Tech & Science Archives - Page 46 of 114

A New Google VR Headset Is Imminent

February 9, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Because virtual reality is one of the hottest topics right now, and one that most technology giants are turning their gaze upon, it shouldn’t be a surprise that a new Google VR headset is imminent. With the long awaited for Oculus Rift right around the corner and less than 2 months away from its release date, news of Apple starting its own VR research and development department and Google only having its Google Cardboard headset to offer to its own public, things are probably soon to change.

Even if the original idea behind Google Cardboard was undoubtedly cheap genius, it probably won’t be able to stand up against its competitors. As a result, Google seems to be developing a new smartphone-assisted VR headset that has improved specifications. While these are only rumors, it is said that the new headset has better sensors and lenses and that it has ditched the hilarious and cheap cardboard build for a more solid plastic casing.

But that is no guarantee that the new Google virtual reality headset will be able to compete directly with gadgets the likes of Oculus Rift. The latter is a device that has been thoroughly designed with the idea that it should be a standalone – even though you do need to connect it to a rather capable computer in order to play anything in VR.

However, thinking that VR only limits itself to gaming would be an unfair understatement. Developers envision more and more utility for virtual reality on a daily basis – starting with design, art, health, education and even psychology. While so far virtual experience has limited itself to giving its users a mere glimpse of literally experiencing virtual reality such as gaming or ‘visiting’ places in virtual space – such as Mount Everest – VR is destined for much more.

But for example, Dom Barnard, cofounder of the VirtualSpeech app said that one of the best applications they could have thought of for the Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR headsets was their own application that helps the user get over their fear of public speaking. He also mentioned that he imagines a world where kids in school put on VR headsets to learn about the human body or historic sites.

Virtual reality is still in its very early stages and we’ve already heard of some stunningly beautiful and clever applications of it. Time will only tell just how far it can truly go.

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Robots That Mimic Roaches May Be Sent to the Rescue

February 9, 2016 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Despite one of the least popular creatures that we coexist with or without our knowledge, roaches seem to be inspirational: robots that mimic roaches may be sent to the rescue in potential future disaster sites such as a building collapse.

No matter how much we dislike them, the regular roach seems to be an amazing living thing. In any sci-fi story that depicts a post-apocalyptic story, which animal do you think is one of the last remaining species with no other radioactive mutation than growing really big? Roaches of course. What other animal can reduce its regular body size to about a quarter in order to squeeze through different places and withstand up to 900 times its weight and still be unscathed?

Which is why may be humans may dislike them so much too. Extremely resilient and shockingly fast – about 60 centimeters per second – roaches have become muse for a group of scientists at the University of California-Berkeley. The reason – they wish to study the way roaches function in order to start working on a prototype robot that could assist rescue teams for events such as earthquakes.

The first focus of the scientists in the study they commenced on the theme was roaches’ ability to move through incredibly small spaces. By making use of high-speed cameras in order to film the insects move through various places, the researchers observed the roaches moving through spaces as narrow as 3 millimeters wide – and that is about one fourth of the standing height of a roach.

The roaches’ speed is also a reason the scientists wish to take example from them in order to build their robot. The reason roaches are so fast is the fact that they make use of more than just their legs – by employing a form of sliding thanks to the friction they have on their backs and bellies. The scientists call this “body-friction legged crawling”, meaning that roaches use several methods of moving in order to be efficient.

Once the study is complete, more details regarding CRAM – Compressible Robot with Articulated Mechanisms – will be made official to the public and even have a prototype presented. The robot in question wishes to impersonate a roach’s ability to squeeze through tight spots and also withstand huge amounts of weight in order to help rescuers sift through debris without endangering the construction even more.

While it’s not exactly already thought out how the robot would be able to help with actually rescuing any potential victims, but they could at least be used to squeeze through and send back information to rescuers regarding survivors and even the nature of injuries they have.

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Short Snippet of Mars Is Now Available on YouTube

February 9, 2016 By Deborah Campbell Leave a Comment

Far from being a Sci-Fi 3D rendered imagining of it, but a real short snippet of Mars is now available on YouTube in 360 degree view video. This video has been pieced together from several images that were taken by the Curiosity Rover on Mars on December 18^th of 2015. The video was released by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and depicts the surface of the red planet as it is near the Namib Dune.

Cracked ground, sand dunes and Mount Sharp await the user to witness a scenery that is not so different from what you would expect on our own planet. With the only possible exception being that you would think that kind of scenery is the result of scorching temperatures, whereas Mars barely exceeds 70 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) during summertime at the equator.

The images that form the video were captured on what was Curiosity’s 1,197^th Martian day (sol – term used for solar days) on the planet and gives anyone the chance to experience the way Mars would look if you were mounted atop the rover.

The Curiosity is a car-sized rover that was originally launched off of the surface of the earth on November 26^th, 2011 and only reached the surface of Mars on Earth day August 6^th, 2012. Ever since, it has been travelling across the plains of the planet, studying various rock formations and climate conditions in order to prepare mankind for its own descent on the planet – whenever that will be.

The Curiosity rover is equipped with a multitude of cameras and instruments that allow it to do more than just feed images and video of the surface of Mars. Firstly, it uses a high resolution camera to look for features of interest, it has an inbuilt infrared laser that can examine the rock elemental composition and even transform it into an advanced study via a microscope and X-ray spectrometer.

Along with the multitude of navigational cams, environmental monitoring stations, hazard avoidance cameras and the mast camera, Curiosity also holds various in-depth study tools that can quickly determine the nature of elements found in the soil, determine potentially unsafe zones where radiation levels are higher as well as a robotic arm that can make use of 5 different devices.

The mission that was originally planned to only last for 687 days (668 sols) has been decided to be made indefinite. During the time that the rover will continue to function on the surface of Mars, it will continue to study the biological, geological and geochemical processes and occurrences on the planet. While there is a focus set on whether microbial life was ever existent on Mars, the rover also plays a vital role in determining the conditions of mankind’s first step on the planet’s surface in person.

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The Repercussions of the iPhone Error 53

February 9, 2016 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

After numerous users have been left with a non-functional iPhone 6 or 6S after attempting to upgrade to the latest iOS 9.3, Apple may be facing the repercussions of the iPhone error 53 through a potential class action suit against them. This is hardly a surprise as it’s undeniable that the company could have handled the situation with a lot more class than it has.

In essence, error 53 is the iPhone killer – as some would call it – as any iPhone 6 or above user that has been experiencing issues with their home button or has, at one point, fixed a broken home button in a third party service center and tried to update to the latest iOS version ended up with an unusable phone. As soon as someone would try to update, they would receive the Error 53 screen; that would instantly brick the phone and you would have nothing else to ado but to literally buy a new phone.

With no notice from Apple, no fix for it and no apparent plan to make it up to the ones affected, Apple seems to be facing potential class action suit. The company defends itself against accusations by stating that “Error 53” is a hardware issue caused by the user and that Apple cannot honor repairs via standard warranty. Even if ‘caused by the user’ mostly means that they resorted to non-Apple repair stores instead.

Some users already believe that Error 53 is nothing other than Apple’s attempt to throttle the third party service center market and leave no alternative for users other than using Apple’s own repair services. iOS 9.3 seems to have been built to detect unauthorized repairs and/or use of unauthorized parts and instantly brick the phone as a result.

A law firm from Seattle, PCVA, has stated that it will begin an investigation on the matter in order to possible motion a class-action suit against Apple because of the belief that Apple is deliberately forcing users to no other alternative than their own repair shops.

Other individuals believe that this is a method of protecting its users however, considering that the fingerprint data stored on the device would otherwise be leaked.

But because the issue had no prior notice and there’s a vehement refusal of the company to assist the ones who have fallen victim to Error 53, Apple surely hasn’t made a lot of fans with this ordeal. And because simply having to buy a new smartphone wasn’t enough, Error 53 also instantly wipes out all of your stored data – photos, texts, apps – so unless you had all of that backed up, you would lose it forever.

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Dark Souls 3 Opening Cinematic Was Released on YouTube

February 9, 2016 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

The latest and probably also the last preview video we get before its official release on April 12^th, the Dark Souls 3 Opening Cinematic was released on YouTube just yesterday. While the footage shown in it is not much else but a rehashed series of scenes from the previous trailers, it does give off the feeling that it’s finally complete and has a fair amount of fluidity.

Dark Souls 3 has been announced to be the final game of its kind as it completes a very long but very beautiful series that has re-invented the action RPG genre altogether. While some may argue that the ‘spin-off’ titles such as Bloodborne or the very ancestor of the Dark Souls series – Demon’s Souls – should not be taken into account, that would be unfair and incorrect; at least to From Software.

Hidetaka Miyazaki, the man behind the wheel for all of the previous “Souls” games, albeit only on supervision role for Dark Souls 2, returned to develop the third game after being re-inspired by From Software’s latest escapade – Bloodborne.

Because of that, anyone who has played the PS4 exclusive title will recognize the slightly Lovecraftian setting as having made its way into Dark Souls 3 a slight amount. The developers have managed to mix the once lordly halls of a dying kingdom theme into something that reminisces Yharnam of Bloodborne without feeling forced.

It has been announced that this is the last title in the series; maybe not the last action RPG of this sort, but certainly the last Dark Souls, according to the studio. Because of that, you will find a slightly different change of story too. It’s not like the dying Lordran’s quest for you to rekindle and link the fire to extend the life of the world a little longer. It’s not like the vast Drangleic’s mystery and ambiguity that unveils at the same time as you discover the fate of the undead.

In Dark Souls 3, the kingdom of Lothric holds a different kind of mystery as the “Lords of Cinder” awaken when the link of fire is threatened and a bell tolls. The video depicts several of the bosses of the game as they awaken to keep the flame alive. And you, the accursed undead, “unfit even to be cinder” will most likely result in the definite end of the Age of Fire.

The ones who are familiar with the entire “Souls” series, official or not, will notice how this game seems to combine elements from every single previous game – the Abyss will be here, a new Firelink Shrine too, dragons, a creature that looks a lot like the Cleric Beast from Bloodborne and even moments that reminisce Demon’s Souls classics.

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The iOS 9.3 Update Error 53 Bricks Your iPhone 6

February 5, 2016 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

A huge notice for any iPhone user attempting or considering to switch to the new version of the operating system is the fact that the iOS 9.3 update error 53 bricks your iPhone 6. There has been a fair amount of individuals that have already fallen into the trap and now have to deal with completely unusable phones. And they can’t even be held accountable for it on nearly any degree either.

Never mind the mere hassle of getting your phone upgraded to the latest iOS version with the common nuisances such as not having enough space, having to back your data up and so on. Some individuals who have recently attempted to upgrade were greeted by an Error 53 screen and can no longer restore their phone or do anything with them.

The reason? While it’s not 100% clear yet, the number one suspect seems to be non-Apple performed fixes to the phone. At least this is the only thing that the victims of the error seem to have in common: nearly all reported to have gone to a non-Apple service center to repair their home button. The ones who have not reported that instead said that they are experiencing issues with the home button at the time of the update.

This is a ghastly thing to consider, especially since a part of the people who are currently staring at their never-to-function-again phones because they had no other alternative than to go to a third party service center due to the lack of Apple stores where they live, for example.

Naturally, an uproar was expected to come. It didn’t take long either; ever since Apple stated that there is nothing else that can be done if you’re plagued by error 53 than to buy a new replacement, it’s not unheard of for people to speculate that this is a poor attempt by Apple at a ‘money grab’ while also subtly attacking the third party phone repair market.

The most worrying part of it all is the fact that Apple is not actively attempting to stop this from propagating. Not only has Apple not even made an effort to officially announce the issue to people who attempt to update their system to the latest iOS 9.3, but they are not restricting the possibility of upgrading to those they detect to have made third party repairs.

If you know your phone to have issues with the home button or have had them in the past and fixed them anywhere else than an Apple Store, it’s advisable that you refrain from upgrading until Apple releases an official fix or remedy to the situation. It is unknown what fate the already affected devices will have.

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What to Do with Your iPhone When It Breaks

February 5, 2016 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Apple has never actually been particularly versatile when it came to broken device parts so here’s what to do with your iPhone when it breaks. I’m sure that unless it happened to you, it most certainly happened to a friend: that horrifying moment when you see your iPhone plummeting towards the hard concrete or worse, a body of water.

Unless you’re willing to pay $99 a year for AppleCare+ and you found yourself in the aforementioned scenario, you probably had no other choice but to walk into the nearest service center and hope to get it fixed that way. Things would’ve been even worse when the damage was not repairable and you would literally have no other choice than to rip out few hundred bucks from your wallet in order to get a new phone altogether.

However, good news for iPhone users out there who don’t completely trust themselves to keep their phones safe! Considering that Apple is planning and already in process of revamping its trade-in program, the company is starting to offer up to $250 for damaged iPhones. Of course the amount you receive will be calculated according to the amount of damage the phone has been subjected to.

This is the first move that the company makes in the attempt to expand its trade-in scheme. It is not yet confirmed, but several sources suggest that the new trade-in will include new iPhones on offer, even if your own device has got a damaged screen, camera or home button.

Apparently, the trade-in terms and conditions state that Apple will offer credit for your broken phone as long as it can still function and power on. The entire list of terms can be found in any Apple store or on the Apple website. The program has already been launched in Apple stores across the state and the amount of credit you can get for a broken iPhone 5S is $50, $200 for an iPhone 6 and $250 for an iPhone 6 Plus.

The program may seem like it’s mostly about customer experience with the company but actually tries to achieve more than just that. Apple has stated that the program was designed with the intent of expanding the pool of potential buyers for newer iPhone models. Along with the iPhone Upgrade Program, Apple is trying to draw as much attention as it can to the latest models of the phone.

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Say Goodbye to Smartphone Mozilla Firefox OS

February 5, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

While things haven’t been great for the operating system for a fairly long time, it is now officially the time to say goodbye to smartphone Mozilla Firefox OS. While the original first hint that Mozilla wasn’t particularly bent on capturing a portion of the smartphone market came back in December last year, there hasn’t been any official statement since.

According to the company itself, the Mozilla Firefox operating system did not come up to the expectations that neither Mozilla nor the users had for the software and ended up not being able to “offer the best user experience possible” and instead decided to focus its efforts somewhere else.

However, this time, Mozilla has made a clear statement in which they confirmed the fact that the operating system for smartphones will be discontinued; in that sense, the OS will continue to function on devices but it will no longer be receiving support or updates. The Mozilla Firefox OS development will end for good once version 2.6 is released in May 2016.

According to the official statement, the company made this decision due to the feeling that the company was playing ‘catch up’ more than managing to establish itself as a viable alternative on a market where circumstances were not favorable for a newcomer such as themselves. As a result, Mozilla will return to focusing its efforts on other markets, most likely not phone-related.

Considering the operating system itself is not literally going away, the Mozilla Firefox OS will be considered a Tier 3 project by the company from now on. In essence that means that any issue you may have with it you will either have to solve yourself or rely on forums and community rather than the company itself. That shouldn’t necessarily be regarded as a major change as the OS has been an open-source system, so it’s not unlikely that there are individuals out there that could share a fair amount of knowledge about it.

Mozilla claims they have given up on this particular project in favor of ‘connected devices’ and that they will be focusing on developing software – most likely also open source – for the ‘Internet of things’. In other words, programming for linked and synced devices and household items.

As a side note, the company also said that it will stop accepting submissions from Android, desktop and tablet apps to its Marketplace starting Marth 29^th this year, and that it will also remove apps that don’t support Firefox OS after that date.

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More Astonishing News From New Horizons Spacecraft

February 5, 2016 By Michael Turner Leave a Comment

Mere days ago, we were graced with a real life image of Charon as it was taken last summer from the edges of the solar system and now we have even more astonishing news form New Horizons spacecraft. This time it’s about Pluto itself, and the amazing images that were rendered by NASA after the space probe that was launched back in 2006 did a fly by the dwarf planet last year during the summer.

The data that the probe has been feeding and beaming back to Earth along its 10-year trip has provided an immense amount of insight about the workings of our own solar system and truly went where nobody had been before. The newest news feeds from NASA display even more information that New Horizons has gathered from the farthest edges of our solar system; and more explicitly images and recordings of the dwarf planet Pluto.

Scientists have been studying all of the data gathered from Pluto ever since it first started getting fed to them back on Earth. A new analysis suggests that Pluto’s glaciers and made of water ice and that they float similarly to how icebergs do on the surface of the earth.

The reason this is possible is because of a difference in density. Because the water ice that the glaciers are made of has a lower density of the frozen nitrogen that the surface below them has (also common to objects in the Kuiper belt), they tend to ‘float’ or travel slowly. Although the glaciers there remain hard and frozen solid due to the -380 degrees Fahrenheit temperature on Pluto, they seem to break apart and move in a series.

These were conclusions drawn after closely studying the images depicting one particular zone of the planet Pluto – namely the Sputnik Planum. It was detected that the glaciers would slowly move across the flat plane, sometimes as much as 12 miles across it. In earth terms, this would translate in gigantic icebergs that move across the frozen oceans. Except in Pluto’s case, it’s a gigantic frozen surface of nitrogen.

A particular portion of the Sputnik Planum, namely the Challenger Colles, appears to be a large accumulation of these glaciers. Scientists speculate that this is a place where the nitrogen ice below is shallower than in other parts, making the water ice glaciers ‘station’ and gather here. The Challenger Colles zone is 37 by 22 miles, while the entire Sputnik Planum zone is believed to span for about 300 by 210 miles.

The image taken by New Horizons was captured about 12 minutes before the probe’s closest approach to Pluto, from a range of approximately 9,950 miles from the surface on July 14^th, 2015.

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NASA Can Only Afford One Mission to Either Mars or the Moon

February 5, 2016 By Kenneth Scott Leave a Comment

Despite initial aspirations and hopes for mankind to both step on the Moon again or venture to the next planet in line, NASA can only afford one mission to either Mars or the Moon. Former director of National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center, Tom Young, has taken the time to talk about the reality of achieving these longtime goals of humanity.

It is a known fact that the reason NASA hasn’t sent any human expeditions out to the Moon for 44 years for example. Manned missions such as that not only take a huge amount of time and preparation to get going, but are also ridiculously expensive (billions of dollars at least) and right now not much else than a reason for humans to be able to say they stepped on a different planet or satellite, depending on case.

Although NASA has been actively advertising its ‘Journey to Mars’ campaign and also considering returning to the Moon for the first time in decades, Tom Young has openly stated that it’s very clear to him and the NASA organization that doing both is not something they can afford, having to focus their attention on just one of the two options.

While the moon has been a dreamed-of destination for mankind for decades, Mars still remains that one place where our species has yet to set foot on. A trip to Mars is a lot more difficult than it sounds on paper for a wide variety of reasons, beyond the mere financial and technological limitations. A trip to Mars would have to be done only at specific moments throughout Mars’ and the Earth’s movement along their orbits to minimize the time it actually takes for a spacecraft to reach it. At best, a flight to Mars could take 6 months. At worst, nearly 2 years.

NASA released a report called ‘Pathways to Exploration’ in 2014, in which it realistically stated that a manned expedition to Mars would be possible in the next 20 to 40 years, with the base expense of half a trillion dollars for it. Tom Young also made a point regarding the dire need for humanity to not give up their ambition for manned outer space exploration, but not at the cost of making frivolous plans, especially when so much money is at stake.

However, another ‘back-up’ plan that NASA has thought of is ‘a pit stop at the moon’ in humanity’s quest to reach further parts of our solar system. Instead of making the direct trip from Earth to Mars, establishing a moon base could help humans learn how to survive in alien worlds and develop technologies that would allow them to be more prepared for more ambitious plans such as Mars.

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