Cutting Edge

Controlling your phone with motion

Hillcrest Labs isn't a household name, but if you have a Roku 2 streaming player (and really, you should) the company has entered your home.

Based in Rockville, Md., Hillcrest developed the motion-sensing technology used in Roku's remote. So when you're flipping through menus or playing Angry Birds, Hillcrest is behind how it all works. Its first product in the motion space was the Loop controller, which it showed at CES 2007. After that, the company went on to license its technology to Sony and LG, develop the Kylo browser, and sue Nintendo over the Wii controller.

For the next year, however, Hillcrest is thinking smaller. And by that I mean right down to the mobile level. Two weeks ago at CTIA in New Orleans, SVP Chad Lucien explained how the company is working to integrate motion control technology into cell phones and tablets.

Perky avatars bring 'Uncanny Valley' to NYC airports

A cheery, two-dimensional lady will soon be arriving in New York City area airports to make the agony of modern air travel a little easier -- if she doesn't totally creep you out, that is.

The Port Authority of New York yesterday unveiled new customer service avatars at Newark and La Guardia airports. For now, the quarter-million-dollar units are essentially woman-shaped, motion-activated looping video billboards that dispense the same prerecorded but helpful information about shuttle buses and restrooms to anyone who walks by. Port Authority representatives said they hope future versions of the technology will be more interactive and capable of holding conversations.

SpaceX cargo ship takes off on commercial flight to station

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Three days after a last-second launch abort, an unmanned cargo ship designed and built as a private venture blasted off early Tuesday and streaked into orbit, kicking off a complex test flight to pave the way for commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station.

With a replacement valve installed in the engine that derailed a launch try Saturday, all nine of the booster's first-stage powerplants roared to life on time at 3:44:38 a.m. EDT (GMT-4), throttling up to full thrust with a rush of fiery exhaust.

An instant later, after more

Ward off malaria -- and look sexy doing it

Malaria nets don't generally grace the pages of Vogue. But that could change, thanks to a couple of inventive Cornell University scientists.

The two, both from Africa, have created a hooded garment embedded with insecticide to ward off mosquitoes infected with malaria, a preventable and curable infectious disease that kills more than 650,000 people a year on the continent, according to the World Health Organization.

The getup consists of a colorful hand-dyed one-piece bodysuit and a mesh cape and hood. While nets treated with insecticide are a common, cost-effective prevention tool in Africa, the Cornellians say their garment can be worn during the day for extra protection. Plus, their fabric's mosquito-repellant properties are extra strong and long-lasting.

SpaceX replaces engine valve, clears rocket for Tuesday launch

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--SpaceX engineers have cleared the company's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule for another try tomorrow to kick off NASA's first commercial flight to the International Space Station.

The engineers replaced a suspect valve in an engine that triggered a last-second launch abort Saturday and carried out a data review to make sure there were no other problems, clearing the way for a second attempt.

With forecasters predicting an 80 percent chance of good weather, the 178-foot-tall Falcon 9 is scheduled for liftoff from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force more

For Silicon Valley VC, a Leap from great advice to big rewards

SAN FRANCISCO--Sitting in the windowless basement level of a nondescript building in the shadow of the Bay Bridge, Andy Miller is doing one of his most essential -- and rewarding -- jobs: helping smart and talented, but young and inexperienced, entrepreneurs navigate the crucial steps needed to move their new company forward. After all, great technology can only get you so far. It takes great business strategy and decisions to build a truly successful company.

Miller, a general partner at Highland Capital Partners who once reported directly to Steve Jobs as Apple's vice president of mobile advertising, is seated more

Leap Motion: 3D hands-free motion control, unbound

Hands-free motion control, a technology pioneered by Nintendo's Wii and later improved upon by Microsoft's Kinect, just took a very big leap forward. Industries from gaming to surgery to architecture, engineering, and design may never be the same.

With the unveiling today of its Leap 3D motion control system, a San Francisco startup called Leap Motion has, well, leapfrogged the state of the art in this young field, giving users the ability to control what's on their computers with hundredth of a millimeter accuracy and introducing touch-free gestures like pinch-to-zoom.

Leap, which comprises both a small USB more

Annular solar eclipse goes global, social

The annular solar eclipse darkened the sun and lit up social networks this evening.

Instead of completely obscuring the sun, the eclipse, which began around 5:30 p.m. PT, created a golden ring around the moon's silhouette, giving millions in the western United States and Southeast Asia front-row seats to a spectacle that hadn't been witnessed in 18 years.

While the eclipse was expected to last about 3.5 hours, the "ring of fire" phenomenon was only expected to last about 4.5 minutes, depending on location. The best viewing, weather permitting, was expected to be over more

SpaceX launch scrapped in last-second drama

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL--With its engines throttling up to full thrust, the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a commercial cargo ship bound for the International Space Station was aborted at the last instant early Saturday when telemetry showed higher-than-allowable pressure readings in one of the rocket's nine first-stage powerplants.

A post-scrub inspection revealed the problem was caused by a suspect check valve in an engine turbopump. Engineers with rocket-builder Space Exploration Technologies Corp. worked late Saturday to replace the valve and if no other problems crop up, the company hopes to make another launch attempt Tuesday.more

SpaceX set for historic commercial flight to station

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--In what proponents hail as the dawn of a new era, Space Exploration Technologies is in the final stages of prepping a low-cost Falcon 9 rocket for launch Saturday on a long-awaited mission to boost the company's unmanned Dragon cargo ship on an inaugural flight to the International Space Station.

The solar-powered capsule is the first of a new breed of private-sector spacecraft built for NASA in a commercial venture to deliver critical supplies to the space station in the wake of the shuttle's retirement and, if the company's founder has his way, more