Posted: 31 Oct 2013 07:00 AM PDT
How many times have you visited what seems like dozens of websites to gather reams of data regarding your travel plans before you actually settle down to finding the right deal? Even then you just want to check a few more sites to see “if” you can gain a better deal. Wanderio wants you to stop searching for the unobtainable deal at the end of the rainbow immediately and actually help you book all you need for your European trip.
Wanderio wants to be your one stop shop. The Italian startup allows you enter any two addresses worldwide, it then shows you the cheapest and most convenient combination of either: planes, trains and or automobiles to get the job done! Wanderio emerged from private beta and launched publicly at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin. Booking travel can make even the strongest nerved person have decision paralysis! With so many different ways to get from A 2 B, it can be tough to complete your plans with confidence in your final decision (Is this the best, shortest, cheapest, most economical way to get there?).
Wanderio’s co-founder Disheng Qiu has been through this travel trauma himself. He was living in Rome; all the while his girlfriend lived in Amsterdam. The distance was brutal and Disheng didn’t want to bankrupt himself or spending his life constantly on the move. In Europe, flights can be cheap, but ground transport is expensive and coupled with numerous airports in major cities, the distance from touchdown to final destination can vary widely. Lisheng needed to create something and so Wanderio was born. The developer and computer science PhD began building it with co-founders CEO Matteo Colò, a management Masters, and CTO Luca Rossi, another CS PhD.
The 8-person team has remarkably bootstrapped the company for a two year period so far, but is now looking to close a round of about €150,000. Wanderio launched its private beta in back in June, but now has opened the service to everyone. The service works worldwide, but has the furthest reaching options which are indexed for European travel.
The interface for Wanderio will be familiar to anyone who has used Kayak or similar sites. Rather than entering your start and end city or airport, you can enter exact addresses, thereby creating a completely tailored service. Wanderio then calculates all the travel combination and informs you of the best routes in visual timelines. Each leg of the journey displays the price and travel time and is colour. It’s built web first, but has a tablet-optimized mobile site with future plans for native applications. Wanderio allows you to filter results by price, duration, or even CO2 emissions for the eco-conscious among you. You pick a route and then you lock in each leg of the journey’s specifics. When you are finally ready to book, Wanderio redirects you to the airline, train, and taxi/shuttle sites to pay for your purchases. That last part is somewhat bothersome, but the team does eventually hope to strike up some deal integrations with its partners so you can purchase tickets straight from Wanderio.
The startup earns its money from referral fees. From flights it’s just a small 1%, for trains it varies from 5% to 7%, but on ground transportation it can be as high as 10% or 15%. Taxis and shuttles are “Those are services without much exposure on the Internet…so they are willing to pay high referral fees”, Wanderio CTO Luca Rossi, said. In the Long-term, Wanderio is hoping to find people accommodation and events whilst on their trip, such as museums to concerts.
The competition from Waymate, GoEuro, etc is strong, but Wanderio hopes to win by focusing on the door-to-door experience including ground connections. Unfortunately so does fellow journey planner RouteRank.
[Image via: htmlinspiration]
The post Wanderio Book Your Complete Euro Trip appeared first on TechBeat.
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Posted: 31 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT
According to the Wall Street Journal, their sources who have inside information on Google’s hardware plans have revealed that the firm is in the final stages of producing its very first smartwatch. The anonymous sources have apparently claimed that the smartwatch is nearly ready for mass production and could soon be available on the mass market.
In mid-October a report said that Google’s smartwatch would be coming “sooner rather than later” and had been codenamed Gem. Rumours had claimed that it could potentially be released at the same time as the Nexus 5 smartphone but if the Wall Street Journal’s sources are correct and production has not yet started, then it is unlikely that we’ll see them released together.
There have been no leaked images of Google’s Gem and with smartwatches being a big news recently thanks to Pebble and the Galaxy Gear, no doubt everyone is keen to see what Google will bring to the table.It is expected that it will make full use of Google Now, enabling users to keep up to date with appointments, calender entries, traffic and travel information, as well as weather reports and personal business information.
One obstacle of the smartwatch that Google are keen to overcome is the poor battery life. So far Pebble is leading the way due to the fact that it does not have a colour screen. The Wall Street Journal Sources claim that Google are working hard to extend the battery life of the Gem by reducing power consumption.
So now that we know we don’t have long to wait, the question will be whether it will live up to the hype?
[Image via theverge]
The post Google Smartwatch Enters Final Production! appeared first on TechBeat.
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Posted: 31 Oct 2013 05:00 AM PDT
When I first saw an ad for Livescribe some years ago, I remember thinking just how good kids these days have it. Back in the day, we had to be creative to find out ways to jot down notes as fast as our professors in school spat out ideas. Today, students can use tablets, laptops, phones, and Livescribe pens to take care of that. And for those who actually like to write notes the old school way – pen and paper – but also appreciate the power of technology, there is the Livescribe 3 Smartpen.
The core idea is simple: you write on paper, and what you write will appear on your screen. Just like magic, huh?
Of course, the magical aspect is based on technology, and part of that requires you having Anoto-based Livescribe Dot paper. Unfortunately, you can’t just use any kind of notebook.
Right now, the Livescribe 3 pen is only compatible with the iPhone and iPad (running on iOS 7), so if you’re an Android user, you won’t be able to take advantage of this groundbreaking technology. For now. The company has said that the Android version will be available next year.
How does the Livescribe 3 send your handwritten notes to your iOS device?
It uses LE Bluetooth 4.0 (LE = low energy), giving the pen 14 hours of juice. When you run out, you’ll need two hours for a full charge.
For students who like sharing notes (or professionals who have to share – meeting minutes, perhaps), the Livescribe 3 also allows sending documents to others.
You can choose between the Livescribe 3 Smartpen and the Livescribe 3 Smartpen Pro Edition, with the former selling for $149.95 and the latter for $199.95.
[Images via Livescribe & mashable]
The post Livescribe 3 Pen Sends Handwritten Notes Straight To Your iPad appeared first on TechBeat.
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Posted: 31 Oct 2013 04:00 AM PDT
Everyone loves a good police chase; except, well maybe the police and any pedestrians who might be in the area. While high-speed police car chases may be exciting on the big screen, they are anything but exciting to the police officers in real life. More than 360 officers are killed each year as a result of high-speed car chases. Those numbers could be changing in the future, though, thanks to a newer piece of police technology known as the Star Chase System.
What is the Star Chase System?
Admittedly, this new piece of equipment sounds like it’s taken straight out of a science fiction movie. Using a “cannon” mounted in front of the grill on a police cruiser, the Star Chase System uses compressed air to shoot a GPS tag onto a targeted vehicle. Once the GPS tag is attached, dispatchers can continually monitor the whereabouts of the vehicle in question and relay the information to the officers involved. This allows any police who may have been involved in a high-speed car chase to slow down and wait until it is safe to make a stop.
Currently, only 2 states are testing out this equipment: Iowa and Florida. If it proves successful, though, the Star Chase System could undoubtedly save a countless number of lives in all 50 states. It’s not just the police and those they are chasing who are injured or killed, though; it is also any vehicles and pedestrians who find themselves in the middle of the pursuit. If it works, it seems like a no-brainier for every police department in the country to get this equipment. The only problem may be it’s cost effectiveness – each cannon system will reportedly cost around $5000, and that price does not include any of the GPS tags which will cost another $500. This amount will surely be difficult for smaller towns and cities.
To view videos and facts about the Star Chase System, please visit Star Chase’s website. Or you can see their old promo video below-it has aged a bit though!
The post Star Chase System: GPS Bullets for Car Chases appeared first on TechBeat.
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Posted: 31 Oct 2013 03:00 AM PDT
A British man has been arrested and charged with hacking into different US government networks and then stealing “massive quantities” of confidential data.
28 year old, British hacker Lauri Love, was arrested by representatives of the recently launched National Cyber Crime Unit of the National Crime Agency (NCA) in Stradishall, Suffolk, last Friday and subsequently charged with one count of accessing a US department or agency computer without authorisation and one count of conspiring to do the same. According to an indictment, which was filed in New Jersey, the attacks took place over the last year, between October 2012 and October 2013. During this period, Love and associates allegedly hacked into thousands of networks and systems and placed hidden back doors within them. This allowed them to return at a later date and then pilfer confidential data. The data included the personally identifiable information of members of the military forces.
The attackers communicated using IRC chats to locate and then identify vulnerable systems. These systems they were able to access by identifying weaknesses in the Coldfusion web application platform that is used by some of the affected government agencies, it is claimed. Love and associates attempted to conceal IP addresses by launching the attacks using proxy and Tor servers, all the while the suspects used multiple identities to communicate with each other. Love now faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if he is convicted, as well as a fine of up to $250,000. The arrest followed a joint investigation, which was led by the US army’s Criminal Investigation Command: Computer Crime Investigative Unit and the FBI. They accused Love of accessing networks belonging to the US Army, NASA, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Missile Defence Agency, thereby causing millions of dollars in damages.
US attorney Paul J Fishman said, “According to the indictment, Lauri Love and conspirators hacked into thousands of networks, including many belonging to the United States military and other government agencies…As part of their alleged scheme, they stole military data and personal identifying information belonging to servicemen and women. Such conduct endangers the security of our country and is an affront to those who serve.”
The US Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Computer Crime Investigative Unit praised UK authorities for their assistance in the arrest. The unit’s director Daniel Andrews said, “The borderless nature of Internet-based crime underscores the need for robust law enforcement alliances across the globe…We appreciate the bilateral support of the National Crime Agency in bringing cyber criminals to justice.”
[Image via http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478407/British-Lauri-Love-charged-hacking-US-systems.html]
The post British Hacker Charged With Infiltrating US Government appeared first on TechBeat.
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Posted: 31 Oct 2013 02:00 AM PDT
There has been a boom in the number of mobile apps that allow users to shoot, edit and then share their videos. With the release of video for Instagram came a number of new social video apps, one of which was Magisto, who created an app that was designed to take existing videos stored on a computer or phone and turn them into a mix of interesting videos.
Although initially Magisto seemed to be lagging behind all the other startup social video apps, it appears that the company has caught up after posting incredible growth. Now it has managed to raise $13 million and plans to unlock all the world’s videos and photos, making them sharable.
The funds raised have come from two major strategic investors – Qualcomm Ventures and Sandisk, who will join with existing investors Magma Venture Partner and Li Ka Shing’s Horizons Ventures.
Currently the 13 million users won over by Magisto are able to create sharable videos and photo slideshows from their existing videos and photos. These can then be shared on social networks or individuals. All of this is made possible by proprietary algorithms, which piece together multiple video and photo assests.
However, there is more potential for peoples’ videos and photos as Magisto’s CEO and co-founder Oren Boiman points out:
“Not [even] 1% of this material has ever left its SD card,” he wrote by email. “If Magisto can mobilize a few percent of this huge data, internet will be entirely different and it will shift the focus onto what is what actually important to us, our life experiences, our shared memories, our stories.”
It begins to make sense why Qualcomm and Sandisk would invest in this project, seeing as they make the chips and storage products where all of these unused photos and videos are kept.
[Image via Pandodaily]
The post Qualcomm & Sandisk Support Plan To Unlock World’s Videos appeared first on TechBeat.
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Friday 1 November 2013
Wanderio Book Your Complete Euro Trip
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