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The internet is filled with free educational lectures, and many of those lectures are spread across a variety of platforms, from free university sites to YouTube. FindLectures attempts to provide a single place to search through them.
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Pebble, one of the best-known smartwatch brands, is dead. Rumors about the company’s demise have been swirling since The Information reported a potential Fitbit buyout last week. Today in a post on Kickstarter, Pebble confirmed that Fitbit was acquiring “key Pebble assets†and that Pebble would “no longer be operating…
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Remember your last flight when you told yourself that at least flying couldn’t get any worse? Well, it’s about to get worse. United Airlines will soon start charging some customers for the privilege to use the overhead bins.
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Bluetooth is about to become a lot less hassle-prone. The wireless standard’s Special Interest Group has officially adopted the Bluetooth 5 spec, clearing the way for device makers to use the much-improved technology in everything from phones to wearables to smart home equipment. This doesn’t mean that you’ll see it right away, of course. The group expects Bluetooth 5-equipped products to hit the market in the next 2 to 6 months, or right around when the next wave of smartphones is likely to arrive.
Again, the new spec is all about raw performance. You can expect up to four times the range, twice the speed and eight times the amount of data in broadcast messages. Those will be particularly helpful for smart appliances and the Internet of Things, where the existing Bluetooth 4.2 standard might not be powerful enough to connect an entire home. However, it should also make a difference anywhere that you notice Bluetooth’s existing limitations. Smartwatches could see a serious upgrade, for example — one of the biggest bottlenecks on wristwear is the slow connection to your phone. And regardless of the device you use, there are techniques to reduce interference with other wireless devices.
Just don’t expect much of a boost to audio quality. While Bluetooth 5 could help with range, you won’t see improvements to audio compression, latency and power use until 2018. The newly adopted format is primarily about dragging Bluetooth’s range and speed into the modern era, and future efforts will build on top of that groundwork.
Source: Bluetooth SIG
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A smartpen that could already digitally measure pretty much anything will soon also be able to scan objects in 3D. Developed by Instrumments, a company made up of former Misfit creators, the impressive 01 pen will be getting a new app, adding the 3D functionality next Spring. This Pro App will enable users to roll the 01 pen over 3D objects, capturing contours and wirelessly logging and sharing the 3D data.
The update will come as a welcome relief for 3D artists, as it looks to make the long and painful process of modeling 3D objects significantly easier.
Alongside this new technology, the company has announced a variation on its 01 pen scanner, the 01Go. $50 cheaper than the 01, the 01Go works in the same way but does away with the pen functionality, making it a noticeably smaller and more portable scanner. Releasing on March 1st 2017, the 01Go is normally priced at $99, but is now available on their Indiegogo for $79 for a limited time.
The 01 launched in November for $149, thanks to Instrumments’ successful Indiegogo campaign, and is shipping now to early backers. While you can just purchase the 01 and 01Go from Instrumments website, backing the device on Indiegogo is the better option, granting you five-year free access to the Pro app. The Lite app will be available to everyone for free starting December 10 on both the Google Play store and the App Store. If you make the plunge, however, you can expect to part with extra cash for accessories like sleeves, ink, lead refills, and batteries, which are also available from Instrumments website.
Source: InstruMMents
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The rumors were true: Fitbit is buying Pebble. Well, its talent and intellectual property, at least. The wearable maker confirmed today that it has acquired "specific assets" of Pebble, including key staff members and its software and firmware developments. Once a shining example of how crowdfunding can help smaller companies share their technology with the world, Pebble will cease the manufacturing, promotion and selling of all its devices and shut down.
Fitbit says the acquisition will enable it to bring new products to market quicker and improve those it already sells. With Pebble’s help, it also intends to develop customized products and third-party apps for corporate customers and researchers. Bloomberg reported yesterday that up to 40 percent of Pebble employees will be given the opportunity to work with Fitbit.
In a blog post, Pebble thanked its community for helping the company ship over two million Pebble wearables and detailed what customers can expect now that it is shutting down. As it stands, existing Pebble device owners will see no immediate changes, as Fitbit will "maintain services," but the company says functionality could be impacted in the future.
The Pebble Time 2, Pebble Core, and Pebble Time Round Kickstarter Editions won’t go into final production and all backers who haven’t already received their device will be refunded. There could be a wait, though, as Pebble said it will remunerate pledges by March 2017.
It’s a sad end for Pebble, which had managed to carve out a small niche in the wearable market with its e-paper smartwatches but struggled to innovate as bigger players like Apple, Samsung and, of course, Fitbit launched similar products. The startup found it hard to find cash, cutting a quarter of its workforce in March, even though it had previously set records on Kickstarter.
"Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to each and every Pebbler for making awesome happen with us over the years," says Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky. "Our community is vibrant. Our community is passionate. You are what made Pebble special and worth fighting for, every second of every day. We will always remember the love you showed Pebble, through thick and thin."
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US pharma giant Pfizer and a partnering distributor have been slapped with a record fine for hiking UK drug prices by 2,600% overnight.
In September 2012, the amount the National Health Service (NHS) was charged for 100mg packs of anti-epilepsy drug phenytoin sodium went from £2.83 to £67.50 ($3.56 to $84.98), according to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). As a result of the price increase, NHS expenditure on the drug increased from about £2 million ($2.52M) a year in 2012 to around £50 million ($62.95M) in 2013.
The CMA has ordered the two companies involved, the US pharma giant Pfizer and UK-based distributor Flynn Pharma, to pay record fines of £84.2 million ($106.01M) and £5.2 million ($6.55M) respectively, and to reduce their prices for phenytoin sodium. Both have said that they will be taking legal action to overturn the decision.
Before September 2012, Pfizer sold the drug in capsule form to UK wholesalers and pharmacies under the brand name Epanutin, and the prices of the drug were regulated. That month, Pfizer sold the UK distribution rights for Epanutin to Flynn Pharma, which “de-branded” the drug. A spokesperson for the CMA explained in an e-mail to Ars what this meant in practice:
Prior to de-branding, Pfizer’s prices were governed by the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) which prevented any large prices increases. The PPRS applies only to branded products. After Flynn purchased the UK distribution rights from Pfizer, it de-branded the products. As de-branded (or genericised) products, the PPRS price controls did not apply, which allowed Flynn to charge whatever prices it wanted. De-branding did not have the consequence of increasing prices; rather it removed the PPRS restriction on Flynn increasing the prices.
Normally, we would expect competition to lead to the price of a generic product to fall. However, the characteristics of this drug—i.e. the constraints on switching patients to other drugs—mean that did not occur.
Pfizer continued to manufacture the phenytoin sodium capsules and sold them to Flynn Pharma, but at increased prices. The CMA says they were “between 780 percent and 1600 percent higher than Pfizer’s previous prices.” According to the CMA, Flynn Pharma increased the prices yet further when it sold them to UK wholesalers and pharmacies: “between 2300 percent and 2600 percent higher than those they had previously paid for the drug.”
In its statement, Pfizer said it “refutes” the findings and “believes the CMA’s findings are wrong in fact and law.”
According to Flynn Pharma, phenytoin sodium capsules are less expensive than the alternative equivalent drugs in the UK market. David Fakes, CEO of Flynn said: “It beggars belief that the CMA seeks to punish Flynn for selling phenytoin capsules at a significant discount to phenytoin tablets. Phenytoin tablets are used for an identical purpose and for the last nine years have been sold at a price negotiated and accepted by the Department of Health.”
In response to this, the CMA spokesperson told Ars: “the fact that other companies may have been charging high prices does not entitle Pfizer and Flynn to charge excessive and unfair prices.”
This post originated on Ars Technica UK
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