HTC U11 looks stunning in solar red, pre-orders open now

HTC has started pre-orders for one of its sexiest-looking phones yet.

The “solar red” version of the HTC U11 is, in our opinion, a real looker. HTC’s manufacturing processes for this range of handsets has created a red-backed device that shimmers and shines as it catches the light and that really comes to the fore with this specific model.

It changes from a deep, involving red to a searing orange, depending on the light.

• HTC U11: Release date, specs and everything you need to know
• HTC U11: What can you do with a squeezable phone?
• HTC U11 vs Samsung Galaxy S8: What’s the difference?

You can pre-order the solar red HTC U11 from htc.com from today. It’s priced at £649 SIM-free in the UK.

The red HTC U11 is listed on the site as coming as a dual SIM only device, but can be used with just the one SIM.

The silver, black and blue models are also available – and they come in single SIM variants.

Pocket-lint

The HTC U11, as we note in our extensive review, is a great flagship phone and a welcome return to the company’s best. It comes with a fancy gimmick – the ability to squeeze the sides of the handset to access features – but is an all-round solid Android smartphone with a Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM and 3,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0.

Its 5.5-inch screen has a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution and the rear and front cameras are 16-megapixel and 12-Ultrapixel snappers respectively.

What’s the point of Snapchat and how does it work?

You’ve probably heard about Snapchat. It’s the popular mobile app that allows you to send videos and pictures, both of which will self destruct after a few seconds of a person viewing them.

Snapchat is also a fun messaging app. You can capture a photo or brief video with it, then add a caption or doodle or filter/lens over top, and send the finished creation (called a snap) to a friend. Alternatively, you can add your snap to your “story”, a 24-hour collection of all your snaps that’s broadcasted to the world or just your followers.

But these are merely part of the many features within Snapchat. Yes, at its core, Snapchat is used to send photos and videos to friends. Your friends can view snaps for up to 10 seconds, and then the snaps disappear. While that’s all fine and dandy, many people are still left stumped by Snapchat.

They can’t seem to understand why someone would actually want to send pictures or videos to friends, especially if they can’t be saved. Well, they can be “saved”, because Snapchat has more to offer than what meets the eye.

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is a photo- and video-messaging app. It launched in 2011.

Snapchat is unique in that all photos and videos only last a brief amount of time before they disappear forever, making the app ephemeral in nature, though you can take a screenshot of all the snaps you receive to save them in picture form. You can also save your own snaps before sending them to friends or you story.

As of May 2014, the app’s users were sending 700 million snaps a day. Due to the instant popularity of Snapchat, Facebook reportedly offered to acquire Snapchat for $3 billion. One of the app’s cofounders declined the cash offer, however. Facebook later launched a similar app, called Slingshot, but it failed to catch on.

Who uses Snapchat?

Everyone uses Snapchat. But it is directed toward teens and adults.

Snapchat is mostly a hit among teenagers, according to several research firms, though it is catching on and embracing new demographics every day. Viners (creators who used Vine), YouTubers, and celebrities, for instance, are known to use Snapchat as an alternative means of communicating with their followers.

What’s the point of Snapchat?

We could give a long explanation to describe how social media and apps are evolving in order to match the current trends and interests of active users around the world, but we’ll just share the above video instead. It not only gives a humorous and quick overview of Snapchat, but it also provides an interesting take or look at why Snapchat is so popular at this moment in time, especially among teenagers.

(It’s made by Casey Neistat, a popular YouTube creator.)

What’s all the lingo mean?

Here are some of the common terms and phrases used in the Snapchat world:

Snapchatters: Snapchat users.

Snaps: Photos or videos taken with Snapchat. You can send a snap to another snapchatter, but it can only be viewed by the recipient for one to 10 seconds before it disappears forever. To take a snap, open Snapchat, then hit the capture button on the Camera screen.

Snapback: A reply to a snap.

Story: A snap you can broadcast to followers. Recipients can view your story an unlimited amount of times in 24 hours, and you can post multiple snaps to your story in one day to create a narrative loop of sorts. You can access your story and your friends’ stories from the Stories screen (swipe from right to left on the Camera screen).

Scores: A special equation combining the number of snaps you’ve sent and received, stories you’ve posted, and other factors. You can find a friend’s score when you hold down on a friend’s name in your contact list, story feed, or chat area. You can find yours under your Snapcode located in the center of your Profile screen.

Snapcode: Snapcodes are scannable codes that make adding new Snapchat friends even easier. Your Snapcode is located in the center of your Profile Screen, which you can access by tapping the ghost icon in the upper center of the Camera Screen.

Chat: A feature that lets you directly message other Snapchatters. You can access the Chat screen by swiping from left to right on the Camera screen. Tap the create new message button in the upper corner to select a friend to chat with. Alternatively, when you create a snap, select a friend to send it to, and you’ll see a new private chat box appear between you and your friend in the Chat screen.

Video chat: This is a feature within Chat that lets you start a live video call. To start a video chat, simply tap the video record button in a chat. If your friend is available they can choose to ‘Watch’ or ‘Join’. If your friend chooses to ‘Watch’ you will be unable to see them but they can hear you, see you, and send you chats. If your friend chooses to ‘Join’ you will be able to see and hear each other.

Snapstreak: You may have noticed that some of your fellow snapchatters have different emojis next to their Snapchat names in the Chat screen. That means you’re on a Snapstreak, aka you and your friend have snapped each other (not chat) within 24 hours for more than one consecutive day.

Lenses: You can make Snaps even more fun by adding real-time special effects and sounds with lenses. Go to the Camera screen in Snapchat, tap on your face, and lens options will appear below. Swipe left to select the lens you want to use, then tap the capture button to take a snap.

Filters: You can zazz up your snap by adding a fun overlay with a filter. After you take a Snap, swipe right or left on the preview screen to add colored filters, the current time, local weather, speed overlays or geofilters to your snaps. After taking your snap and applying your first Filter, you can press and hold then swipe to add another filter too.

How does Snapchat work?

We’ll be the first to admit that Snapchat is so simple it’s almost confusing.

The app’s main screen is your Camera screen, and that can be initially a little jarring or weird to navigate around. Try to remain calm however and keep reading to learn exactly how Snapchat works. By the time you’re done our mini tutorial, you’ll be snapping like a 14 year old.

Camera screen

First thing’s first: Download Snapchat (it’s free) and create an account and user ID. Once that’s done, the app will always open and show the Camera screen straightaway. The Camera screen serves as the main screen.

The top left-hand corner has a flash icon for toggling your camera’s flash, while the top-right corner has a camera button for toggling the camera between front- and rear-facing mode. The top-center area has a ghost icon, which if tapped, opens up your Profile screen.

On the bottom of the Camera screen there is a big round capture button for taking photos and videos. Hold the camera button down to record a video with sound, or tap the camera button to take a picture.

The bottom left-hand corner of the main screen has a square icon that will display in numbers how many unread snaps are waiting for you. Tap it or swipe from left to to right to access your Chat screen and view any unread snaps. From the Chat screen you can directly message friends and search.

The bottom right corner of the Camera screen has a Stories icon. Tap it or swipe from right to left to see any available stories. On the Stories Screen, you’ll also be able to discover content from publishers like ESPN, Food Network, etc.

Adding a contact

Swipe down while on the Camera screen or tap the ghost icon at the top to access your Profile screen and add contacts. You’ll see options to view who has added you, find friends to add, and browse all friends. You’ll also see a gear icon in the top right of the Profile screen for accessing settings. If you want skip all that, swipe from the bottom or tap the Capture button to exit the Profile screen.

Creating a Snapcode

Speaking of the Snapcode, while on the Profile screen, tap your Snapcode to add a custom selfie loop that others can see.

Making a snap

While on the main screen, tap the large capture button to take a snap, or hold it down to record a video. Once you’ve finished, a preview screen will appear with options for adding filters, adjusting view length, sending the snap, and more. There’s a timer button in the top left-hand corner, followed by a save button to download your snap to the Memories section, and another button to add a snap to your story.

At the top of the Preview screen, you’ll see an X to exit, a sticker button to add stickers and emoji (if you’ve made a video, you can hold down on a sticker to get it to stick to one place in the video), a T button that lets you add text, and a pencil button that lets you select a color and doodle.

Simply use your finger to select a colour and start tracing or drawing whatever you want on the snap displayed in the preview screen. You can also tap anywhere on the preview screen to access a keyboard and add text (but only after you tap-to-close the colour slider). It’s pretty simple, actually.

You can also slide from left or right on the Preview screen to add various filters based on your location, the current time, the current temperature, the speed you may be traveling at, and more. There’s also ones that just change the colour and look of your snap. Simply swipe around until you find one you like.

When everything is ready to go, you will see a snap length icon in the bottom left of your screen. It should be a circle with a number in it. The number represents how many seconds the recipient will have to view your snap. Tap this icon to adjust length time from 1 second to 10 seconds.

Sending a snap

The only icon on the Preview screen that we haven’t discussed yet is the arrow-shaped icon on the bottom right. Tap it to send your snap to a friend. A send-to screen should open. You will then need to select recipients. Once done, send your snap by tapping the second arrow icon that appears.

You might have noticed that one of the recipient options listed on the send-to screen said “My Story”. This option will add your snap to your story, but again, we will discuss that in detail below.

Viewing a snapback

To view your unread snaps, go to the Camera screen and select the square/numbered icon on the bottom left. A feed of all your sent snaps and snap replies (aka snapbacks) will be listed, including any new snaps from friends. Just tap any one to view it for a limited amount of time. Remember: Snaps disappear.

So, be ready to take a screenshot, if you want (though the recipient will be notified if you take a screenshot). You also get one free daily replay to view it again. You must use your replay immediately.

If you’re wondering what all the arrows and boxes next to names mean… well, similar to WhatsApp, they indicate if you’ve sent a Snap that has been read or unread. Go here to discover what all the different arrow icons and box icons mean. It gets sort of complicated.

Making a story

To make a story, which is basically a snap that exists for 24 hours and can be broadcasted to all your followers, tap the story icon from the Camera screen. It’s right next to the download icon. If you send a story, your followers will be able to view it an unlimited number of times in one day. You will see who has viewed your story too.

Another way to send a story is by simply taking a snap and tapping the send icon. But instead of selecting every friend individually on the send-to screen, you can simply select the My Story option.

You can change who is able to view your stories under settings.

Viewing a story

You can view stories by tapping the story icon on the Camera screen.

You will then see a Stories screen, with a list of your contacts and maybe even recents if you have unread stories. Once you view all the stories under recents, the recents category will disappear. You can still find read stories however by scrolling to the bottom of your contact list on this screen.

Anybody with a little cartoon symbol next to their name is an official, verified person on Snapchat. Actor Jared Leto (jaredleto), for instance, has a cactus next to his name. DJ Calvin Harris has a tiger, and so forth. Go here to learn more about how verified accounts on Snapchat work.

Go here to learn more about how verified accounts on Snapchat work.

Accessing Discover

From Story screen. you can also view Discover content, which is original programming from publishers. Just tap on any of the the publishers, such as Comedy Central, to launch their channel and a stream of content they’ve chosen to broadcast exclusively via Snapchat. You can also swipe from right to left on the Story screen to access more Discover content.

Viewing Scores

To view your score, swipe down from the camera screen. Your score will appear under your Snapcode. You can view friends’ total scores by tapping on their name in your contacts.

Chatting with a friend

Apart from sending snaps and stories, you can message with a friend.

To access the Chat screen, swipe from left to right on the camera screen. To message a friend, go to your contact list, then tap on the friend’s name, and select the chat icon. If you’ve already started messaging someone, they’re name will appear in your recent’s list on the chat screen. Swipe from left on their name to start chatting again.

While in a chat box, you will see various options. There should be a picture button that lets you send photos or videos from your camera roll. There’s also a phone call button, a capture button, a video record button, and a button for sending emoji and stickers.

Placing a call

Press the video camera button in any chat box with a friend to start a live video call, or press the phone call button to place an audio-only call. If your friend is available when you try video call, they can choose to ‘Watch’ or ‘Join’. If your friend chooses to ‘Watch’ you will be unable to see them but they can hear you, see you, and send you chats. If your friend chooses to ‘Join’ you will be able to see and hear each other.

Sending money

Snapchat partnered with Square to launch Snapcash in 2014.

It lets you use your debit card to pay for goods or simply send money to friends. It works like this: enter your debit card under settings, then go to any chat box with a friend, and type a dollar sign along with an amount (like $11.50). Once you’re done, hit the green send button.

Your card details are securely stored by Square, a mobile payments company co-founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey. So you don’t need to worry about a hacking scandal that will result in you losing money. Snapcash via Square is available to all snapchatters in the US. They just have to be 18 years or older.

Applying a lens

When you’re using the Camera screen, press and hold on your face to activate a feature called Lenses. It includes facial recognition software that’s able to distort your expression and apply various effects to your face. Once you active it, a spiderweb-thing covers your face.

You’ll then see lens options appear next to the shutter icon. Select one and follow the instructions. Also, you can swipe to the left to change the lens.

Go here to learn more about lenses.

Saving to Memories

Since launch, Snapchat has added several features that allow you to either screenshot or save snaps (you can even broadcast them to your “story”, allowing your followers to view them an unlimited amount of times in a 24-hour period), with the latest example being Memories.

Memories not only gives you another way to keep snaps but also introduces a new section. You can access this Memories section to search for saved snaps and much more. For instance, when you take a snap, you will see an option to save your snap to Memories (it’s like a camera roll or collection), where you can organise, edit, search, lock, and share snaps after they’re taken.

In the past, you’ve been able to save your snaps and stories to your phone’s local camera roll, but now, you can save them to Snapchat’s servers too. Memories lives below the camera view. Just swipe up from the camera view to open it.

On the Memories screen, you will see a search button in the top corner, followed by a menu bar that consists of several tabs: All (shows all your saved photos and videos), Snaps (shows just your snaps), Stories (shows just your stories), Camera Roll (shows your phone’s complete camera roll), My Eyes Only (shows your locked memories).

From any of these tabs, tap and hold a snap to enable new interactions, such as editing, adding geofilters and timestamps, sharing to your current story, creating a new story by selecting multiple snaps, sending snaps to friends as a message attachment, and exporting.

Go here to learn more about how to use Moments.

Using Bitmoji

If you and a friend have both set up Bitmoji in Snapchat, you’ll see “friendmojis” that include both of you when you send them a Chat or reply to their Snap. To link Bitmoji with your Snapchat account, make sure you’ve downloaded the latest versions of both Snapchat and the Bitmoji app. 

Go here to learn more about Bitmoji in Snapchat.

What are Snapchat Spectacles?

In October 2016, Snapchat announced a pair of connected sunglasses called Snapchat Spectacles. They can record video snippets that automatically save to your Snapchat Memories, a new feature in Snapchat that stores all your saved snaps, stories, and locked content. The sunglasses feature a camera with a 115-degree lens, with the purpose of mimicking how humans actually see.

The glasses cost $129.99 (roughly £100), come in one size, and will be available in three colours: black, teal, and coral.

Go here to learn more about Snapchat Spectacles.

Want to know more?

Check out Pocket-lint’s Snapchat tips and tricks piece.

Nissan teases self-driving features for the next-gen Leaf

The next generation Leaf EV will be the first with ProPilot driver assist in North American and Europe, and Nissan has just showed how that will look. Activated by a button on the steering wheel, it can control steering, braking and acceleration, but only in a single freeway lane. The driver can see exactly what’s going on with the aid of a fancy animation front and center in the largely digital dashboard.

Automakers’ self-driving systems will always be compared to Tesla, whose Autopilot is the most advanced available commercially. In Nissan’s case, the ProPilot will help with boring highway cruising, but is a far cry from the semi-automatic Autopilot. Tesla’s system can change lanes, match traffic speeds, automatically exit a freeway, self-park when near a parking spot and do canny emergency braking. .

However, we’ve ridden along with Nissan while it tests a future version of the ProPilot, and seen the potential for autonomous city driving. Nissan wrote that it “will offer increasing levels of autonomy, with the system eventually able to navigate city intersections” and more in the coming years. It didn’t say whether Leafs would automatically be updated to get new self-driving features, like Teslas do.

Either way, the demo is a good sign that the EV is on track. Nissan is supposed to show off the production model in September, with shipping starting by the end of the year. It’s expected to have a 60 kilowatt battery that’s good for a 200 mile range, double what the current model can do.

Source: Nissan

Code ‘recipes’ from IFTTT help you stay on top of government news

It’s not exactly hard to find publicly available government info and new announcements online. A bunch of new IFTTT recipes (now officially called applets) can make sure you never miss them when they become available, though. The platform has revealed its first group of applets under a new initiative called Data Access Project, and they cover health and travel alerts, the latest news in cybersecurity, economy and other areas. IFTTT recipes follow the “if this happens, then do that” formula — for instance, you can whip up a recipe to send yourself a text whenever Engadget posts on Twitter. That’s also how the Data Access Project applets work.

As you can see in the images above, you can choose to get an email every time a certain government agency announces a new scientific discovery. You can tell IFTTT to make new Evernote updates, push Slack notifications or create Trello cards whenever certain departments makes an announcement, so and so forth. Even if you have no idea how to make IFTTT recipes, you can subscribe to all the Data Access Project Applets by making an account on the platform’s website. If you do know how to make applets, though, you can go wild conjuring up formulas that put your connected devices, such as Philips’ Hue lights, to good use.

IFTTT chief Linden Tibbets said in a statement:

“It’s not that the information isn’t out there — companies, governments, and institutions are releasing information all the time. But for the average person, it’s overwhelming.

We’ve built out services whose data impacts people in very real ways: governments, agencies, non-profits, transits, and other institutions. Now people can easily find, and use, that information in brand new ways. We’re excited to see the response, and plan to expand the Data Access Project with more services in the near future.”

Source: IFTTT

Virgin Media: Change your Super Hub 2 password or risk being hacked

Typically, internet routers are designed to protect you and your devices from malicious third parties. But when many come with a default username and password, they can leave owners open to attack. That’s the message consumer website Which? is pushing today, after it found that Virgin Media’s Super Hub 2 routers can be hacked if users don’t change the original credentials (normally printed on the back). Virgin Media says the risk is “small” but is urging over 800,000 customers to change the details to protect themselves.

The investigation focused on the security of various popular smart home gadgets. Which? created its own smart home and asked ethical security company SureCloud to go to town. As well as targeting the gadgets, researchers used freely available tools to probe the router and obtained its original password within a couple of days. As the Super Hub 2’s administrator pages also ship with a common username and password, SureCloud was able to obtain complete access to the target network.

Virgin Media says that the issue isn’t unique to the company’s routers and affects other hubs that are around the same age. A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “The security of our network and of our customers is of paramount importance to us. We continually upgrade our systems and equipment to ensure that we meet all current industry standards.

“To the extent that technology allows this to be done, we regularly support our customers through advice, firmware and software updates, and offer them the chance to upgrade to a Hub 3.0 which contains additional security provisions.”

Currently, there are around 864,000 Super Hub 2 routers in UK homes, although that number is falling as Virgin Media upgrades customers to the Super Hub 3. The newer router utilises 12 character passwords, which are a mix of cases and numbers.

The default Hub 2 offers 8 characters from a standard lowercase A-Z alphabet. Where it took a couple of days to crack the Super Hub 2 password, Which? says doing the same on the current model would take over 250 million years.

Source: Which?

Apple Promotes Music Single to Help Support Victims of London Grenfell Tower Tragedy

Apple is asking visitors to its U.K. site to consider making a donation to help those affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy in London by purchasing the iTunes single “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, which went straight to the top of the U.K. charts just two hours after it was released on Wednesday.

Artists for Grenfell represents more than 50 musicians including Craig David, Liam Payne, and Stormzy, who recorded the cover of the Simon & Garfunkel classic to support victims’ families and survivors of the fire. Residents and survivors of the London tower block also feature as part of a choir led by Gareth Malone.

Download this moving cover of the Simon & Garkunkel classic (featuring Stormzy, Rita Ora, Liam Payne, Jorja Smith and many more) to support those affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy. And if you’d like to donate further to the Artists for Grenfell and London Community Foundation appeal, please visit http://smarturl.it/AFGDonate.

At least £0.76 for each download of the song featured on this page will go to The London Community Foundation (a charity registered in England No. 1091263).

Combustible cladding is believed to have been responsible for the rapid spread of the fire at Grenfell Tower last week, which left at least 79 people dead or missing. The government has been heavily criticized for its response in the immediate aftermath, and has pledged to house the Grenfell Tower fire survivors as quickly as possible.

The charity track achieved 120,000 downloads and streaming equivalent sales on Wednesday, which is the biggest opening day figure for a U.K. single this decade. You can download “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on iTunes here. The track is also available to stream on Apple Music.

Tags: iTunes, United Kingdom
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Sling TV Update Brings Cloud DVR Service to iPhone and iPad

Online streaming television service Sling TV has made its cloud DVR feature available on iOS for the first time. The latest version of the Sling TV app for iPhone and iPad includes the ability to record shows and movies on the majority of available channels. The feature made its way onto Apple TV in April.

The service’s DVR “First Look” option costs an extra $5 per month on top of a regular Sling TV subscription and gets users 50 hours of cloud storage. Once that space has been filled, older recordings are automatically deleted to make way for new ones.

When a user opts to record an episode of a TV series, they can set the app to record new episodes as well or only the chosen one. Alternatively, they can download entire series, while specific recordings can be protected so they don’t get automatically deleted.

Channels excluded from the DVR recording feature are the following: ABC, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney JR, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN 3, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Bases Loaded, Freeform, and the SEC Network.

The latest version of Sling TV includes the new DVR service for those with the “First Look” subscription. The app is available to download for free on the App Store. [Direct Link] The service is only available within the U.S.

Tag: Sling TV
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VR helped a terminally ill diver swim the Great Barrier Reef from a hospital bed

One day, technologies like 3D bioprinting and artificial intelligence could all but halt death. Today, we can’t necessarily do that — but cutting-edge tech can greatly improve people’s end of life experience.

That’s what a charity in the U.K. aimed to achieve this week, when it used virtual reality to grant a terminally ill cancer patient what could, quite literally, be the wish of a lifetime.

“He may not be able to get there physically, but he could experience it virtually from his bed.”

37-year-old Matthew Hill was admitted to St. Luke’s Hospice specialist unit in Plymouth with late-stage bowel cancer. Although he and his family had managed it for a while, his condition had worsened to the point where it was now impossible for him to be cared for at home.

As an avid diver, Hill had always wanted to swim in the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral system. Unfortunately, his advanced bowel cancer meant that there was no way that this would be feasible. Never mind getting on a plane and flying across the world; the spinal compression that was a result of Hill’s illness meant that he couldn’t even sit upright in bed.

“Our nurses wanted to try and fulfill Matthew’s dream in some way,” Gabby Prior, Communications Officer at St Luke’s Hospice, Plymouth, told Digital Trends. “He may not be able to get there physically, but he could experience it virtually from his bed. The head of our Crisis Team, Sharon Smerdon, had heard that virtual reality was an emerging technology, but didn’t know any specifics.”

Smerdon asked around, and was put in touch with Truvision, a local VR startup located at Plymouth University, which usually uses virtual reality to demonstrate architectural plans to investors. Given the timeline, they suggested using an existing VR experience called “The Blu,” developed by the VR software company WeVR. Just 24 hours after receiving the request, Truvision’s staff rocked up at St Luke’s Hospice, bringing the necessary equipment.

“This was a first for us, and it put a smile on all our faces to see we could make somebody’s dreams come true,” Truvision employee Ben Priddy told Digital Trends. “We put our HTC Vive VR headset on Matthew so he could be immersed in the visual experience. We also gave him a pair of over-ear headphones so that he could experience the [high quality] sound delivered by the program. These together made the experience as immersive as possible, letting him be able to hear all the fine details.”

Although he couldn’t sit up or leave the bed, Hill was reportedly blown away by the VR outing — which offered a trip to a coral reef filled with glowing jellyfish, a dive with a blue whale on a sunken pirate ship, and a journey to the depths of the ocean floor, alongside angler fish and a giant squid. And all without getting wet.

In his own words, he was “well chuffed” by the experience, and was left with an enormous smile on his face.

The staff were also left with smiles, as well as the thought that virtual reality may just become an invaluable part of what they do.

“[Afterwards the staff kept commenting] on the enormous possibilities virtual reality could offer patients in their last few days or weeks of life,” Price said. “The technology has really made something which some people would have thought impossible, actually possible.”

The idea of a VR bucket list is just one more thing the hospice can offer to aid with a positive end-of-life experience.

“If we can make a patient enjoy their time spent at St. Luke’s, then we know we’ve done our job”

“If we can make a patient enjoy their time spent at St. Luke’s, then we know we’ve done our job,” Price said. “Hospice care is so much more than just hands on care; we are about making every moment count. We offer so much at St. Luke’s, from bereavement care for families to connecting patients to their loved ones in distant countries at the end of their lives. With VR we can offer even more.”

Since his undersea adventure, Hill’s condition actually improved enough that he’s been able to return home. That’s something that not every patient is able to do, however, which has led to the team at St. Luke’s thinking of a new way VR could be used in hospice care.

“The fact that we strive to deliver care at home, as this is what patients usually prefer as they pass away, and that the VR is portable, opens up even more opportunities for its use,” Price said. “We could even go as far as recreating patient’s home life or childhood home while they’re in the hospice ward. Not every patient needs an underwater or outer space experience; some would just be happy feeling as though they’re back home.”

We struggle to think of any applications of VR that are more life-affirming than that.

Tesla is laying the groundwork to build cars in Shanghai

If you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on one of Tesla’s electric vehicles, the upcoming Model 3 probably looks pretty appealing. The car promises 215 miles per charge, ample seating, the tech for autopilot and it starts at just $35,000. Well, unless you’re in China — where imported vehicles get slapped with a 25-percent tariff. That fee is potentially disastrous to both customers’ ability to buy Tesla vehicles in china and the company’s bottom line. That’s probably why Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company is now talking with the Shanghai municipal government about opening a local manufacturing facility.

It’s a move that the company has been planning for a long time. Musk mentioned building a factory in China as far back as October of 2015, outlining the plan as a way to significantly reduce costs for Chinese buyers. According to Bloomberg, the company has already signed a deal with the city to build facilities in the Lingang development area — but it would need to cut a deal with a local company before it could begin. As a foreign company, Telsa would only be allowed to own 50-percent of any joint venture built in China.

Tesla hasn’t hinted at who it might partner with, or when it could start producing vehicles in China — but it seems like a smart and inevitable move for the company. According to Musk, a local factory could cut costs to consumers by as much as a third. That would be a big deal for Chinese customers.

Source: Bloomberg, Reuters

IBM-powered DNA sequencing could find bacteria in raw milk

Babies love milk. Adults love milk-based products. You know what else loves milk? Good and bad bacteria. It’s the ideal medium for bacteria growth and could cause various food-borne illnesses, especially if consumed in raw, unpasteurized form. Researchers typically just test the milk supply in the US for specific pathogens or harmful bacteria and viruses, but IBM and Cornell University want to take things a step further. They plan to create new analytical tools that can monitor raw milk — that’s milk straight out of the udder — and instantly detect any anomaly that could turn out to be a food safety hazard.

To be able to build those tools, they first need to be intimately familiar with the substance and the microorganisms that tend to contaminate it. They’ll sequence and analyze the DNA and RNA of dairy samples from Cornell’s farm, as well as of all the microorganisms in environments milk tends to make contact with, including the cows themselves, from the moment it’s pumped. Their tests will characterize what’s “normal” for raw milk, so the tools they make can easily tell if something’s wrong even if it’s an unknown contaminant we’ve never seen before.

This project however, is just the beginning. They plan to apply what they learn to other types of produce and ingredients in the future in order to ensure that they’re safe for consumption, especially if they were imported from abroad. Martin Wiedmann, Gellert Family Professor in Food Safety, from Cornell University said in a statement:

“As nature’s most perfect food, milk is an excellent model for studying the genetics of food. As a leader in genomics research, the Department of Food Science expects this research collaboration with IBM will lead to exciting opportunities to apply findings to multiple food products in locations worldwide.”