Philips SmartSleep: Philips personal health solutions at CES

Throw those Sleeping Pills Away: there’s a New Sleep Partner in Town: The Philips SmartSleep

 

For those who don’t sleep easy or who only manage to get a few hours of sleep, sleeping pills and the rest seem to be a commonplace phenomenon in their medicine cabinets. Only those who don’t get a goodnight’s sleep are aware of the actual importance of it. That’s not to say that others out there don’t know of the same but when you have something you don’t really comprehend the value of it till it’s gone. Well, all that’s going to change with Philips SmartSleep

Philips SmartSleep was recently launched at the CES held in Las Vegas, the company claims to give you a better night’s sleep without needing to put in any extra hours of dosing. You will reportedly get up feeling more alert, refreshed and rejuvenated.

What is Philips SmartSleep about? 

Philips SmartSleep is a foam-like headband that is supposed to give you a relaxing night’s sleep. This gadget plays soft soothing sounds to help you get that good night’s sleep. It is said that while playing these relaxing tones from the Philips SmartSleep you can get more energy from your sleep.

Besides recording the quality of your sleep on to an app that connect to the Philips SmartSleep, that you can check in the morning, the Philips SmartSleep kicks into motion once you enter a “slow wave sleep”, which is basically a sleep stage where your breathing slows as well as your heart rate with relaxed muscles. For those who don’t get sleep easy, reaching this stage itself might be difficult and in that case how much good this product will do is anyone’s guess.

How does the Philips SmartSleep really know when you’ve reached that stage of sleep? The answer is simple there is a lot of complex algorithms involved in the Philips SmartSleep. These algorithms were made in close partnership with various neurologists and doctors.

The Philips SmartSleep has sensors in it that helps detect when a person is in the said stage of sleep. The customized tones are then played when a person is in this stage of sleep, with the tones playing through an integrated speaker, the tones are played at a volume and their timing is all customized to make this stage of sleep more relaxing and lasting while using the Philips SmartSleep.

Testing conducted on the Philips SmartSleep: 

Philips says that they have tested this product on people who don’t really get enough sleep because of their hectic lifestyles and they go on to say that about 70% of this test population found that they got a feeling of being less tired when using the Philips SmartSleep. The target market is seemingly those who don’t get enough sleep, not those who have a difficulty in sleeping in the first place. The test subjects were shown to be more alert, having a higher level of energy and who had a better quality of sleep overall.
As to how many were exactly tested, there is no clear indication. Philips also goes on to say that the Philips SmartSleep is clinically proven and is the first sleeping wearable that is come out.

Apple is Reportedly Renaming iBooks to Books

iOS 11.3: Apple plans to rearrange the iBooks app from the App Store

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple will reorganize the iBooks application later this year with a major overhaul, with a new Reading Now tab, a separate section for audiobooks, and a store interface that uses the same design as the App Store under iOS 11.

The report follows last night's launch of the first iOS 11.3 beta, which includes a name change from the iBooks app to just "Books." However, for the moment, there is a change in the user interface. In addition, the iBookstore will become the Apple Books Store. The app itself makes virtually no changes in the current beta, although the dark theme now uses a true black background color on iPhone X.

While Apple has planned a number of its top chart apps as well as stores in late years, one feature of the company’s involvement has perceptibly stayed unswayed: iBooks. Reported to a news report in Bloomberg, that’s primed to alter as Apple is reportedly arranging the app with a simplex programme and a spic-and-span front, and has employed a new administrator to superintend the work. Bloomberg reports that the application will be called “Books” and will reportedly be release soon (may be within some months).The programme will be easy, high spot books that are presently being read, on with a abstracted tab meant for audio books.

The store will besides be undergone inspection and repair to contest the newly redesigned Application Store. The piece of work also aired that Apple employed Kashif Zafar in Dec 2017, to head iBooks. Zafar antecedently employed as the V.P of digital products for Barnes & Noble’s Nook section, ahead tossing to Audible, where he set up the company’s podcast system, Channels.

Six years ago, the Dep. of Justice defend Apple as well as various leading publishing firm of conspiring to increase ebook prices, as well as a regime court subordinate that Apple complot to rise the cost of ebooks, and was issuing a sinewy $450 million fine. Since then, Apple’s store as well as apps have mostly flown under the radar, while Amazon has henpecked the ebook industry. The two evolution could signaling a revived attempt from Apple in the publication business.

Newly, Google proclaimed that it was offering audiobooks through with Google Play, while Audible has successful with a momentous thrust into the avant-garde content business with first-string presentation, audio books assistance on Kindle devices, and fresh digital attributes. Both the companies also compounded ways last year ended upsets from European publishing houses that Apple’s alone business with Audible was quelling contest. With its fresh act and a new design app, Apple could be orienting itself to get over a spirit in the publication world again by rendering a finer reading experience for its users, merely besides by fastening conjointly ebooks as well as audio books in a single program.

Article: Augmented Reality on the Web, for Everyone

Google wants to bring augmented reality to browsers and web pages

Google seeks to bring augmented reality technology (AR) to a web platform in the name called 'Article'. On Monday, the company published advances in the performance of a 3D prototype in both mobile device browsers and desktop computers. The objective of this series of tests is to expand access to this technology and advance the development of browsers that in the future are enabled to support AR.

According to a publication on the official blog, millions of Android and iOS devices will be able to provide AR experiences from their browsers in the coming months. This means that to experience this technology a user would not need a specific application but with the browser open you can visualize digital objects pointing to real places through your cell phone. Through Google's 'Article', the user could access a page with AR contents and view them from their desktop computer, in the office or at home.

Until now to use a game or watch a content in augmented reality had to pass two assumptions: that we had an app pre-installed on our mobile or download a specific way to see it. We also have the disadvantage that not all AR experiences work the same, so we can easily install a few of them.

Google wants to break that barrier with a very good idea: to introduce this function in a web browser. In this way, all we need is to have a Chrome app, open a web page, click on a button and have the camera open so we can see the object in question. At the moment it is a project in development but as a proposal to make this technology more accessible it can be very successful.

Article, as Google has called it, is a 3D object viewer that will be integrated into the browser. When we see 'Article' we can interact with it and spin it, for example, to see how 'Article' looks on each side. This is not all, we will have a dedicated button in 'Article' to take us to the camera and we can place the model in question in front of our eyes.

So explain the Mountain View when we activate the option of augmented reality in 'Article' will take us to the camera and we will see a white ring where a few seconds later the object in question will appear. In the demo of 'Article' that they have shown in the blog it is seen that this function is very intuitive and easy to use.

For augmented reality it will be an important step because of the agility it will bring to use it without any intermediary in the form of additional application. In addition, with the quality they have today any Android phone is enough to offer a basic but satisfactory experience.

At the moment, the 'Article' is only a prototype and it seems that we will soon see it integrated into the browser that we use daily to visit web pages. What they have facilitated are the tools to encourage content developers to create their own objects and test Article's capabilities.

Samsung Unveils “The Wall,” the World’s First Modular MicroLED 146-inch TV

One of the products that would stop you in your tracks this time around in the CES is Samsung’s The Wall TV. This has merely nothing to do with its 146 inch size but also it’s amazing quality of images which is bound to stop anyone and draw their attention.

The Wall’s rich colors, insanely bright pictures and sharp images puts any other Television out there as a mere screen with nothing much to offer.

The Wall and its Micro Led Tech:

For some you see one Television you feel like you’ve seen them all. I mean what more can a TV offer? Well Samsung has proved that a TV can do much more with it’s “The Wall”. The Wall’s micro led feature, as Samsung like to call this new form of tech, is something that separates this TV from the rest.

Micro led or in other words self –emissive LCD is a tech where 3840 by 2160 liquid crystals all generate their own color and light. What separates the Wall from the rest is that there are no longer pixels that have to share a light emitting from an external backlight.

Ok you might say that OLED can already do this but with the Wall and micro led tech, the bright pixels and dark pixels go together without any bleed and what’s more is that the colors are even more brighter and vibrant with the micro LED tech than what any OLED TV would be able to achieve.

“Modular Design” in The Wall:

Coming to the screen itself in The Wall, is not actually a single screen but rows and rows of pixel blocks that come together in a way that can be used in screens of any size maybe even bigger than 146 inches.

Planning to buy the Wall for your Home? You might want to look at this:

One of the main concerns when looking at the wall at close range is that you would notice the seams in the pixel blocks when a darker picture is shown. While from far there is not much you can see by way of the seams, the closer and darker the picture gets you can see through the seams in the so called modular design. Brighter imagery again covers up those seams.

Another issue that comes to mind when looking at the The Wall screen is that it’s lesser than smooth finish slightly reflects light from surrounding areas.

The next issue is the price, having a screen with micro led tech and a whole other lot going on is not going to come cheap to anyone’s bank account even if you do get the wall in a smaller size.

Quality of Pictures on The Wall:

It goes without saying, but in such a huge TV with micro led tech where each pixel gives off their own color and with insanely bright imagery, the picture quality on the Wall is better than good.

In spite of its largeness the Wall affords pretty sharp imagery, it makes you wonder what it can do with 8K resolution than the 4K it comes with.

Lenovo Unveil Mirage Solo Standalone Daydream VR Headset

The Lenovo Mirage Solo headset was launched at CES 2018. The Lenovo Mirage Solo head set with Daydream was eagerly awaited and is the first all-in-one Daydream VR headset.

The Lenovo Mirage Solo is an all-in-one headset without any cables, no connections to PCs or phones. The Daydream’s VR platform provides for an immersive experience of the motion tracking technology, called WorldSense. In addition, the Lenovo Mirage Camera with the Daydream technology allows you to capture your VR video in 180 degrees, which can then be seen on the Lenovo Mirage Solo.

The Lenovo Mirage Solo headset and the Lenovo Mirage Camera with the Daydream technology have showcased the latest WorldSense technology and VR 180. It comes at an affordable price, it is easy to set up and allows you to record, watch and share your VR video. The Lenovo Mirage Solo promises to deliver a high quality experience to its users. With the help of WorldSense, you can have a fully immersive experience. It allows you to explore your virtual setup as if you were actually present there.

Lenovo has taken into account the comfort factor, while designing the Lenovo Mirage Solo headset. It is made of plastic and weighs 645g. It has an adjustable head strap that should comfortably fit any head size. It comes with quick release buttons, for visor adjustments, accommodation of different head size as well as making it easy to remove when you have finished using it. The headset is lined with a soft fabric and has a fairly even load balance to avoid any strain on the neck. The areas that come in contact with the face and forehead have been provided with additional padding for extra comfort.

The Lenovo Mirage Solo has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and 4GB memory. It comes with 64Gb internal storage and a memory card slot supporting MicroSDTM cards up to 256GB for additional storage. The headset has a 5.5” 2560 x 1440 75 Hz LCD and two Fresnel Aspheric lenses allowing up to 110 degree view. The Lenovo Mirage Solo headset is powered by a 4,000 mAh Li-ion Polymer battery, that can essentially provide 7 hours of usage.

The headset has the Inside-out tracking technology called WorldSense, which is obtained from the cameras and sensors allowing 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF).

Earlier, the portable headsets could track head movement by using cables and external sensors. With the help of WorldSense’s inside-out tracking technology, the Lenovo Mirage solo headset can mirror real life by tracking its position in space through the in-built cameras and sensors.

The Lenovo Mirage Solo should be available in the 2nd quarter of 2018 and priced a little under $400.

Lenovo promises to come out with various apps using the Daydream platform in the Lenovo Mirage Solo headset along with the WorldSense technology.

The Lenovo Mirage Solo headset can be used for atleast 7 hours continuously and is powered by the Li-ion Polymer battery.

The Lenovo Mirage Solo headset with the WorldSense technology, makes the Daydream apps and gaming better as well as provide an immersive VR experience.