БЛОГ

Archive for the ‘mobile phones’ category: Page 16

Mar 1, 2024

Scientists use food industry byproduct to recover gold from electronic waste

Posted by in categories: chemistry, computing, food, mobile phones, sustainability

Transforming base materials into gold was one of the elusive goals of the alchemists of yore. Now Professor Raffaele Mezzenga from the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zurich has accomplished something in that vein. He has not of course transformed another chemical element into gold, as the alchemists sought to do. But he has managed to recover gold from electronic waste using a byproduct of the cheesemaking process.

Electronic waste contains a variety of valuable metals, including copper, cobalt, and even significant amounts of gold. Recovering this gold from disused smartphones and computers is an attractive proposition in view of the rising demand for the precious metal.

However, the recovery methods devised to date are energy-intensive and often require the use of highly toxic chemicals. Now, a group led by ETH Professor Mezzenga has come up with a very efficient, cost-effective, and above all far more sustainable method: with a sponge made from a , the researchers have successfully extracted gold from electronic waste.

Feb 29, 2024

As AI takes hold of your smartphone, the end of the app era could be in sight

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, robotics/AI

The AI boom could push us toward more helpful devices, but it’s unclear if it can galvanize mobile sales.

Feb 27, 2024

Facial Recognition Meets Mental Health: MoodCapture App Identifies Depression Early

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health, mobile phones, neuroscience, robotics/AI

Can smartphones apps be used to monitor a user’s mental health? This is what a recently submitted study scheduled to be presented at the 2024 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems hopes to address as a collaborative team of researchers from Dartmouth College have developed a smartphone app known as MoodCapture capable of evaluating signs of depression from a user with the front-facing camera. This study holds the potential to help scientists, medical professionals, and patients better understand how to identify signs of depression so proper evaluation and treatment can be made.

For the study, the researchers enlisted 177 participants for a 90-day trial designed to use their front-facing camera to capture facial images throughout their daily lives and while the participants answered a survey question with, “I have felt, down, depressed, or hopeless.” All participants consented to the images being taken at random times, not only when they used the camera to unlock their phone. During the study period, the researchers obtained more than 125,000 images and even accounted for the surrounding environment in their final analysis. In the end, the researchers found that MoodCapture exhibited 75 percent accuracy when attempting to identify early signs of depression.

“This is the first time that natural ‘in-the-wild’ images have been used to predict depression,” said Dr. Andrew Campbell, who is a professor in the Computer Science Department at Dartmouth and a co-author on the study. “There’s been a movement for digital mental-health technology to ultimately come up with a tool that can predict mood in people diagnosed with major depression in a reliable and non-intrusive way.”

Feb 27, 2024

SpaceX Plans To Orbit Cell Phone Starlink Constellation By Aug. 31

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, satellites

SpaceX plans to place its first direct-to-cellular phone Starlink constellation in orbit by the end of August.

The company aims to initially provide text messaging services over its low-Earth-orbit satellites to T-Mobile customers using unmodified cellphones operating with standard LTE/4G protocols. Service is expected to start this year, according to SpaceX’s website.

The rocket and satellite manufacturer lofted its first 21 direct-to-cellphone Starlink satellites on Jan. 2. Its plan to have the constellation orbiting Earth by the end of August was announced by Jon Edwards, SpaceX vice president of Falcon Launch Vehicles, on Feb. 26 on the social media website X.

Feb 26, 2024

A Cool Setup for Earthquake Simulations Based on UE5 & Gyroscopes

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, transportation

Real-Time Artist and Unreal Engine specialist Ayoub Attache, known to many for his jaw-dropping experiments with Epic Games’ game creation tool, has once again blurred the line between the digital realm and real life with a brand-new project.

This time, he has developed an incredible setup for simulating earthquakes in Unreal Engine 5 by simply shaking a smartphone attached to a cutting board surrounded by RC car shock absorbers, which mimic the ground’s movement. The shaking data, including acceleration and gyroscope readings, is then sent via a UDP server straight to Unreal Engine, where it simulates an earthquake affecting a construction site.

Feb 26, 2024

Smart phones surveillance and the CCP

Posted by in categories: humor, mobile phones, surveillance


It’s awful! The most hideous creation ever conceived! No one can laugh, or joke. It watches, saps the very spirit. And the worst thing of all is I watch it…

Feb 26, 2024

Now there’s a 28,000mAh battery with a phone in it

Posted by in category: mobile phones

Four years after Avenir Telecom announced a phone equipped with a massive 18,000mAh battery, the company is announcing an even more outrageous model.

Four years ago, my then-colleague Vlad brought you news of an 18,000mAh battery with a phone in it.


It won’t necessarily be a good phone.

Continue reading “Now there’s a 28,000mAh battery with a phone in it” »

Feb 26, 2024

Google gives Android the AI treatment at MWC

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, robotics/AI, transportation, wearables

Google’s Gemini implementation for AI image generation is facing a lot of criticism. But that isn’t stopping the search and mobile giant from riding the AI wave and rolling it out to more of its services. Today, Google announced a new set of features for phones, cars, and wearables — using Gemini to craft messages, AI-generated captions for images, summarizing texts through AI for Android Auto, along with access to passes on Wear OS.

The new features were unveiled at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona — an event where Google, as the company behind Android, has figured strongly for years.

The company said that starting this week, Google Messages will get a feature that lets you access Gemini in the app. The feature is currently in beta and only supports English.

Feb 25, 2024

Newly-Found Cyberattack Can Set Your Smartphone on Fire: Here’s How

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, mobile phones

Security experts at the University of Florida, in collaboration with CertiK, a security audit company, have uncovered a potential cybersecurity threat that could result in smartphones catching fire when placed on wireless chargers.

According to TechXplore, this discovery highlights vulnerabilities in the Qi communication-based feedback control system used in inductive chargers, which wirelessly transfer energy to devices through electromagnetic fields.

Feb 24, 2024

Google Pay app is shutting down in the US after being replaced by Google Wallet

Posted by in categories: media & arts, mobile phones, transportation

Google Pay, the digital payment app for desktop, mobile apps, and in stores, was pretty much phased out by the introduction of Google Wallet in 2022. Google Wallet, which is a mobile app for Android users, is used five times more than Google Pay, according to the announcement. Since Wallet can also house credit cards for tap-to-pay, as well as digital IDs, and public transit passes, it’s proven to be the more useful alternative.

It’s somewhat typical for Google to launch products only to shut them down or roll them into other products after a few years due to lack of demand or commercial interest. The Google graveyard includes Jamboard, its cloud gaming service Stadia, and Google Play Music. So this is just one of many Google products to bite the dust. But Google Pay users won’t be left stranded.

If you’re a Google Pay user, you can still use the U.S. version of the app until June 4. But you can still transfer funds from your account into your bank account through the Google Pay website after June 4. After that, Google Pay users will no longer be able to send, request, or transfer money through the app.

Page 16 of 236First1314151617181920Last