NASA released a new Mars rover game to celebrate Curiosity anniversary

Mars enthusiasts will be beside themselves with dusty red delight when they hear about what NASA’s just gone and done.

Celebrating the fourth anniversary of the Curiosity rover’s arrival on the faraway planet, the space agency has released a new social game with the deliciously obvious title of Mars Rover.

The super-straightforward iOS, Android, and desktop game requires you to navigate a rover across rough Martian terrain, the main challenge apparently being to keep its wheels intact and prevent the vehicle from toppling over as you go. “One crater crash, and it’s ‘game over’ for your rover!” NASA says in the game’s notes. Along the way you can use radar technology to search for buried water, a feature expected to be part of the next Mars rover currently being prepped for a 2020 launch.

“We’re excited about a new way for people on the go to engage with Curiosity’s current adventures on Mars and future exploration by NASA’s Mars 2020 rover too,” said Michelle Viotti of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. “Using social networks, the user can share the fun with friends.

The interest that is shared through gameplay also helps us open a door to deeper literacy in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”

The result of a collaboration between the lab and gaming social network Gamee, Mars Rover‘s vehicle has, perhaps not surprisingly, little in common with the real one that’s currently exploring the red planet.
For example, as NASA points out, while the rover in the game rolls along at a steady clip, the Mars-based machine proceeds at a more leisurely two inches per second. At that rate it’d take about half an hour to make it across a football field.

Also, unlike in the game, Curiosity can’t respond immediately to an operator’s commands “because the signal takes too long to get to Mars,” NASA explains. “Instead, rover drivers send a list of commands to the rovers once per day. The rover finishes its ‘to do’ list, then it usually takes a nap to recharge its batteries.”

For a more realistic view, check out this cool Experience Curiosity simulation that lets you explore Mars’ surface and learn about actual data discovered by NASA’s rover. Besides great graphics (rather better than those in the game, it has to be said), Experience Curiosity also offers tidbits about the rover itself, as well as audio clips explaining its various discoveries.

Have time for more? Then how about NASA’s impressive Mars Trek feature, a web-based tool that lets you zoom in close to Mars’ numerous craters and volcanoes – think of it as Google Earth for the red planet.




Source: Digital Trends

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BlackBerry unveils a new Android device: DTEK50

BlackBerry Ltd has unveiled a new Android-based handset , a device combining Alphabet Inc's popular software and broad app catalog with the Canadian company's security and productivity features at a lower price.

The faded smartphone pioneer is hoping the DTEK50 will sell in greater numbers than the Priv, its first phone using the Android operating system, which Chief Executive John Chen has said suffered because of its high price.

The company said the 5.2-inch touchscreen-only DTEK50 is available from Tuesday for pre-order from BlackBerry's online shop in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and The Netherlands for $299. It plans to begin shipping the device on Aug. 8.

"This is a good marriage of proposition and price point for enterprises," said John Jackson, an analyst at International Data Corp.

Shares in the Waterloo, Ontario-based company were up 1.4 percent at $7.18 on the Nasdaq and rose 1.6 percent to C$9.50 in Toronto.

At its November launch the Priv, which features a slide out keyboard, cost $699 without a contract in the United States and C$899 without a contract in Canada. The company trimmed the Priv's price in April.

Calling the DTEK50 "the world's most secure Android smartphone," BlackBerry said it will alert users if someone is making remote use of its camera or microphone, or accessing the phone's location information.

BlackBerry did not announce any distribution deals with major U.S. carriers, with initial U.S. sales instead expected to come mostly via Best Buy Co Inc, Amazon.com Inc and BlackBerry's own online store.

Canada's biggest wireless carriers will all sell the device.

"The lack of specific detail on operator channels outside Canada says that there's still no path to massive volumes," IDC's Jackson added.

BlackBerry recognized sales of roughly 500,000 devices in the three months to the end of May, down from some 1.1 million a year earlier as demand for its aging product portfolio sunk.

Once a dominant force in smartphones, BlackBerry now holds just a sliver of the global smartphone market. Earlier this month it said it would cease production of its Classic handset, which uses its own BlackBerry 10 operating system.

Chen last month expressed confidence the company's trimmed-down handset business can turn a profit by a self-imposed September deadline, even as some analysts urge the company to ditch the unit.

A third Android device is expected from BlackBerry in the coming months.

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Watch 3D movies without having to wear 3D glasses

Tired of wearing 3D glasses at the movie theater? That may be about to change.

MIT reports that the school’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Weizmann Institute of Science have created a way for audiences to watch 3D movies without having to wear those goofy shades.

The technology is called Cinema 3D and works by placing a series of mirrors and lenses behind the screen to ensure that viewers are able to get a 3D viewing experience from anywhere in the theater.

That’s a big deal, considering that current glasses-free 3D experiences, like Nintendo’s 3DS handheld console, require you to view the screen from a single position.

Cinema 3D isn’t quite ready to hit the market yet, though. MIT says the prototype required 50 sets of mirrors and lenses and was about the size of a pad of paper.

Still, if you’ve ever had to wear 3D glasses over your prescription specs, you can imagine how useful this technology could be.




Source: MIT NEWS

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The Top Technology Trends Dominating 2016

 With the year almost running by, lets take a look at the technology trends dominating in 2016.


1. Live streaming

 Live streaming technology, particularly via Twitch, Facebook Live, Periscope, and other similar apps, is developing at a faster rate thanks to a combination of factors that is making live streaming more popular amongst users; some of these factors include the practicality of mobile devices, better Internet connections, and a greater expectation to be “in the moment” in a social media context. As a result, live streaming technologies are coming to a more diverse range of platforms—including social media platforms—and are becoming more efficient, with fewer interruptions and greater accessibility.

2. Virtual and augmented reality

 It was supposed to be a big year for virtual reality (VR) with the emergence of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. To date, it’s seen modest popularity, but nothing that’s revolutionized the way we experience the world. On the other hand, augmented reality apps are starting to see breakout popularity (and Pokémon Go is the major notable example here), bringing millions of users together for a shared physical/digital hybrid experience. VR technology is still new, and there’s always a learning curve, but I believe we’re witnessing our first baby steps into an era with a much blurrier line between the physical and digital realms.

3. Automation, machine learning, and AI

People have been anticipating the onset of artificial intelligence (AI) for decades, and though it’s been around in various forms for the past several years (and even beyond that), we’re now bearing witness to the advanced learning systems that may soon come to define our interactions with technology. Digital assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Cortana, which were mocked just a few years ago, now have a stunning ability to recognize and decipher human speech, and Google updates like RankBrain are now able to update themselves, learning from complex user inputs and making automated adjustments.

4. The Internet-of-Things (IoT)

The Internet-of-Things is a phenomenon driven by the fact that so many everyday items—such as refrigerators and televisions—are now becoming capable of accessing the Internet, or even enjoying “smart” technology. Theoretically, groups of these appliances and devices could be linked together on a single network, resulting in a “smart home” that can be controlled independently by a single user on a single system. This technology could soon revolutionize the way we engage with our environments and interact with each other.

5. Big data and visualization

To be fair, it’s been a few years since “big data” started becoming popular as a buzzword, so it can’t be counted as a trend exclusively in 2016. For the past few years, businesses have been upgrading their systems and investing more to collect greater quantities and quality of data on their customers. This data is useful—but only if it’s interpreted correctly, and only if those gathering it are asking the right questions. Enter the era of data visualization, where advanced software programs and analytics platforms are able to automatically gather and project big data in meaningful ways, helping users form accurate, actionable conclusions.

6. App streaming

App streaming is one of the most interesting developments in the field of online search and mobile user experiences. Google has been pushing the visibility and functionality of apps in its search engine for the past few years, but its recent push to “streaming” apps in search results for users is an insightful indication of where things might develop from here. App streaming allows users to access content to apps they haven’t even downloaded yet, opening a potential door to the eventuality of apps replacing traditional websites as the central medium to gather new information.

7. Better in-app experiences

The dominant apps of our era—like Google and Facebook—are fighting hard to keep their apps in the top ranks, and keep users in those applications for as long as possible. Social media apps are starting to venture into new territory, with better, more diverse messaging experiences, and new functionality that overrides the necessity to leave the app and pursue functionality elsewhere. Most users are finding these in-app provisions helpful, and they’re only going to grow more sophisticated from here.

With these seven trends already in place and shaping the world around us, I can only imagine what wonders are down the pipeline. Of course, some technological trends are bound to fizzle while others continue for many years—but since it’s so hard to focus on the distant future, the short-term future is your best bet for setting goal.

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Cortana finally arrives on Xbox One

After months upon months of delays, Cortana is finally ready for your Xbox One. Microsoft has started rolling out its promised summer update with Cortana's smarter, richer voice control as its centerpiece.

You can use your headset or Kinect to search games, invite friends to play and otherwise accomplish tasks that required either stiff commands or (gasp) your gamepad. This also represents another step toward tighter integration of the Xbox and Windows 10 experiences, such as platform-independent party chat and streamlined shopping that lets you redeem Xbox credits.

Even the not-quite-headline-worthy updates are fairly substantial. You can play background music from supporting apps (Pandora is first) when a game's soundtrack just won't do. It's easier to sift through your game collection, and you can set your language independently of where you live -- handy if you've moved to another country. No, the software doesn't fulfill all of Microsoft's promised Xbox One changes for this year (you'll have to wait until September for Play Anywhere), but it's undoubtedly one of the biggest updates in a long while.



Source:Xbox Wire
Via: Engadget 

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Instagram Rolls out Anti- Harassment Tool

Twitter and Facebook have taken online harassment more seriously in 2016, though their approach is still light-handed, with the former taking years to finally ban one of its worst pitchfork-marshaling demagogues. Instead of coming down harder on moderation, Instagram is putting abuse-prevention in the hands of its users.

They will soon be able to set up word filters, letting them control the tone of discussion below each image — or turn off comments in a post entirely. But is it enough to just let folks block triggering phrases?

The feature is already being tested on "high-profile" celebrity accounts, which conceivably field a large volume of comments from other users. It will officially roll out to those first and then to the masses in the next few weeks, according to The Washington Post.

It's a tough balance to keep online communities safe but not overly restrict free speech: Land too hard on one side and you'll enrage proponents of the other. But social networks' previous hands-off strategy letting the community sort itself out has brought accusations of complicity when they don't prevent harassment and abuse. Letting users block certain offensive or inflammatory words will hopefully prevent some escalation or term-specific targeting.

Of course, trolls and haters shielded with the anonymity of the internet will probably find a way around the block in the same way they have since AOL chatrooms got parental filters: misspellings, euphemisms, and coded language. The exact bigoted or derogatory terms might be banned, but determined thugs will always find a way to get their words heard.

It's also unclear from the Post's report whether Instagram will let users block comments only on a per-post basis, or if they will get to turn them off entirely. Meanwhile, we're still waiting for a feature Facebook has had for years: allowing your posts to be visible or accessible by certain friends — or invisible to known trolls.



Source: Washington Post
Via: Engadget

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Deleted WhatsApp messages aren’t actually deleted according to research

Chat logs from WhatsApp linger on your phone even after you’ve deleted them, according to new research published by iOS expert Jonathan Zdziarski.

Forensic traces of chats linger on the phone even after a user archives or deletes them, Zdziarski found, and could be accessed by someone with physical access to the device or by law enforcement issuing a warrant to Apple for iCloud backups. Although the data is deleted from the app, it is not overwritten in the SQLite library and therefore remains on the phone.

“I installed the app and started a few different threads,” Zdziarski wrote in a blog post. “I then archived some, cleared, some, and deleted some threads. I made a second backup after running the ‘Clear All Chats’ function in WhatsApp. None of these deletion or archival options made any difference in how deleted records were preserved. In all cases, the deleted SQLite records remained intact in the database.”

“The only way to get rid of them appears to be to delete the app entirely,” Zdziarski added.
WhatsApp has been applauded for its security since the company, which is owned by Facebook, completed its rollout of end-to-end encryption in April. WhatsApp uses the well-regarded Signal Protocol for its encryption. But some onlookers were excited to see a dent in WhatsApp’s armor — the CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, took the opportunity to critique WhatsApp’s security.

“Even for 10% of something like this security experts would tear Telegram apart with hundreds of NEVER USE IT tweets,” Durov tweeted. “Funny how conveniently silent all these ‘experts’ are now, after spending hundreds of hours bashing TG [Telegram] and promoting WA [WhatsApp].”

However, WhatsApp certainly isn’t the only messaging application with this problem: Zdziarski noted that the issue exists with iMessage as well. Other apps like Signal and Wickr leave fewer forensic traces.

WhatsApp users don’t need to panic — the ways this forensic data could be exported are relatively limited. Still, Zdziarski has some advice for users:

• Use iTunes to set a long, complex backup password for your phone. Do NOT store this password in the keychain, otherwise it could potentially be recovered using Mac forensics tools. This will cause the phone to encrypt all desktop backups coming out of it, even if it’s talking to a forensics tool.

  NOTE: If passwords are compelled in your country, you may still be forced to provide your backup password to law enforcement.

• Consider pair locking your device using Configurator. I’ve written up a howto for this; it will prevent anybody else who steals your passcode, or compels a fingerprint from being able to pair or use forensics tools with your phone. This is irreversible without restoring the phone, so you’ll need to be aware of the risks.

• Disable iCloud backups, as these do not honor your backup password, and the clear text database can be obtained, with a warrant, by law enforcement.

• Periodically, delete the application from your device and reinstall it to flush out the database. This appears to be the only way to flush out deleted records and start fresh.

  NOTE: This will not delete databases from existing iCloud backups from the cloud.

WhatsApp did not respond to a request for comment


Souce: Techcrunch

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These high-tech shirts change their pattern and color in response to pollution or radiation

Nikolas Bentel’s nifty new line of clothing, called Aerochromics are high-tech shirts that change their pattern and color in response to pollution or radiation .

Bentel has created three different shirts: each of which change in some unique way when they come into contact with different environmental factors.

“I wanted to create something that not only starts a conversation about pollution but also actively participates in the discussion,” Bentel told Digital Trends.

High-tech shirts change their pattern and color in response to pollution or radiation

The first shirt works in a way that is very similar to an everyday carbon monoxide spot detector, which turns black when carbon monoxide is present and clear when it is not.

“When carbon monoxide ends up touching the clothing, it’s oxidized by chemical salts,” Bentel says.

“This process is what changes the colors. The dye also contains chemical salts made from transition metals. Once the carbon monoxide is removed, these metal salts steal some oxygen from the air and [that] changes the catalyst back to its original chemical form — so the detector spot changes back to its original color. Essentially, the catalyst regenerates in the air.”

The second shirt boasts two small sensors, one on the front and one on the back. When the shirt is introduced into an area with particle pollution like dust or smoke, the sensors trip and alert the small micro-controller embedded in the shirt collar.

“Each dot is connected to a circular heat pad that the microcontroller activates when pollution is detected,” Bentel explains. “Each patch has a thermo-chromic dye which changes colors when the patch heats up. Each patch then has a layer of insulation which blocks the dots from outside temperatures, which also retains the heat in the dot.”

The third and final shirt is designed to react to radioactivity. “The dye on the shirt is a nontoxic, chemical process indicator dye that changes color depending upon exposure to gamma or electron beam radiation,”

Bentel says. “At greater dosage levels, the radiation indicators exhibit an increased color. Once you have been exposed to a sizable amount of radiation the shirt will not change back. This technology is very similar to radiation indicator dots.”

Bentel’s shirts aren’t cheap: costing $500 each for the first two and $650 for the radiation shirt. However, they’re definitely pretty innovative and make for a bold fashion statement.

Source: Digital Trends

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Romanian team wins 2016 Microsoft Imagine Cup

Three Romanian computer science students from the University Politehnica of Bucharest won the 2016 Microsoft Imagine Cup with a wearable device that tracks inner ear balance and spinal posture.

Flavia Oprea, Iulian Mateșică and Cristian Alexandrescu founded ENTy. Inner ear and spinal issues can lead to a lot of pain for patients, but they can be difficult and costly to measure. The technology uses an accelerometer, magnetometer and gyroscope to track movement in real time. That data is then uploaded to an Azure SQL database that doctors can access.

“The medical industry is based on old technology and very expensive, so we said ‘OK, maybe we can make a cheaper technology, an affordable technology,'” Oprea said.

ENTy has been tested with four doctors and approximately 375 patients.

Thursday, winners of three categories — games, innovation and world citizenship — were chosen from 35 finalists. ENTy won the innovation category. Each winner got a check for $50,000, and ENTy will get a mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Team AMANDA, engineering students from Aristotle University of Thessaloníki in Greece, won in the world citizenship category. Their project is named for Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old Canadian girl who committed suicide as a result of bullying. It uses virtual reality and the Microsoft Band to put people in bullying situations and monitor how they react. The goal is to identify bullying tendencies and make it easier to treat them.

PH21, a team of students from studying computer engineering at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand took home the prize in the games category. Their puzzle-based game, Timelie, centers around a woman who steals a device that can see into the future, and a young girl whose ability to manipulate time was used to create the device. Players can manipulate time to figure out the answers to puzzles that will allow them to escape with the device.

This year’s finalists were whittled down from more than 150 teams that advanced from national finals events. The final round was at Garfield High School in Seattle and judged by John Boyega, who played Finn in Stars Wars: The Force Awakens; Dr. Jennifer Tang, one half of 2014 Imagine Cup Champion, Team Eyenaemia; and Microsoft Computer Science Curriculum Developer Kasey Champion.

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Yahoo's new algorithm can spot online abuse in both context and content

There’s a lot of trash on the internet, and while humans may not have the emotional capacity to comb through it all, a new algorithm from Yahoo does. That’s right — spotting online abuse just got a lot easier, and it’s all thanks a “machine learning-based method to detect hate speech on online user comments.” Promising to “outperform a state-of-the-art deep learning approach,” this new algorithm has the capacity to spot abusive messages with around a 90 percent accuracy rate.

How did they do it? It began with a novel data set Yahoo built itself, composed completely of hateful or otherwise offensive article comments previously noted by Yahoo editors (yes, human beings).

Then, the team applied a process known as “word embedding,” which allowed them to examine words in strings. That means that even if a single word isn’t inherently offensive, the algorithm is able to determine whether the phrase comprising those words is ultimately hurtful. This differs from most other systems available, which are generally on the lookout for keywords, but may miss more sophisticated sorts of hate speech or abusive content.

“Automatically identifying abuse is surprisingly difficult,” researcher Alex Krasodomski-Jones of the U.K.-based Centre for Analysis of Social Media told the MIT Technology Review. “The language of abuse is amorphous — changing frequently and often used in ways that do not connote abuse, such as when racially or sexually charged terms are appropriated by the groups they once denigrated.”

He continued, “Given 10 tweets, a group of humans will rarely all agree on which ones should be classed as abusive, so you can imagine how difficult it would be for a computer.”
Still, having a machine’s assistance in the process seems like a helpful step moving forward, especially given the sheer volume of content now available on the web.



Source: Digital Trends

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