LG has a new high-end gadget in store: a waterproof 360-degree floating Bluetooth speaker that can charge wirelessly on its own.

Bluetooth speakers have become increasingly popular because they offer more convenience and portability. While low-end Bluetooth speakers might not offer a good listening experience, higher-end ones manage to pull it off without compromising on audio quality.

The new LG PJ9 floating speaker stands out from the crowd by offering a solid listening experience, waterproof capabilities, a long battery life and a wireless charging trick that ensures the gadget won’t stop playing even when it’s low on battery.

LG PJ9 Floating Speaker

When it runs out of juice, the LG PJ9 floating speaker will simply descend on its base and charge wirelessly on its own, rather than interrupting the listening experience and requiring the owner to place it on a charging pad.

This means that even if you’re playing music when the floating speaker reaches low battery levels, your song will keep playing while the speaker descends onto its base and starts charging without requiring any user input. When fully charged, the speaker should last for up to 10 hours of continuous use.

IPX7 Rating

The LG PJ9 also sports IPX7 rating that makes it suitable for outdoor use even in the rain or at the pool, as the speaker can withstand being submerged for up to 30 meters in 1-meter-deep water. Keep in mind, however, that the floating speaker is not designed to withstand sand, dust or dirt, so you might want to think twice before taking it to the beach.

LG PJ9 Audio Quality

LG says that its new PJ9 360-degree floating speaker can blast audio of equally high quality in all directions, which is why it’s called a 360-degree speaker. The gadget sports two passive radiators for balancing middle notes and bass, while the base station doubles as a woofer.

LG PJ9 Design

LG went for a simple and clean design rather than something eccentric with its PJ9 floating speaker, building the gadget as a cylindrical device that somewhat resembles a floating microphone. Both the speaker and the base are white, and it remains unclear at this point whether LG will offer more color options.

LG will show off its new PJ9 waterproof 360-degree floating speaker next week at the CES 2017 trade show, and more information should become available then. For now, the company offered no details regarding price, release date or market availability.

Is the Google Home growing up fast enough?

As we head toward CES, we check on the progress of Google’s Echo competitor. Does it have any chance of catching up to Amazon’s Alexa?

A little over a month ago, I reviewed the Google Home and concluded that while it had a ton of potential, it wasn’t yet as versatile or useful as Amazon’s Echo — “though we expect it to improve in the days and months ahead.”

Perhaps I’m impatient, but after more than a month, I’m unimpressed by the improvements Google Home has made so far. Now, it’s still early in Google Home’s life. A month in, the Amazon Echo had nowhere near the robust library of capabilities and partners it has today. But since the Echo was first, it could afford to take its time. Google doesn’t have that luxury with the Home.

If Google Home wants to beat the Amazon Echo, it has a lot of work to do. So with 2016 near its end and CES just around the corner, here’s what Google has done to improve the Home so far, and here are the improvements I’m hoping to see at CES and beyond.

The battle so far

Both the Google Home and the Amazon Echo are always-listening speakers. Say the wake words — “OK, Google” or “Hey, Google” for the Google Home and “Alexa” for the Amazon Echo — and you can give a verbal command to the device without needing to hit any buttons. Both function as personal assistants, smart home controllers and entertainers complete with party games and jokes.

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7 ways Google Home outsmarts Alexa

The Echo launched in 2014 and became a surprise hit — it’s now sold more than 5 million units. Amazon also has a couple of other Echo products — such as the Echo Dot — that make use of its digital assistant Alexa. Google Home just launched in October, and it uses its own digital assistant, called Google Assistant, which is also built into the company’s new Pixel phones.

Google Home was obviously designed to compete directly with the Echo, but at launch, its only advantage is that it lets you control your home entertainment setup with your voice. The Echo is much better as a smart home controller and a personal assistant.

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7 reasons Alexa is better than Google Home’s built-in Assistant

Home updates: A quiet month for Google’s speaker

In the past month, I was hoping to see signs of Google aggressively pursuing its competitor with lots of new integrations and support for third-party developers. That hasn’t really happened yet.

Google has made some improvements. You can now use the Home to control Belkin WeMo products — and WeMo Insight switches are some of our favorites for a simple smart home setup. That’s the only major new smart home integration since the Home’s launch. Alexa works with Belkin too, as well as with the rest of the Home’s smart home partners — Nest, SmartThings, Philips Hue and IFTTT. Plus, Alexa works with many, many more.

Amazon has collected so many capabilities for Alexa because it lets developers do the work for it via the Alexa API. Google’s made motions to the same effect since the Home’s launch. In a blog post last week, Google announced it was expanding the capabilities of its smart home language— called Weave — allowing Weave (and hopefully Google Home by extension) to talk to more types of smart home devices.

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Everything that will work with Google Home

The announcement included several smart home companies that would be adopting Weave: Belkin WeMo, LiFX, Honeywell, Wink, TP-Link and First Alert. Hopefully the rest will follow Belkin shortly.

Perhaps more importantly, Google also announced a developer kit called Android Things. Android Things gives device makers tools to make connected products that work with Weave.

The other big updates for the Home platform — that you can control Netflix with your voice if you have a Chromecast streamer and you can control Sony speakers and TVs with Google’s smarts built in — were expected gains. The Netflix integration is particularly important. It makes using a Home to control a Chromecast exceptionally useful. Still, that integration was announced when Home launched, so Google doesn’t win many points for making that promise a reality.

Renovations ahead — what we’re looking for at CES

Google Home can do almost anything… except beat Amazon Echo

We’re hoping lots of new devices will jump on board with Google Home at CES. Weave will be expanding to other product categories beyond lightbulbs, smart plugs, switches and thermostats, and I’d certainly like to know which ones. Then, I’d hope for many corresponding announcements from smart home companies saying that they’ll now work with Google Home.

I’d like the Google Home to get better support for multiple users. Right now it can only answer questions about one person’s calendar, for example.

I’d hope to be able to purchase things via Google Home, and use it to open and close smart locks. Those functions would necessitate an extra layer of security. Perhaps you could give it a passcode after certain commands? Right now, you can only turn personal info on or off in the app. The Home offers no additional means of protecting the info it has.

Finally, a lofty goal to be sure, but the Home could actually break past Alexa by allowing push notifications. Imagine a Home voice alert if your Nest Protect smelled smoke or a Nest Cam spotted movement. That would have to be implemented carefully; no one wants a virtual nag. Alexa doesn’t offer any kind of alerts, so that could be a way for Home to start carving its own path instead of just chasing the Echo.

The nascent smart home field is inching toward mainstream awareness, and Google has a chance to chisel out a corner of the market for itself. It needs to expand the Home’s capabilities, and quickly, if Google hopes to keep up with the Amazon’s Echo platform.

Broadband internet decision welcomed by indigenous groups

WINNIPEG — As grand chief of an organization representing northern Manitoba First Nations, Sheila North Wilson has a lot of experience dealing with spotty Internet and cell phone service.

North Wilson carries two phones — one which she says works some of the time, and the other hardly at all. Some communities have dial-up Internet while others rely on a combination of phone and satellite reception. Still others have nothing.

It’s why her group, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc., welcomes the recent decision by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission to declare broadband Internet access a basic service across the country.

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• CRTC declares broadband internet a basic service, like telephone

“Not to say that technology is the end-all and the be-all, because there are some people that don’t want any part of it and are quite comfortable being away from technology in our communities,” North Wilson said.

“But for day-to-day business and accessibility to the rest of the world, it’s high time we received this connectivity in our communities.”

The aim of Canada’s telecommunications regulator is to ensure that within the next 10 to 15 years, service providers offer Internet to all households and businesses at speeds of at least 50 megabits per second for downloading data, and 10 megabits per second for uploads.

The regulator also says mobile wireless service should be made available to all households and businesses throughout Canada, as well as along all major Canadian roads.

It’s big news for Canada’s smallest towns, where slow Internet means more than just difficulty sharing cat videos.

Farming organizations have long called for improved Internet service.

A document prepared by the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan earlier this year prior listed broadband Internet and cellphone coverage amongst its issues of concern.

Producers like Leeann Minogue, who farms with her husband east of Weyburn, Sask., said in the document that people living in cities and towns don’t think twice about downloading large files or videos. But on farms, she said download speeds using towers and dishes are much slower than broadband Internet.

Minogue, who called for better service, noted things like phone and power all came to rural Saskatchewan after a fight.

The commission is giving telecom firms access to an escalating $750 million dollar industry-sponsored fund over the next five years to invest in broadband infrastructure if they guarantee a set price for service.

North Wilson said businesses in remote communities need better service.

“We have, for example many artisans or people that offer services that could be out there more if there was better connectivity,” she said.

She said residents of remote communities also need reliable Internet because government services and information are moving online.

Her organization played a role in the CRTC hearings, noting their input was mentioned a number of times in the landmark decision.

Last year, North Wilson was dealing with the deaths of three people in a house fire on the Bunibonibee Cree Nation. Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett phoned her to pass along a message of condolence to the community, but North Wilson said she didn’t get it right away.

In some communities, she said it’s likely she wouldn’t have received the message at all.

“They want to be connected, like the rest of the world, to the rest of the world,” North Wilson said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAoFv_7yl5w

Vancouver researcher believes saliva test the wave of the future in Alzheimer’s diagnosis and prediction

PAMELA FAYERMAN
More from Pamela Fayerman

Published on: December 25, 2016 | Last Updated: December 25, 2016 2:00 PM PST

A Vancouver biotech company says it has developed a simple way to help diagnose and predict the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by measuring proteins in saliva associated with the memory-robbing illness.

Dr. Pat McGeer, an 88-year old UBC professor emeritus and former B.C. cabinet minister who’s now CEO of Aurin Biotech, said his recently published research in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease shows that the test is an easy way to identify individuals with the disease, or at risk of it, because they have higher concentrations of a protein called amyloid beta protein 42 (AB42). The protein circulates through the body, but in the brain, it causes inflammation and sticky plaques leading to brain shrinkage.

While McGeer has filed a patent on the method his research team developed to preserve saliva after it’s collected, he hopes other laboratories replicate his study and commercialize a test at low cost to consumers. McGeer, who believes Alzheimer’s can be prevented through diet, anti-inflammatories and physical activity, even among those genetically predisposed, says since there are no effective treatments for Alzheimer’s, individuals could take preventive measures if they learn they have high concentrations of the AB42 in their spit sample.

“The number of cases studied (37) is small, but our results are so remarkable, we felt they should be made widely available,” said McGeer, referring to the study in mostly local volunteers. McGeer’s lab made the test kits and delivered them to study participants aged 16 to 92 who provided about a teaspoon of saliva which was collected in vials. Of the study subjects, 27 did not have AD, seven had AD, two had early-stage disease, and one had a form of senility.

Six Alzheimer’s study participants had AB42 measurements more than twice as high (41.58 to 75.20 picograms per ml) as healthy participants. A 51-year-old individual who was cognitively normal but destined to develop Alzheimer’’s because of genetic mutations, had a value of 60.90, slightly higher than the average for Alzheimer’s cases. Two other individuals, aged 52 and 60, who were also cognitively normal but at high risk for developing the disease because of family histories (mothers and other relatives), had values of 47.96 and 59.57 picograms per ml.

McGeer said brain deposits of AB42 develop at least a decade before symptoms of the disease appear, so individuals who take the test can learn if they are destined to develop it and then adopt lifestyle and behavioural preventive measures.

“That includes taking over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, drinking coffee, and sticking to a Mediterranean diet,” he said.

“Such a regimen can dramatically spare individual’s from Alzheimer disease if commenced well before the age of onset. It is remarkable that while AB42 is made at a constant rate by every organ of the body, it is the brain, and only the brain, which decompensates late in life,” he added.

There is no definitive scientific evidence about what can prevent Alzheimer’s disease but experts repeatedly suggest that a healthy lifestyle appears to be helpful.

Dr. Howard Chertkow, a neurologist at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal and Scientific Director of the research-driven Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), said he’s familiar with the concept of the test but not the latest findings. He has a few reservations about it.   

“Amyloid may not be the whole story in Alzheimer disease. There are individuals with amyloid in their brain who survive into their 90s and do not develop dementia. So a test for amyloid is far from equivalent to having an Alzheimer disease test. However, the presence of abnormal amyloid in an individual with memory problems, increases the likelihood that this is Alzheimer disease.

“Secondly, the numbers reported by Dr. McGeer are, of course, small and further larger samples are required to show that the test is indeed sensitive and specific, replicable, and reliable. However, if this is indeed shown, then a salivary test for amyloid would indeed be a major step forward in developing a biomarker for Alzheimer disease.”

Dr. Howard Feldman, a former University of B.C. Alzheimer’s expert who is now dean of Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegenerative research at the University of California in San Diego, agreed that McGeer’s work on the biomarker test is in a preliminary stage and a bigger study is required to fully validate the test. 

“Scientists have been interested in this since 2010 when it was observed that there was higher amyloid in saliva in Alzheimer disease (patients) than controls. 

He said those with high amounts of AB42 in saliva must be followed for years to see what proportion go from being normal to having Alzheimer’’s disease.

Feldman said a non-invasive, inexpensive test would, however, be welcome since diagnosing Alzheimer’s requires a combination of psychological (memory) testing, imaging studies with MRI or PET scans, assessments by neurologists and other tests. Feldman agreed with Chertkow that excess amyloid may raise suspicions but is generally not sufficient in itself for a diagnosis, so the test could be used along with other diagnosis tools.

Android’s Best Advancement This Year Is Battery Life

I used a lot of phones this year, and the battery life has been consistently good to great across the board.

For as long as I’ve used smartphones (which began in 2008 with the iPhone 3G, if we’re not counting the T-Mobile Sidekick in the early 2000s), there’s been one constant companion in my bag when I’m out for the day: an external battery pack. I’m not alone; the majority of smartphone users in Hong Kong and many other metropolitan parts of Asia carry one around at all times. That’s because smartphones can never last a heavy user like me through an entire day — until this year.

It’s 1:30am in Phuket right now, where I’m currently on vacation — happy holidays, y’all — but I had to take time to write this post because I have been out and about all day for the past 14 hours, and somehow my Huawei Mate 9 Pro still has 26% of juice without needing to top up, despite my heavy use all day, shooting videos of my paragliding, WhatsApp chatting with friends back home, keeping up with NBA games on ESPN, and posting a dozen “stories” on Instagram.

As recently as a year ago, when I juggled between the LG G4, Samsung Galaxy S6, and LG V10 as my daily drivers, I would have certainly needed to whip out the portable battery pack (which I still carry with me out of habit but has been mostly collecting dust) at around 8pm. It’s most just those phones, I have never been able to make a phone last me a full day before this year, whether it was the iPhone 4 or OnePlus One or Galaxy Note 4.

Toy makers offer more options for autistic kids

Toy sellers and makers offer more options for autistic kids

NEW YORK – Toy stores, with bright lights, loud sounds and crowded aisles, can be hard to manage for children with autism or other sensory issues. For parents, finding toys that match their kids’ skill sets and will hold their attention can be a process of trial and error. Big toy sellers and specialists are trying to provide some better options.

Caption

(Rogelio V. Solis)

Caption

(Rogelio V. Solis)

Caption

(Charles Rex Arbogast)

New Tesla Model X Easter egg wishes you a Merry Christmas

It’s the Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start for the EV ag