Experiment will find out why astronauts feel weak back on Earth
Astronauts don’t have it easy when they come home, and it’s not just because of the change in gravity: their red blood cell production drops while they’re in space, leaving them weakened on Earth. But why? That’s what a Canadian experiment aboard the International Space Station hopes to find out. The research is testing red and white blood cell functions, as well as bone marrow fat levels, to see how they change before, during and after spaceflight. It should not only show how microgravity (and the resulting lack of activity) affects blood cells, but how reversible the effects are. How soon could you go back to normal?
The science should help astronauts stay healthy on future missions, whether it involves stepping up their exercise or giving them medicine. They wouldn’t have to worry about being in rough shape when they return to Earth or land on another planet. However, it could also do a lot for people back on terra firma — the effects are frequently the same for Earthbound people who are bedridden or otherwise can’t move much. Even if you never head into orbit, the findings could improve your health during tough times.
Source: NASA
Talk Android Apps of the Week: February 7, 2016
It’s Sunday, the time of the week when Talk Android brings you a report on some of the very best applications we’ve been using over the course of the past seven days. Today we’re focusing our attention on a fantastic third-party keyboard, a gorgeous live wallpaper, a great aftermarket Twitter client and last, but not least, a must-have game for all soccer addicts.
Chrooma Keyboard
If you’re a fan of Google Keyboard, you’re going to love the first application we’re looking at this week. Chrooma is a lightweight third-party keyboard that sports an almost-identical interface to Android’s default input offering. However, it packs a handful of smart functionality that makes it much more pleasant to use.
One of my favoured features in Chrooma is its facility to automatically adapt the background of the keyboard to match the color pallets of the application you’re using — so, for example, if you open Facebook, you’ll notice the keys change to a dark blue hue. The same applies to all other apps, too.
I’m especially fond of the integrated Night Mode, which adjusts color tonality according to the ambient light sensor. This is perfect for low-light conditions when your phone is running on the lowest brightness mode as it will apply a dark color scheme to your keyboard, so you don’t have to strain your eyes to locate the keys you’re looking for.
Chrooma is also fully resizable, which means that you can adjust the sizes of the keys and remove the dedicated number row by heading into the standalone Settings application. This function is great for devices with smaller displays as, quite often, keyboards tend to take up a substantial amount of room, but with this app users have the option to scale it down, in order to free up more screen space.
Muzei Live Wallpaper
I’ve openly admitted that I’m a wallpaper addict. In fact, I’m a wallpaper hoarder. I just can’t seem to get enough of them. Earlier this week, I installed Muzei Live Wallpaper on my Galaxy S6 Edge, and I can honestly say it’s revolutionized my background experience. The application automatically refreshes your home screen each day with a gorgeous, well-known piece of art that has been subtly blurred to create a frosted effect that looks fantastic.
If you’re not a fan of contemporary art, Muzei has your back, too. You can ditch the historic artwork in favor of your own snaps. All you have to do is import a handful of images from the gallery on your device, and the app will do the rest.
Muzei is developer-friendly, which means that developers can access the API in order to create their own third-party image sources. This is fantastic for both you and I as it means that we don’t have to sift through hundreds of images to create our own collection. Instead, we can add someone else’s.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Fenix for Twitter
Last Sunday, I installed Fenix for Twitter. Usually, I’m fairly impartial to third-party Twitter clients and often find myself switching back to the official Android offering. However, seeing as I’d forked out $5.49 for this application, I was determined to give it a fair trial, and boy am I glad I did. After seven-days of constant use, I am happy to report that it is now my favorite Twitter companion.
As you’d expect, Fenix is jam-packed with all of the latest and greatest functionality, including the ability to view conversations in an easy to read layout, preview images on your timeline and open links using a built-in browser. It’s extremely customizable, which means that you can alter the entire navigation aspect of the application by hiding the features you’re not interested in using.
If I’m completely honest, there’s only really one characteristic that keeps me using Fenix, and that’s its conversations layout. It can often be hard to keep up with a string of tweets using the standard Twitter mobile client, but Fenix makes it incredibly easy. All conversations are displayed in a color-coded list, which enables you to follow the dialogue in a natural way without having to stop and wonder who sent the message.
Soccer Hero
Up last this week, we’re looking at an engaging soccer Game. The aim of Soccer Hero is simple: Take control of some of the best clubs in the world and lead them to victory whilst assuming the identity of an up and coming player. You’ll also have the facility to spend your character’s money on houses, supercars and other assets, but you need to be careful not to get into too much debt as it could take a toll on his career, sending you right back to the drawing board. Intuitive touch controls allow you to navigate the ball with great precision — so you don’t have to worry about shots going off target as a result of an inaccurate display.
Previous Apps of the Week editions:
Come comment on this article: Talk Android Apps of the Week: February 7, 2016
Kickstarter project of the week: TYLT VÜ Pulse for Pebble Time
Welcome to your Kickstarter Project of the Week series, where we show you the coolest crowdfunding projects we can find. We know there’s plenty of cool stuff out on Kickstarter, but there’s also a lot of products that leave us scratching our heads. Is today’s featured product worth your precious time and money? Let’s find out!
Today we are taking a look at a product from a company that is already very well positioned in this industry – TYLT. You likely know them for their wireless chargers and cables, but this time around they are doing something a little more special – the TYLT VÜ Pulse for Pebble Time.
Other Kickstarter projects:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/800343142/tylt-vu-pulse-for-pebble-timetm/widget/video.html
TYLT enters the wearable space with a cool accessory made for the Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel smartwatches. It has two main functions, but these are features that many of you will be very glad to see coming to your Pebble Time.
The Pebble Time is a bit simplistic. It has no bells and whistles, which is probably part of the reason why the company decided to leave wireless charging and a heart-rate sensor out of the watch.
The TYLT VÜ Pulse works pretty much like a case, which connects to the pins on the back of the Pebble Time. Once installed, you can simply place your watch on any Qi wireless charger to juice up. In addition, the case has an integrated heart-rate monitor that can sync your biometrics to your phone and activity tracking apps.
Interested? You can back the project over at the TYLT VÜ Pulse Kickstarter page. The lowest early bird special was set at $39, but right now you can get the accessory for as low as $44.
TYLT has already reached its funding goal, so it’s just a matter of waiting until August for shipments to begin. Who is signing up?
Facebook Messenger has a hidden chess game
It’s no secret that you can use Facebook Messenger for a whole lot more than just chatting with pals, but there’s still a surprise or two in store. Social networkers have discovered that Messenger has a hidden chess game (quietly available for a least a month before now) that you invoke by typing “@fbchess play” when you’re in a conversation. Just don’t expect an intuitive interface — you have to use text commands for everything, so you’d better brush up on your standard chess notation. If you can live with that, though, it’s a free and easy way to improve your strategic thinking when you’re not busy sending stickers.
Via: Lifehacker, Mashable
Source: Reddit
Super Bowl 50: the ads, not the football
You’ve probably seen plenty of this year’s Super Bowl ads already, especially as YouTube offered many companies the option to get their videos out in advance, hopefully ensuring more views during the barrage of The Big Game itself. So, we’ve already covered Pokemon, PayPal and Amazon, but if you’re looking to fly to Gotham with Turkish Airlines, musing on a Walken closet, or need a Marvel universe trailer (or two), here’s our highlights. Yes, there’s Drake too.
Watch Fitbit’s Super Bowl ad for their upcoming Blaze wearable
In case you missed it during the game, Fitbit aired its first ever Super Bowl commercial to show off the Fitbit Blaze. The smartwatch doesn’t actually ship until March, but it’s not going to stop Fitbit from drumming up some anticipation for the device ahead of time.
The commercial shows off the stylish side of the Blaze alongside its highly-touted functionality. There are tons of other fitness trackers, but they tend to suffer from being a little too utilitarian which can put people off from actually wearing them. Fitbit knows that, and they’re working on fixing it.
You can watch the video below. Anybody planning on preordering a Fitbit Blaze?
Click here to view the embedded video.
Come comment on this article: Watch Fitbit’s Super Bowl ad for their upcoming Blaze wearable
Twitter’s timeline isn’t actually changing very much
Worried about Twitter making your timeline more like Facebook? Turns out, things aren’t going to be so bad. While we had originally heard that things would shift to an algorithmic timeline and away from a chronological timeline, Twitter is actually probably just going to be expanding on the “while you were away” feature, which most of us have probably already seen.
The earlier rumors would taken out of context, according to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and that drastic changes were never even planned within the company. Instead of completely adjusting the timeline around, Twitter is only going to be tossing in a handful of popular tweets in your timeline. You might see a tweet from 10 hours back while you’re only at 3 hours back in your timeline, for example. Hardly a Facebook-esque shift to a curated display.
Twitter’s claim to fame is its timely updates about everything you care about, and that’s likely going to be its core functionality for a very long time. You’ll still see Twitter experiment with other kinds of content (look at Moments or the aforementioned “while you were away” sections) but we probably won’t see them become the backbone of the social media site.
source: The Verge
via: Engadget
Come comment on this article: Twitter’s timeline isn’t actually changing very much
Sony Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact now available in the USA – here’s where you can buy them
It sure took a while for the Sony Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact to get here, but the wait is finally over. Sony has finally released its latest flagships in the USA and shipments have begun just in time, keeping its promise for a February 7th release date.
Thinking of buying yourself a new smartphone? Both Sony handsets are available from Amazon, so let’s refresh your memories and see if one of these is worth your hard-earned cash.
Sony Xperia Z5
Even if Sony is not doing great, their high-end smartphones rank pretty high in my personal list of favorite handsets. The Sony Xperia Z5 has everything you can ask for from a flagship device.
Packed inside is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage, 23MP/5MP cameras and a 2900 mAh battery. It also features a 5.2-inch 1080p display that keeps things simple and the phone manageable.
It’s a great phone, but don’t let me tell you that. Just go ahead and read our full review to learn all the details!
See also: Sony Xperia Z5 review
Buy the Xperia Z5 (black)
Buy the Xperia Z5 (gold)
Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
Not that the Xperia Z5 is very large, but some people do prefer even smaller phones. Those of you who fall under this category can grab the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact.
The screen measures in at 4.6 inches. But the best part about this phone is that though it’s small, Sony didn’t have to sacrifice too much. It still rocks a Snapdragon 810 processor, 2 GB of RAM, 23MP/5MP cameras and a 2700 mAh battery.
See also: Sony Xperia Z5 Compact review
Buy the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact (black)
Buy the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact (coral)
Are you buying?
So, how many of you are actually planning to buy one of these? The Sony Xperia Z5 goes for $599.99, while the compact version costs $100 less. They are both now available in black, but a gold Z5 and coral Z5 Compact will be available in 2-5 weeks (I guess we get no pink version!).
This is an important move for Sony. Some may say it’s too little too late; others will think it’s better late than never. What do you think?
Chip promises brain-like AI in your mobile devices
There’s one big, glaring reason why you don’t see neural networks in mobile devices right now: power. Many of these brain-like artificial intelligence systems depend on large, many-core graphics processors to work, which just isn’t practical for a device meant for your hand or wrist. MIT has a solution in hand, though. It recently revealed Eyeriss, a chip that promises neural networks in very low-power devices. Although it has 168 cores, it consumes 10 times less power than the graphics processors you find in phones — you could stuff one into a phone without worrying that it will kill your battery.
Eyeriss’ trick is to avoid swapping data when possible. Each of the cores (which effectively serves as a neuron) has its own memory, and compresses data whenever it leaves. It also keeps the amount of work to a minimum. Nearby cores can talk directly to each other, so they don’t need to talk to a central source (say, main memory) if what they need is close at hand. On top of that, a special delegation circuit gives cores as much work as they can handle without going back to fetch data.
There’s no mention of how soon you could expect Eyeriss’ technology in something you can buy, but the impact for machine learning could easily be huge. You could have your smartphone (or any other low-power device) handle AI-based processing locally, rather than farming it out to an internet server where delays and security are problems. Many of the devices you own would be better at adapting to new situations or learning about their environments. And it’s important to note that one of NVIDIA’s senior researchers helped make the chip — this tech could easily become a practical reality before long.
Via: EurekAlert
Source: MIT News
Smallest-ever optical switch revolves around one atom
We’ve seen some ridiculously tiny electronics in our day, but this might take the cake. Swiss researchers have built an optical networking switch so small that it’s measured on the atomic scale — in fact, it’s smaller than the wavelength of light it needs to transmit data. The system can use just one silver atom to transmit an electrical current between silver and platinum pads. Apply enough voltage and the atom moves into place; stop and the atom shies away. Surprisingly simple, isn’t it?
Any real-world uses will take a while. The current technique only builds a usable switch one in every six tries, and it’s currently very slow — it can only handle megahertz-class frequencies at best. It should be worth the “few years” of refinement need to make something practical, though. Besides dramatically shrinking the size of an optical switch (what you find in a data center is typically inches wide), it’d create a truly digital signal — you can’t get more binary than the presence or absence of a lone atom. You could one day see switches that behave just like transistors, opening up possibilities that were closed until now.
Source: ETH Zurich
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