Supreme Court declines to hear Oracle’s copyright case against Google

Way back in 2010, enterprise company Oracle accused Google of lifting copyright-protected code from Java, the programming language it acquired from Sun Microsystems, to design Android. A San Francisco trial judge disagreed but a higher court sided with Oracle, ruling that Google’s use of Java’s application programming interfaces (APIs) constituted infringement. The Mountain View-based search giant appealed that decision, but was dealt another blow today: the Supreme Court declined to hear its case, effectively letting the preceding court’s decision stand.

The outcome of Oracle v. Google, as the case is known, has wide-ranging implications for software development. At issue is whether Google’s incorporation of 37 Java APIs — lists of publicly-accessible functions in software that programmers can use to build things — in Android are “fair use,” or sufficiently transformative enough that copyright rules don’t apply. Oracle says they aren’t — it alleges that APIs, like a book or movie or TV show, are specific enough to copyright. Google argues otherwise, asserting that APIs are merely ideas, not dictum, for interacting with a type of software.

Oracle, ideally, is seeking a license from Google for its use of Java APIs. Although Java is an open source programming language and Google gives its Android operating system away for free, Oracle contends that, like a trademarked logo on a bumper sticker, it’s entitled to payment when companies make use of its intellectual property. It’s an argument not entirely without merit — Google, Oracle notes, is the only major commercial user of Java technology that doesn’t have a license. (The Dalvik virtual machine, the engine responsible for running Android apps in older versions of the operating system, is an implementation of Java.)

If Oracle prevails, the precedent isn’t too difficult to imagine: “free” software could become basically useless to developers who refuse to fork over usage fees. Projects like Linux would be on the hook for any APIs which duplicate functions in commercial software. Cloud computing storage platforms could be at risk — many are based heavily on APIs developed by Amazon. And open frameworks that supply tools as simple as dialogue windows, menus, and buttons for apps could justifiably shutter access to developers who don’t pay the de facto subscription.

In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, the case returns to a lower court where both sides will argue the “fair use” issue — the appeals court in May ruled that the Java APIs had an “overall structure, sequence, and organization” unique enough to warrant intellectual protection. Whether the court will buy the conceit of Google’s defense — that programming languages like Java are “open and interoperable” — this time around is unclear, but there’s a lot riding on the final judgement. In a brief submitted to the court, the Electronic Frontier Foundation writes that a ruling in favor of Oracle could give companies holding API copyrights “unprecedented and dangerous power” over developers.

Laggy touchscreen? Google’s Chrome TouchBot is here to help

Input lag — the measure of the time it takes your smartphone to register a finger’s tap or swipe — is quite bothersome above a certain threshold. High touchscreen latency makes a device feel sluggish and unwieldy, unpleasant characteristics you’d obviously hope not to find in any expensive new handset. Google, thankfully, feels the same, and it’s being proactive about minimizing the problem with a robot called Chrome TouchBot.

Chrome TouchBot, the product of Finnish design company OptoFidelity, is responsible for testing Android and Chrome OS devices for touchscreen lag. It measures the delay between input and response using high-speed cameras and a dexterous mechanical arm that mimics a user’s swiping, tapping, and pressing. If the arm’s conductive cylindrical tip encounters any issues — longer-than-average lag time or failure to register taps, for example — the subject of the test is set aside for further analysis.

Google seems intent on reversing a historical trend. In 2013, cloud streaming company Agawi recorded an iPhone 5 response time nearly twice as fast as the Android flagships at the time, the Galaxy S4 and HTC One (M7). “App responsiveness is judged by how quickly the app can respond to your inputs,” said Rohan Relan, cofounder and CEO of Agawi, in an interview with Venturebeat. “Smartphone with touchscreens that have [less lag] feel snappier. This is why, to many users, the iPhone keyboard feels more responsive than an Android phone keyboard.”

But better touchscreen responsiveness has benefits beyond making devices and apps feel speedier. Paul Dietz, a researcher at Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group who prototyped a display with a 1 millisecond response time, said it changes your perceptions around the on-screen buttons you’re manipulating. “You start to have things actually feel like a real physical object,” he said in a video.

Touchscreens with sub-10 millisecond lag times aren’t yet feasible, but Google’s helping along efforts by releasing Chrome TouchBot’s source code and latency tests. If you’d like to subject your own tablets, laptops, and smartphones to rigorous testing, head on over to the Chromium page to get started.

Google Earth View highlights surreal scenes from around the globe

Today, the novelty of Google Earth has worn off for many, but it’s hard to dispute just how amazing the service was when it launched back in 2005. Having access to satellite imagery on that scale seemed like something more suited to the Batcave than a Web browser, and having been under constant development over the past decade, it’s even more useful now than it was then.

From illegal marijuana farming to the bottom of the ocean, Google Earth has given us the opportunity to see things we might not have been able to otherwise. As the service celebrates its 10th birthday, several new features are being rolled out to ensure that it continues to wow users as it continues to mature and develop.

Voyager is a new way of navigating through the desktop version of Google Earth. It allows users to become acquainted with what Google Earth’s engineering manager Sean Askay describes as “the newest and most interesting imagery around the globe.” This includes seeing sights such as the Taj Mahal from Street View, a selection of cities rendered in 3D and a highlight tour of interesting locations.

It also contains Earth View, an eye-catching collection of satellite images that aims to gather images of our planet at its most beautiful. The project began, like several other notable Google projects, as part of the company’s ethos that 20 percent of each employee’s time should be spent working on projects to further Google’s reach.

There are more than enough projects in the world of technology that only serve to make a profit, but Google Earth certainly isn’t part of that number. For anyone with a passing interest in the planet they live on, it offers up a real treasure trove of things to see — for anyone without the means to explore the farthest reaches of Earth firsthand, it’s about the best alternative that we have for the time being. Isn’t that worth a spot on your hard drive?

The burger of the future comes from crickets, not cows

Agriculture has come a long way in the past century. We produce more food than ever before — but our current model is unsustainable, and as the world’s population rapidly approaches the 8 billion mark, modern food production methods will need a radical transformation if they’re going to keep up. But luckily, there’s a range of new technologies that might make it possible. In this series, we’ll explore some of the innovative new solutions that farmers, scientists, and entrepreneurs are working on to make sure that nobody goes hungry in our increasingly crowded world.

Across the world, it’s not uncommon for human beings to practice entomophagy — the consumption of insects — without a second thought. In fact, insects are often considered a delicacy in certain cultures. From the chapulines (toasted grasshoppers) of Mexico to the fried tarantulas of Cambodia, bugs regularly find their way into our bellies — without the accompaniment of braggadocious Instagram posts – “#OMG# I can’t believe I’m eating this!”

In much of Europe and North America, though, we don’t like to eat things with more than four legs. Insects are considered to be gross — not just because they live between bedsprings and below floorboards, but because of their crunchy texture and their villainous perception. Ask the next person you speak to their opinion on eating bugs, and you’re likely to receive an expression that’s a combination of disgust and incredulity.

The thing is, sooner than later, we may not have much of a choice. As the population grows, so does our need for food sources with manageable environmental footprints. Traditional livestock operations simply can’t scale to meet the demands of an eventual 9 billion meat-eating humans without wreaking havoc on the environment. Adding insects to our diets could help us avoid stressing our already overburdened food system.

The Six-Legged Solution

So, are we destined for a diet of damselflies and daddy longlegs? Right now, it’s hard to imagine ordering a Crunchwrap Supreme stuffed with fried ants instead of ground beef, but we’ve got to start somewhere, right?

Gabi Lewis and Greg Sewitz, co-founders of Exo Protein, think they might have found a workable solution: crickets.

Rather than whole crickets, though, the team at Exo is pulverizing the little guys into “cricket flour,” which is really less like traditional flour and more like a protein powder made of insects. The powder is then used to create a line of protein bars, which are actually pretty good (according to those of us in the office brave enough to try them).

Exo Protein bars are made from cricket flour.(Credit: Exo Protein)

They don’t taste like bugs, and you won’t end up with little tiny legs in your teeth; in fact, if someone were to hand you an Exo bar sans wrapper, you probably wouldn’t notice many differences from protein bars you’ve eaten in the past.

Exo Protein is just one example. In the past decade, dozens of similar companies have popped up with cricket-based products of their own — and they’re not all protein bars. From cookies to banana bread to crackers and chips, you could practically fill an entire pantry with all the bug-based food choices available today.

But why would you choose to? What benefits are there to eating crickets? Well, actually, there are no shortage of reasons to make the switch – or to at least entertain the possibility.

You could practically fill an entire pantry with all the bug-based food choices available today.

First of all, they’re good for you. Crickets are efficient sources of iron and vitamin B12, and they’re a complete protein, containing all the essential amino acids. By percentage, cricket flour contains nearly twice as much protein as beef jerky, with little to no fat content. Other insects, like mealworms and black soldier fly larvae, also rate highly in terms of nutritional value.

Part of the reason Lewis began to explore entomophagy was his search for a better protein. Animal proteins are full of beneficial nutrients and vitamins, but they’re horribly inefficient to produce. On the other hand, plant-based proteins are environmentally sustainable, but lack many essential amino acids that the human body requires. “With insect proteins, you’re not sacrificing anything,” says Lewis. “[It’s] the best of both worlds.”

The most pressing reason to start grubbing on grubs is the astonishing difference between the environmental footprint of cattle ranching and the environmental footprint of insect farming. Cows (and, relatively speaking, pigs and poultry as well) require vast amounts of water to farm. Estimates vary wildly, but a study funded by the Beef Checkoff program (which itself is funded by cattle ranchers, so this number is probably on the low end) claims that one pound of boneless beef requires 441 gallons of water to produce. In comparison, cricket flour requires just one gallon of water per pound.

Consumption of insects has a smaller impact on the environment. (Credit: Exo Protein)

Farming crickets doesn’t just save water. As opposed to cows, crickets don’t produce methane, which is the greenhouse gas most often associated with the depletion of our ozone layer. Crickets are far more efficient to feed as well, yielding up to 12 times as much edible protein, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

No one worries about the welfare of bugs, either. Insect farmers aren’t required to provide their “livestock” with space to roam, so replacing cows with crickets would have an enormous impact upon the world’s ecosystems.

On top of all that, bugs also don’t carry zoonotic diseases — infectious diseases that can be spread to humans from animals. They include Ebola, SARS, and influenza, among others. This isn’t to say that insects don’t pose infectious risks – they’re great at that – but most of the scary stuff comes from warm-blooded animals.

Making it Mainstream

Unfortunately, the Western world might not be ready to welcome insects onto their plates quite yet. Right now, due to the relative size and emergent status of the industry, cricket flour (and food made with it) isn’t cheap. As a result, only a small percentage of the population can afford these foods — least of all those who live under the poverty line, where hunger is at its worst.

Lewis compares it to “making jerky when there are only two cattle ranches,” and says that costs will come down as the supply chain grows. Exo has modeled its business to reflect that, focusing first on eliminating stigma and warming people up to the idea of eating crickets, rather than pushing their products to shelves as soon as possible.

Still, it’s doubtful that Westerners will fully embrace entomophagy anytime soon. Normalizing something considered so weird is always a gradual process, and must be handled with care. If you visited a restaurant tomorrow and the waiter told you that the daily special was locust mole, you probably wouldn’t order it. And who could blame you? It’s a foreign cuisine.

By percentage, cricket flour contains nearly twice as much protein as beef jerky.

There are, however, precedents for the adoption of foreign cuisines by the Western world. Lewis points to sushi as a prime example. Today, everybody has that one friend who absolutely loves sushi. It’s a popular food, no doubt about it. Until the invention of the California roll in the 1970s, though, sushi wasn’t even on the map for most Americans.

The inclusion of avocado (which itself languished, unappreciated, for years before a surge in the late 20th century, and for which global demand now outstrips supply) and the replacement of raw fish with crab meat helped to popularize the roll, which was first served in the former Tokyo Kaikan restaurant in Los Angeles.

The key, though, according to Lewis, was the roll’s design, which hides the shellfish behind layers of rice and seaweed. With Exo, Lewis and Sewitz are trying to do the same thing, except with crickets.

Eating insects is a widely accepted practice across many eastern cultures.

The bug-filled Trojan horse isn’t limited to Exo bars. Insects au gratin, a project authored in London by Susana Soares and Andrew Forkes, sought to combat stigmas by aesthetically reshaping entomophagous food products. The project involves mixing insect flour with gelling agents and flavoring — such as icing butter or cream cheese — to produce a consistency that can then be 3D printed into novel shapes and cooked (or eaten raw).

Since the project’s conclusion in 2015, though, there’s been little research done on the topic, and it’s difficult to say whether such an undertaking would ever be efficient enough to implement on a large scale.

We have sold out of @vivapoquitos chapulines all three nights at @SafecoField. By the numbers:

901 orders30.8 lbs18,000+ grasshoppers pic.twitter.com/LpUUOZTHWA

— Safeco Foodie (@SafecoFieldEats) April 14, 2017

The good news is that there’s not one “right” method of normalizing entomophagy. Companies like Exo are currently blazing the trail, helping shape an industry that’s still in its infancy. Creative individuals will keep coming up with ideas, and eventually, one is bound to strike gold. If we can imbibe massive quantities of kombucha and kale, surely we can scarf down a few creepy-crawlies – we just need the right motivation.

Associating entomophagy with familiar traditions could prove effective: In April, fans at Seattle Mariners games scarfed down more than 18,000 chapulines over three days. The snacks — courtesy of Poquitos Mexican Cuisine – were so popular that the stadium sold out all three days (to the surprise of both the Mariners organization and Poquitos), with more grasshoppers eaten at Safeco Field than the restaurant sells during the course of an entire year. Still, despite receiving offers from various edible insect suppliers, the team “[doesn’t] have plans to expand that portion of the menu.”

A 2013 study in Belgium offered some hope, showing that consumers would be willing to cook and eat insects if they could be imbued with familiar flavors. That’s presumably why companies like Chirps Chips are selling cricket-flour snacks covered in Cheddar and BBQ flavoring – because that’s what we’re used to.

For many, though, it’s going to take more than some ranch-flavored dust to be convinced. A Dutch study in 2016 found that humans’ perception of food is largely dependent upon the food’s “appropriateness” – subjects in the study were predisposed to prefer patties labeled as “beef,” even after experiencing no sensory difference during taste-testing.

In April, fans at Seattle Mariners games scarfed down more than 18,000 chapulines over three days.

Simply put, we’re not prepared (yet) to simply replace cows with crickets and move forward. A possible stopgap solution – one supported by the FAO – is the use of insects as feed for livestock, which adds a much-needed degree of separation between mealworms and mouths.

Silkworm larvae and termite flour, which are cheap to farm and full of nutrients, have proven to be adequate replacements for the high-priced fishmeal and meat meal usually fed to poultry.

Black soldier fly prepupae, meanwhile, are extremely efficient sources of fat and protein, and — as feed — support healthy growth for chickens, pigs, and several species of fish. In Yellow Springs, Ohio, a company named EnviroFlight uses black soldier fly grass and wheat middlings to craft feed for freshwater prawns, which typically eat an expensive diet of sinking catfish feed. Taste-testers were unable to detect any difference in flavor between the catfish-fed prawns and the soldier fly-fed prawns, a good sign for the future of insects as feed.

Ultimately, though, the pressure is on us to adapt. Though feeding bugs to our cattle might seem more palatable than eating them ourselves, it won’t be enough to help slow the troubling environmental issues that currently plague our world. Eventually (unless a better option comes along), we should probably get used to the idea of eating bugs if we want to thrive in the future. So, who knows? Maybe eating Caterpies and Weedles isn’t so “Farfetch’d”after all.

Forget solar panels — these new self-charging solar batteries don’t need them

Why it matters to you

Research into solar battery technology may mean never having to plug our phones into a power supply ever again.

Scientists are working on a battery that may recharge itself, without any input from you at all. While it sounds unbelievable, it actually uses an established technology we’re all likely familiar with, just in a very new way. The battery is solar, but rather than incorporate solar panels onto the battery or the device it powers, researchers are combining dye-sythensized molecular solar cells with the lithium-ion material inside the battery itself, creating something they’re calling, “light assisted battery charging.”

The work has been carried out by researchers at the McGill University in Montreal, along with Canadian energy company Hydro-Quebec, and the study has been published by Nature Communications. However, the research is still at a very early stage, and the paper is extremely technical. The experiments have been carried out in a lab, with the goal of creating a, “hybrid solar battery system,” with the potential to power small devices including mobile phones in the future, according to study leader Andrea Paolella.

If you’re wondering how the battery works, the answer isn’t very straightforward. The researchers haven’t been carrying a hybrid battery around with them, and the experiments have been performed in a controlled lab using the chemicals and materials that make up a battery cell. Even the sunlight was generated using a specially calibrated solar simulator machine, rather than the actual sun itself. However, because the tests have shown the solar cells can produce energy, the scientists can move on to the next stage and explore anode technology for use in the battery.

That’s not all, as at the same time, someone needs to come up with a way to wrap the battery and the device in a material that still lets sufficient light in to charge it up. Taking the battery out and leaving it on the windowsill would defeat the object, after all. The team is positive (if you’ll forgive the pun) about the future, but says we’re still years away from a self-charging lithium-ion battery, even if the next stages are successfully completed.

Forget solar panels — these new self-charging solar batteries don’t need them

Why it matters to you

Research into solar battery technology may mean never having to plug our phones into a power supply ever again.

Scientists are working on a battery that may recharge itself, without any input from you at all. While it sounds unbelievable, it actually uses an established technology we’re all likely familiar with, just in a very new way. The battery is solar, but rather than incorporate solar panels onto the battery or the device it powers, researchers are combining dye-sythensized molecular solar cells with the lithium-ion material inside the battery itself, creating something they’re calling, “light assisted battery charging.”

The work has been carried out by researchers at the McGill University in Montreal, along with Canadian energy company Hydro-Quebec, and the study has been published by Nature Communications. However, the research is still at a very early stage, and the paper is extremely technical. The experiments have been carried out in a lab, with the goal of creating a, “hybrid solar battery system,” with the potential to power small devices including mobile phones in the future, according to study leader Andrea Paolella.

If you’re wondering how the battery works, the answer isn’t very straightforward. The researchers haven’t been carrying a hybrid battery around with them, and the experiments have been performed in a controlled lab using the chemicals and materials that make up a battery cell. Even the sunlight was generated using a specially calibrated solar simulator machine, rather than the actual sun itself. However, because the tests have shown the solar cells can produce energy, the scientists can move on to the next stage and explore anode technology for use in the battery.

That’s not all, as at the same time, someone needs to come up with a way to wrap the battery and the device in a material that still lets sufficient light in to charge it up. Taking the battery out and leaving it on the windowsill would defeat the object, after all. The team is positive (if you’ll forgive the pun) about the future, but says we’re still years away from a self-charging lithium-ion battery, even if the next stages are successfully completed.

Urbanears’ Stadion is your stylish and performance-ready Bluetooth headset

Why it matters to you

Your headphones shouldn’t get in your way when you’re working out. Urbanears’ latest offering conforms to the shape of your head for maximum comfort and minimal hassle.

Urbanears launched its newest earphones on Tuesday, the $99 Stadion, which joins the company’s “Active” lineup of workout-friendly headphones.

Similar to the other members of Urbanears’ Active line — the Reimers earbuds and the Hellas Bluetooth on-ear headphones — the Stadion is sweatproof and lightweight. However, it’s unique in that it’s the first Bluetooth earphone headset in the Active line, making for a small, simple design devoid of cords or distracting loose parts.

Urbanears appears to have engineered the Stadion with a secure fit in mind. The headband is made with flexible coils, and wraps around the back of the head to conform to the wearer’s head shape. The earbuds are equipped with Urbanears’ EarClick technology, which affixes the earbuds to your ears, further securing the headset in place so you won’t have to worry about any annoying jostling while getting in your morning jog or afternoon CrossFit session.

Along with being stretchy and malleable, the Stadion’s headband features a three-button control scheme allowing you to skip songs, adjust volume, and accept incoming calls all from the back of the headband.

Urbanears claims users will get up to seven hours of playback on a single charge with the Stadion, making the headset a good potential pick for those long workouts or outdoor treks. Plus, built-in reflectors along the headset help keep you visible when exercising at night.

For those who require a set of earbuds that coordinates with their workout attire, the Stadion will be available in a handful of different color options, including the coral and gray “Rush,” blue and white “Team,” indigo and green “Trail,” and the black and gray “Black Belt.”

The Stadion headset is available on Urbanears’ website for $99.

Xiaomi’s phones aren’t coming to the U.S. or UK anytime soon

Xiaomi doesn’t want to jeopardise its position in Asian markets by stretching itself too thin.

Erstwhile Xiaomi VP Hugo Barra announced back in August 2016 that the company would make its debut in the U.S. market “in the near future.” We haven’t heard much about the Chinese manufacturer’s global plans since then, but it looks like customers in Western countries will have to wait awhile to get their hands on Xiaomi’s phones.

In an interview with Engadget, Xiaomi’s current global VP Wang Xiang said that there are no plans to launch the the Mi 6 in the U.S. or European markets, with Xiaomi instead prioritizing the 30 countries it currently serves:

Even though we don’t sell [in the US or Western Europe], we feel very sorry for not serving them well. What we’re after is a mass market, a massive impact, as opposed to a premium, elite thing. We want innovation for everyone.

Xiaomi faced supply constraints in its home market during Q4 2016, and for now, the focus will be on building momentum in Asian markets. Wang also mentioned that Xiaomi’s engineers are “superbusy” and wouldn’t be able to undertake the rigorous testing that accompanies a U.S. launch to ensure that its phones work on all major carriers. In a separate interview with CNET, Wang said that a U.S. launch is on the cards “in two years, if not sooner.”

Xiaomi has a small online presence in the U.S. through which it sells the Mi Box and accessories like audio products and power banks, but the company isn’t keen on selling phones directly to customers, like OnePlus and Honor. Wang called it a “hot-headed” move, stating that the manufacturer does not want “short-term gain” that could tarnish the brand’s perception. Instead, the company will release a handset in the U.S. and other Western markets once it’s fully prepared to do so and has set up a robust distribution and after-sales network:

There’s a Chinese saying: ‘Haste makes waste.’ You need to focus with patience and wait for the perfect opportunity.

Following LeEco’s capitulation, it is understandable to see Xiaomi taking a cautious approach. That said, by delaying its U.S. launch even further, Xiaomi is potentially conceding the market to its rivals. OnePlus has picked up a loyal userbase in the last three years, and Honor has made inroads into the U.S. and European markets over the course of the last twelve months.

Wang has mentioned that Xiaomi will make one or two phones with global LTE connectivity — like the Mi Note 2 — every year, as well as a successor to the futuristic Mi Mix, but customers in Western markets will have to resort to unofficial channels to get their hands on them.

5 reasons to buy the awesome Garmin Fenix 5

There’s a reason Garmin watches are so popular among sports and outdoor enthusiasts. Their devices are tailor-made for the active people on the planet. The ones who climb mountains, run marathons, swim across lakes and snowboard down slopes.

The company’s latest creation, the Fenix 5, goes further to meet those demands, and succeeds. Here are five awesome features which may just convince you that the Fenix 5 – available from Cotswold Outdoor – is the best wrist gadget for you.

1. Build

Being built for the outdoors means a case that’s not just durable, but one that’s tested to extremes. The Fenix 5’s fiber-reinforced polymer body is capable of withstanding pretty much anything you throw at it, especially the Sapphire edition with its Sapphire Crystal lens. It’s even water rated up to 10 ATM, which is the equivalent of diving down to 100m. In short – You’d have to try really hard to break it. Even then, you’d probably fail.

2. Multi-sport tracking

While you’ll often see avid runners with a Garmin watch strapped to their wrist, the watches are capable of much more than just tracking runs. As perfect as it is for that purpose, the Fenix 5 has tracking programs available for all kinds of exercises from indoor strength training and exercise machines to open water swimming, triathlon tracking and even skiing, snowboarding and golfing. This includes TruSwing, to help golfers improve their swings.

Part of what makes the sport tracking really useful though is that it measures your pace, heart rate and exertion, and can then tell you how intense the activity you’ve just done is and how long you need to rest before doing it again.

Pocket-lint

3. Incredible app

Fitness apps normally show you a select amount of information, giving you mostly just the basics. Garmin’s Connect app is so detailed, there’s almost no metric missing. It gives you an overview of your sleeping pattern, including how much you moved in the night. It offers you the usual collection of steps, floors and heart rate but, more importantly, shows you how many “Intensity Minutes” you have remaining for the week. This is essentially a target set by the app that varies depending on your size, weight and your fitness, all of which is adapted as you exercise.

As well as being full of useful information, it syncs with all the important third party fitness apps like MyFitnessPal, Apple Health and Strava.

4. Battery life

Compared to traditional smartwatches, the Garmin Fenix 5’s battery life is incredible. Rather than just last a couple of days, the Fenix 5 can go two weeks between charges, or 24 hours of constant GPS tracking. That’s about six back-to-back marathons.

5. Phone-free fun

While it’s a great smartwatch capable of connecting with your phone for controlling music playback and viewing notifications, it comes alive when you leave the phone at home. Using built in GPS and GLONASS satellite positioning, it can track your routes accurately without your phone. And with its barometric altimeter, 3-axis compass and gyroscope, it can track how high your climbing, which direction you’re facing and how many steps you’ve taken. All with just a lightweight device that’s strapped to your wrist.

If you’re in the market for a high end sports watch with all the bells and whistles, you can pick one up from Cotswold Outdoor with prices starting at £500.

The Morning After: Tuesday, April 25th 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

No, you’re not dreaming — flying cars are real, and the Galaxy S8 is selling at a record pace. Also, you might be a still-in-utero neomorph from Alien.

Rumorang iPhone 8 might not arrive in September

We’ve heard a few variations on rumors about Apple’s next big iPhone update, with the latest suggesting that it might not enter production until October or November. KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports that upgrades like an OLED display will push back the release, possibly separating it from a pair of milder upgrades to the existing iPhone 7 lineup.

What Galaxy Note problem?Samsung’s Galaxy S8 hits new highs for preorders

We wondered if Samsung’s reputation would survive the hit of last year’s Galaxy Note 7 problems, and it looks like it has. According to the company, preorders for its new Galaxy S8 and S8+ were up 30 percent compared to last year’s S7. There are no hard numbers to speak of, so the comparison must be taken with a grain of salt, but despite some hiccups, it appears things are getting back on track.

Take my moneyHere’s why you can’t buy a Xiaomi phone in the US yet

Xiaomi sells batteries, headphones and speakers to US customers, but its Mi mobile devices remain mostly out of reach. As Senior Vice President Wang Xiang explained to us in an interview, that’s because its resources are already stretched thin serving 30 markets around the world. We’d never say never about one of its phones making the leap, but according to Wang it doesn’t want “short-term gain” to potentially “ruin seven years’ worth of hard work on branding.”

Meet the Yi HaloGoogle’s next-gen VR camera is perfect for seamless video

Two years after introducing the Jump VR camera, Google is back with a new effort; this $17,000 camera setup dubbed the Yi Halo. . With 17 cameras onboard, it can generate 8K x 8K stereoscopic VR content at 30fps, as well as 6K x 6K content at 60 frames per second. A built-in battery will let it shoot for 100 minutes at a time without being plugged in, and it only weighs 7.7 pounds, but the big advance is in the software. The Jump Assembler program uses machine learning to stitch together seamless 360-degree videos in just a few hours instead of weeks.

It’s not what we had in mindThis is Larry Page’s ‘flying car.’

Kitty Hawk has taken the wraps off of its Flyer, showing a one-seat vehicle that’s better-suited for a trip to the other side of the lake than commuting to work. That said, this is real, and the company expects to start selling them by the end of the year.

If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying‘Overwatch’ has its first match-fixing scandal

Just over a year after the debut of Overwatch, Korean police confirmed they’re charging an eSports player and coach for attempting to fix a match. We’ve seen this happen before in other games, but it’s the first time for Blizzard’s team-based shooter.

But wait, there’s more…

• Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45 review
• What’s on TV this week: ‘Mario Kart 8 Deluxe,’ ‘Dear White People’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
• ‘Alien: Covenant’ VR experience emerges on April 26th
• Apple’s ‘Carpool Karaoke’ series is delayed
• Fisker’s new luxury EV will be unveiled in August

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