Watch The Real-Life TacoCopter Drop Some Delicious Mexican Food From 20 Feet

When the inevitable happens and robots take over the world, let's all hope that TacoCopter meat and bone Skycatch bring delicious Mexican treats over the fence to the last remnants of humanity. Anthony TacoCopter have entered during the panel "These are not the droids you're looking for," where he discussed the future of autonomous robotics and sensing technology is changing our lives.

 


The robot is a basic quad-copter with a small box at the bottom that opens automatically. This unmanned plane was piloted by an employee Skycatch but the Christian founder Sanz has prototypes that can follow a laser around the room and even run completely autonomously.

I, for one, welcome our robotic taco-delivery gentlemen.

The PUC Zivix Connect any MIDI device on your iOS device

Believe it or not, people still use MIDI. That said, would not it be cool if you could connect their MIDI keyboards and drum machines to your iPad so you can add some serious disruptions to its latest musical production? With the PUC an Indiegogo project from the creators of Guitar laptop called the Jamstik, now you can.

Zivix makes wireless tools for information age, and this is his latest creation. The PUC based connecting 5-pin DIN to Wi-Fi and is powered by two AA batteries or micro USB devices. It's almost as big as a real hockey puck and IN / OUT switchable. Any CoreMIDI over Wifi enabled application work with the PUC.

Why is this cool? Well, it has almost all the older (and newer) compatible with iOS MIDI devices. It also makes it a little easier to make cool on stage and stuff in the studio with the placement of instruments.

The company will build the first PUC in the USA, an interesting option that should accelerate product development. They are looking for a total of $ 50,000 and have only spent $ 5,000 in pledges. They are offering a special price of $ 69 Disrupt currently about $ 30 off the suggested retail price end.

While the PUC you can not make a studio musician red hot at night is nice to know that someone out there is still thinking about the MIDI-heads.

Hands On with the automatic Sous Vide Anova

The vacuum cooking is probably one of the most high-tech methods of food preparation that home cooks can perform without a degree in chemistry and / or kill themselves and those around them. That's why I was particularly excited to try the Anova, a circulation pump to automatic vacuum that can turn a piece of cold chicken in a succulent taste sensation in about an hour.

Sous vide is a form of poaching in which meat and vegetables are in bags and then cooked slowly at low temperatures in vacuum sealed recirculated water. The Anova, for example, allows you to seal a chicken breast in a bag and fully without losing any of the juice or burning flesh. Then you can brown the meat surface by hand after cooking, creating some of the best darn chicken you've ever tasted.

The Anova is surprisingly simple. To use it you need a large pot with water and an outlet. You should seal the meat in a plastic bag - zipper bags probably will not work, unfortunately, so a thermal vacuum sealer is also needed. Next, adjust the temperature and time. For example, I cooked the chicken on the right at 60 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes. Then I Salé and seared on a hot skillet.

The system has a temperature range of 25 ° C to 99 ° C and a pump of 12 liters per minute circulates water during cooking. Ideally preheat the system before turning on the food because the food lying comfortably in warm water, not a great idea.

The founder and creator, Jeff Wu, claimed to have made the first vacuum system of affordable housing in the market. Although there are some open source projects and DIY out there, this is one of the most "Apple-esque" fire and forget the models we have seen. Wu has a background in biochemistry, computer science, and finance. He builds hardware for pharmaceutical and chemical companies.

"Most, if not all of the products that I helped develop are directly related to the investigation of new drugs, medical research or the development of new innovative materials," he said. "I'll meet a lot of smart people in my line of work - mostly doctoral researchers, graduate students, and Nobel prizes occasionally. - Which is indeed as I found vacuum"

"I was in Boston visiting a research group at MIT / Harvard / BC (I forget which) about 4 years ago and saw some graduate students sous Viding some chicken in a circulator laboratory and finishing off on a hot plate. This interests me enough to try it in the lab that was a big mistake that almost killed the project, "he said. "I basically had no idea what I was doing because it was really no clear guide to sous vide in 2009 and above all this, my luggage was sucked into the turbines of scientific circulators."

So it's amazing? Yes. I'm a little hooked. The fact that this thing is only $ 199 (which will also have to invest in a vacuum sealer $ 70 and a big pot) makes it very compelling and it made an excellent meal in just a few hours. I've always wondered how the most elegant restaurants make most of their succulent meat and not soggy vegetables and now I know. Because it requires very little preparation you can essentially set it and forget it. You can also leave food at a low temperature for 72 hours, creating some amazing slow-cooked it's not as careless as a pot of baked beans, but it's so tasty as one meal.

Again, $ 199 is a great investment for a pretty cool tool for cooking. However, if you are a fan and want to try sous vide, this is probably the best device out there. There are other online water furnaces, but those passing the $ 400 mark and higher. This is the first "independent" model - you do not need another computer to work, but not much - and it's surprisingly easy to use and elegant design.

Well sous vide is obviously a very intense culinary technique. Fortunately, food nerds like Wu are out there and do interesting things like Anova.

The Beverage Bottle Service Monsieur Automaton Roboticizes

Would you buy a manufacturer of robotic drinks these men? Sure it would. These are the creators of Monsieur, a robotic waiter will squirt out a margarita or a good Manhattan in a minute using Android, a lot of bombs, and a little alcohol.

Created by Barry Williams and Eric Givens and launch Disrupt SF 2013, Monsieur allows you to select a drink - which includes pre-designed recipes and you can download "packages" that add different types of drinks to the mix - and the machine does the rest . Nozzles squirt out very specific amounts of plonk wine and mixers and drink is ready. Each drink is exactly the same and, except a little shaking, they are ready to drink.

Bartending and beverage service have not innovated in ages, "Givens said." There have been a couple of attempts to create machines that pour cocktails but not to make a product that is smart, funny and smart. "

Givens and Williams met at Georgia Tech. Givens has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and Williams has a Masters in CS. He worked for
Panasonic
and Siemens before he began in lord. Judge Paul angel investor, co-founder and vice president of Barracuda Pindrop, gave the team a little funding after seeing the first prototype.

Monsieur was born when Givens finished waiting an hour for a cocktail. "In frustration I asked why there was only a machine to make my drink. Leave After dinner that night, I started reading more about cocktails and soon enrolled in bartending school," he said. The first prototypes worked, but did not have enough pizazz.

Team beta units deployed in restaurants and bars in Atlanta and are working on partnerships with brands of drinks and sports stadiums. They see this as a "waiter in a box" that staff be rolled into a room and that users can order drinks without having staff on hand. The system keeps a record of what was served and the place can call a bill at the end of the night. You can even change the strength of the drink "regular" a "boss." I had a drink "boss" when I tried the machine and was certainly quite good.

In short, it's better than a bottle of vodka in a bucket.

Our drinks taste great, people love to use Monsieur and helps companies become more profitable, "Givens said. Besides who would not want a robot butler baby named Monsieur? Team could put the box in a pair of leggings and give a thin mustache and you have a real winner.

IQ Floor Makes A smart probe for your garden

Soil IQ is a company that is leading the "Internet of things" trend to urban agriculture and rural.

They are building a probe that transmits and soil fertility
time
data matched to an application. Founded by a graduate of Princeton and soil scientist who has worked with hundreds of Kenyan farmers to increase crop yields, Soil mission of IQ is to help people to grow food more sustainably.

"The reality in this country is that most of our food is produced in factory farms," said CEO Jason Aramburu. "This is excellent for the production of corn, soybeans and grains, but not so good for the production of healthy food."

In response, IQ soil has incorporated a mobile ground sensor for small gardens and farms to help normal people grow a healthy supply of fruits and vegetables. Its probe is fed by a
solar panel
so it can run indefinitely. They are retailing for about $ 49 to consumers and partners thinking bigger.

So you are not only aimed at American consumers, the company has a dual mission. They are also working with one of its investors, Orange Telecom, to help implement these probes to farmers in East Africa.

Aramburu previously started an organization called re: char, where he worked with over 1,300 Kenyan farmers to increase their yields.

But now he says he is trying to focus on the production of food for the 100 million households in the USA So he moved to the construction of IQ ground. The probe can track and transmit soil nutrient content, pH, temperature, moisture, and light data. They have built an analytics platform that makes recommendations to home gardeners about how to optimize the seed selection, fertilization and irrigation.

You can run either ground-based or hydroponic gardens, either food or medicinal crops. They even rigged to send SMS or
Twitter
alerts when the plants need attention.

They also have a big ace in the pocket through a partnership with Yves Behar, fuseproject behind the famous industrial designer and creative director behind the jaw. He will help you with the application configuration floors IQ and product.

The business model has a number of different angles. Not only is the hardware revenue, IQ soil could also license its data set, assuming enough people use it to produce interesting on which crops grow well in different environments data. Furthermore, if enough of a consumer base build, could also earn affiliate income promoting other products such as organic fertilizer or seeds.

Like Us Network, a pacemaker, Mark Cuban, and a vending machine: A Journey Mobile Payments

What's this? An ordinary vending machine you say? If that was your guess, it would be a mistake, but it would be understandable why you might not notice anything special. That's because, on the outside, this looks like any other vending machine plain-Jane. No screens or touch in special areas or NFC chips or anything like that grace its exterior, however, this machine can accept mobile payments for PayPal or Google Wallet.

How? Well, it has a special device in it - designed and developed by Red Like Us Keyston Ray Hernandez and Clay - which connects to the existing hardware inside and communicates wirelessly to accept payment and add credit and PayPal Google Wallet. Platforms Other payments are being planned right now.

Using either an application for smartphones that developed or mobile website (in order to identify a vending machine ID and to close the transaction cycle) credit is added to the machine when authorized. Pow! Their drink is out like a slipped a crisp dollar bill (or conversely as you fought for more than 3 minutes trying to deploy a bill that could be mistaken for a Spitwad).

 

Out of the transactional nature of the payment process, there is also a built-fi game. The application can also tabular loyalty points for sharing your purchase and trackable perform other activities. In one scenario, the team is investigating the product price variable depending on the influential status of the buyer. For example, someone with a high Klout score might get an item at a reduced price or even free if they agree to broadcast your purchase. They are even considering geo-fencing some vending units to broadcast your location to impulse purchases. Very clever.

There have been many concepts in recent years, especially international, who have tried and deploy the capabilities of alternative payment for vending machines, but many have required new hardware interfaces, changes or payment methods are agnostic and can add a considerable expenditure of capital deployment. That kind of spending is notorious for delayed roll growth and stifle innovation.

But the beauty of the network approach Like Us is that it is plug and play. You drop your little wireless node in the vending machine, connect it to the motherboard chip old school inside and mobile payments are enabled. No external alterations to the machine itself are required.

monetization

Obviously, it could be difficult to make items for sale, but the team is considering some options. They are investigating a convenience fee for consumers or possibly data rates to owners of vending their cloud node capacity.

What comes to mind as a viable option for monetizing would simply accept a reduction (and only) purchases where payment is facilitated by the system. I mean, that the purchase could not have happened otherwise so the court could be justified.

Overall, I think the concept is a great idea, but who cares what I think? What I really want to know is "what Mark Cuban thinks about it?" As it turns out, actually has an opinion about it and, in fact, is an investor. Mark has spent $ 75,000 so far on the device Like Us Network.

How Mark Cuban got to participate as an investor is an interesting story in itself. Mark and Ray Hernandez met during a freak accident at a gym where a man who had resolved an "event" of pacemakers and fell off a treadmill. Both Cuban and Hernandez and some other good friends, got the help of man, and then the conversation took place and the concept is on the radar of Mark. He advised Ray and Keyston and now we're here at the launch of the concept in TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013.

As October approaches Launch, Build BotObjects Other Editions Video

BotObjects 3D printer is a printing company that promises "full color" in a system that uses a set of colored filaments for extracting colored plastic in layers. Like Makerbot, plastic ProDesk3D layered deposits and can print color bands around an object and not really specific points in a model.

That said, they have more video of the printer in action (I can not embed here, perhaps by design); the founders have offered a practice after a little back and forth.

After following this company in the last month or so, I've seen a number of 3D printers express skepticism in your product. I've seen a lot of vaporware in my day - I was one of the first guys to poo-poo the Phantom console at the time - and, at least, these guys are willing to work the crowd. The printer, as shown in these videos is not exactly full color printing - it is essentially only good in creating bands of color around a device - but could be programmed to add spot color in the right places.

Although I can not say I have seen this with my own eyes, my understanding of the technology we are seeing a working model will be ready to ship within a few weeks.

Is this a true color 3D printer? If you accept the clear limitations of the current incarnation then sure, it's entirely possible to create colorful plastic objects very well with this technology. If you are looking for something more detailed, however, you will need to use services like Shapeways to print real, full color sandstone. I am cautious but optimistic about BotObjects ProDesk3D, that is all I can be without seeing it in the flesh (or plastic).

3D-Printed Original Libertador Guns To become artworks in London Museum

The Liberator pistol made ​​headlines when its creator lit his 3D printer created, building guns that shoot really little more than the plastic components combined cost little more than your average Blu-ray. Now, the turning point in the history of DIY 3D printing is comfortably installed in a London museum, reports Engadget.

Liberator of Cody Wilson had his own faults from the beginning, which destroyed half of the case, but later proved he could give several shots. As John Biggs explained in an overview, which technically can be printed at home for anyone who wants one, but not all self-printed versions carried the story that make these original models Libertador.

As Biggs noted, homemade weapons are not new; It is a longstanding pastime, especially in the USA, with an illustrious history. But while once a lathe and other tools of iron metallurgy and some kind of dedication and sand is required, it is now more or less can be managed by casual fans able to spend some money on a 3D printer competition in downloading Internet files.

The project is developed by the London museum Victoria & Albert is designed to display a series of "projects of contemporary design", of which the printed-3D Libertador is a key example, and these are displayed between September 14 - 22 to the time, the Liberator has not led to a popular revolution or a wave of murders, but getting eyes-on the original could still be a story to tell the grandkids one day depending on how things go out.

CodeBender.CC crazy makes it easy to program your Arduino board from your browser

l official Arduino IDE is an austere piece of software designed for loading code for the ubiquitous and super-cool microcontroller. It is a standalone application, no network connection is not very pleasing to the eye. But what if you want to share programs and upload code directly from your browser? That is where comes into CodeBender.cc.

CodeBender is a browser-based IDE that supports up to almost any Arduino. You can use the program to copy the code sample scan code uploaded by other users and even store private fragments. Because collaboration is to clone code snippets and use in their own projects and there is even a curated list of cool fragments.

Founded by Vasilis Georgitzikis and Alexandros Baltas, the site left LAUNCHub a European seed fund. "It all began with my frustration as a computer engineer who is used to the development tools advanced, only to lose them when I moved to coding for Arduino, and my frustration as instructor Arduino in various hackerspaces around the world, when I spent 2 5 hours of each workshop 3 hours just to install the damn thing, "said Georgitzikis.

"We have also developed a technology that allows our users to program and control an Arduino-enabled network (ie Arduino Ethernet) via the network, directly through the browser using HTML5 technologies pure (ie WebSockets), which allows remote programming of the IO devices, "he said.

The system is responsible for the compilation and reporting of errors and ensures that the code you upload to your Arduino will not break your project. Unlike sites like Circuits.io, this system is not limited to simulate projects that allows full control of your Arduino hardware directly from the browser. Maybe this system will eventually allow me to dig my Arduino and really do something.

Researchers Create a Disney way of doing Geared figures that look surprisingly life-like

For centuries, the automatons oriented has been something of a dark art. To design a mechanical device to move like a human or animal was a trick in itself and to build rods and gears needed to drive the thing was even more complicated. A team of researchers from Disney, however, have created a system that will allow the puppeteers and fans oriented manufacturing clockwork robots using 3D printing and some metal bars. The most important thing is to look far cooler than this guy.

The designers set the system to "try" different gear configurations at different size ratios. This gave them a ready-made movements that could reproduce including parabolas, ellipses repeating odd and even moves that look random library. Type the researchers:
A designer can then enter an articulated character in the system software, select a set of action points on the character and outline a set of curves for the desired motion at every point. Then, the system is based on movement library to identify the mechanical assembly and its related configuration best suited to the desired movements. Simulation software optimizes the assembly to achieve the animation created by the designer.

Once the system is operating in the computer screen ensures that the gears do not collide or interfere with structural components. Then, the designer can create a 3D object and print on any 3D printer. Think of it as a sort of library / workshop directed that lets you remix robots movements and made ​​a very simple set of tools. Disney Research, Zurich, Disney Research, Boston, ETH Zurich and MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory worked together to bring the project to fruition. It also works well with "soft" objects, such as jellyfish, allowing real-looking animals move in lifelike ways.

New Structure occipital sensor turns your iPad into a mobile scanner 3D

People of Boulder / San Francisco-based occipital software people are very much - RedLaser application of the company was very successful in the early days of the App Store before the team sold it to eBay, which was 360 Panorama Panorama function before iOS 6 took some of the wind out of his sails.

Its roots may be in the software, but now the team is trying to do something very, very new. Occipital has just launched a Kickstarter campaign for their first hardware project: the structure, a portable 3D sensor that straps on the back of your iPad to be shipped by next February.

Update: Wow, the occipital team has flown beyond its funding goal of $ 100K in just over three hours.

"It took us out of our comfort zone," CEO Jeff Powers admitted. "We went from basically a team of three to about 13, which is still ridiculously small, and nobody sleeps anymore."

Those sleepless nights seem to have paid off. The structure itself is a ruggedly handsome piece of kit. Small and dressed in anodized aluminum, is not nothing like the goofy 3D sensors is likely to have been exposed to. That's a testament to the kind of tedious adjustments that went into making the structure of what is - is there a sensor full size PrimeSense Carmine, but went to the occipital cutting physical crust so the structure could fit in a pocket . Energy consumption also had to be cut dramatically since it was out of the battery iPad 4 (although technically it will connect to any iDevice in your arsenal that has a dock connector Ray).

The bit is really amazing how quickly the structure works in capturing all this data. Powers took the structure and some of the demo applications bundled by a short spin in our New York office, and within mere moment he was able to capture a virtual bust his ever-present marketing director and shooting off to Shapeways for printing. Scanning the topology of a side room was equally rapid, as in the process of launching a virtual
cat
in the mix of chasing balls that bounced 3D interpretations of the sofas and coffee tables.




That breadth of these demo applications speaks to the type of ecosystem that Powers hopes will rise around the structure in the weeks and months ahead. After all, as clean as it is, the market for a gadget that allows users to capture and export 3D models for printing is still quite limited. Powers Vision 'is much broader: the SDK being released along with the sensor structure will allow developers to create consumer-oriented applications that take advantage of all that the 3D data.

"We're really just building a device, we're building a platform," Powers said. For what he sees, occipital is not possible to build every possible game or application augmented reality measurement alone. Instead, the team will make the data accessible low level for developers, and make high-level APIs available to developers who know nothing about computer vision in an attempt to make the structure is as accessible as possible.

You can imagine the type of applications that might come along with the adoption of the structure. Looking to buy a new sofa? Analyze your living room and see if that sucker fits with his shelf. The realtors could benefit from easy capture models, manipulatives at offices and homes (although some startups already have an advantage on that front). Thankfully, while the structure is designed to fit in the back of your iPad, ambitious developers can use the connection to the PC, Mac and Android devices thanks to a hacker call a standard cable that allows connection through USB.

At first glance, this seems a drastic change for a company that has only ever focused on the development of software, not to mention the dangers of production and the pitfalls that come with the hardware of the large-scale construction. That does not mean that the ambitions of occipital 3D have completely come out of nowhere though. Earlier this year, the company closed its acquisition of startup ManCTL Frenchman, who was best known for a desktop application called 3D scanning Skanect that let users turn cheapo 3D sensors like the Kinect or Asus Xtion to capture data and turn them into full 3D color models in minutes.

Structure, then, it seems the next logical step. It is a convergence of two seemingly divergent realms of experience, and is possibly happening at the right time. Smartphones and tablets are becoming more capable by the day, which leads people to expect more from their daily companions. And with 3D printers moving into the mainstream, there is a growing sense of awareness about the value of conversion of objects and environments in 3D representations.

Even the Kickstarter campaign is a sign of the times. Powers admits occipital really do not have to go the route crowdfunded - he says they have enough above its previous round of funding to cover these very early production series - but it could not hurt to help build excitement among developers and measure demand for expensive add-on tablet. If you are interested in throwing your hat in the ring boasts a package of early adopters for $ 329, but the package will cost you $ 349, if you wait too long.

New Garmin Forerunner 220 and 620 running watches are more colorful and more capable

There is a lot of hoopla surrounding space SmartWatch these days, but do not forget that some of us have been strapping essentially small computers for our dolls for years. Operating Watches with GPS are a very useful tool in the arsenal of a corridor and two new Garmin recently sidelined - the Forerunner 220 and 620 - to help brokers better control on their performance.

Both devices offer a similar level of basic functionality - Each package color display 1 inch (which somehow is the first time these things), an accelerometer for motion tracking, low-power Bluetooth 4.0 support for synchronization smartphone, and alerts for when you "re rhythm becomes unstable. Both also look substantially better than their ancestors Forerunner to the point where he would not feel completely out of sorts using these things in the city.

The 620 carries even further, but with the addition of a curious Recovery Advisor, which gives riders a rough estimate of how long to take it easy before embarking on your next. Throw in support for Wi-Fi Sync (which seems a bit odd considering that a solid portion of smartphone users will probably bring in the runs anyway), and the ability to estimate the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use while in motion, and you 'I got a pretty neat package. Of course, all those little things cost you additional training - while the basic clock 220 sells for $ 249, its more robust brother will cost $ 399.

Still, I wonder how long these watches have independent operating before they get completely overshadowed by its more intelligent cousins. After all, devices like Samsung Galaxy Gear have already won the support of some fitness and developers of applications running (Runkeeper and MyFitnessPal think) and hazy Apple iWatch supposedly played by the angle of exercise in a way big. Do not misunderstand me - professionals and hardcore racers never give up their separate devices, but when the future finally 5Kers Couch to graduate to a higher level, the SmartWatch landscape might look totally different. At the other end of the spectrum portable device, auto players like Fitbit and Jawbone quantified could pave the way for greater pressure on Garmin, especially since the latter has been buying new companies to increase their power wearables.

NVIDIA Tegra Note Outs New Design For Low Cost Tablets

Thanks to a series of leaks and early appearances newest design Tegra tablet NVIDIA 4 engine has never been a secret, but the company has finally confirmed what has been working for the past few months. What was once known as the Tab is now called Tegra Tegra note, a hardware platform that NVIDIA tablet expected to add some much needed space cost tablet push.

Here's the long and short of it - design features a NVIDIA Tegra Note 7-inch screen running at 1280 × 800, a quad-core 1.8GHz Tegra 4 chipset (GeForce GPU with 72 cores), 1 GB RAM, 16 GB of internal storage and microSD card slot. Easily the most interesting addition to the mix is ​​DirectStylus technology company, which also input for pressure-sensitive pen, without expensive smart stylus and integrated digitizers. Throw in some sweet, sweet Android unrestricted (through NVIDIA sanctioned OTA updates) and you have an interesting bargain for tablets skeleton.

You are not really going to be able to buy a brand tablet NVIDIA Tegra Note or NVIDIA is really making. Instead, NVIDIA is making reference design Note Tegra available to a global set of OEMs and partners who want to run with it, which means that there is a decent chance that the no-name tablet uncle collected a few months down the road will actually sport some NVIDIA lineage.

In North America, NVIDIA is already associated with PNY and EVGA (perhaps best known for its graphics cards - seeing a trend here). They are competent companies but are not definitely established players in the tablet space so it will be interesting to see how the NVIDIA design work manages to take them. All this sounds a bit familiar to a certain subset of the demons to gadgets from another NVIDIA reference design based on the Tegra 3 back when that particular SoC architecture, fashion was expressed, but it is a little surprising to see NVIDIA refrain from Note Tegra promote itself when it has been willing to take changes in devices including riskier niche as the Shield.

And with an expected retail price of around $ 199 (although that is ultimately partners to determine NVIDIA) Tegra Note becomes a curious participant in a market that will be filled first level tabs prices competitive. Hell, we are basically already there - for an extra $ 30 or so, however, you are pushed to the world of higher resolution screens and more RAM with the Nexus 7, and those who would gladly trade Android stock for an experience curated may end up eying the new Kindle Fires as robust reporting.

Of course, NVIDIA has a lot of other pills to deal with these days. The company's Tegra 4 is reportedly going to appear on the tablet Microsoft Surface RT next generation should be revealed in detail next week.