Weekly Rewind: AI at our jobs, Toyota’s green revolution, the world’s first flavored bottle

A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top 10 tech stories, from the return of the Nokia 3310 to how we can prevent AI from stealing our jobs — it’s all here.

Robots and AI are coming for our jobs. Can augmentation save us from automation?

Augmentation was the running theme of this year’s Bodyhacking Conference in Austin, Texas. Attendees lined up for RFID implants, speakers demonstrated bionic body parts, grinders exhibited artificial senses, and an entire fashion show put “smart” apparel on display. Incidentally, most of the augmentations were idiosyncratic and wouldn’t make a potential employee more competitive in the future job market. With this in mind, we explored the ways in which augmentation may safeguard us from automation.

Read the full story here.

Nokia announces the return of the legendary 3310

Readers of a certain age might recall the Nokia 3310, the 2000-era cell phone successor to the popular Nokia 3210. By today’s standards, it wasn’t particularly noteworthy. True to mobile handsets of its time, it featured physical number buttons, a tiny monochrome screen, and a durably bulbous design. This didn’t stop it from breaking sales records, however. With 126 million units sold worldwide, it’s one of the most successful phones ever made. And that goodwill is the reason why Nokia celebrated the 3310 with a live video tribute on Wednesday.

Read the full story here.

Toyota hits a green milestone with its 10 millionth hybrid sale

Sales of Toyota’s hybrid cars show no sign of hitting the brakes as the Japanese car giant announced this week that it’s now sold more than 10 million of its environmentally friendly motors worldwide. The company reached the milestone at the end of January, nearly 20 years after it first deployed the technology in the Coaster Hybrid EV minibus in August, 1997.

Read the full story here.

Pioneer unveils the first Lightning earphones that let you charge and listen

When Apple released the iPhone 7 without a headphone jack, it was the end of an era. Like it or not, it’s doubtful the company will re-introduce the headphone jack in the future. Headphones with Lightning connectors are gaining in number, but many introduce another problem in that you cannot charge and listen at the same time. With its new Rayz Plus earphones, Pioneer lets you do both.

Read the full story here.

The workplace of the future tracks your every move, whether you like it or not

Access control is nothing new in the office world, where keys slowly migrated over to smart key cards. However, several new startups now aim to give employers a more vivid picture of their office environment by tracking everything their employees do — save for visiting the restroom — via smart sensors and new technologies. One of the most sophisticated companies in this brave new world is Enlighted, an IoT company whose goal is no less than “redefining smart buildings.”

Read the full story here.

Weekly Rewind: AI at our jobs, Toyota’s green revolution, the world’s first flavored bottle

A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top 10 tech stories, from the return of the Nokia 3310 to how we can prevent AI from stealing our jobs — it’s all here.

Robots and AI are coming for our jobs. Can augmentation save us from automation?

Augmentation was the running theme of this year’s Bodyhacking Conference in Austin, Texas. Attendees lined up for RFID implants, speakers demonstrated bionic body parts, grinders exhibited artificial senses, and an entire fashion show put “smart” apparel on display. Incidentally, most of the augmentations were idiosyncratic and wouldn’t make a potential employee more competitive in the future job market. With this in mind, we explored the ways in which augmentation may safeguard us from automation.

Read the full story here.

Nokia announces the return of the legendary 3310

Readers of a certain age might recall the Nokia 3310, the 2000-era cell phone successor to the popular Nokia 3210. By today’s standards, it wasn’t particularly noteworthy. True to mobile handsets of its time, it featured physical number buttons, a tiny monochrome screen, and a durably bulbous design. This didn’t stop it from breaking sales records, however. With 126 million units sold worldwide, it’s one of the most successful phones ever made. And that goodwill is the reason why Nokia celebrated the 3310 with a live video tribute on Wednesday.

Read the full story here.

Toyota hits a green milestone with its 10 millionth hybrid sale

Sales of Toyota’s hybrid cars show no sign of hitting the brakes as the Japanese car giant announced this week that it’s now sold more than 10 million of its environmentally friendly motors worldwide. The company reached the milestone at the end of January, nearly 20 years after it first deployed the technology in the Coaster Hybrid EV minibus in August, 1997.

Read the full story here.

Pioneer unveils the first Lightning earphones that let you charge and listen

When Apple released the iPhone 7 without a headphone jack, it was the end of an era. Like it or not, it’s doubtful the company will re-introduce the headphone jack in the future. Headphones with Lightning connectors are gaining in number, but many introduce another problem in that you cannot charge and listen at the same time. With its new Rayz Plus earphones, Pioneer lets you do both.

Read the full story here.

The workplace of the future tracks your every move, whether you like it or not

Access control is nothing new in the office world, where keys slowly migrated over to smart key cards. However, several new startups now aim to give employers a more vivid picture of their office environment by tracking everything their employees do — save for visiting the restroom — via smart sensors and new technologies. One of the most sophisticated companies in this brave new world is Enlighted, an IoT company whose goal is no less than “redefining smart buildings.”

Read the full story here.

Weekly Rewind: AI at our jobs, Toyota’s green revolution, the world’s first flavored bottle

A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top 10 tech stories, from the return of the Nokia 3310 to how we can prevent AI from stealing our jobs — it’s all here.

Robots and AI are coming for our jobs. Can augmentation save us from automation?

Augmentation was the running theme of this year’s Bodyhacking Conference in Austin, Texas. Attendees lined up for RFID implants, speakers demonstrated bionic body parts, grinders exhibited artificial senses, and an entire fashion show put “smart” apparel on display. Incidentally, most of the augmentations were idiosyncratic and wouldn’t make a potential employee more competitive in the future job market. With this in mind, we explored the ways in which augmentation may safeguard us from automation.

Read the full story here.

Nokia announces the return of the legendary 3310

Readers of a certain age might recall the Nokia 3310, the 2000-era cell phone successor to the popular Nokia 3210. By today’s standards, it wasn’t particularly noteworthy. True to mobile handsets of its time, it featured physical number buttons, a tiny monochrome screen, and a durably bulbous design. This didn’t stop it from breaking sales records, however. With 126 million units sold worldwide, it’s one of the most successful phones ever made. And that goodwill is the reason why Nokia celebrated the 3310 with a live video tribute on Wednesday.

Read the full story here.

Toyota hits a green milestone with its 10 millionth hybrid sale

Sales of Toyota’s hybrid cars show no sign of hitting the brakes as the Japanese car giant announced this week that it’s now sold more than 10 million of its environmentally friendly motors worldwide. The company reached the milestone at the end of January, nearly 20 years after it first deployed the technology in the Coaster Hybrid EV minibus in August, 1997.

Read the full story here.

Pioneer unveils the first Lightning earphones that let you charge and listen

When Apple released the iPhone 7 without a headphone jack, it was the end of an era. Like it or not, it’s doubtful the company will re-introduce the headphone jack in the future. Headphones with Lightning connectors are gaining in number, but many introduce another problem in that you cannot charge and listen at the same time. With its new Rayz Plus earphones, Pioneer lets you do both.

Read the full story here.

The workplace of the future tracks your every move, whether you like it or not

Access control is nothing new in the office world, where keys slowly migrated over to smart key cards. However, several new startups now aim to give employers a more vivid picture of their office environment by tracking everything their employees do — save for visiting the restroom — via smart sensors and new technologies. One of the most sophisticated companies in this brave new world is Enlighted, an IoT company whose goal is no less than “redefining smart buildings.”

Read the full story here.

Apple’s new iPad ads remind us of the Mac vs. PC era

Why it matters to you

If you’re an iPad user, Apple has a few ads that will make you feel better about your purchasing decision.

Apple generated a fair amount of controversy when it announced the “post-PC” world during its presentation of the original iPad. The idea was simple — the tablet made “real” PCs obsolete, and from then on out everyone would be ditching their Windows and OS X machines for the iPad.

Of course, while PC sales have been stagnant, they haven’t actually gone away. Meanwhile, iPad sales have cratered, and today’s Windows 10 PC ecosystem is arguably stronger than ever, at least in terms of the number of excellent notebook options available to buyers. Now, it seems that Apple is feeling some pressure, and the firm has responded with a set of iPad ads aimed directly at PCs, as MSPU reports.

More: How Ultrabooks challenged the MacBook Air – and won

The first ad highlights “PC viruses,” and claims that the iPad doesn’t have any. That’s true by definition, of course — PC viruses only run on PCs.

In an era where “fake news” is such a hot topic, is Apple’s claim legitimate? Given that the iOS App Store is a walled garden with significant controls over which apps are installed by the typical user, it’s probably safe to say that iPad viruses are rare compared to PCs, but they do exist. Interestingly, Apple doesn’t specify which kind of PC it’s talking about, Windows 10 or MacOS, and given that more malware is being created for Apple’s own PC platform all the time, that’s an interesting omission.

The next video asserts that the iPad Pro is “better than a computer.” Again, that’s an interesting assertion — an iPad is a “computer,” even if it’s not technically what’s commonly referred to as a “personal computer.” In any event, Apple makes the claim that the iPad Pro is “faster than most laptops” and has a touchscreen that can be written on.

Whether an iPad is “faster” than a notebook, though, is a debatable proposition. An iPad Pro doesn’t run the same kind of extensive, feature-rich applications as “real” PCs, and so it’s likely a fair enough claim that it can run lighter mobile apps faster than many notebooks can run something like the full version of Adobe Premier. Of course, plenty of Windows 10 2-in-1 machines have touchscreens and active pen support, and so the iPad Pro can’t really claim those features as a unique strength.

The final video says that you can “do more with Word” on an iPad Pro. Of course, Microsoft’s cross-platform strategy has been a relative success, with millions of users on iOS — and Android — running the Office Mobile suite of applications. It should be noted, of course, that the Word 2016 application on Windows 10 and MacOS is a bit more feature-complete than Word Mobile, and the same can be said for the rest of the Office suite and the universe of “real” PC applications in general.

Apple is likely preparing for its expected announcement of new iPad devices in the relatively near future. It’s not really a “post-PC” world yet, which Apple has essentially confirmed by releasing ads that expressly compare its iPad tablet to PCs.

The Asus Zenfone 3 Go was just leaked online — and it doesn’t look bad

Why it matters to you

There are a ton of budget phones out there, but they’re not all worth buying. The Asus Zenfone 3 Go is shaping up to be one that is.

The budget-friendly Asus Zenfone Go was one of the most popular devices in the Zenfone 2 lineup, and now it looks like Asus wants to replicate that success. According to recent rumors, the Zenfone 3 Go will be announced before the launch of the Zenfone 4, and it may well make an appearance at MWC 2017.

The report comes from NotebookItalia, and it suggests that the device will be relatively decent, although that will largely depend on the price point. For example, the phone will feature a 5-inch 720p display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor, and 2GB of RAM. That’s not bad when you consider the MediaTek chipset the original Zenfone Go used.

More: Asus may reveal a refreshed ZenBook Flip UX300-Series 2-in-1 in late February

On top of those specs, we should also expect a 13MP rear-facing camera and a 5MP front-facing camera, which certainly isn’t a bad combination.

When it comes to design, there are a few leaked images to go off. The images show that the device will feature a similar metal build to the Asus Zenfone 3, though the new device will be a little more simplistic with a smaller camera module that’s moved to the upper left hand corner of the phone’s back, and a basic Asus logo in the middle.

While pricing for the phone is reported to sit at around $160, that obviously remains to be seen. If true, however, the phone could give the likes of the Huawei P8 Lite a run for its money.

The new phone could be useful for Asus in maintaining the Zenfone momentum it has built over the years. That’s especially true if the new device proves to be as popular as the original Zenfone Go — although only time will tell if that ends up happening.

We’ll update this article as soon as we hear more about the Asus Zenfone 3 Go.

Hybrid woolly mammoths could soon walk the Earth, thanks to Harvard scientists

Why it matters to you

Thanks to cutting-edge gene editing techniques, Harvard scientists could soon bring animals based on long-extinct woolly mammoths to life. And they might even help with climate change.

You remember how well Jurassic Park ended, with absolutely no death and destruction, and everything going totally according to plan? Well, scientists at Harvard University have a not dissimilar scheme to bring back another long-extinct creature in the form of the woolly mammoth.

Harvard geneticist and molecular engineer Professor George Church says that his team’s “aim is to produce a hybrid elephant-mammoth embryo,” and that such a dream “could happen in a couple of years.”

This “mammophant” would be part elephant, but with various mammoth genes spliced in using gene editing to give it shaggy hair, smaller ears, cold-adapted blood, and other woolly mammoth characteristics.

More: Scientists create chickens with dinosaur legs, because why not

The project to create the mammophant started in 2015, or roughly 4,000 years since the woolly mammoth became extinct. Since then, researchers in Church’s lab have increased the number of mammoth DNA “edits” they can make into the elephant genome from 15 to 45. For the first time, the team is now talking about progressing the work to embryo stage — although a living creature is still likely to be years away.

When and if the project reaches that stage, the team plans to grow the animal in an artificial womb, as opposed to using a female elephant as a surrogate. This work could take place within the next decade.

“We hope to do the entire procedure ex vivo (outside a living body),” Church said. “It would be unreasonable to put female reproduction at risk in an endangered species [such as the Asian elephant].” At present, Church’s lab is able to grow a mouse embryo in an artificial womb from halfway through its gestation period.

Should the plan to bring back woolly mammoths succeed, Church has noted that there would be two additional benefits. The first could be to help the endangered Asian elephant survive, albeit in a modified form. The second, somewhat surprising benefit may be to help fight climate change by preventing tundra permafrost from melting and releasing greenhouses gas into the atmosphere.

“They keep the tundra from thawing by punching through snow and allowing cold air to come in,” Church said, as reported by The Guardian. “In the summer, they knock down trees and help the grass grow.”

Just so long as Jeff “Dr. Ian Malcom” Goldblum gives the final project his stamp of approval, we’ll be happy!

Your pants are calling, they want you to know it’s too hot to work today

Why it matters to you

The day could come soon when your pants are smarter about your health than you are — and keep you safe on the job.

If you’re going to wear clothes anyway, you might as well put them to work. Sweden-based Snickers Workwear, a major on-the-job clothing supplier in Europe has started testing workplace wearables that monitor health and safety factors, according to Torque-Expo.

Snickers’s product line already includes clothing and protective accessories to prevent knee injuries, but the wearable takes the next step with real-time monitoring. The company’s Tracker I microprocessor prototype is being used in tests in five countries by 100 workers. The chip fits in a pocket on the Snickers’ Work Trousers and reports workplace noise levels, heat conditions, and knee impact while the tradesperson is working. The data from the Tracker I chip transmits to the wearer’s smartphone.

More: Is that a charger in your pants? BauBax’s smart clothing juices up gadgets wirelessly

Snickers is a division of Hultafors Group. David Clark, a managing director with Hultafors, pointed out the need for clothing that took an active role in workplace safety. Clark referred to a survey in Scandinavia that revealed a majority of professional tradespeople didn’t use health and safety equipment correctly and cut corners at work.

“The study shows that six out of 10 craftsmen are suffering from pain in their knees,” Clark told Torque-Expo. “So we see that there is definitely room for improving their well-being beyond just knee protection — and our Smart Workwear is one way. We are well known for our KneeGuard System, 37.5 Fabric Technology, and technical functionality, but the integration of ‘smart’ wearable technology into our clothing shows the extent to which we are looking at working clothes and well-being on site in a completely new way.”

Snickers’ focus is to use smart workwear to improve workers’ health. The concept of clothing reporting to you while you work can also be interpreted as reporting on you, beyond your own phone to a wider network. Like any new technology, some resistance is likely at first. If workplace comfort, health, and safety can demonstrably be improved with the use of smart clothing that doesn’t make people carry and keep track of additional devices, the long-term benefits could quickly override initial pushback.

Darwin, a mini robot, helps kids with cerebral palsy perform physical therapy

Why it matters to you

Like any kid with homework, kids with cerebral palsy sometimes need encouragement to do their physical therapy. Robots like Darwin can help.

Could robots have a future helping kids with pathologies like cerebral palsy, a condition that often involves impaired muscle coordination and other disabilities? Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology think so.

They are investigating the use of pint-sized robots in pediatric therapy, specifically to encourage children to play an active role in physical therapy.

More: Friendly educational robot designed to help kids with autism

“We’re designing socially interactive robots that can engage children with disabilities in therapy activities, performed in the home environment,” professor Ayanna Howard, who leads the Darwin project, told Digital Trends. “Therapy is designed to help children in achieving their developmental milestones — whether a child with cerebral palsy, child with autism spectrum disorder, or a child recovering from a traumatic brain injury. Our robot is designed to function in the home, to supplement services provided by a human clinician, by engaging with them in therapy exercises just as a clinician does — interacting with them, monitoring their performance, and encouraging them with both motivational and corrective feedback.”

Ayanna Howard with her robot.

In experiments carried out by Howard and her colleagues, 3D-motion trackers monitored the subjects’ movements as Darwin offered encouragements while movements were performed — as well as demonstrating them when they were not performed correctly. With the exception of one isolated case, the robot had a significantly positive impact on kids’ physical activity.

“We are currently running a number of pilots using the technology in a few clinics and homes of children with cerebral palsy,” Howard continued. “Our current pilots show that children with CP are able to successfully follow the therapy protocols and guidance provided by their robot playmates.”

The next goal, she said, is to implement a long-term pilot program of two months to evaluate the robots’ full potential. Once the effectiveness of the bot-aided therapy is validated, the technology will then be ready for commercialization.

While it’s not being viewed as a replacement for human physical therapists, as it serving as an additional tool for practitioners could turn out to be beneficial. After all, what kid didn’t dream of having his or her own robot pal?

9 tips and tricks to optimize your Airpod experience

Now that Apple has removed the headphone jack from the latest iPhone, it’s time for the Apple faithful to embrace the future of wireless audio. You’ve decided against bulkier on-ear and over-ear headphone options and opted to buy the company’s first-ever fully wireless earbuds. Awesome! Now you just need to learn how to use them to their full potential.

More: Simple and reliable, Apple’s Airpods are the best fully-wireless earbuds

That’s where we come in. Here are some tips and tricks to help you master your new wireless wonders straight out of the box. These options may well increase with time, so we’ll be updating this piece as new features come on board.

Connecting to your iPhone

The easiest task in getting to know your new AirPods is pairing them with your iPhone or iPad, which is accomplished by opening the charging case near your phone, then tapping the connect button that appears on the screen. That’s it. Seriously.

Connecting to Android phones and other devices

AirPods aren’t just for iPhone users, they’ll work with Android gear and other Bluetooth-enabled devices as well. A small button on the back of the charging case allows you to connect to anything from Android phones to computers — anything that doesn’t work directly with Apple’s W1 chip. Simply open the charging case and press and hold the button until the indicator light between the AirPods begins blinking white, then find the AirPods in the Bluetooth menu of your chosen device.

Battery life info

Information about the battery life of each earbud, as well as how much juice you have left in the charging case, can be immediately displayed by opening the case within a few inches of your phone. Once opened, a battery status menu indicates how much power you’ve got to work with.

Changing the name

To change the name of your AirPods, simply navigate to the Settings menu of your iPhone, then tap into the Bluetooth menu and select your AirPods from the list of devices. Once selected, you can change the name of your headphones by clicking the Name section and editing it.

Here’s our first look at HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley’ season four

Richard Hendricks, the hapless-yet-brilliant lead of HBO’s Silicon Valley, is back. And once again, he has some big ideas percolating, judging from the show’s first teaser trailer. But his path to glory will likely be littered with plenty of setbacks, humiliation and hilarity. Just a guess (based on how things have worked out so far on the Mike Judge series). When last we left the Pied Piper team, they were considering pivoting pivot away from the exciting world of compression. But it sounds like things won’t go as smoothly as they expect when the show returns on April 23rd.

Source: YouTube (HBO)