E-cigarette ads are encouraging teen vapers, CDC finds

Surprise! The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found a link between the popularity of vaping and e-cigarette advertising. In short, a greater exposure to vape-related ads increases the likelihood that a young person will pick up the habit. The findings are based on a questionnaire answered by 22,000 middle and high school students in the US. The responses were collected in 2014, so the situation might have evolved since then, but it shows a clear correlation between vaping and the volume of advertising found online, in print, on TV and in stores.

The CDC has expressed some concerns with the findings. Director Tom Frieden argues that children shouldn’t have access to any kind of tobacco, “including e-cigarettes.” He also believes that e-cigarette marketing “look eerily like the ads” that used to sell cigarettes decades ago, focusing on “sex, independence and rebellion.” Traditional cigarette ads are now vastly different due to strict government rules in the US. Frieden says the “unrestricted marketing” that e-cigarettes currently enjoy could easily “reverse decades of progress in preventing tobacco use among youth.”

The situation could change, however, if the Food and Drug Administration, which currently regulates cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, is allowed to bring e-cigarettes under its authority. Some will argue, however, that the increase in vaping isn’t a problem, given that some research has suggested e-cigarettes are healthier than their traditional counterparts. The technology’s impact on personal health remains a bit of a mystery, however, as new and often conflicting reports arise. The main problem is that vaping is still a new trend — it’s hard to know the long-term effects until, well, people have been doing it for a longer period of time.

Via: The Verge

Source: CDC

Giroptic’s 360-degree waterproof camera starts shipping

With the tech world suddenly going nuts for 360-degree video, Giroptic may have picked the perfect time to start shipping its 360cam to backers and anyone who preordered the camera. The waterproof camera will available to for everyone else to buy May 24 for $500.

The camera uses three fisheye lenses to cover its orb of video or photo and is waterproof up to 30 feet. It delivers 2k video and 4k images that are stitched together by the hardware before being transferred to your smartphone and saved on the microSD card.

The pear-shaped camera launches with optional accessories. A lightbulb bulb adaptor makes it an always-on security camera. For those hoping to create live 360-degree videos, the ethernet base will give you the throughput to broadcast directly to Facebook or YouTube.

Source: Giroptic

ICYMI: Fire starting drone, Stanford bird studies and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: A prototype for a fire-starting drone was deployed in Nebraska last week, dropping small balls of accelerant to create a controlled burn over grasslands. The idea is that future firefighters could use UAVs like the University of Nebraska-Lincoln model to stop an out of control wildfire with drone-created fire breaks, or for other uses.
Stanford engineers are also getting in on the UAV action, but in the most Earth Mother of ways. They’ve just built a one of a kind wind tunnel and are putting birds through their (voluntary, working for food) paces in it, using slow motion cameras to track how their wings automatically adjust. The end goal of the study is to design better drones, based on what the birds automatically do in the wind.

And Shell has designed a city-car concept that would be all gas, but get 107 miles a gallon.

If you’ve recently gotten a VR headset, you’ll enjoy this amazing video making the rounds. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.

Apple Forecasted to Report First Quarterly Revenue Decline Since 2003

Apple is set to announce its financial earnings results for the second quarter of the 2016 fiscal year at 1:30 p.m. Pacific, and the consensus among analysts is that the iPhone maker will report its first quarterly revenue decline in over a decade.

Wall Street analysts project that Apple will report revenue of around $52 billion, or nearly a 10-percent decline compared to the year-ago quarter. Today’s earnings results are based on the three-month period between December 27, 2015 and March 26, 2016.

Apple itself projected quarterly revenue of between $50 and $53 billion, compared to $58 billion in the year-ago quarter, possibly signaling the end of over 50 consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue growth dating back to 2003.

Tim Cook, CEO, already cautioned investors that iPhone sales will likely decline in the second fiscal quarter. That decline will be realized if Apple sells fewer than 61.2 million iPhones this quarter, which appears likely given most analysts expect sales to hover around the 50 to 51 million mark.

Apple’s quarterly revenue between 2005 and 2016 (Source: Statista)
iPhone SE sales will not be included in that total, as the lower-priced smartphone launched on March 31, five days after the quarter ended.

MacRumors will be providing live blog coverage of Apple’s earnings conference call with CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri at 2:00 p.m. Pacific.

AAPL is trading slightly lower on the NASDAQ at around the $104 mark in pre-market trading ahead of today’s announcement.

Tags: earnings, Apple, AAPL
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Dropbox’s ‘Project Infinite’ Introduces Cloud Storage to Free Up Hard Drive Space

At Dropbox Open London today, the company announced “Project Infinite,” a new feature of the popular document transferring app that will save space on a user’s local hard drive thanks to the implementation of a new cloud storage feature.

With Infinite, both cloud files and locally saved files will cohabitate in the traditional location within Finder on Macs, letting users decide which take up storage space and which stay in the cloud.

Documents saved in the cloud will be marked with a tiny icon referencing their storage location, but there won’t be any kind of laborious download process if a user needs to quickly gain access to anything not directly saved on their computer. Cloud files will sync on demand when a user clicks on them, displaying them in the same way as locally stored files. If a file will be needed in a location lacking an Internet connection, users can choose to “Save local copy” and download the cloud file for later.

In Project Infinite’s introduction video, the company gives the example of a shared company Dropbox folder with upwards of 10 terabytes of data synced inside. On the desktop of one user, however, the folder is taking up just 28 megabytes of data thanks to the inclusion of cloud storage.

The company also mentioned that Project Infinite supports all platforms that Dropbox is available on, and even includes backwards-compatibility “on any computer running Windows 7 or higher, or Mac OS X 10.9 and up.” So a file saved by a team member on Windows 8, for instance, can be viewed as a placeholder cloud file on another user’s iMac, and then downloaded to their hard drive.

Project Infinite will enable users to seamlessly and securely access all their Dropbox files from the desktop, regardless of how much space they have available on their hard drives. Everything in the company’s Dropbox that you’re given access to, whether it’s stored locally or in the cloud, will show up in Dropbox on your desktop. If it’s synced locally, you’ll see the familiar green checkmark, while everything else will have a new cloud icon.

Dropbox’s aim for Project Infinite appears to be enterprise focused, but the company’s blog post mentioned that it has “more product announcements to come throughout the year,” following the launch of its new storage-saving cloud feature. Project Infinite is currently being tested among a select number of Dropbox sponsors, but no word has yet been given regarding a specific wide launch.

Tag: Dropbox
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Indian government mandates panic button on all phones sold in the country from 2017

The Indian government has announced that all mobile phones sold in the country from January 1, 2017 should come with a panic button that will allow anyone in need the ability to contact authorities with a single key. Built-in GPS is also a mandatory feature in phones going on sale next year. The move comes after the government has instituted a single “112” number for emergencies, including police services, ambulances, and the fire department.

For smartphones that cannot accommodate dedicated buttons — like the Galaxy S7 and the HTC 10 — manufacturers will have to incorporate a mechanism through which users can contact authorities by pressing the power button thrice in quick succession:

Smartphones without the facility of emergency call button by pressing the same for long time to invoke emergency call or the use of existing power on or off button, when short pressed thrice in quick succession.

The feature phones without the facility of panic button by pressing ‘numeric key – 5’ or ‘numeric key – 9’ to invoke emergency call.

From Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad:

I have taken a decision that from January 1, 2017, no cell phone can be sold without a provision for panic button, and from January 1, 2018, mobile sets should also have Global Positioning System inbuilt.

Technology is solely meant to make human life better and what better than using it for the security of women.

Starbucks releases keyboard packed full of caffeinated emoji

Starbucks has launched a new app for iOS and Android. The Starbucks Keyboard offers a unique way to share some emoji love with friends on various messenger platforms like Hangouts, WhatsApp, and more. Should you be a massive fan of hot beverages, this app will be ideal when it comes to expressing your espresso love with friends and family.

There’s everything from a unicorn sipping a coffee to official Starbucks logos. More emoji are said to be planned for the app as the year progresses. If your emoji fix has not been catered to by other offerings on the store, be sure to give the Starbucks Keyboard a try.

Take a peek at what’s inside the HTC Vive

The Vive is HTC’s advanced virtual reality headset, but we’re certain you’re as intrigued as we are as to what the insides look like. Luckily, we don’t have to open one up and risk damaging components as the skilled folk over at iFixit have given the Vive a full tear down.

Here’s what iFixit took away from the HTC Vive:

The head tracking system in the Vive is the exact opposite of the system we found in the Oculus Rift. The Rift uses a desk-mounted camera to track the IR emitters in the headset, whereas the Vive headset sees light from the mounted IR emitters without actually “tracking” its location.

Unlike the hybrid lenses we encountered in the Oculus Rift, the Vive’s lenses appear to have a uniform contour. It seems that HTC opted to control focus through adjustment of the eye relief (lens-to-eye distance).

Although the headset itself is an advanced piece of kit, it’s possible to carefully pull the Vive apart without damaging the insides to carry out any required repairs.

T-Mobile added 2.2 million new customers in Q1 2016, revenue up 10%

T-Mobile has published company financial results for Q1 2016, showcasing an increase in revenue of 10.6% as well as adding 2.2 million new customers. This quarter marks the 12th consecutive quarter the Un-Carrier has experienced total net growth of more than 2 million.

The numbers were made up of more than 1 million branded postpaid net adds, alongside record branded prepaid net adds of 807,000. Revenue for Q1 2016 was $8.6 billion, up 10.6% year-on-year with net income of $479 million. the company will host a conference earnings call later today.

Microsoft Surface Phone: What’s the story so far?

Microsoft has had a tough time finding the perfect smartphone to push its Windows operating system, even after buying Lumia. Now the company is reportedly working on a fresh start to help push Windows 10 onto its ideal smartphone, which is being called the Surface Phone.

The Microsoft Lumia smartphones haven’t seen huge sales and some have reportedly been pulled from production after the failure of the Lumia 950 to reach popularity. The company, according to inside sources, is therefore taking some time to let its OEM manufacturers sell their handsets while it works on the Surface Phone.

The Microsoft Surface Phone has allegedly been “green lit” and is being worked on by Panos Panay and his Surface team, the people who brought us the Surface Tablet. Three versions are expected: Consumer, business and prosumer/enthusiast.

Here’s everything we know so far about Microsoft’s first Surface Phone. We will be updating this feature as more rumours appear so keep checking back.

YouTube

Microsoft Surface Phone: Release date and price

Initially Microsoft was reportedly aiming for a May 2016 release for its Surface Phone. This has allegedly since been scrapped, following the Lumia 950 failure, and a new date of early 2017 is being targeted.

Expect the Surface Phone to be high-end and super premium with a quality build, top specs and a price tag to reflect that, following in the footsteps of the Surface tablet line.

Microsoft Surface Phone: Design and build

Microsoft was initially rumoured to be working on an all metal Surface Phone, which was the device set for release in May. This date may have been pushed back, as we mentioned previously, but we suspect the metal build idea won’t be going anywhere if the Surface Phone ever does appear.

The Surface Tablet offers a strong, solid build and its performed well for Microsoft. Given the same team has apparently been employed to work on the Surface Phone, it’s likely they will stick to what they know has worked in the past, which includes a premium, metal build.

There have been rumours of a kickstand to allow the phone to stand on its own, just like its full-sized older sibling, the Surface Tablet, offers. If so we’d expect a stylus to make an appearance too, on the business model at least.

PhoneDesigner

Microsoft Surface Phone: Display

As three Surface Phone variants have been touted, a selection of sizes is likely.

For the consumer, the handset should be between five and six inches, rumoured to be a 5.7-inch, while the business and prosumer models will likely have larger screens. This could allow for easier access to multitasking and seeing data over a larger display.

Microsoft Surface Phone: Processor and power specs

Microsoft is reportedly working with Intel on its Surface Phone. This will likely feature the best Intel has to offer in mobile chipsets at the time of its release.

It is unclear if Intel will be creating a new chip specifically to run the Surface Phone. But since the phone should double as a PC, thanks to Continuum, expect there for be plenty of power. Here’s hoping it will be battery efficient too.

Microsoft Surface Phone: Camera

Microsoft may leverage its Lumia purchase heritage to create a new camera that rocks the smartphone world. It would make sense to bring in the strengths Lumia has in this area.

It will at least be Skype friendly, so an impressive front-facing camera would be an obvious addition.

Microsoft Surface Phone: Software

Microsoft will almost certainly use the Surface Phone as a vehicle to help push the huge investment it’s made into Windows 10 OS.

Microsoft will want the Surface Phone to launch with a perfect OS that unites its hardware platforms. Expect the Surface tablet and phone experience to be similar and for them to offer most things you can do on PC. Whether that will require a connection to a monitor or not is unclear.