Light-sensitive bacteria could save you during a heart attack

Heart attacks are frightening by themselves, but they’re made worse by the potential for lasting damage. Even a brief interruption to blood flow could permanently destroy vital tissue that keeps your heart beating as usual. However, there might be a way to mitigate or even prevent that damage. Scientists have discovered that a light-sensitive bacteria, synechococcus elongatus, can keep oxygen coming in the midst of a heart attack. Much like a plant, the bacteria both draws on photosynthesis for energy and turns both CO2 and water into oxygen. If you expose it to light soon after the attack, you can maintain oxygen levels and increase the heart’s blood-pumping ability after the attack is over.

In lab rats, the results were dramatic. Oxygen levels were 25 times higher 10 minutes after the attack, and the hearts pumped 60 percent more blood 45 minutes after the attack. If you could use this as an emergency treatment in humans, it could mean the difference between outright heart failure and a reasonably healthy patient.

The emphasis is on “if,” however. It’s easy to shine light into the small body of a rat; it’s tougher to do that with humans, who have thicker heart muscles (and are much larger, of course). There’s also the question of whether or not the bacteria are completely safe. Don’t count on this solution reaching hospitals soon, if at all. Nonetheless, the discovery is promising: it suggests that there’s a way to protect your heart against long-term harm even as doctors race to save you from the immediate threat.

Source: Science, Science Advances

New Jay Z Album ‘4:44’ Will Be Sprint-Tidal Exclusive

Rapper Jay Z has confirmed that his new album, 4:44, will be released on June 30 and will be available exclusively to Sprint customers and existing Tidal subscribers (via Variety). The album is the first major project between the streaming music service and Sprint, which acquired 33 percent of the company in January in a deal reportedly worth $200 million.

Tidal has recently been promoting 4:44 with videos on YouTube featuring actors Mahershala Ali, Lupita Nyong’o, and Danny Glover, suggesting video content could accompany the album.

Based on the performance of previous Tidal-only releases, how long the album remains an exclusive could have a big effect on its chart success. Beyonce’s album Lemonade reportedly suffered because of its exclusivity to Tidal, which claims as many as 3 million subscribers. That contrasts with Spotify’s claimed 50 million paying subscribers, with Apple Music now on 27 million subscribers, as revealed earlier this month at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apple was rumored to be interested in buying Tidal last year as a way to bolster Apple Music, but the company later denied the reports and said it wasn’t looking to acquire any existing streaming services. The rivalry between Apple Music and Tidal has been criticized for their promotion of exclusive artist deals, which Kanye West said was negatively affecting the music industry.

As part of the Sprint-Tidal deal, Sprint customers are eligible to receive a free six-month Tidal trial subscription to the streaming service.

Tags: Sprint, Tidal
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LG unveils G6+ with B&O Play headphones, rolls out software updates for G6

Four months after the G6 was first unveiled, LG has now introduced a G6+ model, with more onboard storage, B&O Play headphones and new colour options. Unlike some other phone manufacturers that increase the screen size when they introduce a Plus model, the screen on the G6+ remains at 5.7-inches.

• LG G6 review: The first truly great flagship phone for 2017
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The G6+ comes with 128GB of internal storage, double the highest amount available in the regular G6, and a pair of B&O Play headphones to take full advantage of the 32-bit Quad Hi-Fi DAC fitted to the phone. LG hasn’t said exactly which pair of B&O Play headphones you’ll get.

LG has also added wireless charging to the Plus model, something that we would have liked to have seen on the regular G6.The G6+ will also arrive with new colour options: Optical Astro Black, Optical Marine Blue and Optical Terra Gold. The Optical finish gives the back of the G6+ a reflective look, but the colour doesn’t wrap around to the front, instead the front bezels will be all black.

The G6 hasn’t gone completely unloved though, as LG has announced some software enhancements for the current model, which include Face Print.

Face Print is a new facial recognition technology to unlock the G6, but works without you having to press any buttons. Simply raise the phone to your face, where the camera will automatically detect you want to unlock the phone and do so in seconds and Covered Lens will alert you if your finger or fingers happen to obstruct the camera lens before you take a photo.

The LG G6 will also be available in Optical Marine Blue and Optical Terra Gold colour finishes. LG has yet to confirm when the software updates and the G6+ will be available in global markets.

EU Proposes Enforcing Data Encryption and Banning Backdoors

The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs has published draft proposals that would enforce end-to-end encryption on all digital communications and forbid backdoors that enable law enforcement to access private message data.

The proposed amendment relates to Article 7 of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, which says that EU citizens have a right to personal privacy, as well as privacy in their family life and at home. By extension, the “confidentiality and safety” of EU citizens’ electronic communications needs to be “guaranteed” in the same manner.

Confidentiality of electronic communications ensures that information exchanged between parties and the external elements of such communication, including when the information has been sent, from where, to whom, is not to be revealed to anyone other than to the parties involved in a communication.

The principle of confidentiality should apply to current and future means of communication, including calls, internet access, instant messaging applications, e-mail, internet phone calls and messaging provided through social media.

The regulation states that the disclosure of contents in electronic communications may reveal highly sensitive information about citizens, from personal experiences and emotions to medical conditions, sexual preferences and political views, which could result in personal and social harm, economic loss or embarrassment.

In addition, the committee argues that not only the content of communications needs to be protected, but also the metadata associated with it, including numbers called, websites visited, geographical location, and the time, date, and duration of calls, which might otherwise be used to draw conclusions about the private lives of persons involved.

The regulations would apply to providers of electronic communication services as well as software providers that enable electronic communications and the retrieval of information on the internet. However, the amendment goes further by stating that the use of software backdoors by EU member states should be outlawed.

When encryption of electronic communications data is used, decryption, reverse engineering or monitoring of such communications shall be prohibited.  

Member states shall not impose any obligations on electronic communications service providers that would result in the weakening of the security and encryption of their networks and services.

The proposals appear to have been tabled in response to comments made by EU member states such as the U.K., which has argued that encrypted online channels such as WhatsApp and Telegram provide a “safe haven” for terrorists because governments governments and even the companies that host the services cannot read them.

The U.K. home secretary Amber Rudd recently claimed that it is “completely unacceptable” that authorities cannot gain access to messages stored on mobile applications protected by end-to-end encryption. A leaked draft technical paper prepared by the U.K. government was leaked shortly after Rudd’s comments, containing proposals related to the removal of encryption from private communications.

The EU proposals could also put European security policy at odds with federal legislators in the U.S., who recently called on technology companies to compromise the encryption built into their mobile software. Last year, Apple and the FBI were involved in a public dispute over the latter’s demands to provide a backdoor into iPhones, following the December 2015 shooter incidents in San Bernardino.

Apple said the software the FBI asked for could serve as a “master key” able to be used to get information from any iPhone or iPad – including its most recent devices – while the FBI claimed it only wanted access to a single iPhone.

The European Union proposals have to be approved by MEPs and reviewed by the EU council before the amendments can pass. It remains unclear how the laws would apply in the U.K. after Brexit, initial negotiations for which begin on Monday. 

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.

Tags: security, European Union, United Kingdom, privacy
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Here’s one way to grab the perfect selfie with your favorite pooch

Why it matters to you

If your dog or cat has a treat that it goes crazy for, then the Flexy Paw is going to be an effective tool for grabbing a selfie with your precious pet.

Pet owners know only too well how tricky it can be to get a decent photo of their four-legged buddy, the animal’s attention span often wandering before you have a chance to press the shutter.

That’s why LA-based Paw Champs decided to create the Flexy Paw, a bendy smartphone attachment that’ll ensure you have your dog or cat’s full and undivided attention. Well, for a few seconds longer than usual, at least.

The simple device features a clip at either end, one to attach to your phone and the other to hold your pet’s favorite snack. Yes, that’s how you get their full and undivided attention.

The two clips are joined by a flexible arm similar in design to the one seen with Joby’s popular Gorillapod or its GripTight One device. This means you can easily move the snack around, positioning it just out of shot to get Rover or Tigger looking almost directly into the lens.

While it’s true that you could hold the treat in one hand and press the shutter with the other, the Flexy Paw aims to offer more stability for your shots by freeing up both hands so you can steady your smartphone, and also guarantees your fingers won’t enter the frame and spoil the picture.

But the Flexy Paw really comes into its own when you want to grab a selfie with your favorite four-legged friend. On these occasions, there’s no easy way to hold the smartphone and the snack in your hands at the same time, so the attachment gives you a much better chance of capturing an image worth keeping.

Any downsides? Well, if you use the Flexy Paw a lot, then the mere act of reaching for your smartphone might end up sending your mutt into a tail-wagging, salivating frenzy. But apart from that, you should be just fine.

The Flexy Paw is currently a Kickstarter project and you can pre-order it for $16. Assuming the campaign runs as planned, shipping worldwide will start in November, 2017, with free delivery available for U.S.-based customers.

Here’s one way to grab the perfect selfie with your favorite pooch

Why it matters to you

If your dog or cat has a treat that it goes crazy for, then the Flexy Paw is going to be an effective tool for grabbing a selfie with your precious pet.

Pet owners know only too well how tricky it can be to get a decent photo of their four-legged buddy, the animal’s attention span often wandering before you have a chance to press the shutter.

That’s why LA-based Paw Champs decided to create the Flexy Paw, a bendy smartphone attachment that’ll ensure you have your dog or cat’s full and undivided attention. Well, for a few seconds longer than usual, at least.

The simple device features a clip at either end, one to attach to your phone and the other to hold your pet’s favorite snack. Yes, that’s how you get their full and undivided attention.

The two clips are joined by a flexible arm similar in design to the one seen with Joby’s popular Gorillapod or its GripTight One device. This means you can easily move the snack around, positioning it just out of shot to get Rover or Tigger looking almost directly into the lens.

While it’s true that you could hold the treat in one hand and press the shutter with the other, the Flexy Paw aims to offer more stability for your shots by freeing up both hands so you can steady your smartphone, and also guarantees your fingers won’t enter the frame and spoil the picture.

But the Flexy Paw really comes into its own when you want to grab a selfie with your favorite four-legged friend. On these occasions, there’s no easy way to hold the smartphone and the snack in your hands at the same time, so the attachment gives you a much better chance of capturing an image worth keeping.

Any downsides? Well, if you use the Flexy Paw a lot, then the mere act of reaching for your smartphone might end up sending your mutt into a tail-wagging, salivating frenzy. But apart from that, you should be just fine.

The Flexy Paw is currently a Kickstarter project and you can pre-order it for $16. Assuming the campaign runs as planned, shipping worldwide will start in November, 2017, with free delivery available for U.S.-based customers.

Jay-Z’s new album 4:44 is releasing on June 30 exclusively for Sprint and Tidal users

Jay-Z’s 4:44 album will be available to stream exclusively on Tidal, and Sprint customers can get in on the action for free.

Jay-Z’s upcoming album, titled 4:44, will be releasing on June 30 exclusively on Tidal, the Hi-Fi streaming service owned by the artist. With Sprint picking up a 33% stake in Tidal earlier this year, the album will also be available to the carrier’s 45 million subscribers.

Sprint announced last month that it will roll out a free six-month Tidal subscription to its existing and new customers, giving them the ability to stream Jay-Z’s upcoming album for free. From Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure:

Today is an exciting day to be a Sprint customer. JAY-Z is a global icon and we’re giving customers an incredible opportunity to be among the first to experience his new album 4:44.

Our loyal, existing customers, and customers who switch to Sprint, can experience the album exclusively, plus access a complimentary six-month trial of TIDAL HiFi, giving them access to content they can’t get anywhere else.

With T-Mobile seeing a lot of traction with its Music Freedom and T-Mobile Tuesdays initiatives, Sprint is betting on exclusive albums as a way to differentiate its content offerings. As such, the carrier noted that the 4:44 album is the first in a line of exclusives that will be available to its subscribers.

Existing Sprint customer? Head on down to Tidal’s website to register for your free six-month subscription.

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LG G6+ with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage is now official, facial recognition coming next month

LG is rolling out facial recognition to the G6 series as the G6+ makes its debut.

Samsung rolled out a variant of the Galaxy S8 with 6GB of RAM in its home market earlier this year, and LG is now following suit with the G6+. The phone is an upgraded variant of the LG G6 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage, and will be going up for sale in South Korea early next month.

Aside from the bump in memory and storage, the LG G6+ has the same specs as the standard variant, including a 5.7-inch QHD+ display, Snapdragon 821, microSD slot, dual 13MP cameras at the back, 5MP front shooter, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, USB-C, and a 3300mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 and Qi wireless charging. LG is also bundling a pair of B&O Play earphones that are designed to take full advantage of the 32-bit Quad DAC.

On the software front, the LG G6+ is running Android 7.0 Nougat with LG UX 6.0 — same as the standard variant. LG mentions that it will deliver updates to all variants in the G6 series simultaneously, and that a new software update rolling out early next month will deliver an “enhanced security option” in the form of a facial recognition feature.

Called Face Print, the feature will allow you to unlock your G6 (and G6+) just by holding it up to your face. The camera will be activated when the phone is raised to your face, and LG says that the feature will allow you to unlock the phone in under a second. LG will also offer increased battery savings with a feature called Low Power Consumption, and when you’re taking a photo with your G6, you’ll see a Covered Lens warning if the phone detects that your finger is on the sensor.

Alongside the LG G6+, LG also announced that it will sell a version of the G6 with 32GB storage. The company now has three models in the G6 lineup — the base-model G6 with 4GB of RAM and 32GB storage, the standard variant that comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal memory, and the LG G6+ with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage.

The new variant will be available in three new color options — Optical Astro Black, Optical Terra Gold and Optical Marine Blue. LG says that the new color options feature a layer of lenticular film at the back, giving them the ability to refract light and deliver an optical effect.

Pricing for the LG G6+ will be detailed at launch, and LG mentions that the phone will be making its way to global markets shortly after its Korean debut.

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Help! The sun is shining! Why can’t I see my smartphone screen?

The sun is shining, the sunglasses are out. You go to tweet that perfect sunny picture and … wait … you can’t see a thing on your smartphone display!

It’s not necessarily the phone that’s a fault, but it could be how it behaves with your expensive polarising sunglasses.

Polarising lenses on glasses are popular because they reduce the glare, or reflected light, coming off surfaces. They are particularly useful for skiers or drivers for reducing eyestrain, and pretty common on good quality sunglasses.

However, LCD displays also contain polarising filters and it’s the alignment of display and glasses that can cause the problem. At a particular orientation, the visual part of the display can be extinguished, leaving you looking at a black surface, as all the light is filtered out.

Or, in some cases, you’ll find everything dims and looks purple, or has a diffracted coloured shimmer to it.

This varies from device to device, and you can easily experiment with your own device – be that smartphone, tablet, or even your laptop – just by holding your polarised glasses out in front and rotating them. At some point, it will just black out.

The MacBook Air, for example, extinguishes at 45 degrees, an angle that’s unlikely to be problematic when using a laptop.

Your giant TV probably extinguishes when viewed in a portrait orientation, again, not likely to be a problem unless you’re lying down watching in sunglasses (does that ever happen?).

For smartphones it’s a bigger problem, because they are designed to be used in both orientations, landscape and portrait, for example when taking photos.

Some HTC phones, such the new HTC U11, unfortunately tend to dim drastically in landscape when viewed through polarised glasses – exactly at the angle you might want it for taking photos. You can cock your head, or hold it at and angle to get round that, but it’s hardly convenient. We’ve also found the same with some Sony phones, with the Xperia Z3 blacking out entirely when in landscape.

The Samsung Galaxy S8, however, does a better job, as does the iPhone 7. Both remain visible in both orientations. You might sometimes see a shimmer, but nothing like the blackout you get elsewhere.

Be aware that it’s not only polarisation that causes problems on a sunny day: the display has to have the power to remain visible in brighter conditions, so always remember to try turning the brightness up before you start swearing. On the Samsung Galaxy S8, for example, in bright conditions the display dramatically increases the brightness to shine through.

However, one of the things that can stop this happening is power saving modes. Usually the first target for saving power is to reduce the display brightness, and a reluctance to increase brightness so aggressively in bright conditions. If you’re at a summer festival for the day, you’ll want power saving, but you’ll also want to see those photos you’re sharing, so it’s a lose-lose situation.

The moral of the story is this: if you have a penchant for polarised sunglasses, be warned, your favourite phone might not like them so much.

And before you ask, most Ray-Ban glasses aren’t polarised, unless you’ve specifically bought polarised lenses. That’s because aviators aren’t just designed for good looks, they’re designed to ensure that pilots can see the instruments in the cockpit – and yes, those instruments have polarising filters, so aviator glasses do not.

Pair your Ray-Ban aviators with your iPhone and you’ll likely be fine.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle gameplay preview: Cute and compelling turn-based action

In 2017 Mario seems to be on something of a departure from his norm. Maybe it’s a midlife crisis. First, there’s Mario Odyssey on Switch, a game in which our intrepid plumber has ended up in not only familiar lands, such as Sand Kingdom, but also closer-to-reality ones, such as Metropolis – a NY-style city featuring actual humans. Second, there’s Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, a game in which Mario has teamed up with Ubisoft’s Rabbids – the comical sprites, which are a little like the minions from Despicable Me – in an all-new game.

It’s Mario like you’ve never seen him before. Which was the very point that Shigeru Miyamoto made when appearing on stage at Ubisoft’s pre-E3 press conference to announce the game. Nintendo wouldn’t give away the licence of its beloved Italiano to any old publisher, so this pairing – exclusively available for Nintendo Switch – is a collaboration built with the intent of pushing an entirely different game idea.

Kingdom Battle is the result: a largely turn-based battle game, with elements of Xcom meets Mario. With, of course, the comical Rabbids; some dress like Princess Peach, others like Luigi, many of them are visible throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, whether floating on giant rubber ducks or appearing elsewhere, to add a punch of comedy to proceedings.

• Best Nintendo Switch games to look forward to in 2017 and 2018 

But roaming in 3D platform-game style is far from the point of Kingdom Battle. It’s more on rails than that, the goal always to pass through the exploration sections and reach battle phases, in which various opposing Rabbids and other nasties team up against Mario and your gang. It’s a good job exploration isn’t prolific as it doesn’t run very well: the animation is choppy and the frame-rate not right; cutscenes are also noticeably compressed with lots of artefacts which detract from the overall quality that’s possible from the Switch.

Anyway, once a battle is engaged, Kingdom Battle doesn’t really feel like a Mario game at all. It employs a grid system, where motion followed by an attack can take place. The degree of movement is limited within this grid, so you may wish to use your other compatriots to jump on and extend your reach through the play area.

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Various blocks and pipes are present on the battle ground to use to your advantage: whether for defence from opposition, or to whisk yourself away to farther-away points where the opposition can’t engage you.

The control mechanics take a little getting used to, but it’s soon apparent that dash attacks – used to knock enemies out – are critical when used in combination with shooting attacks. In our demo we also witnessed a shield which was only available to one player of the team every three moves, and we expect there will be an array of additional tools at your disposal as the game progresses.

With each battle the game escalates from a simple premise to something increasingly complex. Using available moves in the right order, avoiding certain enemies – there’s a giant Chomp Chain in one battle, which will attack whoever/whatever is nearest to it each turn – will become critical to winning.

We also experienced weapon upgrades, opened by progressing through battles, but only available to purchase by collecting sufficient coins from throughout the exploration sections of the game (i.e. not withing battles).

If you’re after a new Mario or Rabbids game then Battle Kingdom is a cute and compelling game. It’s not a platformer by the conventional means, so you’ll absolutely need to be a tactical turn-based battle game fan to give it the time of day. If, however, turn-based is right up your street then Mario + Rabbids is a perfectly good fun… although it’s not a Mario game as you may expect it.

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle will be released exclusively for Nintendo Switch on August 29, 2017.