The NHS is turning to tech to help prevent Type 2 diabetes

Last year, the NHS launched a diabetes prevention programme aimed at helping high-risk patients stop or delay the onset of full-blown Type 2 diabetes. NHS England has now announced that it’s turning to tech for the second phase of the project, and will pilot the use of digital tools and wearables to further the programme’s goal. Eight regions in the UK will aim to recruit over 5,000 patients in total over the next six months to take part in a year-long trial of new ways to tackle obesity and high blood sugar levels, both of which are common precursors to Type 2 diabetes.

Many of the resources on offer to participants revolve around promoting a healthier lifestyle to help bring blood sugar levels down. These include online personal coaching sessions, support groups, and various apps designed to help you set positive goals and achieve them. Some patients will also receive wearables as part of the programme. In one intensive six-week course, a wearable will be paired with a smart weighing scale. A longer-term project will see participants wear Buddi’s medical-grade Nujjer activity, sleep and eating tracker. The Nujjer wristband and app is specifically designed to decrease the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

The NHS has thought about how activity tracking could be used to promote healthier lifestyles before, but this diabetes prevention programme is the first time wearables have been made available to NHS patients. Encouraging people to lead healthier lives can help prevent any number of illnesses developing, but wearable tech is becoming increasingly valuable in treating diabetes. Rumor has it a future generation of the Apple Watch could even include glucose monitoring functionality to help diabetics better manage their chronic condition.

Via: Wareable, Diabetes.co.uk

Source: NHS England (1), (2)

Vimeo can stream videos in 8K and HDR

A few streaming services have supported colorful high dynamic range video and ultra-high resolutions for a while, but Vimeo is making up for lost time in grand style. The company has added support for both HDR videos and resolutions as high as 8K. You’re going to need a very rare 8K display to see footage in its full glory. However, HDR support is considerably broader: you ‘only’ need a device that can play HEVC video using HDR10. Some of Apple’s newer devices (including the Apple TV 4K, iPhone X and 2017 iPad Pros) already do, and Vimeo is quick to point out that it’s currently the only video hosting service to play HDR on Apple gear.

Conventional video is still available, of course, and you can download videos at their full quality (when eligible) if you want to share them or don’t have the bandwidth to stream them smoothly. Vimeo is also promising HDR for more video standards (such as VP9 and AV1), so don’t despair if you’re relegated to “just” standard dynamic range.

This won’t necessarily make a difference in your day-to-day viewing unless your favorite internet video producers upload to Vimeo. With that said, this could be important if you’re the one producing videos. You now have another place to upload video at extremely high quality, and it will be viewable on more devices. Moreover, this gives filmmakers an easy way to sell these videos and otherwise put their best foot forward.

Source: Vimeo

Neighboring exoplanet could be one of the most habitable

A team of astronomers have discovered an Earth-like exoplanet that’s only 11 light-years away and is one of the most potentially habitable celestial bodies we’ve ever come across. Ross 128 b is the second-closest temperate planet — or planets with temperatures that could support life — that we know of, with the closest being Proxima b that’s merely four light-years away.

While both of them orbit a red dwarf, some of the coolest stars in the universe, Ross 128 b’s star is much friendlier. It doesn’t emit as much solar flare as the Proxima Centauri, so it’s not as exposed to deadly ultraviolet and X-ray radiation that destroy life. In addition, it could still have an atmosphere to support life, since its slow rotation and weak magnetic activity means its atmosphere isn’t likely to erode that quickly.

The astronomers found Ross 128 b using ESO’s planet-hunting High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) instrument in Chile. Based on the data they got from HARPS, the exoplanet is around 35 percent bigger than Earth, orbits its star every 9.9 days and is 20 times closer to its star than we are to the sun. However, since Ross 128 is a red dwarf and our sun is a yellow dwarf that’s around twice as hot, the exoplanet still maintains surface temperatures ranging from -60 degrees to 20 degrees Celsius.

Scientists still aren’t sure where Ross 128b lies in the system’s habitable zone. The European Southern Observatory plans to study it more closely with the Extremely Large Telescope, though. Once the powerful observatory’s construction is done, it will look for biomarkers on the planet, such as oxygen, to determine whether it truly has the potential to support life.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: ESO

China wants to build a nuclear-powered space shuttle by 2040

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the main contractor for China’s space program. This week, the GB Times reports that the company released an ambitious roadmap for China’s space aspirations that could carry the country through 2040 and beyond.

It starts with the expansion of the Long March rocket family, which has been in operation since 1970. Long March 8, a low-cost rocket, should be ready by 2020, which will boost the CASC’s plans to compete in the commercial space sector by selling its launch services to other countries. After that, CASC plans to have a reusable space plane ready by 2025, which will be used primarily for space tourism.

The Long March 9 should be ready for its first flight by 2030. This is a heavy-lift rocket that will be capable of putting over 100 tons into low Earth orbit. By comparison, the Falcon Heavy, SpaceX’s heavy lift rocket that should debut late this year or early next year, has a capacity of 140,660 lbs (around 70 tons). While all of China’s rockets are currently single-use, the goal is to make the entire Long March line currently in service reusable by the year 2035.

CASC wants to have all-new launch vehicles by the time the year 2040 rolls around. According to the GB Times, the goals cited are “multiple interstellar round-trips, exploiting space resources through asteroid mining and constructing megaprojects such as a space-based solar power station.” The company also listed a nuclear-powered space shuttle as a 2040 goal, but we don’t have any additional information on that intriguing project yet.

China’s made no secret of its ambitious space plans, and its incredibly interesting to see this timeline from a technology standpoint. China’s already stated its goal of exploring the dark side of the moon next year and putting a human on the moon by 2036. It’s interesting to see how this timeline mirrors NASA’s progress in some ways — with the development of a heavy lift rocket (the Saturn V) followed by a reusable space shuttle. Hopefully, China can learn from some of NASA’s stumbles and missteps in this regard. It will certainly be interesting to see how their program develops over the next decade and beyond.

Source: GB Times, Xinhuanet

Amazon Key flaw could let a courier disable your Cloud Cam

Amazon recently weirded out much of the internet when it unveiled its Key delivery service that lets its couriers open your home and deliver packages while you’re away. A key part of that is the Cloud Cam security camera that confirms deliveries and shows that your house remains un-ransacked. Now, researchers from Rhino Security Labs have shown that it’s possible, under rare circumstances, to hack the camera so that everything looks fine while someone takes all your stuff.

The attack would work like this. A courier unlocks your door with their Key app, drops off the package and closes the door behind them. Rather than re-locking it, they then run a program on a custom-built device or laptop that spoofs the home’s router and disconnects the Cloud Cam from the network. The device keeps sending the command to prevent the camera from reconnecting.

Unfortunately, the system doesn’t alert you that the Cloud Cam is disconnected — instead, the camera keeps sending the last image it recorded, a normal shot of your door. In the meantime, the hacker can re-enter the house, move out of camera range, lock the door behind them using the Key app, and stop the jamming app, as shown below. They’re then free to rummage around your home, and neither you nor Amazon are any the wiser.

This type of hack can work with any WiFi device, to be fair, but most WiFi devices aren’t an integral part of a secure delivery system like the Cloud Cam is. “Disabling that camera on command is a pretty powerful capability when you’re talking about environments where you’re relying heavily on that being a critical safety mechanism,” Rhino’s Ben Caudill told Wired. The fact that the camera continues to show what looks like a normal image is perhaps the most significant flaw.

Amazon told Wired that it’s extremely unlikely such an attack would work, however. Its couriers must pass comprehensive background checks, deliveries are connected to specific drivers, and the company “verifies that the correct driver is at the right address, at the right time.”

So it would be pretty risky for a courier to steal something, and furthermore, they’d have to exit via another door or window as the front door would now be locked. It would be even tougher for a third-party to exploit the hack, as they’d have no way to open a door unless the courier was careless — and if so, Amazon would contact the homeowner within minutes.

Nevertheless, Amazon has promised to address the issue. “Later this week, we will deploy an update to more quickly provide notifications if the camera goes offline during delivery,” it said in a statement. In other words, Amazon should thank the hackers for helping them fix the hole, and hope that someone less forthright doesn’t find another — its Key service is a pretty tempting target.

Via: Wired

Source: Rhino Security (YouTube)

MegaBots wants to crowdfund a tournament for 2018

Once upon a time (in 2015), a crew of enthusiasts built the robot concept Eagle Prime and did what you do with a 15-foot-tall metal beast: Challenge its Japanese equivalent, Kuratas, to a duel. Years later, the creations finally duked it out in an incredible brawl that seemed — and then turned out to be — heavily edited. The cold reality was heartbreaking, but the team behind Eagle Prime wants to make it right…by hosting a massive robot tournament at the end of 2018. They just have to raise $950,000 on Kickstarter to put it on.

It’s not too crazy, given that the team crowdfunded over $550,000 years ago for the Eagle Prime vs. Kuratas duel. Should the new funding goal be met, Eagle Prime will join three other bots (seven, if stretch goals are met) to fight for glory in an unannounced 20,000-seat San Francisco location. Two Chinese teams (and their bots) are in talks to enter, with additional interest from groups in the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea, according to MegaBots’ press release.

MegaBots is portraying the tournament as a redemption tour of sorts that goes beyond a mea culpa for the match’s deception. “We want to say that it has always been our intention to create a live, unscripted sport, and this is the culmination of that drive,” MegaBots cofounder and CEO Gui Cavalcanti told Engadget.

The matches are a crucial step in making their robot combat sport a reality, MegaBots says in its press material. To that end, if the crowdfunding campaign makes stretch goals, the company will open source one of their older robot designs to facilitate other teams’ research efforts.

MegaBots stated that it will most likely fold if this crowdfunding goal isn’t met. If you want a tournament of robots fighting each other — and who doesn’t — then the Kickstarter can be found here.

Source: MegaBots Kickstarter

Apple’s New Chief Lawyer Katherine Adams Welcomed With Multimillion-Dollar Bonus Package of Restricted Stock

Apple’s incoming chief lawyer Katherine Adams has received a generous bonus package in the form of restricted stock units, or RSUs, according to a mandatory disclosure filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week.

Katherine Adams
The first part of the award consists of 57,482 RSUs that vest in quarterly instalments on the 13th day of May 2018, November 2018, November 2019, and November 2020, so long as Adams remains employed by Apple on those dates.

The second part of the award consists of up to 57,482 RSUs, a percentage of which will vest on October 1, 2020 based on Apple’s relative total shareholder return between November 13, 2017 and September 26, 2020.

Based on Apple’s performance compared to companies in the S&P 500 over the next three years, Adams can see the second part of her award increased by as much as 100 percent, or decreased to zero if Apple were to underperform.

Based on Apple’s closing price of $169.08 on Wednesday, each portion of 57,482 RSUs is worth slightly over $9.7 million for a potential total value of $19.4 million. The amount could be higher or lower based on Apple’s performance.

Apple frequently awards its senior executives with restricted stock units as an incentive for them to stay with the company.

Adams will succeed the retiring Bruce Sewell as Apple’s General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Legal and Global Security at the end of the year. She was previously general counsel at Honeywell.

Apple’s general counsel oversees all legal matters, including corporate governance, intellectual property, litigation and securities compliance, global security, and privacy.

Tag: Katherine Adams
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Apple Ranked as ‘Clear Leader’ in its Efforts to Source Conflict-Free Minerals From Supply Chain

Apple has been designated the “clear leader” in its methods of supporting a conflict-free minerals trade throughout its supply chain. The title was awarded to the company in a report published by the Enough Project, called the 2017 Conflict Minerals Company Rankings, in which Apple sits at the #1 spot. Rounding out the top 5 spots are Alphabet/Google at #2, HP at #3, Microsoft at #4, and Intel at #5.

The new Conflict Minerals Company Rankings look at 20 of the world’s largest companies in two of the industries that the Enough Project says “consume the most” tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold: consumer electronics and jewelry retail. These minerals are referred to as conflict minerals because they’re most often related to being sourced within war-torn countries that mine the minerals with little to no respect for workers’ rights.

Chart via the Enough Project
The Enough Project gathered these top 20 companies and awarded points to each based on the policies and practices that they enact regarding responsible mineral sourcing, with the lowest on the list designated as companies most in need of “considerable and urgent need for more action.” In total, the companies were ranked based on four core categories:

– Conducting Conflict Minerals Sourcing Due Diligence and Reporting
– Developing a Conflict-Free Minerals Trade and Sourcing Conflict-Free Minerals from Congo, Particularly Gold
– Supporting and Improving Livelihoods for Artisanal Mining Communities in Eastern Congo
– Conflict-Free Minerals Advocacy

In its full report, Apple is placed in the “Outstanding Company Efforts” section, which represents the companies “going above and beyond to get more directly at the heart of maintaining robust due diligence practices and sourcing conflict-free minerals from Congo.” Specifically, Apple is the only company to receive full credits for identifying and following up with supply chain incidents reported to it by suppliers and other sources. Apple has “clearly demonstrated its commitment” to scouring for red flags related to these reports and taking action by dropping suppliers and others in its supply chain that turn out to be noncompliant with its standards.

After developing its Risk Readiness Assessment program in order to help identify conflict minerals sourcing in its supply chain, among other risk-related sourcing factors, Apple partnered with the Responsible Business Alliance in order to make this program widely accessible to other companies. According to the Enough Project, this put Apple above and beyond all other companies ranked on the list.

Apple not only has found better ways of addressing incidents within its own supply chain, but it has also helped develop shared centralized platforms for risk assessment that other companies can use. This extra effort contributes to the overall strengthening of conflict minerals supply chain due diligence.

The Enough Project’s report follow a separate study published by Amnesty International earlier this week, which described Apple as the industry leader in responsible cobalt sourcing. That report said Apple has taken “adequate” action in terms of sourcing conflict-free minerals, earning a top ranking alongside Samsung in the same category.

Apple annually discusses this part of the supply chain in its Supplier Responsibility Reports, which typically come out around February and March. This year’s report highlighted cobalt supplier audits in the Congo, its “highest ever” work hour compliance, and discussed the success of Apple’s Supplier Education Program. These reports are intended to show the strides that Apple takes to improve the work lives of its device manufacturing employees, who work to create products including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and more.

To see more of the Enough Project’s 2017 Conflict Minerals Company Rankings, visit the project’s website here.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: supplier responsibility
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Third Man Records Reveal Exclusive New Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones Launching November 24

Beats By Dre today unveiled an all-new black-and-yellow version of the Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones, which will be exclusive to Third Man Records. The Third Man Records Limited Edition headphones will cost $329.50 — which is $30 more expensive than other Solo3 headphones sold by Apple — and officially go on sale Friday, November 24.

The limited edition #ThirdManBeats #Solo3Wireless are available for presale on https://t.co/VfpppzFO7p now. pic.twitter.com/Nv9IAMB5a5

— Beats By Dre (@beatsbydre) November 16, 2017

For the $30 premium on other Solo3 Headphones, customers who purchase the Third Man Records edition will get a custom carrying case, black-and-yellow 3.5mm braided cable that matches the headphones, and an exclusive flexi-disc featuring The Raconteurs’ song “Level.” The headphones also feature a few details related to Third Man Records, including the company’s logo and stripes on the inside and outside of the headphones, respectively.

Visit the Third Man Store to pre-order the new Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones today.

Tags: Beats, Beats by Dre
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iHome Launches Outdoor Smart Plug Compatible With HomeKit

iHome today launched the iSP100, a smart plug for controlling outdoor lights, decorations, and small appliances with up to 1,800 watts of power. The three-pin Type B smart plug works with a GFI-enabled outdoor 120V power supply and has a rugged design that is able to withstand the elements of weather.

Like iHome’s indoor smart plugs, the iSP100 is compatible with Apple’s HomeKit platform, allowing iPhone and iPad users to set schedules and scenes to automate outdoor lighting or whatever is plugged into it. The smart plug can be controlled with Apple’s Home app or the iHome Control app from the App Store.

iHome also unveiled a trio of Wi-Fi-enabled, battery-powered smart home sensors, each priced at $29.99, but none of them support HomeKit.

• iSB01 — Motion Sensor
• iSB02 — Leak Sensor
• iSB04 — Door/Window Sensor

The new sensors can be configured to automatically turn iHome smart plugs on or off should a door or window open, motion be detected, or a leak occur. For example, if a motion detector senses motion in a room, it can trigger the smart plugs in that room to turn on, switching on lights, fans, and other appliances.

iHome’s smart home products can be purchased at select retailers, including Amazon, Apple, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, and Home Depot. The iSP100 is available now, while the trio of sensors are listed as “coming soon.”

Tags: HomeKit, iHome
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