THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014 technology Facebook buys Indian mobile tech start-up

NEW DELHI: Facebook has bought an Indian Eye will help Facebook develop performance terday. apps,” Facebook engineering manager Subbu mobile technology start-up called Little Eye analysis and monitoring tools that provide data Though neither companies disclosed the Subramanian said, according to The Economic Labs, the first business deal in the country by such as the memory and power consumption value of the deal, reports said industry esti- Times. the world’s biggest social network, the Indian of applications. “This is Facebook’s first acquisi- mates were around $15 million. Little Eye Labs, which says it was founded firm said. tion of an Indian company, and we are happy “The Little Eye Labs technology will help us about a year ago “by a bunch of program analy- With Facebook users increasingly logging in to become part of such an incredible team,” to continue improving our Android codebase sis geeks”, will now move its operations to from mobile phones, Bangalore-based Little Little Eye said in a statement on its website yes- to make more efficient, higher-performing Facebook headquarters in California. — AFP

Small steps toward Ultra HD television

LAS VEGAS: After attempts to hawk 3-D and a 70-inch set around $3,200. OLED TVs fizzled in recent years, television While those price tags are only likely to manufacturers are taking small steps toward appeal to early-adopters, they’re getting clos- making a new technology, Ultra HD, more er to prices people currently pay for big viable for mainstream consumers. screens running only HD. It’s the first TV format to be driven by the Internet video-streaming phenomenon, and Super-sharp screens at the International CES gadget show this But that still isn’t close enough, said James week, major streaming players Netflix and McQuivey, principal analyst with research firm said they’ll offer movies and TV Forrester. “These TVs won’t actually sell well as shows in the format, and Sharp introduced a long as they are priced high, something TV relatively inexpensive TV with near-Ultra HD makers already know because in the last year quality. they’ve dropped prices considerably,” he said. The moves are meant to coax consumers To entice consumers even further, a hand- to pedal faster on their TV upgrade cycles. At ful of content companies promised to make the moment, most Americans buy new TVs more movies and shows available for the about once every seven years. TV manufactur- super-sharp screens. ers would love to create another wave of buy- Netflix Inc. CEO Reed Hastings made the ing like the one that sent millions of people to rounds at news conferences Monday to stores a few years ago to upgrade from stan- declare that the streaming video company is dard definition, tube TVs to flat-screen HD working on distributing 4K video over the models. Internet. Hastings said all Netflix original series Unlike the 3-D TV trend, which quickly are being shot in 4K and that the company is eroded into a tech fad in recent years, analysts working with studios on formatting movies say Ultra HD may actually catch on. With and TV shows in 4K, with one of the first series screens that house four times more pixels being Sony’s “Breaking Bad.” than regular HD TVs, Ultra HD is a simple Both Amazon.com Inc. and Hulu are shoot- LAS VEGAS: The Murata Girl and Boy robots are demonstrated at the Murata booth at the 2014 International CES at the Las Vegas Convention enough upgrade to gain widespread adop- ing original series in 4K, and Amazon said it Center yesterday in Las Vegas,. —-AFP tion in the next few years. Aside from being was working with major content producers visually jarring, 3-D required sometimes pricey Warner Bros., Lionsgate, 20th Century Fox and special glasses and gave some people Discovery to make 4K content available. headaches. Because Ultra HD content can be The emergence of Ultra HD marks the first Robots invade consumer delivered over a standard high-speed Internet time a major TV standard is being pushed for- connection, it isn’t likely to get bogged down ward with the Internet. “It’s a chance for the in a format war that plagued the Blu-ray disc Internet to really shine,” Hastings said. standard. Downloading huge Ultra HD files would market for play, work take download speeds of only 15 megabits Awesome picture per second and could even work with a Wi-Fi “You see it, you get it. It’s a big, awesome connection, Hastings said. LG’s chief technolo- A crowdfunding effort picture,” said Ben Arnold, a consumer elec- gy officer, Skott Ahn, told The Associated Press tronics analyst at NPD Group. “Consumers will that 4K content could be streamed with 8-15 LAS VEGAS: The robots are coming, and they’re be interested in it as prices come down. Mbps Internet speeds using the latest HEVC here to help. Help clean your windows, teach Consumers are also moving toward bigger video compression standard. children, or even provide entertainment or com- screens. All of this is good news for (Ultra HD).” It’s not clear how close the industry is on a panionship. This week’s Consumer Electronics In side-by-side comparisons, Ultra HD is Blu-ray disc standard for Ultra HD. No Show in Las Vegas highlights enormous growth remarkably crisper than HD. It displays richer announcements about a format were made at in robotics in a range of fields. Meet Bo and Yana, skin textures, finer details and less pixelation. the show, even as The Digital Entertainment for example-they’re cute robots that can fit in The extra resolution becomes more important Group, an industry consortium of studios and your hand and help teach youngsters about pro- as consumers spend more money on bigger electronics makers, declared that strong con- gramming. screens that amplify images. sumer interest in 4K “bodes well for the home “It’s all about programmable play,” said Vikas But Ultra HD, or 4K, is in its very early entertainment industry.” Gupta, founder of California-based i-Play, which stages. Although prototypes and demonstra- Enough people have to own Ultra HD sets designed the toys. tion models have been around for years, the for pay TV providers to start enabling service. The duo can play with each other, fight, dis- first sets for consumer use didn’t hit the mar- If the CEA’s forecast of 485,000 units sold in play expressions with their single eye, or even ket until 2012 with prices in the tens of thou- the US comes true, that could provide enough hit notes on the xylophone. “Music becomes a sands of dollars. Only about 60,000 Ultra HD of a base for cable, telecoms and satellite to way for kids to be engaged,” Gupta said. “We sets were sold last year in the U.S., with begin to upgrade their systems, according to want kids to learn programming and not be 485,000 estimated this year, according to the Pat Esser, president of cable TV provider Cox bothered with cognitive overload.” Consumer Electronics Association. Communications, which serves about 10 per- The robots are designed for children as Today, the lowest-priced Ultra HD TV being cent of U.S. pay TV subscribers. If 50,000 Cox young as five, and are being launched this year sold on Amazon.com is a 39-inch model from subscribers buy Ultra HD TVs, “then you’ve got in a crowdfunding effort, the former and Seiki Digital for $500. The cheapest name- my attention,” Esser said in an interview. Amazon executive said. brand manufacturer’s model, a 58-inch screen Widespread adoption by live-TV producers But play is just one of the many areas of from Toshiba, sells for $2,750. And LG still seems a ways off. robotics on display at the show, from simple announced this week it would sell an Ultra HD Sony Corp. promised an end-to-end pro- one-task robots to clean a roof gutter or barbe- set as small as 49 inches diagonally, which duction suite for professionals, and Sony cue grill and others that can be a kind of com- could bring entry level prices closer to $2,000 Electronics President Mike Fasulo on Monday panion to the elderly. for top brands. Sharp’s new Quattron+ brand, unveiled a Handicam that shoots in ultra HD There are also so-called telepresence robots, which brings near-4K resolution to sets by for the home enthusiast, priced at $2,000 - “As including the Double Robotics device seen on making better use of HD pixels, plans to price I like to say, 4K for $2K.” —- AP TV shows such as NCIS Los Angeles. The Double Robotics gadget includes an iPad attached to a wheeled device that allows a telecommuter to show “face time” in the office even when working remotely. The results, at least on television, can often provide comic relief. The global market for consumer robots was $1.6 billion in 2012, dominated by the task and entertainment segments, according to ABI Research, but this is expected to grow to $6.5 billion in 2017 with security and telepresence becoming more significant. LAS VEGAS: A boy plays with a robot presented by Future Robots during the 2014 Artificial intelligence International CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center yesterday in Las Vegas. —- AFP ABI analyst Philip Solis said robotics is mov- ing slower than segments like tablets and live animals are banned. sunny sky,” he said. “It helps people dream.” smartphones, and is dominated by single-task Paro has five tactile, light, audition, tempera- One of the crowd-pleasers is the “humanoid” robots. ture, and posture sensors, responds to being Robo-Thespian from the British-based group But the big news in this field, he said, is stroked and can respond to its name. Engineered Arts. Thespian can make hand-ges- Google’s acquisition of several robotics firms, The French-based firm Keecker is displaying tures, and can deliver speeches-with a British which could help boost the artificial intelligence a robot that can project video or other content accent. needed for multi-tasking robots. from a smartphone or tablet to a wall or ceiling. To make it life-like, the robot has pneumatic This means “you can enjoy life without being actuators “so its movements are more fluid,” said LAS VEGAS: An attendee tries the Epson Moverio BT-200 smart glasses, at the 2014 A number of new, innovative robots are also being shown in Las Vegas. tied to the television set,” said Pierre Lebeau, engineer Morgan Roe. “We try to avoid having it International CES in Las Vegas yesterday. The Moverio BT-200 projects two identical Keecker’s founder and chief executive. look robotic.” The robot can be used at museums 16:9 images onto the lens-based screens, generating a semi-transparent picture to From the Japanese firm AIST is an interactive robot called Paro-designed to look like a baby The device runs on Android to allow users to and exhibits, where Thespian can deliver a solilo- fall within the user’s field of vision. The Android 4.0-based headset with portable draw from any of the available apps. quy and direct people. But, at this point, he can’t controller features a front-facing camera and motion sensors for Augmented Reality harp seal-to simulate animal therapy for people in hospitals and extended care facilities where “You can put your kids to bed with the Milky interact in the manner of Apple’s Siri or Google and gaming. —- AFP Way, and allow them to wake up to a beautiful Now. “We are working on it,” Roe said. — AFP Kids get their own tablets, with parents in control

LAS VEGAS: Kid-safe tablets and smartphones are hitting inch versions, running the Android operating system with the market, giving parents more control over how the Fuhu’s modifications. Tablet owners will have a kid-friendly mobile devices are used. App Zone that allows parents and children to buy apps, Hollywood studio DreamWorks has joined the move, games, music, movies, videos, e-books and other goods. introducing its DreamTab at this week’s Consumer “Fuhu grabbed our attention when they came on the Electronics Show in partnership with California-based man- market because they single-handedly made a quantum ufacturer Fuhu. leap forward in revolutionizing the kids tech space,” said The new device will be up against competition-includ- DreamWorks Animation’s Jim Mainard. ing from French-based Kurio, which has its own tablets on display at the huge Las Vegas show, and is also introducing Parental filtering a kid-safe smartphone. “The DreamTab posed a compelling challenge not only Fuhu already makes a tablet designed for kids called to our filmmakers and artists to create content for this new Nabi, but will expand its footprint with DreamWorks, team- medium, but also for our engineers and innovators who ing up with the animators behind films like Shrek, Kung Fu worked hand-in-hand with the Fuhu team to develop the Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. The tablet will consumer-facing side of this groundbreaking technology.” include programs to teach kids how to draw their favorite Like the DreamTab, Kurio’s seven- and 10-inch tablets characters. allow for parental filtering, and parents can set preset limits It will comply with the Children’s Online Privacy for the device or various applications. Protection Act (COPPA), a US law that limits how much data “You can choose any of the apps and restrict them,” said LAS VEGAS: Visitors take a brake during the 2014 International CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center yesterday. can be collected from young children. Kurio spokesman Eric Levin. “So you can decide your child CES, the world’s largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs through Jan 10 and is expected to feature DreamTab will be sold later this year in eight- and 12- can’t use Facebook after 9 pm.” — AFP 3,200 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to about 150,000 attendees. — AFP