NASA’s origami-inspired robot can crouch, crawl, and climb serious inclines

Why it matters to you

PUFFER is intended to augment the exploration efforts of the next generation of rovers.

The great explorers Lewis and Clark knew the importance of team expeditions. Now, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California are developing a small scout robot called the Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER) to accompany the next generation of Martian rovers in their outer space explorations.

Inspired by origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, PUFFER is designed to change shape in order to squeeze into small crevasses that are too tight for rovers to reach. So far the two-wheeled scout has been successfully tested in hostile and diverse terrains including the Mojave Desert and Antartica.

Though rovers themselves are built to last, they’re expensive and NASA engineers take care not to send them on overtly dangerous missions. A handful of PUFFERs are comparatively cheap and can be deployed in high-risk regions.

Dylan Taylor

NASA/JPL-Caltech

“They can do parallel science with a rover, so you can increase the amount you’re doing in a day,” Jaakko Karras, PUFFER’s project manager at JPL, said in a press release. “We can see these being used in hard-to-reach locations — squeezing under ledges, for example.”

More: This Valkyrie R5 humanoid robot is put to the test with Mars colonization on the horizon

Karras developed the PUFFER design by combining various origami techniques and biomimetic movements. The scout originated with four wheels but was eventually reduced to two with the addition of large treads that allow it to better grip and climb inclines. If PUFFER needs to recharge, it can simply flip over and collect sunlight through solar panels on its underside.

Now that PUFFER can roam, it needs to be fitted with Bluetooth so it can be controlled remotely and packed with scientific instruments that will enable it to take and evaluate water samples and study the chemical makeup of its environment. NASA also plans to scale it up slightly to the size of a breadbox in order to make it a bit more durable. 

Lethal Gif? Jury says seizure-inducing image sent to journalist is a deadly weapon

Why it matters to you

Animated GIFs are fun to send to friends and family, but sending them maliciously in this manner could land you in jail.

In a first-of-its-kind case, a Texas grand jury this week ruled that an animated GIF can be considered a deadly weapon. The decision stems from a December 2016 incident in which a GIF was sent via a tweet with the intention of causing a seizure in the recipient. The grand jury along with the U.S. Department of Justice issued a series of indictments against John Rayne Rivello, who is accused of sending a flashing image with the intention of inducing an epileptic seizure in Newsweek journalist Kurt Eichenwald.

Rivello allegedly was upset with Eichenwald’s critical coverage of President Donald Trump and sent the seizure-inducing image in a tweet with the message “You deserve a seizure for your post.”

FBI investigators believe Rivello created a fake Twitter account under the name Ari Goldstein to send the message to Eichenwald. According to the DOJ complaint, Rivello made it clear that his intention was to harm Eichenwald boasting in direct messages to friends that “I hope this sends him into a seizure” and “Spammed this at [Eichenwald] let’s see if he dies.”

More: Neuroscientists can tell if you knowingly committed a crime based on brain scans

This isn’t the first time an animated GIF has been used maliciously to trigger seizures, but it is the first time an individual has been charged. In 2008, hackers compromised the Epilepsy Foundation website, posting seizure-inducing images on the main page. Nobody was harmed in that incident, and no criminal charges were filed because the hacking group remained anonymous. The Eichenwald case is different because the image caused a seizure and the sending of it could be traced back to a single individual.

“I’m unaware of anybody being criminally prosecuted for this,” said defense attorney Tor Ekeland to NBC News. “If it’s not the first time, it’s one of the first times this has happened.”

Rivello is being charged under a federal cyberstalking law that makes it a crime to use electronic communication “with the intent to kill, injure, harass, [or] intimidate” a victim. It often is used in cases of revenge porn or emailed death threats, but this is the first time the law has been applied to a tweeted GIF. In the indictment, Rivello is accused of using a tweet, a GIF, an electronic device and his hands as a deadly weapon in an attempted assault on Eichenwald.

Some legal experts like Ekeland are concerned this case could set a dangerous precedent that could be applied in unexpected ways. “How do you know a photo can or can’t set off a medical condition? You can see the slippery slope here. Are they going to use it to ban art people don’t like because it upsets someone?” Ekeland said.

Samsung’s Unpacked 2017 app is ready to bring you the Galaxy S8

The Galaxy S8 countdown clock is now an official Samsung app.

Samsung’s Unpacked app for Android an iOS was updated this morning with all kinds of new Galaxy S8 goodies. If you’re lucky enough to go to the events in NYC or London, this app serves up a QR code so you can gain entry. For everyone else, this app will offer up a live stream of the events as they happen, and some additional information and videos surrounding the launch of this phone.

Samsung Galaxy S8: Everything we know so far

It may be unfair to say this phone has been leaked more than any phone in the history of phones, but it certainly feels like it sometimes. We’ve had videos from every quality of camera, not to mention screenshots and press leaks and just about anything else you can imagine. There’s little about the outside of this phone we’re not already incredibly familiar with, but the actual presentation is going to be about the big picture. Samsung is going to show us all how this phone is more than the sum of its parts, and if history is any indicator that will be quite the spectacle.

Just like last year, the app is free if you want it now, but it’s not going to do too much more than offer a countdown to the launch if you choose to install it today. If that’s all you need to have fun, though, knock yourself out!

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus

• Latest Galaxy S8 rumors!
• Galaxy S8 announcement coming March 29 in NYC
• Galaxy S8 release date set for April 28
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

Finally catch yourself a Lapras in the new Pokémon Go event!

Put your fishing pole down and grab your PokéBalls. The Water Festival is here!

Pokémon Go will be launching its next big in-game event later today, focused on catching water-type critters everywhere. From the official post on the subject:

Starting today at 1 P.M. PDT, you’ll be more likely to encounter Magikarp, Squirtle, Totodile, and their evolutions all around the world. Additionally, when you’re out exploring areas where Water-type Pokémon more commonly appear, you’ll have a greater chance to encounter several of the Water-type Pokémon originally discovered in the Johto region, and maybe… you might even encounter Lapras.

This event lines up well with an adjustment to the game’s 7-Day Streak mechanic, promising an evolution item drop every time you complete a streak instead of just a random chance. The event lasts exactly seven days, which means if you are an active player every day until the 29th you’ll not only have an arsenal of new water-type creatures to battle with but you’ll also have a decent chance of evolving one into something even better.

Now get out there and catch yourself a Lapras. You deserve it.

Pokémon Go

• Pokémon Go Game Guide!
• Pokémon Go Gen 2 FAQ
• Pokémon Go tips and tricks
• How to deal with GPS errors in-game
• How to play without killing your battery
• Join our Pokémon Go forums!

10 Best Alexa Skills you can use right now

Your Amazon Echo only gets smarter from here.

Once you’ve become familiar with all of the commands that come included with your Amazon Echo, it’s time to make this little bundle of microphones even smarter by adding some Skills. These are like apps you can add to your Echo and control entirely with your voice, and there are thousands of them to choose from. To help narrow things down a bit and help get you started, I’ve assembled a list of some of my favorites.

Ordering from Amazon

This isn’t exactly a feature you have to add, but it’s a feature that grows on a regular basis. You can ask Alexa to order something new, repeat and order you’ve made before, and check on an order that hasn’t been delivered yet.

The best part of this? It includes Amazon Prime Now as long as you specify which Amazon you want to order from. That means instead of waiting until tomorrow for your Amazon order to arrive, you can ask for delivery from Prime Now and get it within two hours.

Call for a ride

Ride sharing apps can’t really get much more convenient when you’re out and about, but at home your Amazon Echo figured out how to make things extra awesome. You can grab a ride from Uber or Lyft by adding the Skill to your Amazon account and linking to the ride sharing app on your phone. That way, when you call for a car, Alexa can hand the request off to the right folks and you can keep your phone in your pocket.

Grab the Uber Skill

Grab the Lyft Skill

Send a text with your voice

My Amazon Echo is most useful when I’m in the kitchen and my hands are covered in something I don’t want on my phone, so being able to text through the Echo is a big deal. The SMS with Molly Skill lets you speak who you want to send a message to, turn your voice into text, and send that message without ever needing to touch a phone.

This Skill requires a little set up before you use it, so the app has access to your contacts, but once you get it set the way you want it this is a great tool to have.

Grab the SMS with Molly Skill

Control your television

Nobody likes fighting over the remote control, and sometimes kids think they’re slick and hide it so you can’t snatch it up and turn everything off from the other side of the room. Fortunately, Logitech and Amazon have your back with the Harmony Skill.

This Skill requires you to own a Logitech Harmony Hub, but if you make that investment you’ll be able to turn the television on and off with your voice whenever you want.

Grab the Harmony Skill

Grab a new recipe for dinner

I’m always looking for new things to try in the kitchen, and more often than not my searches land my on something from Allrecipes. The Alexa Skill for Allrecipes keeps my phone in my pocket, allowing me to ask for new recipes and get a step-by-step walkthrough of what I need to do when I pick something to make.

Grab the Allrecipes Skill

Ask the Mixologist for a new drink

Making the perfect drink for your mood is usually something for veteran bartenders to handle, but the Mixologist Skill is a nice fill-in for when you’re at home and need something tasty. This app will break down thousands of different recipes so anyone can make something fun, and if you’re truly not sure what to make you can call out for a random recipe and see where Alexa takes you.

Grab the Mixologist Skill

Jump into a quick workout

Guided audio workouts are nothing new, but the 7-Minute Workout Skill makes sure you’re able to quickly burn some calories no matter what time of day it is. This Skill runs you through the 7-Minute Workout without needing to turn on a television or prop up a phone, making is one of the best ways to quickly get your sweat on.

Grab the 7-Minute Workout Skill

See if your friend is cheating

I trusted you, Grandma…

That feeling of betrayal when you realize Grandma was just making rules up when you played Monopoly as a kid stays with you for a whole. Whether someone is cheating on purpose or stuck in a “family rules” loop, Board Game Answers will set everyone straight when you ask for the official rules in many different games.

I trusted you, Grandma…

Grab the Board Games Answers Skill

Make everyone laugh

Sometimes it’s fun to have Alexa entertain your guests, and the best way to do that is asking for a joke or trying to get your friends stuck in a puzzle. The Gollum Skill will ask everyone to participate in a game of riddles that doesn’t end in a twisted Stoorish Hobbit trying to eat you, and is great for a laugh. If all of your friends aren’t huge nerds, the Alternative Facts Skill will get a good laugh from everyone paying attention to the news nowadays.

Grab the Gollum Skill

Grab the Alternative Facts Skill

Fall fast asleep

Alexa is great for grabbing music from dozens of sources, but with the Sleep and Relaxation Sounds Skill you can ease that down to the sound of a babbling brook or a distant thunderstorm. It’s just enough to chill you out or put you to sleep, and will fade away into silence after playing for a while.

Grab the Sleep and Relaxation Sounds Skill

Amazon Echo

• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

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Boost Mode on PlayStation 4 Pro doesn’t do much for PSVR

VR is already great though PlayStation 4 Pro, so it’s not likely to improve much more.

The 4.5 update to PlayStation 4 Pro consoles added a Boost Mode feature, which was designed to offer more processing and GPU power to existing games that weren’t going to update to the more capable “enhanced” mode. For normal PS4 games, this Boost Mode offers a slight stability bump to make things look consistently good throughout the experience. There was some hope this new feature was going to offer a little something extra to PlayStation VR games as well, our research suggests that’s not going to happen.

Read more at VR Heads

Location sharing is finally coming back to Google Maps

You will once again be able to share your location without using Google+.

A long time ago, we used to be able to share location data with friends through this app called Google Latitude. When Latitude and other apps were folded into Google Maps, the location sharing feature was migrated over to Google+. It looks like even Google has given up on people using that social network, as the feature is moving back to Google Maps in the next update. Even better, it looks like this feature is getting a huge update.

The UI in the new Maps update shows that some features from the Trusted Contacts app were found to be particularly useful, but this will be deeply integrated into the Maps experience. You’ll be able to share to individuals or groups, and have quite a bit of control over how long you are sharing and how often that information is updated.

Best of all, you won’t need to be an active Google Maps user to enjoy this feature. In fact, you won’t even need to be on mobile. Location sharing will be available on Android, iOS, and both mobile and desktop browsers. This is a deep sign of “about time” for those of us who have been using the feature since the Latitude days, and it’s going to be a wonderful addition to Maps when it finishes rolling out to everyone.

OnePlus is letting anyone buy this slick Midnight Black OnePlus 3T

There’s a new special edition OnePlus 3T, and you may actually be able to buy it this time.

A lot of going right for OnePlus these days. The company was among the first manufacturers to release Android 7.1.1 to two of its devices on the same day, and it managed to make all the nerds swoon in unison with the announcement of a special edition all-black OnePlus 3T in collaboration with Parisian fashion house, colette.

While that particular run was limited to 250 people, OnePlus has bigger plans for its so-called Midnight Black OnePlus 3T: not only is it releasing a limited run of the phone (another 250 units) in a “unique online pop-up sales event” starting at 4pm GMT at Hypebeast, but it will make the shade available to more people in Europe and North America “on OnePlus.net for a limited time at a later date.”

In other words, OnePlus is taking advantage of this artificial scarcity tactic.

“Our users have been asking for an all-black OnePlus 3T, so our team worked hard to bring them the most stunning OnePlus phone to-date in the OnePlus 3T Midnight Black,” said Pete Lau, OnePlus CEO, in a release. “This new version of our most successful phone so far combines powerful hardware, fast and smooth software and the finest attention to detail.”

According to the company, over 30 variations of the all-black design were tested before it (never) settled on this particular look and feel, going through a rigorous manufacturing process that includes “three carefully applied dark coatings 14 microns thick [to] maintain the natural look and feel of metal. Each phone undergoes two sandblasting treatments with various sizes of metal sand to bring out a bright, classy luster. To finish each device, an anti-fingerprint layer is applied to keep the device looking as pristine as the day you first take the phone out of the box.” Phew.

Each limited edition Midnight Black OnePlus 3T will have 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, and retail for USD 479 / EUR 479 / GBP 439, “while supplies last.” We will update the article when we know more about specific availability.

See at OnePlus

OnePlus 3T and OnePlus 3

• OnePlus 3T review: Rekindling a love story
• OnePlus 3T vs. OnePlus 3: What’s the difference?
• OnePlus 3T specs
• Latest OnePlus 3 news
• Discuss OnePlus 3T and 3 in the forums

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Virgin Media now offers 100Mbps fibre broadband as standard, 300Mbps upgrade to all

Virgin Media has rejigged its broadband price plans to make its up to 100Mbps service the standard option in the UK. It has also opened up its up to 300Mbps service to all customers in areas capable of getting those speeds. It was previously restricted.

Its prices also now come with line rental included in the quoted cost.

The price for the Vivid 100 solus package, for example, is £32.25 a month on a 12 month contract, which includes up to 100Mbps fibre broadband and line rental (which is a necessity).

Virgin Media also has a gamer specific deal, with a faster upload speed and no traffic management. That starts at £42.25 a month on a 12 month contract for up to 200Mbps fibre broadband and included line rental. The 300Mbps package also has faster upload speeds and no traffic management for £5 more.

The company has also announced that its Virgin TV V6 box is now available to all customers on a wider selection of monthly bundles. It is now included on the Mix, Fun and Full House bundles as standard.

The different broadband speed options for broadband are:

• Vivid 100 – 100Mbps download, 12Mbps upload – £32.25 a month
• Vivid 200 – 200Mbps download, 16Mbps upload – £37.25 a month
• Vivid 200 Gamer – 200Mbps download, 20Mbps upload – £42.25 a month
• Vivid 300 – 300Mbps download, 20Mbps upload – £47.25 a month

Prices for the bundles, including the V6 box, are:

• Mix bundle with Vivid 100 – £52 a month
• Fun bundle with Vivid 100 – £57 a month
• Full House bundle with Vivid 200 – £73 a month
• Full House bundle with Vivid 300 – £83 a month

18 great movie quotes that work with Sky Q voice search, try these out yourself

Sky started to roll out its long-awaited voice search feature to Sky Q boxes from Wednesday 22 March, and while not everyone will have the software update yet, there are plenty trying out right now.

All Sky Q boxes will have the update by the “end of spring” 2017 so you should get it soon if not already.

It enables viewers to search for TV shows and films by barking commands at the box, while pressing the small button on the top right-hand side of the touch remote. You can search using actor names, genres, even vague terms, like “Liverpool games”. However, one of the most interesting features is that you can also search for classic films by saying memorable movie quotes.

• What is Sky Q, how much does it cost and how can I get it?
• Sky Q review: 4K, multi-room support, apps and more

Naturally, not every famous quote will be recognised but there are still plenty. That’s why we’ve put together this list of many that we’ve been told about or found. Each one will find the movie it is from on Sky Q.

Why don’t you try them out on your own Sky Q box?

• “I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.” – Sunset Boulevard
• “Well, nobody’s perfect.” – Some Like it Hot
• “A boy’s best friend is his mother.” – Psycho
• “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” – Cool Hand Luke
• “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?” – Dirty Harry
• “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” – The Godfather II
• “Yo, Adrian!” – Rocky
• “May the Force be with you.” – Star Wars
• “Surely you can’t be serious!” – Airplane!
• “Say ‘hello’ to my little friend!” – Scarface
• “Goose!” – Top Gun
• “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” – Wall Street
• “I’ll have what she’s having.” – When Harry Met Sally
• “You can’t handle the truth!” – A Few Good Men
• “Houston, we have a problem.” – Apollo 13
• “Show me the money!” – Jerry Maguire
• “You had me at ‘hello’.” – Jerry Maguire
• “My precious.” – The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers