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Motorcycle helmets get smarter with Skully AR-1

As you cruise down the highway on your motorcycle, haven’t you ever wished that you could check out maps and important information without having to pull over to the side of the road and read an actual map or check your smartphone? Well, “the world’s smartest motorcycle helmet”, the Skully AR-1 is about to become a reality, bringing you a heads-up display (HUD), GPS navigation and a rearview camera to help you become more aware of your surroundings.



The Skully may just be the first motorcycle helmet that can project transparent displays onto your line of sight while riding your bike. But why would you even need this kind of gadget you ask? Well for one, it is equipped with GPS navigation and can be of great help when you’re in an unfamiliar place or you’re trying to find a specific location. The wide-angle rear view camera gives you a situational awareness that you do not experience with an ordinary bike helmet.


The helmet itself is lightweight and water-resistant and has an anti-fog, anti-glare and anti-scratch visor. It can be connected to your smartphone as well through Bluetooth and you’ll be able to access the Internet through it as well. Developers can also create apps for it through Skully Synapse, an open SDK program. It can also allow you to make hands-free calls and stream music from your phone to your helmet.




Although some of the features sound pretty distracting and dangerous if you’re actually on the road, it apparently has a safety certification from the DOT/ECE. The project is still up on crowd-funding site IndieGoGo although they have already reached 311% of their target, with 29 days left to go. Beta-testing has been ongoing for selected participants and if you would like to pre-order the Skully, you can visit their website.


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SOURCE: IndieGoGo


NVIDIA plans for “Denver”, a 64-bit version of Tegra K1

With the relatively good feedback coming from the performance of the Tegra K1 chip, NVIDIA is not resting on its laurels and is moving forward with what looks to be the company’s bet for the near-future’s Android chip – the dual-core 64-bit version of the NVIDIA Tegra K1, codename “Denver”.



Making its claims as the first 64-bit ARM processor for Android (Qualcomm, with the Snapdragon 410, might have something to say about that), NVIDIA says that Denver would probably outperform most quad and octa-core SoCs in the market today. In fact, the company even goes to say that it can match desktop processors in certain tasks.


Those are very confident claims coming from NVIDIA, whose Denver chip runs only two cores. The difference might be in that each core will have7-way superscalar microarchitecture – which in street terms would mean, up to seven concurrent operations can be run on each clock. That’s a drastic improvement from any chip out in the market today.


NVIDIA is also banking on Dynamic Code Optimization, a structure that will figure out optimal routines for different apps and then save them in a dedicated 128MB cache. That means less work on re-optimization, more speed. This 64-bit version of the Tegra K1 will be pin-for-pin compatible with the 32-bit version, which means OEMs won’t have to redesign boards that much.


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In the end, the main issue will always be performance boosts for the consumer. NVIDIA is already banking on energy efficiency with the Tegra K1. We should know more about processor speeds and the needed RAM combos for Denver as ship date approaches.


VIA: SlashGear





HTC Butterfly 2 has BoomSound, Duo Camera and IP57 protection

Already launched in Japan as HTC J Butterfly HTL23, the smartphone is now leaked as Butterfly 2 for Asia-Pacific market. According to the few pictures from upleaks, HTC Butterfly 2 has the same design as the Japan version, comes in Rouge, Canvas and Indigo color.



Although there isn’t detail hardware specs from the source, we can assume that the Butterfly 2 will also feature the same specs – a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz quad core processor (MSM8974AC), 5-inch Full HD S-LCD3 display, dual camera, dual-tone flash LED, IPX5/IPX7 waterproof, IP5X dust proof 2GB RAM, 32GB internal storage and microSDXC card slot.


The dual camera on the Butterfly 2 is different from the pair on the HTC One M8 flagship model. Instead of two 4.1 megapixel Ultrapixel camera sensor, the Butterfly 2 is paring a 13 megapixel and another 2 megapixel camera sensor. You can still find HTC's Duo Camera features like UFocus and Duo Effects on Butterfly 2 version.


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HTC J Butterfly HTL23 specification


- Android 4.4.x

- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz quad core (MSM8974AC)

- Display: 5-inch Full HD S-LCD3

- Size: 70 x 145 x 10 mm

- Weight: 156g

- Battery: 2700 mAh

- 2GB RAM / 32GB ROM

- 13 megapixel + 2 megapixel camera

- 5 megapixel front facing camera

- microSDXC card slot (up to 128GB)

- Bluetooth 4.0 / NFC / IRDA

- WiFi a/b/g/n/ac

- NFC

- IPX5/IPX7 waterproof, IP5X dust proof (see here)


While there is no info on the availability date for the Butterfly 2, the J Butterfly HTL23 in Japan will be available by end of this month. HTC Butterfly 2 should be ready to be announced anytime!


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SOURCE: upleaks


Dropbox update for Android has better search, doc preview

If like millions of other people, cloud data storage services like Dropbox have become an essential part of your school, work or personal life, then every new update surely excites you (or is it just us?). The app for Android has announced update 2.4.3 which now adds built-in previews for your documents as well as a redesigned search function to make it easier to look for the files that you need.



One thing that has been missing from the previous Dropbox versions is the ability to have a preview of your files so you can check them out first without actually opening it. So the developers have listened and now you’ll have a much easier time looking at your documents without having to go out of Dropbox to open them. You’ll now be able to view, scroll and zoom in on your Word, powerpoint and PDF files.


In terms of search, they have overhauled the search system and design and added a few new features, like the ability to search in specific folders and your search box highlighting the names of matching files and folders even while you’re doing your search. It also now keeps track of your past searches in case you want to look at them again. And since this is now a smarter search feature, it makes typehead suggestions to help you along in your search.


Another new feature for Dropbox for Business users is the option to set view-only permissions for folders that you have shared, so that no one can edit the files that are in there. Dropbox for Android update 2.4.3 is rolling out today and if you haven’t yet gotten one on your device, you can download it for free from the Google Play Store.





New CM11S 30O update for OnePlus One rolls out

Owners of the highly-acclaimed OnePlus One smartphone can expect a new version of their CyanogenMod 11 Android OS to roll out starting today, as OnePlus has announced that the new update has rolled out via OTA. This latest update brings the Android 4.4.4 KitKat to the One, including tweaks, fixes and updated apps and features – including a new camera feature called “Clear Image”.



The new update, now tagged as CM11S-XNPH30O, brings a number of new features to the One Plus One, but it is also bringing a number of bug fixes as well – most prominent among these a fix for the proximity sensors to prevent activation of screen while in your pockets. That in itself was a huge battery drain, and so that fix was certainly needed. Check below for a comprehensive list of bug fixes.



- Upgraded to Android 4.4.4

- Updated to new versions of Google apps

- Added Clear Image

- Added new (colder) calibration for the screen

- Proximity sensor prevents activation of off-screen gestures while in your pocket

- Capacitive touch keys supported in the recovery mode

- Increased capacitive button illumination

- Improved overall stability

- Fixed issues with vibration being disabled during Quiet Hours

- Fixed lockscreen not updating the track information during music playback

- Fixed microphone volume for all formats in the Voice Recorder app

- Fixed “OK, Google” not triggering voice search in Google Now

- Fixed Viber calls not working

- Fixed battery percent not updating in custom lock screens

- Fixed PicasaSync

- Fixed Camera “O” gesture activating lockscreen instead of triggering camera

- Fixed wallpapers not applying in full screen, taking the wrong size when cropping, etc



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A new feature is also coming on to your OnePlus One – Clear Image, which is basically HDR mode on steroids. The mode interlaces 10 different photos of the same subject and radically improves clarity and detail on your images. Pretty nifty. Another new feature is the addition of a “colder” screen calibration for our device.


The update just rolled out today, so it might take a while for it to reach you – our way of saying that yes, even though you were one of the lucky ones to get a OnePlus One phone, you still have to wait for your update. One question of this is if CyanogenMod will be rolling out the same features to their CM11 nightlies. Seems unlikely at best, but we can sure hope.


SOURCE: One Plus





HTC finally brings Desire 816, 610 to US shores

After months of teasing, HTC is finally bringing its mainstream midrange handsets to the US – the HTC Desire 816 and the Desire 610. HTC had pointed out that it was the lack of options from them for the midrange market that caused a downturn in the company’s 2013 performance, and these phones are now here to address that need, which were previously available only for the European and Asian markets.



The Desire 816 is the glitzier of the pair, owing to a better spec sheet. The phone is almost at par with the company’s flagship line, sporting a 1.6GHz quadcore Snapdragon processor paired with 1.5GB of RAM. Those will push pixels to a 5.5-inch 1280x720 HD display, while having 8GB of internal storage. The Desire 816 is one of those phones which can accept a large quantity microSD card, expandable to 128GB. It also carries a 13MP main shooter, although it is devoid of the UltraPixel technology found in the HTC One M8.


The Desire 610 will target the mode budget-centric users out there, but it is by no means a pushover. It has a 4.7-inch 854 x 480 display, with a 1.2GHz quadcore Snapdragon processor and 1GB of memory in the background. It also has 8GB of storage, with an 8MP main camera that can record 1080p video.


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Both phones are getting HTC’s patented BoomSound speakers, a feature to please those audio-oriented. Both will also carry the HTC Sense 6 UI with BlinkFeed over the Android 4.4 KitKat OS. It looks like Virgin Mobile users will be the first to get a crack at both phones, although we’re pretty sure other carriers will have them in their lineups sooner than later.


VIA: SlashGear





Moto G2 (or G+1) rumored to be available by September 10

The Moto G2 or G+1 (the official name is still unknown) is rumored to be available in the market by next month, according to one of the retailers who received the news from Motorola themselves. The 5-inch smartphone is being touted as the successor to the Moto G, called by some as the best Android phone for under $200.



According to the retailer, the Moto G2 can be officially purchased at retail stores by September 10. Some retailers will actually receive the units by end of this month, but may or may not be allowed to sell them before the official release date. There has been much anticipation for this new smartphone from Motorola and the continuous leaks have fuelled the excitement. What we know so far is that it will have a 720p display on its 5-inch screen and it will be running on a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 CPU and Adreno 305 GPU with a Snapdragon 400 chipset.


The Moto G2 is rumored to have an 8 megapixel main camera that will allow 720p video recording and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera that will let you take selfies and video chat with your loved ones. It is expected to have 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage (with possible microSD expansion), which is not much compared to the newest smartphone models, but for its price range, it should be good enough.


As for its price, in Britain it is expected to retail at around €250 (that’s around USD$340) so it is a bit more expensive than the Moto G which was priced at $179. If the September 10 shipping date is true, then the Moto G2 (or G+1) will probably be announced at the upcoming IFA in the first week of September.


VIA: GSM Arena





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