nk497 - Slashdot User

TomTom satnavs to set insurance prices-> 1

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nk497

on Wednesday February 08, @10:00AM

nk497 writes "TomTom has signed a deal with an insurance firm that will see its satnavs used to monitor drivers. Fair Pay Insurance, part of Motaquote, will use monitoring systems built into the TomTom PRO 3100 to watch for sharp braking and badly managed turns, rewarding "good" drivers with lower premiums and warning less skilled motorists when they aren't driving as they should. "We've dispensed with generalisations and said to our customers, if you believe you're a good driver, we'll believe you and we'll even give you the benefit up front," said Nigel Lombard of Fair Pay Insurance."
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Microsoft releases Kinect for Windows-> 0

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nk497

on Wednesday February 01, @10:42AM

nk497 writes "Microsoft has released Kinect for Windows, featuring a new "near mode" that lets the gesture control tech be used as close as 40cm. The Kinect for Windows hardware will retail at $249 — well above the price of the version for Xbox 360 consoles. Microsoft defended the price difference, saying sales of games and Xbox Live subscriptions help subsidise the console version. The new version will support Windows 7 and the Windows 8 developer preview, as well as Windows Embedded 7 devices."
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Building the bionic man-> 1

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nk497

on Monday January 30, @05:14AM

nk497 writes "Will we soon be upgrading body parts like the components inside our PCs? "Human enhancement" technologies are quickly evolving, making it easier to treat health conditions — and make us more powerful. Neural implants are already being used to restore vision, but in the future it could be used to give us better than 20/20 eyesight. Bionic arms will extend beyond prostheses, and be used to help boost our strength — handy for working in a warehouse and for soldiers. “We use tools all the time to enhance our natural functions, and physical interaction is increasingly usurped by the virtual connections afforded by computers, smartphones and the internet," said one researcher. "So connecting these tools directly from the brain is perhaps not so far-fetched.”"
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Microsoft to shake-up Windows 8 Start screen-> 0

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nk497

on Thursday January 19, @11:29AM

nk497 writes "Microsoft is set to tweak the Windows 8 Start screen after receiving "visceral" feedback on a Windows blog about the version shown off in the developer preview. The Windows 8 Start screen currently defaults to the new, tile-based Metro interface. More controversially, when users click on the Start button in the tradtional Windows desktop, they are immediately thrown back to the Metro screen.

Next month's beta will reveal changes to (hopefully) improve that, said general manager of platform strategy, Tim O'Brien. "Some of the changes you'll see on the Start screen are based on feedback from developers on that blog," O'Brien explained."
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Hands-on with Lytro, the camera that focuses after-> 0

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nk497

on Wednesday January 18, @09:44AM

nk497 writes "The Lytro light-field camera is set to ship soon, but we got our hands on one to find out if it's worth pre-ordering and what exactly it's good for. The Lytro captures an incredible amount of information for each shot, letting you decide what to focus on after the shot has been snapped. This not only offers the potential to re-imagine photos and create intriguing images utterly abusing depth of field, but also means they’re taken almost instantly, without the photographer or the hardware having to ponder over where to focus. This makes it an intriguing point-and-shoot camera for taking quick shots on the go — for those who are happy to do a bit of post-production, anyway."
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Microsoft unveils new file system for Windows 8-> 0

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nk497

on Tuesday January 17, @09:15AM

nk497 writes "Microsoft has revealed details of ReFS — its new file system. Resilient File System is built on top of NTFS, using the best features and leaving out those that need updating. "We didn't start from scratch, but reimagined it where it made sense and built on the right parts of NTFS where that made sense," said Surendra Verma, a storage development manager, in a post on the Windows 8 blog. ReFS will first arrive on Windows Server 8, but at first only for storage systems. It will eventually move to client systems."
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Lenovo, Motorola making Intel smartphones-> 0

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nk497

on Tuesday January 10, @09:30PM

nk497 writes "Intel has unveiled a Lenovo-made smartphone will be released this spring running its Atom chip in China, to be followed by more from Motorola, released more widely in the second half of the year. The smartphones mark Intel's first real successes in the mobile market, and will run Android. CEO Paul Otellini revealed a reference design phone and tablet at CES, both running Android and featuring super-long battery life."
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Control Windows 8 with your eyes-> 0

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nk497

on Tuesday January 10, @04:22PM

nk497 writes "One problem with Windows 8 is that the Metro UI works best with touch — not with a mouse. Eye-tracking firm Tobii has a solution showing off a laptop at CES running Windows 8, where tiles can be selected and started with a glance of the eye, with most mousing replaced with your gaze. It's astonishingly easy to use, and works with most PCs — and even arcade games."
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Photos: Intel's see-through Ultrabook -> 0

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nk497

on Monday January 09, @01:47PM

nk497 writes "Intel is still talking up Ultrabooks, but this time it has something intriguing to show. At CES, Mooley Eden held up a laptop with a see-through panel on the front, below the keyboard. When the device is closed, the panel shows important notifications via live tiles. When the device is open and being used to type, the panel senses that hands are resting on it, and it keeps the cursor in place. While the UI looked similar to Windows 8, a spokesperson said the Nikiski laptop uses its own interface."
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Intel revenue dives $1bn on hard disk shortage -> 0

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nk497

on Monday December 12, @10:42AM

nk497 writes "The hard disk shortage caused by the flooding in Thailand will cost Intel $1 billion in lost revenue, the company said. It had initially predicted revenue of $14.7bn this quarter, but that will now be $13.7bn, it said. "Sales of personal computers are expected to be up sequentially in the fourth quarter," Intel said. "However, the worldwide PC supply chain is reducing inventories and microprocessor purchases as a result of hard disk drive supply shortages.""
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