That iPhone 7 Force Touch home button replacement appears again

Rumours of Apple ditching its physical home button in favour of a Force Touch component have been rife and now more evidence has arrived. Apple reportedly plans to use a solid state capacitive component in the iPhone 7.

The latest leak comes from Business Insider sources that claim the Touch ID home button will not be found in the iPhone 7. While these analyst sources are not what we’d call solid, this rumour has appeared several times.

A leaked photo, claiming to be of an iPhone 7, recently showed a mere ring on the phone’s front where the home button currently sits. Hit and miss rumour mill DigiTimes also reported that Apple will ditch the button in favour of fingerprint Touch ID recognition built right into the entire front panel. This also refers to a single-chip solution, similar to the wording of this latest report.

Apple is also rumoured to get rid of the 3.5mm audio port on the iPhone 7. If Apple is making physical changes, a redesign would make sense. The end of Apple’s iPhone home button could be soon.

Check out our feature on the iPhone 7 in the read link below to learn everything that can be expected so far.

READ: Apple iPhone 7: Release date, rumours and everything you need to know

Now TV Smart Box official, plus no-contract TV, broadband and phone from £9.99

Sky has officially announced its next Now TV box at an event in London. It also launched the Now TV Combo, which lumps a streaming service pass, unlimited broadband, and a phone line, all without a contract.

The combo comes with the new Now TV Smart Box included.

Prices for the combo depends on the pass, broadband package and landline deal, but starts at £9.99 a month. The bigger the pass or better the broadband and phone, the higher the price.

The Now TV Smart Box comes with a digital TV tuner and all of Now TV’s apps and services. You can buy it separately for £40 if you don’t want the Combo package. Live TV is included into the usual menu screen and runs from an aerial socket.

It will be available from early July.

There was no mention of 4K Ultra HD connectivity, as was previously rumoured. We will be asking Sky whether its new box has the capability though, to add 4K channels when they are launched – thought to be later this summer.

The standard Now TV box will continue to be sold for those who don’t require the Freeview tuner.

Electrostatic sheets promise super-light exoskeletons

Of all the reasons exoskeletons aren’t widespread, weight is one of the biggest. Even the slickest designs still tend to need bulky machinery. Not at Carnegie Mellon University, however — its researchers have developed an exoskeleton clutch mechanism that barely weighs anything. Their Electroadhesive Clutch, as the name suggests, relies on electrostatic adhesion between specially coated electrode sheets to control spring movement. At 0.05 ounces per pair, it’s 30 times lighter than existing clutches, and uses up to 750 times less power. Even if you had hundreds of clutches, the robotic assistance would take a huge strain off your body. And did we mention that there’s three times as much torque density?

The technology has the potential to help the disabled and rehabilitating get some mobility without having to deal with a large, heavy reminder of their conditions. However, it could also be helpful for robots, where every weight- and power-saving measure counts. You may well see mechanical suits and automatons that don’t look like they came from a factory.

Source: IEEE, PR Newswire, Steve Collins (YouTube)

Salamander robot can walk, crawl and swim like the real deal

One of the latest robots out of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) can mimic the way a real salamander moves, whether on land or in the water. The EPFL scientists call it Pleurobot (after the species Pleurodeles waltl) and designed it after studying x-ray videos showing the amphibian walking and swimming. According to the institute, other scientists from EPFL had built salamander robots in the past, but this has the most realistic movements thus far. It’s also the first one that’s “accurately based on the 3D motion of the animal’s skeleton.”

Pleurobot is made up of 3D-printed bones, motorized joints and an electronic circuitry that serves as its synthetic central nervous system. It has fewer vertebrae than an actual salamander, but the scientists optimized their placement so that the machine’s movements look as authentic and natural as possible. Team leader Auke Ijspeert says Pleurobot can help them understand vertebrate locomotion.

You see, the lowest level of electrical stimulation in salamanders’ spinal cords is associated with walking, while the highest is associated with swimming. As such, the machine can help scientists explore the relationship between spinal cord stimulation and a vertebrate animal’s movements. In the future, this could lead to neuroprosthetic devices for both amputees and paraplegic patients.

Source: EPFL

The Snapdragon 820 is now optimized for Google’s Tango platform

With the PHAB 2 Pro, Lenovo announced the first consumer-ready phone with support for Google’s augmented reality Tango platform. The PHAB 2 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 652 SoC, which features software-level optimizations to be fully compatible with Tango. Qualcomm has announced at MWC Shanghai that it is expanding Tango support to its flagship Snapdragon 820 SoC, as well as future SoCs in the Snapdragon 800 and 600 tiers.

From Qualcomm:

As we’ve noted, the Snapdragon 652 offers many advantages for Tango, including high accuracy, uniform time stamping of multiple sensor data streams, efficient processing without the need for external co-processors, and leading camera and sensor processing technology. Now, Snapdragon 820 offers the same advantages, as well as the added benefits of our premium Snapdragon 800 tier processors, including higher performance and even lower power consumption.

The fact is, all Snapdragon 600 and 800 series processors share the same architectural advantages needed to deliver Tango experiences in highly mobile form factors. Tightly integrated into a single chip, the components of Snapdragon processors are uniquely equipped to simultaneously process data from all five Tango-related sensors (gyroscope, accelerometer, and three camera sensors, including two new Tango-specific camera sensors: a fisheye motion tracking camera and a depth sensor camera).

Snapdragon 600 and 800 series processors also include an integrated global high-frequency clock, which performs highly accurate, uniform time stamping of all that sensor data, which is critical for enabling smooth augmented reality experiences, where 3D graphic overlays track virtually seamlessly with physical surroundings.

Tango does not require a specialized co-processor, and as such an OEM can build an AR-ready phone by adding a depth sensor and motion tracking camera. Qualcomm is hoping that the technology becomes a standard feature, and support for the high-end Snapdragon 820 opens up the potential for a lot of interesting AR hardware.

U.S. carriers enable free calls to Turkey following Istanbul terror attacks

Following the devastating terror attacks at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon have announced that their customers can call and text friends and family in Turkey for free.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere condemned the attack, saying that the carrier will offer free calls and texts to Turkey through July 5:

The attack in Istanbul is horrifying & senseless. We’re making it free to call/text from the US to Turkey thru Tues. https://t.co/ZXXeFsYzCL

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) June 29, 2016

Sprint CEO mentioned that all calls and texts to Turkey from Sprint, Virgin Mobile USA, and Boost Mobile customers will be waived off until July 5:

.@Sprint, @virginmobileusa & @boostmobile will waive fees for customer call/texts to & from #Turkey thru July 5 pic.twitter.com/hVq6oVfK52

— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) June 29, 2016

From AT&T:

AT&T will waive or credit charges incurred for consumer or business calls placed by AT&T’s customers from the United States to Turkey between June 28, 2016 to June 30, 2016, in the local time zone. This includes landline, texting, and mobility (Postpaid and GoPhone) calls.

Verizon is offering free calls and texts to Turkey until June 29:

More than 170,000 Verizon employees worldwide extend condolences to all our friends and family in Turkey. In this time of uncertainty, we want to support our customers affected by the attack at Ataturk airport in Istanbul, Turkey, so Verizon is offering free wireless and wireline calling from the U.S. to Turkey to connect with family and friends.

Wireless users will incur no charges for texts or international long distance calls originating from the U.S. to Turkey on June 28 and 29, 2016 (applicable taxes and surcharges will apply).

Home wireline telephone customers can make free calls to Turkey on June 28 and 29, 2016 (applicable taxes and surcharges will apply).

OnePlus details sketches of the circular smartwatch that never was

OnePlus was working on a circular smartwatch along the lines of the Moto 360 last year, but the product never saw the light of day. The company’s co-founder Carl Pei took to Twitter to share sketches of the smartwatch, which would’ve featured a removable component that allows users to easily swap out bands.

What could have been but never will be. Sketches circa 2015. #throwback pic.twitter.com/5zKuSdDiv0

— Carl Pei (@getpeid) June 29, 2016

Talking to The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau revealed that the smartwatch plans were abandoned as the company decided to focus on high-end smartphones:

We had completed the design but we still decided to scrap it. We have to be focused.

There is no bottom line at all. It is a very cruel market.

OnePlus’ realignment of its product roadmap paid off with its latest handset, but it would have been interesting to see the direction the company was taking with its smartwatch.