Oracle gets co-browsing tech from its LiveLOOK acquisition

Image Credit: Photo Illustration: Eric Blattberg

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Oracle is buying a company called LiveLOOK, which developed technology that lets service and salespeople navigate webpages at the same time as potential or existing customers, the tech company announced today.

The deal should bolster Oracle’s product line for companies’ service desk departments and give Oracle some new features that competitor Salesforce.com lacks. LiveLOOK, a cloud-based service, falls in with Oracle’s focus on cloud options, not just software that runs in companies’ on-premises data centers.

Even so, Oracle stock was down more than 4 percent following the announcement — and following Oracle’s latest quarterly earnings release. For the quarter ending on May 31, revenue came in at $11.3 billion, up 3 percent but below analysts’ estimates of $11.48 billion. Earnings missed estimates, too.

Like other Oracle acquisitions, today’s deal continues the company’s diversification efforts, helping it to depend less on relational databases and giving the company some insurance against whatever could come of selling souped-up data center hardware.

Earlier this week news broke about Oracle’s interest in buying Micros Systems, a seller of hardware and software for hotels, restaurants, stores, and back-office facilities.

LiveLOOK started in 2008 and is based in Matawan, New Jersey. Investors include Edison Innovation Fund, New Vantage Group, and New York Angels.

LiveLOOK has more than 500 customers, including The Container Store, Match.com, and Putnam Investments. More than 100 Oracle customers use LiveLOOK’s co-browsing tool within Oracle’s service cloud, Oracle said.

Oracle is the gold standard for database technology and applications in enterprises throughout the world?the company is the world's leading supplier of information management software and the world's second largest independent software... read more »

LiveLOOK is the global leader in the development of instant, mobile-friendly visual collaboration technologies. LiveLOOK's Co-Browse solution is used by over 20% of Fortune 100 companies to improve online customer service and sales.... read more »

How 3D works on the Amazon Fire Phone

Above: The Amazon Fire Phone.

Image Credit: Amazon

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Amazon’s Fire Phone is watching you. It looks you right in the eyes, and it watches your every movement. It’s cool, though, because it uses this to make things look all 3D and futuristic.

Earlier this week, Amazon finally lit the spark on its Fire Phone and revealed it to the world. It’s a $200 touchscreen device (on contract with AT&T only) that looks a lot like an iPhone and runs Amazon’s version of the Android operating system. One of its defining features is something called “Dynamic Perspective” that is capable of producing a 3D-like image without glasses. This is an idea that we’ve seen before with Nintendo’s 3DS handheld game console, but the execution is different – but this doesn’t mean developers will struggle to implement it.

In his onstage demonstration of the Fire Phone, Amazon chief executive officer Jeff Bezos talked about his delight over a game called To-Fu Fury. It’s a mobile platformer where you need to guide a piece of tofu through a level. What sets the app apart is that To-Fu Fury is already using the hologram-like capabilities of the Fire Phone. This enabled Bezos to move his head around to get a different perspective on the level. For him — and anyone using it  – this would also create a sensation that the To-Fu Fury levels had real depth.

Check out this quick clip to get an idea of what I mean:

So, how does this work? Well, the Fire Phone is basically mimicking how real depth perception works. If you’re reading this on a phone or tablet or computer, you can lean left or right to see more of the room around the edges of your device. You might see a vase or power outlet or a person sleeping on the subway that was previously hidden by the screen. Lean back to original position (quick, before the sleeping subway rider sees you staring), and those objects are hidden again.

This is gonna seem obvious, but you can see around your device because your eyes are moving in relation to it and the world around you. That’s how vision works. But this isn’t how static images and displays typically work. You looked around your smartphone, and your perspective on the world skewed and morphed, but the screen remained unchanged. That’s because photographs and displays have no idea where your eyes are. That kind of imagery will always produce the same static perspective.

Same with TV. It doesn’t matter what angle you look down on it from, you’re never gonna see if that’s really just coffee in Dave Letterman’s mug. Games are a little different. Developers often give us control over the in-world camera in 3D games, but that still doesn’t take your head position into account.

The Fire Phone can create a 3D-like hologram effect because it actually does know where your head is. It is tracking the position of your dome in space 60 times every second with its four infrared front-facing cameras. This gives To-Fu Fury developer HotGen the information it needs to connect the in-world camera controls to your head’s position. When you move the phone around or tilt your head, To-Fu Fury instantly redraws its polygonal world to reflect your change in perspective. This creates an effect that mirrors what happened when you looked around the sides of your device earlier. It’s basically like looking through a window.

“It’s all pretty simple, actually,” Hibernum Creations producer Louis-Rene Auclair told GamesBeat. “For the user, whether you move the phone or your head, the cameras will figure out your positioning and actually make the screen move in the opposite direction. It’s just like if you’re trying to peek behind something.”

Auclair is developing a new game specifically for this technology called Saber’s Edge, which you can see for a moment in the video. He says that the Dynamic Perspective gives the game a real sense of depth. We talked more to Auclair and other developers about this technology, and you can read it all about it.

If you’re reading this and thinking that the technology can’t possibly work, keep in mind that it’s not a recent invention. If fact, homebrew developers already enabled something identical on other mobile devices with front-facing cameras, including the iPad, using an app called i3D:

Of course, i3D doesn’t work all that well because head-tracking is difficult to pull off with one camera that doesn’t work well in the dark. We’ll see if a few more cameras that are capable of processing light in infrared can do any better when we get some extensive hands-on time with the Fire Phone.

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Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where cu... read more »

FunBITS: SimCity 4 Returns to the Mac

The classic SimCity 4 has returned to the Mac, bringing the ultimate city simulator to a new generation of Mac users. And, thankfully, we finally have the necessary hardware to give SimCity the performance necessary to enjoy the game fully.

 

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Hacklet #4 — PCB Tools and Wristwatches

The Hackaday Prize is heating up! When we set up the prize, we expected to see some incredible entries, and you guys haven't let us down. Projects like SatNOGS, which aims to create a global network of satellite ground stations, or OpenMV, a low-cost Python powered vision module, are seriously blowing us away.

We’re starting to give away some prizes through community voting and there's still plenty of time for you to enter. Check out The Hackaday Prize page for the full details.

Low Cost Printed Circuit Board Tools

We've seen mills, lathes, CNC machines and 3D printers, but if there is any device that gets a hardware hacker's attention, it's a pick and place machine. In the PCB industry these machines pick up thousands of parts every hour, perfectly placing them on printed circuit boards. The downside is they're incredibly expensive. The cheapest Chinese machines without vision start in the $4000 USD price range.

[Neil] aims to break down those price barriers with a $300 Pick and Place Machine that doubles as a 3D printer. He's using delta 3D printer hardware to do it, and he's throwing in everything! OpenCV based vision, multiple tool heads, reel and tray pick up, [Neil] has covered all the major points. He can’t do it alone though, so he’s looking for help. Check it out, and give him a hand (or a skull)!

A low-cost pick and place machine will need printed circuit boards to work on. Not to worry, [shlonkin] has you covered with his PCB mill for under $10. Built from recycled printers, an Arduino, and host software written in processing, [shlonkin] has already posted impressive photos of boards his machine has milled. The main problem [shlonkin] has run into is longevity with plastic parts. In his most recent update, he’s looking for ideas. Can you help him?

Digital Watches

Anyone will tell you that digital watches are a pretty neat idea. With the era of smartwatches upon us, more than one hacker has delved into building their own timepiece. We're happy to report that most of them even tell time.

[Walltech] has gone all out to create the ultimate watch. His OLED Smart Watch 6.0 is the culmination of years of work. The watch features a 1.5" OLED display, an SD card slot, and a vibrator motor. It has Bluetooth 4.0 to connect to the world, and an Atmel ATmega32u4 as its brain. A 500mAh battery will power the watch for 18-24 hours per charge.

[Walltech] plans to make it do everything from SMS and email notifications to music streaming. Don’t see a feature you want? Add it! Smart Watch 6.0 Is completely open source, so you can hop into the code and hack away!

On the other side of the spectrum is [askoog89's] Tilt Touch Time, which utilizes  those awesome bubble LED displays some of us remember from the 70's. The retro look is only 3D printed skin deep though, as [askoog89] is using an ATtiny2313 processor. Atmel’s Qtouch is providing the capacitive touch sensing, while a tilt sensor helps Tilt Touch Time live up to its name. [Askoog89] has submitted his watch to The Hackaday Prize, so he’s trying to figure out a way to use the touch sensor to sync time with a PC. If that doesn’t work out, we bet those bubble LEDs would make great light sensors for some monitor-blink-sync action.

Fallout fans have seen plenty of PIP boys here on Hackaday, but have you seen [jara's] PIP Watch? This Personal Information Panel is going big on size but low on power with a 3 inch e-ink display. [Jara] is using an STM32F101 ARM Cortex-M3 CPU, so he’s got plenty of processing power at his disposal. He’s connecting to the world through a Bluetooth serial link. All he needs is a Geiger counter, and he’s good to go!

That’s it for this week’s Hacklet, stay tuned for next week when we bring you more of what’s happening at Hackaday.io!

Filed under: Hackaday Columns

Pwn Your GoPro: Scripting, WiFi, and Bus Hacking

GoPro cameras come out of the box with a huge set of features. Most people will be satisfied, or possibly even overwhelmed by the available options, but if you’re able to do some of these hacks, you’ll be able to expand your camera’s capabilities even more. They can, however, void your warranty, so as with most hacking, do these at your own risk.

Scripting with Autoexec.ash

 

By far the simplest way to extend your GoPro’s capabilities is by placing a text file in your GoPro camera’s root folder called Autoexec.ash. You can download a number of scripts on chernowee.com, which should be very easy to modify per [Konrad's] insights. Use of these scripts is quite powerful, and one can modify elements of the camera from simply blinking the LEDs, to changing video capture properties, to many other useful settings.

You can check these out on his page, or here’s his Github account if you prefer that method. He’s quick to point out that this will void your warranty, so proceed with caution. Although tempting to try, I don’t (yet) have a pressing situation that "stock" GoPro features don’t address. The risk may be small, but for me the reward is almost nonexistent.

Hacking over WiFi

If writing a script to reside on your GoPro isn’t really your style, or feels too risky, you can always use a script on your computer to control the camera. [Adrian] did just that, writing a Python script to control the time lapse frequency beyond the "stock" 60 seconds. There are many more commands that can be done over WiFi with a similar scripting technique, which [Korad] his listed on his GitHub page here.

Also outlined on [Adrian's] page is that it’s actually pretty simple to log on to your GoPro with a computer and browse around.  This type of "hacking" would be something interesting for even the most time-constricted “script kiddies.”

This WiFi script comes via Reddit, which claims it is not hacking… Go ahead, feel free to write "not a hack" in the comments!

BacPac Bus Hack

In case you weren’t impressed enough with 14-year-old [Konrad's] Autoexec.ash hacking, or his list of WiFi commands, he also lists the functions of the pins on the BacPac connectors on his site (and disassembled one, as seen in the first picture). I had never really thought about using this as an access point for more buttons or outputs, but naturally, there is a lot of IO capability running out through this port.

One could imagine hooking up an Arduino or Raspberry Pi to this bus, and controlling the camera through it. Especially given the RGB video output pins, it’s hard not to think of the interesting hacks that could come from this type of control. If you’ve ween working on some BacPac hacks already we want to hear about it!

DIY Mounting Options

Switching gears, probably my favorite class of GoPro "hacks" is the DIY ways that people come up with to mount them. Among the most useful, and simplest, is the kitchen timer GoPro mount. We’ve featured a couple of interesting models, including this excellent mount using Ikea parts.  Here’s one that I made using a different style timer with a magnetic base, leading to some unique mounting possibilities.

On the more extreme end, you could launch your GoPro into the air with a slingshot, or there’s always the single-GoPro bullet-time rotation hack. [HAD] alum [Caleb] demonstrates this quite successfully here, but you might have also seen this excellent effect using a ceiling fan, and fireworks. Everything is better with fire!

 

Mounting + Software = Extra Awesome

Finally, if you "happen" to have 6 GoPro cameras, a 3D printer to make the mount, and software to stitch the video together, you can create an incredible spherical panorama video. Watching the results below makes me feel like I’m about to fall off of the earth into space, but it’s hard not to keep looking! [Via Reddit]

 

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Jeremy Cook is a manufacturing engineer with 10 years experience as his full-time profession, and has a BSME from Clemson University. Outside of work he's an avid maker and experimenter, working on everything from hobby CNC machinery, to light graffiti, and even the occasional DIY musical instrument. When he's not busy creating (or destroying) something, you can find him on Twitter @JeremySCook

Filed under: digital cameras hacks, Featured, how-to

Adding Spindle Direction And Coolant Control To Your CNC Machine

[Peter] is back at it, again modding his CNC3020 router. This time he’s adding a coolant system and spindle direction control. If you have ever tried cutting plexiglass using a mill, router or even a band saw, then you know it is common for those plastic chips to melt together and form a crusty trail of goobers directly behind the cutting tool. Turning down the spindle speed helps a little but the intent of the coolant system is to eliminate the globular mess all together.

It appears the coolant flow is open loop, meaning the initial coolant reservoir is not replenished automatically. The coolant starts in a container and is moved via a pump through a silicone hose. At the end of the hose there is a nozzle mounted to the Z axis which points the coolant stream at the tool bit. The nozzle is plastic and made from a re-purposed and modified flux application container. [Peter] took advantage of the machine’s bed being made of slotted extruded aluminum. The bed catches the coolant which then travels down the channels to the front of the machine where it is collected in a custom made bin. The parts of this plexi bin were actually cut out using this machine! Gravity then drains the contents of this bin into another container residing at a lower altitude.

Believe it or not, the control boards for these relativity inexpensive CNC machines have a bunch of hidden features. One of them is a connection for spindle direction, it’s even silkscreened as such on the PCB. [Peter] tapped into these points on the control board and connected them to a custom made relay board of his own design. This board holds a SPST relay for the coolant pump and a DPDT relay for reversing the polarity on the spindle.

With the new board in place and wired up, both the spindle direction and coolant can be controlled via g-code commands courtesy of LinuxCNC. If you have a CNC3020 or CNC3040 router and would like to improve it’s capability, check out [Peter's] previous projects; Power Supply Upgrade, PWM Spindle Control and Limit Switches.

 

Filed under: cnc hacks

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As you can see at the link above, we’ve already made a start.

Above: TPS report day at VentureBeat

But that’s only a very tiny, very early glimpse at our complete vision. We can’t accomplish it without you — a lot of you. We’re looking for:

• On the technical side
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  • UI/UX genius
• And on the business side
  • VP Research with significant research industry expertise
  • VP Marketing who is technical and not afraid to do the dirty work
  • Two analysts/product managers who will own business segments

Obviously, we want top-notch people who are amazing at what they do. But we also want people who have a sense of humor and an ability to stay calm and have fun while we go on a roller coaster journey. Most importantly, we want people who are passionately committed to kicking serious ass.

We’re a startup within a five-year-old startup, VentureBeat, which is great because we can operate as a small, focused team, but we have the resources of an existing company behind us. We have some great advantages and vision, and we’ve proven that our model works.

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VentureBeat's mission is to define innovation for forward-thinking executives. Founder Matt Marshall covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News until he left in September 2006 to launch VentureBeat as an independent com... read more »

Sprint and T-Mobile borrow money from parents for August wedding

Image Credit: shutterstock

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The banks are lining up. When that happens, you know that the betrothed, in this case T-Mobile and Sprint, are serious about getting hitched.

Sprint has eight banks lined up to finance the deal. In the long run, the deal may be Sprint and T-Mobile’s only chance to be somebody in the U.S. cellular market, currently a two-horse race between AT&T and Verizon.

Reports say that Sprint’s parent, Japan’s Softbank, will make a bridge loan of $20 billion to Sprint to support the deal, and T-Mobile US will be getting $20 worth of debt restructuring.

In all, five banks are involved: JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs Group, Deutsche Bank AG, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup Inc.

The reports say Sprint also approached Japanese banks Mizuho Financial Group Inc, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

T-Mobile and Sprint are trying to get all the money lined up so that they can announce a merger in August.

Softbank and T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom AG have agreed to broad terms of a deal. Sprint will pay about $40 per share for T-Mobile, which will value T-Mobile at about $32 billion.

T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom will pay roughly $1 billion if it tries to get out of the deal, while Sprint parent Softbank has agreed to pay $2 billion if the deal fails to pass regulatory muster.

Via: Reuters