Android 7.0: Better performance, longer battery life

By addressing specific things that affect performance and power efficiency, Android 7.0 Nougat should make our phones run better and longer between charges.

Every time the software on our phones receives a big update, we hear how it will perform better and use less of our battery. While it’s often true, the ideas and how they are implemented need plenty of fine-tuning to meet expectations. Android 7.0 improves on two existing features to help them live up to their full potential: Projects Doze, and Project Svelte.

The goals are simple — find ways to make the phone less power hungry when you’re not using it, and better management of background processes. All software is built with an emphasis on performance and efficiency, and an operating system so much more so. We’ll take a look at the changes and see how they could have an impact.

Project Svelte

Project Svelte arrived with started in 2013 with the release of Android 4.4 KitKat as a way for the OS to perform better on lower-end phones. On that front, it did succeed, but we expected bigger changes than we got. For a good idea of what Svelte’s original intentions were, look no further than Android One. The goal was to create inexpensive hardware that runs the latest version of Android well enough to recommend.

With Android 7.0, the project continues to cut down on the performance impact by having an even better system for management of background processes.

Changes to Svelte address two specific and important issues that force apps to run in the background

Android is very different from iOS. Any developer can pay a very small fee and publish an app in Google Play alongside names like Facebook or Samsung. Provided the app has no malicious code, it will go live for everyone to install, and unless it gets reported for inappropriate content or actions it gets to stay (though Google says it does do an automated check of every app before pushing it live). That’s a far cry from every app submitted going through a manual approval process, and it means that apps aren’t being rejected because they don’t follow best development practices. Behavior of some of the current APIs doesn’t help, and even the best apps can wake up and use resources too often due to an errant process.

Improvements to Svelte in Android Nougat fix two glaring issues:

• Apps check to see if the network changes using what’s called a broadcast receiver. When a change happens, every app listening for the change through the default method wakes up at one time and tries to process the data about the change.Think of how your phone acts when it’s first started and everything tries to happen at once, and you have an idea of why this needs some sort of improvement. When targeted towards Android 7.0, apps can only listen for network changes through the main thread (what runs when the app is awake and you’re using it) so they aren’t waking up every time you switch networks. This will use less RAM and CPU time, which means our phones will perform better and use less power.

• In previous versions of Android, apps were able to listen on a similar broadcast receiver for a picture or video to be taken. When that happened, every application that was listening woke up and tried to process the data at once. As above, that isn’t very good on the performance front. In Android 7.0, the new picture and new video broadcasts can’t be sent. That means even if developers don’t update existing apps, they’ll never be told to wake up when a picture or video is taken.

For apps to do many of the things we want them to do, they have to stay alive. Slimming down the things they do while they’re quietly waiting to become active once again by eliminating unnecessary functions means fewer apps will be running instead of sleeping when they are sent to the background.

Project Doze

The way things work now, you either love Doze or you don’t see Doze doing anything noticeable on your phone. That’s because of the way it works.

When Doze debuted in Android 6.0, its intent was to defer CPU and network activity while your phone’s screen was off, unplugged, and motionless. If all three of the criteria were not met, Doze would not kick in and apps would continue to run as normal. This worked great while in the office and at your desk, but as soon as it went into your pocket Doze stopped doing anything and the benefits ceased.

A two-stage Doze lets your phone use less battery while you’re up and moving, too

The behavior change in Android Nougat is simple. Doze now has two stages: one is when the screen is off and the phone is unplugged, and the other is when the phone is also motionless.

When your phone is running on just the battery and the screen has been off for a set amount of time, applications will stop directly accessing the network, and activities like syncing and other jobs are deferred until a predefined amount of time passes. Then, a short maintenance window allows them to perform normal background functions. This part works while your phone is in your pocket or subject to other forms of motion.

When the phone has also been still for a set amount of time, all the Doze restrictions — additional things like apps waking in the background or listening for what’s called an alarm (not the kind that wakes you in the morning, those are unaffected) or looking for the current location — are applied on top of the network and jobs deferrals. The maintenance window still regularly appears, but between those windows your phone is barely alive and not doing much until you pick it up.

We know how well Doze works (when it hasn’t been modified by the people who built your phone) while the phone is still. Now we’ll also see a benefit when we’re up and moving, too.

Will the changes to Svelte and Doze fix every performance and battery issue? The answer, of course, is no. But these changes are logical steps that address two very specific things that needed addressed. the result will prove to be better than what we have now, even if it can’t solve everything.

Android Nougat

Android Nougat is the 12th nicknamed version of Android and will be released to the public in the fall of 2016. Here’s everything you need to know so far!

• What’s new in Android Nougat
• Will my phone get Android Nougat?
• All Android Nougat news
• Should you use the Android N Dev Preview?
• Join the Discussion

DraftKings and FanDuel’s group features make daily fantasy more social

Until now, the focus for daily fantasy companies DraftKings and FanDuel has been just that: daily fantasy sports. However, both companies have announced new features that allow players to make private leagues where they can compete against a small group of friends and colleagues rather than public users of the services. With those private contests, both DraftKings and FanDuel are venturing into the world of season-long fantasy sports, something fans of regular ol’ fantasy football, baseball and more are very familiar with.

Starting today, DraftKings’ Leagues will offer that functionality for its customers. Leagues function as private groups in which users can invite friends for weekly NFL games instead of the daily fantasy commitment. For example, if you wanted to set up a contest for a specific week of the season, you could do so without having to play through all of the NFL slate. And if pro football isn’t really your thing, DraftKings Leagues are open to other sports as well (10 total), including MMA and League of Legends, and you can have contests in different sports among members of the same group.

Where DraftKings begins to venture further into the realm of season-long fantasy is its new leaderboards. Each league will have one that displays the league’s overall standings, history and upcoming games. What’s more, you can view your individual team’s stats or look at the results by sport to see how you measure up with everyone else in the group. You can also watch any of your league’s in-progress contests live as they happen, even if you’re not participating. As DraftKings notes, leaderboards will certainly come in handy for bragging rights, but it’s easy to see how they could be used to determine an overall winner if your league decided it wanted to do so. For example, you could use leaderboard stats for the NFL season to determine who performed best throughout all 17 weeks.

In the case of DraftKings Leagues, you simply create a group and give it a name once you nab commissioner status. From there you can choose a sport and decide whether you want multi-player or head-to-head matchups, as well as the entry fee and the prize structure. You can also opt for the games to repeat weekly, which will certainly be handy in the case of NFL fantasy contests. The process for getting things set up will feel pretty familiar to traditional fantasy sports veterans.

Earlier this month, FanDuel revealed that it would offer a Friends Mode for the upcoming NFL season as part of a wider rebrand. As the company explained in the announcement, this brings a key element of traditional fantasy football to the world of daily fantasy. If you’ve competed in season-long fantasy leagues, you’re no stranger to drafting a roster of players, setting a lineup each week and playing head-to-head matchups throughout the season in a private league of friends, classmates or co-workers. Now there’s the ability to have season-long stats and winnings accumulated with daily fantasy, but FanDuel’s news mentions only the NFL for now. In other words, rather than having multiple games throughout the week, you can play a single weekly contest and have your performance in those measured throughout the NFL season.

If you prefer FanDuel’s daily fantasy for other sports, don’t fret: The company confirmed to Engadget that Friends Mode will offer more options in the future. Starting with just the NFL makes a lot of sense, though, especially with the new season starting up next month. Before the end of August, FanDuel says Friends Mode will roll out the season-long and more social version of its daily fantasy. It works like DraftKings Leagues in that a commissioner creates the group, sets all the criteria and invites people to join. FanDuel users can decide whether or not they want to participate on a week-by-week basis, but weekly contests will be auto-generated after the first one.

What do DraftKings and FanDuel have to gain by adding private groups? Well, the move should lead to more traditional fantasy sports players making the leap to daily fantasy. With the weekly structure for the NFL, the way users select a roster and the head-to-head play, daily fantasy will start to feel a lot like the private groups folks are used to from the likes of ESPN, Yahoo and others. Of course, there’s the ability to wager and win money weekly as well. If you’re not into handing over some funds, you can keep the games free-to-play.

The timing couldn’t be better for both companies to roll out the new groups features, as the NFL is the most popular when it comes to fantasy sports. What’s more, New York, a state that regularly sets precedents that others follow in consumer protection issues, recently voted to legalize daily fantasy sports. Some other states have already approved the games, so it looks like DraftKings and FanDuel will be around for a while longer, especially if they can pad their user base this fall.

Source: DraftKings, FanDuel

Watch Intel’s 2016 Developer Forum keynote here

Intel’s 2016 Developer Forum kicks off today with a keynote from CEO Brian Krzanich. We don’t know what, exactly, he’ll be speaking about yet. But the keynote’s title, “Inventing the Future: The Power of a Smart and Connected World,” is a not-so-subtle hint that we’ll be hearing more about the company’s move towards ubiquitous computing. Intel announced earlier this year that it’s going away from personal computers, and towards IoT and connected wearables. And, as we heard from the company’s new consumer head, Navin Shenoy, he hopes to eventually build something like Tony Stark’s ever-helpful AI helper J.A.R.V.I.S.

Intel’s keynote begins at 9 AM Pacific/ 12 PM Eastern, watch it live below:

Thud Rumble’s Intel-powered DJ mixer has a PC inside

Roughly four years ago, Thud Rumble — a company that’s the brainchild of legendary DJ QBert (Richard Quitevis) and Yogafrog (Ritche Desuasido) — was having an open house. Developer and DJ Rich Johnson (aka DJ Hard Rich) wandered in to talk to the co-founders. During a conversation with Quitevis, Johnson said, “I want to make a mixer for you guys.” Quitevis had long wanted a mixer with an embedded computer so he wouldn’t have to drag a laptop and mixer to gigs. “Can you make something like this?” he asked. Johnson said he could. Finally they’re showing it off.

At today’s Intel IDF keynote, DJs Qbert and Killa-Jewel (Julie Fainer) showed off prototype versions of that four-year-old promise. It’s called “the Invader” and houses a touchscreen display running Windows 10. During today’s presentation, both turntablers were spinning with the popular Traktor mixing software — but they could be using any DJ app that runs on Microsoft’s operating system. It’s an evolution both for mixers and for the company that built it.

Thud Rumble has been designing mixers and other DJ products for third parties like Vestax (which shuttered in 2014) and Sony as well as for itself since 1996. But the Invader will be different. Instead of just ordering a mixer in one of a few different variations, buyers will be able to customize their order with laser-etching options, various colors and a choice of rubber or old-school arcade buttons. Co-founder Desuasido told Engadget, “We’re doing the Tesla business model.”

Johnson is now the company’s lead developer, and he’s been working nonstop to get the two prototypes on stage ready for the Intel keynote. The week before the event, at the Thud Rumble offices in Millbrae, California, Johnson was showing QBert and Killa-Jewel some changes he’d made to the mixers they would be using. So eager to check them out, both DJs started scratching while he was still tweaking the devices.

The prototypes are taller than the final product. Johnson says they could be as thin as two centimeters (the plan is to get them thin enough to slip into a backpack), with articulated legs that extend during setup so they’re the same height as the turntables. Along each side are eight buttons that correspond with cuts (a point in a song) set up by a DJ. As usual, the fader sits in the middle, with the volume controls for each deck above it. Additional buttons and topless knobs are scattered along the face of the Invader. Each corresponds with a feature. The knobs will also be buttons that can be depressed to access additional functions.

One of the biggest features is that the Invader negates the need to drag your personal data around with you. Fainer points out that you already have to carry a mixer around. “You don’t want to be carrying your laptop around too. You have your whole life on that thing,” he says.

Johnson says that he, Quitevis and Desuasido argued about what features to add to the mixer over the course of two days. “It was intense, but it was fun, and we were all really happy about what came out of it.”

The company is hoping DJs will also be happy with what they built. The next step after IDF will be to finalize the printed circuit board (PCB) designs. Native Instruments, which makes Traktor devices, is working with Thud Rumble to create an audio interface. The final Invader mixer will have the usual audio ports, including the ability to switch to phono so DJs can scratch actual vinyl. It’ll have USB 3 ports and an HDMI socket so DJs can use applications like Serato Video to output moving images. As you might expect, given that the device was shown off at Intel’s developer conference, it runs on Intel i5 and i7 processors. It’s competitively priced at $1,699 (the Pioneer DJ DJM-S9 mixer for Serato costs the same without a built-in computer) and will ship at the end of the year.

Quitevis’ hope is that this setup will return DJs to a simpler time, like when he first started spinning. “I was used to just having my mixer and records and, boom, start scratching,” he says. “Now I gotta set up this fricking laptop and wires and stuff.” With the Invader, the all-in-one-mixer dream Quitevis and Johnson had all those years ago might finally bring some streamlining back to DJing.

Source: Thud Rumble

Ford and Baidu join forces to invest in self-driving tech

Auto manufacturer Ford and Chinese search company Baidu are hard at work resarching self-driving technology, but are obviously looking for ways to make it simpler to get things done. The two companies have just announced a joint investment of $150 million in Velodyne, a firm that creates LIDAR sensors.

Velodyne’s LIDAR sensors are integral for helping autonomous cars navigate the streets, and the joint investment will end up making it cheaper to produce said sensors to in turn lower the price tag of the self-driving technology Ford and Baidu are interested in.

LIDAR operates in a manner similar to radar, substituting light waves for radio waves and bouncing them off objects nearby to measure distance. Light waves allow for more meticulously-detailed maps, which obviously is a good look for self-driving cars. Velodyne is looking to make its sensors as cost-effective as it can after noting an “exponential increase” in the demand for the tech it produces.

Baidu and Ford will no doubt be snapping up a good amount of Velodyne’s product, as both are hard at work on self-driving tech and related services.

Via: The Verge

A lab-made black hole supports longstanding Hawking theory

In 1974, Stephen Hawking put forward a hypothesis suggesting radiation can escape the light-sucking grip of a black hole. This week, and over forty years later, newly published research claims to have observed “Hawking radiation” (as it is known) in lab conditions. How do you observe the mother of cosmic monsters in a science lab? With a sonic black hole, a commonly used analogue (that doesn’t swallow your research lab).

The experiments were conducted by Jeff Steinhauer from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, using an analogue black hole in an “atomic Bose-Einstein condensate” — a state where gas bosons are cooled to near absolute zero. It took Steinhauer seven years to perfect his sonic black hole to the point where it was accurate enough to mimic a real cosmic event horizon. Steinhauer was then able to observe phonons (particles of sound) behave at the black hole’s event horizon — and they did so according to Hawking’s theory.

Hawking radiation suggests that a photon pair at the edge of a black hole would split. The negative photon would be swallowed, and the positive photon would be emitted as radiation. This means if a black hole isn’t gaining mass from any other source, eventually it could shrink itself out of existence. The results of Steinhauer’s experiments are the strongest evidence supporting Hawking radiation so far, but until physicists can measure Hawking radiation in a real black hole (no mean feat), it’s a promising start.

Via: Wired

Source: Nature