Clearpath Uses Thalmic’s Myo Armband To Pilot A Robot, Jaeger Control Surely Coming Next

The Thalmic Myo armband promises to let you control pretty much anything computerized with simple hand gestures, and the videos that Thalmic itself has shown display impressive potential. But this new video from Waterloo-based robotics company Clearpath gives a glimpse of what it can do in the hands of outside developers. Outside developers who build awesome robots.

The Clearpath Husky Unmanned Vehicle is the lucky robot in the video above – what it lacks in opposable thumbs it makes up for in grit and stoic charm. The Myo has been mapped to its controls to allow it to direct forward, reverse and left/right turn movement, as well as velocity and braking.

It’s only a small step from here to full control of massive piloted combat robots created to fend off dimensional invaders from the depths of the ocean. Myo might need to come up with a Jeager-specific API first though I guess.

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MLB, NBA, NHL and NASCAR team up on 120 Sports, a 24-hour streaming video channel

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Which Android phones win at gaming?

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Pocket Gems Launches Episode, A Platform For Interactive Mobile Stories

Mobile gaming company Pocket Gems is taking a new approach to telling stories on smartphones with the launch of a new platform called Episode.

CEO Ben Liu hinted at this last month when he talked about the company’s growth, saying that this year would see a big launch focusing on what it means to “experience a story on mobile.” Apparently, Episode is what co-founder Daniel Terry has been working on since he stepped down as CEO and became the company’s chief creative officer at the end of 2012.

Terry told me that he saw a big opportunity in mobile storytelling. After all, stories drive many forms of entertainment media, and even at Pocket Gems, when the company added story elements to its games, he said, “Players just love it, and it really enhances engagement.” Yet stories are either minimal or nonexistent in mobile games.

With Episode, Terry and his team have taken an approach that’s really focused on stories, to the extent that some might not even consider the app to be a game at all. At points in our conversation, Terry compared the approach to an interactive, animated TV show and to a “modern, mobile-first Choose Your Own Adventure.”

The demo that he gave me was pretty simple. Two animated characters were having a conversation at a club, which the player mostly just watches, but at one point the other character offered to buy me a drink and I got to choose what kind.

More exciting than the individual story is the platform that Pocket Gems has built. Using Episode, story writers can choose their settings, customize their characters, then use a simple scripting language to determine what happens, what choices the players will face, and how those choices will affect the rest of the story. Each individual chapter should only take a few minutes to finish, but as the name implies, they’re usually just pieces of a larger narrative. Users can what chapters are available in the Episode smartphone app, which functions as a sort of library.

Pocket Gems has been testing out Episode on iOS, and the company says users have already read 10 million chapters. Today, however, marks the official launch, which includes the release of an Android app and the opening of the scripting platform to anyone who wants to use it. For now, Terry said user-generated chapters will only be shareable with friends, while the public content will still come from professional writers paid by Pocket Gems. But eventually, the company could create a tiered system and start recruiting paid writers from the broader user base.

Players can read a limited number of chapters every few hours, and will have to pay to consume more. However, Terry suggested that the business model is still very much in the experimental phase. He added that the Episode platform could potentially be used to create content for other Pocket Gems games, though there are no specific plans in that area.

You can download the iOS app here. I’ll add a link to the Android app once I have it.

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HelloFlo, The Subscription Service That Simplifies Your Period, Offers A B2B Option

News has leaked (not really, I just wanted to say “leaked”) that tampon delivery service HelloFlo is going B2B.

As it stands now, HelloFlo offers customers an opportunity to choose what feminine hygiene products they want delivered and when, so that they never have to run to the drug store on the first day of a visit from Aunt Flo. Instead, everything they need for that fateful week each month is already waiting for them.

Now, HelloFlo is offering the same subscription system on a larger scale for corporate work environments who want to have a fully stocked women’s room.

“I’ve always appreciated the places that took care of the little as well as the big things,” said founder Naama Bloom. “I remember the first time I walked into the bathroom while visiting Google how impressed I was that they were fully stocked. It sets the tone that women are welcome.”

Bloom explained that HelloFlo customers were actually ordering their subscriptions to the office to make sure they never ran into an embarrassing situation in the workplace. The expansion into B2B only made logical sense.

This will not interfere with HelloFlo’s usual consumer-facing business, but will simply add another revenue stream.

For the B2B version of the subscription service, customers will receive a pre-set amount of feminine hygiene products (tampons, pads, or both), as well as pain relievers. HelloFlo even throws in a fabric basket so the period-friendly spread looks nice in the ladies’ room.

Check it out here.

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Engadget's tablet buyer's guide: winter 2014 edition

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Oral-B smart toothbrush will make sure you're following your dentist's advice

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New Google WiFi app could automatically log you into Starbucks and other public hotspots

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Diamond Products Acquires Tech-Centric Sex Toy Maker Jimmyjane

Diamond Products, a pleasure product-centric holdings company, has announced the acquisition of Jimmyjane. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Jimmyjane sits right at the intersection of sex toys and technology, developing next-generation pleasure products like the Form 6 vibrator and the HelloTouch vibrating finger pads. Not only do these products integrate tech-inspired design practices, such as wireless charging and minimalism, but they get the job done.

Trust me.

Diamond Products, in conjunction with a NYC private equity firm Brookstone Partners, has also acquired Pipedream Products, another sex toy, lingerie, pleasure product comapny.

The two companies (Jimmyjane and Pipedream) will now work together to “bring pleasure to the people.”

Here’s the full press release:

Diamond Products, in conjunction with a New York private equity firm, has made its second acquisition in the adult pleasure products industry in less than a year. Diamond approached Jimmyjane, the award-winning lifestyle brand known for reimagining the industry through design and innovation, to capitalize on the growing premium Sexual Wellbeing market. Together as part of Diamond, Jimmyjane and Pipedream Products aim to shape the future of the category as the world’s leading manufacturer of pleasure products.

With knowledge and experience gained over the last decade, Jimmyjane creates exceptional products that wow and delight its customers around the world. More than just a coveted brand, Jimmyjane embodies the team’s passion for pushing the limits of design, quality and innovation. Award-winning designer Ethan Imboden founded the company in 2004 with the goal of bringing “Pleasure to the People” – and reshaping the sex products market along the way. He and his team leveraged unprecedented design, engineering and marketing to achieve their goal of making exceptional pleasure products broadly available – both in top “sex positive” retail environments, as well as through mainstream distribution. Today, Jimmyjane products are globally renowned for their exceptional performance, durability and design. The company is credited for its leading role in reorienting the global conversation around pleasure products, and has become known in the media as “the Apple of sex toys”.

Nick Orlandino, CEO of Diamond Products commented “Jimmyjane is an exceptionally rare brand. Rare in the unique quality and design of its products, but also in the vision that has been executed over the last decade. I am very pleased that Ethan and the Jimmyjane team believe that our group is best able to ensure the continuity of this vision and the ongoing growth of the brand. Together we share the same values of quality and intense customer focus. I am convinced that our group will prove a good home and can help realize the significant future potential of Jimmyjane.”

Ethan Imboden, Founder and Chairman of Jimmyjane commented “We’re excited about this next step for Jimmyjane. Both our company and industry have come a very long way in the past 10 years. With the strength of Diamond behind Jimmyjane, we’ll be able to take our mission of bringing “Pleasure to the People” to an entirely different scale. Nick and the Diamond team respect the customer- and design-centric values, approach and attention to detail that are the foundation of Jimmyjane, and will be great partners in growing the brand’s reach and amplifying its message.”

This acquisition is a key facet of Diamond Products’ long-term growth strategy and offers the group a leadership position in the premium pleasure products market with one of the world’s best known specialty brands. Jimmyjane will continue to operate separately, maintaining its product development, creative, online, sales and day-to-day operations teams at its corporate headquarters in San Francisco.

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Google I/O Developer Conference Set for Mid-June

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Google reportedly offered to acquire WhatsApp for $10 billion

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Glove's new Android app finds the best cellphone carrier near you

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Yahoo Wants to Develop a Better Siri

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Email Enhancer Hop Launches iPad App

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This Homemade Cozy Coupe Ecto1 Is Unofficially Awesome

Samsung's Android-powered Galaxy Camera 2 ships next month for $450

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The Reinvented Tamagotchi: Bright, Flashy and Just as Needy

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9flats Founder Steps Down From CEO As Hamburg-Based Airbnb Competitor Breaks Even

9flats, an early European competitor to Airbnb and others in the holiday rentals space, has seen a change of guard. Founder Stephan Uhrenbacher has stepped down as CEO and “stepped up” to Chair of the Hamburg-based startup’s Advisory Board. He’s being replaced by Roman Bach, who, for the past two years, has been 9flats’ head of biz dev and marketing and a key player in the company’s growth.

The news also comes at a time when the 2011-founded startup — backed by the likes of eVentures, T-Venture, and Redpoint — says it’s reached break-even and positioned for profitability. However, 9flats is also being refreshingly candid about the market dynamics of the holiday rentals “sharing economy”, of which the startup was an earlier player.

Specifically, it notes that 9flats “quickly found itself in an aggressive market environment, shaped by financial investors placing lots of money with imitators and foreign companies”. This, along with unwanted pressure from the traditional hotel lobby — who are unhappy with the P2P rental model used by 9flats, Airbnb et al — has made it a challenging space to be in. The rising advertising rates in the tourism sector is also mentioned.

In this context, breaking even and on track for profitability, then, is being lauded as an achievement. But the market constraints also explain in part why Stephan Uhrenbacher, who previously founded and sold Qype, is taking a back seat. He’s also being refreshingly straight talking, telling me it was always his intention to get 9flats to a certain stage but concedes that the business is smaller than planned.

“Yes it is no Qype,” he says when I make the comparison. “But there will be several players in short stays. Now being profitable, 9flats will be one of them. At the same time it makes sense for Roman who has proven he can run this business to do that and for me to work on new projects,” he adds.

Those “new projects” will be via his startup builder Upspring Holding which had a hand in kicking off 9flats and, I gather, Qype before it. In that sense, it’s business as usual for Uhrenbacher. And 9flats, too.

“This young branch is the fastest growing business model in tourism. And 9flats continues to grow faster than the market,” says new CEO Roman Bach in a statement. “Reaching profitability is an important step for our further growth. Yet the next years are not only about profits, but also about continued growth. We’re right on track on that score.”

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Fleksy ramps up iOS keyboard app integration as SDK exits private beta

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Valve's 'Free to Play' is a documentary about pro-gaming's first million-dollar tourney (video)

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Broadcom's new chip brings GPS to smartwatches without killing the battery

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Waze navigation app now reads destinations from iOS and Android calendars

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CMT Artists is an iPhone app designed specially for country music lovers

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Sellsy, The French Sales Management Platform For SMBs, Is Opening New York Office

Sellsy, a French startup that offers a nifty suite of online tools to help businesses manage sales, is making its first push into the U.S. via opening a New York office. Its Software-as-a-Service combines multiple functionality — CRM, ERP, invoicing, purchase management, POS, time tracking and help desk — to enable companies to manage the entire sales process and to monitor key indicators in real-time.

Its pitch to SMBs is that by combing what would typically be separate apps and moving them to the cloud, it’s able to offer a much simpler and more cost-effective solution.

Founded in 2009 in the French coastal city La Rochelle, Sellsy claims 3,700 paying customers, totalling 15,000 users. It says much of its growth currently comes from the international version of its SaaS business management solution, which already accounts for “over” 10% of customers in thirty or so countries. The decision to set-up-shop in the Big Apple is so that the startup can meet this demand and “provide a quality support” to its English speaking users.

“We chose New York for its attractiveness, its affinity with Sellsy model (SaaS and mobile) and local target markets (entrepreneurs, startups, web agencies, design, fashion, technology, communication, etc.). In addition, the State of New York is a market the size of France for the number of companies from which we can spread internationally and provide responsive support in English” says Sellsy co-founder Alain Mevellec in a statement.

Situated in the heart of Manhattan, Sellsy says its U.S. office will open this April where it will initially recruit 2-3 staff.

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Sony laser pico projector module beams out focus-free HD images

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Garmin's Fenix 2 GPS watch can track your sporting life and talk to your phone

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38 SXSW 2014 Panels You Can't Miss

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Garmin's Fenix 2 May Be the World's Best Adventure and Training Watch

Whatsapp ha costado más que la NASA

Los 19.000 millones de dólares en efectivo y acciones en los que está valorada la compra de Whatsapp por parte de Facebook superan el presupuesto de la NASA para 2014, cifrado en 17.650 millones de dólares. [Fuente: @CarolynPorco]

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Google opens official Chromecast support forum

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Your Whispers and Secrets Aren't as Private as You Think

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Microsoft Replaces Office Web Apps With Office Online

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0,000548579909067 u

Esta es la medida más precisa de la masa del electrón que se haya obtenido nunca; es trece veces más precisa que la que se usaba hasta ahora.

El valor exacto es 0,000548579909067(14)(9)(2) «donde los números entre paréntesis corresponden respectivamente a la incertidumbre estadística, sistemática y teórica». El valor se mide en unidades de asa atómica unificada, con el símbolo u aunque a veces se usa también Da (dalton).

Expresado de otra forma, esa masa es de unos 9,109 × 10^-28 gramos.

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Make the world your instrument with Mogees and a smartphone (video)

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CloudLock Launches A Fully Cloud-Based Selective Encryption Product

Cloud security startup CloudLock will launch new encryption product to make it easier for service-as-a-service and cloud platforms to protect sensitive data. Called CloudLock Selective Encryption, the product’s launch comes a few weeks after CloudLock announced that it had raised $16.5 million in Series C funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $28.2 million. It will make its public debut next week at the 2014 RSA Conference in San Francisco.

CloudLock Selective Encryption will protect data on the two platforms, Salesforce.com and Google Apps, that CloudLock currently covers, as well as new cloud service providers the startup signs up as it expands.

Cloud traffic is expected to reach a total of 7.7 zettabytes, or two-thirds of global data center traffic, by 2017. For SaaS and cloud platforms, rapid growth also presents a significant security challenge because certain types of information have to protected in specific ways to meet compliance laws and regulations. This data includes personal information; credit card data; medical records protected under the HIPAA privacy law; and intellectual property.

By making it easier for customers to provide higher levels of security for just the data that requires it, CloudLock Selective Encryption can help cloud service companies scale up more efficiently while complying with security regulations.

CloudLock Selective Encryption looks for sensitive data and then automatically encrypts it to meet compliance laws without affecting the app’s performance. The product can be used for either end-user and corporate-governed encryption, and it protects data that is being uploaded to the cloud, as well data that is already in storage.

In a statement, CloudLock CTO and co-founder Ron Zalkind said: “We’ve heard from hundreds of our customers that the gateway-based and reverse-proxy solutions out there require heavy deployments, are highly prone to breaking cloud apps, and are often unavailable from mobile apps. CloudLock is provisioned completely in the cloud, in minutes.”

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The Secret to Password Security Could Lie in Your Social Network

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