Would you pay $350 for Levis’ new smart jacket?

Well, it’s about time. On Monday, October 2, you’ll be able to order Levi’s touch-sensitive denim smart jacket for $350. That’s quite a bit for a simple jean jacket, but thanks to its integration of Google’s “Jacquard” technology, it’s more than just outerwear — it has a few tricks up its sleeve. Well, on its sleeve, actually.

The Project Jacquard denim jacket features a touch-sensitive sleeve that allows you to control your smartphone with taps, swipes, and brushing motions. According to the Verge, it’s primarily designed with cyclists in mind, so you’ll be able to pause your smartphone’s music playback or skip songs with a simple gestures.

At launch, its capabilities will be limited, but it’s interesting to see clothing manufacturers working in concert with companies like Google to make something unique. According to Levi’s, the difference between Project Jacquard and other smart clothing on the market is simple: They set out to make a garment, not just a device.

Would you buy Levi's new $350 smart jacket? https://t.co/I3aq36OOUP

— Digital Trends (@DigitalTrends) September 25, 2017

McLaren Invincible shield body armor protects human organs with F1 car tech

Why it matters to you

In the future, you may owe your life to today’s Formula 1 race cars.

F1 race car technology may someday save your life. McLaren Applied Technologies‘ Project Invincible developed a protective shield for a private client to guard vital organs following surgery.

You may associate McLaren with supercars bearing the same name or the McLaren Honda Formula 1 racing team.

The McLaren Group has many divisions, however, often developing or using technology from each other. McLaren Applied Technologies designs innovative performance breakthroughs in a variety of fields, including health technology. “Progressive collaborations” is a term straight from the group’s mission statement.

According to McLaren’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Adam Hill, “From digital therapeutics to tailored human performance programmes and bespoke medical devices, our aim is to innovate healthcare solutions that can be tailored to individual patients.

“The common thread in all of our projects is data. We use data to build a digital picture of how a patient is performing or recovering, and then create solutions, or in the case of the Project Invincible, devices, to aid our users.”

The Invincible shield’s primary job is to protect the heart and lungs, augmenting the function of the rib cage. The shield’s materials also protect against low-energy impact. So while that sounds like McClaren’s body armor isn’t intended to stop bullets, it will deflect a myriad of other impact sources.

The wrap-around vest-like shield uses high-failure strain Dyneema fibers often used in body armor to contain damage. Woven fabric with a highly toughened resin system resists impact. Zylon fibers, employed in all F1 cars to protect against side penetration, and rigid carbon fibers enhance load-carrying capacity and flex resistance.

The result pulled all the above technologies together in a unique fashion. “The Invincible shield is made from materials that will be in next year’s Formula 1 car,” Hill said.

The client wanted a discrete everyday garment that could be worn under a shirt. McLaren’s team produced what is maybe the ultimate bespoke vest with the client’s specific requirements and exact internal and external body imagery.

With that data and continued client feedback availability, the team utilized in-house resources for mechanical engineering, industrial design, and specialty composites. The end solution “was designed completely around the user, and was entirely data-led — it delivered on every level because the team had listened to the data throughout. True data-driven design,” according to McLaren’s website.

Google is finally adding support for Reminders to Google Home

Better late than never — support for reminders is coming to Google Home!

Google has been slow and steady at adding features to the Google Home since its debut last year. One key feature that has been missing is the ability to create reminders, but it appears that feature will be added soon.

According to a freshly published support page found by Android Police, you’ll soon be able to use your Google Home to set time-based reminders (ex. “Remind me to call Mom this Sunday at noon.”) and recurring time-based reminders (ex. “Remind me to take my medicine every day at 8 p.m.”) using just your voice, with all reminders being sent to the Google app on your phone. You’ll also be able to ask your Google Home about your upcoming reminders (Ex. “What are my reminders?”) and delete single or all reminders as needed.

It’s the same functionality as you’d find on Google Assistant on your phone, except with your Google Home speaker, so you don’t need to look at your phone for confirmation. The feature will work with multiple users, too, which is great and might explain why it took nearly a year to add. The feature will be supported in English first and be available in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada.

Google Home

• Google Home review
• These services work with Google Home
• Google Home vs. Amazon Echo
• Join our Google Home forums!

Google Store Best Buy Target

Stream ‘Powerpuff Girls’ on Cartoon Network’s Roku app

If you’re looking to dig deep into newer animated shows on your Roku, you’re in luck. The Emmy-winning Cartoon Network app — already available on Apple TV, iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV and via Chromecast — is now available for your Roku system.

The app has full-length episodes from popular shows like Adventure Time, Steven Universe, The Powerpuff Girls, and Teen Titans Go!. It also premieres “See It First” episodes via the app before they air on television as well as “hilarious clips, customized video mixes and other fun surprises.” You’ll still need to log in with your TV provider, though there will be some content available for those without a login, too.

If retro cartoons are more your thing, Roku also has the Warner Bros. Boomerang app to check out, which offers new original series along with classic shows like Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny, The Jetsons and The Flintstones.

Ivanka Trump used personal email for government business

It seems Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner isn’t the only one in the family to use private email accounts for government business. A freedom of information act (FOIA) request by nonprofit watchdog group American Oversight has revealed that Ivanka Trump also used a personal email account to perform government functions.

Compelled by the FOIA request, the Small Business Administration released email correspondence (PDF) between it and Ivanka Trump via a private email address dating to February 28th. While this date was technically prior to her taking an official (and notoriously unpaid) position in the White House, she likely could have received a government email account, Newsweek argued — especially since her chief of staff had one at the time.

While this was Ivanka’s only offending email that’s surfaced thus far, as compared to the “fewer than a hundred emails” Kushner’s lawyer confirmed he’d sent from a private account while doing government business, it’s still the same political sin Donald Trump endlessly criticized Hillary Clinton for on the campaign trail. American Oversight Executive Director Austin Evers noted the hypocrisy in a statement appending the FOIA report:

“Yet again we see that there’s one rule for the Trump family and another for everyone else. It’s simply breathtaking that both Ivanka and Jared Kushner would conduct government on a personal email account after running a campaign centered on that very issue. The fact that they would brazenly ignore rules governing email use raises even more questions about their judgement and fitness to hold positions in the White House,” Evers stated.

Via: Mother Jones

Source: American Oversight

Verizon gives up on its Android Wear watch after 4 months

Did you rush out to buy Verizon’s Wear24 smartwatch? No? You’re far from alone, apparently. Verizon has quietly discontinued the Android Wear 2.0 device a little over 4 months after its mid-May debut. The carrier isn’t explaining the decision other than to confirm that it happened, but it’s safe to say the Wear24 wasn’t selling well — you just don’t drop a product that quickly if sales are at all decent. There’s also no hint as to what people didn’t enjoy about the watch, but… well, we have a few ideas.

To begin with, there was nothing particularly noteworthy to justify the $350 price. The design could be charitably described as… inoffensive. It wouldn’t trigger revulsion, but no one was going to fawn over it, either. The feature set was strictly middle-of-the-road and didn’t include support for mobile payments like the LG Watch Sport (which Verizon dropped, we’d add) or Samsung Gear S3. Many users panned the speaker, too, which made the Wear24’s signature LTE calling feature near-useless without headphones. The wearable really served as Verizon’s attempt to control smartwatch sales in its stores. It was an extra device for staff to sell to someone who was buying the Android phone du jour and looking to accessorize.

And then there’s the nature of the industry. Like it or not, Apple dominates the smartwatch market — outside of fashion brands like Fossil, most competitors aren’t faring well. Verizon was always going to face an uphill battle selling to customers who weren’t even buying smartwatches from brands like LG and Samsung, let alone a carrier’s in-house model. Without name recognition or a huge audience for Android-powered watches, the Wear24 just wasn’t going to attract much attention.

Via: 9to5Google, Android Police

Source: Droid Life

Tesla Model 3’s touchscreen control panel detailed in new video

Shortly after Tesla rolled its first eagerly-anticipated Model 3 off the assembly line back in July, we got a ride in the car and were impressed. But we were skeptical of the decision to forgo a traditional dashboard cluster and cram all the instrument readings into the single center-dash touchscreen, which yanks the driver’s attention away from the road. We haven’t seen much about how it will work in the interim. But last weekend, a video popped up showing off the Model 3’s screen interface, giving us a first look at how drivers will monitor and control the whole car through the touchpad.

In the video, a showman in a Tesla dealership in Austin, Texas, shows off the first Model 3 in the state. All the car’s instrument readings (and even local speed limits) are displayed on the screen, as there’s no dashboard cluster whatsoever. But from there, the driver or passengers can also fiddle with the climate, music, windshield wiper speed and so on, which is how the screen interface functions in Tesla’s Model X or S vehicles — the Model 3 just adds in essential driver information on the left side.

This is the first look at the interface for most folks because Tesla hasn’t shared much about the upcoming car. Details have trickled out thanks to the small but growing number of Model 3 owners, who have banded together into an info-sharing group. Initial responses are a little troubling — the Model 3 can’t play FM radio or stream audio from their smart devices — but as Ars Technica suggested, a lot of the kinks will probably be worked out in the coming months as the interface continues to be refined.

Via: Jalopnik

Source: Streamable

Russia-linked Facebook ads sought to exploit US social divisions

There’s been a lot of fuss over a Russian group buying Facebook ads in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, to the point where it’s handing the ads to Congress as it investigates the scope of Russia’s influence campaign. But what’s in those ads, exactly? We might have a better idea. Washington Post sources say that the 3,000 ads headed to Congress were built to exploit American social divisions. Some championed activist groups like Black Lives Matter, while others portrayed them as existential threats. Others aimed to split opinions through hot-button issues like Islam, LGBT rights, gun rights and immigration.

The members of Congress involved in the investigation haven’t seen the ads yet, but have confirmed at least some of the content following briefings. House Intelligence Committee lead Rep. Adam Schiff doesn’t believe the ads were intended to drive incensed voters to the polls — rather, they were meant as an act of “voter suppression” that discouraged involvement. That’s backed by strategies seen elsewhere, such as attempts to fuel voter boycotts among Bernie Sanders supporters upset he didn’t win the Democratic nomination.

While it’s still not certain that the Russian government was directly behind the ads, they line up with strategies the country has used for decades, such as paying for ads in newspapers and even creating activist groups. The difference, of course, would be the scale that the internet involves. The $100,000 in ads may not sound like much, but that can get you a lot of views (BlitzMetrics’ Dennis Yu believes it could be “hundreds of millions”) with relatively little effort. Russia could have paid a relatively minuscule amount to achieve the effect of fostering division and discouraging voters.

Source: Washington Post

Australia will establish its own space agency

Australia is very much a participant in the space industry with about 11,500 people working in the field. However, it has never had its own space agency — and that may put it at a disadvantage next to the US, Canada and other countries that have concerted space strategies. The government hopes to fix that. It just unveiled plans to create Australia’s first national space agency. There aren’t many details at this point (more are expected later in the week), but acting industry minister Hon. Michaelia Cash argues that it’s necessary to keep pace with a space industry that’s “growing rapidly.”

You should see a charter for the space agency by the end of March 2018.

Like many nations, Australia probably won’t have advanced launching pads and other facilities that you see in the likes of the US, Russia or China. If all goes well, though, this could foster space technology development and give future astronauts a flag to rally around. Australia-born astronauts like the since-retired Andy Thomas (above) became naturalized US citizens before going into orbit. Cash adds that the agency will be a “front door” for international space cooperation, so it could help Australia become a more visible presence in spaceflight than it is today.

Via: BBC

Source: Australian Government

Glass-Bodied iPhone 8 Shatters Repeatedly in Drop Tests

According to Apple, the glass used for its new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 devices is the most durable glass ever used in a smartphone, but that hasn’t helped the device resist shattering in a series of drop tests.

SquareTrade, a company that provides extended warranties for electronic devices, conducted drop tests on the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and, for comparative purposes, the Galaxy Note 8, which also has a glass body.

Both of the iPhone 8 models and the Galaxy Note 8 shattered on all sides in every single drop test, including front and back drops at a distance of six feet, a 22-foot shot drop test, and a tumble test. Each test was conducted using the same equipment.

Ultimately, Square Trade gave the iPhone 8 a breakability score of 67, the iPhone 8 Plus a breakability score of 74, and the Galaxy Note 8 a breakability score of 80. At 67 and 74, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are at “medium risk” of breakage from a drop, while the Galaxy Note 8 is at “high risk.” The Galaxy Note 8 fared worse because it was non-functional after some of the tests, while the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus remained usable despite the broken glass.

YouTuber JerryRigEverything also did a drop test on the iPhone 8 in a case and without a case. It survived a drop from knee height and was okay after one fall from waist height because it landed on the aluminum frame, but the glass broke after a second waist-high drop. The iPhone 8 in a case unsurprisingly fared better.

Another YouTube drop test that compared the iPhone 8 Plus to the iPhone 7 Plus, and the iPhone 8 Plus shattered on the first drop. The iPhone 7 Plus survived a drop on its back, of course, as it has an aluminum body.

Drop tests are never scientific and are not a reliable measure of durability because of the many variables involved when a device is dropped, but it’s clear that even with the most durable glass used in a smartphone, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are more prone to catastrophic breakage than previous-generation iPhones.

While both sides of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are now made of glass, the display and the body don’t appear to share the same repair costs, so if you drop it on the wrong side, it’s going to be an expensive fix.

With AppleCare+, Apple charges $29 for replacement for a broken display, but a broken glass body is subject to the $99 “other damage” repair fee rather than the screen replacement fee. Sans AppleCare+, a display repair for the iPhone 8 costs $149 and an “other damage” repair costs $349. iPhone 8 Plus repairs are even more expensive at $169 for the display and $399 for the body.

Apple is also charging more for its AppleCare+ plans this year, with AppleCare+ for iPhone 8 priced at $129 and AppleCare+ for iPhone 8 Plus priced at $149. AppleCare+ covers two incidents of accidental damage.
Discuss this article in our forums