Author: Serkadis

A consortium of Washington-based organizations will soon submit the final section of a proposal to site an unmanned aircraft system research and testing facility in central Washington. If successful, the proposal to the Federal Aviation Administration will result in the FAA naming the Pacific Northwest Unmanned Aerial Systems Flight Center as one of six U.S. testing facilities later this year.

Innovate Washington, the lead agency of the state of Washington focused on fostering growth of the state’s innovation sectors, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland are working with ten other state, county and private industry partners to be selected as one of six locations nationwide to conduct critical research that will safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system.

“Our testing and proving facilities include all elements industry will need to safely conduct sophisticated research and development activities,” said Steve Stein, PNNL project manager. “Our proposal offers essentially a turn-key option from complete ground support operations for fueling, maintenance, and emergency response, to the existing control tower with regional radar systems, ample hangar space, conference rooms and advanced communications networks.”

The proposal identifies Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Wash., as the location of the flight center’s principal office and facilities. In addition, the proposal identifies several locations in central and western Washington where a broad range of testing may occur. For example, the proposal provides a testing range over the Pacific Ocean near Grays Harbor for those developers needing “blue water” testing capability. To evaluate the next generation of aircraft traffic control systems, a testing area that simulates an active airport environment—similar to activity experienced daily at a metro airport— is also included. A map of the testing facilities is below.

Consortium members possess technical research and development capabilities in areas such as advanced navigation, collision avoidance, and alternative fuel system development. Through research and test flights in its test ranges, located over remote and sparsely populated areas in Washington, the consortium says it can advance the application of unmanned aircraft use in search and rescue, weather data acquisition, agriculture crop management, avalanche control and snow pack analysis.

“Siting a new flight center in central Washington will allow the state to build off of the established strengths of its thriving aerospace industry,” said Bart Phillips, vice president for economic development for Innovate Washington. “The Flight Center supports the commercial growth of the UAS sector, attracting and additional aerospace research and development dollars, providing users with cost-effective, safe, flight testing facilities and fostering the development of more companies and high quality jobs in Washington.”

The consortium members include Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Innovate Washington, the Ports of Moses Lake and Grays Harbor, Washington State University, University of Washington, Washington Army National Guard, the Center of Excellence for Aerospace and Advanced Materials Manufacturing at Everett Community College, the Governor’s Office of Aerospace, Washington State Department of Commerce and economic development agencies in Klickitat and Grays Harbor counties.

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 enacted by Congress calls for establishing six unmanned aircraft system research and testing sites in the U.S. The final proposal submittals are due to the FAA by May 6, with decisions on siting the flight centers scheduled to be made before December 31, 2013.

While I’m not a big fan of ostentatious watches that cost too much and are aimed at buyers with more money than sense (in short, most of the Hublot line) I will give this odd-looking watch a moment of reflection. It is the MP-05 LaFerrari, a tourbillon watch with a 50-day power reserve, a number almost unheard of in the watch world, and a unique styling that is reminiscent of a certain Arashikage ninja.

The watch itself has a custom HUB9005.H1.6 movement and displays the time in a series of vertical registers. There is a visible tourbillon (essentially a rotating balance wheel AKA the little wheel that “spins” in your average mechanical watch) on the bottom of the watch as well as a winding port on the top. To wind it you use this little power drill. Seriously.

A power reserve indicator tells you how long you have to go before you whip out your little drill gun and the entire thing is designed to look like the cowling on the $1.3 million LaFerrari or, more precisely, Cobra Commander’s codpiece. The watch is completely handmade and you can see more photos here. It comes in a limited edition of 50 and you can expect to pay $300,000 for the privilege of strapping it to your wrist.

The E3 game expo is just six weeks away and where Nintendo should have big visibility. Instead, today, the company president shares plans about greatly scaled-back presence, less than 24 hours after IDC warned that paying smartphone and tablet gamers will exceed their handheld counterparts this year.

For Microsoft and Sony, which have new consoles coming this year, E3 2013 will be big happenings. But not Nintendo. “We decided not to host a large-scale presentation targeted at everyone in the international audience where we announce new information as we did in the past”, president Satoru Iwata says. “Instead, at the E3 show this year, we are planning to host a few smaller events that are specifically focused on our software lineup for the U.S. market”.

The scaleback comes as Nintendo acknowledges weaker than expected sales for Wii U, a hybrid handheld and console gaming system. During first calendar quarter Nintendo sold 3.45 million units, rather than the projected 4 million.

“The release intervals of first-party key titles have been so much longer than we expected..that we have not successfully maintained the momentum of the platform”, Iwata explains during his earnings presentation. “In addition, we have not been able to solidly communicate the product value of Wii U to our consumers yet, which has been a grand challenge for us”.

So Nintendo’s problems are two: Consumers don’t understand what Wii U is, and the games aren’t there. Competition may be a big reason for the latter. Android and iOS app stores satisfy consumers and pull away developers, and smartphones, particularly, are more likely carried than gaming handhelds or even tablets.

“In order for Nintendo’s and Sony’s gaming-optimized handhelds to remain ahead of smartphones and tablets on key metrics…these companies and their game card developer and publisher partners will have to redouble their efforts in a number of respects”, Lewis Ward, IDC research manager, says. “Digital distribution has reached an inflection point in mobile and portable gaming, and future success will largely boil down to finding a unique balance of freemium business model excellence and that ability to deliver compelling social experiences”.

Nintendo’s decision to pull back from E3 potentially cedes mindshare and product awareness at a time when Microsoft and Sony step up conole competition and Apple and Google platforms encroach further into handheld gaming. That puts Wii U between the console rock and smartphone hard place.

However, Iwata is convinced that new software titles will lift sales during second half of the year. For all fiscal 2014, which started April 1, Nintendo forecasts sales of 9 million Wii Us and 18 million DSes. Software for both platforms, respectively: 38 million and 80 million.

As a man who spends most of his time in his attic, it’s nice to hit the open roads, feel a little wind in your hair, and run over crack vials as you motor through downtown Manhattan. That’s exactly what I did yesterday as when I tried to ride an Hero Eco A2B Metro electric bike from Bay Ridge to our offices on Broadway, thereby cementing my love for electric bikes and this electric bike in particular.

The Metro, made by German manufacturer Hero Eco (formerly Ultra Motor), is a brutalist electric bike with a built-in battery and maximum speed of 20 MPH. It has pedals and a 7-gear shifter so it is technically considered a moped and does not require a motorcycle license and a built-in limiter ensures you don’t go roaring down the streets on this 80 pound machine.

The company has had these bikes in the US for a few years now but they are working on a complete rebranding – although the bikes will remain the same. You can see the brand new bikes on this absolutely awful webpage they’ve made. This particular model costs about $3,000 online but the build quality is excellent and the equipment – from the fat Kenda tires to the Shimano shifter – is acceptable enough. I noticed some bad reviews on Amazon complaining of damaged motors or tires and, although I didn’t experience these issues over the past week, I cannot speak for extensive use. In my 15 mile ride I saw solid performance and no skidding or fishtailing while accelerating. I did, however, experience a low battery and riding this thing home, even for a mile, on pedal power wasn’t great.

The bike is bit big but it’s still thin enough to ensure you don’t get entangled with other riders in tight paths. I found it worked great in tight quarters and, because it is in actuality just a bicycle with a hub motor, the other cyclists didn’t give me that much of a stink eye.

I’ve avoided looking at electric bikes of late because most of them look like motors strapped to 10-speeds. This is far different and, if I were to describe it in any way, it is the exact opposite of those foldable city bikes folks are riding. My kids, in fact, have taken to calling it Super Bike.

Hero Eco is finding its footing right now and also has sub-$2,000 models available, including their own version of the folding electric called the Kuo which retails for $1,599. The company is also now calling itself HeroEco and was formerly called Ultra Motor, so you may see a bit of confusing until their full rebranding.

What are you paying for? Well, you’re paying for a solid, welded frame, solid components, and excellent acceleration. The range isn’t too shabby and for a bit more you can add on a second battery for 20 miles of range. I could also imagine a user removing the governor – though I’m sure Ultra Motors doesn’t condone this. This isn’t a sport bike. I could really see it more as a bike for folks with a 10-15 mile commute who want to hit the open air a little and don’t want (that much) of a carbon footprint.

Amazon reported its Q1 earnings today with sales up 22% to $16.07 billion.

Operating cash flow was up 39% year-over-year to $4.25 billion for the trailing twelve months. Free cash flow was down 85% to $177 million for the trailing twelve months. This includes purchases of corporate office space and property in Seattle. Operating income was down 6% to $181 million in the first quarter, compared with $192 million in first quarter of 2012. Net income decreased 37% to $82 million in the quarter.

Amazon is excited about its original content business moving forward.

CEO Jeff Bezos said, “Amazon Studios is working on a new way to greenlight TV shows. The pilots are out in the open where everyone can have a say. I have my personal picks and so do members of the Amazon Studios team, but the exciting thing about our approach is that our opinions don’t matter. Our customers will determine what goes into full-season production. We hope Amazon Originals can become yet another way for us to create value for Prime members.”

There is also talk of a pending Amazon ad network that would take on the likes of Google and Facebook, not to mention set-top boxes.

Stock is up in after hours trading.

Here’s the release in its entirety:

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apr. 25, 2013– Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2013.

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

Since introducing Enhanced Campaigns earlier this year, Google has regularly been conducting webinars to help advertisers get acquainted with the changes, and to help them optimize their campaigns.

Google has uploaded a new webinar specifically on optimizing mobile strategy:

This week, Google launched the Enhanced Campaigns upgrade center, which provides a tool to help you transition to the new campaigns ahead of the date (July 22) when all campaigns will be upgraded automatically.

Google also added social annotations and availability for mobile app advertisers.

I  love to hear about innovation online. I love when it comes out of Minnesota. Not being a pet owner, I think PetChatz is very funny – but again I love when innovation and economic development happen in Minnesota because of broadband. We should all be thinking of our next innovation!

Here’s a bit about PetChatz from the St Paul Pioneer Press…

Now a Minnesota company has come up with the ultimate petcam — one that dispenses treats and exudes soothing aromas while letting pets and their masters see and hear each other.

Called PetChatz, it can be controlled from afar using a phone app or desktop browser. With the tap of a touchscreen or a keyboard, the owner can release a treat from within the device for Fido to enjoy.

The product is not yet available, but maker Anser Innovation of Minneapolis is aiming to ramp up production soon with the goal of offering the petcam in Minnesota in the fall and around the country in early 2014.

Anser CEO Lisa Lavin calls the product “a greet-and-treat videophone.”

Bing announced the launch of Bing Places For Business today. Essentially this is just a rebranding of Bing Business Portal at a new destination: bing.com/places.

Bing senior product manager Ginny Sandhu says, “We know time is in short supply when you are busy running your business. That’s why at Bing we are always looking for ways to simplify your experience of getting your business online and managing your business reputation on the web. The launch of Bing Places for business is the first of many steps in our effort to provide you with all the tools you need to easily and quickly find local customers online.”

“Also as part of our drive to simplify the experience we are retiring a few business promotion and management services that were being previously offered,” says Sandhu. “Starting today we will no longer provide the option of creating deals, coupons, QR codes and mobile sites as well as removing the ability to create and print collateral for your business.”

Speaking of deals, as Bing Deals no longer exists, Bing also announced the launch of Bing Offers (another deals aggregator).

For Bing Places For Business, users can continue to use the same login information they used for Bing Business Portal. Data will be migrated to the new experience over the next three or four days.

Continue reading…

For the second time in two weeks, Google is showing increasingly serious commitment to Android tablet applications. Last week, the company announced support for tablet app screenshots in the Google Play store. On Thursday, Google introduced a new tablet optimization tips tool in its developer dashboard.

The new tool allows developers to see how their app “is doing against basic guidelines for tablet app distribution and quality.” That means upon uploading a new or updated version of an Android app, developers will get instant feedback on how well their software is optimized for Android tablets.

If a developer didn’t target the right screen sizes or Android version for tablets, for example, they’ll get a reminder to do so. After addressing the un-optimized app components, devs can then upload a version better suited for larger-screen Android devices.

So why the big push? I can think of two reasons: one that’s been around for a while and one that’s fairly recent.

Android tablets essentially began life as super-sized smartphones, meaning apps weren’t optimally sized for bigger screens. This was a valid early criticism of Android tablets that I witnessed firsthand in 2010 when I bought a 7-inch Galaxy Tab. I often found very large buttons in apps or text that didn’t fit properly in a section of an app.

Unlike Apple’s approach — which offers apps specific both phones and tablets (save for the universal apps) — Google doesn’t support have tablet-specific apps. Instead, the company created guidelines and coding tools for apps to work properly on both phones and tablets with a single .apk installation file. But developers have to take advantage of these and properly code for different screen sizes. Not all of them do; in fact, I’d say a fair amount actually don’t. Hence, Google is trying to subtly nudge developers to do so with the new optimization tips tool.

Another reason came about just this week: According to one analyst report, Android tablet sales may be finally starting to catch up with iPad sales. Strategy Analytics shared its data on Thursday and it shows that Android tablet market share around the world is 43.1 percent, compared to the iPad at 48.2 percent. Note that the Android figures are for shipments, so that figure is surely inflated due to Android tablet inventory sitting on shelves or in warehouses.

With a rise of shipments, even, Android developers should be considering the mobile app experience on tablets and Google is all too willing to help in that department. It has been trying to do so for the better part of two years — Android 3.0 added many tablet optimized features — but every little bit moving forward helps.

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Bing announced Bing Offers today. This is a searchable collection of local deals on the web, aggregated from a “broad” set of partners.

Sound familiar? That’s probably because they launched Bing Deals two years ago, another deals aggregator. Apparently that didn’t work because these days that just redirects to Bing.

So now Bing is at it again with Bing Offers.

“Bing Offers brings together popular deals from across the web in one convenient place, creating a simple way for people to discover and take advantage of great local deals,” a Bing spokesperson tells WebProNews. “Whether looking for a new restaurant to try or a much needed spa treatment, consumers can use Bing Offers to search and filter one of the largest collections of local deals from leading providers. Additionally, Bing Offers is optimized for tablets, mobile and PCs, so people can find great deals no matter what device they use.”

The features as described by Bing:

• All your favorite deals in one place: You no longer need to browse through different websites, manage multiple sign-ups or sift-through your inbox. Bing Offers aggregates popular deals across the US to help you discover great deals at the right time and place.
• Quickly find the deals you are looking for:Search for your favorite deals by using any business name, category or keyword. Not looking for a specific deal? Then filter out irrelevant offers by location or category including: food, activities, health & fitness, beauty, travel, retail & services.
• Available on any device: The Bing Offers experience works seamlessly across tablets, mobile devices, and PCs, so you can use access great deals regardless of where you are.

Bing Offers is US-only at this point.

Well, I didn’t receive an invite, but based on the many reports from people who did, Nokia will host a new Lumia-outing event May 14 in London. Oh my, that’s the day before Google I/O, where rumored new Nexus smartphone(s) arrive (don’t believe everything you read on the Internet).

Nokia unveiled flagship phone Lumia 920 in September, and May would be pretty good time to announce a followup. Assuming the typical manufacturing and various country certification (think Federal Communications Commission) delays, a new splashy Lumia would get some breathing room post-launches for HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4, while getting ahead of the next iPhone. During this week’s earnings conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said not to expect any new products until autumn.

What the geeks all wait for is true PureView, Nokia’s exciting camera tech currently available in the now obsolete (because Symbian is) 808. But that’s anyone’s guess. (Note on the photo, don’t expect a car. I grabbed the image for the Nokia name/logo).

While we all wait for “the next chapter of the Lumia story”, as the invite states, Nokia is Mr. Busybody with more modest handsets.

Yesterday, the Finnish handset maker unveiled feature phone Asha 210. Today, Nokia announced the Lumia 521 for T-Mobile, which debuts on HSN.com and HSN mobile this weekend for $149.95 (price includes car charger and screen protector). Microsoft and select T-Mobile retailers start selling the smartphone on May 11.

Features include: 1GHz Qualcomm 82270 dual-core processor; 4-inch screen (800 by 400 resolution); 512MB RAM; 8GB storage, expandable to 64GB with microSD card; 5-megapixel rear-facing camera; 720p video recording (30 frames per second); HSPA+; WiFi N/E; GPS; and Windows Phone 8.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox

As previously reported, the EU has finally released documents clearly stating its concerns with Google’s competitive practices and listing, for the first time, Google’s actual proposals for settlement.

Ahead of the release, the FairSearch Coalition (a group of Google competitors – including chief rival Microsoft – hellbent on seeing Google’s business regulated by governments) issued a statement indicating it would likely have more suggestions for how Google could go beyond its proposals to make things better for its competitors. Now, the group has put out another statement.

Thomas Vinje, counsel and spokesman for FairSearch Europe had this to say:

“FairSearch applauds the Commission for laying out a clear and compelling case that Google is abusing its dominant position by giving its own products preferential treatment in search results. This is an important conclusion that must lead to meaningful remedies. We have always said that the best remedy for consumers and innovation would be to require Google to apply the same policy to search results for its own products as it does to all others.”

“However, Google’s proposed commitments appear to fall short of ending the preferential treatment at the heart of the Commission’s case based on formal complaints from 17 companies. Google’s own screen shots in its proposal (see p. 30) shows it seeks approval to continue preferential treatment for its own products. We will study the proposal in detail and offer an empirical analysis based on actual tests.”

Page 30? Okay, let’s take a look:

Look at that. Google Shopping results right at the top for a search for “dslr camera”. Perhaps they should be doing it the way FairSearch member Microsoft does it:

Oh, wait a minute.

It’s almost as if a search engine offering its own shopping results for product queries is the industry standard:

Continue reading…

People riding bikes for exercise, recreation or commuting don’t need to waste their energy any longer. Oh, they can still ride, but now they can recoup some of the power they generate on their ride and use the juice to charge up their mobile devices. A new Kickstarter project for the Silva Cycle Atom is the secret.

The Atom is made of two parts: a small generator with electronic power regulation and a removable battery pack with a USB port.  Most bicycles with a quick-release rear wheel can use the Atom, which sits between the rear tire and bike frame. A USB cable can be run from the Atom to a charge a mobile device while riding, even as the battery pack recharges. Here’s how it works:

Taking the Atom’s battery pack with you when leaving your bike is a snap; just remove it when you lock up your bike. I like the fact that the battery pack pulls “double duty”: You can recharge it through a conventional outlet as well. With a 1300 mAh battery capacity, a fully-charged Atom should recharge an iPhone to about 70 percent full. Handsets with larger batteries — say the new Galaxy S 4, for example — would only get about 40 to 50 percent of a recharge with the Atom.

The project is hoping to raise $85,000 by May 23 and it’s well on its way already: At time of writing, over $55,000 were pledged. The first 300 early-birds already committed a discounted $85 for the Atom, so if you want in now, you’ll have to fork over $95. The project founders expect to sell the Atom for $105, so you can still get a discount now. Delivery estimates for the Atom are November.

Are there cheaper ways to recharge your devices? Of course there are. But this product is perfect for heavy bike commuters. And when I take weekend rides, I often use my phone to track the ride via GPS so I can get speed, elevation and other data. The apps and radios to make that happen aren’t kind to my phone batteries, so the Atom would be a great companion for those activities too.

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Cisco (CSCO) announced new MDS storage networking solutions for storage area networks, to help customers address rising cloud and big data requirements.

9710 Multilayer Director

Cisco says that at 24 terabits per second of total switching capacity, the new Cisco 9710 Multilayer Director delivers more bandwidth than any storage director in the industry. Powering both SAN and LAN networking operations it will support high-density Fibre Channel and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). The new model builds on the MDS heritage of nonstop operations, including software upgrades, by providing the highest fault-tolerant capabilities with fully redundant (N+1) fans, switching fabrics, and power-supplies or grid redundancy (N:N). The new MDS 9710 Multilayer Director supports up to 384 line-rate 16 GB Fibre Channel ports or FCoE in a single 14 RU chassis.

“As the leading IT service provider in Norway, we look to Cisco as a key technology partner to support us in the process of consolidating and upgrading data centers. We require storage networks to support the next generation services and level of availability our customers demand,” said Jo Marius Pedersen, SAN specialist, EVRY.  ”The converged management, predictable high performance, flexibility and reliability of the 16 GB optimized Cisco MDS Multilayer 9710 has through thorough testing shown unprecedented results. The changing technology landscape, with its exponential data growth and increasing pressure to reduce cost and complexity, forces us to constantly balance innovative and known solutions. We can definitely recommend businesses with similar challenges to evaluate the innovative MDS platform.”

9250i Multiservice Fabric Switch

The Cisco MDS 9250i Multiservice Fabric Switch delivers storage services, including Cisco I/O accelerator and Data Mobility Manager, which improve SAN efficiency by performing important storage services centrally in the fabric. This architecture reduces the time and resources required to perform common storage management functions and simplifies and accelerates data protection for regulatory compliance. It contains up to 40 line-rate ports of 16 GB FC/FICON, 8 ports of 10 GbE FCoE, and 2 ports of 1/10GbE FCIP/iSCSI, while delivering a rich set of storage services via licensing.

“Today’s announcement cements Cisco’s technology leadership in the storage director market,” said David Yen, senior vice president, Data Center Group, Cisco. “Cisco continues to deliver the greatest depth and breadth for an end-to-end data center unified fabric. Together with our ecosystem of partners, we are reshaping the data center into an IT linchpin that transforms business continuity and operations for customers, one that is critical to today’s competitive business environments.”

In the following video Cisco discusses the new MDS solutions, and how storage is changing, with 16 Gigabit Fibre Channel, solid state drives, and block and file-level storage designs.