Researchers develop a drug-sniffing car that can pinpoint your stash
A chemistry professor in Texas has equipped an electric Ford sedan with a unique (and possibly unconstitutional) aftermarket upgrade: a drug-sniffing device that can recognize small amounts of illegal substances in the air and locate the source with surprising accuracy.
The device, designed by Dr. Guido Verbeck of the University of North Texas and East Syracuse-based Inficon, was originally intended to measure highway pollution and other environmental applications, Vice News reports. But Verbeck and his team quickly realized it “could be used to precisely determine the source of any unique chemical profile traveling through the air — including those associated with many types of drugs.”
To test the device, Verbeck set up a Breaking Bad play set fake mobile home meth lab and pumped “drug fumes” out off the air vents. The device was able to detect the fumes from a distance of a quarter-mile. “When certain types of chemical strains are detected, the computer kicks on and starts calculating where that strain is coming from,” Verbeck told Vice News. “Within a matter of minutes, the location is pinpointed within a 4 percent error.”
The device is essentially a more durable, road-ready version of a mass spectrometer that sits in the passenger seat of a hybrid sedan. The delicate instruments are isolated from the road thanks to an electromagnetic suspension system and air vent near the rearview mirror sucks in outside air through a small intake. Once an offending substance has been identified, the onboard computer calculates the location by measuring diffusion in different locations and accounting for weather factors like wind speed and temperature.
While the most practical application here would be to track down large-scale manufacturers of synthetic drugs, Verbeck says it could even be used to find something as mellow as a burning joint. Although drug-sniffing tech like this isn’t out in the wild just yet, Verbeck believes a commercial version could cost as little as $80,00 to $100,000. Naturally, law enforcement agencies are excited by the prospect of car that could detect grow houses and meth labs simply by driving around a neighborhood, even if it could constitute an illegal search and seizure under the fourth amendment.
While legal experts say its anyone’s guess how a court would rule on the matter, one DEA agent quoted by Vice News didn’t seem to see a problem here. “If it’s in the air, it’s like the air waves,” Special Agent Patterson explained. “They’re not owned by anybody.”
Periscope will add DJI drone streaming and broadcast saving soon
Today Periscope announced that later this week it will be implementing support for live streaming from DJI drones via iPhones and that it will soon start saving all videos by default. The Twitter-owned service also said that users will be able to search for broadcasts based on topic hashtags like #Travel, #Music and #Food. It will also launch special topics like “GoPros and Drones” and “First Scope.”
The drone feature will work just like broadcasting from a GoPro — a feature that was introduced back in January. Users will be able to switch on the fly from the DJI Drone, a GoPro and an iPhone. While video is being shot, people will be able to narrate and sketch on the footage from their handsets.
For folks who want their broadcasts to last longer than 24 hours, the upcoming saving feature will not only save the video but also the chat and likes. Periscope recently implemented a beta version of the upcoming save feature that required users to add #save to the title.
The search feature should help those looking for a certain type of live video. Currently the app only lets you search for users or scour a global map. Users can add their lives stream by adding a hashtag to the title or launching a broadcast from the search results page.
Source: Periscope
Google News highlights big stories from local news outlets
When a local news story breaks into a wider audience and major media outlets clamor for coverage, the local reporters and news sources with the most background and expertise can often get lost in the shuffle. To fix this error, Google News has just implemented a new “Local Source” tag designed to highlight the local news outlets reporting on national stories.
The local sources are tagged and “identified automatically by looking at where a publisher has written about in the past and comparing that to the story location,” Google News Product Manager James Morehead writes. The tag is already live on news.google.com and in Google’s iOS and Android apps.
In the past Google has expanded their definition of news to include everything from press releases to message boards and relevant social media posts. In total, Google News currently draws on a roster of over 75,000 news sources, and while the local section can surface nearby news relevant to a local user, the new tag is designed spotlight the locally trusted sources on a story with national or international importance.
Karhoo takes on Uber with a price-comparing taxi app
Since Uber launched, taxi-booking companies have scrambled to create their own mobile-first services that give customers plenty of options, but ultimately lock customers to their fleet of drivers. A new entrant, Karhoo, launches as yet another of those types of apps, but it’s playing things a little differently from Uber and its rivals. It’s signed up 80,000 drivers of licensed black cabs, minicabs and executive cars (a third of which are in London) to provide a price comparison service for taxis across the UK.
Unlike Hailo and Gett, which exclusively deal with black cabs, and Kabbee, which currently partners with private car companies, Karhoo operates an open platform that lets any company (except Uber) connect their own systems to the app. In London, ComCab — provider of licensed taxis and black cabs — has already plugged into the service, as has Addison Lee, KV Cars, Swiss Cottage Cars and Mornington Cars.
When launched, Karhoo determines a user’s location and shows the availability of cars in their area. Journeys can be sorted by price, estimated time of arrival or type of vehicle, if there’s a need for luxury or a few additional seats. Because its system enables real-time data sharing, Karhoo can also tell supporting cab companies where demand is, allowing them to direct their fleet to wherever is busiest.
One key thing Karhoo has over Uber, however, is that it also provides the ability to pre-book a taxi, whether it’s on the same day or up to a year in advance. That’s something that Transport for London (TfL) considered forcing Uber to do in the capital, but later decided against it.
Although Karhoo is launching in London today, the company plans to expand to New York and Singapore by 2017. It predicts that within a year it’ll allow customers to book through its app in 100 cities across the world.
Having a large number of vehicles on its app is one thing, but Uber has managed to squeeze its traditional counterparts by offering good service at a low price. Customers will ultimately decide whether Karhoo’s (and its partners’) service is up to scratch, but taxi companies may have just got a leg up in their fight against their app-based rivals.
Source: Karhoo
Engadget UK giveaway: Win an LG G5 and HDTV courtesy of Virgin Media
Of all the new smartphones launched this year, LG’s G5 is by far the most audacious. With two rear-facing cameras and a wacky, removable bottom bezel that can we swapped out for LG’s “Friends” accessories, the G5 is nothing if not different. And thanks to Virgin Media, we’ve got one to give away this week, with the added bonus of a 32-inch LG LED HDTV if a free flagship wasn’t enough. In fact, it’s the same deal currently available on Virgin Mobile right now: Pick up an LG G5 on any pay-monthly contract before May 31st, and get a free TV to boot. As per usual, you can enter the competition via the Rafflecopter widget below… after you’ve read the rules, that is.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
- Entries are handled through the Rafflecopter widget above. Comments are no longer accepted as valid methods of entry. You may enter without any obligation to social media accounts, though we may offer them as opportunities for extra entries. Your email address is required so we can get in touch with you if you win, but it will not be given to third parties.
- Contest is open to all residents of the UK, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
- Winners will be chosen randomly. One (1) winner will receive one (1) LG G5 and one (1) 32-inch HDTV.
- If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes your real name and a contact email or Facebook login. We do not track any of this information for marketing or third-party purposes.
- This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. LG, Virgin Media and Engadget / AOL are not held liable to honour warranties, exchanges or customer service.
- The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
- Entries can be submitted until May 13th at 11:59PM BST. Good luck!
Source: Virgin Media
HTC sales fell off a cliff
All is not well at HTC. It today posted another difficult earnings report detailing its fourth consecutive quarter of losses. The Taiwanese manufacturer, which has just released its latest flagship smartphone, the HTC 10, lost roughly $148 million between January 1st and March 31st. More worrying still is the drop in revenues when compared to 2015: HTC brought in 41.5 billion Taiwanese dollars this time last year (and broke even), versus 14.8 billion this year. That’s a 64-percent drop in revenues.
There are a couple of caveats worth noting: First, as mentioned, HTC’s new (and well-received) flagship has only just hit stores, so that’s not involved in these results. Second, the company’s VR headset, the Vive, is also not involved here. That said, the corresponding quarter last year similarly didn’t include sales of the HTC One M9. It should also be noted that this isn’t a massively new development: HTC has generally been trending downwards over the past few years, and has been attempting to restructure itself into a smaller, more efficient company.
How does HTC recover? As you’d expect, it’s trying to lower costs and raise revenues. Although it hasn’t gone into specifics, Chief Financial Officer Chialin Chang says HTC will “trim expenses” through the current quarter and beyond. HTC has recently sold off some land and property, and is likely to downsize its operations considerably in the search of profitability. Speaking about the Vive virtual reality headset, Chang said that VR will also be “an integral part of profitability,” this year and moving forward.
It’s hoped that the cost-cutting measures, together with an uptick in revenues from the HTC 10 and the Vive, will lead to better months ahead. Chang believes that HTC can break even on its smartphone business by Q3 (that’s the July to September quarter), although he notes that this does not constitute a forecast, and is instead an internal aim of the company.
Source: HTC (PDF)
African mobile game rewarded its top players with a real cow
What did your favorite mobile game give you the last time you topped its leaderboard? In Tunisia, the developers of a game called Bagra, which translates to “cow,” gave its top players a real, living bovine. To win, the couple had to be better than everyone else in a game of keeping a digital herd of cows safe while stealing from others.
According to local website Tuniscope, Digital Mania, the app’s developer, gave the winners a choice between claiming the live cow, donating it to charity and having it butchered for meat. Luckily for Pamela, her new owners decided to claim her alive and whole. We just hope the couple didn’t incur a crippling debt buying in-app items to protect their virtual herd.
Via: Ars Technica, BBC
Source: Tuniscope
The next Moto X may pack a smarter, metal-clad design
Way back in December, rumors suggested that Lenovo’s next big Motorola phone would go in a very different than ages past, including a metal chassis and a curious camera bump. Well, those rumors just got some validation. HellomotoHK has posted images of what appears to be both the next Moto X and its Droid-branded Verizon equivalent. Sure enough, they hint at a flatter, metallic body with a more elaborate camera array — are those dots on the side a clue to laser autofocusing? There’s also a fingerprint reader on the front, which puts the kibosh on the Pure Edition’s front-facing stereo sound… sorry, folks.
As for what’s inside? That’s less than clear, but supposed benchmarks from late last month hint that the top-end Motorola phone will carry a Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB of RAM. It’s par for the course among 2016 Android flagships, then. You might not have to wait long to see how accurate these leaks are, though, as Lenovo has been teasing the launch of new Motorola devices on June 9th. The only question is whether or not you’ll see this particular phone among them. Although a high-end Moto seems like a good fit for that event, we won’t be surprised if you see something else on stage (such as the next Moto G) in a month’s time.
Source: HellomotoHK (Google+), Evan Blass (Twitter)
iOS 10 reportedly includes a dedicated smart home app
There’s no shortage of devices that support Apple’s HomeKit platform. However, managing those devices is something of a mess — you typically end up visiting separate apps to control your lighting, security and appliances. You might not have to worry about that when iOS 10 rolls around, though. MacRumors says it spotted an Amazon review from an Apple employee (verified after the fact) who claims that the next iOS release will have a “standalone” HomeKit app when it arrives in the fall. The staffer doesn’t say how it’d work, but the implication is that it’d serve as a hub for all your HomeKit-compatible smart home gadgets.
There’s no certainty that this HomeKit app will show up as promised, since there’s always the chance that Apple will either delay it or scrap it entirely. There is evidence that this isn’t just speculation, mind you. Apple used a shell company to file a trademark for a HomeKit icon late last year, so it’s at least thinking about what a dedicated app would look like. As it is, Google isn’t standing still between its OnHub networking and its internet of things platform, Brillo. A full-fledged HomeKit app might give Apple a competitive edge by taking some of the hassle out of automating your household.
Source: MacRumors
Facebook is testing a ‘discover’ feature for Groups
Groups on Facebook have evolved from being things you joined because they had dumb names and you were in college, to being legitimately useful ways to find new information. As a reflection of that, The Social Network is apparently testing a new feature on the iOS and Android apps, International Business Times writes, dubbed “Discover.” That also lets you peruse public and private groups and see which friends are in local groups, according to Mashable.
The groups are cordoned off into categories for different interests like parenting, networking and food. The functionality is expected to roll out to more users over the next couple of weeks. We’ve reached out to Facebook for more info and will update this post if there’s a response.
Source: International Business Times, Mashable
AIVAnet 