Automotive  

Volvo has introduced an innovative in-car entertainment and information system that eliminates the majority of the conventional knobs and buttons that are usually found on cars' dashboards.

While in-vehicle infotainment systems are certainly very useful and provide many benefits to drivers and other vehicle occupants, enabling hands-free phone connectivity, real-time traffic information and turn-by-turn directions, and the use of social media, there are legitimate concerns about whether they cause a lapse in concentration and increase driver distraction. That's why automakers are trying to make such systems more user-friendly and eliminate unnecessary distractions, so that drivers can focus on the road, but still be able to stay connected and use their navigation and infotainment features. Volvo is one of those automakers whose commitment to vehicle safety and passenger protection, which can be seen in their infotainment systems, as well.

The system employs a large touchscreen, that's roughly the size of an average tablet, which drivers can use to control virtually all vehicle systems

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In addition to safety, the Swedish car maker is known for its incredibly comfortable vehicles, too, and its new infotainment system reflects these characteristics. They introduced their innovative in-car entertainment and information system at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show, which is pretty different from other such systems, in that it eliminates the majority of the conventional knobs and buttons that are usually found on cars' dashboards.

The system employs a large touchscreen, that's roughly the size of an average tablet, which drivers can use to control virtually all vehicle systems. They can also connect their smartphones to it, so that they can use their functionalities, including phone, messaging, music, and navigation. A lightning connector provided by the car maker will allow you to connect your Apple iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s to your car's dashboard seamlessly.

Volvo partnered up with Apple to develop this system, which will employ Apple's CarPlay platform, and the new XC90 SUV, which will be available for purchase later this year, will be the first vehicle to get it. It has an excellent user interface design, with each function shown as a large tile, which expands when touched, as the rest of the tiles get smaller, but are still displayed on the screen.

The capacitative touchscreen is pretty similar to traditional tablet and smartphone touchscreens, and it is extremely easy to use, since it's much more responsive and can be easily used through swiping and tapping. With this screen, there is no need for physical buttons to control the most important vehicle functions, except for the volume control knob, and a climate control button. You can use both your smartphone's and your car's infotainment system functions simultaneously, without having to toggle between menus.

The tablet's screen is split into to two parts, with the smartphone functions displayed on the bottom section, and information related to your vehicle's systems shown on the top part of the screen.

Apple CarPlay provides various services, such as composing, and sending text messages through voice controls, making and receiving hands-free phone calls, along with third-party apps, such as Stitcher, Beats Radio, and Spotify.

With this radical infotainment system design, Volvo aims to enhance your in-car experience, offering a highly-functional user interface, that reduces driver distraction significantly, and at the same time, allows drivers to use the system's communication and infotainment features in a safe manner.

By Jordan Perch

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Author Bio - Jordan Perch is an automotive fanatic and “green cars” specialist. He is an author of many how-to articles related to safe driving, green technologies, auto insurance etc. Currently blogging for DMV.com.

 Computer Interfaces  

Prototype 'ultrahaptic' technology developed at the University of Bristol allows users to feel when they control their computers with mid-air hand movements.

Researchers at the University of Bristol have demonstrated a mid-air tactile feedback prototype system that allows people to interact with computer interfaces by touching invisible fields in the air above them while performing gestures.

UltraHaptics allows people interacting with a screen to feel what is displayed and also receive invisible information before touching it.

The technology works through the use of acoustic radiation force, projected through ultrasonic transducers. These emit very high frequency sound waves which when they meet mid-air, create a sensation on a person's skin.

By combining several waves, the researchers were able to create multiple points of tactile feedback with different properties that can be distinguished by users.

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One of the researchers working on the UltraHaptics project, PhD student Tom Carter, said current multi-touch systems with integrated interactive surfaces allow users to use them with their bare hands, but people cannot feel what is on the screen.

The researchers aimed to build in haptic feedback into existing interactive surfaces without sacrificing their ease of use and accessibility.

"To achieve this, we have designed a system with an ultrasound transducer array positioned beneath an acoustically transparent display," Carter said.  The team also used a Leap Motion sensor to capture the user's hand motions and position.

"This arrangement allows the projection of focused ultrasound through the interactive surface and directly onto the users' bare hands. By creating multiple simultaneous feedback points, and giving them individual tactile properties, users can receive localized feedback associated to their actions."



SOURCE  The Guardian

By 33rd Square

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 Gadgets  

If you have bought a laptop or tablet in the last few months, you probably thought long and hard about your decision one way or another.  Now with its Split X2 hybrid design, HP might have come up with the ideal solution.  The device functions well as a tablet, but attached to the heavy-duty keyboard dock, the Split X2 becomes a powerful productivity solution too.

Making up for their slow start in the tablet market, HP released two impressive new mobile devices that could shake up the industry.

The Split X2 joins the Windows 8-equipped Envy X2 line and Android-equipped SlateBook X2 line to give the users three choices in hybrid detachable devices.

Both tablets come with their keyboard docks included in the price. This fact, alongside HP’s reputation for build quality, should help them to stand out amid the clamor of rival hybrids from the likes of Samsung, Lenovo, ASUS and Acer , which often charge extra for keyboards. For instance the keyboard covers for the Microsoft Surface cost at least $120 and may actually push customers to just purchasing a better-powered notebook or ultrabook.

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HP designers seem to have come to this conclusion too, including the heavier-duty keyboard dock which allows the tablet to look and function like a productivity device, not just a tablet.

The total weight of the Split x2 with its keyboard is nearly five pounds — double the heft of the Surface Pro. The tradeoff though is that the dock has a lot going for it, on top of its general rigidity: extra ports (including HDMI and USB 3.0), an SD card expansion slot, a 500GB hard drive to complement the fast solid state drive within the tablet itself, and a second battery to increase running time.

This makes the Split x2 a threat not so much to Surface Pro and other tablet devices, but to the hordes of mainstream Windows laptops that do not function as hybrids, or that don’t even have touchscreens.

The Split X2 is a 13.3-inch Windows 8 tablet PC with the detachable keyboard base unit. The Split X2 can function either as a clamshell-style notebook or as a slate tablet, since the system's processor, main storage, and primary battery are all located behind the screen.

Powered by an Intel Core i3 or i5 processor, the Split X2 more processing power than the Intel Atom-powered Envy X2. The Split X2 is just under an inch thick with the keyboard base, and weighs in at a pound heavier than the X2 with a total system weight of 4.12 pounds.

The Split X2 has a 128GB SSD built into the screen, with an optional 500GB spinning hard drive in the keyboard base. This combo lets you carry your apps and critical files with you, while giving you extra storage for media files when you're connected to the keyboard base. Like the Envy X2, the Split X2 comes with an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1080p HD webcam.

The Split X2 runs Windows 8, for a fluid multi-touch screen user experience. This allows the user to use the system as a traditional laptop or as a slate tablet. The keyboard base also gives the user extra battery life and I/O ports like USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and HDMI.

The Split X2 starts at $799 and will be available in August.

HP needs these latest products to sell, and that urgency is happily apparent in the their pricing and design.

By 33rd Square

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