NIH funds Zika study on US team during Rio Olympics
There’s a lot of excitement building for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic events in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but also mounting anxiety around the prevalence of Zika in the South American country. The National Institute of Health (NIH) has funded a study to monitor any evidence of the virus in a subset of the US athletic team dispatched to the games. Health officials hope to learn all they can about its infection and duration, as they can do little more to protect the the athletes, coaches and staff than educate them about how best to avoid catching it.
Of the estimated 3,000 members of the US Olympic Committee (USOC) headed to Rio, the NIH hopes to get 1,000 of them to participate in the study. Since the virus often has no external symptoms, only regular testing of bodily fluids can alert doctors of infection. Zika has little known effect on adults, but babies of infected mothers often end up with brain damage from the condition microcephaly. Pregnant women (or those intending to get pregnant) have been warned away from South American areas, like Rio, with known outbreaks.
While progress has been made on experimental vaccines, a human-approved version is still a ways off. But it’s this kind of study, and others that receive funding from a specially-accelerated NIH grant process, that will provide the data to refine medical prevention that will stop Zika’s spread.
Source: National Institute of Health
Researchers create a microscopic game of ‘Pac-Man’
Researchers with the Institute of Micro and Nano Systems Technology in Norway have built a one-millimeter wide recreation of the original Pac-Man maze, all for the lo-fi enjoyment of some microscopic organisms. Rather than 8-bit graphics and pixelated fruit, the researchers built their “game” out of nanostructures that were colorfully lit in the manner of the 1980 arcade classic and then populated with single-celled organisms representing the circular hero. Rather than ghosts, the bad guys here are hungry multicellular creatures out to eat those unsuspecting ciliates.
While there’s no joystick or coin slot, obviously, the three species of microscopic animals are zipping around the maze just fine on their own. And that’s just the point — it was constructed as a way for the researchers to observe the behavioral patterns of the single-cell protozoans and their multi-cellular predators. While the Pac-Man board is obviously far from a natural habitat for these creatures, the walls and channels actually much more similar to real world conditions than an empty and sterile petri dish. With a single cell Pac-Man already happening, what we need next is a controllable nanocar version of Pole Position.
Nintendo Considering Creating Physical Controllers for Smartphones and Tablets
As a part of its push into mobile gaming, Nintendo is considering creating physical controllers and other kinds of hardware for different types of mobile games and experiences, reports Polygon. Shinya Takahashi, Nintendo’s general manager of entertainment planning and development, discussed the possibility at the company’s annual shareholders meeting.
“Physical controllers for smart device applications are available in the market and it is possible that we may also develop something new by ourselves,” Takahashi said. “I believe Nintendo’s way of thinking is to look at whether action games are really not impossible (without a physical controller for smart device applications) to create and how we can make it happen to create such a game.”
In the console and handheld gaming spaces, Nintendo has taken to crafting unique controllers that the company can take advantage of with its first-party games. Nintendo’s unique controllers include a reverse trident design, motion control remotes and dual-screen handhelds.
Apple added support for iOS game controllers with iOS 7, expanding its Made for iPhone program to include game controller accessories. More recently, the company dropped its requirement for tvOS games to support the Siri Remote, allowing game developers to create more complex games for the fourth-generation Apple TV.
Nintendo also reiterated its commitment to create mobile app experiences that aren’t games, like its social lifestyle game / app Miitomo. The company still has plans to release five smartphone games by March 2017, with Miitomo already released and Pokemon GO set to debut later this month. Smartphone games based on Nintendo franchises Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing will arrive later this year.
Tags: Nintendo, MFi Program
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Nintendo is thinking about making game controllers for smartphones and tablets
Nintendo executive Shinya Takahashi stated recently that it’s possible the Japan-based game developer could create controllers for smartphones and tablets in the future.
Polygon reports that Takahashi, Nintendo’s general manager of entertainment planning and development, brought up the notion at the company’s annual general shareholders.
“Physical controllers for smart device applications are available in the market and it is possible that we may also develop something new by ourselves,” Takahashi said. “I believe Nintendo’s way of thinking is to look at whether action games are really not impossible (without a physical controller for smart device applications) to create and how we can make it happen to create such a game.”
Nintendo has already released its first smartphone app, the chat software Miitomo. The company has plans to release at least four more apps before the end of March 2017, with one based on Nintendo’s Animal Crossing franchise, and another to be based on its Fire Emblem game series.
Pokémon Go is … GO!!! (As in now available)
We’ve worn the hats. We’ve played the beta. Now it’s time for everyone to get their download on.
Pokémon Go is now available for Android.
OK, so it’s almost available. It’s now got a proper listing in Google Play, completely with a whopping 50,000 installs (thanks, beta!) and in-app purchases. But as of right this second it’s not available for any of my devices. (And I have a lot of devices.) So get that F5 button ready.
Download Pokémon Go (free)
Finally! Apple’s next iPhone will start out with 32GB of storage
So long, 16GB iPhone!
The Wall Street Journal has claimed that Apple’s next flagship iPhone models, thought to be called iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, won’t be available with the long-standard 16GB storage option. Instead, the entry-level iPhone 7 will start out at 32GB. Thank you, Apple.
Let’s be real here: 16GB is not enough for all your apps, games, and music – let alone photos and 4K video clips. You of course can use iCloud or some other cloud storage service, but most people simply prefer to locally save certain things. With the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S, Apple offers a choice between 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB. And the jump from 16GB to 64GB is a $100 difference.
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For some people, 64GB costs too much extra money and comes with more space than they need. If Apple does bring back the 32GB option, it would be the perfect middle-ground. We’re assuming a 32GB iPhone 7 would cost $650, the same as the entry-level iPhone 6S, and that means the 64GB version would likely stay at $750 and so on. Only time will tell, however.
The next iPhones are due to be unveiled this autumn – around September. Check out Pocket-lint’s round-up for more details about what else the iPhone 7 might or might not (like that missing headphone jack) feature.
Apple’s Health app will let you sign up to donate organs in the US
Apple wants you to donate your organs.
The Cupertino-based company has announced that it is partnering with Donate Life America, with the purpose of giving Americans an easier way to sign up to be an organ, eye, or tissue donor right from the iPhone. Apple said joining the national organ donor registry will take “just a few taps” in the updated Health app set to arrive with iOS 10 this autumn, making it quick and simple for any iPhone user in the US to become an organ donor.
Apple’s Health app launched in 2014. It lets iPhone users securely store their medical history information. The organ donation feature will be available in the Medical ID section inside the app. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, told the Associated Press he hopes the feature will help ease donor shortage. He referred to Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, as an example, noting Jobs endured an “excruciating” wait for a liver transplant in 2009.
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“Watching and seeing him every day, waiting and not knowing – it stuck with me and left an impression that I’ll never forget,” Cook told AP. There are over 120,000 Americans currently waiting for a transplant, and a new person is added to the national waiting list every 10 minutes.
To begin using the feature now, grab the developer preview of iOS 10. It’s available to iOS Developer Program members. A public beta program will also be available later this month. Otherwise, the final version of iOS 10 will be available around September as a free software update.
Enter to win the PlayStation 4 and Uncharted 4 giveaway
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The PS4 is the pinnacle of modern home entertainment, with cutting-edge hardware and gaming tech, as well as incredible games like the ever-popular GTA, Star Wars Battlefront and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, to name just a few. With over 40 million units sold worldwide featuring next-gen high-fidelity graphics and deeply immersive gaming experiences, today’s standard for family fun and multimedia immersion is an exhilarating platform with unlimited potential.
The adventure is made of pure adrenaline in Uncharted 4, the wildly fun third-person game that puts you in the center of stealth-combat action. GameSpot has given the elusive and coveted 10/10, while MetaCritic has surveyed it to a 93 per cent rating. Single player, cooperative and multiplayer modes are available, each delivering their own uniquely exciting gaming experience.
Enjoy a wide range of media streaming options, premium content, downloadable content, customization and more. With super-fast processors and 8GB of high-performance unified system memory, the PS4 system is the central hub for all your entertainment needs.
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Google headquarters faces string of attacks
However much you might be concerned about Google’s stance on privacy, it shouldn’t cross into violence… unfortunately, however, one person appears to have taken those worries one step too far. Prosecutors have charged Raul Murillo Diaz with arson after he reportedly tried to set fire to one of Google’s Street View cars at its Mountain View campus on May 19th. In a sworn statement, Diaz was upset that Google was supposedly watching him — he went so far as to write journal entries when he thought the company was tracking his moves.
It’s unlikely to be an isolated incident, either. Diaz’s SUV was spotted when someone shot windows at a Google building on June 4th, and a hooded man set fire to a Google car on June 10th. As it stands, the police say they arrested Diaz when he was transporting both a weapon case and the parts for a pipe bomb. If all the attacks are linked, it’s possible that things could have gotten much, much worse.
This kind of violence is new for Google, but it does reflect a small pattern of anti-Google sentiment boiling over and reaching the company’s front door. Protestors disrupted the Google I/O 2014 keynote more than once, and Kevin Rose faced protests at his home that year for supposedly “destroying San Francisco” through his partner role at Google Ventures. The claims have been shaky at least some of the time (one I/O protestor maintained that Google was making killer robots), but it’s clear that the internet giant’s reach has pushed some people over the edge.
Source: Mercury News
You too can build a 33-foot-wide computer to play ‘Tetris’
When we marvel at advances in computing, we compare the mechanical calculators that filled rooms with the smartphones in our pockets. While our palm-sized miracles are magnitudes more powerful than the processors that put men on the moon, their internals are so complex that they’re extremely difficult to conceptualize. One man wanted to see for himself how a modern computer works, so he started building one in 2012 that expanded its digital guts across the room, laying out its systems for the layman to understand. Last week, he finally finished his macro machine: Behold, the Megaprocessor.
To be clear, digital electronics engineer James Newman constructed it out of hobbyist curiosity, not to build a homebrew Cray competitor. His project has about 40,000 transistors, 10,000 LEDs to visualize data movement and weighs about 500kg but does the computing job of a standard chip-sized microprocessor. It’s more of an educational tool than an efficient setup, but in a demonstration video, Newman shows off its computational heft by using it to play Tetris.
If this sounds like a great use of your time and money, be forewarned: the creator estimates that the Megaprocessor cost him about £40,000 to make. It also took him almost four years to finally complete, and the result is a marvel of custom soldering and wiring. But if you don’t want to sink that much of your life into repeating Newman’s Herculean endeavor, you can watch him walk through how his creation functions in a video series up on YouTube.
Source: BBC
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