Run Android on an iPhone – with some heavy engineering and caveats
Familiar with cramming one operating system into somewhere it doesn’t belong, developers at Tendigi have just created a homemade iPhone case that lets you run Android on your iOS smartphone. (Well, kind of). Fortunately, because of the Android Open Source Project, it gave Nick Lee the freedom to clone the mobile OS and build his own local hardware. Before he went that far, Lee decided to test the concept — streaming Android across to an iPhone through a cable — with a Nexus 5. He needed tools that could communicate with iOS, as well as services that let USB cables play nice with an iPhone. Lee also crafted software that transmitted what was happening on the Android devices’ screen to the iPhone, while also send touch-input back. The next challenge: cramming it all into an iPhone “case”. See it working after the break.
He then made his own tiny Android development board (all the technical specifics are here), linking it to the soon-to-be franken-iPhone and its own power supply, prototyping and 3D-printing an enclosure to house it all and attach to the iPhone. It’s not the prettiest case, and really you’re ‘streaming’ Android to your iPhone screen, but it’s the man-hours thought that counts, right?
Source: Tendigi
Withings’ latest scale can gauge your cardiovascular health
Nokia recently bought Withings for $191 million and immediately put it in charge of its entire digital health business. The Finnish company may have been persuaded in part by the Body Cardio, Withings’ new flagship scale that launched today. On top of measuring your body mass index (BMI) and composition, it can judge your cardiovascular health by measuring how quickly blood pumps through your body. “It’s the most advanced product we’ve ever made and the product that most represents Withings’ DNA,” co-founder Eric Carreel tells Engadget.
I had a look at the Body Cardio at Withings’ French headquarters, and the minimalist, Apple-esque design (created in conjunction with Paris design studio Elium), is certainly striking. The scale is just 0.7 inches (18 mm) thick, and has a flat base with no feet. That allows it to work on any surface, whether it be a carpet or hardwood floor. You only need to charge the internal battery every year or so, and using it is a simple matter of standing on the scale.
From there, you can read your stats off the accompanying smartphone app or on the scale directly. As before, you can see — and track over time — your weight, BMI, body composition (including fat, muscle, water and bone mass), and standing heart rate. The key new measurement, however, is the “pulse wave velocity” (PVW), or speed at which blood circulates in your body.
Withings says the pulse wave velocity gives you a snapshot of your heart health. If you have an overly fast PVW and therefore “stiff” arteries, it means you could be at risk for hypertension or cardiovascular incidents. If your blood flow speed is slower, it generally indicates more flexible arteries and good health.
So how can a scale discern all that just from your feet? It measures a very subtle change in weight that happens when you’re aortic valve opens, according to the company. The scale also has embedded electrodes, allowing it deduce when the blood arrives to your feet. By measuring the time it takes for the blood to go from your heart to your feet, and knowing your height, it can calculate the PVW.
While the scale doesn’t measure your blood pressure per se, Carreel says the PVW is a better gauge of heart health. “This blood velocity measurement normally requires an expensive device [called a sphygmometer) that only cardiologists usually have, and now it’s available to anyone as a household device.” Withings says the BodyCardio scale measurements provide a “good correlation” with medical-grade sphygmometers based on testing at two French hospitals. (The company says it will release the results of its study on Friday at the European Society of Hypertension’s Paris meetup.)
As a result, Carreel believes the scale goes beyond personal fitness monitoring and into medical health territory. “Simply by standing on the scale every morning, I can track the evolution and the average value of my PVW, which is going to represent in the long-term, my cardiovascular health. So [the product can] detect these signs and warn me of any health risk, and advise me to see a doctor if necessary.”
In addition, Withings will anonymously collect health data from users (provided they consent) to refine its data analysis. It will then share it with researchers, hospitals and cardiologists to see how PVW influences cardiovascular risk factors on a large scale. “We seek to understand all of the factors that influence the changes in arterial rigidity and blood flow speed (PVW), whether they be nutrition or whatever. So the question is, how can we positively influence these factors?”
Such data and research will no doubt form a big part of Nokia’s newborn health business. As with Apple’s HealthKit, the idea is to get data from millions of users into the hands of doctors and researchers, who can see how it relates to future health problems. That means you’ll theoretically get, on top of the usual fitness stats like heartbeat and body fat composition, something more valuable as you age: A decent idea as to whether you’re at risk for serious cardiovascular problems.
The Body Cardio is now available at Apple and Withings stores in black and white for $180, and will arrive to other retailers by July 7th. A cheaper version without the PVW measurement, the Body, is available at a variety of retailers for $130.
Opera’s battery-saving web browser is now available to everyone
You no longer have to live on the bleeding edge to see how well Opera’s low power browser mode works on your own computer: the developer has released a finished version of its desktop web browser that incorporates the promised battery saver. As before, flicking the virtual switch tones down background tab activity, site rendering and video playback in the name of keeping your laptop alive for a little while longer. Opera is promising up to 50 percent more running time, though that’s undoubtedly going to vary depending on your machine and your habits. However well it works, it’s likely worth a try if your regular browser saps all the life out of your system.
Source: Opera
Getty launches VR group with 12,000 stock images
Getty Images, responsible for many of the stock photos you see on the web, has launched a VR division called Getty Images Virtual Reality Group. The company is betting big that virtual reality via headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive is the future of media, and not a passing fad. The company already has 12,000 360-degree images, but will boost that number considerably at the 2016 Rio Olympics. As the official photo agency, Getty will equip each of its photographers with a 360-degree camera to supplement their regular still cameras.
“The technology is still in its infancy — as are the business models addressing how to use it — but we can expect to see VR become a leading tool for visual storytelling,” says Getty CEO Dawn Airey. However, the company doesn’t yet have a lot of data to base that on, as Vive and Rift sales are still largely unknown. However, Samsung recently said it has sold over a million Gear VR headsets for its Galaxy smartphones, and Google has shipped 5 million Cardboard viewers as of the beginning of 2016.
It’s also a bit hard to see how Getty will sell 360-degree imagery, since its stock photos generally accompany news stories or corporate websites, which aren’t exactly ripe for VR. However, it does have an agreement with Google, in which it supplies hi-res VR photos for Google Expeditions. It also partnered with Oculus Rift on an app called 360° View by Getty Images.
The best use case, as Getty says, is probably to make users feel they’re right there at an event. “The diverse range of 360 degree content that we produce — from the red carpet to the stadiums of the world’s biggest sporting events and the frontline of conflict – allows people to access information and experiences that were previously off limits,” says Airey.
Via: Recode
Source: Getty Images
Google tests a cleaner look for Search
Google has begun to test a new Material Design layout for its desktop search results. The company introduced Material Design in 2014 at its annual I/O conference during its Android Lollipop unveil, promising to spread the new grid-based look across Android, Chrome OS and the web. It’s… taken a while to get there, and arguably the most important of Google’s web properties — YouTube and Search – still haven’t made the switch. Last month, Google began testing a fresh look for its video streaming site, and now, we’re beginning to see that familiar grid of floating cards show up in google.com search results.
The change isn’t exactly monumental: Google Search has always returned results in a grid, so the basic layout is functionally identical to the current one. The biggest change is a visual one: the background in the test is a light gray, and individual search results are boxed in white with a small drop shadow to imply elevation.
Another major change is to the informative modules that Google shows for certain terms. Typing “Run The Jewels,” for example, would bring up a list of search results accompanied by a card displaying information on the musicians and upcoming events on the right. In the new layout, this card is shown inline, before the regular search results. Given this is just a limited test, there’s every chance this behavior will change if Google makes the Material Design layout the default.
Small changes elsewhere include new iconography for the magnifying glass in the search box, and switching out the settings cog for the three vertically aligned dots. Both the changes will be familiar to Android users. The google.com homepage has also been modified in line with the new aesthetic.
The test seems to have begun fairly recently, and on a small scale: There have been a few mentions of the new layout on Twitter and Reddit over the past week, and it’s only showing up in one Engadget editor’s search results. The company frequently trials new features and layouts on a small group of its users, seemingly at random. Many of the changes never make their way out of the testing phase. We’ve reached out to Google to ascertain its plans for the new design.
Rakuten is closing its UK marketplace
Before Amazon became the online behemoth it is today, it used to go toe-to-toe with another big web retailer: Play.com. The site initially specialised in DVDs, video games and music — selling products from Jersey to escape VAT charges and lower its prices — before expanding into electronics and personal computers. In 2009, at the height of its popularity, UK consumers even rated it their favourite retailer.
Unfortunately for the company, that success didn’t last and Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten swept in to buy the company for £25 million in 2011. It spun it off into a marketplace for independent sellers in 2013 and it’s operated that way ever since. Well, it will until August.
In an email to sellers shared by MCV, Rakuten said that after a “strategic review of its operations in Europe,” the company has “decided to consider plans to close Rakuten.co.uk to shoppers from the end of August 2016.” It’s already started discussions with employees over the closure of its website and its Cambridge office and has told merchants that it will keep its inventory tools open until the end of the year to allow for refunds and chargebacks on previous orders.
Rakuten’s new strategy will also see it close its Spanish operation, including its office in Barcelona, but its French and German businesses will continue to trade as they have “the scale and potential for sustainable growth.” It’s a sad end for Rakuten.co.uk, and the Play.com brand that came before it. This editor remembers wasting hundreds of pounds of CDs and DVDs (and his first flatscreen LED TV) before Amazon and other big-name retailers sealed its fate.
Source: MCV
Snapchat App Redesign Lets Users Subscribe to Published Content
Image messaging and social media app Snapchat has had its Stories page redesigned to increase exposure of commercial publisher’s content and boost the company’s ad revenue.
The new look, which goes live today, enables publishers to include an image and headline with each daily story in user feeds to increase visibility. The more popular user-contributed Live Stories will now compete for attention alongside them on both the Stories and Discover page.
In addition, Snapchat users can now subscribe to specific publisher channels so that they see unread stories below updates from friends on the Stories page, however non-subscription stories will continue to appear on the Discover page.
The change to the app signals Snapchat’s latest effort to boost its advertising business, which remains its primary revenue stream. Currently 19 publishers regularly create specialized content for the platform in the U.S., including Buzzfeed, MTV, Mashable, and Cosmopolitan.
Users can subscribe or unsubscribe to channels by tapping and holding on a story, which should also allow Snapchat to evaluate the success or otherwise of its hosted publishers, while merging Live Stories with Discover should bring more exposure to its channels.
Snapchat reportedly surpassed Twitter recently in its number of daily active users. The redesign is being seen as an abandonment of its earlier strategy to charge users for particular features, and instead focus on increasing its shared publisher and advertising revenue through user clicks.
Snapchat is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]
Tag: Snapchat
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‘Slack’ Team Communications Platform Gains Voice Calls Feature
Popular team communication service Slack today launched a voice call feature for its Mac and iOS apps, significantly expanding upon its previously text-only chat environment.
The real time messaging and file sharing platform has become a favorite among professionals for its one-to-one and group conversation tools, and the addition of voice calls comes after months of beta testing by the startup.
The update means all users can make one-on-one calls, but only paying teams can make use of the group call option in channels and group messages.
Slack users should see a phone icon in the channel header when using the desktop app or running the service through Google Chrome browser. A “Start Call” option also now appears in the iOS app’s dropdown menu.
Also accompanying the new voice call feature is an emoji response tool, allowing users to make characters appear under their profile photo for the duration of the call. The idea is for listeners to be able to ‘comment’ on the subject being relayed to them without interrupting the speaker.
Slack announced its intention to introduce voice calling to its text-based chat platform back in March, signaling the company’s advance into traditionally Skype-dominated territory and its ambition to become the go-to tool for all team-based communications.
Slack is a free download for Mac on the Mac App Store and available for iPhone and iPad on the App Store.
Tag: Slack
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Japanese ‘Pokemon’ fan poll crowns a favorite other than Pikachu
Pikachu is undoubtedly the most famous Pokemon out there, but as it stands, apparently it isn’t the people’s favorite. According to the Pokemon General Election 720, the distinct honor of “favorite” Pokemon goes to a very different monster: Greninja.
Surprisingly, Pikachu didn’t even place in the top three, with Greninja, Arceus and Mew rounding out the top spots. These results came quite early after voting began on April 15, and the preliminary results even placed Greninja, Arceus and Mew at the lead. When ballots closed on May 9, the full results found everyone’s favorite electric mouse in fourth place, with Pokemon like Charizard, Eevee, Sylveon and others filling the slots.
The final evolution of starter Froakie from Pokemon X & Y has been quite popular with fans over the last year or so, which could be attributed to the fact that Greninja has both appeared in Super Smash Bros. as well as Pokken Tournament as a playable character, and a formidable one at that. The Greninja amiibo that was previously released likely had a hand in its popularity as well.
The complete results are as follows:
1. Greninja
2. Arceus
3. Mew
4. Pikachu
5. Sylveon
6. Genesect
7. Rayquaza
8. Zygarde (50% form shown)
9. Charizard
10. Meloetta (Aria form shown)
11. Mewtwo
12. Eevee
13. Jirachi
14. Darkrai
15. Lucario
16. Diancie
17. Hoopa
18. Keldeo
19. Victini
20. Manaphy
Which Pokemon is your favorite?
Via: Anime News Network
Secret military tests in California could affect planes’ GPS
This June, the military is conducting experiments at the Naval Air Weapons Center in the Mojave Desert that could affect planes’ GPS, the FAA warned pilots. What kind of tests? Well, we don’t exactly know. The Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) only described it as “GPS Interference Testing” and didn’t go into details — the Weapons Center also refused to reveal anything to Gizmodo, telling the publication that it’s “general testing for [their] ranges.”
They could be trying out defensive measures against enemy planes and drones… or it could be something more mysterious that we’ll likely never be able to confirm. Whatever the military is doing already began on June 7th and is centered around the Navy’s 1.1 million acre installation in China Lake. The jammers they’re taking for a spin could affect anything 50 feet and above, so you won’t feel their effects on the ground. As you can see below, the area they cover is shaped like an ice cream cone: the higher you go, the wider it is. At 40,000 feet above sea level, the devices can jam GPS equipment up to the California-Oregon border.
While the Navy warned all pilots of possible outages, it’s specifically requesting Embraer Phenom 300 business jets to avoid affected locations for six days this month. The next tests after June 7th will take place on June 9th, 21st, 23rd, 28th and 30th, starting from 9:30AM up until 3:30PM Pacific time.
Via: Gizmodo
Source: FAA
AIVAnet 