sensors

Basis strong-arms other wearable body sensors

Wearable body sensors are in. We've got the Fitbit pedometer, the BodyMedia armband, and the Lark sleep sensor on the market, and Jawbone's Up arriving soon. Joining the fray is what may be the heavy hitter in this fight: the Basis Band.

This wrist-wearable sensor offers the most sensors. In addition to measuring motion (which the other products do), Basis also tracks skin temperature, ambient temperature, galvanic skin response (sweat level), heart rate, and blood oxygen level, which it gets by measuring the spectrum of light reflected back from a green laser that illuminates the skin where the device straps on to the wrist.

The Basis runs its Tricorder functions continuously and stores its telemetry for later upload (over USB or Bluetooth). The device itself doesn't have enough smarts to tell the user if they're exercising enough or how healthy they are; the Basis service has to process the information first and gives the user usable information about their health and activity on their own private Web page.

One of the big tricks in the Basis algorithms is its capability to determine your activity--walking, running, typing, etc.--even though the device is strapped to your wrist, where a lot of the motion is obviously unrelated to what the rest of your body is doing. CEO Jef Holove thinks that the company's data processing chops are its secret weapon and the competitive barrier to entry. The sensor technology in the Basis is not exactly rocket science; the cool oxygen sensor is standard medical tech, for example. … Read more

Apple applies for photo-correcting patent

Apple applied for a patent today for technology to use a mobile device's orientation sensors to help correct common photo problems.

One claim in the patent application involves using gyroscopes, compasses, or accelerometers to determine a device's orientation, then using that data to fix problems such as a tilt that would keep a horizontal line from being level.

A related claim involves a correction to distortion that can be caused when a camera isn't held vertically--for example when a view looking up makes the parallel vertical lines of a building converge. Here, a distance measurement to the subject could be factored in, too.

A photo could be corrected either after it was taken or on the fly as it's being taken.

The application is a new twist on hardware fixes for common photography problems. Modern digital cameras can move sensors or lens elements to counteract camera shake, and cameras or comptuer software can correct optical shortcomings of lenses. Start-up Lytro even hopes focusing errors can be avoided with light-field technology that lets people focus shots after they're taken. Smile detection technology can snap a photo only when you see the whites of their teeth, and face detection helps set exposure and focus.

The iPhone 4, with a backside-illumination sensor that's more sensitive than conventional models, is highly regarded as phone cameras go, and it's highly used, too, topping Flickr's camera usage charts. No doubt Apple would like to help its customers avoid those embarrassingly tilted oceans.

Now all we need is technology to ensure camera subjects look as healthy, vivacious, and beautiful as all the people in Apple's promotional illustrations. … Read more

Fingertip mouse fits on a ring

The Green Lantern's Power Ring it ain't, but a ring containing MicroPointing's touchpad is something Q might give 007. With a sensor control area of one square millimeter, the touchpad can easily be embedded in a ring.

Israeli start-up MicroPointing plans to offer the touchpad for embedding in all manner of devices large and small, including smartphones, Netbooks, remote controls, game controls, cameras, steering wheels--anywhere you might want to let your finger do some scrolling.

The touchpad could be on handsets starting in the fourth quarter of next year, according to Avi Rosenzweig, MicroPointing's vice president of business development.

The MicroPointing touchpad works by detecting the force your fingertip produces as it drags across the tiny device's three sensors, according to the company's patent application. The sensors are mounted on tiny posts spaced a few tenths of a millimeter apart--less than the size of a ridge on your fingertip.

The sensors pick up sideways force as your fingertip moves parallel to the touchpad's surface. The company's secret sauce is an algorithm that can pull detailed data from just three sensors, Rosenzweig said.… Read more

Scientists unveil self-powered wireless nano device

In the words of William Gibson, the future is already here. It may be barely Google-able in an obscure scientific publication, but it has profound implications for the future of implantable medical (and other) sensors.

That future is a nanoscale device that manages to transmit data wirelessly up to 30 feet and operate without a battery, instead harvesting energy from the environment via such sources as the pulse of a blood vessel or the gust of a breeze.

"It is entirely possible to drive these devices by scavenging energy from sources in the environment such as gentle airflow, vibration, … Read more

White iPhone 4 unboxed and tested in Italy

Italian technology blog iSpazio has kicked off what is sure to be the first of many tests of the newest iPhone release from Apple--the white iPhone 4. The blog ran tests on the proximity sensor as well as the infamous attenuation problems suffered by the AT&T iPhone 4 and the Verizon iPhone 4.

The delay in the availability of the white iPhone 4 has been largely attributed to problems with the white paint. Specifically, the way the paint was interacting with Apple's new glass technology was causing problems with the proximity sensor and allowing light leakage when … Read more

Cobra Tag finds your lost keys, phone, other junk

For some odd reason, I put my keys in a different place every time I take them out of my pocket at night. The problem is that I can never remember these unique locations when the time comes to retrieve those keys. The simple solution would be to change my behavior, but I'd rather solve my problems with technology and apps. Enter the Cobra Tag by Cobra, a two-part hardware and software solution to finding your misplaced stuff.

The first part of the system is the Cobra Tag sensor, a small electronic dongle that can be attached to a … Read more

Did Sony CEO leak plans for iPhone 5 camera?

The tech blogosphere is abuzz this morning with news that Sony CEO Howard Stringer may have accidentally leaked word that Sony was supplying the camera sensor for the iPhone 5--and that delivery of that sensor has been delayed due to factory damage in Japan.

During an interview with The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, Stringer reportedly was talking about how Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami had affected 15 Sony factories. One of those factories happens to be where Sony makes its camera sensors.

9to5Mac's Seth Weintraub was at the event, which the public paid $20 to attend (the event was called Talking Tech with Sony and The Wall Street Journal). He reported the following:

I'm here watching Walt Mossberg talk to Sony's CEO, Sir Howard Stringer. Stringer just said that their camera image sensor facility in Sendai was affected by the tsunami. Getting image sensors to Apple will be delayed. Stinger said something to the effect of: "Our best sensor technology is built in one of the (tsunami) affected factories. Those go to Apple for their iPhones...or iPads. Isn't that something? They buy our best sensors from us?"

Camera market flipping to new sensor technology

LONDON--A new type of image sensor that's been flipped front to back is beginning to give photographers a better view of the world.

The new sensors use a technology called backside illumination, and chipmakers including Sony and Samsung are leading the charge to build them into a variety of cameras. And though it's a premium feature today, it's spreading rapidly across the market.

"It's more aggressive than we expected even two years ago," Yole Developpement analyst Jerome Baron said in a talk last week at the Image Sensors Europe conference here.

Image sensors are … Read more

Kinect hack moves animated Web series

Whether you're one of the 10 million who bought a Kinect or one of those who mock its existence, there's no denying that Microsoft's Xbox 360 motion control device is doing more than letting players tickle digital tigers.

Using the camera and motion recognition built into the accessory, the techies at Triangle Productions are using a hacked Kinect to make a motion capture--or "mo-cap"--movie. They're utilizing the professional animation programs Maya and MotionBuilder, open-source programming software OpenNI, and a Kinect tool called Brekel, to capture their own actions, which characters then mimic in "Under the HUD," a new animated Web series.

In the process, they've probably saved themselves from spending sleepless nights animating frames while creating what looks to my eyes to be high production value--at what's most likely a fraction of the cost.

While the Web series hasn't aired yet (the creators are aiming for an early-May release), the sneak-peek video below details the production process, as well as the mo-cap capabilities of Kinect.… Read more

Future infotainment systems may read sign language

In an effort to keep eyes on the road and hands on the wheel, researchers at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence are working on new technology that could let drivers control their vehicles' in-cabin systems with a just a wave of a finger.

Geremin is a multimodal interaction technology that enables drivers to control temperature, volume, and entertainment systems using gestures. As infotainment systems become more complex and cars pull double duty as mobile offices, dashboards and steering wheels will become overloaded with buttons. Finger gestures give drivers a new way to communicate with the vehicle without taking … Read more