engine

Google debuts Maps Engine API for customized, cloud-based maps

Google has introduced a new API for its Maps Engine, touted as a way to let developers build "endless kinds of applications" hosted in the Internet giant's cloud.

To recall, the Maps Engine is essentially the reincarnation of Google Earth Builder, which lets developers use Google's cloud infrastructure for storing and managing their own geospatial data and maps.

Users can also use the service to share their custom Google Maps with other employees, clients, and the public at large.

Touted to be supported by "any platform" (Web, Android, iOS, and so on), the new … Read more

Shape-shifting hydrogel takes cue from plants, moves to light

The emerging field of soft robotics, which involves mimicking the squishiness and stickiness of such creatures as octopuses, starfish, and squid, may be taking its next cue from a different source: plants.

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley describe in the journal Nano Letters a new hydrogel that, inspired by phototropism (the phenomenon of plants moving toward light), can actually expand and shrink in a very controlled fashion via light.

"Shape-changing gels such as ours could have applications for drug delivery and tissue engineering," principal investigator Seung-Wuk Lee, associated professor of bioengineering, said in a school … Read more

The technical joy of Burger King's hands-free Whopper holder

Your cell phone has shown your hands that they can be free.

You can talk into it, while scratching your face, driving your car, or conducting the New York Philharmonic.

Purveyors of fast food have been slow to offer you a similar sense of liberty. Conduct the Philharmonic while trying to eat a Big Mac, and it will be a messy experience for both you and the lead viola.

Burger King wants to redress your balance. It has created a holder in which you can slip your Whopper and leave your hands free to do what they must.… Read more

Crave Ep. 122: When the moon hits your 3D-printed pizza pie

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This week on Crave, NASA awards a $125,000 grant to 3D-print a pizza; UCLA Health live-tweets and Vines a man as he has brain surgery; and we wish the Ethernet a happy 40th birthday. … Read more

The 404 1,273: Where overall we think it's necessary (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- All of CNET's coverage of yesterday's Xbox One event.

- Here's what we know about Xbox One games.

- Microsoft talks Xbox One naming, privacy and more (Q&A).

- Sharon Vaknin and CNET Reviews' John Falcone at last night's Webby Awards.

- Courts turning to UrbanDictionary as an authoritative source on slang. And here's The 404's contribution to UrbanDictionary.… Read more

Here's what we know about Xbox One games

The wait is over. Microsoft's new console is called the Xbox One, and it will be a machine that will wear many hats. But what did we learn about the games?

First off, Microsoft tells CNET that the Xbox One will not be backward compatible with any previous Xbox game. Xbox One games will also need to be fully installed, and if the install disc is used on another console, there will be a small fee for doing so. We don't have a lot of the details beyond that, but fears of anti-used-game tactics have officially been realized. … Read more

EA announces Ignite engine for next-gen sports games

Over the years, sports games have become more and more realistic, and EA is promising to take that realism to a whole new level in next-generation versions of many of its popular sports franchises. At Microsoft's unveiling of the Xbox One, Andrew Wilson, the head of EA Sports, announced the company's new Ignite Engine and said that FIFA 14, NBA Live, Madden 25, and UFC would be available for the Xbox One within the next 12 months.

Follow the latest news on the EA Ignite engine for Xbox One at our sister site, GameSpot.

Wilson said that with … Read more

Let your shoes do the charging

After researching a device that draws energy from knee movement, some mechanical engineering students at Rice University decided to see if they could get the same result from another, less intrusive wearable item: a shoe.

With help from the Movement Analysis Laboratory at Shriners Hospital for Children in Houston, the resulting PediPower shoes harness energy from the force of the heel hitting the ground. The prototype -- while admittedly big, unattractive, and impractical to wear 100 percent of the time (think sleeping, showering, etc.) -- demonstrates that the simple act of walking may one day power a wide range of … Read more

Teen's science project could charge phones in 20 seconds

My high school science project looked at how row covers could help plants grow in cold weather. Not a bad idea, but not nearly as cool as high school student Eesha Khare's science project, the creation of a supercapacitor that could potentially be used to fully charge a cell phone within 20 to 30 seconds.

Khare, an 18-year-old from California, won the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award and $50,000 for her participation in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair run by the Society for Science & the Public. Think of it as the world's largest science fair. Khare took home one of the top prizes for "a tiny device that fits inside cell phone batteries, allowing them to fully charge within 20-30 seconds."… Read more