This sweat-powered radio could usher in a new era for activity tracking

Why it matters to you

Wearable devices charged using sweat would mean saying goodbye to your device running out of juice while you’re in the middle of a workout.

One of the things that need to improve about wearables is their battery life. A device like the Apple Watch may be the gold standard in its product category, but until users no longer need to take it off at night and remember to charge it, a certain percentage of would-be users will either skip buying it or default on wearing it.

From true wireless charging to wearable battery packs, we have heard about a few possible solutions to the problem. A new piece of research by the University of California, San Diego, may have the best answer yet, however: Charge devices through the sweat of their wearers.

With that in mind, they demonstrated a new sweat-powered wearable that can be used to power a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio for a couple of days, based on an adhesive wearable strip smart sensor that is just 2cm in width.

“We took conventional biofuel cell technology where enzymatic reactions of a biofuel are used to generate power and translated it to our skin,” Jonathan Wang, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Nanoengineering, told Digital Trends. “Here we use sweat as source for biofuel and developed a conformal stretchable skin-worn biofuel cell that harvests energy from sweat lactate.”

The proof-of-concept shows off technology that is significantly more efficient than previous demos of similar technology. A paper describing the work, published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, notes that this research represents the highest power density recorded by a wearable biofuel cell to date.

Wang said that the goal is to power mobile wearable devices on the run. Current work on the project, he said, involves further increasing the power and integration for day-to-day wearable applications.

It’s definitely a neat concept, and we look forward to hearing how it advances. There are, of course, questions —  such as how much sweat would need to be harvested to power a more advanced wearable device that needed more energy than just a BLE radio, and how feasible this is. It would also be interesting to find out whether such this would only be limited to fitness-oriented wearables, whereby users are consciously trying to break a sweat, or whether it would be possible to harvest the necessary sweat from regular physical exertion.

Boss Key Productions now handing out keys to this week’s ‘LawBreakers’ beta

Why it matters to you

PC gamers wanting to jump into the LawBreakers beta can now grab a key through Boss Key Productions ahead of the six-day multiplayer event.

Want to play in the upcoming LawBreakers beta? Developer Boss Key Productions is now dishing out keys to PC gamers who fill out an online form found here. These keys are redeemable through Steam ahead of the “Rise Up” beta for PC. The first wave starts on Wednesday at 9 a.m. (PT) for current keyholders followed by a second wave at the same time on June 30. The “beta will conclude on July 3.

PC gamers who participate in the LawBreakers beta on Wednesday will have a chance to win prizes. The stipulation is that beta testers must be located within North America, and they must play at least three matches within the first three hours of the LawBreakers beta. Only one entry is allowed per player and five players will be randomly chosen for a prize drawing.

Here are the prizes:

• Life-sized cosplay replica of Cronos’ mask — one winner
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card — two winners
• Logitech G Peripherals Pack (G213 keyboard, G231 headset, PRO Mouse, and G240 Mousepad) — two winners

“The potential prize winners will be notified after the final date of selection at his/her LawBreakers account that was first used to log into the Game (or other means of communication as Sponsor may select),” the rules state. “The potential prize winners may be asked to submit additional personal information in order to confirm eligibility and award the prize.”

Arriving on the PC and the PlayStation 4 on August 8, LawBreakers is an upcoming arena-style first-person shooter from former Epic Games designer Cliff Bleszinski. His portfolio includes the original Unreal, the Unreal Tournament/Championship games, and the first three Gears of War games. After working at Epic Games for 20 years, he departed from the studio in 2012 to take a two-year break from the gaming business. He formed Boss Key Productions in 2014 to create LawBreakers.

The game was originally set to be a free-to-play shooter, but that idea was abandoned in March 2016. According to Bleszinski, the team wanted to create an even playing field, and that meant removing the barriers created by free-to-play models. He also said that many core gamers just don’t trust free-to-play games that generate revenue from paid “perks” like special weapons and armor.

LawBreakers will focus on fast vertical multiplayer shooting. The game will consist of 18 characters (nine Law, nine Breakers) spanning across nine different roles/classes such as Assassin, Gunslinger, Juggernaut, and Titan. Six “gravity-defying” maps set in a futuristic America will be included along with game modes like Blitzball, Turf War, and Overcharge.

Here are the current hardware requirements, which may change before the game’s release in August:

Minimum
Recommended
Processor:
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850
AMD A8-3870K
Intel Core i7-4790
Graphics:
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660
AMD Radeon 7870
Nvidia GeForce GTX 970
AMD Radeon R9 290
Memory:
6GB
16GB
Available storage:
30GB
30GB
Network:
Broadband
Broadband
Operating system:
64-bit Windows 10 / 8.1 / 7
64-bit Windows 10 / 8.1 / 7

Pre-order LawBreakers now from Steam here, and from the PlayStation Store here. We actually took the game for a spin last year in this hands-on encounter.

North Korea’s Jindallae 3 smartphone looks almost identical to the iPhone

Why it matters to you

Whether you’re an iPhone or Android owner, you’ll be able to find similar comparisons between your device and the Jindallae 3 when it comes to both the hardware and operating systems.

North Korea reportedly released a new smartphone — the Jindallae 3 — but most would say it looks strangely identical to Apple’s iPhone. The mobile device was developed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Mangyongdae Information Technology Corporation — according to the state-run DPRK Toda, which reported the information this past weekend, noted NK News.

The article also states that the research group behind the smartphone is following though on the government’s plan to develop products that are high-tech and clear of all issues and difficulties in terms of development — “in the Korean way.” To satisfy customer complaints, the phone’s developers have apparently improved the overall performance of the mobile batteries and the safety when it comes to the operating system.

Even though the phone was reportedly launched in March, photos were recently released by DPRK Today. They show the Jindallae 3 is available in two models — black or white — and bear a striking resemblance to the iPhone 6S and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, including bezels at the top and bottom of the device along with curved edges.

In terms of apps, there are reportedly a variety of applications available for the phone such as an internet browser, a photo app, a calculator, a music player, and a North Korean card game, Daily Mail reports. The interface of the device closely mirrors a mix between iOS and Android with a dock on the bottom featuring different apps along with the time and weather displayed on top.

This is not North Korea’s first rodeo when it comes to smartphones with a number of devices released within the last few years due to a growing demand. In 2013, it was reported that the Arirang smartphone — running on Google’s Android OS — was being manufactured on its grounds. In May, the country released the Ryonghung iPad — with no relation to the Apple iPad — which is a tablet equipped with a keyboard, 8GB hard disk, 1GB of RAM, and “network connection” capabilities, according to NK News.

Other than the photos of the Jindallae 3, there were no specs listed to provide more detail about the smartphone’s capabilities on both the inside and out. The report did claim that manufacturing — including design and the operating system — were sourced locally. As far as fun facts go —  information was released that the smartphone’s name was inspired by a Korean flower.

‘Dishonored’ studio co-founder steps down after 18 years

Today the founder of Arkane Studios, Raf Colantonio, announced that after 18 years with the company, he is now stepping down. In a statement Colantonio said, “It is time for me to step out to spend some time with my son and reflect on what is important to me and my future.”

Founded in 1999, Arkane Studios is the developer behind popular games like the Dishonored series and the recently released Prey. It was acquired by Bethesda Softworks’ parent company Zenimax in 2010, to which Colantonio credits Arkane’s continued success. “But, I can say that joining Zenimax took things to the next level and gave Arkane the opportunity to emerge as a world-class studio. Zenimax enabled us to make the best games that we’ve ever made,” he said.

Colantonio says he’ll be staying on as long as necessary to make sure the transition to new management is smooth. Harvey Smith, a co-creative director at Arkane, will be heading the Austin-based team, but it’s unclear who’s going to run the team in Lyon, France.

Whether Colantonio will go on to take a new position in the gaming industry or move on to something else entirely like BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka will remain to be seen. At the very least, he’ll still be playing games. “As I close, I’d like to thank the Arkane fans for their passion and support. I proudly join them as Arkane Studios’ biggest champion, and I look forward to playing the extraordinary new games the studio is working on.”

Source: Bethesda

Champions League matches are coming to Facebook

Facebook can add another feather to its live-sports streaming cap: UEFA Champions League soccer (football to the rest of the world) matches. Reuters reports that thanks to a partnership with Fox Sports, the 2017-18 season will be watchable on Zuckerberg’s social network. Champions League went from being one of the most-watched competition on earth to the exact opposite thanks to several countries blocking access via paywalls. Jerks. Anyhow, if you can’t access the League via YouTube in your area, this should fix that.

Source: Reuters (Twitter)

Greenpeace and iFixit slam smartphone companies over e-waste

Greenpeace likes to keep tabs on tech companies, highlighting where they’re going wrong when it comes to clean technology and how they can improve. Earlier this year, the organization released its report on how the IT sector consumes energy and they ranked a number of companies on both their energy consumption practices as well as their transparency. Greenpeace’s latest report takes on mobile devices and how repairable companies make their products.

While it’s obvious why companies don’t want to make it easy to fix their devices — buying a new one is better for them — not being able to repair mobile devices has become a major problem. If it can’t be fixed, it’s most likely just going to be thrown out and all of that e-waste just continues to pile up. Repairability is a green issue.

A study released earlier this year found that the amount of e-waste in East and Southeast Asia had grown by 63 percent between 2010 and 2015 and totalled 12.3 million tonnes. Some of those countries have only recently created e-waste disposal laws, but regulations don’t always get put into practice. For example, a few years ago, Europe found that 65 percent of its e-waste wasn’t being recycled as it should.

Repairable mobile devices could go a long way towards curtailing our e-waste problem. But unsurprisingly, repairability wasn’t a major feature for most of the smartphones, tablets and laptops Greenpeace assessed in partnership with iFixit. Taking into account the time required to repair a device, its ability to be upgraded or modulated and the availability of spare parts and repair manuals, over 40 devices launched between 2015 and 2017 were scored.

Only one smartphone was given full marks — the Fairphone 2, a modular phone with ethically sourced components. Individual parts can be replaced when needed rather than having to scrap the whole phone and both its repair manual and spare parts are available. For tablets, the HP Elite X2 tablet took the top spot while the Dell Latitude E5270 and HP Elitebook 840 G3 tied in the laptop category.

Some practices that led to lower scores included the adhesion of batteries to the device itself, preventing replacement, as well as requiring specialized tools for device repair — both of which Apple was guilty of. Apple, Samsung and Microsoft had many of the lowest scores in all three categories.

Our love of gadgets isn’t likely to fade any time soon. And companies that are actively preventing their mobile devices from being repaired are contributing to our growing e-waste issue. Greenpeace and iFixit have called out specific practices and companies that are complicit in this problem and have noted those that are getting it right. It’s obviously not impossible and it’s time for repairable devices to become the standard not the exception.

Source: Greenpeace

Dish knows hotel TV sucks and it wants to help

Checking into a hotel can be like moving back in time, at least when it comes to media. We’re all used to using our own devices to watch television and movies, stream music and play games, but many hotels still cling to their cable-style in-room TV systems that we basically bypass to use our own entertainment. Satellite internet and television provider Dish wants to change all that with a new system for hotels called Evolve. It’s a 4K-capable box powered by Android TV that sits behind your room’s monitor that you can stream to as well as watch live TV in HD.

Hotels get a centrally located media server system called Smartbox that connects to all the rooms on the property, obviating the need for single Dish antennas on every balcony. Since it runs on Android TV, you’ll be able to access the Google Play Store to download games, apps, music and movies to your television. In addition, Google’s Chromecast technology is built right in, which lets you stream stuff from Sling TV, YouTube, and Netflix as well as media right from your own device. The system even includes Bluetooth so you can connect your headphones without some elaborate workaround. Of course, there will also be a programming guide and channel preview, just like Dish’s regular television service. Hotels can customize the welcome screen and send messages to guests on the home screen. Finally, the Smartbox also provides internet services over Wi-Fi and Ethernet, which apparently some people still use.

AT&T already have a similar service for hotels, called StayCast, which comes bundled with the telecom company’s DirectTV HD service. Systems like these seem like a win/win for everyone — hotels get a much more flexible and centrally managed system that lets guests manage their own media with ease. And customers? They get to stay in a room that has modern connectivity for a change. The Evolve service is available now, though Dish declined to comment on which hotels have it.

Source: Dish

Pandora Ending Operations in New Zealand and Australia as CEO Steps Down

Popular streaming radio service Pandora plans to stop offering its service in New Zealand and Australia, a spokesperson told Billboard this afternoon. Australia and New Zealand are currently the only non-U.S. locations where the company operates, and Pandora has decided to focus its business solely on the United States.

A Pandora spokesperson told Billboard that after much analysis, it was decided to discontinue operations in the two countries over the next few weeks. “While our experience in these markets reinforces the broader global opportunity long-term, in the short-term we must remain laser-focused on the expansion of our core business in the United States,” the rep said.

Pandora plans to begin shutting down operations in the two countries over the course of the next few weeks, which means its international offices in those locations will be shuttered. Pandora has somewhere around 5 million listeners in Australia and New Zealand, and it employs approximately 60 people at its offices in Australia.

As Pandora prepares to pull out of Australia and New Zealand, Pandora founder Tim Westergren today stepped down from his position as CEO, also exiting the company’s board of directors. Pandora president Mike Herring and CMO Nick Bartle are also leaving the company.

In a statement, Westergren, who has twice left his role as CEO over the years, said Pandora is “perfectly poised for its next chapter.” Under his leadership, Pandora launched its “Pandora Premium” on-demand streaming service and got a major investment from SiriusXM.

Westergren said, “I am incredibly proud of the company we have built. We invented a whole new way of enjoying and discovering music and in doing so, forever changed the listening experience for millions. I came back to the CEO role last year to drive transformation across the business. We accomplished far more than we anticipated. We rebuilt Pandora’s relationships with the music industry; launched a fantastic Premium on-demand service, and brought a host of tech innovations to our advertising business. With these in place, plus a strengthened balance sheet, I believe Pandora is perfectly poised for its next chapter.”

As of Q1 2017 [PDF], Pandora had 4.71 million subscribers across its Pandora Plus and Pandora Premium subscription options, and more than 80 million active users. Until March, Pandora didn’t offer a service that competed with Apple Music, but Pandora Premium is seeing significant early interest, with 500,000 trial subscriptions during its first weeks of availability.

Apple Music now has more than 27 million subscribers, a new number shared by Apple on June 5.

Tag: Pandora
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Apple Maps Transit Directions Start Rolling Out in Madrid

Apple recently updated its Maps app to add transit directions and data for Madrid, Spain, one of the cities where hints of transit support first surfaced months ago.

When searching for directions in Madrid, transit options that include the Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Madrid bus line, the Cercanías Madrid, and the Madrid Metro are now available. Madrid does not, however, have full transit routes visible in the Maps app as of yet, so transit support is still rolling out.

Transit directions were first added to Apple Maps in 2015 as part of iOS 9. At launch, transit information was only available in a handful of cities, but Apple has been working hard to expand the feature to additional locations. Transit information is now live in dozens of cities and countries around the world, with a full list available on Apple’s iOS 10 Feature Availability website.

Other cities that could soon gain transit support based on transit station outlines Apple has added include Perth, Australia; Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; Rome, Italy; Taiwan; and several German states, including Hamburg, Bremen, Niedersachsen, and Schleswig-Holstein.

Other recent transit rollouts include The Netherlands, Paris, Singapore, and Adelaide, Australia.

(Thanks, Álvaro!)

Tags: Apple Maps, Spain, transit
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Microsoft’s machine learning can predict injuries in sports

Microsoft is bringing its big-data knowledge to sports. Today, the company introduced its new Sports Performance Platform, an analytics system that aims to help teams track, improve and predict their players performance using machine learning and Surface technology. Created by Microsoft Garage, the group responsible for the tech giant’s offbeat innovations, the project is designed to make coaches better understand player data and find ways to turn that into actionable insights. Microsoft’s Sports Performance Platform can, for example, figure out when a player is at risk of injury, based on his or her most recent performance and recovery time.

The company says one of the main benefits to its sports analytics tool is that it’s powered by proprietary business tools such as Power BI, a cloud-based intelligence suite also used on products like Excel, as well as Azure and, of course, Surface computers. “Imagine making clutch decisions that are based on insight, rather than gut,” said Jeff Hansen, general manager of Microsoft Brand Studio. “The difference between a win or a loss can be decided by an extra five minutes of wind sprints, levels of hydration or getting to bed 30 minutes earlier the night before.”

Professional teams such as the Seattle Reign FC (US, National Women’s Soccer League) and Real Sociedad (Spain, La Liga) are already taking advantage of the Sports Performance Platform. But Microsoft says its goal is to expand beyond the pros and bring these tools to other levels, which could benefit school programs and amateur coaches and players.

While Microsoft is calling the platform an experiment right now, it is seeking “sports organizations and partners” that may be interested in being involved as it’s developed. Let’s just hope everyone who uses it doesn’t feel the same way NFL players and coaches do about the Surface on the sidelines.