Samsung's Power Sharing Cable lets you share power between devices

Credit: Samsung/phonedog

Keeping multiple mobile devices charged can be difficult. Samsung may have the solution with their Power Sharing Cable, which does pretty much what it says: allow charge to be transferred from one device to another. This would be useful if the device you need to use is about to die & no other charging source is available.

If you are thinking of using this, be aware that neither charge, nor discharge is 100% efficient. So there is a significant loss any time charge is transferred between devices.

Perhaps the most likely use is charging a smart watch from your phone.

http://www.phonedog.com/2014/09/23/samsung-power-sharing-cable-lets-you-transfer-power-from-one-device-to-another/ / multiple smart devices charged up ready to go Samsung new accessory Samsung Power Sharing Cable transfer battery power Galaxy micro USB microUSB hardware users download Samsung’s Power Sharing app Google Play Store Samsung Apps control how much juice cable Samsung’s online store option smartwatch external battery pack /

Space elevator could be built by 2035, says new study

Credit: Extreme Tech

Space elevator? Yes — launching payloads into geostationary orbit is very expensive — around $20,000 per kilogramme using current technology. A space elevator could reduce this to $500.

A space elevator would be a cable, tethered at the equator, around 100,000 miles (160,000 km) long, with a counterweight at the end. An elevator car would climb the cable to geostationary orbit at an altitude of 22,236 miles (35,785 km).

What is needed to turn the theory into practice?

● Material for the cable. No existing material is strong enough.

● Energy to drive the elevator car. Energy to drive a conventional elevator is provided by conventional electric wiring to an electric winch which lifts the cable & the elevator car. A space elevator would consist of a stationary cable & an elevator car which would climb the cable. Electric wire or on-board energy supply would be too heavy. Microwave beam(s), possibly from both ends, may provide a solution.

● Design for the elevator car. This has to be a device which can lift its own mass, plus the mass of the payload, up the cable, without damaging the cable.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/176625-60000-miles-up-geostationary-space-elevator-could-be-built-by-2035-says-new-study / geostationary orbit GEO new report International Academy of Astronautics IAA carry seven 20-ton payloads tether geostationary geosynchronous orbit anchor two million kilograms payloads detailed case space elevator detailed accounting challenges pay-off cost-per-kilogram launch geostationary orbit geostationary orbit satellites Earth Earth's gravity well cheap Earth-assisted launch mission to Mars tether using small rockets predictably unstable fall loops around the Earth fuel budget base Moon Mars IAA’s projections launch mass different technologies significant investment private sector governments corporations billions installing infrastructure in space investment cheap access to space elevator /

Are artificial sweeteners making us fat?

Artificial sweeteners seem, on the surface, to be a simple way to reduce calorie intake, & so lose weight. On the other hand, for some time, there have been suggestions that artificial sweeteners may be implicated in weight gain.

Perhaps equally counter-intuitive, is the importance of gut bacteria in maintaining health.

Emerging evidence suggests, that artificial sweeteners may cause weight gain by their influence on gut bacteria:

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21613311-sugar-substitutes-may-mess-gut-bacteriacausing-obesity / diet coke Coca cola Coca-Cola sucrose sugar to achieve sickly sweetness 15.9 grams can total daily intake recommended women National Health Service Diet Coke sweetness aspartame acesulfame-K chemical chemicals sweeter sugar human body energy sweetness calories artificial sweeteners food additives waistline in check chemicals food sweeteners cause cancer associated with obesity paper Nature magazine evidence artificial sweeteners humans digest microbes guts digestive tract intestine bacteria live cells researchers “microbiome” gut bacteria depression arthritis regulation immune system artificial sweeteners affect intestinal bacteria paper lead authors Eran Elinav Eran Segal Weizmann Institute of Science Israel biomedical research rodents aspartame sucralose saccharin commercial sugar substitutes control group plain water glucose sucrose sugars energy glucose obesity diabetes artificial sweeteners glucose level blood sugar murine microbiome researchers mice broad spectrum antibiotics gut bacteria metabolic changes transplanted faeces artificial sweeteners sterile conditions glucose intolerance gene sequencing make people fat /

Android 5.0 L will automatically encrypt data

Some users store relatively little data on their phones: a few phone numbers & some old SMS conversations.

Others have much more. A politician once told me about his phone: "This is my office." A business woman: "I run my business on this thing."

Most people are somewhere in between, although there are a lot of people who believe they are in the first group, whose phones tell more about them than they realise. Some of this data actually belongs to others: "A few phone numbers," often includes a lot more, including physical address & birthdate. Such information is held in trust by the phone owner & shouldn't be passed on to others, even accidentally, as when a phone is lost or stolen.

Many (most?) phones contain data which exceeds the value of the phone itself. One way of protecting this data is to encrypt it. Android has had the capability to encrypt data, both on the device & an SD card, for some time. With Android L, encryption will become the default.

http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/android-5-0-l-will-automatically-encrypt-data-19-09-2014/

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/566963/20140921/samsung-galaxy-note-4-s5-android-5.htm#.VB9d-dB_W2c

As indicated above, encryption has been an option on Android for some time. Not many have used this option. Reasons include:

● a PIN or password will be required every time the phone is woken from the locked state

● performance hit

● takes an hour or more to encrypt, depending on how much data is on the phone

● one way process — try it out, & don't like it, reversion will require a factory reset

More detail, including how to encrypt your existing Android phone at:

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/encrypt-your-android-smartphone-for-paranoid-level-security/ / Google automatic encryption data mechanism upcoming Android 5.0 L platform matching Apple's iOS 8 Samsung's latest flagship Note 4 S 5 Google's Android L update mobile OS operating system platform I/O conference revamped UI user interface 64 bit 64-bit support prying private personal data option optional 2011 access files data device password encryption keys not stored off of the device cannot be shared with law enforcement Niki Christoff spokeswoman next Android release enabled by default Google's attempt increase product resistance to government spying Samsung release Android updates early Samsung Galaxy S5 Galaxy Note 4 new Android firmware November December Sam Mobile Sony HTC Motorla LG release update plans /

Big screen iPhones — is it what Apple users needed?

Credit: CNET

CNET takes a look at the big screen iPhones. What do they think? A bit more to the point, what do they think of previous iPhones?

"I turned the 5S over in my hands. It looks small now, I realized. Really small."

A few years ago, I swapped an iPhone 4 for a Samsung Galaxy S4 largely for that reason. No pun intended.

http://www.cnet.com/products/apple-iphone-6/

http://www.cnet.com/news/iphone-5s-vs-iphone-6-screen-size-matters/ / bigger crisp display improved LTE Wi-Fi WiFi speed better camera autofocus storage capacity 128GB NFC Apple Pay mobile wallet iPhone 6 battery model Android phones larger 5 inch screen same size frame optical image stabilization bigger more expensive 6 Plus bigger screen easy to handle features horizon better bigger big displays features Android display expansive small screen one-handed one handed operation iPhone 5S view viewing room 4 inch screen larger iPhones big bigger 4.7 inch screen phablet 5.5-inch display faster A8 processors improved cameras Wi-Fi LTE voice quality more onboard storage Apple Pay NFC-powered payment system credit card thin elegant performs lacks extra battery life optical image stabilization more expensive premium phones pixel display split screen split-screen effects iPad significantly bigger weighs more longer battery life top of the line potential buyers upgrade Android owners additional customization features of iOS 8, advantages removable SD card storage removable batteries /

iFixit does the new iPhones, finds they're no more difficult to repair than previous versions

Apple doesn't publicise the RAM & battery size of its phones, but iFixit reveals that the iPhone 6 has an 1810 mAh battery. 6 Plus has 2915 mAh. Both have 1GB of RAM.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/09/ifixit-tears-new-iphones-apart-finds-theyre-pretty-easy-to-fix/

iPhone 6
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+6+Teardown/29213

iPhone 6 Plus
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+6+Plus+Teardown/29206 / disassembly teardown take apart new iPhone 6 iPhone 6 Plus detailed information device difficult repair iPhone 5 5S dismantling iPhone 6 remove Pentalobe screws Lightning port screen suction cup TouchID button 5S cable routed display phone repair repairers integrate cable display assembly larger Qualcomm MDM9625M LTE modem WTR1625L transceiver faster 150Mbps LTE different LTE bands WFR1620 chip carrier aggregation Apple A8 SoC 1GB of RAM NFC Wi-Fi M8 motion coprocessor power management touch controller chips iPad iPod Touche screws retention clips display body glue heating pad iFixit publish repair instructions aftermarket iPhone repair business /

Horizon records your videos horizontally

Credit: Boy Genius Report

Videos made with your phone look like the tide is going out? Or made on the side of a hill?

Horizon uses your Android phone's sensor to hold your videos level, if you can't get it level before your start filming or start to tilt after filming begins. It really does work as shown in the image above.

May be an aid to those people who can't manage to turn their phones to landscape when making a video.

Free to try, but in-app purchase is required to remove a watermark & free up all features.

http://bgr.com/2014/09/17/best-android-camera-apps/ / watching unbalanced videos shot Android phone install Horizon brilliant new Android app keep your camera steady horizontal angle holding your phone upright in portrait mode videos nice wide horizontal landscape Horizon different video resolutions resolution device VGA HD Full HD video apps launch Horizon film videos device’s stock camera software shoot perfectly horizontal videos Nexus 4 Nexus 5 Sony Xperia Z1 Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Note 3 S4 HTC One HTC one mini Motorola Razr HD work more recent devices specifications spec free to download optional in-app purchases Google Play store /