Elastic ‘second skin’ could treat extreme conditions
Sometimes, abandoned medical technology gets a shot at redemption. MIT, Living Proof and Olivo Labs have discovered that Strateris, an elastic “second skin” treatment that was only briefly on the market, could be very useful for softening the blow of serious skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis. The material, which you apply in two steps through creams or gels, traps moisture extremely well — perfect for very itchy skin. It doesn’t have the drawbacks of the usual topical solutions, either. It can last for at least a full day, won’t smudge off and can stretch over 250 percent before returning to its original state.
It could have more cosmetic purposes as well. While Strateris was originally limited to taking care of skin under the eye, it could also be used to tighten wrinkles and disguise wounds across the body. This second skin has limits — it’s currently expensive, and won’t work with makeup. If it goes back into service, though, it could provide comfort and dignity to people who’d otherwise have to suffer the effects of skin disease, injury and aging.
Via: Washington Post
Source: Nature, MIT News
The New Yorker’s latest issue comes alive with AR
As far as attempts to supplement print media with technology go, there are some winners, some awkward gimmicks and some utter failures. But The New Yorker’s latest cover, a collaboration between illustrator Christoph Niemann, Qualcomm and AR app maker Uncovr, looks to be firmly in the “winners” category.
To the naked eye, the front and back covers of the May 16th Innovators Issue fit the magazine’s traditional, illustrated style. Open Uncovr’s app on your smartphone or tablet and point it at the magazine, however, and the whole image comes alive in a 3D, animated scene. Observe:
“The idea of an augmented or virtual reality is inherent in any drawing—it’s almost the definition of a drawing,” Niemann said, explaining his concept. “If you create a world on paper, you create a window. Usually, you just break the surface with your mind, but you always have the feeling of: What if you could step into that world or if something could come out of it?”
“So between the front and the back cover, and the experience created by the app, I like that we could show essentially two different angles on the same world,” Niemann continued. “Like stepping through a mirror.”
Spotify Growing at Faster Pace Since Apple Music Launched Last Year
Despite the launch of Apple Music, which recently reached 13 million paid subscribers, rival service Spotify told Reuters that it has experienced a faster pace of growth since last June than beforehand.
“It’s great that Apple is in the game. They are definitely raising the profile of streaming. It is hard to build an industry on your own,” Jonathan Forster, a vice president and one of its first employees, told Reuters in an interview.
“Since Apple Music started we’ve been growing quicker and adding more users than before.”
Spotify recently announced that it has 30 million paying customers, compared to around 20 million paid subscribers last June, while its total active user base has grown to nearly 100 million from 75 million a year ago.
Apple has not recently disclosed how many users it has on a three-month trial for an overall comparison, but Spotify remains over 2x to 2.5x larger than Apple Music in terms of paid subscribers worldwide.
“It would be terrible if we were just taking each other’s users or to learn there was just a ceiling of 100 million users – I don’t think that is the case,” said Forster, who had just returned to Stockholm from the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California.
Apple Music has inevitably generated increased awareness of the concept of streaming music, which in turn has helped Spotify triple its paid subscriber base in just two years. The service, which launched in Europe in October 2008 and expanded to the U.S. in July 2011, had 10 million subscribers through May 2014.
Spotify continues to operate at a loss due to expensive royalties and revenue sharing with music label partners, but the Swedish company expects to eventually become profitable through continued subscriber growth. Spotify will also seek to earn increased revenue from advertising, concerts, merchandising, and video.
Spotify today announced that 12 new original series will be coming to the streaming music service this summer and fall, centered around music performances, music profiles, and music culture. Last year, the company also added video programming and podcasts from partners such as Comedy Central, ESPN, and MTV.
In related news, Spotify for iOS was recently updated with a new bottom navigation bar in lieu of its traditional slide-out “hamburger” menu.
Tags: Spotify, Apple Music
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Two Roads takes the endless running game into a new direction (review)
If you’ve played the likes of the Subway Surfers and Temple Run series of games (lord knows our house has), you may like the game “Two Roads” by Al Kamil Softech. Two Roads takes this well-worn genre and moves it into a new direction— up!
To get the game, simply head over to the Play Store and download.
In this game you play a little alien named Frothy, who has been captured here on earth. When his cage is left open, Frothy finds his (her?) chance to escape back to the home planet. That’s your setup, and you take over Frothy in trying to get back home.
Gameplay
The game is played through an endless spaceship-looking tube. This tube is a bit of a maze, made of both stationary, and later, moving blocks that kill on impact. Also included along the path are familiar items, mainly coins to collect, as well as some performance-enhancing items (magnets to help collect coins all around you, speed boosts to make you super-fast and invincible for short periods, etc).
As Frothy moves through this obstacle-riddled path (at a constant speed), you control 
movement by:
- Swiping left (move left)
- Swiping right (move right)
This game’s main feature is in the Swiping up and down actions. Whereas in other games of this type, these actions would result in a jump or tuck-and-roll, respectively, in Two Roads swiping up sends you to the top of your display where there’s a second path! This path is generally different in its layout from the first, and it gives the game a fresh perspective and doubles your options at any given time.
Controls, Sound, Graphics
I lump all these game attributes together for a reason, that being that the same could be said for every one. While each does a fine job, there’s just a little something missing from them. The controls can miss a swipe or contain a slight delay from time to time. The sound and graphics are both ‘good’, but they both are missing just a little more variety/creativity in their presentation. It all adds up to a slightly underwhelming experience as a player.
Summary
I do enjoy playing Two Roads; and I personally found myself clicking back into the game when I had 5 minutes to spare. The extra dimension of a 
parallel upper road in which to maneuver on gave this game type a fresh look, and with a bit more polish in the controls, sound, and graphics, this game could see its download count skyrocket.
Download Two Roads here.
Colors United is a perfect way to kill time! [Review]
We’ve all been in those situations where you are just waiting for something to happen out of your control (a doctor’s office, waiting in any line, ever, or waiting for your wife to finish riding her horses so you can go play D&D), and, living in the tech age, we all have those simple little games we like to play to pass the time while we wait. Colors United, by Acun Medya, is a perfect game to add to your rotation of games that simply pass the time.
After setup completes, the game connects you automatically to Google Play Games and launches the game for you. Simply press the large play button in the middle of the screen and start passing the time like a pro!
Gameplay
This is a typical “simple to play, hard to master”, puzzle game. The goal is to “unite” all of the colors in the shape into a single color. This is accomplished by changing the color of the section you control into an adjacent color. By doing this, you take control of all sections of the new color. Rinse and repeat until a single color covers the screen.
The game quickly adds a layer of complexity by throwing in a counter. The number on the counter shows how many more times you can change colors before you fail that level. Upon completing the level, you are rewarded with stars (three possible for each level). The number of stars you receive is determined by how many moves it takes you to complete the level. Collecting all the stars will grant you access to bonus levels.
One unique thing about Colors United that you don’t see in a lot of these games is the encouragement to play against friends (or strangers if you wish). There is a battle mode where you are able to play against another player or the AI. The objective is to go back and forth to see who can get the last move. There is also a daily puzzle which you can complete and compare scores with your friends on Google Play Games.
Multiplayer screen
Shopping options
Graphics
As expected, this game is centered around changing colors to solve a puzzle. I was pleasantly surprised by the choices made by the developer to use bright, vibrant colors that are not too bold as to hurt your eyes on these tiny screens we stare at all day. All animations are easy on the eyes and the color changes are smooth as silk.
My only wish here is that there was an option for a dark skin. This would allow those night owls, like myself, to play in the dark without hurting my eyes with the bright white background. Also, with the AMOLED screens for mobile devices becoming more prevalent and our ever-increasing desire for extended battery life, a dark skin would appease those battery-conscious players.
Conclusion
Colors United is a standard puzzle game that will fill your time just like any other. If you are looking for another app to add to your downtime rotation, do yourself a favor and give it a solid try.
Download and install from the Google Play Store.
Spotify set to continue push into video with original shows
Breaking further from its musical roots, Spotify is planning to venture deeper into video with a slate of original shows. Spotify already serves up some video content with short clips from the likes of Comedy Central, Adult Swim and NBC. However, this would mark the company’s first push into original content.
Bloomberg reports:
Spotify will unveil plans for its first slate of original shows Monday, a year after adding clips from the BBC and Comedy Central. Episodes of every program, which range from a few minutes to 15 minutes, will be available to free and paid Spotify users in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Sweden.
According to Bloomberg, Spotify has already begun work on a total of 12 shows, the first two of which will be decidedly music-centric. For example, one title called “Landmark” will focus on significant moments in music history. Another, titled “Rush Hour,” is a Russell Simmons-backed project in which two hip-hop artists must collaborate on a song and then perform it in front of a crowd.
Your privacy, your fingerprints and the fifth amendment
You can be forced to provide your fingerprint to access the data on your phone. But you don’t have to make it easy.
Being able to unlock your phone with your fingerprints is a really good thing. It’s not the most secure method you can use, and there are issues about having only one set of fingerprints if you ever need to change your login credentials, but the convenience factor means more people will keep their phones locked when they’re not using them. That means your privacy is protected, as well as the privacy of everyone in your contacts or people you’re networked with through social media when and if someone else gets their hands on your phone. We all should thank Motorola for trying it, and Samsung and Apple for making it good. Biometrics used to verify identity isn’t exactly new, but getting everything working on a tiny pocket computer surely wasn’t easy. Be prepared for iris-scanning (we’ve already seen it in action) in the next few years.
If you’re in the U.S., though, there’s another snag that not everyone knows about — law enforcement can force you to place your finger on your phone and unlock everything. A precedent was set by the Circuit Court of Virginia in October 2014, and recently upheld and reinforced by a federal court in February 2016, that makes it clear that while you can’t be forced to provide a passcode for an electronic device, your fingerprints and using them to unlock the same device is not protected by the fifth amendment of the U.S. Constitution. You can be forced to incriminate yourself by providing anything and everything on your phone to law enforcement by using your fingerprint as long as a warrant was requested and received. This will almost certainly be challenged as a direct violation of the fifth amendment (and possibly parts of the fourth amendment), but for now this is the law.
You can be compelled to provide your fingerprint and unlock your phone, under current U.S. law
I want to be clear on a couple things here. Nobody at Android Central is condoning any criminal behavior, nor do we judge anyone for their feelings on how they want to help law enforcement investigate any case. If you want the U.S. government to have access to the data a person involved in an investigation has on their phone, that’s fine. You should realize that not everyone feels the same way, as well as know that you don’t have to be a law-breaker to value your privacy. If you, or a peace officer in any capacity, would get access to my phone you’ll find nothing that puts me at risk of prosecution, and probably be bored looking at pictures of my family and my dogs, see half-completed documents I’m working on and maybe an expense report or two. But that’s my stuff, and I don’t want anyone rifling through it. It’s OK to feel differently.
But this leads us into ideas of how we can protect that privacy if we’re using our fingers to open the secure container that holds it all. And there are a few things you can do.
You’ll need a backup method to unlock your phone if you are using a fingerprint scanner. A four digit PIN works well here. It’s not too difficult to break, but protections that make your wait between incorrect attempts and a self-destruct feature where data is wiped after a certain number of attempts mean that getting past a PIN will prove to be difficult. Like using a fingerprint in the first place, it’s a nice balance between security and convenience.
The real benefit here is that you can require this PIN to be entered before your phone will start. You’ll see this option when you set up a phone as new, or when you go into the security settings and change the PIN itself. This means that every time your phone is started, until the correct PIN is entered, it’s completely dead. No data is decrypted, no calls can come in, and no software outside of the bootloader itself is running.
Because a PIN is either required to start the phone (if you choose to use this feature) or unlock the screen for the first time after it starts up, you can’t unlock it with just your fingerprint — your fifth amendment protected PIN is required. And with all current Android phones and iPhones, a piece of hardware embedded in the system-on-chip that houses the CPU keeps things locked up and inaccessible through standard software hacking.
If you see the blue lights, just hold the power button and shut down your phone.
Now this isn’t going to help if you’re a fugitive and subject to being detained on sight or caught in the act doing something shady. But if you’re just a regular person who doesn’t want anyone to get information about you or the people you keep company with it’s pretty effective. If you’re able to do this, it means you get to decide if you want to share what is on your phone with “the man.”
If you see the blue lights, just hold the power button and shut down your phone
Android phones with unlocked bootloaders also pose a risk. Don’t think that even your local constable doesn’t have access to people just as savvy with Android as the folks you find at XDA. If your bootloader is unlocked, anyone can dump the software and all the data from your phone onto a computer without ever having to use the lock screen. With enough incentive, even an encrypted image that has a key to unlock it stored in the protected hardware of the original phone can be cracked. Chances are there’s not much incentive to go through this for a regular middle-aged dude like myself, but what if I had a random Twitter interaction with someone who is worth the trouble? The internet connects the world, and that funny meme you liked on Facebook could have been posted by anyone. Facebook is obliged (rightfully so, in my opinion) to provide any and all publicly available data (the public part is important) about a user when the right warrant is served. If you liked a post from a person of interest, the people who want to know more about you don’t care that you claim to have a phone filled with texts from your friends and cat pictures — they want to see for themselves. Keeping the bootloader locked means it’s almost impossible for them to have a look, and they likely won’t even try.
I want the police to put people doing horrible crimes in prison where they can be rehabilitated, or at least be kept from doing more harm to society. Most of us aren’t one of those people, and getting arrested or detained for drag racing or having a tiny baggie of weed in your pocket or any other minor offence doesn’t make you Charles Manson or the Zodiac Killer. But we all have rights and a reasonable expectation of privacy. If the courts won’t decide to uphold our fourth and fifth amendment rights when it comes to what we have on our phones, then we should do everything we can to protect them ourselves. I just want to share my data on my terms, and want the same for you.
Save $10 on the Philips Hue Bloom at Amazon right now!
Looking to make your home a little smarter? If so, Philips’ Hue lights are probably on your radar, and right now Amazon is offering a $10 savings on the Hue Bloom, dropping the price down to just $50. With Alexa voice control, Homekit integration and the ability to control it from your phone, this light makes a great addition to any room.
You will need a Hue starter kit or a compatible bridge in order for dimming and smart controls to work properly. If you are looking to expand your current set up or get a new one started, you won’t want to miss this deal.
See at Amazon
Periscope to add topic search, let you keep your broadcasts forever
Periscope, Twitter’s app that lets you broadcast video live, has announced some additions that will be arriving soon. These include searching for broadcasts by title or topic and saving videos beyond 24 hours.
While previously Periscope broadcasts could only be stored for 24 hours, your videos will soon be saved indefinitely by default. From Periscope:
Our goal is to give you full control of your broadcasts. Soon, your broadcasts will be automatically saved on Periscope and Twitter with comments and hearts. Should you change your mind, you can still delete your broadcasts at any time in the post-broadcast screen or in your profile. And, for those of you who still want your broadcasts to be removed after 24 hours, you can easily configure that in your account settings.
Periscope did not provide a rollout timeline for these new features, saying only that they would arrive “in the coming weeks.” In the meantime, you can get the current version of Periscope from the Google Play Store.
3G and 4G coverage in the UK: Everything you need to know
How to make sure your chosen network has you covered.
A smartphone is only as good as the data network it’s connected to. And even if you live in a major city, speedy 3G and 4G service isn’t always a given. So-called “not-spots” can hobble your phone, particularly if service is poor where you live or work.
Fortunately there are a bunch of options at your disposal for checking coverage before you sign a contract with any of Britain’s major (or minor) operators. Read on for our breakdown of understanding 3G and 4G coverage in the UK.
The first step: Official coverage maps
Your first port of call should be your chosen network’s official coverage map.
EE
EE’s coverage checker lets you input a postcode and conjure up a summary what the EE network is like in your area. That includes a breakdown of indoor and outdoor coverage, and details of whether double-speed 4G or 4G+ are available.
For a more detailed breakdown, hit the “Map” button to see how far each of the various 4G technologies have spread.
O2
O2’s coverage map breaks down 2G, 3G and 4G coverage, with a split between indoor and outdoor signal strength. There’s also the option to see the placement of individual masts and O2 Wi-Fi hotspots.
Vodafone
Vodafone’s coverage checker Shows 2G, 3G and 4G footprints, in addition to “planned coverage” expected to roll out in the future. The map also shows optional Vodafone Wi-Fi hotspots.
Three
Three’s network map gives a detailed breakdown of 3G and 4G coverage over a map of the UK, with an optional postcode search feature.
Independent data
Rootmetrics’ UK coverage map is based on data from real users, as opposed to theoretical coverage based on network infrastructure. For that reason, it’s a good, impartial indicator of what kind of coverage you’ll actually see on each of the country’s major operators.
Selecting “Best technology found” under “Layer” is a good way to get an overview of which networks have rolled out 4G in various parts of the UK.
What about smaller operators?
Generally speaking, the smaller mobile operators (MNVOs — mobile network virtual operators) piggyback on the network of one of the big four. As such, the host network’s coverage map usually applies to these brands.
Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the major MVNOs and which networks they actually run on.
| Asda Mobile | EE |
| BT Mobile | EE |
| GiffGaff | O2 |
| iD | Three |
| Lebara | Vodafone |
| TalkTalk | Vodafone |
| Tesco Mobile | O2 |
| Virgin Media | EE |
What else can affect 3G and 4G reception?
There are a whole bunch of factors that can affect mobile reception — from thick stone walls in buildings, to geological formations like hills and mountains, and even network maintenance and outages. Interference from from heavy electrical equipment, or being near military installations or pirate radio stations can also affect your signal.
If you’re seeing an unexpected signal drop, it’s worth double-checking the coverage maps and service status pages for the major operators.
- O2 service status
- EE service status
- Vodafone service status (select “network status”)
- Three service status
Patching coverage gaps with a femtocell
A femtocell is a box that connects to your home router and uses your internet connection to boost mobile reception, sending data back to your network provider over the internet. It’s a good way to ensure you’re able to make calls and texts even if you’re in a mobile network “not-spot.”
- O2 has its Boostbox, however this is only available to business customers.
- Three has its Home Signal program, and says customers may be eligible for the box if they have “trouble connecting to the network indoors, you live in a rural area or if your house has thick walls that block your signal”
- Vodafone sells its Sure Signal box online for £69.
- EE sells its own Signal Box, but this is only available in EE stores.
Another option to consider is Wi-Fi calling, offered by Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three on some handsets. This cuts out the middleman, sending calls and texts directly over Wi-Fi on your phone. (If your combination of phone and network is supported, Wi-Fi calling will probably be enabled automatically. However it’s worth double-checking with your operator to confirm device support.)
Try before you buy
The one way to be absolutely sure of network coverage before you sign a contract is to try out your chosen operator’s service on a Pay As You Go SIM. This can quickly become expensive if you start trying multiple providers, but it’s a decent way to ensure you won’t have any nasty surprises.
- See EE prepaid SIMs
- See O2 prepaid SIMs
- See Vodafone prepaid SIMs
- See Three prepaid SIMs
It’s also worth reading the fine print in whichever contract you eventually sign, as . Research from the Consumer Communications Panel points to wildly different cancellation policies among the major operators and retailers in recent years. If in doubt, always check in-store, and always ask to see the cancellation policy in writing if you’re concerned about lackluster (or non-existent) coverage where you live or work.
UK readers, are you happy with your mobile operator’s 3G and 4G coverage? Let us know down in the comments!
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