Pandora brings its music discovery feature to Android

Pandora is quite useful when you don’t know exactly what you want to listen to. However, the internet radio service’s Android app has never looked that great. With an update to the software for Google’s OS, Pandora cut out some of the clutter that made using the app a chore. Up top, there’s now a slider button to bounce back and forth between the My Stations and Browse lists. That Browse feature already debuted on the iOS version. If you’ll recall, it takes into account all of the songs you like (or thumbs up) and serves up suggestions based on your preferences.

Feed, Profile and Settings options that used to be on the main screen were moved to a secondary menu on the left side. The change puts lets you get to your music quickly, which is certainly a welcome teak to the Android app. The trademark blue theme was nixed in a previous version, but you’ll still catch that hue on the Now Playing screen. After picking up Rdio, Pandora brought in some of that streaming service’s aesthetic to its apps and that overall look still remains.

Via: Android Police

A real suicide bomb detector should arrive this year

Ever since terrorism became an all-too-real fact of life, people have dreamed of suicide bomb detectors that spot an explosive vest before its wearer has a chance to detonate. However, making a working example has proven elusive. Some companies threw their hands up in frustration after developing systems that just weren’t accurate enough. Others, meanwhile, didn’t even try that hard — the UK went so far as to ban some detectors that proved utterly ineffective. At last, though, it looks like a genuinely functional suicide bomb detector is on the horizon.

R3 Technologies is nearly ready to sell the CBD-1000, a semi-portable continuous wave radar that’s reportedly accurate enough to detect the materials you typically see in suicide vests, whether or not they’re metallic. If a terrorist loads up on glass or rocks to maximize damage, they may well be caught. It currently works best at relatively short ranges and with mostly stationary targets (you need 1.3 seconds to complete a scan at 9 feet), but there are plans for instant scans as far away as 100 feet. If it reaches that goal, it could change the face of security — officers could spot and shoot bombers well before they reach their targets.

If all goes well, the plan is to offer the CBD-1000 this year for $50,000. It’s too soon to say whether or not this will work in the chaotic, unpredictable circumstances of real life. R3 has some hard science to back up its claims, mind you. It partnered with Sandia National Laboratories scientists to refine the detector, so this is more than just a well-meaning idea.

Source: Sandia National Laboratories

Microsoft officially kills its Android app porting tool

Well, that didn’t take long. After lots of silence regarding Project Astoria, Microsoft is killing it in favor of its shiny new Xamarin purchase. In case you’d forgotten (entirely understandable!), Astoria was the initiative that’d make porting Android apps to Windows 10 supposedly pretty easy. But with yesterday’s announcement that Redmond had purchased Xamarin, a company whose sole mission is multiplatform apps, perhaps the news isn’t entirely surprising considering the delay Astoria hit last November. In fact, the Windows Blog post mentions Xamarin explicitly several times, saying that developers can now use that toolset and a pretty big chunk of their existing C# code for cross-platform applications.

The problem, Microsoft says, was that based on feedback, having two “bridges” — one for iOS and another for Android — was confusing for developers. “We have carefully considered this feedback and decided that we would focus our efforts on the Windows Bridge for iOS and make it the single Bridge for bringing mobile code to all Windows 10 devices, including Xbox and PCs,” Microsoft’s Kevin Gallo writes. Android developers? Focus on using the iOS bridge and, yep, Xamarin.

Via: NeoWin

Source: Windows Blog

CowTech’s $99 3D scanner captures detail from small objects

In today’s maker-friendly workshop a 3D scanner is just as useful as a 3D printing for replicating small objects. And now there’s an option to adding the former gadget to your setup for under $100. The CowTech Ciclop is an open-source 3D scanner with two lasers and a 720p camera (a Logitech webcam, actually) to capture object. It touts the same resolution (0.5mm) as MakerBot’s much pricier Digitizer. CowTech’s version is based on another open-source 3D scanner, the $400 BQ Ciclop, but a few tweaks dropped the price to a mere $99.

First, you print some of the parts for the device using your own 3D printer. The CowTech Ciclop also employs an Arduino shield and other parts that keep costs down. In fact, those parts you’ll need to make only require a print bed capable of 115mm x 110mm x 65mm (4.5 x 4.3 x 2.6 inches) builds. This means that smaller 3D printers can be used to complete the kit. The device arrives in pieces that you combine with your 3D-printed parts to build the scanner. It’s very DIY.

CowTech’s Ciclop also uses the same open-source software as the BQ Ciclop, too. You can expect to capture details of objects that measure 200mm (7.87 inches) wide and 205mm (8 inches) tall. What’s more this 3D scanner can complete the capture in a span of 2-8 minutes. As we already mentioned, $99 will nab you a kit, and you can expect it to arrive in April following an already booming Kickstarter campaign.

Source: Kickstarter

APEX telescope maps Milky Way’s star-forming regions

The APEX telescope in Chile has completed its biggest project, resulting in the most complete view of the cold galaxy we’ve ever seen. It spent almost a decade peering into the skies for the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy or ATLASGAL in submillimeter wavelengths, which fall in between infrared light and radio waves. Observing the universe in those wavelengths allowed the telescope to see all the cold gas and dust in the galactic plane that’s visible from the southern hemisphere. In the image above and the video below the fold, you can see those cold clouds as bright red blotches that wouldn’t look out of place in an abstract painting.

APEX kept a close eye on cold clouds with temperatures just above absolute zero, because they typically give birth to new stars. As Timea Csengeri from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy said, “ATLASGAL provides exciting insights into where the next generation of high-mass stars and clusters form.”

While the project is tied more closely to the APEX telescope, the images the European Southern Observatory released wouldn’t be complete with other observatories’ contributions. The wispy red curtains behind the brighter blotches were captured by the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, on the other hand, contributed the blue background, which was taken in shorter infrared wavelengths. The final product gives us a comprehensive look of the regions where we’ll most likely find young stars fresh out of the galactic womb.

Via: Smithsonian, Technobuffalo, Physorg

Source: ESO

The ‘Resident Evil’ 20th anniversary means more re-releases

Ready to re-buy Resident Evil 4 again? This time for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One? Well, you’ll be able to do that this year, but not before developer/publisher Capcom drops gussied-up versions of Resident Evil 6’s hot garbage and the divisive Resident Evil 5 first. Come March 29th, the absolute mess that’s better known as RE6 will hit the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live stores for $20, with RE 5’s African adventure starting sometime this summer and the series’ modern highpoint, RE 4, releasing this fall.

Physical versions are planned for each game, and those will cost the same as their digital counterparts a company spokesperson tells us. But really, regardless of how tempted you might be at this price, just wait for 4. That is, assuming you don’t already own it on Gamecube, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii or Bandai Wonderswan. Okay, that last one is a joke, but the amount of times Capcom has repackaged one of the best games in the series is getting a little ridiculous at this point.

What would be cool is if the company gave us the awesome European variant art for this version, though. The Gamecube (above) and PS2 art were each a little different, but both are miles ahead of what we got in the US back in 2005.

All that aside, 2016 marks the franchise’s 20th anniversary, and Capcom is keen to capitalize on that. Maybe that Resident Evil 2 remake will hit this year! Or, Resident Evil 3! Crazier things have happened, especially if you’re the type to pay attention to the franchise’s fiction. If you’re looking for something new from the series, well, there’s always the online shooter Umbrella Corps.

Via: Resident Evil (Twitter)

Source: Capcom Unity

Project Empathy shares knowledge with unconnected schools

A lot of schools across the globe, especially in developing nations, don’t have computers with access to the internet. Project Empathy aims to address that issue by having classrooms with internet access participate in sharing knowledge with classrooms that don’t. Schools or classes willing to help can buy one of its kits, which are small devices equipped with a 64 GB microSD card, a Raspberry Pi, USB drives and other components. They then have to load the kit with content from the web, like Wikipedia articles or pages from NASA’s websites, that their recipients can tap into for their studies.

The program was created by a startup called Outernet, which aims to provide developing nations free, one-way access to web pages via geostationary and Low Earth Orbit satellites. That’s why its kits can also be connected to a satellite dish to continuously receive new content. Take note that they don’t provide full-blown internet connections as they mostly function like FM radios that can only receive signals. Still, the initiative could change the way classes are taught in remote locations and give students a way to access info not available in their books and libraries. Project Empathy started its pilot run on February 1st in Chicago, but its kits are now available to any school or class willing to pitch in.

Source: Project Empathy

Project Loon shows off autolauncher at work in Puerto Rico

With Project Loon, Google aims to provide wireless, high-speed internet to underserved areas like the entire nation of Sri Lanka. The team has figured out how to guide them around the globe using prevailing, high-altitude winds and the current design can stay aloft for nearly 100 days. To start delivering a service, Google just needs to get lots of balloons in the air, and that’s where the portable autolaunchers come in. First revealed last May, Google recently showed off how it launched a Project Loon balloon in Puerto Rico in just a half-hour using the 55-foot tall crane-like device.

The team said that the portable autolaunchers “allow us to move our whole operation to places that give us access to favorable wind patterns that can help us provide internet connectivity around the world.” They also keep the balloons out of stiff breezes until the moment of launch, providing greater control. The balloons can now communicate with each other in the air, so the Project Loon team just needs eight ground stations and a network of balloons to provide full wireless coverage to a region. The system is expected to be deployed some time this year in regions of Latin America, West Africa and Asia.

Source: Project Loon (Google+)

Nintendo cuts forecasts as 3DS sales fall short

Nintendo may want to send its crystal ball back for a refurb, because it has once again failed at forecasting. It just announced a downgrade to its 2016 estimates because the new 3DS and 3DS XL portable consoles haven’t been selling as well as hoped. The company thought it would move 7.6 million units across the world between April 2015 and March 2016, but it’s now revised that figure to 6.6 million. It also lowered its 3DS software sales estimate by 9 million units. With Wii U sales estimates unchanged, that means the company expects 2016 revenue to fall 70 billion yen, or approximately $620 million.

The company has now missed its forecasts on the low side for the last four years. To be fair, that’s often down to its home yen currency being too strong, making its products more expensive in North America and elsewhere. But it also means that the company is seeing its market size, and the products themselves, through Mario-tinted lenses. With the revised forecast, the company estimates net profits next year to be 17 billion yen, or $150 million. However, Nintendo does have a few things up its sleeve, including a new mobile game platform, Pokémon 3DS bundle, remastered Pokémon movies, and reportedly, new Pokémon Sun and Moon games. Oh, and at some point, a brand new console.

Source: Nintendo

Photo of Pluto’s north pole shows its ancient frozen canyons

NASA has released another close-up of the most beloved dwarf planet, this time focusing on its northern polar area. If Pluto’s heart-shaped region has a cracked ice plain, mountain ranges and craters, its north pole has frozen canyons much older than any of the others found elsewhere on its surface. Their deteriorating walls made of weaker materials are proof of their age, as Pluto’s younger canyons look more sharply defined. That means the space agency has to study them if it wants to look more closely into the very early years of the dwarf planet’s tectonic activities.

The canyon highlighted in the annotated version of the image below is the biggest one, with a width measuring 45 miles. Those green squiggles beside it are smaller, six-mile-wide canyons, while the pink and blue ones are valleys. The places colored in red are pits — NASA believes they were caused by the ground giving out after the ice underneath melted or sublimated.

Note that the area in this image is part of Lowell Regio, named after Lowell Observatory founder Percival Lowell whose efforts led to Pluto’s discovery. It was captured by New Horizons’ Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) before its closest approach in July 2015. Now, if you’ve had enough of Pluto and all its photos, you may want to set a countdown timer. NASA’s Juno mission will reach the gas giant in 130 days, almost five years after it took off.

Source: NASA