Apple Store at Northbrook Court in Chicago Area Moving This Weekend

Apple today announced its Northbrook Court store in Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, is moving to a new location within the shopping mall this weekend. The grand opening is set for Saturday, September 9 at 10:00 a.m. local time.

Apple’s original store at Northbrook Court
The new store will be located across the hall on the lower level, between H&M and Banana Republic, according to property management GGP.

The current store, between Sephora and Finish Line, originally opened in July 2005. Friday will likely be its final day of business in that location.

The new store should be around 10,000 square feet, which is nearly double the size of the current store, according to Northbrook Court’s leasing plan.

The new store will also be based on Apple’s latest retail design, which typically includes wide, open spaces with some combination of large glass doors, sequoia wood tables and shelves, large video screens for Today at Apple sessions, and light boxes spanning the length of the ceiling. 

All new Apple Stores opened since September 2015 have been based on the new design language, including flagship-tier locations such as Apple Union Square in San Francisco and Apple World Trade Center in New York City. Apple has renovated over 40 existing stores to reflect the newer aesthetic.

(Thanks, Storeteller!)

Related Roundup: Apple Stores
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Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 39, But New Version Crashes on Launch

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.

Safari Technology Preview release 39 includes fixes and improvements for Beacon API, Directory Upload, Fetch API, Input Events, JavaScript, WebAssembly, WebRTC, Web Inspector, and Media. With Safari 11 now available to developers through the macOS High Sierra beta, Apple is providing two versions of Safari Technology Preview, one for macOS Sierra users and one for those using macOS High Sierra.

Safari Technology Preview users might want to hold off on downloading Safari Technology Preview 39 as the new version appears to be crashing at launch and not working properly.

The Safari Technology Preview update is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store to anyone who has downloaded the browser. Full release notes for the update are available on the Safari Technology Preview website.

Apple’s aim with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.

Tag: Safari Technology Preview
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Four More TV Execs Join Apple’s Video Content Team

Four additional veteran executives from the television industry are joining Apple’s video content team, according to a new report from Variety.

Former head of current programming at Sony Pictures Kim Rozenfeld is joining Apple as its future head of programming and lead executive on documentary series development. Apple has thus far purchased several music-related documentaries that have aired on Apple Music, including Kygo: Stole the Show and Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story.

Rozenfeld formerly worked with Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, two Sony Pictures Television executives who joined Apple in June to lead Apple’s video programming efforts. Erlicht and Amburg have produced popular shows like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Crown, and more.

Two additional former Sony employees are joining the video team as development executives. Both Max Aronson and Ali Woodruff also worked with Amburg and Erlicht and will report to the duo at Apple. Aronson previously served as VP of drama development at Sony Pictures Television, while Woodruff was the director of creative affairs.

Rita Cooper Lee, who formerly worked as the WGN America head of publicity is joining Apple to lead communications for the video content unit, and she will report directly to Apple head of communications Tom Neumayr. Lee is the second employee to join Apple from WGN America. Former president and general manager of WGN America Matt Cherniss joined Apple earlier in August to help oversee the development of the video unit.

Apple is picking up a lot of talent in the video and television area as it experiments with original content as a way to promote its Apple Music service. The company has launched two shows so far, including Planet of the Apps, a series about app developers pitching ideas to investors, and Carpool Karaoke, a music-based show developed from the Carpool Karaoke segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden.

While Apple’s first two shows have been reality shows, the company is said to have bigger content ambitions, with rumors suggesting Apple is pursing deals with A-list talent to create a roster of shows on par with Netflix and Amazon.

Recent rumors suggest Apple is bidding on a “high-profile drama” starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon and aiming to get the film distribution rights for the James Bond film franchise.

Tag: Apple’s Hollywood ambitions
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Pre-Orders for iPhone 8 Likely to Start on September 15, Shipments on September 22

For the past five years, Apple’s September iPhone-centric events have followed the same general formula. An event during the first week or two of the month, pre-orders shortly after, and then an official launch date approximately 10 days later. Apple’s September schedule for 2012 to 2016 is below:

– iPhone 5 (2012) – Sept. 12 event, Sept.14 pre-orders, Sept. 21 launch.

– iPhone 5s (2013) – Sept. 10 event, no pre-orders, Sept. 10 launch.

– iPhone 6/6 Plus (2014) – Sept. 9 event, Sept. 12 pre-orders, Sept. 19 launch.

– iPhone 6s/6s Plus (2015) – Sept. 9 event, Sept. 12 pre-orders, Sept. 25 launch.

– iPhone 7/7 Plus (2016) – Sept. 7 event, Sept. 9 pre-orders, Sept. 16 launch.

If Apple plans to follow this same formula — and it looks like that’s what’s happening — pre-orders for the new “iPhone 8” and its companion devices the iPhone 7s and the iPhone 7s Plus will take place on Friday, September 15 at 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

Following pre-orders, the new devices will most likely see an official launch on Friday, September 22, with pre-order shipments going out to customers and in-store stock available.

Friday, September 15 is a highly logical guess as to when we’re going to see pre-orders, and unsurprisingly, that’s the date being cited today by German site Macerkopf. According to the site, German carriers are preparing for a September 15 pre-order date and a September 22 launch date.

While Apple tends to follow a specific September formula, there have been deviations. In 2013, for example, Apple did not accept pre-orders for the iPhone 5s due to supply constraints, and in 2015, pre-orders took place early on a Saturday morning. Still, September 15 and September 22 are the most likely dates for pre-orders and launch, respectively.

Apple will unveil the new iPhone 8 at an event set to be held on Tuesday, September 12 at 10:00 a.m. PT at its Apple Park campus. An iPhone 7s, 7s Plus, LTE Apple Watch, and 4K Apple TV will also make an appearance at the event.

For details on the new iPhone 8, which will feature a glass body, edge-to-edge display, facial recognition, and more, make sure to check out our full iPhone 8 roundup.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8
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Smartphones could someday assess brain injuries

Researchers at the University of Washington are developing a simple way to assess potential concussions and other brain injuries with just a smartphone. The team has developed an app called PupilScreen that uses video and a smartphone’s camera flash to record and calculate how the pupils respond to light.

Assessing head trauma due to, for example, sports injuries or a car crash is typically done with either a pupilometer — rarely found outside of hospitals — or a mix of subjective evaluations like balancing, repeating a list of words or visually examining a pupil’s response with a flashlight. But those methods aren’t concrete and leave room for error — a problem considering the long-term effects brain injuries can have.

To create PupilScreen and provide an objective assessment of potential head trauma, the researchers used deep learning tools to train a neural network how to find the pupil of the eye and track how it responds to a flash of light over the course of three seconds. A smartphone camera records the three second video and the light is provided by the camera’s flash. PupilScreen then takes care of the rest, providing a readout as to whether the pupil response was within normal ranges or is showing signs of brain injury. In a small pilot study, doctors were able to accurately determine if a person had a brain injury by looking at PupilScreen’s readouts.

Currently, the app is only able to assess severe injuries, but follow up work is being done to determine which pupillary response characteristics mark milder or more ambiguous forms of trauma. The app also currently works with a plastic box that blocks out ambient light and makes sure the smartphone is the appropriate distance from the eyes, but the team is also working on making the app useful without accessories. “After further testing, we think this device will empower everyone from Little League coaches to NFL doctors to emergency department physicians to rapidly detect and triage head injury,” Lynn McGrath, one of the researchers on the project, said in a statement.

The work is being presented at Ubicomp 2017.

Source: Washington University (1), (2)

Moto X4 vs. Moto Z2 Force: Which Moto reigns supreme?

It’s been almost three years since Lenovo launched the last smartphone in its X series, but the range is back with the Moto X4. It looks as though the wait was well worth it, as the Moto X4 is an exciting mid-range refresh with dual cameras, a snappy processor, and the ability to stream music to four devices at once.

Positioned against the formidable Lenovo Moto Z2 Force, which features a similarly speedy processor, a shatter-resistant screen, and support for Moto Mods, Lenovo’s snap-on collection of accessories, the X4 has its work cut out.

So how do the two compare? We pit Moto X4 vs. Moto Z2 Force head-to-head to find out.

Specs

Moto X4

Moto Z2 Force

Size
148.4 x 73.4 x 8 mm (5.84 x 2.89 x 0.31 inches)
155.8 x 76 x 6.1mm (6.13 x 2.99 x 0.24 inches)
Weight
5.75 ounces (163 grams)
5.04 ounces (143 grams)
Screen
5.2-inch IPS LCD
5.5-inch AMOLED
Resolution
1,920 x 1,080 pixels (424ppi)
2,560 x 1,440 pixels (534ppi)
OS
Android 7.1
Android 7.1.1 Nougat
Storage
32GB (64GB in some markets)
64GB
SD Card Slot
Yes, up to 2TB
Yes, up to 2TB
NFC support
Yes
Yes
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 630
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
RAM
3GB (4GB in some markets)
 4GB
Connectivity
GSM / HSPA / LTE
GSM / HSPA / LTE
Camera
Front 16MP, rear 12MP and 8MP
Front 8MP, rear 12MP and 12 MP
Video
4K
4K
Bluetooth
Yes, version 5
Yes, version 4.2
Fingerprint sensor
Yes
Yes
Other sensors
Gyroscope, accelerometer, ambient light, proximity sensor
Gyroscope, accelerometer, ambient light, proximity sensor
Water Resistant
Yes, IP68
No
Battery
3,000mAh
2,730mAh
Charger
USB Type-C
USB Type-C
Quick Charging
Yes
Yes
Wireless Charging
No
No
Marketplace
Google Play Store
Google Play Store
Color offerings
Black, blue
Black, gold, grey
Availability
TBA

Unlocked, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint

Pricing
$475 (estimated)
$720
DT Review
Hands-on review
3 stars out of 5

The Moto X4 may not be a match for the Moto Z2 Force’s raw processing power, but it comes pretty close.

The Moto X4 has Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 630 processor on-board, one of the newest in the chipmaker’s mid-range series. Qualcomm says it’s 10 percent more efficient than the last-gen processor it replaces, the Snapdragon 625, and that the Adreno 508 graphics onboard performs up to 30 percent better in apps and games.

But the Moto Z2 Force is no slouch. Its Snapdragon 835 processor, the crown jewel of Qualcomm’s 800 series, is the same chip you’ll find inside the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and LG V30. It’s 30 percent speedier than the outgoing Snapdragon 821, and the Adreno 540 graphics offer a 25 percent performance advantage in graphics-heavy apps and games.

Both phones have MicroSD card slots that fit removable memory up to 2TB, but the Moto Z2 Force has a slight advantage on the RAM and storage side of the equation. It has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of memory as opposed to the Moto X4’s 3GB and 32GB of memory. (While there are variants of the Moto X4 with 4GB of RAM and 64GB, they’re exclusive to Asia-Pacific markets like China and India.) That’s enough for the Z2 Force to win the round.

Winner: Moto Z2 Force 

Display, display, and durability

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The Moto X4 and Moto Z2 Force are less alike than the designs would lead you to believe.

The Moto X4’s slim aluminum unibody is sandwiched between two panes of Gorilla Glass. On the phone’s front is a selfie camera and a flash, an oval-shape fingerprint sensor, and small cut-outs near the top and bottom for the earpiece and microphones.

On the bottom, a 3.5mm headphone jack sits next to the USB Type-C charging port, and on the top is the SIM card slot. The right-hand side is where you’ll find the power button and volume rocker, and on the rear is the big, protruding, round camera module.

The Moto Z2 Force is just as understated as the Moto X4. On the front is a rounded fingerprint sensor and camera flash, a glass-shielded screen, and front bezels that raise slightly above the rest of the phone’s body. On the right-hand side is a volume rocker and textured power button, and on the bottom is the USB-C port.

Unlike the Moto X4, the Moto Z2 Force doesn’t have a headphone jack. A USB-C to 3.5mm adapter is included in the box, but if you can’t find it the next time you want to plug in a wired pair of headphones, you’re out of luck. Most of the Moto Z2 Force’s rear, save for a thin grey strip, is dominated by the dual camera module and metal contacts for Moto Mods accessories.

The Moto X4’s 5.2-inch screen doesn’t have exceptionally thin bezels or a super-high resolution, but it’s par for the mid-range course. It’s Full HD LCD (1,920 x 1,080), and has a pixel density of 424 ppi (pixels-per-inch).

The Moto Z2 Force trades up for a 5.5-inch, Quad HD (2,560 x 1,440) screen. In addition to being sharper than the Moto X4’s screen — it has a pixel density of 535 ppi — it’s AMOLED, which means it can toggle on and off the backlighting of individual pixels. The result is deeper blacks, higher contrast, and more vibrant colors than LCD screens like the Moto X4’s are capable of producing.

It’s a toss-up between the Moto Z2 Force and Moto X4 in terms of durability. The former features Motorola’s proprietary “Shattershield” technology, which offers a “five-layer protection system” that’s guaranteed not to crack or shatter for four years. But the latter is IP68 certified, which means it can survive water up to five feet for thirty minutes.

It really comes down to what you’re worried about. If you want a phone that has a better chance of surviving an accidental dip in a pool, the Moto X4 is the obvious choice. If on the other hand you’re more concerned about scratches, dents, and cracks, the Moto Z2 Force will serve you better.

We’re giving it to the Moto Z2 Force. It may not be as dust- and water-resistant as the Moto X4, but its Shattershield and vibrant display outweigh its shortcomings.

Winner: Moto Z2 Force

Battery life and charging

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The Moto Z2 Force and Moto X4 are pretty evenly matched when it comes to battery life, surprisingly.

The Moto X4 has a 3,000mAh battery that Motorola says lasts “through the day,” compared to the Moto Z2 Force’s smaller 2,730mAh battery. In theory, both should handle a morning and afternoon’s worth of light tasks like picture-taking, social media browsing, and video watching pretty easily.

Both phones also support Motorola’s TurboPower charger, which delivers up to six hours of power in 15 minutes. And neither support wireless charging, which means you can’t charge the Moto X4 and Moto Z2 Force by plopping them down on a Qi-compatible pad.

The Moto X4 might last a little bit longer on average, given its battery capacity, but the Z2 Force has the benefit of compatibility with power-boosting Moto Mods like the Incipio Offgrid Power Pack and Moto Turbopower Pack, which can add hours of battery life. That’s why we’re calling this round a draw.

Winner: Tie

Camera

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The Moto Z2 Force and Moto X4 both have dual-sensor modules, but that’s where the similarities end.

The Moto X4’s rear camera, which consists of  a 12-megapixel main sensor (f/2.0 aperture and 1.4 µm pixel size) and 8-megapixel wide-angle secondary sensor (f/2.2 aperture and 1.4 µm pixel size), has dual autofocus technology that hones in quickly on subjects in low lighting. Depth Effect, Motorola’s take on selective focus, takes Portrait Mode-like bokeh effects, and Landmark Detection, a feature coming to the Moto X4 in late September, will serve up information about objects of interest in the camera’s frame of view.

The Moto Z2 Force’s dual cameras are no less capable. Its two 12-megapixel sensors (both with an f/2.0 aperture and 1.25 µm pixel size) have laser and phase detection autofocus and a dual-LED flash, and can capture “true” monochrome black-and-white. Like the Moto x4, they’re able to capture Depth Effect shots, and can shoot in a high-contrast, vibrant high-dynamic range (HDR) mode.

The two phones’ selfie cameras are on a much less even playing field. The Moto X4 has whopping 16-megapixel camera with an LED flash and adaptive mode that’s optimized for low light photography. A Panoramic Selfie function stitches multiple photos together to produce a single wide-angle shot, and Face Filter adds a Snapchat-like layer of animations to photos and videos.

The Moto Z2 Force, on the other hand, has a 5-megapixel wide-angle selfie camera with an LED flash.

We’ll have to put the Moto X4 and Moto Z2 Force’s cameras through their paces before making a final call, but for now, we’re crowning the Moto X4 (and its abundance of features) the winner of the photography round.

Winner: Moto Z2 Force

Software

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Both the Moto X4 and Moto Z2 Force run a customized version of Android 7.1.1 Nougat that’s fairly close to the stock. And for the most part, the two offer comparable experiences.

Both have Moto Display, which lets you wave your hand over the proximity sensor to see the time and notifications at a glance. Gesture-based shortcuts let you launch the camera with a chopping motion and turn on the flashlight by twisting your wrist. Moto Voice lets you launch apps or see a weather forecast by using the wake phrase, “Show Me” (saying “Show Me Facebook,” for example, launches the Facebook app).

But Moto X4 has a few tricks up its sleeve. Perhaps the most unique is the ability to pair up to four speakers via Bluetooth and pipe a music stream to them simultaneously. Moto Key lets you log into websites with a single tap, enter your user ID and password for Amazon, and unlock your PC using Bluetooth. Amazon Alexa, Amazon’s AI-powered voice assistant, triggers from the Moto X4’s lock screen with the wake phrase, “Alexa,” and can perform thousands of commands from turning on connected appliances and checking the status of an Amazon package to ordering pizza.

Motorola says that some of the Moto X4’s innovations, like Moto Key, will eventually come to other Moto-branded devices. But if you’ll settle for nothing less than Lenovo’s latest and greatest software, nothing but the Moto X4 will do.

Winner: Moto X4

Bonus round: Moto Mods

If you’re the kind of person who likes to accessorize, it’s tough to deny the appeal of the Moto Z2 Force’s Moto Mods.

The Moto Z2 Force supports snap-on accessories that add all sorts of functionality. There’s a Moto Mod that extends your phone’s battery life, cases that add wireless charging, external speakers, pico projectors, a gamepad, and vehicle docks. And the list keeps growing.

That’s not to suggest there aren’t plenty of Moto X4 cases and accessories to choose from — there most certainly are. But they’re dwarfed by the sheer scope of the Moto Mods ecosystem.

Price and availability

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

There’s a clear winner between the Moto X4 and Moto Z2 Force when it comes to pricing, and it’s not even close.

In Europe, the Moto X4 starts at 399 euros unlocked, or about $475. Availability hasn’t been announced for the rest of the world just yet, which is a bit of a logistical problem if you reside outside the E.U. But there’s no question that the Moto X4 is the cheaper of the two phones.

The Moto Z2 Force retails for $720 from Motorola’s website, a slight discount from the $750 MSRP. It’s also available from every major carrier in the U.S.:

• Verizon: $756 full retail, $15 per month with a two-year unlimited data plan.
• AT&T: $810 full retail, $27 per month on a 30-month installment plan.
• T-Mobile: $750 full retail, $30 down and $30 per month on a 24-month installment plan or $0 down and $34 per month for 18 months on Jump.
• Sprint: $792 full retail, $33 per month on an 18-month installment plan.

The Moto X4 is the automatic winner on price — it’s likely to be cheaper than the Moto Z2 Force in every market. But the Moto Z2 Force is much more widely available, and there’s no telling when the Moto X4 will make it to other parts of the world.

Winner: Moto X4

Overall winner: Moto X4

The Moto X4 and Moto Z2 Force are more evenly matched than you might expect, given the pricing disparity. The Moto X4 offers great cameras and multi-speaker Bluetooth pairing; and the Moto Z2 Force has a speedy processor, a shatter-resistant aluminum body, and a robust Moto Mods accessory ecosystem.

Which you choose will depend on which features you value more. If you’re concerned about durability, the Moto Z2 Force and its Shattershield technology is the obvious pick. But if you want a cheaper phone with bleeding-edge software features, the Moto X4 makes more sense. Although the Moto Z2 Force wins more categories, we don’t think it does enough to justify the extra expense, so the Moto X4 is the winner here.

Electric jet company Lilium receives $90M to make flying cars a reality

Why it matters to you

This kind of investment will hopefully bring everyone’s dream transport method to market that much sooner.

How much money would you throw at a company promising to deliver Jetsons-like flying cars? If you’re anything like the venture capitalists involved with German aviation startup Lilium Aviation, the answer is $90 million. That is how much they invested in a recently completed Series B funding round.

Among the high-profile investors are Chinese internet giant and investment company Tencent, private banking and asset management firm LGT, and others. They joined Twitter co-founder and former CEO Evan Williams and Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström as individuals with a vested interest in making Lilium’s flying cars, well, take off. The $90 million brings the total investment in the company to more than $100 million — which is hopefully enough to deliver a sweet product to the market place in the not-too-distant future.

Earlier in 2017, Lilium carried out a demonstration of its electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) jet at a private airfield in Bavaria. Controlled remotely by a pilot on the ground, the two-seater prototype was able to execute a vertical takeoff, transition between its hover and forward flight modes mid-air, and make a successful landing. In addition to this vehicle, the startup is also working on a five-person jet that will be able to travel at speeds of up to 300 km per hour (186 mph) for 60 minutes on a single charge. To put that in perspective, it means completing the 19 km journey from Manhattan to JFK Airport in as little as five minutes.

It is this latter vehicle that Lilium’s new windfall will mainly go toward. “This investment is a tremendously important step for Lilium as it enables us to make the five-seat jet a reality,” Daniel Wiegand, co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. “This is the next stage in our rapid evolution from an idea to the production of a commercially successful aircraft that will revolutionize the way we travel in and around the world’s cities. It makes Lilium one of the best funded electric aircraft projects in the world.”

The money will also help grow the size of the team, which currently stands at more than 70. We guess we know where to send your résumé if you are looking to join an innovative startup. Who knows, maybe they will even throw in a free flying car as part of your benefits package.

India could be getting a hyperloop soon thanks to new deal with HTT

Why it matters to you

Hyperloop technology still hasn’t been proven fully viable but countries are lining up to get a system in place as soon as possible.

There may be nothing as universally abhorred as horrendous traffic, so naturally, solutions for avoiding it are popping up throughout the globe. On Wednesday, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced a new deal with the state of Andhra Pradesh in southeast India to build a hyperloop in the second most populous nation in the world. So whether you are attempting to get from Point A to Point B in the U.S., Europe, or Asia, you may soon have a super high-speed option.

“We are extremely delighted to have entered into a [memorandum of understanding] with the government of Andhra Pradesh to bring the HTT Hyperloop to India,” Bibop Gresta, chairman and co-founder of HTT, said in a statement. “In partnering with Andhra Pradesh, HTT will work with local stakeholders to build the regulatory standards necessary for safe and efficient operation.”

HTT is one of the two companies competing to bring Elon Musk’s anti-traffic dream to life (with Hyperloop One being the other). The company is slated to spend six months working with the state’s economic development board, whereupon it will look into various routes to connect the cities of Vijayawada and Amaravati. While the cities are only 27 miles apart, it takes commuters around an hour to travel between the two cities. A hyperloop could reduce that to just six minutes.

“The project will involve little over $200 million of investment and take a year or so to complete it once all the approvals and Right of Way were in place,” Krishna Kishore, CEO of the state’s economic development board, told Economic Times.

India is by no means the only non-U.S. country looking for a tube-based transportation system.HTT is already in talks with South Korea, Slovakia, and Abu Dhabi to build hyperloops in those nations as well. However, seeing as we still have not completely perfected a working prototype of a hyperloop system anywhere in the world, it will still be awhile before any of these countries enjoy this kind of transportation.

All the same, HTT CEO Dirk Ahlborn remains confident in the company’s capacity to deliver a hyperloop sooner rather than later. In June, he told Wired, “We are ready to build. Technology is not an issue.”

To prevent robots from harming humans, engineers want robo airbags

Why it matters to you

Want to stay safe from potential robot-induced injury? This airbag will protect you from your new robot co-worker.

Cars have airbags to protect us vulnerable humans from damage, so why shouldn’t robots offer similar protection? After all, as we work more closely than ever with robots in a growing number of areas, the chances of something going wrong increases. This is exactly the thinking behind a project at Germany’s Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, where researchers have developed inflatable airbags designed to offer an extra level of protection for humans who might otherwise wind up the victim of a robot-induced injury.

“The main difference between airbags in cars and the Robotic Airbag is that a car airbag is triggered in case of an accident,” Roman Weitschat, one of the investigators behind the project, told Digital Trends. “That means the airbag is mainly hidden and designed for single use only. With the Robotic Airbag, we pursue a different strategy. We want the co-bot (read: collaborative robot) to be always intrinsically safe, so the airbag is always inflated when the robot is moving in order to allow for high velocities, without extra sensors required for detecting dynamic environmental conditions robustly.”

When the robot is still, the airbag deflates in a process that takes less than a second. It’s a neat solution, which is superior to some of the other ones researchers have presented, such as covering sharp tools with foam or making the robot move at well below its full speed. While both of these solutions can work, they also make the robots inefficient and limited.

“Currently, we are in the founding process of the DLR spin-off Cobotect, and are planning to commercialize such solutions for various designs and sizes,” Hannes Höppner, the other researcher behind the project, told us. “Together with certification authorities, we are working to make a certified product for collaborative robotic applications [available] within the next two years. In the future, we think this solution will be applied to any kind of flexible manufacturing processes with collaborative robots, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. We think that these cobots — easily taught by hand-guiding — can be flexibly placed wherever they are needed into human work cells without requiring fences. The airbag will enable people to use robots and tools full functionalities, and allow for a safe and efficient co-existence of humans and co-bots in [the same workplaces.]”

Mint SIM review: The AC community weighs in

Four Android Central community members give their thoughts on the value-first alternative carrier, Mint SIM.

We know that our readers are pretty savvy folks, and want the best deal for mobile data they can find. Mint SIM, which you’ve seen mentioned a lot on the site in recent months, is an alternative carrier that promises great LTE speeds and coverage for less than any other carrier.

But people were skeptical — what’s the catch? Why is it so cheap? And are there any downsides? We decided to let the AC community decide for itself. Four forum members, some of whom were provided Mint SIM service in exchange for moderating the forum (but were not influenced for a review in any way) had this to say.

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On setting it up

All four reviewers had a very easy time setting up Mint SIM because it is essentially “plug and play.” You get a SIM kit in the mail, which takes a couple of days, and go to the company’s web page to activate the SIM card. Here’s what DecAway had to say:

I turned my device off, pulled out the old SIM card and popped the Mint Sim, SIM card into my phone and powered it back up. After a few minutes of working your way through the activation process, you’ll be in business and can power up your device and connect to the network. I was actually pleasantly surprised at the ease of activating the SIM and establishing service!

The others noted that the APN — the address that allows the SIM to connect to the Mint SIM network — should automatically work, but on some phones it may need to be entered manually. That’s easy enough, since instructions are in the Getting Started guide. dpham00 said this:

Setup was straightforward. The provided pamphlet guides you through the activation process, porting your phone number (optional), inserting your sim (the provided sim has perforations, and can be punched out for a mini, micro, or nano sim), and setting up the APN. After doing the activation process, I didn’t have to do any setup at all, I just popped in the sim and everything worked fine.

How to set up the APN on your phone

On performance

Here’s where things get interesting. All four reviewers agreed that performance was good, not great, and that it varied wildly depending on the time of day and the location. dpham00 said that his experience was inconsistent:

Performance seemed to be a little inconsistent – even immediately after getting a good speed test, I would sometimes struggle to open a web page. This could be an issue with the Mint sim being de-prioritized over T-Mobile customers, or something with the connection itself as sometimes, simply turning airplane mode on, and off again, will get things going.

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He notes that, indeed, because Mint SIM is an MVNO — an alternative carrier — it must piggyback off a larger network, which in this case is T-Mobile. While it’s unlikely that T-Mobile is actively deprioritizing Mint SIM traffic, it not be privy to the network’s fastest speeds, especially during times of congestion.

DecAway had a similar experience, but found that performance was mainly very good, and quite reliable:

After a week of using the service I can tell you that it’s definitely not always “blazing” fast, as noted by Mint SIM, but it can be… and it is adequate. Mint Sim users are naturally deprioritized, meaning in congested areas your bandwidth will be much more limited at times, which I attribute to the slower speeds that I received. However, is that necessarily bad? Well, the answer is that it depends. First, objectively, I just paid roughly $12 bucks for 2GB of LTE data… Reflecting on my experience with Mint Sim so far, I have been able to achieve download speeds of up to 21.04mbps and 12.24mbps, with a top-end 13.79mbps and 9.99mbps upload speeds.

Update: DecAway returned to his Mint SIM service four months later and noted that it’s still quite good. “For the most part, the service has been reliable, and efficient – especially for the price.” He noted that it appears reliability and speed had increased, and that it was “generally just more efficient … the difference is appreciated and I am definitely happier with the service than I was in the beginning.”

Those are pretty good speeds. VDub2174 had a similarly good experience, but remarked on the excellent Mint SIM coverage:

Coverage was great for me! When I checked the coverage map I saw that I was in an area that got great 4G LTE coverage. Living in a suburb area I sometimes get spotty 4G LTE but in my direct neighborhood it was great. I kept an eye on my reception while going about my day and saw that coverage was on point with my T-Mobile phone.

He also enjoyed access to Wi-Fi Calling, which is a hallmark T-Mobile feature that made the jump to its MVNO partners.

User Golfdriver97 also enjoyed the wide coverage provided by T-Mobile’s network, saying he didn’t have a problem with speed or network availability anywhere he went.

Had good to high signal where I went. So there wasn’t any gaps in coverage.

On value

All four reviewers noted that Mint SIM, even with its sometimes-spotty LTE data speeds, is a good deal. From dpham00:

So the question you are having now is – is it worth it? I would say for the price, absolutely. It is aggressively priced if you are willing to make a commitment from 3 months and up, especially at the one year mark. Sure it has a few hiccups here and there, but if you are looking at Mint sim, then you are looking for a bargain basement pricing, and as such, you will have to deal with the occasional problem here and there. If you are using it a lot and demand the best performance, then you would probably be better off with one of the big 3. However, I think this is great for someone who uses the internet somewhat sparingly and can accept some hiccups.

Golfdriver97 agrees:

I would honestly say give them a shot. Start by getting an independent number at first. This way you aren’t porting your number and find out that it doesn’t work for you.

That’s another sentiment shared by all reviewers: Mint SIM is alright as a primary number — VDub2174 said his number was recycled and received a lot of spam calls — but better as a secondary number primarily for data usage. While Mint SIM doesn’t support tethering, it’s a good way to watch media on the go for less money. VDub2174 sums it up nicely:

Pricing is very affordable when compared to other plans so if you’re looking for a plan that gives you the most bang for your buck, I would check out Mint SIM.

DecAway said that Mint SIM is great for most situations:

If you carry two phones around like me and can turn on wireless tethering with the other device, it really makes up for the shortfalls. If you’re cool with occasional inconsistencies in data speeds, then it’s also less worrisome. Call quality and messaging are more than adequate, so if you really need a cheap phone plan with the promise of internet in uncongested areas and off-peak times, this could be the answer for you.

In his four-months-later follow-up, he noted that Mint SIM, despite having increased its prices a little, is still great value for the money. “The prices have shimmied up a little bit from their initial offering, but they are still lower than the competition.”

His conclusion speaks for itself:

I still recommend Mint SIM.

Concluding the 3-month social experiment with the service, I decided to re-up for another year, which at the time was offered for $199 for 12-months, based on the 2 GB plan (currently you can get the exact same plan for $184.00, including tax). Originally I had been a bit more hesitant to recommend the service as a primary form of service – and if you need unlimited data and like to carrier finance phones, I still don’t.

However, if you like cheap service that’s reliable and you purchase your own phones, I would definitely recommend giving it a try. It could work really well for you.

So there you go. Mint SIM is a great choice for people who don’t need a lot of add-ons, and can deal with a few occasional slowdowns when it comes to cheap wireless data service.

Head to our dedicated Mint SIM forums to ask questions and get more information!

Update, September 6, 2017: This article has been updated to reflect new information from a four-month-later review update.

Alternative carriers (MVNOS)

• What is an alternative mobile carrier?
• What are the advantages of going with an alternative carrier?
• How to make sure your phone works on a prepaid alternative carrier
• 8 Important Considerations When Switching To An MVNO
• These are the cheapest data plans you can buy in the U.S.
• Mint SIM vs. Cricket Wireless: Which is better for you?