AliveCor wearables may detect unsafe potassium levels in the future

AliveCor is working on a new application for the technology behind its KardiaBand for Apple Watch. Last year, the FDA approved KardiaBand as a medical device, and it can record your heart rhythm and report on any rhythmic abnormalities that could be linked to dangerous health issues. Now, The Verge reports, AliveCor is developing a way for its technology to be used to detect high levels of potassium in the blood.

High blood potassium levels constitute a condition known as hyperkalemia. It can be related to a number of causes, including kidney disease, dehydration, injury and diabetes and hyperkalemia can affect heartbeat rhythm. Yesterday, during the American College of Cardiology conference, AliveCor presented work done with the Mayo Clinic showing that its technology can detect hyperkalemia through EKGs.

The researchers used electrocardiogram data collected from 709,000 patients over the course of 23 years, which included 2.1 million EKGs and 4 million blood potassium measurements. Two-thirds of that data were used to train a neural network to detect hyperkalemia through EKG readings. That network was then tested on the other third of the data. It was able to correctly detect cases of hyperkalemia 85 percent of the time and accurately label those that weren’t hyperkalemic 72 percent of the time. The team also tested it on 10 patients using an experimental AliveCor smartphone EKG device and from almost 50 hours of data — 5.4 of which recorded a hyperkalemic state — the neural network was able to correctly spot hyperkalemia 94 percent of the time and non-hyperkalemia 74 percent of the time.

It’s important to note that these findings are preliminary and AliveCor’s technology hasn’t been approved by the FDA to detect hyperkalemia. The company is continuing with its trials, The Verge reports, and will likely seek FDA clearance in the future.

Via: The Verge

Source: ACC

Drones add eerie halos to landscape photos in ‘Lux Noctis’

Drones usually act as flying cameras, often to great effect, but landscape photographer Reuben Wu has discovered an equally compelling use for them. In the series Lux Noctis (light the night), his UAVs both lit up and created halos around landforms in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico, California’s Alabama Hills and elsewhere. The results, he told National Geographic, are “a bit like a chiaroscuro painting, where one starts with a blank canvas and then adds light to the picture.”

Wu has used the drones in two ways for his dramatic, surreal photos. In the first technique, he attached LED lamps to 3D Robotics drones and set them off on GPS-controlled flights. He took the photos with a medium format Phase One camera while the drone was stationary, experimenting with the height, angle and distance from the subject. Once back home, he layered the photos together until the image matched his vision.

For later photos, he created time-lapse exposures while the drones ran in set circles around the rock pinnacles, tracing out “halos” in the sky. “The circles are actual light paths of the modified drone I used to light the landscapes,” Wu told PetaPixel.

A post shared by Reuben Wu (@itsreuben) on Feb 12, 2018 at 9:10am PST

Shooting time-lapse images at night often requires weeks of tedious planning, so adding drones and artificial lighting calculations to the equation increases the degree of difficulty. Making it tougher still, Wu never shoots when other people are around. “I keep my entire kit portable so I can hike to very remote spots. I never fly when there are other visitors present, it’s important to me that the location is very remote and I am alone to create these pictures.”

Lighting up landscapes with drones is a clever way to give them Hollywood grandeur without actually disturbing the environment. His technique is also meant to make you see our planet with fresh eyes. (To see other incredible photos in the series, click here.)

“Lux Noctis is a series of photographs (and motion pieces) depicting landscapes within the framework of traditional landscape photography but influenced by ideas of planetary exploration, 19th century sublime romantic painting, and science fiction,” he wrote on Behance. “We are overwhelmed everyday by beautiful images of the familiar. I imagine these scenes transformed into undiscovered landscapes which renew our perceptions of our world.”

Via: Co. Design

Source: Reuben Wu

China’s law enforcement expands use of facial recognition glasses

Police in China are expanding their use of facial recognition glasses. Last month, law enforcement in the country used LLVision Technology’s facial recognition glasses to spot criminals evading the law or train and plane passengers using fake IDs among the millions traveling for the lunar new year. Now, Reuters reports, police are using them to check travelers and car registration plates outside of Beijing ahead of Parliament’s annual meeting in the city.

The glasses are being used to check people and registration plates against a centralized “blacklist” that the government compiles. Along with the facial recognition glasses, the government is also using facial scanners to monitor those entering the venue for the meeting.

Many are concerned with the growing use of ever-more sophisticated surveillance technology throughout China and many worry that the blacklist will contain not only criminals, but political dissidents, journalists and human rights activists as well. “(China’s) leadership once felt a degree of trepidation over the advancement of the internet and communication technologies,” David Bandurski, co-director of the University of Hong Kong’s China Media Project, told Reuters. “It now sees them as absolutely indispensable tools of social and political control.”

Via: Reuters

Spotify needs your help tagging and sorting tunes

Music streaming services can be frustrating if you’re an avid listener, since your definitions may not line up with theirs. They may lump trance, techno and drum-and-bass into a generic “dance” category, for instance. Spotify, at least, knows it needs to do better… and it’s asking you for help. It quietly launched a Line-In feature that lets you suggest edits to the metadata for artists, albums and songs. You can recommend genres, tags, moods and even nicknames. You could clarify that an “electronica” album is really tech house, or remind Spotify that many people refer to Metallica’s self-titled record as “the Black Album.”

Spotify told Variety that the chances of acceptance will depend on accuracy checks. Line-In both supplies a number of musical aptitude surveys and verifies whether or not other listeners are making similar suggestions. If you can’t tell the difference between Run the Jewels and Run-DMC, you probably won’t make your changes stick unless many others are saying the same thing.

This is the first large streaming service to open the doors to user edits, but it might not be the last. Spotify and its rivals depend on discovery to reel you in — you’re more likely to stay subscribed if you can find an obscure album or listen to a playlist that caters to your exact tastes. Music is defined by fuzzy categories and other human imperfections, and crowdsourced edits help acknowledge that reality.

Source: Variety

YouTube makes art out of ads at SXSW

Unless it’s during the Super Bowl, chances are not many actively look forward to watching ads. But the main reason people do enjoy those is because brands design them to have a cultural effect, rather than just feel like a simple product pitch video. At SXSW, YouTube is showing a form of that with “The Greatest Stories Retold,” an installation inside its Story HQ space that had 13 creative agencies turn classic fairy tales like Snow White into interactive, short-form stories. What YouTube hopes to accomplish with this is to show the power of its 6- and 15-second ads, as well as longer-form ones.

My personal favorite was Goldi’s Locks, though that was mostly because I found it hilarious to see a bear with a blonde wig trying to sell me a lock. While there wasn’t much of an interactive aspect to that particular piece, YouTube did have others where you could step into high heels to play a video, or another where you sat in front of a desktop computer, pressed some keys and then you’d watch the story unfold. The experience was fairly similar to Vimeo’s “The Decade” at SXSW, where it turned popular internet films into an art exhibition.

An interactive version of Jackie and the Beanstalk.

For YouTube, this was mostly a way to encourage advertisers to get more creative with their ads, and to let them know that all formats can be effective as long as your storytelling can resonate with consumers. Ben Jones, creative director and head of Unskippable Labs at Google, said that his team’s goal is to find the best way to target users regardless of how long an ad is, be it six or 15 seconds, or even longer. “The biggest challenge is that we have this muscle memory that says, ‘this is what an ad is,’” he said. “An ad is a thing that tells a story that has reasons to believe in supporting evidence and pays off for the brand. Well, that’s more time than you have in six seconds, so what can you do in six seconds?”

He said that having those time constraints also pushes advertisers to get their point across clearly. “I think it forces clarity,” he said. “It forces you, because especially after you do a lot of six-second ads, suddenly, 30 seconds seems like forever.” Either way, the truth is that ads aren’t going away anytime soon, probably ever. So if they can start feeling less like, well, ads (as they did at YouTube’s SXSW exhibit), then that’s a win-win for everyone.

Catch up on the latest news from SXSW 2018 right here.

L’Oréal’s Skinceuticals system makes lab-grade serums just for your skin

The rise of beauty tech has brought about hyper personalized care. From smart salons that cater to your hair type and color, to makeup you can apply virtually before buying, the use of tech in the cosmetics industry is designed to better address individual needs. In theory, anyway. At SXSW 2018, L’Oréal launched a new system under its Skinceuticals dermatological brand that can create skin serums tailored to your exact preferences.

I sat through a consultation with a Skinceuticals rep, answering questions about my skin type and concerns. I also had to indicate my preference for retinol in the product, which is a regulated ingredient that can cause flaking and peeling when used excessively. In fact, that’s part of what makes D.O.S.E unique — according to Loreal, you wouldn’t otherwise be able to find as comprehensive collection of active ingredients like retinol outside a lab.

Since custom D.O.S.E specifically targets discoloration and aging concerns right now, it doesn’t really need to have an extremely broad spectrum of ingredients anyway. It currently uses eight “highly concentrated key ingredients and counting,” which are dispensed via 24 canisters in the machine that was on display. After answering a series of questions, I would receive one of 48 possible formula concentrations for a serum that would treat my specific issues.

The consultation didn’t ask questions that were very different from those I had to answer when I signed up for similar services like Curology. But the Skinceuticals experience felt slightly more personal and guided, since I had the help of the rep, who advised me on things like the roughness of my skin. I had to pick from levels 1 to 3 (the bigger the number the rougher), and the consultant helpfully jumped in, saying, “Your skin isn’t Level 3.”

Unlike the Lancome Le Teint Particulier custom foundation demo that was happening alongside, Skinceuticals’ system does not use a scanner for your skin to determine what you need. You’ll rely on your own understanding of your needs and the consultant’s in-person assessment to fill out your questionnaire.

What’s neat about Skinceutical’s machine is how it determines how much of each ingredient to drip into your vial. According to the company rep, the device takes a relatively longer time to finish doling out your formula because it is constantly calculating how much your bottle weighs to figure out how much more to add. Once the machine is done dispensing all the components of your serum, the rep puts a stopper in your vial and sticks it in the centrifugal mixer at the top of the device. After about half a minute of shaking, your serum is properly combined and ready for you.

Custom skincare isn’t new — services like Curology, which I mentioned earlier that I subscribe to, already offer tailored formulations and even from the comfort of your own home. What Skinceuticals wants to do is provide its system to licensed practitioners so they can formulate premium skincare products tailored to their clients’ needs, and do so with a range of ingredients that aren’t necessarily available via online alternatives. So far, I got a bottle of serum that’s designed for my skin all in less than a half hour. I haven’t tried it out yet, so I can’t tell you how effective the formula is, but I can already see the value in a quickly made product that addresses my individual concerns.

Catch up on the latest news from SXSW 2018 right here.

Philips introduces its first outdoor Hue lights

Philips Hue is a popular smart home lighting system, so it was only a matter of time before the company extended to the outdoors. Today, Philips announced its new outdoor range, which extends the light bulb system’s smart features from within the home to its exterior.

The products work seamlessly with existing Hue systems, just like any indoor lights. The lights come in white as well as white and color ambiance. The Philips Hue Lily ($279.99) is a new spotlight system that you can use to highlight your garden, while the Calla (starting at $129.99) is designed for path lighting. Other products in the outdoor range are called Lucca, Tuar, Turaco and Ludere and will start at $49.99. Phillips is hosting a press conference about its outdoor lights on Monday, March 19th. Presumably, we’ll have more information on products availability at that point.

Source: Philips

Alexa App on iPad Can Now Initiate Phone/Video Calls and Send Messages to Echo Devices

Amazon is now allowing users to make phone calls, video calls, and send messages from an iPad, Android, or Fire tablet to an Alexa-enabled Echo device. Previously, users had to activate calls or send messages using an Echo, so now it should be easier to communicate within Amazon’s Alexa ecosystem (via Engadget). To receive calls, users need any device with the Alexa app installed or an Echo speaker.

The update also introduces Drop In support for the Alexa app on iPads and other tablets, meaning that iPad users can quickly send a message to someone near an Echo in a different room. Engadget noted that the new features are easiest to access on Amazon’s own Fire HD 10 tablet, where Alexa is supported across the software, but iPad users will of course first have to open the Alexa iOS app to initiate calls and send messages.

Amazon’s Alexa assistant has been in the news recently for scaring some users after creepily laughing for no apparent reason. Amazon has acknowledged the events and said it’s working on a fix to roll out to affected users. Additionally, late last week Alexa gained a new “Follow-Up Mode,” which lets the assistant respond to multiple questions in quick succession, without requiring the user to repeat the “Alexa” wake up command.

Amazon Alexa is available on the iOS App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tags: Amazon, Amazon Echo, Alexa
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Apple Seeds Fifth Beta of iOS 11.3 to Developers

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming iOS 11.3 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the fourth beta and three weeks after the release of iOS 11.2.6, an update that addressed a bug causing iPhones and iPads to crash when a character from the Indian language Telugu was rendered improperly.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 11.3 beta from Apple’s Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

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iOS 11.3 is a major update that introduces a long list of new features, like Messages in iCloud for saving space and syncing messages across devices, and ARKit 1.5, a new version of ARKit able to more accurately map irregularly shaped surfaces, recognize images, and place objects on vertical surfaces like walls.

There are four new Animoji on the iPhone X (dragon, bear, skull, and lion), and in the Health app, there’s a new Health Records feature that aggregates all of your medical records in one easy-to-access place.

As of iOS 11.3 beta 2, the update includes a new “Battery Health” feature that’s designed to provide iOS users with more information about their batteries.

Battery Health offers details on maximum battery capacity and peak performance capability, and for devices with degraded batteries, it provides information on if and when a device is being throttled with performance management features. It also provides a way for customers who do have a device with a degraded battery to turn off performance management all together.

By default, iOS 11.3 disables performance management on the iPhone, and the feature is only re-enabled once a device experiences an unexpected shutdown.

Early betas of iOS 11.3 and tvOS 11.3 included support for AirPlay 2 features, allowing audio to be played to multiple Apple TVs, but these features were removed in iOS 11.3 and tvOS 11.3 beta 3.

Other features in iOS 11.3 include a “For You” section in Apple News that displays the top videos of the day, support for Advanced Mobile Location (AML) for more accurate location when placing an emergency call in a supported country, more information about app size in the Updates tap in the App Store, software authentication for HomeKit, and a new Privacy screen and icon that will show up whenever Apple asks you for info.

The privacy screen is reflected in several new splash screens that pop up when you first open apps. The App Store also now lets you sort reviews by most helpful, most favorable, most critical, and most recent, a handy change for better finding the app info you’re looking for.

Business Chat, which will let you interface with businesses like Wells Fargo, Delta, Hilton and Lowe’s right in the Messages app is coming when iOS 11.3 is released, and improvements to Apple Music will bring better support for music videos.

iOS 11.3 will be released to the public in the spring. Spring kicks off on March 20, so the update will be in testing for at least another couple of weeks.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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Apple Seeds Fifth Beta of macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 to Developers

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 update to developers, one week after seeding the fourth beta and three weeks after the release of a macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Supplemental Update to address a bug that could cause apps to crash when receiving a character from the Indian language Telugu.

The new macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 beta can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store with the proper profile installed.

macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 includes bug fixes and performance improvements for issues that weren’t addressed in macOS High Sierra 10.13.3.

The update offers support for some features that are available in iOS 11.3, like Messages on iCloud, which uploads all of your iMessages to the cloud. It will also support Business Chat, a feature coming when iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4 are released to the public, and it includes improved support for eGPUs.

The macOS 10.13.4 update also brings the smoke cloud wallpaper that was previously only available on the iMac Pro and it introduces a warning when opening up a 32-bit app as part of an effort to phase them out.

In the future, Apple plans to phase out 32-bit Mac apps, just like it did with 32-bit iOS apps. Apple says macOS High Sierra is the last version of macOS that will support 32-bit apps without compromises.

Related Roundup: macOS High Sierra
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