News: New Zika Test Could Speed Results & Boost Prevention at Dramatically Lower Cost
Colorado State University scientists have developed new tech that quickly identifies the presence of Zika virus in mosquito populations — and in human body fluid.
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Exclusive: Uber Driver Goes Full Driverless, Terrifying NYC Passenger
Well, well, well. Uber, we knew you were investing a ton of money into creating self-driving taxis and flying cars, but what we didn't know is that you were already testing out your driverless vehicles on the streets of New York City.
Brief Reality: AR Hits the Conference Circuit
Every Tuesday, Next Reality will give readers a rundown of the augmented and mixed reality news briefs from the preceding week that we didn't cover already. This way, you'll never miss anything of importance in the Next Reality landscape, and will always know what's going on with new augmented and mixed reality tech and applications.
How To: Move Chrome's Address Bar to the Bottom of Your Screen on Android
Update Feb. 2020: Google has removed the feature flag to move the address bar to the bottom of the screen. We've out to see if they have plans to bring it back, but received no comment. In the meantime, you can use the new Chrome Duet bottom bar instead.
News: How Diet, Gut Bacteria & Time Work Together to Form Your Potbelly
Potbellies don't have to happen as we age, according to two studies done on twins published online in the International Journal of Obesity.
News: Researchers Have Found Zika's Sweet Spot & Potential Key to Fetal Infections
An advance in the race to stop birth defects caused by Zika-infected mothers has been made by a team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. They have identified the process Zika uses to gain entry into the placenta, and published their findings in the journal Biochemistry.
How To: Secure Your Instagram Account by Adding 2-Factor Authentication & Managing Privacy Settings
The photo-centric Instagram app is a great way to share "evergreen" pictures and videos when compared to Snapchat and Facebook's new Messenger Day feature. But like all social media, keeping the account secure is an essential aspect, as it restricts unwanted viewers from seeing your content and can prevent unauthorized users from accessing your account. Instagram has several methods for locking down the account including a new two-factor authentication (2FA) mechanism.
News: Anthrax Outbreak in Tanzania Brings a Dangerous Bioterror Threat Back to the World Stage
An outbreak of anthrax from contaminated meat in Tanzania sickened dozens of people and moves the danger of this deadly bacteria back into focus.
News: Hong Kong Butcher in Critical Condition with Rare Strep Brain Infection Caused by Pork
The culprit probably wasn't what doctors were expecting when a 57-year-old man in Hong Kong came to the hospital. The patient was admitted to the intensive care unit in critical condition. A clue to the cause of the infection would lie in the man's profession—he was a butcher.
News: MRIs Spot Sneaky Dementia-Causing HIV Brain Infections, Even in Patients on Effective Treatments
In the past, infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) commonly led to dementia as the virus made its way to the brain. Even in effectively treated people, HIV can hide out and replicate in places like the brain, where it's tough to detect. That's why it's very concerning that half of all HIV-infected patients still report cognitive problems.
How To: Save Battery & Increase Performance on Your HTC One M9 with These Simple Non-Root Tips
As a fan of the HTC One series, I almost always upgrade my phone soon after the new model becomes available. I purchased the M7 when it first came out, upgraded to the M8 shortly after its launch, and then jumped on the M9. However, I stopped right there.
News: Mass Die-Off of Thousands of Ducks in Idaho Caused by Avian Cholera
Over 6,500 waterfowl—mostly ducks—have died in Canyon County, Idaho, stricken by avian cholera. The outbreak started in February, and before it's over, it may not only be Idaho's largest outbreak, but one of the largest in the country.
How To: Reorder Profiles & Reset Matches in Tinder
The modern age of techno-dating has made an interesting landscape for social interactions when there is some modicum of romance (or lust). For those of us born before the internet evolved into the prolific monster it has become, we first met our love interests face to face. Today, however, apps like Tinder have changed the introductory stage, for better or worse.
News: Hino Motors Leads the Way to Japan's Planned 2020 Rollout of Commercial Truck Platooning
Japan is in the process of curbing its aging population and mature workforce. According to The Diplomat, the country's population has been declining at a steady rate. To meet future productivity demands in commercial and industrial sectors, local officials are turning to self-driving technology, including truck platooning, where three or five vehicles travel autonomously in a string formation. This practice, according to a study by MIT, can reduce fuel consumption by up to 20% (more about thi...
News: Use This Type of Repellent to Avoid Mosquitoes—& Zika
Responding to the emergence of Zika in the US, researchers investigated what type of repellent works best to reduce your odds of a mosquito bite from Aedes aegypti, the mosquito species that spreads the Zika virus.
Bye Bye, OJ: How a Blue-Bellied Insect Helps Bacteria Kill Off Citrus Crops
A tiny louse is responsible for decimating the citrus industry. Diaphorina citri, the louse in question, better known as the Asian citrus psyllid, harbors and spreads the "Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus" bacteria that causes citrus greening disease.
News: New Study Unveils the True Story of Kuru, a Fatal Brain Disease Spread by the Cultural Practice of Eating the Dead
Kuru is called the shaking disease, its name derived from the Fore word for "to shake." Caused by an organism that infects the part of the brain that controls coordination, people afflicted with kuru shake uncontrollably.
News: Dangerous Bacterial Films Communicate with Electric Pulses, Which Means We Could Zap Them to Interfere
Lighthouses and signal fires may have been the first social media. Without the ability to share language, a distant light meant "humans here." A new study from the University of California, San Diego, finds that bacteria can also send out a universal sign to attract the attention of their own, and other bacterial species.
News: How Your Diet & Gut Bacteria Work Together to Reduce Risk of Colon Cancer
We all know you are what you eat—or so the expression goes—but it's good to remember that what you are (at least intestinally) is mainly bacteria. A new study has shown that what you eat, and how your gut microbiome reacts to that food, might be a key player in your risk of developing a certain type of colon cancer—and changing your diet can help decrease your risk.
News: We Know You Want To, but You Really Shouldn't Be Kissing Your Pet on the Mouth
If you live with pets, you know where their tongue has been, yet you let them kiss and lick you all they want without even thinking twice about it. I've heard people say that a dog's mouth is very clean, and that their saliva, delivered by licking, can help heal wounds, but is that really true?
How To: The 5 Best Phones for Video Chat
Video chatting has become an important factor in the overall smartphone experience. Even just a few years ago, 37% of teens were making video calls on a regular basis, and that number has surely grown. 85% of households with infants have used video chat apps to call relatives in other cities, and it's been shown that toddlers can create bonds and learn from visual cues in video calls.
News: The Root Cause of Type 1 Diabetes Could Be a Common Childhood Viral Infection
A young child becomes very thirsty very often and seems tired all the time. A visit to the pediatrician determines she has type 1 diabetes. The onset of type 1 diabetes may seem sudden, and it can be, but the disease may actually have been triggered by common childhood viruses years earlier.
News: Shapeshifting Cholera Bacteria Corkscrew Themselves to Twist into the Gut
Cholera may be rare in the US, but cases of the disease have increased worldwide since 2005, particularly in Africa, southeast Asia, and Haiti. An estimated 3 to 5 million people are infected, and more than 100,000 die from the disease globally each year, mostly from dehydration.
How To: Completely Control Your Android Device with Just Your Head
If you have a mobility impairment that affects your hands, arms, or manual dexterity, a smartphone's touch-based interface can almost be a barrier between you and the mobile internet. Eye-tracking software requires too much computing power for today's smartphones to handle, so it might seem as though there's no good way to interact with an Android device.
News: The Unusual Stomach-Survival Mechanisms of Ulcer-Causing Bacteria Could Be Its Achilles Heel
The story of Helicobacter pylori is a real testament to the tenacity of medical researchers to prove their hypothesis. It took decades before the scientific world would accept that the bacteria H. pylori caused ulcers.
How To: Install Anti-Theft App Cerberus on Your Android So Thieves Can't Remove It—Even After a Factory Reset
Dutch filmmaker Anthony Van der Meer published his 2015 thesis short from Willem de Kooning Academy in South Holland online in December 2016. It's a brilliant piece of work that managed to be touching, alarming, and informative at the same time. His documentary, which already has over 6 million views on YouTube, covered the journey made by a stolen smartphone and how the theft and ensuing tracking affected all parties involved.
How To: Unlock Your LG V20's Bootloader (US Variant)
LG, like many other OEMs, usually locks down their bootloaders with an airtight seal. There are a few good reasons for this, the big one being that an unlocked bootloader technically compromises some device security measures. LG would also argue that unlocking your bootloader is absolutely pointless, as having it locked will not hinder normal device usage, which is kinda true.
News: Linux Kernel Exploits Aren't Really an Android Problem
It seems like a new, dangerous Android exploit is uncovered every month or two. The latest headliners are NightMonkey and Chronos from the list of CIA hacks reported by Wikileaks, which have been billed as gaping security holes in the world's biggest mobile operating system.
Hands-on: Google's Daydream View Feels Like a Hot & Stiff Pair of Sweatpants on Your Face
While visiting the Made by Google pop-up shop in New York City this morning, I had a chance to try out the new Daydream View virtual reality headset. First impressions are important, and Google's new mobile VR product makes a good one. The headset is made of a soft fabric that most evokes a beloved old college sweater that's well worn but properly cared for. The demo only featured the Slate (darker gray) model, though customers will ultimately be able to choose from either Slate, Snow, and Cr...
How To: Message Effects Not Working in iOS 10? Here's How to Enable Them
As iOS 10 makes its worldwide debut, many users are noticing that the promised iMessage effects feature in Messages is not working properly. Instead of seeing the actual effects, messages will come through like normal, but with text describing the effect they were sent with. On top of that, you can't send your own message effects if you're one of the affected users.
News: The 10 Most Annoying Things About iOS 10 for iPhone
There's a lot of great things to be excited about with iOS 10 on your device. You can remove annoying stock apps, search emails better, remember where you parked, and much, much more. Seriously, there's actually more outstanding features in iOS 10 than in Apple's latest iPhone 7 models.
How To: High-Tech Plant Burgers Look, Feel & Taste Just Like Real Meat
If you could save the world by eating a burger, would you? Two companies, Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, are on a mission to redefine veggie burgers and eliminate all of the downsides of animal farming on our planet. With over five years of research and product testing, they've finally figured out how to make a plant-based burger look, feel, and taste just like real meat.
News: Here's Why You Should Be Wary of Amazon's $50 Phone Deals
Amazon is running a pre-sale deal on a few unlocked smartphones by BLU and Motorola, which will be released on July 12, 2016. The 8 GB BLU R1 HD is on sale for just $49.99, and the 16 GB version is available for $59.99, for a savings of $50 off either phone. You can also grab the 16 GB Motorola Moto G4 for $149.99, or the 32 GB variant for $179.99, again a $50 discount on each.
How To: Remove Widgets from Your iPhone's Lock Screen
Widgets are great ... if you actually use them. A quick swipe right on the lock screen will reveal the Today view and its widgets, and it's very easy to accidentally open. Plus, others can see your widgets without any authentication. You could manually remove every widget, but that wouldn't prevent the right-swipe from opening the Today view. There is a way, however, to disable the page entirely.
How To: Fix AMD Radeon HD Series Not Detecting Second Screen
Since I recently had this problem and fixed it, I might as well share the solution. This is actually REALLY simple to fix but will impact your cards' performance.
How To: A Simple Virus Written...in Bash!
Fugu - a simple virus in bash. I once told a friend of mine I'd written a virus in bash and he scoffed - "You can't write a virus in bash!" - he sniggered, like an ignorant idiot.
How To: Security-Oriented C Tutorial 0x19 - Functions Part V: Passing by Reference
Hello there! This will probably be the final tutorial on functions where we will be looking over a method called pass by reference. This technique allows us to modify large amounts of data without the overhead and return multiple values. Let's go!
How To: Yes, You Should Add Water to Your Whisky & Here's Why
Before I get ostracized by all of you whisky lovers who live and die by whisky served neat, let me say my piece.
How To: Reprogram Your Surface Pen Buttons to Do Anything You Want
The digital pen on the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book is an indispensable tool for serious note-takers and artists alike.
How to Train Your Python: Part 12, Logical and Membership Operators
Welcome back! In the last round of python training, we talked about tuples and dictionaries. We'll be diverging again and talking about logical operators as well as membership operators. These are used very similiar to booleans, so if you haven't read that, I suggest you do so first.