December 31, 2016
How Princess Leia could live on in the Star Wars franchise through CGI
*SPOILER ALERT*
Watching it in the cinema before the death of Carrie Fisher, who appears as Princess Leia, felt odd.
Another performance was equally unsettling.
Peter Cushing, who died more than 20 years ago, was digitally resurrected to reprise his role as the grandest moff of all, Governor Tarkin, commander of the Death Star.
The Guardian described it as "a digital indignity", but it is one we probably need to get used to.
Motion capture and CG techniques have advanced to the point where digital avatars of long-gone actors are startlingly realistic.
For Grand Moff Tarkin, actor Guy Henry gave a performance wearing an elaborate motion-capture head rig, his face and body festooned with dots to track movement.
It is a similar set-up to the techniques pioneered by Andy Serkis in films like The Lord of the Rings and King Kong. The difference is combining it with a familiar, human face, in scenes with human actors.
That is when you bump up against the phenomenon of the uncanny valley, a term from robotics and 3D animation.
It is the eerie feeling you get when you see a human replica that is close, but not quite convincing - much more disquieting than seeing a deliberately non-human avatar.
For Princess Leia, a much more fleeting appearance, her face was a purely digital recreation, based on her role in the original film, A New Hope.
Filmmakers have long had to contend with actors dying, but have used different techniques. In 1994, Brandon Lee was accidentally shot dead on the set of The Crow and CG was used to complete his performance. Likewise for Oliver Reed, who died on the set of Gladiator in 1999.
Both those recreations were limited and relied on disguising the digital recreation in shadow.
A turning point was a 2014 advert for chocolate. Galaxy wanted to resurrect Audrey Hepburn for a commercial and turned to London-based visual effects company Framestore to do it.
That was pure, trial-and-error recreation. But Hollywood studios are reportedly keeping scans of current actors at various ages "as an archival thing", according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Now the technology is pretty much there. What about the ethics? The creators of Rogue One received permission from Cushing's estate to revive him for the latest film. Both he and Carrie Fisher were offered special thanks in the credits.
Others aren't so keen: before he died, Robin Williams signed a deed banning the use of his image in films and ads for 25 years after his death.
We'll likely see more actors recreated digitally - especially as we currently live in a nostalgic age, keen on rebooting the classic films of the past.
Luckily, there is a much simpler, more satisfying way of seeing our favourite actors: go back and watch the originals.
Are pets getting better medical care than humans?
In the prosthetics world in particular, veterinary surgeries are making huge strides and, in some cases, human surgeries could be falling behind.
Dr Ignacio Calvo, senior lecturer in small animal orthopaedics at the Royal Veterinary College, says it is "easier to make the jump into clinical trials when you are dealing with an animal rather than a person".
The reason for increased innovation in animal medicine can be put down to the fact that all pet care is private and, unlike the NHS, fairly well-funded per patient.
Dr Calvo said it could also be down to the patients themselves.
"We are gathering quite a bit of information regarding endoprosthesis as an alternative to full amputation in legs," he said.
"And, now that we have clinical experience, we know what happens when the animal is actually walking."
There are now calls for doctors and vets to work more closely to learn from one another.
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Viquar Quarashi from Russel Hall Hospital told Sky News that innovations in the pet world can translate to new treatments from humans.
"A few of these prosthetic ideas have definitely come from vets," he said.
"There is always innovation because there is nothing stopping them going to whatever limit they want. Yes, we should start learning from them, there's no hesitation about it."
However, there are some in the industry who are less keen on the explosion of innovation in veterinary science.
Jasper Gale, from Kirks Vets, does not "think it's the job of a vet GP to have a go and see what they can achieve just by trying it out".
He added: "I don't think we should or have in recent years been experimenting on people's pets just to push new techniques and push the boundaries."
Algorithms 'could wipe out the global economy', experts fear
Professor Edward Tsang, director of the Centre for Computational Finance and Economic Agents at the University of Essex, said that algorithms should at least be "test-driven" by regulators to prevent "trillions" of pounds being lost and the global economy being wiped out.
At their most basic, algorithms are a set of rules that computers follow to make decisions. But they can be extremely complex and opaque, even to their creators.
Automated financial trading algorithms have led to rapid falls in stock markets - most notably in 2010 when a trillion dollars was wiped off indexes - and in the value of sterling following the EU referendum when the pound fell by 6% in a matter of minutes.
Companies such as Google and Facebook also use complex algorithms to organise the world's information.
Their systems use thousands of data points applied to billions of posts and web pages, but this has recently led to controversies over fake news.
The European Council is planning to introduce rules to force companies to open up their algorithms for inspection.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for greater transparency, and has said: "Algorithms, when they are not transparent, can lead to a distortion of our perception, they can shrink our expanse of information."
Prof Tsang is developing an early warning system to spot future flash crashes.
He told Sky News: "I think there will be more flash crashes. I think that will become the norm.
"If we don't insist that they reveal their algorithms, we could still test drive them just like we do for cars. Before you allow them to go on the road.
"When they go wrong - like the recent flash crash - they are losing millions, billions trillions of dollars. They could wipe out the economy."
Algorithms have applications in every field.
Since July 2008, the NHS has worked with computer scientists at the University of Glasgow to develop a kidney matching scheme.
One patient, Claire Heathcote, urgently needed a new kidney. Her sister-in-law was willing to donate but wasn't a match.
The algorithm was able to search potential combinations across the whole of the UK and come up with a complicated kidney swapping scheme involving several people.
Ms Heathcote told Sky News: "It just changes people's lives. It's incredible."
This kidney-swapping algorithm is transparency. It's a model that those lobbying for algorithmic accountability hope will be adopted elsewhere.
December 29, 2016
Twitter's Periscope adds 360 degree live video support
Twitter's push towards visual content just received a major boost in the form of support for 360 degrees live videos on its Periscope app. The move comes in the face of intense competition in this sphere from Facebook. In a blog post, Twitter and Periscope stated the feature will work like its competitors only. You can spot a 360 live video with the help of the 'Live 360 badge'. And you can instantly start watching it like other Periscope feed. To look around in the video, use your finger to scroll or tilt and move the phone.
Live 360 video isn’t just about taking you to places you’ve never been; it’s about connecting you with people and letting you experience something new with them.
"With these videos, the broadcaster anchors the experience so you can be present with them from whatever environment they’re sharing from. When they smile, you’ll smile, and when they laugh, maybe you’ll laugh too," Periscope stated in the blog post.
The move comes with Twitter's increasing focus on live videos and ways to monetize it. Twitter recently added a new "Live" button on its Android and iOS app to start a Periscope broadcast without any delay.
The 360 degrees live video support is available on Periscope apps for both iOS and Android as well as on desktop. Although, the support on desktop is limited to specific browsers.
However, the feature is no available to all Persicope users. Twitter is currently testing the feature with a small set of users. It will roll out to the masses in the coming weeks. Although, anyone can tune in to a 360 degree live broadcast right now.
MobiKwik reaches 1 mn merchant mark
New Delhi, Domestic mobile wallet platform MobiKwik on Thursday announced the milestone of reaching one million merchants on its payment network, registering 1,000 per cent growth since November this year. "To promote adoption, we also embarked on a mission, the 'Cashless Bharat Abhiyaan', under which our team is organising training camps for merchants and users in every city of India," Upasana Taku, co-founder, MobiKwik, said in a statement.
The app is available in English, Hindi and Gujarati. The company will also introduce versions in 10 other regional languages of the MobiKwik LITE app by early next year to enable more consumers adopt digital mode of payments.
The company has recently partnered with Amul, NASVI and many more to facilitate acceptability and adoption of digital mode of payments.
Why IoT is necessary for sustainability
An expert's take on how IoT will power the cities and habitations of future
Prasun Agrawal
Today, Internet of Things (IoT) is an integral part of our life. The concept of improving the overall energy performance through monitoring and control, enabled by sensing and tracking, is leading to multitude of savings. This is happening at various levels starting from individuals to households to societies to communities to industries to cities.
The sensing of data is for different application kinds. These applications include measurement of vibration, pressure, flow levels, temperature, humidity, current, voltage, switch on/off, door open/close, luminance. The applications also include tracking of humans, pets, fleet and things in general for location accuracy.
Sensor nodes, involving bundling of multiple sensors together, leads to creation of IoT 'sensing' solutions. To elaborate, an environment monitoring solution would involve measuring air pollution, soil moisture and water quality. A logistics solution would involve locating the item, tracking of fleet and condition quality of the shipment. A smart parking solution would involve providing parking space availability, toll fee management and guidance mechanism. A smart building would involve lighting control, indoor air quality control leading to energy management. A home automation would involve measuring energy use and water use and integrating surveillance systems for intrusion detection. An intelligent retail solution includes interactive multimedia for enhanced customer experience, supply chain control and product management solutions or the retail store.
Some of the immediate use cases in the industry for IoT products include Chain store monitoring, data center environment monitoring, intelligent agriculture, smart factories / production line controls.
A retail chain store like Hyper-city, Wal-Mart, Food Bazaar rely on stable environments to preserve goods and ensure food quality. The information on status of refrigeration leads to both preservation of goods by avoiding product spoilage, and also impacts electricity costs. IoT enables capturing real time information related to temperature, refrigerator compressor and pressure, humidity and light. IoT allows transmitting this data via the existing wireless environment of the retail chain, allowing the refrigerators to be monitored, maintained, adjusted, thus leading to reduction in energy consumption cost.
A Datacenter has a critical requirement to monitor the environmental operating parameters. Overheating of servers leads to entire system shutdown. IoT enables continuous monitoring of temperature, humidity, door status, switch status etc. This prevents accidental data server fault and ensures maintenance of environment of the rack.
IoT enables intelligent agriculture by monitoring the growth progress of seedlings and providing insights for future production cycles. The illumination levels, temperature levels along with effect of the nutrient concentration solution monitoring, logged with pH value and electric conductivity (EC) sensors leads to food traceability statistics. Optimum amount of water distribution ensures water savings along with enriched top-soil quality promoting plant health.
The smart factories and clean rooms require a complete dust-free high quality environment to ensure minimal/no effects on the product. IoT enables monitoring and control for environmental pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, aerosol particles, and chemical vapors. IoT helps not only in clean room environment but also to improve overall equipment effectiveness. The real time information on temperature, humidity, machine status, door status and dust sensors leads to continuous product lines.
An IoT enabled city bike sharing solution, for both pedal bicycles and electric bicycles, leads to convenience for citizens and has a direct impact on health leading to happiness. Sustainability is built into this solution, as usage of bicycles leads to reduced dependence on fossil fuel based modes of transportation, but convenience and health are the primary factors for deployment of bike sharing solutions.
The projections of IoT trends indicate 50 billion devices to be interconnected by 2020 and with key segments like industrial automation, energy & utilities, transportation, building automation, and medical services requiring new approaches to improvements in efficiency and reduction of cost, IoT will clearly lead to more sustainability.
The author is founding partner with Gaia Smart Cities
iPhone Production Is Probably Never Coming to the United States
No matter what President-elect Donald Trump might say, bringing iPhone manufacturing to the US is probably never going to happen. We've covered the reasons why making an iPhone in the US doesn't make sense before, but a new report from The New York Times highlights a new factor: Huge incentives and concessions made by the Chinese government.
The Times' report profiles a Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China. Zhengzhou is known as "iPhone City" by locals, and when the factory is at full production, it can make 500,000 iPhones a day. It's the world's largest iPhone facility, making about half of all iPhones globally.
What's notable about the factory isn't its scale, but how much money the Chinese government has given Foxconn to make the factory the ideal place to make iPhones.
The Times was unable to pinpoint exactly how much the Chinese government has given for the Zhengzhou plant, but it reports:
The confidential government records obtained by The Times detail multiple meetings over several years in which Zhengzhou city officials discussed their "support" for iPhone production, calling the benefits a "preferential policy." The records offer a snapshot of those benefits, including the specific aid for Foxconn in multiple areas, like infrastructure, labor, taxes and exports.
Those government benefits, according to the Times, include, financing the construction of of the $600 million factory, giving another $1 billion to build housing for the hundreds of thousands of workers, offering discounts on power costs, eliminating corporate taxes and value taxes for five years, and even helping with the training and recruitment of employees.
And that's before we get into some of the logistical concessions. The factory is purposefully built within a few miles of an airport, so that Apple can more easily send its products out to other countries. And perhaps most importantly, the factory itself is built inside a bonded zone.
The Times explains:
A bonded zone functions much like a diplomatic territory, in that the government regards it as foreign soil. The zone eliminates the need for global brands to pay duties or taxes on imported components. And it makes it unnecessary to physically export the goods. In those zones, products can be imported and exported virtually at customs, without crossing a single border. After that, they can move swiftly around the country, or out to the rest of the world.
Apple told the Times that it knows about the government's support, but that it didn't have any specific knowledge of of the subsidies Foxconn gets. Foxconn for its part, says it's "grateful" for the support the support of the government.
What this investigation shows is just how difficult it would actually be for Apple to move its manufacturing facilities out of China. Donald Trump told Tim Cook last month that "I think we'll create the incentives for you," in order to entice Apple to bring manufacturing to the United States. He went on to add that, "we're going for a very large tax cut for corporations."
But tax breaks aren't going to build huge facilities. And whatever aid a Trump Presidency might promise, it's hard to imagine it could compete in any meaningful way with the subsidies and aid the Chinese government has offered Foxconn in iPhone City.
Putting aside all of the other unrealistic reasons why iPhone won't be manufactured in America-lack of skilled labor is a big one-the fact is the Chinese government and Apple's biggest manufacturing partner have a pretty sweet setup. And that's before you consider that the cost of labor is lower and many of the components being assembled are also made in Asia.
Moreover, this is before we even get into the questions of what Apple would accomplish if it made an iPhone in the U.S.. An American-made iPhone might make some buyers feel good, but ultimately, the iPhone is a global product.
When President Obama asked the late Steve Jobs what it would take to make an iPhone in America, Jobs was clear, "those jobs aren't coming back here." Years later, that appears to be absolutely true. No matter what Donald Trump says on Twitter.
[The New York Times]
Thanks for the kicks, CyanogenMod
Last week, news broke that CyanogenMod, the highly popular, open-source custom Android ROM are closing shop, leaving a whole lot of Android users who swear by flashing custom ROMs in the dark and without a reliable alternative to fall back on. For many, CyanogenMod was the epitome of the whole Android experience. In a time when custom UI skins were all the rage, CyanogenMod provided an alternative to those seeking a Nexus like stock experience. Now that it is time to bid adieu to the old champion of stock Android, let's go back in time to see what made the custom ROM so popular in the first place. The HTC dream was a landmark device in the history of CyanogenMod. With its release, software tinkerers found a way to gain ultimate control over the OS. This came to be known as “Root Acess” and combined with the Linux-based nature of Android allowed customizations to be layered on top of Android.
This blew open the gates for modified firmware and soon enough a developer by the alias JesusFreke along with Steve Kondik came up with CyanogenMod. And the rest, they say is history.
CyanogenMod's popularity skyrocketed among a crowd dissatisfied with laggy third party UI skins and soon ballooned into a passionate community of developers who worked on CyanogenMod. The small version updates came to be known as ‘Nightlies’ and were circulated using a distributed revision control system and its repositories were posted in open-source forum GitHub for anyone to access and edit and cook their own ROM.
The first CyanogenMod ROM was named CyanogenMod 3 and was based on Android 1.5 Cupcake. Every proceeding Android version that came out got its own version of CM, up till CyanogenMod 14.1 based on Android Nougat 7.1.
In the early days of Android, most consumers were stuck with bloated OEM skins filled with useless third-party apps that could not be uninstalled, taking up the majority of the storage space (Think a maximum of 512MB). This created a unique opportunity to custom aftermarket firmware to do what the OEM’s were hesitant to do, offer a lag free, stock version of Android with all the useless bloat removed.
That wasn’t the only reason, though, CyanogenMod also offered an unprecedented amount of customization on top of stock Android, everything from changing the icons in the status bar to a fully featured DSP mixer for music. Later versions of Cyanogen also included Theme engines allowing users to fully customise the aesthetics of the UI. Many features were born from the community driven ROM, some were even integrated into official versions of Android. To think, it has taken Google until the release of Nougat to include options for customising the quick access panel, when it was already available in Cyanogen for a long while before.
More than the customization, however, what made Cyanogen stand out was the passionate community of tinkerers behind the scenes, people like us who broke open the secrets of Android in their spare time. It was the rallying call for a community growing increasingly tired of OEM’s. CyanogenMod kick-started a drive to make Android open to a vast amount of users, offering them ways to improve their experience or in some cases, even extend the shelf life of their old smartphones, giving them a new lease of life. It was instrumental in portraying an aura of openness around Android, a quality that drove some away from the rigidity of iOS and it’s kin.
Perhaps the greatest triumph was the inclusiveness of the community, passionate discussions on forums became the driving force for many features that made their way to the ROM. Some even leading popular add-on’s like Xposed Mod, which allowed users to cherry pick features from popular ROM’s and have them installed in one place. This was also the birthplace for many popular forks off CyanogenMod, modified with new kernels, optimisations and some unique features like PIE control which sprang up in the Paranoid Android custom ROM. It was also one of the first ROM’s to include multi-window, something that has trickled it’s way to Android in Nougat. It was the feeling of creating something together with a passionate group of people that gave CyanogenMod a unique feeling of togetherness.
Soon CyanogenMod grew big enough to start a company of its own, fostered by deals with several third party manufacturers that wanted the ROM on their devices, which was ironic considering its birth as an alternative to OEM skins.
CyanogenMod as good as it was, did have some problems. The first of which was the need to root your devices, which in many cases, voided warranty. This was later fixed with the court ruling that legalised this but it still posed a massive security issue. There was also no way to test for the sea of Android devices that were in the market, leading to varying levels of performance, sometimes even with two identical devices. There was also the case of Nightlies, it was the best way to get new features fast but on the flip side, it also could mean a laggy phone with apps crashing all over the place. The level of quality control that big manufacturers invested in simply was not possible in a relatively small community driven effort.
Love it or hate it, CyanogenMod leaves behind a legacy that will shape the future of Custom ROM’s in the time to come, in a space of few years, we have witnessed the peak and the fall of a company that championed user choice. In bidding goodbye to the poster child of the custom ROM community, we are also ironically starting afresh. For many it will be back to the drawing board in a race to see who will become the next CyanogenMod. It signals the beginning of a skirmish that will leave many bloody but ultimately will decide the next heir to the legacy of user choice.
11 Amazon Prime Benefits You Might Not Know About
There are plenty of Amazon Prime benefits almost everyone knows about like streaming movies, faster deliveries, the Kindle lending library. Then there are some that aren't quite as well known. You should make ake sure you're getting the most from your $99 annual subscription with this round-up of some of the more obscure Amazon Prime benefits. Here are a bunch to check out.
1) Get early access to ebooks
Prime members can get access to a host of e-reader perks-like the Kindle Owners' Lending Library-but one that might have flown under your radar is Kindle First. The service is free with a Prime subscription and lets you rent one free ebook a month, available before anyone else gets it, from a selection picked by Amazon. It's great for anyone who's constantly searching for new reading material and wants early access to popular books.
2) Photo prints straight to your door
You might know that you can get unlimited photo storage in the cloud if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, but there's also the option of inexpensive photo prints, cards, calendars, books and more delivered straight to your door via the photo storage service and Amazon Prints.
3) 5 percent back on purchases
If you've signed up for Amazon Prime then you can also sign up for an Amazon Prime Store Card. Included in the benefits of the card is up to 5 percent back on anything you buy every single day-although you can't get the card's interest-free option at the same time.
4) Digital credits in your account
Faster delivery is one of the flagship features of an Amazon Prime account but if you're not in a particular rush for your items, then you can opt for a digital credit on your account to spend on music, ebooks or something else-just choose the credit option at the checkout.
5) Discounts on game pre-orders
As an Amazon Prime member you can pick up discounts all across the site, including advanced access to Lightning Deals, but don't forget about the discounts you get on game pre-orders too. Through Twitch Prime there are big savings on games and accessories.
6) Free podcasts through Audible Channels
The audiobook service Audible is owned by Amazon, and Prime members can get free access to Audible Channels-a curated, rotating selection of podcasts covering news shows, comedy, talks and more. Apps are available for iOS, Android and Windows 10.
7) Get your hands on Amazon hardware before anyone else
This one may not be specifically advertised anywhere, but it's there nevertheless. You'll get early access to new hardware made by Amazon and its partners. For a while the Amazon Echo could only be ordered by Prime members, and more recently, it was the same for the OnePlus 3T in some regions.
8) Access to the Amazon Apple TV app
There's an Amazon shopping app for tvOS, which you can download and install-as long as you're a Prime member. The app itself is rather basic, but it does let you browse for goods and complete purchases, once you've linked the app with your account via a web browser.
9) Free digital comic books and magazines
We've already mentioned there are plenty of Prime benefits aimed specifically at readers, and another of those is the recently launched Prime Reading: it works a bit like Netflix for digital literature, with a wide selection of ebooks, comic books, and magazines available.
10) 6 months of the Washington Post free
This is something we've mentioned before, but it still doesn't get widely advertised. As Amazon now owns The Washington Post, you can get six months of access to the digital edition free of charge as a Prime member, as long as you go to the trouble of activating it.
11) Share your benefits with others
Finally, note that you can share some of your Prime benefits with other people at the same address as you, courtesy of Amazon Household. You can add one adult and two kids, who get access to a limited number of perks, including Prime Video and faster shipping times.
Lyft Wants to Start Tracking Your Driver's Racist Habits
A two-year study from the National Bureau of Economic Research recently found that Uber and Lyft riders with "Black-sounding" names waited longer to have trip requests approved than riders with "White-sounding" names. Now, Lyft has announced a new measure it's taking to curb racism: a hidden score measuring driver discrimination.
In November, Senator Al Franken wrote an open letter to Lyft's CEO, Logan Green, and Uber's CEO, Travis Kalanick, asking them to address racism on their platforms. On Wednesday, Sen. Franken released both letters. In its response, Lyft said it will start tracking driver cancellation and quality of service for drivers in poor, minority communities. From the letter:
Also, moving forward we will enhance our regular thorough review of ride cancellations (as noted above), by including a focus on cancellation rates and quality of service in "minority census tracts" as defined in 12 USCS 4502 (a census tract that has a minority population of at least 30 percent and a median income of less than 100 percent of the area median income).
Lyft already had a series of metrics for tracking driver behavior, but now the company will be monitoring and analyzing driver behavior in poor and minority areas specifically as well as looking at drivers' cancellation rates and their ratings there, using real-time tracking to screen for discrimination. Lyft says that it sends alerts for each trip cancellation, and discriminatory practices will result in "immediate termination." We reached out to Lyft for more details and will update when we hear back.
The move is very similar to Airbnb's community overhaul after a Harvard study found, yet again, discrimination against Black users. Airbnb began tracking hosts' rejections more closely, offered more resources to guests who felt they were discriminated against, and prevented hosts from re-booking to a new guests after cancelling against another.
Will the new monitoring process halt discrimination on the platform? That depends on when it occurs. Don MacKenzie is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington and one of the author's of the original study. Dr. MacKenzie immediately notes that, unlike Uber, Lyft shows drivers a picture of riders before they accept a ride request. So if a Lyft driver doesn't want Black riders, he can just reject the initial request. With Uber, drivers would accept request then reject when they inferred they'd have a Black rider.
"If the driver's inclined to discriminate, they'll just not accept that ride in the first place," he says. "So there would be no reason that someone would basically cancel in a discriminatory manner. It's kind of measuring the wrong thing here."
Hypothetically, the entire approach could backfire by letting racist drivers off the hook for their discrimination; they could just never accept initial rides from Black people. If cancellation alone is being tracked, it doesn't seem like this behavior would be flagged. So would it be better to track all rejections and cancellations, even before the ride request was accepted? Dr. MacKenzie says that just tracking drivers' upfront rejections would pick up too much noise.
"They don't want their trigger to be too sensitive," he says. "You can get some false positives. They don't want to start booting drivers off the platform based on flimsy evidence. I hope and I trust that they will be fairly prudent in how they do this."
At best, the new process would mostly flag drivers that are racist and sloppy about the cover-up. But that doesn't mean, Dr. MacKenzie notes, that the data isn't worth tracking or that it's not worth Lyft's time to root out discrimination. He stands by the study's findings that there are racist drivers out there discriminating on Lyft, but he says it's likely a "small subset" of the driving force.
"Go read the comments section," he said. "Those people are out there."
This Penis Implant Gives You a Boner When You Heat It Up
For years, men suffering from erectile dysfunction were told to reach for the little blue pill. But if that fails, what's left? An inventive application of elastic "memory metal" is being used to create a penile implant to help men regain control of their bodies. 2016: shitty year for everyone else, actually not a bad year for dicks.
Dr. Brian Le is a faculty member in the Department of Urology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Le and his colleagues are testing a super-elastic "memory metal" that mimics your member by bending, expanding, and shrinking. Through a simple procedure, it could help men maintain erections when drugs or the clunky and inconsistent pumps fail.
While British tabloid press sneeringly dubbed it a "bionic penis," Le likens it to breast implants following a mastectomy. "It's a survivorship issue - restoring function can help people feel whole in their bodies again," Le said.
The technology makes use of nitinol, a heat-activated nickel-titanium alloy. As a "memory metal," Nitinol remains flaccid at the body's resting temperature and expands when heated, "remembering" the same size as it shrinks and expands. Le says he's testing remote control devices that can be waved over the penis, introducing enough heat to cause it to expand.
Erectile dysfunction is very common for men over 40, a third of whom don't respond to Viagra. This is only complicated by the many health concerns that arise with age: cancers, heart disease, etc. Implants like this offer hope for the men with severe erectile dysfunction.
For now, the device has only undergone mechanical testing. No one has "suited up," if you will, with the device just yet, but Le has said he hopes the implant will reach the consumer market in the next 5 to 10 years.
Laugh now, millennials. But in 20 years time, just as you're approaching your 40's and 50's, this will be standard tech. The future is near.
[MedicalXpress]
New Cancer Therapy Shows Promise in Treating Aggressive Brain Tumors
By boosting the power of a patient's immune cells, researchers from the City of Hope Beckman Research Institute have demonstrated the potential for a revolutionary new therapy to treat a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer. But given the limited results, many questions remain.
Things were starting to look bleak for a 50-year-old patient being treated for a deadly form of brain cancer known as recurrent multifocal glioblastoma, an often fatal condition in which cancer spreads to multiple parts of the brain and spinal column. The patient was not responding to the usual battery of treatments, including radiation, surgery, and anti-tumor medications, so the doctors decided to enroll him a clinical trial designed to test the safety of a new cancer treatment called CAR-T cell therapy.
Seven-and-a-half months later, the patient's tumor had shrunk to virtually nothing, and he went into remission. Had the patient not received the experimental treatment, his doctors say he would have likely died by now. The tumors have since returned, but importantly, not in the areas of the brain that were treated. It's a limited result, but an important precedent for an immunotherapy that had previously only been shown to work with blood cancers.
These results, now published in the New England Journal of Medicine, couldn't have come at a better time. CAR-T immunotherapy, in which white blood cells are reprogrammed to attack cancer cells-took a hit recently following the deaths of four cancer patients enrolled in a Juno Therapeutics Phase II clinical trial. It's not clear if the deaths were due to a reaction between a chemotherapy drug and CAR-T, or if they were caused by CAR-T alone. It's simply too early to know, leading to criticisms that the experimental therapy is being overhyped and oversold.
These concerns notwithstanding, the early enthusiasm is understandable. In a study conducted earlier this year, 94 percent of terminally ill patients who were treated with CAR-T went into remission. This immunotherapy has shown promise in treating blood cancers like lymphomas and leukemias, and it's become an indelible part of President Obama's ambitious "Moonshot" to accelerate cancer research. And now, as the first results from an application of CAR-T directly to a cancer site show, this therapy may be used to combat solid tumors as well.
To get things started, a research team led by Benham Badie extracted immune cells, specifically T cells, from the patient, and then added a receptor that helps the cells target specific tumors. Unlike unmodified T cells, which attack and then die, these jacked cells stick around in a patient's immune system for a long period of time (possibly a decade or more, the researchers say), and grow a new batch of cancer-killing cells that can attack and destroy future tumor cells.
Following surgery to remove most of the patient's brain tumor, surgeons injected the site with the CAR-T cells. This was repeated five more times, and after four months, the tumor stopped growing. Ten more doses of the modified immune cells were added to stop a number of other smaller growths in the patient's brain. Importantly, the low dosages of CAR-T cells did not cause any serious complications or damage the patient's brain any further. After 7.5 months, almost all tumors had disappeared.
"I believe these recent results show we have a potential breakthrough treatment that may have a remarkable impact on patients with malignant brain tumors," noted Badie in a release.
Encouragingly, there are nine other patients enrolled in this study, and they're all responding similarly. And because the modified cells were injected directly to the tumor site, and not intravenously as has been done in other CAR-T treatments, this technique could be used to target other solid tumor cancers, such as pediatric brain cancers and even breast and prostate cancers.
Here's the bad news: tumors have re-emerged in the patient's brain, though in areas not treated with the CAR-T cells. Badie says these tumors are comprised of receptor proteins that aren't recognized by the modified immune cells, implying that future treatments will likely have to include an array of CAR-T cells, each designed to target a specific brand of tumor. That presents an immediate and obvious challenge to the researchers.
So is CAR-T the cancer breakthrough we're looking for? Speaking to STAT News, cancer specialist Vinay Prasad from the Oregon Health and Sciences University put it best:
Even though this was a provocative case, even in this one case the cancer has already returned. Will CAR-T work for other patients? Will it help most patients? Will it be better than alternatives? And will patients live longer or live better? We don't know.
[New England Journal of Medicine, STAT]
Nucleya Adds His Signature Bass To Papon’s Bihu in The Dewarists’ Latest Music Collaboration
Somewhere inside the ruins of the erstwhile capital city of the magnificent Krishnadevaraya empire, the curly-haired, talented Papon strums out a melancholic but persistently groovy melody against the glistening, golden evening sun. Just when you discern his powerful vocals set to Assamese lyrics, India’s favorite electronic artist - Nucleya, drops his signature bass ridden beat to kick start the latest (music) collaborative effort from the 4th season of The Diarists - “Memories”. Released on December 16 over YouTube (and Sound Cloud), the two artists are brewing up a refreshing genre of “intelligent” electronic compositions, losing the over consumed, infuriating, “duck beat 4X4” EDM formula, in their latest track. In the show’s 4th season, both Papon and Udyan (Nucleya’s actual name), are brought together in the picturesque, UNESCO heritage site of Hampi, Karnataka to create new sounds, drawing inspiration from the temple city’s rich past.
Born to iconic Assamese folk artists, Khagen and Archana Mahanta, Papon has gained countrywide acclamation for his electronic, new-age spin on folk songs from his native state. True to his homegrown, ebullient Bihu”ness”, singer, songwriter Papon seems to have once again whipped up an eclectic composition in his native language, hauntingly recalling the history of his surroundings, in a soulful yet catchy song structure. While the song plays on signature Bihu inspired melodies, the overall composition (as well as lyrics) has been put together by the artist himself.
Papon’s musical efforts are layered with the electronic ingenuity, characteristic of Electronic Music DJ & Producer, Nucleya’s work. Among the original members of fusion music outfit, Bandish Projekt (1998), Udyan Sagar has effectively refurbished the burgeoning Indian electronic scene, more recently in his solo avatar as Nucleya. The artist has been busy touring the country, headlining in some of the largest music festivals across cities, adding to this fan base with the success of the recent albums “Raja Baja” (2016) and “Bass Rani” (2015).
Nucleya’s innovative, bass-heavy sound compilations reflect a deep fondness for Indian folk sounds, street music and old Bollywood influences. His song structures are rife with chopped vocals, unheard Indian beats, concocted clandestinely to upbeat, electronic dance beats. In his signature style, Nucleya brings to life, the story of past memories, as narrated by Papon, set to some seriously addictive Moombahton bass beats (Moombahton refers to a fusion genre of house and reggae originally developed by American DJ and Producer Dave Nada in the year 2009).
Interestingly, it isn’t just the audio compilation that creates a powerful bond with its listeners. The track’s video throws life inside the temple ruins, as the city of Hampi erupts to the beats of “Memories”, as life sized rocks are shaken out of their long stupors, flying across the video frames, throughout the song.
“Memories” comes across as a welcome step towards recalibrating faith in the supposed inability of the simplistic genre of electronic dance music. Strongly positioned to acquire lead position across club playlists, the track also leaves critics of “easy computer music” some room to let their hair down. Without losing too much melody in the process.
Watch the full episode below:
(This article has been written by Shweta Sharma, who is a Delhi-based musician/entrepreneur).
Super Mario Run: My first 20 minutes!
Nintendo finally lifted the veil over its next Mario game, and this time it is for a smartphone. Super Mario Run was first teased by Nintendo at the iPhone 7 launch, a few months ago. The game has been in constant development since then and it was finally launched for the masses yesterday, on the iPhone app store. And here are my first 20 minutes with the all-new Super Mario Run.
So the game is fairly quick to start, simple installation on the iPhone, logging in or signing up for your Nintendo, or skipping the process (that’s what I did). Once you’ve completed the initial steps, the game begins with a brief tutorial level. This level tells you about the dynamics of the game.
In Mario Run, Mario automatically keeps on running across the Mushroom Kingdom. Moreover, he also dodges the obstacles on its own. Your task is to simply jump to collect coins and clear the level in time. However, even for a master who’s playing Mario since his childhood on his Gameboy, Super Mario Run comes with its own set of challenges.
The game is vastly different in gameplay from the previous iterations, and boy, do you think-Gosh I’d like to __play this on a gamepad! The touch gameplay isn’t bad by any means, it however is very challenging to do jumps and flips to collect coins. The game also has a few colour coded coins in Pink, Purple and Black. Collecting a bunch of each colours unlocks a different version on the level.
The game is laid out in portrait mode, which leaves a lot of room to make the plumber jump. Finger doesn’t really obstruct the elements of the game which comes in really handy. Although this is an automatic runner, the game isn’t never ending.
There are a total of 24 levels as of now, and each is more mind-smacking than the other. However, you surely do wish if you could control the running of Mario, but then again, this is a part of the challenge.
The game also gets the rewind bubbles, where users can rewind to a few seconds back, to collect coins that were missed. Although you’ll need to note that the time will still keep ticking and players will need to clear the level on time or you lose!
The game is really well made, with cute animations and all the Mario goodness that you’d find on a Nintendo console. Players will just face a brief learning curve top the jumps and the tricks, but the game definitely gets its players hooked.
Sadly, you just get the firt four stages for free, and to __play the remining stages, you'll need to purchase the game for $9.99 which is roughly Rs 650, from the App Store.
For now, I’m on my way to complete the remaining stages of the game. Stay tuned for a full-review for the game coming soon.
Obama Strikes Back at Election Hacks By Politely Asking Russian Guys to Leave
Some say revenge is a dish best served cold. When it comes to alleged electoral interference by Russia, the White House apparently thinks it's also best served largely symbolically.
On Thursday, President Obama announced several emblematic measures against Russia for "cyber operations aimed at the U.S. election," including expelling 35 Russian intelligence operatives from the United States, sanctioning two of the country's security agencies and releasing a declassified report detailing malicious cyber activity by Russian actors.
For months, the White House has threatened a "proportional" response to Russia's alleged hacks of Democratic figures and institutions during this year's election. Finally coming weeks after the election itself due to fears of Russian retaliation, Obama aides told The New York Times that the sanctions may have been too little, too late.
Russia's Foreign Ministry, however, condemned the measures as "one last blow to relations" by the outgoing Obama administration and vowed "if Washington takes new hostile steps, it will receive an answer."
"Frankly speaking, we are tired of lies about Russian hackers that continue to be spread in the United States from the very top," said spokesperson Maria Zakharova in a statement. "The Obama administration launched this misinformation half a year ago in a bid to __play up to the required nominee at the November presidential election and, having failed to achieve the desired effect, has been trying to justify its failure by taking it out with a vengeance on Russian-US relations."
For his part, President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly dismissed suggestions of Russian interference, even questioning the findings of the American intelligence community. By publicly releasing a joint analysis report by the FBI and Homeland Security pointing the figure at Russia, Obama will force Trump to directly refute their claims-and the suspicions of his fellow Republicans-if he wishes to lift the sanctions once in office.
Asked about Russian hacking and possible sanctions on Wednesday, however, Trump only noted "I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly."
"I think we ought to get on with our lives," said Trump. "The whole age of computer has made it so nobody knows exactly what's going on."
[NYT]
Paintings Reveal Signs of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in Famous Artists
Researchers from the University of Liverpool have shown that it's possible to detect neurodegenerative disorders in famous artists by analyzing subtle changes in their brush strokes over time. The technique could eventually be used to flag Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in artists before they're diagnosed.
A new study published in Neuropsychology shows that a mathematical technique known as "fractal analysis" can be used to detect signs of neurodegeneration in an artist's work. A research team led by Alex Forsythe from the University of Liverpool's School of Psychology made the discovery by examining 2,092 paintings from the careers of seven famous artists who experienced either normal aging or neurodegenerative disorders.
Using fractal analysis, the researchers were able to identify complex geometric patterns in the brushstrokes of each artist. Fractals can reveal hidden and often self-repeating patterns in everyday objects and phenomena. These distinctive geometrical shapes are like fingerprints, allowing scientists to match an artist with his or her work.
Fractal analysis is so accurate that it has been used to determine the authenticity of major works of art. Famously, the technique was once used to distinguish an authentic Jackson Pollock paintings from a large collection of fakes, showing that when artists paint, they instill their own unique fractal patterns on their work.
With this in mind, Forsythe's team sought to learn if variations in an artist's fractal fingerprint over time are a function of increasing age, or if neurological decline has something to do with it.
For the study, the researchers examined paintings from four artists known to have suffered from either Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, namely Salvadore Dali, Norval Morrisseau, James Brooks, and Willem De Kooning. The researchers also studied the works of three artists who had no known neurodegenerative problems: Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, and Claude Monet.
Fractal analysis demonstrated clear patterns of change among the artists who suffered neurological deterioration compared to those who aged normally. In all cases, the fractal fingerprints changed, but the fractal dimensions produced by the Parkinson's and Alzheimer's artists showed consistent patterns that were distinguishable from the healthy group.
Incredibly, this analysis shows that alterations in the brain can be detected through the minute changes in an artist's brush stroke-changes that can be detected years before symptom of neurological decline start to appear.
"This process offers the potential for the detection of emerging neurological problems," noted Forsythe in a statement. "We hope that our innovation may open up new research directions that will help to diagnose neurological disease in the early stages"
[Neuropsychology]
FBI Aliases of Russian Hacking Groups, Ranked
In response to Russian "cyber operations aimed at the U.S. election," the White House released a declassified joint analysis by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security on Thursday of the campaign they have named "Grizzly Steppe."
In the report, the agencies summarize the spear-phishing operation that allowed the Russian intelligence organizations known as "Cozy Bear" and "Fancy Bear" to independently access Democratic Party emails and recommend a series of measures to mitigate further attacks. Far more importantly, they list alternate names for the hacking groups, all of which are tight as hell.
Below is a list of "Reported Russian Military and Civilian Intelligence Services" aliases and tools contained in the report, ranked from most gnarly to least:
- CrouchingYeti
- SEADADDY
- Tiny Baron
- HAMMERTOSS
- SYNful Knock
- CosmicDuke
- Sandworm
- OLDBAIT
- Operation Pawn Storm
- SOURFACE
- OnionDuke
- EVILTOSS
- Powershell backdoor
- Skipper
- CakeDuke
- GREY CLOUD
- CHOPSTICK
- Havex
- Energetic Bear
- BlackEnergy V3
- DIONIS
- MiniDionis
- Fancy Bear
- Waterbug X-Agent
- COZYBEAR
- HammerDuke
- Dragonfly
- Quedagh
- Tsar Team
- COZYDUKE
- CloudDuke
- Seaduke
- MiniDuke
- PinchDuke
- GeminiDuke
- COZYCAR
- BlackEnergy2 APT
- CORESHELL
- Sofacy
- Agent.btz
- Carberp
- SEDKIT
- SEDNIT
- VmUpgradeHelper.exe
- twain_64.dll
- APT28
- APT29
Having our elections undermined by some phony emails is bad enough. Knowing that a "Tiny Baron" sent them, however, is just plain embarrassing.
Obama Protects 1.65 Million Acres of Native American Land
President Obama has designated 1.65 million acres in Southwestern Utah and Nevada as National Monuments, protecting the land from private development and granting the federal government broad control to protect it. The new monument includes Bears Ears Buttes in Utah, and Gold Butte near Las Vegas.
There's a reason Obama picked these sites: They're both culturally significant to local Native American tribes. Five tribal governments had asked for Bears Ears' protection, due to its ceremonial sites and rock art. The president's proclamation also creates a Bears Ears commission to protect the monument, with the specific goal of ensuring that the tribes themselves can offer their guidance on how to protect the area. The same goes for Gold Butte, which contains "abundant rock art, archeological artifacts, and rare fossils, including recently discovered dinosaur tracks dating back hundreds of millions of years" but has also faced vandalism, according to a White House press fact sheet.
Obama had already protected over 550 million acres of land and sea under the Antiquities Act. Signed into law in 1906 by Theodore Roosevelt, the law allows the President to create National Monuments by proclamation without needing the approval of congress. Obama has now used the law 29 times to expand or create protected area during his presidency-morethan any other president.
There are angry people. Some Republican legislators see these decisions as federal seizure of state land, and hope to repeal the President's decisions once Donald Trump assumes power on January 20. Plenty of people would prefer that land to themselves or their states. This past year, a militia led by Ammon Bundy took control of federal land at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, upset that the federal government and not the people controlled the large swath of land. (Also, a bunch of people sent them dildos as a joke). It seems unlikely that anyone will dismantle these federal properties, though-there isn't an authority to simply unprotect the land, according to The High Country News. But who knows, at this point.
Protecting Native American land seems like a good thing-if you remember correctly, we've already seized nearly all of it from them. But it's likely that we'll hear more about these monuments as the new administration enters the White House.
[White House via The New York Times]
What 2016 Would Look Like as a Horror Film
This year has been pretty fucking horrifying. Dozens of our favorite celebrities died; a gorilla was shot dead in front of children at the zoo; and a former professional wrestling star was elected president.
If all of this sounds like the worst nightmare ever, you're completely right. That's why it makes perfect sense that 2016 should be made into a horror film. The YouTube channel Friend Dog Studios had that thought in mind when published a fictional movie trailer based on the year's events. It looks almost as terrifying as living through the real thing and leaves room for the ultimate plot twist-things could get so much worse in next year's sequel.
December 28, 2016
Hey, Alexa, are things going to get weird?
They say that news is what happens to a writer on his way to the bathroom and I’ve recently discovered something fascinating. Alexa – and, to a degree, Siri and Google’s OK Google solution – have become indispensable additions to our home. The kids tell Alexa to turn on the lights and start Netflix. We ask her how to spell words and do basic math. She tells us which day it is and what the weather will be. She sets timers for us and reminds us to buy milk. In short, she’s our own special helper monkey.
Then we see the news that hotels are planning on adding Alexa to hotel rooms, police are requesting Amazon Echo data in a murder case, and pundits are calling for voice to be the Next Big Thing.
“Forget the onerous process of pulling your Pixel or iPhone from your pocket, unlocking it, opening apps, and tapping your desires onto a screen (Ugh!),” wrote Jessi Hempel on Backchannel. “Soon, you’ll speak your wants into the air — anywhere — and a woman’s warm voice with a mid-Atlantic accent will talk back to you, ready to fulfill your commands.”
The world thought it wanted smart watches but what it really wants is to be heard. And Alexa and her ilk are only going to get more and more powerful.
Analysts estimate that Amazon has sold six million Alexa-cabable since launch. This is a big enough number to make the Echo a fun addition to holiday festivities. Take my own home, for example. My parents fell in love with our Echo after asked it to play Roy Orbison for my Dad and my Mom asked it whether or not we’d need an umbrella. When I ordered one for them for Christmas my sister took it so I had to buy them another one. Like most nascent tech there is little impetus for the non-techie to buy or use aural interfaces outright but once they see how it works they’re hooked.
The future of aural interfaces is clear. Our phones will soon be talking to us more and more. By slapping in some micro-earbuds – the AirBuds are making more and more sense now – and a smarter interface you can easily go your entire day without having to unlock your phone. Notifications can be read to you in a hushed voice. Top Twitter trends can hit your cranium while you’re driving. Add in a camera or NFC and you can tell which stores have sales or get details on who you’re talking to like some kind of friendly White House aide. Once you can start talking to your phone more than you talk to humans we enter a world in which the ears and not the eyes become the sensory organ of choice.
This interface is obviously interstitial. Like most technologies we’ll bump up against the edges of a voice interface fairly quickly. Until we are able to “jack” directly into our computers for some real augmented reality, however, aural interfaces are nearly the next best thing. Voice interfaces are unobtrusive and seamless – you don’t need to know anything to talk to the Echo but the even the simplest phone requires some kind of literacy – and cellphones and cloud services are getting better and better. By melding the two we find ourselves at a perfect inflection point for the rise of voice and the fall of hunting and pecking on a glowing phone.
What we most want from our devices is freedom. We want to be able to tell them to do the things we’re thinking and get immediate results. Turning off the lights in my home takes four physical taps on my phone or one sentence to Alexa. Turning on the Star Wars theme music takes five taps on my phone or one request to Alexa. Getting the answer to “seven times eight” (we have small kids) takes a solid six seconds of tapping or two seconds of talking. Once Alexa and other bots become ubiquitous we’ll all be shouting commands into the air and expecting our homes to react.
Unfortunately our robotic friends aren’t quite as smart as I’d like them to be. We’ve been talking about Star Wars around the house these last few days and I pointed out the Wilhelm Scream to the kids. I asked Alexa for a bit more information. She in, her wisdom, pointed me to A Wilhelm Scream, a hardcore band from New Bedford, Massachusetts. I can imagine – nay, I crave – a world in which my home voice-controlled robot howls in pain over and over while we discuss the vagaries of sound design and inside jokes. A cyborg can dream.
December 27, 2016
Police unit removes 250,000 terror items from internet
The UK's Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) has also said that far-right extremist material is on the rise.
The CTIRU was set up in 2010 and works with internet giants like Facebook and Twitter to take down social media posts, images and videos.
It now removes 2,000 pieces of content each week.
Detective Chief Superintendent Clarke Jarrett, from the Counter Terrorism Command, told Sky News: "It's a really important role as part of the counter terrorism network.
"We also think that it's a big dent in the amount of propaganda that extremist groups put out there."
The CTIRU's officers scour the internet looking for terrorist material but also rely on public referrals through an anonymous tip line.
Examples taken down include movies glamorising Islamic State fighters or idealising civilian life inside their self-proclaimed caliphate, or more direct messages urging would-be recruits to buy knives from hardware stores to carry out attacks.
The CTIRU has so far removed 249,091 pieces of material from the internet since 2010, working with more than 300 different companies.
This year was its busiest, with 121,151 pieces removed - more than double 2015 when 55,556 were taken down.
Mr Jarrett also said the unit had noticed an uptick in far-right extremist removals, with more members of the public referring that type of content, although he did not give a specific figure.
However, the vast majority is still related to jihadism and the material is sometimes implicated in real-life terror cases.
Junead Khan, from Luton, was convicted this year for plotting to attack US soldiers with knives and potentially detonate a homemade bomb.
Met Police officers found graphic videos and images of soldiers being tortured by IS. The CITRU has sought to remove that material from the internet.
Mr Jarrett also said the unit had good relations with tech companies, but that these "could improve".
December 26, 2016
Geeky Gadgets Deals Of The Week, December 23rd 2016
We have had some amazing deals in the Geeky Gadgets Deals store this week so it is time for our weekly round up of the most popular ones.
Some of the popular deals this week have included the Pay What You Want Learn To Code Bundle and the Adobe Digital Photography bundle.
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Anybody with a phone these days can take a picture, but the real art of photography remains with those who have mastered their cameras. With the Diploma in Photography, you can fully utilize your camera’s capabilities, and expand your creative potential. Through this course, you’ll learn practical skills and knowledge directly from industry leading professional photographers.
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The Complete IT Cloud Security & Hacking Training normally cost $1,395 and you can get it for just $33.99 in our deals store.
Data security has never been more important in this age of cyberattacks and snooping, and companies know that, which is why they spend big on cloud security experts. In this training bundle, you’ll explore a variety of cloud computing platforms while learning how to secure each. By the end of these 30 hours, you’ll have the skills to secure cloud environments and hack them to expose vulnerabilities, thereby greatly enhancing your
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