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.

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.

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 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.

Embrace Caktus Sensor ensures that you are drinking enough water

Summer's almost over, but it is also important to stay hydrated. According to the CDC 43 percent of Americans drink at least four glasses of water a day, and while the actual amount you should drink varies from person to person, four glasses probably are not cut.

That's where Caktus a Finnish startup neat hardware presented on the second day of demonstration TechLaunch New Jersey, comes into play. His mission? To fix that shortage of drinking with an application and a curious sensor that straps on your water bottle.

The sensor (called, adorably enough, the embrace) is a gizmo lined foam that wraps around a bottle of water and silently tracks your movement. Not just a tiny koozie though - the embrace silently watching the movements of the bottle so you can provide your users with a rough idea of ​​the amount of liquid that have embedded so far. Think of it as a giant Jawbone Up that straps on your water container and you're on the right track.

As always, however, the hardware is only part of the equation. A companion app (iOS only for now) uses an algorithm to suss out which of these movements to the user to actually lift the bottle to drink and which are just noise caused by random motions. The application also tracks the ambient temperature and maintains control over what type of exercise you're doing (I still have to drill it yourself) so you can update your hydration goal in real time.

To listen Panu Keski-founder Pukkila tell the Hug (and the rest of Caktus) was born out of necessity. An extreme avid athlete, he got used to his girlfriend reminding you to drink more water while he was out carving up the slopes of the Alps. When he moved to New York, however, useful feedback mechanism disappeared and Keski-Pukkila set out to create something that could fill that vacuum hydro-focusing in particular.

And you know what? As downright eccentric as the whole thing sounds, the combo of the Embrace sensor and application really worked very well. In a brief demonstration, the sensor was able to pinpoint that approximately two ounces of water expelled from the bottle, and the partner application updates almost immediately. With a hug, you're not quantify yourself as much as you quantified the material that goes into your body. That said, the team is taking a proactive approach when it comes to all those gadgets fitness tracking floating around. They have already managed to bake in support for Fitbit users will not have to punch in the number of glasses of water you have taken down in a day.

For now the device remains strictly in its prototype stage, but the team is working with enthusiasm to get the hug, partner applications and an API-dev friendly ready to
prime
time early next year. So far they have enclosed $ 25k in seed funding TechLaunch throttle, and plan to launch a crowdfunding campaign in early 2014 to enclose the money needed to start mass producing these things.

Microsoft could pay up to $ 200M secret Osterhout Design Group To SF In a bid Wearables

Google may have glasses and Apple may be rumored to be making a smart watch. Now Microsoft can be effectively buying itself a work of wearable Theater by paying up to $ 200 million in assets and a treasure trove of patents quiet Osterhout Design Group of San Francisco, an old USA military contractor.

The deal is not closed yet but we are hearing that term sheets have been reduced. They are still negotiating on the price and what will ultimately be included in the agreement between many patents Osterhout, which stands at more than 140 staff and more. From what we understand, the prices are focusing discussions around what Microsoft will buy from ODG: whether to include only patents, or if it will also include existing contracts, and staff. Google,
Samsung
LG and apparently expressed interest in the company, but Microsoft is the most aggressively pursued.

ODG has been around since 1999, and as befits its line of business people working in military technology, has been well below the radar. The only investor in the company that is listed on Crunchbase profile is David Spector, a former partner at Sequoia who is now working on his own startup, meCommerce.

We have come to ODG and Microsoft to comment for this story and will update if they respond.
strategic fit

Microsoft is at a turning point as a business, which is taking a big step in two key areas around hardware and services company. This agreement, and Kinect Xbox head Don Mattrick originally defended before leaving to be CEO of Zynga, is one that could help in these two areas.

Osterhout has built a business of military contracting in recent years which has about $ 40 million to $ 50 million in contracts. The United States government is one of the largest customers of the company. Osterhout launches its technology - which, for example, could be used in the head that can help the user to detect the direction of moving objects quickly, or behind closed doors - not consumers, but large companies and other organizations.

Hands On With MakerBot digitizer Made-Brooklyn

The Makerbot digitizer seemed too good to be true. It was a solid 3D scanner, compact could replicate a solid object without much fuss and had a level of detail unprecedented in the home market exploration. It is now clear that this is more than a compelling idea.

I saw the Makerbot in action yesterday and spoke with CEO Bre Pettis on Makerbot experience in the construction of the entire system - PCB for that matter - in America and how it felt to be a manufacturer in the heart of Brooklyn. "It feels great," he said.

The whole system is surprisingly light and uses a special class 1 laser
camera
to raise a cloud of points based on the object to be scanned. You tell the system how light or dark the object and then click a button. A few minutes later they have a complete object that can be modified, edited, or digitally increase and then print to any printer. It also exports files to compatible files .thing makerbot.

A turntable rotating the object slowly so that each surface is scanned.

The digitizer will ship in October and sell for $ 1,400. Pettis promised they were going to have enough on hand to meet demand and that his factory was working overtime to get ready devices.

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.

Valve SteamOS presents a Linux-based platform to bring Steam to your living room

Valve has just announced the first part of his strategy SteamOS lounge with a free operating system based on Linux that takes a step beyond the role of 'Big Picture'. In addition to playing your game collection, SteamOS lets you watch movies and listen to music.

The company has not yet announced a hardware partner for SteamOS, but this could certainly be the operating system of the computer behind rumored Steam Box. OEM can use to build computers SteamOS games like Valve said several times that it is an open platform.

When it comes to games, SteamOS works particularly well for performances and reducing latency audio input. However, only Linux
games
SteamOS will work. While many games are already available on Linux, it still has a long way to go compared to Mac OS and Windows in particular. That's why you will be able to run Steam on Windows or Mac computers in another room and then broadcast their games to your living room using SteamOS. Latency should not be a problem because everything happens in your local network.

The sharing feature of the family now makes even more sense as the living room is the perfect place to let your children play video games. Everyone will be able to have a separate profile and play the same games, just like you would on your Xbox.

SteamOS certainly could replace your game console, but could replace your Roku or Apple TV as well as movies, television and music. Valve not announced a content partner, but said they are "working with many of the media services you know and love." Services like Netflix,
Amazon
Instant Video, Hulu Plus and HBO Go must make his way to the platform.

While many of these services are only available in some countries SteamOS be available for everyone in the world. Just do not know when or what devices will run SteamOS. The second announcement is scheduled for Wednesday.

The company has not yet announced a release date for SteamOS. And while it is not the case of long-anticipated Steam, Valve plans to make further announcements in the coming days. In the Steam website, users can find a teaser page three icons representing three different ads for the living room - SteamOS is just the first.

A High-End Surface Pro 2 with the feed cover and dock will cost $ 2,197

Yesterday Microsoft announced two new tablets surface and a set of accessories designed to help your highest slot tablet hybrid business environment of the company. The new Surface Pro 2, the top of the fountain, and the docking station are a trio of products that Microsoft expected to boost sales of its corporate hardware.

New Microsoft tablets are now for pre-order, but the top of the source and the spring will not be released until early next year.

It is worth noting the price of the get-up, though. The Pro Surface 2, sans any extras, starts at $ 899 in its most basic format. This SKU has a modest 64 gigabytes of internal storage. The area of ​​higher-end Pro 2, with 512 gigabytes of storage, costs $ 1799, or double the price of their cheapest construction.

The docking station and pan cover will cost $ 199 each, the other when they are released. Therefore, to collect surface flagship Pro 2 SKU, along with the hardware that Microsoft is building for the extension of its use in the corporate world, spend $ three under the $ 2,200 mark. That's a high price.

Therefore, Microsoft is more than willing to charge for your company facing the Surface Pro 2 At the other end of the scale, Microsoft is selling its original tablet surface RT $ 349, and the first generation touch $ 79 coverage . It is also selling the Surface RT as part of a discounted package that includes an indoor black Touch for as little as $ 400.