How smart tech could help save the world's honey bees!

 

Global honey bee populations are in decline, putting the world's food supply under pressure. But new technologies could help beekeepers counter the threat.

You might think of beekeepers as mere honey producers, but they are part of a growing trade where they lease their hives to farmers who need bees to pollinate their crops.

The commercial bee industry provides pollination services worth tens of billions of dollars, and is key to the production of a huge range of crops, including almonds, broccoli and apples. California, for example, produces 80% of the world's almonds, and for that to happen, pollen needs to be transferred between trees. Each year, more than 2 million bee hives are required to do the job.

Climate change, intensive agriculture, and the use of pesticides and fungicides in farming is ravaging the world's bees. Commercial beekeepers in the United States lost 44% of their managed colonies in 2019, according to research from the University of Maryland.

Now, technology startups are developing smart devices that give beekeepers access to detailed information about the state of their hives, aiming to reduce losses and improve bee health.

Among them is Ireland's ApisProtect, which has just launched a sensor that alerts beekeepers if there is a problem in their hives.

The small internet-connected sensor is placed under the roof of the beehive and measures a number of metrics including temperature, humidity, sound and movement. Data from the sensor is sent via the cloud to ApisProtect's HQ in Cork, Ireland, where the data is processed, analyzed and then sent back to the beekeeper.

"Using our device, beekeepers are going to be able to keep many, many more hives for the same amount of workers, and the same amount of spend on things like feed and treatments," says the company's founder and CEO, Fiona Edwards Murphy. "They're going to be able to dramatically increase the amount of pollination and honey output that they've got in their operation."

Since receiving $1.8 million in funding from international investors in 2018, the company has been working with 20 beekeepers across the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom and South Africa to monitor the activity of up to 20 million honey bees.

The information collected from the 400 smart sensor units is creating a database of global bee health, powering the algorithms that analyze its data.

Bee tech

With bees in demand for a booming pollination industry, there are a number of other startups promoting new technologies, including Pollenity in Bulgaria, Arnia in the United Kingdom and BeeHero in Israel.

Pollenity was founded in 2015 by Sergey Petrov and has raised $1.2 million in funding. Its Beebot smart sensor device is aimed at small and hobbyist beekeepers, and it is also working with six universities from across Europe on an EU-funded research project called HIVEOPOLIS.

The project aims to improve the welfare of bees by reinventing hives using a number of technologies, including a robot bee capable of "dancing" to direct the hive's swarm.

"The robot bee will tell the other bees where to go to find nectar and pollen," Petrov says. "Not only will this direct them to certain fields for pollination but also navigate the bees away from dangerous areas, like where pesticides are being used."

Petrov says there are also plans to build technology to detect whether a bee has been poisoned by coming into contact with pesticides.

For him, securing the future of the honey bee is one of the world's greatest challenges. "If we don't harvest the technology to work in our favor, we might as well just give up," he says, "and I'm not giving up."

CRISPR gene editing pioneers win the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

 

CRISPR gene editing promises to revolutionize medical science, and two of its pioneers are getting a prestigious award for their efforts. Emmanuelle Charpentier (shown at left) and Jennifer Doudna (right) have received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their roles in discovering the CRISPR/Cas9 “genetic scissors” used to cut DNA. Charpentier found the key tracrRNA molecule that bacteria use to cut and disable viruses, and collaborated with RNA expert Doudna to eventually ‘reprogram’ the scissors to cut any DNA molecule at a specific point, making the gene editing method viable.

 

As with some scientific discoveries, there’s some controversy. While the team including Charpentier and Doudna published its work in June 2012, seven months before a Broad Institute-led group released its own findings, it didn’t include certain aspects Broad used when it started patenting gene editing methods in 2014. That led to a patent battle that’s still raging today, with Broad getting “priority” for its patents even as it as denied several motions that could give Charpentier and Doudna an advantage. Broad has already asked to “move beyond litigation” and find a more peaceful settlement.

 

Legal disputes aside, there’s little doubt that the work of Charpentier and Doudna has had a dramatic effect on medicine and other life sciences. While it’s still early days, CRISPR editing is already being used to fight cancer and could eventually be used to cure inherited diseases. Researchers have also had success developing hardier crops that could reduce food shortages and better withstand disease.

 

There have been ethical issues. A Chinese scientist claimed to have edited the genes of human embryos using CRISPR to protect them from HIV, raising concerns about the safety (there may have been unintended consequences) and a debate about the very idea of editing people. There’s a worry gene editing could lead to a Gattaca-style obsession with genetic perfection that destroys difference and messes with natural evolution. This isn’t to say CRISPR editing is a threat, but humanity may need to answer important ethical questions before the technique is adopted on a large scale.

Elon Musk and SpaceX plan a Starship Mars rocket update for October

 

SpaceX has managed to get four prototypes of its eventual Mars rocket, dubbed Starship, off the ground, but so far the flights have been less than a minute and have gone no higher than about 500 feet (150 meters). 

CEO Elon Musk is looking to change that with the official version 1.0 of the next-generation rocket, which he says will be presented at an event later in October.

"Starship update coming in about three weeks. The design has coalesced," Musk tweeted Friday.

SpaceX has been working toward a Starship that can make it to orbit and back. Those efforts have been in full swing for over a year since its development program in Boca Chica, Texas, began really ramping up. This month's event will be the follow-up to a presentation in September 2019 in which Musk stood before a full-scale mock-up of Starship to detail his vision.

The successful "hops" of the prototypes so far have come with failures in between, which are ultimately part of the process of testing the new system.

Starship may be Musk's magnum opus. He's said the monster craft -- expected to be about 164 feet (50 meters) tall -- will be capable of super-quick international flights on Earth, as well as transporting people to the moon, Mars and perhaps further. 

Android security settings you should check right now

Most of your life is on your phone, so you might as well protect it as much as possible. The good news is that Android can help.

With security features that apply to your device or your Google account on all devices, keeping your data safer is only a tap away.

Find out which apps are doing what (and how to stop them)

Go to Permission Manager by tapping Settings, and then Apps and Notifications—this is where you’ll find out which apps are allowed to do what on your phone. This screen will also let you control access to everything from your contacts to the microphone, and if there are any permissions you aren’t happy about, you can easily revoke them.

Apps can’t grab data without your specific authorization, so you don’t have to worry about that new social media platform you’re trying out suddenly launching the camera or recording your voice before you’ve agreed to anything. However, you may have approved a permission without giving it much thought, or granted an app access to certain data long ago, and now you’ve changed your mind.

On Android 11, the latest iteration of Google’s operating system, some permissions have more than one option to pick from. For example, you can grant an app access to your location all the time, only while using the app, have it ask you every time, or simply deny it. These granular settings allow you to assign different levels of trust to different apps so the carpool platform you rarely use only has the right amount of data on you.

Go even deeper by using Special App Access

This menu lets you manage a more advanced level of permissions for your apps, such as access to features like the battery optimization, installing unknown apps from outside the Play Store, or modifying low-level system settings such as which gestures launch which actions. Find this screen by going to Settings and choosing Apps and Notifications.

As with the permissions manager, tap any item on the list to see what apps have access to a given feature. If you want to revoke permissions at any point, you simply have to turn the relevant toggle switch off. Again, apps can’t get any of these privileges without your explicit authorization, but it’s always a good idea to check this page regularly.

Some things are best kept private

You don’t necessarily want all of your messages, dating alerts, and banking app updates showing up on the lock screen for anyone and everyone to see. Go to Settings, Display, Advanced, and Lock Screen, to stop this from happening. Tap Notifications on lock screen and you can opt to show all or none of the content behind the notifications on your lock screen.

You can also have Android decide what to show, and only display notification content the operating system deems non-sensitive. In that case, you don’t get much control over what you see, but rest assured that anything from a messaging app, for example, would be deemed sensitive.

Close the window of opportunity to a possible data breach

Go to Settings, Display, Advanced, and finally tap on Screen timeout. The period of time listed on this menu—ranging from 15 seconds to 30 minutes—controls how long your phone will sit idle before going into standby and displaying the lock screen. It might be annoying to have to unlock your phone constantly to access it, but from a security perspective, you want this time frame to be as short as possible—it’ll reduce the chances of someone else gaining access to your data if your device is stolen or you leave it unattended.

Protect your passwords and information

The menu under Settings and Privacy is an alternate way to the permissions manager and notification content screens, but here you can also turn off the feature that briefly shows password characters as you type them—just in case someone might be looking over your shoulder.

Tap Advanced and you’ll be able to take charge of the information Google is allowed to collect on you through Android—from the websites you’re visiting to the places you’re going to. You can tweak these same settings if you’re on the web.

These controls are more about your privacy and your relationship with Google than actual Android security, but it’s worth noting that the less data you share, the safer you are. Even if you trust Google to handle your information respectfully, you have to assume anything you share with them or any other tech company might eventually fall into the wrong hands and be used in malicious ways. Being preemptive is the key, here.

Three words: lock your phone

The Security menu, which is exactly where you would expect Android’s security features to be—under Settings—is home to a host of useful functions. The top section is more of a status panel rather than anything you can actually interact with, but there are other options you can look into.

You should absolutely make use of the Screen lock feature, which will let you protect your phone with a fingerprint, face, PIN, or pattern, depending on the make and model of your device, and the biometric security features that come with it. With no protection in place, anyone can unlock your phone and access your apps and data.

Never lose your phone again

There’s one important security feature on this menu: Find My Device. You should make sure this is enabled so you can track your phone if it ever gets lost. This feature also allows you to wipe out all your data remotely if your device ends up in someone else’s hands.

The same page shows the status of Google Play Protect, which is the malware-scanning feature built into the Play Store app.

Always be prepared

Open up the System menu (under Settings) to access two important features. The first is Backup, which you’ll be glad to have in place if anything unfortunate should happen to your phone. Google will back up your device to the cloud regularly and for free, so make sure you’re taking advantage of it.

Secondly, if you tap Advanced and then System update, you can make sure you’re running the latest version of Android available for your handset. From a security perspective, it’s crucial that your OS is always as up to date as possible, as this will ensure you have the latest patches and fixes.

Google TV is back, and it runs on Android TV

 

A year after it launched the original Chromecast, Google debuted Android TV with the Nexus Player in 2014. The OS eventually found its way onto devices by a dozen companies like Sony, TCL, Xiaomi, NVIDIA, Philips and Sharp, and offers a library of 6,500 apps. Yet, it didn’t have the sophistication of platforms like Roku and Fire TV, which offered better ways to recommend shows for the viewer. Today, with the new Chromecast, the company is ready to bring back the Google TV name with a new interface built upon Android TV. 

We’ve seen plenty of leaks already, since retailers have already been accidentally selling these Chromecasts to users who’ve then detailed their experiences. Google’s Launch Night In event, is basically just confirmation of what we already saw. 

Google TV’s main home page will feature titles pulled from all your integrated streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max. It’ll also show options from other channels that you haven’t used, like Tubi TV or Crackle perhaps. The top two thirds or so of the page is dedicated to a carousel of featured shows based on what the system thinks you’ll want to watch next. 

Tabs at the top let you view suggestions for movies, TV shows, apps and your content library. The rest of the main page presents several rows of content, including genres Google thinks you like, as well as titles from specific services like Netflix and YouTube. Like Play Movies and TV already do, Google TV will canvas all available streaming providers to make it easier to find a show you like rather than search each channel for a show. 

Google said it updated the search knowledge graph it used in previous offerings like Play Movies & TV to help Google TV better understand what you’re looking for.  You’ll also be able to continue to use the Cast system to stream your photos or phone screen to your TV, and those who liked Ambient mode for displaying art on their television sets will still find it here. Google also said Stadia support will be available in the first half of 2021. 

Importantly, Google TV will also be available as a mobile app for Android devices starting today, so you can already experience the new interface on your phone. Start adding shows to your watchlist and they’ll carry over to the big screen, too. 

It might be confusing, but it doesn’t appear as if Android TV is going away with the introduction of Google TV. The latter is more of an interface that runs on the Android TV operating system, and both names will continue to exist. The new Chromecast is the only device to use Google TV so far, with the company saying that Sony and other Android TV OS partners will be able to offer televisions with the interface next year.

Amazon One: Palm scanner launched for 'secure' payments

 

Amazon has announced a new payment system for real-world shops which uses a simple wave of the hand.

Its new Amazon One scanner registers an image of the user's palm, letting them pay by hovering their hand in mid-air "for about a second or so", it says.

The product will be trialled at two of Amazon's physical stores in Seattle.

But the company said it is "in active discussions with several potential customers" about rolling it out to other shops in the future.

"In most retail environments, Amazon One could become an alternate payment or loyalty card option with a device at the checkout counter next to a traditional point of sale system," it said.

Amazon also said the system could be used for "entering a location like a stadium" or scanning yourself into work instead of using an ID card.

"We believe Amazon One has broad applicability beyond our retail stores," it added.

Under the skin

Palm scanners are not a brand-new technology, and there are already some commercially available solutions.

"Palm-based identification is based on capturing the vein patterns of the palm," explains Dr Basel Halak of the Electronics and Computer Science School at the University of Southampton.

"These patterns are different for each finger and for each person, and as they are hidden underneath the skin's surface, forgery is extremely difficult."

Dr Halak said the level of security was roughly similar to a fingerprint scan, but could be used at a distance of a few inches, making it much more practical.

"In comparison with other form of identifiers such as physical devices, this form of biometric authentication is based on physical characteristics that stay constant throughout one's lifetime and are more difficult to fake, change or steal," he said.

Amazon has not detailed exactly how its version of the technology will work, beyond saying it will use "custom-built algorithms and hardware" and scan "distinct features on and below the surface" of the hand.

But it said one of the reasons it chose palm recognition was that it is "more private" than some other options.

"You can't determine a person's identity by looking at an image of their palm," it said, possibly a reference to the controversy surrounding facial recognition.

The firm has paused police use of its Recognition facial recognition software after civil rights advocates raised concerns about potential racial bias.

Amazon said other reasons for the choice included the "intentional gesture" of holding a palm over a sensor, and the contactless nature, "which we think customers will appreciate, especially in current times".

But privacy group Big Brother Watch criticised the development.

"Amazon continues to fill the market with invasive, dystopian technologies that solve non-existent problems," its director Silkie Carlo said.

"No one should have to provide biometric data in order to buy goods or services. Amazon's attempt to normalise biometric payment and home surveillance devices risks building a world in which we're more easily tracked and recorded, which will inevitably disempower citizens."

Early adopters can only try out the first version of the technology at two Amazon Go shops - the company's experiment with a real-world supermarket that has no checkouts, but instead tracks the shopper and what they pick up.

No Amazon account is required. To register, a customer can just insert their bank card and follow the on-screen instructions to link their palm print to that payment option, Amazon said.

The company promises that the print is not stored on site, but encrypted and kept securely in the Cloud. Customers could also delete their data via website, it added.

 

Best 5G phones in 2020!

    Here are the top 5G phones that connect to the next-gen network....

Though it won't replace 4G in its entirety, 5G is the next generation of mobile connectivity. 5G works super-fast and many industries will benefit from the new network, including the Internet of Things, drones and self-driving cars. Samsung, the most popular maker of 5G phones, has several under its belt including the Galaxy Note 20 phones, the Galaxy Z Flip 5G and the more budget-friendly Galaxy A71 5G.

Equipped with Samsung's S Pen smart stylus, the Galaxy Note 20 and 20 Ultra are pricey, ultra-premium phones with expansive screens and 5G. They also have triple-rear camera setups, the high-powered Snapdragon 865 Plus processor and reverse wireless charging. 

Right before it unveiled the Note 20, Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, a 5G variant of the Galaxy Z Flip that went on sale earlier this year in February. The foldable clamshell phone will cost $1,450 and will be sold through AT&T. Read our Galaxy Z Flip 5G first take.

As Samsung's flagship phones for 2020, all three Galaxy S20 devices have 5G. They also have brilliant 120Hz AMOLED displays (in 6.2-, 6.7- and 6.9-inch sizes), reverse wireless charging and a water-resistant design. The Galaxy S20 has three rear cameras, while the Plus and Ultra have a fourth time-of-flight camera, too. Read our Samsung Galaxy S20 5G review.

Despite its high price tag and being a Verizon exclusive in the US, the Edge Plus is still a premium 5G phone worth looking into. It features a Snapdragon 865 chipset, a giant battery, an OLED screen with a high refresh rate and multiple rear cameras with heavy-duty specs. As CNET's Patrick Holland declared, it's "one of the most wonderful Android phones I've tried in a long time." Read our Motorola Edge Plus review.

Already available in Europe for 349 euros (about $400, £315 or AU$565), the Moto G 5G Plus features a 6.7-inch full HD display with a 90Hz refresh rate, a 5,000-mAh battery, and a Snapdragon 765 5G processor. Though Motorola says it's aiming to launch a sub-$500 5G phone for the US in the fall, it's unclear whether or not this new device will be a reworked 5G Plus or a new phone altogether.

Like 2018's Motorola Moto Z3, the Moto Z4 from last year connects to 5G networks with a Moto Mod accessory. The Mod attaches to the back of the phone using magnetic pins and, at the time, was one of the cheaper options for a 5G phone. Today, the phone itself costs $400 to $500 and the Mod runs an extra $350. 

The Mi 10 Pro 5G is packed with a Snapdragon 865 chipset, a 90Hz refresh-rate display, a 4,500-mAh battery and even a 108-megapixel rear camera. As a premium phone, it costs about $1,100 when converted from its price in Europe (999 euros, which is about £890 or AU$1,660).

Though Nokia isn't the phone giant that it was 15 years ago, it still launched a 5G phone. Known as the Nokia 8.3, the phone costs 599 euros ($650, £550 or AU$1,110) when it initially launched, and has "global 5G" capabilities. That means you can roam on 5G as you travel abroad -- something we've not seen so far from other phone-makers.

The Mate 20 X 5G has a huge 7.2-inch display, a 4,200-mAh battery and a triple rear-camera setup. The phone was supposed to launch in the UK in June 2019 for £999 (or about $1,270 in the US and AU$1,780 in Australia) but UK carriers EE and Vodafone have dropped plans to sell the device. Huawei phones are also banned in the US due to security issues. Despite all this, Huawei is the world's top 5G phone-maker, shipping nearly 7 million 5G phones last year.

Google Nest WiFi Review!

Google Nest WiFi 

For almost five years, Google has been working to make the ultimate WiFi equipment and Nest WiFi is its attempt at it by third generation. Just as his boss, Google believes Nest WiFi isn't enough for you to fire them behind the Television or into a cupboard. After all, wireless performance is best in vision. And last time, Google clutched accessibility and energy. Nevertheless, Nest WiFi doesn't just want to celebrate a new name, it is a great difference from what used to be. And it comes with an embedded voice assistant— whether you want one or not.

The (old) Google Wi-Fi was a collection of switch pucks that formed a net around the house once put together. You would actually tackle another device for improving the pace or reception if you had a gnarly blackspot or house that was larger than the limit. Flexibility given with modularity, and this and any mesh WiFi network of its kind was a huge sellsing factor. It's done now with Nest WiFi.

Google Nest WiFi

Nest WiFi is divided into two different units this time: a dedicated modem (the router). The Router is an unfunctional cupola with a modem and WiFi pump around your house.

WiFi 6 not only improves the latest wireless technology; it also enables the concurrent operation of multi-unit phones. Yet his mistake here ranks as Chris Chan of Google tells VentureBeat that it is price yet complicated right now. On the other side, WiFi 6 won't be omnipresent for a few years to come, but it ensures that by 2021 the WiFi phone will need another expensive update.

Google's first Wi-Fi pucks are sleek and austere, but not disagreeable to use. Nest WiFi is much lighter and its body doesn't have a straight line. The fan lights look quite nice as well.

Google Nest WiFi

Google is proud of its computer strength and its phones hardly need any kind of configuration. This was probably the case and almost so, but in the last step of installation the device stayed freezing. It takes me half an hour to make it work, which is a lifetime for Apple, but for now I will be blamed for this accident on pre-release apps.

Anyone new to Google's Wi-Fi activities will be surprised how quickly it is to make it functional, particularly if you're used to fiddling with the cable suppliers ' hardware. There, the only thing fiddly is to mode your cable modem and connect it to the Nest Router.

Then there's the Nest WiFi Stick, a Google WiFi puck that features a Nest Home sub. It is gratuitously reductive, but totally true as well. The pair were revamped to look like a whole. At the bottom of the unit you get a beautiful white glowing light that does double duty as a volume monitor when playing music.

Google Nest WiFi

Top of the dot is a contact surface where you tap the middle and reach each hand to regulate the pressure. Four microphone cutouts are available. Symmetry means that it's difficult to know where to press at first sight. Luckily, the light below that unlocks as you reach the machine, lets you click.

Sadly, the Point has no own Ethernet ports, such as the Router, and all of the old Google WiFi pucks. Clearly, Google knows how many of its users actually used these ports to save money. I am positive the South California homes have wonderful porous walls, which provide WiFi in all forms. Yet frankly, you're going to have a problem if your house is a bit older and is made from something other than wood or drywall. Today, I'm going to work on results.

Recall that there is no Ethernet ports on the Point in my grips? I'm living in a beautiful Victorian house, albeit crumbling. It is roughly 200 m2 on two floors plus a loft of 300m2 where my office is located. This should be well within the coverage provided by Google and Nest Wi-Fi, but a problem is present.

Google Nest WiFi

There's a break between my living room and the bathroom, where my cable and the router are housed. The link was poor, with two Google Wi-Fi sites, even if they only were 50 feet apart and separated by a single wall. On the other side, Nest Wi-Fi managed the single wall with aplomb, making me quite related.

My present system uses four Wi-Fi points from Google to navigate through my home's problem areas. In the living room and kitchen there are two points, one on the first floor and the other in the back. The back of the house is a lot of plumbing and the shower, so it is at best hard to get anything to the other side.

I have a couple of power over Ethernet connections in order to get Wi Fi in the back of the kitchen and yard. Clearly, the point wasn't good enough to protect the 3 and 2 m between kitchen and back room in Google's ethernet-free world.

Google's mesh WiFi system aims to remove the stress of setting up people who don't need 192.168.1.1. If you have no WiFi network yet and want to do one, so obviously Nest WiFi is no brainer. This program should be set up and overlooked for quite a while.

Yet Google is a corporation that claims to think on behalf of you about the computer. It is keen to preserve compatibility and upgrades its technology periodically to improve reliability, speed, safety and security. Faster, more secure Nest WiFi is provided with an external assistant which is a good bonus if you like.

But there are cautionary steps such as the decreased mobility of the lack of Ethernet ports on the line. You must use a different solution to solve the problem if you have a blackspot that can only be connected with the cable. And if you want to buy something that will last you for five years and longer, a shortage of Wi-Fi 6 could be a dealbreaker. You may also have to hate spending more for a smart speaker that you don't want on your own-particularly when the hardware boss of Google said that he would alert his home visitors.

That should not negate any great hardware that is quick, durable and adequate for most people. Especially if you play games and watch videos on several devices, that is what most families do. Instead of being good enough for most people, I wish Google would push the envelope a bit harder.