HTC Vive Pre Adds Front Camera to Blend VR, Real World

A virtual reality war is coming between the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, and the latest edition of HTC's head-mounted display makes it an even tougher foe. Called the Vive Pre, the device is closer to what consumers can expect when it goes on sale in April, complete with a new front camera that lets you see the real world around you as you walk around, an improved visual experience and a comfier and lighter design.

Here at CES 2016, I had a chance to go hands-on with the new headset and the enhanced controllers, which HTC will be seeding to more than 7,000 developers, and I'm excited to see how they can leverage the Vive Pre's unique advantages over the competition.

Also See:  OCULUS GEAR VR

Front camera is smart addition 
The Vive headset's biggest improvement is the front-facing camera, which works in tandem with the Chaperone feature. Now, in addition to being able to tell once you're getting close to a wall (thanks to HTC's room-scaling technology), you'll see objects like chairs or people in front of you. All you need to do is double tab on one of the controllers to toggle to the live view. However, you won't see a truly life-like picture but more like rough sketches of objects. I kind of felt like I was in an A-ha video.

As Valve's Chet Faliszek explained, who is working with content partners for the Vive, developers will be able to blend the virtual and physical worlds. For example, your real-world keyboard and mouse might be integrated into a game for a mixed reality experience. We're not talking Hololens-level augmented reality, but the front camera opens the door to a lot of possibilities.

The Vive headset itself is also more compact than the previous model and features interchangeable foam inserts to allow for greater comfort and a more secure fit. It's not clear whether HTC will bundle multiple options or charge extra for them.

Less mura = more immersive visuals
The Vive already has one key advantage over the Oculus Rift in that the system uses a pair of hubs that map your play space with lasers, allowing you to move around in the virtual environment. In other words, if you step forward in a game or crouch down, it will translate to the VR world. However, HTC has been working hard to improve the visual system as well, as the Vive Pre sports brighter displays and other image refinements to improve clarity.

One of the key achievements for the Valve team working on the Vive has been to reduce the "mura effect," which can make it seem like you're looking at a dirty window when you're looking at VR content. The improved visual display system removes that effect, making you feel more present in the VR environment. I noticed the improvement when I experienced the BluVR demo a second time around; as I looked around me underwater, everything looked clearer and a bit sharper, especially as a huge whale swam by me and stopped to look me right in the eye.

Improved controllers
Unlike the Oculus Rift, whose Touch controllers will not ship with the device, the Vive will come bundled with its controllers, which let you see and use your hands in VR experiences. The Vive Pre package improves upon the last iteration by making the weight more balanced and making ergonomic tweaks to make the controllers feel more comfortable. They'll also last longer on a charge, with a rated battery life of 4 hours.

I especially liked the improved haptic feedback during my quick demo, and the new dual-stage triggers will allow developers to have more creative freedom when it comes to creating more interactions in their titles.

Outlook: moving in VR world still biggest advantage 
HTC says that it has made the base stations required for room-scale tracking more compact and quieter, and this capability will be key to the Vive's success. Daniel O'Brien, HTC's vice president of VR planning and management, told us that the Vive can map up to 5 meters of diagonal space but it can be as small as the seated position. One of the 15 partners at CES showing content for the Vive will be running a cockpit simulation for a flying game. O'Brien says that he typically uses the Vive in a space the size of about two Yoga mats side by side.

The Vive might wind up being pricier than the Oculus Rift because of its room-size tracking and bundled controllers, but HTC is trying to deliver a VR solution that's future-proof. "We want to fulfill the fantasy of the movies," Valve's Faliszek said.

Sustainable solvent platform for photon upconversion increases solar utilization efficiency

The conversion of solar energy into electricity is currently restricted by a concept known as the Shockley-Quesser limit. This limitation allows only photons that have higher energies than those of the bandgap to be used, while those with lower energies are wasted. In an effort to obtain a solution to this problem and make solar energy conversion more efficient, the process of converting photons with lower energies into ones with higher energies, called photon upconversion, was developed.


In the past decade, a method of photon upconversion that uses triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) of organic molecules has drawn attention because it is presently the only method applicable to weak light such as sunlight. In this method, two kinds of organic molecules or chromophores, a sensitizer and an emitter, are combined. The sensitizer will absorb a photon and convert it to its excited triplet state. The excitation energy is then transferred to the emitter. When two emitters that have the excitation energy collide, one will convert to its lowest excited singlet state and release an upconverted photon that can be harvested for energy conversion.

While many studies into photon upconversion have been carried out in organic solvents, their practical use is limited due to the high vapor pressures, vapor toxicity, flammability, and lack of thermal stability of the solvent mixtures. Multiple approaches have been proposed so far to overcome these limitations, including the use of viscous fluidic media like ionic liquids that have low vapor pressures and high thermal stability. Ionic liquids are also limited in practicality, however, due to the relatively high costs of starting materials and synthetic processes, as well as their poor biodegradability.

To fundamentally resolve these previous problems, scientists at Tokyo Tech developed a TTA photon upconversion using a new class of liquids known as deep eutectic solvents (DESs). DESs are a potential alternative to ionic fluids, because they possess desirable properties similar to those of ionic fluids and can be created through a simple mixing of two substances, a hydrogen bond donor and a hydrogen bond acceptor, without the need for synthetic processes. The starting substances for the generation of DESs are also generally much cheaper, safer, and more biodegradable than those needed for the creation of ionic liquids, making them an ideal alternative.

The photographs of the DESs used and photon upconverters developed are shown in the accompanying image. The prepared DES was optically transparent and colorless and used as the solvent for the sensitizer and emitter chromophores. The photographs of the photon upconverter developed are shown in the right of the image. The sample converts weak incident green light (wavelength: 532 nm; power: 2-3 mW) into blue emission (wavelength: ~440 nm). The expected high thermal stability was confirmed by the absence of ignition and fuming during exposure to a burner flame for 1 min.

Notably, the photon upconversion quantum yield of the samples reached 0.21 (where the maximum quantum yield is defined as 0.5; one higher-energy photon is created by using two lower-energy photons at maximum in photon upconversion). This corresponds to the upconversion quantum efficiency of 42 % (whose maximum is defined as 100%). This is a relatively high efficiency.

Overall, the scientists developed a novel material platform for TTA photon upconversion using cheaper, less toxic, and thermally stable DESs. This achievement is considered as an important landmark for the realization of practical application of photon upconversion technology.

See photon upconversion technology with this solar panel GOAL ZERO NOMAD 7

Our Guide to Finding the Right Parts

Replacing and repairing a garage door opener can be a tricky process because you first need to diagnose what the issue is. Do you really need to replace the whole door or could it just be a problem with the electrical side of things or a technical side of things? For example, sometimes a duster and a quick clean can magically get your door functioning correctly again. We know you probably find that hard to believe but we will show you the secret of that a little further down this article.

If you do need to replace a certain part of the garage door do you know which part needs replacing or would you rather have an expert come in and take a look?

One aspect of replacement you certainly don’t want to do yourself is anything to do with the torsion spring as this can result in some serious injuries for you if you don’t know what you are doing. Therefore, if this needs replacing then call in the experts!
The Torsion Spring



The torsion spring is one of the most dangerous parts of a  door opener ( like MIGHTY MULE 500 ) an amateur can replace. You will know if there is a problem with this because usually if you lower the door to half way and hold it with your hands, then remove your hands it won’t balance.

The garage door will either move back up and back down which shows that there is an issue with the torsion spring. Albeit, the spring may just need tweaking a little, and tightening up but it’s better to get someone in who knows what they are doing.

If it has snapped then this will be more obvious to you, and it should be replaced asap.

The Sensors


Before you head out and grab yourself a pack of sensors and needless spend $40 just check them out. Sometimes they may have been accidentally moved and are angled differently, if this is the case then move them back to the correct angle and try to see if your door operates again. Likewise, if there is anything in the way of the sensor, even a cobweb then this can cause the overly sensitive sensor eye to think that there is an obstruction in the way so it won’t lower the door.

As well as cobwebs your garage can accumulate a lot of dust over the season and it can fall right on the sensor causing the view to be impaired. Take a look at the sensor and see if it needs a clean.

You will be surprised at how much a clean can do for you garage door, and from thinking you are going to have to spend a fortune in getting an electrician out to take a look and replace parts, all it took was a duster to get your door fully operational again.

The Garage Door Remote

Another popular part that needs replacing every now and then is the remote that controls the door. Again, just check on the batteries to see if they are the root of the problem as flat batteries will make you think that there is something more serious going on. It may not just be a case of swapping the batteries; the remote may have given up the ghost.

If it has then you can either buy an exact replacement by making a note of the model number from your garage door opener, or for newer model garage door openers you can invest in a universal remote which can open multiple garage doors and even control the lights in your home from a bit of clever programming and the touch of a button.

Batteries


The final section to things that you will need replacing on your garage door falls down to the backup battery on your garage door, which is usually situated next to the motor. Most batteries will only last 24 hours on their own energy (without a mains power supply to recharge it), and after this point the battery will run down so far that it will be useless as it won’t be able to recharge.

You will want to pay close attention to any beeping noises that your garage doors makes when you use it, and also the LED lights on the front of the battery are a massive giveaway to the state of your battery.

Flashing amber will mean that the battery is low and needs to be charged, which indicates that the electrical outlet you are using is not working so swap it. Whilst a red LED means the battery is dead and cannot be recharged.

Always double check your LED lights before leaving the garage to make sure they are green.

Cool power: Breakthroughs in solar panel cooling technology

As NASA's Parker Solar Probe spacecraft begins its first historic encounter with the sun's corona in late 2018 -- flying closer to our star than any other mission in history -- a revolutionary cooling system will keep its solar arrays at peak performance, even in extremely hostile conditions.

Every instrument and system on board Parker Solar Probe (with the exception of four antennas and a special particle detector) will be hidden from the sun behind a breakthrough thermal protection system (TPS) -- an eight-foot-diameter shield that the spacecraft uses to defend itself against the intense heat and energy of our star.

Every system (for example: GOAL ZERO NOMAD 7 ) will be protected, that is, except for the two solar arrays that power the spacecraft. When the spacecraft is closest to the sun, the solar arrays will be receiving 25 times the solar energy they would while orbiting Earth, and the temperature on the TPS will reach more than 2,500°F (1,370°C). The cooling system will keep the arrays at a nominal temperature of 320°F (160°C) or below.

"Our solar arrays are going to operate in an extreme environment that other missions have never operated in before," said the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab's Mary Kae Lockwood, spacecraft system engineer for Parker Solar Probe.

New Innovations to Survive the Inferno

The very outermost edges of the solar arrays are bent upward, and when the spacecraft is closest to the sun, these small slivers of array will be extended beyond the protection of the TPS in order to produce enough power for the spacecraft's systems.

The incredible heat of our star would damage conventional spacecraft arrays. So, like many other technological advances created especially for this mission, a first-of-its-kind actively cooled solar array system was developed by APL, in partnership with United Technologies Aerospace Systems (UTAS) in Windsor Locks, Connecticut (which manufactured the cooling system), and SolAero Technologies of Albuquerque, New Mexico (which produces the solar arrays).

"This is all new," Lockwood said of the innovations related to the actively cooled solar array system. "NASA funded a program for Parker Solar Probe that included technology development of the solar arrays and their cooling system. We worked closely with our partners at UTAS and SolAero to develop these new capabilities, and we came up with a very effective system."

The Parker Solar Probe cooling system has several components: a heated accumulator tank that will hold the water during launch ("If water was in the system, it would freeze," Lockwood said); two-speed pumps; and four radiators made of titanium tubes (which won't corrode) and sporting aluminum fins just two hundredths of an inch thick. As with all power on the spacecraft, the cooling system is powered by the solar arrays -- the very arrays it needs to keep cool to ensure its operation. At nominal operating capacity, the system provides 6,000 watts of cooling capacity -- enough to cool an average-sized living room.

Somewhat surprisingly, the coolant used is nothing more than regular pressurized water -- approximately five liters, deionized to remove minerals that could contaminate or harm the system. Analysis showed that, during the mission, the coolant would need to operate between 50°F (10°C) and 257°F (125°C) -- and few liquids can handle those ranges like water. "Part of the NASA technology demonstration funding was used by APL and our partners at UTAS to survey a variety of coolants," said Lockwood. "But for the temperature range we required, and for the mass constraints, water was the solution." The water will be pressurized, which will raise its boiling point above 257°F.

The solar arrays feature their own technical innovations. "We learned a lot about solar array performance from the [APL-built] MESSENGER spacecraft, which was the first to study Mercury," said Lockwood. "In particular, we learned how to design a panel that would mitigate degradation from ultraviolet light."

The cover glass on top of the photovoltaic cells is standard, but the way the heat is transferred from the cells into the substrate of the panel, the platen, is unique. A special ceramic carrier was created and soldered to the bottom of each cell, and then attached to the platen with a specially chosen thermally conductive adhesive to allow the best thermal conduction into the system while providing the needed electrical insulation.

From Ice to Fire: Launch Challenges

While the extraordinary heat of the sun will be the spacecraft's most intense challenge, the minutes immediately following launch are actually one of the spacecraft's most critical early performance sequences.

When Parker Solar Probe launches on board a ULA Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, in summer 2018, the cooling system will undergo wide temperature swings. "There's a lot to do to make sure the water doesn't freeze," said Lockwood.

First, temperatures of the solar arrays and cooling system radiators will drop from that in the fairing (about 60°F, or 15°C) to temperatures ranging from -85°F to -220°F (-65°C to -140°C) before they can be warmed by the sun. The pre-heated coolant tank will keep the water from freezing; the specially designed radiators -- designed to reject heat and intense temperatures at the sun -- will also survive this bitter cold, thanks to a new bonding process and design innovations.

Less than 60 minutes later, the spacecraft will separate from the launch vehicle and begin the post-separation sequence. It will rotate itself to point at the sun; the solar arrays will release from their launch locks; the arrays will rotate to point to the sun; a latch valve will open to release the warm water into two of the four radiators and the solar arrays; the pump will turn on; the spacecraft will rotate back to a nominal pointing orientation, warming up the two coldest and unactivated radiators; and power from the cooled solar arrays will begin recharging the battery.

In another first, this complex and critical series of tasks will be completed autonomously by the spacecraft, without any input from mission control.

The water for the two unactivated radiators will remain in the storage tank for the first 40 days of flight; after that, the final two radiators will be activated.

"One of the biggest challenges in testing this is those transitions from very cold to very hot in a short period of time," Lockwood said. "But those tests, and other tests to show how the system works when under a fully heated TPS, correlated quite well to our models."

Thanks to testing and modeling, the team studied data and increased the thermal blanketing on the first two radiators to be activated, in order to balance maximizing their capacity at the end of the mission, and further reduce the risk of water freezing early in the mission.

Keeping Cool, Autonomously

When Parker Solar Probe is hurtling past the sun at some 450,000 miles an hour (724,000 KPH), it will be 90 million miles from mission controllers on Earth -- too far for the team to "drive" the spacecraft. This means that adjustments to how the spacecraft is protecting itself with the TPS need to be handled by Parker Solar Probe's onboard guidance and control systems. These systems use new and effective autonomous software to allow the spacecraft to instantly alter its pointing to maximize protection from the sun. This autonomous capability is critical to the operation of the spacecraft's solar arrays, which must be constantly adjusted for optimal angle as Parker Solar Probe hurdles through the sun's harsh, superheated corona.

"During solar encounters, very small changes in the wing angle of the solar array can vastly change cooling capacity needed." Lockwood said that a one degree change in the array angle of one wing would require 35 percent more cooling capacity.

The constant challenge is to make sure the spacecraft and the arrays are staying cool.

"There's no way to make these adjustments from the ground, which means it has to guide itself," Lockwood said. "APL developed a variety of systems -- including wing angle control, guidance and control, electrical power system, avionics, fault management, autonomy and flight software -- that are critical parts working with the solar array cooling system."

Added Lockwood: "This spacecraft probably is one of the most autonomous systems ever flown."

That autonomy, along with the new cooling system and pioneering solar array upgrades, will be crucial to ensuring that Parker Solar Probe can perform the never-before-possible science investigations at the sun that will answer questions scientists have had about our star and its corona.

15 Tips for Growing a Long-Lasting Contractor Business

Freelance contractors are a major contributor to the economy because they’re absolutely a necessity. Without them you can be certain that homes and offices would literally fall apart.The result is that starting your own contracting business can be lucrative.


But, before you get too far involved, here are 15 ways that you can build a contracting business that’s going to last or grow the contracting business you already own.

1. Operate with best business practices.

One of the most common problems that contractors run into when they to attempt to improve efficiency and grow their business is agreeing on what’s considered the industry's best practices. After all, they already have some sort of system in place that they’re familiar with and believe is working just fine.

To put an end to this debate, you can use whatever system you prefer to handle everything from bookkeeping, scheduling and invoicing, to training and task management, as long as that system contains basic knowledge of the task and helps each employee by providing step-by-step instructions for each employee.

When you have an effective system in place. it allows you to not only maintain your current level success but also helps you be prepared to scale properly when it’s time to grow.

How to Turn Your Hobby into a Profitable Business Venture

Do you have a life skill that you’re currently only using in your free time? Though you may assume it’s only suitable as a hobby, there’s a chance you can monetize it and turn your talent into a money-making business venture. That’s if you know what you’re doing, of course.

How This Mom Grew Multiple 6-Figure Businesses From Home

If you’ve ever thought about working from home or starting a home-based business, you'll want to familiarize yourself with Carrie Wilkerson, also known as the Barefoot Executive. The Barefoot Executive is a website, community and bestselling book that she created to help work at-home professionals.

The site quickly grew into an empire with tens of thousands of subscribers, leading her to become a sought-after speaker and sales trainer. While she built multiple businesses from home over the past 19 years, she was also raising four children, getting out of six figures of debt and losing more than 100 pounds. Named Internet Marketer of the Year in 2009, Wilkerson has been featured on Forbes.com and Fox Business News and has worked with clients such as Google, John C. Maxwell, Zig Ziglar and more.

Clearly, she has a lot to teach us about success, so I visited her Texas home recently to ask how she built her powerful brand and how other entrepreneurs can build a successful empire from home.