Lifeboat Foundation

Cities can be obstacle courses for communications signals. A radio signal must travel from a cell phone to a router to a cell tower, and onward to its recipient—all while bouncing between walls, buildings and other structures. When it hits an obstacle, the radio wave gets scattered, diminishing the signal. This in turn reduces the bandwidth. At the same time, the signal must compete with the bandwidth needs of numerous other devices in the area. All this reduces the amount of information the signal can communicate.

Newly developed small, lightweight reflective surfaces could revolutionize communications in crowded environments by providing unprecedented control over electromagnetic signals, like radio waves.

Historically, engineers have used repeaters—electronic devices that receive a signal and retransmit it—to help these communications signals cover longer distances and get around obstacles, but this technology is reaching its limits. Now, engineers are looking to modify the behavior of the communications signal itself. Enter reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS).

Apple has rolled out security updates to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and Safari to address several security vulnerabilities, including one actively exploited zero-day bug in the wild.

Tracked as CVE-2023–38606, the shortcoming resides in the kernel and permits a malicious app to modify sensitive kernel state potentially. The company said it was addressed with improved state management.

“Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS released before iOS 15.7.1,” the tech giant noted in its advisory.

OpenAI is releasing the Android version of the app for ChatGPT next week after launching on iOS in May.

Since launching in November, OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool has reached a number of users at a rate that’s astounding for anything outside of Threads — now the company says it’s ready to release an app for Android.

The ChatGPT for Android app is launching a few months after the free iOS app brought the chatbot to iPhones and iPads.

Continue reading “ChatGPT for Android launches next week” »

Safety first. I’ve read about tech saving lives and this is a step forward along with crash detection and AFib detection and more. Our phones are legit becoming rescue and medical devices. Any experience or thoughts?

The extent of satellite support is still not evident when it comes to smartphones, but I am really looking forward to seeing how Android 14 uses this feature. It is also important to understand that all Android phones are built differently, especially when it comes to manufacturers, and while Samsung might be the biggest, with the most amount of influence, it is possible that other companies won’t introduce the feature despite the latest version of Android supporting the feature.

Whatever the case might be, Android 14 is not far away, as the update will make its debut in October alongside Pixel 8 series. You can expect the Tensor G3 to have this support. In addition to that, new flagship phones are going to start popping up, which means that we will see some compelling hardware from a variety of companies and will perhaps also get a look at which phone does support satellite SMS and other satellite-based communication features and which doesn’t.

Continue reading “Android 14 Will Bring Support For Satellite SMS Starting With Pixel And Galaxy Phones, Will Require Supported Hardware” »

Since I was going to become a Dr before my TBI, or a scientist but there’s this and some devices and apps are pretty accurate. Like Samsung and Apple. Now there’s the Google Pixel, the Pixel watch and of course Fitbit and more.

The same devices used to take selfies and type out tweets are being repurposed and commercialized for quick access to information needed for monitoring a patient’s health. A fingertip pressed against a phone’s camera lens can measure a heart rate. The microphone, kept by the bedside, can screen for sleep apnea. Even the speaker is being tapped, to monitor breathing using sonar technology. Smartphones as medical devices could be the next big thing.

In the best of this new world, the data is conveyed remotely to a medical professional for the convenience and comfort of the patient. Or, in some cases, to support a clinician without the need for costly hardware.

Continue reading “Smartphones as Medical Devices — The Future of Healthcare?” »

Now that’s something mach can use.

MIT researchers have recently developed a portable desalination unit that can remove particles and salts to turn seawater into drinking water.

Continue reading “MIT Scientists Turn Seawater to Drinking Water With the Push of a Button” »

I thought you could already use it through the web on your phone? In any case, I have an account in Windows under Chrome.

Two months after launching for iOS, ChatGPT is available to “pre-order” for Android users who want to take the ubiquitous chatbot on the go. If it’s anywhere as popular as the iPhone version, expect to see some big numbers over the next few weeks.

Of course any mobile user can access ChatGPT or other OpenAI tools via the web interface, but the superior experience of a dedicated app has proven extremely compelling, to put it lightly. iPhone users downloaded it half a million times in the first week, impressing everyone until Threads came along and blew it out of the water.

Continue reading “ChatGPT comes to Android next week, but you can sign up today” »

Innovative solar-powered light has helped earthquake victims around the world and now comes with phone-charging function.

As a little girl growing up in Seoul, Korea and then upstate New York, inventor Alice Min Soo Chun spent days with her mother learning origami and how a simple fold could become structured.

She went on to study Architecture at Penn State and earned her Masters at the University of Pennsylvania.

Amazon announced Thursday it is rolling out its pay-by-palm services in Whole Foods Market stores across the country, making it possible for customers to use their palms for purchases without a wallet or phone.

The palm recognition service, called Amazon One, will be available for payment and Prime membership benefits in all Whole Foods Market locations by the end of this year. Instead of traditional payment methods, Amazon One allows customers to hover their palm over an Amazon One device.

Customers who link their Prime membership with their Amazon One profile will also automatically receive savings once their palm is registered, according to the Seattle-based retail giant.