National Geographic photographer uses Lumia 950 to capture the aurora

The Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL feature great cameras specifically tuned to shoot accurate and filmic images even in low-light. National Geographic photographer and Microsoft devices ambassador Stephen Alvarez decided to put the Lumia 950 to the test and capture aurora borealis as well as stunning vistas in the artic circle.

"As Microsoft’s Devices Ambassador, I knew Microsoft’s camera phone technology was advancing at a fantastic pace. Once I got the Lumia 950 in my hands, I was pretty sure it was capable of capturing a natural phenomenon that happens only at night," Stephen Alvarez explains. You can read about his technique, adventures as well as see his photos from the shoot right here.

Google Maps gives you a peek inside Brazil’s Olympic venues

Are you heading to the Olympics and want to see what’s in store for you? Google Maps has added indoor views of the 25 venues where the Olympic Games will happen in Rio de Janeiro. Aside from that, there are 12 outdoor venues with “enhanced views.” You also get a map for these stadiums and arenas that show the locations of things like restrooms, concession stands, information desks, and ATMs. Recently, real-time transit information was also added for the Brazilian city so there’s a way for you to get around. Even if you aren’t heading to Brazil, you can also still scope out the venue right from the comfort of your devices.

Source: Engadget

Puma develops robot to help train runners

Serious runners always need to better their times to make sure they stay competitive. But you won’t always have your fastest running buddy with you. Enter the Puma BeatBot robot. The ‘bot was created by Puma’s advertising agency: J. Walter Thompson New York with the help of a robotics engineer from NASA and a group of MIT students. This robot comes with nine downward-facing infrared sensors capable of tracking straight and curved lines on the ground. It can follow the existing lane-marking lines and make 100 steering adjustments a second so it stays on target. It runs on an Arduino microcontroller and a 9-axis accelerometer. It has front and rear row LEDs so you can keep an eye on it and it has forward and backward-facing GoPro cameras to record your performance.

Puma isn’t saying what the maximum speed of the BeatBot is but it can keep up with Usain Bolt’s 100-meter dash world record of 44.7km/h (27.4mph). It can be used with the accompanying smartphone app where you can input the distance you plan to go and the time you’d like to beat. And then you place the BeatBot o the starting line alongside you and wait for it to beep three times before you start running. It’ll move along with you on its own line and determines the speed and distance it travels by counting the wheel revolutions it does. If you end up beating it, then you meet your goal. Puma isn’t saying if this’ll make it into stores. But it could also just be for sponsored runners to use for training.

Source: Gizmag

Huawei and Xiaomi will reportedly release their own curved devices

There might be more curved devices in our future and this might be thanks to Samsung and LG. There are reports that Xiaomi and Huawei plan to release their own devices that come with curved displays with panels taken from LG and Samsung, respectively.

LG will reportedly be supplying Xiaomi with the panel they’ll need to build the Mi Edge or Mi Note Edge, using the screen LG uses for its G Flex series. The phone will supposedly run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 16-megapixel camera. It’ll reportedly be priced at US$463 (around CA$590). Meanwhile, Huawei is rumoured to be tapping Samsung and its tech to create the Mate Edge. Their edge phone will supposedly be using Huawei’s in-house Kirin 950 chipset and will have 4GB of RAM as well. Cost of this device is reportedly $617 (around $790). Of course at the moment, this is all still speculation. We have to wait for confirmation from the brands. So right now, take these rumours with a grain of salt.

Source: Android Community