Genetically modified yeast mops up heavy metal pollution

Environmental scientists dream of eliminating pollution with natural resources, but that’s tricky when it comes to heavy metals. Plants won’t work for cleaning polluted water, and only some of them grow large enough to absorb those toxic materials. Researchers may have a relatively simple answer to the problem, though: genetically engineered baker’s yeast. Their modified organism uses a cell membrane ‘anchor,’ and peptides that bind with metals like cadmium, copper and nickel to absorb their ions. The result? The best yeast strains can mop up 80 percent of metal ions without nasty effects — you’d just have to scoop up the yeast after a cleanup operation.

Right now, the eco-friendly yeast is limited to the lab. Researchers still have to find the best way to harvest and get rid of the yeast, and they also need to test in a real-world environment to prove that it works. With that said, it’s easy to imagine response crews using this tweaked yeast to remove most traces of pollution near quarries, water treatment plants and other places where heavy metals are an all-too-familiar part of the landscape.

Via: Reddit

Source: ACSH, Springer

US and Australia finish a key round of hypersonic missile tests

The US and its allies are determined to be first out of the gate with hypersonic weapons, and they’ve just taken a big stride forward in that regard… not that they’re saying much about it. Both the US and Australia have confirmed that they recently completed a series of mysterious hypersonic missile tests. All the countries will say is that the flights were successful, and that they represented “significant milestones” in testing everything from the design assembly to the control mechanisms. They won’t even say which vehicles were used or how quickly they traveled, although past tests have usually relied on Terrier Orion rockets (above) and have reached speeds as high as Mach 8.

The tests are part of the long-running HIFiRE (Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation) program, whose first launch took place way back in 2009. They should help bring hypersonic flight to a “range of applications,” according to HIFiRE partner BAE. That could easily include ultra-fast aircraft, but it’s widely believed the focus here is on missiles and similar unmanned weapons. A hypersonic missile would fulfill the US military’s goal of building a conventional weapon that can strike anywhere within an hour, and it would be virtually impossible to stop using existing missile defenses. In theory, enemy nations wouldn’t dare attack if they knew they’d face certain retaliation within minutes.

Any real-world uses of hypersonic weapons are likely years away, but they might come sooner than you think. US Navy Admiral Harry Harris recently worried about keeping up with (or ahead of) of hypersonic weapon development by the Chinese and Russians. These latest tests signal that the US isn’t just treating hypersonic weapons as theoretical exercises. It wants practical uses in a reasonable time frame — if just to say that it’s keeping up with its rivals.

Via: The Drive, Independent

Source: FlightGlobal

How to change the keyboard on your Android phone

Setting up a default keyboard on your Android phone is a lot easier than you think!

One amazing thing about Android phones is the plethora of customization options you have, including the option to change keyboards. There are a bunch of great keyboard apps for Android to choose from, so find the one that feels right for you.

We’ll be working with the SwiftKey keyboard today to show you how to set a default keyboard on your Android phone, but the process is the same no matter which keyboard app you choose.

Note: This method applies to devices that run “stock” Android like the Google Pixel, Nexus phones, and the OnePlus 5. Your experience may be slightly different, but the general steps still apply.

Download and install new keyboard from Google Play.
Go to your Phone Settings.

Find and tap Languages and input.

Tap on current keyboard under Keyboard & input methods.
Tap on choose keyboards.

Tap on the new keyboard (such as SwiftKey) you would like to set as default.

Read the Attention prompt that comes up on screen and tap OK if you wish to continue.
Make sure the switch beside the keyboard has changed from gray to green.

Go back to the main language & input screen.

Tap on current keyboard again.
Select the new keyboard (such as SwiftKey). This will save automatically.

Make sure the keyboard is working by writing a quick message to someone.

Enjoy using your new third-party keyboard on your Android phone! If for any reason you want to go back to the stock keyboard or want to try out a different keyboard, it’s the exact same process.

Updated July 2017: This article was updated with updated links and text.

HTC U11 adds Amazon Alexa support, turning it into a venerable portable Echo

HTC triples up on its artificial intelligence offering.

The HTC U11 launched in June with Google Assistant as its primary artificial intelligence service, though the promise was that at a later date we’d receive Amazon Alexa as a secondary choice. Now the time has come — with a new software update and an app install, you can use your U11 almost identically to the way you’d use an Amazon Echo sitting on your kitchen counter.

Alexa can live right alongside Google Assistant on your U11.

The first interesting thing about the Alexa offering is that it can actually live right alongside Google Assistant. Long-pressing the U11’s home button still launches Google Assistant, and as of now you can’t actually remap that function to launching Alexa (though you can turn off Assistant there). So there are three ways to activate Alexa: by simply saying “Alexa” near the phone, by making Alexa an Edge Sense trigger for when you squeeze the phone, or simply by tapping the “HTC Alexa” app icon. Once you’ve activated the app once, you’ll also get a notification with suggested things to ask Alexa and a microphone activation button.

Once you activate it, Alexa on the U11 works precisely like it does on an Echo in your home. You can configure it just like any other Echo using the Amazon Alexa app — by default it’ll simply be called your “HTC Alexa” even. You can use any of the skills you’re used to using, control smart home devices, buy items from Amazon, check on Amazon shipments, ask it knowledge-base questions, get your Flash Briefing and more.

The fact that Alexa on the phone works just like your Echo at home is a big deal for those who are already familiar with it, but there are also clear limitations to this setup.

This is simply an Echo virtualized on your phone — there’s room to improve.

Nothing about Alexa on the phone takes advantage of the fact that it’s on the phone. Unlike Google Assistant, Alexa can’t control items on your phone like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, can’t give you directions to things that open up Google Maps, can’t transition to showing you things on the screen and perhaps most importantly can’t let you just type to it. It really is just an Echo virtualized into an app on your U11 — and that means at launch it lags behind Google Assistant in terms of raw capabilities and features that feel native to the phone.

Right now there are just a few limitations with Alexa on your phone compared to an Echo speaker. At launch you can’t train the voice model for waking up Alexa, nor can you do some specific functions like create reminders or make calls. Presumably the gaps should close as Amazon works on its APIs to tailor to a mobile experience.

As with many Amazon products this is U.S.-only for now, but it should be localized for both the UK and Germany soon as well.

Further driving home the point that you’re just using a virtualized Echo on your phone, you’ll need to use the Amazon Alexa app to configure all of the things Alexa can do on your U11 … which isn’t the best app in the world, as you may have already experienced. You add skills, rename the phone, configure “do not disturb” hours and just about everything else right alongside your settings for Echos you may have.

If you’re someone who’s already into the Echo/Alexa ecosystem in your home and you want that familiarity on your U11, it’s simple to do and worth checking out. You just have to have the latest firmware update for the U11, which is rolling out now (version 1.16.617.6 for unlocked, 1.13.651.6 for Sprint), and install the “HTC Alexa” app from Google Play. If you’re not invested in Amazon and just want a general-purpose assistant for your phone, Google Assistant is still the go-to choice until Alexa can improve its on-phone experience.

HTC U11

• HTC U11 review
• HTC U11 specs
• Manufacturing the U11: Behind the scenes
• Join our U11 forums
• HTC U11 vs Galaxy S8
• HTC U11 vs LG G6

Amazon
Sprint
HTC

Facebook rebuffs Pakistan request to link accounts to phone numbers

Pakistan has gone to great lengths to track technology users in the name of censorship and security, but it’s not going to get very far with Facebook. The social network has turned down a government request to link phone numbers to accounts in a bid to cut back on fake accounts posting illegal content, such as sacrilegious statements. Facebook will remove fake accounts, a spokesperson tells the Express Tribune, but it also has to protect the rights of its users.

We’ve asked Facebook for a full statement.

The company frequently encourages the use of phone numbers, of course — you’re less likely to have your account hijacked if you enable two-factor authentication. However, a Pakistan requirement would likely have a chilling effect. As you have to register your SIM card with a fingerprint in the country, any phone number is indelibly tied to its owner — write a provocative post and authorities could easily come knocking at your door. Facebook would rather risk the possibility of fake news than discourage Pakistanis from speaking their minds.

Source: Express Tribune

Amazon’s Alexa lands on the HTC U11, and it works like it should

As promised, HTC is finally making it possible for owners of its U11 smartphone to install Amazon’s Alexa. Starting today, those in the US who need yet another voice interface can download the HTC Alexa app from the Google Play Store — we’re told localized versions of Alexa are coming to other countries in the coming weeks. For those keeping count, that brings the U11’s virtual assistant count to three: Google Assistant is also on-board, along with HTC’s non-chatty Sense Companion.

Unsurprisingly, the company doesn’t think three assistants are overkill. VP of product planing Nigel Newby-House sees these three options as complementary, and on some level, he’s got a point. Sense Companion offers non-spoken suggestions and reminders based on your behavior, and Google Assistant still reigns supreme when it comes to general questions. And Alexa? Well, she’s got quite a few skills to tap into — more than 15,000 in fact.

More importantly, this is the first time Alexa really works the way it should on a smartphone. Remember Huawei’s Mate 9? Its Alexa integration felt unsatisfying because wake-words didn’t work the way you’d expect. Talking to Alexa required launching a Huawei Alexa app first — so much for having a hands-free assistant. Once installed, just saying Alexa’s name within earshot of the U11 is all it takes to get her attention. I’ve found no real difference between what Alexa can do on the U11 versus an Echo or Echo Dot. I haven’t been able to test those thousands Alexa skills, but the ones I use most regularly all work just fine.

I spent much of the weekend listening to the U11 play the audiobooks and music I craved, and occasionally asking for cat jokes and attempting 7-minute workouts. (You know, because those last two things go together so well.) Hardly anything went iffy during testing, and the things that did were understandable consequences of squeezing Alexa into a phone. Iffy mobile data connections sometimes delayed Alexa’s (normally quick) responses, and since the U11 lacks the Echo’s far-field microphone array, I sometimes had to yell for Alexa to notice me when I wasn’t close. My only real complaint: if HTC’s Alexa app can’t recognize what you’re saying, it keeps the screen on until you tap the microphone icon to try again or dismiss the Alexa window.

Since the U11 supports dual wake-words, calling out to Google Assistant and Alexa separately works like a charm. And given the U11’s fondness for squeezing, it’s probably no surprise the phone’s Edge Sense can also be used to activate Alexa, too. This doesn’t just feel gimmicky — it sort of defeats Alexa’s entire purpose. Still, more options are always appreciated, and its touches like these that help set HTC’s approach to Alexa apart from the pack. That pack is still admittedly pretty small, but that won’t be the case for long — we already know Motorola is bringing Alexa to its smartphones, and we’d be shocked if they were the last.

IBM’s new mainframe keeps everything encrypted, all the time

Data breaches are bad enough by themselves, but they’re made worse when companies don’t bother to (or can’t) encrypt all their info. It’s tantamount to giving hackers the keys to the kingdom. But what to do? IBM thinks it has a simple solution: encrypt absolutely everything. Its latest Z mainframe system now has enough power to automatically encrypt all the data associated with an app or service, whether it’s in transit or sitting idle in a database. According to IBM, conventional systems based on x86 processors only encrypt “limited slices” of information, while the new Z has enough power (18 times more, in fact) to lock everything down as a matter of course.

The new platform can also “self-destruct” encryption keys the moment there’s any tampering, and quickly encrypts the programming interfaces that tie apps and services together. And the Z is faster overall, regardless of the task at hand: there’s three times the memory (a hefty 32TB), three times faster input/output and much lower lag when talking to a storage area network. The hardware should juggle many more transactions (like purchases at an online store) even as it boosts their overall security.

Naturally, there are catches to this utopian vision of internet security. While IBM plays an important role in online commerce (its transaction engine handles 87 percent of credit card payments), many companies would likely have to upgrade before you’d see the benefit. Any mass migration would probably take years, if it happens at all. And of course, IBM’s solution doesn’t stop hackers from taking data — it just prevents them from reading that data. There’s a chance, however slim, that the most determined perpetrators will find a way to decrypt content once they have it.

Nonetheless, this technology could be a big step forward if it lives up to IBM’s hype. If you can assume that your sensitive data is always encrypted, you won’t have to worry quite so much that thieves might go on a shopping spree with your credit card. This might also deter crooks if they know that they’re unlikely to hit the jackpot when they crack a company’s security.

Source: IBM

Facebook goes all-in on video with latest update, new app for TV

Why it matters to you

Facebook is a prime destination for video, and its latest updates seek to improve the viewing experience for users.

Although Facebook isn’t necessarily thought of as a video platform, it does provide a massive portal to video content. Facebook is aware of this, which is why the social network is rolling out new video playback features on its mobile app, and introducing another app for TVs.

Facebook listed the video-focused updates in a post on its Newsroom blog. For starters, videos in the News Feed will now autoplay with sound turned on by default, and audio will fade in and out as you scroll past them. A few weeks ago, the social media giant appeared to make good on that promise in earnest, as an increasing number of people are seeing a message that reads, “We’re always working to make Facebook a better place to watch videos. That’s why videos now play with sound on automatically. Use the volume icon on any video to make the sound right for you.”

Apparently, Facebook decided to make the change back in February because users apparently expected to hear sound as they scrolled through their News Feed. “After testing sound on in News Feed and hearing positive feedback, we’re slowly bringing it to more people. With this update, sound fades in and out as you scroll through videos in News Feed, bringing those videos to life,” Facebook noted in a blog post.

But don’t worry — if you don’t want the sound automatically on in Facebook, you have the option of turning it off, both on the iOS and Android versions of the app. Just select the menu button and make your way over to account settings and sounds, and turn off “News Feed Start With Sound.”

Facebook’s decision will likely help it become a major player in video, encouraging people to watch more of them and allowing advertisers to more easily reach people.

A more welcome addition might be the larger preview for vertically formatted videos. Facebook notes it has been testing this layout for some accounts as well, and soon it will roll out to all iOS and Android users. The new viewing experience also sports a smoother animation to scale to full-screen more seamlessly, as well as a redesigned progress bar with thumbnails to make navigating videos much more convenient.

Finally, Facebook is adding watch-and-scroll functionality similar to what Google implemented quite a while ago in its YouTube app. Users can now minimize video to a picture-and-picture view while continuing to browse their News Feed. On Android, videos even continue to play outside of the app — similar to how the social network’s Chat Heads messaging feature operates.

In addition to the update for mobile, Facebook also announced it is making the move to bigger screens with a video app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung Smart TV. The new app allows for easy viewing of videos shared by pages and friends, and also recommends content based on interest. It expands upon a feature the social network rolled out last fall, which introduced the ability to stream videos straight to a TV from any device. Facebook says it is working to bring the app to additional platforms in the future.

Download for iOS Download for Android

Update: Facebook is now rolling out its auto-sound feature on its Android and iOS apps to more people.

Our favorite $200 laptop gives you way more than your money’s worth

If you’re a student looking for your first laptop, or someone who doesn’t want to spend too much cash on a PC, then HP has you covered. The impressive HP 14-AN013NR is easily the best laptop under $200, and one that doesn’t sacrifice much to achieve its low price point. There is a good selection of cheap laptops available, but with a $200 price tag, nothing really compares to HP’s budget-based offering.

Most inexpensive laptops tend to have the computing power of a smartphone, but HP’s laptop comes equipped with an AMD E2 7110 quad core processor. It’s similar to the Intel i3 4005U processor, which runs on laptops that are as expensive as $1,100. The processor in the HP 13-AN013NR is significantly faster than the Intel i3, however, especially when it comes to GPU performance.

But the HP laptop is the head of its class in more ways than one. Its AMD Radeon R2 graphics card is way better than what you’d find in most $200 laptops, and the laptop’s 1,920 x 1,080-pixel display provides a full HD experience, something most affordable laptops avoid in order to keep costs down.

That said, it’s not all roses for HP’s offering.

It only comes with 32GB of storage, and after Windows, McAfee, and other pre-installed software, you’re left with a mere 13GB of storage. That’s not even enough memory to download and re-watch the last season of Game of Thrones before its return.

Thankfully, the laptop comes loaded with two USB 2.0 ports, as well as a USB 3.0 port and an SD card slot. For an easy storage fix, you can also connect your external hard drive, SD card, or flash drive. You can even swap out the SSD drive in a matter of minutes, thanks to the laptop’s easy-to-unscrew bottom. This also allows you to switch out the laptop’s 4GB of RAM for 8GB. Just don’t go over 8GB — that’s all the computer can handle.

Overall, if you’re not planning on using your computer for high-power tasks such as gaming or video editing, then the HP 14-AN013NR could be the perfect laptop for you.

David Cogen, a regular contributor here at Digital Trends, runs TheUnlockr.com, a popular tech blog that focuses on tech news, tips and tricks, and the latest tech. You can also find him over at Twitter discussing the latest tech trends.

HTC keyboard ads likely an error, but damage is already done [Updated]

HTC is telling users to roll back the latest stock keyboard update, which clutters up the screen with ads.

Update, 10:50pm ET: HTC has confirmed to AC that the ads were mistakenly included. An HTC spokesperson provided the following statement:

Due to an error, some HTC customers have reported seeing ads on their phone’s keyboard. This is absolutely not the experience we intended, and we’re working to immediately fix the error and remove the ads as quickly as possible.

Original story: Ads in the stock keyboard app on a flagship smartphone. Added quietly via an app update. Which then asks you to pay to remove them.

You’d be hard pressed to come up with a more comically villainous thing for a phone manufacturer, or app developer, to pull on its users. Yet that’s what’s been happening to some HTC phone owners over the past day, as spotted first by Reddit user “Azirack” on his HTC 10.

HTC 10 owners seem to be worst affected (we’re not seeing it on the newer U11 for what it’s worth), with the ad bar taking up a good chunk of screen real estate. There’s understandable outrage among HTC owners whose phones have started coughing up ads every time they open the keyboard. The consensus, obviously, is that this is not an OK place for ads to be appearing.

@htc why I see adds using default keyboard of the phone that I paid for? This is really unbeliavable! Are you serious? pic.twitter.com/eWx9MTCyEf

— Şakir İMREN (@sakirimren) July 16, 2017

An error by keyboard developer TouchPal is the most likely explanation.

HTC hasn’t gotten back to us with an official statement just yet. (Update: See statement above.) The company’s official Twitter account is telling angry users to uninstall the latest update to TouchPal via the Settings app, suggesting that the appearance of ads in this update is a mistake. Most likely, code from regular (non-HTC) version of TouchPal, which does include an ad-supported trial version alongside a subscription-supported paid option, made its way into the HTC Sense version. (Both variants live on Google Play, but are updated separately.)

Plus, after well over a decade making smartphones, it’s hard to believe HTC would be stupid enough to OK something like this.

However, it does demonstrate one major pitfall of outsourcing your stock keyboard to a third-party developer. HTC saves money in doing so, but catches all the flack when things go wrong. Customers seeing ads on their expensive new handsets aren’t mad at the relatively unknown TouchPal, they’re angry at HTC. As it looks to build on solid momentum around the U11’s launch, such a dent in its reputation among existing customers is something it really doesn’t need.

TouchPal for HTC Sense had tanked to an average review score of 2.6 stars on Google Play at the time of writing.

HTC U11

• HTC U11 review
• HTC U11 specs
• Manufacturing the U11: Behind the scenes
• Join our U11 forums
• HTC U11 vs Galaxy S8
• HTC U11 vs LG G6

Amazon
Sprint
HTC