Molecules in space may show how life formed on Earth
Scientists have known for a while that the molecular ingredients of life can be found in nearby comets and meteorites, but it’s now clear that those building blocks exist much, much further away from home. A research team has used spectral analysis to discover evidence of organic chiral molecules, the “mirror-image” molecules that are key to biology as we know it, in the Sagittarius B2 cloud near the heart of the Milky Way. This doesn’t meant that life is forming in space, but it does suggest that the necessary molecular properties can appear in space first and transfer to planets through meteorite impacts.
The data is still fuzzy. It’ll take a long while before scientists can tell which of the mirror-image molecules they’re looking at. Also, it’s not certain just how widespread those molecules might be. Are they everywhere, or found only in pockets? Even so, the findings support the theory that life on Earth (and likely elsewhere) didn’t start completely from scratch — it may well have had a celestial nudge.
Via: Reuters, Popular Science
Source: NRAO
’Mario Party: Star Rush’ doesn’t make you wait your turn
The mini-game mayhem of Mario Party can be a lot of fun, but the franchise has always suffered from its board game origins: when it’s not your turn, there’s nothing to do but wait. With Mario Party: Star Rush, that changes — Nintendo’s next entry in the series does away with individual player turns in favor of a more hectic group “scramble” turn. In other words, Mario Party is getting a fast-paced upgrade, and that’s a good thing.
Nintendo kind of snuck the announcement of the new 3DS game in under the rug, hiding it at the end of a press release for the new Zelda game — but the game looks like a fresh take on a old idea. The group mini-games are still the main focus, but the game board no longer has set paths. Instead, characters can move across at tiled landscape at will, and every player moves simultaneously. This opens the game up to more robust strategies, like choosing to start the ‘boss fight’ minigame right away.
If you’re not a Toad fan however, there is a trade-off: Star Rush’s main mode is called Toad Scramble, and everybody plays as the anthropomorphic mushroom man. The other Mario characters still play a major role as recruitable Ally characters, but aren’t technically playable themselves. I guess that settles the argument of who gets to be Luigi.
Mario Party: Star Rush will be available on 3DS on November 4th.
The first gravitational wave discovery wasn’t a fluke
If you were worried that the first confirmed detection of gravitational waves was just a one-off result… don’t be. Researchers analyzing LIGO data have verified a second instance (recorded in December 2015) where two black holes merged and produced the hard-to-spot behavior. The circumstances are decidedly different this time around, though. Ars Technica observes that the black holes were much smaller than those in the first instance, and spent more time on their collision course. While that offered more data to collect, the reduced intensity also introduced more errors — it was harder to determine the masses of these holes.
This kind of cosmic behavior is likely more prevalent than what you’ve seen here. Just don’t expect to hear more about it any time soon. This is the only other event from LIGO’s first run to pass muster, so you’ll have to wait for subsequent tests to hear about more discoveries. Nonetheless, this is enough to show that gravitational waves can emerge in a wide range of conditions.
Via: Ars Technica
Source: Physical Review Letters
Here’s maps will help you find available EV charging stations
If you drive an electric car, you know that it’s not enough to find a charging station on the map — you need to know that there’s an available plug. Here and Hubject think they can help. They’ve forged a partnership that will see Here’s maps (both in apps and in the car) get real-time info for EV charging stations using Hubject’s platform in Europe. You’ll know whether or not there’s a space free, what connectors are available and other details that can mean the difference between powering up and driving by. The integration won’t be finished until the summer, but it’ll make those cross-continent trips less nerve-wracking when it’s ready.
Source: Hubject
Twitter brings its go-live Periscope button to everyone
Want to livestream for your Twitter audience? You don’t have to switch apps to get started. As promised, Twitter’s Periscope button is now available to everyone using its Android and iOS apps. When you’re starting a new tweet, you can tap a “live” button in the media picker to hop over to Periscope (it’ll offer a download if you don’t already have the app) and start broadcasting. This is more about exposing newcomers to Periscope than catering to veterans, but it’s still handy if you thrive on Twitter and want a quicker path to live video.
Ready to go live? Now everyone can tap a new button on iOS & Android to easily broadcast on #Periscope from Twitter! pic.twitter.com/tedpUN1QMA
— Twitter (@twitter) June 15, 2016
Source: Twitter, App Store, Google Play
‘Breath of the Wind’ is the boldest ‘Zelda’ game in years
Nintendo wasn’t lying, or even exaggerating. There really has never been a Legend of Zelda game quite like Breath of the Wind, and the series should be all the better for it. I’ve extensively played (if not quite finished) every major Zelda game, but that familiarity with the series rarely came in handy throughout the 45-minute demo I played at E3 today. I was confused and disoriented, not quite familiar with how I should be interacting with my surroundings — much like Link himself after being awakened in a shrine with no clear direction on where to go.
That’s not a bad thing — in fact, it’s just what the series needed. Ocarina of Time set up a play style that the subsequent Zelda games have rarely deviated from. New moves were added, controls were tightened, but it all felt like iterations on the same model. In Breath of the Wind, that’s largely out the window. Yes, you can still lock onto enemies, parry attacks with your shield, dodge and slash with your sword, but there’s a wide variety of different weapons at your disposal now. You can pick up a broken tree branch and use it to attack for starters, beat down a few goblins, steal their clubs, grab a wood-cutting ax and more.
It’s easy to swap between weapons, which is good, because there’s a new durability system at play here. Every weapon you have can get damaged and eventually break if you’re not careful. And if your goblin club is nearly broken, you can just chuck it at an enemy to do double damage before it finally falls apart.
The world of Hyrule is even more significantly changed than combat. As Nintendo has mentioned already, Breath of the Wind is a massive open-world that you can explore in any way you want. Whatever you see, you can go to — enemies or some environmental challenges might stop you along the way, but you can try. I only got to see a portion of the Great Plateau in the 20 minutes of I had to explore the area, and Nintendo says that’s only one percent of the game’s total area.
Beyond just size is what you can do in Hyrule. First off, you can jump whenever you want, only the second time you’ve been able to do so in a Zelda game. (1989’s Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link was the first.) You can also climb trees and cliffs and basically interact with the environment in a host of ways — once you get your hands on that axe, you can start felling trees, for example.
And once that tree is down, you can chop it up and collect wood; once you take down an enemy, you can harvest its weapons or armor to make a shield. The amount of stuff you can collect in the environment is vast and varied, and it’ll all come in handy. In particular, you’re going to want to keep your eyes peeled for various food items, because you won’t find hearts in bushes anymore. You’ll instead need to collect food from around the world and save it for when you need a heart boost — you can even combine ingredients and cook it to get a bigger boost.
This is all to say that there’s tons to do in Breath of the Wind before you even dig into the game’s story. But fortunately, for those who want to get into the meat of the plot, it isn’t long before Link starts getting nudged down his path. The game may not hold your hand in terms of teaching you mechanics, but it doesn’t take long to get into the story if that’s how you want to play it. Following the direction of a voice in his head, Link soon raises a variety of shrine all around the world of Hyrule to start exploring. At a high level, it looks like these shrines will be the game’s version of dungeons, but you can play them in any order you want.
You’ll meet an old man on the plateau (who looks suspiciously like the King of Hyrule in The Wind Waker), and he tells you that you’ll need his little paragliding tool to get off the plateau without falling to your death. He then asks you to head into the shire that’s accessible on the plateau to get some treasure you can barter for that paraglider. So that first encounter is a bit scripted, and unfortunately I didn’t actually get to play the Shrine and see what comes next, but a Nintendo representative assured me that you don’t need to follow the game in any prescribed path.
Ultimately, there’s enough familiar here to make the game feel like a classic entry into the Zelda series — not 15 minutes into the game, there was the first glance of the malevolent spirit of Ganon encircling Hyrule Castle. But the massive, interactive, living world coupled with the mysterious introduction to the story (Link is resurrected after 100 years!) makes for a game that feels significantly different than any Zelda that preceded it.
What’s perhaps most impressive is that Nintendo pulled this off not by putting Hyrule mostly underwater or by moving things into the clouds, as it did in The Wind Waker and Skyward Sword, respectively. The classic overworld is still here — it’s just more expansive, varied and interactive than ever before. If Nintendo can keep this feeling alive throughout the entirety of the game, the company will have managed to pull off the biggest reinvention of the series since the release of Ocarina of Time nearly 20 years ago.
Accessibility at WWDC: Dwell Control, Taptic Time, Software TTY, and More
Apple on Tuesday hosted a WWDC 2016 session called What’s New in Accessibility that provided an overview of new assisitive technologies and features added to iOS 10, macOS Sierra, tvOS 10, and watchOS 3.
Physical and Motor Skills
Switch Control can now be used to interact with the tvOS interface using a single physical button, such as a switch on a wheelchair. There is both a cursor interface that highlights elements on the screen and an alternative interface with an on-screen remote. Accessibility users that already use Switch Control with an iOS device or Mac can automatically use the function on tvOS without re-pairing a switch.
Dwell Control is a new feature for macOS Sierra that enables users to control the cursor on Mac using assistive technologies and hardware like a headband with reflective dots or eye movements. When the cursor dwells on a certain location, a timer appears that expires and invokes a mouse click or other customizable actions.
Vision
Apple has made display and color adjustments and introduced the option to tint the entire display on Mac, Apple TV, and iOS devices, which can significantly increase contrast and reading ability.
Taptic Time is a new VoiceOver feature on watchOS 3 that uses a series of distinct taps from the Taptic Engine to help someone tell time silently and discreetly.
Magnifier is a new systemwide iOS 10 feature that enables users to use the camera to magnify objects in their physical environment. Various color filters, such as grayscale and inverted grayscale, are supported to increase contrast.
Hearing
iOS 10 allows for Software TTY calls to be placed without any additional hardware. The calls work with legacy TTY technology and make it easy to dial a non-TTY number through your carrier’s relay service. There are also built-in TTY-specific QuickType keyboard predictions.
Learning
iOS 10 has a number of enhancements designed to help people with dyslexia. There are improvements to Speak Selection and Speak Screen to help people better understand text that has already been entered, and there is new audio feedback for typing to help people immediately catch mistakes.
Learn more by watching the What’s New in Accessibility video or reading the slideshow.
Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 10, Apple Watch, watchOS 2, watchOS 3, WWDC 2016, iOS 10, macOS Sierra
Tag: accessibility
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Neutral), Apple Watch (Caution)
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808 CANZ review: Portable Bluetooth cylinder that packs a modest punch
Up for review today is a dimunitve portable Bluetooth speaker from 808 Audio, the 808 CANZ. Shaped like a shrunken can of soda, this cylindrical unit is the sort of audio device you’d use in a study or on the back deck for podcasts. Not that it won’t work for music, but it’s not gonna pound out the tunes.
Initially launched a few years ago, the 808 CANZ are among the least expensive speakers of its kind – from a reputable name. Sure, you might find something cheaper at a gas station or from Amazon, but you’re rolling the dice on quality.
The CANZ come in a variety of color options: red, blue, silver, black, and purple. Each has a metallic sheen on the outside with a black speaker grille on the top-facing speaker.
There are very few buttons to fuss with; a power switch is found on the underside of the speaker and a Bluetooth pairing button is near the bottom edge. Other than that, you’re looking at a charging indicator light, auxiliary input, and a miniUSB charging port. Speaking of the bottom, there’s a rubber coating that helps to keep the 808 CANZ in place. We found that, on most surfaces, the speaker stays put even with the most bouncy of music.
Sadly, this one forces you to keep that outdated cable nearby. We’d like to have seen this refreshed with a microUSB port somewhere along the way. Dealbreaker? Not at all. Consider it more of a minor nuisance.
Pairing is quite simple in that you turn it on and push the dedicated pairing button. After a moment you’ll hear the speaker chime a distinct noise to indicate it’s connected to your phone or tablet. Alternatively, the 3.5mm jack lets listeners plug directly into the speaker. The former will use more of the 808’s battery than going the wired route.
As expected, the 808 CANZ don’t pack a terribly powerful punch. Yes, it can get loud and fill a typical room, but at around 75 percent volume you’ll start to hear distortion. Spoken word, classical music, or relaxed and ambient music sounds excellent. Throw on some house music or hip hop, though, and the speaker struggles a smidge with the bass. Highs are very clear at all levels, but more ambitious music reminds you that you’re dealing with an ultra-portable speaker with a $25 price tag.
Battery life is listed at six hours per charge which is rather accurate in our findings. We didn’t have a problem getting through extended podcast listening sessions or using it for background music while reading. Charging is relatively quick; you’ll be ready to go before your phone is at 100 percent. Just don’t forget to pack that oddball cable.
One pain point we’ve come to find in some of these super portable speakers is the lack of volume or playback buttons. It’s not always convenient for us to fumble for the phone to pause a song. And, should you be plugged directly into the source, you might not want to stray too far. There’s not a quick way to mute or stop the music. But, given the price of the 808 CANZ, and its portability, we’re more than willing to forgive.
The 808 CANZ can be purchased at a variety of retailers including Amazon, B&H Photo Video, Best Buy, and Target. Pricing varies but you will likely end up under $20 if you look around.
Recolor: A pretty hobby at an expensive price (Review)
Every now and then, interesting trends come along in the Play Store. Coloring apps have been constantly rising in popularity, especially among parents who want their children to start exploring their imagination. However, there’s also an increasing market for coloring apps for adults. Recolor tries to capture this market by offering a simple, robust, and good-looking app with an impressive amount of pictures to choose from.
Developer: Sumoing
Price: Free, with in-app subscription model
Features
The app greets you with a beautiful interface.
The first thing you’ll notice is the absolute lack of setup needed to use the app. You just open Recolor, and you’re taking directly to the main screen. In a world where apps want to know as much details about us as possible, it’s a welcome decision by the developer.
In order to classify the hundreds of images available, the app shows a tab bar at the top with different categories. You can choose among different types, such as animals, fantasy, food (you’ll love food, we all love food), people, and scenery.
There’s something for everyone here, so I’m sure you’ll find pictures that cater to your needs. Also, options are updated every day, so the library will just keep growing as time passes by.
There’s also a banner at the top that shows a counter. See, almost all of the images mentioned above are blocked behind a subscription. So, for those of you who would like to paint at digital images for free, the developer gives away a couple of the images in the collection for one day only.
When the counter reaches zero, another set of images will be available for download. There’s also a “Free” category in which you can download some images without charge.
Coloring is easy and allows for precision through pinch-to-zoom.
Upon selecting an image, the app proceeds to download the necessary assets in order to start painting. You’ll get the image’s outline on a white canvas, and some colors at the bottom.
There’s four main categories from which you can choose colors: Palettes, Hues, Gradients and Custom. Under each of these categories, there are subcategories that contain the color themselves.
Special mention to the Palettes category, which offers colors that actually look good combined with each other, in order to prevent your images from looking like a clown’s outfit.
To paint, you can simply tap a section of the image. Obviously, this won’t be easy for more complicated images, so the app lets you zoom on it.
There’s also undo and redo buttons at the top, so you can experiment with confidence, knowing that your changes are not permanent.
When you’re done, the app lets you preview your image and change how your painting looks. You can leave it untouched, but you can also add effects like watercolor, crayon, woodwork, and pencil. Most of them look impressively good, so you may want to experiment a bit.
Finally, you can share your work to any app, but, surprisingly, you can’t save the picture to your device. Obviously, there are workarounds to this, but it’s a weird omission.
General Impressions
The app lets you add filters to your paintings.
The app is easy enough to use, thanks to the images being classified into categories. Also, the sheer amount of available images is impressive, and there’s the developer’s promise that new content will be added periodically.
The flexibility offered by the developer regarding the different amount of colors and gradients makes it a really robust app for those of you who are into this. There’s one weird oversight, though: there’s no eraser. Sure, you can undo changes, and you can always go back to a section and paint it white, but I feel like an eraser should be an option anyways.
Also, I believe that, even though there are a lot of images to choose from, there may be a moment where the user would want to step into its own imagination and just paint something. A white canvas for you to explore what users can do would be ideal. Since the app has the necessary tools already, it would be a great addition and give more value to the app.
Even though the app deals with heavy resources and constant image painting, it performs outstandingly well on my Nexus 6. Everything flows smoothly, even when designs start to get more complicated and there are more colors on-screen.
Changing between different styles after finishing painting up your images is smooth as silk, something many other apps struggle with. Obviously, your mileage may vary, depending on your setup.
Yeah, those are the prices.
Let’s talk a bit about the subscription model I mentioned before. You can get an unlimited trial for one week. After that, you’ll be charged $2.24 a week. There’s also a monthly subscription for $6.75. If you are really into coloring apps, you can purchase a yearly subscription at a discounted price of $32.66.
Being an app developer myself, I know how expensive it can get to maintain an app, but if people wanted to burn Pushbullet’s HQ to the ground for charging $5 a month, then I can’t imagine what they’ll say about this. Anyways, it’s nice to have a trial in order to evaluate if the service is really worth it to you and then decide if you want to pony up.
User Interface
Being an app that deals with beautiful images and artistic designs, it would be a crime to present a bad-looking user interface. Fortunately, the developer did his homework and produced a stunning-looking app that blends nicely (for the most part) with material design.
The banner at the top disappears when you start scrolling the images, giving more space to appreciate the pictures.
The screen where you actually paint the picture focuses less on flashy elements and more on what’s important: your painting. It’s good that the developer added a shortcut to jump between color categories, since there are a lot of subcategories and scrolling between each of them would’ve been a hassle otherwise.
Few options to choose from.
Nevertheless, there’s a lot of scrolling to do if you’re using different colors, especially on the Hues category. Imagine you want to paint an image with only red and black colors. They’re separated by seven pages worth of colors, and you need to scroll page by page in order to jump between them. There’s definitely room for improvement in that aspect.
Options
The developer clearly focused on giving users a good experience before, during, and after painting, and wants us to use the app as is, instead of providing options for the app. The only option available is to be reminded of new pictures every day.
Some options like deactivating picture categories would’ve been nice, as well as turning off some color packs. For example, I know I will never use a metallic gradient on one of my paintings, so I don’t need to scroll through them in order to get to the colors I actually use. A way to sort the color categories myself or define my favorite ones would be nice too.
What I like
- Beautiful UI
- Several color categories to make things easier to you
- New content added constantly
Room for improvement
- Subscription model has a steep price
- More choice regarding available colors
- Almost no options to setup the app to your liking
Conclusion
Recolor offers a wide range of images and several tools to make your paintings easy and satisfying. The business model proposed by the developer is something they should think about, since it might be expensive for a person looking for some minutes of fun once in a while. If you are into coloring apps, however, Recolor is a solid option that will keep you entertained.
Download and install Recolor from the Google Play Store.
AIVAnet 