This cosplay mask fights pollution too

It’s a ubiquitous sight in cities like Beijing: pedestrians walking under a thick blanket of smog with their faces obscured by flimsy cloth face masks. These masks aren’t an ideal solution to dealing with the pollution, as they wear out pretty quickly and don’t even filter everything. O2O2, an urbanist startup based in New York, is working on a connected face mask that’s clean, (relatively) attractive and doesn’t need to be continually replaced.

O2O2 is one of the companies operating out of Urban-X in Brooklyn, an accelerator focused on making cities more livable through technology. That ethos is present in aspects of the O2O2’s design. Its plastic build is far more solid and substantial than the fabric makeup of a disposable model, since it’s meant to be reused on a daily basis. And the white headpiece with its clear shield lets you actually see the faces of passersby, which CEO Dan Bowden touts as a huge benefit. The ability to read expressions humanizes those around you, as opposed to being surrounded by black rubber contraptions that invoke thoughts of air raids, plagues and Batman villains.

The differences go deeper than just aesthetics. Rubber face masks can get pretty rank due to the moisture from your nose and mouth. The O2O2 instead circulates air around the lower half of your face using the two fans mounted on either side. It feels a lot less sweaty and even a bit chilly. Men with beards will enjoy not having to shave, since the mask doesn’t need to form a suction on the skin. The air simply flows around and through the beard. Bowden said hair even warms the air a bit, though my lack of facial fuzz means I’ll have to take his word for it.

When I picked up the O2O2, the first thing that struck me was how light it was. The fans on each side are about three inches wide — maybe the size of a modern point-and-shoot camera, except not as heavy. When I put the mask on, it felt lighter than a gaming headset. And that was just a prototype: The O2O2 team intends to further shrink the size of the fans, to the point where similar the whole headset will feel akin to a slightly heavy pair of glasses.

After I put on the mask, my glasses immediately fogged up, as my exhalations were being reflected upward by the clear shield. It’s definitely not airtight, that’s for sure. But it doesn’t need to be: The circulation of the air inside the mask is designed to keep outside contaminants away from your nose and mouth. Once I turned on the fans, the fog immediately cleared. It even felt a bit cold as the moisture evaporated away. The filters in each fan clean the air before blowing it at you, and they only need to be changed every 40 hours, depending on pollution levels. That might sound like a pain, but it’s still an improvement over cloth masks, which have to be replaced every two hours or so.

The O2O2 will cost $100. While that seems steep compared to disposable units, it makes more sense when the alternative is a standard gas mask. The price could make it more attractive to construction companies, painters and even rescue workers like firefighters, who can also benefit from a more comfortable, longer-lasting breathing apparatus. O2O2 is also aiming for the fitness market, as some athletes use training masks to improve their pulmonary endurance. It’s these athletes who might benefit from the mask’s connected features, where it could collect data like breathing patterns.

[Image: Kris Naudus (AOL/Engadget)]

However, as part of URBAN-X, O2O2’s focus is improving urban life. The mask achieves this by being affordable and easier to wear — it can even take on various designs and styles, meaning we may see some fashion-forward models on the streets. But the mask’s biggest contribution will be its ability to collect air-quality data and aggregate it in a central repository. It’s not the first user-focused device to do this: One of our recent Best of CES finalists, Flow, is a connected smog-detecting charm small enough to attach to a bag.

The idea behind both products is that instead of relying on a handful of weather stations to collect information on air contaminants, having more boots on the ground via consumer devices creates thousands of points of data from all over a city every day and every hour. One advantage O2O2 has over the Flow is that you’re unlikely to lose it or forget it at home, especially if you live in a city where pollution levels make it impossible to go without a mask. Also, the Flow isn’t even available to purchase yet.

The information these devices collect may allow scientists and city planners to figure out better ways to protect city dwellers from pollution and even reduce or eliminate it entirely. The O2O2 is a product that ultimately succeeds only if it makes itself obsolete, in working toward a world where you don’t need a mask to walk outside.

Toyota taps NVIDIA Drive PX to power its autonomous vehicles

The work we’ve seen Google and Uber put into self-driving cars is impressive, but short of Tesla’s autopilot mode, consumer applications of autonomous driving are few and far between. Soon, that could change. Speaking at NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference, company CEO and Founder Jensen Huang announced that Toyota has chosen the NVIDIA Drive PX platform as the heart of it future autonomous vehicles.

Huang stopped just short of announcing an actual vehicle or a release date, but says NVIDIA’s engineers have been working closely with Toyota to build a vehicle that will hopefully hit the market sometime in the “next few years.” When it does, however, it should have all the autonomous drive benefits of NVIDIA’s self driving test car. That, Huang could show — including standard features like autopilot mode, a co-pilot feature that can take over the wheel on familiar routes, such as a commute, and safety features that can prevent a driver from passing into an intersection if it detects traffic running a red light.

“This will be the architecture of their future production cars,” Huang said, explaining that Toytoa’s cars will use an Xavier kit similar to what we saw back at CES — though it’ll probably be a different, updated version in the final product. After all, the partnership isn’t expected to produce a consumer product for several years.

Manufactured controversy puts Netflix’s future at Cannes in doubt

This year, Netflix original movies will be shown at Cannes Film Festival for the very first time. Yet, thanks to pressure from the French government, 2017 could also be the last time we see Netflix original films at the event. In France, the law dictates that movies which enjoy theatrical releases can’t be shown on streaming services until three years later. Due to these strict regulations, Cannes exhibitors strongly opposed the inclusion of this year’s Netflix entries Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories, demanding that they at least be shown nationwide across French theaters. While exhibitors calls for Netflix’s entries to be removed from the competition were dismissed by the festival, the organizers have now caved under pressure.

A week before the festival begins, Cannes has officially confirmed that the two movies will still be shown at this year’s event — despite not having theatrical releases. Although this bizarre controversy didn’t initially seem to be an issue, the festival has now changed its stance for subsequent events, making future entries from streaming companies highly unlikely. As of next year, the event organizer’s state that “any film that wishes to compete in competition at Cannes will have to commit itself to being distributed in French movie theaters. “

Vanity Fair reports that Netflix is currently attempting to placate the festival by obtaining a temporary visa. This would grant both of this year’s films a week-long rollout across French theaters. Given the quality of directors and actors that streaming services now attract, the overly punitive response from Cannes feels completely archaic in 2017. It was this same unbending legislation that made Netflix’s 2015 French launch so difficult. Due to French law, the region’s Netflix catalogue is largely populated with TV shows rather than movies, with the company’s negotiations to amend the regulations stuck in a deadlock ever since.

While the changes don’t bode well for streaming services getting into subsequent Cannes festivals, the country now has a new leader. Let’s hope that with his newfound presidency, Emmanuel Macron remembers what’s really important — using his power to provide quality video streaming content for all.

Source: Vanity Fair

Uber offers insurance to US drivers, but only in certain states (update)

Uber is once again blurring the lines between independent contractor and employee. This time the ride-hailing service is offering insurance to its drivers as part of a pilot program in Arizona, Delaware, Illinois, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and West Virginia according to regional publication PennLive. The injury-protection insurance is only active when a driver is logged into the app at the cost of $0.0375 per-mile. In at least a few of those markets, that will raise the per-mile price for passengers by $0.05. So, it seems the rates going up are to ensure that nothing comes out of the driver’s pocket. Uber says that the increase was determined by how much the insurance would cost after taxes and fees.

“Uber is not making any money off of this,” Uber’s head of safety and insurance Gus Fuldner told PennLive. “We believe drivers should have a low-cost option for protecting themselves and their families from rare and unpredictable accidents that prevent them from working.”

The maximum payout is $1 million and benefits will cover medical expenses and lost income for drivers. Late last month, Uber began offering insurance to drivers in the United Kingdom. Unlike the domestic program, that insurance plan came at an annual fee versus charging per-mile.

We’ve reached out to Uber for additional information regarding the stateside debut and will update this post should it arrive.

Update: Uber says that the insurance program is opt-in and that the raised rates apply to all drivers in all states the program is in, whether they choose to be insured or not. The insurance could come to other states as well.

Via: CNET

Source: PennLive

Saving bats from wind turbines is easy

Renewable energy like wind power is touted as a great way to reduce our impact on the environment. Tech companies like Google and Tesla, along with cities like San Francisco, understand the need to go green. Still, even renewable sources of energy can have hidden effects on local animal populations. The world’s largest solar power plant, in fact, kills thousands of birds annually at its Ivanpah, California site. A new study in Sweden found that the country’s wind turbines kill tens of thousands of bats annually — an average of 10 to 15 bats per turbine. The answer? Halt the spinning of the fans during the summer evenings when wind is low anyway.

The University of Lund study proposes that local governments require nighttime halts to the spinning blades for at least 10 nights between June 15 and September 15. Co-author and bird researcher Martin Green says that due to the low wind speeds during those months, less than one percent of the total output would be cut. While none of the five different species of bat found dead at wind turbine sites are in danger of extinction, Green thinks that many of the populations are in danger of becoming rare. These bats seem to hunt at higher altitudes, seeking bugs that are also attracted to the spinning blades. This isn’t the first look at wind turbines and bats, either. A research review conducted last year found that wind turbines are the leading cause of mass bat deaths across the globe.

According to Bloomberg, Sweden is planning to add another 18-terawatt-hours of annual renewable energy before 2030, which will represent more than 10 percent of its current electrical demand. Reducing the bat deaths can be done simply and inexpensively by local governments as they look to awarding new permits as well as renewing licenses for the 3,378 existing ones. Such an easy fix would be an obvious win for proponents of wind energy, and would likely help the bat populations as well.

Via: Bloomberg

Source: University of Lund

Snap has struggled to gain users since going public

Three months ago, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. filed for its initial public offering, a milestone move for the now six-year-old ephemeral messaging app. In that report, it revealed some key information about its business: 158 million people use its product everyday and it had over $500 million in losses on $400 million in revenue in 2016. Well, it’s now time for the company’s first ever earnings report as a public company and, uh, it doesn’t look too pretty. It recorded a whopping $2.2 billion loss, in large part due to one-time IPO-related compensation expenses, but the real sore spot is that it only grew its daily active user count by five percent — it now has 166 million people using its app on a daily basis. Still, it did make $149.6 million in its first quarter, which is 286 percent improvement over this time last year.

New tech startups generally don’t have an easy first few months as public companies — the same issue plagued Twitter a few years ago — but Snap Inc. has had a particularly tough start as it goes on an uphill battle against more established social networks. In particular, Facebook has really gone after Snapchat in recent months, as it has integrated the app’s core Stories feature in almost all of its products — there’s WhatApp Status, Instagram Stories, Messenger Day and most recently, Facebook Stories. Indeed, the company recently announced that Instagram Stories has 200 million daily users while WhatsApp Status now has 175 million daily users, both of which are much higher than Snapchat’s numbers.

Developing…

US considers banning laptops on all flights from Europe

The Department of Homeland Security is considering banning all carry-on laptops on flights from Europe to the United States. This rule change would represent an expansion of previous regulations banning carry-on laptops and tablets on flights from some Middle Eastern and African countries.

The Daily Beast first reported the new proposed ban, citing European security officials. DHS spokesperson David Lapan later clarified the department’s position on Twitter with the following statement:

“No final decisions made on expanding the restriction on large electronic devices in aircraft cabins; however, it is under consideration. DHS continues to evaluate the threat environment and will make changes when necessary to keep air travelers safe.”

No final decisions made on expanding the restriction on large electronic devices in aircraft cabins; however, it is under consideration 1/2

— David Lapan (@SpoxDHS) May 10, 2017

The initial ban on carry-on laptops and tablets was apparently a response to renewed fears that someone would disguise a bomb as an iPad and manually detonate it mid-flight. The United Kingdom followed suit, implementing a similar, targeted ban on large electronics in airplane cabins. Of course, neither ban prevents these devices from being checked and transported in the baggage hold.

Source: The Daily Beast, @SpoxDHS

Laptop Ban May Expand to Flights Coming to U.S. From Europe

The United States Department of Homeland Security may be planning expand its laptop ban, disallowing laptops in the cabins of all flights from Europe to the United States. News of the expanded ban, which could be announced as soon as Thursday, came from European security officials that spoke to The Daily Beast.

Passengers flying from Europe to the United States will need to put their laptops in their checked luggage should the ban be expanded to cover European countries. The Department of Homeland Security has not yet made a final decision on whether or not to expand the laptop restrictions, with Security Secretary John Kelly planning to discuss the matter with senators in a classified briefing on Thursday.

“No final decisions have been made on expanding the restriction on large electronic devices in aircraft cabins; however, it is under consideration. DHS continues to evaluate the threat environment and will make changes when necessary to keep air travelers safe.”

A laptop and tablet in-cabin ban was first announced in March on intelligence suggesting terrorists had discovered a way to turn laptops into bombs, but at the time, the ban only applied to passengers flying to the United States from Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. That first ban is still in place.

Though The Daily Beast’s source says laptops will be banned on all flights from Europe, Reuters says the ban will include “some European countries.” The government is said to be reviewing how to make sure lithium batteries stored in luggage holds don’t explode before enacting the ban.

One issue under discussion is how to ensure that lithium batteries in any large collection of devices stored in airplane holds do not explode in midair, officials told Reuters.

European regulators have warned placing what could be potentially hundreds of devices in the hold on long-haul flights could compromise safety by increasing the risk of fire from poorly deactivated lithium-ion batteries.

A ban in European countries could impact many United States carriers that offer European flights, including United Airlines, Delta, and American Airlines. Airports and airlines in Europe have reportedly already been working on plans for an extension of the ban since it was first announced.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
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PlayMobo is a game discovery tool and library (Promoted Review)

Overview

Even if Google now offers a “New Indie Highlights” section in the Google Play Store, meant to help users discover titles – some games might still go unnoticed. Google’s section can only accommodate a handful of games, while dozens of new games are being added to the store every week, so it’s easy to see how a lot of worthy titles might slip between our fingers.

That’s why, if you are an Android gaming enthusiasts you should employ a secondary tool to help you navigate this endless cascade of content – like the PlayMobo app we’re going to be talking about today. Not only does PlayMobo allow gamers to navigate the crowd of Android pastimes in ingenious ways, but it also gives users the chance to earn gift packs and Amazon/Google Play gift cards.

Developer: Magic Entertainment Software

Cost: Free

Impressions

Get started with PlayMobo by searching and following your favorite gaming titles. This way you make sure you’ll receive news stories (which show up in a feed), hints, tips, update info and promo offers – all related to these games. The Newsfeed includes recommended articles about games you might like, as well as suggestions to follow them.

Or you can simply start exploring on your own via the curated Featured section of the app. Here there are four lists of games including Newcomers, Top Searched, Cash Cow or Most Innovative. These recommendations will help you discover games much easier. Just tap on one and browse – once you find an appealing title, you can simply tap on it to learn more about the game.

Each listing includes a list of hog tags, screenshots, information about the game, as well as reviews and user comments – so you can easily decide whether you want to download the game on your device or not.

The app runs smooth with no hurdles or lags. I for one managed to rekindle my passion of time management restaurant games and discovered a few titles I haven’t tried out before thanks to it.

I mentioned above that PlayMobo isn’t just a simple aggregator of games. It also gives users a chance to earn points. For example, installing Rodeo Stampede –  a game that’s lets you expand and manage a zoo – will earn you 500P, playing daily for three minutes will award you an extra 1,300P. Gamers will also get a daily reward of 800P for keeping the game on their device.

Once you acquire enough points you will be able to unlock prizes like an Amazon Gift card or Google Play Gift Card of $10 for 100.000P. Gather 1,000,000P and you can win a $100 Amazon Gift card. Needless to say I’m far from reaching any of these threshold for now, but I’ve only been using the app for a week. Or if you prefer you can grab in-game items instead. What’s more, soon you’ll be able to redeem your points for PayPal Cash, Steam Points and Mgift cards.

When you feel like you’ve spent enough time playing games, you can go get involved in the community. Chat with fellow gamers, make some new friends and learn new things, gaming-related or not.

Conclusion

I really like the idea behind PlayMobo, which is providing a simple tool to help passionate gamers dig for hidden gems. In the brief time I’ve used the app, I haven’t noticed anything wrong with it – no glitches, random freezes or anything like that. The app runs the way it should run and is easy to figure out and utilize. It keeps all your favorite titles in one place and makes sure you never miss out on an update or game-related novelty. The app does deliver some adds, but from what I’ve seen so far, it does so in reasonable quantities, unlike some other apps I’ve tested.

Download PlayMobo from the Google Play Store

Want to learn more about PlayMobo, head over to their website and check it out.

Miserable flu sufferers’ tweets help researchers track the viruses in real time

Why it matters to you

By predicting how the flu will spread, public health agencies can better prepare for — and even prevent — epidemics.

Flu season is just about over in the United States, and while some people were suffering, researchers at Northeastern University were using social media to track the virus in real time.

By analyzing tweets with a computational model and combining that data with parameters about the virus, they were able to follow how the flu spread and forecast its development up to six weeks ahead of time.

“As modern transportation facilities have boosted human mobilities, the risk of infectious disease epidemics or pandemics is increasing,” Qian Zhang, the first author of the study, told Digital Trends. “In particular, seasonal influenza results in millions of illness and thousands of deaths every year world widely … Accurate in-time reporting of seasonal flu would help public health agencies, as well as health care units to be better informed and prepared. Unfortunately, the current surveillance data lag behind flu activities.”

With their new platform, Zhang and his colleagues looked to develop models that could help public health agencies better understand and predict how epidemics evolve. By incorporating GPS locations from Twitter users who were broadcasting their symptoms, the researcher were able to determine the severity of the epidemic in locations around the country.

The Northeastern team created their model in response to the “Predict Influenza Season Challenge” raised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in November 2013. Although their model stood out from others thanks to its ability to predict certain dynamics of the virus — such when and to what extent the epidemic would peak — Zhang said, “We do like to think of the challenge as collaborative work with all the other teams.”

This research isn’t done yet though. Moving forward the team will continue to analyze epidemics, add new parameters, and turn to Twitter for details. “The evolution of epidemics can be quite different season by season,” Zhang said. “It means we have to explore a large parameter space and simulate thousands of models, from which we are able to identify an ensemble of possible models better describing flu epidemics for each season.”

A paper detailing the model was recognized at the 2017 International World Wide Web Conference in April.