Tomorrow Daily 033: Tractor beams, Microsoft's Hyperlapse technology, human harps, and more

Scientists in Australia have created what they're calling a tractor beam. Listen science, everyone knows you can't have a tractor beam without either a USS Enterprise or a death star. True. Microsoft figured out a way to make your goPro videos look even better. Now, if they can just figure out a way to sell Windows Phone. Oh snap. And a woman created a suit that converts building vibrations into sound. Your favorite local bar was overheard weeping and begging you not to vomit on it anymore. [LAUGH] It's Tomorrow Daily. [MUSIC] Greetings, citizens of the internet. Welcome to Tomorrow Daily, the greatest tech talk show in the known universe. I'm your host, Ashley Esqueda. And rejoining me, once again, Rich DeMuro. Oh, so good to be back after my big Ninja Turtles weekend. Well, I know, I just, what a romantic, what a romantic get away. Ninja Turtles and your nine year wedding anniversary. Yeah, it was like a match made in heaven. Its a great combo. It was perfect. Not normally the movie I'd take my wife to see. Okay. But, she did enjoy it, it was entertaining. Not as bad as I thought, lets put it that way. Although the theater I was in, the 3D was really bad. Oh, really? Like, it was like, it was like, it was like back to, like, the 80s 3D. Like, weird, like, polar. They had just the blue and red glasses. Yeah, it was like, I'm like, I think these are not these. They're like, just go. Please just get in the theater. Anyway, not as bad as we all made it out to be. Okay. It hit number one again this weekend. Guardians, way better though. So if you have like, you know, one movie to see, See Guardians. See Guardians. All right my friends, we gotta talk about the headlines. [MUSIC] So the tractor. Tractor beam, is a storied piece of equipment in sci-fi technology. And we may actually be seeing tractor beam technology. Finally coming to the forefront. Yes. It's kind of interesting these are scientists in Australia. And they have figured out a way of creating waves that can force a floating object to move against the direction of the waves. So basically suck it in. Yeah, like they can push, pull or create a vortex. Oh. So they were saying there were three different ways they could sort of manipulate. An object floating on the water. So we have video of this. It's very, very fascinating to me. The, what they did was they have a ping pong ball that is suspended on water. And you can see there are sort of ripples in the water. And what their doing is they are sort of. Moving the ball, at will, in the directions Like, that they want to. how though? How do they explain how this works? Cuz it's pretty fascinating. So, they were saying that, a lot of people, when they see how it just stays in place, they were saying at first people were going, oh, this is just the waves responsible Right, sure. for motion. And they're saying, they have used advanced particle tracking. To to confirm that this is not actually the water moving moving the current. Like, the current isn't moving the ball. Something greater? It's the, well it's the energy that the, that they're sending out. So they're saying that this technology in the future could be used for some really incredible things. Oil spills for example, you'd be able to contain them. Hm, like all the oil [CROSSTALK] Who'd be able to work against the, the current of the ocean from taking it farther and farther out. Okay. And keeping in it one location. Or they were saying that you would be able to move garbage in the ocean. Like so we have those big islands of garbage that will float around in the sea, you'd actually be able to manipulate those and, and get them out of the ocean which will be extremely helpful. Well my favorite was a very simple use of this. They said that they could. Use it to dock boats. Like where you would bring the boat near the dock, Yeah. [CROSSTALK] And then the wave would, Kinda guide you in. I love this idea! Have you ever tried to park a boat? It is no easy task. My dad's got a boat and I was always, it's me and my brother always had to always help him bring it. Bring it in to the flip and it was a nightmare. I mean a pro can do it, like in the fact that a lot of people like to do that but for me personally I just rather be like, okay I got about 50 feet away and take it away. I'm pretty good Hit the tractor beam Hit the tractor beam Yeah, no I totally love that and then the last thing they were saying that maybe farther in the future the technology could be used to actually stop a title wave or a tsunami. So is this like beam me up, Scotty? Is this like real life? It's, that would be teleportation and unfortunately we have not quite figured that out. okay, I thought this story was way more exciting than it was. But maybe, yeah it's not, it's not teleporting it's just a tractor beam, a way of So someone just pushed a ping pong ball, they played glorified beer pong. With, with, in a University. Okay. Yes. You seem so unimpressed. Alright. Well then, you, okay, I want to hear about your story because maybe it's more impressive. Okay. This I think is pretty darn impressive. So have you ever sped up a video that you take on a like goPro, like Yeah. You know, you're on a point of view video? Yeah, seems lots like time-lapse video. Yeah and it looks terrible because basically They usually are pretty bad. The video is shaky and what happens is when you speed it up, it gets really shaky It's even worse. And it's just fast shaky. Now it looks like transformers. Really bad. I'm sure Michael Bay would have something to say about that. But Microsoft researchers have figured out a way to smooth out time lapsed videos like the kind you take with GoPro's, the first person point of view they call it hyper lapse and it basically smooths out the video so it looks. Who's really great. And think about hyper when you think about like you know, just like, Speed. Hyper speed and like looks nice and smooth and awesome. Yeah. Here's what they did. They figured out an algorithm that cleans up the videos by using 3-D. Like, they look at the path of the video. Like 3-D for soft. Somehow geometry and then they stitch and blend the frames. So, That's really fascinating. So here this is raw footage that they recorded. Sure, and see it's all like shaky and when you speed it up it's just gonna be shaky-er. Oh right so there's the time lapse. So there it is Yeah, it's so like ahh, especially the rock climbing one it's just all over the place and you can't tell what's happening. No. So now when you see this in, OK, so video stabilization, that doesn't do anything This is current technology. This is current technology Eh, not very But now, look at that Whoa This is what we're talking about. That is smooth. And here's the deal. What it's really doing is, I think it's kind of like making the center really clear But you can see and the edges sort of like worked a little bit. Well, you can see during this video with the rock. Climbing. You could actually see on parts of these videos, when they go into this Hyperlapse. You can see that the frames actually change and readjust. Like they actually just re-render every time. So in some places you can see the frames readjusting themselves. Right. And that's, that's really interesting to me cuz you can sorta see how they're kind of putting it together. So you can see slight adjustments as theyre driving. Right. It does, its not perfect if you like, really look at it. But the reality is. But still. What your eye sees is a lot easier to comprehend. It's so smooth. Microsoft hopes to make this available as an app for consumers on Windows phone. I can totally see this being a Lumia camera exclusive. Right? This is like, oh, get, get your Lumia Hyperlapse, like Lumia with Hyperlapse. And come on, could they have come up with a better name? It's a great name. This is brilliant marketing. Now, I think filmographers, like people in the video world have been able to do this themselves. Like, when you look at a movie, it looks really good. But not as tightly as that. You think? I think, over time, like, its very difficult to get a smooth time lapse video that is in motion. And I think that's sort of the really incredible thing here is that, these are cameras that are fully in motion. See, you can see the re-rendering of the rock face as it goes. Yeah I think this is fascinating technology that we will see a lot of use over the next maybe couple years as it starts to get a little more sophisticated. Get ready for those uploads YouTube or should I say one drive. Oh that's right one drive, oh. Yeah, the only thing is you can't upload them to YouTube. They gotta go to OneDrive. Yeah, you have to upload your videos to OneDrive. Or is it SkyDrive? I forget. They keep changing the name. Yeah, boy, I boy. I think it's OneDrive. Our last story today I saw and thought was so weird. But kinda cool and very kind of technologically advanced way of making music. This story is about a, a human harp. Okay. So it's a very interesting way to jump into this but this, this person named Di Mainstone, she has a team of people at Queen Mary University in London and they have this special bodysuit that they've created. And they attach different portions of this to to a structure. And then they can actually get the building vibrations. From foot traffic car traffic, wind all these different things. And then translate it into sound. Okay. Wow. So they could play the building, almost like an electronic harp, like a really big electronic harp. Well when I thought, when I first heard this story, I thought literally they went on like the Brooklyn Bridge and like, just went like, like for that Like with a giant hand. Yeah, with a giant hand. But that's not what they did. No. Well we have video of this and then we have audio too so we're gonna play this our really quickly so Rune why don't we check this out. So these, these are the tethers, you pull the string and then you see she'll attach them to herself, they look like retractable dog leashes, and I think that was actually part of the like first round of this, like the first iteration of this suit, and then here's the sound. [MUSIC] [INAUDIBLE] It is very weird. But the music sounds cool. I'm not convinced that what she got is, like, 100%, like, related to the [UNKNOWN]. So it, it isn't. And here, so here's the interesting thing. We just listened to it, and it sounds very interesting. But this actually, was an early version of the suit. That was shown and done last year, for I guess some anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge. So, okay, they had permission to do it. It is possible that they did, but they could not quite get the voice of the bridge or the sound of the bridge, so the team chose representative sounds, this is what, you know, this is what they claim that they have done. P.R. spin. They have chosen representative sounds and they were modified by the movement of the string. So, and then it says, soon after this woman returned with microphones to record the bridge's real vibration. So, I think that sort of they picked these tones that they felt would be, sort of representative of the bridge, but then, kind of, kind of modified it with the vibrations. Like, maybe adjusted the sound wave. Like if, yeah, the sound. I, it sounds like, it's like more of an art installation than it is like, real high tech. Yeah. But. It's kinda fun, I mean, it's just weird. Whenever you see something weird like that It is super cool though. You're just like, you're drawn to it. I love it. And, and so, I guess right now, if you're in London, you can see this Human Harp installation at the Roundhouse, in London until August 24th. And then later this year they're gonna do a performance at the anniversary of the Clifton suspension Bridge in Bristol. In the UK, as well. So they're very United Kingdom based. But you can definitely check that our so it was very interesting to me. Mm-hm. Also the sounds maybe give me a little bit of nightmares. Yeah that's definitely like nightmare like. Alien abduction nightmare. That bridge comes to life in those sounds and its a weird sound. Yeah it feels maybe like its. It's sad, but on that note, we are gonna take a quick break. We'll be back in 30 seconds. We have another round of back it or hack it, you're user feedback, and of course, our phonetographer of the day. So don't click away, it's tomorrow daily [MUSIC] Welcome back to the show. We are ready for another round of Back it or Hack It, and we have a really good one this week. It's really weird and kind of awesome, but also kind of like why would you want that. This is called the AirPack. The air pakk, with two k's. For me. With two K's, I'm gonna try to sell you on this. Alright, so here, this is the Air Pakk. It is a backpack, or a messenger bag, you can convert it one way or the other, and it's got self-inflating padding on the front, and the back. And when it's unzipped you can make it a travel pillow. Oh, okay, what's going on here? You can take a nap anywhere. This sounds weird. All right, we've gotta watch this video. Check this out. So here's all their different versions of the narrative, that's the finished version, you could, you can fold it all the way open, and then it inflates into a little, Oh, just take a nap at the library. into a little, into a little nap sack. But I like that you can actually sit on the bottom half. That it's like a chair almost you can make it, it's like a clam shell. Okay. And then you can actually keep your stuff safe. So you can keep your eggs in there? Yeah, egg drop test, look he just slammed it on the ground and there's an egg in there. Oh, come on. Oh, look at that, boom. Wow, there's no way that egg is real. That's a fake foam egg for sure. That's a, easter egg. He should have cracked it open on his head to prove that it was a real egg. Yes, you're right. So this seems a little, I mean. It seems a little tongue in cheek to have an inflatable bag. And I like the idea because there are sometimes when you carry your stuff and you wanna keep it safe. To take a nap. And you want to take a nap. Sometimes I just wanna take a nap. If you're spending a lot of time. I mean I don't know. I think this seems kinda funky. Seems kinda gimmicky? I think so. I mean here's the thing. So you know, if you put your stuff in there you're saying you could take it out and like sleep on it or whatever. I carry way too much stuff in my bag- [CROSSTALK] Yeah this is- [CROSSTALK] to be taking it out. See this is my question. Is like, he's like, oh you can, you can sleep on the train but I'm like, okay so then are you just gonna take your laptop out and take a nap? Like this guy, like he's sleeping and he's got his laptop right next to him, you're just gonna go to sleep in the park, [CROSSTALK] in a random park with your laptop next to you? [CROSSTALK] no. No way. I'm not sleeping in a random park with my laptop next to me. If it's in the bag, but, and if it's in the bag, it's probably too bulky and like weird. Well, yeah. It's too hard. You can't sleep on your laptop. How in the world does this self-inflate? Magic. Black magic from [CROSSTALK] wizards. Okay. Here, here's where they really lose me. When they get to the, whatever the raft is. Oh, yeah. Okay, so they have this like lay flat air mat thing where you can, it blows up, and you can lay on it. It looks like a pool floatie [CROSSTALK] Everybody says, yeah, here to see airpad. It really is just a full body. C'mon! This is the second version but it's very, see how easy it blows up. It's like super fast. And it inflates in seconds. And, and it's this technology that this guy had kind of created that makes it very easy to inflate you think. I'd like to know what that means, too. Like, how do you make something so easy to inflate. Like sell that technology. Like, that's the part that I really need. I don't, Yeah. I don't need the. Look there it is, he's deflated the whole thing, now he's carrying it around. I just think this guy likes to take naps in random places. Like, I just don't take naps at the park or like at the airport. This, these two products. A 100% these two products are motivated by laziness and I mean, I. Respect that. I really respect it. Hey, when I'm at the airport when I have a layover, like, I'm more interested in checking my email for an hour, not like taking a quick nap. I'll sleep on the plane. Well, I get scared because it's like you're supposed to always watch your bag, and I'm like what if I take a nap and somebody switches out my bag. Or like I get really scared about stuff. I'm so paranoid. That's a little paranoid. I know. It's really paranoid. I know, I will say that whenever I. If I do like Sousa, I will like put my arm through something.>> I know, I do to, I put my leg, I put my leg on top of my carry on and I take a nap, it's rediculous>> It's cool, you know, I want to really protect.>> My leg is the anti theft device. but, yeah, but I don't know, and if your bag inflates at the airport, like your going to get arrested, I don't know, it's just weird. I don't think your going to get arrested but okay>> If your bag, if your like just all of a sudden>> It starts exploding>>It's like the Marty McFly jacket in Back to the Future 2>> Yes, the vest. That would be amazing. okay, so it's $90. Oh, no way. No? You say no? Nope, no, and I need a new backpack. Alright I'm not paying it. It, it is already fully funded. I mean it took less than a week, they're fully funded, $30,000 goal. Shipping is slated for April 2015 so if you're interested in getting your Airpack on. Feel free to head over to the Kickstarter, you are just like nope. Boo. Sorry. You know, here is the thing, for people who travel a lot, like back packers and stuff, I say okay, good. No back packers want a large, a big back pack. But a big backpack, I know, but I am saying like daily commuters, daily travellers. This is like 1% backpack, 90% air pillow. Alright, fair enough. I say, I guess, see for me I can't. I won't back him. So we have 2 hacks. Sorry hack it. I mean, you probably enjoy if you back it. If you backed it you're probably really into it. [CROSSTALK] Great I'm very excited for you. Tell us how it is. Tell me how the naps are. Tell us how the naps [LAUGH]. You're to sleepy to tell us write us in. [LAUGH]. You'll be too busy sleeping it up everywhere you go. Our next item on course, we have your user feedback, let's check that out. What message does it send at your work, if you bring that backpack in? There's like. I get to take a nap, I brought my own nap. With me. Science has proven that naps are great for- I agree. Productivity. I all about the naps for productivity. I think we should go to a nap system here in the state. We should an hour right after lunch for a nap. I agree. I would be into it. We should have nap pods at all places, I know some of the tech companies do it. Nap pods, yes. Our hash tag last week, you weren't here was TD robopets. And we asked our, our wonderful viewers and listeners what robo pat they would want and what they're, what it's name would be. Okay. It's a really good one. We got, we got some really good ones you guys. Andrew at [UNKNOWN] 37 said,. TV robo pets, I want a robotic Doberman link like in the movie C.H.O. M.P. S. from 1979. I would name him Lisle after my old Dobi. OK, I understand none of that. I have never heard of this movie so I looked up a screen cap and this is what I found. Which literally made me laugh so hard that I almost choked on my coffee this morning. I was cracking up. That is the scariest robo pet I have ever seen. It's like Cujo as a robotic. Well that's, that's the inside of it but then later like it's a full dog. Like it looks like a regular Doberman. It, I was dying laughing. I have to now see this movie. Peaked my interest one hundred percent. Eighties movies, and I know it's on the cusp, but they have like an innocence that we have just lost today. So hilarious. I just love it so much. And then Bishwajit. I hope I got that right. Says: #TDROBOPETS Hey I would love to make Robo Dinasaurs and see how other animals react LOL how about naming ROBOCLYPTUS. You, you say no? You're just staring. I love that you just blank. You're just like whoa. I don't know. I'm just, I"m just trying to figure it out, that name. I'm still on the old [UNKNOWN]. Well it's like pterodactyl. You know you got like a cool, roboclyptus. Roboclyptus. I love it. It sounds like Eucalyptus to me. There was also, we got an email from somebody saying that they would, or maybe it was a tweet saying they would have a robo girl named Fred and I just thought that was hilarious. It's simple. Keep it simple. It's very simple and straightforward. See? See? Very simple. [LAUGH] Oh, God, it was amazing. Also in your user feedback, we have our phonetographer of the day. [MUSIC] You know I'm a jerk, and I just forgot to give you the hashtag of the day today. Oh, you're such a jerk. So I have to do that right now. Producer Rune, could you please put up the hashtag of the day? The hashtag of the day today is #TDHUMANHARP. Ooh. Which I really like. What building would you play? What building would you play, or what structure. You can pick any structure. It doesn't have to be a building. Okay, any structure. And what would it sound like? Oh. I, I think, what would you play? well. [LAUGH] I like the sad, I like the idea of the sadness. Okay. Like, I think, like, my high school [UNKNOWN]. [LAUGH] Just, like, oh please, no. Or like, or like an old building. Like, you know? Those, like, old old, like, buildings that you tour. And, like, the building would just be, like, seriously? Not another tour. Like, please. Why? Like, we were cool back in the day. I think I do like the Sydney Opera House. That already has like great sound. I know, but like, I wanna hear like the vibrations of the building. Like hearing it from the building's perspective. There'd be nothing. It'd be silent. The building would be like really, you thought you where gonna get more out of this. Sound proof, boom, get out. All right, we gotta, we got to talk about our photographer today, I'm sorry. T.D. Human Harp, that's your hash tag. Our phonetographer for the day is Kyle B. and he sent us a message and said I enjoy taking nature photography and typically use my phone since I always have it with me. This was taken on the coastal area of Maine, it is some sea heather around sunset. Wow. That's really nice. I like that. That is, that's a framer. I think so, I think it's a really nice, I would get that you know we, how we can print it on canvas. Yep. Canvas Make it a little painting. Over the fireplace. Gorgeous, look at that. Beautiful. I have never, I don't think I've ever seen sea heather before, like specifically. Like I knew it was sea heather but now I'm gonna know. Now I know, Yeah, I've never, I never knew what that was but I don't think I've ever seen it either. I feel like maybe it, that might not be an indigenous plant to California. Probably not. Probably not. We don't have plants that green. No. And that colorful. That's so true. Well we have cacti. That, they're green and colorful Prickly, you touch them and you I love cacti, they're amazing. But that is our, that is is our phonetor for the day. Thank you very much for sending that in. If you would like your phonetography to be considered to be featured on this show, you can email us at tomorrow@cnet.com you can also send over. Your hashtag of the day, if you don't like using Twitter, but if you do like using Twitter or other social media you can in fact find us in a many, in a plethora of different spots. We are in all of the social mediums. Yes. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. We are TomorrowDaily in all those things and if you are on Google Plus, we are Google, or TomorrowDailyPV. And, you know, True story. Even if you don't get on the show, with the, the phonetographer, Yeah. You still have the satisfaction of knowing that me and Ashley open up our e-mail. And look at your picture. And look at your picture. I did, I love, we, we do look at all of them. And I look at them throughout the day. We just keep getting them. It's actually kind of funny, because the show hits and I get, like all of a sudden, like a barrage of emails and I'm like, Yup. Oh, people must be waking up in other parts of the world. It's very true. And if you want to find us on social media, I'm Ashley Ascutha on Facebook and Twitter. I'm Rich Demiro on Twitter and Rich on tech on Facebook. And that's it for the show you guys. We'll be back tomorrow. Actually he won't be back tomorrow. We'll have, we'll have Mike back in. But other than that, be good humans and we'll see you then. Bye.