What if we could hear the numerous invisible data frequencies that swirl around us every day? That’s exactly what a project from hearing-impaired writer Frank Swain and artist Daniel Jones aims to do. Phantom Terrains is the proper name of the effort, and by hacking Swain’s Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids, the duo has transformed WiFi signals into ambient sounds. So instead of seeing the device as a prosthetic, it’s used as a sort of super power. The modification allows him to stroll around and listen to the range of tones electromagnetic signals provide — like the pattern of a network’s security parameters. And of course, no one else nearby can pick them up.
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“Keep Austin Weird.” It’s the proud slogan of the Texas capital, and it wears it well, especially with its eclectic mix of culture, history and technology. Pretty soon, Austin will have one more reason to be proud: it’ll be one of a few cities in America to carry Google Fiber, the search giant’s experimental foray as a broadband provider. “It is, as always, step by step,” Google Fiber head of project management Adam Smith tells me. Smith is sitting across from me in Austin’s new Google Fiber space, hesitantly explaining how Google isn’t very experienced at this whole “internet provider” thing it’s been doing. On paper, Austin is the third city to support Google’s internet service, but reality is less black and white. “Provo was an acquisition,” Smith reminds me. “This is really the second organic city… …it’s sort of also saying that this is also new for us.”
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Smart breathalyzers have long tried to help people deal with the serious issue of drunk-driving. But, ultimately, those options won’t physically prevent anyone from getting behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol — much like the Ignition Interlock Device provided by some states in the US do. To aid with this deliberate problem, researchers from Germany have came up with the Alcohol Language Corpus, a database made up of drunk speech patterns, the first of its kind.
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YotaPhone’s second-gen handset, the YotaPhone 2, is powerful, well-built and makes legitimate use of its secondary E Ink screen. The only problem? It costs as much as an off-contract 16GB iPhone 6. That’s not all we have on deck, though — read on for the rest of our news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Technology can bring people together… and tear them apart, apparently. The Italian Association of Matrimonial Lawyers claims that WhatsApp chats are cited as evidence in 40 percent of Italian divorce cases where cheating is involved. Reportedly, a lot of these less-than-faithful spouses can’t help but message their lovers, whether it’s to whisper sweet nothings or send sexy photos. In some cases, lawyers say they’ve seen people juggle “three or four” partners through WhatsApp at one time — probably not how the developers pictured people using their service.
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Comcast just can’t catch a break. Opponents of the company’s $45 billion Time Warner Cable merger have gathered forces to create the “Stop Mega Comcast” coalition, just as the FCC has announced that it’s restarting its regulatory review of the deal. The group, which includes Dish Network, the communications non-profit Public Knowledge and others, serves as a united front against the merger. Comcast is already the largest cable provider in the U.S., but the Time Warner deal would make it even more of a juggernaut with 11 million additional customers and control of 50% of the home broadband market. “This much power concentrated in the hands of one company would be frightening even for the most trustworthy of companies,” Public Knowledge’s CEO Gene Kimmelman said in a statement. “And Comcast is definitely not that.”
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Those murmurs that Google was retooling its services for kids? Yep, they’re real. The search giant tells USA Today that it’s creating versions of its products for the 12-and-under crowd, with plans to start launching them in 2015. The company isn’t saying just what content will get the child-friendly treatment, but it’s most likely to involve things with a broad appeal, such as YouTube. There are hints that it might also prioritize search results for things kids expect. A search for “trains,” for example, may put more emphasis on Thomas the Tank Engine than mass transit.
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New York City’s brass hasn’t fully committed to tricking out its nearly 35,000 person police force with body cameras yet, but Mayor Bill DiBlasio is eager to give them a shot. That’s why the NYPD is testing the waters with a pilot program that’ll see select officers from six commands throughout the city go about their daily duties while wearing matchbook-sized cameras on their chests. According to the New York Times, that first batch of 54 camera-equipped cops could be on the streets in certain sections of the city as early this weekend.
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I’ve been using my phone upside-down for the last two weeks. I didn’t lose a bet, nor am I carrying out some weird social experiment. I’m doing it because I hold my phones left-handed, and that’s the only way I can comfortably use the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge. With a screen that wraps around the right side of the phone, the Edge is the only smartphone I’ve used where being a righty or lefty has had a direct impact on my purchase decision; to a lefty, it’s uncomfortable and inconvenient to use, and you’re better off sticking with its close relative, the Galaxy Note 4. Here’s why.
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So you just snagged a Nexus 6, and you need help navigating Android 5.0 Lollipop or figuring out why your battery life is lousy. Who do you turn to? As of today, you can turn to an app: Google has released Device Assist, a helper tool for Android One, Google Play Edition and Nexus devices. You’ll get tips and tricks, like most digital guidebooks, but it’ll also offer “proactive” fixes for detected issues; it’ll turn down the screen brightness if it’s cranked too high, for instance. If you’re using a Google Play Edition device or Nexus, you also have a fast track to Google’s live support. No, this won’t magically repair cracked screens and other broken hardware, but it could spare you from scouring the web (or making a tech support call) to get solutions to software problems.
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