Category: News

Microsoft HoloLens 2 slated for 2019 release

Microsoft will apparently released the long awaited Hololens 2 in the first quarter of 2019. Code-named Sydney within Microsoft, the device will be cheaper than the original (which costs $3,000), be lighter in weight, and more comfortable to wear, according to a news reports. At this time, we don’t know a whole lot of what Hololens 2 will be outfitted with, but the word is Microsoft is going all in on this one. Upon its release, Hololens 2 is fully expected to surpass Google AR goggles and the Oculus Rift.

What We Know So Far

According to Alex Kipman, Microsoft Technical Fellow of the Windows and Devices Group and key advocate for HoloLens, it’s been earmarked for the new version of the AR headset that the company has in the pipeline. Indeed, the HoloLens team had already previewed some of the news about the new sensor earlier in the year, beating CEO Satya Nadella to the punch. The sensor has 1024 x 1024 resolution, Kipman says, and a global shutter for improved performance in sunlight conditions. It has the highest figure of merit, too – that is to say, the highest modulation frequency and modulation contrast – which means lower power consumption. Indeed, overall system power is just 225-950 mw. That’s despite adding things like automatic per-pixel gain selection, for a broader dynamic range. That will give HoloLens 2 better abilities at capturing both near and far objects. There’s multiphase depth calculation support, which will preserve accuracy even if the chip, laser, or power supplies vary.

“With HoloLens, we saw incredible results when we took some of the magic of Kinect and applied it in a mixed reality context,” Kipman writes “The current version of HoloLens uses the third generation of Kinect depth-sensing technology to enable it to place holograms in the real world. With HoloLens we have a device that understands people and environments, takes input in the form of gaze, gestures and voice, and provides output in the form of 3D holograms and immersive spatial sound.”

Summary

At an expected cost of around $3,000.00 it’s hard to say what can be expected for the Hololens 2. If the hype around it is real, then it maybe worth scraping up some dough and getting yourself a new toy. For now, I’ll anxiously await to hear more about the specs on these bad boys.

October 2, 2018
Experiencing Pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Many folks begin to experience pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis as they reach middle age and older. If can be very painful and limit movement in your fingers and put a big damper on your life if not addressed. Here are some causes and tips to dealing with RA.

The Causes and Symptoms

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disorder that can affect more than just your joints. In some people, the condition also can damage a wide variety of body systems, including the skin, eyes, lungs, heart and blood vessels. An autoimmune disorder, rheumatoid arthritis occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks your own body’s tissues. Unlike the wear-and-tear damage of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis affects the lining of your joints, causing a painful swelling that can eventually result in bone erosion and joint deformity. The inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis is what can damage other parts of the body as well. While new types of medications have improved treatment options dramatically, severe rheumatoid arthritis can still cause physical disabilities.

Signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis may include: Tender, warm, swollen joints. Joint stiffness that is usually worse in the mornings and after inactivity. Fatigue, fever and weight loss. Early rheumatoid arthritis tends to affect your smaller joints first — particularly the joints that attach your fingers to your hands and your toes to your feet. As the disease progresses, symptoms often spread to the wrists, knees, ankles, elbows, hips and shoulders. In most cases, symptoms occur in the same joints on both sides of your body. About 40 percent of the people who have rheumatoid arthritis also experience signs and symptoms that don’t involve the joints. Rheumatoid arthritis can affect many non-joint structures, including: Skin, Eyes, Lungs, Heart, Kidneys, Salivary glands, Nerve tissue, Bone marrow, Blood vessels. Rheumatoid arthritis signs and symptoms may vary in severity and may even come and go. Periods of increased disease activity, called flares, alternate with periods of relative remission.

What can be done about it?

Here are some of the remedies and treatments to Rheumatoid Arthritis. Inflammation Medication. In the case of RA, all other pain-relief strategies are secondary to controlling inflammation, The No. 1 option in the pain relief arsenal is to control inflammation with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, called DMARDS. These drugs, which work to suppress the body’s overactive immune system response, are also used to prevent joint damage and slow the progression of the disease. DMARDs are often prescribed shortly after a diagnosis in order to prevent as much joint damage as possible. Diet. Although some diets may be touted to help RA, they aren’t backed by the medical community. There is no evidence that any special diet will reduce RA pain. But there is some evidence that omega-3 fatty acids can help reduce inflammation — and the joint pain that results from it. Omega-3s can be found in cold-water fish and in fish oil supplements. A study found that people who took fish oil supplements were able to reduce the amount of pain medication they needed. Other things, such as exercise, Acupuncture, hot and cold treatments are other ways to combat RA.

If you are experiences the early signs of RA, please contact your primary care physician to obtain more information regarding the matter. Don’t ignore it because it will only get worse.

October 1, 2018
“Maniac” on Netflix is Worth Your Time.

“Maniac”

A new Netflix Original Series has dropped and it’s definitely worth giving it a go. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga who was responsible for the critically acclaimed series True Detective, “Maniac” provides a glimpse into a life living with mental illness. A brief overview of the plot is this. Annie Landsberg(Emma Stone) and Owen Milgrim(Jonah Hill) are two strangers who are drawn to the late stages of a mysterious pharmaceutical trial. Each has a different reason for participating in the experiment — she is disaffected and aimless, fixated on broken relationships with her mother and sister, while he has struggled throughout his life with a disputed diagnosis of schizophrenia. The radical treatment, using pills that the inventor claims can repair anything about the mind, draws Annie, Owen and 10 other subjects into a three-day drug trial that they’re told will permanently solve all of their problems, with no complications or side effects. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned.

Layers

The show has many different levels to each episode, likely in an attempt to demonstrate the many layers of the subconscious and mind. This certainly is not a show that you can watch while phone in hand facebooking. It’s jam packed with symbolism and intricacies involving depp constructs of the mind, so pay attention. It’s not quite as abstract as FX’s “Legion” which goes way beyond a “head trip”. I wanna say it’s a great show, but I just simply can’t absorb it. But Maniac does a great job of journeying into the mind while keeping it relatively simple at the same time. Another great aspect to the show is the way they portray the 80’s cyber punk era. As an 80’s kid, I thoroughly enjoyed the stroll down memory lane. The acting by Stone and Hill are as to be expected with such high calibers artists. Hill has fully embodied the depressed and disenfranchised with greatly subtlety, as the couple traverse mental plaines and time periods. From an 80’s New Jersey middle class couple, to 40’s upscale socialites to two actually do have great chemistry together.

September 26, 2018
Will Quantum Computers Change the World?

September 26, 2018 – Recent breakthroughs in Quantum Computing has the world buzzing and now something once thought unobtainable in our lifetime may only be a few years away. Since the breakthroughs, big tech companies such as Google, and IBM are now pouring money into the research and development of quantum computers. Quantum Computing is the next revolutionary breakthrough in science and will reportedly turn everything we know about computers on its head.

What is Quantum Computing?

It can get very complex, but here are the basics to Quatman Computers according to Richard Joza of the University of Cambridge: Quantum computing is based on the fact that, in the microscopic world, things don’t have to be as clear-cut as we’d expect from our macroscopic experience. Tiny particles, such as electrons or photons, can simultaneously take on states that we would normally deem mutually exclusive. They can be in several places at once, for example, and in the case of photons simultaneously exhibit two kinds of polarisation. We never see this superposition of different states in ordinary life because it somehow disappears once a system is observed: when you measure the location of an electron or the polarisation of a photon, all but one of the possible alternatives are eliminated and you will see just one. Nobody knows how that happens, but it does. Superposition frees us of from binary constraints. A quantum computer works with particles that can be in superposition. Rather than representing bits — such particles would represent qubits, which can take on the value 0, or 1, or both simultaneously. “If you do something to [such a quantum system], it’s as though you are doing it simultaneously to 0 and to 1,”

What does this mean for the general public?

In theory, the properties of qubits would allow a quantum computer to perform calculations at far higher speeds than current supercomputers. That makes them good tools for understanding what’s happening in the realms of chemistry, material science or particle physics. That speed could aid in discovering new drugs, optimising financial portfolios and finding better transportation routes or supply chains. It could also advance another fast-growing field, artificial intelligence, by accelerating a computer’s ability to find patterns in large troves of images and other data. So when we seen these futuristic movies with an insanely advanced societies, Quantum Computers would likely be at the base of that growth.

What are the concerns?

The biggest and most alarming issue about Quantum Computers is what it can do to secured networks and the cryptography world. Early speculations is that this new technology can be weaponized and used against countries military defenses on a massive scale. Because of that, there is an somewhat of an arms race to obtain quantum computation. China is pouring massive amounts of funding towards the technology, but the biggest breakthrough has come out of Australia from Professor Michelle Simmons from the University of New South Wales. She along with officials from NASA, The Pentagon, and staff from Google and IBM all recently attended a summit at the White House regarding the future of Quantum Computing. Because of it being likened to the Manhattan Project, global leaders have begun to open a dialogue and combine their efforts on the matter. The National Laboratory for Quantum Information Sciences in Hefei, Anhui Province, is being developed and slated to be completed by 2020.

September 26, 2018
Do You Have Low Testosterone?
As men age, losing testosterone on some level is almost certain. Low testosterone levels can impact your life in many ways, and you might not expect most of them. Losing testosterone will also greatly affect daily life, especially if you don’t know how to properly deal with the issue.

Low T can even be dangerous, as some of the symptoms can be insidious, especially because they can be blamed on other disorders and not treated appropriately for some time. Although diagnosing low testosterone is a matter of detective work, some physicians never uncover the cause of the decline in the essential hormone.

The normal range for testosterone is between 300-1,000 nanograms per deciliter, which is an extremely wide gap for people to fall into, and some men may experience low T symptoms even while falling into this range.

Still, many physicians are willing to try to raise testosterone levels if symptoms occur and other causes are ruled out. Here are some causes, tips, and solutions to help combat testosterone loss and get you back to being you.

Causes of Testosterone Loss

Low testosterone can be frustrating to experience for men and women alike. It doesn’t only affect you physically but emotionally and mentally as well. After age 30, most men begin to experience a gradual decline in testosterone,” says David Samadi, MD, chairman of the urology department at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Although testosterone levels never reach zero (as estrogen levels do in women during menopause), low testosterone levels for men can cause symptoms such as depression, low sex drive, and impotence.

Other symptoms are harder to notice and may be caused by low testosterone, including trouble sleeping, weakness (both muscular and skeletal), and fatigue. Sparse facial or body hair is also a symptom. Symptoms can vary depending on if the low testosterone is caused by aging or another medical issue. While low testosterone is more common in older men, it can occur in younger men as well. Fortunately, all of the causes of low testosterone in men are treatable, so if you experience symptoms at any age, there’s no reason to ignore it. There are other causes that reduce testosterone, most notable is obesity in which fat cells enhance conversion of testosterone to estrogen. Lifestyles including smoking and drug abuse also contribute to low-T.

What can be done about it

Treatment for low testosterone is abundant and varied. The appropriate treatment for you will depend on the severity and the option your doctor feels will fit you and your symptoms. If your doctor detects low testosterone they may perform additional tests to determine the cause. Below is an overview of the different testosterone treatments available.
- Skin patch. A patch is applied once every 24 hours, in the evening, and releases small amounts of the hormone into the skin.
- Gels. Topical gels are spread daily onto the skin over both upper arms, shoulders, or thighs. It is important to wash your hands after applying and to cover the treated area with clothing to prevent exposing others to testosterone.
- Mouth tablet. Tablets are attached to your gum or inner cheek twice a day. Testosterone is then absorbed into the bloodstream.
- Pellets. These are implanted under the skin, usually around the hips or buttocks, and slowly release testosterone. They are replaced every three to six months.
- Injections. Various formulations are injected every seven to 14 days. Testosterone levels can rise to high levels for a few days after the injection and then slowly come down, which can cause a roller-coaster effect, where mood and energy levels spike before trailing off.
Alternative Treatments
- Maintain a healthy weight. Overweight men are more likely to have low testosterone levels. Losing weight can bring testosterone back up.
- Exercise regularly. Sedentary men tend to have reduced levels of testosterone, as the body doesn’t need as much. Weightlifting can stimulate testosterone production. The key is regularly moving your body and using your muscles.
- Sleep 7 to 8 hours every night. Lack of sleep affects the hormones in your body.
- Try vitamin D supplements. A 2011 study of 165 men suggested that supplementing with about 3,300 IUs of vitamin D per day increased testosterone levels.
- Enjoy your morning coffee. There is some 2008 evidence that caffeine may increase testosterone levels.
Summary

Low Testosterone will happen on some level to almost every men. It can greatly affect your life if you don’t pay attention to it and don’t take care of yourself while you are young. The good news is low testosterone is highly treatable and usually temporary. Treatment is available. Consult your primary care physician if you are experiencing some of the early signs of low testosterone like low energy, loss of muscle mass, weight gain, and chronic fatigue. Help is out there!
September 26, 2018
Amazon Unloads Info on Tons of New Tech

Amazon, always trying to keep up with the fast-paced world of technology, has unveiled a ton of new gadgets. Last Thursday they held a press event where they showed off a ton of stuff you’re going to want on your Christmas list. If you’ve been waiting for a chance to jump on the Alexa bandwagon, here is! Today we’re looking at just a few of the many, many products Amazon unveiled.

New Amazon Tech

Third Gen Echo Dot

The third gen Echo Dot is a complete overhaul on the existing Echo Dot. It’s 70 percent louder, it sports a new mic setup and it offers a much stronger speaker. If you’ve been wondering when it is the right time to get into Alexa products, this is a good time. The best part is, the Echo Dot still costs the same: it’s $50. That’s a pretty solid price!

Second Gen Echo Show

The Echo Show has a pretty cool niche. It’s an Alexa-enabled device with a bold, readable screen that looks great. The second-generation version of the technology is sleeker, larger and has a much better speaker. It also costs the same as the first gen did: it starts a $230! Other features on offer are voice-command browsing and video streaming, as well as games and visuals with various skills.

Amazon Fire TV Recast

This one is a little unusual. It’s a DVR for Fire TV, and it also works on other Amazon devices. It also works on iOS and Android devices! It allows you to watch live or recorded TV. It starts at $230, and it comes with two tuners. It sports 500GB of storage, but if that isn’t enough, you can opt for an upgrade. For $280, you get four tuners and 1TB of storage.

Second Gen Echo Plus

The Echo Plus is also getting an overhaul! This time, the taller speaker is getting a smart home hub, a built-in thermometer for controlling smart climate keeping, and even more speaker quality. It’ll retail for $150, making it a very premium device, but the sound quality speaks for itself.

Amazon Echo Sub

This is exactly what it sounds like: a big, Echo-branded subwoofer. It’s actually keyed to be tied in to Alexa-enabled devices and it’s a proper Echo companion. It also has huge bass, with its massive drivers forcing tons of sound out around itself. The best part is, it’s only $130.

Amazon Echo Input

The Amazon Echo Input solves a problem you didn’t know you had! The Echo device in your home isn’t always the strongest speaker. If you want your best speaker to play your Alexa-enabled music, just get this $25 device and plug it in. Then, you can call for Alexa to play your music out of the speaker you’ve hooked the Input up to. That’s innovation!

And a Lot More

That’s hardly all of it. Amazon announced a huge slew of new tech, including Echo-enabled wall clocks and microwaves. No, seriously. Smart homes are the future, man! At least, Amazon is pretty sure they are.

September 24, 2018
DC Universe Streaming Service is Alive

DC has launched their new streaming content app today, DC Universe. The subscription based DC Universe platform offers a slew of DC content for an annual or monthly fee. The service will be $74.99 for an annual subscription, or $7.99 a month. They will be offering original and exclusive content as well. The premiere date for the service’s first live-action original series, “Titans,” is October 12, with each of the 12 episodes released weekly.

“DC Universe is not an attempt to be everything to everyone,” Jim Lee, CCO of DC Entertainment and a veteran comic book artist said in a press release. “It’s an attempt to be the most immersive experience for fans of the DC characters and stories.”

You’ve got a punchton of TV shows (live-action and animated), a girthy collection of DC feature films and pretty much all of the DCAU animated movies with you at all times. Somethings I was looking for are not there, but we can get into in a second. As for functionality, it works and its lives. When you click a video, the video plays.

DC Universe or Just Batman?

The image quality is adequate, it’s as good as it needs to be. The audio and video are functional, and surprisingly fine. The Dark Knight is featured) in its IMAX aspect ratio, Its truly an amazing cinema accomplishment. Oddly I haven’t seen this movie in a year or two, nice to give it the attention it deserves. I’m excited to go through the troves of content on this app; The Dark Knight, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (it’s the uncut version), The Dark Knight Returns, Lois & Clark, all 4 original Superman movies, The original Wonder Woman series, Birds of Prey, Young Justice and (of course) Batman: The Animated Series. The app works, but it is a little Batman heavy.

The Final Thought

It feels like a lot but at the same time a lots missing from the DC Universe. Why isn’t any or all of Arrowverse included? No Recent DC movies, the newest is Dark Knight, which is 10 years old. No Trailers or DC fan boy chat rooms. Why can’t I stream every episode the Batman 66? The comic collection is pretty extensive but focused too much on Batman. This is feeling more like a money grab then the immersive DC app I was hoping for. For those of you wondering, first comics downloaded Aquaman #60 and Batman: A Death in the Family. First Video watched, the impressive original Superman cartoons by Max Fleischer. Happy Batman Day Everybody!

September 20, 2018
GoPro Hero 7 Line Up Announced

Go Pro has been facing some rough times lately. Sales are down, products are failing or going unrecognized. We won’t even mention the leak inside the organization spilling unreleased product info. There is some good new though, the extreme sports camera guys have officially announced a new 7-series line featuring three hd cameras. They are separated by numerous features and functions in quality. The new tiers are now easily distinguished by their color. They come in black, silver, and white housings. With Black At the top end of the line is the $399 GoPro Hero 7 Black. All the Hero 7 uses the same 12-megapixel sensor, has the same custom GP1 processor (with a small bump in RAM), and offers the same capture capabilities: 4K video at 60-frames per second, 2K at 120-frames per second, and hi-def 1080P at 240-frames per second if you’re after an extremely slow motion effect.

Whats New With the GoPro Hero 7

With the cameras being waterproof to a depth of 10 meters, can livestream footage, and offers GPS location tracking, but the real reason GoPro thinks you’ll upgrade to the Hero 7 Black is a feature it’s calling “HyperSmooth stabilization,”. This the company says will work as well as a mechanical hardware gimbal when it comes to smoothing out footage captured when running, riding a bike, or other activities where you’re bouncing around.

No more jumpy shaky footage as you leap from an airplane with nothing but a pillow case? BTW, that does need to be visually documented if anyone wants to try it . The still software stabilization, meaning data from a built-in gyro is being used to digitally cancel out any jarring motions, which in turn means your footage is going to get cropped. Cropping? Could be good, could be bad, ill have to see a final shot to tell. Not optimistic though.

The Hero 7 Black is the most familiar of the bunch, as it nearly exactly copies the all-black, waterproof, rubbery design of its predecessors (the Hero 5 and Hero 6 Black). It’s the second camera to use GoPro’s custom GP1 processor, which the company first used last year in the Hero 6 Black after splitting with longstanding supplier Ambarella. There are number of new features in the GoPro Hero 7 Black due to the work GoPro has been doing on their own. New features like including live-streaming, a wicked in-camera time-lapse feature, a smart HDR photo mode, and the most important, the groundbreaking in-camera digital stabilization algorithm.

Black/ Silver/White

Stepping down from the GoPro Hero 7 Black are the $299 Hero 7 Silver and the $199 Hero 7 White. Those price cuts cost you the fancy GP1 sensor and the Black version’s HyperSmooth stabilization. They also include a smaller 10-megapixel sensor and reduced capture capabilities. The Hero 7 Silver maxes out 4K at 30-frames per second. In contrast the GPS-less Hero 7 White can only hit 1440P at 60-frames per second. You might also notice that neither camera comes with the Hero 7 Black’s front-facing status LCD screen. This is making it a little hard to nail the correct facial expression as you are “landing it”.

September 20, 2018
PlayStation Classic Mini Coming Soon

In an interesting example of history repeating itself, Sony is once again following in Nintendo’s footsteps. After the mega-successful NES Classic Mini and SNES Classic Mini, Sony is releasing their own PlayStation classic. This move makes a ton of sense, actually: the PlayStation has a deep, awesome library of games. Sony announced the console yesterday, as well as release details. Read on to find out more!

Sony

PlayStation Classic Release Info

The console, which was just announced, will be released on December 3^rd. When it comes out, it’ll be retailing for $100. That might sound a bit steep, but depending on the games included, it may well be worth it. For one, the system comes with two controllers! Oddly, the controllers are original PlayStation controllers, instead of DualShock. We suppose Sony is really banking on the nostalgia factor, here!

The system will have a similar “limited release” window, much like the Nintendo Classic Systems before it. That is to say: if you have any interest in grabbing one of these, you might want to preorder it. When the first wave of NES Classics sold out, it was quite difficult to find them for a decent price.

Announced Games

They’ve already announced five of the games that will be included with the system. Final Fantasy VII, Jumping Flash, Ridge Racer Type 4, Tekken 3 and Wild Arms will be available on the system. We’d be surprised it games like Spyro, Crash Bandicoot and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night don’t make the cut, too.

Given that the 25^th anniversary of the PS1’s release is coming next year, this is a great time to commemorate its place in gaming history. The console was a smash hit when it launched in 1994, bringing with it a wave of great-looking, 3D games. As Sony’s entry into the gaming industry, the system has had huge impact on the face of gaming.

For Now…

While the system won’t launch until the end of the year, we’re pretty excited to see what other games will be included. Sony has stated that the lineup will be revealed as we get closer to the launch. In the meantime, check back with us for updates! We’ll also be running an article on which classic PlayStation games we’d like to see included with the system. Stay posted!

September 20, 2018
2 New iPad Pro

It is time for me to do some detective work and start to decipher where and when we will see a new iPad Pro. I was fairly certain they would mention it in the gather round event, but historically they have held another event in October for new iPads and Macs. Putting my internet sleuthing skills to the test, here is what I’ve come up with.

2 iPad Pro Conclusions

Apple’s release of iOS 12.1 earlier today has already given us a peek at a new feature: Memoji syncing. In that article, I suggested that this feature would make sense with the release of new iPads with a TrueDepth camera system later this year. Currently, Memoji is only supported on the iPhone – but adding support to the iPad would mean users would want to sync their characters between each device. Conclusion number 1. The new iPad Pro will have Memojis.

An icon found in iOS 12 developer beta 5 has lead me to a key details about Apple’s iPad Pro. A blue icon update for the iPad shows a more iPhone x looking device as compared to the previous blue icon for the iPad. This is not a leak but merely an update to the icons in the developer tool. The icon itself is a symbol that will be used for the battery usage UI. The tiny blue iOS 12 icon shows a tablet with thinner, more uniform border lines and a home row of apps at the bottom. Having analyzed these side by side I’m ready for my second conclusion. Conclusion number 2 – the new tablet will have ultra-thin bezels, just like the iPhone X, but no notch. The existing iPad icon does show a home button and a front-facing camera at the top.

The Final Thought

Though Apple hasn’t announced anything officially, there’s a huge amount of buzz about two new Pro models surfacing before the end of 2018. Rumors are in full swing and the next big apple announcment awaits. WHat we do know is Apple is prepping two new tablets for late 2018 — one that measures “around 11 inches,” which could be the rough equivalent of the current 10.5-inch model, and a 12.9-inch model.

September 19, 2018