BMW thinks the future of car UI is gesture control

AirTouch will appear in an i8 convertible at CES next week.


BMW has just given us a brief teaser ahead of CES next week. The German automaker will be bringing a new concept car that shows off the company's latest thinking when it comes to interior design and the future of the car user interface.

The car, a convertible variant of the extremely clever i8 hybrid sports car, uses an evolution of the gesture control that we first saw this year in the new 7 Series. Called AirTouch, it uses sensors embedded in the dash near the car's main information display that pick up three-dimensional hand movements, allowing the driver to interact with the infotainment system as if it were a touchscreen—without ever leaving their fingerprints on the LCD.

Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Samsung unveils 2016 ultrabooks with Skylake chips

Samsung unveils 2016 ultrabooks with Skylake chips

Samsung’s next generation of thin-and-light laptops are on the way, and not surprisingly they’re powered by Intel Skylake processors and Windows 10 software. What might be a little surprising is just how compact these new 2016 laptops are. The 13.3 inch Samsung 900X3L weight just 1.9 pounds and measures about half an inch thick, while […]

Samsung unveils 2016 ultrabooks with Skylake chips is a post from: Liliputing

Samsung unveils 2016 ultrabooks with Skylake chips

Samsung’s next generation of thin-and-light laptops are on the way, and not surprisingly they’re powered by Intel Skylake processors and Windows 10 software. What might be a little surprising is just how compact these new 2016 laptops are. The 13.3 inch Samsung 900X3L weight just 1.9 pounds and measures about half an inch thick, while […]

Samsung unveils 2016 ultrabooks with Skylake chips is a post from: Liliputing

Trotz EU-Verordnung: Aktivisten geben Netzneutralität noch nicht verloren

In der Debatte um die Netzneutralität haben Netzaktivisten im Oktober eine schwere Niederlage erlitten. Doch sie wollen weiterkämpfen und setzen auf die EU-Regulierungsbehörde und eine öffentliche Konsultation im kommenden Sommer. (Netzneutralität, Technologie)

In der Debatte um die Netzneutralität haben Netzaktivisten im Oktober eine schwere Niederlage erlitten. Doch sie wollen weiterkämpfen und setzen auf die EU-Regulierungsbehörde und eine öffentliche Konsultation im kommenden Sommer. (Netzneutralität, Technologie)

Superkraft11: Zehnjähriger ist der weltbeste Minecraft-Spieler

Er hat sich in der ersten nordamerikanischen Minecraft-Meisterschaft gegen ältere Konkurrenz durchgesetzt: Ein zehnjähriger Junge mit dem Pseudonym Superkraft11 hat beim Klötzchenbau-Turnier gewonnen. (Minecraft, Games)

Er hat sich in der ersten nordamerikanischen Minecraft-Meisterschaft gegen ältere Konkurrenz durchgesetzt: Ein zehnjähriger Junge mit dem Pseudonym Superkraft11 hat beim Klötzchenbau-Turnier gewonnen. (Minecraft, Games)

Scott Kelly unable to science the @$!# out of space veggies

Latest crop of space-grown veggies not as verdant as earlier harvests.

Scott Kelly took a photo of the International Space Station's new harvest of veggies. (credit: Scott Kelly/NASA)

Scott Kelly is no Mark Watney, the potato-growing botanist in The Martian. On Sunday, the NASA astronaut, who is spending a year on the International Space Station, tweeted a photo of the latest crop of plants from the station's space garden, saying, "Our plants aren't looking too good. Would be a problem on Mars. I'm going to have to channel my inner Mark Watney."

The plants are part of a NASA experiment designated Veg-01, an effort by NASA to make its astronauts more independent of Earth by developing the technology that will eventually allow them to grow food in space. The plants are being grown in a special "veggie facility" with a calcined clay media. The initial test crops were primarily species of lettuce.

Astronauts had their first harvest of lettuce in August from romaine seeds that had been on the station for 15 months before being planted. After cleaning their crop with sanitizing wipes, astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren dressed them with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil before sampling the lettuce. The space farmers declared their crop to be "awesome" and tasting "kind of like arugula."

Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

But it’s the hardware that has won people over, not the software.

The HoloLens headset. (credit: Microsoft)

Windows 10 was Microsoft's most important product launch of the year. It shored up the desktop platform, it introduced a new approach to delivering and updating the operating system, and it created the opportunity for Windows to be everywhere.

But as important as it was, Windows 10 was not Microsoft's most interesting 2015 product. The most interesting products were the HoloLens augmented reality headset and the Surface Book hybrid laptop. OK, HoloLens isn't out quite yet—$3,000 developer units will be available in the first quarter of 2016—but it was first demonstrated back in January, upstaging Windows 10's consumer preview, which was shown off at the same time.

What was striking about both of these is that their reception was less about what they were and more about what they represented. HoloLens is obviously the grander ambition—a new kind of human-computer interaction depending on the melding of virtual 3D objects with the real world, driven by voice and gestures as well as the more conventional mouse and keyboard.

Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Programmiersprache: Perl 6 ist erschienen

Mit Perl 6 führen die Entwickler die 5er-Reihe der Programmiersprache nicht fort, sondern haben eine neue Sprache geschaffen. Die Konzepte und Ideen beider Versionen sind sich allerdings nach wie vor sehr ähnlich. (Perl, Programmiersprache)

Mit Perl 6 führen die Entwickler die 5er-Reihe der Programmiersprache nicht fort, sondern haben eine neue Sprache geschaffen. Die Konzepte und Ideen beider Versionen sind sich allerdings nach wie vor sehr ähnlich. (Perl, Programmiersprache)

Nach Übernahme von E-Plus: Telefónica stellt Gettings ein

Der Location-Based-Service Gettings wird zum 31. Dezember 2015 eingestellt – danach werden Nutzer nicht mehr über Gutscheine und Sonderangebote umliegender Händler informiert. Die Gettings GmbH gehörte zu E-Plus, das von Telefónica gekauft wurde. (Telefónica, E-Plus)

Der Location-Based-Service Gettings wird zum 31. Dezember 2015 eingestellt - danach werden Nutzer nicht mehr über Gutscheine und Sonderangebote umliegender Händler informiert. Die Gettings GmbH gehörte zu E-Plus, das von Telefónica gekauft wurde. (Telefónica, E-Plus)

Mysterious collector opens world’s largest private Apple exhibition in Prague

Apple Museum has some 472 exhibits, with raw vegan cafe to come.

Although the official Apple Store is yet to come to the capital of the Czech Republic, it has recently seen the launch of the Apple Museum, which claims to host the largest private exhibition of its kind.

Housed in three buildings in Prague's old town, the museum has an extensive list of 472 exhibits on display—from nearly every Apple product ever built to Steve Jobs' business cards from his times at NeXT and Pixar.

Local Reddit user eirunning85 has put together a gallery of what you can see at the new Apple Museum. Here are our favourite picks:

Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments