ICYMI: Photos of wild animals that are far superior to yours
Today on In Case You Missed It: The BEASTCAM is a camera rig to scan live animals for fast 3D models to share with educators. Meanwhile Cambridge Consultants is marketing the Ekano mobile surgical suitcase for surgeons to use in developing countries.
The very important Whisk Wiper is available online and the rotary dialing smartphone is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
The Huawei Fit feels cheaper than its $130 price
It’s almost gift-giving season, and companies are scrambling to release products that will fill your loved ones’ stockings later this year. And plenty of people are considering options for the fitness fiends in their lives. Huawei threw its name in the ring today with the newly unveiled Fit, an activity tracker (with some smartwatch characteristics) that constantly monitors your heart rate. It’s also really thin and light, to the point where it actually feels kind of chintzy. The device costs $129, which is $20 less than the Fitbit Charge 2. I’ve spent about two days with a preview unit of the Fit, and so far, I think there are better options on the market.
Don’t get me wrong, there are things I like about the Fit. As a watch purist, I like that it has a round face. I also dig its clean aesthetic. At 11.2mm, its silver-colored aluminum case is thinner than most smartwatches, making it so comfortable that I often forgot it was on my wrist. There are no knobs, dials or buttons, other than a reset button on the underside, which keeps the overall design uncluttered. However, that left me confused as to how to turn on the device when I first unboxed it. As it turns out, I didn’t have to — it’s always on, as long as it’s charged.
I also appreciate how lightweight the Fit is, but although the device feels sturdy overall, it still manages to feel cheap. What’s more, three of my colleagues agreed when I asked for another opinion. That may be due to the watch’s silicone band, which wouldn’t look or feel out of place inside a McDonald’s Happy Meal box. This could be a difference in taste, but it’s worth noting that many people prefer a little heft in a $130 device.
The Fit is available in three band colors. I got an orange one, but my favorite’s the blue. If you’re boring, a black option is also available, although it’ll be a Best Buy exclusive until the end of November. You can also swap in any 18mm watch strap if you’re so inclined.
The Fit’s 1.04-inch, 208×208-pixel LCD touchscreen displays your stats in black and white, and it is easy to read indoors. An ambient light sensor activates the backlight so you can read it in the dark, but it’s harder to make out in strong light. You can’t adjust the brightness either, so there’s no way to tweak visibility in different environments. Another thing that made the display hard to read: It picks up smudges very easily — indeed, smears and fingerprints sometimes obstructed my view.
I like that the Fit constantly shows the time, so that I didn’t have to wait for it to wake up before finding out exactly how late in the day it was. That, together with the fact that the onboard heart rate monitor (HRM) was checking my pulse every 10 minutes, made Huawei’s battery life claim of six days somewhat impressive. That’s similar to the five-day estimate that Fitbit gives for the Charge 2. I’ve only been using the Fit for two days, so I can’t vouch for its endurance, but its indicator suggests the battery is still basically full.
In addition to tracking your pulse, the Fit is capable of quite a few tasks,though they’re all typical for the category. With its onboard accelerometer, gyroscope and HRM, it automatically keeps tabs on your steps, sleep, time elapsed, calories burned, cardio zone and distance traveled (when connected to your phone’s GPS). The new Huawei Wear app for iOS and Android also lets you create customized workout plans to meet goals such as running a 5K, 10K, half marathon or full marathon. The schedule will be beamed to your wrist so you can stay on target without having to pull out your phone.
For those who are interested in activities other than running, Fit also has workout modes for walking and cycling, and will follow your distance, time, fat burning and aerobic performance during those workouts. You can start a session from your wrist or from your phone, if you want to tap its GPS for distance tracking.
The Fit is rated IP68 and 5 ATMs for water resistance, which, in layman’s terms, means it can withstand submersion at up to 50 meters. The goal is to add swim tracking capability to the Fit by 2017, but this feature is not yet live.
Like many other fitness bands on the market, the Fit will remind you to get up and move if you’ve been idle for 30 minutes or longer. I got an alert in the middle of writing this story, and the watch showed an animated stick figure doing some stretches to prod me into action. (I ignored it because who has time for that?) And just like the rest of its competition, the Fit will buzz to alert you of incoming calls, texts and messages from apps such as WeChat and Facebook. The list of apps that can send notifications to the Fit is short at the moment, but Huawei says it’s working on adding more.
During my time with it, the Fit was slow to read my pulse. I’m used to the Charge 2’s speedy response time, so the relatively long 12 seconds I had to wait for the Fit’s readout probably drove my heart rate way up.
Folks with more patience can probably live with that delay (and the Fit’s other minor shortcomings) in exchange for its relatively low price. For the money, it offers a decent list of features, especially that constant HRM, and a clean design. But $20 is a small price to pay to upgrade to the more-powerful Fitbit Charge 2, which has a better display and faster sensor. Ultimately, the Huawei Fit’s biggest problem is that it simply doesn’t feel like something you’d spend $130 on. Huawei needs to drop the Fit’s price below $100 if it’s going to stand a chance against the competition.
Future wearables could use magnetic circuits to self-heal
Smart clothing might be huge, except for one problem: The printed “ink” electronics are delicate, so you can break them just by stretching the wrong way. However, researchers from the Jacobs School of Engineering have developed a self-healing magnetic ink that can repair multiple cuts in as little as 50 milliseconds. That could eventually yield batteries, electrochemical sensors and wearable electronic circuits that fix themselves autonomously, making the smart textile industry more feasible.
The concept is pretty simple. The team crushed up a bunch of neodymium permanent magnets, like the kind you find in electric motors and hard drives, into microscopic particles. It then inserted them into the ink used to make printed electronics, along with carbon powder to increase conductivity. The ink is then subjected to a magnetic field, aligning the particles so that when it’s torn or cut, each side is magnetically attracted to the other, healing the breach.
The team says the system repairs tears as wide as 3 mm, “a record in the field of self-healing systems.” As shown in the video above, it can also self-heal multiple cuts. They add that unlike other systems, the magnetic ink is long-lasting, fast, works without any user intervention and shrugs off humid or hot conditions.
There is one big issue — the cut ink traces still function electronically after healing, but the ink is no longer bonded, which could cause intermittent problems under heavily loading. However, the group plans to develop new self-healing ink recipes and test them using computer simulations. “Our work holds considerable promise for widespread practical applications for long-lasting printed electronic devices,” says lead author Joseph Wang.
Via: The New York Times
Source: Science Advances
Bell Fibe TV Now Available on Apple TV in Canada
Canadian carrier Bell has announced that its Fibe TV app is now available on the fourth-generation Apple TV in Ontario and Québec. The app allows Fibe TV subscribers to watch up to 450 channels live or on demand, with the ability to record, pause, and rewind live TV coming later this year.
The app features trending and on demand TV shows, a programming guide for live TV, and search functionality. A dedicated menu for recorded TV shows will be added later this year. Bell’s website says the Fibe TV app requires an unlimited internet plan, available as a $15 per month upgrade.
Bell also now sells the 32GB fourth-generation Apple TV for $199 at its stores in Ontario and Québec and through its website.
Fibe TV is Canada’s largest internet-based TV service with over 1.3 million subscribers as of September 2016.
Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 10
Tags: Canada, Bell
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Caution)
Discuss this article in our forums
Kohl’s Will Begin Selling Apple Watch at 400 Locations Across U.S. Later This Month
Kohl’s will begin selling the Apple Watch at 400 of its 1,100 stores across the United States on November 15 as a way to boost its activewear business (via Fortune). Apple’s partnership with the retail chain is said to help the Cupertino company reach into areas of the country that don’t have Apple Stores or official Apple resellers with Apple Watches, as well as “reach a more modest-income shopper and a wider-ranging clientele.”
In total, Kohl’s locations will stock 10 different Apple Watch models, but the company didn’t go into specifics about which. In the retailer’s Black Friday ad, the Apple Watch Series 2 in Space Gray with Black Sport band and Series 1 in Rose Gold with Pink Sand Sport Band are both advertised.
Within the store itself, the Apple Watches will be displayed on stands that measure four feet tall, and the Kohl’s staff will be educated on the devices to help customers in purchasing an Apple Watch, which Kohl’s sees less like an electronic device and more “as an active and wellness device.”
“We’re not launching it as an electronics partner,” Michelle Gass, Kohl’s chief merchandising and customer officer, told Fortune in an exclusive interview at the retailer’s design center in New York City. “We were positioning this as an active and wellness device.”
On Black Friday, customers will be able to receive Kohl’s Cash when purchasing an Apple Watch: $105 for a Series 2 and $75 for a Series 1. The retailer hopes that its introduction of the Apple Watch goes over as well as its profits for selling FitBit devices, which is now “a $100-million-a-year business” for Kohl’s.
In September, Macy’s announced that it would be the first United States department store to begin selling Apple Watch when the device launched that month. The new Kohl’s deal of 400 retail locations is much larger than Macy’s, which began selling Apple Watch in 180 of its stores in September.
Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Tag: Kohl’s
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums
How to set up and use Smart key on Honor 8
The fingerprint sensor on the Honor 8 is not only fast, but it is also extremely useful. Beyond being able to secure your phone, it can also give you quick and easy access to your notifications, and more. One of the great features Honor built into its software is Smart Key, a way to set up the fingerprint sensor to do even more.
Tap the Settings icon from the notification shade.
Tap on Smart assistance.
Scroll down and tap Smart Key.
Tap to change the options for Press, Double press, and Press and hold.
You can set each option to do something different, or only set one of them if you want. This will give you quick and easy access to things like the camera, your favorite social media apps or anything else that you use regularly.
Huawei Mate 9 launch event liveblog
Get ready to meet Huawei’s next big thing.
We’re live from Munich, Germany today, where Huawei is about to hold a press conference for its next flagship Android phone. We’re expecting to see the rumored Mate 9, the latest in the company’s big-screened phone series. Rumors point to a new CPU and camera setup, and Huawei’s also been teasing a major new version of its EMUI software in recent days.
We’ll have live coverage of the event starting at 2 p.m. CET — that’s 1 p.m. UK time, 9 a.m. EDT, or 6 a.m. on the West Coast.
Picking the perfect phone for both work and play
If you need your phone for both work and everyday life, don’t carry two phones — pick the best for both worlds!
All work and no play makes your phone something, something. Oh yeah, boring. If you’re required to have a phone for work, you might be reluctant to use it on a personal level, but carrying two phones is cumbersome and counterproductive.
What you need to do is pick one phone and make it count. You need one that’s great for productivity (Google apps, cloud services, etc.), while also being capable enough to crush it during play time.
You first just need to figure out what you need to satisfy both sides.
What works?
Productivity
During work hours, you want a phone that helps with productivity, so it can’t be distracting or overly difficult to use.
A phone with an uncluttered interface is invaluable in times where you need to get in and get stuff done. The Moto Z, Google Pixel, and even the HTC 10 are examples of phones with a very user-friendly system, so you won’t be constantly swiping and tapping around looking for apps or getting distracted by animations and what not.
Security
To your employer, security is likely one of the most important features of your phone. If you’re going to be accessing work servers and potentially sensitive information, you’ll need a phone that offers tight security.
One of the best security measures is constant updating. You’ll want a phone that receives the necessary software updates regularly, since those often include crucial security updates.
If you know security is top priority, we’ve rounded up the best phones for security just for you.
Reliability
If you’re on a work trip or simply working long hours, you need a phone that can keep up with heavy demand. Make sure it has enough RAM so that it’s quick, and ample storage so that you’re not constantly having to purge data. If you need mondo capacity, then you’ll need a phone with top-notch expandable storage.
If you find that past phones haven’t made it to the end of the day, and you just don’t have the time to sit tethered to a socket, then you’ll also need a phone with the best battery life you can find.
Price
If work requires you to have a phone but won’t foot the bill, then price can be a major deciding factor when it comes to making a choice. That’s why we’ve rounded up the best phones under $900, under $700, under $400, and under $100.
Don’t be a dull boy, Jack
Yeah, you use your phone for work, but the purpose of carrying around only one phone is to split its use between the soul-sucking grind and heart-uplifting fun.
Here are some features to look for when considering a phone for fun (alliteration city up in here!).
Camera
For many, the camera is one of the most important features of any phone. No one carries around point-and-shoots anymore — it’s all phone, all the time. And with how amazing smartphone cameras are now, why not?!
If you dig photography in your spare time, then there’s no reason the phone you use for work can’t have an awesome camera too! If you’re looking for the phone with the best camera available, we’ve got you covered.
If video is your bag, we think there are some phones you should check out for that as well.
Storage
Storage isn’t just a work issue. If you’re a compulsive app downloader, you’ll need the space to accommodate all of them, plus all your photos, videos, and more. So do you go for a phone with a ton of internal storage, but at a higher price point and without expandable storage? Or do you go for the best phone with an SD slot?
Ultimately, it’s about how much storage you think you’ll use. If you’re combining work and personal data, you’ll probably want the option of expandable storage.
Gaming
No more reading filthy waiting room magazines. Gaming on your phone is where it’s at, and that’s a particularly good thing for both work and play. I don’t know how many meetings I’ve sat through (tuned out) while paying extra special attention (absolutely nailing it in Candy Crush) and thought “I would love to be playing a game right now” (I totally was).
But what do you look for? Screen resolution? Storage space? Memory? Look no further, because we know which phones gamers will love.
VR
Virtual reality is the best. No, seriously, it’s fun on a bun, and it’s entirely attainable with the right phone. Headsets are getting less expensive and VR on your phone is way less expensive than a gaming PC, VR setup (HTC Vive or Oculus Rift), and it’s even less expensive than PSVR (if you don’t already have a PS4).
Not all phones are great for VR, so we put a list together to help you decide.
Striking a balance
It can be difficult to choose from the multitude of phones available, especially if your needs are pulled in different directions.
Your best bet is to make a list of your needs (work) and your wants (play) and find the phone that walks between worlds. There will definitely be some compromises in your final decision, but once you suss out what’s truly important to you, you’ll likely have a few options to choose from.
For the best of what’s around, check out our Smartphone Buyer’s Guide. We’ve compiled the very best Android has to offer, whatever your pleasure.
Nintendo Switch slated for 17 March release
Nintendo itself has already confirmed the Switch hybrid games console would be in stores in March 2017, but has never given an exact date. Now though, Twitter user Laura Kate Dale has suggested we could see the Switch, in PAL territories at least, on 17 March 2017.
Being told March 17th is currently planned Switch launch day in PAL, will release worldwide that same week but not same date all regions.
— Laura Kate Dale (@LaurakBuzz) 2 November 2016
Dale has said she trusts her source as the same one told her when the official trailer would launch, and that came true. As with any rumour though, she does say to take information with a pinch of salt for now.
TechRadar adds further weight to the rumour by saying previous Nintendo consoles have released on Fridays in the PAL region and 17 March is a Friday too.
- Nintendo Switch: Release date, specs and everything you need to know
It’s not clear when the console would launch in North America or Japan, although Dale says she expects Japan to see it a few days earlier than anyone else, but all major territories should see it in the same week.
While we can’t confirm the Switch will definitely launch on 17 March for now it’s the only date we can circle in our calendars.
B&O Play A2 Active is the A2 on steroids
B&O Play has just unveiled the BeoPlay A2 Active wireless speaker, a new, more rugged version of the premium A2. The new model has undergone more cosmetic changes than anything else but can now defend against dust, as well as the occasional splash of water.
- BeoPlay A2 packs wonderful B&O sound into premium Bluetooth speaker
The leather carry straps have been thrown out in favour of new NATO-inspired designs from the watches soldiers wore during World War Two. You get two straps included with the speaker, and their colour depends on which speaker finish you go for. The A2 Active is available in ‘natural’ and ‘stone grey’ finishes, the former coming with natural and royal blue straps, while the stone grey finish gets stone grey and sand stone straps instead.
If you’d rather have a leather strap, B&O Play will happily give you one in exchange for both canvas straps.
Also thrown out is the DC power input from the A2 and in its place is a USB-C port which allows the A2 Active to be charged much faster than before and it retains the 24 hour battery life of its non-Active sibling.
The A2 Active is compatible with B&O Play’s Beoplay app for iOS and Android and Apple Watch, which lets you adjust the sound settings of the speaker to your desired tastes, the speaker will then store the settings until you want to change them again.
Elsewhere it’s business as usual, 360 degree sound, up to eight Bluetooth devices connected at one time, and stereo pairing with another A2 or A2 Active via the app.
The B&O Play Beoplay A2 Active is available now for £299, the same price as the A2.
AIVAnet 