NASA shows a typical day on the ISS via Snapchat
NASA hasn’t exactly been secretive when it comes to activities aboard the space station, but seeing astronauts living the dream is something else. To celebrate the ISS’ 100,000th orbit around our planet since it launched in 1998, the agency has teamed up with Snapchat to show the crew’s daily life through Live Stories. Expedition 47 commander Tim Kopra hosted the space-themed series, with short videos showing him eating a tortilla (a favorite among the astronauts, apparently), rolling around in mid-air and talking about their experiments, among other things.
Kopra replaced Scott Kelly as the ISS commander when the latter stepped down after spending a year in space. If you still haven’t figured out Snapchat — and there’s no shame in that — you can access Live Stories by clicking the hamburger menu at the bottom right of the app’s interface. This takes you to a new tab where you can search for NASA’s account. Add it, and you’ll be able to watch the agency’s “Day in Space” videos anytime.
On @Snapchat? See today’s Live Story about @Space_Station’s 100,000th orbit & add NASA: https://t.co/lcDapCrSnS pic.twitter.com/ynvFJvw031
— NASA (@NASA) May 16, 2016
Via: Techcrunch
Source: NASA (Twitter)
Twitter starts testing Periscope button for Android
A very small fraction of Android users might notice a new button in their Twitter app. According to The Verge, the the company has added a “go live” button that users can see when they compose tweets. It fires up Periscope when you tap it, so you can start broadcasting from within the application. But if you don’t have the video streaming app yet, it takes you straight to Google Play. Twitter, which acquired Periscope in 2015, told The Verge that it’s rolling out the “go live” button to a small number of users. It will eventually be available to everyone — we’re assuming even to iOS users — though the spokesperson didn’t mention when the feature will be officially released.
Source: The Verge
‘Pokemon Go’ field test signups are now live
Pokemon Go, the mobile app that allows users to travel the globe on their own Pokemon journey, is finally open for registration for United States users. Niantic Labs’ field test is available to sign up for right now, with users being chosen to try out the upcoming game later on.
Like Niantic Labs’ alternate reality app Ingress that takes place in the real world, players are encouraged to get out of the house and go outdoors to catch various Pokemon, engage in battle with other trainers and complete special challenges.
If chosen for the field test, which requires either an iOS or Android device, users will be required to keep their experiences with the game confidential, with progress removed before the full game actually makes its debut later this year. According to Niantic, game data will actually be completely removed multiple times during the test, so if you plan on participating and are chosen, it’s prudent to bear this in mind.
The app was previously available for Japanese users to test out, and while there’s currently no concrete release date for the full version of the game out there at the moment there’s still plenty of footage to find online from testers if you’re curious about how the app actually works. For now, you can sign up for the chance to be one of the early adopters with their own real-life Pokemon journey.
Source: Polygon
GarageBand goes to China with new instruments and Live Loops
If you’re looking to bring some new voices to the music you make in GarageBand, Apple’s got you covered. The company has recently added a slew of Chinese instruments including the pipa and erhu to the app. That’s in addition to some 300 loops of music inspired by the region, and a new pair of grid templates for Live Loops — the ultra simple music creation feature Apple introduced earlier this year.
The outfit’s support for China goes even further and adds sharing options for Chinese social networks QQ and YouKu, as well. The free (for most) update is available right now across iOS and OS X. Oh, and Tim Cook will tell you all about it in the video embedded below. Thanks, Dad.
Here’s the incredibly talented @JJ_Lin on the erhu as we jam with the new GarageBand, out today. https://t.co/RHJZuahLHi #shotoniphone
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 17, 2016
Sony Xperia XA Ultra Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Sony has yet to put its freshly introduced Xperia X smartphone range on sale and it’s already updating the lineup with a new 6-inch model.
Enter the Xperia XA Ultra. It might be late to the party, but it’s still making a statement.
Unlike the Xperia X, the smaller XA and the X Performance, which are all about top specs and processing might, the real emphasis of this larger phone targeted at younger, edgier phone owners is its photography prowess. And, of course, its attention-grabbing screen.
Just like the Xperia XA, there’s nothing new to see design-wise here from Sony, but the Ultra does support that superthin bezel that so impressed us when we first saw it on its smaller sibling. The benefit of the edge-to-edge display really does come into its own with a larger phone. It gives the impression that the XA Ultra’s 6-inch screen is in fact closer to 5.5 inches in size. With no excess metal down the sides, this phone is also easier to keep a hold of.
A selfie-lover’s camera
The front-facing 16-megapixel camera has a super-wide angle that has been designed to produce bright selfies in all conditions with no sign of blurring. Unusually for Sony, this camera comes with optical image stabilisation. According to Jun Makino, Sony’s senior manager of product experience marketing, this is because “your hands tend to shake when you are taking selfies with a big phone.” We’ll leave final verdict on the quality of the low-light shots for our full review.
A couple of clever tricks like a hand-activated shutter and a timer in the top corner — to encourage people to look at the lens rather than themselves — should enhance selfies further. Additionally, the night portrait mode combines an image taken with the flash off and an image with the flash on to present a single, well-balanced photo in which the foreground and background are both adequately lit.
Plenty of attention has also been paid to the main camera, which packs an impressive 21.5 megapixels. Hybrid autofocus object tracking is built in, which means it should be stay on the ball — should you be attempting to photograph a moving one — but it doesn’t have the same predictive capabilities as the Xperia X.
Internal specs
Inside is the same Mediatek processor as the Xperia XA, 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal expandable storage. As much as it’s necessary to take note of what the phone offers, it may also be worth casting your eye over what it is missing — namely no waterproofing and no USB-C.
The XA Ultra will be available in graphite black, white and lime gold. There is no word yet on availability and pricing, but Sony did say that it had a global release planned for the phone.
Arris SurfBoard SBR-AC3200P Wi-Fi Router review – CNET
The Good The Arris SurfBoard SBR-AC3200P works as both a Wi-Fi router and as a fast power line adapter. The router is compact and includes a mobile app for easy setup.
The Bad The router is expensive and has short Wi-Fi range, natively. The power line Wi-Fi extender, which helps to increase the range, costs an extra $100.
The Bottom Line The SBR-AC3200P, when coupled with the SBX-AC1200 power line Wi-Fi extender, is a sure way to cover your residential home with Wi-Fi, if you can stomach their combined high cost.
The $300 SurfBoard AC3200 Wi-Fi Router G.hn (model SBR-AC3200P, whew!) is a part of a completely new RipCurrent product line from Arris, a company that prior to this made mostly cable modems. The RipCurrent product line includes the SBR-AC3200P, two cheaper models (the SBR-AC1900P and the SBR-AC1200P, which cost $200 and $120, respectively), a $60 gigabit power line extender (model SBX-1000P) and a $100 Wi-Fi hotspot extender (model SBX-AC1200P.) This review was conducted with the SBR-AC3200P and the two extenders.
RipCurrent is a fancy name for the G.hn power line standard that allows you to extend the range of your wired home network without running any extra network cables. Basically when you plug a RipCurrent router into a power outlet, it will turn that outlet into the first end of a power line connection (as long as the router stays plugged in). Then plug a RipCurrent power line extender, or a RipCurrent Wi-Fi hotspot extender, into another wall socket (even if it’s at the far end of your house, a good distance away from your router) and the network will be instantly extended to that corner of the house. Depending on the type of adapter you use (with or without Wi-Fi capability), this will allow you to connect a single wired client or multiple Wi-Fi clients to the network from that distant adapter.
Subsequently, as you plug in more RipCurrent adapters/Wi-Fi extenders (up to a total of 15, according to Arris) around the house you can further extend your wired network, without having to run any network cables through or under your house at all.
In my personal experience, the G.hn is one of the best power line specifications. Using the Arris RipCurrent router and two adapters, I was able to extend my wired network from my home to my garage. The two buildings were connected using the original electrical wires installed some 45 years ago. (Due to the age of the electrical lines, some other power line adapters don’t work for me.)
That said, getting this router and the RipCurrent SBX-AC1200P Wi-Fi extender is a sure and quick way cover your entire residential home with reliable Wi-Fi, fast enough to deliver even a top-tier broadband connection. The only question is if you’ll be willing to pay at least $400 ($300 for the router and a $100 each the extenders) for this privilege.
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The SBR-AC3200P router (back), the SBX-1000P extender (left) and the SBX-1200P Wi-Fi Extender, from Arris.
Josh Miller/CNET
SBR-AC3200P: A compact tri-band Wi-Fi router
The SBR-AC3200P doesn’t look like a traditional Wi-Fi router. It’s shaped like a sideways number 8 and looks like something you’d decorate your house with.The router is compact yet still includes (as most routers do) four Gigabit LAN ports (for wired clients) and one Gigabit WAN (Internet) port to connect to a broadband modem.
As an AC3200 router, the device includes three Wi-Fi bands, one 2.4GHz band with a top on-paper speed of 600Mbps and two 5GHz bands each of which tops out at 1,300Mbps. (Read more about Wi-Fi standards here.) The extra 5GHz band means that the router can handle more 5GHz Wi-Fi clients at the same time without dragging the overall router speed down.
Setup was similar to that of a typical router with a Web interface. Alternatively, you can use the free Arris SurfBoard app (available for iOS and Android) to complete the setup process. The app scans a QR code located on the underside of the router and after following a few simple steps, it’s ready to use.
The router has a responsive Web interface and in my testing most of the changes can (thankfully) be applied without a restart, which is a bonus for those who are constantly making changes to their settings. Unfortunately, most of the router’s features are rather primitive. For example, the Parental Control requires you to manually enter the MAC address of the client that you want to restrict; not an easy task for advanced users. What’s more it USB ports didn’t offer very fast performance, either, when hosting a portable drive. In my testing, when hosting a drive with its USB 3.0 port, via a Gigabit connection, the router registered the sustained copy of speed of just 28MB/s for writing and just 32MB/s for reading. Many routers can do much better than that.
The SBR-AC3200P delivered a stable signal that didn’t drop out as long as I stayed within its range and throughput performance (which measures the router’s ability to transfer files over the network), while not the fastest we’ve ever seen, was still pretty good. The router topped out at 653Mbps on the 5GHz band at close range (10 feet). From 75 feet away, with one wall in between the router and the test computer, it posted just 248Mbps. On the 2.4GHz band, the router averaged 122Mbps and 70Mbps at close and long range, respectively, which is about the average among 802.11AC routers.
The router’s range was short compared with other AC3200 I’ve tested topping at about 80 feet for the 5GHz band and about 100 feet for the 2.4GHz band.
Watch the Moto livestream right here: Expected launch of Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus
Motorola has been teasing the launch of a new device, with a long-running social media campaign on Motorola India running down to 17 May 2016.
There’s no secret that a new device is due to be unveiled, with the company commonly referring to a “new Moto device” on its Indian Twitter feed.
There’s been no mention of what this device might be, nor has there been any talk about Motorola launching new devices outside India. However, there’s been a flood of leaks, commonly thought to be the fourth-gen Moto G, dubbed the Moto G4 by its friends.
There has also been talk of a larger device, the Moto G4 Plus, offering a larger format of the handset and a fingerprint scanner on the front.
READ: Moto 4G and Moto 4G Plus: What’s the story so far?
The teaser campaign coming out of a Motorola India has focused on “missing out”, targeting things like missing out on privacy, or missing out on power, battery or experiencing camera fails.
These things all point to a device that’s designed to solve all these problems. Moto has been tight-lipped about what this device will be, and so far there’s been little indication of any event outside of India.
The launch event is scheduled from 3pm in India, so that’s 10:30am in the UK, when you’ll be able to watch the unveiling for yourself below and find out what the story is.
Interestingly, Amazon.in is also getting in on the act, so it looks like the new Moto will be an Amazon exclusive in India.
Researchers develop ‘liquid wire’ that acts like spider silk
The properties of spider silk that make it so intriguing are also what makes it so difficult to recreate in a lab, but a team of researchers now believes they have cracked one puzzle about spider silk: how does it remain taut when even when stretched?
According to a new paper published in the journal PNAS, that’s because the tiny droplets of “watery glue” that coat the spider’s silk act as a spool that reels in loose thread and keep it from sagging or stretching. It’s a fine balance between the elasticity of the silk and the surface tension of the sticky droplets. With that as their inspiration, a team of researchers from Oxford University and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie were able to recreate the the technique using plastic filaments coated in oil droplets. Observe:
According to the team’s lead Dr. Hervé Elettro, the synthetic spider silk, which they’re calling a “liquid wire,” could prove to be incredibly useful in the fields of materials, engineering and medicine.
“Our bio-inspired hybrid threads could be manufactured from virtually any components,” Elettro wrote. “These new insights could lead to a wide range of applications, such as microfabrication of complex structures, reversible micro-motors, or self-tensioned stretchable systems.”
Google’s neural network is now writing sappy poetry
After binge reading romance novels for the past few months, Google’s neural network is suddenly turning into the kid from English Lit 101 class. The reading assignment was part of Google’s plan to help the app sound more conversational, but the follow-up assignment to take what it learned and write some poetry turned out a little more sophomoric.
As Wired reports, Google’s team “inspired” the poetry by giving the system two sentences from the books it had read and telling it to reproduce a new sentence based on the data set of 11,000 books it had just plowed through. The results:
i went to the store to buy some groceries.
i store to buy some groceries.
i were to buy any groceries.
horses are to buy any groceries.
horses are to buy any animal.
horses the favorite any animal.
horses the favorite favorite animal.
horses are my favorite animal.—
no. he said.
“no,” he said.
“no,” i said.
“i know,” she said.
“thank you,” she said.
“come with me,” she said.
“talk to me,” she said.
“don’t worry about it,” she said.
While it might not win any Pulitzers at the moment, the neural network’s writing homework could eventually lead to smarter, more human-seeming chatbots. Or it could even learn to do the job of countless Engadget writers. For now though: “don’t worry about it.”
Pokemon GO field test signups now open in the U.S.
Registration for the Pokemon GO Field Test is now open to those in the U.S., giving even more people a chance to try capturing and battling Pokemon in the real world before the game’s full launch.
Previously, the Field Test was only available for those in Australia and New Zealand. However, if you happen to call the U.S. home, you can head to the Pokemon GO website to sign up for a chance to test the game ahead of launch.
During sign up, you’ll have to provide a Google email address along with which OS — Android or iOS — you’ll be testing the game on. If you previously played Niantic’s other augmented reality game, Ingress, you can also enter your agent name and level.
Do be aware that there is a confidentiality stipulation for those participating in the test, meaning you won’t be allowed to share content from the test. That said, we have seen a couple of instances of gameplay footage leaking out in the past, and it’s likely that will continue as the game makes its way into more hands.
Are you planning to sign up for a shot to test Pokemon GO? If so let us know in the comments what you’re most looking forward to!
More: It’s time to get caught up on Pokemon GO
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