ICYMI: Soft robot challenge, NASA’s space sails and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: NASA announced a space probe this week that will use solar sails to leave Earth’s orbit; the first spacecraft from the agency to do so. It should go up in 2018 and its mission is to get a good view of an asteroid.
The RobotSoft Grand Challenge is coming in April so the Italian team is giving a mesmerizing glimpse of its octopus model. And a Kickstarter campaign would outfit average people in the material that keeps astronauts warm in space. OROS has jackets, gloves and hats made from a aerogel, which is warmer and much thinner than other insulating materials.
And finally, we enjoyed this video of an upcoming art installation, constructed with an algorithm to simulate a human’s point-of-view. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
BBC will make its first broadcast into space tomorrow
British astronaut Tim Peake has already achieved a number of “firsts” while aboard the International Space Station, but his next milestone will possibly be the most entertaining. Tomorrow (February 6th), Peake and his two astronaut colleagues will view the BBC’s first ever space broadcast, when it live-streams the Scotland vs England Six Nations rugby match live from Murrayfield. The BBC says it’s working with the European Space Agency (ESA) to feed the game to the space station, which kicks off at 4:50pm UK time. It’s obviously no surprise to Peake: he knew of the BBC’s plans well before blast off — he even had time to pack an England rugby shirt and Gilbert rugby ball in his suitcase before making the trip.
Source: BBC Sport
Visa wakes up to the sound of the internet
If you had to name the pre-eminent internet payments platform, you’d probably say PayPal — a fact that sends Visa executives into a frenzy. That’s why the big V has announced that it’s embracing this new-fangled interweb thing that it’s just now heard about. The firm has announced the launch of Visa Developer, a way to open up the financial giant’s infrastructure to anyone who wants to use it. If you’re a company that wants to sell stuff, you can hook your products up to Visa’s back end and get all of its skills with very little effort.
Visa’s already an investor in Stripe, but clearly wants companies to dump Silicon Valley upstarts like PayPal and Square. The pitch is to show that Visa’s greater security, size, history, not to mention that most people already have access to a Visa card, is better than signing your life away to Google. That’s not a euphemism, either, since Visa SVP Mark Jamison is already trying to stoke anti-tech company sentiment in his blog post. As far as he’s concerned, the “frightful five” of Apple, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft are simply not capable of matching Visa’s clout. Sure.
Via: Mashable
‘Godus Wars’ developer kills microtransactions after outcry
Last week Peter Molyneux had to contend with a hacked Twitter account, but this week he’s dealing with disgruntled gamers. His 22cans studio just released a Steam Early Access version of Godus Wars, the much-anticipated, more fighty sequel to Godus. However, buyers weren’t happy to discover that the title, which is free to buyers of the original Godus and $14.99 for everyone else, included a $5 microtransaction package. As Steam user Mucker_2202 said, “to release this into early access and ask for any kind of payment should be a crime.”
Similar comments resulted in a “mostly negative” rating for the still-unfinished game, so 22cans decided to include the locked content for free. “It’s been brought to our attention that the extra content being a premium add-on really isn’t a popular choice,” said 22cans CEO Simon Phillips on Steam. “Therefore, based on your feedback, the extra content will be available to all free-of-charge.” That should quell the early access complaints, but based on other comments, there are still quite a few bugs to work out. That means even he wanted to, Molyneux will have to stay unretired.
Via: Kotaku
Source: 22cans (Steam)
Audio software can make phone calls more intelligible
It can be tough hearing each other on the phone no matter how much you shout if you’re in a noisy environment. Fraunhofer believes its new audio software can solve that problem, though, and make even garbled loudspeaker announcements at train stations more understandable. The German research organization’s ADAPT DRC software uses microphones to listen to and analyze ambient noise. If it senses that it’s rather noisy around you, it boosts certain parts of your speech, particularly consonants like “p,” “t” and “k.”
The sounds those consonants make are short and higher in frequency, making them hard to hear. Fraunhofer’s software can adjust sounds to ensure the other person hears if you’re saying “paste” or “taste.” It can also amplify your voice when you speak softly and tone it down if you’re being too loud, as high volumes can distort your words. The organization says ADAPT DRC is already available to industrial partners. If any manufacturer wants to incorporate it into their devices, they can simply install it on their phones since they already have microphones. Train stations, however, will have to put up mics to be able to analyze ambient sounds.
Source: Fraunhofer
Google’s AI will take on the world Go champ live on YouTube
Google’s victory over a top Go player was unprecedented, but can its artificial intelligence program DeepMind beat the world champion? We’ll find out starting on March 9th, when DeepMind’s “AlphaGo” program takes on South Korea’s Lee Sedol in a $1 million match. It will be broadcast live on YouTube from Seoul, according to the founder & CEO of DeepMind, Demis Hassabis. “It is a real privilege and honor to be playing the greatest Go player of the past decade, and a legend of the game,” he said.
Thrilled to officially announce the 5-game challenge match between #AlphaGo and Lee Sedol in Seoul from March 9th-15th for a $1M prize!
— Demis Hassabis (@demishassabis) February 4, 2016
Until recently, AI programs could only beat very low-level players, which made DeepMind’s victory over Fan Hui such a surprise. Because of the nearly infinite moves possible in the game, DeepMind doesn’t try to calculate ahead like chess computers do. Rather, programmers “taught” it the strategies used by Go masters, then had it play numerous virtual games to reinforce them.
DeepMind topped three time European champ Fan Hui, who is ranked as a “2 dan” player. However, Lee Sedol is ranked in the stratospheric “9 dan” category, so he’ll provide a more formidable challenge. “I have heard that Google DeepMind’s AI is surprisingly strong and getting stronger, but I am confident that I can win, at least this time,” said Lee. By saying “this time,” Lee is nodding to the rapid progress that Google has made in the complex game — experts had predicted it would take another ten years for computers to beat master Go players. The match will take place between March 9-15, and Google’s Hassabis will reveal more details about the livestream soon.
Via: BBC
Source: Demis Hassabis (Twitter)
Latest rumor suggests that the Galaxy S7 will have a two-day battery life
The rumor mill it still spinning at warp speed with hordes of speculation regarding Samsung’s upcoming flagship smartphone of 2016, the Galaxy S7. The most reliable information so far has come from Russian Analyst Eldar Murtazin who is now back with another exposé this time claiming that the device’s 3,000mAh battery will be able to withstand 48-hours of regular use at 75% of brightness.
What’s rather interesting here is Murtazin’s use of the word regular. His screen-on time during the experiment exhibits just over 4 and a half hours, which no way equates to the amount of time I spend on my phone a day. Also, the SIM card inserted was running on 3G and not 4G, which would have a significant improvement on battery life.
I’m not complaining, though. I only seem to get around 8-hours worth of use out of my 10-month old Galaxy S6 Edge on 3G. Consequently, I have to plug it into the wall half way through the day to juice it up — so having a handset that could last for two-days straight would be a huge improvement on what I’m currently experiencing.
Just in case you’ve missed any of the Galaxy S7 gossip, it looks like the unit will pack a 5.1-inch qHD display, a Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820/Exynos 8890 Octa chipset, an Adreno 530/Mali-T880 MP12 GPU, 4GB of RAM, 32/64/128GB of internal flash memory and a 2,550mAh non-removable Li-Ion battery.
Source: Eldar Murtazin (Twitter)
Come comment on this article: Latest rumor suggests that the Galaxy S7 will have a two-day battery life
Huawei launches the GX8 in the United States for $349.99
Last month, Huawei announced it was planning to launch a revamped model of the G8 in the United States. This was pretty significant news as it would only be the second smartphone the manufacturer has released in the region. Unfortunately, the firm failed to supply a date for the device to hit the shelves. However, the GX8 made its debut on Amazon earlier today in three gorgeous colorways — Horizontal Gold, Mystic Champagne and Space Grey — with a $349.99 price tag attached.
It’s important to bear in mind that this is a factory unlocked GX8, so it will only work on GSM carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T, but not with CDMA operators like Verizon and Sprint. It does, however, support 4G on the two main compatible networks, which is great news if you’re in the market for an affordable mid-range LTE handset. A full list of supported carrier bands can be seen below:
- 2G Network: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
- 3G Network: 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
- 4G Network: LTE 2100 (B1), 1900 (B2), 1800 (B3), AWS (B4), 850 (B5), 2600 (B7), 900 (B8), 700 (B12), 700 (B17), 800 (B18), 800 (B19), 800 (B20), 800 (B26)
Just in case you need a refresher on its specifications, the GX8 packs a 5.5-inch Full HD display, a Snapdragon 615 octa-core CPU, an Adreno 405 GPU, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable internal storage, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 5-megapixel selfie shooter, a 3,000mAh non-removable battery and a biometric scanner.
For more information on picking up a Huawei GX8 in the US, hit the source link below.
Source: Amazon
Come comment on this article: Huawei launches the GX8 in the United States for $349.99
Dip your toes into the world of programming with Python for only $39
There are a lot of different languages to learn if you want into the world of coding and development. For instance, there’sHTML5, Java, CQL, Ruby, and more coding languages becoming popular all the time. Today’s deal focuses on one of the coding languages that has been around for quite the while: Python.
If you have been looking to get into the world of coding in Python, then today’s deal is perfect for you. With six different courses bundled into one, you will learn everything that Python entails, from top to bottom. Plus, will be given the tools to build various projects throughout each of the courses within the Python Programming Bootcamp.
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Python Tutorial: Python Network Programming – Build 7 Apps
- Learn & practice every Python key concept w/ 12 hours & 103 lectures
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- Utilize the provided virtual machine w/ all Python modules installed & full source code included
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HTC unveils a dual-SIM variant of the Desire 626 with upgraded specs in India
Earlier today, HTC introduced a more powerful version of the Desire 626 in India. In addition to the upgraded internals, this new variant also ships with dual-SIM support and 4G LTE included.
The Taiwanese manufacturer has replaced the 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 chipset with a 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6752 CPU. The Adreno 306 GPU has also been dumped in favour of the new Mali-T760MP2 and, lastly, the RAM has been upgraded from 1GB to 2GB.
All other internal components remain the same, meaning that the Desire 626 dual-SIM packs a 5-inch HD display (1280×720), 16GB of expandable internal storage, a 13MP rear-facing camera, a 5MP selfie shooter and a 2,000mAh battery.
The handset ships running the latest build of Android 5.1 skinned with HTC’s Sense user interface on board, but is expected to receive the Android 6.0 upgrade sometime over the course of the next few months.
If you’re based in India and like the sound of the Desire 626 dual-SIM, you’ll soon be able to pick one up from participating retailers in either Blue Lagoon or White Birch for INR 14,990 ($220).
For a more in-depth look at the handset’s specifications, be sure to check out the press release below.
HIGH PERFORMANCE HTC DESIRE 626 DUAL SIM
With stunning features the HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM sets a powerful new standard for mid-range smartphones
New Delhi – February 5 2016 – HTC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, has today announced the launch of the new HTC Desire 626 dual sim, a sleek and innovative, feature packed device that raises the bar for mid-range smartphones. The HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM delivers more of what you love including the ability to enjoy an immersive 5 inch wide screen multi-media experience. This is enhanced further with 4G LTE connectivity and Dual SIM functionality enabling you to switch between two different SIM cards and multitask with ease.
“Our customers are gradually looking for stylish 4G LTE enabled smartphones with faster processors, network speeds and outstanding battery life. They are creating and consuming rich video content and want greater freedom to personalise their smartphones. We know they love the flexibility that comes with expandable memory,” said Mr. Faisal Siddiqui, President, HTC South Asia. Further to which he added, “At a remarkable price, the HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM delivers the distinctive features with an outstanding user experience in a sleek, chic, slim package.”
Big, bold, distinctive style with Advanced features
HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM is perfect for immersing yourself in your favourite content. Enjoy your favourite movies, music and games, in high definition 5 inch high definition display at exceptional speeds with the 1.7 GHz Octa-Core processor.
In true HTC style, quality doesn’t stop at performance. Bright, bold, light and sleek, the chic designed HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM stands out from the crowd thanks to HTC’s double shot colour technology. The smartphone features a two-tone colour unibody that not only looks stylish but ensures awesome device quality, strength and tolerance. The distinctive colour trims around the camera, buttons and flash merge seamlessly into one another creating a slick look and a great way to show off your personality.
All of this is delivered within an intuitive and customisable interface. Running on Android™ and HTC Sense™, it has been created to enable self-expression, letting you adapt and change your interface whenever you like – easy, quick and emotive.
Premium camera for stunning photos and selfies
The HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM offers high-performance imaging with f/2.2 aperture and a 13 megapixel BSI sensor, that help the phone’s rear camera capture incredible quality images in both daylight and low light, so your photos will be bursting with detail even as the sun goes down. If photography isn’t your strength, press and hold the shutter for rapid-fire and continuous shooting – ideal for capturing fast moving objects or for selecting the best shot at a later date.
To capture amazing selfies switch to the 5 megapixel front facing camera, use the Touch to Countdown feature and strike the perfect pose with your friends & family. With Full HD video, all your memories come to life in vivid detail.
Advanced technology for ultimate performance
Entertainment lovers can revel in the ability to stream music, download films and juggle multiple social feeds or apps both smoothly and effortlessly with integrated LTE support. The HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM a snappy Octa-Core processor for smooth multi-tasking that offers lightning-fast 4G connectivity at speeds of up to 150 Mbps. With 16GB internal storage, as well as a MicroSD slot which supports up to 32GB of additional storage, every single moment you capture can be saved and shared without a worry. To ensure that you get more from your phone for longer the HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM offers 2000mAH battery.
Availability
The HTC Desire 626 Dual SIM comes in Blue Lagoon and White Birch colours, and will be available with major retailers for INR 14,990/- from coming week onwards.
Come comment on this article: HTC unveils a dual-SIM variant of the Desire 626 with upgraded specs in India
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