Sprimo portable air monitor lets you ‘see what you smell’

Why it matters to you

If you’re at all concerned about the air quality in your daily environment, a portable monitor like this will supply you with the data you’re looking for.

Although the idea of an app that lets you “see what you smell” at first sounds borderline unsavory, dig a little deeper and we discover that it could actually turn out to be something really very useful.

Air pollution is a serious problem around the world though it’s often hard to know the true quality of the air we’re breathing at any given time.

That could be about to change thanks to an interesting new device launched this week on Kickstarter that plugs into your phone and provides data to the aforementioned accompanying app.

Developed by a two-person team based out of Silicon Valley, the Sprimo lets you check the quality of the air at any time and in any place, whether you’re indoors or outdoors. All you need to do is whip out your phone, plug in the Sprimo, and fire up the app.

The Sprimo boasts “cutting-edge gas detector technology able to detect thousands of volatile organic compounds.” Within seconds of activating the app, you’ll be offered an assessment of the surrounding air quality according to the level of airborne toxins and chemicals, while temperature and humidity readings are also offered.

A neat touch is that if enough people use Sprimo, the app will also offer interactive mapping of local and regional air quality readings so you can check readings far beyond your immediate vicinity.

Made from durable, high-impact ABS plastic and stainless steel, the diminutive device requires no power source and is cable-free.

More: Know how clean the air is by turning on a Philips Hue smart lightbulb

The first version is for iPhone only, though an Android model is also in development. Early-bird Kickstarter backers can secure a Sprimo with a pledge of just $20, which represents a generous 50 percent saving on the expected retail price. It’ll ship to anywhere in the world from July, 2017.

Sprimo isn’t the first portable air monitor to hit the market, but if it can offer reliable functionality at such an attractive price point, it could become a popular choice for the increasing number of people taking an interest in the air they breathe.

Apple may breathe new life into its much-missed MagSafe connector

Why it matters to you

Although Apple removed MagSafe from the latest MacBook Pro, the technology could yet make a comeback.

“How many of you have ever had your notebook go flying off its work surface when somebody caught your power adapter cord in their foot … whether it’s your pet or your kid or your room mate?” These were the words of one Steve Jobs more than 10 years ago when he unveiled Apple’s MagSafe connector for the tech giant’s laptops.

The audience cheered wildly when Jobs revealed the magnetic connector, and while that’s par for the course for Apple events, perhaps this particular episode of hootin’ and hollerin’ was a little more heartfelt than usual, for the MagSafe connector really did seem like a fine idea, superb in its simplicity, exceptional in its execution.

Multiple MacBook models incorporated MagSafe, with the cord flipping out whenever it was inadvertently snagged by something. But then along came the 2016 MacBook Pro, and to the disappointment of many, the connector was gone. Along with all the other ports.

The replacement USB-C port means business as usual when it comes to cord entanglement, which really isn’t what you want with such a pricey machine.

It seems, however, that Apple may be considering a solution for those individuals still weeping over the loss of MagSafe. A recently revealed Apple patent spotted by Mashable shows an adapter that provides MagSafe functionality. And it wouldn’t be limited only to MacBooks. Apple suggests it could link to “connector receptacles on various types of devices, such as portable computing devices, tablet computers, desktop computers, laptops, all-in-one computers, wearable computing devices, cell phones, smart phones, media phones, storage devices, portable media players, navigation systems, monitors, power supplies, adapters, remote control devices, chargers …” In other words, everything.

More: Watch this hilarious “Apple engineer” explain the MacBook Pro’s lack of ports

If, under your breath, you’re already muttering, “Yes, but it’s another dongle, I’ve had enough of dongles, no more dongles please, can’t you see I’m dongled out?” then we hear you. It’s not a perfect solution, and similar devices are already on the market, albeit with less functionality than the one suggested in the patent.

As usual with such filings, there’s no guarantee Apple’s MagSafe dongle will become a thing, but it at least shows the company hasn’t ditched the design completely and is apparently considering how it might be brought back. In the meantime, just watch where you leave your MacBook Pro cord.

This 18-rotor electric ‘super-drone’ has designs on becoming a flying taxi

Why it matters to you

It has a striking design but to be a success, people have to want to climb inside. Would you?

Call it a super-drone, call it a helicopter on steroids, call it what you darn well like, but the extraordinary Volocopter is another step closer to becoming a reality for rich folks interested in a quirky mode of transport. Or possibly a flying taxi service in urban settings.

Built by German firm E-Volo, we first heard about this remarkable vertical-take-off-and-landing contraption six years ago, and last year it finally took to the skies for its very first manned flight.

This week a new version of the Volocopter, the 2X, showed up at AERO, a huge aviation trade fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany, The Verge reported on Wednesday.

If you hadn’t already noticed, the most striking part of the Volocopter’s design is its large number of rotors — 18 in all — that at first sight look like a bunch of drones welded together. Powered by nine lithium-ion batteries, Volocopter is a zero-emissions vehicle with a maximum speed of 62 mph. Cruising at a speed of 43 mph gives it a range of 17 miles, more than enough for short hops or a city-based shuttle service.

The Volocopter looks pretty sleek inside and out. It can carry up to two passengers and fly autonomously with a few pre-flight taps on the copter’s control panel. A joystick also allows for manual control, as successfully demonstrated last year by E-Volo boss Alexander Zosel.

On its website, E-Volo assures amateur pilots they can “depend upon a system that forgives you for your mistakes,” which is certainly good to know in case your hands suddenly get a bit sweaty at the controls. “You can even let go of the joystick when you wish to gaze at something in wonderment — the Volocopter retains your altitude and position.” That’s even better to know.

However, for “incorrigible pessimists” who have little faith in the machine’s reliability, E-Volo has incorporated “a full aircraft parachute,” which, in an emergency, will enable you to “descend to the ground, very gently, still securely seated in the aircraft.” You read that right — a full aircraft parachute.

Upcoming plans for the Volocopter include more testing of the latest design, and, next year, the trial launch of a flying taxi service.

More: This crazy hobbyist built a flyable 54-rotor personal helicopter from drone parts

It’s certainly an exciting time for anyone following the development of compact, electric-powered flying “cars” or similar machines. Other companies competing with E-Volo to bring their respective designs to market include the likes of Uber, Airbus, and Chinese firm Ehang. Clearly, the design of such contraptions have come a very long way in recent years.

Emirates gets round laptop ban by handing out Microsoft Surface tablets to passengers

Emirates airline has come up with a way to circumnavigate the US laptop and tablet ban enforced on some of its flights from the Middle East. It is handing passengers Microsoft Surface tablets to use in-flight.

At present, this only applies to flights from Dubai to the States, and passengers must hand the tablets back to staff waiting at the other end, but it at least gives travellers an option otherwise unavailable to them.

The US ban restricts the use of any device larger than a smartphone, which certainly prevents business types from working on their laptops. However, passengers are allowed to take their own USB stick on the flight with them and load documents and files onto the Surface to edit while travelling.

Both the UK and US have banned larger devices on flights from the Middle East, citing terrorist threat intelligence as a reason. But while some airlines are affected by both countries’ bans, Emirates is only on the US prohibited list.

It will be interesting to see if other air companies follow suit, with British Airways one of the largest on the UK list.

Virgin Atlantic hasn’t been affected but does have history on giving passengers tablets on flights before. We were on a Christmas flight to Boston a couple of years ago where everyone on board received a Windows 10 device. They got to keep them too.

Another startup promises self-driving taxis ‘soon’

Popular online learning service Udacity already trains engineers for work in the fast-growing autonomous vehicles field, but now the company is ready to harness all that talent and launch its own self-driving taxi company. Led by CEO (and former Udacity Vice President) Oliver Cameron, the new spin-off company will be called Voyage and has given itself the goal of getting autonomous taxis to “real users” in less than five years.

As Cameron noted on Twitter, he thinks Voyage can hit that goal thanks to a “maturing” ecosystem that will allow the company to add autonomous functions to existing vehicles without needing to build a new self-driving car from the ground up. According to Business Insider, Voyage plans to differentiate itself from the competition at Uber and Lyft by allowing riders to control the experience with voice commands that set destination, add additional stops or simply control music playback. Although the company didn’t specify which markets it would enter first, Voyage is aiming to start test rides with real passengers “very soon” — possibly in the next few months.

⛵ Personal news! I’m starting a new thing with great friends called @voyage. We’re deploying autonomous taxis to real users very, very soon. pic.twitter.com/aklKSUNMJR

— Oliver Cameron (@olivercameron) April 5, 2017

Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun has been called the “Godfather of self-driving cars” for his early work on Google’s self-driving project, but as TechCrunch reports, Udacity will be separate from Voyage moving forward. And Voyage won’t be taking any of the self-driving tech developed by Udacity students along with it in order to avoid possible legal battles like the one currently brewing between Uber and Alphabet’s Waymo. As for the rest of the competition, Voyage’s timeline may not be the most aggressive we’ve seen: Ford plans to have a fully autonomous car and ride sharing service ready for the public by 2021, while Mercedes and Bosch hope to beat them to market with autonomous car-sharing before 2020. GM and Lyft’s partnership, meanwhile, is reportedly working towards delivering an autonomous fleet as soon as 2018.

Via: Business Insider

Source: Voyage

Twitter unveils faster Lite app for data-deprived users

Twitter is following in the footsteps of Facebook Lite and YouTube Go by launching a faster, smaller, data-saving version of its mobile website called Twitter Lite. It’s aimed largely at users outside the US, UK and other nations that have fast wireless connectivity, and instead targeting emerging markets where 4G networks are sporadic or nonexistent.

The new site is a progressive web app (PWA) that’s more like a mobile website than a mobile app. As such, it takes up minimal space on your device (just 1MB) and has quicker launch and navigation speeds — ideal for slower smartphones. “While smartphone adoption grew to 3.8 billion connections by the end of 2016, 45 percent of mobile connections are still on slower 2G networks,” the company wrote in the announce blog.

Twitter figures that on average, users will use around 40 percent less data with the Lite app. With an additional data saver mode turned on, that will be reduced by a further 70 percent, “making it more affordable for you to use Twitter in areas where the mobile data is expensive,” the company writes.

Twitter Lite is a faster, data friendly way for people to use Twitter to see what’s happening in the world.

👉 https://t.co/AIUgyCAFj0 pic.twitter.com/9EIG7pgK6O

— Twitter (@Twitter) April 6, 2017

The app has additional PWA features if you run it on Google Chrome on Android devices. Users will get push notifications and you can add it to your home screen shortcut and app drawer like a regular app. Twitter Lite will also work offline, so you’ll be able to keep using it if your data connection fails (you won’t see new tweets, though, of course).

The company is touting it as a solution in developing nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa, especially for new users. It’s partnered with Vodafone in India, which is promoting Twitter Lite as a way to get live cricket updates — in fact, the launch is timed with the the major Indian Premiere League Twenty20 cricket tournament.

“We didn’t feel like we were reaching these other countries well enough, and this will allow us to do it faster, cheaper and with a better experience than we’ve had before,” Twitter Product VP Keith Coleman told Reuters.

Unlike rival Facebook, the 140-character social network has famously had trouble gaining new users. Twitter is a more news-centric app than YouTube and Facebook, though, so the new data-friendly app could help folks in emerging markets learn of breaking news and stay informed. That said, Twitter still has to find a way to make its app more compelling — and safer — for the average user. You can try Twitter Lite, which is now the mobile web app by default around the world, at mobile.twitter.com.

Source: Twitter

SpaceX is saving a ton of money by re-using Falcon 9 rockets

SpaceX is deep into the development of reusable rockets to slash launch costs for future missions, so one has to wonder how much its historic SES-10 mission saved. At the 33rd Space Symposium in Colorado, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell has revealed that the company spent “substantially less than half” the cost of a new first stage for the Falcon 9 reflight. While she didn’t mention specific figures, that means huge savings, since the rocket’s first stage accounts for around 75 to 80 of its total cost.

Shotwell said the private space corporation managed to save money even though it did a lot of work examining and refurbishing the flight-proven booster. SpaceX expects those cost savings to grow, since they won’t do as much work on future recovered rockets as they did for the SES-10 launch.

To be able to recoup its massive $1 billion investment into reusable rocket technologies, though, she admits that the company can’t slash the full cost savings off the price clients have to pay. At the moment, it costs clients around $62 million per launch. Further, the company needs to be able to find a way to get recovered first stages ready for use within a day.

She explained:

“Looking forward for reusability, we don’t believe it really, really counts unless you can turn it around rapidly, or almost as rapidly, as you turn around an aircraft. Our challenge right now is to refly a rocket within 24 hours. That’s when we’ll really feel like we’ve got reusability right.”

SpaceX ultimately expects reusable rockets to shave 30 percent off launch costs, but United Launch Alliance chief Tory Bruno isn’t so convinced. At the same event, he said the technology isn’t necessarily a game changer and will likely only slash 10 percent off current launch prices.

Source: SpaceNews

Amazon’s Fire TV Stick with Alexa remote hits the UK for £40

At long last, Amazon is selling its new Fire TV Stick in the UK. The cheap media streamer, which comes with an Alexa-enabled voice remote, first debuted in the US last October. As you would expect, the hardware lets you search for movies and TV shows, launch apps and control playback. Like the Echo, however, Alexa can also be used for a number of “skills,” such as asking for the weather or dimming your smart lights. The stick itself has also been upgraded with a new processor, making it 30 percent faster than the previous model, and supports the speedy 802.11ac WiFi protocol.

The upgraded Fire TV Stick also features Amazon’s new “Cinematic UI,” which, as the name suggests, focuses on larger thumbnail images, screenshots and trailers. As part of the launch, Amazon is pushing a software update to its entire Fire TV line in the UK, adding Cinematic UI and Alexa to existing Fire TV voice remotes. If you have the original stick, it will also be possible to access Alexa using the Fire TV app on your smartphone or tablet. For better performance, however, there’s only one way to go — the new Fire TV stick will set you back £39.99 in the UK.

Via: Amazon (Press Release)

Source: Amazon UK

Soft manta ray robot could watch over coral reefs

It looks like Harvard’s octopus robot is going to have some stiff competition. Chinese researchers have crafted a soft manta ray-inspired bot that could surveil the seas without harming nature in the process. Rather than rely on stiff metal or plastic for its body, the artificial swimmer is made out of a combination of flexible polymer (for its muscles) and silicone (for most everything else) that shouldn’t damage sea life. And importantly, there’s no motor — the ray gets around using a lithium battery whose cyclic voltage causes the muscles to bend, flapping fins in the process. Electromagnets help steer the tail.

At a speed of less than 2.4 inches per second, this faux manta isn’t about to compete with real fish for performance (others its size tend to travel four times faster). That’s still twice as fast as the previous best for a soft untethered robot, however, and it can survive in temperatures as cold as 33F and as hot as 165F. If there’s a real drawback to the current design, it’s the 3-hour battery life — this won’t stay underwater for too long.

There’s no guarantee that this will find a practical use, but the prototype can carry a small camera. Scientists primarily envision it studying coral reefs, where conventional vehicles might be too dangerous. It could also be helpful for studying shipwrecks without disturbing their contents. And while it’s not mentioned, it’s easy to see the allure for military users who want to scan for mines or rival probes as quietly and unintrusively as possible.

Via: The Verge

Source: New Scientist

Australian Consumer Regulator Sues Apple Over ‘Error 53’ iPhone Shutdowns

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging that it violated Australian consumer law when a software update it issued last year bricked some users’ iPhones.

The lawsuit relates to the infamous “error 53” message reported back in February 2016 that began greeting some users after they updated their devices. It later emerged that the devices bricked by the message had been repaired by third-party technicians.

Apple initially said the message was a protective security feature designed to protect consumers’ devices from the installation of fraudulent Touch ID components, but later admitted the error was a mistake and apologized for it, offering instructions online explaining how to fix affected devices.

The Australian regulator that filed the federal lawsuit is seeking financial penalties from Apple. Penalties of up to A$1.1million ($829,000) per breach could be assessed, according to The Wall Street Journal, but it would be up to the court to define how many breaches occurred. Apple has yet to respond to request for comment.

Rod Sims, chairman of the ACCC, said the lawsuit challenges Apple’s entire policy of requiring customers to pay for repairs to defective components if their device was previously serviced by a third party.

“It’s fair to say we haven’t observed similar behavior by other manufacturers,” Mr. Sims said in an interview, adding that it is often cheaper for customers to seek repairs from third-party shops. “Apple seems to have a particular way of doing things.”

Australian Consumer Law requires that when a product is purchased, there’s a guarantee that it will be “reasonably fit” for its intended purpose. As the ACCC sees it, the error 53 message rendered customers’ iPhones and iPads unusable, therefore they should be entitled to a remedy from Apple under the law.

Apple faced a class action lawsuit in the U.S. over the error message last year, after some users accused it of false advertising and complained of data loss. Apple reimbursed the affected customers with working devices, and the company’s motion to dismiss the case was successful after a district judge ruled that plaintiffs lacked evidence to back up their claims.

Tag: Error 53
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