Music Communication Through A Lowrey Celebration Magic Genie C-500 Organ

Two keyboards, foot pedal box, volume pedal and sound actuation switches - all lit up. This is quite a control panel of communications that gets more impressive as one steps on the accelerator of a volume pedal. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2020)

Music Communication Through A Lowrey Celebration Magic Genie C-500 Organ

FREE For The Taking - A Lowrey Celebration Magic Genie C-500 Organ - Built 1977-78 - Lightly Used - To Be Picked Up Near Palm Springs (Northwest Coachella Valley) 

CALL or TEXT - (818) 266-9335 - For Arrangements

A once proud and dynamic tradition in American homes was to have someone in the family learn to play a piano or other keyboarded instrument.

One of the treasures that came from this era was the Lowrey Organ designed to make more different types of sound, on demand through a flip of a switch, so that a well studied person would be able to deliver a music communications experience - at home, or social environment - nearly unequaled by one person - that is until computers and electronic keyboard synthesizers were invented and relatively easy to acquire.

Inherited marvel of a musical instrument. Lowrey Celebration Organ Model C-500 with Magic Genie 4 Channel is a high quality Lowrey Organ Model C-500 that works perfectly and is in decent condition. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2020)

When the size and functions of a family undulate through time, many of these unique musical communications creations end up in a trash heap simply because no one knows how to play a keyboarded instrument of any nature.

Manuals for direction and understanding. Not pictured is a full technical manual for the internal electronics. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2020)

FREE For The Taking - A Lowrey Celebration Magic Genie C-500 Organ - Built 1977-78 - Lightly Used - To Be Picked Up Near Palm Springs (Northwest Coachella Valley) 

CALL or TEXT - (818) 266-9335 - For Arrangements

This excerpted and edited from WIKI -

The Lowrey organ is an electronic organ named for its developer, Frederick C. Lowrey (1871-1955), a Chicago-based industrialist and entrepreneur.

Lowrey's first commercially successful full-sized electronic organ, the Model S Spinet or Berkshire, came to market in 1955, the year of his death. Lowrey had earlier developed an attachment for a piano, adding electronic organ stops on 60 notes while keeping the piano functionality, called the Organo, first marketed in 1949 as a very successful competitor to the Hammond Solovox. During the 1960s and 1970s, Lowrey was the largest manufacturer of electronic organs in the world. In 1989, the Lowrey Organ Company produced its 1,000,000th organ. 

Up until 2011, modern Lowrey organs were built in LaGrange Park, Illinois. In 2011, it was announced that production of a few models was to be moved to Indonesia.
----
Notable Users
Lowreys were also used by some rock groups in the 1960s and 1970s. Garth Hudson, the keyboardist of The Band, played a Lowrey Festival organ on many of the group's most notable songs. Its sound can be heard prominently on the 1968 recording of "Chest Fever", which begins with a Bach-inspired prelude/intro.

The Lowrey Organ is one of several organs on The Beatles' 1967 song "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" (from the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album), helping create a fairground atmosphere.[8] Furthermore, a Lowrey DSO Heritage organ was used to produce the classic opening for "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". The Lowrey Organ and its built-in drum patterns are also heard on the million-seller single, "Why Can't We Live Together" by Timmy Thomas. A rather surprising use of a Lowrey Organ, on a percussive "marimba repeat" setting, was the synthesizer-like background noise on The Who song "Baba O'Riley".

Mike Ratledge of Soft Machine switched from a Vox Continental to a Lowrey Holiday Deluxe sometime between late 1966 and early 1967, and used it from then on, adding a fuzzbox and plugging it into a Marshall stack. To prevent feedback in the silences between notes (consequence of playing at a very high volume), Ratledge invented a style of his own avoiding the between-note gaps by soloing in legato. 

Mike Oldfield made use of the instrument quite extensively on his Tubular Bells album, and on several later albums as well. The Gotye song State of the Art was written to showcase the sounds of the Lowrey Cotillion model D-575.
[Reference Here]

FREE For The Taking - A Lowrey Celebration Magic Genie C-500 Organ - Built 1977-78 - Lightly Used - To Be Picked Up Near Palm Springs (Northwest Coachella Valley) 

CALL or TEXT - (818) 266-9335 - For Arrangements

If an instrument had a heart, this one beats very strong and is looking for someone to love its many audible colors and allow a level of music communications that can be revealed to many.

This lightly used Lowrey Celebration Magic Genie C-500 Organ needs someone to deliver it to an audience and a home.



TAGS: Lowrey, Organ, Celebration, Magic Genie, 4 Channel, Needs an audience, needs a home, lightly used, free, for the taking

TuneIn & Changes For Changes Sake On ROKU Tile Application

A portal is only as good as the tile application that serves the portal. Such is the case with the changes at TuneIn on the ROKU portal. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via YouTube

TuneIn & Changes For Changes Sake On ROKU Tile Application

Changes are the nature of living life here in technology America, as anyone who has had to evolve through the landscape can attest, concerning access to information and entertainment in this digital age.

A point of order given the observations and experience achieved witnessing the changes (for appearent changes sake) with TuneIn in general, and through their tile application on ROKU personal Internet streaming and display device in specific, have the evolution of these changes defy user simplicity as well as strong brand recognition as protrayed through graphic representation.

Over this last year of 2018, the first indication a user became aware of changes in the wind at TuneIn was the change in its logo. The original logo was a stylized multi-colored "t" that looked almost person like, sometimes displayed alone without the text TuneIn next to it.  The new logo is a dual-color aqua-marine green and darkest blue (almost black) diaplay and has the word TUNE in one rectangular box with IN located in another reverse color square box off-set up from the previous rectangular box.

Funny thing about this change, MasterCard just announced that it will no longer display the words Master Card along with their dual circle multicolor design folks associate with the card company ... similar to what NIKE has done for years - a drive toward Corporate graphic  recognition and representation Swoosh as opposed to the word(s) Corporate logo recognition.

In general, as it relates to this brand recognition thing, given the pursuit of best practices was fleshed out just recently with the announcement by MasterCard (the personal spending through credit card company) to drop their name as an instrumental part of the logo in all future business messageing and advertising.

Original logo - colored circles with corporate name embedded. Image Credit Mastercard, Inc. us

This excerpted and edited from Wall Street Journal -

Mastercard Drops Its Name from Logo
Move asserts payment network’s place among brands that can go by symbol alone
By Nat Ives - Jan. 7, 2019

Mastercard Inc. is removing its name from its logo in most contexts, leaving the interlocking red and yellow circles to represent the brand on cards, in stores, at events and in advertising.

The move continues an effort to play down the “card” in “Mastercard” as new payment methods and technologies spread. It also places the company among a small group of marketers such as Apple, Nike and Target that have preferred to go by visual symbols alone.

Original logo - colored circles with corporate name embedded. Image Credit Mastercard, Inc. us

Mastercard conducted more than 20 months of world-wide research to make sure people could identify it from the logo even without text, according to Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer at Mastercard.

“You can never be arrogant and say ‘I’m iconic, and let me go ahead and drop my brand name,’” Mr. Rajamannar said.

t works for Mastercard but wouldn’t for many brands, said Debbie Millman, chair of the Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts. “The only brands that are able to do this have developed a logo with global recognition over decades,” she said in a text message. “It takes time, consistency and a good logo to begin with to be able to do this effectively.”

Marketers often want an abstract symbol to stand for their company, said Michael Bierut, partner at the design consulting firm Pentagram, which led the development of Mastercard’s new look. “People really want that Nike swoosh or Apple apple,” he said. “The trick is you can’t fast-forward that process, really.”

In addition to allowing for a broader business than cards, the new logo stands out better on portable digital devices, Mr. Bierut said. “You’re trying to optimize for a very small piece of real estate on a very small piece of glass,” he said. “It might not even be a mobile phone, it might even be a watch face. Having to work in a 10-letter name in that is kind of a monster.”
[Reference Here]

Original graphic representation logo. Image Credit: TuneIn

Last year, TuneIn decided to move away from this logic that Mastercard, who conducted research on for more than 20 months on a world-wide basis that people could identify the company from the logo alone, by dropping their already adopted iconic representation to a word embedded approach. With this recent move by a company with the resources as Mastercard, what TuneIn had done was to undo and dismantle a keel of a perfectly running Marketing and Public Relations ship.

Latest logo where the company name is embedded into the Rectangle/Square graphic. Image Credit TuneIn

Recently, TunIn has been playing with the programming interface it has created for access use with the Internet streaming player that on hooks up to their display device, ROKU. TuneIn changed the application interface/Tile upon wich one accesses the TuneIn provided service. The change was very disruptive and ... drastic in its "re-adoption" and use.

Xylophone, a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via Cosmo Music (2019)

This from an email sent to TuneIn by the publisher of Symblogogy -
additional comments not italicized

Your company has recently changed the application for use of your service on ROKU and it is a complete dissappointment from a user experience when compared with the application it replaced.

The first, and most annoying aspect, is that the tool seems to send an acknowledgement signal (on a random basis) to the ROKU and the ROKU answers back with its low-note acknowledgement xylophone style chime - it is a constant reminder of how bad this version of TunIn really is.

YES, the chime continues every minute to severel minute random intervals - it's as if the TuneIn tool is giving a "ping" to ROKU and, of course, ROKU respons the only way it knows how to. This needs to be done 100% in the background without the user being signaled that this Ping has taken place.

Second, when TuneIn put the change in motion, NONE of the saved presets were retained so a total re-program of the application had to be performed - the nature of how this saved programming is displayed and accessed makes using the tool much more difficult and less enjoyable than the previous application tool.

Third, the Search feature yeilds much less information choices and consequently is much less helpful to its use.

For Example - if one were to search for a specific live radio presentation, we'll use Red Eye Radio in this example, what the previous version of the interface program would yeild is a selection tile where, when chosen, would harvest the complete listing, in the form of choice tiles, of all the radio stations across the country that were airing the radio show at that time. The very cool benefit from this approach was that it delivered the show but by being able to choose a radio station outside of one's geography, it acted as an audio cultural travelogue. Very enriching and sublime to the searching listener.

In comparison, if one's experience with the previous application tool was a solid B pushing toward an A ... the new tool, at best, is a C pushing toward a D for overall useful and effective user experience.

Other negitives include the way the information that is displayed by the tool is more similiar to CRACKLE (layred for movies and video) as opposed to what TuneIn delivered before - a simple and faster scrool and click on the single specific catagory - in this case, programmed favorites only with very quick launching process (unlike the painful experience the tool goes through now).

To be honest, the newer tool just seems to have added clicks to get to where one wishes to end up, even after one has programmed the tool with "Favorites" ... especially if one or more of the favorites were a national radio program presentation with the lack of the additional information harvested by the previous version of the tool.

Recommendation? Go back to the previous tool and improve that approach for your desired intentions as opposed to the turn-off you currently use.

Thanks for listening.

Original graphic representation logo, white background. Image Credit: Android Plazza

RESPONSE FROM TuneIn -

Hello Edmund,

Thank you for contacting TuneIn with your feedback.

I want you to know that we truly appreciate your feedback about our Roku app update for this will help us further improve the feature of our app. I’ll be sure to bring it to the attention of the team for consideration for a future update.

Feel free to email us if you have further suggestions, feedback or concerns.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXX

TuneIn, Inc.

In this case, the changes to TuneIn put in play over this last full year has the company becoming less recogniseable and harder to use, at least with ROKU, while delivering an overall less benefical experience in terms of search and ease of choices yeilded to the end user.

Here, at Symblogogy, an old standard to live by ... if it ain't broke, don't fix it ... seems applicable with the changes in the automation to a process or method at TuneIn and it's hosting at the ROKU streaming portal.




TAGS: TuneIn, ROKU, acknowledgement chime, ping, search, tiles, Rectangle Square, stylised human t, logo, automation, choice, Symblogogy

New Combustion Technology May Change Transportation Landscape To Remain Timeless

Timeless Machine - The new 911 (as unvieled at the 2018 AutoMobility LA - LA Auto Show Press Days) is the sum of its predecessors – and is therefore a reflection of the past and a vision of the future. The silhouette: iconic. The design: timeless. The technology: inspired by great racing victories and always one step ahead. With the eighth generation of the 911, we’re driving into the future. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

New Combustion Technology May Change Transportation Landscape To Remain Timeless

A German startup says it has the technology to give internal combustion engines a reprieve in the face of the headlong drive of government support and increased regulations, favoring electric power, to move this robust technology off the menu of options for powering transportation.

Wendelin Wiedeking, the former chief executive officer of Porsche AG, credited with reviving the iconic German sports-car maker, is a most recognizable shareholder of MWI Micro Wave Ignition AG - operative words, Micro Wave Ignition (videos).

The technology represents a microwave-based Combustion Ignition Method that can be used in all combustion-powered engines operated with liquid or gaseous fuels. Diesel, kerosene, alcohol, gasoline fuels, as well as regenerative fuels such as E-fuel and Blue Diesel are candidates. The MWI combustion ignition method technology can be relied upon to meet the latest interior engine specifications for fuel efficiency and pollutant reduction. One great advantage of the MWI technology is that legacy engine designs do not need to be modified, and that the ignition system merely needs to be replaced. Image & Caption Credit: MWI Micro Wave Ignition AG

This excerpted and edited from Yahoo News via Bloomberg -

Ex-Porsche CEO Aims to Save Combustion Engine From Scrapheap

Using pulsed microwaves to ignite fuel rather than spark plugs or glow plugs, the engineers behind MWI Micro Wave Ignition AG say they can cut consumption of gasoline and diesel by as much as 30 percent, and emissions by as much as 80 percent, because the fuel burns at a lower temperature.

The company, based in the small Black Forest town of Empfingen, has mandated Macquarie Capital to look for a buyer and international partner that can help to promote the new system and increase MWI’s financial firepower, according to people familiar with the matter. Rumor further asserts that the company has begun talks with some large automakers from South Korea and China - MWI declined to comment.

Wiedeking and a group of other private investors own about 20 percent of MWI, which is controlled by its founders, Armin and Volker Gallatz.

“I am convinced that MWI is a disruptive innovation with a huge market potential,” Wiedeking was cited as saying in a document shared by MWI.

More efficient engine technology could keep traditional cars on the road for longer, shoring up industry profits as auto makers spend heavily to ramp up production of electric vehicles in coming years. Several manufacturers are still investing in better combustion engines.

MWI’s pitch is that this technology can be integrated into existing engine architecture rather than requiring an all-new approach.
[Reference Here]

The technology developed through today can be used for mass-produced engines and is patented worldwide. It significantly reduces fuel consumption and pollutant emissions in the double-digit percentage range.

The technology in this case is not intended to compete with, but to instead enhance, electro-mobility: engines are used as range extenders in today’s and future electro-vehicles. Tankers, cruise ships, aircraft, heavy trucks: combustion engines will be used in these for decades into the future. MWI supplies environmentally aware technologies for these applications.
(ht: MWI Micro Wave Ignition AG)

Making what is already very functional and good, better for the future - all existing internal combustion cars can become ... Timeless Machines.

... notes from The EDJE




TAGS: Micro Wave Ignition, fossil fuel, internal combustion engines, Wendelin Wiedeking, MWI Micro Wave Ignition AG, Armin Gallatz, Volker Gallatz, The EDJE

Happy Easter - Where An Emoji Meme Gets A Rite Of Spring Makeover

Emojis come to be iconic when they establish themselves quickly and without much fanfare. This particular shape, with eyes and a smile, may have originally been created to represent chocolate ice cream, but was doomed from the start for many obvious reasons. Not the least of which is found in the coarseness of Social Media communications posturing. This arena has always been the Wild West. Image Credit: Emojipedia via Business Insider (2015)

Happy Easter - Where An Emoji Meme Gets A Rite-Of-Spring Makeover

YES! It was a peg wall full of hang tag packaging Pile Of Poo 3-D emojis marked as FILLABLE EGGS in an assortment of Easter Egg colors (thank the stars none were brown).

Banner labeling marked as "Fillable Eggs" just under a pair of bunny ears to the left side of the label. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Seasons and celebrations come and go throughout our lives. The ebb and flow of our family and social experiences allow us to have a life filled with the excitement of anticipation.

On a recent trip to a local 99 Cents Only Stores, the seasonal aisles, which were previously filled with the red and green colors of the Christmas season, sported the rich red of Valentines Day cards and decorations as well the beginnings of the muted pinks, blues, purples, greens and yellows of Easter.

Once confronted with these displays one is drawn to the typical fare such as cards, centerpieces, and candy gift enclosures of the season ... like eggs, fillable eggs.

Typical plastic eggs folks use to hide candy and gifts in during Easter. Image Credit: Busy Body Kids

Being early into the Easter season, heck, Fat Tuesday hasn't even taken place, the selection was not as robust as one might anticipate.

One hang tag packaging section was quite attention getting, in that, it featured something that was, at once, current in shape, but just a bit odd. This is not an everyday egg!

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Lest one think this might be inappropriate messaging for outside of the common Social Media platforms where we all may be exposed to this kind of light-hearted coarseness, consider that Apple Corporation has recently been airing a commercial in heavy rotation using a song by SOFI TUKKER titled Best Friend (click link) that features, momentarily, this same Pile Of Poo emoji.

Apple's Pile Of Poo emoji as it appears in Apple's commercial introducing the new iPhone X to the world. Image Credit: Apple Corporation via YouTube (2017)

One can almost imagine the discussions in the product planning boardrooms ... in China. Can anyone sense the disconnect here?

A glasses festooned face with a tooth style grin. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Then now, after the decision had been made to develop a product to be sold during the Easter celebration season in the West, the order goes down to the modeling department to create a mold that would be the right size, to be split in half, so that a parent, grandparent, friend would be able to insert an inclusion, a candy or other small object, for gifting purposes.

What goes on in the mind of a person with the engineering degree/training and crafts background to create such a thing so it would become ... a THING?

A laughing expression with drool coming out of one side. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Meeting after meeting, where the tests prove that this is now a product, until the next step where the other decisions have been made on differentiation, such as color(s), screened graphic faces, packaging considerations are applied.

A surprise "Oh!" expression. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Small groups of graphic designers come up with an assortment of face configurations. Each by each are approved and moved forward into the production process.

Faces include a surprise "Oh!" expression, a laughing expression with drool coming out of one side, a glasses festooned face with a tooth style grin similar to a Bugs Bunny (apologies to Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Mel Blanc) graphic, each coming to being approved and moved forward.

A squinty eyed, raspberry tongue expression. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Some of these screened faces are quite sophisticated requiring more than just one pass due to color and other considerations. Each face being applied, some with color first then the final pass of black.

A sad, "Woe is me!" style expression. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Each face having to go through a final inspection to make sure the registration of the application met minimum standards of graphic representation. Does the face impart the emotion it was originally designed to achieve?

A happy smile-faced wink expression. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

Through all of the process of preparing the product for sale and ... profit. The culture continues to shape the environment socially and politically.

Here in America, we have been confronted just this past week with an account of communication and expression found in our political discourse that boiled down to just one word ... s***hole. This word, similar in meaning to fecal-cavity, was picked up and used during the course of one full day of broadcasting by a cable news service about 195 times.

The term was used to describe countries that clearly operated politically and culturally with a complete lack of standards in cleanliness, building codes and aspiration to become operating at a higher level of standard through individual, family, and political governance conviction.

A bookworm-style pile of poo in shock expression. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

This may be a clue how this product, which was designed, developed, and finally produced for sale to a needy public, ended up at a close-out lots merchandising king, the 99 Cent Only retail store chain.

A Mmmmm, yum, yum expression with tongue. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2018)

All Symblogogy can surmise, with the production and sale of this rather odd display, once we bring these Pile Of Poo emoji memes home, fill them with treats to celebrate Easter, when given out and used as intended - does this act make us participants in a cultural rite-of-spring ... Turd-World Country?

Jus' askin'!



TAGS: Pile Of Poo, Emoji, Easter Egg, Easter, Egg, Rite-Of-Spring, SOFI TUKKER, Apple, iPhone X, Emojipedia, China, Shithole, 99 Cents Only Stores, Symblogogy

Software Update: Automotive Grade Linux Spec v2.0 Arrives, Adoption Grows

Infiniti Q70s Control Panel Display as seen at a recent Willow Springs International Raceway Motor Press Guild (MPG) Track Day event. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

Software Update: Automotive Grade Linux Spec v2.0 Arrives, Adoption Grows
Jul 14, 2016 — by Eric Brown, hackerboards.com

The Automotive Grade Linux project released v2 of its open platform for connected cars, and added support for Raspberry Pi, DragonBoard, and Wandboard SBCs.

The Linux Foundation’s Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) project, which is developing a “Linux-based, open platform for the connected car,” announced the release of the second version of its Unified Code Base (UCB) distribution for in-vehicle infotainment (IVI). The latest version adds features like audio routing, rear seat display support, the beginnings of an app platform, and support for development boards including the DragonBoard, Wandboard, and Raspberry Pi.

AGL’s Yocto Project derived UCB distro, which is also based in part on the GENIVI and Tizen automotive specs, was first released in January. UCB 1.0 followed an experimental AGL stack in 2014 and an AGL Requirements Specification in June, 2015.
UCB is scheduled for a 3.0 release in early 2017, at which point some automotive manufacturers will finally use it in production cars. Most of the IVI software will be based on UCB, but carmakers can also differentiate with their own features.

New features in UCB 2.0, which will be available for download by the end of the week, include:

• Rear seat display and video playback — supports simultaneous playback on front and rear displays
• Audio routing and mixing — based on GENIVI and Tizen audio management, prioritization, and layering
• Application framework — controls and manages installation, launch, and update of applications, and adds security by assigning resources only to approved apps
• ConnMan network management — ConnMan daemon based scheme for pairing multiple Bluetooth devices and switching data connections between Bluetooth and WiFi
• Vehicle bus messaging — rewritten with built-in security to prevent unwanted intrusions and stop rogue apps from communicating with vehicle bus
• New build environment — faster server that lets developers specify what goes into the build, and submit custom jobs
• New test infrastructure — enables connect connectivity to a hardware board over the Internet to perform testing
• New hardware support — NXP Sabre Automotive, Wandboard, Qualcomm DragonBoard, TI Vayu EVM, and Raspberry Pi, adding to previous support for Renesas R-CAR M2 PORTER and R-CAR E2 Silk, Intel boards like the MinnowBoard MAX, and the QEMU x86 64-bit emulator
• AGL UCB 2.0 is being demonstrated at the Automotive Linux Summit on July 13-14 in Tokyo. The demo includes rear seat display, video playback, AM/FM radio, wheel input device, navigation, HVAC control, media player and browser, and settings and home screen functionality.

Automotive Grade Linux architecture (Ctrl-Click to enlarge). Image Credit: copyright © 2016 Linux.com

AGL Membership Expands

AGL seems to be eclipsing GENIVI as the leading open Linux car platform. More than 30 new companies have joined AGL in the past year, bringing the membership to more than 70.

The January release of UCB 1.0 was accompanied by the announcement of new members including Ford, Subaru, Mazda, and Mitsubishi Motors. Pre-existing members include Toyota, Nissan, and Jaguar Land Rover, which already offers an AGL-inspired IVI system. The addition of Ford, a longtime Windows Automotive partner, was a particularly significant coup, and the sign-on of automotive IVI component vendors like Harman, Panasonic, and Pioneer was also key.

In recent months, Hyundai has joined, along with dozens of technology companies. These include chipmakers like TI, MediaTek, and Qualcomm, which has launched an automotive-focused, Linux-ready Snapdragon 820a SoC and Connected Car Reference Platform. Previous semiconductor members included Renesas and Nvidia, which has a Linux-compatible Drive PX smart car system based on its Tegra SoCs.

Joining an organization doesn’t equate with a commitment to use its spec. Yet, the AGL has garnered promises to implement UCB from Toyota, as well as chipmaker Renesas and IVI equipment manufacturers like Aisin AW, DENSO, Fujitsu Ten, Harman, Panasonic, and Pioneer.

IVI’s Long Road

IVI systems started appearing in luxury cars about a decade ago around the time of the first iPhone and Android phones, and the oldest Linux-oriented organization focused on IVI — the GENIVI Alliance — was founded more than seven years ago. Yet IVI systems, which combine touch-enabled navigation and infotainment features, and in many cases the communications, safety, and security features provided by AGL’s UCB, are still far from universal.

An IHS report from late December projected that sales of automotive displays of 7.0-plus inches will reach only 33.5 million units in 2021, or less than half of the roughly 82.9 million cars sold globally in 2015.The IVI tide is rising faster, however, as the sales will grow at a rate of nearly 10 percent.

The relatively slow uptake compared to smartphones is due to the conservative nature of the automotive business, which is based largely on the necessary concern for safety. This continues to be a concern as IVI is integrated with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) systems and self-driving cars.

There’s still plenty of time for new contenders to take on leading platforms like QNX and Windows Embedded Automotive. Most of the newcomers run on Linux or the Linux-based Android, with projects based on AGL, GENIVI, or other Linux platforms such as Intel’s In-Vehicle Solutions or the new Qt Automotive Embedded. The Qt Company is an AGL member, and says it will provide backends for AGL, GENIVI, and QNX. Intel’s Wind River subsidiary is also a member.

Android-based IVI systems include Mitsubishi’s FlexConnect.IVI, Renault’s R-Link, and Parrot’s after-market Android IVI solutions. There continue to be rumors that mobile/IVI integration stacks like Google’s Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay will turn into full-fledged IVI and telematics platforms.

The automotive business now has sufficient experience with IVI to realize the benefits of a universal open platform. They understand the complications and costs involved with keeping up with increasingly sophisticated, fast-changing technology. Like most other automotive platforms, UCB will support “instrument cluster, heads up display, telematics, and autonomous driving in the future,” says AGL.

“The automotive industry is starting to embrace an open innovation mindset, and OEMs and suppliers are realizing that collaboration and joint development benefit the entire industry,” stated Dan Cauchy, General Manager of Automotive at The Linux Foundation. “The AGL UCB provides the industry with a single, shared platform that will ultimately reduce fragmentation, improve time-to- market and reduce the cost of software development for everyone.”

“The latest version of the AGL UCB distribution marks a significant step toward building a developer ecosystem around the platform,” stated Masashige Mizuyama, CTO, Infotainment Business, Panasonic. “The new platform enables developers to build and test one application that can be supported by multiple OEMs, instead of having to build multiple applications with the same function.”

Further information

More information on AGL UCB, including a link for free downloads, may be found at the Linux Foundation’s Automotive Grade Linux website.
[Reference Here - copyright © 2016 Linux.com]



TAGS: Performance & Racing Tech Talk, Automotive Grade, Linux, AGL, UCB, Unified Code Base, In-Vehicle Infotainment, IVI, Raspberry Pi, DragonBoard, Wandboard SBC, Yocto Project,

AutoSuit - A Techno Solution To The Well Dressed Man

Gay Giano’s business development director Matthew Lee stands at store front display wearing his latest 3D scanned suit for the well dressed man. Image Credit: Jonathan Wong via South China Morning Post

AutoSuit - A Techno Solution To The Well Dressed Man

This robotic tailor can place anyone in the perfect suit in less than 10 seconds.

Hong Kong-based Gay Giano 3D Tailor - Customers are asked to wear a tight-fitting tank top and step inside a changing room equipped with 14 infrared sensors - eight in the front and six at the back. The machine instructs the customer to stand at a certain spot and hold still while it does its work in under 10 seconds. The data, including not just measurements of length and circumference, but also angles, is instantaneously delivered to an app on the tablet. 

For tailors, the measurements taken of their customer are necessary to come out with a decent fit result. Without these 24 or so measures - each by each, one might come out with something slightly better than a blanket but that the customer would not accept.

In these days of innovation, when technology is present almost everywhere, tailoring now has become much easier and precise.

Business development director at Charmston Limited, Matthew Lee, said that the technology helps boost a trade that is struggling due to a shortage of fresh tailors entering the game. Lee said “There’s a huge disconnect between these traditional craftsmen or craftswomen and the next generation. There’s no one taking over. So we felt that, if that’s the case, it’s either a dying trade or we can revitalise it with technology that could enhance or keep a better record of their knowledge,”. Caption & Image Credit: The 3D Measurement Company

This 'robotic tailor' (scanner) is a breakthrough that in less than 10 seconds, one will get the perfect fit suit as this robotic tailor gives over 120 detailed measurements. All that is needed is the usual good cloth, a studied technician, and about six hours - voila ... appears the well dressed man.

The company uses 14 infrared sensors to scan a customer’s body and provide 120 precise measurements, but the 3D tech is more interested in keeping a firm record of this traditional craft, according to Gay Giano’s business development director Matthew Lee. Image Credit: Jonathan Wong via South China Morning Post

Gay Giano 3D Tailor is now working with an Israeli firm to develop software that will show a 3D pattern rendering of the suits within 15 minutes.

The store has been using and perfecting 3D measuring technology since it opened in November 2014. Its tailors are now working with the Israeli software company to create an accurate rendition of the fabrics used by taking into account the tension and weight of the materials to show the correct drape.

The company has invested US$100,000 on the scanning technology and the software needed to render the designs. It expects to introduce the software in the second quarter of this year.
[ht: South China Morning Post]



TAGS: robotic tailor, ten seconds, Hong Kong, Gay Giano, 3D Tailor, body scan, South China Morning Post, 3D Measurement Company, Symblogogy

Onagawa Town In Japan Home To Process Technology Danborghini

The president of the packaging company, Hideki Konno (holding Danborghini logo), said he hopes the street will attract many people and enliven both Onagawa and Ishinomaki. Image Credit: NHK World (2015)

Onagawa Town In Japan Home To Process Technology Danborghini

This week marked the revival of a shopping district in the northeastern Japanese town in Miyagi Prefecture devastated by the 2011 tsunami.  Onagawa Town was commemorated with an opening ceremony December 23rd, 2015.

A similar model Lamborghini in real life as it was parked on La Brea Avenue near Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, CA., December 23, 2015. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

The mayor of Onagawa Town, Yoshiaki Suda, gave a ceremonial speech on Wednesday to declare the central shopping thoroughfare open. A recent count put Onagawa's population at just under 7,000 inhabitants, down by more than 30 percent from pre-disaster levels. The decline is the steepest among municipalities affected by the tsunami, so this revival event was a significant marker in the region's comeback.

To mark the opening of this shopping street, a life-size cardboard replica of a Lamborghini Italian sports car was placed on display.

The model car (based on a Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4), referred to as the Danborghini, is the work of Konno Konpou packaging company in neighboring Ishinomaki City.

The car has been dubbed “Danborghini,” a portmanteau of Lamborghini and “danbo,” the Japanese word for a 3D cardboard character. The Danborghini weighs around 100 kilograms and took a six-member team six months to complete.

Cardboard tire being removed from the Danborghini. Tire detail complete with groove pattern reproduced by Konno Konpou Inc. staff. on right - Getty Images VIDEO HERE. Image Credit: Konpo75 via Twitter

This excerpted and edited from Asahi Shimbun -

Hot pink cardboard Lambo designed to bring out the crowds in Miyagi
By KENGO HIYOSHI/Asahi Shimbun Staff Writer - December 19, 2015 - ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture

Every last detail of the bright pink life-size Italian supercar Lamborghini going on show at a shopping mall near here was replicated ... in cardboard.

And, it may just serve as a tonic for survivors of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

The cardboard Lambo will go on display from Dec. 23 at an outlet of packaging material firm Konno Konpou Inc., which created faux exotic car.

“We wanted to build a car we worship with our processing technology,” said Hideki Konno, the 43-year-old president of Konno Konpou, who led the project.

After the March 11 disaster, Konno Konpou offered free reinforced corrugated cardboard to shelters to be used as partitions to provide privacy to evacuees.

“Nearly five years have passed since the disaster,” Konno said. “It will be great if the re-created car can help draw a crowd (to the new shopping center).”
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It uses 500 or so parts built with reinforced corrugated cardboard. For a faithful re-creation, Konno’s team refused to cut corners on even the tiniest details, such as parts of the engine and the car’s tires.

The team began the project about two and half years ago beginning with a small scale model. It then spent about six months on the life-size car, on which they toiled during slow work times.

The Danborghini can be seen at the shopping center in Onagawa, a town that was severely affected by the disaster triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake, like Ishinomaki and elsewhere in northeastern Japan.
[Reference Here]

Packaging cardboard processes applied to promotional display is a great way to attract attention and promote the capabilities of packaging technology in an effort to stimulate business ... on several levels.

“We started from the midst of sorrow and despair and completed the shopping street by bringing together the ideas of town residents,” Onagawa Mayor Yoshiaki Suda said at the opening ceremony for the street. “We want to maintain the bustle in the town.”

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Danborghini, Onagawa, Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Lamborghini,  Aventador, LP 700-4, The EDJE, Symblogogy, Yoshiaki Suda, NHK World, Konpo75