App Tells Your Friends What You're Watching

Sitting at home in front of the TV could soon become an altogether more sociable experience. A new iPhone app can identify the show you're watching just by analyzing a few seconds of audio, making it possible to automatically share your TV viewing choices with friends through Facebook and Twitter. It only does this when the app the user presses a button to activate it.

People often talk about what they watched the night before, so TV viewing already has a social element to it, says Adam Cahan, founder and CEO of IntoNow, the startup company that makes the app. "What we're focused on is how to connect people through the shows that they love," he says.  

Using a technology called SoundPrinting, developed and patented by IntoNow, the app allows people to instantly see what their friends are watching, and discuss them through social networking functionality, all while the shows are still on the air, says Cahan.

IntoNow uses software that carries out a spectral analysis of audio to create unique identifiers of TV content that can then be indexed and searched quickly. "Our catalog covers anything that's been on TV within the last five years," says Cahan. That equates to 140 million minutes or 266 years of content, he says.

Other smart-phone apps use audio tagging to identify music. London-based Shazam, for instance, can identify 10 million songs based on a few seconds of music per song.

IntoNow, however, can also identify shows that's haven't aired before, says Cahan. "You can identify a new episode of Dexter or breaking news, even," he says. "We did it with the Super Bowl this weekend."

This is possible because IntoNow continuously monitors the broadcasts from 130 TV channels, carrying out a spectral analysis of the audio 20 times a second, says Rob Johnson, the company's technology architect. So when someone uses the app, even new shows should already be in the system.

"When [the app] searches the index, it doesn't tell you what program it was," he says. Instead, it delivers the channel and time at which that segment was aired, and from this, the system can work out the precise program and episode that was being watched.

Others are also looking at identifying TV content in this way, says Marie-José Montpetit, a pioneer of social TV at MIT. Recognizing live broadcasts is an advance, she says: "It's a nice gadget that could take off." But she doubts it will fundamentally change the way we watch TV.

Even so, it could change the way advertisers operate. Cahan says the information collected by IntoNow could be used to determine what part of a show people are watching. He adds that "it gives you the ability to say 'I'm into that commercial.' "

An app that records audio from the living room may raise privacy worries, says Montpetit. But, according to Johnson, there is no risk of anyone being able to eavesdrop on users. "We are not recording the audio, we are analyzing it," he says. "So there's no way to reconstruct that audio."

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Activision pulls the plug on Guitar Hero franchise

It's a sad day for fake musicians everywhere: Activision Blizzard has announced that development of its Guitar Hero games has been discontinued and the business unit disbanded. The move comes amid a continued decline in sales for the music genre and follows Viacom's decision in November to sell its Rock Band video games unit.

The Guitar Hero series allowed musically inexperienced players to use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing lead, bass guitar, and rhythm guitar across numerous rock music songs. It became a cultural phenomenon and has raked in more than $2 billion in sales from its various installments the past few years, but apparently there is only so much pretend guitar playing one can indulge in before the plot gets old and as a result the latest installment in the series, Warriors of Rock, sold fewer than 100,000 copies during its debut month last September.


Part of the reason is also increased competition from a new generation of games that don't need specialized controllers, especially those for the Sony PS3's Move and Microsoft Xbox 360's Kinect.

The announcement came during a conference call to disclose fourth-quarter results. The company reported a profit of $418 million in 2010 and a net loss of $233 million for the quarter ended December 31, but it still reported record-setting performance for Call of Duty: Black Ops and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

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The Future of the Human Genome

In 2003, just two years after the official publication of the human genome draft, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) outlined its plans for studying this promising new scientific resource. Nearly 1,000 sequenced genomes later, the institute has drawn out a new vision, published today in the journal Nature, for exploring the human genome.  

Eric Green, NHGRI's director, says this plan is much more specific than the one that came before. It lays out specific domains of research activity, including understanding the genome, how it works, and how we can use this knowledge to further the science and practice of medicine. Green talks with TR about what he hopes to see happen in the next few decades and the major hurdles to getting there.

TR: It's been a decade since the publication of the human genome. What can we expect to see over the next 10 years?

Green: The timetable is still wide open, but we can imagine that we will start to see spectacular advances in our understanding of how the genome works, how disease works, and how genomic changes are associated with disease. But truly changing medicine will take more than 10 years.

What do you mean by how the genome works?

What is the functional wiring of genome? We know all the genes, for the most part. But we have barely scratched the surface in understanding the two-thirds of elements that aren't genes. We need to catalog them and understand their choreography. How does variation in these elements play a role in disease? Evidence continues to suggest that the majority of variants associated with common diseases are in noncoding regions of DNA, so understanding how they actually confer risk for disease will be critically important.

What will be the biggest challenge over the next five to 10 years?

At the moment, the biggest challenge is in data analysis. We can generate large amounts of data very inexpensively, but that overwhelms our capacity to understand it.

At the other end of the spectrum, we need to infuse genomic information into medical practice, which is really hard. There are issues around confidentiality, education, electronic medical records, how to carry genomic information throughout lifespan and make it available to physicians.

How do you hope to solve the data problem?

We don't have a magic bullet. And it's not just genomics facing this challenge; all of NIH is facing similar issues. First we need to solve the hardware issue with enough bandwidth to push data around and enough servers to store it.

But we also need to start thinking about how to train people, both health-care professionals and scientists, to be facile in bioinformatics. We need to foster development of professionals who have expertise analyzing large data sets of the size that biologists haven't had to think about. We need to entice smart people into genomics.

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Verizon iPhone 4 also has antenna issues

Despite having a redesigned antenna, it appears that the CDMA version of the iPhone 4, or at least the one offered by Verizon, has similar reception issues to the GSM version, which launched back in June 2010. Once again, if you hold the iPhone 4 in a certain way, for a few seconds, the reception on the device will start to take a hit.

In the course of conducting its standard suite of iPhone 4 performance tests, iLounge discovered the phone can lose substantial cellular signal strength when held in the prior "death grip" position, as well as Wi-Fi signal when held in a different "death hug" position. In both cases, data reception is either noticeably slowed or completely stalled. A video demonstration shows the findings:

Thankfully, the issues can be fixed in the same way as with the GSM version of the iPhone 4: buy a case. Keep that in mind if you're planning to purchase an iPhone 4 from Verizon. Alternatively, you can just wait till this summer, when the iPhone 5 will likely arrive.

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iPhone Review: Dead Space

It?s startling what?s possible with technology these days. A few decades ago Pong! was the pinnacle of interactive entertainment, and digital watches were the height of fashion. Nowadays, games such as Dead Space for iPhone offer console-like experiences on pocket-sized devices. Meanwhile, I?m wearing a wind-up watch, so maybe not everything progresses equally.

The term ?console-like experience? is one that gets bandied about a lot on the AppStore, with the likes of the simplistic-but-stylish Infinity Blade making an especially big deal about it. To us, though, the iPhone version of Dead Space is the first title that really lives up to that claim, matching great graphics with decent complexity.

Casting players as a new character in the Dead Space universe, codenamed Vandal, Dead Space for iPhone bridges the game between the 2008 series debut and the more recent sequel. Acting as a secret agent for the church of Unitology, Vandal is manipulated in the opening chapters in order to contribute to the disaster that forms Dead Space 2?s backdrop.


In an effort to escape and repent, Vandal faces off against the now-familiar cast of alien mutants using a semi-familiar arsenal of weapons, plus two all-new additions ? the core extractor and the plasma saw. As with the iPhone version's bigger brother's enemies, you?ll need to blow the limbs off the enemy Necromorphs in order to kill them quickly ? something that?s very impressive to see on a platform as diminutive as the iPhone.

The dissection also makes Dead Space on the iPhone an incredibly gory affair too, possibly more so than any other iPhone game we?ve yet seen. Blowing Necromorphs apart yields a lot of blood and guts, spattering more icky-ness across gross and dark levels ? levels which are stunningly large and detailed too.

It?s not just a matter of running and gunning, however. The iPhone version also features small tactical and RPG choices, just like the console and PC releases. Ammo and health packs are limited resources, which you?ll have to conserve and utilise carefully, although it?s worth mentioning that the iPhone game limits these more stingily than the ?full? game. This is because the iPhone version features micro-transactions, meaning that players are charged extra for weapon upgrades and extra power nodes.


Purchasing these upgrades is optional and it?s possible to complete the game without them, but it?s certainly disappointing to know you might miss some game content without them, especially when Dead Space is far from free to start with.

Despite this one significant shortcoming, however, Dead Space on the iPhone remains an incredibly polished and good looking title. The controls are superb too; the left side of the screen controls movement, while the right pans the camera, and tapping various hot spots lets you use your Stasis ability.

Verdict: While we don?t approve of the micro-transactions that have been cynically forced on to an already premium pp, we can?t deny that Dead Space for the iPhone is a great game, which offers a truly console-like experience.

Dead Space is developed by Electronic Arts and is available for iDevices via the AppStore.

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Atom-Thick Material Shows Electronic Promise

Molybdenite, a mineral that's currently used as a lubricant, turns out to have extraordinary electronic properties when deposited in single-atom-thick strips. Researchers in Switzerland have now made high-performance transistors out of this form of molybdenite. Used in this way, the mineral could hold promise for more efficient flexible solar cells, electronics, or high-performance digital microprocessors.

Like graphene, an atom-thick form of carbon, "two-dimensional" molybdenite has electrical and optical properties that are much better than those found in three-dimensional forms of the material.

Researchers led by Andras Kis at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) made molybdenite transistors using methods used in the early days of graphene research. Molybdenite, a relatively inexpensive mineral of molybdenum disulfide, has a layered structure similar to that of raw graphite. Kis's group crushed crystals of molybdenite between folded pieces of tape, peeling back layer after layer until all that remained were single-atom-thick sheets. They then deposited the molybdenite sheets onto a substrate, added a layer of insulating material, and used standard lithography to add source and drain electrodes and a gate to make a transistor. Other researchers had done this before but didn't get good performance. Kis says the molybdenite transistors have a comparable electrical mobility to similar ones made from graphene nanoribbons.

After Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov demonstrated the promise of graphene in 2004?a feat that won them the Nobel Prize in 2010?there was a burst of interest in making and testing other two-dimensional materials. But graphene was considered more promising than anything else, and other materials came to be seen as curiosities, says James Hone, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University. Hone was part of a group that demonstrated that graphene is the strongest material ever tested. Hone, who is not affiliated with the EPFL researchers, expects their results to generate new interest in other two-dimensional materials, and molybdenite in particular. "This is a very promising result that will make us look at this material more carefully and see how we can squeeze better performance out of it," he says.

Importantly, molybdenite is a semiconductor, which means it provides discrete energy levels for electrons to jump through?a property known as its bandgap. This is key for any material used in a digital transistor. Graphene does not have a bandgap, and to give it one, researchers must layer it or cut it into ribbons, which is complex and can lead to the degradation of graphene's other properties. "You have to work very hard to open up a bandgap in graphene," says James Tour, professor of chemistry and computer science at Rice University.

Graphene was originally seen as a material that could replace silicon in digital logic circuits, the type at the heart of today's microprocessors. But because it's so hard to make it into a semiconductor, it's becoming clear that graphene's promise lies elsewhere, for example in superfast analog circuits, the type used for telecommunications and radar, says Phaedon Avouris, who leads the IBM group developing graphene electronics. Molybdenite's bandgap is particularly promising for solar cells, LEDs, and other electro-optical devices.

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Atom-Thick Material Shows Electronic Promise

Molybdenite, a mineral that's currently used as a lubricant, turns out to have extraordinary electronic properties when deposited in single-atom-thick strips. Researchers in Switzerland have now made high-performance transistors out of this form of molybdenite. Used in this way, the mineral could hold promise for more efficient flexible solar cells, electronics, or high-performance digital microprocessors.

Like graphene, an atom-thick form of carbon, "two-dimensional" molybdenite has electrical and optical properties that are much better than those found in three-dimensional forms of the material.

Researchers led by Andras Kis at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) made molybdenite transistors using methods used in the early days of graphene research. Molybdenite, a relatively inexpensive mineral of molybdenum disulfide, has a layered structure similar to that of raw graphite. Kis's group crushed crystals of molybdenite between folded pieces of tape, peeling back layer after layer until all that remained were single-atom-thick sheets. They then deposited the molybdenite sheets onto a substrate, added a layer of insulating material, and used standard lithography to add source and drain electrodes and a gate to make a transistor. Other researchers had done this before but didn't get good performance. Kis says the molybdenite transistors have a comparable electrical mobility to similar ones made from graphene nanoribbons.

After Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov demonstrated the promise of graphene in 2004?a feat that won them the Nobel Prize in 2010?there was a burst of interest in making and testing other two-dimensional materials. But graphene was considered more promising than anything else, and other materials came to be seen as curiosities, says James Hone, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University. Hone was part of a group that demonstrated that graphene is the strongest material ever tested. Hone, who is not affiliated with the EPFL researchers, expects their results to generate new interest in other two-dimensional materials, and molybdenite in particular. "This is a very promising result that will make us look at this material more carefully and see how we can squeeze better performance out of it," he says.

Importantly, molybdenite is a semiconductor, which means it provides discrete energy levels for electrons to jump through?a property known as its bandgap. This is key for any material used in a digital transistor. Graphene does not have a bandgap, and to give it one, researchers must layer it or cut it into ribbons, which is complex and can lead to the degradation of graphene's other properties. "You have to work very hard to open up a bandgap in graphene," says James Tour, professor of chemistry and computer science at Rice University.

Graphene was originally seen as a material that could replace silicon in digital logic circuits, the type at the heart of today's microprocessors. But because it's so hard to make it into a semiconductor, it's becoming clear that graphene's promise lies elsewhere, for example in superfast analog circuits, the type used for telecommunications and radar, says Phaedon Avouris, who leads the IBM group developing graphene electronics. Molybdenite's bandgap is particularly promising for solar cells, LEDs, and other electro-optical devices.

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Bit-Gamer Competition #6

Bit-Gamer Competition #6

Posted on 7th Feb 2011 at 12:01 by Joe Martin with 13 comments

Last week we asked you to let us know what you thought about Sony's newly announced NGP for a chance to win one of two bundles of PC strategy games. Now, we announce the winners and set a whole new competition!

First, we'll set the rules for the new competition. What we want you to do this week is either send us a question or let us know which game you'd like us to discuss in our next games podcast.

We have two sets of prizes to give away, one for the forums and one for Facebook.

If you want to enter via the forums then all you need to do is drop your answer in the comments to this article for a chance to win a copy of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit on the Xbox 360, plus Daniel Wilson's How to Survive a Robot Uprising book!

If you want to enter via Facebook then you should tell us on our Facebook page for a chance to win Medal of Honour on PS3, plus a copy of Chris Ryan's novelization. You can, of course, enter both as many times as you want to increase your chances of winning.

As for who won the last competition, we've selected two random winners from Facebook and Twitter and quoted them below. We'll be in contact with both of you to let you know how to get your prizes!

Twitter Winner - Adam Maturo
"@Bit_Gamer I think the NGP looks awesome. But it'll probably be really expensive and the back touch panel seems like a gimmick."

Facebook Winner - Lee Thompson
"I'm very much looking forward to the Sony NGP. It's quite a powerful piece of kit, addresses the serious flaw in the PSP (the dual thumb sticks) and the games should be amazing.

"Questions remain though - battery life, price and developer support. Hopefully it won't be hacked and piracy doesn't kill it in the same way that happened to PSP. If it's put on sale in the £300-£350 mark, it might well be the first console I pick up on day 1."

Good luck everyone!

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Atom-Thick Material Shows Electronic Promise

Molybdenite, a mineral that's currently used as a lubricant, turns out to have extraordinary electronic properties when deposited in single-atom-thick strips. Researchers in Switzerland have now made high-performance transistors out of this form of molybdenite. Used in this way, the mineral could hold promise for more efficient flexible solar cells, electronics, or high-performance digital microprocessors.

Like graphene, an atom-thick form of carbon, "two-dimensional" molybdenite has electrical and optical properties that are much better than those found in three-dimensional forms of the material.

Researchers led by Andras Kis at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) made molybdenite transistors using methods used in the early days of graphene research. Molybdenite, a relatively inexpensive mineral of molybdenum disulfide, has a layered structure similar to that of raw graphite. Kis's group crushed crystals of molybdenite between folded pieces of tape, peeling back layer after layer until all that remained were single-atom-thick sheets. They then deposited the molybdenite sheets onto a substrate, added a layer of insulating material, and used standard lithography to add source and drain electrodes and a gate to make a transistor. Other researchers had done this before but didn't get good performance. Kis says the molybdenite transistors have a comparable electrical mobility to similar ones made from graphene nanoribbons.

After Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov demonstrated the promise of graphene in 2004?a feat that won them the Nobel Prize in 2010?there was a burst of interest in making and testing other two-dimensional materials. But graphene was considered more promising than anything else, and other materials came to be seen as curiosities, says James Hone, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University. Hone was part of a group that demonstrated that graphene is the strongest material ever tested. Hone, who is not affiliated with the EPFL researchers, expects their results to generate new interest in other two-dimensional materials, and molybdenite in particular. "This is a very promising result that will make us look at this material more carefully and see how we can squeeze better performance out of it," he says.

Importantly, molybdenite is a semiconductor, which means it provides discrete energy levels for electrons to jump through?a property known as its bandgap. This is key for any material used in a digital transistor. Graphene does not have a bandgap, and to give it one, researchers must layer it or cut it into ribbons, which is complex and can lead to the degradation of graphene's other properties. "You have to work very hard to open up a bandgap in graphene," says James Tour, professor of chemistry and computer science at Rice University.

Graphene was originally seen as a material that could replace silicon in digital logic circuits, the type at the heart of today's microprocessors. But because it's so hard to make it into a semiconductor, it's becoming clear that graphene's promise lies elsewhere, for example in superfast analog circuits, the type used for telecommunications and radar, says Phaedon Avouris, who leads the IBM group developing graphene electronics. Molybdenite's bandgap is particularly promising for solar cells, LEDs, and other electro-optical devices.

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