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Video: Super-Realistic Dental Training Humanoid “Simroid”

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 02:12 AM PST

simroid

Simroid, a super-realistic dental training robot developed in Japan, caused quite a splash in news outlets worldwide when it made its debut in 2007. The level of realism was pretty high back then, but it’s even higher in the new version that was showcased in Tokyo a few days ago.

The basic idea is that Simroid simulates a human patient during a dental check-up by moving and speaking as realistically as possible, including the simulation of gag reflexes or negative reactions when the doctor touches her “breasts” by accident. Two cameras are recording the treatment, which makes it possible to evaluate the performance of dental students after each training session.

Professor Hamura from the Nippon Dental University, the mastermind behind Simroid, explains:

The first improvement we have made is that the robot now has speech recognition. So when you speak to it, it moves in response. There are also sensors in and around the mouth. So, for example, if something hurts or feels unpleasant, the robot can react. Another improvement, as you can see, is the skin. A robot dental patient has to “open wide,” so if the skin is made of silicone, it can tear. So we’ve used a different material, which doesn’t tear even if it’s stretched a lot or makes contact with dental implements.

The newest version is bi-lingual (English and Japanese), meaning Simroid might go on sale in the US and other places soon, too.

This video, shot by Diginfo TV (in English), provides more insight:

Daily Crunch: Cold Birds

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 01:07 AM PST

Gadgets To Look For On Black Friday

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 01:44 PM PST

Line

Alright folks. If you’re still young enough, immature enough, or bankless enough to own a piggy bank, it’s time to crack that thing open. Black Friday is (count ‘em) two days away, and if you don’t have a plan by now then let’s get to it.

In no particular order, here are some of the Black Friday gadget deals that stand out to us (some are still leaks and thus unverified, but we’ll make it clear which sales are official and which are still a bit mysterious).

Apple (unconfirmed leak):

Apple’s stuff tends to wear some of the highest price tags on the market, and the same will be true on Black Friday. However, rarely will you get the chance to buy an Apple product from an Apple store (with all the warranties and support) at a discount, so we suggest acting now if you’re in the market for an iThing.

Deals include an $101 discount on the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and iMac, a $41 discount for low-end iPad 2s, a $61 discount on high-end iPad 2s, and $11 off the iPod Nano. Apple’s Black Friday sale only lasts for the one day, and even with the measly discounts I expect their inventory to go fast. That’s not to say the Apple store should be your first stop of the day, but don’t save it for last, that’s for sure.

Samsung (confirmed):

From November 20 to November 28, Samsung is slashing prices on home entertainment, digital imaging and storage products. There are quite a few products going on sale, and I haven’t nearly the time to list them all, but I’ll hook you up with some of the best along with a link to the list in full.

As far as TVs go, Samsung is offering its 46–inch D6003 Series 1080p LED Smart TV for just $799.99, while the D490 Series 720p Plasma 3D TV (which includes four pairs of 3D glasses) will be on sale for $499.99 (43-inch model) and $599.99 (51-inch model). Then we have a couple cameras/camcorders that are certainly worth a close look. The MV800 point-and-shoot camera, which I happen to adore, is usually priced around $279 but will go for $199 during the sale. Meanwhile, Samsung’s W200 1080p Rugged Pocket Camcorder, which can be submerged in water up to 3 meters for as long as 30 minutes and dropped from as high as 2 meters, will be available this week for $99.99.

Here’s a full list of Samsung deals to watch out for.

Walmart (unconfirmed leak):

Obviously, Walmart has a lot going on this Black Friday, which extends way past gadgetry. But when you can get a brand new tablet for half-off who gives a damn about coffeemakers? That said, Walmart (like most of these retailers) has way too many deals to list them all, but here are a few that stuck out to me.

You’ll be able to get a 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect bundle including a free $50 gift card for just $199.99. There are also two Emerson models, a 32-inch 720p LCD HDTV and a 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTV going for pretty low prices: just $188 and $248 respectively. As far as computing goes, you’ll also be able to find three AMD-powered computers from HP, a 15.6-inch laptop for $248, a 17.3-inch laptop for $388, and a desktop with a 19-inch LCD monitor for just $298.

Sony (confirmed):

Sony has put a lot of its goodies on sale this Black Friday, from computers to TV sets to gaming consoles. You can scope out the full range of savings at Sony’s weekly deals site, but here are some of the deals we thought worthy of a closer look. You’ll have until Cyber Monday to make your decisions, but be aware, this stuff literally flies off of online shelves.

First up we have a couple amazing bundles, including home theater bundles for Sony’s 46 and 55-inch NX720 Internet HDTV, a 3D Home Theater system, and a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movies. You’ll have to pay $1399.99 for the 46-inch bundle and $1699.99 for the 55-incher, compared to original pricing of $2599.99 and $3399.99 respectively. Sony is also hooking up customers with a 320GB Sony PS3 Move bundle at the low price of just $349. The bundle includes a 320GB PS3 (obviously) a DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller, a PlayStation Move controller, the PlayStation Eye camera, and Sports Champions.

Then again, if all you need is a small upgrade to your home theater experience and are looking to save some change, Sony’s discounted Internet-ready Blu-ray player is an awesome steal at just $79.99. Sony is also discounting members of its Vaio laptop family, as well as a couple other tablets, TVs and digital imaging products.

Amazon (confirmed):

Amazon is going big this Black Friday, with deals on gadgets and gizmos ‘aplenty. However, Amazon is doing an incremental roll-out of its Black Friday deals, with some only lasting for a day on the retailer’s web site. I’d suggest checking in on Amazon’s Black Friday Deals store site as often as possible, or at least once a day, to keep up with what’s available on the cheap.

Some of the best deals we’re seeing include a couple cameras, the Fujifilm FinePix F505 Digital Camera for $179, the Canon PowerShot SX230HS Digial Camera for $199, and Nikon’s Coolpix P7000 Digital Camera for just $249. If you’re on the market for a smartphone, AmazonWireless is hooking up customers with all phones from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon for just a penny (along with a two-year agreement, of course). Amazon is also offering up a PS3 bundle in the 160GB flavor that includes two games, Rachet & Clank: All 4 One and LittleBigPlanet 2 for $199. You’ll also be able to snag a 5-inch TomTom XXL GPS system for just $79.99, compared to its $169.95 list price.

If all you can afford on Black Friday is a couple new apps, Amazon has you covered there, too. Amazon’s Appstore for Android is offering 50 percent off on the following games between Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Plants vs. Zombies/Plants vs. Zombies HD, Exchange By Touchdown, LogMeIn Ignition, Sims, Safari! HD, Shazam Encore, SwiftKey X, and Kids ABC Letters.

Best Buy (unconfirmed leak):

Well, after flipping through the 38 pages of Best Buy’s Black Friday deals, it’s apparent that Best Buy should probably be the first place you stop Friday morning. The big box retailer is discounting everything, from computers to tablets to smartphones to TVs to teleportation devices. OK, I lied. The teleportation devices are going at full price, but the rest is a steal.

Here are some of my favorite deals from Best Buy: First up they have about seven different HDTV’s going for below $600 from makers like LG, Panasonic, Insignia, Samsung, and Toshiba. They’re also pricing the 10-inch Asus Transformer tablet at $249, while the Toshiba Thrive has been marked down to $279 and the Acer Iconia tab will go for $189. You’ll also be able to snag a 23-inch HD monitor from HP for just $119.99.

Stores open at 12:00am on Friday, but we’d suggest a careful look through this 38-page ad before making any decisions.

Sears (unconfirmed leak):

Sears’ Black Friday offerings aren’t quite as amazing as I’d expected, but they’re still rockin’ it in the TV department. You can get yourself a 47-inch LED 1080p HDTV from LG for $679.99, a 42-inch LED 1080p Smart HDTV from Panasonic for $599.99, or a 26-inch LCD HDTV with built-in DVD player for a $50 discount at $249.

In the gaming department, Sears is offering the same $199 160GB PS3 bundle as Amazon along with a $199 Nintendo 3DS with the Super Mario 3D Land game included. And while they don’t necessarily beat the price of that 5-inch TomTom at Amazon, a 7-inch Magellan RoadMate 1700 GPS and a 4.3-inch Garmin 40LM GPS will be available at Sears for $129.99 and $99.99 respectively.

While Sears’ sale will continue throughout Friday and Saturday, the Black Friday proper sale will only last between 4am and 1pm.

Target (unconfirmed leak):

Target wins on some fronts and loses on others come Black Friday. Its $157 Acer 10.1-inch Netbook should be a steal, as should Philips 9-inch dual-screen headrest DVD players. You’ll also find the same Nintendo 3DS bundle as we saw at Sears but for $20 cheaper.

On the whole, however, Target shouldn’t be your one-stop shop for gadgetry. It is going to be a great place to shop for content like movies and TV on DVD, with some DVDs going for as low as $1.99. Doors open at midnight and the sale lasts for four days.

Be sure to check out our 2011 Holiday Gift Guide for some extra inspiration, and try not to get trampled in the madness. Happy shopping, everyone!

Kobo Touch With Offers Drops E-Reader’s Price To $99, Nook Going For $79 On Black Friday

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 12:05 PM PST

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If you were thinking of laying out the cash for one of the new touch-based e-readers, now would be a good time. Kobo is dropping the price of its Touch e-reader device, which I reviewed here, to $99 if you’re willing to see ads when the device is sleeping.

That puts it at the same price as the Kindle Touch and the Nook Simple Touch, which really was an essential step considering the aggressive price war between Amazon and Barnes & Noble right now. But let us not forget that the Nook is going for $79 on Black Friday. That’s a solid deal.

At the normal price, it really is kind of a difficult choice. I haven’t used the newest Kindles, but between the Nook and the Kobo I preferred the latter; I just prefer Kobo’s design, and the format support is a little better, too.

But would I recommend it over a $79 Nook? I can’t say I would, because the Nook is a solid device too (John prefers it) and it’s hard to say no at that price. But if you can’t get one on Black Friday or Cyber Monday (there are no guarantees, of course), take a good look at all three options before taking your pick. You can’t go wrong, but one of them might be a little righter than the others.

2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Six Household Gifts For You And Yours

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 10:04 AM PST

giftguide11-bug

Home is where the heart is. It’s also the place where most people will live and die so give a gift that will make someone’s life a bit easier (or fun). No one wants a $20 coffee pot for Christmas. But yet there are still some awesome household items that will certainly produce a smile Christmas morning. The six following items range in price from $10 to $400. There’s something here for everyone.

Dyson AM04 Hot

Yep, the Dyson AM04 Hot is a $400 space heater and fan. $400. That’s a lot. But it is awesome. I have one heating my office and I’ve never been so impressed with a space heater. And with a basement office in chilly Michigan, I’ve used a lot of space heaters. Still, it’s a $400 space heater so it’s more of a one percenter gift than a stocking stuffer. But if you have room in your holiday budget, the Dyson Hot is a solid gift for someone that’s seemingly cold-blooded. The AM04 also doubles as a traditional fan and ships with a handy remote — as if those little items help to justify the high price.

Dropcam

Video monitoring has never been more accessible. The last thing you want to gift is something that requires work. Dropcam is not work. It’s one of the easiest video monitoring devices available. Just plug in the discrete camera and you’re half-way done with the setup. From there the video feed is available online or through the Dropcam iOS and Android app. The desktop software allows for easy monitoring and motion-activated recording. You can even share a video stream online. The $199 Dropcam captures just video where the $279 Dropcam Echo also records audio. Both are great gifts even for those not wearing a tinfoil hat.

Belkin Conserve Insight

The Belkin Conserve Insight sits between any household item’s power plug and the wall outlet. From there, a little cable runs to a display that shows not only the power usage, but what that works out to in real dollars. Plug it into the Christmas tree lights and see how much those little blinking lights cost you. Plug it into the space heater and compare the result against your utilities gas rates. With a street price around $30, it’s perfect for a gadget fiend or a penny pincher. They can see in real dollar and cents how much it cost to keep their three file servers running 24/7. For the more technically-inclined, you may want to consider the Kill-A-Watt by P3 International. It’s provides a bit more information for those that know how to read it.

Tivoli Radio

Sometimes it’s nice to just flip on a FM radio. There’s no messing with Pandora stations or logging into RDIO. Just turn the radio on and listen to a local radio station. Tivoli makes classy AM/FM radios that exemplify this notion. The majority of their line are simple mono radios with just a speaker and an oversized tuning dial. The original $149 Model One Radio is a safe bet. Like the majority of Tivoli’s models, it’s available in a large variety of wood grain finishes. However, the company offers more than just simple radios. Some of their latest models include iDevice docks, complete micro component systems, and Internet streaming.

Quirky Thor

Prepare yourself, the snow is coming. It’s best to arm your loved ones with an ice scraper that’s more of a deadly weapon than a toy. Enter Thor. This Quirky product is a monster of an ice scraper. With a long handle, dual scrapers, and multiple grips, the Thor is the Mjǫlnir of ice scrapers. It’s only $20 and like most of Quirky’s products, Thor is perfect for the person that seemingly already has everything. They don’t have this monster ice scraper.

Robot tea infuser

Everyone should be drinking loose leaf tea. It taste better and they get to use awesome tea infusers. This little robot tea infuser only costs $10 on Amazon and could be a great gift for the casual or hardcore tea drinker. If nothing else, it will make a fun conversation piece.

Move Over Kinect — Displair From Russia Is A Gesture Interface In Thin Air

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 07:18 AM PST

Displair

Please look at this video and tell me it is not magic. Displair, a Russian company from Astrakhan has come up with a technology to project images into the thin air, and use gestures to move them.

Power Balance Peddles New Sports Junk After Filing For Bankruptcy

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 06:58 AM PST

performancemouthgear

They say that fools and their money are soon parted, and no one knows that better than the sports junk hucksters at Power Balance. Despite filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court on Friday, the company has high hopes for their new product, something called Performance Mouth Gear.

Let’s clear up one thing first: it’s a mouth guard. That’s it. Of course, the marketing wizards at Power Balance aren’t content to leave it at that; oh no, it’s supposedly much more. According to the company, Performance Mouth Gear incorporates “innovative technology to properly align the jaw and the spine through optimal positioning of the bite.” They even go as far as citing a a handful reputable journal articles to make their case.

Sounds great, no? They’re fighting for all the credibility they can get, considering they have a history of just making things up. Case in point: their Power Balance bracelets claimed to endow users with “up to a 500% increase in strength, power and flexibility.” The bracelet’s key ingredient? A holographic sticker.

Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission called them out on the obvious BS, and among other things, made publicly retract their claims. Here’s a gem from one of their corrective ads:

We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of s52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

So, they lied. I’m sure that’s going to inspire tons of people to buy their new mouth guards! Credit where credit is due though, this new pitch is just a hair more believable than saying their holographic bracelets can affect the user’s “natural energy.” They’re learning!

It’s always a shame when a company falls on hard times, but I can’t help but look at this situation with a little bit of schadenfreude. Power Balance is swimming in both debt and bad feelings, but it’s their own fault, and I’m looking forward to seeing how their new plan pans out.

How To Enable Panorama Mode On Your iPhone – No Jailbreak Required

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 06:57 AM PST

pano

By now you probably know there’s a hidden camera feature that people can enable on iOS 5 devices, allowing users to snap photos in panorama mode (see video).

However, to enable the hidden feature your device needed to be jailbroken. But as it turns out, you can actually get panorama mode working on your iOS 5 device without jailbreaking it.

As the folks over at 360cities found out, there’s a way to do this by fiddling with your iPhone's backup file and then restoring it. As the video below shows, you will need to install the iBackupBot application (needless to say, you need to proceed with caution).

The 360cities guys also show the feature in action, in case you hadn’t seen it yet. They’re using the camera app with panorama mode on an iPhone 4S, but it should work on an iPhone 4 and iPad 2 as well (feel free to let us know if it does or doesn’t in the comments).

Also note that the panorama feature is apparently quite clunky in its current form, which is probably why it hasn’t been publicly released or touted by Apple yet.

Penguin Shuts Down Libraries’ Access To New E-Titles On Amazon’s Kindle

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 06:11 AM PST

Penguin-Books

Chances are you’ve already heard about the beef between Amazon and Penguin over the sales and lending terms of Penguin e-titles through Amazon’s Kindle lending program. If not, we can recap quickly. A few days ago Penguin came out with a statement saying that it would suspend making digital editions of new books for libraries and that libraries are to lock down any e-titles for Amazon’s Kindle ereader.

“We have always placed a high value on the role that libraries can play in connecting our authors with our readers,” said Penguin in an official statement on Monday, reports HuffPo. “However, due to new concerns about the security of our digital editions, we find it necessary to delay the availability of our new titles in the digital format while we resolve these concerns with our business partners.”

While many are blaming Amazon for the revocation of already-sold titles, it may not be the digital retailer’s fault. Amazon has released a statement saying that it was totally uninvolved in the actions that Penguin took in collaboration with OverDrive, an e-book supplier service, to freeze the titles. According to BoingBoing, The American Library Association had said the following:

Penguin Group's recent action to limit access to new e-book titles to libraries has serious ramifications. The issue for library patrons is loss of access to books, period. Once again, readers are the losers.

If Penguin has an issue with Amazon, we ask that they deal with Amazon directly and not hold libraries hostage to a conflict of business models.

This situation is one more log thrown onto the fire of libraries' abilities to provide access to books – in this case titles they've already purchased. Penguin should restore access for library patrons now.

UPDATE – Penguin replies:

In follow-up to our statement yesterday about supplying Penguin Group (USA) digital books to libraries:

Penguin USA took the decision yesterday to withhold the supply of new digital titles from suppliers to US libraries until concerns about the security of the copyright of its authors have been resolved.

In addition, Penguin informed suppliers to libraries that it expected them to abide by existing agreements to offer older digital titles to libraries only if those files were held behind the firewalls of the suppliers.

Following receipt of this information, Overdrive, a supplier of ebooks to US libraries, removed "Get for Kindle" from its offering.

Penguin has subsequently been informed by Amazon that it had not been consulted by Overdrive about the terms of Penguin's agreement with Overdrive. Amazon has undertaken to work with Penguin and Overdrive between now and the end of the year to address Penguin's concerns. Penguin will, as a result, restore the supply of these titles until the end of the year in order to return the availability of older titles to all its digital customers.

Japan’s NHK To Broadcast London Olympics In Ultra-HD – 7,680×4,320 Pixels (Video)

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 05:25 AM PST

ultra hd nhk

If full HD resolution isn’t enough for you, then how about 16 times the resolution of full HD? Japan’s national public broadcasting organization NHK has been working on so-called Ultra HD technology for years, and now it’s ready for the first big test in public.

NHK is planning public screenings of some events at the London Olympics next year in Ultra HD resolution (7,680×4,320 pixels) – not only in Japan, but also in the UK and the US. A first test of actually transmitting that amount of data internationally was completed back in March this year.

The video embedded below doesn’t go into details as far as the public screenings are concerned, but it does deliver some interesting tidbits about Ultra-HD, for example the ability to produce surround sound with 22.2 channel audio:

Video courtesy of Diginfo TV