Well they finally did it. Google finally listened to all us geeks and produced a premium phone for the 7th generation of its Nexus line. A show stopper, Google produced the pinnacle of what they believe an android phone should be, and how it should work. This is the Nexus 6p — and when p stands for premium all others should take note.
When something is made well, it has Apple build quality — it’s a phrase used over and over again. A few have successfully matched, and down right copied, but the name still sticks. There have been a few Android phones to push those ideas, but none of the Nexus line have ever got anywhere near the upper echelon of build quality.
You could argue that is not what Nexus is, they are there to show the best of Android and put it in an understated and affordable body so developers can tinker. It is the prevailing opinion that the claimed developer focus is just not the case anymore. When specs sheets are almost null and void because Android runs well on almost anything it’s the outside that will win over the user. With the 6p Google have shown that the Nexus line can, and hopefully will continue, to not just point the way but also keep up with the best of them.
It’s not a fair comparison to compare the 6p with its little brother the 5x, but they are both born of the same parents. Gone is the plastic found on the Nexus 5x, replaced by metal and glass. It is strong and weighty which is reassuring in the hand rather than frighteningly light and creaky. There is no risk of you bending the phone despite what you may see, the whole phone feels premium with nothing spared.
The manufacturing partner for this outing is Huawei — unfortunately little known to much of the general public. They have already produced some stellar hardware, that is often let down by the software. Thankfully you will find nothing but Googles Android here, notice that doesn’t say stock, because Nexus versions of Android are more Googley than ever.
Huawei have done a perfect job squeezing a 5.7 inch screen into a body that is infinitely easier to hold that the previous version (Nexus 6), with flat sides and slightly chamfered edges the phone is a little slippery to the touch but does its best to grip on where it can. The screen dominates the front, rocking an eye watering 1440 x 2560 pixels (518 ppi) that covers more than 70% of the front. Only flanked by stereo speakers at the top and bottom giving THE best audio experience on a smartphone I have experienced to date.
Around the back, in order to get the all metal design Huawei have placed all the radio equipment and camera lenses behind a strip of glass. This has caused contrasting opinions in the design world, due to being raised very slightly from the rest of the phone. In reality rather than taking anything away from the design, it makes it much easier to tell which way is up when pulling the phone from your pocket. Combine this with the ability to still lay flat on a table it is likely to become a non issue and one of the best features of the phone.
Its also 100% worth the trade off for a bit of a hump, because Google made a big deal about these ‘Sony sensors’ they used in the new Nexus — and for once the results live up to the hype. As with the Nexus 5x, the camera is amongst the best Android snappers on the market. Images are crisp, and clear when there is plenty of light — with small amounts of noise creeping in when the light begins to fade.
Its unfortunate they didn’t include OIS even into this bigger phone, so images with small amounts of light survive by cracking the ISO up and image processing does the rest. You can mediate this by using HDR+, this reduces overly flattened areas of light and images are much more pleasing to the eye. See my periscope video above for some indicators of what you will be up against.
I have not struggled to get picture I want, although I have resorted to using the intelligent burst mode on more than one occasion and discarded the undesirable photos. This burst mode is only found on the Nexus 6p, and will not only take photos for as long as you keep your finger on the shutter, it will also make them into a moving GIF for you to share. Beware of all the images being backed up to Google photos though! You will find sample photos below from my Nexus 5x review — a cop out I know but its the same camera.
The back of the phone does suffer the same fate is most previous Nexus phones, it doesn’t so much recieve a tramp stamp than a full back piece. With Nexus plastered all down the back of the phone just under the the mysterious small ring you will find on the back of both new Nexus phones. This of course outlines the fingerprint sensor, one which provides perhaps the best unlocking experience on the market.
After a few days of use you quickly become trained to the placement, a quick tap on the circle wakes and unlocks the phone with ease. In side by side tests the scanner was as accurate and for the majority quicker than the Touch ID sensor on the new iPhone 6s. Which just as with Apple’s new handset almost renders the lock screen useless unless you unlock the old fashioned way by using the power button.
It is unfortunate to miss out on Android’s lock screen because it still does everything right, but the added security and ease of unlocking using just a tap is something no phone should be without. Once you are using the phone, it’s clear to see Google’s work hard to implement material design, the system animations and design elements flow easily into each other.
This still falls down in some apps, as with my Nexus 5x review it is the app ecosystem that falls short. It was months since I had used Android fully before popping my sim into the 5x, and although most things are obvious Android is still inconsistent in interface and also quality of apps. There is a tendency to be overly critical because of this, but with a bit of time getting used to and trying out new apps it’s not impossible to find everything you should need.
With that said, Google is trying to implement some kind of Android interface guidelines, but you don’t get enforcement when the platform is at least reasonably open. However if Android is ever to attempt to win over users from iOS the vast inconsistency between even app developers by the same companies needs to be addressed — but that is just not what Google is interested in.
Battery life has been somewhat of a small disappointment for me, packing in a 3450 mAh battery gave me hope of all day usage. While that is true for moderate usage, and it is light years better than the 5x, do not expect much more than 4.5 hours of screen on time. Although that is not everything in battery life, standby time is dramatically increased by Android doze mode, this is only useful for light users and if you place your phone on a surface for large parts of the day
The belief was that users bought an Android phone because they couldn’t afford an iPhone. It was what parents bought their kids, it then began a succession of Android handset until eventually they just bought an iPhone. If you owned the last Galaxy plastic phone, when you upgraded you went Apple and almost never went back — at least according to Apple.
That’s just not the case anymore. With phones like the 6p Google has a top tier that users graduate to and stay with Android. There is just no reason to switch, no longer is the iphone the only phone to get great pictures. The results and experience is the same and Android is familiar. The 6p is never going to win over iPhone users, because that’s just not what it is for, it’s for current users to buy — the best Android has to offer.
If you are in the market for an Android phone just stop, click that big button next to the 6p and buy it. It’s the best Android has to offer — and it shows.
It’s a weird thing the S upgrade of the iPhone, it is often overlooked — but always brings in features that become staples of the hardware line. The touch ID sensor with the 5s and Siri with the 4s, these models are not just the ‘tock’ to the redesigned models ‘tick’. However as every Cosplayer finds out, putting and S on something doesn’t make it super, after a stellar year can Apple give enough reason to upgrade?
Growth for Apple came from all directions when the 6 hit stores, most notably in China but also spurring a migration from Android users all over the globe — at a pretty high rate. No doubt turbo charged by Apple finally increasing the screen size to start at 4.7inches, something which is now considered pretty normal (or even still on the small side) for the rest of the smartphone market.
This new model from Apple has also been hitting the gym as it has changed quite a bit in shape, well for an S model anyway. It gains 0.2mm in height, 0.1mm in width, 0.2mm in thickness and a whopping 14g (6s) or 20g(6s+) in weight. Those few grams don’t seem like much but you really can feel it when you take it out the box, and all those little bits of millimeters mean an upgrade in dress size as some cases for the iPhone 6 won’t fit.
You really are going to notice the heft if upgrading on a two yearly contract cycle and coming from the 5s. With personal preferences aside, the extra weight isn’t a deal breaker but to say it’s unoticable is simply not correct. It does add a certain reassurance when handling the phone sans case, somewhat offsetting the retention of the slippy round corners — but as with the previous model these iPhone’s really look better in a case than out.
The increases in size and weight are to account for something that Apple believes is the next level of multi touch. Including technology first introduced in the Apple watch and Macbook, but this is no longer force touch — its 3d touch. Expanding multi touch into the third dimension and allowing for multiple (read 3) levels of touch (read force) you can apply to the screen.
Adoption of the ‘next generation of multi touch’ is at the moment hit and miss, but almost all Apple apps have short cuts reminiscent of Jailbreak tweaks and in app peaking and popping. The almost kindergarten names for a quick preview window with a slightly hard press to the screen, but still doesn’t give me the option to slam the phone down with a really hard jab of the finger.
If Samsung et al were the creators of such technology it would be universally dismissed as a gimmick. Destined to spend it’s life alongside other software almost has beens like eye scrolling and hand waving, but Apple has the software and hardware clout to just maybe make this work. After the initial check to see which apps support shortcuts (if they don’t you just received a double vibrate in a virtual head shake) it easy to forget due to the lack of visual clues — but as more and more apps adopt it you may be 3d touching for a long time to come.
Touch improvements also expands to the Touch ID sensor, with the home buttons sporting Apple’s second generation hardware. Tim Cook claimed that the home button is now not only more accurate but halves the response time — and this certainly shows in real word usage. In many ways the speed and accuracy now negate the need for a lock screen at all, reduced to just a fleeting glance as the home screen appears should you unlock with the home button.
It still falls occasionally to finger tips that are slightly damp but much less than with the first generation, but continued home button to wake the phone means notifications are often missed due to the speed of the sensor. That is unless you resort to using the notification shade — which although it finally shows notifications in chronological order, still is next to useless. You can couple this with forgetting about the camera lockscreen shortcut, as it’s gone before you get chance to open it — however 3d touch gives you a quick way of getting you straight to those selfies.
Once you do get the camera app open, the interface remains untouched, bar being coupled to Apple’s updated iSight sensor which bumps images up to 12mp from Apple usual 8. Although its is 50% larger, Apple have managed to maintain the speed and performance of its predecessor but don’t expect a revolution. This feels very much the bed for a much larger upgrade in future generations and a small hint that Apple is aware it is compared to much larger sensors supported by its Android rivals.
It is a very good camera, the best iPhone camera yet. The larger sensor allows for a larger image captured, meaning cropping and zooming is much easier and detailed. However in a stark change from many preceding years I am not sure the camera is the best smartphone camera any longer. Many Android alternatives produce much crisper and detailed snapps particularly when the light is fading — but the iPhone is consistent in capturing images with ease and simplicity we have always known.
There is one small difference to the interface that users might not even notice, three small concentric circles at the top allow activation of what Apple calls live photos. Reminiscence of HTC’s Zoe the camera app catches the few seconds preceding and immediately after taking a picture. Allowing for no doubt some great small clips to be captured.
In reality all I have managed to catch is video of me taking my phone out of my pocket or a few seconds of posing before the picture is taken. Unless you make a conscious effort to think this might be a good time to capture a live image it’s likely to spend much of its life turned off. That is without taking into account that live photos take up twice the space as a normal picture, a few seconds of low frame rate video and audio doesn’t seem worth the trade off.
The revolution this time around is around the front, now Apple have finally updated its age old 1.2mp camera to a more modern 5mp one. In order to make sure you always get a great selfie Apple have also included a hardware chip allowing the screen to act as a flash by increasing brightness above its maximum level. Selfies are well and truly here to stay, but even if that isn’t your thing camera quality across facetime is now much clearer and brighter.
Battery life also joins the many specs that leave you with the same feeling as last time.The size of the battery has actually diminished but with improvements in iOS9 real world battery life remains unchanged. The regular model will see you through a day unless you are a heavy user and the bigger plus model is nearly impossible to kill.
So there you have it, a few changes amongst a phone that Apple claims ‘everything has changed’. There are countless things that haven’t changed amongst a few that have, slightly. Most review focus on the improved internals, the new A9 gives console level gaming on a handheld device.That may be the case — and real world usage indeed shows how quick the phone is in a few short minutes.
However most of (at least my phones) its life will be spent texting, tweeting and the odd game of dots. The upgrade is made ever the more difficult by the fact last years model is no slouch either — so if you already have the 6 it will be a tough call to upgrade or not. If there isn’t a feature above that stands out, and you don’t like the look of Rose Gold (pink), there really is no reason to switch.
No matter what the adverts say there is no revolution here. The 6s is without doubt the best iPhone yet, but it’s not one that will change the industry — it’s just a tock.
I would consider myself a pretty athletic guy, I have done various martial arts during my life — as well as completing marathons and exercise regularly. I at least thought I was doing the best for my health and my body, until the Apple watch came along that is. Since strapping the watch to my wrist I have had my eyes opened to a new world of activity and all because of three coloured circles.
I’m also no stranger to the health effects of technology, writing a long piece on the dangers of technology breading a sedentary life style. With an office job I was well aware that sitting for long periods of time was bad for my body. Unfortunately for millions of people world wide, with office jobs you have work to do and often hours blend together and you simply don’t realise how stationary you are.
In fact many don’t realise how seated we all are full stop, according to research by Sanlam Private Investments those of us with an ‘office job’ spend up to five years of our lives at a desk. With most workers spending up to 8 hours a day seated, other than the very occasional (and short) movement around the office.
Home time would come and before any more sitting, hitting the gym for an hour of going for a run would feel like it swept all the health issues aside and also allowed me to unwind. Unfortunately for me and probably millions of others that just simply wasn’t the case, unless I was building my mileage up for a marathon the health benefits of after work exercise were in-fact negligible — at best I was standing still.
Unfortunately for people like me the Journal Circulation: Heart Failure has revealed that those who sit for more than five hours a day have an increased risk of around 34% of heart failure. Regardless of how much exercison or exercise done once you have clocked off for the day.
Apple have made a big deal about the health benefits they wish the watch to have, adverts and marketing a like have highlighted it becoming more than just a watch. The truth is it really is for me at least. I still have a hard time recommending others to purchase an Apple watch — but for me it is exactly what I need.
Three colour circles have shown me the way, on a larger scale than I ever thought possible. It sounds strange doesn’t it — filling little level meters for no good reason other than to prove you can do it. If I am extra specially good I even get a shiny award, but that pales in comparison to the three completed circles displayed proudly on my wrist.
Granted the Apple watch is far from the only thing that shows you activity levels like this. The same system on Google Fit had a similar effect in building desire to complete an hours worth of activity each day, but for some reason having it strapped to my wrist amplifies the effects and I find myself standing up when I am told off by the tapping on my wrist — even I have no need to I just find something to stand up for.
Its a small addiction now, but it is only affecting my life and my body in positive way. It sounds strange coming from someone that is already active, but the Apple watch has spurred me to do even a little exercise on those days I really cant be bothered to — all to complete my circle.
The only hope for humanity is that Google retain its “don’t be evil” unofficial mantra. If they ever slip, manage to appoint a tyrannical CEO or frankly just change their model we are all in for it! Google spends it’s days indexing the world and the web, both for current and future purposes — but it now wants to back up your entire life.
Google have been granted a patent to live record experiences using a wearable computing device for later playback. This might not seem a big step — they already do similar things with static photos backed up into its magical cloud, but if this latest patent is any indication of intention we are all heading for a weird future. Whats more Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror should be held up as some kind of prophecy instead of entertainment.
If you’re not familiar with the UK TV show Black Mirror, it features an examination of modern society and depicts a future ravaged by the effects of technology. Proceed directly to series 1 episode 3 “the entire history of you” and you will see how exactly live recording everything in your life might play out.
“Set in an alternative reality where most people have a ‘grain’ implanted behind their ear that records everything they do, see or hear. This allows memories to be played back either in front of the person’s eyes or on a screen, a process known as a ‘re-do’.” — Wikipedia, The entire history of you
Proof, if it were needed, that Google intends to slowly move more and more of our brain into the cloud. Solving bar arguments, finding a picture you took in 2001 easily and now remembering what your wife’s expression was when asked a question at 11:00am on June 10th 4 years ago. All live ‘experiences’ will be stored and searchable with user questions like “Who were the people at the business lunch this afternoon?”, or “What films did I watch last month?
Although filing for a patent doesn’t show immediate launch or even the ability in producing this technology. It does show at least a small amount of intention, possibly giving another usage to future versions of its Glass platform. This kind of technology could prove invaluable to enterprise or security organisations with the right implementation — however would privacy issues stop any kind of public use?
Humans just are not made to remember everything, we are fragile and complex individuals with different abilities. Black Mirror hits at the dystopian future but each episode is well inside the realms of possibility — our brains are already much shallower than they used to be, could they be pretty useless soon?
For millions and millions of mobile users iTunes is inseparable from music. Since the birth of the iPod Apple’s platform supplies anything they wish to listen to — all be it 99p per track at a time. Unfortunately for Apple much as the 8 track, the cassette tape and the CD before it; the digital download began to die.
The portrayed impression is that increased demand for streaming services such as Spotify and GMAA, as well as on demand services such as YouTube have shifted the music industry completely. Retail based best selling charts that once relied on visiting a store with shelves full of singles shifted to only count downloads.
Even without anecdotal evidence Nielson Entertainment figures released just before Apple flicked the switch, show a fundamental change in music consumption. Whether it be from the influence of more illegal music avenues, or the tend for on demand everything — the streaming service(s) became king.
In the first half of 2015, Americans streamed twice as much as ever before — consuming 35 billion songs or music videos. With digital purchases falling 10.4 percent to 531.6 million, combined with overall album sales (either physical or digital) down 4 percent to only 116 million units.

So Apple’s answer was the sincerest form of flattery — Imitation. Take one music streaming platform — add content from Spotify and expand until sufficient coverage. Mix in drive storage options from Google Music all access and warm until 10,000 songs. Once complete add in radio functions for live radio and serve in your own packaging — implement social network to your own tastes.
“Obviously, the streaming piece is really great news, when you’re talking about darn near 100 percent growth … with no new players” — Dave Bakula, senior vice president of Nielsen Entertainment, told Re/code
Apple clearly didn’t have a choice to move to a streaming platform, the resultant hybrid is not without its issues. When you put as many services into on app such as music streaming, uploaded music and also purchased music invariably some things are going to bump, overlap and have some teething problems.
Even with the promise of cross platform apps — Apple Music is not meant to be attractive to anyone other than iPhone users that pay for a streaming service currently, or at least entertain the idea. Whatever your thoughts on Apple Music a first party service on a platform that ships at a rate up to 70 million a quarter make the rumoured aim of 100 million users seem entirely possible.
Since journeying back to using my iPhone more than anything else I have been stuck in term of wearables. My Moto 360 or G Watch R have been invaluable to me in daily life, allowing me to filter emails from work or just spend less time checking my phone. The pebble is great and all but it just doesn’t cut it when compared to Android Wear.
So I had a choice, learn to live without or stump up and buy an Apple watch, well if you clicked on the link to bring you here you already know I did the later. Unfortunately as I didn’t get in on the initial rush I had to wait for July if I wanted one from Apple — thats never going to happen if you know me.
Luckily I managed to find a reasonably priced one close by, in between the others that expected £600 for a 38mm version! I picked it up yesterday and I have been wearing it 24 hours. Yes I hate these attempted reviews done far to early to, but enough people asked me for some views that I put some down in ink pixels.
The biggest wow factor I have had already is unboxing the watch, I have gladly paid more than £200 for an Android Wear watch already. However I felt cheated out of the money then, it was made out of plastic and presented like a technology company playing at making a watch.
Everyone knows Apple take pride in the boxing and packaging, but included in the high quality packaging is a travel box for the watch which feels great quality. Along with the usual charge cables, which feel premium and the plug is the best designed adaptor I have ever seen! Unboxing this felt like an experience in itself, I had spent the money and more than other watches it felt worth it.
In its very short time with me the watch has been through the whole range of uses, answering calls and texts, through some circuit training and also been for a run. So as I sit here at 48% battery I think it’s done pretty well, I would be clinging onto 20% battery with a Moto 360 — that’s without running with it.
Much has been made of the poor battery life, usually from people that haven’t used it, but Apple’s figures seem pretty spot on — 18 hours of use should not be an issue at all. If you do spend 18 hours wearing it you wont have an issue either, as it is one of the most comfortable watches I have. My initial reservations of the strange fastening of the sport band were forgotten after a few minutes.
One of the issues with Android Wear for me was the first party apps, or lack of. Being able to choose which app you use for actions is one of Android great strength, but I just wish they would build Google fit as easy to use as Apple’s Activity and Workout app. Relying on third party apps to integrate with Android Wear sometime left a bad taste in my mouth with inconsistent ability and ease of use.
With the Apple watch a couple of taps and I had started my run (which can be tailored to tap you on the wrist after a preselected distance or time) and each time I glanced at my watch, the time/distance or whatever I wanted was easy and clear — I ran a new PB too, but lets not give the watch too much credit! The watch also recorded my heart rate every 10 seconds during the run, which seems quite accurate to monitors I have worn before.
My only gripe so far has been the OS, if anything it does too much. However I can’t work out if that is subjective due to my extensive use of Android Wear or not. For the life of me I can’t image who is going to scroll through twitter feeds or order takeaway when you can pull out your phone — but hey if you’re one of those people — it does it.
That is not the focus though — if you are not going to use apps the watch work brilliantly as a notification handler. You can even remove apps from the phone if you are never going to use them. One thing I have used more than I thought I would is the activity and health app. I have written before about the danger of sitting too long, and the taps on my wrist is a nice reminder. It’s too early to know if that will continue or be switched of after a few days as an annoyance.
Ok so this is far too long already, more incoming as the days go on.
In 2011 we all gasped as Samsung released a phone that was almost universally labeled as never going to work. It was an experiment that only Samsung could get away with, just to see if it would sell in any great number. The phone was the 5.3 inch screen touting Galaxy Note – a phone that was too big and would never catch on.
The Note was the creator of the ‘Phablet’ name, being more about mockery than labeling a new breed of smartphone. You can kind of see where they were coming from when the current biggest seller, Apple’s iPhone 4 and 4s featured a 3.5inch screen! Even Samsung’s own Galaxy S2 was considered huge with its 4.3 inch screen.
Now in 2015, when the industry standard seems to be anything around 5.5 inches, what exactly is a phablet now? What we once gasped at as a size is simply a normal sized phone now, the 4.3inches found on the Galaxy S2 is now compact. So if a phablet sized handset is now just a phone; what do we call everything below that?
Resolved: henceforth Phablets will just be called phones and phones with smaller screens will be called Fun Size. — Dieter Bohn
I have hit a strange point in my phone-owning life, for the two years previous everyone around me had an iPhone, whilst I had a long, almost endless stream of Android phones sporting ever increasing screen sizes. I laughed and offered my magnifying glass to those still sporting 4 inch screens, but the fun didn’t last long.
I now sit with a Sony z3c compact in my hand, surrounded by 4.7inch touting iPhone users, or combinations of anything up to 6 inches for every other OS users. In a cruel twist of fate or playground law, all of the jokes I ever had for phones made for ants are now towards me. There is of cause one lesson from all this, fun sized is just fine for me (at least for phones).
Phones with 5 inches or less are considered Mini or Compact, but they are no longer sub par or compromises made in downscaled versions of their brothers. If you want something more pocketable, or have small hands you no longer have to lose out like you did with older generation handsets. They stand alone sporting specs, and price tags, that are equal – so they deserve a title, but what title?
If the Mini brand reflects less specs and a downgrade, should the ‘compact’ name be an industry standard for flagship specs in a smaller body body? Although the Xperia Z3 compact takes a step down in screen resolution, it sports the rest of the internals of its bigger brother. Wins hearts, minds and attention in a world dominated by monster pocket computers. Yes I am a little biased, so a pinch of salt all around.
The downfall of this theory is the screen on the Xperia compact line has already jumped from 4.3 inches to 4.6inches. So it’s now only a smidgen smaller than the iPhone 6. Even the Moto X ditched its market-bucking small form factor to nestle in with the rest of the heard. So maybe compact doesn’t mean small as a rule – just a bit smaller than the really big one that used to be called a phablet but is now just a phone.
We are not quite at the point of a complete split, but it’s coming. It may come sooner than we think if Apple keep pushing forward with bigger screens. That’s without Android’s continued march towards holding a TV to your ear. Manufacturers will only make what sells, and that seems to be an endless pursuit for more. The Motorola-made Nexus 6 now stretches the palm at 5.96 inches – where do we go next?
The recent HTC m9 leaks point towards adoption of a similar model to Apple: releasing a new handset alongside by a bigger (plus) version. Samsung have been do this for three years, but releasing them at different times and with different names. The Galaxy S and Note lines are more cousins than brothers.
If you spend upwards of 12 hours a day in a wheelchair, there is one thing you need to be with it, which is happy. Some need extra padding, some need a new paint job and a few accessories to make it theirs. However that just wasn’t enough for 16 year old Mohammad Sayed, he demanded more.
Already a student at NuVU in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mohammed was in the right place. Students at the ‘experimental high school’ reduce the traditional courses of English and math to complete several practice projects. Honing skills in more hands on subjects such as manufacturing, engineering and design. They have showcased projects producing alternative and more stable crutches and even a prosthetic hand that can write.
So he set to work hacking and modifying his own wheelchair using his 3D printing and design skills to completely transform his chair. Along with a few classmates they built Mohammed everything he needed – adding on a Laptop tray and a canopy with accessible storage. However showing what is possible they redesigned the chair to be propelled by a rowing motion rather than the normal pushing.
Now this may not be the first person to try a rowing wheelchair, but they are the first to make the whole process ‘cheap’ and easily available. The students claim that each part of the conversion only costs around $3 to make, all that’s needed is the metal bar to row yourself to your destination. That being said the 3D printer will set you back a fair few digits from your bank balance.
“If you are someone with atrophy and the muscles you would use to push with your biceps are getting weaker, allowing for different types of movement could mean the difference between continuing in a manual wheelchair or being forced to convert to a power wheelchair,” – Mohammad Sayed
The design is enabled with a racket system that will enable movement both backwards and forwards, although this came with several headaches. “none of us are mechanical engineers, so we went with the guess-and-check method.” added Kate Reed, 16. A true feat when considering the age and experience of some of the students.
The really shows the ability of the students given extra attention in different areas. Mohammed added that this experimental high school had helped him not just with his practical work. Sayed was open with what the school has done for him. “Before NuVu, I didn’t do well in groups, because as a creative person you always push your own ideas, Communication was sometimes a challenge, but now I’ve learned.”Projects such as this really do push things that are becoming more possible with easily available design software and a 3D printer. All of the work is being open sourced, so you could take the designs and convert your own chair with the help of a 3D printing company.
So it’s now 2015, the year of the hover board, self lacing shoes and holograms – according to Back to the Future at least. As technology continues its unrelenting march to improving, streamlining and hugely benefiting our lives, is it also time to admit we have no control over the abilities of new technology? Almost everything to we thought sacred, personal and indefinable, can be found or created by technology – including our fingerprints.
Jan Krissler took to the stage at Europe’s largest association of hackers to detail how easy it was to recreate a fingerprint. All from readily (and freely) available public photographs, he showed a proof of concept in a recreation of the digit marker contained on German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen thumb.
“Biometrics that rely on static information like face recognition or fingerprints – it’s not trivial to forge them but most people have accepted that they are not a great form of security because they can be faked,” says cybersecurity expert Prof Alan Woodward from Surrey University.
31 year old Krissler, in some strange Guardians of the Galaxy spin-off, is referred to as Starbug by the fellow members of Chaos Computer Club he was presenting to, all in the hope of showing that the fingerprint already used by the likes of Apple is insecure. However at this point it is important to note, no proof of the ability was shown. A simple demo could have been possible, but Starbug instead chose to clone a fingerprint of a pseudo celebrity.
Why he chose Ursula von der Leyen remains to be seen. Presumably this has something to do with needing a clear picture of her thumb print and also others from different angles. So with this in mind claims made that “politicians will presumably wear gloves when talking in public after hearing about his research” seems a little far fetched.
There are worries however, as Apple, HTC, and Samsung all have implemented security around your digits – all of which can be fooled by anything from latex gloves to PVA glue. Not to mention its continued use in high security buildings, laptops and computer systems.
Fingerprint scanning is also set to be adopted in a new wave of smart bank cards we reported on back in October. However the next step may be finger vein recognition, a system of “pattern-recognition techniques based on images of human finger vein patterns beneath the skin’s surface.”
This works either as a two step authentication or separate from the fingerprint, and is something already under heavy testing and inuse by Barclays business customers, as well as at cash machines in Poland and Japan. This only works with a fully functioning finger and isn’t affected by blood flow or pressure: removing the prospect of a criminal removing your digits!