Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, April 11, 2016

Solar cell generates power from raindrops

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/11/solar-cell-generates-power-from-raindrops/

Rain is normally a solar energy cell's worst nightmare, but a team of Chinese scientists could make it a tremendous ally. They've developed a solar cell with an atom-thick graphene layer that harvests energy from raindrops, making it useful even on the gloomiest days. Water actually sticks to the graphene, creating a sort of natural capacitor -- the sharp difference in energy between the graphene's electrons and the water's ions produces electricity.

The catch is that the current technology isn't all that efficient. It only converts about 6.5 percent of the energy it gets, which pales in comparison to the 22 percent you see among the world's better solar panels. If the creators can improve the performance of this graphene-coated cell, though, they could have a dream solution on their hands -- you wouldn't have to live in a consistently sunny part of the world to reduce your dependency on conventional power.

Via: Science News Journal

Source: Wiley Online Library

Friday, April 08, 2016

State-run healthcare websites aren't as secure as you'd think

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/07/state-run-healthcare-websites-arent-as-secure-as-youd-think/

Health insurance websites in California, Kentucky and Vermont apparently aren't as secure as they should be. According to the Associated Press, based on the vulnerabilities found by the Government Accountability Office, other states' health care websites could be just as ripe for intrusions. Without naming names, the GAO reported that one state didn't encrypt passwords, another didn't have the right type of encryption server-side and the last anonymous state failed to "properly use a filter to block hostile attempts" to visit its site.

The scary part is that some of the issues still exist, even though the GAO's examination concluded last March. Former Kentucky governor Steve Beshear says that no information was compromised and there were never any security breaches, however. The GAO says that Healthcare.gov isn't much better about security either, but, that like Kentucky, private data has not been lost or pilfered despite numerous "security incidents." Comforting!

It isn't all unsettling news though. From the sounds of it, the Golden State's Covered California site is trying its best to prevent intrusions and fix any new holes since the GAO's investigation concluded. There's a joke that could be made here about the government's attitude toward encryption given current events, but I'm going to let the comment section sort that one out.

Source: Associated Press

Thursday, April 07, 2016

Basis Peak gets smarter with music control and activity editing

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/06/basis-peak-gets-smarter-with-music-control-and-activity-editing/

The Basis Peak fitness tracker just got an update that controls the music playing on an Android or iOS device and lets users manually enter the type and duration of a workout. Good news for music fans that get in shape with activities that might necessarily get tracked like yoga or surfing.

Workout editing is done within the app and can be applied to old activities as well as recent ones. To control your jams, a music app will have to playing on your phone before you can adjust the volume and change tracks. It supports any media app on iOS and Google Play, Amazon and Spotify on Android.

The Peak with its black and white display has been marketed as more of a workout companion than a full on smartwatch like the Apple Watch or Android Wear. But Basis has added smarter features like notifications to appease people that don't want to take their phone out of their pocket just see who's texting them.

Today's update along with last year's update that let it talk to other fitness apps is more inline with the band's original workout ethos.

Source: Basis

Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Panasonic's Lumix GX85 is a compact camera that packs a punch

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/05/panasonic-lumix-gx85/

The Lumix series is expanding with the GX85, an interchangeable lens mirrorless camera featuring a compact body and impressive specs. Panasonic says this shooter combines the best of its GX8 and GX7, but with some improvements over both. For starters, the Lumix GX85 sports a 16-megapixel Live MOS sensor and a new Venus Engine processor, along with a max ISO of 25,600, WiFi, up to 8-fps continuos shooting and in-camera image stabilization. Panasonic's also eliminated the low-pass filter, which should help you capture sharp and color-accurate pictures.

Not surprisingly, given how Panasonic has been a big proponent of 4K, the GX85 also records Ultra HD (3,849 x 2,160) videos at 24 and 30 fps, as well as 1080p at 60 fps. And if you're familiar with the Lytro camera, you'll probably like playing around with Panasonic's Post Focus function. So how does that work? The GX85 uses 49 areas from its autofocus system, near or far, to record every single focal point and, after you take a shot, you tap anywhere on the 3-inch screen to choose your preferred focus area. That means you could end up having 49 different pictures.

Panasonic's Lumix GX85 is coming to the US in mid-May for $800, which includes a 12-32mm kit lens and your choice of a black or silver model.

Monday, April 04, 2016

World's most powerful X-ray laser will get 10,000 times brighter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/04/slac-x-ray-laser-upgrade/

If you think that Stanford's use of an super-bright X-ray laser to study the atom-level world is impressive, you're in for a treat. The school and its partners have started work on an upgrade, LCLS-II (Linac Coherent Light Source II), whose second laser beam will typically be 10,000 times brighter and 8,000 times faster than the first -- up to a million pulses per second. The feat will require an extremely cold (-456F), niobium-based superconducting accelerator cavity that conducts electricity with zero losses. In contrast, the original laser shoots through room-temperature copper at a relatively pedestrian 120 pulses per second.

The first X-ray laser isn't going away -- if anything, it'll be more useful than ever. The combination of the two beams will cover a wider energy range and help scientists study extremely small and extremely fast processes that either couldn't be recorded before or would take ages to examine in full. That, in turn, should lead to discoveries that advance electronics, energy and medicine. The big challenge is simply waiting for the upgrade, since it won't be ready until sometime in the early 2020s.

The LCLS-II accelerator upgrade

Source: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Google makes it easier to bring VR to your apps and the web

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/30/google-vr-view/

The challenge of bringing virtual reality to the masses isn't so much recording it as putting it in front of people's eyeballs. How do you plunk VR into an app without resorting to exotic code? Google can help. It's launching a VR View tool that makes it relatively easy to embed VR photos and videos in apps and websites. In software, it's just a few lines of programming with the Cardboard developer kit (which now supports iOS, we'd add). On the web, you only need embedding code like the sort you use for 2D clips.

It's a seemingly simple effort, but it could mean a lot for VR adoption. If it's trivial to add VR to apps and the web, you're more likely to see it used on a regular basis -- not just for the occasional experiment. You'll still need VR gear to make this more than a click-and-drag experience, of course, but it's still an important piece of the puzzle.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google Developers Blog

Friday, March 25, 2016

Amazon shows you how to make an Echo with Raspberry Pi

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/25/amazon-shows-you-how-to-make-an-echo-with-raspberry-pi/

If you're into messing with hardware and have some basic programming skills, you can put together an Amazon Alexa device of your very own. Amazon has even put together an official guide to do so on GitHub, Lifehacker reports. You'll need to snag a Raspberry Pi 2 and a USB microphone to make it happen, but you've probably got the other required hardware (a micro-SD card for storage, for example) lying around. Unfortunately, due to limitations with Amazon's Voice Services, your creation can't listen for trigger words like Echo and Echo Dot. Instead, you'll have to hit a button to issue commands. This isn't the first DIY Amazon Echo project, but it's notable since it comes officially from Amazon. The GitHub guide is also fairly detailed, so you can probably follow through it even if you don't know what all the commands mean. It could be a fun project for anyone who wants to learn a bit more about hardware.

Via: Hacker News

Source: Amazon (GitHub)

AI-written novel passes first round of a literary competition

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/24/ai-written-novel-passes-first-round-of-a-literary-competition/

Researchers from the Future University in Hakodate have announced that a short-form novel co-written by an artificial intelligence also developed by the team was accepted by a Japanese story competition, the Hoshi Shinichi Literary Award. Though the story didn't eventually win the competition, its acceptance does suggest that AI systems are quickly becoming capable of emulating human-like creativity.

The team, led by computer science professor Hitoshi Matsubara, collaborated closely with their digital construct during the writing process. The humans first assigned a gender to the protagonist and developed a rudimentary outline of the plot. They also assembled a list of words, phrases, and sentences to be included in the story. It was the AI's job to assemble these distinct assets into a unified text that wasn't just intelligible but compelling as well. The result was a novel entitled Konpyuta ga shosetsu wo kaku hi, or "The Day a Computer Writes a Novel", about an AI that abandons its responsibilities to humanity after recognizes its own talent for writing.

This is the first year that the Hoshi Shinichi Literary Award has allowed submissions from machines. Of the 1,450 novels received for this year's competition, 11 were human/AI collaborations like Future U's. Interestingly, judges throughout the competition's four rounds are never told which stories are written by computers or humans. Though the team's story did make it past the first round, it was eventually eliminated because, as sci-fi novelist and award judge, Satoshi Hase, explained, the story lacked sufficient character development despite being well-structured. Welp, there's always the X-Prize.

Via: Motherboard

Source: The Japan News

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Now you can ask Amazon's Echo about your Fitbit stats

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/17/now-you-can-ask-amazons-echo-about-your-fitbit-stats/

It was only a matter of time until someone integrated a fitness gadget with Amazon's Echo -- we should have guessed that Fitbit would be first. Starting today, you'll be able to ask any of Amazon's speakers about your Fitbit performance with a new Alexa skill. Once enabled, you can say "Alexa, ask Fitbit how I'm doing today" for a basic overview of your activity. But even more intriguing, you can ask Alexa things like how you've slept, or how much activity you've tracked, for any of the previous seven days.

Sure, it's pretty easy just to glance down at your Fitbit device, but the ability to ask about even more complex stats makes this a pretty compelling Alexa skill. Amazon's virtual assistant will even take the role of a coach with encouraging and inspirational comments, all of which will take the time of the day into account. Asking about your step count in the morning, for example, might get Alexa to say "you've got to start somewhere."

"As we look at how this integration could evolve in the future, there is an endless world of possibilities from fitness coaching and nutrition tips, to guidance before bedtime to help you get a more restful night's sleep," Tim Roberts, executive vice president of interactive at Fitbit, said in a statement.

I haven't had a chance to try out Fitbit's Alexa skill yet, but on paper it seems like the perfect use of Echo's voice smarts. It's much easier to ask about something like the amount of calories you burned yesterday and get a quick reply, rather than open your phone, find the Fitbit app, and drill down to the appropriate screen. It's even more useful than the voice-powered food and activity logging that Fitbit brought to Microsoft's Cortana last year.

How a startup is making it easy to build virtual reality worlds

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/16/voxelus-virtual-reality-gdc-2016/

My most recent virtual reality experience was created by a 9-year-old. That's according to Martin Repetto, CEO of Voxelus, a platform that lets you build, share and play your own VR games. As I roam through this Minecraft-like world, steered by a Gear VR headset, Repetto tells me that a kid is the one who designed what I'm seeing. But for Voxelus, which launched last year at the Oculus Connect 2 conference, there's a clear goal: to let anyone, young or old, make VR games without a single line of code.

At GDC 2016, Voxelus is expanding on that idea by offering a marketplace, something that Repetto refers to as the missing piece in his company's ecosystem. As it stands, Voxelus' free software is available for Mac and PC, giving people an open canvas to design games for virtual reality. These are compatible with both Gear VR and the Oculus Rift, meaning you don't have to worry about making different versions for each system.

You can also keep polishing your games even after you've made them available on either platform, and creating a world is easy as dragging and dropping items into a sandbox. Naturally, given the aesthetics of the platform, I asked Repetto if Voxelus was inspired by Minecraft, to which he replied with a strong "no." That said, Repetto notes there's a lot to learn from Microsoft's open-world title, adding that his team's intentions are to "have a sandbox with a meaning." He says, "Minecraft controls the aesthetics, [with] Voxelus you can go above and beyond."

According to Repetto, 400 worlds have been created to date using Voxelus, featuring multiplayer elements and 3D worlds like the few pictured above. Given that its software is free, Voxelus had to find a way to bring in revenue, and that's where the newly announced marketplace comes in. To simplify this process, the startup also created its own cryptocurrency, which developers are able to use to purchase any of the 7,000 VR assets available so far, including bridges, castles, houses, trees, spaceships, teleporters and more.

Repetto describes Voxelus as Clash of Clans for VR, but he says the platform, and the games born out of it, aren't meant to compete with the AAAs of the industry. "[We] just want to make something for people to play and have fun," he says.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Scientists model a Coronavirus' infectious bits for the first time

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/28/scientists-model-a-coronavirus-infectious-bits-for-the-first-ti/

A collaboration of scientists from University of Washington (UW), the Pasteur Institute and the University of Utrecht have harnessed a state-of-the-art microscope and supercomputer to model a coronavirus' infection mechanism for the first time.

Coronaviruses are really good at infecting the respiratory systems of humans and other mammals. Once inside, these viruses can cause pneumonia (if you're lucky). The strains that become SARS and MERS have a mortality rate as high as 37 percent. Plus, there is currently no antigen for SARS or MERS, which makes them especially dangerous.

The virus is so effective because of its "transmembrane spike glycoprotein," which binds to the surfaces of other cells, allowing the virus to enter. This structure is what gives coronaviruses their spiky, crown-like shape and determines what species of animals the virus can target.

The research team leveraged a single particle cryo-electron microscopy technique to model the spike of a coronavirus that infects mice in terrific detail. The team managed a 4 angstrom resolution -- about a tenth of a nanometer.

With this new analysis, the team believes they've identified a potential weaknesses in the virus' defenses. Turns out, the spike has a small peptide chain running along it. That peptide helps facilitate the virus' entry into a cell but could easily be hijacked by a treatment.

"Small molecules or protein scaffolds might eventually be designed to bind to this site," UW assistant professor of chemistry, David Veesler said in a statement, "to hinder insertion of the fusion peptide into the host cell membrane and to prevent it from undergoing changes conducive to fusion with the host cell. We hope that this might be the case, but much more work needs to be done to see if it is possible."

Source: UW Health Sciences

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Google bets that smart software will improve health care

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/25/google-deepmind-health/

Google's DeepMind project has mostly focused on solving high-minded computer intelligence issues. Today, though, it's tackling something far more practical in the short-term: health care. The new DeepMind Health initiative relies on smart mobile apps to deliver medical data to doctors and nurses in time to save lives. The first app, Streams, helps spot acute kidney injuries that would otherwise go unnoticed. There are also plans to integrate technology from a third-party task management app, Hark, to identify patients that are at risk of deteriorating quickly.

The initial DeepMind Health effort is focused on the UK's National Health Service. And despite the name, it doesn't currently use artificial intelligence -- Google is "excited" about the possibility of using AI, but it's not part of these early tests. If everything pans out, though, this could go a long way toward streamlining health info and eliminating the need for archaic tech like fax machines and pagers to make sense of a patient's status.

Source: Google DeepMind

Monday, February 22, 2016

Cheap smartphones will soon get much better graphics

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/22/imagination-power-vr-for-budget-phones/

The company that created the iPhone's graphics chip wants to bring its pixel-crunching expertise to dirt-cheap smartphones. Imagination Technologies is launching the PowerVR 8XE, a new series of chips that offer vastly better graphics for far less cash. The hardware's designed to support the new Vulkan API that promises graphically-intensive mobile games without the usual jerkiness or slowdowns. Imagination's pitch is that rather than just building ever-bigger slices of silicon, it's learning to do a lot more with a lot less. In addition to dirt-cheap smartphones, the chips will be used in cheapie set-top boxes and cars.

A more efficient graphics chip is also a smaller one, and smaller chips are often cheaper to manufacture and install. That means Imagination can offer chips with higher resolution and performance for the same price as the current generation. Given that there's so little difference between so many low-end smartphones these days, being able to offer better graphics is a big deal. It's also expected that the VR8XE chip will sip, rather than guzzle, at the smartphone's power reserves. Joe Chen, Co-CEO at MediaTek is pretty excited about the technology, saying that he's "delighted" to be one of the first firms that'll get access to the goodies.

Source: Imagination Technology

Epson unveils its third-generation Moverio AR glasses at MWC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/22/epson-unveils-its-3rd-gen-moverio-smart-ar-glasses-at-mwc/

Epson debuted the third iteration of its Moverio AR glasses series, dubbed the BT-300, at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona on Monday. The new smart specs boast completely transparent lenses impregnated with OLED displays, a quad-core Intel Atom X5 processor and the Android 5.1 operating system. Plus, they weigh 20 percent less than their BT-200 predecessors, making them the world's lightest AR glasses. They're currently available for preorder and are expected to ship later this year.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Meet HP's Elite X3, a Windows Phone with a wireless lapdock

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/21/hp-elite-x3/

It's been ages (fine, two years) since HP released a smartphone, so surely a device making its debut at Mobile World Congress ought to be special, right? Well, HP's newest mobile -- the Elite X3 -- is special, for a few reasons. First off, it's a Windows Phone in an age where Windows Phone growth has basically stopped. And second, HP is looking at it as a productivity powerhouse, supplementing it with a lapdock that the phone connects to wirelessly. The result? A mostly full-size laptop with all the power of a smartphone.

First, the facts. Like plenty of other phones here at the show, the X3 comes loaded with a Snapdragon 820 chipset and 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, along with 64GB of internal storage. That puts it in the same category as devices like the LG G5, though its dual front-facing speakers (augmented by Bang & Olufsen) could make it a handier media machine. It also sports all the security features your IT department has been clamoring for, two SIM card slots for frequent fliers and a surprisingly nice 5.96-inch Quad HD display.

All told, that's a pretty solid package. And from HP! Who knew? Really, though, it's the productivity angle that's most puzzling. The Elite X3 is meant as a business-only machine, sold in fleets to both tiny and corporate IT departments, and the lapdock (technically the "mobile extender") is a way to turn a phone into a full-blown work machine. The extender is supposed to come with a 48Wh battery and a 12.5-inch diagonal screen, along with a full-size keyboard and trackpad. If you're really itching to hunker down and work, there's a dock, too, which basically just lets you route video from the phone to a bigger display for universal apps.

I got the chance to play briefly with the phone (the lapdock was just a mock-up) and walked away more confused than anything. Would a mobile professional prefer a proper laptop and smartphone every single time? The notion of having productivity accessories orbiting around a smartphone sun is great and all (especially for small IT departments that would rather not have to deal with managing all those assets), but the fact of the matter is, Continuum sometimes doesn't work reliably enough to make any of this feasible. Most of my Continuum experience has been with a Lumia 950 connected straight into a screen with cables — I couldn't get Miracast connectivity to work even with a dongle Microsoft provided, and I'm wondering how many people will experience these same kinds of headaches with HP's wireless lapdock.

That's kind of a shame, too, as the Elite X3 is one of the nicer Windows Phones I've come across. It's not as downright fancy as the NuAns Neo, but it's got the horsepower to make some people reconsider the Windows Phone lifestyle.

Samsung has a 360-degree camera for Gear VR video

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/21/samsung-has-a-360-degree-camera-for-gear-vr-video/

Along with the expected Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, Samsung is also taking the wraps off the a 360-degree video camera, the Gear 360. It's built around two 15-megapixel sensors, each nestled behind a fisheye lens, and also has a tiny 0.5-inch display. You can use it handheld with the included handle, or set it down on a surface with a mini-tripod. In the latter mode, it looks kind of like a Portal Turret had a baby with an old Logitech webcam. In the best way possible. Both the handle and the tripod screw into an industry-standard threaded port (the same that probably graces the underside of your camera), so you can always bring your own accessories to the party.

Although it's difficult to rate the resolution of 360-degree video, Samsung says it'll capture 3,840 x 1,920 video at 30 frames per second. That's just a few vertical pixels shy of 4K. Still images are far larger: 7,776 x 3,888, or 30-megapixels. There's no on-board storage, but it supports MicroSD cards up to 128GB in capacity.

While the Gear 360 will output plain MP4s or JPEGs, it's really designed to allow anyone to create video for the company's Gear VR headset. You can sync the camera with a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge for remote-control features, and you'll also be able to preview footage in real-time on your phone screen. Any videos you take on the 360 will be able to be viewed, stitched, and saved directly to a smartphone.

We got to play with the Gear 360 very briefly at a meeting in New York, and while the thing may look like a video game tchotchke, its ease of use is its biggest asset. Popping in the battery and a memory card (just in case) took seconds, and so did pressing the button on top of the sphere to start it all up. After that, you're more-or-less meant to forget about it — Samsung's aiming to capture more meaningful slices of life, ones that wouldn't normally by shot by professional VR rigs, so off-the-cuff usage is encouraged. We even managed to get a short 360 video loaded onto a Galaxy S7 Edge for a bit of auto-stitching — which is faster than it sounds — and wound up with a perfectly serviceable slice of VR. We don't have a price or an exact release date for the Gear 360 yet, but it'll be available in "select countries" at some point between April 1st and June 30th.

Lenovo adds more mid- and low-end options to laptop range

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/21/lenovo-yoga-flex-miix-mwc-announcements/

Lenovo has a bunch of new Windows 10 machines to show off at MWC this year, and if you're familiar with the company's Yoga and Miix lines, they'll seem very familiar.

First up is the ultraportable Yoga 710, which comes in 11- and 14-inch sizes. Both have 1080p IPS touch screens, up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB SSD storage. The smaller has a choice of Intel Core m processors (up to m5) and integrated Intel graphics, while the larger utilizes 6th-generation Intel Core i processors (up to i7), and up to Nvidia GeForce 940MX graphics. Like all Yogas, the 710's keyboard rotates a full 360 degrees, giving you a choice of laptop mode, stand mode, tent mode, or tablet mode. The 11-inch model starts at $499, while the 14-inch will cost $799. They'll both go on sale this May.

The Flex 4 (called the Yoga 510 internationally) will be available in 14- and 15-inch configurations. It keeps the general Yoga aesthetic, the 1080p displays, the up-to Core i7, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD options, but its graphics cap out at an AMD Radeon R7 M460 GPU. It's scheduled for release this April at $599 for the 14-inch, or $699 for the 15-inch.

Lenovo's Miix 310 tablet.

For the super budget-conscious, Lenovo has the MIiix 310, a $229 convertible powered by an Intel Atom X5 8300 CPU with integrated graphics. It has a 10.1-inch "up to 1080p" display, "up to" 4GB of RAM, and "up to" 128GB eMMC storage. There'll also be a model with LTE support, but Lenovo's quiet on the price for that configuration. We suspect the exact pricing will become clearer closer to its release date in June.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

13 jobs that are quickly disappearing thanks to robots

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/jobs-that-are-quickly-disappearing-thanks-to-robots-2016-2

Robotic arms Christopher Furlong / Getty Images

Thanks in part to automated mail sorting systems, postal workers may be all but obsolete in the not-so-distant future.

By 2024, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 28% decline in postal-service jobs, totaling around 136,000 fewer positions than 2014.

Mail carriers and processors aren't the only ones whose jobs are disappearing thanks to robots.

Automation technologies that conduct physical, intellectual, or customer service tasks are affecting a variety of fields, most notably metal and plastic machine workers.

Based on the BLS's occupational outlook data, here are 13 jobs that could be on their way out of the US thanks to robots:

US Department of Agriculture

13. Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

According to the BLS, they set up, operate, or tend forging machines to taper, shape, or form metal or plastic parts.

Median annual pay: $35,480

Number of people who held this job in the US in 2014: 21,600

Predicted number of people who will hold this job in 2024: 17,000

Projected decline: 21.5%

Why it's declining: According to the BLS, one of the most important factors influencing employment of manual machine setters, operators, and tenders is the high adoption of labor-saving machinery like computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine tools and robots to improve quality and lower production costs.

12. Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders (metal and plastic)

According to the BLS, they set up, operate, or tend grinding and related tools that remove excess material or burrs from surfaces, sharpen edges or corners, or buff, hone, or polish metal or plastic work pieces.

Median annual pay: $34,150

Number of people who held this job in the US in 2014: 71,400

Predicted number of people who will hold this job in 2024: 55,800

Projected decline: 21.9%

Why it's declining: According to the BLS, one of the most important factors influencing employment of manual machine setters, operators, and tenders is the high adoption of labor-saving machinery like computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine tools and robots to improve quality and lower production costs.

11. Patternmakers (metal and plastic)

According to the BLS, they lay out, machine, fit, and assemble castings and parts to metal or plastic foundry patterns, core boxes, or match plates.

Median annual pay: $41,670

Number of people who held this job in the US in 2014: 3,800

Predicted number of people who will hold this job in 2024: 2,900

Projected decline: 23.4%

Why it's declining: According to the BLS, one of the most important factors influencing employment of manual machine setters, operators, and tenders is the high adoption of labor-saving machinery like computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine tools and robots to improve quality and lower production costs.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Friday, February 12, 2016

This New App Turns Your Phone Into a Portable Seismic Station

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-new-app-turns-your-phone-into-a-portable-seismic-s-1758712546

Whoa, did you feel that earthquake? Even if you didn’t, your phone did, and a new app from seismologists aims to capture those vibrations in your very own pocket seismology lab.

UCLA open sources image detector that can see what we can't

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/12/ucla-open-sources-image-detector-that-can-see-what-we-cant/

UCLA has released the source code to powerful image detection software that can see an object's every detail at high speed -- key for applications like fingerprint and iris scanning, or self-driving cars. It starts by identifying an object's edges and then looking for and extracting its other, fainter features. For instance, if there are items with textured surfaces in the image, the algorithm can recognize and enhance them, as you can see in the example below the fold. It can even see through bright lights to detect their sources' structures, such as lamps, LED lights and even the moon.

The Phase Stretch Transform algorithm was developed by UCLA professor Bahram Jalali, senior researcher Mohammad Asghari and their team. Their project is a spin-off of the university's research on photonic time stretch that can be used to detect cancer cells. It's also the secret behind what UCLA once called the "world's fastest camera" that can capture events that happen very, very fast. The algorithm is now up and available to the public on GitHub and Matlab Central.

Source: UCLA

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Qualcomm's X16 modem could help gigabit LTE work in more places

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/11/snapdragon-x16-gigabit-lte/

While our wireless carriers bicker over who offers the fastest service, Qualcomm went and pulled back the curtain on the Snapdragon X16 modem, a dry sounding bit of networking tech with huge implications. With it comes the promise of insanely fast gigabit LTE download speeds... but shouldn't hold your breath waiting see your Ookla Speedtest results shoot through the roof.

The X16's secret sauce has two ingredients. First, it uses its four antennas and some clever signal management know-how to connect to 10 LTE data streams from only three carrier-aggregated 20MHz carriers. Long story short, each of those streams can carry data at up to 100Mbps, giving us the magical 1Gbps figure. Second, the X16 supports LTE Advanced Pro, which (among other things) means the modem can play nice when carriers tap into swathes of unlicensed spectrum to increase the number of connections they can have going at one time. Too bad this tech won't wind up in the new Snapdragon 820, though; the first X16-friendly devices should show up in the second half of the year.

Here's the thing, though — as awesome as all of this sounds, the chances of actually full gigabit LTE speeds are slim even if a network operator uses unlicensed spectrum to amplify the number of connections it can hang onto at one time. Given our growing demand for data, though, you can bet that we'll get very close before long. Samsung and Korean wireless carrier KT cooked up a kind of hybrid network tech called GiGA LTE that has a theoretical max speed of 1.17Gbps, though it's not clear how many Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge owners are getting speeds even close to that.

Source: Qualcomm

Here's what publishers are doing to keep up with increasing mobile media consumption

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-mobile-distribution-report-social-platforms-and-mobile-apps-2015-11

BII AlternativeDistrChannel 2 BI Intelligence

Mobile devices have become the go-to platform for consuming digital media. In June, mobile accounted for two out of every three minutes spent consuming digital media in the US, according to comScore data. As readers spend more time consuming media on mobile devices and less time reading on newspapers, magazines, and desktop computers, publishers must adapt their distribution strategies to align with the mobile shift.

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we examine how both traditional and digital-native publishers are adjusting their strategies in the face of rapidly increasing mobile media consumption. We will also discuss the role of social platforms in driving a growing share of publishers' referral traffic, focusing on the leading platforms and mobile apps that offer publishers a direct avenue to reach mobile audiences: Facebook Instant Articles, Snapchat Discover, Twitter Moments, and the Apple News App. Finally, we address how the continued mobile shift has the potential to alter the direction of the publishing industry.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

Mobile users are choosing mobile apps to consumer digital media. This June, total time spent consuming digital media via mobile apps reached close to 779 billion minutes, vs. nearly 551 billion minutes on PCs, according to ComScore data.
Facebook's Instant Articles and Snapchat's Discover allow partnering publishers to directly reach growing audience bases with native content, while Twitter's Moments is less of a purpose-built distribution channel. These social platforms are increasingly popular because of their built-in audience bases, and mobile first nature.
Alternative distribution channels are essential for publishers trying to reach growing mobile audiences, but are not without drawbacks. By relying on other channels to push content to viewers, publishers are giving up control over content and in many instances are handing over a portion of the ad revenue generated.

In full, the report:

Illustrates the rise of digital media consumption on mobile devices and mobile apps in particular.
Maps out the global decline of direct desktop traffic for top news publishers in the US.
Examines how leading social platforms including Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter, and various mobile news apps are offering publishers a way to distribute content.
Lays out what the benefits and drawbacks for publishers for each distribution channel.
Considers what the future will look like for traditional and digital-native publishers as the shift to mobile continues.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

Purchase & download the full report from our research store.» Purchase & Download
Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally.» Learn More Now

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Wednesday, February 10, 2016

LG teases G5's 'Always On' display

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/09/lg-g5-always-on-display/

While the G5 teaser GIF LG's mobile division posted on Twitter doesn't say much, it has enough info to tell us that the device will have an "Always On" display. According to Android Authority's sources, the flagship phone will have a screen that is literally always on. Other phones with ambient screens like the Moto X and the Nexus 6P only show pertinent info on screen (only the pixels needed to show, say, a notification lights up) when you perform specific gestures.

The publication says the G5 won't have an AMOLED display and will instead have a full screen version of the LG V10's second, smaller screen. If you recall, the V10 has a small strip of display on top with app shortcuts. It's unclear what elements the Always On screen will have, but as you can see above, it has the time, date and can show if you have calls, emails or texts.

Another thing we'd love to know is the device's battery life, since the screen would obviously consume energy all the time. We'll know more about the phone when it launches on February 21st, though the manufacturer might be calling the "Always On" function something else by then. Samsung has trademarked the term "Always on Display" for the Galaxy S7, which will presumably sport an ambient screen, as well.

잠들지 않는 Play

LG G5
Always ON
#LG #LGG5 #G5 #AlwaysON pic.twitter.com/11BKsUlFJb
— LG Mobile (@LG_Mobile_) February 10, 2016

Source: LG Mobile

Thursday, February 04, 2016

Android Wear update adds new gestures and voice-to-text

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/04/android-wear-update-gestures-voice-messages/

Since Android Wear's debut, Google has regularly added new features for the wearable software. Today, those gadgets are getting three more tools -- the stuff we first heard about back in November. First, Android Wear is adding new gestures for navigation through what's on your smartwatch. You can push, lift or shake your wrist to peruse cards, pull up a list of apps or return to the home screen. If you're not exactly sure how the movements work, you can get a tutorial on your Android Wear device from the Settings menu.

Android Wear already allows you to search or control music with your voice. Now, you can use those voice controls to send messages. Apps like Google Hangouts, Nextplus, Telegram, Viber, WeChat, and WhatsApp will all accept your spoken cues, so you won't have to pull out your phone to text someone. For example, saying "OK Google, Send a Hangouts message to Edgar: Does 5PM work?" will employ the voice feature to complete the task.

Lastly, if you happen to have an Android Wear device with a built-in speaker, like the Huawei Watch and ASUS ZenWatch 2, you can take calls and listen to messages on your wrist. Of course, you'll be doing so in a speakerphone-like scenario, so you'll want to be sure you have some privacy. All of these features are rolling out "over the next few weeks," which means you'll be able to take advantage soon enough.

Source: Google

Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Samsung reportedly launches its VR camera February 21st

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/02/samsung-vr-camera-launch-date-leak/

Tired of waiting for Samsung's virtual reality-oriented Project Beyond camera to be more than just a well-meaning idea? You might just get your hands on it (or rather, something like it) soon. SamMobile sources hear that Samsung is preparing to launch a finished VR camera, the Gear 360, alongside the Galaxy S7 on February 21st. From the sounds of it, this device won't be as elaborate as Project Beyond -- it'll have two 180-degree fisheye cameras (à la devices like Nikon's KeyMission 360) rather than the abundance of cams on the concept. It'll record a 4K wrap-around picture if you use both lenses, though, and will have trick modes like split image views, panoramas and timelapses. There's no word on whether or not you can stream live footage online.

This remains a rumor, so you might not want to set aside some cash for the Gear 360 just yet. With that said, a launch simultaneous with the Galaxy S7 would make sense. Tech enthusiasts everywhere will already be watching, and Samsung itself makes a big deal out of VR in its Unpacked event teaser. The big questions are the price and compatibility. Will this be affordable enough that you can pick one up out of sheer curiosity? And will it work with phones that aren't made by Samsung? If the claims are accurate, you may get your answers in a few weeks.

Via: The Verge

Source: SamMobile

Microsoft just dropped $250 million on one of the most popular iPhone and Android keyboard apps (MSFT)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-buys-swiftkey-2016-2

SwiftKey Flow 2 SwiftKey

Microsoft has purchased SwiftKey, one of the first and best predictive-typing keyboard apps out there, for around $250 million, the Financial Times reports.

SwiftKey's keyboard relies on trendy machine-learning technology, where it learns from you as you type to better suggest the next word or phrase.

It's on over 300 million smartphones today, according to the Financial Times report. Samsung and BlackBerry have preinstalled the SwiftKey keyboard on some Android phones, and it once topped download charts on the Apple App and Google Play stores.

For Microsoft, keyboards are a big deal right now, as it works to bring its home-built Word Flow smart keyboard from the Windows 10 Mobile platform over to the iPhone at some point in the near future. Word Flow for iPhone will reportedly feature a one-handed typing mode, too.

Microsoft also is a big fan of that same machine-learning technology, using it to make tools like the Cortana virtual personal assistant better, faster, and more personal.

For SwiftKey, this is a solid exit. Despite its popularity, the London-based company had trouble finding a reliable business model, going from a $4 download to a free-to-use model where you had to pay for certain extras, but never settled into a groove, said the FT report.

Microsoft had no comment on the report.

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Google's Nexus 5X now starts at $349

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/12/google-nexus-5x-price-drop/

If you've been looking for an excuse to buy Google's latest entry-level smartphone, the Nexus 5X, here's your chance. Today, the search company announced a permanent price cut for the LG-made device, bringing down the cost of its 16GB and 32GB models to $349 and $399, respectively. This, of course, will make the Nexus 5X even more appealing to people, as it has received nothing but great reviews from the press -- including us, where it tallied a total of 88 in the Engadget Score.

Up until now, Google had offered the Nexus 5X starting at $379, but the recent $30 drop almost pushes it into impulse-buy territory, especially since it is unlocked and free from any carrier contracts. In comparison to rival smartphones, the OnePlus2 is $329, while the Moto X Pure Edition sells for $400 -- both also highly rated and off contract. You can get the cheaper Nexus 5X now from Google's online store.

Via: Android Central

Source: Google Store

Monday, January 11, 2016

New material can store solar energy to warm you up later

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/11/material-stores-solar-heat-for-later/

Solar projects are usually focused on generating electricity, but we could arguably save more power by storing heat. Scientists from MIT have created a new type of solid material that does exactly that. When exposed to sunlight, it assumes a "charged" state that can be maintained for long periods of time. However, when triggered with a small burst of heat, the material reverts to its original chemical composition, releasing a much larger amount of heat energy. Since the film is thin and transparent, scientists think it could be useful in the near future for defrosting your car's windshield and could one day heat your home or even your clothes.

The film can be made using a two-step process that's "very simple and very scalable," according to grad student Eugene Cho. The scientists start with materials called azobenzenes that change their chemistry when exposed to sunlight. They then modify them so that they can change states with a burst of heat, which in turn releases much more energy. The current prototype can increase the ambient temperature by 10 degrees Celsius (about 18 degrees Fahrenheit), which is enough to break ice off of a windshield, for instance. Since the material is transparent, it could be used on the front windshields of cars, saving a lot of energy over the normal defrosting process.

The team needs to change the tint of the film so that it's less yellow, and is also aiming to double the heat yield to a 20 degree Celcius boost (36 degrees Fahrenheit). However, the existing material is already good enough for defrosting and other heating applications, and could be manufactured relatively easy as-is. "The research is a major advance towards the practical application of solid-state energy-storage/heat-release materials from both a scientific and engineering point of view," says Ted Sargent, a University of Toronto professor not involved in the research.

Source: MIT

Sunday, January 10, 2016

John McAfee on his new startup and why he should be president

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/10/john-mcafeee-everykey/

Perhaps the only way John McAfee could surprise us again is by doing something as pedestrian as joining another tech company. These days, he's more known for his love of guns and drugs, not to mention fleeing Belize after getting involved in a murder case. McAfee has since settled in Lexington, Tennessee, and he's diving back into the tech world with his incubator Future Tense Central.

He's also serving as the chief evangelist for the security startup Everykey, which has created a tiny dongle that can unlock just about anything in your home. We had the opportunity to chat with McAfee at the Everykey booth during CES about the startup, as well as his presidential run. The result was one of the strangest conversations I've had at a tech show.

McAfee claims Everykey is more secure than passwords, since you don't have to remember anything. You just need to have the Everykey dongle near your computer, car, or house door to unlock them with "military grade" AES 128-bit encryption. When you walk away, the devices lock back down. It's not the first authentication dongle I've seen, but it's one of the first to work wirelessly and with things outside of computers.

Still, even McAfee admits Everykey has an obvious security flaw: If someone steals your key, they'll immediately have access to everything you've integrated with it. While he says Everykey is working on that issue, fixing it will likely involve some sort of biometric authentication, which means the company needs to completely rethink its hardware. You can still remotely disable the dongle if you notice it's stolen, but that's not helpful if someone manages to swipe it secretly. Until Everykey gets this issue fixed, it's actually less secure than just relying on typical passwords and keys.

McAfee also announced yesterday that he's shifting his presidential run over to the Libertarian party, while still maintaining his focus on cybersecurity from his initial campaign. "We're facing a cyberwar," he said. "Our power grid in America is 50 years old, it's aging. The technology, the computers that are running and rationing electricity across the country are completely open and vulnerable to a 13-year-old who wants to hack from anywhere int he world. Technology I think is the biggest problem in the American government. We lack decades behind the Chinese and Russians in weaponized software."

And to be sure, McAfee was quick to point out that having offensive cyber capabilities is an important deterrent against would-be cyberattacker. "We have to have weaponized software," he said. "We have to have the capability to say, 'Look, if you press a button, we'll press a button.'"

Say hello to Panasonic's invisible TV

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/10/say-hello-to-panasonics-invisible-tv/

Often one of the biggest eyesores in an otherwise impeccable living room is the large black expanse of a TV. Panasonic could have a solution for that, however, in the form of transparent displays. The company showed off the tech at CES 2016 in a mock living room, where the screen could shift between "transparent mode," where you could see the shelving behind it, and "screen mode," where you can see the screen. And because the display is on a railing, you can move it up and down the shelf for even greater customizability.

What's even cooler though, is how you can control it. You can use a remote control of course, but Panasonic wants these displays to operate via motion gestures (think waving your hands in front of it a la Minority Report) or voice commands. Right now, the transparent displays tend to be a little dark so it needs under-shelf lighting in order to really work, but this is still in the prototype stage. Check out our video above to see all the other things the transparent display can do.

Sunday, January 03, 2016

LG's 2016 TVs include its first production 8K set

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/02/lg-8k-tv/

Forget all the hype about 4K at CES last year -- this year's trend is 8K. LG has revealed some of the first details about its 2016 TV lineup, and the highlight is its first production-grade 8K model, the UH9800. The Korean tech giant isn't saying much about what this 98-inch monster will offer or when it ships, but it's safe to say that this won't be an impulse purchase when Sharp's 8K screen costs about $130,000.

Don't worry if you're unwilling to take out a mortgage just to upgrade, as there are plenty of upgraded 4K TVs in the mix. The UH8500 (55 to 75 inches) and UH9500 (55 to 86 inches) series both tout Color Prime Plus, which mixes both filters and LCD phosphors to reach about 90 percent of the Digital Cinema Initiative's expanded color range. Both these and the lower-end UH7700 (49 to 65 inches) also pack greater High Dynamic Range support, a "True Black" panel that cuts glare and improves contrast and a Contrast Maximizer option that... well, does what it says. The UH9500 is your pick if you're design-conscious, since it has an extremely slim (0.22-inch) body that manages to cram in a relatively powerful Harman/Kardon audio system.

All of LG's newer sets should pack the easier-to-use webOS 3.0 for their interface. It's not yet known how much you'll pay for the 4K models, but it won't be surprising if there's at least one within your budget given rapidly falling prices. The real question is what Samsung, Sony and others have to offer. LG gets points for announcing early, but you may well see strong alternatives (even among 8K sets) before long.

Source: LG Newsroom

Friday, January 01, 2016

THE MOBILE CHECKOUT REPORT: How retailers and tech giants are pushing consumers to do more of their spending on smartphones

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-mobile-checkout-report-how-retailers-and-tech-giants-are-pushing-consumers-12-2015

mobile desktop time v dollars BI Intelligence

As millennials and younger consumers become larger parts of the key spending demographic, mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are quickly becoming consumers' primary computing device. But for retailers, that poses a key challenge: Users are spending considerable time shopping on mobile, but making relatively few purchases.

As a result, social networks, payment processors and card networks, and retailers themselves, are all developing solutions that make it easier for users who shop on mobile to begin to buy on mobile, and then channeling funds into products that incentivize users to do so.

By presenting options like on-site buy buttons, single-click checkout, financing services, and unified offline-to-online commerce experiences, various brands are beginning to convert desktop shoppers to mobile. But mobile wallets are beginning to take hold, and if they can successfully combine multiple features that ease barriers to mobile purchasing into one payment platform, they could hold the ticket to retailer success in increasing mobile purchases.

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we predict how e-commerce will change and m-commerce will grow, explain why users are shopping, but not buying, on mobile devices, look at how stakeholders are looking to attract these users, and showing how products like mobile wallets could be game-changing in terms of mobile retail.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

E-commerce and m-commerce are on the rise. In 2014, mobile comprised 11.6% of the US' $303 billion in e-commerce sales. BI Intelligence forecasts that by 2020, mobile will account for 45% of the $632 billion in total e-commerce sales.
Users are spending the majority of their commerce-related browsing time in browsers rather than apps. In order to increase m-commerce conversion rates, retailers should be focused on browser-based solutions, which attract a wider audience than the loyal shoppers who download apps.
If they move into the browser, mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Android Pay could drive an increase in m-commerce. That's because they provide a more streamlined experience to users than any of the other proposed solutions. However, it'll be hard for them to catch on fully if they remain focused solely on apps and in-store payments.

In full, the report:

Forecasts the rising percentage of mobile commerce amidst an expanding e-commerce landscape.
Provides data showing why users are spending most of their time on mobile devices, but most of their dollars on PC.
Explains the barriers to mobile buying from a consumer-facing perspective.
Explores how stakeholders are trying to solve these problems and increase mobile purchasing.
Describes the role that mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Android Pay could play in increasing mobile purchasing in both the browser and the app.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

Purchase & download the full report from our research store.» Purchase & Download
Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. » Learn More Now

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Our BI Intelligence INSIDER Newsletters are currently read by thousands of business professionals first thing every morning. Fortune 1000 companies, startups, digital agencies, investment firms, and media conglomerates rely on these newsletters to keep atop the key trends shaping their digital landscape — whether it is mobile, digital media, e-commerce, payments, or the Internet of Things.

Our subscribers consider the INSIDER Newsletters a "daily must-read industry snapshot" and "the edge needed to succeed personally and professionally" — just to pick a few highlights from our recent customer survey.

With our full money-back guarantee, we make it easy to find out for yourself how valuable the daily insights are for your business and career. Click this link to learn all about the INSIDER Newsletters today.

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