Everything You Need to Know About Tesla's New Household Batteries

Tesla unveiled a new product line at its design studio in LA tonight. It’s called Tesla Energy and it’s a suite of batteries for homes and for businesses. The existence of the batteries has been one of the worst kept secrets of all time. But we are here at the announcement event and finally have some details. And they’re pretty damn cool.

“Our goal is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy,” Elon Musk said in a pre-event briefing with the press. “Which sounds crazy.”

It does sound crazy. But that’s the business Musk seems to have gotten himself into.

What are they?

The home battery is called the Powerwall. The business-targeted battery is called the Powerpack. They’re “completely sustainable, zero carbon,” as Musk puts it.

The Powerwall increases the capacity for a house with solar panels, but can also be used during power outages. It can fit on the wall in your garage—to power your Tesla, of course—or the outside wall of your house. It’s about 3 feet across, 4 ft tall, and 6 inches deep. It comes with a 10 year warranty.

It’s connected to the internet so it’s constantly talking to Tesla Energy and monitoring usage.

How much do they cost?

Tesla’s selling price to installers is $3500 for 10kWh and $3000 for 7kWh.

Business battery prices haven’t been made public as of yet.

How do they get installed?

“We’re working with certified installers for the Powerwall,” Musk said. “It’s designed to be easy to install, with two people in maybe a half an hour to an hour.”

When can I get one?

You can order the Tesla Powerwall battery now online but they’re not slated for release until late summer. The Powerpack (business version) will start to become available later this year. They’ll be making a larger push with businesses in 2016.

But that being said, they’re already out in the real world. The company partnered with SolarCity for a pilot project in California that supplied roughly 300 homes with the batteries. About a dozen Walmart stores in California and a Cargill animal processing plant have the business-grade batteries and have been testing those as well.

Tesla Energy plans to be in Germany and Australia by the end of the year. He also sees potential uses in developing countries with little access to reliable power. “In a lot of places there are no utility lines,” Musk said.

Is Musk using them at his home?

Yes, but he’s not going to be able to go completely off the grid soon.

“My house doesn’t have quite the right roof to generate enough solar power to go off the grid,” Musk said before the event. “I think it’ll probably be 2/3 solar power when it’s all said and done.”

Why does any of this matter?

By pulling homes and businesses off the grid during peak hours, America’s electrical infrastructure would see greater stability. With enough people on board (and critical mass of adoption is obviously a ways into the future) we’d likely see fewer brownouts in our cities.

Another attractive part for consumers is that this kind of battery will give homeowners complete energy independence, allowing them to sever connections to utility companies.

What are the specs for the home version?

• Energy: 7kWh or 10kWh
• Continuous Power: 2kW
• Peak Power: 3kW
• Round Trip Efficiency: >92%
• Operating Temperature Range: -20C (-4F) to 43C (110F)
• Dimensions: H: 1300mm W: 860mm D:180mm

HP revamps PCs: Is it really year of the desktop?

Hewlett-Packard on Monday rolled out a series of systems in what one exec calls "the year of the desktop."

Desktop?!?

Mike Nash, vice president of portfolio strategy and customer experience at HP, acknowledged that the desktop has been given short-shrift amid other priorities such as laptops, convertibles and tablets, but now it's time for an overhaul.

And it's hard to argue against the idea that the desktop should get some design love.

HP's update to its desktop lineup is similar to the refresh last month that revolved around laptops.

Not surprisingly, HP's first wave revolved around the Pavilion all-in-ones, a popular form factor. The latest Pavilions come with a glass HD display from edge to edge, access to ports along the bottom edge of the screen and less frequently access cables in the back, a selection of Intel or AMD processors and screens varying from 21 inches to 27 inches.

The all-in-ones also can carry up to 16GB of memory and 3TB hard drives.

But the real desktop focus comes with what HP calls a "vertical design language" and color options ranging from white to silver to blue and red with Pavilion desktops. Like the all-in-ones, there's a selection of Intel or AMD chips as well as integrated optical drives and up to 3TB of storage.

HP also rolled out the Envy desktop, which is brushed aluminum, has a selection of AMD and Intel chips with a 3TB drive or 512GB solid state drive. The desktop will also support high-end video and photo editing.

And finally, HP highlighted the Envy Phoenix desktop, which is a dark brushed aluminum system that allows gamers to over clock processors from Intel. The system also includes a thermal system with closed loop liquid cooling and a 4TB drive or 128GB or 512GB solid state drive. Graphics chips are available from both Nvidia and AMD.

HP Envy Phoenix

The availability and pricing details break down like this:

• The 21.5- and 23-inch HP Pavilion all-in-one PCs will be available on June 28 on HP's site starting at $649.99 and $699.99, respectively.
• The HP Pavilion, ENVY and ENVY Phoenix towers will be available on June 10 on HP's site. The HP ENVY tower starts at $699.99 with the HP ENVY tower starting at $899.99. The Pavilion desktop will start at $499.99 at retailers.

Microsoft kills Media Center for Windows 10

If you're a Windows user and Windows Media Center is your media player of choice, there's bad news coming with the future release of the Windows 10 operating system. Microsoft has confirmed that the software will not be included with, and is in fact incompatible with,Windows 10. While Media Center has been a part of the operating system up until the latest version of 8.1, active development on the software actually ended back in 2009. Speaking to ZDNet during the Build developer conference last week, Microsoft stated that any PCs updating from Windows 7 or 8.1 will lose all Media Center functionality.

This will undoubtedly come as a disappointment to the number of loyal Media Center users. The software was first introduced in 2001 via an update to Windows XP. It came included with Windows Vista and 7, and due to demand from enthusiasts was actually ported to Windows 8 in an upgrade pack.

When it was first released, Media Center was meant to act as a PC's central entertainment hub, with the software running fullscreen and controlling media playback such as DVDs, CDs, photos, and even the ability to record broadcast TV. This led to several computer manufacturers releasing Media Center PCs meant to be used in the living room, but this trend never caught on with consumers.

It's easy to see why Microsoft has made the decision to finally kill Media Center, what with most users getting their media via streaming services that don't need a dedicated player, and watching on devices like smartphones and tablets. Should you still be heavily reliant on the Media Center software, the best option is probably to stick with Windows 7 or 8 in the meantime, as Microsoft has pledged to support the operating systems through 2020 and 2023, respectively.

Your free Android apps talk to thousands of ad sites

If you've used ad-sponsored Android apps, you've probably wondered where those ads are coming from, and whether or not there's anything to be worried about. According to French researchers, you have a reason to be cautious. They've found a way to automatically scan Android apps for connections to advertising and user tracking sites, and some of those programs are more than a little dodgy. A selection of 2,000 free Google Play apps connected to a whopping 250,000 sites spread over 2,000 domains. Most of them talk to only a handful of sites (Google's ad services dominate the top 10), but 10 percent connect to 500 or more -- one egregious offender links to over 2,000 sites. Only 30 percent of the apps talked to user tracking sites, but some of those were communicating with 800 or more addresses.

The actual danger to your phone isn't likely to be high. Only a small slice of those apps appeared to connect to suspicious sites, and many of the rest come from developers that Google holds in high esteem. Also, the researchers were using a phone running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, so their experience might be different than what you'd get running thelatest version of Lollipop. Still, the issue is that you rarely know which ad and tracker sites are involved, and there's no easy way to block the connections you don't want. While this study doesn't mean that you should ditch ad-backed apps entirely, it does serve as a friendly reminder that you should be careful before grabbing them.

Harmony rehab robot guides recovery

Harmony is a robotic exoskeleton designed for the upper body

Until now, rehabilitation exoskeletons have generally been one-armed, and haven't been of much help in providing the sort of two-arm training that many patients need to recover coordination for carrying out daily tasks. Researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin have now developed Harmony, a two-armed, robotic exoskeleton that uses mechanical feedback and sensor data to provide therapy to patients with spinal and neurological injuries.

Under development since 2011, Harmony is the result of a collaboration between mechanical engineering researcher Ashish Deshpande and graduate students from the Rehabilitation and Neuromuscular Robotics Lab. Its purpose is to provide full upper-body therapy with a high degree of natural motion, so patients can learn how to do things most of us take for granted, such as eating and dressing ourselves.

Harmony fits the entire upper body, connecting to the patient in three places. The exoskeleton has 14 axes of movement and a shoulder joint that helps with natural, coordinated movements, such as the scapulohumeral rhythm, which is an important rotational motion of the upper arm, shoulder and back that is important for long-term joint stability. In addition, the exoskeleton has tunable pressure and force, so it feels weightless when worn.

Another feature of Harmony is its suite of sensors designed to record data at a rate of 2,000 times per second. The data is recorded and used by harmony's software to instantly modify how the robotic system interacts with the patient.

In addition, the software lets the medical team provide precise therapy, as well as trackable data about the therapy. As the therapy progresses, Harmony can use its high levels of force and torque control to correct the patient's movements, provide guided exercises that gradually increase in difficultly, and chart their progress.

"Harmony is the culmination of years of research and development in the ReNeu Robotics Lab," says Deshpande. "It was specially designed to offer customized therapy for optimal efficacy. Not only does the exoskeleton adjust to patient size, it can also be programmed to be gentle or firm based on the individual’s therapy needs."

The hope is that Harmony will be able to reduce recovery times by providing bespoke care. According to the team, the project is moving out of the building phase and will now concentrate on trials, which will begin with healthy subjects in June, and the eventual inclusion of screen interfaces or games to help with recovery by providing stimulation to combat boredom and provide motivation during sessions.

Google I/O 2015 What to Expect: Android M, Google Glass 2.0, Project Ara and More

Google has officially announced the dates for its prestigious Google I/O 2015 and there's a lot of excitement around new launches and announcements at the event.

While it is still a mystery what Google might announce, here are our top guesses that will be the major highlight of the event. The prestigious event will shed light on some of Google's biggest projects, ranging from Android M to Google Glass 2.0 and Project Ara to Android Wear.

Here are all the possible announcements Google is expected to make at the Google I/O 2015, which commences on 28 May and runs through the next day. Registrations for the event are closed.

Android M

Google I/O 2014 witnessed the launch of Android 5.0 Lollipop and this year's I/O keynote will make way for the next Android version. Going by Google's naming strategy, the next Android version will be named starting with the letter M. The Android M will succeed Android Lollipop as a sub-version, mostly Android 5.1.

The Android M specifics have been kept discreet, but there will not be a major overhaul as seen with Android Lollipop's Material Design. In fact, the update will be focused mainly towards squashing known bugs, improving OS performance and few added features.

Google Glass 2.0

After abruptly discontinuing the Explorer program in January, Google might announce some development on its wearable eyewear at the keynote. The web giant has confirmed that the Google Glass is not dead and future versions are already in the works. If the timing is right, Google I/O 2015 might be the right time for Google Glass 2.0 release. If not a full product release, some details on the development of the next iteration of the wearable is strongly expected.

There have been reports suggesting Google might use an Intel chip in its next version of Google Glass but other specs remain a secret.

Project Ara

The modular phone strategy promises a new take on smartphones and Google's Project Ara leads the way. We are expecting to see a solid development in the project at this month's I/O keynote. Project Ara offers the freedom for mobile users to upgrade their phone's components simply by switching parts. The initiative is still under development and lacks an official launch date. However, Google has revealed that it will start market testing the first products this year and Google I/O 2015 keynote seems like the right time to get more specific details.

Android Wear

Google's Android Wear OS has grown into a fully fledged OS for wearables over the past year but there's room for development. With the fast growing competition in the wearables segment, Google needs to improve its wearables platform to compete against rivals like Apple and Samsung. Even though Google has constantly improved Android Wear with software updates, we expect to see what Google has in store for the future, like a flagship smartwatch by Google.

Everything Else

Google is expected to finally release the next major upgrade to its Nexus series, Android Silver, which allows users to create Android devices based on certain requirements. Google may also dedicate a few sessions to its Android TV and Android Auto as well as some kids-friendly products and services.

We tried Microsoft HoloLens: This is going to be much bigger than Google Glass

We just tried the company's new hologram gadget HoloLens.

It was a demonstration that was equal parts really awesome and really weird.

We were struck right away by how different this device is from Google Glass. HoloLens is about getting specific tasks done.

Upshot: the HoloLens is the future, but not one that’s coming any time soon.

Walking through a blueprint

We tried HoloLens at the Microsoft's developer's conference, Build, going on in San Francisco this week.

The 15-minute demo paired HoloLens with architectural modeling software SketchUp. (Irony not lost here. SketchUp was developed by Google and sold to Trimble Navigation in 2012.)

With the glasses on, we could take an object on our screens and drag it off screen where it became a 3D hologram. With a mouse, we could change the size, color of the object – in this case the object was a model of a building.

In part two of the demo, we could go into this building, listen to and leave voice recorded notes for the architect.

Instead of looking at a paper blueprint, we saw where a new doorway was being designed and could look behind the walls to see where the plumbing and pipes were.

We controlled the device by moving our heads to direct our gaze, with voice commands and with a few simply hand gestures, namely the "air click."  The air click was exactly how it sounds, extend your ands and move your index finger, like clicking on a mouse.

HoloLens was untethered – no wires, although there was a Windows 10 PC in the room controlling it, operated by someone else.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-glass-hands-on-2015-4#ixzz3YsmtMryc