Edible milk-based film preserves food better than plastic

Figuring out how to keep food fresh was a challenge seemingly met by plastics. But as it became clear that spooling out all that synthetic packaging was adversely affecting the environment, interest in greener methods of preservation has spiked. While most containers in your grocery store can be recycled, the thin film stretched over fresh-cut meat can’t be — and it’s not even that good at keeping food unspoiled. Now, US Department of Agriculture researchers have pioneered a drastically more efficient covering…and it’s made out of milk.

The new film is edible and biodegradeable, both of which beat the current starch-based version, but it also works 500 times better at keeping oxygen out. The researchers found that a milk-based protein, called casein, could be combined in powder form with water to form the basis of the new packaging material. To make it more practical, they added glycerol to soften it and citrus pectin to resist humidity and high temperatures. Voila — a new wrapping standard, to which vitamins and flavorings could be added according to taste.

This kind of packaging could surround dried coffee or soup packets that could be dropped in hot water instead of torn open, emptied and thrown away. Likewise for single-serving products that get their own wrappers, from shrink-wrapped pizzas to the humble Twinkie. But until companies take the initiative to fast-track the new material into their products, it could be years until USDA researchers bring it to the public, according to Bloomberg.

Source: Bloomberg

NASA regains contact with spacecraft after a 2-year silence

When mission crews lose contact with a spacecraft or lander for a significant amount of time, that’s usually a bad sign… ask the European Space Agency if you want to know why. However, NASA just showed why you shouldn’t always give up hope. It reestablished contact with STEREO-B, one of two probes studying the Sun and solar weather, after nearly two years of communications silence. The team had lost its connection during a test of the ship’s command lost timer on October 1st, 2014, but kept trying numerous recovery strategies (most recently using the Deep Space Network) until they heard back early on August 21st.

So what’s next? It’ll be a while before STEREO-B is back in action, and there’s no guarantees that it’ll pick up where it left off. The crew wants to check all of the craft’s subsystems, regain attitude control and determine the state of its observational skills before giving it a clean bill of health. Whatever the outcome, the contact itself is good news — both for science and for the mission members worried that they’d never again hear from their pride and joy.

Source: NASA

Win a new Note 7 and metal kickstands from Spigen and Android Central!

We recently took a look at Spigen’s new U100 Universal Kickstand. We put the kickstand through its paces and overall we were really pleased with its aesthetics, as well as its functionality. Make sure you check out the full review! So we’ve now teamed up with Spigen this week to give 100 of you a free Universal Kickstand for your phone, and what’s even cooler is one other winner will also be taking home a brand new Samsung Galaxy Note 7! Keep reading for all the details and to get yourself entered!

THE PRIZE: One Android Central reader will be taking home a brand new Note 7, and 100 additional winners will receive a free Universal Kickstand!

THE GIVEAWAY: Head down to the widget at the bottom of this page. There are multiple ways to enter, each with varying point values. Complete all of the tasks for maximum entries and your best shot at winning! Keep in mind that all winning entries are verified and if the task was not completed or cannot be verified, a new winner will be chosen. The giveaway is open until September 5th, and the winner will be announced right here shortly after the close date. Good luck!

Please note that due to sponsor restrictions, this contest is only open to residents of the US. International residents, we currently have a contest for you HERE!

Win a new Note 7 from Spigen and Android Central!

First major Nougat update coming soon, new Developer Preview landing this fall

Android is moving ‘into a new regular maintenance schedule over the coming quarters.’

Now that Android 7.0 Nougat has been released we’re starting to hear the first details on what’s next for Google’s OS. In a post on the Android Developers blog, Engineering VP Dave Burke lays out what’s next for Nougat.

We’re moving Nougat into a new regular maintenance schedule over the coming quarters. In fact, we’ve already started work on the first Nougat maintenance release, that will bring continued refinements and polish, and we’re planning to bring that to you this fall as a developer preview. Stay tuned!

So it appears that the Android Beta Program will live on, though the nuts and bolts of how devices will get back on the dev. preview channel (from the current stable Nougat release) aren’t entirely clear right now.

The timing suggests the first Nougat MR (maintenance release) could land around the same time as the widely rumored HTC-built 2016 Nexus phones. Indeed, one build.prop leak from the smaller of the two phones identifies “Android NMR1” (Nougat MR1). (A maintenance release is not to be confused with Android’s separate monthly security patches, which operate independently.)

The quarterly maintenance release cycle is also a big change for Android, raising the possibility of a 7.1 release before the year’s end, and maybe a 7.2 or 7.3 early in 2017. That’s going to put pressure on phone manufacturers and carriers, most of whom are already struggling to cope with Android’s yearly updates.

Android 7.0 Nougat

• Android 7.0 Nougat: Everything you need to know
• Will my phone get Android Nougat?
• All Android Nougat news
• How to manually update your Nexus
• Join the Discussion

PlayStation Plus memberships will cost more starting in September

PlayStation Plus will cost you a lot more starting next month – but only if you live in the US and Canada.

Starting 22 September, PS Plus’ yearly fee will increase by $10 (from $49.99 to $59.99), while the 90-day one will only increase by $7. If you’re a new subscriber, you’ll immediately get the new pricing if you join next month, but all current subscribers won’t feel the impact until it is time for them to renew their memberships. So, if you’ve been mulling a subscription, it’s cheaper for you to join now rather than later at a higher rate.

PS Plus is Sony’s online service that is mandatory for online multiplayer on the PS4, but the service also doles out free games, discounts, and more to paid members. The 90-day subscription used to cost $17.99/£11.99 (or a full year was $49.99/£39.99, but if you let the subscription expire, your downloads would be taken away. If you re-subscribe though, your digital rights to all your downloaded games are given back.

Since launching the service in 2010, Sony has kept membership pricing the same. Now, however, prices will increase in the US and Canada. Sony said the new pricing will reflect “the current market conditions”. Nothing else will change, meaning you will get all the same benefits and features, including online multiplayer, free games, exclusive discounts, and online save storage.

Sony said the one-month subscription will remain the same price at $9.99. Also, if you’re a subscriber and don’t want to continue with the new pricing, Sony said you should disable auto-renewal in your account settings by the cut-off date.

Did Barbra Streisand of all people just slip iOS 10’s release date?

Barbra Streisand, the 74-year-old singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker, can add a new title to her resume: Apple leaker.

During a NPR radio interview over the weekend, Streisand talked about how Siri’s pronunciation of her name has annoyed her since Apple launched the assistant in 2011. Siri apparently makes a “Z” sound in the middle of “Streisand”, whereas Streisand claimed it’s supposed be pronounced with “a soft ‘s’ like sand on the beach”. The entertainer said she has been saying her last name like that for her “whole career”. 

But that’s not the most interesting part of her interview… Streisand then said she personally called up Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, to ask him to fix the problem – as one does.”So what did I do? I called the head of Apple, Tim Cook. And he delightfully agreed to have Siri change the pronunciation of my name finally with the next update on September 30th,” Streisand explained. 

Here’s where it gets even more interesting: the next update to iOS – iOS 10 – is expected to launch next month, but it should arrive before 30 September. The because the next iPhone – iPhone 7 – is rumored to be shipping on either 16 September or 23 September, and it will launch with iOS 10 preloaded. Older iOS devices are expected to get the update earlier, likely 14 September.

Did Streisand just leak iOS 10’s release date? It’s hard to tell if she just mixed up the date, or if she was given bad information – because all rumours point to that specific date as being unlikely. She might have been told the update is rolling out at the end of September, and so she simply guessed the date, or Cook could have revealed that a patch, 10.0.1, would be ready by then.

Curiouser and curiouser. 

Middle-earth Blu-ray set is gorgeous, but insanely expensive

Yes, many Lord of the Rings fans (including this writer) may be obsessive collectors, but the latest movie collection that Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema are releasing this far takes things into the realm of the truly crazy. The just-announced “Middle-earth Limited Collectors Edition” includes the extended editions of all six of director Peter Jackson’s films set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagined world on Blu-ray. That gets you the three movies based on The Hobbit and three more movies that make up The Lord of the Rings. It all comes in a lavish and beautiful presentation — but that lovely physical package will set you back a whopping $799.99.

You read that right — we’re talking almost $800 for six films. Granted, there is a ton of extra material here. Each film comes with extensive documentaries chronicling the creation of each film; the press release says that all bonus content ever released for both the theatrical and extended editions of each movie is included. That adds up to 30 discs total.

As for the physical product, you’re not getting any pedestrian plastic cases here. Each movie comes in a “faux leather” book, and the six books fit on a solid, “Hobbit-style” wooden shelf with a design selected by Peter Jackson himself. There’s also a recreation of the famed Red Book of Westmarch (which Bilbo and then Frodo pen their story in) — this version contains 100 pages of sketches and artwork from conceptual artists Alan Lee and John Howe. Both Lee and Howe worked on all six films, and both artists have worked in Tolkien’s universe since long before Jackson’s films arrived. A bunch of watercolor reproductions of their art are included as well, ready for framing.

From the lone picture released here, it looks like a wonderful set for those of us who still love physical media… but that price is just bonkers. However, this Middle-earth collection is hardly the first obscenely-priced media package, and it surely won’t be the last. Still, it feels like this set could absolutely have had a more approachable price point while still residing in the “limited” space. For the rest of us, you can drop about $125 on Amazon to get all six extended films, without the lavish treatment.

Source: The Hobbit movie shop