1 Tobii's Eye-Tracking Laptop Technology: Eyes-On!

I looked at the laptop, and the laptop looked back. Tobii Technology, the company behind technology that allows users to control their laptop's interface with their eyes, came into the PCMag offices today, giving us a chance to look over one of its proof-of-concept prototypes. The eye-tracking technology isn't quite ready for mass-market use, but the ingredients are definitely there to bring a new level of interaction to your computer within the next few years.

The prototype laptop is the result of a partnership with Lenovo, and puts Tobii's proprietary sensor technology into a fairly conventional looking package. It uses infrared lights to track "corneal reflection," or the glint off of the eye. Our video footage shows the two sensors flickering at high speed, which only our video camera could detect (the human eye can't see the flickering). These specialized sensors capture corneal reflections at 30 to 40 Hertz (or 30-40 images per second), determining not only where your eyes are looking, but their position in 3D space as well. After a brief calibration process, which involves looking at 9 points on the laptop screen, the sensor follows your eyes for as long as they are turned on.

The "eye-gaze data," as Tobii calls it, is vital, as it provides a new level of input that accompanying software can use in any number of ways. At its most basic, the eye-tracking can take over cursor control from the mouse, letting you move the cursor with your eyes.

More refined uses, as Tobii demonstrated for us, included such tasks as automatic scrolling as you read further down the page in a document. The sensors can also track gaze points, where, for instance, gazing at an image for a few seconds brings it to the forefront. In an image slideshow, you can pan through images by looking left and right, and control lighting by staring away and then back at the menu. Point-and-shoot games become glance and shoot, and menus can be rapidly navigated with ease.

Using the new device is at once simple and difficult, if only because you're forced to focus on where your eyes go. Stray glances pull up unwanted menus, and using your eyes to control familiar functions, like using a touchpad, did take some getting used to. It's not a hands-free experience either. You'll have to use keys on the keyboard to execute many of the commands. For instance, image zoom is a two-step process: Focus your eyes on a particular part of the image, then hit a key to zoom. The same applies to opening applications and documents. What the eye-tracking technology is supposed to do, as Tobii explains it, is minimize hand involvement in computing tasks, not eliminate it altogether.

What form the technology will take when it reaches consumers is yet to be seen. This prototype is one of the first steps in bringing eye-tracking technology from the realm of academic research and into the mass market. It needs some work before that happens—the technology seemed to have trouble tracking the eyes of one of our team who was wearing powerful prescription glasses. Much of the fine tuning will occur on the software side, as developers find new ways to get your eyes involved in whatever you're doing. One thing is for sure: You'll want to keep an eye on where this new technology is heading.

Source : http://www.pcmag.com

0 Blatter hints at technology for 2014 World Cup

NEWPORT, Wales (Reuters) – Goal-line technology could be used at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil if a suitable system can be found following further tests, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Saturday.

Blatter, speaking at a news conference following the annual meeting of the law-making International FootballAssociation Board, confirmed that tests would continue for another year.

"On goal-line technology, we will go on with the technical experiments and then bring this item back to the IFAB meeting next year in London when a final decision will be taken.

"If it works definitely, the board will say yes to the technology. And if the board says yes then there should be no problem to have it in 2014 in Brazil."

But he ruled out any system being in place for the 2012 European championship in Poland and Ukraine, although IFAB did sanction UEFA's experiment of a five-man refereeing system to be used at the finals.

At the same meeting, IFAB decided not to allow the continued use of neck-warming snoods after July 1 and also ruled that if players wear tights under their shorts to keep warm, the tights must be the same color as their shorts.

They also ruled that the use of "vanishing spray" used by referees to measure the distance a defensive wall must stand from a free-kick, can continue to be trialed in South America. The referee uses the spray 10 yards from the free-kick to mark out a white line which disappears after about 30 seconds.

ON AND OFF

However, the main issue concerned goal-line technology which has been on and off IFAB's agenda for the last five years, and was brought back to the table after being "finally" dismissed last year.

However, FIFA, and Blatter's attitude, changed after the failure of the officials to award a goal to England when a shot from Frank Lampard clearly crossed the goal-line against Germany at last year's World Cup in South Africa.

Blatter said: "That was a "blatant, immense error and the time came to re-open the discussion on technology again."

He added: "However, I have to restrict my natural optimism and come a little bit back because the tests we have had so far are not conclusive."

FIFA conducted private testing for 10 systems in February but all 10 failed to meet FIFA's exacting requirements. Further tests will continue in match conditions, but not necessarily in any official matches, over the next 12 months.

Blatter had previously expressed his dislike for goal-line technology preaching the "universitality" of the laws of the game so that the same conditions apply at both the highest and lowest standards.

The English FA, one of the eight voting members of the board, was slightly unhappy that the testing was only extended, because they would have preferred the concept to be agreed in principle.

FA Chairman David Bernstein said: "We are encouraged by what we've heard today and the developments on technology are very positive.

"We might have liked to have gone a little further because we would have liked the principle of goal-line technology adopted.

Alex Horne, the FA general secretary, added: "Given where we were last year, when it got thrown out, that was my worst fear that it would happen again."

The IFAB also approved the use of two additional referee's assistants behind each goal at Euro 2012 -- and that system could also be extended to the World Cup, Blatter said.

"It is with a lot of optimism that we will have additional referees for 2014," Blatter said.

But snoods were outlawed.

"There was not even a discussion because this is not part of the equipment and it can be dangerous, you could risk hanging yourself" Blatter said.

IFAB, formed in 1886 is celebrating its 125th anniversary and is the game's ultimate, famously conservative law-making body comprising officials from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, plus four FIFA officials representing the other 204 football nations.

Source : http://news.yahoo.com

0 The iPod Gets the Dick Tracy Treatment

Last September, at one of those periodic events where Apple offers up a new product with much fanfare, Steve Jobs invited the audience to join him in admiring the latest iteration of the iPod Nano. With the touch-screen interface associated with the iPhone and the iPad, the music player had shrunk to a square, weighing less than an ounce and almost comically wee. Some observers took it for a joke when Jobs said an Apple board member intended to sport the thing as a watch. Others didn’t laugh; they sprang into action.

Plenty used the gizmo’s clip to simply attach it to a sturdy watchband, and a few began devising brand-new bands specifically meant to accommodate a Nano. Soon the gadget blogs were pointing readers to wristband sources and offering reviews of the device not as a music player but as a time-teller. Today you can buy several wristbands manufactured by the companies iWatchz and Griffin Technology directly from Apple’s online store, each about $25. (The Nano itself is $150 or more, depending on memory capacity.) And most recently, a Chicago design firm set off a frenzy with its Nano-watch product proposal, hitting a new record on the site Kickstarter, where creative types can solicit donations to underwrite new projects.

The Nano-watch fad merges two well-established developments of the gizmo era. The first is that Apple’s various handheld devices have spawned ecosystems of spinoff and add-on products and accessories, from function-adding attachments to style-focused cases and covers. The second is that no matter how many devices we carry around that happen to have clocks built into them, the idea of the wristwatch soldiers on. And Apple seems to have anticipated — maybe even hoped — that its unnamed board member wouldn’t be the only person to use the thing as a watch: as an item on The Huffington Post noted at the time, the device came with “clock functionality” preinstalled. (“Clock functionality” seems to refer not only to the fact that the thing tells time but also that one of the choices for the default screen mimics an analog watch face.) Still, it’s curious to witness a sophisticated piece of technology wholly reimagined for use as a mere timepiece.

The case is best made by Minimal, a design firm based in Chicago that set the fund-raising record on Kickstarter, setting out to drum up $15,000 and instead attracting an astonishing $941,718. (Many of the donations amounted to preorders — any pledge of $25 or more entailed receiving at least one of the products as a “premium.”) In a promotional video, Scott Wilson, a designer who founded Minimal, directly acknowledges the declining need for wristwatches, which “have been reduced to a status symbol and a fashion accessory,” as he puts it. But, he continues, watch designers have long “chased” the notion of a “multitouch watch,” and the Nano’s interface and petite size almost accidentally resolve that quest.

And so Minimal offers two wrist-wearable bands. With the TikTok (preselling for $35 in January), you snap your Nano into a reinforced plastic case attached to a “high-grade silicone rubber” strap. (You can pop it out via an empty space on the back that happens to be the right size to reveal the Apple logo, and is referred to in the promo video as the “brand hole.”) The LunaTik has a two-piece, bolt-together compartment fashioned from “aerospace-grade aluminum” and is meant for someone less concerned with removing the Nano for nonwatch uses; it’s preselling for $70.

Despite the exciting sound of a “multitouch watch,” the truth is that the Nano’s functions are limited. It has a stopwatch and a timer, and the built-in pedometer syncs with the Nikeplus tracking system for runners. The clock face can be black or white. It’s true that the thing holds gigabytes of music, but this incidental fact is completely ignored in the Minimal video. And honestly, even in this stylishly done promotional piece, it’s distracting when the LunaTik appears on an actual wrist: it’s a little too big and a little too weird, and looks a lot more hyperprop than hyperpractical.

Although in fairness, it could also send another signal — that its wearer is tech-forward and inventive, the sort who embraces not only what’s new but also the latest way of using the new for something other than its stated purpose. The slightly off-kilter, blatant geekiness of the result underscores this message. Yes, the watchified-Nano wearer silently declares, I do think I’m Dick Tracy.

Adding a gizmo to the wristwatch formula doesn’t avoid the idea of the watch as status symbol or fashion accessory — it squares it. If there’s one business that matches fashion in its relentless efforts to make this year’s model seem dated and in need of prompt replacement, it’s technology; before long there will be another batch of gadgets, unveiled by Apple or some rival, that will no doubt render Nanos-repurposed-as-watches obsolete. But for the moment it’s a highly noticeable, and vaguely fun, tech-fashion statement. And it does add something new to the history of wearable clock functionality — an idea that, surprisingly, really has stood the test of time.

source : http://www.nytimes.com

0 Imax Finds a Niche in Digital Future

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — Moviegoers in Moscow who do not want to munch popcorn with the multiplex masses will soon have an alternative. At a V.I.P. cinema that is set to open in April, they will be able to watch blockbusters on a large, curved Imax screen while lounging in oversize leather chairs. The cost of a ticket for one of the 80 seats: close to $100.

At a time when many media companies eye the digital future with dread, worrying about how to persuade consumers to buy their products when free information and entertainment abound on the Web, Imax, a Canadian company, not only gets consumers to spend but also gets them to pay a premium.

Imax had a very good recession. Global box office receipts at Imax theaters more than doubled last year, to $546 million from $270 million in 2009. Under agreements with movie studios and cinema operators, the company keeps about one-third of that revenue.

Only a few years ago, Imax was weighed down by debt and scouting around unsuccessfully for a financial rescuer. The turnaround has prompted speculation about possible offers for the company.

Imax has said it is unaware of any reasons for a recent increase in the price of its stock, which is traded in Toronto and on Nasdaq. But Richard Gelfond, the company’s chief executive, was eager to discuss the company’s turnaround, during the World Economic Forum in Davos last week.

At a time when other media companies are reeling from the effects of piracy, Imax benefits from the fact that it offers an experience that is difficult to replicate outside a specially equipped theater. The screens are big — typically 22 meters wide by 16 meters high, or about 72 feet by 52 feet, though some are much larger. Resolution is higher than that of conventional movies.

But the company needed a technological leap to take advantage of those attributes in ways that were practical and financially viable. Starting in 2007, it switched to a digital projection system, replacing analog film prints, which cost $30,000 apiece, with digital versions that cost $175 per theater.

That made it feasible to expand the number of Imax screens, which is expected to reach nearly 600 worldwide by the end of this year, up from fewer than 300 in 2005. Digitization also encouraged Hollywood studios to make blockbusters like “Avatar” available in the Imax format, which used to be known more for nature films and other educational fare.

Some critics say digital Imax movies are not as good as the film versions, offering lower resolution and, sometimes, smaller screens.

But viewers do not seem to mind. The average Imax ticket price in the United States last year was about $13, Mr. Gelfond said, about $5 more than the overall average cinema price.

Imax’s growth has been particularly speedy in countries like China and Russia, where going to the movies makes for a popular night out. In Russia, the number of Imax screens rose to 15 from four last year, while in China, the total doubled to about 100, Mr. Gelfond said.

“There’s not a lot of live sports or music in China, so movies are the place to be,” he said.

Average Imax ticket prices in China are almost as high as in the United States, and Chinese consumers resold seats to “Avatar” for up to $100 on eBay, Mr. Gelfond said.

In Russia, Imax screens produced an average of $3 million in revenue last year, he said. That was the highest average of any market for the company; in the United States, the comparable figure was $1.2 million.

The company developed plans for the new theater in Moscow, which will be run by a local exhibitor, Formula Kino, after hearing that wealthy Russians sometimes liked to buy up every seat in a theater to treat themselves and a few friends to a private screening.

If the theater is successful, Imax plans to open other V.I.P. rooms, in cities like St. Petersburg, Mr. Gelfond said.

“All over the world, people are willing to pay for premium content,” he said. “They want something they can’t get in the home.”

source : http://www.nytimes.com

0 Firth, Portman, Bale, Leo win Screen Actors prizes

LOS ANGELES – "The King's Speech" won the best-actor trophy Sunday for Colin Firth and a second honor for its overall cast at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The two prizes capped a weeklong surge of Hollywood honors for the British monarchy saga, which is building momentum for the Feb. 27 Academy Awards, where the Facebook drama "The Social Network" previously had looked like the favorite.

Natalie Portman earned the best-actress award at the Screen Actors ceremony for "Black Swan," while "The Fighter" co-stars Christian Bale and Melissa Leo swept the supporting-acting honors, boosting their own prospects come Oscar night.

"The King's Speech" leads Oscar contenders with 12 nominations, among them best picture and actor for Firth, who has been the awards favorite virtually since the film premiered at festivals half a year ago.

"Until today, I would say probably, if ever I felt that I had a trophy which has told me that something's really happening for me, it was my SAG card," said Firth, who plays Queen Elizabeth's dad, George VI, as he takes the throne in the 1930s while struggling to overcome adebilitating stammer.

"Growing up in England, it's not something you expect to see in your wallet, really," Firth continued. "And so it has this glow, and I used to flash it around, hoping it would get me female attention, entry into nightclubs and top-level government departments. It didn't."

Many winners had gushing words for the protection and fellowship their union offers.

"I've been working since I was 11 years old, and SAG has taken care of me," said Portman, who won for her role as a ballerina losing her grip on reality. "They made sure I wasn't working too long and made sure I got an education while I was working."

Bale is a strong favorite for the supporting-actor Oscar as real-life fighter Dicky Eklund, whose career unraveled amid drugs and crime. Eklund briefly joined Bale on stage, the actor telling him he's "a real gentleman."

"I love acting. I love what we do," Bale said. "It's so bloody silly at times, isn't it? It's like playing dress-up, and other times it is so meaningful. I just enjoy that so much — we get to walk in other people's shoes. Life without empathy is no fun at all. "

Leo, who plays the domineering matriarch of Eklund and half brother Micky Ward's boxing family in "The Fighter," was speechless for a long moment after taking the stage.

"I'm much better when I have my words written for me and somebody's costumes to put on," said Leo, 50, an Oscar nominee two years ago for "Frozen River" who had success earlier in her career on TV's "Homicide: Life on the Street" but has caught a second wind at an age when many actresses find roles scarce. "This has been an extraordinary season for me."

Betty White, who is having her own career resurgence in her 80s, won for TV comedy actress for "Hot in Cleveland."

"I must say this is the biggest surprise I've ever had in this business. There wasn't a prayer. I am so lucky to be ... at 89, to be working ...," White said, pausing as the crowd interrupted her with effusive applause. "You didn't applaud when I turned 40."

Alec Baldwin won his fifth-straight guild award for best actor in a comedy series for "30 Rock."

"I don't know what to say. This is ridiculous. I'm so happy," Baldwin said. "We've had a great year with the show."

"Modern Family" won for overall cast performance in a TV comedy.

Steve Buscemi of "Boardwalk Empire" and Julianna Margulies of "The Good Wife" won as best actors in a TV drama. "Boardwalk Empire," a Prohibition-era gangster series, also won for overall TV drama cast performance.

Buscemi's thanks included a shout out and congratulations to Martin Scorsese, who won a Directors Guild of America Award prize the night before for directing the pilot episode of "Boardwalk Empire." Scorsese was ill and unable to attend.

"Marty, we love you. We hope you feel better, and we love working with you. Please come back," Buscemi said.

Margulies had warm words for her in-laws "for producing truly the most spectacular human being, who I get to call my husband."

Before the show began, the guild presented its award for film stunt ensemble to the sci-fi blockbuster "Inception" and the TV stunt prize to the vampire drama "True Blood."

"The Social Network," chronicling the rise of Facebook, had been the early Oscar favorite for best-picture, named the year's top drama by key critics groups and the Golden Globes.

But "The King's Speech" has surged forward in the past week, pulling upset wins at the Directors Guild and Producers Guild awards and leading the Oscar field at last Tuesday's nominations. "The Social Network" had two SAG nominations but came away empty-handed.

Last year's individual winners at the guild awards — Bridges for "Crazy Heart," Sandra Bullock for "The Blind Side," Mo'nique for "Precious" and Christoph Waltz for "Inglourious Basterds" — all went on to win at the Oscars.

The cast prize, considered the guild's equivalent of a best-picture honor, has a spotty record at predicting the top Oscar winner.

The recipient of the guild's cast award has gone on to claim best-picture at the Oscars only seven of 15 years since SAG added that prize. Last year's guild cast recipient, "Inglourious Basterds," lost out to "The Hurt Locker" in the Oscar best-picture race.

The 17th annual SAG Awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, included a life-achievement honor for Ernest Borgnine.

"We are a privileged few who have been chosen to work in this field of entertainment," said the 94-year-old Borgnine, whose award was preceded by a tribute including clips from his Oscar-winning performance in 1955's "Marty" through his role in last fall's action comedy "Red." "I hope that we will never let our dedication to our craft fail, that we will always give the best we possibly can to our profession."

source : http://news.yahoo.com

0 Clinton: Egypt must transition to democracy

WASHINGTON – The U.S. appealed for an orderly transition to lasting democracy in Egypt even as escalating violence in the American ally threatened Mideast stability and put President Barack Obama in a diplomatic bind.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton refused to speculate on the future of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak or his teetering government. But U.S. officials, she said, "obviously want to see people who are truly committed to democracy, not to imposing any ideology on Egyptians."

She warned against a takeover resembling the one in Iran, with a "small group that doesn't represent the full diversity of Egyptian society" seizing control and imposing its ideological beliefs.

Clinton's comments came as the Obama administration tried to get a handle on the fast-moving situation in Egypt, a critical U.S. friend in the long quest for peace in the Middle East. Left largely unsaid is the growing fear that a government hostile to the U.S. could gain control of such a large and important Arab nation.

The U.S. wants to see "real democracy" emerge in Egypt, Clinton said, "not a democracy for six months or a year and then evolving into essentially a military dictatorship or a so-called democracy that then leads to what we saw in Iran."

Clinton, in interviews on the five Sunday morning TV shows, repeatedly stressed that Egypt's future lies in the hands of its people, hewing to the administration line of refusing to take sides publically in the upheaval.

While there have been repeated calls for Egypt to move toward democracy, it was not clear what efforts the administration may be making behind the scenes to influence the situation.

Obama called foreign leaders this weekend to convey his administration's desire for restraint and an orderly transition to a more responsive government in Egypt. The White House said he spoke with leaders from Britain, Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia, and sought their input. The president also got a briefing Sunday morning from his national security staff, and senior policy officials gathered for a deputies committee meeting to discuss the situation in Egypt.

Clinton made clear there are no discussions at this time about cutting off aid to Egypt, which receives about $1.5 billion in annual foreign assistance from the U.S. to help modernize its armed forces and strengthen regional security and stability. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs had said Friday that military and civilian aid was under review.

Asked if aid should be withheld, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the U.S. should wait and see what happens before making such decisions.

While Clinton did not voice support for a continued Mubarak reign or any other political party, she outlined U.S. expectations from any future government.

"There has to be a commitment by whoever is in the government that they will engage in a national dialogue with the people of Egypt, with the aim at taking actions that will meet the legitimate grievances of the Egyptian people for more participation, for respect for human rights, for the universal human rights they are entitled to, for economic reforms that will give more opportunity," she told reporters traveling with her to Haiti on Sunday.

Asked if she thought Mubarak had taken the necessary steps so far to hold on, Clinton said: "It's not a question of who retains power. . It's how are we going to respond to the legitimate needs and grievances expressed by the Egyptian people and chart a new path. Clearly, the path that has been followed has not been one that has created that democratic future, that economic opportunity that people in the peaceful protests are seeking."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., demurred when asked if the U.S. should abandon support of Mubarak. He said the U.S. needs to "be on the right side of history" and do a better job of arguing for human rights.

"It was clear for a long time that the kind of repressive regime . that Mubarak controls, sooner or later there is going to be great difficulties," said McCain.

House Speaker John Boehner praised the administration's handling of the situation and said the U.S. must continue to support Egypt's move to democracy.

"What we don't want are radical ideologies to take control of a very large and important country in the Middle East," he said.

The State Department is recommending that Americans leave Egypt as soon as possible and said it is prepared to evacuate thousands of U.S. citizens on chartered planes beginning Monday. Due to Internet interruptions, however, officials said they must rely largely on friends and families in the U.S. to relay that information to the stranded Americans.

Assistant Secretary of State Janice Jacobs told reporters Sunday that it will take several flights over the coming days to accommodate all American citizens who want to leave the country.

Officials are considering three possible destinations, Athens, Greece; Istanbul, Turkey; and Nicosia, Cyprus. Jacobs, who's in charge of consular affairs, said the U.S. may also send planes to other cities in Egypt, such as Luxor, if there are a number of Americans stranded there. Americans taking the charter will be billed for the flight and must make their own travel arrangements home from Europe.

Anyone needing information on the flights should check the State Department and U.S. embassy websites or send an e-mail to egyptemergencyusc(at)state.gov. They can also call 1-888-407-4747 toll-free from within the U.S. and Canada. From outside the U.S. and Canada people can call 1-202-501-4444.

Canada announced Sunday it would charter flights as early as Monday that will fly Canadians who wish to leave to London, Paris or Frankfurt.

U.S. military leaders reached out to their counterparts in Egypt and the Middle East. Defense SecretaryRobert Gates spoke to Egypt and Israel's ministers of defense. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Egyptian Lt. Gen. Sami Enan, expressing his appreciation for the continued professionalism of Egypt's military during the crisis, said Mullen spokesman Capt. John Kirby.

Mubarak appointed a vice president on Saturday for the first time in more than 30 years — the U.S. long has pressed for that and Clinton called it the "bare beginning of what needs to happen" — and has pledged to make reforms.

"We want to see free and fair elections and we expect that this will be one of the outcomes of what is going on," Clinton said, adding that the U.S. is committed to working with the Egyptians who are interested in true democracy.

Clinton appeared on "Fox News Sunday," NBC's "Meet the Press," CBS' "Face the Nation," CNN's "State of the Union" and ABC's "This Week." McConnell was on NBC, Boehner on Fox and McCain on CNN.

source : http://news.yahoo.com