by Lidia Paulinska | Dec 16, 2015
The Connected Car Expo took place in November 17-19 at Marriott Hotel in the downtown Los Angeles. The Press and Trade event that unites automotive and technology professionals in the connected car industry this year again gathered the major top players and media.
In his openings remarks the mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti stated that people are waiting for time that technology liberate them from daily traffic daily and increase the safety they seek on the streets. And, it is the right moment when the technology is embracing the future instead of chasing it away.
Michelle Avary, VP Automotive Product & Strategy at Aeris and CCE Advisory Board member presented Top Ten Automotive Startups. Michelle is also a Founder of Women in Automotive Technology startup, Silicon Valley based networking group. She shared the outline of the selection criteria that CCE Advisory Board use to choose the notable startups in connected cars field. That are four broad categories: safety, mobility, connectivity and autonomous. The Winners of 2015 Top Ten Startups of the New Automotive Industry are: Capio, High Mobility, TriLumina, Getaround, Elio Motors, Sober Steering, Driversiti, Quanergy, Nebula Systems and HopSkipDrive.
Then CCE Emcee Brian Colley, Editor-at-large and host of CNET On Cars, took the stage to address the status of connected cars industry. What is the future of our streets and our cities? It can be called the connected cars era.
For the first time in 2015 an autonomous car drove across U.S. coast-to-coast road trip. On the panel The Long and Winding Road to Autonomous three experts: Prof. Dr. Thomas Form, Head of Electronics and Vehicle Research at Volkswagen, Brian Droessler, VP of Software & Connected Solution at Continental North America and Ph.D. Gary O’Brian, Global Director of Advanced Engineering at Delphi Electronics and safety discussed what the industry has done and what still need to be done in the road to highly automated driving.
What is the future of our streets and our cities?
As we have seen the last few years, it is conversion to digital and electronics devices that have been flowing into the cars. In the next 10 years we will be seeing a change in the information, entertainment, navigation and logistics in our vehicles. There are changes on how we relate to the cars, how we fit with them and what we expect from them. The connected cars are taking their seat at the table in electronic digital connected world and are a part of the Internet of Things (IoT).
When we think about technology, the mental picture that comes to our mind is: smartphones, smartwatches, and tablets. It should be so, because we have many types of devices in our lives. The reality is, the electronics and electronics devices are not technology. Technology is a word that we can find in dictionary, a word that pre-dates the era of electronics and pre-dates of the era of electricity. Technology by a definition is: “A branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment”. Technology in simply words means how we get things done. In the vehicles it means how we get where we want to go; how we do it efficiently, comfortably, and safely with the vehicle serving us, as oppose to us have to alter our life around the need of transportation.
There are 4 great challenges and requirements that we need to overcome and meet for connected cars:
Transparent – limit distraction via using the clean interface on the dashboard. In the past we had the remote controls that were extremely complicated and the customers were lost and did not use many of the functions. Simply too much was too much. That cannot be the case for the car, the connectivity has to allow for focus on the driving, not the interface.
Intuitive – Easy to understand how to use and why, because the connected cars speak to the entire population: people in different professions, tech geeks, TV enthusiasts, etc. Why means they need to understand– what is a benefit for a customer to have connected car, autonomous car, why they need that future.
Intimate – the internet is the future of the car. When we look at the cars now, the relationship between us and car is dumb in many aspects. The car doesn’t worry about you, the car doesn’t care about you, it doesn’t know more about you from the day bought and brought it home to the day you sell it. It is itself. The car is just kind of a cold machine for the most part. In the future, the personalization will be flowing into the car through the connectivity, and make it better today than was yesterday. More about me the driver, better tuned to what I need from it. This experience as well as services that we bring in, as the driver, I need them to follow me into the car, not just have them live on my phone, my desktop, my tablet, my TV or my home.
Constant – Reflecting the kinds of services that are second nature outside the car. At present, the car is an island. You have a routine of behaviors in your life, then, when you get into the car, the behaviors change, it is different. The view is different for the navigation dash, it use different media services. In the cars we feel a little cut off from our regular life, sort of an awkward little connection to those things we do outside of the car. This will be changed when we have constant heartbeat of all our services, relationships, personalization and digital world following us into the cars consistently. This will make the transportation aspect of our life consistent with the rest so it feels like the same space we live in, just one that is moving.
This is the goal of the connected car and what it brings, a new portion of our life that is now a continuation of the way we live, not a break from the real life or being held hostage and in limbo in traffic. Work, social interaction, entertainment, enjoyment of the trip, recognition of who you are and what you do will all be part as the new experience for getting from point A to point B in a car in the next few years.
Text by Lidia Paulinska and Tomasz Kolodziejak
by Lidia Paulinska | Dec 10, 2015
The very words “Bolshoi Ballet” strike awe in the hearts of every devoted balletomane world-wide, and justifiably so. And on December 6, 2015, the world was indeed rewarded with an outstanding production of John Neumeier’s classic The Lady of the Camellias direct from Moscow compliments of Fathom Events, featuring the exquisite Svetlana Zakharova in the lead role of Marguerite, the consumptive courtesan who falls tragically in love with the young Armand, performed with style and strength by Edvin Revazov. This is a true ensemble production in which every element is essential to the outstanding success of the whole.
The story is a familiar one of star-crossed lovers based on Alexandre Dumas’ 19th century novel and operatically immortalized in La Traviata. Neumeier’s lyrical interpretation possesses a meditative, almost hypnotic quality as his dancers flow magnificently through Frédéric Chopin’s exquisitely romantic music, performed on pianos both on stage and in the orchestra pit and backed by the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra under the able direction of Pavel Sorokin.
This is a relatively brief, beautifully-paced ballet, running as it does in three, forty-five minute acts with two twenty-five minute intermissions. Because of this compactness, the audience is left in the end with a sense of peaceful contentment due in part to the work’s magically contemplative pace which mitigates to some degree the tragic nature of the storyline. The sheer beauty of the movement, the music, and the entire miss en scene imparts to us a serenity that defies analysis and lies beyond critical judgement; we select from the experience what we will, meditating on the aesthetics and making them our own. And that is the sign of a true classic.
by Lidia Paulinska | Dec 8, 2015
The latest version of Beddit products, the sleep trackers that monitor our sleep, has a Bluetooth connection so it can be connected to you smart phone overnight. The brand is primary focus on Apple devices but it also has an app on the Google play. Recently the software was updated to add an iWatch connection. The iWatch application has all the same functions as the phone app, plus some additional features. The screen is adjusted to the smaller view, so it requires 3-4 swipes to see the information normally on a smart phone display.
Both iPhone and iWatch have an easy process to install the apps from the iTunes site. The Google Play app for Android is also easy to find and install. Once installed, the app has a single start button to operate, so it is very easy to use as well. The information are collected overnight and can be simple to understand and analyze.
As everyone with the sleeping problems knows it is difficult to fall asleep again after waking up during the night. The Beddit sleep monitor helps you figure out your sleep cycles and the product does not need any uncomfortable straps on the person being monitored that can affect their sleeping. The unit has a band that goes under the sheets and attaches with adhesive to the edge of the mattress while the sensor goes under the sleeping person about chest height.
The Beddit sleep monitor is currently available at on-line and retail outlets. For the holidays, they have a bundle with an anti-snore pillow that is highly recommended for the people with mild sleep apnea. The sleep monitor with an anti-snore pillow are available at Brookstone.
by Lidia Paulinska | Dec 8, 2015
One of the challenges in today’s busy world is finding the time and taking the time to relax your body and mind. One of the methods is through meditation, but what happens when you meditate and you don’t know if you doing that right? You have all those thoughts running through your brain that often are hard to silence and let you relax. Solution? Muse, the brain sensing headband was created to help us meditate easy and experience all the benefits of meditation and relaxation. The headband equipped with sensors can sensed the EEG brain activity and connects to a smart phone app via Bluetooth. The app not only has the guided relaxation sounds, but also has a tracking screen so you can see your progress.
Getting in to a relaxed state is not as easy as it sounds, based on a study by the psychologists at Harvard University. Most people spend 47% of their day thinking about something other than they are currently doing. That is also the case for people who mediate or try to relax. The Muse headband helps train you in 3 minute sessions, to control your stress and tension and move to a productive meditation.
With device like Muse you visualize with your audio representation what is happening in your mind with the weather metaphor. So if you have Muse headband on you and you occupied with many thoughts it would sound stormy and windy. Muse will help you calm and find peace by breathing exercise and focus exercise. The app has graphs of the progress and stress in the current session and allows you to track prior sessions. This tracking allow you to train yourself to have a productive relaxation and meditation session which will bring increased focus on activities and tasks following the session.
by Lidia Paulinska | Dec 6, 2015
Kingston just expanded its HyperX headset line with the new Cloud Mav Edition, Freestyle Series. The limited edition over the head and over ear headphones are designed for the serious gamers. The headphones are used in serious eSports competition including Intel Extreme Masters, Brazil Game Show, China Joy, DreamHack, gamescom and PAX, where is highly appreciated by them. This apprecaiation is not just because of the performance but also their jazzy look, which is a loving baby of the cooperation between Kingston Company and the artists.
The headphones feature a large memory foam ear cushions surrounding the high-fidelity 53mm drivers, a closed cup design and detachable microphone. The two set of ear cushions (leatherette and velour) provide excellent sound isolation, so background noises in the game and sound effects can be clearly heard. One of the challenges with gaming headphones versus general listening headphones is the how the sound is separated to insure that voices come out clearly over the background. HyperX headset uses a separate detachable microphone to insure high quality communications in multiplayer games. The microphone uses a 6.5 mm diameter electret condenser capsule that is configured in a Cardioid pattern to minimize environmental noise pickup.
The headphones and microphone system is a wired design that is compatible with PCs, notebooks, tablets, mobile phones, airplane adapters and PS4 consoles though a standard 3.5mm mini stereo jack connector. The wired design works well for multiple people playing in one area as well as eliminating noise and false sounds that may come from other electronic devices. Most wireless headset systems pickup sounds from cell phones, tablets, laptops and other devices when connected to consoles and gaming computers. The high quality connection cable and the memory foam ear cushions give a very clean and isolated experience allows for deep immersion in the gaming environment.
The headphones are available from most retail channels for holiday season and comes with two-year warranty.
