Medical firm develops Zika test that requires just one drop of blood

Why it matters to you

Diagnostic tests of this sort would be a game-changer in delivering low-cost, quick diagnoses of blood-borne diseases.

The last time a company asked for a single drop of your blood, things didn’t end so well (sorry, Theranos). But now, there’s another startup abiding by the same principle. Instead of promising a whole host of tests from a tiny pinprick of your finger, however, BluSense Diagnostics says it can detect both Dengue fever and the Zika virus. The Danish-Taiwanese company, like Theranos, only needs a tiny bit of your blood from your finger, and claims to be able to quickly diagnose these two diseases.

As per the startup’s website, BluSense combines “biomarker quantification with portability, affordability, and ease of use,” thereby helping healthcare providers to “increase their diagnostics capacity, and to monitor, control, and manage virus outbreaks.” Sure, Zika may not be making headlines for the time being (thank goodness), but that isn’t to say that the disease has been conquered. In fact, the CDC reported  121 instances of infected people within the U.S. in the first five months of 2017 alone, and as such, ensuring that the virus does not spread further is certainly a concern.

So how does it work?

Patients are asked to prick their finger, whereupon a drop of blood is drawn into a plastic cartridge and mixed with magnetic nanoparticles. This sample is then placed into the BluSense machine, which features a small centrifuge that spins the sample for nine minutes. Finally, the blood is scanned with a blue laser (hence the name), and results are ready to be read. Oh, and as it turns out, that blue laser is the same kind that actually reads your Blu-ray discs.

Should the BluSense be adopted by medical facilities, it could mean huge cost savings for patients and providers alike, as the tests could be run for just $20 per person. BluSense is currently working with the FDA to get its Zika diagnostic test approved, while the Dengue test has already been given the green light.

Samsung Gear Fit 2 gets improved heart-rate tracking and more via update

Why it matters to you

It’s a good time to be the owner of a Gear Fit 2. Now, Samsung’s smart wearable makes it easy to keep track of your workouts.

The Gear Fit 2 was released to little fanfare last year, but Samsung’s plodding workhorse of an activity tracker is still one of the best around. It boasts a large color touchscreen, a compact silicon band, and activity-tracking features that record your steps, distance traveled, calories burned, sleep, elevation, and more. And thanks to a new software update, it’s getting even better.

On Wednesday, Samsung announced new Gear Fit 2 firmware that improves the accuracy of the smart band’s fitness tracking. Now, when you complete an exercise with the Gear Fit 2, you’ll get a list of post-workout stats in a color-coded graph displaying the time you spent in various heart-rate zones. They’re categorized by the level of exertion — “moderate,” “vigorous,” and “maximum” — and they take into account the your maximum heart rate.

Heart-rate tracking isn’t the only feature that the firm improved. The Gear Fit 2’s automatic activity detection is also better — when you exercise for more than ten minutes, the activity tracker automatically displays a map of the locations where you’ve jogged, and shows you your approximate location.

And if you’re the kind of athlete who prefers a more tailored workout, there’s more good news: The Gear Fit 2 now supports multiple pace targets. Once you punch in your desired distance and time via the Samsung Health app on your smartphone, you can choose between runs designed to “help burn fat” or “increase cardiovascular endurance,” and select an intensity level.

It’s easier to customize your workout data, as well, because the Gear Fit 2 lets you switch between the metrics you see. A swipe across the screen or tap on the bottom toggles out distance traveled, calories burned, the duration of an exercise, and the user’s heart rate.

The Gear Fit 2’s update isn’t just about gut-busting workouts, though. An improved Sleep Record notification shows you how restful — or restless — your sleep was, breaking down your sleep into categories like “restless,” “light,” and “motionless.” Also in tow with the update is the ability to send SOS messages with your location by triple-pressing the Gear Fit 2’s home button, and the freedom to browse and download watch faces directly to the device or the Samsung Gear app.

The timing of the release is conspicuous, to say the least. The Gear Fit 2’s update rolls out ahead of Apple’s rumored new Apple Watch, which is said to sport new glucose-tracking sensors, modular smart bands, and LTE connectivity, and a better battery. Samsung, it goes without saying, has its work cut out for it.

The Gear Fit 2’s update is available now via the Samsung Gear app.

Turn your bedroom into a living room and a study with Ori smart systems

Why it matters to you

Services like this one cater to those who are living in small spaces by transforming tiny rooms into functional homes.

As our population continues to grow, many of us find ourselves occupying increasingly cramped living quarters. After all, how many people really have acres of land to call their own these days? Certainly not those who will appreciate Ori, a new company that promises to transform urban living by creating “elegant and effortless robotic solutions for small, modern living spaces.”

Now available for pre-order to real estate developers are the Ori Full and Ori Queen Systems. This marks the first commercial launch of the company’s products, which all combine robotics, architecture, and design to make the most out of minuscule spaces. That means that if you’re living in a studio apartment (or a glorified closet), you can transform one of Ori’s full or queen-sized bedrooms into a living room that features a walk-in closet or even a functional office. Moreover, Ori systems can interface with smart home systems so that the entirety of your home is connected and decidedly 21st century.

“The Ori Full and Ori Queen Systems will transform the experience of contemporary urban living. Ori Technology animates the furniture, walls and other parts of the living space in ways that maximize space, comfort, and living,” said Ori CEO and Founder Hasier Larrea. “However, Ori’s vision is much broader. This first family of systems is just one of many applications of Ori Technology. We will continue to explore more spatial challenges and create new families of Ori systems for a variety of interior settings. ”

With nothing but a tap of your finger in the smartphone app or the tap of a button on the interface, you can place your Ori system in bed mode, which will slide your full or queen sized bed from its hiding space. When you’re throwing a party (yes, you can do that even in a small space), have Ori enter Lounge Mode, which will tuck your bed away and create an open living area for merry-making. And when you’re getting dressed in the morning, have Ori go into Wardrobe Mode, which will give you ready access to all your clothes.

In essence, Ori works to carefully construct a strategic division of space, creating a dynamic living environment that can adjust to your needs.

So if you feel like you’re living in a shoe box, at the very least, make it a functional shoe box with Ori.

Asus, Dell, Lenovo show off Windows Mixed Reality headsets at Computex

Why it matters to you

Microsoft is committed to making its Windows Mixed Reality platform attractive to more people, and affordable headsets from trusted manufacturers seem to be a key part of its strategy.

Microsoft showed off Windows Mixed Reality headsets from HP and Acer at Build 2017 earlier this month. Now, the company has unveiled headsets designed by Dell, Asus, and Lenovo at Computex 2017.

The offering from Asus certainly has the look of next-generation technology, with an unusual polygonal cover panel that’s sure to help the headset stand out from the crowd. The company has apparently collaborated with Microsoft to ensure that its device is fast, powerful, and ultralight, according to a post on the Windows blog.

Meanwhile, Dell’s sleek white headset is being billed as an “affordable” entry point into mixed reality for users who have been put off by the price tags associated with the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive. It’s been designed with comfort in mind, and boasts such features as customizable cushioning, a convenient flip-up visor, and cable routing to ensure that stray wires don’t interfere with usage.

The device was designed by the same team responsible for the company’s high-end XPS and Alienware PCs. Dell’s Windows Mixed Reality headset is expected to be available this holiday season.

Finally, there’s Lenovo’s headset, which doesn’t make any great leaps in terms of its aesthetics, but may well prove to be a huge success as a result of its pricing. This device is described as “incredibly affordable,” so it will likely serve as the baseline for the Windows Mixed Reality headset range.

The headset boasts sensors that facilitate inside-out tracking and streamline the set-up process, making it easier for users to jump right into experiences that require some real-world movement. The device is expected to be made available before the end of 2017.

While HoloLens is still a priority for Microsoft, Windows Mixed Reality represents that company’s ambition to make virtual reality and augmented reality accessible to all users. The idea of a clearly defined platform with close ties to the Windows ecosystem will likely be a huge draw for developers, so while there are still valid concerns about the future of the initiative, it could prove to have a sizable impact when these headsets and others are made available later in the year.

Amazon patent packs a built-in parachute into a shipping label

Why it matters to you

Amazon’s delivery-by-drone ambitions once seemed outlandish, but the company is making major strides toward making Prime Air a reality.

In February 2017, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos shared details of the company’s plans to ship products via drone, a service that’s been dubbed Prime Air. Now, a newly awarded patent has offered up some extra information on how this new delivery process will work in practice.

On Monday, Amazon was awarded a patent for a shipping label with a built-in parachute, according to a report from GeekWire. This innovative idea would allow drones to deliver packages without having to land, with the package falling to the ground safely thanks to the parachute, making the delivery process much more efficient.

The shipping label wouldn’t look out of the ordinary until called into action, but a system of cords, a breakaway cover, and the all-important parachute would be hidden away under the surface. The patent also mentions that extra components like a harness to keep things in place, sensors to make sure it lands in the correct spot, and a shock absorber to prevent rough landings could also be employed.

The parachutes themselves would be tailored to the product at hand, keeping with the various packaging options that Amazon currently employs for different products. When larger items are being delivered, more than one parachute could be employed at one time, based on drawings that the company submitted to the United States Patent Office.

Amazon has been researching drone delivery for years — this patent was submitted in 2015 — but it seems that the idea is finally starting to become a reality. With this patent in place, and real-world testing already underway, it’s perhaps only a matter of time before customers waiting on a package look to the skies in anticipation, rather than waiting for the mailman.

Of course, Prime Air isn’t likely to replace Amazon’s other means of delivery completely, at least not yet. The patent application suggests that, while these new shipping labels might someday be applied to every package being dispatched, they’ll be easy enough to remove should ground shipping prove to be a more appropriate option.

Google Play Store will now let you know when recommended apps go on sale

Why it matters to you

With so many apps on the Play Store, it’s nearly impossible to stay on top of all the sales available. This update should make that a little less difficult.

Google has started making it easier to keep tabs on deals and promotions for apps on the Play Store. A new feature in the latest release notifies users when offers go live, and when new games are made available for pre-registration.

In true Google fashion, all the recommendations are curated based on your usage and app history. There are nearly 3 million apps available on the digital storefront, according to recent estimates — so these updates should go a very long way toward helping users find the right apps for a great price.

Previously, the Play Store would only send out notifications for app updates, but these two new options have already begun appearing in the app’s settings for some users. Android Police was the first to pick up on the change and believes it’s a server-side update that isn’t tied to a specific version of the Play Store. So if you don’t see it yet, keep checking back.

Although this particular update is a rather small one, Google has had big plans for the Play Store as of late. Instant Apps, a feature that allows users to run software from the Play Store without downloading it to their device, is still waiting in the wings for a public release after being unveiled at the company’s I/O developer conference in 2016.

Google has billed Instant Apps as “an evolution in app discovery” that will particularly benefit those who only need to use an app once. Unlike full, downloadable apps, these don’t take time to install, and don’t occupy storage space. However, they offer pretty much the same experience as full apps, meaning you won’t have to settle for a sub-par mobile web interface.

In early May, just days before this year’s I/O conference, updates to the Play Store suggested Google would be rolling out the feature soon. That was nearly a month ago, and we’ve heard nothing on Instant Apps since.

Until that happens, Google Play’s new notifications should also aid in app discovery. But if you find its recommendations aren’t useful, you can always turn them off via the settings menu.

Amazon’s new retail bookstores have all of the books, but none of the charm

Large book chains like Barnes & Noble have been shutting down bookstores for a decade now, which makes it a peculiar day when a new bookstore opens up in the heart of New York City. Even odder, it’s a physical store from Amazon, the online retailer whose Kindle ebook reader is a prime culprit in bookstore declines in the first place. But Amazon is always up to the task of transforming traditional experiences into opportunities that require you to use technology. Opening a physical bookstore may seem odd in 2017, but it’s no different than the release of Dash buttons or the opening of Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh food outlets. Amazon isn’t just on the web these days, it’s everywhere. Sadly, it has yet to learn what makes a bookstore great.

Walking into NYC’s first Amazon Books location — the seventh bookstore it has opened nationwide — the 4,000 square foot space is packed with books, but barely feels like a bookstore. Sure, there are rows of books separated by genre, from Young Adult novels to cookbooks; and the space looks big, carrying thousands of titles, but it feels as packed as a train car during rush hour. The maze of bookshelves and extremely tiny seating area leaves no room to hide and zone out with a stack of comics or relax and absorb yourself in the prologue to a new novel.

Amazon Books is using books as bait for the online retailer’s growing range of tech products.

Instead of price tags, the shelves are littered with barcode scanners. Book sections are separated by how many stars books have, and small reader reviews sit beneath the books. The checkout station is in the center of the store, with a large “Amazon Books” sign hanging in a familiar font above, and though smaller bookshelves line the windows, customers entering the store are boldly greeted with all of Amazon’s tech products, from Kindle ebook readers to the Fire tablets, and Echo speakers.

If you enter a Barnes & Noble, it’s easy to settle in between the large spaces left among the shelves or take a seat at the conveniently integrated Starbucks at most locations. Although B&N locations are bigger than Amazon Books, it has a cozier vibe, and lets you create your own private space.

Adam Balkin/Digital Trends

As a kid and, even now as an adult, I’ll venture into the nearest bookstore and find myself spending hours on the dusty carpet, nose buried in a book, wishing my wallet would let me walk out of there rolling a red wagon full of novels, Matilda style. My phone is lost somewhere at the bottom of my bag on silent and I no longer care to scroll through Instagram or answer what I would normally feel is an urgent text.

The tight layout of the store and constant price scanning process leaves no room to escape into the literary world.

It’s hard to even clear your head in Amazon Books because you’re trapped on your phone. You use an app to do everything. It’s an essential part of the experience. Books are placed neatly on the shelves with all the covers facing out and have no price tags. So, you have no choice but to literally judge a book by it’s cover. If there is a particular title you’re interested in, you must open the Amazon app on your phone to scan the barcode, which pulls up the real-time price along with the lower Amazon Prime price — a subtle way Amazon plans to convince patrons to sign up for a membership. It feels like Amazon is trying to eliminate the often-captivating experience of book browsing. Perhaps browsing for books is not efficient enough for Amazon’s algorithmic store.

While Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go seem interested in the food they sell, Amazon Books is using books as bait for the online retailer’s growing range of tech products. In some ways, the tech display resembles an Apple store, where the devices are readily available for customers to try out and play around with. I couldn’t help but notice the bright white lighting from above also resembled Apple’s “futuristic” ambiance.

Adam Balkin/Digital Trends

The tech section of the store closely mirrors Barnes & Noble’s obsolete music section, which is stocked with the latest CDs, vinyls, and cassette tapes. If you initially came in to look for a book, you could also browse the endless options of entertainment. Tech gadgets are included in the new wave of enhancing arts and entertainment for the better, but at least B&N had the courtesy to separate the section more, and offer headphones for people who wanted to rock out to some cassette tapes and CDs in private. For Amazon, there is no separation between Echos, Fire tablets, and books. They’re all mushed together.

The tight layout of the store and constant price scanning process leaves no room to escape into the literary world. It was hard to hear myself think with people requesting Alexa to play random songs for them on full volume, let alone try to read a book. Amazon seems to have little interest in sharing actual literature. From the design, this store is geared toward folks who want any book that’s currently trending in pop culture (with a 4.5 star rating), but also wouldn’t mind purchasing an Amazon-powered digital home assistant instead.

The commonality behind Amazon-run stores are that they don’t force you to disconnect from technology, but enable the habit instead. It’s considered a bookstore, but Amazon Books is really about selling the online retailer’s popular gadgets in a physical retail space. Amazon’s main focus was never to only be your go-to bookstore. Its plan is to take complex technology and find ways to inject Amazon’s online store into your everyday tasks until you find yourself automatically using Amazon.com when you need to buy anything at all.

Visiting the store was an experience that I thought would be pretty fun, and a step in the right direction to salvage the stigma of physical books. But where’s the fun? Sadly, books may have helped kick start Amazon, but it doesn’t seem to understand or care about the book-buying experience. Amazon Books is just another way to reel people in to shop for media and devices.

Shakespeare didn’t die for this.

Pics of Microsoft’s canceled ‘Northstar’ flagship smartphone appear online

Why it matters to you

Newly leaked pics suggest Microsoft planned to release at least one more smartphone before it abandoned that business. But rumblings of a Microsoft-made smartphone persist.

It wasn’t so long ago that Microsoft, like Apple, had a high-end smartphone series to call its own. It included the Lumia 950 and 950XL — two flagship handsets running Microsoft’s Windows 10 Mobile software — and the Lumia 930. The company eventually abandoned its budding business, but newly leaked pics suggest that Microsoft had planned to release at least one more phone before it threw in the towel.

Microsoft’s canned smartphone, the RM-1162, would have been the follow-up to the company’s 950 and 950XL. It was code-named “Northstar,” and it improved upon its predecessor’s materials in subtle, but appreciable ways.

The Northstar boasted a curved aluminum unibody, a 5.5-inch display with a Quad HD (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) resolution, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor. Other specs included 4GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, and a whopping 20MP rear camera with “triple-LED flash,” as well as an 8MP front camera and dual front speakers.

The Northstar wasn’t the only Microsoft phone to get the kibosh.

In December 2015, rumors emerged of a high-end Windows Phone device with gesture-sensing sensors — the Lumia McLaren. It also boasted such features as a 5-inch screen, 2GB of RAM, and a 50MP sensor with dual-LED flash. But the real highlight was its 3D Touch Suite, a Kinect-like offering intended to track user’s fingers as they hovered over the display. Hovering over UI elements would reveal hidden windows. For example, a wave of the hand would dismiss notifications and a finger slid along the phone’s screen edge would zoom in on photos.

In 2017, pics of the Lumia 750 “Gullin” leaked online. The midrange Windows Phone handset packed a removable polycarbonate back cover, a 2020mAh battery, and a microSD card slot.

Weak sales of Windows Mobile devices is at least partly to blame for the line’s demise.

In 2014, Microsoft was forced to lay off 18,000 employees when Nokia, the Finnish phone company it acquired for $9.5 billion, failed to turn a profit. Things deteriorated from there — in 2015, mounting development costs forced Microsoft to write down $7.6 billion and sell its handset business to HMD Global.

But rumblings of a Microsoft-made smartphone persist.

In May, Thurott reported that an in-development Microsoft phone runs a never-before-seen “separate branch” of Windows Mobile that will deliver “new experiences.” It’ll come in as many as three models — a consumer model, a business model, and an “enthusiast” model — and run Redstone 3, an upcoming version of Windows Phone with native support for Win32 apps like Google’s Chrome browser and Adobe Photoshop.

In an interview with Marketplace’s “Make Me Smart,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company’s next phone might not look like a phone.

“We make phones today, we have (original equipment manufacturers) like HP making phones … and we picked a very specific area to focus on, which is management, security, and this one particular feature that we have called Continuum, which is a phone that can even be a desktop,” Nadella explained. “So when you say, ‘When will we make more phones,’ I’m sure we’ll make more phones. But they may not look like phones that are there today.”

Halide brings more finesse to the iPhone camera with gesture controls

Why it matters to you

iPhone users that miss the quick physical controls of an actual camera can get a little bit closer to the real thing with this gesture-based control scheme.

Features like 3D touch and gesture control have changed how smartphones operate, but despite the changes, native camera controls have remained largely static. That’s what Halide, a new premium iOS photography app launched on May 30, hopes to change by bringing gesture controls and advanced settings to the iPhone.

While the App Store includes dozens of photography apps with manual controls, Halide aims to enhance the experience with a user interface that feels more reminiscent of physical camera controls, developers Ben Sandofsky, former Twitter tech lead, and Sebastiaan de With, an ex-Apple designer and photographer, said. The project came after Sandofsky and de With saw that while the quality of smartphone cameras continued to improve, the interface remained largely unchanged.

“Nothing matched the pleasure of using a well-built camera,” said De With. “Halide aims to fix that.”

The app’s gesture-based interface uses customizable gesture controls, allowing users to use gestures instead of only single taps to control aspects like exposure and focus. When reviewing photos, images can quickly be deleted or flagged as a favorite with a swipe.

Exposure adjustment

Full manual controls

Focus peaking

Composition grid

While the developers say Halide is designed around a gesture-based interface, the app includes a long list of advanced features as well. The app switches between an intelligent auto mode and manual controls in a tap. Manual focus is included, too, with a focus-peaking feature that highlights whatever is in focus in red, simplifying the task of focusing manually with an iPhone.

The app captures RAW or JPEG files, while users can check the shot with a histogram, grid overlay and built-in level. The app focuses on still photos, with no video or Live Photo options.

Sandofsky, who previously worked with Periscope’s video stack, and de With, a part-time travel photographer, say that Halide’s control system becomes like “muscle memory” with easy access without hunting through menus for all the features.

During launch week, Halide is available as a $3 download from the App Store, moving up to $5 on June 6. The app is compatible with iOS 10 and later. The histogram, focus peaking and RAW shooting features require an iPhone 6S or later.

Amazon gives Alexa iCloud support as Apple reportedly preps its own speaker

Why it matters to you

Amazon Echo users can now ask Alexa for updates on their iCloud Calendars and even set up events without ever picking up their iPhone or iPad.

Hot on the heels of recent news that Apple could be planning a Siri-powered speaker to take on Amazon Echo, the online retail giant has added iCloud Calendar support to Alexa’s roster of supported services.

According to Amazon, the feature is live in the U.S., U.K., and Germany, with more territories to follow. With the update, Echo users can now ask Alexa for updates on appointments made through iCloud, and even add events without ever using their Apple device.

Linking an iCloud account can be done through the Alexa app, in the settings. Alongside iCloud integration, Amazon’s digital assistant now supports a total of five calendar services: Gmail, Google’s G Suite for business users, Outlook (which includes Hotmail, Live, and MSN), and Microsoft Office 365 users with Exchange accounts.

Early rumors about Apple’s home speaker hinted at the inclusion of a touchscreen — something Amazon’s Echo range always lacked, up until just this month when it unveiled the Echo Show. According to the latest rumors, Apple engineers are testing prototypes in their homes and could reveal the device at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off on Monday.

If Apple does have something up its sleeve, the one-two punch of the Echo Show, combined with Alexa’s newfound ability to speak iCloud is an astutely timed retort. Either way, Wednesday’s news is sure to please Amazon users. The company says iCloud support marked among its most requested features.

Until recently, Amazon had the home speaker market mostly all to itself. Lacking competition from Google and Apple, the retailer was allowed to pioneer the segment mostly uncontested.

That began to change with the release of the Google Home last fall and looks to shift again if and when Apple finally drops what it has been working on. Fortunately for Amazon, Echo has years of services, support, development, and public awareness to fall back on — and that may prove decisive in fending off the Apple juggernaut.