Alphabet’s autofocusing contact lens won’t be tested in 2016
Bad news if you were hoping that Google’s (now Alphabet’s) smart contact lenses would be available relatively soon: they’re running into some hurdles. Novartis, which is partnering with Alphabet’s Verily Life Sciences on an autofocusing lens that addresses farsightedness, says it won’t make its goal of testing the technology in 2016. It’s “too early to say” when trials would start, a spokeswoman explains to Reuters. It’s also uncertain when tests for the other lens, which monitors blood sugar levels, would likely begin.
According to Novartis, the setback is due to a “very technically complex process” where both companies are “learning as [they] go along.” That’s not totally surprising. Both lenses were were considered long-term bets on the future of health care, and there was no guarantee that they’d be ready all that quickly. The question is whether the hurdles are relatively modest, or if these smart contact lenses are still years away from reaching your eyes.
Source: Reuters
Signal makes it easier to verify the privacy of your chats
One of Signal’s privacy advantages is that it not only encrypts your conversations, but gives you simple proof that those discussions are truly secret — you just have to compare a set of digits or scan a QR code. Those safety numbers aren’t always easy to use, however, and that has led to people inadvertently putting themselves at risk — especially when they switch devices. Developer Open Whisper Systems is fixing that by altering how safety numbers work in terms of both simplicity and practicality.
To begin with, it’s streamlining its QR code approach: you now need just a single scan for the conversation, and the code only includes the safety numbers instead of the phone numbers. That prevents people from inadvertently revealing phone numbers and potentially exposing the conversation. Would-be snoops who already know someone’s digital fingerprint will recognize who you’re talking to, but they won’t read the chats themselves.
Also, new devices and app reinstalls won’t always require that you approve someone again to keep the chat going. The latest Signal version has an optional “advisory mode” that will tell you when safety numbers have changed, but doesn’t preclude you from talking to the other participant. It’s turned off by default, but OWS may enable it by default for new installations if it works well.
The changes might be coming just in time. OWS tells American Public Radio’s Marketplace that demand for the app jumped a whopping 400 percent after Donald Trump won the US presidential election. If you ask co-founder Moxie Marlinspike, the interest comes from people who are “less comfortable” with Trump having control of the US’ far-reaching surveillance apparatus. In other words, they’re worried that the President-elect might abuse his power to spy on critics. Is that rational? Not really (there are still some anti-abuse mechanisms in place), but that won’t stop nervous internet users.
Source: Open Whisper Systems
Twitter bots were rampant during the US election
If you believe one study, it’s not just fake news that polluted the internet during the US election… it’s bogus accounts, too. Researchers at the international Project on Computational Propaganda report that the use of politically minded Twitter bots reached an “all-time high” during the 2016 presidential campaign. Out of 18.9 million studied tweets using political hashtags, 17.9 percent of them came from “highly automated” accounts that post 50 or more tweets per day. That ratio only grew higher during the debates, peaking at over 27 percent during the final Clinton/Trump showdown — and it conveniently tanked after the election was over.
The findings suggest a strong slant to the automatic tweeting. For every automated pro-Clinton tweet recorded, there were four or more pro-Trump tweets, the researchers say. Also, most of those Trump tweets (up to 81.9 percent) were mixed with pro-Clinton or neutral hashtags. In short: while the Trump campaign had very few official Twitter accounts, its commanding social network presence wasn’t limited to Facebook.
With that said, the team is quick to acknowledge that its data collection method is inherently limited. Not all of those prolific Twitter users are guaranteed to be bots, for one. Also, this doesn’t include the legions of tweets that didn’t include the hashtags or mention candidates by name. And there’s the very nature of a large-scale study like this to consider. Although there’s a good chance that many of the tweets are exactly as described, it could sometimes be hard to make the distinction between someone discussion a candidate’s views and actively endorsing them. Most are likely endorsements, but it’s hard to say that’s the case for each and every one. The one certainty is that these surges in robotic social networking are unlikely to go away any time soon.
Source: Political Bots
Oculus’ free VR painting tool Quill arrives in December
Oculus is giving away a virtual reality painting tool, but you’ll still have to pony up some of your hard-earned dollars to be able to use it. The company will release the beta version of Quill for free on December 6th, the same day its Touch motion controllers start shipping out… because you need the $199 controllers to do any actual art.
Quill was created to give Art Director Wesley Allsbrook a way to draw the Oculus Story Studio original film Dear Angelica directly in virtual reality. It was developed within 48 hours during a hackathon in 2015, and since then, Oculus has added new features to allow artists’ distinct styles to shine and make them feel like they’re truly painting in 3D. You can download Quill on December 6th from the Oculus Home Store — till then, you can check out what it can do in the video below.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Oculus
Kanye West says Facebook and Google ‘lied to you’
You’re not the only one upset that the internet might have misled you. Kanye West cut short a Sacramento concert with an epic 15-minute speech where he railed against the state of the music industry, politics, and… the internet. The superstar says that people feel like they lost (due to the election, among other issues) because Facebook and Google “lied to you.” He even calls out Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg by name around the 12-minute mark. Supposedly, the internet mogul reneged on a promise that he “would help” Kanye and then decided to “look for aliens.” We’re not sure where that last part comes from, since Facebook’s out-there projects are largely limited to Earthly concerns like solar-powered internet drones.
He also tells people to only put their iPhones in the air, since he wants “only originals.” Guess we know where he stands on smartphones, then (although he recently got rid of his phone to focus on creativity).
Is Kanye presenting a complex, nuanced take on the problems of internet accuracy and corporate responsibility in Silicon Valley? Hell no. This is a shoot-from-the-hip diatribe. However, it shows that concerns over online authenticity are bubbling to the surface. If Kanye sees it as a problem as serious to him as unfairness to Obama and alleged corruption at the MTV Video Music Awards, you know it’s in the mainstream consciousness. In that sense, efforts to fight fake news are overdue — Kanye’s speech is a reflection of frustration that, in some ways, has been simmering for months or even years.
Lost in all of this: ‘If you ain’t got an iPhone, don’t put it up. Only originals.’ He’s in Ye mode now. https://t.co/0LYyxhz1Rz
— Edgar Alvarez (@abcdedgar) November 20, 2016
Source: Fader (1), (2)
From the Editor’s Desk: Hallelujah
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift.
I haven’t been sleeping much. You see, I got a dog last weekend — a Great Dane, Zadie, named after the incredible novelist Zadie Smith — and she’s been keeping me busy. It’s not my first dog, but the first I’ve raised from puppyhood, and the responsibility is humbling. She relies on me for everything: love, shelter, food and, of course, discipline. For a pup she’s relatively well behaved, but it takes a lot of work, and a lot of repetition, to overcome her desire to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants it, in any place she finds herself.
We humans are not too dissimilar. I’m writing this with my phone next to me, buzzing, Twitter just a Chrome tab away, and a bevy of great shows to watch on Netflix. Even as an adult maintaining a solid work ethic requires practice, and maintenance, both of the body and soul. Eat right, exercise, and yes, have some fun. It’s a hearty balance, and one that I am lucky enough to say I have access to.
Others are not so lucky. We are bombarded with stories about those less fortunate than us not having access to basic human needs, things that many of us take for granted. Here at Android Central, we write for those who love tech, embrace the way it improves our lives, without lingering on the fact that as essential as these tools are — the phones themselves, and the networks that fuel them — they are not as readily available to everyone.
Even as an adult maintaining a solid work ethic requires practice, and maintenance, both of the body and soul.
One particular example helped me see this disparity more clearly: the Google Pixel, at $649, alienated a lot of people used to Nexus phones being affordable, a tool for everyone, not just a privileged subset of the population. Google knew this — knows this — and priced the phone considerably higher than its predecessor anyway. But it had to deal with the baggage of expectation that came from years of Nexus phones — the Nexus 4 and 5 especially — being utilized not just as great smartphones, but as mass-market, affordable pieces of technology that crossed over to new and diverse segments of the population.
We praised, and continue to do so, the Pixel for its excellence, without properly taking into account a widely-held belief that Google was marginalizing, both by forgoing wide carrier support and pricing the unlocked version higher than expected, many people who found the phone to be egregiously overpriced.
We praised, and continue to do so, the Pixel for its excellence.
We still think it’s worth the money, but Google is actively ceding a portion of the market to cheaper flagships like the Honor 8 and OnePlus 3. That brings me to another short point: why does the OnePlus 3T exist? Surely it wasn’t OnePlus’s intention to replace its flagship only five months after its debut. Or if it was, why price it higher? Its predecessor’s $399 tag was one of its defining characteristics, and while $40 isn’t a huge burden on new buyers, it does expose chinks in the company’s long-term plans. It finally needs to make money, and inching upwards brings it closer to profitability.
A few more things:
- The team worked really hard on the Holiday Gift Guide, and I’m pretty proud of everyone who participated in it. Hopefully you find something that fits within your life and your budget!
- The HTC Bolt is such an interesting phone, and it makes me excited for Nougat on the HTC 10, which I haven’t used in some months because, well, there are just too many phones.
- I got my hands on the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 9 this week, and plan to follow up Alex’s review with a few thoughts on it. It’s completely over the top, but like the cars from its partner brand its excess is what makes it so intriguing.
- I’m also looking to spend more time with devices, like the Mate 9 and LG V20, that run non-Google versions of Nougat, to see how they compare to the Pixel “ideal.” I expect to be disappointed.
- One of my favorite devices of 2016, the Moto Z, is poised to get Nougat soon. That’s one device I’ll probably put the Pixel aside for, at least for a little while.
- RIP, Leonard Cohen. You’ll be greatly missed.
Have a beautiful Sunday, and be good to one another!
-Daniel
‘Star Citizen’ team will share its schedule with the public
Of all the complaints about Star Citizen’s development, transparency is one of the biggest. Outside of basic goals, it’s hard to know how well the epic-scale space game is coming along at any given moment — there are concerns that Cloud Imperium Games is frittering away all that crowdfunding money. The company wants to put some of those fears to rest, though. As of Star Citizen’s 2.6 alpha, the studio will share its internal development schedule with the public on a weekly basis. Cloud Imperium will clean up the details to make them more accessible, but you’ll know whether or not there’s a change or setback.
You’ll see this publication continue if it’s “well received,” company founder Chris Roberts says.
Significantly, Cloud Imperium hasn’t offered a schedule for the single-player Squadron 42. There’s no mention of why, but Polygon notes that the title was originally supposed to arrive in fall 2015 and was a no-show at an event a year later. Star Citizen is the game that remains relatively on track — you’re more likely to benefit from weekly updates on its progress than something that’s on the backburner. That won’t be much consolation if you wanted more info on both projects, but at least one of them won’t seem like as much of a black box.
Via: Polygon
Source: Roberts Space Industries
Ben Heck’s reverse-engineered Game Boy Printer
It’s a bit late for Ben to break the warranty on this particular piece of hardware: The Game Boy Printer was released ages ago, which means it’s ripe for being reverse-engineered! First we need to know what we’re dealing with, so Ben performs a teardown to reveal the microcontroller and RAM, at which point he determines what pin-outs are needed to connect to an Arduino. That’s not all, though — we also need to know how to talk to the printer, and the easiest way to do that is with an oscilloscope and an original Game Boy Camera to snoop on the data stream. Not everything is so straightforward, however: Ben hits a snag and the printer stops partway through printing. What could he be missing?
What other hardware should Ben reverse-engineer? And what have you reverse-engineered? Let us know over on the element14 Community.
Android Central 315: Coming Full Squircle
This week, Andrew, Daniel and Alex get the buying season started early with their favorite gear gifts at any price point. Plus, the OnePlus 3T is now official, but why does it exist, and what does that mean for the popular and still-great OnePlus 3? And the Galaxy S7 is getting a beta version of Nougat in some countries, but when will it roll out to the rest of us?
Qualcomm quietly unveiled the Snapdragon 835 alongside Quick Charge 4.0, too, and there’s a lot of excitement around the new 10nm manufacturing process.
Finally, Samsung is selling the Galaxy Note 3 refurbished this Black Friday, but the team thinks this is a very bad idea.
Thanks to this week’s sponsor:
- Harrys: Use promo code AC to save $5 off your first purchase — start shaving smarter.
Podcast MP3 URL: http://traffic.libsyn.com/androidcentral/androidcentral315.mp3
A new supersonic jet, and more in the week that was
Tesla currently makes the world’s best electric vehicles, but Jaguar’s first EV could give the automaker a run for its money. Meet the I-Pace: a svelte, stylish electric SUV that’s faster than most sports cars and can drive 220 miles on a single charge. In other auto news, a new law requires all electric vehicles to make noise by the year 2019, and VW’s new e-Golf can drive further than the Nissan Leaf at 124 miles per charge. Long-haul flights are the worst, but a new supersonic jet called the Boom could cut them in half. And Noordung launched a stylish vintage-inspired e-bike with a built-in sound system.
Tesla is attempting to merge with SolarCity, and this week the automaker’s shareholders overwhelmingly approved the move. That’s great news:The company’s new solar roof is taking off, and some installations are already cost-competitive with grid-based electricity. Scandinavia is gearing up to build the world’s largest offshore turbine array, and when it’s complete it will produce the cheapest wind power on earth. At the COP22 climate conference France announced plans to shut down all coal plants by the year 2023, and Al Gore reached out to work with Donald Trump on climate change.
Seattle is building the world’s first flexible bridge, which will be able to withstand major earthquakes once it’s finished. In other design and technology news, BIG and Heatherwick Studio unveiled plans for Google’s new London HQ at King’s Cross. This year’s James Dyson Award went to a paper bike helmet that collapses down to a tiny form factor. Adidas announced plans to make 1 million pairs of sneakers from recycled ocean plastic, and a scientist was inspired by Back to the Future to create fabric that can harvest and store solar energy.
AIVAnet 