Google today launched the fourth and final developer preview of Android O the latest version of its mobile operating system. As expected, there are no major changes in this release and, according to Google, the launch of Android O remains on track for later this summer. There’s still some time left before the official end of the summer (that’s September 22, in case you wondered), but given that Android Nougat was on a very similar scheduleI expect we’ll see a final release in August.
The final APIs for Android O arrived with the third preview release, so today’s update is all about incremental updates and stability. All of the major Android SDKs, tools and the Android Emulator will get minor version bumps in the next few days and the Android Support Library (version 26.0.0) is now considered stable, but, like before, the focus here is on making sure that developers can test their apps before the final version rolls out to users.
For users and developers, the new version of Android brings better notifications support across the OS, picture-in-picture support, autofill and more. There also are new features that are meant to optimize your phone’s battery. While none of the changes are revolutionary, Android developers should probably test this apps on Android O as soon as possible (even if they don’t plan to support the new features). To do so, they also should update to the latest version of Android studio. Google’s IDE for writing Android apps.
The Android O developer preview is available as an over-the-air update for regular users, too (assuming you are brave enough to run pre-release software on your phone). It’s available for Google’s Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P and the Nexus Player.
Last year’s update, Android Nougat, now has around 11.5 percent market share in the Android ecosystem. It’s no secret that it takes the Android ecosystem quite a while to adapt new OS versions, but with a considerable number of Google’s own Pixel phones in the market now, it’s probably a good idea for developers to jump on the Android O bandwagon soon.
Creating Harry Potter: J.K. Rowling's Journey from Struggling Single Mother to the World's First Billionaire Author
July 24, 2017
Creating Harry Potter: J.K. Rowling's Journey from Struggling Single Mother to the World's First Billionaire Author
J.K. Rowling is the first self-made billionaire author in the history of, well, billionaires. She's also one of only 56 women in the world, according to Forbes, to earned her own billion-dollar fortune...ever.
If that isn't enough to impress you, let us indulge a little further. She has sold more than 400 million copies of her Harry Potter book series, in almost 70 languages around the world. She is the author of the fastest-selling book of all time, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The movie franchise that was borne out of her print brainchild is the highest-grossing in history. It's currently made over $6.5 billion.
All of this which is to say: J.K. Rowling is rolling in it. But her life wasn't always one where money quite literally grows on trees (books come from paper, which starts out as a tree, right?). Twenty years ago today, the very first Harry Potter novel was published—but when she sat down to write what would become the very first wizard installment, she had fallen on wholly hard times.
Avatar 2 Delayed Again: Christmas 2018 Release "Not Happening"
The second sequel in the planned five-part film series has been delayed for a third time, after it was initially scheduled to hit theaters in December 2014. "Well, 2018 is not happening. We haven't announced a firm release date," Cameron tells Avatar 2—we're making Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5. It's an epic undertaking. It's not unlike building the Three Gorges dam."
the toronto star. "What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases. So, we're not making
The second sequel in the planned five-part film series has been delayed for a third time, after it was initially scheduled to hit theaters in December 2014. "Well, 2018 is not happening. We haven't announced a firm release date," Cameron tells Avatar 2—we're making Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5. It's an epic undertaking. It's not unlike building the Three Gorges dam."
Google's giving developers the keys to its digital assistant,
but lacks cheap, first-party options.
At the GOOGLE I/O Developer Conference, I tried a cocktail made by the GOOGLE ASSISTANT. The man who showed off this voice controlled mix master also hosted a session in which he described the possibilities for the future of Google's voice control platform. Chris Ramsdale, the lead product manager for the company's digital assistant, talked about building it into Wi-Fi routers, cars, and ovens.
Ramsdale wasn't making product announcements for Google, instead he was getting a room full of developers excited about the possibilities of Google's smart home.. The Google Assistant still trails Amazon's assistant ALEXA in device versatility -- in particular it has no low cost entry point, akin to Amazon's $50, Alexa-equipped ECHO DOT. Google's gamble is that its community of developers will help fill that gap.
The new robot can learn from a demonstration and teach other robots what it knows.
Building a robot is hard. Teaching a robot is even harder. But teaching a robot to do your teaching for you might just be within the realm of possibility.
If you're building a robot to perform a specific task—like opening a door, for example—there are only a few ways to teach it. Most robots learn via motion planning, where a programmer specifies each movement of the robot's motors. Some robots can also learn by watching and mimicking a human performing the same task.
Both of these methods have their drawbacks. Mimicry is a fast method that serves a robot well when performing one specific task but costs the robot adaptability. If a small detail is changed—such as the type or position of a doorknob—the robot has to relearn the entire exercise from scratch.
Motion planning has the opposite problem: many different conditions and situations can be programmed into the robot, but this takes a considerable amount of time and effort. If you want the most versatile door-opening robot possible, you need to spend countless hours programming ways to open dozens of types of doors.
A team of researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a technology that combines these two teaching methods to take advantage of their strengths while avoiding their weaknesses.
The Salto-1P robot is designed to mimic how some jumping animals move around.
Most robots that have legs are somewhat slow and bulky, and it's hard for them to move around on uneven surfaces. Not so with UC Berkeley's Salto-1P robot. This robot was built to jump high and move fast.
The researchers built the first version of the bot back in December, but this version has tiny thrusters designed to allow the bot to turn sideways. Salto also comes with a gyroscopic "tail" that tilts it forward or backward so it can land correctly for the next jump.
The robot was designed to mimic the jumping abilities of many animals, which can often leap several times their height. They do this by crouching and storing power in their tendons, then releasing it all at once. Salto does the same, only instead of tendons it has springs.
The end result is a tiny robot that only weighs about 3.5 ounces and is less than 6 inches tall, but can jump around 4 feet in the air. That brings us closer to replicating the incredible jumping feats of the animal kingdom, and perhaps we'll see a jumping ability like this in more robots in the future.
Shimon gathers information from over 5,000 songs to create its own melody.
At the Georgia's Institute of Technology, Shimon plays some marimba jams. Shimon is also not human, but a robot using deep learning and artificial intelligence to play music of its own creation. Being fed a variety of over 5,000 songs from Beethoven to Lady Gaga along with a library of 2 million motifs and riffs, Shimon is one of the world's first synthetic musicians.
Mason Bretan, a Ph.D. student and Georgia Tech, perfected Shimon's musical abilities after seven years, enabling him to comprehend music played by humans and extemporize over the pre-composed chord progressions.
"An artist has a bigger idea of what he or she is trying to achieve within the next few measures or later in the piece," Bretan says in an interview. "Shimon is now coming up with higher-level musical semantics. Rather than thinking note by note, it has a larger idea of what it wants to play as a whole."
As long as researchers continue to feed Shimon different source material, the music-creating robot will produce a different sequence that can't be predicted by researchers. And the robot definitely has a style. A musician himself, Bretan says Shimon is a fusion of jazz and classical.
While Bretan fine-tuned Shimon's musical brain, Gil Weinberg, Bretan's advisor as well as a director of Georgia Tech's Center for Music Technology, is Shimon's original creator. Weinberg created Shimon to explore if robots could generate music that humans would find beautiful.
The DroneShield DroneSentry
Deters Drone Flight By Jamming
Signals
Drones can be fun for hobbyists but are a dangerous annoyance for many private airspaces around the world, so the DroneShield DroneSentry is intended to help keep them at bay. The device works by utilizing the DroneSentinel in order to detect for unauthorized drones and let authorized users know that they're in the area. If local laws allow for it, the DroneSentry can send out a signal that will jam their reception and subsequently bring them down to the ground in a matter of moments.
The DroneShield DroneSentry can be used independently or with the DroneSentinel in order to keep an eye on what's happening and handle it accordingly to prevent disturbances in restricted airspace boundaries.
The DroneShield DroneSentry can be used independently or with the DroneSentinel in order to keep an eye on what's happening and handle it accordingly to prevent disturbances in restricted airspace boundaries.
The Blueye Pioneer Drone Offers
Views 150 Meters Under the Water
Blueye Robotics created an underwater consumer drone that can reach depths of up to 150 meters. The Blueye Pioneer is slated to launch early 2018 and will retail for around $3,500, a steal considering most military-grade or professional underwater drones cost upwards of $20,000. The drone will be remotely controlled using a smartphone, tablet or PC and will have a high-definition camera mounted on it so consumers can explore the depths of the ocean without getting wet. A special wide-angled video lens that works in low light was created for this underwater consumer drone. Weighing in at fifteen pounds, the Blueye Pioneer can travel up to 2.5 meters a second.
Scientists will be able to use this inexpensive underwater drone for environmental monitoring and fish farmers can use the device to monitor their stock and keep an eye on underwater conditions.
Snacks
Planning meals is important for managing diabetes, but what about snacks?
When it comes to snacking, people often think of foods that are high in sugar or added fats but you have lots of other options.
Snacks can help curb hunger while adding a nutritious energy boost to your day. But that means choosing foods wisely.
It's a great opportunity to fit in another serving of whole grains,fruits or vegetables These foods are healthier than salty snacks and sweets. They will also fill you up and give you the energy you need.
Regardless of how many snacks your meal plan includes, portion sizes are the key to controlling your blood glucoseand avoiding weight gain. So, resist those trips to the vending machine – plan ahead and pack a healthy snack!
Below are a few snack ideas listed by how much carbohydrate they contain.
Snacks with Less Than 5 Grams of Carbohydrate
- 1 ounce of nuts, such as almonds, peanuts, pecans, pistachios or walnuts
- 3 celery sticks + 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter
- 5 baby carrots
- 5 cherry tomatoes + 1 Tablespoon ranch dressing
- 1 hard-boiled egg
- 1 cup cucumber slices + 1 Tablespoon ranch dressing
- 1/4 cup of fresh blueberries
- 1 cup of salad greens + 1/2 cup of diced cucumber + drizzle of vinegar and oil
- 1 frozen sugar-free popsicle
- 1 cup of light popcorn
- 2 saltine crackers
- 10 gold-fish crackers
- 1/2 cup sugar-free gelatin
- 1 piece of string cheese stick
- 8 green olives
- 2 Tablespoons pumpkin or sesame seeds
- 1/4 of a whole avocado (~4 g.)
About 10-20 Grams of Carbohydrate
- 1/4 cup dried fruit and nut mix
- 1 cup chicken noodle soup, tomato soup (made with water), or vegetable soup
- 1 small apple or orange
- 3 cups light popcorn
- 1/3 cup hummus + 1 cup raw fresh cut veggies (green peppers, carrots, broccoli, cucumber, celery, cauliflower or a combination of these)
- 1/4 cup cottage cheese + 1/2 cup canned or fresh fruit
- 1 cheese quesadilla (made with one 6-inch corn or whole wheat tortilla + 1 oz shredded cheese) + 1/4 cup salsa
- 2 rice cakes (with a 4-inch diameter) + 1 Tablespoon peanut butter
- 5 whole wheat crackers (or 3/4 oz) + 1 piece of string cheese
- 1/2 turkey sandwich (1 slice whole wheat bread + 2 oz turkey + mustard)
- 1/2 cup tuna salad + 4 saltines
About 30 Grams of Carbohydrate (good to eat before exercise)
- 1/2 peanut butter sandwich (1 slice whole wheat bread + 1 Tablespoon peanut butter) + 1 cup milk
- 6 oz light yogurt + 3/4 cup berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or a combination of these)
- 1 English muffin + 1 teaspoon low-fat tub margarine
- 3/4 cup whole grain, ready-to-eat cereal + 1/2 cup fat-free milk
- 1 medium banana + 1 Tablespoon peanut butter
Tips to Remember
- Know your portion sizes beforehand, and if you aren't sure, use measuring cups and spoons!
- Don't forget to count the carbohydrate into your overall meal plan if you use carb counting!
- Avoid mindless snacking in front of the TV or computer or while reading or driving.
- Stock up on healthy options so you always have them on hand.
iOS 11
A giant step for iPhone.A monumental leap for iPad.
iOS 11 sets a new standard for what is already the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. It makes iPhone better than before. It makes iPad more capable than ever. And now it opens up both to amazing possibilities for augmented reality in games and apps. With iOS 11, iPhone and iPad are the most powerful, personal and intelligent devices they’ve ever been.
ios 11 in i pad
ios 11 in phone
iOS 11 sets a new standard for what is already the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. It makes iPhone better than before. It makes iPad more capable than ever. And now it opens up both to amazing possibilities for augmented reality in games and apps. With iOS 11, iPhone and iPad are the most powerful, personal and intelligent devices they’ve ever been.
ios 11 in i pad
ios 11 in phone
ios 11 in i pad
ios 11 in phone
'REBLINK' BRINGS CLASSIC
HISTORIC PAINTINGS TO LIFE
Reblink is an augmented reality museum app that's bringing some of your favorite works of art to life.
Galleries have begun banning selfie sticks, prompting digital artist Alex Mayhew to create an app which brought some form of interactive entertainment into gallery settings. Guests of the Art Gallery of Ontario are invited to point their smartphones toward a classic painting, revealing it in a much different light. Using the power of augmented reality, some of the gallery's historic masterpieces can be seen posing, dancing and even taking selfies. Some depictions feature the painted subjects giving bunny ears to one another, while others stare longingly into laptops.
Apple announces HomePod speaker to take on Sonos
Apple has officially announced the HomePod speaker today, which the company claims will reinvent music in homes like the iPod did for music on the go.
The new smart speaker features a seven-speaker array of tweeters. Additionally, there’s a four-inch upward-facing subwoofer and an Apple A8 chip. The speaker features “spatial awareness,” which allows it to automatically tune the sound to the space that the speaker is in. Setup is simple — simply hold an iPhone next to the HomePod, similar to setting up a pair of AirPods. (HomePod is compatible with the iPhone 5S and up.) You’ll also be able to use a pair of HomePods together in a single room for improved sound. HomePod is also compatible with Apple’s newly announced AirPlay 2 multi-room audio solution, so you’ll be able to use the speakers together with other HomePods or other AirPlay 2-compatible speakers around your house.
HomePod is obviously compatible with Apple Music, and can wirelessly access the full library of songs from Apple Music. There’s a six-microphone array, used to access Siri, which has been upgraded with even more capacity when it comes to specific music requests, like “Who’s playing drums on this track?” or “What was the top song on May 5th, 2016?” Apple says that the microphones are good enough to hear commands from far away, even with the music at full volume. The Siri waveform appears on top of the device when the assistant is activated, similar to the LED lights on an Amazon Echo, although the HomePod also features integrated touch controls as well.
Google Daydream: What does it do, what devices support it and what is standalone Daydream?
July 15, 2017
Google Daydream: What does it do, what devices support it and what is standalone Daydream?
What is Daydream?
Daydream effectively simplifies access to virtual reality content on a mobile device.
It comes in three key aspects. There is an optimal specification list that manufacturers must meet for a smartphone to be labelled Daydream-ready.
There is a Google-made Daydream View VR headset, although multiple manufacturers could also build their own designs (as long as they meet Google's standards).
And there is an all-in-one hub for VR content. Daydream Home is a one-stop shop where you can start virtual reality apps or view videos while wearing the headset itself.
Boston Dynamics' SpotMini Is All Electric, Agile, and Has a Capable Face-Arm
SpotMini is a new smaller version of the Spot robot, weighing 55 lbs dripping wet (65 lbs if you include its arm.) SpotMini is all-electric (no hydraulics) and runs for about 90 minutes on a charge, depending on what it is doing. SpotMini is one of the quietest robots we have ever built. It has a variety of sensors, including depth cameras, a solid state gyro (IMU) and proprioception sensors in the limbs. These sensors help with navigation and mobile manipulation. SpotMini performs some tasks autonomously, but often uses a human for high-level guidance.
Agile Robots
Recently scientists have created machines that have the ability to balanwalk and run across rough and uneven terrain, making them far more useful in navigating human environments.
extraordinary feat of biomechanical engineering. Every step requires balance and the ability to adapt to instability in a split second. It requires quickly adjusting where your foot will land and calculating how much force to apply to change direction suddenly. No wonder, then, that until now robots have not been very good at it.
Top 10 Technologically Advanced Wrist Watches
1. HD3 Slyde
This technology-wonder is designed by Jorg Hysek Jr, son of famed French watchmaker, Jorg Hysek Sr. It has a 232×240 pixel, 28 x 29mm active zone LED screen with a sapphire crystal to cover the curves of the wrist. Without having any physical buttons, the watch has three battery indicator lights on the side and a light sensor to automatically adapt the brightness of the touchscreen dial. It is made of black PVD steel and rose gold while the mechanism entirely depends upon CLT electronic movement. This wrist gadget is powered by 3.8V lithium polymer with a capacity of 250 mAh. The dial is a domed sapphire touchscreen, and the watch also has a USB socket connector for charging the battery or communicating with PCs.
2. Seiko Astron
This timepiece comes from one of the world’s most reputable brands, Seiko. This solar-powered watch is made of stainless steel. It has some cool technology under its classy styling. This 7X52 Caliber watch is World’s first GPS Solar Watch. The Astron features GPS controlled time zone adjustment, world time functions that recognize 39 time zones via satellite, and a perpetual calendar. Automatic Atomic Time Synchronization from GPS Satellites is one of the best features of this device which have an ultra-Low Power GPS Receiver. This watch is accurate to ±15 Seconds / Month when not automatically synchronizing with the satellites. The Airplane mode is also present to disable automatic synchronization while flying, for frequent flyers.
3. HM4 Thunderbolt
This piece of technology is made by MB&F, watchmakers reputed for their unique design. The 311 component aviation-inspired watch is based around the complex HM4 engine and has dual dials. One displays time and the other one shows how much power is left in the timepiece. While it is made out of Grade 5 Titanium and sapphire body, every line and curve is a poetic harmony. The three-dimensional Horological Engine used in this piece art is a marvelous creation by MB&F. It comes with a manual winding, with two mainspring barrels in parallel which reserves the power for 72 hours. The balance frequency of this watch is 21,600bph/3Hz. Not only that, this high-tech watch also consists of 50 jewels inside.
4. Samsung Galaxy Gear
It is the flagship attempt at a smart-watch from a big brand. It comes with 1.6-inch Super AMOLED 320 x 320 pixel touchscreen and 1.9MP primary camera on the wrist-strap. The Galaxy Gear pairs with other Samsung devices via NFC and Bluetooth, and automatically switches on when the arm is raised while wearing it. The integration of third-party apps comes very handy with this masterpiece. It also consists of voice memos and the ability to recognize voice commands for adding meeting schedules in calendar. With a state-of-the-art firmware, the gear can send email notifications, display Facebook and Twitter updates, Google Hangout messages and Messenger pings. There’s no Wi-Fi or GPS on the wristwatch, but it requires charging through USB connector.
5. Tread 1
Tread 1, created by Devon, is a reinvention of the humble watch with a patented system called Interwoven Time Belts. Operating out of California, DEVON is the only American watch company using its own proprietary movement. The Interwoven Time belts are based upon compact microstep motors which also provide the accuracy. The watch is powered by a lithium polymer battery, and as it claimed by the creator, one charge will last couple of weeks. The five-piece case design is made from 316L, surgical-grade stainless steel, the hardest and most durable steel available in the world through advanced computer numerical control machining. The Tread 1 was nominated for the Gran Prix d’Horlogerie de Genéve in the category of Design and Concept Watch in 2010.
