest adventure of all time.
It seemed natural to invite the world to join the quest, says Eyewire founder, Sebastian Seung.
The Game The game essentially works like a 3d puzzle. Players are tasked with the challenge of mapping the structure and connections of neurons by isolating individual cells from large three-dimensional microscopic image datasets.
Think of it like a coloring book. Remember how as a kid you were taught always to color within the lines?
This is pretty much the same, but instead, players are tasked with the assignment of mapping out neurons from one side of a cube to the other,
by scrolling up and down through the cube and rebuilding neurons in segments. These cubes are the width of an average human hair (about 4. 5 microns per side, technically speaking.
Once players successfully fill in all the blanks, a visual 3d shape of the cell they just mapped is displayed.
If it sounds complex, it isn; it designed so anyone can play. Eyewire executive director, Amy Robinson, tells me its users are igh school students, grandmothers, tugboat drivers, animators, everything.
It amazing because hardly any of them have any neuroscience background, but yet theye helping to make discoveries on how the brain works.
To remind users that they are indeed playing a game, Eyewire provides a typical gaming experience.
It features an elaborate profile system, achievement badges, special icons, a chat feature that allows you to interact with other players,
and the capacity to unlock additional privileges as you level up through the game. It no surprise that the game currently has about 180
000 users. he top players are actually online for 30,40, 50 hours a week, Robinson adds.
Eyewire is already looking ahead when it comes to integrating improvements into the gaming experience.
Robinson notes, ee working now to create a lot of interesting visuals, educational material, all sets built around a mobile game,
and think about how future games will basically become more gamified and more fun. To step their game up to the next level,
Eyewire sought the help of Indicated, a company that develops interactive 3d software and media with a medical focus,
to develop an Oculus Rift version of the game. Eyewire debuted the Oculus DK2 version of the game at the NIH Science in 3d conference in January.
Eyewire sent us about 650gb of the research data generated by their users. Individual neurons were identified
and encoded in this data, and we used that information to generate the surface models that you see and experience.
but correlate directly with the structures in the original source data. I was lucky enough to visit Eyewire office which is based out of a Wework space in Boston to try the game for myself.
I was immersed in an environment that was filled with highways of neurons sprawled out in every direction.
(which lets a user fly toward a particular area simply by looking where they want to go).
Indicated embedded a few trigger points in the environment that show additional content such as educational videos,
which appear as virtual billboards hovering in front of the user. This was one of the coolest experiences
The game was launched just recently on the Oculus download page, which can be found here.
and allowing them to submit them to a social computing server. A sample app can be found here.
It consists of a barebones web app that can be used as the nucleus of new game designs or alternative applications.
Although Eyewire is continuously making revolutionary strides in the gamification of scientific research, it certainly not the only one doing it.
Foldit, a research project out of the University of Washington Center for Game Science in collaboration with the UW Department of Biochemistry,
is a 3d puzzle game that challenges users to fold proteins into the best possible molecular structure.
Instead of scouring the surface of Mars, Tomnod users crowdsource observations about the Earth surface. When Malaysia Airlines flight 370 went missing,
Tomnod directed its users to help search for the missing aircraft. In fact the site couldn keep up with the traffic due to an influx of users looking to help. hrough games,
though building better computer vision AI and thus automating big neurodata analysis our collective, collaborative,
even gamified competitive brainpower will be the key to figuring complex problems out, Robinson concludes e
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