Honda caused quite a splash a while back with the introduction of the U3-X, a personal mobility robot that’s basically a motorized unicycle (and that our own John Biggs was “impressed” with after taking it for a test drive last year). And now, at the Tokyo Motor Show 2011, Honda took the wraps of a pretty similar robot, the so-called Uni-Cub.
In fact, Honda says it has been working on mobility solutions for single drivers since 1980. Just like with the U3-X, this new model makes it possible for drivers to ride in the direction they want to go by just moving the upper body or operating a joystick (the robot can also handle lateral movements).
360-degree motions are still possible, too, but Honda added another wheel to the robot to make it more stable. To increase driving comfort, the Uni-Cub features armrests (that previous models didn’t have).
According to Honda, the Uni-Cub can reach a top speed of 10km/h and has a battery life of one hour at this point.
Unfortunately, the company is still not sure about when to commercialize the technology. Honda sees the Uni-Cub used by people who want to scoot around places like shopping centers and exhibition halls.
Here’s Honda’s Uni-Cub promotion video:
In a recent survey done by the folks at eMarketer, they discovered that America’s adults are now spending more time with their mobile device than they are with newspapers and magazines. An average adult spends 65 minutes a day staring into their smartphone’s screen, versus 26 minutes for newspapers and 18 minutes for magazines. In other words: 65 minutes in front of a phone, 44 minutes with dead trees. Now that’s not to say that people aren’t looking at their favorite old media brands on a smartphone screen, eMarketer’s data doesn’t specify what exactly people are doing on their handset, so for all we know all those 65 minutes could be time spent hurling birds at pigs. When it comes to television viewing, people are actually watching 10 minutes more this year compared to last year, which can either be explained by high unemployment, so people stay at home and stare at the boob tube, or there might actually be compelling content being provided by the networks.
Back to the mobile devices, to further corroborate eMarketer’s finding we’d like to point out an interview done between Roy Greenslade at The Guardian and Andrew Rashbass, the Chief Executive of The Economist. Andrew polled his own readers about they consume The Economist, and this results speak for themselves:
“A survey among its US subscribers asked those aged over 40 how they read the Economist – more than 95% said they read it in print. But when asked how they expect to read it in two years’ time, the number expecting to do so in print fell to 35%. ‘I’ve never seen a statistic like it,’ says Rashbass.”
That pretty much sums it up. People like screens, and paper is going the way of the dodo. That saddens us to some extent, since the best feature of paper is that it doesn’t come with any distractions. It’s just you and the page. Oh well, bring on the iPad 3 and whatever ultra high resolution Android tablet Samsung is bound to release in 2012!
American adults now spend more time fiddling with their mobile device than reading print media originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2011-12-13T11:57:19Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j
Looks like Nokia executives are increasingly picking up on a specific kind of skill honed by Microsoft execs over the past few years: saying something stupid about their competitors that is undoubtedly coming back to bite them in the ass at some point. Straight from the foot in mouth department: in an exclusive interview with Pocket-lint, Niels Munksgaard, Director of Portfolio, Product Marketing & Sales at Nokia Entertainment says iPhone and Android devices no longer appeal to younger crowds:
What we see is that youth are pretty much fed up with iPhones. Everyone has the iPhone,” he said. “Also, many are not happy with the complexity of Android and the lack of security. So we do increasing see that the youth that wants to be on the cutting edge and try something new are turning to the Windows Phone platform.”
Now, I like Nokia’s Lumia 800, which runs Windows Phone Mango, a heck of a lot (more on that later). But why this executive felt the need to scoff the iPhone and Android as a whole, is beyond me.
Yes, Windows Phone looks and feels different, but not everyone agrees that it’s better. The reality is Nokia has everything to prove betting the smartphone farm on Microsoft, and a lot to lose.
Throwing around statements that today’s youths are fed up with the iPhone because “everyone has it” – what does that even mean? As the proverb goes: speech is silver, silence is golden.
(The awesome facepalm image above = courtesy of Flickr user MithrandirAgain)
Looks like Nokia executives are increasingly picking up on a specific kind of skill honed by Microsoft execs over the past few years: saying something stupid about their competitors that is undoubtedly coming back to bite them in the ass at some point. Straight from the foot in mouth department: in an exclusive interview with Pocket-lint, Niels Munksgaard, Director of Portfolio, Product Marketing & Sales at Nokia Entertainment says iPhone and Android devices no longer appeal to younger crowds:
What we see is that youth are pretty much fed up with iPhones. Everyone has the iPhone,” he said. “Also, many are not happy with the complexity of Android and the lack of security. So we do increasing see that the youth that wants to be on the cutting edge and try something new are turning to the Windows Phone platform.”
Now, I like Nokia’s Lumia 800, which runs Windows Phone Mango, a heck of a lot (more on that later). But why this executive felt the need to scoff the iPhone and Android as a whole, is beyond me.
Yes, Windows Phone looks and feels different, but not everyone agrees that it’s better. The reality is Nokia has everything to prove betting the smartphone farm on Microsoft, and a lot to lose.
Throwing around statements that today’s youths are fed up with the iPhone because “everyone has it” – what does that even mean? As the proverb goes: speech is silver, silence is golden.
(The awesome facepalm image above = courtesy of Flickr user MithrandirAgain)
While international viewers have had around a week to play with the new dedicated
iPhone app, the Beeb has finally launched its iPlayer in its native UK. Replacing the browser-based player of old, it now allows you to stream both radio and TV shows through a 3G connection. The new app also adds HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) which allows itself to tweak the stream quality depending on your signal strength and hopefully allowing you to catch up on
Top Gear uninterrupted. Like its overseas version, the new iOS app also throws in AirPlay streaming to Apple TV. Android and Symbian fans shouldn't feel too overlooked; The BBC are promising to enable 3G to all compatible devices through its mobile web version very soon, with a dedicated 3G-friendly Android app being primed for the new year.
[Thanks Michael]
BBC launches iPhone iPlayer app in the UK, adds 3G streaming to its mobile site originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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