Runkeeper nixes its ‘DJ’ feature in favor of ‘Spotify Running’

Spotify announced on Friday that it is partnering with Runkeeper and more deeply integrating its own Spotify Running feature into the popular fitness app. Spotify and Runkeeper already offer playlist integration but now, by selecting Spotify as the app’s music source, users can leverage the streaming music service’s pace-matching algorithms as well. The new features are currently available on iOS and are coming soon to Android. You will need a Spotify Premium account to take advantage of the new integration.

Interestingly, this is basically the same functionality that Runkeeper’s own “DJ” feature used to offer. RunKeeper DJ debuted last summer, shortly after Spotify announced Running. However, Spotify integration has been “hands-down one of our most frequently asked questions over the years,” Runkeeper’s announcement post proclaimed. And in the face of overwhelming customer demand, the running app maker appears to be forgoing its in-house beat-matching service in favor of Spotify’s.

Source: Runkeeper, Spotify

Volvo shows off a prototype of its self-emptying trash can

Volvo’s ROAR (RObot based Autonomous Refuse handling) project has moved into prototype testing, the company announced earlier this week. The ROAR system is designed to autonomously empty trash cans from the back of a garbage truck, saving the driver from having to manually load bins into the hopper. The initial concept involved just the robot, which relied on maps of the neighborhood and likely bin locations (as well as GPS, LiDAR and accelerometers) to help it navigate. The new iteration, on the other hand, also employs an aerial drone that lifts off from the garbage truck’s roof to act as a pair of “eyes in the sky” for the ROAR, telling it where the trash cans actually are, not just where they’re supposed to be.

Volvo teamed with undergrads at three universities — Chalmers University of Technology, Mälardalen University and Penn State University — to design and construct the prototype in just four months. “We predict a future with more automation,” Per-Lage Götvall, project manager for robot development in the Volvo Group, said in a statement. “This project is intended to stimulate our imagination, to test new concepts that may shape transport solutions of the future.”

Via: SlashGear

Source: Volvo Group

Sony files patent for ‘Powerglove’-like controller

Sony has reportedly filed a trio of patents for a new glove-based controller system. NeoGAF user Rösti came across the filings. The system centers around a finger-tracking flex sensor, a separate contact sensor that registers when the user touches a physical object and a communications module that sends this data to a VR headset where it is incorporated into the simulated experience.

The filing describes the system as “a trackable object that is configured to be illuminated during interactivity” with “at least one inertial sensor for generating inertial sensor data” which sounds a lot like a more dextrous iteration of the PS3’s Move motion controller. With it “users collaborating may use their gloves to touch objects, move objects, interface with surfaces, press on objects, squeeze objects, toss objects, make gesture actions or motions, or the like,” the claim said of this emergent tech,” the filing states.

Now, as always, just because a company files a patent for an idea doesn’t mean that it will ever actually become a real thing. However, given the current levels of rabid interest in VR technology from both industry and consumers — not to mention Sony’s imminent release of the PSVR — this idea doesn’t sound all that far fetched.

Via: EuroGamer

Source: NeGAF

WhatsApp is dropping support for the BlackBerry platform

By the end of 2016, WhatsApp will no longer work on most BlackBerry devices, even those loaded with the company’s latest mobile platform. In the blog post the WhatsApp team published today, they reminisced about their launch back in 2009, when most smartphones were either a BlackBerry or a Nokia. It was a different time, and the Facebook-owned app’s developers have to cut them off, because the platforms “don’t offer the kind of capabilities [they] need to expand [their] app’s features in the future.”

Besides dropping support for BB’s OS, the app will also stop working on Nokia S40 and Symbian S60, Android 2.1 and 2.2, as well as Windows Phone 7.1 devices by the end of the year. That said, you don’t have to abandon BlackBerry completely if you’re a loyal BB and WhatsApp user. Don’t forget that the Canadian company released an Android phone called the Priv in 2015, and it plans to release at least one more device running Google’s OS.

Source: WhatsApp

Ask AC: Can I use a Qualcomm Quick Charger with my Nexus 6P or 5X?

As long as you use the right cable, yes. But you can’t get quick charging without the right quick charger.

We get this question a lot. “Is it OK to use my Quick Charge 2.0/3.0 charger with my new Nexus 6P or Nexus 5X?” I completely understand why we get the question, and am happy to see people asking. With several different methods of rapid charging, new USB connectors, new USB standards (that nobody is fully using because they aren’t finished) and cables that can burn up phones and laptops, asking questions is a good idea. Nobody likes it when things go boom. Except this guy.

The short answer — as long as you’re using a good cable, your phone will charge. It will charge slower than it does with the included Nexus charger, but it doesn’t get too hot or catch on fire or pop the circuit breaker when you plug it in. But that’s a boring answer and doesn’t let me sit at my desk and play with things. Let’s take a closer look.

Warning

Don’t use one of those USB plug-in power meters if you want to try this at home. They are a passthrough device with their own circuitry and may not be able to handle the higher load and may not be able to correctly pass it through. I love my little meter, at least as much as I can love a meter (which is a lot more than you think — my meter’s name is Charlene, Sir!). But until someone you trust says you can use a particular one with no issues, don’t use one on any USB-C equipment.

Also — the whole shitty-cable thing. There are a lot of cables out there. Some are good. Some aren’t. I’ll just say you should only ever use a cable that comes from the people who made your phone and have more lawyers than me. You can buy a USB-C to USB-C cable or a USB-A to USB-C cable from Google. I’ll take the easy way out and say that’s what you should do. If you do something differently, do some Internet reading to find out which cables are good according to whoever.

For some examples of how much juice flows from the charger to your phone, I used the Ampere app. It’s not going to be perfect down to the single milliamp, but it does read the data supplied by the charging circuitry inside your phone. For what we’re doing, it’s plenty good enough. And it’s fun to try and beat your high score.

Reference

On the left, you see the Ampere screen when my Nexus 6P is sitting idle. The important number is the -320 mA you see in orange. My phone, doing the normal things I have in the background, settles in somewhere around -320 if I let it sit still for 15 seconds or so. That means it’s pulling 320 mA of power from the battery. That number can jump around a little, but -320 is a good average spot to use with my phone. You need to install the Ampere app and watch your phone for a few minutes to see your “sweet spot.”

On the right is the Ampere screen when my 6P (with an 80 percent charge so it’s not cheating and quick-charging) is plugged into the Nexus charger and cable that came with it. It’s a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a Huawei branded USB-C quick-charger. After a few seconds, it settles in around 2,120 mA on the Ampere screen. When you factor in the 320 mA my phone uses (remember, that’s just an average) you see that the Nexus USB-C quick charger is pushing out about 2,440 mA to the battery. The way Ampere works means you need to factor in how much juice your phone is using to get the total. And remember — this probably isn’t a true milliamp reading like you would get if you tore things apart and used a multimeter. But it’s close enough for our purposes. So — the Nexus charger and cable puts out about 2,440 mA while it’s charging on my Nexus 6P with about 80 percent battery left.

Qualcomm Quick Chargers

From left: Aukey PA-U28 USB Turbo Charger, Tronsmart WC1T 3.0 Qualcomm Certified Charger, Aukey PA-U28 USB Turbo Charger (old QC 2.0 version)

• The Aukey PA-U28 USB Turbo Charger: This is a certified Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 charger that is very popular — I have both the new and the old 2.0 model. It works extremely well charging QC 2.0 phones, will work with QC 3.0 phones and is pretty cheap. A lot of people have this charger and want to use it with their Nexus 6P or 5X. And you can, with no problem. Using the USB-A to USB-C cable from Google, it puts out 1,430 mA (1,110 plus 320) on average according to the Ampere app. More importantly, your phone or the charger itself doesn’t get hot and nobody dies at the end. It just charges slower than the Nexus charger.

• The Tronsmart WC1T 3.0 Qualcomm Certified Charger: Another popular pick that’s Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 certified. This charger works great with phones like the Droid Turbo or any other QC 2.0 model, and will work with QC 3.0 phones when they arrive. Using the USB-A to USB-C cable from Google, it pushes 1,230 mA to your battery as measured by the Ampere app. Again — no overheating or sparks. It works fine, though it will charge a bit slower than the Huawei USB-C quick charger that came with my 6P. It’s also going to charge a little slower than the Aukey charger, but not enough to worry about. You can’t get “quick charging” unless you’re using the right quick-charger for your phone.

• The old version of the Aukey PA-U28 USB Turbo Charger: This is the Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 version of the Aukey USB Turbo Charger that I had in my laptop bag. You probably can’t buy it any longer, but I figure a good many people have one and might want to use it. And I am having fun. It sends 1,250 mA to my Nexus 6P battery per the Ampere app, using that same USB-A to USB-C cable from Google. Again — this isn’t nearly as much as a proper quick charger built for the 6P, but it charges just fine and nothing dangerous happens.

What? You lost me. Nerd.

That’s OK! There are several different ways we can measure how much electricity goes from the wall to your phone battery. I’m using the Ampere app (it reads data from the charging circuit as it reports it to the system) which uses milliamps (mA) as a measurement. More milliamps = a faster charge. A lower milliamp output means your phone will charge slower.

The Nexus charger was built to quick charge the 6P and 5X as well as fill the battery after the quick-charge cycle is done, but other certified quick-chargers (Qualcomm, Samsung, Motorola etc.) aren’t. But they can still charge your new Nexus without bad things happening. We’ll see more companies building USB-C compatible quick chargers in 2016. If you are looking to buy a second one, but still have the charger from your last phone (or already bought a QC 3.0 charger), you can wait until we see who offers what.

Just be sure to use the right cable, and shy away from anything you don’t know is 100 percent compliant.

Lab-grown sperm cells successfully produced fertile baby mice

It’s not easy turning embryonic stem cells into sperm cells in the lab, but a team of Chinese scientists managed to grow viable specimens using samples from mice. To prove their method works, they fertilized eggs with their dish-grown sperm cells, which successfully produced baby mice. Even better, those babies eventually made babies of their own. At least one previous study produced offspring, but the resulting mice had developmental issues that prevented them from reproducing.

Embryonic stem cells, as you might know, can differentiate into any type of cell and are widely used in medical research. In order to coax them to transform into sperm cells, though, the team had to create an environment that mimicked the inside of a mouse’s testes. They mixed the stem cells with chemicals, testicular cells and hormones that gave rise to what the scientists call “spermatid-like cells.” While they have the same genetic material as real sperm, spermatid-like cells don’t have tails. That’s why they were manually injected into the eggs that were implanted into surrogate mothers.

The researchers (who hail from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and Nanjing Medical University in China) are hoping that their study can solve infertility in men. They plan to perform further tests and replicate their results using other animals, including non-human primates, in the coming years to achieve that goal. If you’d like to read about the study’s technical details, check out the group’s paper published on Cell Stem Cell.

Via: Discover Magazine, Science, Gizmodo UK

Source: Cell Stem Cell

Capcom needs your help tracking ‘Street Fighter’ sore losers

Street Fighter V might not feel entirely complete right now, but that’s no reason to abandon good sportsmanship. Developer/publisher Capcom is aware of the problems the community is facing in terms of people rage-quitting when online matches that aren’t going their way and it wants you to help. Over the weekend, if someone can’t handle the Snake Eyez-level of heat you’re bringing with Zangief and they disconnect, the gamemaker is urging you to use the PlayStation 4’s “share” button to catch him or her in the act once the match has ended.

Capcom hasn’t outlined a specific solution just yet, but notes that more details will come next week. In the meantime, the team is working on a “permanent solution” and will start taking direct action against the folks keeping their records spotlessly clean via nefarious methods. A blog post over at Capcom Unity says that the worst offenders will be punished severely.

And hey, sore losers? if Street Fighter champion Daigo Umehara didn’t quit against challenger/rapper Lupe Fiasco at this year’s EVO tournament when the chips were down, what makes you so special?

Source: Capcom Unity

How to take a screenshot on the LG G5

Whether you’re new to LG phones, Android in general or you’re just brushing up on the basics, it’s worth knowing how to quickly capture what’s on your screen and share it — or archive it for safekeeping.

Like most LG phones, the G5 — the Korean company’s flagship phone for 2016 — lets you take a screenshot in a couple of different ways. The first simply takes an image of your screen and saves it to the gallery; the second gets a bit more fancy, with annotation options that let you write or draw on your image before saving or sharing it.

So let’s dive in. Head past the break to find out how to take a screenshot on the LG G5

Show me how to take a screenshot on the LG G5!

LG G5 screenshot — Method 1

The easiest way to take a screenshot on the LG G5 is the tried and true button combination — pressing the power and volume down keys at the same time. The LG G5 has its power key on the back, so successfully pulling this off can be tricker than on other Android phones with buttons on the side. In any case, with a bit of practice it’s easy enough.

Everyone loves a numbered list, so here’s a step-by-step rundown:

Get the screen you want to capture ready — including clearing away any embarrassing (or incriminating) notifications or floating apps. Press the volume down and power keys at exactly the same time. (If you press one too late after the other, it won’t work.) That’s it. The screenshot will be saved to the “Screenshots” folder in your gallery for easy retrieval. If you want to immediately share it, find the screenshot notification in your notification tray, then hit the “Share” button.

… And you’re done!

LG G5 screenshot — Method 2

The second way to take a screenshot on the LG G5 involves using LG’s Capture+ app. It’ll probably be the first circular shortcut icon shown in your notification tray, though this may vary depending on which model of G5 you have.

Get the screen you want to capture ready. Pull down the notification shade and tap the “Capture+” icon. From here, you can annotate or draw on your screenshot — check the pen, eraser and text icons in the bar at the top. When you’re done, tap the checkbox in the top left corner to save your screenshot.

Simple! Congratulations, LG G5 owner — you have mastered the art of screenshot-taking on your modular metal marvel.

LG G5

• LG G5 hands-on
• LG G5 complete specs
• LG G5 CAM Plus module
• LG G5 B&O Hi-Fi audio module
• The G5 has an always-on display
• LG G5 keeps the SD card, shuns adoptable storage
• Join the LG G5 discussion

Best Philips Hue alternatives for your home

Looking for an energy-efficient bulb that’s able to be controlled from your smartphone or tablet? Here are five smart bulbs that make great alternatives to Philips Hue.

Set up specific bulbs in a group to manage them all at once or adjust the lighting in your living room to set the mood, it’s all still possible with the proper smart bulb. We’ve selected five options, colored and plain white, that are easily controlled from your smartphone or tablet and simple to set up.

GE Link Starter Kit

This starter kit from GE features two A19 LED bulbs and a link hub, allowing you to control all GE bulbs through the Wink mobile app. Although these bulbs only come in a soft white, they’re great for general use around your home while still having complete control over scheduling. The GE Link starter kit is also compatible with Amazon Echo, but requires the Wink hub. The GE Link starter kit goes for $45.

See at Amazon

LIFX A21 Wi-Fi Smart Bulb

The LIFX Wi-Fi bulb provides 16 million colors and 1,000 shades of white, connecting over your Wi-Fi network without the need for a hub. Simply download the LIFX app and gain control of lighting effects and custom schedules to suit your needs. Each A21 bulb only consumes 17 watts of energy and has a lumen count of 1017. LIFX bulbs even work with Nest Protect and Thermostat, flashing the lights when smoke is detected, or switching the lights on and off automatically to make it appear as if someone is home while you’re away on vacation. You can order the LIFX bulb with a pearl white base or in gun metal gray, starting at $60.

See at Amazon

Lucero A19 Smart Bulb

This colorful LED Bluetooth bulb from Lucero can be customized through the Lucero Smart Bulb app, where you can sync with your music and even control up to 50 bulbs in various groups (up to five). With over 16 million colors, there are plenty of options to suit your mood while managing to stay energy efficient at only 7.5 watts. These affordable smart bulbs are available for just $30 each.

See at Amazon

Misfit Bolt LED Smart Bulb

These unique LED Bluetooth bulbs look great whether they’re out in the open or covered with a lamp shade. Using the Misfit Home app you can adjust colors or set alarms to wake you up with a warm light of your choice. The sleek aluminum body and glass dome design of the Misfit Bolt provides 260-degree light dispersion. Snag one for just $49!

See at Amazon

Cree A19 LED Bulb

Last up is the soft white Cree LED bulb, compatible with multiple platforms including Amazon Echo, Wink, WeMo, and more. After setting up with a compatible hub, you can schedule your Cree bulbs to turn on and off at any specific time, adjust brightness, or even customize them to work while you’re away from home as an extra security measure. Each Cree bulb is only 11.5 watts and available for $15 each — not bad for its 22-year lifespan.

See at Amazon

6 high-tech refugee shelters that can be deployed in an instant

By Cat DiStasio

Each year, tens of thousands of people around the world are displaced from their homes by natural disasters, war and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. When this happens, emergency-response teams are tasked with the challenge of housing these refugees in a short period of time. Designers and architects are responding to this need with shelters that are quick to ship, easily assembled by a small number of people without specialized tools and durable enough to last several years. Some of them even float, make clean drinking water and harness the power of the sun.