Mayo Clinic-backed app aims to replace BMI with more accurate metric

Why it matters to you

BVI has been touted as a more accurate and potentially life-saving metric than BMI, and this app puts it in the hands of the healthcare community for the very first time.

It’s no secret that Body Mass Index is an imperfect measure of an individual’s health — and that’s not terribly surprising, given the fact that the standard was developed nearly 200 years ago. Since then, advances in science and healthcare have shown us the limitations of BMI, but they’ve failed to provide us with an easily achievable alternative that can replace it. Fortunately, a new iPad app developed in tandem with the Mayo Clinic and other global healthcare organizations is aiming to buck that trend.

The app is called BVI Pro, and in simple terms it’s able to measure body composition on the Body Volume Indicator scale using the iPad’s camera. Take two pictures of the individual — one head-on and another in profile — and, alongside information like age and reported activity, the software is able to generate an accurate snapshot of fat distribution, as well as any associated health risks.

According to BVI America, the company responsible for creating the app with 3D measurement firm and parent company Select Research, BVI is much more useful as a measure compared to BMI because it targets visceral fat — the fat stored within the abdomen and around the organs. Visceral fat is considered to be the most potentially life-threatening type in the body but, as Select Research CEO Richard Barnes explains, until now, it has always required expensive, large machinery to accurately measure.

“Most of the [body scanners used for BVI] are based on 16 to 20 cameras,” Barnes told Digital Trends. “What we’ve done over the last four years is we’ve made that software to just require two cameras instead of 16. And we’ve used an iPad to take two pictures that effectively then mesh the images together and create a 3D image of the person.”

BVI America

According to Barnes, BVI America has validated its findings throughout the development process by comparing individuals’ data achieved through the app with data produced by MRI scanners. The results are pretty consistent already, but Barnes said BVI Pro will only become more accurate as it is continually used, and the machine learning that powers it becomes more adept at matching body shape with volume.

“The approach we’ve taken on it is exactly the same that’s been done with Siri and Shazam, where we use machine learning over time to improve and validate,” Barnes said. “We have some experts involved in the business who were involved in those applications and others.”

The end result is an app that lowers the cost of entry to what could be a new medical standard going forward — one that could replace or at least supplement BMI and deliver much more useful and actionable data to healthcare professionals as well as their patients.

“The Achilles heel of BVI was basically that it couldn’t be done anywhere, whereas BMI, simple as it is, could be done anywhere — someone could always take their height and weight if they’re at home or in the office,” Barnes said.

BMI persists partially because it is so easy to calculate, and life insurance companies even continue to use it to determine policy rates. Many experts, like Amanda Salis, associate professor at The Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders at Sydney University, maintain that its value lies in estimating the health and obesity of a population, rather than an individual.

Barnes agrees, and he believes the app itself and the concept behind BVI is so simple that as people try it, they’ll understand it. Meanwhile, the professional and scientific communities will serve as a proving ground for the software, making it better through continued usage. The Mayo Clinic has already committed to helping to develop BVI into a global standard by 2020.

“Although we’ve got a huge amount of data on which we base [BVI Pro], we don’t have hundreds of thousands or millions of bits of data,” Barnes said. “We need that to get different populations and to adjust the algorithms and make it really work.”

BVI Pro is now live on the App Store for iPad for free. Although it’s primarily intended for professional use, using the app is as simple as taking a couple pictures. Barnes said that going forward, BVI America is considering more consumer-oriented mobile applications as well.

Find local garage sales faster with Facebook’s update to Marketplace

Why it matters to you

Whether you are looking for local garage sales or pet supplies, Facebook Marketplace is aiming to simplify the search with one-click categories that appear to be based on your search history.

Facebook’s local commerce platform, Marketplace, is now a bit easier to navigate. The latest Facebook update gives Marketplace a facelift, making it a bit easier to find exactly what you’re looking for nearby.

At the top, Marketplace’s previous four icons now include options to access several categories in one tap, sorting the results to include just local garage sales, for example, or stuff for your kids. The new categories are color-coded at the top, alongside the earlier shortcuts to access your own for sale items.

Those shortcuts also appear to be related in part to your search history — every category is not included in the top navigation but if you recently searched for a fish tank, pet supplies will be part of the shortcut categories. Access to all of the categories is available with one tap to the categories icon, with each area color-coded and divided into sub sections — home items, from tools to furniture, for example, are blue while kids and pets fall under the same orange family category. Garage sales and local real estate are bundled under the red Classifieds category.

The new shortcuts are designed to make finding a specific item in a long list of posts a bit simpler, while text-based searches are still available with the same search bar at the top. After searching by keyword, users can sort through the results by selecting a category or narrowing down a price.

According to TechCrunch, the updates also appear for desktop users, though in a different layout, while the mobile update has now rolled out to every user with Marketplace.

A competitor to Craigslist as well as the number of new local sales apps popping up such as OfferUp and LetGo, Facebook Marketplace launched last October. While the designated Marketplace spot is designed to simplify selling on Facebook, users have turned to the platform to sell prior to that by simply sharing with friends or joining local garage sale groups, with 450 million users selling on the site even before the launch of Marketplace.

New OnePlus 3 and 3T beta updates improve Bluetooth, call behavior

A small but important update is out for the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T.

OnePlus has issued yet another so-called “open beta” for its latest devices, the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T, yet again ironing out some bugs in the realm of Bluetooth while improving certain app designs and behaviors around incoming calls.

Open Beta 15 for the OnePlus 3 and OB 6 for the OnePlus 3T feature a redesigned dialer app that includes a new call-answering method — swipe down to answer and swipe up to reject. At first, this goes against what people may be used to, since swiping down on something on a touch screen is typically synonymous with a dismissal, but it should be fairly intuitive after a small adjustment period.

OnePlus has also improved the interface in the Messages and Settings apps, giving them some polish and a new collapsible menu. Finally, optimizations abound for Bluetooth and the popular Night Mode feature.

Existing users will receive an OTA update if they’re on the beta track already, while new users will need to download the software and sideload it over recovery, which is a bit tricky, but easy enough when closely following the instructions.

The full changelog is below:

• New dialer and incoming call interface
  • We created a new answering mechanic to go along with the refreshed UI below: Swipe down to answer and swipe up to reject an incoming call
• UI optimizations for Messages, Settings and Contacts
  • Refreshed UI
• New action bar for Messages and Settings
  • Collapsible and expandable action bar (more to come in the future)
• Optimized high power usage notifications
• Optimized the system which notifies you when apps are using a lot of battery
• Bluetooth optimizations
• Night mode optimizations
• Bug fixes

Are you on the OnePlus 3 or 3T open beta track? Let us know in the comments below!

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

OnePlus
Amazon

Try to bring the world back to life with Symphony of the Machine on PlayStation VR

The world seems barren, but with your help it doesn’t have to stay that way.

A world filled with bleak red canyons. A tower stretched up into the sky. A world waiting to come back to life. Symphony of the Machine brings all this and plenty more to a puzzle based game with gorgeous visuals, great music, but occasionally questionable controls. The premise of a mystery wrapped in a tower that control the weather is interesting enough, but add to that puzzles involving lasers, and there is plenty to delve into here, and we have all the details for you!

Read more at VRHeads.com

Top things you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy S8’s SD card slot

SD cards are mostly plug-and-play, but you should know a few things to make the most of yours.

After a short blip with the Galaxy S6 series, Samsung is back to making a microSD card slot one of its core tenets. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ have an SD card slot that lets users choose just how much storage they want to add, even though fewer people will need one with the new higher default storage of 64GB internally.

Whether you’ve already purchased and installed your microSD card or are trying to learn a bit more about them before getting one, we have you covered. Here’s what you need to know about the microSD card slot on the Galaxy S8 and S8+.

Adoptable storage isn’t here — and that’s probably OK for most people

Sticking with its legacy of devices, Samsung is continuing to use the SD card as removable storage rather than the newer “adoptable storage” system. What that means is that instead of integrating the SD card into the internal storage, it remains its own separate volume. You have to choose to put a file either on the SD card or the internal storage — it won’t be able to span the two seamlessly, which takes a bit more management.

In practice, this has the benefit of being more familiar to those who used SD cards in previous Samsung phones or have used them typically with computers or cameras. You can remove the SD card from a Galaxy S8 freely without worrying about how it will effect the system, because you only lose the data files on the card. You can pop out the card, put it in your computer and transfer files to and from it, then put it back in the phone with no worries.

Not every app can be moved to the SD card

One of the downsides of using the SD card as removable storage rather than adoptable storage is that there are limitations on what files can be moved. For the most part, you can think of the SD card as a place to store big chunks of data, not live applications that you need to access regularly.

You can have photos, music, videos, podcasts, and documents all stored on your SD card without issue, and those are great ways to free up space on the faster, more versatile internal storage. But you won’t be able to move most apps or games to the SD card, as they need to be on the internal storage in order to run. You may find that some simple apps or assets for apps that don’t need to be run on demand can be stored on the card — but as a rule, you shouldn’t count on being able to move apps to the SD card.

Pictures and video save to the card by default

Because the types of data you can put on an SD card are limited, the Galaxy S8 wants to take advantage of it automatically for types of data it knows it can move there. The best example is the camera, which automatically starts saving photos and videos to the SD card as soon as you insert one. You’ll get an alert the first time you open the camera after inserting a card that burst shots will still save to the internal storage, though.

If, for whatever reason, you don’t want photos and videos to save to the SD card, you can head into the camera’s settings, then storage location, and tap it to change back to device.

It’s worth mentioning that Samsung has worked out one of the more annoying issues with storing photos on the SD card in that you can now use other gallery apps — like Google Photos — to manage those photos stored externally. Simply give the gallery app of your choice (so long as it is designed properly for Android 7.0) permission to access your SD card, and you’ll be able to delete, edit, and move photos on the SD card with that app instead of relying on Samsung’s Gallery.

With a good card, you don’t have to worry about performance

One great thing that’s happened in the world of SD cards (well, all storage really) in the past couple years is proliferation of amazingly fast cards at reasonable prices that anyone can manage. Earlier on in the life of Android phones, it was rather hit or miss as to whether or not the card you bought was fast enough to consistently be used inside an Android phone, and now that’s rarely the case.

Stick to big brands and look at ratings online before buying, but chances are if you find a modern card out there it’s going to do what you need it to do in a Galaxy S8.

More: Best microSD cards for the Galaxy S8

Where to find good SD cards

A rising tide of storage quality has lifted all boats, but that doesn’t mean every card is created perfectly equal. You still want to make a well-educated decision about the SD card you buy. There are so many available out there and many places to buy, but we’ve narrowed down a few for you to choose from if you want to let us do some of the hard work for you.

Removing your SD card also removes the SIM

It’s a small thing, but you should remember that your SD card lives in the same tray as your SIM card. So if you plan on using the removable storage capabilities of your SD card for transferring files back and forth with a computer, you’re going to knock out your cellular service while you do it.

In some cases, removing the SIM card and reinserting it will require a full device reboot to get your mobile data back up and running. If you can’t manage to wait a few minutes without data, pull out your SD card at a different time!

You can encrypt your SD card for your safety

One of the other small downsides of an easily removable SD card that’s formatted as removable storage is the data on there can be easily accessed by anyone with a SIM tray tool — they don’t even have to unlock your phone to get it. Of course the best way to secure your phone is to not let anyone have it in the first place, but accidents happen — and the best way to secure the data is to encrypt the card. With encryption enabled, the data is only readable by the Galaxy S8 that encrypted it and only when the phone is unlocked.

To encrypt your SD card, head into the phone’s settings, lock screen and security, and encrypt SD card. The process will only take a few seconds if you don’t have much data on it, but it could take a while longer if you’ve already loaded it up before encrypting.

Now, there’s one big downside to this: when you encrypt the SD card, it also can’t be read by your other devices. That means that if you pop out the SD card and put it in your computer, the computer won’t be able to read the data. It also means if you break your phone beyond repair, you will lose the SD card data forever. If your intention is to use the SD card in your Galaxy S8 as a quick way to transfer large amounts of data between devices, you’ll have to use a USB cable from your phone or decrypt the card first.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ review!
• Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
• Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
• Get to know Samsung Bixby
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint

Everything you need to know about Microsoft’s new Chrome OS competitor

All the major announcements Microsoft made to take on the Chromebook, Chrome OS, and more!

Microsoft held a live event in New York City this morning to announce a slew of new products and options for the education market. The #MicrosoftEDU event was covered by our pals over at Windows Central, and here’s a rundown of the major announcements made!

New version of Windows 10

Microsoft unveiled Windows 10 S, a new edition of its current operating system which is primarily aimed at schools and the education market. The main difference between Windows 10 S and its standard edition is that this new version is locked to the Windows Store for all apps and games (kind of like Windows RT from back in 2012), meaning you’re only able to install what’s available from Microsoft’s app store. Students will have the option to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro from a Windows 10 S installation (free until the end of 2017), which is actually cheaper than upgrading from Windows 10 Home to the Pro edition.

This OS is part of Microsoft’s attempt to tackle the Chromebook, which are a big deal within the education market.

Learn More

New Surface Laptop

The Surface Laptop rounds out Microsoft’s Surface lineup, which includes the Surface Pro tablet, the Surface Book 2-in-1 convertible, and the Surface Studio desktop.

The Surface Laptop appears to be aimed at higher-education students and professionals looking for a more traditional laptop experience from the Surface line. Featuring a 13.5-inch PixelSense display and measuring in at only 14.47mm at its thickest point, this is an extremely portable computer that Microsoft says features 14.5 hours of battery life with an Intel Core i5 CPU for the low-end model, with options to upgrade to an Intel Core i7 CPU for those requiring more performance. Read the full specs.

The Surface Laptop will start at $999 and comes pre-loaded with Windows 10 S.

Learn more

More low-end PCs for education

Along with the new education-focused version of Windows 10, Microsoft announced that they’ve partnered with the likes of Dell, HP, Samsung and more to offer affordable PCs for schools that start at just $189.

These PCs will run Windows 10 S and come with a free subscription to Minecraft Education Edition, along with Office 365 for Education. They also announced that Windows 10 S will be offered as a free upgrade for any genuine Windows Pro PCs already in use in schools.

Learn More

What does this mean for Chromebooks?

That’s the big question here. Will these $189 PCs running Windows be able to disrupt a market that is heavily entrenched in Chromebooks already? With developers being forced to convert some of their traditional desktop apps to work in the Windows 10 S environment, it may be some time until we see a big impact, but at the very least this announcement will force Google to invest even more heavily in Chromebook and Chrome OS marketing and development.

Chromebooks

• The best Chromebooks
• Should you buy a Chromebook?
• Google Play is coming to Chromebooks
• Acer Chromebook 14 review
• Join our Chromebook forums

YouTube launching new Material Design interface, including a dark theme

It’s time to bring one of Google’s most successful properties to modern design standards.

YouTube is refreshing its interface across the web and smartphones, undertaking a complete Material Design refresh to make the experience cleaner and easier to focus on videos. The main layout of the website is remaining intact, but the entire look is simpler, flatter and cleaner than ever before — something that should come as no surprise if you’ve used Google’s other websites or Android apps lately.

The big focus is making YouTube simple and approachable for everyone, which visuals that don’t distract you from the reason you’re there in the first place: to enjoy the videos. YouTube can historically seem a bit busy or confusing to casual users, and this redesign should hopefully help with that. It also brings a visual consistency to Google’s other properties, which is always important.

Two words: dark theme.

Perhaps the best thing heavy YouTube users will find about this redesign is the inclusion of a complete dark theme, which will dramatically cut down on eye strain when watching videos at night. All you have to do is toggle it on through the account menu, and the entire interface goes dark permanently.

If you want to try out the new YouTube look before anyone else, you can head over to youtube.com/new to opt in. If you don’t find it to be to your liking right now, you can return to the “old” interface for the time being from your account menu.

How to use Media Volume Sync on the Galaxy S8

Bluetooth volume can be a little odd.

The volume range on some Bluetooth devices is really small; on others the steps are too far apart. Sometimes you need to adjust both volumes, and sometimes it’d be nice to only have to turn up one volume instead of two. Samsung gets this, so they have a setting for Bluetooth volume on the Samsung Galaxy S8 that makes things a little easier for most devices…

And it really messes things up for others. Here’s how to get it set properly for your particular Bluetooth situation.

How to use Media Volume Sync

Media Volume Sync can link a Bluetooth device’s volume level with the phone’s Bluetooth volume level so that instead of adjusting them independently, you only have to turn up or down one volume slider. This is what iPhones use, and some Android phones like the Google Pixel use it, too. If you’re used to this, then you’ll want to turn Media Volume Sync on.

The problem is that a lot of Bluetooth devices don’t really play that well with this practice. When I had a Pixel, I often found volume too low, even on the loudest setting, on many of my Bluetooth devices. If Media Volume Sync messes up your volume levels and listening experience, you’ll want to turn it off and continue to adjust device volumes independently.

Open Settings.
Tap Connections.

Tap Bluetooth.

Tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner of the screen.
Tap Media Volume Sync.

Tap the toggle switch in the top right corner of the screen to turn Media Volume Sync on and off as desired.

While it would be nice if you could disable Media Volume Sync on a per Bluetooth device level, for now, it’s all or nothing. If you have any devices that are incompatible, you’ll want to come turn this off. Does Media Volume Sync work for your devices, or do you have to shut it off and use the old-fashioned media volume and device volume controls?

Questions?

Let us know in the comments below.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ review!
• Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
• Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
• Get to know Samsung Bixby
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint

T-Mobile trades words with Verizon and AT&T, says it will launch a real 5G network by 2020

T-Mobile is taking the fight straight to AT&T and Verizon. Here’s how.

T-Mobile is coming out swinging against Verizon and AT&T, saying it will use the 31MHz of low-band 600MHz spectrum on which it spent nearly $8 billion to roll out a full nationwide 5G network by 2020, something that neither AT&T nor Verizon have committed to.

In a combination press release/blog post/video blog unveiled this week, both T-Mobile CEO, John Legere, and its chief technology officer, Neville Ray, strongly oppose AT&T’s “fake 5G network” announcement from April, saying that it is “based on [4G LTE] technologies [T-Mobile] launched in 2016 – and tried to confuse consumers and distract from the fact that their network is losing to T-Mobile.”

T-Mobile says that 5G is going to be about more than speed.

T-Mobile intends to launch a proper 5G network with its low-band spectrum, augmenting it with some 200MHz of millimeter-wave, or super high-band, spectrum to boost capacity in big cities. AT&T and Verizon haven’t yet committed to a specific 5G rollout yet, opting to take the slower, more restrained approach of testing a variety of network configurations in select cities, largely because the 5G spec hasn’t even been finalized yet.

But T-Mobile says that 5G is going to be about more than speed, which is why it feels comfortable using its 600MHz spectrum — which travels further and penetrates walls better than high-band spectrum, but has a limited capacity for speed — as the primary conduit for its new network:

5G means amazingly fast speeds, sure, but 5G is a whole lot more! 5G will mean lower-latency (that means faster response-times for your applications), massively increased battery life and an exponential leap in the number of connections we can handle simultaneously – and that unlocks all kinds of amazing new applications. It’s about more than just speed.

T-Mobile, like the rest of the industry, can’t rely on low- and mid-band spectrum for 5G; it plans, like Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, to use 28GHz and 39GHz spectrum with small cells, often for fixed 5G broadband applications, to carry much of the capacity burden.

In addition to the 600 MHz band, we have 200 MHz of spectrum in the 28/39 GHz bands covering nearly 100 million people in major metropolitan areas and an impressive volume of mid-band spectrum to deploy 5G in as well. This positions T-Mobile to deliver a 5G network that offers BOTH breadth and depth nationwide.

To its credit, Verizon isn’t making the same marketing push to 5G as T-Mobile because it doesn’t really need to. Both it and AT&T have already pursued regional 5G tests, and Verizon said in a blog post in late April that it didn’t need to purchase any 600MHz spectrum because it has “sufficient spectrum holdings below 1 GHz.”

We are investing in the future. We have access to 28 GHz and 39 GHz spectrum that we will use for 5G. And the fiber we acquired through our XO and Corning transactions are enhancing our current networks with a keen eye toward future needs.

In fact, Verizon has far more 28GHz and 39GHz spectrum per person than any other company in the States, and it has reportedly upped a bid to steal Straight Path, one of the largest holders of mmWave spectrum, from AT&T, which announced in April that it would acquire the company for $1.6 billion.

T-Mobile’s most recent blustery salvo is nothing new, but it does lend credence to the fact that it has longer-term goals around its 600MHz acquistion than just shoring up existing capacity in rural areas for its 4G LTE network. And by taking this opportunity to poke fun — and holes — in AT&T’s ill-fated “fake 5G” network, well, that’s just bonus.

Google Home is $15 off for Mother’s Day, down to just $114

This would be a nice gift to give (or to get).

Google Home is on sale for Mother’s Day (which is May 14, so call your mom), knocking $15 off the great intelligent speaker at a variety of retailers. Best Buy, Verizon and the Google Store are all listing Google Home at $114 for a limited time, and we wouldn’t be surprised if other retailers were on board with the discount as well.

See at Best Buy
See at Verizon
See at Newegg

Best Buy and Verizon offer the best deal considering they both offer free two-day shipping, but also usually stock Google Home in their physical stores as well. Newegg is also trying to earn your business with an extra $20 gift card on top of the discount. So either way you could have it in plenty of time as a gift for your mom … or, well, you can buy one for yourself too. Nobody’s stopping you.

Google Hardware

• Google Wifi review
• Google Home review
• Everything you need to know about the Chromecast Ultra
• Chromecast vs Chromecast Ultra: Which should you buy?

Google Wifi:

Google
Amazon

Google Home:

Google
Best Buy

Chromecast Ultra:

Google
Best Buy