ICYMI: Dreamy robo-chef, concussion finder and smart wallet

Today on In Case You Missed It: Moley the robot-chef will man your kitchen and creep out your friends by sometime in 2017, cooking up stored recipes just like you first taught it to (aka: the end is nigh). A new iPad app on Indiegogo is designed to keep possibly concussed young athletes from re-injuring their brains with a simple white dot test. And the Walli is a Bluetooth-connected wallet that will send you notifications should you forget to replace a card in it, or leave your phone behind.

Volvo released a darling video of a four-year-old who was given the remote control for a large, real-sized Volvo truck. Her giggles are just the right degree of infectious and dastardly.

If you see any interesting science or tech videos, please share with us! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.

UK Parliamentary Bill Would Require Backdoors in Electronic Devices

Technology firms operating in the UK will be forced to install backdoors in their products and services for state surveillance purposes under proposed new laws, reports The Sunday Times.

The new powers come under the controversial Investigatory Powers Bill (IPB), referred to by critics as the “Snooper’s Charter”, which was published by Home Secretary Theresa May on March 1 and is due to get its second reading in parliament tomorrow. The bill is backed by a draft code of practice that would also ban companies from revealing if they had been asked to install the backdoor technology.

The accompanying draft document states that the British Home Secretary has the power to force firms to provide the “technical capability” to allow the security services to access communication data as well as undertake “interception” and “equipment interference”.

The bill itself grants the Home Secretary the power to order the removal of “electronic protection”, which technology experts say is another word for encryption. Internet service providers would also have to keep records of the online browsing history of everyone for a period of 12 months and enable intelligence agencies to access the data unhindered, allowing them to see every website a person has visited.

The UK opposition Labour party has warned the British government that it will derail the bill by abstaining to vote it through in its current form, which critics have called an invasion of privacy on a massive scale and a huge security risk if passed.

“The Home Secretary’s Bill requires substantial changes before it will be acceptable to us,” said Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham. “It must start with a presumption of privacy, as recommended by the Intelligence and Security Committee, include a clearer definition of the information that can be held in an internet connection record and set a higher threshold to justify access to them.”

According to a 2016 Consumer Openness Index consumer survey, only 12 percent of British people said that they had a good understanding of what the bill involves.

“There are widespread doubts over the definition, not to mention the definability, of a number of the terms used in the draft bill,” Nicola Blackwood MP, chair of the Science & Technology Committee, told TechRadar. “The government must urgently review the legislation so that the obligations on the industry are clear and proportionate.”

In the same survey, half of respondents believed that “making personal data easier for government officials to access will also make it easier for criminals to access that data as well”, while only 6 percent disagreed.

The bill’s progress through the UK parliament comes at a time when Apple is engaged in a high-profile dispute with the FBI, which wants its own backdoor into the company’s software to unlock the iPhone at the center of the San Bernardino shooter investigation.

Apple believes complying with the demand would set a dangerous precedent that could lead to the overall weakening of encryption on smartphones and other electronic devices. Apple is scheduled to appear in court to fight the order on March 22.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: Encryption, IPB
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Adobe Announces New ‘Adobe XD’ Creative Cloud App for End-to-End UX Design

Adobe today announced the launch of its newest Creative Cloud app, Adobe Experience Design, otherwise known as Adobe XD. Previously referred to as “Project Comet,” Adobe XD is designed to address the pain points in creative workflows with an end-to-end experience for designers that encompasses designing, prototyping, and sharing.

With Adobe XD, designers can create, test, and share mockups with simple, intuitive tools. XD aims to make design the focus of the UX creation process by simplifying tools for designers and eliminating the need to work with multiple third-party apps.

The app includes art boards that are available in standard sizes for devices like the iPhone or iPad, as well as custom sizes. Multiple art boards can be included in a single document, so designs for a range of devices can be mocked up in the same document. Built-in UI kits for iOS and Android give designers quick access to UI elements like panels, icons, controls, and more, so apps and other projects can be mocked up within minutes.

There are clever tools for things like adding vector artwork and icons, such as a repeat grid tool for adding lists of repeated items and a masking option for quick image insertion. Prototyping a design can be done by switching to an interactive prototype mode, which allows designers to use “wires” to connect different art boards together to replicate how a user experience might work in an app.

Assets from Adobe XD can be exported into apps like Muse and Dreamweaver, as well as third-party tools for creating native iOS and Android applications. There are also sharing tools for getting quick feedback on design elements.

Adobe XD is available for Mac users starting today as part of a public preview. The software has been in closed testing with 5,000 designers who have provided feedback for feature adjustments, and Adobe is now ready to open it up to additional users. Public preview users will be able to request features and submit bug reports, with Adobe using that information to determine the features and updates that get added to the software each month.

While Adobe XD is limited to Mac users at the current time, Adobe has plans to expand it to other platforms like iOS, Android, and Windows in the future. Additional integration with other Creative Cloud apps is also planned. Adobe XD is free to anyone with an Adobe ID and more information is available on Adobe’s website.

Tag: Adobe
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Philips Hue Ambiance Bulbs Focus on Shades of White Light to Encourage Better Sleep Cycles

Philips is extending the capabilities of its Hue lighting system even further with the Philips Hue White Ambiance kit, which will give fans of the smart lighting system access to every shade of white light (via SlashGear). The new bulbs are a more robust version of the Philips Hue Lux system, which is limited to dimmable white light rather than the full array of colors available with the standard Hue bulbs.

The White Ambiance bulbs are billed as a natural companion to the day/night light cycle of the sun, encouraging users to wake up in the mornings and then dimming the light temperature to a low-level of light before bed. The low light mode is similar in theory to Apple’s upcoming Night Shift feature in iOS 9.3, which cuts down on the amount of blue light users interact with in the evening hours to facilitate a better night’s sleep.

In fact, the Ambience bulb supports anything from 6,500 K, the equivalent of cool daylight, all the way to 2,200 K, which is a warmer, almost golden light. Philips’ light recipes are supported, which use different light temperatures to promote concentration, relaxation, or other moods.

To help with this, Philips is introducing a feature called “Routines” with the launch of the White Ambiance bulbs. Comparable to the alarms and timers of the current Hue app, Routines will allow users to customize instances that gradually increase white light levels ahead of a pre-set time in the morning, and dim lights as bed time draws near in the evening. It should be noted, as with the lower-cost Lux bulbs, the White Ambiance kit will not support the ability to change to any colors besides variations of white.

Philips will sell the new bulbs individually at a price not yet disclosed by the company, along with a starter kit that will come with a wall switch, two ambiance bulbs, and the new HomeKit-enabled Hue Bridge 2.0. It will launch “in the spring,” with more information trickling out closer to launch day. The company also hinted that this fall it will be launching a line of lamps with the same white color spectrum capabilities as the ambiance bulbs.

Tag: Philips Hue
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OnePlus releases new Gallery app to help OnePlus 2 owners sort their photos

OnePlus has unveiled and published a new app for OnePlus 2 owners rocking OxygenOS, called OnePlus Gallery. As the name suggests, it’s essentially an organizer for all the snaps captured throughout the day. Billed as a streamlined experience, this latest offering from the company is optimized for offline use, allowing you to get back to real life promptly without messing around.

The app also attempts to organize all your collections for you, utilizing pictures and images from multiple sources. Basic tools are available too, including the ability to crop, resize and even draw on saved shots. As touched on already, OnePlus Gallery is only available for the OnePlus 2 running OxygenOS version 2.2.1. The company will announce when the app is rolled out to other OnePlus handsets.

If you’re rocking a supported handset, download OnePlus Gallery from the Play Store.

Grab SanDisk’s 200GB microSD card for its lowest price yet, $59 at Amazon

SanDisk’s 200GB microSD card is on sale today at Amazon for just $59, which is $20 less than the previous deal price. This is the lowest price we have seen this card reach, and it makes it an even better value. If you’re looking to add more storage to your phone, tablet or even camera, you won’t want to miss out on this one!

Be sure to act quickly though, as this will certainly be a popular item at this price. Hit the link below to grab your 200GB microSD card for just $59 at Amazon.

See at Amazon

Qualcomm plans to release dev kit to help improve the VR experience on mobile

Qualcomm has announced a new software development kit for virtual reality. Utilizing the power of its next-gen processors, the company is working to offer developers an expansive array of tools for virtual reality, while optimizing everything with power efficiency in mind. Expected for Q2 2016, the new SDK with chips like the Snapdragon 820 will ensure consumers are able to enjoy a comfortable and less-demanding VR experience on mobile.

The SDK will include a number of technologies for developers, including DSP sesnor function, fast motion to photon, VR layering, and power management. Those seeking more details on these implementations should hit the press release below to see what’s on offer for developers.

As aforementioned, the SDK from Qualcomm is expected to hit public domain in the second quarter of 2016.

Press Release

SAN FRANCISCO, March 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., has introduced a new virtual reality (VR) software development kit (SDK). The next generation of mobile virtual reality applications is complex, with extreme power consumption constraints and challenging performance requirements that must be met in order for the VR applications to become truly immersive. Advanced heterogeneous processors like the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 820 processor are capable of supporting immersive VR experiences, but can also be difficult to fully utilize without the right set of tools for developers. The new Snapdragon VR SDK is designed to abstract the complexity of immersive virtual reality and provide developers with access to optimized, advanced VR features, to simplify development and to help them attain improved VR performance and power efficiency with the Snapdragon 820 for Android smartphones and upcoming VR headsets. The SDK is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2016 through the Qualcomm Developer Network.

For the first time, many new technologies that are crucial for an optimal VR user experience will be supported in the Snapdragon VR SDK. These include:

• DSP sensor fusion: Utilizing the full breadth of technologies built into Snapdragon 820, the SDK enables developers to create more responsive and immersive experiences by easily accessing the right combination of high frequency inertial data from gyroscopes and accelerometers via the Snapdragon Sensor Core and predictive head position processing with the Qualcomm® Hexagon™ DSP
• Fast motion to photon: Supports asynchronous time warp with single buffer rendering for fast transformation of rendered images in 3D space, which helps reduce latency by up to 50% compared with not using the SDK
• Stereoscopic rendering with lens correction: Supports 3D binocular vision with color correction and barrel distortion for improved visual quality of graphics and video, enhancing the overall VR experience
• VR layering: Generation of menus, text, and other overlays so that they render correctly in a virtual world, reducing distortions that would otherwise make them difficult to read
• Power management: Integration with the Qualcomm® Symphony System Manager SDK to provide cohesive CPU, GPU, and DSP power and performance management to help achieve stable frame rates for VR applications running in low-power, thermally-constrained devices – improving power efficiency compared to not using the SDK

“We’re providing advanced tools and technologies to help developers significantly improve the virtual reality experience for applications like games, 360 degree VR videos and a variety of interactive education and entertainment applications,” said Dave Durnil, senior director, engineering, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “VR represents a new paradigm for how we interact with the world, and we’re excited to help mobile VR developers more efficiently deliver compelling and high-quality experiences on upcoming Snapdragon 820 VR-capable Android smartphones and headsets.”

LG Stylus 2 to be first smartphone with DAB+ radio

LG unveiled the 5.7-inch LG Stylus 2 handset during Mobile World Congress in February but has now announced an additional feature not discussed at the time.

The phablet will come to select European countries and Australia with a DAB+ radio decoder. It will be the first smartphone with that functionality to be available.

Like DAB, DAB+ decodes digital radio broadcasts in countries that support it. The system is a step-up from regular DAB in that it is more efficient, providing better audio quality at lower bitrates and has been adopted in many regions already.

There are few DAB+ services in the UK, but a DAB+ receiver or radio can also decode and play the older DAB broadcasts, so the Stylus 2 will be able to playback digtal stations here.

The phone will also initially be available in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and the aforementioned Australia. A release date is still to be revealed, however.

The LG Stylus 2 also features a 1280 x 720 resolution display, Android 6.0, quad-core 1.2GHz processor and 1.5GB of RAM. There is 16GB of on-board storage and a microSD card slot allows for expansion by up to a further 128GB.

Its rear camera has a 13-megapixel sensor, with 1080p video recording, while the front is 8-megapixels for selfies.

Samsung Entrim 4D VR uses nerve signals to make you feel you’re really flying

While 2016 is the year of virtual reality Samsung is already setting its sights higher for the future with a full 4D VR experience it calls Entrim.

Coming from Samsung’s secret projects lab, C-Lab, the Entrim 4D unit aims to offer a virtual reality feeling of motion as well as visuals and audio. The result is a virtual feeling of movement, like flying, without actually leaving your chair.

Entrim 4D uses a combination of Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation and algorithms to send messages directly to the nerve in the ear. This allows the headset to synchronise with the body to create a sense of movement as the video content shows corresponding movements.

The headphones are equipped with the electrodes that are able to transmit the movement data. The result should be a feeling of movement to create a more immersive sense of speed and direction. Samsung says that when this is paired with its drone, the headset can utilise drone movement data and transmit that to the headset wearer, so they feel like they’re flying too.

The result of all this should be a 4D movement VR experience that doesn’t need the motion chairs currently used to create a feeling of movement.

Before you start worrying about virtual reality already making you motion sick, this is being created specifically to tackle that issue.

The Entrim is still in developmental stages but expect this tech to appear in the future of virtual reality experiences.

READ: Samsung Gear VR Consumer Edition review

The best GoPro photos in the world, prepare to lose your breath

Since GoPro launched its latest camera range in the GoPro Hero4 the photos being created are stunning. With it comes new 4K video speeds of 30 frames per second, a rear touchscreen display and two times faster image processing. The camera remains largely the same at 12-megapixels with an f/2.8 aperture – but the photos appearing online are breath-taking.

GoPro’s decision to keep the camera the same shows that it’s already very good. Thanks to the camera, and video stills, the internet is awash with stunning images from GoPros around the world. Finding them all is a bit of a job, so we’ve done it for you.

From surfing and skydiving to animal close-ups and stunning scenery, this gallery has some breath taking images that we only get to see thanks to the GoPro. No longer are rare wildlife photos restricted to pros who spend years awaiting the perfect shot – now thousands of GoPros are scanning the world all at once, constantly. We’re only ever going to get more amazing shots to wow us.

For now enjoy this selection found mainly from Facebook, Flickr, GoPro and Photobucket.

If you’ve got photos taken on your GoPro you wish to submit then please email them to us or tweet them our way. 

READ: GoPro HD Hero4 Black Edition vs GoPro HD Hero3+ Black Edition: What’s the difference?