Nikon and Verily team up to fight diabetes-related eye disease

Verily, Google’s former Life Sciences division, teamed up with a French pharmaceutical company to help treat diabetes just a few months ago. Now, it has joined forces with Nikon to enhance the screening process for diabetic retinopathy and macular edema — diabetes-related eye diseases and two of the leading causes of blindness in adults. They want to create machine learning-enabled retinal imaging technologies that can detect the diseases in their early stages. That way, doctors can step in and prevent the patients from going blind whenever possible.

The details of the partnership aren’t entirely clear at this point, but Nikon will apparently use its expertise in “optical engineering and precision manufacturing, its proprietary ultra-widefield technology and strong commercial presence among eyecare specialists.” Verily, on the other hand, is in charge of the machine learning technology side of things.

Verily has been pretty busy since it became a separate company a year ago. In addition to its diabetes-related projects, it launched its own robot surgery spinoff and created a sensor-laden health-tracking watch. It also developed a wearable microscope that can see inside a person’s skin, so doctors can detect cancers and monitor drug delivery in a patient’s body.

Source: Nikon

Crowdfunded laptop dock for Android phones misses launch date

The Superbook, a device that converts your smartphone into a laptop, is the latest high-profile Kickstarter project to delay shipping to backers. The $99 device, basically a screen and keyboard shell powered by your smartphone’s processor and memory, raised nearly $3 million after garnering pledges from 16,732 backers. However, the company has announced that it will postpone shipping from February 2017 to June 2017 because design changes and supplier issues.

The company said the campaign’s runaway success took it by surprise, so it decided to modify the design slightly to ease manufacturing. “We were advised by manufacturing experts to add in some modifications to make the Superbook easier to manufacture and better suited for our international backers,” said CEO Andrew Jiang.

He added that the company is seeking new component vendors after parts prices went way up, and changed the shipping to ocean freight to reduce costs. At the same time, he promised to eliminate VAT and customs expenses for international backers.

Some backers took the four month delay in stride, given the relatively small purchase amount, while others demanded refunds (that aren’t forthcoming). One Superbook buyer and Kickstarter “Superbacker” who has funded 76 projects put it this way: Of 39 shipped, 22 arrived late, and for the other projects that haven’t shipped, most are overdue. Given that, and crowdfunding’s generally dismal delivery rates, buyers of hardware products and (and games) should generally keep their expectations low.

Source: Kickstarter

Recover Deleted Files Fast & Easy With EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard

Losing data from your PC or Laptop could be annoying or even worse for anyone, for governmental organizations, it may prove a threat to national security. What could be expected if all in a sudden, you a deprived of your personal files worth your career or some unforgettable moments of life we never want to lose in our lives. Sometimes, it is intentional, sometimes it isn’t, still what if all of it is erased? Is it coming back or gone forever? Well, the answer may be yes and no, some files or data could be recovered easily while taking back deleted data from your hard disk may become as challenging and arduous as finding life on Mars, let’s suppose.

According to the statistics of Data loss by a leading Data Recovery Software tool EaseUS, there are multiple types of data loss problems faced by their clients every year. Most of the data lost were through viruses, system crashes and malfunctions, hardware failures, mistakenly deleted data, cyber-attacks, or by equipment mishandling or natural calamities. Still, all the possibilities are on the cards. The United States is at number 1 spot with most data losses on the commercial, governmental, and domestic scale.

Here are few of the common data loss problems occur with most of us every day.

Hardware Failures are the most common of all data losses. Laptops and PCs are prone to hardware malfunctions. For outdated hard drives of computer systems, System crashes are frequent, and every crash loses most of the system as well as personal data or reduces its efficiency to half or even worse. Some of the most common hardware data losses are software corruption, unsaved data, or unexpected system shutdown with files opened.

Mistakenly deleted files could be recovered on a small scale, still for larger files or slightly overwritten files, it is a hard task, even for some professional data recovery software tools. It is recommended to use data recovery software. it has a professional software structure and ingredients needed to do the job. Recovering formatted files is not one of the impossibilities programmers and techies faced back in the early 2000s.

Cyber Malware attacks often result in massive data losses in Computers. They are among the most common occurrences of data loss. A malware enters the system through external drive i.e. storage drives, or through the internet along with some installation file, mostly an executable file (.exe format). It either paralyze the system or prompts operator to install software frequently. Usually, the user has to format every single file to eliminate the malware or to install the fresh Operating system. Windows Operating System has taken steps to remove the threat of auto install viruses and malware in their latest Windows, still if it, somehow manages to enter the system, your OS is likely to become irresistible in front of it. Creating new partition also result in a complete data loss until you have a backup point or recovery drive.

Free Data Recovery Software is best for minor data retrieval; users are allowed to recover up to 2 GB of data to any internal and external disk. For $69.95, with no data recovery limit and fast processing, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro is flexible for single user packed with Raw recovery, free lifetime upgrade, and freedom to recover any type and kind of file.

The particular hard drive recovery services are available from $700 – $1500 with a full drive logical recovery and imaging of data to the recent drive.

Moto G4 and G4 Plus are now receiving the Nougat update in India

Nougat OTA now rolling out, brings one-handed mode to the G4 Plus.

The Moto G4 and G4 Plus are now picking up the Android 7.0 Nougat update in India. The update comes in at 773MB, and introduces a new Moto Actions feature that lets you shrink the screen size down using a swipe gesture. The feature is designed to make it easier to use the phone one-handed, and you can enable it by swiping up, left, or right from the bottom of the screen. You also get inline replies, new Doze mode, split screen support, and more.

I posted about the update when Motorola released its Nougat changelog earlier this year, so this time around I wanted to wait until my Moto G4 Plus actually received the update. The OTA started rolling out to my device earlier today, incrementing the build number to NPJ25.93-11 and bringing the November 1 security patch.

The OTA is now rolling out widely in India, and if you’re on either the Moto G4 or the G4 Plus, head to your phone’s settings to manually initiate the download. That’s Settings -> About phone -> System updates.

Lamborghini confirms Urus SUV will be its only plug-in hybrid

According to Autocar, we’ll be seeing the first production hybrid Lamborghini soon. The publication reports that Lamborghini’s research and development chief, Maurizio Reggiani, confirmed that the Urus SUV will be offered with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. This would also makes sense considering former Lamborghini CEO Stephen Winkelmann’s statement that if the company ever produced a hybrid, the Urus would be “the logical place for it to launch.” Aside from this, Reggiani revealed nothing more about the gas-electric Urus.

Reggiani did, however, provide some insight to Autocar into Lamborghini’s powertrain decisions. He told the publication that the Urus’s already confirmed twin-turbo V8 was chosen because of a need for torque in an SUV. With this in mind, it will be interesting to see what the company does with the hybrid since a big enough electric motor (or motors) could provide a remarkable amount of torque and, in turn, some impressive performance figures. Lamborghini has even shown this potential in the Asterion concept, which produced 910 horsepower from a 5.2-liter V10 and three electric motors. Of course we’d expect an Urus hybrid to be much less potent and probably connected to a version of the turbocharged V8.

Reggiani also told Autocar that, just as the Urus has specific powertrain needs, the supercars do as well. He said that the company has no intention of adding turbocharging to any of its cars. On this subject, he told the publication, “A supercar is completely different; you need the responsiveness of the engine, to feel the spark of every cylinder.” It will be interesting to see how long people like Reggiani can keep turbocharging and hybrid assistance out of the sports cars in the face of stricter emissions targets. He hints that future advancements in weight reduction and other areas may be key to that.

It’s certainly nice to hear that there are people at Lamborghini that still value the subjective aspects that make sports cars great. It’s also news that’s sure to put fans of Lamborghini’s classic, naturally aspirated sports cars at ease.

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Source: Autocar

Uber and Lyft answer concerns about discrimination

A study published earlier this year documenting the discrimination ride-hailing passengers face compelled Senator Al Franken to call Uber’s and Lyft’s attention. Now, the Senator’s office has published the companies’ responses to the letter he sent on November 2nd. While it sounds like both services are already making changes, both stand by their practices. The study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed 1,500 rides in Boston and Seattle. It found that riders with black-sounding names usually have to wait 35 percent longer to be picked up and are twice more likely to have their ride canceled.

Franken, who also once questioned Uber’s privacy policies, asked if the companies can consider withholding passengers’ names and photos from the requests drivers get. The study concluded that those pieces of info contribute to drivers’ ability to discriminate after all, and withholding them seems like a possible solution. Both ride-hailing services, however, told Franken that doing so isn’t ideal.

In Uber’s response dated November 30th, company CEO Travis Kalanick told the senator that removing names altogether could lead to confusion. “It is unlikely that riders would consistently use codes,” he wrote, pertaining to Franken’s suggestion to use unique identifiers instead of names. He added that “riders might enter the wrong vehicle or even ride with someone illicitly posing as a ridesharing driver.” However, he also clarified that Uber’s system doesn’t show riders’ surnames and photos to drivers, only their first names.

Lyft gave Franken a similar response. It gives drivers the name of their riders and vice versa as a “digital trust profile” to ensure they’re picking up the right person, or in the passengers’ case, getting in the right car. The company did promise to enhance its regular review of ride cancellations, though, with a focus on cancellation rates and quality of service in minority census tracts. As for Uber, Kalanick said the company is meeting directly with the researchers to discuss the study and launching experiments designed to “guard against the effects of discrimination” on the platform.

Source: The Washington Post, Senator Al Franken (1), (2), (2)

What in the world are Hatchimals and how do they work?

If Furby and Tamagotchi got together and had babies, they’d have Hatchimals.

Hatchimals are the latest toy craze and must-have toy for the 2016 holiday season. You probably saw a lot of people talking about these things over the past few weeks, including celebrities, such as model Chrissy Teigen, who posted several videos to Instagram and Snapchat of her getting a Hatchimal. She spent the better part of Christmas day trying to hatch her egg and pretending that it was really for her newborn child, Luna.

Confused? No worries. Here’s everything you need to know about Hatchimals.

What are Hatchimals?

Hatchimals are the new “it” toy for Americans. And, yes, they really hatch.

Created by toymaker Spin Masters, Hatchimals are practically impossible to find in actual stores. They’re that in demand. They are basically little robot animals that come inside plastic eggs. In order to play with these plush, Furby-like creatures, which sort of look like penguins, you hatch the egg. Once you do, you can teach Hatchimal to walk and talk and play games. It grows from being a baby to a toddler and ultimately a kid.

You have to care for it, paying close attention to its eye colour to understand how it feels, and then you can respond accordingly. If it has purple eyes, for instance, it’s hungry and needs to be fed. Sounds a lot like Tamagotchi, right?

How do Hatchimals work?

Hatchimals: How do you hatch Hatchimals?

Just like a real egg, your Hatchimal will only hatch once, and then it will want to walk, talk, and play. Freeing this little beast will take “anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes,” according to the toy’s website. Just rub, touch, and tap the egg.  When it’s ready, you’ll see it peck its way out. At that point, you can peel away parts of the shell to help it come out. You won’t know what your Hatchimal really looks like until it’s freed from the egg. 

Note that your Hatchimal can’t hatch without you holding the egg. Also, Hatchimal is a toy, so of course it makes noise – a tonne of it. Before the Hatchimal pecks its way out of the egg, you can sometimes hear it snoring. Watch the videos here to see what we mean. However, after hatching, you are able to turn down the volume and play in half volume mode.

Hatchimals: What are the different stages of life?

Hatchimals have five stages of life: egg (you must nuture the egg by tilting it, tapping it, and touching it), hatching (you must help Hatchimal peck its way out by rubbing the egg), baby (you must care for it by cuddling it and feeding it), toddler (you must teach it how to walk and talk), and kid (you must play games with it). Your Hatchimal is full size when it hatches, but it’ll develop new abilities as it gets older.

Hatchimals: What do the eye colours mean?

You’ll see rainbow eyes appear when your Hatchimal is ready to hatch or when you’ve unlocked a new stage. Here’s a handy cheat sheet that describes the different eye colours you’ll see when Hatchimal is escaping the egg and finally out of the egg. Each colour has a different meaning and requires a specific action from you in order to ensure a healthy and happy Hatchimal. 

Hatchimals: How do you teach Hatchimal to walk and talk?

You can teach your Hatchimal to walk, talk, play tag, etc. Just press and hold its belly while you speak to teach it to talk, and it’ll repeat what you’ve said. You can also press its belly repeatedly, causing its eyes to flash white, and that point you can clap once to make Hatchimal move forward or clap twice to make him spin. But be careful – too much spinning can make him sick.

Go here to learn more about what you can teach Hatchimal.

How much do Hatchimals cost?

Hatchimals start at $59.99 (about £50). You can get them online through Amazon, Kmart, Target, Toys R Us, Walmart, and Spin Master. Walmart also sells an exclusive “Burtle” edition with little antennas on its head.

Violence for all: ‘Postal’ goes open source

Behind the ongoing public debate on violent video games, a few key titles always stand out — but before the public was freaking out about Grand Theft Auto, it was reeling in shock from Postal. This ridiculous satirical smorgasbord of violence earned the accolade of “digital poison” from Senator Joe Lieberman at launch, but still gathered a cult following. Earlier this year, the game saw a high definition remaster — but the original game isn’t dead yet. Developer Running With Scissors just announced that its making the 1997 original open source — publishing the code on Bitbucket under the GPL2 license.

The company’s teased releasing the code before — last year it promised Twitter to make the game open source if “someone promises to port it to the Dreamcast.” Now, that’s possible. “We’re entrusting our fans with the future of our game,” the company wrote on its website. “Anyone with the time and skills can now tweak/change/update/modify anything in the game at all!” That means 19 years later, Senator Lieberman could choose to tweak the violence out of the game …but it’s more likely that fans will up the ante. Why release the port now? Well, Running With Scissors’ motives aren’t too opaque. “Seriously, someone get on that Dreamcast port,” the company announcement concludes. “We’re not joking.”

Source: BitBucket, Running With Scissors

Kanex Announces GoPower Watch Stand and Mini Keychain Battery for Apple Watch

Kanex today announced two additional devices to its line of GoPower Apple Watch accessories: the GoPower Watch Stand and GoPower Watch Mini. The two new accessories join the GoPower Watch Portable Battery, which debuted this past August for $99.95.

The magnetic GoPower Watch Stand charges and displays both 38mm and 42mm Apple Watch variations. There’s also an additional USB port on the back of the stand that can simultaneously charge an iPhone or another iOS or USB device. The Watch Stand comes with a built-in inductive charging connector so users can leave their charging cable at home.

The GoPower Watch Mini is an ultra-portable, cord-free “charging disc” that can power an Apple Watch on the go. It comes with 1,000 mAh of battery power, which Kanex says is enough to fully charge an Apple Watch once. Comparatively, the original GoPower Watch Portable Battery provides 4,000 mAh of power. The Mini comes with an LED battery level indicator and a Micro USB cable to recharge the battery when its low. It also comes with a keychain ring so users can attach the Mini to their keychain.

The GoPower Watch Stand and Mini will both be available in February 2017. The Stand is priced at $79.95 while the Mini is priced at $59.95

Tags: Kanex, GoPower Watch, CES 2017
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ZTE Blade V8 mid-range phone fully revealed in leaked pics, specs

Remember when only the high-end phones had dual cameras on the back?

Well, it looks like affordable phones will soon sport the feature, too. Chinese phone-maker ZTE is reportedly givings its upcoming Blade V8 dual rear cameras. Leaked images of the affordable handset, which will be made official at CES 2017 in Las Vegas next month, showed up on a Russian site (via GSMArena) Thursday. They revealed that the phone has a brushed metal body and 5.2-inch 1080p touchscreen with 2.5D glass.

• ZTE Blade V7: All about that metal, that metal, no plastic

Specifications also leaked out alongside the new photos. It appears the phone will feature an embedded fingerprint scanner in the Home button underneath the display. It’ll also have Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 435 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, and a 13-megapixel front-facing camera. As for those rear sensors, expect 13-megapixel and 2-megapixel resolutions. And all this will be packed into a 7.7mm-thick frame.

The Blade V8 will run Android 7.0 Nougat with ZTE’s MiFavor UI 4.0. It’ll available in many colors, including pink. We’ll know more about pricing and availability in a couple weeks, but expect it to cost $399 or less.