Brillo for your pad

The announcement of Windows 10 for the Raspberry Pi was interesting because of its implications in home automation and the Internet of Things. A capable development environment, Visual Studio, on a PC targeting a cheap computer like the RPi is a good thing for developers. Apple is also making some waves in this space with their HomeKit products on the horizon. brillo.jpg

It looks like Google will throw it's hat in the ring with a new operating system for IoT devices at Google IO, today or tomorrow. 

The product's internal project name is "Brillo" and it’s been under development under the Android brand for some time.

It’s designed to use very little memory (32-64 MB) – much less than current Android phones, which require at least 512 MB of memory – perfect for smart-locks, sensors, security systems, appliances, etc. It looks like it will also integrate with Nest products that Google bought earlier. It should be available free to hardware manufacturers and will likely use Chromebook apps or Android apps to control and manage your home.

So, we’ll be watching Apple, Microsoft and Google compete in this space. It will likely take some time for this to shake out and it’s much too early to predict a winner – none have really cracked the security issues surrounding IoT – operating system maintenance and patching will be important to any successful attempt to win this market.

Why "Brillo"? Who knows?

In-store navigation using Philips LED lighting

Here’s a novel use of lighting: use it for navigation. That’s what Philips is trying with their new VLC LED lighting products. 

The VLC system acts like an in-store GPS system, guiding customers to the correct aisle and shelf where they can find the product they’re interested in. It could also be used to download coupons or recipes to the consumer’s phone.

VLC, Visible Light Communication, is built into these special Philips bulbs. These LEDs broadcast a pattern that can be seen by the camera on a smartphone (people can’t see the short pulses that are used for this signaling.) The idea is to both save money on electricity for lighting (these LED cost 50% less to operate than traditional lighting) and at the same time provide this useful service for shoppers.

The system is currently running in a Carrefour supermarket in France – no word on when/if it will spread to other stores.

Here’s a video that describes the system in more detail: https://youtu.be/uQw-o6bjrec

Could this system be used in warehouses for directed pickup / putaway or for locating equipment? Or perhaps to help people navigate large offices? I'd use such a system to navigate big-box stores...

Continuum - your phone as a laptop replacement?

The Windows Phone is becoming Windows 10. For a couple of years we’ve been hearing about Microsoft converging platforms so that there’s one Windows from phones to tablets to desktops.

Well it looks like Windows 10 could be it. The idea is to add an HDMI monitor, a keyboard and a mouse to your Windows Phone and you will be able to use it like your laptop. Applications that work on your computer will work on your phone, Office will look the same, Outlook will look the same. You'll even be able to use the screen on your phone as a track-pad. There will be a gesture for moving apps from your phone to the big screen.

There had been some speculation that this would require new hardware in order to work well, but Microsoft has demoed this capability and it really looks good using Miracast/ScreenBeam to display the phone screen on a monitor. For casual users, this could be your new laptop. The technology that makes this possible is called Continuum.

There are some restrictions using this Continuum – you can only run one application at a time on the big screen, though you can still run a different app on the phone screen. You won't be able to run legacy apps this way. There will likely be other differences because of the phone functionality.

Currently I've got a Consumer Preview of Windows 10 running on a Nokia 1020 and a touchscreen laptop. It's neat to see that they're converging these two platforms - this might just save Windows Phone.

3D production printing

Here’s something I found interesting. Airbus used over 1000 parts printed on a 3D printer for its A350 XWB aircraft that shipped earlier this year. They used a Stratasys printer to make the parts in order to reduce production time and cost.

The process had been used previously to produce parts for military aircraft, but this the first time it has been used this broadly for a production commercial plane. There are strict airline safety standards that have to be met and these new processes require new testing procedures.

It’s a milestone, of course, but given that the typical commercial aircraft has over 2 million parts, these 1000 parts represent less than 0.2% of the parts no the plane.

3D printing is typically used more for prototyping and one-off projects than for production. I’ve been enjoying learning about 3D printers at home – I’m still in the tweaking and tuning phase, learning about the characteristics of the material, how to design for 3D printing, etc. - it’s a lot of fun.

DO use that tone with me!

Google has released an interesting Chrome extension called Tone – it uses sound to transmit URLs to one or more PCs in the vicinity. 

You need to install the Tone Chrome Extension on both computers. Using it is simple – in Chrome on the sending computer, go to the URL you want to transmit and click on the Tone icon (a little blue bull-horn). The sending computer emits a short stream of DTMF sounds (touch-tones) and the receiving computer gets a pop-up asking if you want to open the URL. The sound on the sending computer can be quite quiet – it seemed to work reliably in my office using 25% volume. Originally, they tried it with ultrasonic signals, but found some reliability problems with speakers/microphones.

I tried it between a Chromebook and a Mac and it worked fine (it doesn’t work on the version of Chrome for iPads/iPhones.) Here’s a quick video of the process: http://youtu.be/YI-4fzrMA4M

It’s quicker than IM or Emailing the link and apparently it can also work over video conference or video chat as well. It’s like a QR code – only using sound. (It's just a bit too quiet in the video above to be used.)

If it catches on it could be a quick and easy way to share URL’s in meetings or collaboration sessions. It works like someone reading the URL to you and you typing it in - only faster. (Just make sure you trust the person that's sending you the URL...)

This is an experimental extension and may have bugs, but it seems pretty reliable so far.

Windows 10 "versions"

With Windows 10 on the horizon for release this summer, I thought I’d spend a few minutes outlining the various “versions” that will be available – at least the ones I know about.

Windows 10 Mobile
This edition is for smaller tablets and smartphones. You’ll only be able to run Universal Windows Apps (installed from the Microsoft App Store.) You’ll be able to hook up a keyboard, mouse and larger display and use it like a larger device (but only with Universal Windows Apps.) I recently saw a demo of mail running on a phone hooked up to a large monitor and it looked just like the desktop version. There is a preview version of Windows 10 Mobile available (but not many people actually have a spare Windows Phone to try it on...)

Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise – this adds mobile device management and additional security options.

Windows 10 Home
This is what most people (outside of businesses) will use. It’s the version that PC manufacturers will pre-install and won’t be able to be joined to an AD domain. It will include Cortana (like Siri) and Continuum (switches between tablet mode and PC mode depending on what hardware is hooked up.) Some other new features will include the new Microsoft Edge browser (much faster than IE) and Windows Hello face-recognition, iris and fingerprint secure login (with appropriately equipped devices.) W10 Home will be offered as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 licensed devices. This version can't be upgraded to Enterprise, below.

Windows 10 Pro
This is for business users and will include features from Home plus the ability to join an AD domain, get updates from the business (instead of directly from Microsoft) so that the updates can be validated with existing software (so that updates can be planned instead of just updating whenever the updates are released.) This is targeted at small and medium sized businesses. This version can be upgraded to Windows 10 Enterprise (at additional cost.)

Windows 10 Enterprise
This one has imaging options for businesses along with long term service agreements, managed updates, etc.

Windows 10 Education
For schools. Details are sketchy, but this will likely be offered as an alternative to Chromebooks (and Macs…)

Windows 10 Embedded
Used in Point-of-Sale terminals, ATM’s, medical equipment, shop floor equipment, cars?

Windows 10 IoT
This one is for Internet of Things devices like Raspberry Pi (I’ll be showing this in TechOne), WiFi routers, gateways, etc.

If you're adventurous and have a spare Windows 7 PC lying around, you can try out the Windows 10 Consumer Preview - just sign up for the Windows Insider program at https://insider.windows.com and then download the .iso at https://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-iso. It's not terribly difficult to do and you'll get a chance to play with Windows 10 before it's released in a month or two.

Throwback Tuesday - Light Phone

Here’s a bit of “new” technology that harkens back to the days when phones were just, well... phones. 

It’s called Light Phone and it looks like it will be really easy to use – you can only use it to make and receive calls. No messaging, no camera, no facebook.  

It’ll be about the size of a credit card (2” X 3” X 1/8”, 1.3 oz) and will use a dot-matrix LED display. It’s a pre-paid phone, preloaded with minutes so it might be useful as an emergency phone (20 days on standby) or a child’s first phone. You can also connect it to your existing phone (though I'm not sure exactly why you would want to do this... maybe to reduce the distractions associated with a smartphone?) Its only concession to modern phones is a 10 number speed-dial. 

It looks similar to John’s Phone, launched a couple of years ago, but maybe a little cheaper. 

It’s currently in Kickstarter funding, expected to ship in 2016 for about $100. 

Would you find value in a phone like this?