Satellite maps provide a new way to track deforestation

There’s no question that deforestation is a problem, as it affects everything from climate through to biodiversity. But gauging the severity of deforestation isn’t easy — simply measuring lost forest cover doesn’t tell you the effect it can have on a given area. That’s where technology might save the day. Researchers have developed a new technique that uses satellite maps to track forest attrition distance, or the widening gaps between forests that can affect the environment. The overhead data can show whether tree losses are relatively mild, occurring in patches among other trees, or whether they’re serious enough to create larger distances between forests.

As Harvard’s Aaron Ellison notes to the New York Times, this approach will only do so much to tackle deforestation. There are already methods (such as studying large forests as a series of smaller ones) that can pick up on some of the subtler losses of forest cover. However, this might just help identify the most damaging instances of deforestation, offering some guidance on which areas need the most help. It’s not the same as replanting forests or reducing the rate of deforestation, but it could get the ball rolling on efforts in areas that might otherwise be overlooked.

Via: New York Times

Source: PlOS One

Apple Store at Pentagon City to Reopen March 4 With Next-Generation Design

Apple has announced that its retail store at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City shopping mall in Arlington, Virginia reopens on Saturday, March 4 at 10:00 a.m. local time. The store, which originally opened in August 2005, has been closed for renovations since September 25 of last year.

Apple Pentagon City has expanded into adjacent storefronts (Image: Jordan Sheckman)
Apple Pentagon City will be the iPhone maker’s latest retail store to be updated with its next-generation design introduced in 2015.

The newer look often includes wide, open spaces with some combination of indoor trees, large glass doors, touch-sensitive sequoia wood tables and shelves, seating areas for community events, large 6K resolution video screens for product marketing, and light boxes extending the length of the ceiling.

Related Roundup: Apple Stores
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MIT’s ‘Super Smash Bros.’ AI can compete with veteran players

For expert players, most video game AI amounts to little more than target practice — especially in fighting games, where it rarely accounts for the subtleties of human behavior. At MIT, though, they’ve developed a Super Smash Bros. Melee AI that should make even seasoned veterans sweat a little. The CSAIL team trained a neural network to fight by handing it the coordinates of game objects, and giving it incentives to play in ways that should secure a win. The result is an AI brawler that has largely learned to fight on its own — and is good enough to usually prevail over players ranked in the top 100 worldwide.

Lead researcher Vlad Firoiu tells our TechCrunch colleagues that the SSBM AI is at once very calculating and knowingly reckless. It will sometimes turtle (that is, refuse to attack) until it’s sure there’s an opening, but it will just as readily leap off the stage when it sees an opportunity for a quick but relatively risky victory. And since this is AI, it has reflexes that humans can’t usually match.

This doesn’t mean that you’re going to see the neural network participating in formal competition, like you saw with Google’s DeepMind. It doesn’t know how to deal with projectiles (rendering it useless with many SSBM characters), and you can make it panic if you hide in the corner. However, this is a good demonstration of how deep learning AI can cope with new environments. It also suggests that game developers could use neural networks to provide a serious single-player challenge at the highest skill levels, giving pros a way to practice when similarly-ranked rivals aren’t available.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: ArXiv.org

Don’t let them see you sweat in the boardroom with GANT’s Tech Prep line

Why it matters to you

When you’re under pressure, you might sweat a little bit. But with GANT’s Tech Prep line of clothing, no one will ever know.

When you’re climbing that corporate ladder, you know to never let them see you sweat. And now, you can get some help from your clothes. Thanks to GANT’s new Tech Prep line, the American lifestyle brand promises professionals that they will never be not comfortable.

In fact, that’s the name of the company’s latest campaign. As part of “Never Not Comfortable,” GANT is highlighting how its Tech Prep line, complete with new fabric features and hidden technology, will keep wearers cool and collected in even the most stressful of situations.

“The clothes we wear today are not designed for the active lifestyle we are living — that’s why we created the Tech Prep feature,” said GANT CMO Brian Grevy. “You get your favorite preppy look, never compromising on style, comfort or the hand-feel of the shirt, but with all the tech features that enables you to jump straight from your bike into a meeting feeling.”

So what’s all this technology GANT speaks of? First of all, Tech Prep clothing comes with hidden quick dry, breathable, and wicking benefits, all integrated into your business-ready clothing. Think of it as athleisure for the office, but with a preppier look (because as cool as you are, you probably shouldn’t be wearing yoga pants to the boardroom).

More: When body warmth alone won’t cut the cold, these electric clothes crank up the heat

Tech Prep clothing is made of a special fabric with three features. First off, the high-performing microfiber polyester promises to be quick drying, moving sweat away from your body to the fabric’s surface, where that moisture will evaporate. Second, Tech Prep pieces are woven in such a way that promises to let air and body heat flow through the fabric, which means that you won’t suddenly feel like you’re suffocating underneath your collar. Finally, GANT promises that each Tech Prep garment “actively absorbs humidity from the skin and transports it from the body to the outer surface.”

And all this is done without compromising style. You can buy GANT’s Chambray Shirt, the Prep Check Shirt, and the Blue Stripe Shirt all for $125 at www.gant.com.

Verizon wins top honors in latest RootMetrics study, besting T-Mobile

Why it matters to you

Mobile service providers are always jostling to take top honors in various performance tests, and in the latest from RootMetrics, it’s Verizon who’s been crowned king.

If you’re waiting on a definitive answer when it comes to which mobile service provider is the fairest of them all, you’re going to have to wait a bit longer. As per the second-half 2016 review of Mobile Network Performance in the U.S. report from RootMetrics, it’s Verizon that reigns supreme. These results fly in the face of an earlier OpenSignal report that gave T-Mobile reason to celebrate. So it really is just a matter of perspective when it comes to determining which company is best.

RootMetrics offered up its seventh iteration of the report earlier this week with hopes to equipping customers with “a holistic look at network performance across all the spaces of a consumer’s mobile life.” The study looked at the entirety of the country, each of the 50 states, as well as the 125 largest metropolitan areas across the U.S. The company determined that Verizon is best when it comes to mobile performance nationally. Big Red, actually, was dubbed the best provider in every category of mobile network performance testing, the second year in a row it has won this honor.

More: The Best Unlimited Data Plan: Verizon vs. T-Mobile vs. AT&T vs. Sprint

“Today’s connected consumers use their smartphones for almost everything,” said Annette Hamilton, director at RootMetrics. “While mobile networks continue to compete in order to determine how they stack up against each other, the real question is how they perform against their subscribers’ needs. Based on the latest RootMetrics mobile network performance results, it’s clear that all four major mobile carriers are racing to provide an excellent mobile experience — which makes consumers the real winners.”

Indeed, despite Verizon’s dominance, RootMetrics noted a number of impressive achievements and improvements from Big Red’s three main competitors; AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. AT&T, for example, deployed the greatest amount of LTE spectrum among all carriers across the 125 metropolitan markets RootMetrics tested. Sprint, on the other hand, is the only carrier using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology for all its voice traffic, which RootMetrics calls a “robust technology for carrying voice traffic.” And T-Mobile is credited with utilizing the newest codec rate for VoLTE, Enhanced Voice Services (EVS), which RootMetrics says is the most efficient manner of hosting voice traffic.

So rest easy, phone owners. No matter who you’re giving your business to, you’re probably in pretty good hands.

Best adult apps in VR

Finding adult apps for VR is easy, finding awesome adult apps in VR can be more difficult.

Porn in VR is all over the place these days. In fact, all you have to do is a quick Google search and you’ll find plenty of websites and apps that can give you what you’re looking for. Not all adults apps are awesome though. So instead of slogging through the internet and hoping you find an awesome app, we’ve done the work for you. Below you’ll find the best apps in VR for adult entertainment.

Read more at VRHeads.com

Sony has sold nearly 1 million PlayStation VR headsets

Ever since PlayStation VR, speculation has been rampant: is console-based virtual reality here to stay, or will it die an early death? Apparently, its near-term future is secure. Sony’s Andrew House tells the New York Times that the company had sold 915,000 PSVR headsets as of February 19th, just over four months after its October 13th debut. That doesn’t sound like much for a company that has sold tens of millions of PlayStation 4s, but it’s well ahead of expectations — Sony had hoped to reach the 1 million mark by mid-April. Sales might have been better still if the company hadn’t been purposefully cautious with production, leading to shortages centered primarily in its home turf of Japan.

Play time in VR is also going up, House adds. While many PSVR experiences are short, Resident Evil 7’s support for VR throughout the entire game has doubled the average play length. In other words, it’s a technology that may be hitting its stride as developers learn to craft more than tech demos and mini games.

It’s not certain how well that stands in comparison to PC-based VR headsets. However, SuperData Research estimates that there were 243,000 Oculus Rift units sold through the end of 2016, and 420,000 HTC Vive units. If the real figures are reasonably close, that makes Sony the leading VR maker on the planet despite having a smaller amount of time to build its user base.

A sales victory wouldn’t exactly be surprising. PSVR requires a much smaller investment than its rivals — even if you splurge on a PS4 Pro and a full VR bundle, you’re spending far less than it takes to get a high-end PC VR headset and a computer powerful enough to handle it. And that’s not including the physical space you need for room-scale VR experiences with PCs. Combine that with a healthy game library and console VR is likely to remain the front-runner for a while, at least until prices for headsets and VR-worthy PCs drop to the point where they’re no longer luxuries.

Source: New York Times

Scientists rejuvenate blood by reprogramming cells

Like it or not, your body gradually loses its capacity for producing blood as you age — that’s why immune deficiencies, leukemia and other blood conditions become more likely with time. Scientists may have found a way to turn back the clock, though. They’ve found a way to rejuvenate blood by reprogramming the stem cells that create it. The team effectively “resets” the stem cells by turning them into iPS cells, which can generate any kind of cell. When they once again form blood stem cells, it’s as if they were brand new.

The technique has only been tested with mice so far, but it’s very promising if it proves effective with humans. Rejuvenating enough cells could steel your body against blood disorders and otherwise improve your overall health. And even if the discovery goes nowhere, it still sheds light on how the blood system works. The findings show that aging-related changes in your blood aren’t due to mutations — if they were, you’d still see the damage after the reset. Instead, it looks like epigenetics (changes in gene expressions) are responsible.

Source: Lund University, Nature

MWC 2017: Google Assistant Expands Beyond Pixel to New Android Smartphones

Google today announced that its AI helper, Google Assistant, will begin rolling out to users with smartphones running Android 7.0 Nougat and Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Previously, the company’s AI assistant was exclusive to the Pixel smartphone, Google Home, the Google Allo app, and Android Wear devices.

Google Assistant will first arrive to English users in the United States this week, followed soon after with an English debut in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Support for German speakers will be coming soon, and Google said that it will “continue to add more languages over the coming year.” Users with eligible Nougat and Marshmallow devices will automatically gain Google Assistant through Google Play Services.

Whether you need to know how to say “nice to meet you” in Korean or just a simple reminder to do laundry when you get home, your Assistant can help. With the Google Assistant on Android phones, you have your own personal, helpful Google right in your pocket.

A few new smartphones will be incorporating Google Assistant from the get-go as well, like the LG G6 and some other “newly announced partner devices.” Sony, Huawei, Samsung, and HTC are all listed as companies with Android smartphones that will support Google Assistant.

With the expansion of Google Assistant to more smartphone lines, as well as a future launch on TVs and in cars, Google is continuing to bolster the Assistant’s competition against Apple and Siri. Many smartphone vendors are reported to be doubling down on artificial intelligence features for smartphones debuting in 2017 and beyond, including Apple with the “iPhone 8” and an update to Siri that is said to bring more “enhanced” capabilities to the personal assistant.

In its announcement post, Google said that its ultimate goal “is to make the Assistant available anywhere you need it.” Google’s hope for an AI future was highlighted at a media event in October where it unveiled Google Home, the Pixel smartphone, and more, while connecting everything to its artificial intelligence initiatives.

Previous Coverage: Siri and Pixel’s Google Assistant Compete Side-by-Side in New Video

Tags: Google Assistant, MWC 2017
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Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 hands-on

Samsung isn’t ready to show off the Galaxy S8 family to the world just yet, but that doesn’t mean they came empty handed to MWC 2017. Samsung is instead focusing on their tablet efforts this time around.

It’s been quite a long time since the company really dove into the higher-end of the tablet market, releasing lower-end products like the Galaxy Tab A most recently, but we finally have a true successor to the Galaxy Tab S2 that was released back in 2015. Since then, we’ve seen Apple really attack the market with its line of iPad Pro tablets, and it as about time that Samsung jumped back into the ring.

Armed with an updated design, along with the S-Pen we’ve grown accustomed to seeing in more “productivity” centric devices, Samsung intends to invigorate an Android tablet market that’s been dwindling in scope. Here is your first look, as we go hands on with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3!

One of the first things you will notice when looking at the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is that it takes after Sammy’s premium design language seen with their flagship Android smartphones. You could easily say it’s a Galaxy S7 in tablet form, with it featuring a construction that combines a glass back with an all-metal frame.

There’s no denying the premium nature of the design, which helps when it boasts a skinny 6.0mm frame. Due to this, however, there’s a bit of fragility at stake here – so it’s something we’d be cautious about handling. Speaking of the glass construction, it certainly bounces light similarly to the Galaxy S7, but it’s also just as much of a fingerprint magnet.

Other notable changes to the design when compared to the Galaxy Tab S2 is that it features the newer USB 3.1 (Type-C) connection, higher resolution 13-megapixel camera with flash, larger 6,000 mAh battery (with fast charging technology), and there’s no longer those two holes in the back to attach a cover or keyboard. Instead, Samsung will offer case covers and a backlit keyboard, which will attach via a magnetic connection. Another thing to point out also is that there is only one model of the Galaxy Tab S3!

The Galaxy Tab S3 is sporting a 9.7-inch 2048 x 1536 (QXGA) Super AMOLED display. Never the one to disappoint, it’s detailed and offers all the exceptional qualities of the technology – like wide viewing angles, deep black color reproduction, and vivid colors. When it comes to watching videos, Samsung leverages a brand new HDR cinema-like mode that adjusts the contrast and color saturation accordingly to deliver a wider color gamut.

While it’s technically not the first time we’ve seen it in a Samsung tablet, it is the first time we’re seeing the S Pen making an appearance in this series. This new S-Pen, which doesn’t require any power source, offers 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity. It has all the features of the S-Pen past, and much more of course. However, it’s a shame that there’s no slot to place the S Pen into when it’s not being used – so you’ll need to be extra mindful about it.

Powered by a quad-core 2.15 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC with 4GB of RAM, we experienced all the buttery responses with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Sammy’s usual TouchWiz-esque interface. You’d think they’d package a newer piece of silicone into this tablet, but the performance from what we’ve checked out suffices. That said, who knows if it’ll continue to be top-notch after several months of usage.

With Samsung being away from the high-end segment of the tablet market for some time to focus on other ventures in the Chromebook space, we kind of expected a little more out of the Galaxy Tab S3. Taking into consideration the vast time that has passed since its predecessor, more so after knowing what Apple has accomplished during the time, we were hoping to be captivated by something a bit more innovative.

So far, Samsung has kept hush about the tablet’s price and release, which will obviously play a key role in its visibility amongst consumers. Unlike its predecessors, the Tab S3 is competing in a totally different space – one that’s trying to establish an identity between the powerful Windows 10 convertibles out there, as well as the cheaper Chromebooks that have been running rampant of late.

Pricing will ultimately play a pivotal role in its success, as being above the $500 mark would mean competing against those Windows 10 tablet convertibles, which would offer more versatility in the long run with full Windows 10 software. Alternatively, it’ll also be going toe-to-toe with some sub-$500 Chromebooks out there, including Samsung’s own ARM-based Chromebook.

So there you have it for this quick look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3! Stay tuned with Android Authority to learn more about Samsung’s latest high-end tablet offering, and for more great coverage from MWC 2017!