Project Tango is a portal to another world
The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro is the size of a basketball shoe, it has rough software, and it’s going on sale at a hardware store. That’s a strange mixed bag for Lenovo’s first US smartphone offering, but still in all, I couldn’t wait to try it out.
That’s because the Phab 2 Pro is more than just a weirdo phablet: it’s the first commercially-available smartphone with Tango, Google’s augmented reality platform. In the couple days I’ve had with the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, I’ve put raptors on my breakfast table, test-fit expensive couches in my living room and remotely measured the dimensions of everything in sight. Are these glimpses of the future of augmented reality worth the $499 price tag (and the bevy of bugs that Lenovo’s software packs along with it)? Find out in MrMobile’s hands-on with the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro and Project Tango!
Got any further questions? Check out the ongoing Q and A thread in the VRHeads forums with our very own Russell Holly.
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OnePlus 3 owners shouldn’t fret about software updates
The OnePlus 3 will get updates at the same time as the OnePlus 3T, until the end.
If you’re a newly-minted OnePlus 3 owner ticked off at the sudden appearance of the better, more powerful OnePlus 3T, here’s one piece of solace: the two phones will be updated at the same time (which we already knew), and the original will receive updates for as long as its newer kin.
In a statement issued to Android Authority, OnePlus confirmed that “the OnePlus 3 will continue to receive updates alongside the OnePlus 3T until the newer device reaches the end of its update life cycle.” The life cycle is not clear right now, but OnePlus has committed to keeping its newer-generation phones updated for longer than its 2014 and 2015 counterparts. Indeed, the OnePlus One received Marshmallow through its now-defunct partnership with Cyanogen, while its successor, the OnePlus 2, will get Nougat at some point, but likely not much beyond it.
So that’s good news for OnePlus 3 owners, at least those looking beyond the immediate release of Nougat to the next version of Android, and perhaps the one after that.
OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T
- OnePlus 3 review: Finally, all grown up
- The OnePlus 3T is official
- OnePlus 3 specs
- OnePlus 3T vs. OnePlus 3: What’s the difference?
- Latest OnePlus 3 news
- Discuss OnePlus 3 in the forums
OnePlus
Xiaomi is making a ‘global’ announcement at CES
A big announcement from a growing player in the global tech game.
Xiaomi has been making waves in the U.S. in recent months despite having never officially launched a phone in the region. Between the impressive Mi Note 2 and the innovative Mi Mix concept phone, an increasing number of people are able to identify the Chinese company’s brand and ambition without ever interacting with one of its products.
That may change — and the little-known Mi Box doesn’t count — starting in early 2017 as Xiaomi plans to unveil a “global” product at CES in January, the first time in its short history it has done so.
Hey Vegas! Will be at @CES for the first time launching an all-new product globally. Guesses? Place your bets now! https://t.co/kjAzE0hPO1 pic.twitter.com/NWx802raKJ
— Mi (@xiaomi) November 22, 2016
While there is no indication a phone is part of that strategy — Xiaomi likely can’t, or doesn’t want to, get over the regulatory and licensing roadblocks necessary to enter the U.S. market — the product is likely mobile-adjacent, perhaps a Daydream headset or a smartwatch.
We won’t have to wait much longer to see — CES is just over a month away.
What is LeEco’s EcoPass actually worth?
As of now, the Le Pro3’s content offerings aren’t enticing. Not even a little bit.
Last month, Chinese smartphone maker, LeEco, announced the Le Pro3, an Android device that promises to be thinner, faster, and more powerful than the competition. For $400, you get the phone, which features top-of-the-line specifications, in addition to three months of LeEco’s EcoPass, which is what ostensibly unlocks a subscription to LeEco’s video content services.
There’s a catch, however. Since it’s all still in “beta,” there is no word on how much the EcoPass will cost to continue reaping the benefits of its content library. And that got me thinking: How much is LeEco’s content library even worth in the first place? As a dedicated subscriber to a number of free and premium on-demand entertainment services, I decided to venture in and gauge it myself.
LeWhat?
There are two ways to play LeEco’s content. The first is to launch the Le app, which showcases all the content you can watch on demand. Then there’s Le Live, which aggregates all that watchable content into channels that are easy to peruse.
Remember when Netflix first started offering streaming video and a majority of the available titles were mostly low-budget horror movies and arty indie flicks? LeEco’s offerings are a little like that. To dig out gems like Chris Rock’s Good Hair and Benny & Joon, you’ll have to sift through some slightly jarring movie titles and hokey web series.
It took a long time for me to find anything worth watching.
It took a long time for me to find anything worth watching. I was surprised at how little “on demand” content is actually offered and then subsequently annoyed that it was outdated. The Vice channel on Le, for instance, lets you watch episodes from series like Munchies and Noisey, but most of the episodes are already available on YouTube. Where’s the exclusivity?
Here’s another bold move on LeEco’s part: Charging for channels with content that’s free somewhere else. If you want a children-only entertainment channel, for instance, you’ll have to fork over $3.99 a month, or 399 EcoPass tokens. This unlocks shows like Sonic the Hedgehog — yes, that one — Sabrina The Animated Series, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3, and Inspector Gadget. These shows are already free to watch on Pluto.TV, another live mobile TV app. Granted, you won’t get them on-demand like you do with a subscription on a LeEco smartphone, but it’s still free somewhere else! The kid’s channel offers other content, too, and some shows I’ve never heard of, but I’d much rather pull from the free YouTube Kids app if I were a parent than pay another monthly subscription price.
What is worth paying for?
Have you heard of Seeso? It’s a curated comedy channel. On its own, it costs $4 a month for a subscription. You can watch a library of Saturday Night Live” and *Monty Python clips, in addition to seasons of shows like Parks and Recreation and original content from both indie and mainstream comedians. It’s available as an app on every major set-top box and streaming device.
Now, you can already subscribe to this channel on your own time, without the help of LeEco. It’s even included in your package if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber. So why, then, is LeEco attempting to advertise Seeso as exclusive content, especially when it’s already offered as a standalone app? It’s not even a part of the EcoPass subscription — You have to pay the extra $4 a month on top of what you’d already be paying monthly. That’s not exactly a deal.
And then there’s Tastemade, which is basically the web’s Food Network. It’s cute, it’s kooky, and most of the content is already shown for free on Pluto TV. The only benefit of paying the $3.50 monthly subscription price is to get access to Tastemade Plus, and that’s if you find a personal benefit from this Internet food channel. Still, it’s not inspiring me to buy into LeEco’s content ecosystem, especially when I can already purchase this on my own.
Is the EcoPass even worth it?
There’s a reason LeEco didn’t announce its monthly subscription prices for the EcoPass at its big event back in October: It’s not worth much. What you’d be paying for is scrap content from the Internet. You could very well curate your own YouTube playlist with more interesting clips and clandestinely uploaded television shows if you wanted. (Let’s be honest: We all scour for those from time to time.) And here’s the worst part: You can’t even cast the shows from a LeEco smartphone to your television unless you’ve got a LeTV in the house.
What you’d be paying for is scrap content from the Internet.
In all fairness, I pay monthly for content on Hulu and Netflix that I will never watch, but the difference is that both of those services offer something else that I find worth the value. I watch so much of ABC and NBC’s content on Hulu, for instance, and I like that I can do so on demand. I can also watch it on any TV set I want, or my tablet, or my computer.
LeEco’s offerings don’t entice me to buy its products. All I see are libraries of movies I’ve never heard of before, and web content I’ve already seen. It’s possible that once LeEco’s partnerships with Lionsgate and MGM come to fruition, that the EcoPass will be more worth the money. But don’t bank on that as a reason to buy into LeEco’s ecosystem.
More: LeEco LePro 3 and Le S3 Hands-on: Welcome to the U.S.
How to fix apps stuck in Daydream Mode
How do I stop apps from launching in VR mode?
Google’s Daydream does something unique in the world of smartphone-based VR platforms. When you install an app, you get both the standard Android version of the app and the Daydream version of that app at the same time. This is super convenient for apps like Hulu, which ask you to log in to view videos. Typing in VR is less convenient, and this all-in-one solution not only works well but is much more respectful of the storage users have on their phones.
Occasionally, you may find yourself trying to access a standard app on your phone, and instead of getting the normal interface you get the split-screen VR mode meant for when your phone is in the Daydream headset. Here’s how to keep yourself from being stuck in Daydream mode!
Read more at VR Heads!
Alexa, clean my house: Neato Botvac adds Echo integration
Neato Robotics has announced support for Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, enabling users to control their Botvac Connected robot vacuum with their voice through Alexa.
The partnership will launch with four supported commands to begin with, comprising start, stop, pause and resume. “Alexa, ask Neato to start cleaning” will see the robot vacuum begin its cleaning duties around your home, while “Alexa, ask Neato to stop cleaning” will see it return to its charging base.
The company is working on introducing other commands in the future, such as scheduling and specific cleaning modes and it is also planning on introducing the Alexa skill to its other connected models.
Neato offers three connected robot cleaners within its range, including the D3 and D5 Connected that launched at IFA earlier this year, but only the flagship Botvac Connected model offers Alexa support for now.
- Amazon Echo: What can Alexa do and what services are compatible?
In order to take advantage of the Amazon Alexa feature, both Amazon Echo, or Echo Dot, and the Neato Botvac Connected robot cleaner will be required, naturally. Users will then need to search for Neato within the Smart Home Skills section of the Alexa app and add it.
The Alexa Skill will be available to UK and US customers from 22 November. The Neato Botvac Connected costs £549.99. Amazon’s Echo costs £149.99 and the Echo Dot costs £49.99.
- Neato Botvac Connected review
- Amazon Echo review
ICYMI: The balloon bot that can actually stand upright
Today on In Case You Missed It: A scientist at UCLA’s Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory is experimenting with a way to get around the fact that robots have a difficult time maintaining a high center of gravity, aka they always fall down; so he’s built something that looks like a balloon on stick insect legs. It’s still very much a prototype but perhaps the idea will remain in future walking bots. Meanwhile, scientists at SLAC came up with a way to spot photosynthesis at room temperature, using an X-ray laser. Previous tests had always relied on freezing leaves to track it.
If you’re getting your projects in order for the coming weekend, we recommend the DIY fire tornado. If you’re looking for the Rubix Cube solving bot, that’s here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Old Apple computers make excellent plant pots
What should you do with old Apple hardware? Keep it and maintain it as the company intended, old software and all? Or maybe donate it to a museum, where fellow fans can gaze at its chunky keys and adorably low-res display longingly? Christophe Guinet, also known as ‘Monsieur Plant,’ has another idea. For his latest project, Plant Your Mac!, the Parisian artist has converted some classic Apple products into tiny gardens. All of the machines, which include the Macintosh Classic, the iMac G3 and G5, now house a selection of lush, exotic plants in unusual, imaginative ways.
The old Macintosh Classic, for instance, has a small bonsai tree sprouting out of the top. The soil and roots can be seen through the display — or rather, where it used to be — while an innocent sapling grows out of the mouse nearby. Some, such as the iMac G3, contain the foliage neatly within their original housing. Others, like the iMac G5 and PowerBook, have their new companions bursting out of the display in spectacular fashion. Together they’re a beautiful collection guaranteed to spruce up any home. We expect some purists will disagree with the treatment — but in our humble opinion, it’s a neat way of reusing some truly iconic technology.
Via: DesignBoom
Source: Monsieur Plant
Tesla runs an entire island on solar power
Now that Tesla has officially acquired SolarCity, it’s not wasting any time showing what the combined entity can do. Tesla has revealed that it’s running the island of Ta’u (in American Samoa) on a solar energy microgrid that, at 1.4 megawatts, can cover “nearly 100 percent” of electrical needs. It’s not just the 5,328 solar panels that are key — it’s the 60 Tesla Powerpacks that offer 6 megawatt-hours of energy storage. While Ta’u is normally very sunny, the packs can keep it running for three days without sunlight. They don’t have to worry about a cloudy day leading to blackouts.
The solar switch, which took a year to complete, has both its long-term environmental and immediate practical benefits. Like many remote communities, Ta’u previously had to run on diesel generators. That burns 300 gallons of fuel per day, which is neither eco-friendly nor cheap. Solar eliminates the pollution, of course, but it also saves the cost of having to continuously buy and ship barrels of diesel. And crucially, it provides a more reliable source of electricity. Locals previously had to ration power (say, if a diesel shipment wasn’t on time) or accept periodic outages. Now, they can assume they’ll have power at all times.
Ta’u is clearly an ideal test case. On top of its paradise-like weather, there are less than 600 residents with relatively modest power needs. It’d require much, much more power to accommodate a full-blown city, especially in climates where cloudy days are more commonplace. However, it could still serve as a good example. Tesla’s mission is to wean the world off of fossil fuels, and this shows that it’s a realistic goal in at least some corners of the globe.
Via: The Verge
Source: SolarCity Blog
NHS to use Google DeepMind AI app to help treat patients
Google and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust have announced a fresh five-year collaboration today, which will see the former’s DeepMind AI used to improve patient care across the trust’s various hospital sites. The partnership will focus on Streams, a mobile app the pair have been working on since late last year that’s been approved as a medical device by the UK’s health regulator. DeepMind will analyse blood test results as they come in and flag when patients might be at risk of acute kidney injury, proactively alerting carers through the Streams app.
It’ll go live across the trust in early 2017, and there are plans to expand the blood analysis to look for signs of sepsis and other causes of organ failure. The pair hope to add messaging and task management features over the course of the collaboration too, and Streams is said to be built on open standards that will allow other developers to easily add new services. The general idea is to significantly speed up response times, improving the treatment of kidney injury before it progresses any further.
Streams should also free up time for carers to do what they best — over half a million hours per year, apparently — which would otherwise be dedicated to admin and jumping between multiple paper-based and aging computer systems.
Google’s DeepMind AI has famously beaten a Go world champion, improved data centre efficiency, been trained to mimic human speech, and is currently learning how to play Starcraft II. In the UK, the DeepMind Health initiative was set up earlier this year to work with the NHS on healthcare applications. In addition to the Streams project, DeepMind is being used to improve the treatment of ocular diseases and head and neck cancer at Moorfields Eye Hospital and the University College London Hospital, respectively.
Google and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust may have partnered with the best of intentions when they originally started working on Streams, but the pair have drawn flak over the sheer amount of data being shared between them. Earlier this year, it came to light that DeepMind had access to the personal data and medical history of the trust’s 1.6 million patients. This makes sense because healthcare is complicated, and all that information is necessary to evaluate treatment options.
It wasn’t just the wealth of information being shared that inspired criticism, though, but also that the data-sharing agreement was established with implied consent from patients, and with little oversight. Ethical, privacy and data protection concerns have all formed part of the discussion, and the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office confirmed it was looking into the agreement earlier this year.
The debate continues, and the DeepMind website attempts to explain at length how data security and privacy are protected. Within the Streams announcements today, both parties also describe how seriously they are taking data protection under the new five-year collaboration. DeepMind’s data centres have already passed NHS audits, and will be subject to more carried out by independent experts, who will also look at the Streams software.
Everything will be logged for the benefit of the trust, too, so there will be transparency around who, when, where and why patient information is accessed. “The data can never be combined with any Google services or accounts under any circumstances,” the trust’s release states, and in order to satisfy staunch skeptics, the new data-sharing agreement with DeepMind will also be published for all to scrutinise.
Via: BBC
Source: DeepMind, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
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