Oncologists will be able to walk through 3D tumors with new VR system

Why it matters to you

Developing 3D modelling tools for viewing cancerous tumors in virtual reality could help researchers, physicians, and patients alike.

Cutting-edge technology is always going to be exciting, but the point at which it becomes truly amazing is when it can be used to save people’s lives.

That is the goal of a new multi-million-dollar project set to kick off at Cancer Research U.K. Cambridge Institute this May. The project’s aim is to develop virtual reality and 3D visualization tools to help oncologists and other cancer researchers create and analyze 3D maps of (initially breast cancer) tumors.

More: A new study has fluorescent probes light up when they spot pancreatic cancer

“Pathologists take a very thin slice of a tumor, look at this flat object under a microscope, and then make judgments that affect the lives of patients,” researcher Greg Hannon, who will head up one part of the project, told Digital Trends. “We think that we can give them much more complete information by presenting these objects in much greater and with much richer information.”

The VR tools the team is developing will give researchers the ability to “walk into” virtual 3D tumors and analyze them in extreme detail — even down to the level of a cell’s particular genetic makeup. It will be useful as an educational tool, a way for surgeons to better get to grips with tumors, for doctors to visualize information for patients so that they feel more involved with the treatment process — just to name a few possible use-cases.

“I wasn’t very educated in [virtual reality when I started the project],” Hannon said. “Originally I was thinking about 3D projectors. I hadn’t paid too much attention to virtual reality and had no idea how far consumer model VR devices had come. Then I had a conversation with an app developer who sits on a grants committee that I’m a part of. I was telling him about the project and he told me how far VR had come in just the past two to three years. He suggested I get in touch with Owen Harris, a teacher, VR developer and game designer in Dublin, who we’ve ended up working with. That’s how the project really started.”

Despite the fact that the project’s not officially due to commence for another few months, Hannon said the team has already developed a “pretty highly functioning prototype” of the VR visualization system. There is still a lot more to do, though.

“The harder bit is generating the data that will go into this,” he said. “We’re measuring things that have never been measured before, on a scale that’s never been measured. We’re hoping to have a couple of data sets of 100,000 cells sometime in the coming year. But to make something like this useful you have to do thousands of tumor samples. I think that about three years from now we’ll really be able to start extracting interesting and meaningful information.”

Where to find used Android Wear watches

You can save a bunch of cash if you know where to look.

Android Wear 2.0 is here, and that means a lot of early adopters will be selling their perfectly fine watches to help fund a new one. Plenty of them will also be updated to Android Wear 2.0, so this is a good chance to score a new-to-you piece of Android for your wrist!

The trick is knowing where to look. I was poking around and saw random listings from pawn shops and local online classifieds from LA and New York and was definitely not impressed. Prices almost as high as brand new watches of the same model (a couple even higher!) and a few that look like they have been through a war.

Skip the pawn shops and check this out.

Swappa

Swappa is the Mecca of all things used and mobile, and that includes watches.

You’ll have a higher chance of finding exactly what you want because Swappa is the first place enthusiasts go when selling their gear as well as buying it. And the company individually screens every listing and offers buyer and seller protection programs. You can even get accident protection insurance through Swappa.

Swappa should be the first place you look if you’re wanting to buy a used Android Wear watch.

Download Swappa (free)

eBay

There are about a gazillion things for sale on eBay at any given moment. Including plenty of Android Wear watches!

Because eBay is an auction site, there’s a chance you’ll be able to find a really good deal. They have a full-featured Android app so you can keep track of your bids or try to snipe a watch right at the last minute, and eBay has a dedicated team to handle any disputes should you not get what you paid for or it’s not in the condition advertised.

Things can be a little tough to find on eBay when you’re looking for a specific product, but that can be an advantage, too. If it’s hard for you to find it’s hard for everyone else to find. That can keep bids low.

Download eBay (free)

Android Central’s forums

We have a dedicated forum for buying and selling, and there’s a good chance a member or two will be buying a new LG watch Sport because it ticks all their boxes and they’re also one of those early adopters we mentioned earlier.

Please note that we have pretty strict rules about what can be sold and how things can be listed, but we’re not a broker or anything of the sort. Use the search functions to check out other sales a person may have been involved in and use a payment method that has your back.

Visit the Android Central forums

Craigslist (and Kijiji)

Craigslist and Kijiji reach millions of people, including people in your area.

There are a lot of great deals to be found in these two classified giants. No matter where you live in the US or Canada, you have a local section in one or the other (and if you’re from any big city in Canada, both). It’s easy to sell almost anything through these companies, so a lot of people do it. But there’s a reason they are at the bottom of our list — they don’t have any type of buyer protections in place. You’re on your own, basically.

When buying from a local online seller, make sure you never send any money in advance and meet in person, in the daytime, in public. Bring a friend.

Very few people are on Craigslist or Kijiji to rip you off and you’ll hear lots of people happy with the phones or other electronics they got through them. But be smart.

Pro-tip: Be sure to check all the sections a smartwatch may end up in — jewelry, phones, miscellaneous and anything else you can think of. Something in the “wrong” section may have been sitting there a while and you can grab it even cheaper.

Visit Craigslist
Visit Kiijii

T-Mobile responds to Verizon’s unlimited plan by rolling back its dumbest changes

T-Mobile has seen Verizon’s unlimited, and raised it unlimited and one.

When T-Mobile introduced its T-Mobile One plan last year, the internet was divided between people who thought the ostensibly unlimited data was a courageous move for a cash-strapped carrier with a patchy LTE network and those who saw it for a violation of the tenets of net neutrality.

6/ Starting Fri, #TMobileONE price includes HD video & 10GB high-speed 📱hotspot data –all at no extra charge. AND taxes & fees are included!

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) February 13, 2017

Now, after Verizon’s surprisingly transparent (but slightly more pricey) foray back into the realm of unlimited, T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere took to Twitter (seemingly the platform of choice for putdown broadcasts) to denounce Big Red’s move as too little, too late. Legere said that as of Friday, February 17, T-Mobile One would expand its default functionality to include HD video streaming — previously $3 a day or $15 a month — as well as 10GB of tethering per month.

Also on the agenda was to undercut Verizon’s plan even more by offering a $100 all-in cost for two lines, well below Big Red’s $140 for the same number, though it’s unclear whether the discount is a permanent change to T-Mobile One. Prior to the announcement, lines cost $120, or $60 each.

This latest move comes after, at CES this past January, T-Mobile announced that it was lowering the costs of all of its plans by around 15% by including taxes and other fees in customers’ final bills, so the $70 seen in the advertised price is what the customer pays.

8/ And, how about a little promo to make it EVEN MORE compelling?! $100 for two lines on #TMobileONE ALL IN.

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) February 13, 2017

While T-Mobile’s move will certainly further spur competition in the U.S. telecom market, the reality is that the company took something very important away from its customers in the form of uncompressed video streaming, and is now returning it to them as a promotional feature. With the appointment of a FCC Chairman intent on dismantling net neutrality, it’s likely we’ll see more of these kinds of promotions in the future. In the meantime, T-Mobile One is now a little more customer-friendly and a little less expensive, which is always appreciated, especially when Open Signal just co-crowned it, along with Verizon, the best network in the U.S.

‘Final Fantasy XV’ is actually a cookbook

Food is pretty important in Final Fantasy XV — and it’s not just obvious Cup Noodle product placement either. Meals add to your vitality and strength, increase magical resistances and even offer the chance of more experience points to grow your team. They’re integral to your near-daily camp-outs, when you recover from battles and thumb through all the photos your bros took. Each dish has different benefits, and there are a lot of ways to learn new meals, from eating your way around the restaurants of the world of Eos, to buying cookbooks and even just being “inspired” by poetry and random ingredients (often monster body parts) you pick up along the way.

FFXV also attempts to offer some sort of regional differentiation in cuisine as you road-trip across states and towns. Some dishes are simply more elaborate twists on meals you’ve already eaten, but they’re nonetheless different, with different local fish or delicacies. But is it actually possible to cook such varied cuisine, from rice balls to delicate sweet pastries, on (Coleman-sponsored!) cooking equipment? I took my high-school home economics skills to my kitchen, to see how I stacked up against Ignis, the game’s designated cook. He’s a glasses-wearing, English-accented, car-driving butler type. And now my eternal rival.

I set a few simple guidelines: No microwaves or ovens. I would endeavor to cook with the same skills afforded to a camper. I would avoid anything instant (with one notable exception) and I would have to make it all from scratch (within reason, anyway). Naturally, I would be substituting my own ingredients for things that don’t exist. Behemoth tenderloin turns into beef. Because reality. While the (shocking) lack of an official FFXV cookbook persists, I took to the internet in search real-world recipes, and tried to make them.

I picked recipes that required some skill (I skipped toast and rice balls, for example), yet there are plenty of in-game meals that were impossible to cook on camping stoves and grills. Puff pastry is not camp friendly (I googled a lot), nor are any of the in-game sweet treats. Yes, it’s a game, and perhaps by investing far too much time in the recipes and their real-life iterations made me slightly humorless to the ridiculousness of it all. That said: I learned a new recipe I might cook outside the confines of editorial demands, and realized that nothing can truly upgrade the guilty pleasure of a Cup Noodle, at least not without feel like you wasted whatever you added. Here’s the tale of my culinary adventure.

Chapter One: Croque madame

Suggested ingredients: Gighee ham, Birdbeast egg
Real ingredients: Thick-cut ham, egg, bread, cheese, oil

The importance of food in FFXV is clearly communicated through the sheer amount of effort the team took to render each dish: It’s usually glistening and looks downright delicious, something I’ve never been able to say about in-game food. Look at that egg!

My first challenge is a successful one: The joy of a cheese and ham toastie with an egg on it is beautifully rendered in Final Fantasy XV — and my version looks pretty good too. The croque madame is a strong candidate for a kind-of-fancy camping meal. Although it does depend on carrying around fresh eggs and cheese, the sandwich is easy to cook on a stove. You might notice that the in-game shopping list (made of things you can either buy or find in FFXV) fell short of the experience of cooking the same dish in real life. Ignis’ recipes consist of a few ingredients and an idea. And a lot of filling in the gaps.

Chapter Two: Green curry soup

Suggested ingredients: Chickatrice leg, Allural shallot, sweet pepper
Real ingredients: Chicken thighs, onions, coconut milk, sweet red pepper, mushrooms, green curry paste, seasoning, chicken stock, oil, cilantro

There are around 103 dishes inside the game (ignoring the DLC extras that continue to roll out), but this recipe is something I’ve made for myself in the past, so I was confident. Again, the recipes of FFXV follow very, very loose guidelines. (How can you make a Thai curry without an aromatic paste and coconut milk?!) That said: The game’s iteration was arguably a better-looking one. While not even slightly green, mine tasted pretty great; it was a one-pan dish that was both tasty and easy to cobble together. I’m not sure if chickatrice would taste differently than chicken.

In-game dishes were made through combining existing food photography of the game’s recipes (or a dish that approximated them), with actually cooking them. As Eater details in their own deep-dive: The art department would plan out the dish’s ingredients and appearance, after which a different team took it outside, and tried to cook it on a camp stove — just like in the game. Realism! Dishes were photographed from multiple angles and even scanned to help ensure the digital dishes better approximated the real thing.

Chapter Three: “Mother and Child” rice bowl

Suggested ingredients: Chickatrice leg, Birdbeast egg, Saxham rice
Real ingredients: Chicken thighs, onions, egg, short-grain rice, soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake, chicken stock, brown sugar, oil

Ignis picks up how to make this one when he sees some woman chowing down on it mid-game. This inspires his own version. The creep. His chef skills “level up” the more dishes he makes, opening up more potent stat-boosting cuisine in the process and adding another reason to expand your tastes during the whole “battle with the empire, save your betrothed and avenge your father” thing. The food in FFXV might seem like it’s a distraction, but as you play further, the stat improvements and benefits often became necessary for big fights. This meant I was actively looking for more recipes and eating at every restaurant I could find in order to unearth stronger more potent dinners.

This is a classic Japanese home-cooked dish that I’ve always wanted to nail. And I did! The ingredients I listed above were all I needed to achieve a real depth of flavor with the chicken, eggs and rice. The rice wasn’t perfect, but then again, I rarely cook rice in a pan. I’m not a chef — yet. All told, this, too, was another realistic campside meal… if you were to carry around all the required Japanese seasonings.

Chapter Four: The perfect ‘Cup’

Suggested ingredients: Behemoth tenderloin, Cup Noodle
Real ingredients: Beef steak, Cup Noodle

Now we’re cooking. Later in the game, gratuitous product placements give way to a quest dedicated at crafting the ultimate Cup Noodle. Medium-rare Behemoth meat atop a mix of MSG, freeze-dried vegetable bits, noodles and other stuff.

I did this for my job. I also feared that this would be the worst-tasting menu item: a waste of steak and even of said legendary noodle snack.

However, while I wouldn’t call it a glorious taste fusion, it kind of worked. The black pepper I added to the steak kept the two disparate foodstuffs together, and the steak managed to leach some juicy flavors into the latter half of my cup. It’s not perfect, but it was edible. Maybe even better than a standard Cup Noodle. Perhaps.

But there was no way I could photograph my attempt to appear even close to appetizing. The game’s version didn’t exactly look like fine dining either. I can assure you that it tasted better than it looked. And I’m sorry you had to see that.

Trump didn’t restrict public phone use near classified info

Hillary Clinton caught plenty of flak for the security risks involved with her private email server, but President Trump is raising a lot of eyebrows as well. When the Commander-in-Chief received word of North Korea firing a test missile, he started discussing classified info with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe right at his Mar-a-Lago Club dinner table — and did nothing to curtail phone use by guests. Club member Richard DeAgazio took photos of not only the discussion, but the man holding the “nuclear football” briefcase used to remotely authorize nuclear attacks. And did we mention that aides used their phone flashes to illuminate the sensitive documents? DeAgazio has since deleted the Facebook posts containing the shots, but the damage was already done by that point.

While the primary issue is that Trump discussed classified data in front of guests and staff, the unfettered phone use only exacerbates the situation. Even though it wasn’t likely that someone would snap a high-quality photo of the documents in question, it was entirely possible that people nearby could have recorded audio or video that picked up on vital details. What if a guest got a little too curious and caught word of something important? And hostile governments wouldn’t have to necessarily send a spy. As we’ve recently seen, they could just infect a guest’s phone with spyware to record footage without anyone being the wiser. After all, a private Mar-a-Lago member doesn’t have to go through a strict background check or otherwise adhere to government security standards.

This isn’t completely shocking when Trump still insists on using his old Galaxy S III despite concerns about the handset’s vulnerabilities. However, the laissez-faire approach at the dinner goes against both common security practices and what previous Presidents have done. When President Obama got word of an airstrike in Libya at a White House Correspondents Dinner, for example, he left the room to keep the discussion secret. If less-than-sympathetic nations know that the President will discuss classified info within earshot of unsecured smartphones, they may target those phone owners as part of an eavesdropping campaign — or just hope that someone posts national secrets on their own.

For the low-low price of $200,000 and no background check you too can live-stream a military crisis meeting. pic.twitter.com/vNd8Jo7Bq5

— Rogue Rogue One Acct (@ZeddRebel) February 13, 2017

Mar-a-Lago member who pays Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars posts pics of – and identifies – US official carrying nuclear football. pic.twitter.com/oyAfY0E9Fj

— Samuel Oakford (@samueloakford) February 13, 2017

Source: Washington Post, ZeddRebel (Twitter), Samuel Oakford (Twitter)

A ‘Costume Quest’ animated series is coming to Amazon Video

One of Amazon’s upcoming original kids series should be very familiar to fans of a certain Double Fine title. The online retailer announced today that a Costume Quest animated children’s series based on the popular video games will debut in 2018. Will McRobb of The Adventures of Pete and Pete fame will serve as executive producer while Frederator Studios (Adventure Time, The Fairly Odd Parents) will produce the show.

Amazon says the show will be targeted at the 6-11 age range, but we’re sure grown-ups will enjoy watching, too. The animated series follows four kids as they battle dark forces in the town of Auburn Pines. To do so, they’ll need to beat obstacles and master the powers of supernormal costumes. When the time comes to stream Costume Quest, you’ll need a Prime Video subscription to do so. Thanks to Amazon’s standalone option, you won’t have to commit to a year-long membership to get access to the streaming library.

Via: Polygon

Source: Amazon

You can now give your Valentine a virtual blowjob

Valentine’s Day is less than 24 hours away, and if you’re still scrambling for a gift for your special guy, porn website CamSoda has an idea — send him a virtual blowjob. Yes, that’s a thing now.

“BJ My Valentine” lets you create a free customized blowjob your significant other can enjoy via an interactive masturbator called the Kiiroo Onyx. You pick from a variety of techniques, such as “Fast Suction” and “Deep Throat,” set durations for each one, then arrange them on a timeline. CamSoda then gives you a link to a video to share with your partner. The video syncs with the Onyx, so your partner feels everything in real-time.

BJ My Valentine is part of CamSoda’s BlowCast service, where adult performers record themselves performing oral acts on smart dildos. The footage and sensor data are then sold to customers looking for a virtual sexual experience. But, as one Engadget writer found out, that experience can be underwhelming.

“[Sex] with the Onyx isn’t all that sexy. In fact, ‘sex’ with the Onyx is like listening to music while underwater,” our own Daniel Cooper said. “You’re aware that something’s happening, but all you get is a murky echo and a sense of frustration that quickly spirals into boredom. After that, there’s very little reason to continue.”

This is just further proof that Demolition Man correctly predicted our dystopian touchless-sex future back in 1993.

Via: Vocativ

Source: CamSoda

YouTube creates four original shows just for its Kids app

Now that YouTube has dipped its toes into the wild world of original programming, the company has plans to launch four new shows this spring aimed at children and pre-teens. The YouTube Kids app will get two live-action and two animated series starring some popular YouTube creators including DanTDM and the hosts of TheAtlanticCraft, with more series scheduled to debut throughout the year.

The first round of original YouTube Kids programming features Hyperlinked, DanTDM Creates A Big Scene, The Kings of Atlantis and Fruit Ninja: Frenzy Force. Hyperlinked is a live-action scripted series starring the young ladies of L2M, a real-life tween music group, as they attempt to “create their own website by girls for girls.”

The second (partially) live-action offering comes from DanTDM, a gaming-focused YouTube creator whose channel has more than 14 million subscribers. DanTDM Creates A Big Scene follows DanTDM and his animated friends as they take their live show on the road, running into plenty of mischief along the way.

The two fully animated shows come from Minecraft YouTubers Joe and Cody of TheAtlanticCraft, and Fruit Ninja studio Halfbrick. Fruit Ninja: Frenzy Force is about a group of four friends who are secret fruit ninjas dedicated to fighting malicious forces like Durian Grey and the Deep Fried Sensei. Meanwhile, The Kings of Atlantis is a royal power struggle set under the sea, featuring two young monarchs on a mission to reclaim their throne from a cruel king.

“This marks the first time YouTube Red has invested in creators who are producing original programming for family audiences,” YouTube’s global head of family and learning Malik Ducard says.

It’s been two years since YouTube launched the standalone Kids app and it’s since picked up more than 30 billion overall video views, with 8 million active viewers each week. The company plans to launch the YouTube Kids app on smart TVs, including internet-connected LG and Samsung models, sometime soon.

Keep in mind that YouTube Red, the subscription service that enables offline and ad-free viewing, applies to the Kids app. Red is also where YouTube’s existing original programming resides.

Source: YouTube Blog

Univision will stream Liga MX soccer live on Facebook this season

Facebook has hosted livestreams of soccer matches in the past, but for the upcoming Liga MX season, the social network is doing more than one-off events. Today, Univision announced that 46 total matches will be streamed on its page via Facebook Live for the 2017 season. And yes, that includes playoffs. The network says the Mexican soccer league is the most-watched in the US, so easy access to English streams of select matchups makes a lot of sense.

“Now Facebook represents the next wave of TV and, given its scale, they are an ideal partner to distribute our Liga MX matches in English,” Univision’s chief commercial officer Tonia O’Connor explained in a press release.

Financial terms of the deal between the Facebook and Univision weren’t disclosed, but the tie-up should come as no surprise. Recode reported in December that Facebook was looking into more original content for its live video offering, including live sports. The social network’s live video initiative has already hosted an English Premier League match as well as broadcast women’s La Liga action on the pitch.

Starting this Saturday, February 18th, you can head over to the Univision Deportes page on Facebook to stream games from the Mexican soccer league via the “video” tab. If you’re looking for an alternate option, Verizon customers are privy to live Liga MX games from Univision via the go90 app.

Source: Univision (Business Wire)

T-Mobile upgrades its One plan to counter Verizon

There’s no mistaking it: Verizon’s decision to resurrect its unlimited data plan was a shot across T-Mobile’s bow. And to no one’s surprise, the magenta-hued network is responding in kind. As of February 17th, T-Mobile is upgrading its standard One plan to include HD video streaming and 10GB of LTE hotspot tethering. You no longer have to spring for a pricey add-on just to watch Netflix at high quality. To sweeten the pot, the carrier is also running a promo that gives you two lines for $100.

Unless there are any gotchas, this gives T-Mobile an edge once again. Although the features are comparable, T-Mobile’s pricing includes fees and taxes. You may well save more than the price tag suggests, including with the two-line offer (Verizon asks for roughly $150 after taxes). And whichever carrier you prefer, the One upgrade good news — it’s proof that real wireless competition can improve your service without raising prices.

6/ Starting Fri, #TMobileONE price includes HD video & 10GB high-speed 📱hotspot data –all at no extra charge. AND taxes & fees are included!

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) February 13, 2017

Source: John Legere (Twitter 1), (2), T-Mobile