Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:00 AM PST
Cozy, the online tool for both landlords and tenants, are announcing that Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield has joined its board of directors. Butterfield has actually known Cozy co-founder and CEO Gino Zahnd from when they worked together at Flickr.
With that background relationship and having knowledge of Butterfield’s family background in the real estate business (his father worked in development, his mother was an agent), Zahnd started asking for feedback. Eventually, he invited Butterfield to join the board.
The two of them recorded a video talking about the news in which Butterfield explains why he’s excited about the company, below is a transcript excerpt:
I think there’s a huge opportunity here. I mean, there’s no one really working on the rental experience for the small landlords — there’s the big corporate stuff, but the vast majority of people who are renting a home, a place where they live, are renting from someone who just has a very small number of properties. … It’s also one of those spaces where the big wave of fantastic software that we’ve been seeing over the last 10 years or so hasn’t really touched yet.
The goal of Cozy is to take the antiquated and inefficient aspect of the rental process and move them into the 21st century online. The company’s services include the ability for landlords to collect rent online, to manage payments from multiple roommates and also screen tenants. Cozy makes its money by charging landlords a $9 monthly fee (following a 60 day free trial).
Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield
Butterfield said Cozy is the only board he’s serving on now. Apparently he likes being on boards because it allows him to see “the other side” and not just the founder’s perspective. Interestingly he is currently founder and CEO at Tiny Speck. When he was asked about Cozy’s biggest challenge moving forward, Butterfield said it’s “pretty boring”, namely, distribution. “Landlords”, he noted, don’t really form a “natural community,” so Cozy will have to do a lot of work to make them aware of the product.
The company had previously announced that it is being used by more than 6,000 landlords and renters in more than 500 cities in the US. “That’s a surmountable challenge,” Butterfield said. “It’s just regular marketing.”
[Image via tutorial51]
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Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:00 AM PST
A new rescue robot has been revealed by its’ designers. Named Gimball, this insect-like flying robot can collide and bounce off objects and then right itself, making it perfect for dealing with situations that would be hazardous to humans.
Gimball was designed and built by a team in Switzerland at the Ecole Polytechnique Federerale de Lausanne (EPFL). The aim is to use the robot in disaster situations such as entering burning buildings or areas affected by radiation leaks.
This flying robot moves in a way similar to a mosquito. It has a protective spherical roll-cage and is mounted on to pivots allowing it to stay upright. It is designed to survive crashes and can bounce off walls or trees.
Adrien Briod, Gimball’s co-creator explains the inspiration behind this flying robot: “Usually robots need to move around obstacles, so we thought it would be interesting to allow it to sustain collisions,” he said.
Normally a robot that encounters a collision would then be out of action but designers of Gimball decided that by allowing the robot to collide and bounce of objects, it would solve the problem of out-of-action robots.
The team wanted the robot to be able to deal with the most difficult of terrain. “Our objective was exactly that – to be able to operate where other robots can’t go, such as a building that has collapsed in an earthquake. The on-board camera can provide valuable information to emergency personnel,” Briod said.
Staying Upright
A gyroscopic system means Gimball can stay upright at all times. The system, which includes an accelerometer, is the same type of sensor that smartphones use to determine which way is up.
It is steered by fins and has two propellers, which are battery-driven. The robot is fitted with a motion sensor, camera, altimeter, magnetic compass and micro-controller processor.
At the moment Gimball can be remotely controlled but Adrien Briod wants to incorporate artificial intelligence capabilities so that it can complete tasks on its own.
[Image via Gigaom]
The post Insect-Like Robot Gimball Inspects Disaster Zones appeared first on TechBeat.
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Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:00 AM PST
How does 60Mbps LTE sound? I don’t know about you, but if a carrier can live up to that promise, I’d definitely be switching without a second thought! That’s what Sprint is promising: a whopping 60Mbps LTE connection called “Sprint Spark”.
While everyone was probably caught up in Halloween preparations last week, Sprint made the announcement about Sprint Spark. They even made a live demonstration of their super-high-speed capabilities, which, rather understandably, is only available in select cities for now:New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tampa and Miami.What about the rest of the country? Sprint’s plans for their 60Mbps LTE include a rollout in about 100 American cities in the next three years.
From the Sprint announcement:
Tech gobbledygook aside, what is important is the 50-60 Megabits per second capability of the new technology. It is nothing short of amazing, especially if your carrier’s LTE practically stands for “long term Edge”, as mine seems to be.
We do have to be practical about it, though, as we know just what congestion can do to Internet speeds. Still, it is not uncommon for telcos to continue taking on as many subscribers as they can, and with these very high speed capacities, Sprint may just have gotten more leeway.
Another important thing to take note of: not all mobile phone are going to be able to take advantage of the new technology. Sprint has said that tri-band smartphones compatible with Sprint Spark will be available in the next few weeks. These include HTC One Max, LG G2, Samsung Galaxy Mega™ and Samsung Galaxy S® 4 mini.
Can you imagine having that much speed on your phone? One word: heaven.
[Image via theverge]
The post Sprint Promises 60Mbps LTE appeared first on TechBeat.
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Posted: 04 Nov 2013 02:00 AM PST
The video gaming world just keeps on getting better and better, especially when it comes to mobile gaming. Years ago, gamers had to have a console hooked up to their television set at home or they had to go to an arcade to play the latest games. Now, thanks to the invention of tablets and smartphones, gamers can bring the arcade with them wherever they go. However, one issue seems to stick with mobile gamers – the controller. With touchscreens so sensitive (don’t get me wrong, that’s actually a good thing) sometimes it’s just really hard to play certain games. Just think about how many extra points you could’ve had in Temple Run 2 if your finger hadn’t accidentally made you topple to your death! Or, how many stars could you have earned in Angry Birds Star Wars if that last-second finger twitch hadn’t sent your bird careening off in the wrong direction?
Help Is On The Way
Many mobile gamers have probably asked this question at one time or another: “Why does my finger have to control all of my games?” The good news is that an answer is on the way in the form of the Drone controller. The Drone controller, a product of Evolution Controllers, takes gaming to a whole new level with its ability to play games across multiple gaming platforms, including but not limited to: smartphones, tablets, PC’s, Kindle Fires, and Chromebooks. This would be a welcome change since controllers can get pretty expensive, especially when you have to buy more than one for each system. For those gamers who are also lovers of many colors, the Drone controller will be available in 7 different colors, including red, white, and blue. It will also come equipped with a rechargeable battery. As far as the cost goes, it will cost approximately the same as a normal console controller.
According to the Drone’s website, the controller will have “…dual analog sticks, Dpad, 2 bumpers, 2 triggers, Start, Select + A,B,X,Y buttons.” Indeed it sounds like this controller might resemble major console controllers such as the ones used with the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. This would certainly be a welcome change for anyone who has cursed their finger after it cost them the game.
While drones in the news as of late have been the source of anything but good news, this Drone might just be the start of something great for mobile gamers everywhere. Have a look for yourself at the Drone’s promo video, courtesy of their Kickstarter page.
[Images via Evolutioncontrollers]
The post Drone Controller Controls Almost Any Game appeared first on TechBeat.
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Posted: 04 Nov 2013 01:00 AM PST
In efforts to improve the mental health of veterans and military soldiers, DARPA has launched a $70 million project to create a brain implant that tracks neuron activity and then provides brain data.
A staggering figure of one in nine medical discharges is due to mental illness, according to US Army statistics. This high incidence of mental illness reported among soldiers compared with the general population is not surprising. If you are going to ask people to see and commit unimaginable horrors, it is going impact them in a massively significant way.
DARPA is seeking to understand more about how the brain works in hopes of developing effective therapies for the military and war veterans. The company has announced a new $70 million project called the Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies or Subnets. Subnets is inspired by Deep Brain Stimulation, or DBS. This is a surgical treatment that involves implanting a brain pacemaker in the patient’s skull to interfere with brain activity and apparently, assist with symptoms of diseases like Parkinson’s or epilepsy. DARPA’s device will be similar, but rather than targeting one specific symptom, the device should be able to monitor and analyze data in real time and then issue a specific intervention according to the brains activity.
DARPA program manager Justin Sanchez said, “If Subnets is successful, it will advance neuropsychiatry beyond the realm of dialogue-driven observations and resultant trial and error and into the realm of therapy driven by quantifiable characteristics of neural state…Subnets is a push toward innovative, informed, and precise neurotechnological therapy to produce major improvements in quality of life for service members and veterans who have very few options with existing therapies. These are patients for whom current medical understanding of diseases like chronic pain or fatigue, unmanageable depression or severe post-traumatic stress disorder can’t provide meaningful relief.”
“We’re talking about a whole systems approach to the brain, not a disease-by-disease examination of a single process or a subset of processes,” Sanchez said. “Subnets is going to be a cross-disciplinary, expansive team effort, and the program will integrate and build upon historical DARPA research investments.”
DARPA is collating data from volunteers who are seeking a treatment for unrelated neurological disorders as well as participants of clinical research, to construct models of how the brain behaves in both normal and impaired conditions.
With a focus on post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, borderline personality disorder, major depression, general anxiety disorder, substance abuse and fibromyalgia/chronic pain. The company hopes to have its device ready in five years.
[Image via rt]
The post DARPA Develops Real Time Brain Implant Monitor appeared first on TechBeat.
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Monday 4 November 2013
Cozy Recruits Flickr Co Founder
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