Gathering almost every known award for its innovative design, the Mando Footloose has two Red Dots under its belt, an iF Design Award, and even a Good Design Award. Described best using the word ‘elegant’, the Footloose is one of those rare products that stand at the intersection of magnificent design and remarkable technology.
An elegantly folding electric bike, the Footloose occupies negligible amounts of space when folded. Its wheels align together, while its otherwise chunky frame folds inwards, occupying a mere 20-30% of the space it did when open. Designed with a chainless system, the Footloose packs a cutting-edge series hybrid system within its broad-yet-hollow aluminum frame. All components such as the ECU, battery, alternator, and motor all hide from sight inside the bicycle’s frame, giving you a sense of a transportation medium that looks complete and refined, just like a car does, by hiding all functional components from the human eye. It also features an intelligent gear-shifting system that can actuate on its own, relying on AI to figure out when to kick in. Additionally, the Footloose also comes with an HMI dashboard that gives you stats like your speed, distance traveled, and battery level, while even working as an anti-theft device and alarm for the Footloose.
Weighing in at 20 kilograms (44 pounds), the Footloose makes an ideal case for traveling within the city (with its 35-45km range being perfect for covering short A-to-B distances). Besides, the fact that it folds up into such a neat little bundle means you can fold it up and wheel it around on the subway or even stash it in the boot of your car for those pesky last mile commutes!
Designer: Mark Sanders
Mozilla is rolling out Firefox 41 to desktop and Android users and says it's now the first browser to have built-in instant messaging. That feature only works on the desktop version for now, but lets you IM directly from a Hello video call whether...
Eterni.me is one of those services that attempt to defy death in some way by allowing people to maintain an online presence, even when they’ve already passed on. It’s a start-up that came to be thanks to MIT’s Entrepreneurship Development Program, and its creators claim that it’s a piece of technology that can digitally reconstruct your personality after your death, so you can live on and still interact with friends and family online.
The Eterni.me website explains: “Eterni.me collects almost everything that you create during your lifetime, and processes this huge amount of information using complex Artificial Intelligence algorithms. Then it generates a virtual YOU, an avatar that emulates your personality and can interact with, and offer information and advice to, your family and friends after you pass away. It’s like a Skype chat from the past.”
It’s an interesting concept, but to be honest, it’s also extremely creepy. What do you think?
VIA [ C|NET ]
Rounds is doing the rounds (natch!) this morning with a significant update to its video calling and instant messaging app. The company teamed up with Channel.me to add co-browsing to an already broad list of features. Users can now browse the web together during a video chat and see / control the same page at the same time. In terms of security, the experience mimics two people surfing the web in the same location (usernames are visible but passwords are hidden. for example). While users can enter any URL, the app also includes an icon grid of compatible sites, such as Google (for search), Wikipedia, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, Amazon and eBay -- to name a few. As a refresher, Rounds lets friends watch YouTube videos and play games together during a video chat and even apply filters and scribble over each-others live video streams. It also supports instant messaging and photo sharing and ties it all together with Facebook Login. The app is available for most Android and iOS devices but is optimized to run on phones. Hit the break for the promo video and obligatory PR.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
One of the benefits of buying a Windows Phone 8 handset with a Nokia stamp is the exclusive apps, and today we can add another to that list with the beta release of Nokia Chat for WP8. The software started life on Symbian and Series 40 devices before falling out of favor with Nokia, but this WP8 refresh enables cross-platform chatter between those older phones, the newer Lumia range and, as Yahoo Messenger contacts are supported, anything running that IM client, too. In addition to standard messaging, you can share your location with others, and send details about a specific place -- a restaurant, for example -- that'll link with Nokia Maps on Lumias for more info. (That sounds an awful lot like Nokia's other beta messaging app Pulse, doesn't it?) Other Lumia-only features in Nokia Chat include Live Tile and lock screen push notifications, Live Tile message previews, voice commands and text-to-speech composition. Nokia Chat beta is only available in a handful of countries right now, including the US, Canada and the UK, with more being added "in the near future." Head over to the Nokia Beta Labs source link to try it out.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Nokia
Via: WMPoweruser
Source: Nokia Beta Labs (1), (2)
Earlier this week Microsoft updated its Skype for Windows Phone application. Making good on its plans to retire Messenger, users can now IM their buddy list from within the app. In addition, the new software push adds the ability to receive calls and messages while Skype is closed, but the changelog cautions that this feature is a "work-in-progress." While we welcome these new features with open arms, they come at somewhat of a steep price. Skype 2.1.0.241 "temporarily" kills the app's integration with Windows Phone's People Hub. Something that Microsoft plans to patch up via another update at an undisclosed time. If you can get past losing such a prominent feature for the sake of being up to date, then head on over to the Windows Phone Store to claim your 8MB prize.
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft