Cat gets cutting-edge prosthetic legs

Say hello to Vincent the cat. Due to a congenital defect, Vincent was born without rear tibias and likely would have died had he not been rescued and surrendered to an Iowa animal shelter. Once adopted, he caught the attention of Dr. Mary Sarah Bergh, an associate professor of orthopedic surgery at Iowa State University’s Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center. She worked with 3D printing firm Biomedtrix to create a custom pair of extruded titanium peg legs for the feline, enabling him to walk for the first time.

“I think this does open the door for us to be able to help other animals that have similar problems,” Bergh said in a statement. “And even what we’ve learned just through Vincent’s one case, we’ve actually refined the technique and the implants, so the next cases we do moving forward will be even more successful.”

Unlike conventional prosthetics, these legs are surgically embedded into his upper leg bones so that as he grows, they fuse themselves to the prosthetics. So while he walks like a pirate, Vincent is technically a cyborg.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: 3D Print

AT&T expands its fiber internet service to 38 new cities

AT&T’s mission to blanket most of the US with gigabit internet is moving at full speed. Today, the network revealed that its GigaPower fiber service is coming to 38 more cities, adding to the 18 metro areas it’s already available in. The newly announced places include Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland and Memphis, along with 29 others. In a blog post, AT&T said that it’s not done either, noting that it plans to bring GigaPower to over 14 million locations, both residential and commercial.

Here’s the full list of new GigaPower-ready cities:

• Alabama: Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery
• Arkansas: Fort Smith/Northwest Arkansas and Little Rock
• California: Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose
• Florida: Pensacola and West Palm Beach
• Georgia: Augusta
• Indiana: Indianapolis
• Kansas: Wichita
• Kentucky: Louisville
• Louisiana: Baton Rouge, Shreveport-Bossier, Jefferson Parish region, and the Northshore
• Mississippi: Jackson
• Missouri: St. Louis
• Michigan: Detroit
• Nevada: Reno
• North Carolina: Asheville
• Ohio: Cleveland and Columbus
• Oklahoma: Oklahoma City and Tulsa
• South Carolina: Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville
• Tennessee: Memphis
• Texas: El Paso and Lubbock
• Wisconsin: Milwaukee

Via: Re/code

Source: AT&T

Google Authenticator gets massive update with Wear support and a much-needed material design overhaul

Nearly every Google app has been updated with the company’s latest material design elements. However, up until this point, Google Authenticator has been one of those left out.

Google Authenticator increases users’ security by means of a security code that is prompted whenever registering a new device with one’s Google account. This way if your passcode gets hacked, the hacker won’t be able to gain access to your Google account unless they have the device containing Google Authenticator. This adds an extra layer of security. Today, the app has received the much-needed material design overhaul, which will replace the old grey style Holo theme. The update also brings compatibility for Wear devices. This allows users to enter the security code right on their wrist and even keep their smartwatch safe. For specific instructions, check out the step by step guide Google has provided down below.

Play Store Download Link

Come comment on this article: Google Authenticator gets massive update with Wear support and a much-needed material design overhaul

Donald Trump commandeers Jebbush.com

The domain Jebbush.com redirects to the official campaign page for Donald Trump’s presidential bid. The URL has been up for grabs since April, at least — at the time, CNN Money reported it was on sale for $250,000 via hosting service Fabulous.com. Apparently Bush, who’s running for the Republican nomination alongside Trump and a (large) handful of other candidates, didn’t think it was worthwhile to invest in his own-name dot-com domain. His official website is Jeb2016.com.

Two other Bush-related domains are in the hands of outsiders: JebBushforPresident.com is a blog run by a gay couple, and JebBushforPresident.net is an anti-Bush website that purports to demonstrate the candidate is “actually a radical social liberal.”

Bush doesn’t have the tightest relationship with online communities in general. If elected president, he’s vowed to kill net neutrality and expand the NSA’s ability to surveil digital “evildoers.”

[Image credit: Flickr/John Pemble]

Source: The Hill

Kickstarter: 9 percent of crowdfunding projects don’t deliver

You’ve no doubt heard of failed Kickstarter projects that left backers hanging, but how often do these implosions happen, really? They’re not as common as you might think. The crowdfunding platform has posted an independent study showing that 9 percent of Kickstarter projects don’t deliver their rewards — a significant number, but not necessarily a systemic flaw. The findings also show that 8 percent of money goes toward these fallen projects, and that the rates tend to be consistent among categories. Tech projects are about as likely to go bust as crafts and movies, in other words.

There is reason to be skeptical (many “independent” studies are commissioned to cherry pick the facts), but Kickstarter’s claims of objectivity mostly hold up. We’ve reached out to the professor behind the research, and he notes that he both created the surveys (with input from Kickstarter) and conducted the creator surveys himself. He asked Kickstarter to conduct the backer survey, but it shared all the data. As far as we can tell, the company wasn’t trying to game the results.

With that said, there are still some concerns lurking within the report. Only 13 percent of failed projects deliver refunds, and backers say that a mere 15 to 20 percent of creators handle those failures gracefully. While you’re likely to get what you hoped for, there’s a good chance that you’ll be left high and dry in the event of a failure. Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter may need to do more to hold creators to account before regulators step in.

[Image credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Source: Kickstarter

Get the Nexus factory images for Android 6.0.1 here

Like keeping your Nexus device up to date? Who doesn’t!? Google has just let go of the Android 6.0.1 factory images for Nexus devices on its Developers site.

Bear in mind that installation isn’t just a simple download and execute. The new build needs to be flashed, which involves having the Android platform tools ready on your computer, communication channels to your Android flowing, and adb commands. If all this sounds foreign to you, you may just want to wait for an official OTA push of the update.

Hit up the source link below for downloads to other Nexus devices. And as always, don’t forget to backup your user data!

The 6.0.1 update brings a multitude of new/redesigned emoji’s and some other minor changes. Check out our coverage of the update here.

Happy flashing!

Source: Google Developers

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