Apple’s “Barbers” ad highlights iPhone 7 Plus’s Portrait mode through haircuts

Why it matters to you

Apple’s colorful new ad puts the iPhone 7 Plus’s Portrait mode front and center.

Leave it to Apple to transform a sleepy New Orleans barbershop into a funky, high-energy backdrop for an iPhone ad. On Monday, the Cupertino, California-based company aired a new TV spot that highlights one of the iPhone’s best features through haircuts. Lots of them.

The “Barbers” ad — the newest in Apple’s Practically Magic series, choreographed in rhythm to “Fantastic Man” by Nigerian synth-punk artist William Onyearbor — focuses on the iPhone 7 Plus’s Portrait mode. The ad depicts a barber’s viral success: After framing a portrait of a customer’s new haircut, by-passers congregate around it. Word spreads quickly, and soon the stylists can’t keep up with the throngs of customers who want trims and portraits of their own.

It was for a good cause. An Apple spokesperson said that the excess hair from the 24 haircuts depicted in the ad were donated to Locks for Love, a non-profit organization which helps provide hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada.

Portrait mode, which debuted on the iPhone 7, uses the phone’s rear cameras — two 12-megapixel sensors, one with a 56mm “telephoto” lens — to separate foreground subjects (i.e., a person) from the background (everything else) with a subtle blur.

“[Portrait] mode, known as ‘bokeh’ and previously only capable on DSLR cameras, turns the camera you carry around with you everyday into an even more powerful photography tool,” an Apple spokesperson said.

It’s one of the iPhone 7’s biggest camera advancements, but not its only. The optical image stabilization (OIS) helps to deliver up to three times longer exposure compared to the iPhone 6s, according to Apple, and True Tone flash — a four-LED array that adjusts color temperature on the fly — produces up to 50 percent more light.

Practically Magic isn’t the only Apple campaign that’s honed in on the iPhone’s photo-taking prowess. Just last week, the company launched a tip-packed website aimed at budding iPhone photographers. And Apple’s recent Shot on iPhone series put a spotlight on low-light shots from professional photographers.

Apple has reason to gloat. In September 2016, camera authority DxOMark called the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7s’s cameras “Apple’s best yet,” praising their brighter f/1.8 lenses (compared to the f/2.2 of the 6S and 6S Plus), “vivid and pleasant” color capture, and “good stabilization.”

“Every day, more photos are taken with the iPhone than any other camera in the world,” an Apple spokesperson said ahead of last week’s website launch. “We believe that everyone can take great photos.

With Registry by Havenly, your wish list comes with a little professional help

Why it matters to you

It’s always the right time to redecorate your home, so why not do it with some assistance from your own personal interior designer?

Why make weddings the only occasion worthy of a registry? After all, isn’t it always the right time to receive gifts? Colorado-based interior design Havenly certainly abides by this mentality, and has now introduced Registry by Havenly, heralded as “the first of its kind registry to pair you with a professional interior designer, providing the most personalized registry service available.” Thanks to Registry, you can take advantage of a platform where all gifts are curated especially for your unique aesthetic and needs, helping you bring your vision for your home to life.

Whether you’re throwing a bridal shower, a baby shower, or a back-to-the-grind shower (no really, you can have a shower and a registry for any occasion), Havenly wants to help. The three-year-old company has already helped thousands of customers decorate their homes, but now, the team wants to add even more value to its offerings.

“The experience blends everything you already love about Havenly into a meaningful registry,” Haven CEO Lee Mayer wrote in a blog post announcement. “We take the time to get to know your style and needs, you pick from our curated favorites, shop parts of our catalog, work with one of our professional designers (for free) to find incredible products, and then add everything to a beautiful and customizable website to share with your friends and family.”

That means that your registry is filled with exactly what you need for your precise dream home — nothing more, nothing less. And while other registries may offer you endless lists of products, Havenly wants to avoid the panic that can often accompany the paradox of choice, and instead pair you with a professional interior designer who can help you narrow down what you need. Registry by Havenly also promises the largest number of home furnishing vendors, with products available (for your interior designer partner to parse through) from across more than 300 vendors.

And perhaps most importantly, Havenly points out that its registry was designed to be used for any occasion, so you don’t have to worry about fitting into a specific theme or life event. Because really, it’s always time to redecorate.

So if you’ve been looking to do some spring cleaning or a summer makeover, Havenly may just be the place to start.

Latest Canary build of Chrome OS has much-requested Night Light feature

Why it matters to you

For the many Chrome OS users who have requested a night mode feature, late-night browsing is set to become a little more comfortable.

The latest Canary build of Chrome OS has apparently added a small yet crucial feature that users have been requesting for many years. A build that was distributed to users late last week contains a Night Light toggle to save users’ eyes when they’re working with their Chromebook late in the evening.

Night mode helps mitigate the effect that a computer screen has on a user at night. By adjusting the temperature of the colors displayed on their monitor, it’s possible to make looking at the screen in a darkened room less jarring, which reduces eye strain.

In recent years, most major operating systems across both mobile devices and computers have adopted some kind of night mode functionality. However, Google has held off introducing this feature to Chrome OS, much to the chagrin of many night owls.

The Night Light toggle can be accessed from the Settings menu in the latest Canary preview build of Chrome OS. It’s a fairly simple implementation of the functionality, and some users have expressed frustration that there isn’t more capacity for fine-tuning its effects in a discussion thread on Reddit.

Of course, you’ll need to transfer from the official release of Chrome OS to the Canary preview to do so. This process isn’t as easy as opting in for Insider preview builds on Windows 10, and there are frequently serious bugs that rear their head and affect usage of the OS, but it’s worth looking into if you absolutely have to check out new features before the masses get their hands on them.

Night Light is expected to hit the stable version of Chrome OS as of version 60. There’s always a chance that a minor feature like this could be delayed in favor of more pressing work, but since it’s been released in the Canary build, it seems likely that it’s almost ready to go.

Did you say ‘Alexa’ or ‘Alex’? Amazon’s new feature can tell the difference

Why it matters to you

As helpful as Alexa can be, sometimes she’s overeager to help, especially on third-party devices.

Was that a sneeze or did you actually say “Alexa?” Here to help devices answer that question (so you don’t have to) is Amazon’s new Cloud-Based Wake Word Verification, a feature Amazon’s developer platform describes as a way to improve “Alexa” wake word accuracy by identifying and reducing false wakes caused by like-sounding words. That means that you won’t accidentally turn an third-party, Alexa-enabled device on by saying “hexagon” or calling after your friend Alex.

As it stands, if you enable Alexa on a third-party device (that is to say, something other than the Amazon Echo or Echo Dot), that device likely does only one on-device check to determine whether you’ve said the wake word (Alexa). But now, Amazon wants to make these devices a bit better at picking up what you’re putting down — especially when you’re not necessarily putting down a command. Thanks to Wake Word Verification, a third-party device will send an audio file to Amazon’s servers, confirming that it’s the right wake word before turning itself on and awaiting any further commands.

Don’t worry — this double-checking feature won’t slow Alexa down. Even if you don’t actually say Alexa, and your third-party device mishears you, it’ll still go through the initial startup process. However, once it sees that the cloud verification has failed, Alexa will shut down, so you won’t hear Alexa’s “answer” to a question you never intended to ask.

Currently, Echo devices employ a similar method, which is why you don’t often accidentally wake up an actual Amazon device. But hopefully, this new feature will make other devices just as discerning.

“You’ll need to make some changes to your device to take advantage of Cloud-Based Wake Word Verification, but we believe this update will improve customer experience on any AVS device,” Amazon noted in a blog post. Currently, the Ecobee4 thermostat is the first product that has leveraged Cloud-Based Wake Word Verification, promising customers an “improved ‘Alexa’ wake word accuracy and a better user experience.”

Hit the open road with your own King Aire, an enormous mobile luxury suite

Why it matters to you

If camping and glamping leave you cold, how do you feel about a mobile luxury suite?

If you want to travel in style but hotels have lost their appeal, how about a luxury motor coach? Big rigs like the 45-foot 2017 Newmar King Aire pile on function and luxury reminiscent of private railroad cars. With a posh motor coach, you control the route, the schedule, and the pace.

Every model year Newmar’s latest flagship motor coach carries over the best from years past and adds or improves. There are six floor plans, all with a sizeable lounge, an adjacent kitchen, a dining area, and a half bath for guests in the King Aire’s forward section.

Each plan also has a luxurious master suite with a king-size bed, a spacious wardrobe, washer and dryer, and a bathroom. The master baths have showers but no bath tub, but most plans have double sinks. One plan cedes some mid-cabin space for a double bunk bed.

The King Aire has three pullouts, sections of the body that electronically extend from the sides for extra width when parked. A large pullout on the left side extends from just behind the driver’s seat to the back of the master bedroom. That pullout extends most of that side except for the master bathroom.

Two pullouts on the right side widen the master suite bed and part of the lounge area. So that means a significant part of the lounge has pull-outs on each side. As you can see from the photos, the coach is surprisingly spacious. When the pullouts are retracted into the coach, you can still walk its length unimpeded, which isn’t always the case with other large motor coaches.

Those basic space descriptions can’t begin to describe the King Aire’s detail and luxury. Newmar has been building high-end coaches for 50 years. With King Aire prices edging near $1 million, that price range affords attention to fine details. One example of the King Aire’s luxury is its extensive use of Ralph Lauren Home Collection fabrics.

Other interior creature comfort goodies include a Delta Touch20 faucet, drawer-mounted Fisher and Paykel dishwasher, and a 19.7-cubic foot Whirlpool residential refrigerator.

The leather driver and co-pilot seats, which swivel to face the lounge when you’re not traveling, are both heated and cooled, and six-way power adjustable. The lounge area TV is a 49-inch Sony 4K UHD with a Blu-ray/DVD player and a Bose Cinemate home theater system.

The bedroom’s Sleep Number adjustable mattress has more Ralph Lauren fabrics. There is also another 49-inch 4K TV. In the master bathroom, there is a 50-inch-by-34-inch shower with a panel that includes massage sprays and a foot wash. A cathedral ceiling and Whirlpool stacked washer and dryer round out the bath.

The King Aire’s steel superstructure is powered by a 600-horsepower Cummins ISX diesel engine loaded with safety technology including electronic stability control, side-view cameras, and passive steering.

Most new King Aires list for $930,000 to $960,000. If you would rather look for used models, there are 2015 King Aires on RV Trader with under 20,000 miles and asking prices ranging from $500,000 to $550,000.

Google Assistant might come to iPhone users as a standalone app

Microsoft made its Cortana assistant available for iPhone users, so why shouldn’t Google do the same with Google Assistant?

Well, according to Android Police, Google does plan to bring Google Assistant to iOS. It will reportedly launch the assistant on Apple’s mobile platform as a standalone app, just like Microsoft did with Cortana. And the announcement will likely be made at Google’s I/O developers conference this week. Check out Pocket-lint’s I/O guide to see what else may be announced at this year’s event.

Google’s new Assistant app might offer a “chat” style functionality, Android Police claimed, which reminds us of how Google Assistant is currently available in the Google Allo app. There aren’t many details available at this time, but apparently, Google Assistant for iOS will only be available in the US at launch. Keep in mind the Google Assistant SDK was only opened up to developers last month.

• Forget Bitmoji: Allo uses neural networks to personalise emoji
• Google Fuchsia OS: What’s the story so far?
• Google Home review: A better voice assistant than Amazon Echo?

By launching an app for iOS, Google will give developers more incentive to work with Google Assistant. Also, Google has a history of launching many of its services on iOS, because it cares about getting those services out to as many people as possible. By bringing Google Assistant to iPhone users, it will also be opening the door for wider Google Home adoption with Apple customers.

We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

It’s official: Lenovo unveils Moto C and Moto C Plus budget phones

Lenovo-owned Motorola has made its Moto C and Moto C Plus official.

First leaked last month, the new budget smartphones are at the very low end of Motorola’s smartphone lineup, and they are the company’s most affordable devices too. They start at £89 (€89/$97) and will be available from this spring in Europe, Latin America, and the Asian Pacific region. It doesn’t look like Motorola plans to bring either one of these Moto C phones to the US right now.

In terms of specs, the Moto C is available in 3G or 4G models. Both feature a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 2-megapixel selfie camera with a LED flash, a 5-inch (854 x 480) display, 2,350mAh battery, 1GB of RAM, 8GB or 16GB of storage, and microSD expansion. The 3G model uses a 1.3GHz32-bit quad-core MediaTek CPU, while the 4G model comes with a 1.1GHz 64-bit quad-core MediaTek.

• Best smartphones 2017: The best phones available to buy today
• Does this leak prove Motorola is working on a new Android tablet?
• Best Android phones: These are the Androids you’re looking for

The Moto C Plus features a 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, 2-megapixel selfie camera with LED flash, 5-inch (1280×720) display, 4,000mAh battery, 1GB or 2GB of RAM, 6GB of built-in storage with a microSD card slot, and a 64-bit quad-core MediaTek processor. Both the Moto C and the Moto C Plus run Android 7.0 out of the box and will be available in a variety of colours (cherry, white, gold, and black).

Motorola

So, from what we can tell, the main difference between these phones comes to down to screen size, screen resolution, and battery life. We think either Moto C would a make a perfect smartphone for young, first-time Android users or someone looking for a backup device.

Implanting pancreatic cells in your gut could cure diabetes

About 30,000 adults and children are diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) each year. As many as 1.25 million Americans have the disease, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, with up to 5 million expected to have the disease by 2050. T1D is an autoimmune disease where your body stops producing insulin, which can lead to a lifetime of dependence on injected or pumped insulin as well as a host of health complications. New clinical trials, however, show some promising results in “curing” the disease by implanting pancreatic islet cells to the omentum, the tissue that covers abdominal organs.

This isn’t the only plan to cure T1D, of course. The FDA approved the first automated system for T1D last September, while other research teams study the possible effects stem cells and 3D printing techniques. This is the first time omentum-implanted islet cells have produced long-term insulin independence in a patient who has T1D, however. The medical team took donor islets and combined them with the patient’s own blood plasma. This mixture was then layered onto the patient’s omentum via a laproscopic incision.

Islets are clusters of endocrine cells throughout the pancreas; they secrete insulin and glucagon in people without diabetes. These insulin-producing cells have previously been implanted in the liver, but the technique can cause inflammation. The new “tissue-engineered” implant site of the omentum has no such issue and can be accessed with minimally invasive surgery. It also has a similar blood supply and drainage as the pancreas, which is where insulin is typically produced. The result is then a mini-pancreas that supplies insulin more naturally to the patient with diabetes.

“The results thus far have shown that the omentum appears to be a viable site for islet implantation using this new platform technique,” said the lead author of the study, David Baidal. “Data from our study and long-term follow up of additional omental islet transplants will determine the safety and feasibility of this strategy of islet transplantation, but we are quite excited about what we are seeing now.”

Via: Reddit, Science Daily

Source: New England Journal of Medicine

Facebook fights bogus live streams with stricter rules

Ever run into a Facebook Live stream that’s little more than an attention grabber for something that could have been done with an ordinary post? Facebook has — and it’s fed up. The social network has updated its developer policies to explicitly forbid live videos that are “only images” (including animated images) or polls linked to largely inanimate material. In essence, it wants truly live video, whether it’s professional news or an impromptu feed from your friend’s party.

The stricter approach is really a reflection of Facebook’s ongoing attempts to get its livestreaming under control. Just as it doesn’t want people broadcasting crimes on Facebook, it also doesn’t want your News Feed cluttered with “live” videos that are merely attempts to stand out from the crowd. The more you can trust the quality of Facebook Live, the more likely you are to use it instead of turning to alternatives like Periscope or YouTube.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Facebook for Developers

Silently ‘speak’ to someone across the room with an ultrasonic beam

If you ever wanted to whisper across a crowded room, a new experimental device might let you deliver sneaky instructions — if the awkward speaker and electrodes don’t tip everyone off. Researchers at the University of Bristol built a wearable that translates facial expression into ultrasonic words that can be heard up to 30 meters away.

The device’s current version is still a prototype, consisting of a speaker worn on the forehead or chest and electrodes placed on the lips and jaw. Those pick up electrical signals made by muscles in the face while a person talks, meaning someone wouldn’t have to actually speak for the device to translate motion into words. The researchers used a machine learning algorithm that recognizes which muscular signals produce certain words. Those are emitted by wearable speakers at ultrasonic frequencies in a beam so narrow only those in its path would hear it.

The system is still very much in development: it can only recognize ten basic words and only got them right 80 percent of the time. But it could be useful for anyone in the market to speak securely over distance, like spies or soldiers in the field. It’s a neat development in the field of nonverbal communication, the kind of research akin to Disney’s experiments a few years ago sending messages through electric current.

Via: New Scientist

Source: “Project Telepathy: Targeted Verbal Communication using 3D Beamforming Speakers and Facial Electromyography”