U.S. slowly catching up with the rest of the world’s data speeds, study says
Why it matters to you
America has historically lagged in internet speeds compared to other industrialized nations, but there has been meaningful progress.
Content delivery network Akamai has published its quarterly “State of the Internet” report for the first quarter of 2017 and while the United States still lags in predictable categories like data speed, it has also made some satisfying gains.
First, the good news. The U.S. leads the world in internet penetration and quite handily at that. Akamai identified more than 142 million unique IP addresses connecting to its servers in the U.S., with the next closest nation being China at 116 million. Keep in mind recent census data places China’s population at roughly four times the size of the United States. Next is Brazil, at 47 million, followed by Japan at 46 million.
So the U.S. is doing pretty well in terms of getting people connected, but what about the quality of the service? Unsurprisingly, the country still lags in average speed. Akamai reports that most Americans average 18Mbps downloads via broadband, which is barely good enough to make the world’s top 10. The other nine regions ahead of the U.S. all manage above 20Mbps, with South Korea leading the planet at 28.6 percent.
There is a silver lining to that news, though, because this is the highest the U.S. has ever placed in Akamai’s survey. While nearly every other country in the top 10 saw speeds increase or decrease by a few percentage points, the States saw the second most positive quarter-over-quarter change, at 8.8 percent. What is more, broadband speeds have increased 22 percent over the past year, an impressive feat.
Unfortunately, however, the country’s strides in home internet are not being matched in the mobile space. Users in the U.S. manage an average of 10.7Mbps on their phones, which is good enough to lead North and South America. However, it greatly pales in comparison to the rest of the world, especially Europe.
When it comes to mobile, nobody beats the U.K., at a blazing 26Mbps. Users in Germany and Finland also can claim impressive results, at 24 and 21Mbps, respectively. A third of Asian Pacific countries and a handful or Middle Eastern nations are faster as well, though by much less significant margins.
Akamai places the global mobile average at 7.2Mbps — 15 percent quicker than last year’s findings. For more details, you can check out the full report here.
How to factory reset a Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus
Given how complicated and unforgiving smartphones can be, it’s not surprising that installing an app by mistake, misplacing a file, or screwing up settings are all-too-common occurrences. That’s true even on Samsung’s Galaxy S8, which puts ease-of-use features first and foremost. But whether you’ve messed up your smartphone beyond the point of recognition or just want to get back to the no-frills, bare bones configuration you had when you switched it on for the first time, there’s a solution: Factory resetting your phone.
Resetting a Galaxy S8 to factory default is a lot easier than you might think. The process will wipe your apps and files — including songs, videos, contacts, photos, and calendar info — but backup programs and Samsung’s cloud storage features make recovering them relatively easy. Alternatively, if you’re selling your Galaxy S8 and want to make sure personal information doesn’t make its way into a stranger’s hands, a factory reset is a great way to permanently delete your data.
Here’s how to backup and factory reset a Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.
Factory reset protection
Factory Reset Protection (FRP), a security measure Google introduced in Android 5.0 Lollipop, is designed to prevent thieves from wiping your device and using or selling it. But if you don’t disable it, it can interfere with a factory reset.
When you reset a phone to factory default with FRP enabled, it’ll prompt you to enter the user name and password for the last Google account registered to the device. That’s good and fine if you’re the owner, but obviously problematic if you’ve sold it or given it to another person.
Here’s how to disable Factory Reset Protection on the Galaxy S8:
- First, remove your Google account. Go to Settings > Cloud & accounts > Accounts and tap on Google. Then tap the three vertical dots in the upper right, or More > Remove account. Make sure to remove every Google account you see.
- Next, you’ll have to remove your Samsung account. Head to Settings > Lock screen and security > Find My Mobile. Enter your password, tap on your account at the top, and select More > Remove account.
Now that you’ve disabled Factory Reset Protection, it’s a good idea to back up your apps and settings. Alternatively, you can skip straight to the factory reset process.
How to back up data
How to back up apps
To back up the apps and games you’ve installed on your Galaxy S8, head to the Settings menu.
- Tap Cloud and accounts, then Backup & restore.
- Tap Back up my data, and choose whether or not you’d like to back up your account data, Wi-Fi passwords, and other settings to Google’s servers.
How to back up contacts
Saving your contacts to the cloud is just as easy as backing up your apps and settings.
- Open the Settings menu, and then tap Cloud and accounts.
- Tap Accounts, and then select the account you’d like to sync.
- Tap the three vertical dots in the top-right corner, and tap Sync now.
Your cloud-stored contacts should now be up to date.
How to back up media & pictures
Factory resetting your Galaxy S8 doesn’t have to mean losing your photos, videos, and other media. Here’s how to back everything up.
- Tap the Samsung folder, and then tap My Files.
- Tap Internal storage.
- Tap the three vertical dots icon, and then tap Share. Select the content you want to backup.
- Tap Share, and select the location you want the content to be shared with.
Reset your Galaxy S8 from the settings menu
The easiest way to factory reset your Galaxy S8 is from the phone’s settings menu. Make sure it’s powered on, and then go to Settings > Backup and reset. Tap on Factory data reset, then Reset device, and finally Erase everything.
Now sit tight — the process takes a few minutes. Once it’s finished, you’ll see the Galaxy S8’s welcome screen.
Reset your Galaxy S8 from the recovery menu
Sometimes, software corruption, persistent malware, and other factors make resetting your Galaxy S8 from the settings menu an unrealistic proposition. Luckily, you can erase the phone’s data without having to boot into its operating system by using the recovery menu.
Make sure your Galaxy S8 is powered down.
- Hold the Volume up, Bixby, and Power buttons at the same time, and keep them held down until you see the Samsung logo.
- After 30 seconds, you should see the Android Recovery Menu. If your phone boots up as normal, try repeating the previous two steps.
- Press the Volume down button four times, until Wipe data/Factory reset is highlighted. Select it using the Power button.
- Press the Volume down button seven times until Yes — delete all user data is highlighted. Select it using the Power button, which triggers the reset process.
- Once the factor reset is complete, press the Power button and select reboot system now.
Once the Galaxy S8 boots, you’ll see the default welcome screen.
Reset your Galaxy S8 using Samsung’s Smart Switch PC software
If you’d prefer to use a computer to reset the Galaxy S8, good news: Samsung’s Smart Switch software makes it simple. It’ll guide you through the factory reset process, install the newest firmware on your Galaxy S8, and wipe your apps, settings, and personal data.
There are a few prerequisites, though. You’ll need to plug the Galaxy S8 into one of your PC’s USB ports using a USB-C adapter, and you’ll have to download and install the Smart Switch software from Samsung’s website. From there, it’s all downhill.
If you’re plugging in your Galaxy S8 for the first time, you’ll have to wait for the necessary drivers to install. Once that’s finished, move on to the next steps.
- Launch the Samsung Smart Switch software you installed earlier. Your phone will appear in the list of devices.
- Click more in the top-right corner of the screen, and then click Emergency Software Recovery and Initialization.
- Click Device Initialization. Click OK; click OK again to confirm the initialization; and click OK a third time to confirm you’ve read the list of precautions.
- Choose whether you want to create a backup. If you’d rather not, click Skip backup.
- If you get a User Account Control prompt, click Yes.
- Smart Switch will download and install the latest Galaxy S8 firmware to your device. Once it finishes, click OK.
Your Galaxy S8 should now turn on and it will be wiped clean, ready to set up afresh or pass along.
New Harvard-designed exosuit could take a lot of stress out of your morning run
Why it matters to you
The design could lead to improved methods for treating people with leg injuries and help to speed up recovery.
If you’ve tried everything to improve your running time but just can’t seem to beat your personal best no matter how much you try, then slipping into a pair of these robotic shorts might be the answer.
OK, it may seem a little underhanded to use an exosuit system to score a better time, but it would still be pretty cool to try it out to see to what extent high-tech apparel can improve athletic performance.
Developed by a team of engineers at the Wyss Institute and Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the shorts can apparently cut an average marathon time from 9:14 minutes-per-mile to 8:49. For sure, that’s an impressive reduction.
So how do they work? Well, according to its creators, the soft exosuit applies forces to the hip joint via thin, flexible wires, assisting the muscles during each stride. Those wires connect to the exosuit at the back of the thighs and waist belt, and can reduce the metabolic cost of running by as much as 5.4 percent.
“As subjects ran on a treadmill wearing the exosuit, the actuation unit pulled on the wires, which acted as a second pair of hip extensor muscles applying force to the legs with each stride,” the team explains on its website.
The team arrived at the most effective wire-pulling system after testing two options: one that applied force starting at the point of maximum hip extension as seen in a regular running motion, and one that applied force a little later in the running stride. The latter clearly proved the most effective.
While further work is required to hone the design, the team said it hopes that one day its technology can be used “to augment the performance of recreational athletes and/or help with recovery after injury.”
But if you’re a marathon runner thinking the gear could come in handy for knocking a few seconds off your next run, the downside is that in real-life conditions you’ll have to have some kind of vehicle trundling along behind you to carry the contraption that makes the whole system work. Until the researchers develop a portable version, you’ll have to time your running sessions indoors on a treadmill.
Well, no one ever said improving your running performance was going to be easy.
The bed bugs won’t bite thanks to this smart IoT track-and-trap device
Why it matters to you
Bed bugs are a health risk. The Automated Insect Monitoring System is the gadget that will do something about them.
From smart thermostats that intelligently control the temperature in a room to smart devices like the Roomba vacuum cleaner which hoover up dirt, connected devices are capable of carrying out all sorts of functions in the places we sleep. Here’s one we’ve not come across before, though: A Wi-Fi enabled system smart device that’s designed to alert you of any bed bug outbreaks in the making.
Developed by the company Delta Five, the currently available Automated Insect Monitoring System takes the form of a small, 3-inch box, which monitors for insects around the clock. The device uses heat, vapors, pheromones and other odorless methods to attract insects. It then captures them by closing its chamber door, takes a picture of the bug to identify it, and sends an alert to the relevant person, either via text message or email.
“Given our initial focus on hospitality, and our core competencies in robotics, unattended sensors, computer vision and machine intelligence, we recognized a significant gap between available products and actual need as it relates to bed bugs,” Jason Janét, Delta Five’s CEO, told Digital Trends.
“None offered high-fidelity, round-the-clock monitoring with real-time notification. Most were pest-specific, bulky and generally ineffective. All of them were labor intensive and relied on potentially subjective human elements of interpretation, prioritization and communication. The value-proposition simply was not there.”
Bed bugs, it turns out, are an uncomfortably common occurrence — particularly in hotels. According to Janét, the problem is worsening at a rate of between 7 and 15 percent annually. Worryingly, this could be related to bed bugs evolving to become immune to pesticides, along with more “hitchhiking opportunities” due to international shipping and travel.
Most disgusting of all, around 96 percent of bed bugs are found in the headboard wall. Dealing with these means that many headboards can become saturated with various pesticides: inches from people’s heads and therefore their lungs, ears, and eyes.
Something tells us we’re going to sleep badly tonight! Thank goodness for smart technology …
Samsung employee allegedly steals 8,500 phones to pay off gambling debt
Why it matters to you
No matter how bad of an employee you think you are, you’re probably not as bad as the guy who allegedly stole thousands of phones to pay off his gambling debt.
A Samsung employee has given a brand-new meaning to the term gambling problem. As per a report from The Investor, an employee identified only by his surname (Lee) is alleged to have stolen a whopping 8,474 smartphones from the company over the course of two years to pay off his gambling debt. Authorities claim his spree took place between December 2014 and November 2016 at the Samsung headquarters in Suwon, South Korea — a rather alarmingly long period of time for such theft to go unnoticed.
So what did he do with all these phones? He certainly didn’t give them away to the needy. Instead, police say he sold the handsets to a reseller, and turned a rather handy profit of more than $710,000. But now, the alleged fun is over, and Lee has been arrested.
He first joined the South Korean tech conglomerate in 2010, and his job involved maintaining old phones that Samsung developers use to engineer upgrades or test new features. While most Samsung employees are required to pass through a body scanner before leaving company premises, Lee was excused from this practice because he is wheelchair-bound. And he certainly took advantage of being able to bypass security if the accusations prove to be true.
Apparently, Samsung did not notice that the phones had gone missing until December 2016, when the company realized that some phones that shouldn’t have been on the market were being sold and purchased in Vietnam. The thefts were eventually traced back to Lee, and police say that the money he made off his alleged illicit dealing was used to pay off his gambling debt of nearly $800,000.
Of course, this is by no means the only Samsung employee in trouble with the law. Even the most senior of the company’s executives are also in hot water these days, as the de facto head of the company, Lee Jae-yong, was arrested earlier this year in connection with a political scandal that has rocked the nation. That trial is currently ongoing.
Google Chrome 59 for Android brings faster loading and less memory use
Why it matters to you
Waiting around for web pages to load can be a real pain, but Google Chrome 59 for Android aims to help change that.
Google launched Chrome 59 for Android, bringing a number of improvements and new features to the mobile browser. While the browser may look the same, Google made a few tweaks under the hood that should seriously improve the browser’s performance.
According to Google, Chrome 59 will allow for faster page loading and will take up less memory. The browser also features a few stability and bug improvements. As a result of the tweaks, Google notes that web pages should load between 10 and 20 percent faster than they otherwise would, which is a nice boost for users.
Chrome 59 also brings full support for animated PNGs, also known as APNGs. APGNs are very similar to GIFs, however, they support 24-bit images, and 8-bit transparency — so they are a little higher quality than GIFs. The format has been gaining quite a lot of traction of late — it has been supported in Mozilla’s Firefox for some time now and Apple added support for it in iOS 10’s iMessage app.
If you do not already have Google Chrome 59, you will likely get it soon — it is currently rolling out to Android devices through the Google Play Store.
Google has been making some serious improvements to Chrome for Android over the past few months. In May, the company updated the browser to add support for saving content for offline viewing. That feature was a pretty important release and not only does it make it easier for people to browse the web without an internet connection but it also takes a bite out of services like Pocket.
To download content for viewing offline, all you have to do is open a page and open the menu, after which you will notice a small download button. Then, to browse through your downloaded content, hit the “Downloads” button and you will be able to scroll through everything you have saved.
AI learns how to tackle new situations by studying how humans play games
Why it matters to you
That self-driving car you have been dreaming about is getting closer every day, as AI learns to tackle the unknown.
If artificial intelligence is going to excel at driving cars or performing other complex tasks that we humans take for granted, then it needs to learn how to respond to unknown circumstances. That is the task of machine learning, which needs real-world examples to study.
So far, however, most data used to train machine-learning systems comes from virtual environments. A group of researchers, including a Microsoft Research scientist from the U.K., have set out to change that by using game replay data that can show an AI how humans tackle complex problems.
The researchers used Atari 2600 game replays to provide real-world data to a deep learning system that uses trial and error, or reinforcement learning (RL), to tackle new tasks in a previously unknown environment. The data used in the study represents what the researchers called the “largest and most diverse such data set” that has ever been publicly released.
The data was gathered by making a web-based Atari 2600 emulator, called the Atari Grand Challenge, available using the Javatari tool written in Javascript. The researchers used a form of gamified crowdsourcing, which leveraged people’s desire to play games in order to be helpful along with a reward mechanism that ranked each player’s performance.
Around 9.7 million frames or about 45 hours of gameplay time were collected and analyzed. Five games were used in creating the data based on their varying levels of difficulty and complexity: Video Pinball, Qbert, Space Invaders, Ms. Pac-Man, and Montezuma’s Revenge.
The results have been promising so far. By feeding information into the system like player actions taken during the games, in-game rewards, and current scores, the researchers were able to demonstrate the value of using this kind of data to train machine learning systems. Going forward, the researchers hope to use professional players to improve the data’s ability to train AI that is even better at responding to unknown situations.
Sandmarc aims to bring professional lens filters to mobile photography
Why it matters to you
These filters will help you to take higher-quality, better looking photos with your iPhone camera.
In photography, one of the most important aspects to taking a quality picture is the ability to control how much light is hitting your sensor. For traditional photographers using a dedicated camera, the popular way to do this is through the use of lens filters. Unfortunately for the current generation of mobile phone photographers, filters have more or less not been an option — until now.
Sandmarc, a company known for its high-quality GoPro and action camera filter accessories, has launched a new Kickstarter campaign to bring quality polarizing and neutral density filters to the mobile photography market. The Drama Filter (what Sandmarc is calling its polarizing filter), and the Scape Filter (what it is calling its neutral-density filter) will not be like the few limited options currently on the market, according to the company.
Sandmarc
It says the current mobile filter market is made up of poorly built plastic filters that actually degrade image quality, which is why most mobile photographers prefer not to use them. Sandmarc’s aim, according to its Kickstarter page, is to launch the world’s first truly high-quality and professional-level filter system for mobile photographers, for which its funding goal is $100,000.
The Drama Filter kit will feature a phone clip mount, filter case, and the Drama Filter itself. The purpose of this filter is exactly what it would be for a DSLR photographer: To limit reflection, cut through haze, improve color vibrancy, and improve dynamic range. Kickstarter backers can get the Drama Filter kit for $29, a solid discount off the expected retail price of $49.
The Scape Filter kit will also feature a phone clip mount, a filter case, and three neutral-density filters rated to ND4, ND8, and ND16, respectively. These filters will be used to limit the amount of light being let into the lens, allowing for slower shutter speeds and faster apertures in bright daylight conditions. This will be particularly useful to those hoping to produce more pleasing video content on their phones during the day. The filters can also be stacked on one another to increase the light limitation for those who need it.
Sandmarc
The Sandmarc filters are being designed primarily for use with iPhones (ranging from the iPhone 4 up to the current-generation iPhone 7 and 7 Plus), but the company does say that the clip is also technically usable on high-end Andorid phones as well, such as the Samsung S7 and S8, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, and the LG G6. If all goes according to plan and the Kickstarter is funded, Sandmarc hopes to have the filters shipped in September.
If you are interested in learning more about this project you can get all of the details over on Sandmarc’s Kickstarter page.
G.Skill’s Trident Z RGB used to break the world record for fastest memory
Why it matters to you
To the mainstream PC gamer, this is a good example of how G.Skill’s memory can be overclocked in a controlled environment, but don’t expect these speeds in a typical air/water-based setup.
On Wednesday, G.Skill International said that a team of professional overclockers managed to speed up its DDR4 memory to 5,500MHz, the fastest frequency (speed) to date. Conducted by Taiwan-based Toppc, the team used a system based on MSI’s X299 Gaming Pro Carbon AC motherboard and an Intel Core i7-7740K processor. The team broke the 5GHz barrier last year using G.Skill’s DDR4 memory too.
“DDR4 5.5GHz has been our next target after we achieved DDR4 5GHz last year. We are extremely excited to finally make it happen together with Samsung components, MSI X299 motherboard, and Intel Core X-series processor,” says Tequila Huang, corporate vice president of G.Skill International.
As seen here, the record was validated by HWBOT. The team kept the processor and memory cooled using liquid nitrogen, meaning the average PC gamer won’t see the overclocked speed using standard air and water-based cooling. The overclocking record relied on a single 8GB stick of G.Skill’s Trident Z RGB DDR4 memory, which is sold as 8GB or 16GB sticks in kits of 16GB and more.
While the 5.5GHz number sounds awesome, the 8GB stick actually overclocked to 2,750MHz. But because modern memory sticks are designed to work in pairs (aka dual channel), the number is doubled to 5,500MHz. Toppc’s previous record was a single DDR4 stick clocked at 2,501MHz, breaking the 5GHz barrier for dual-channel memory.
According to the current HWBOT listing, the overclocked memory had a latency of CL14-14-14-34. That indicates the G.Skill memory stick ran at 1,500MHz or 1,600MHz before the overclocking process. The quad-core Intel “Kaby Lake-X” processor used in the test bed had a stock base speed of 4.30GHz, and a boost speed of 4.50GHz.
G.Skill introduced its Trident X RGB series at the end of 2016. As the name implies, these DDR4 sticks include RGB lighting that’s customizable through the company’s free desktop software. They include aluminum heat spreaders with a hair-line finish, and a fin-based design for better heat dissipation. Each stick consists of Samsung memory chips soldered on a 10-layer circuit board supporting overclocked speeds.
“We are seeing amazing overclocking potential for these newly released hardware and we believe that more overclocking benchmark records will be achieved very soon by professional overclockers worldwide,” Huang added.
Toppc initially broke the 5GHz speed barrier using a single G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 memory stick (4GB), MSI’s Z170I Gaming Pro AC mini-ITX motherboard, and a sixth-generation Intel Core i5-6600K processor slowed down to 968.17MHz (originally it runs at 3.50GHz). The HWBOT info shows that the CPU was cooled by liquid nitrogen, and presumably the memory chip was as well to hit the overclocked 2,501.2MHz speed.
Then during Computex 2016, G.Skill memory was used to break Toppc’s record, hitting 2,594.6MHz (aka 5,189.2MHz). This speedy feat was accomplished by Splave, who used the ASRock Z170M OC Formula motherboard and a sixth-generation Intel Core i7-6700K processor. Splave walked away from G.Skill’s OC World Cup Competition with $10,000 and knowing that he achieved a new world record for memory speed. Guess it’s time for another attempt.
Win a Peel case for Pixel or Pixel XL from Modern Dad!
There’s no shortage of chunky cases out there, and that’s great. But when it comes to phones like the Pixel and Pixel XL, it can be hard to find something that’s truly next to naked.
That was before I ran across the Peel case, though. It’s less than a half-millimeter thick (0.35mm, to be precise), and it’s a ridiculously great option if you want to protect the finish on your Pixel but not feel like you just wrapped your phone in a spacesuit.
And Modern Dad has a few to give away. Six for the Pixel, and eight for the Pixel XL, in a smattering of colors. Hit up the widget below to enter.
And be sure to subscribe to Modern Dad on YouTube!
Win a Peel phone case from Modern Dad!
Modern Dad
- Subscribe on YouTube
- Newsletter
- See the gear
AIVAnet 