Posted: 26 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT
Love beer? Check out Brewbot, an automated brewing system which allows amateur to pro craft brewers to concoct their own infusions with just the use of their smartphones. This drinking companion is partnered with an app that guides the user from the beginning of the brewing process to the end. Beer enthusiasts can add and perk up their concoctions through an iPhone app, transmitted through Bluetooth wireless technology and is controlled through Arduino.
This smart machine is created by Cargo, a multidisciplinary collective of developers and designers hailing from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Brewbot can control and monitor one’s own concoction, making every DIY beer craftsman feel like a pro.
Cargo states that “the whole process is pretty simple.” The user can buy their preferred ingredients from a local or online shop. Then they can set up their recipe in Brewbot’s app and connect the iPhone to the Brewbot machine. Users can pick from pre-installed recipes and to start brewing, they only need to tap the “start brew” button. The Brewbot automatically mixes the beer for them, adding the exact amount of water to be heated and mixed with the grain inside the mashtun.
The pint-sized automatic brewing system is armed with temperature and load sensors, as well as flow meters to guide the user from the beginning to the end of the brewing process. Sensors assist the automatic program as the Brewbot communes with the iPhones wirelessly. The app in return supplies all the necessary instructions, such as adding the grain on the brewing day and the length of time the users have to wait for fermentation.
When it comes to numbers, the Brewbot can create 5 gallons of beer each batch. However, the device is also flexible as it allows batch sparging and non-sparging methods, circulating the water through the grain bed and reduces the brew time.
With Brewbeer, one can have a custom-made concoction made by the user, for the user. This item is available for purchase atBrewbot.io.
The post Brewbot Brews Craft Beers Through Smartphone appeared first on TechBeat.
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Posted: 26 Oct 2013 05:00 AM PDT
Recently, Google launched Google Maps Engine Pro, a cloud-based software tool designed to allow businesses to put in order data such as warehouse locations, shipping routes and sales territories when a spreadsheet or a database will not suffice.
The idea is to assist companies to gain more value out of the location-based data they own. If that data can be plotted on a map, it will be easier for business owners to make decisions, Google executives said Monday during a media briefing at the company’s offices in San Francisco. It is bringing “the consumer experience with Maps, but bringing a more powerful form of mapping to successful business owners,” said Vice President of Google Maps, Brian McClendon.
With Maps Engine Pro, companies can import data from various file formats, such as addresses, names, office locations and sales leads etc onto a map, which can then be edited and shared to anyone working at the company. The maps are customizable, too. For example, companies can use different coloured pins to show various points of interest or add text to parts of the map. Businesses are not confined to keeping the data just within the company. They can share their maps with as many people as they want, just the same as Google Docs files. But the data behind the maps is secure, according to Google. The tool is built on Google’s existing account systems, so users can choose security options such as two-factor authentication to keep others from accessing the data, the company said.
Greater than 50 percent of U.S. companies already use some Web-based mapping, according to Google, but less than 5 percent of employees can access that data. Google says it wants to change the process. “We want to move maps from a read-only experience to do-it-yourself understanding, share it, and make it a public experience,” said Vinay Goel, director of global product management for Google Maps for Business. The product is designed to assist any company that has a small or medium-sized amount of business location data. It is built on top of Google’s Maps Engine platform, which is designed for power users and businesses working with large amounts of data and more complex maps.
Google Maps Engine Pro costs $5 per month, or $50 per year. It is launching next Monday on both desktop and Android-based devices; Available at the Google Maps for Business website and in the Google Play Store, respectively. Unfortunately for mobile Apple users, there is no iOS version yet.
[Image via thenextweb]
The post Google Maps Engine Pro For Businesses appeared first on TechBeat.
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Posted: 26 Oct 2013 04:00 AM PDT
Cyclists, rejoice! You now have a way of communication on the roadside without your hands leaving the brakes. Korean designer and IT innovators at Lee Myung Su Studio has created a one of a kind bag pack that can help bikers go around the traffic. With the use of LED lights, the user can signal different traffic signs and illuminate it at the back of their knapsack. This item is dubbed as the “SEIL Bag” and is currently posted on Kickstarter for an $80,000 funding goal.
The SEIL bag is a part of a revolution in what Lee calls “wearable IT.” This item has started its streamline manufacturing since its debut in 2010, and is coupled with the release of a mobile app, now available on Android-based phones. With a simple interface, this app allows the user to wirelessly transmit the message on the LED system.
An essential tool for conveying the messages is the wireless controller; this is a small, round component which can be attached to the bike handles. The user can easily display their signals at their desired time. There are three buttons available in the controller: the stop, emergency and message.
Lee Myung Su Studio makes use of the Bluetooth 2.0 technology, with a waterproof LED display and bendable canvass for complete flexibility. With the combined used of the app and the controller, SEIL bag can emit many basic signals as well as customized messages for those who are around the user. There are two modes in which this bag can be used in: the driving mode and the emotion mode. Cyclists can turn left and right safely using the driving mode. However, the emotion mode puts the cool factor in the bag for its wide variety of emoticons.
Other than the bag pack, this product also available in two different designs: the hipsack and pouch. Lee Myung Su Studio won their Red Dot Design Award in 2010 for the SEIL bag under the category Design Concept.
 
[Images via Lee Myung Su's Kickstarter]
The post Cyclists’ SEIL Bag Signals LED Traffic Signs appeared first on TechBeat.
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Posted: 26 Oct 2013 03:00 AM PDT
Police in Manchester, UK, have made the discovery of what could be the UK’s first ever 3D printed firearm factory, but some claim that the parts are actually spare parts for a printer. However, police believe the parts actually represent the “next generation” of firearms, which can be created by organized crime members and smuggled, with ease, because they can avoid X-ray detection.
However, reports have since emerged that the parts might actually be spare parts for a printer and not a 3D firearm after all and Police may have jumped the gun after suggesting they had found what could be the UK’s first ever 3D printed firearm. The seizure was initially described as “a really significant discovery” and was part of a much-heralded crackdown on organised crime, Operation Challenger, launched by Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
But only a few hours later GMP released a second statement about the raid in which Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood said: “We need to be absolutely clear that, at this stage, we cannot categorically say we have recovered the component parts for a 3D gun.” That statement came after the shop owner whose premises were raided proclaimed his innocence. The 38-year-old businessman was released on police bail an hour after answering questions by officers over the alleged “gun” parts. Police raided his model-making shop yesterday, confiscating his 3D printer and a few hours later informed the media that officers had seized what they suspected to be a 3D plastic magazine and trigger which could be fitted together to make a viable 3D gun. But speaking on condition of anonymity, shop owner “Andrew” said the supposed trigger and magazine for bullets were actually parts of the printer, which he uses to make models.
Head of 3D printing firm Revolv3D, Scott Crawford, told PC Pro that he recognised the parts from a 3D printer. “As soon as I saw the picture… I instantly thought ‘I know that part’. They designed an upgrade for the printer soon after it was launched, and most people will have downloaded and upgraded this part within their printer. It basically pulls the plastic filament, and it used to jam an awful lot.”
3D printers use layers of molten plastic to produce 3D shapes of whatever design has been downloaded. The model parts can then be converted to become anything – including, in some documented cases, a genuine firearm capable of firing live ammunition.
The parts were discovered, along with a 3D printer, when officers from Greater Manchester Police executed a series of warrants in the Bagley area yesterday. Police found what they suspect to be a 3D plastic magazine and trigger which could be fitted together to make a viable weapon. If the parts are found to be viable components for a 3D gun, this would then be the first ever seizure of this kind in the UK, police said.
However, in light of the information ascertained, the assistant chief Constable was forced to amend his initial statement only a few hours later: ”What we have seized are items that need further forensic testing by national ballistics experts to establish whether they can be used in the construction of a genuine, viable firearm… We will also be conducting a thorough analysis of computers we have recovered to establish any evidence of a blueprint on how to construct such a weapon…Clearly the fact we have seized a 3D printer and have intelligence about the possible production of a weapon using this technology is of concern. It’s prudent we establish exactly what these parts can be used for and whether they pose any threat…What this has also done is open up a wider debate about the emerging threat these next generation of weapons might pose…The worrying thing is for me is that these printers can be used to make certain components of guns, while others can be legitimately ordered over the Internet without arousing suspicion. When put together, this could allow a person to construct a firearm in their own home.”
[Image via +BBCNews]
The post 3D Printed ‘Gun’ Parts Seized By Police appeared first on TechBeat.
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Sunday 27 October 2013
Brewbot Brews Craft Beers Through Smartphone
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