Apple Confirms Tattoos Can Interfere With Apple Watch [iOS Blog]
Apple has confirmed on a support page on its website that dark wrist tattoos have the potential of interfering with the Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor (via Trusted Reviews). It was reported earlier this week that some tattoos, particularly dark or saturated ones, can affect the Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor and ability to register contact with the wearer’s skin.
“Permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can also impact heart rate sensor performance. The ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult to get reliable readings.”
Apple does not offer a useful solution beyond connecting the Apple Watch wirelessly to external heart rate monitors such as Bluetooth chest straps, suggesting that users with tattoos covering the wrist may be forced to deal with this issue. Apple outlines skin perfusion and rhythmic movements as two other factors that can affect the performance of the Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor.
Apple Now Offering One-Week HBO NOW Trial Following April Promotion [iOS Blog]
Apple is now offering a shorter one-week free trial for new customers that sign up for HBO NOW using an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV, shortly after the April 30 deadline of a previous promotion that offered customers the first month of the streaming TV service for free. A paid subscription begins at the end of the one-week trial until canceled.
HBO NOW operates similar to Netflix, allowing customers in the United States to stream all of HBO’s original series and entire movie catalog on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV for $14.99 per month. HBO NOW’s official iPhone and iPad app is free on the App Store alongside the Apple TV channel. Popular HBO series include Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Girls, and Entourage. The one-week introductory free trial is available for a limited time.
Apple Watch Faces Hydrogen Explosion, Liquid Nitrogen and More in New Tests [iOS Blog]
After being put under multiple torture and waterproof tests in the week since its official launch on April 24, the Apple Watch this week faced some of its most hardcore trials yet from YouTuber Richard Ryan. Known as “FullMag” on YouTube, Ryan this week has put the Apple Watch Sport through a series of three destruction tests – Liquid Nitrogen, Hydrogen Explosion, and a 50-caliber bullet shell – on his technology destruction-focused channel (via Cult of Mac).
First posted on Monday, Ryan began his Apple Watch videos with a test focused on dropping the Sport version of the Watch into a container of liquid nitrogen and smashing the frozen wearable with a sledgehammer. As with most of Ryan’s videos, the results are less about wondering if the Watch passed Ryan’s tests, but more focusing on exactly how badly Apple’s new wrist-worn device was destroyed.
One of Ryan’s more elaborate experiments comes from the hydrogen explosion test posted on Tuesday, and also appears to be the least destructive of the trilogy of Apple Watch videos on the FullMag channel. The Apple Watch Sport at the end of the video appears relatively unharmed, but given that Ryan doesn’t attempt to test the device’s normal functions following the experiment, there’s no telling what kind of damage was done to the wearable’s basic functionality thanks to the acidic-based science experiment.
Most impressive is perhaps Ryan’s most recent video, a short clip of the YouTuber shooting an Apple Watch Sport with a 50-calliber bullet shell. The resulting destruction is easily one of the most impressive, the cheaper Apple Watch getting cut nearly clean in half by the massive bullet shell. Ryan even promises that while the 50-caliber shell will be the biggest firearm he sets his sights on to destroy the Watch, it won’t be the last.
Ryan has performed less high-intensity tests on the Watch, according to Cult of Mac, but has yet to post them. The YouTuber found that from basic drop tests the stainless steel Watch “shattered” while the aluminum Sport was completely fine. Ryan’s channel isn’t focused solely on Apple products, however, with videos showcasing the destruction of everything from Rolex watches to destruction tests on other smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
Apple confirms tattoos can mess with the Watch’s heart sensor
After the Internet was awash with reports that tattoos can negatively affect the Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor, Apple has confirmed the issue on its website. In a page dedicated to explaining how the Watch captures your vitals, the company notes: “Permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can also impact heart rate sensor performance,” adding that “the ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult to get reliable readings.”
The issue isn’t limited to the Apple Watch, however. A device using similar hardware can also come unstuck if it meets a dark tattoo on a wearer’s wrist. There have been reports that Fitbit’s Charge HR suffers from the same issues. It comes down to how the Watch’s green LED lights and photodiode sensors penetrate the skin and detect the changes in capillaries and blood vessels. The ink in darker tattoos can impact the absorption of both light and infrared, causing the issues Apple’s describing above. It’s certainly something you’ll need to consider if you’re looking to buy an Apple Watch and have tattoos on your favored wrist, but Apple notes you can connect it to external heart rate monitors over Bluetooth (not that it really helps). It might also be worth heading to your local Apple Store to check for yourself before putting down your heard-earned for a new Apple smartwatch.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Apple
Via: Trusted Reviews
Source: Apple Support
‘Star Wars’ streaming finally comes to the UK on May 4th
When the Star Wars saga finally became available to buy on digital storefronts like iTunes and Google Play, we hoped it would only be a matter of time until Disney and Fox made them available to stream. Thankfully, that’s now about to happen, after Sky announced today that it’s struck a deal with the two companies to bring all six movies to Sky Movies and Now TV from May 4th. That day obviously holds a special significance with fans, so Sky will kick things off with “UK TV’s first ever 48 hour Star Wars marathon” on that date, showing the movies in “episodic order, as well as release order on both days.” They’ll also be offered to non-Sky subscribers through its separate streaming service. So, if you’re already signed up to the Now TV movie bundle and ownership doesn’t mean that much to you, you can skip the £64.99 Digital Movie Collection and get your geek on for the cost of your monthly subscription.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Sky
Xbox 360 update makes the digital transition easier
It turns out that support for bigger external hard drives isn’t all that the latest Xbox 360 preview’s packing. The surprise features aren’t huge by any means but they’re pretty self explanatory and as of now should make using the console a bit easier, regardless. Let’s dig in. First up we have a view for recent purchases followed by a password reset function, network statistics information and the ability to see your Microsoft account balance right from the system dashboard. Like I said, nothing earth-shattering on a piece-by-piece basis, but taken as a whole they offer a pretty clear explanation for why Redmond is updating the console in the first place: making it easier to go from discs to downloadable gaming. As a reminder, Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb says that if you have any other feature suggestions for the almost decade-old console be sure to hit the Xbox feedback website.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: Major Nelson
By teaming up with Three, Huawei’s Honor brand goes mainstream
Chinese firm Huawei is no stranger to the UK. Unbeknownst to many, it’s an important provider of cellular infrastructure, and just a couple of weeks ago, it held its new flagship smartphone launch in London. Over the years, some of Huawei’s top handsets have been ranged by major UK carriers, but these days you’re more likely to see its name attached to low-cost, pay-as-you-go devices. Towards the end of last year, Huawei debuted its Honor smartphone brand in the UK and Europe, hoping this range of reasonably priced devices would find success in these parts. Perhaps to its detriment, Huawei went to great lengths to mask its ownership of Honor, instead introducing the brand as a new, pro-consumer smartphone manufacturer. Employing an online-only sales model, however, meant the name slid quickly into obscurity, but that changes in the UK today with Honor’s first carrier partnership since the brand launched just over six months ago.
It’s found a friend in Three, which has just added the Honor 6+ to its contract smartphone line-up. The handset is now available on contracts starting at £24 per month (with a £19 upfront payment), or for £300 on pay-as-you-go, which is the same price you’ll pay for the device on Amazon. By far the most advanced smartphone in the Honor range thus far, the 6+ has a 5.5-inch, 1080p display, 3GB of RAM, a 1.8GHz octa-core processor, and several other components that deserve a respectful nod. The key selling point, however, is undoubtedly the handset’s dual 8-megapixel cameras, which let you refocus and adjust the aperture of snaps after the fact, much like HTC’s Duo Camera feature.
The success of the device is now in the hands of consumers, but Huawei is more than entitled to celebrate a victory already. Regardless of how the 6+ performs commercially, the Honor brand name is now out there, in the public consciousness. It’s early days, of course, but with a presence in Three’s online and bricks-and-mortar stores, Honor’s gone mainstream. And that’s sure to attract a few envious stares. The direct-to-consumer, online sales model is a risky one. Not only do companies like Karbonn, Blu et al. have to compete with each other, they have to compete in the UK market where consumers traditionally visit carriers when in search of a new handset. With limited marketing, these firms also have to hope that punters effectively stumble across their websites or Amazon listings.
Honor, however, has managed to break away from this peer group. Partnering with Three on the launch of the 6+ means the network provider now shoulders the responsibility of putting the device in front of consumers, and the Honor brand as a whole can only benefit from this increased exposure. Though Huawei distances itself from the Honor name, it undoubtedly had a hand in arranging the deal with Three that other online-only smartphone sellers can only hope to replicate. The launch of the Honor 6+ with a major carrier doesn’t necessarily mean the brand is about to become a serious player in the UK, though. No question that would be the preferred outcome, but take a look at Alcatel. Plenty of its devices are and have been ranged by major UK carriers, but say that name in public, and we guarantee you’ll be met by more than a few blank stares.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Three
3 atom thick material breakthrough could lead to ultra-thin processors
Researchers from Cornell University have announced a breakthrough in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) production that could lead to much thinner transistors, the building block for faster, smaller and more power efficient processors.
TMDs are promising materials for future semi-conductors, solar cell and light detector technologies as they are incredibly thin. This is especially important as integrated circuit and processor producers look to push the boundaries of silicon below the 10nm processes. New materials will be needed if manufacturers wish to extend Moore’s Law. This technology may sound familiar to graphene, and both can be used to produce very thin film layers for electronics. Highly conductive TMD films can be produced which measure just three atoms thick, but the issue is that they are easy to break and suffer from high failure rates.
“Our work pushes TMDs to the technologically relevant scale, showing the promise of making devices on that scale,”… “In principle there is no barrier toward [commercial viability].” – Saien Xie, paper author
This is where the breakthrough comes in, as researchers from Cornell have managed to produce a new industrial technique known as “metal organic chemical vapor deposition (or MOCVD). The technique mixes iethylsulfide and a metal hexacarbonyl compound atop a silicon wafer and then bakes them at 550 degrees for 26 hours in hydrogen gas. This method has been tested on a batch of 200 wafers and only two of them were faulty, which is a 99 percent success rate and a promising sign for this process.
However, a larger sample size is needed before the technique can be confirmed as consistent and the temperature of production is too high for other components at the moment. There’s still more research to be done and this technology is still a number of years away from commercial viability, but it’s very promising nonetheless. The video below is quite insightful if you want to know more about TMDs.
Samsung and Marvel present the “Battle for the Avengers Tower” in 360-degree video on YouTube for Android
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YouTube‘s 360-degree viewing experience on Android is pretty cool, but do you know what’s cooler? A 360-degree video on YouTube for Android featuring everybody’s favourite superheroes, the Avengers. Released by Samsung and Marvel today, the “Battle for the Avengers Tower” video puts you in the middle of a battle with the Avengers bashing heads all round you, and you’ll be able to take advantage of the 360-degree feature to watch whatever part of the battle takes your fancy. Check it out below, or hit this link here to open it on your Android device:
In case you were wondering, Samsung has quite a few products featuring in the new Marvel movie, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, so it’s natural the two would do some kind of collaborative marketing, and it’s probably going to end up paying off for Samsung, as it all too often does. Samsung and Marvel even have a separate set of ads which features a whole number of celebrities including soccer superstar, Lionel Messi, assuming the role of everyday Avengers:
Always make good use of your opportunities, they say. Let’s see what else this partnership comes up with in the coming weeks.
What do you think about Samsung and Marvel’s marketing together so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: YouTube
The post Samsung and Marvel present the “Battle for the Avengers Tower” in 360-degree video on YouTube for Android appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Sony kills its head-mounted video display to go all-in on VR
For those with long-ish memories, Sony’s HMZ series of head-mounted displays were a very rudimentary way to catch movies on a “750-inch screen.” Of course, strapping one to your face wasn’t a very social way to spend an evening, so you can understand that the device’s appeal was a bit limited. So limited, in fact, that the company is now sending the project down the Shinano river on a longboat piled high with firewood. According to Japanese news outfit AV Watch, Sony bosses have decided to devote all of its resources to improving Morpheus, the PlayStation-branded virtual reality headset, as well as the company’s take on Google Glass.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Wearables, HD, Sony
Source: AV Watch
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