Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
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Bulova just announced the Precisionist “technology platform,” a quartz movement with sweep hand that was created alongside Bulova’s parent company, Citizen. With Precisionist, Bulova has added a third prong to a standard two prong quartz crystal creating a torsional resonator. This innovation results in eight times the vibration frequency of a traditional quartz watch resulting in the most accurate watch with a continuously sweeping second hand. The aesthetic movement of the second hand becomes the symbol to the consumer of Bulova Precisionist and signals a watch with accuracy so exceptional, you can see it. The technology is accurate to 10 seconds per year as compared to most other quartz watches, which are accurate to fifteen seconds per month. I’m trying to grab a photo, but it’s a pretty cool way to get a little more granularity out of a standard quartz movement. IN PURSUIT OF THE ULTIMATE ACCURACY IN TIMEKEEPING, BULOVA INTRODUCES PRECISIONIST New York, March 17, 2010 – Today at BaselWorld, the watch world and jewelry show, Bulova Corporation introduced its newest technology platform, Bulova Precisionist, the world’s most accurate watch with a continuous sweeping second hand. With the launch of Precisionist, Bulova blends technology, design and style; utilizing the sweeping second hand as a visual symbol for the movement’s extraordinary precision, a watch that is, in fact, designed to be noticed. “Bulova is committed to upholding an extraordinary legacy of excellence in design, style and technology and is proud to introduce its newest technology platform, Precisionist,” stated Dennis W. Perry, Bulova Corporation President.” He continues, “The importance of accurate time measurement cannot be understated. In horseracing, a horse wins by the tip of a nose, in swimming, the slightest touch of a fingertip ahead of a competitor can earn a gold medal. In timekeeping, absolute accuracy has long been viewed as an important measure of the quality of a timepiece.” Precision Is In The Details Precisionist was developed by Bulova in cooperation with its parent company, the Citizen Watch Company, in response to Bulova-led research which paved the way for the development of a technology that supports the company’s goal of providing distinctive and beautifully designed watches. With Precisionist, Bulova has added a third prong to a standard two prong quartz crystal creating a torsional resonator. This innovation results in eight times the vibration frequency of a traditional quartz watch resulting in the most accurate watch with a continuously sweeping second hand. The aesthetic movement of the second hand becomes the symbol to the consumer of Bulova Precisionist and signals a watch with accuracy so exceptional, you can see it. The technology is accurate to 10 seconds per year as compared to most other quartz watches, which are accurate to fifteen seconds per month. A History of Innovation Bulova has been an innovator in timekeeping since the company’s founding in 1875. The company strives to provide consumers with premier technology and design. In the 1950s, NASA turned to Bulova for its Accutron technology, then under development and not yet commercially available, to accomplish its progress toward the first lunar landing. In 1960, Bulova debuted Accutron commercially. It was the most spectacular breakthrough in timekeeping technology in 300 years and the most accurate technology then available. – more – As with the introduction of the ground-breaking Accutron technology 50 years ago, Bulova has continued to strive for perfection in accuracy combined with unique design. Fifty years later, the company continues its legacy with the introduction of Precisionist. Featured in a tightly focused and distinctively designed collection of watches, Bulova Precisionist is set to debut at BaselWorld in March 2010 and will be available at retail starting Fall 2010. The collection will retail at a suggested price range of $299 to just under $1,000.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
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With Microsoft becoming increasingly marginalized in areas like mobile media, DirectX is becoming less of a must-use toolset and more of a gaming-specific one. The other side of the coin is, of course, the increasing relevance of standards like OpenGL, OpenAL, and OpenCL: powerful cross-platform systems for graphics, audio, and parallel processing . You may remember OpenCL from its debut on the Mac in Snow Leopard, and OpenGL ES of course powers the UI on the iPad . OpenAL is still a ways from being brought under the public eye, but it’s getting there. In the meantime, OpenGL 4.0 was announced today at GDC, and clearly it has DirectX in its sights. 4.0 has a lot of features which users like you and I don’t really need to know about. Texture swizzling? Awesome. Tessellation? Sure, as long as it’s not like whatever they used in Messiah — remember that game? These new toys for developers will make for a richer and faster graphical experience, to be sure, but I’m not going to list them off for you. The big news for graphics is handhelds right now. Mobile gaming is blowing up and Microsoft can’t get a foot in the door. Hell, it’s getting its foot booted out from the other side. In the other corner, OpenGL (and the rest of the Open toolset) is setting itself up as being flexible enough to be applied on a handset, a laptop, or a desktop. It may not have DirectX 11 fidelity in water shaders or the latest normal mapping technique, but it’s damn close and what’s more, it doesn’t need a high end graphics card to be the library in use. Though I feel I should add that the games coming out on Windows Phone 7 Series and the Zune HD 2 are looking pretty awesome. This race isn’t over by far. The OpenCL thing is great as well. If you remember, OpenCL is a set of tools for offloading certain tasks from the CPU onto the GPU, when those tasks are better served by parallel processors. Loading web pages may work fine on your Snapdragon, but decoding video will have it at 100% and drain your battery — better to send it over to the GPU. The GPU computing thing hasn’t quite taken off yet, but it’s pretty much inevitable that it’ll start being implemented on a low level, since it can improve the user experience so dramatically. I’m always happy to see this kind of steady progress. More capabilities, more competition, and better devices for everyone, OpenGL-based or not. If you’re interested, there’s much more information available. Many links in the press release:
Posted by 010081
Tech
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
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We’ve told you about the iTable before , and PQ Labs. They showed off their latest stage in the development process at CeBIT this year, by installing the screen into a coffee table. The newest version can register up to 32 touch points and actually determine the shape of the object being placed on the screen. But to me, that’s not the real story. The real story is that they installed a game that’s near and dear to my heart, Warcraft III . To me, this is the true future of the touchscreen interface, and the part of the technology that I’m excited about. It’s definitely worth your time to watch the video and see how far they’ve come in the development process, and how they are stacking up against their competitors . [via Gizmag ]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Monday, March 1st, 2010
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It’s good to see at least one print media outlet start to get it. Conde Nast announced recently that Wired isn’t going to be the only one of their properties showing up on tablets; GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker , and Glamour will be there as well. It really is a good move for the publisher. Assuming that they can continue to build on the history built off of the iPhone apps, ( GQ has sold 22,000 copies on the iPhone at $3 each) this could be the model that publishers like Conde Nast need to save their businesses. CN has been working hard on a tablet version of Wired , and it looks good. It’ll be interesting to see if they can leverage the development time that they spent on Wired into a format that works for the other publications as well.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Monday, March 1st, 2010
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Its a proven fact that playing guitar will get you chicks. Unfortunately, by the time you actually put in the time to stop sucking at it, most of the chicks are gone. The i-tab will have you playing pop songs in no time, its up to you whether or not you look like a putz while doing so. The device itself has a 5″ touch screen with integrated speakers for playing backing tracks. You get 4GB of onboard storage to hold as many Aerosmith MP3s as your little heart could desire. The i-tab currently only supports guitar tabs, but other instruments are in the development tubes, including some full scores. I don’t see a lot here that can’t be accomplished with an Android or iPhone app. I’m sure the developers considered it and have their own reasons for not doing so. But 200 USD is a bit steep for a dedicated tab reader. Probably the most newsworthy part of this unit is how it represents a real push for so-called “legal” tabs. Sure there have been plenty of websites that pay their share of licensing fees to ASCAP, BMI and the like, but i-tab is the first integrated device/service to do so.