Instagram to roll out anti-harassment tools

Online harassment is a big problem, with 40 percent of all people on the internet having reported experiencing some form of harassment online, according to Pew Research Center. In order to combat harassment on Instagram, the photo-sharing platform is gearing up to let people with “high volume content threads” filter their comment streams, or just turn them off entirely,The Washington Post reports. For those who decide to leave on the comments, they can create a banned words list that will enable them to hide the comments that use those terms. Soon, Instagram will enable everyday people on Instagram — the ones with not as much action on their accounts — to moderate their comments. This comes less than a month after Instagram released a comment moderation option for business pages, which similarly lets accounts block comments with certain offensive words and phrases. Here’s what the functionality looks like for business accounts: It’s also worth noting that Justin Bieber’s selfie app, Shots, basically pioneered the idea of enabling people to block comments back in 2013. In fact, the app doesn’t allow comments at all. Anyway, it’d be really cool if this was a feature on Twitter… just saying.

Your WhatsApp chats never get deleted actually

After Facebook-owned WhatsApp rolled out end-to-end encryption, the popular messaging platform ensured users that their chats are secured from any unwanted third-party attention. In fact, WhatsApp joined the league of very few chat apps that offer complete end-to-end encryption. However, a new revelation by security expert has again put a question mark on WhatsApp privacy. Apple's iOS security expert Jonathan Zdziarski has claimed that the chats on WhatsApp are never removed even after users have hit the delete button. "The latest version of the app tested leaves forensic trace of all of your chats, even after you've deleted, cleared, or archived them... even if you 'Clear All Chats', he said in a post. Zdziarski suggests that the only way to completely remove all traces of chats is to remove the WhatsApp entirely from the phone.
"To test, I installed the app and started a few different threads. I then archived some, cleared, some, and deleted some threads. I made a second backup after running the"Clear All Chats" function in WhatsApp. None of these deletion or archival options made any difference in how deleted records were preserved. In all cases, the deleted SQLite records remained intact in the database," he explained. If you are thinking that WhatsApp does this purposely then you are wrong. "Just to be clear, WhatsApp is deleting the record (they don't appear to be trying to intentionally preserve data)," he said. Now, The expert highlighted that WhatsApp leaves a trail of forensic trace which can be recovered and is a common problem among any application that uses SQLite."This is because SQLite by default does not vacuum databases on iOS (likely in an effort to prevent wear). When a record is deleted, it is simply added to a "free list", but free records do not get overwritten until later on when the database needs the extra storage (usually after many more records are created)," he added. The issue seems to affect the iOS app only. There is no reason to panic over this issue."But you should be aware of WhatsApp's footprint," he mentioned.

Microsoft blames dying Surface Pro 3 batteries on software bug

Microsoft has admitted that the battery problems hitting some Surface Pro 3 owners aren't down to hardware failure, but rather a software issue. Redmond's support forums have been inundated with complaints about the high-end fondles lab's battery life. The problem only appears to affect hardware that uses batteries from third-party supplier Simplo, and some owners report that the problems have persisted even after they bought new batteries for the device."A full charge capacity has degraded by over 80 per cent in just a few weeks and continues degrading. I tried to 'recalibrate' the battery by doing full charge then full drain multiple times, and it didn't help,"reported one forum member."Talk with Microsoft via chat support and they insist this was a software problem and reinstalled the driver and asked me to wait few days to see if things improve. Not only it didn't improve, but now my Surface can only last 30 minutes."The complaint was accompanied by a screenshot showing the battery capacity shrinking from 39,873mWh to 8,770mWh over the space of five months. Other users have noted that they can get only a few minutes' use from their expensive hardware due to the issue. Battery problems aren't uncommon in the industry, particularly with laptops, and recalls are regularly issued. But these are usually down to shorting issues in the battery's internals. Not so in this case, says Microsoft."Based on our investigations we can confirm that it is not an issue with the battery cells, and we believe this is something that can be addressed via software," said the Microsoft forum moderator."We're working through the details of how we deliver that."There's no date given for the fix, but a lot of users are going to be waiting anxiously for it. After all, when you spend between $799 and $1,949 for a fancy fondles lab, you expect to get some life out of it.

Rocks on Mars Proof of Oxygen Atmosphere,Hint of Life on Planet?

Additional proof has been discovered by NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity that supports studies the planet once held oxygen. Rocks on Mars reportedly contain manganese, which could only be possible if oxygen is present in the atmosphere. Back in 2013, the Mars rover named Curiosity identified a huge amount of manganese. According to early studies, the element should not have been there. Analysts now conclude that the discovery is proof that the atmosphere of planet Mars once carried oxygen. The discovery was found on the formation called"Caribou.""If we could peer onto Mars millions of years ago, we'd see a very wet world,"stated Nina Lanza, researcher from Los Alamos National Laboratory. "Yet we didn't think Mars ever had enough oxygen to concentrate manganese - and that's why we thought the data from Caribou must have been an error." Following the discovery, Curiosity was sent out on the search for manganese. A chemical analysis tool called ChemCam was added to the rover. This tool vaporizes rocks using a laser. Surprisingly, the samples taken by the Mars rover using the ChemCam also contained manganese. Dr. Lanza now suggests that the sun's ionizing radiation split water molecules, which left hydrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere. As Mars has no magnetic field and has a low gravity, the hydrogen atoms would have floated away. The oxygen atoms on the other hand would have been absorbed by the rocks. Where oxygen is found, life could exist. Yet for the rock containing manganese, which could point to the presence of oxygen in Mars' atmosphere - the finding is still not enough. Further analysis of the planets' minerals are needed for conclusive evidence."This tells us that Mars has evolved very differently than we thought it did," explains Dr. Lanza, adding, "We need to start looking for different types of minerals and other evidence about Mars's past."

What would you do if you won $3 million? This man spent it on meth

How many of us have chanted that refrain, daydreaming about how we'd quit our jobs, grab our winnings and head to a secluded beach with the family to live in blissful paradise? Or whatever your imagination conjures life-after-hitting-the-jackpot to be. Of course it hardly ever turns out that way. We’re always hearing about lottery winners who blew it all. But Ronnie Music Jr., 45, a former maintenance supervisor in Georgia, has taken the storyline to a new depth. Music, who won $3 million in a scratch-off lottery game in Georgia last year, invested his winnings in meth. And got busted.“Music decided to test his luck by sinking millions of dollars of lottery winnings into the purchase and sale of crystal meth,”U.S. Attorney Ed Tarver said in a Justice Department statement. “As a result of his unsound investment strategy, Music now faces decades in a federal prison.”Music pleaded guilty last week to federal drug trafficking and firearm charges, according to Jacksonville, Fla.,TV station News4Jax. He and his cohorts were arrested in September while trying to sell about 11 pounds of crystal meth that Music had bought with his lottery winnings, the Justice Department news release said. As part of the investigation, authorities “seized more than$1 million worth of methamphetamine, a large cache of firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, multiple vehicles, and more than $600,000 in cash.”The short-lived millionaire pleaded guilty last week and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Pokemon Go kicked off the top of the App Store by Bitmoji

Pokémon Go has finally been removed as the top free app on the App Store. The game – which has smashed through records and is one of the most popular games ever made – has been deposed by an app that lets people make emoji of themselves. Pokémon Go has become a global phenomenon in the time since it came out. It hit the US App Store on 7 July and has been at the top ever since – along with record sales that have brought an expected $10 billion in revenue in the next two years. But each big success must come to an end, and some people have already been predicting the end of Pokémon Go. It has been hit by troubles including people being robbed while looking for creates in the app, and server troubles that have meant that it can often be completely unavailable for players that try to load it. The App Store’s chart measures the number of people downloading an app, rather than the number of people using it.As such, the slippage is probably in part because of the app’s huge initial success– everyone downloaded it when it came out, and so it will gradually reach saturation and drop off. Pokémon Go continues to be the number one free app in 36 countries, according to App Annie. And it is still the highest grossing app, which is the metric that matters to both Apple and developers, since it measures the amount of money it generates through in-app purchases.

Cockroach Milk Could Be The Superfood Of Tomorrow

The cockroach has always been hated, but would you like to love and milk it now? You'd better learn to, as its milk has been found to be a superfood. Meanwhile, the cockroach itself might want to be hated rather than eaten, but then, no one will care for that for a while---or maybe never. International researchers including the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem) in Bengaluru discovered that those milk-like protein crystals are created by Diploptera punctata cockroaches. These provide calories and nutritional food Called the Pacific beetle cockroach, this is the only species that bears live young cockroaches, while the mother insect produces protein crystals to nurture her embryos in the brood sac. Scientists have studied even its genes for the milk protein that can be reproduced in a lab. "The crystals are like a complete food -- they have proteins, fats, and sugars. If you look into the protein sequences, they have all the essential amino acids," researcher Sanchari Banerjee said. Just one crystal has been found to contain "more than three times the energy of an equivalent mass of dairy (buffalo) milk. It will take a lot of PR talk to convince people, though. Listen to scientist Subramanian Ramaswamy and see if you get convinced:"If you need food that is calorifically high, that is time released and food that is complete, this is it." Ramaswamy envisions the crystals being used as a protein supplement."They're very stable. They can be a fantastic protein supplement," said Ramaswamy. The research, at least, seems to be an impressive list. Scientists from the international team included National Centre for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health in the US, Structural Biology Research Centre, High Energy Accelerator Research Organisation in Japan, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) in India, Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto in Canada, University of Iowa in the US and Experimental Division, Synchrotron SOLEIL in France. The researchers published a study on the findings, titled"Structure of a heterogeneous, glycosylated, lipid-bound, in vivo-grown protein crystal at atomic resolution from the viviparous cockroach Diploptera punctata," in the International Union of Crystallography journal  this month.

Pokémon Go estimated at over 75M downloads worldwide

Pokémon Go has already earned one official record —most downloads on the App Store in a launch week ever. But it’s going to break a lot more records still: app analytics firm Sensor Tower estimates that it hit50 million downloads on Google Play alone over the weekend, another record, and overall the company says that PoGo has racked up more than 75 million installs across iOS and Android based on their data. The time it took Pokémon Go to reach 50 million Android downloads is a record across games tracked by Sensor Tower, which put the news into context by comparing it to other Android top performers. The next-fastest was Color Switch, a puzzle game, and Slither.io comes in third, but those took 77 and 81 days, respectively, to pass the 50 million mark, which is a far cry from the short 19 days that Pokémon Go took to reach the same milestone. Sensor Tower also thinks there are lots of sparks left in PoGo’s metaphorical Pikachu: The game is only available in 32 markets thus far, out of a total possible 100 where GooglePlay and the App Store distribute their content. The firm predicts that a possible 100 million download achievement within the first two months of Go’s availability is within reach. For comparison, consider that Tinder reached 100 million downloads only in January this year, after an original debut back in 2012. To be fair, games tend to achieve these kinds of stats more quickly, but it’s getting harder and harder to clearly distinguish between Pokémon Go as a game, and Pokémon Go as a social experience. Interesting, Niantic’s other location-based game, Ingress, has also experienced a surge in Japan in time with PoGo’s release: Sensor Tower notes that Ingress is now in Japan’s top 10 on the App Store for the first time. Maybe that’s because it’s a more reliable way of finding Pokémon locations in-game than the in-game Pokémon finder itself.

Computers will require more energy than theworld generates by 2040

Scientists have predicted that unless radical improvements are made in the way we design computers, by 2040, computer chips will need more electricity than what our global energy production can deliver. The projection could mean that our ability to keep pace with Moore's Law– the idea that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years – is about to slide out of our grasp. The prediction about computer chips outpacing electricity demand was originally contained in a report released late last year by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), but it's hit the spotlight now, due to the group issuing its final roadmap assessment on the outlook for the semiconductor industry. The basic idea is, that as computer chips become ever more powerful thanks to their greater transistor counts, they'll need to suck more power in order to function (unless efficiency improves).Semiconductor manufacturers can counter this power draw by clever engineering, but the SIA says there's a limit to how far this goes in current methods."Industry's ability to follow Moore's Law has led to smaller transistors but greater power density and associated thermal management issues," the2015 report explains."More transistors per chip mean more interconnects – leading-edge microprocessors can have several kilometres of total interconnect length. But as interconnects shrink they become more inefficient."In the long run, the SIA calculates that, at the rate things are going using today's approaches to chip engineering, "computing will not be sustainable by 2040, when the energy required for computing will exceed the estimated world's energy production".You can see the problem graphed in the image below, with the power draw of today's mainstream systems – the benchmark line, represented in orange – eclipsing the world's projected energy production sometime between 2035 and 2040.These days, chip engineers stack ever-smaller transistors in three dimensions in order to improve performance and keep pace with Moore's Law, but the SIA says that approach won't work forever, given how much energy will be lost in future, progressively denser chips. SIA"Conventional approaches are running into physical limits. Reducing the 'energy cost' of managing data on-chip requires coordinated research in new materials, devices, and architectures,"the SIA states."This new technology and architecture needs to be several orders of magnitude more energy efficient than best current estimates for mainstream digital semiconductor technology if energy consumption is to be prevented from following an explosive growth curve."The challenge then is well and truly on for today's computer engineers and scientist, with the SIA's new roadmap report also advising that, beyond 2020, it will become economically unviable to improve chip performance by traditional scaling methods, such as shrinking transistors. It's a huge ask, but the next leaps in computing efficiency and research might need to come then from areas not strictly related to transistor counts – and hopefully the spirit, if not the specifics, of Moore's Law continues in the coming decades."That wall really started to crumble in 2005, and since that time we've been getting more transistors but they're really not all that much better," computer engineer Thomas Conte from Georgia Tech told Rachel Courtland at IEEE Spectrum."This isn't saying this is the end of Moore's Law. It's stepping back and saying what really matters here – and what really matters here is computing."

Amazon partners with U.K. government totest its drones

Amazon today announced that it has partnered with the U.K. government to test some of the technologies that may one day enable its Prime Air drone delivery service. In a partnership with the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Amazon now has the permission to explore beyond-line-of-sight operations in rural and suburban areas (something the U.S.’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not currently allow), test flights where a single person monitors and operates multiple autonomous drones and trial its sense and avoid technologies. All of these tests will happen in airspace under 400 feet.“The UK is a leader in enabling drone innovation — we’ve been investing in Prime Air research and development here for quite some time,” said Paul Misener, Amazon’s Vice President of Global Innovation Policy and Communications, in today’s announcement. “This announcement strengthens our partnership with the UK and brings Amazon closer to our goal of using drones to safely deliver parcels in 30 minutes to customers in the UK and elsewhere around the world.”Amazon says the CAA will be fully involved in these tests and that the outcome will “help inform the development of future policy and regulation in this area.”While the FAA recently announced its rules for commercial drone usage in the U.S., the regulations currently don’t allow for drone delivery services because they, among other things,only allow for line-of-sight operations. There is no way Amazon could run its service under those rules, so the company is obviously looking to trial its technology in other countries instead. Amazon’s Prime Air division already has a base in the U.K. and it’s been testing its drones there for a while. Jeff Bezos also recently disclosed that Amazon is currently testing its drones in the Netherlands, too (in addition to Canada).Speaking at an Amazon event earlier this month, Liam Maxwell, national technology adviser to the U.K. government,noted that the U.K. was one of the most progressive countries when it comes to testing new autonomous technologies like drones, and Amazon was among “a lot of major companies” testing products outside of main aviation spaces. While today’s agreement doesn’t exactly give Amazon permission to start drone deliveries, it marks a major step forward for Amazon’s ambitions in this area.“We are committed to realise our mission for Prime Air,” said Daniel Buchmueller, the co-founder of Amazon’s drone program who is partly based out of Cambridge, U.K. as Amazon’s aviation lead in the country, at a drone event the company held in London earlier this month. “We won’t launch until we can demonstrate safe operations.”Amazon is currently testing devices that weigh less than 55 pounds (25 kg), are battery-powered, can operate beyond line of sight of 10 miles, fly under 400 feet and travel over 50 mph. They are programmed to work with multiple redundancies in case of mechanical failures, and also include sensors and avoidance technology.“Many products are small and light, and we can efficiently move packages up to 2 kg in 30 minutes or less using small aerial drones,” Buchmueller said. So what does all of this mean for Amazon’s drone delivery plans? “With Amazon Prime Air, we’re developing a rapid delivery system that is safe, environmentally sound and enhances the services we already provide to millions of customers,” a company spokesperson told us. “This announcement brings us one step closer to realizing this amazing innovation for our customers.”As for Amazon’s plans in the U.S., the same spokesperson noted that Amazon is “working with regulators and policymakers in many countries in order to make Prime Air a reality for our customers and expect to continue to do so.”

Pokémon Go sets record first week on Apple App Store

In line with the recent report around how Apple is set to make billions with Pokémon Go, the Cupertino company has now confirmed the game is already a huge success. According to Apple (via Polygon), the augmented reality game had a record-breaking first week on the App Store. The game has been downloaded more than any other game ever on the store in the first week of its release. However, there are no numbers released accompanying the claim. “Whereas Angry Birds 2 and Candy Crush Jelly Saga brought in 2.2 million and 1.8 million downloads respectively during their first week on the App store, Pokémon Go had a whopping 7.2 million downloads, according to the Sensor Tower data,” a Fortune report claims. Niantic recently introduced thegame in Japan. Pokémon Go was already expected to be a huge hit in Japan, the country of the character’s birth. Fans had been eagerly awaiting its release since it first came out more than two weeks ago in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and then became a blockbuster hit in more than 20 countries.

Two new 'worlds' discovered beyond Neptune

Scientists have discovered two small 'worlds' far outside the orbit of Neptune in the deepest survey ever conducted to search out distant solar system objects. The new objects are located beyond the Kuiper Belt, which is a region of small icy objects just beyond Neptune, of which Pluto is a member. They have the third and fourth most-distant perihelia, which is when an object has its closest approach distance to the Sun, of any known solar system objects. In addition, the orbital motions of these objects are in resonance with Neptune's orbit, which was somewhat unexpected. Their orbital paths imply that these worlds either have interacted with Neptune in the past or are continuing to do so - despite their great distances from the ice giant planet. This latest discovery is based on observations made with the Subaru Telescope in Hawai'i and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) telescope in Chile. Scott S Sheppard from Carnegie Institution for Science and his collaborators Chadwick Trujillo from Gemini Observatory and David J Tholen from University of Hawai'i have been conducting the widest, deepest survey ever to search out distant solar system objects. The team members started their survey using the Suprime-Cam imager at the Subaru Telescope several years ago. Their main goal is to find extreme Trans-Neptunian objects and they already have successfully found several. Now with the new Hyper Suprime-Cam on Subaru, they are able to cover a lot more of the sky than in the past in their searches for faint distant worlds. In 2014, the team predicted the existence of a SupeThese newly found worlds occupy a region of space just beyond what is known as the "Kuiper Belt edge," which lies about 50 AU from the Sun, researchers said. Until this most recent discovery, only one object was known to have a low-to-moderate semi-major axis and a perihelion beyond this edge. The team discovered several more of these objects with high perihelion but moderately eccentric orbits. Their semi-major axes are in the range of about 60 to 100 AUs. The new objects are all near Neptune Mean Motion Resonances - that is, the locations of their orbits have specific period ratios with respect to that of Neptune. One of the new objects goes around the Sun once every time Neptune goes around four times, while the other new objects go around once every time Neptune goes around three times. The research was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Google Maps rolling out Wi-Fi only mode

Google is finally rolling out a Wi-Fi only mode for its much-loved Maps app. Apart from the new toggle, has also added new notifications for mass transit delays as well. Android Police reports that the new feature is rolling out gradually and that users will need Maps v9.32 installed to take advantage of the same. The toggle for the Wi-Fi only mode can be found in Settings screen. If you can see it right away, you are probably one of the lucky ones to be able to use the new feature. Previously known as ‘offline areas’, the new toggle does what it states, which is to disconnect the Maps app from your cellular or data network. Google however, states in a small pop up that the Maps app may still use a small amount of data during operation. Upon switching the toggle on, a blue bar appears at the top of the screen to inform users that the app is in Wi-Fi only mode. Additionally, Google also added new notifications for mass transit delays which appeals to users who frequently travel by bus or trains. The same will inform users of disruption alerts in selected services via notifications, provided the same is available in your region. Google recently bumped up the image quality for its Maps app. While this is a gradual process, the difference on the mosaics are huge and noticeable. The difference, according to Google, comes from cloud-free imagery—one that showcases clearer views of the earth with greater detail and truer colours. The Landsat 8 also captures images twice as fast as Landsat 7, making the mosaic more up-to-date than past iterations.

Pokemon Go players risk all for their monsters

Walk into a minefield, enter a military base or simply cross the road without looking: fans of Pokemon Go are prepared to do whatever it takes to capture the likes of Pikachu and its friends. A virtual hunt that has taken players worldwide by storm, the game has had real-world consequences in the Tokyo stock exchange and beyond.The “augmented reality” smartphone app challenges users to roam the real world in search of virtual cartoon monsters to capture and train for battles, incorporating characters from the hit Nintendo game of the 1990s.“By appealing to several generations, from those who have memories of the original Pokemon in 1996 to the very youngest gamers, this app has the potential to reach vast numbers of players and become the reference point for virtual reality,”says Laurent Michaud, head of digital entertainment at the Idate ideas laboratory. The phenomenon has grown so rapidly that authorities in a number of countries have issued warnings about the dangers of the game, while police forces have taken to social media to remind users how to behave safely in public spaces. And not without cause — the hunt for Pokemon (or “pocket monsters”) has resulted in some unexpected situations. In Indonesia, a French player was stopped by police and questioned for several hours after the app led him into a military base. He was later released. Players in Bosnia meanwhile have been warned to avoid minefields, which remain a hangover from wars that wracked the country between 1992 and 1995.And the Japanese government has published a leaflet advising children of the potential risks of Pokemon Go — including the dangers of playing the game while cycling — despite the app not yet having been officially released in the country. Pokemon fatwa Saudi Arabia has gone even further, with the country’s main religious body reissuing a fatwa first announced in 2001 banning any game involving Pokemon. Pitting the characters against each other is associated with gambling, which is banned under Islam, and the game is also perceived as promoting Darwin’s theory of evolution. The Israeli navy, however, makes no secret of its passion for Pokemon Go, publishing a screenshot of its forces capturing a sea-based monster with the caption: “There are some Pokemon only we can catch”.A much-shared Palestinian tweet shows a Pikachu emerging from the ruins of house in Gaza. While the game is only officially available in some 40 countries, many players have found ways to access the app before its release in their territory. In France, where the game is still supposedly unavailable, police have already tweeted advice to Pokemon “trainers”, including: “Do not play Pokemon Go while driving” and “Pedestrians — take extra care”.Behind the phenomenon is the Pokemon Company but also its shareholder Nintendo, the Japanese group whose devices have been needed to play any earlier versions of digital Pokemon games. And while Nintendo’s profits from the recent explosion of Pokemon Go remain unknown, investors have already made their feelings felt. Since the release of the game, shares in the group have more than doubled on the Tokyo stock exchange, even if their value remains well below a 2007-2008 peak, which came with the release of the Wii console. But real-life security risks are not the only threat, as the game has already attracted the attention of hackers, according to the Russian internet security group Kaspersky.“Nintendo servers have already experienced a number of problems concerning traffic, and their attackers are very aware that the group cannot afford to have broken or inactive servers,”says David Emm, a researcher at Kaspersky.

England manager Sam Allardyce aims to win back fans

Sam Allardyce will attempt to win back fans as England manager after admitting his team need to earn the country's support. The Three Lions were booed from the pitch in Nice after their Euro 2016 humiliation at the hands of Iceland, a defeat that marked arguably the nadir in 50 years of tournament trauma. With England's dire recent record in major competitions and a low-key qualifying group for the 2018 World Cup there is some concern that the national side could fall even further from favour, a situation Allardyce recognises all too well. But the 61-year-old, who started work as Roy Hodgson's successor on Friday, used his first in-house interview with FATV to let fans know he would seek to create a winning side worthy of their passion."There's nothing wrong with England fans, they have supported the team through thick and thin and there's nothing wrong with the support they give," he said."You can't expect an England fan to cheer you if you're not doing well, you can't expect any fan to cheer if the team isn't performing to the level they think it should be."Fans will get behind you if you're hitting that level. If you're showing that passion and commitment but ultimately that quality, that team spirit they recognise they will get behind it and support you. We all have to face criticism at this level; the level of criticism sometimes is far greater at international level because it's just a short time together, but also praise is also far greater as well."We have to accept both for what it is."One of the ways in which Allardyce intends to inspire his players, most of whom will be the same ones that let Hodgson down, will be making them confront their failings in France and declare 'never again'."It's a very bitter experience as we all know but that inner drive...players should keep that, they should hold itand use it as a positive, say 'we don't want to experience that again'," he said."I think first and foremost it's about regaining, perhaps, a bit of confidence they have lost after the Euros."Let's get started from day one. Let's put that to bed, let's start delivering, gain from the experience that you gained at the Euros."We are going to get into the qualifiers, try to qualify for the World Cup and when we go next time we're better prepared, I think mentally, to succeed."Allardyce, who has penned an initial two-year deal and has been tasked by the Football Association with helping create a strong national identity throughout the age-group sides, also outlined his best attributes for the job. As well as creating a strong personal bond with his players, Allardyce signalled his intention to surround himself with a backroom team of experts. News has yet to materialise about any appointments to work alongside the manager, but the recruitment of expertise is an area he prides himself on. Asked what he would bring to the job, he said: "Man-management, I think."(And) creating a backroom staff that delivers a great service in all areas and departments. You have to manage that, not just manage players but manage staff,to delegate to them and give confidence to produce the qualities they have which are actually better qualities than me."I love finding a person with greater qualities than me in their department and promoting their strengths. That gives me greater strength to do my job."Those who are currently on the FA payroll will also be given an early chance to talk to Allardyce, who will schedule 'think tanks' to get a feeling for how the association operates."The plans are to really get amongst the staff in all areas and play a way forward which I'm sure is not going to take too long...a little tinkering here and there with my ideas and what I want rather than what has happened before," he explained."Think tanks for me will be very important for staff who have experienced international football up to now, to talk to me about what their job is, how they do that job and that they deliver."It's for me to take that on board and try to package all that together, to try and deliver expertise in each area to get the team out and to pull all those departments together."The former Sunderland boss will face the media for the first time as England manager at St George's Park on Monday morning.

BlackBerry Android smartphone codenamed 'Rome' spotted on Geekbench

BlackBerry now plans to release a high-end smartphone codenamed “Hamburg” along with another device codenamed “Rome”.According to a Geekbench listing,as pointed out by android.gs, the handset codenamed Rome will sport a physical BlackBerry keyboard and will be powered by a hexa-core CPU, paired with 3GB RAM. Additionally, the device is rumored to run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. The BlackBerry Rome goes under the model number STV100-3. On the other hand, the BlackBerry Neon is rumoured to feature Snapdragon octa-core 600 series processor with ARM Cortex-A53 cores.  However, no other details regarding the devices have been shared. Recently, BlackBerry announced that it will stop manufacturing its BlackBerry Classic smartphone BB 10. The news comes close on the heels of news that the former mobile giant is building three new Android smartphones, to follow up on its first in the series, the BlackBerry Priv. The Canadian company has said it will continue to support its products running the BlackBerry 10 OS, with a version 10.3.3 update scheduled for next month,but the Classic is being rotated out of production queues.

Brie Larson officially announced as Captain Marvel

Room Oscar-winner Brie Larson is taking the lead as Captain Marvel, marking the first time a woman will play the title character in a Marvel Studios movie. After months of rumors, the actress, also known for her roles in Short Term 12, 21 Jump Street,and (going further back) the teen comedy sleepover, was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con as the star of the March 2019 film. Larson took the stage during the Marvel’s Hall H panel, joining Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige as well as the casts of Doctor Strange,Black Panther,Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, and Spider-Man: Homecoming for a Marvel family portrait. She later tweeted a photo of herself wearing a Marvel Studios cap to celebrate the announcement. “Call me Captain Marvel,” she wrote. Watch the Hall H crowd freak out as @brielarsonis announced as #CaptainMarvel pic.twitter.com/fDMvgLA1ym — Fandango (@Fandango)July 24, 2016Call me Captain Marvel. pic.twitter.com/IgqRIb9ijM — Brie Larson (@brielarson) July 24, 2016Captain Marvel has had many iterations in the comics, but when Feige announced the project in October of 2014, he confirmed immediately that this version of Captain Marvel would be a woman.“Let me clarify,” Feige said. “Captain Marvel has gone by many names in the comics, has had many people who’ve inhabited that costume and used that power base. I want to make it very clear: This hero’s name is Carol Danvers.” Danvers was created in 1968, appearing in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 — a Captain Marvel story — as an American security officer working alongside Captain Mar-Vell, an alien sent to study the planet Earth. She debuted as the super-powered character Ms. Marvel in the pages of Marvel Comics after her human DNA was fused with genes from the alien race known as the Kree. She went on to inherit the title of Captain Marvel in 2012. Feige previously said this cinematic version of the character will “straddle two worlds. Her origins are very much Earthbound, but her adventures and power base come from the cosmic realm.”The character almost appeared in a cameo at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, except… they didn’t have an actress cast in the role. Now, if Marvel follows its previous game plans, we can look forward to her turning up onscreen in a cameo before her own movie debuts.

Idris Elba on James Bond odds: 'I'm too old for cars and ladies and martinis'

Idris Elba has been widely tipped to replace Daniel Craig when the current James Bond hangs up his 007 Boots (/gun/fast car/martini glass). But we shouldn't get too excited about seeing the Lutherstar as Britain’s most famous spy anytime soon. The 43-year-old has revealed that he thinks he’s too old to land the role. Speaking on Good Morning America, the actor said: "I think I'm too old for that."Running around in cars and ladies and martinis, who wants to do that? Sounds terrible."But Elba does admit that he’s received overwhelming support from his UK fans to take on the role if it is offered to him. "I keep saying if it were to happen it would be the will of a nation because there haven't been any talks between me and the studio about any of that," he said. "But everywhere I go people want that to happen."Elba wouldn’t be the oldest Bond to date if he were to take on the role, Roger Moore currently holds the record, appearing in live and Let Die in 1973 at the age of 45. Details of the next film in the Bond franchise, the 25th to be made, are yet to be announced.

Software can predict your looks with different hair styles

A new imaging software can not only predict how you will look with different hair styles, colours and appearances but can also help find a missing child or someone evading the law. Called Dream bit, the software has been developed by researchers from the University of Washington, Seattle. It draws on previous research conducted at the university and elsewhere in facial processing, recognition, 3D reconstruction and age progression, combining those algorithms in a unique way to create the blended images. After uploading an input photo, you type in a search term such as "curly hair," "India" or "1930s."The software's algorithms mine internet photo collections for similar images in that category and seamlessly map the person's face onto the results. The software can also help show what a missing child or person evading the law might look like if their appearance has been purposefully disguised or even how they would look at an advanced age if years have passed."With missing children, people often dye their hair or change the style so age-progressing just their face isn't enough. This is a first step in trying to imagine how a missing person's appearance might change over time," said developer Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman. Initial results will be presented at SIGGRAPH 2016, the world's largest annual conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques to be held in Anaheim, California, from July 24 to 28.The software may publicly be available later this year.

Japan urges not to play Pokemon Go in tourist areas

Japanese authorities on Saturday urged visitors to stop playing augmented reality smartphone game Pokemon Go in popular tourist sites. The most emphatic protest came from the Izumo-taisha shrine, considered the second most sacred in Japan, which banned the use of Pokemon Go within its premises on Friday after the game had launched, according to its website. Officials argued that the ban is to preserve the "solemn" atmosphere of the sanctuary and ensure the safety of its six million annual visitors, EFE news reported. Himeji Castle, Japan's most famous and best preserved feudal fortress, has placed signs inside and in surrounding areas urging the public not to play while walking through the complex. Managers of the castle, which is also a World Heritage Site, explained to public broadcaster NHK that the complex is full of steps and areas - for example the moats surrounding Himeji - that are restricted as they are dangerous. Volunteers from the Hiroshima Peace Park also expressed their discontent to the media of the possibility that the park tinged with pain and dedicated to reflection could be filled with gamers. The Tokyo Skytree tower, on the other hand, employed a more moderate stance and simply asked gamers to play with caution as its gigantic structure is a 'gym' where players can fight with Pokemons, attracting more footfall. The feverish excitement in Japan over the game has even forced the government to launch a campaign promoting safe use of the game, after multiple cases of users being injured were reported.

Apple is about to take a huge risk with its new iPhone strategy

Sales of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac are all dropping, which is having an effect on Apple's bottom line.

Apple needs to release new products this fall to turn things around, especially a new iPhone, given that iPhone 6S sales have been disappointing.

Wall Street analysts have come to a consensus about what this fall's iPhone — let's call it the iPhone 7 — will look like and include.

And it's starting to become clear that Apple is taking a huge risk.

The iPhone 7 will have a few upgrades, according to a Deutsche Bank research note, but ultimately will look a lot like the iPhones currently on the market.

Essentially, Apple is moving to a three-year upgrade cycle. Previously, Apple came out with a new model every other year. In the off years, it took the same basic hardware and upgraded the components.

This year would be the third year that the iPhone would sport the same design it introduced in 2014. And that could depress sales.

A Quartz survey suggests that only about 10% of iPhone-owning adults are planning to buy a new iPhone this year if it isn't redesigned.
On an anecdotal level, Tech Insider's Steve Kovach says he's considering skipping this latest iPhone upgrade, even though he's been on a cycle where he upgrades every other year.

Essentially, Apple may be turning the two-year refresh cycle into a three-year cycle. (Earlier this year, Apple confirmed it plans for iPhones to have a three-year lifespan for its first owner.)

That means people would buy fewer iPhones.

Even Apple may be producing fewer iPhone 7 units this fall because it expects softer demand, according to Deutsche Bank researchers, although the iPhone 7 may end up selling better than the iPhone 6S:

"However, a [year-over-year] production decline does not necessarily imply a YoY sales decline for iPhone 7 (vs iPhone 6S) ... Apple seldom repeats a mistake, so we believe it will manage iPhone 7 production volumes conservatively."

Of course, the upside to this is that if Apple releases a compelling, brand-new, strong-selling iPhone in 2017, it could find a "powder keg" of customers ready to upgrade.

Here's what Deutsche Bank analysts are expecting from the iPhone 7, based on its supply-chain checks:

A "Plus" model with a dual camera for better zoom and 3GB of RAM
A standard model with an improved camera and optical image stabilization
Better sound — possibly stereo sound
"Professional class water-proofing"
A home button that uses motors to simulate a click, which would last longer than the current home button
A new color, so there's a version that looks different than current iPhones
The elimination of the 3.5 mm headphone jack, as has been discussed endlessly. Headphones will instead plug in through Apple's Lightning charging port.
A Lightning-to-audio dongle included with the iPhone 7 — not a pair of Lightning headphones.

'Pokemon Go' could generate billions for Apple: Needham's Laura Martin

 Apple could rake in big bucks from 'Pokemon Go' Apple could rake in big bucks from 'Pokemon Go'
19 Hours Ago|00:32
Apple can thank the "Pokemon Go" phenomenon for the billions of sales expected to come into the company.

Needham & Co. Managing Director Laura Martin estimates that "Pokemon Go" could generate $3 billion  in revenue for Apple in the next 12 to 24 months as the game expands into more countries. Since the game achieved penetration of 6 percent of the U.S. population after just 10 days, Martin predicts 20 percent penetration at maturity.

"I think the point is that while Nintendo has gone up 20 billion and they do have IP risks, Apple does not," Martin said on CNBC's "Halftime Report." "It is hedged because the next genius that makes a hit game, Apple shares on that one too. So while this one may be transitory, Apple has an option on all future hit games over the iOS platform."

Martin attributes Apple's success to its ecosystem business structure and other revenue generators such as the App Store.

"Apple has higher profit margins than the Walt Disney Company and has higher returns on capital than Facebook and, therefore, the notion that it could be valued as a hardware company just because it makes phones, we think is flawed," Martin said. "Those margins are only achievable because it does have these ecosystem benefits like 'Pokemon Go' to route its ecosystem to a much higher margin."

Facebook Messenger hits one billion users

Facebook said Wednesday the number of users of its Messenger application had topped one billion, a key milestone as it seeks to expand the platform to new services.

The growth in Messenger gives greater reach to Facebook, which is moving to create a "family" of applications beyond the social network.

"As part of this journey to one billion, we focused on creating the best possible experiences in modern day communications," said Facebook vice president David Marcus in a statement.

"We remain focused on helping connect people to the people and businesses who matter most."

Facebook itself has more than 1.6 billion users, and WhatsApp, another messaging application acquired by Facebook for some $20 billion in 2014, also counts more than a billion users.

Other services in the Facebook "family" include Instagram, which more than 500 million use to share images, and Oculus, which makes virtual reality gear.

Marcus told AFP that Messenger's key markets include North America, Australia, Britain, France, the Philippines, Thailand and several other European countries.

Facebook has been moving to make Messenger a "platform" with other services such as "bots" that deliver news or connect with retailers or other businesses, for example.

Marcus said Messenger has some 18,000 active bots and continues to expand the platform.

Messenger can help monetization because it keeps users in the Facebook ecosystem where they can be targeted with ads.

"We will see that happens in the coming months, but I think that once you have an ecosystem that starts working between businesses and so many users on Messenger, we'll find more monetization vectors in the future," Marcus said.

"But we aren't at the stage where we are rushing to monetize."

WhatsApp, which is managed independently, does not accept advertising but is exploring ways to allow businesses to use it to connect with customers.

According to the company, Messenger is the second most popular application in Apple's iOS system behind Facebook itself.

Facebook said more than 17 billion photos are sent to friends through Messenger every month and that Messenger users have played 1.2 billion games of virtual basketball.

Physicists just did the impossible, and it could change the way we look at the quantum world

Until recently, scientists didn't think it could be done. They thought the fundamental laws of physics would forbid it. But a persistent group of scientists at the University of Warsaw have now accomplished the impossible: They created a hologram of a solitary particle of light.

This accomplishment is ushering in a new era of quantum holography, which will give scientists a new way of looking at quantum phenomena.

Quantum holograms

Unlike photography, holography recreates the spatial structure of objects, giving us their 3-D shapes. The technique takes advantage of something called classical interference, which is when two waves meet and form a new wave.

But classical interference is impossible with photons, since their phases (a property of waves) are constantly fluctuating. So the Warsaw physicists tried to give quantum holograms a taste of their own medicine by using quantum interference, in which photons' wave functions (which have to do with the probability of the particle being in a particular state) interact.

"Wave function is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics and the core of its most important principles, the Schrödinger equation," according to Phys.org. "In the hands of a skilled physicist, the function could be compared to putty in the hands of a sculptor. When expertly shaped, it can be used to 'mould' a model of a quantum particle system."

So why photons?

While filming the behavior pairs of photons, Radoslaw Chrapkiewicz and Michal Jachura, two of the researchers, noticed something called two-photon interference.

In two-photon interference, pairs of distinguishable photons act randomly when entering a beam splitter (which divides a ray of light). But nondistinguishable photons exhibit quantum interference, which affects their behavior. The pairs are always either transmitted or reflected together.

"Following this experiment, we were inspired to ask whether two-photon quantum interference could be used similarly to classical interference in holography in order to use known-state photons to gain further information about unknown-state photons. Our analysis led us to a surprising conclusion: It turned out that when two photons exhibit quantum interference, the course of this interference depends on the shape of their wavefronts [an imaginary surface joining all adjacent points with the same phase]," Chrapkiewicz told Phys.org.

Understanding quantum mechanics

This experiment has huge implications for our understanding of the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics, a field of physics that has been perplexing scientists for more than a century. It allows scientists to gain valuable information about the phase of a photon's wave function.

"Our experiment is one of the first allowing us to directly observe one of the fundamental parameters of photon's wave function — its phase — bringing us a step closer to understanding what the wave function really is," Jachura said.

The researchers hope to apply this method to create holograms of more complex quantum objects, which might have implications that stretch beyond fundamental science into real world applications.

"All of us — I mean physicists — must first get our heads around this new tool," said Konrad Banaszek, a researcher in the experiment. "It's likely that real applications of quantum holography won't appear for a few decades yet, but if there's one thing we can be sure of, it's that they will be surprising."

Cristiano Ronaldo Is Opening A Five-Star Hotel And It Looks Amazing

Soccer superstar and handsome ol’ chap Cristiano Ronaldo is best known for being very good at soccer and also taking his shirt off in a public setting at every chance he gets, not that you’re complaining. With that being said, he’s about to become a player in a different game: The hospitality game.

Fresh off victories in both the Champions League and Euro 2016, Ronaldo is getting ready to kick off a doozy of an offseason. His Pestana CR7 Hotel is ready for its grand opening this Friday in his native Funchal, Portugal. From the looks of things, it’s not a secret why the place has a five-star rating. It looks pretty spectacular inside & out.
The hallways appear to be fitted with soccer turf, which is a nice touch but probably not great for wheeling suitcases. Still, people love themes.
If you’d like to stay in Ronaldo’s digs but have no plans to travel to Portugal anytime soon, there’s still some good news. CR7 plans to open similar hotels in New York and Madrid next year.

People Are Saying This Photo a Mom Took of Her Son at Costco Proves Time Travel Is Real

While shopping with her son at Costco, one mom stopped right in her tracks when she noticed someone that looked oddly familiar sitting on a bench in the distance.
Take a good look at this toddler's lime-green polo shirt and matching plaid shorts. Now notice what's going on in the background, just behind the adorable little boy—an older gentleman sitting on a red bench wearing the exact same outfit (minus the shoes).
The parent, using the handle A_OBCD8663, posted a photo of the scene to Reddit with the caption, "I guess I know what my son will look like in 70 years..."
This could just be a popular fashion trend for all ages (neon colors are so hot right now).

Gucci Mane Got Sober, Made $1M While In Prison

Gucci Mane came home from a years-long prison stay back in May, and he appears to be a completely different Gucci, at least in a few key respects. Anyone who’s seen pictures of the healthy, slimmed-down, muscled-up Gucci already knows that he’s spent some time working out. But he’s also gotten healthy in another, more important way: He’s now kicked all drugs. My friend Jon Caramanica recently visited Gucci at his Atlanta home for The New York Times, getting Gucci’s first post-prison interview. And Gucci’s newfound sobriety — something that’s enforced by random drug tests right now, since he’s on house arrest until September — seems like it’s been a great thing for him.

One thing that hasn’t changed is Gucci’s insane workrate. Before going to prison, Gucci had a hard drive full of unreleased music, so he’d simply tell his engineer that he’d like to release a new mixtape, and his engineer would master all the songs necessary. Since many of those tapes were commercially available, Gucci actually made money while in prison. Gucci himself estimates that he earned more than a million dollars during his prison stint — more than enough to keep his lawyers paid.

And Gucci did something else new during his prison stay: He started writing lyrics. Where he’d always freestyle in the past, he began writing down lyrics, then mailing them to his girlfriend for safekeeping. Those lyrics make up a large chunk of Gucci’s new album Everybody Looking, which is due next week and which Gucci recorded within six days of his return home. He’d recorded his vocals for “First Day Out Tha Feds” within an hour of coming back to his house.

This may be one of the boldest attempts we've seen someone make to enter the US illegally

In this June 7, 2001, photo, Mexican national Enrique Aguilar Canchola is found sewn into a passenger seat of a vehicle as part of an attempt to illegally enter the US.

Canchola, 42, was stopped at the San Ysidro, California, border crossing (which you can see out the window). At the time of Canchola's attempted entry, it was the world's busiest border crossing.

According to US Immigration and Naturalization officials, the incident was part of growing trend of undocumented immigrants cramming themselves into intricate and potentially deadly compartments to enter the country.

Apple Pay is also launching in Hong Kong

Right after launching in France, Apple Pay is now available in Hong Kong as  well. As usual, only a few partnering banks are part of the launch, but the company expects to roll out support for more cards and stores over the coming months. If you have a Visa or MasterCard from HSBC, BOCHK, Hang Seng, DBS or Standard Chartered, you’re covered. Just head over to the Wallet app on your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch an soon Mac. BEA and HKT are next. American Express cards are also supported. Dozens of stores already support Apple Pay, including all sorts of convenience stores. Apps that rely on Stripe or Braintree to process payments can now start accepting ApplePay. Deliveroo, Foodpanda, Homeaway and others already flipped the switch. Now, the only question is whether that will be enough in the land of the Octopus card. Everybody has a contactless Octopus card in Hong Kong already as you need it to use public transportation. This card also lets you pay for stuff in stores if they have an Octopus reader. It’s become a ubiquitous payment method. Apple Pay is now available in 9 countries: the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, China, Singapore, Switzerland, France and Hong Kong. Apple Pay is now processing five times the transaction volume of a year ago. Ten million locations now support Apple Pay around the world. And of course, these numbers will only grow as Apple expands its payment service to new countries.

Blue ticks for all: Twitter allows users to apply to be verified

The Twitter“blue tick” badge normally reserved for the accounts of high-profile figures is to be made available to all users, the social media site has said.​Belarusian president accidentally ​sparks international striptease An application process via an online form will now be available to every user of the micro-blogging site, Twitter said, adding that accounts “may be verified if determined to be of public interest”. Until now, the verification badge has been reserved for those accounts that were deemed “official”. Twitter described these as “public figures and organisations in music, TV, film, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business, and other key interest areas”.The move may help to reduce abusive behaviour on the site,as verified status will be offered only to confirmed accounts – anonymous ones will be refused a tick. In a blogpost announcing the new system, Twitter’s Tina Bhatnagar said: “Our goal with this update is to help more people find great, high-quality accounts to follow, and for creators and influencers – no matter where they are in the world - to easily connect with a broader audience.”Those who wish to apply for a verification badge will still have to meet some criteria, however, with accounts in question requiring a verified phone number, email address, website and public tweet settings attached to them. Twitter has around 320 million monthly users, of which around 187,000 are currently verified.

Volkswagen aims for more electric cars by 2020 amid ongoing emissions scandal

On Tuesday, the embattled automaker confirmed with the Wall Street Journal that it plans to build electric vehicles in North America by 2020 in an attempt to change its soiled reputation. Hours later on the same day,Reuters reported that three states filed separate lawsuits against VW. New York, Maryland and Massachusetts are alleging that the company violated their environmental laws and covered up its diesel-cheating scheme. Before its emissions scandal even made international headlines last September, VW announced a plan to roll out with 20 electric cars and plug-in hybrids by 2020. They boldly predicted that their new cars will be smartphones on wheels. Tuesday’s confirmation for EVs was relegated to North America, but it didn’t reveal much more. When we asked Volkswagen about the plan in greater detail, our email wasn’t immediately returned. Last month,VW struck a $14.7 billion settlement to remedy its emissions scandal. The company already has its e-Golf hatchback on the road, but ramping up its electric fleet by 2020 would seemingly make strides towards becoming a cleaner brand.“We believe that this country, especially in urban mobility, will have a very strong shift from petrol engines into hybridization and electric cars,” Hinrich Woebcken, the new head of Volkswagen AG’s U.S. division, told the Wall Street Journal. “We are heavily investing in this one — including production in this North American region.”If VW does deliver on its plan for electric vehicles in four years, Tesla could have more competition. That’s sort of ironic, considering Tesla CEO Elon Musk signed an open letter to the California Air Resources Board (CARB)last year, asking that VW accelerate its EV development instead of fixing compromised diesel models. This could get pretty interesting.

New way to control swarms of drones by thought discovered

Scientists have discovered how to control multiple robotic drones using the human brain, an advance that help develop swarms of search and rescue drones that are controlled just by thought. A controller wears a skull cap outfitted with 128 electrodes wired to a computer. The device records electrical brain activity. If the controller moves a hand or thinks of something, certain areas light up."I can see that activity from outside. Our goal is to decode that activity to control variables for the robots," said Panagiotis Artemiadis, from the Arizona State University in the US. If the user is thinking about spreading the droned out, we know what part of the brain controls that thought, Artemiadis said. A wireless system sends the thought to the robots."We have a motion-capture system that knows where the quads are, and we change their distance," he said. Up to four small robots, some of which fly, can be controlled with brain interfaces. To make them move, the controller watches on a monitor and thinks and pictures the drones performing various tasks."During the last two to three decades there has been a lot of research on single brain/machine interface, where you control a single machine," Artemiadis said. A few years ago, he had the idea to go to a lot of machines. It is part of a trend in robotics and space exploration - instead of building one giant expensive machine or plane or spacecraft, researchers build a lot of little cheap ones. Artemiadis worked with US Air Force pilots. The pilots were sceptical. Their main objection was what would happen if they thought of something else while controlling the drones."If it is close to lunch and all you can think about it is pizza, it doesn't work. Fatigue and stress also play a part," Artemiadis said. The system has to be calibrated to individual controllers, and it has to be done every day, because brain signals change from day to day, he said. The next step in Artemiadis' research is multiple people controlling multiple robots. In the future, he sees drone swarms performing complex operations, such as search-and-rescue missions.

Nintedo to pull down Pokemon Go apps from websites

Pokemon Go is a little more than a week old now. Although the game is presently available in a few countries,including US, UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, many fans have found other methods to download and play it. While the game is available on various torrent and app hosting websites, the simplest way of using the game is by downloading an APK file. Users download the apk file, copy it on their phone’s internal storage and tap on it from any file browser app. The game gets installed and ready to play. Note:The method mentioned above to download the game on iOS is legal and safer than the Android one. However, installing third-party apps requires users to enable security setting from the smartphone, which could cause security issues and malware infections. Of note, there have been reports of Pokemon Go being infected with malware supplied on third-party apps. Following which, Nintendo, San Francisco spinoff of Google’s parent Alphabet, who created the game have submitted takedown notices to Google in order to prevent the malware from spreading on the Android platform. However, it is impossible for the developers to remove all apk files from the internet, as the game could be installed from other locations such as file hosting websites, third-party market apps, torrents and P2P sharing websites. There is no way for sure to takedown apk files from websites because apk files can be easily renamed and shared across. Besides it, John Hanke, chief executive of Niantic, who developed  Pokemon Go jointly with Nintendo, said that the company is planning to release the game in roughly 200 countries and regions “relatively soon.” However, he declined to reveal a detailed timeframe for the rollouts.

Pokemon Go comes to 26 additional countries amid server woes

Heard enough news about Pokémon Goover the last week? If you live in America, there's a good chance the answer to that is 'yes.' But if you're in Europe, the mega popular mobile game just began rolling out,starting with countries like Germany, Spain, the UK, and Italy. Fortunately there's more good news this weekend for eager players in the region: Pokemon Go is now available in an additional 26 European countries. iOS and Android users can now download the app for free from their respective app stores in the following locations: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland. While Pokemon Go developer Niantic said earlier this week while that it plans to make the game available in over 200 countries, it's still struggling with server issues due to the overwhelming demand from players. The company, unfortunately, still can't offer a definitive timeline for when a global rollout will be complete, nor release dates for specific countries. Speaking of server overload, just as Saturday's rollout to the new locations took place, players around the globe began experiencing problems logging in and getting stuck at the app's initial loading screen. It seems a group of internet troublemakers calling themselves "PoodleCorp"claimed responsibility for the downtime, saying they performed a wide-spread DDoS attack. Pokemon Gohas been experiencing periodic server issues since the game first launched over a week ago, though, so there's really no proof that a DDoS attack was responsible this time, other than the hackers' claim. Fortunately, at the time of this writing, most players can sign in, so the Poke-hunt continues on!

Apple ‘AirPods’ wireless headphones get trademark filing

While new leaks and rumors about the upcoming iPhone 7are abundant these days, there's also been growing speculation that this year's smartphone from Apple will also introduce a pair of wireless in-ear headphones called "AirPods." The expectation is that the new headphones will come along side the iPhone 7's removal of a standard headphone jack, making the wireless feature a big selling point. We've seemingly got our first confirmation of the AirPods, as a trademark filing for the term has been discovered. However, it looks like Apple is using its familiar tactic of relying on a shell company for the filing, as was done in the past with "iPad" and "CarPlay." The trademark for AirPods was made by Entertainment in Flight, LLC. The belief that this is a shell company for Apple comes from MacRumors, which has discovered that the filing documents reveal Jonathan Brown as the name of an Entertainment in Flight manager. That name, and even signature,are a match to an Apple employee with the title"Senior Standards Counsel," which has been seen in previous trademark filing paperwork. Of course, just because Apple is behind the trademark of AirPods doesn't mean that's the name they'll end up going with for the product. The company also filed a trademark for the term "iWatch" in the past, but obviously they decided to go with Apple Watch instead. Most of the speculation about AirPods is that they will be Bluetooth and completely wireless, without a cord to even connect the two earpieces. There's a good chance, however, that the AirPods won't be included in the box with the new iPhone 7, despite debuting at the same time. This is because most Bluetooth headphones these days come with a premium price, meaning Apple will sell them separately to avoid increasing the price of the iPhone.

Google Keyboard rolls out colorful themes on Android

Google's Android keyboard now has many more themes to pick from, and they're not as drab as the "material dark" and "material light" options that existed before. With the new version that just hit the Play Store, you've also got a slew of options in shades of red, blue, green, pink, and yeah.. some more black / gray options too. Themes are already available to people running the Android N preview, but now you won't have to run beta software to get 'em. And if none of the colors suit you, you can also choose an image from your camera roll to go behind the keys.  The latest, theme-filled update for Google keyboard — version 5.1 — is available from the Play Store now. And hey, this is one thing Google's iOS keyboard doesn't (yet) do.

Can Pokemon Go Be Harmful to Your Health?

Players are reporting the game's positive effects with dealing with mental health issues like depression and anxiety. However, the game has the potential for negative health consequences as well. While the game encourages players to walk around, many players spend most of their times looking at their phones instead of their surroundings. There's been numerous accounts of players spraining their ankles, tripping, or falling because they were paying attention to Pokémon Go instead of looking where they were going. Bikers and car drivers playing Pokémon Go are at especially high risk for accidents, causing many local traffic and law enforcement agencies to release reminders not to drive and play Pokemon. It feels like it's a matter of time before we hear of the first fatal accident caused by or related to Pokemon Go. In a recent Live Science article about the positive health effects of Pokemon Go, Dale Bond, an associate professor of psychiatry at Brown University, warned that some players could try to play too much Pokemon Go in one day, which could lead to muscle soreness and stress fractures. Bond encouraged Pokémon Go players who weren't used to physical activity to build up their activity rate slowly. Pokemon Go will have a net positive health effect for most players, and it's not like the mobile app is going to cause cancer or heart disease. However, players are encouraged to be aware of their surroundings and use their common sense while playing.

Matt Damon says he'll do a superhero movie but only on one condition

Matt Damon might consider swapping his Jason Bourne persona for one that comes with a cape and superpowers, but only under one circumstance.
His good friend Ben Affleck has to direct.
"If he was directing me, I'd jump on it in a New York minute. I'd love to work with Ben," Damon said.
But he knows that won't happen easily.
"The problem with Ben is every time he directs a movie, he gives himself the best role in it, so until he's willing to give up the best role to one of his friends, we're not going to get on with it,"
Damon said.
Affleck just starred as Batman in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," which had an uneasy reception. But just because Affleck and Damon are partners in crime in real life doesn't mean Damon will show up as the Robin to Affleck's Batman. The Examiner said he laughed
at the suggestion.
There aren't many major superheroes left to play, Damon, so you might want to reconsider.

This satellite image of Chinese construction in South China Sea is a wake- up call to us all

Beijing has vowed to ignore a
Hague-based tribunal's ruling that dismisses China's nine-dash-line claim in the resource-rich waters of the South China Sea, and the following satellite image may explain why.
The picture, released from the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, shows Chinese construction on Cuarteron Reef.
Cuarteron Reef is located in the London Reefs on the Western side of the Spratly Islands. China has reclaimed approximately 231,100 square meters of land (approximately 58 acres) in the
Cuarteron Reef alone, according to AMTI.
In the summer of 2014, China rapidly developed the land with significant dredging and construction and is believed to have built the following: multiple support buildings, five possible communication antennas, a radar
facility and two radar towers under
construction, two helipads, a large multilevel military facility, a satellite-communication antenna, and five possible gun or missile emplacements.

Pakistani model killed after offending conservatives

Pakistani fashion model Qandeel
Baloch, who recently stirred controversy by posting pictures of herself with a Muslim cleric on social media, was strangled to death by her brother, police
said Saturday.
Her parents told police one of her six brothers strangled her to death as she slept in the family's home in Multan, police spokeswoman Nabila Ghazanfar told The Associated Press. She said police are searching for the suspect.
Baloch, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem, was little known until recently, when she offended many conservatives by posting pictures of herself with Mufti
Qavi, a prominent cleric. She said the two of them enjoyed soft drinks and cigarettes together during the
daylight hours in the holy month of Ramadan, when practicing Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.
The pictures and allegations caused a scandal in conservative Pakistan, and the government removed Qavi from the official moon-sighting committee that
determines when Ramadan starts and ends in accordance with the Islamic lunar calendar.
Baloch had said Qavi told her he wanted to see her face before the committee met to determine the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, which was
observed earlier this month.
Qavi denied the allegations, saying he only met with her to discuss the teachings of Islam.
Earlier this month, Baloch sought protection from government, saying she was receiving anonymous death threats.
Hundreds of Pakistani woman are murdered by family members each year in so-called honor killings, which are seen as punishment for violating conservative norms.