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.

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.

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.

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.

Batthead of Vonkil is A, AA rechargeable battery remote control

I spent my formative years using up AA batteries at a frantic pace, and I can not count the number of times my parents said they wanted to zap my trusty Game Boy dead. While there is nothing they can do to save my childhood now, people have worked Vonkil Technologies something that should help a new generation of parents away toys kill at will.

Enter Batthead, the star of a new Kickstarter campaign you want to do your rechargeable AA batteries much, much smarter.

Here's the concept in a nutshell: they have essentially taken a rechargeable AA battery and crammed a Bluetooth 4.0 radio and an accelerometer in it. You will probably see where this is going - thanks to a companion app, users can enable and disable remote batteries in order to conserve more energy for when it is really necessary. Of course, parents can put on their hats trolls and off remotely toys for their children from a distance using their iOS devices (the Vonkil team says that Android support is in the works too).

The accelerometer adds a curious little awareness to the fold, and users can configure to activate the batteries only when they are moved or oriented in a certain position. I can already hear gossip about the questionable value it brings to the table, but the notion of a flashlight that turns on automatically when you pick it still seems terribly clean.

Now I can not blame you if all this sounds a bit familiar. A seemingly similar concept called the TetherCell was successfully kickstarted earlier this year (although supporters still expect the first shipments to exit). The big difference though is down to execution: while the TetherCell is also controllable remotely from an iOS device, the fact that the product itself is just a sleeve that wraps around a AAA battery means there is only as the team could physically squeeze into the thing. Since the cell contains a rechargeable Batthead addition to large number of sensors, we are ultimately left with a more capable power supply.

Of course, there are some caveats to consider. Do not go expecting these things to beat a whole Eneloops confidence, for example. The team has not released that yet capacity rechargeable cell (I reached out and will update the post if and when they do), but I can not imagine that longevity has not had a success considering the amount of space for all those other bits must assume. And then there's the price difference to consider, too - a single, run-principles Batthead without an accelerometer will cost you $ 19 CAD, while the fully dressed version will cost you $ 40 CAD. Not exactly the most cost-effective way to feed their countless remote controls, but it may be worth it just for some handyman and home fans out there online.

With 45,000 units shipped, Valkee light emitter 'iPod Doctor' Gets A Sleeker Look

After closing a round of $ 9.7 million this summer, Finnish Valkee start - that a couple of light emission headphones designed to counteract seasonal affective disorder (SAD) - has put some of that money into a product update. The second generation of its product, Valkee 2 has been given a sleeker look and a variety of user settings.

Device manufacturers, who co-founded Juuso Valkee Nissillä described as a "medical iPod" claim based on scientific research that suggests bright light stimulates brain activity to counteract SAD. The LED headphones are designed to exploit this effect by allowing users to deliver a daily dose of light directly into your ear canals - where the photosensitive areas of the human brain may be exposed to it.

The main change Valkee 2 LED headphones remodels, the goal of a more ergonomic fit in the ear. There is also a new, housing smaller aluminum (which looks very second generation iPod nano-ish) of the headset USB micro cable and is removable for multiple users (ie, each has its own LEDSET ) can share a single Valkee 2.

The product interface has also been updated to add the control to the device - instead of having to change settings through the web page Valkee or PC. Other settings include headphone cable internal memory and more time on headphones so that adjustments can be retained when the headset is disconnected from the control unit.

Valkee launched its first commercial prototype in Finland in the winter of 2010, the use of products off-the-shelf. A global version, from plastic parts of property, followed in the winter of 2011 That version sold for € 185 Commissioning, said today that it has sold 45,000 of its bright light helmets to more than 20 countries worldwide over the last three years. Satisfaction rates are apparently very high: 87% of users would recommend the product to others, it claims.

The Valkee 2 is available for pre-order - costs € 199, in a choice of black or silver - the website of the company. It is due to ship next month.

Update: TechCrunch Valkee has provided the following statement in response to criticism that their product does not work as claimed:

      We found Valkee this web link to a site that publishes anonymous and misleading information about Valkee. I can only guess at the motives of the author. Similar false accusations have arisen from time to time.

      To keep things clear: Valkee has been clinically tested for both treatment efficacy and safety of the users according to the requirements of the Medical Device Directive of the EU (93/42 / EEC) and is therefore a very European medical device approved in Class 2a for treating seasonal affective Disorder (SAD, winter blues) and its many symptoms, and is for CE mark. Many other benefits of bright light are being studied at present by Valkee and others, including large multinational health technology. All clinical studies Valkee since mid-2012 have been double-blind, placebo-controlled, though not all have been published to protect new intellectual property rights, nor is there any obligation to publish them all.

      A third clinical evaluation is required with full access to all inquiries regarding Valkee 2 software product reaffirmed that the product is clinically sound, and that the assertion of marketing to treat SAD is well founded.

      We will not begin to correct any false accusation only anonymous sources, and the website in question, but focus on the ongoing work in bright light research, and serving our customers satisfied with the best that we can.

Apple IPhone 5c Building costs start at $ 173, 5s entry level $ 199, according to IHS Research Firm

Every time Apple has designed a new device, the search firm IHS check out parts and try to estimate the bill-of-materials for the new gadget. The resulting price is an approximation of what it costs Apple to build each
iPhone
, Which can provide an idea of what Apple makes from the sale of each device to consumers.

AllThingsD IHS provides an early look at the evaluation of new iPhone 5s this year and iPhone 5c, and finds that Apple probably spends a minimum of $ 191 on the iPhone 5s with 16 GB of onboard storage, plus $ 8 for the mounting at a total cost of $ 199 per device. At the upper end, a 64GB iPhone 5s probably cost around $ 208 for Apple, which is close to the estimate for the iPhone 5, which is said to cost a minimum of $ 205 last year IHS for more storage option low.

The iPhone 5 c is estimated to have a total cost of about $ 173 USD to start for the 16GB model, or $ 183 for the 32GB version $, including $ 7 for assembly. As is usually the case, Apple has managed to reduce costs compared to previous versions, while introducing new unique components such as the ($ 7) fingerprint sensor and radio frequency chips that IHS says are designed exclusively for Apple to be able to handle 13 LTE bands. Both 5s and 5c contain the same combination of radio frequency chips, clocking in at around $ 32 per unit, which is still cheaper than the estimated $ 34 to Radio 5 Band iPhone 5 LTE.

Apple never reveals its devices or supply costs, and there is no way of knowing exactly how close IHS has to set the right prices. Suffice it to say that it is fair to assume that they are on the right track, given its experience and long history. The key takeaway here is that Apple's ability to massage lower prices and margins supply unit until it seems in danger of slipping, and in fact, given this information, Cook and his experience could be more efficient effective than ever.

Load with fire! FlameStower turns your Campfire In A Phone USB Charger

Charge your gadgets with fire! FlameStower, a startup that came out of StartX Stanford Summer 2013 class, has launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to get your charger alternative to the market.

The gadget lets you take advantage of a heat / gas stove / fire flames heat source to add some juice to a phone or other USB device loaded. It has a maximum output power of 3W and an average output of 2 W, its creators say it can produce between 2-4 minutes talk time per minute phone charge

The team behind FlameStower outdoorsy types are addressed first, but I also recognize your device may be a reliable backup option to keep in storage for use in power outages and storm safety scenarios.

Consistent with camping kit, the FlameStower folds to a fairly flat profile so you can throw in your backpack.

 

And unlike the other option / outdoor back-up chargers solar energy, this little game can run at any time of day - provided you have access to FIRE!

How does FlameStower exactly? It creates and uses a temperature differential to generate electricity using the thermoelectric generator. The user sets the sheet metal to a flame to heat up while the other side is cooled by a small water tank filled with water. So really needs fire and water for this to work. Oh, and the air to feed the fire. It is elementary.

The hotter the fire, the charge is issued. Although, the energy generated will never match what is obtained from an outlet. FlameStower manufacturers compare their output to the load through a laptop USB port. What does slow and steady, giving you time to appreciate the great outdoor setting.

The East Palo Alto team behind the device is expected to raise $ 15,000 on Kickstarter to get the charger to market - and are about half way, with 28 days to run his campaign.

They are offering early FlameStower supporters for $ 70 ($ 10 on their expected sales price) and are aiming to ship in December.
 

This week in the Europa TC Podcast: Paris Gets a Supersized incubator Tesco Makes A Tablet and Valkee light strikes on the ear

After a brief pause, during which most of the writers based in Europe TechCrunch packed their laptops and took off from San Francisco (for Disrupt 2013), the TechCrunch Europe Podcast is back for a few nuggets to chew election news regional technology.

On the board this week, get your own incubator Paris oversized alias 1000startups - a massive factory startup is backed by CEO Xavier Niel free. Our own French resident, Romain Dillet, is available to comment, but is not entirely convinced of the merits of this model très Big ...

Besides taking the operating time of the air this week, the retail giant Amazon style movement Tesco own-brand tablet with Hudl - as a way to extend the reach of other digital services has been trying to sell to buyers, and the reasons for Tesco 'baked beans.

We also play the Finnish start-winter blues Valkee directed to the headphones, which takes the form of a pair of headphones light emission. Does it work? Who knows. We could feel the light shining deep in our ear canals during a long winter, scandinavian dark? Frankly, who would not.

Join host John Biggs, besides the TC Natasha Lomas, Steve O'Hear and Romain Dillet to discuss all these issues, along with one hand on the finer points of the European irony. Background sound effects courtesy of the counter demanding money in Montenegro.