Hackers initially came up with a method that requires physically opening up the case to alter the operating system, but now you can tweak the OS with just an extra microSD card and a bit of software trickery. Barnes & Noble probably won’t love the idea (doing the hack will most likely void the Nook’s warranty agreement), but you’ll wind up with a far more useful device than what you get out of the box....
Google Nest Hub Max The benefit of the Google Nest Hub Max—as opposed to, say, the Google Nest Mini—is that it has a 10-inch touchscreen display that’s perfect for video calls. Add in the stereo speakers, the 6.5-megapixel camera, and the two far-field microphones, and you’ve got everything you need to see and hear the person you want to keep in touch with. Which approach is best depends on what you and the other person are most comfortable with, but there’s plenty of choice—from wearables that detect serious falls to smart devices that let you know if someone else is feeling unwell....
Lock the door Many video meetings start with an invitation link, so guard yours carefully. Don’t put it in public social media posts, group emails, online profiles, or anywhere else it might be spotted and stolen. The details and exact settings for these safeguards vary from platform to platform, but a lot of the principles are the same, no matter which video chat app you use. Most video calling apps also give you the ability to protect your calls with a password; take advantage of this when you can and be careful about how you distribute login information to invited guests....
Most of us are aware that we need to be careful with what we post on social media, but do you know exactly who can see your recent vacation photos and status updates? Here are the privacy controls you need to know about on four of the biggest social networks. How to make your Facebook posts private Tap or click the drop-down to see more options. You can make your posts public (so anyone can see them), restrict their visibility to certain friends, or even post updates that only you can see....
Before you click record though, make sure to check the laws in your part of the world. In the U.S., many states impose a two-party consent rule. That means that both participants in the conversation must agree to record it. As of print time, those states are California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Other states have less-restrictive one-party consent laws: As long as one person in the conversation, i....
Public health officials consistently promote hand-washing as a way for people to protect themselves from the COVID-19 coronavirus. However, this virus can live on metal and plastic for days, so simply adjusting your eyeglasses with unwashed hands may be enough to infect yourself. Thus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have been telling people to stop touching their faces. We are experts in psychological science and public health....
Taking regular breaks can vastly improve your focus, according to a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study published in March 2011, and that means you and I should really be stepping away from our screens more than we are. It doesn’t matter whether you’re working or in the middle of a gaming session—breaks will help you perform better. The problem: it’s hard to remember to take some time to regroup, so you may have to force the issue....
What is a VPN? A Virtual Private Network, commonly known as a VPN, shields your online activity from the outside world by creating a remote private server that acts as a gap between you and the greater internet. In the same way that a firewall restricts outside access to your local home network, a VPN connects you to a server outside of your local network but behaves—as far as your internet service provider (ISP) or any unwanted viewers can see—as if that connection was within your local network....
Every year, Americans collectively drive vehicles for trillions of miles around the country, a habit that makes transportation one of the nation’s top sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The bulk of those emissions come from cars, vans, and other light-duty vehicles intended for general or personal use, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Reducing these emissions will require many Americans to permanently hang up their car keys and opt for public transportation....
But every cell in the body of a person with the disorder contains that variant. So the question is: How does that gene trigger a disease in skeletal muscle, rather than one in the heart or in the intestines? After all, those organs contain their own types of muscle. As research from a team of cell biologists and geneticists showed this week, many muscular disorders are caused by genes expressed not in muscle cells, but in all the support cells around them....
A new study published in NeuroImage found that separate neural pathways are used alternately for empathetic and analytic problem solving. The study compares it to a see-saw. When you’re busy empathizing, the neural network for analysis is repressed, and this switches according to the task at hand. Anthony Jack, an assistant professor in cognitive science at Case Western Reserve University and lead author of the study, relates the idea to an optical illusion....
That comparatively limited knowledge has been greatly expanded upon by researchers at Penn State University recently “reverse engineered” the musculoskeletal system of hummingbird wings to provide some of the best details yet regarding the tiny avian animals’ movements. Now, a wealth of new information is becoming available for designers of the next generation of drones. To inform their new modeling method, the team utilized a combination of preexisting anatomy literature, computational fluid dynamics simulation data, and wing movement captured via micro-CT and X-ray scans....
With an additional display allowing for faster workflow, investing in one is a smart move. But while you can always purchase a full-blown monitor, you can’t exactly bring it with you anywhere. You may want to pick up something like the UPERFECT 15.6″ Portable Monitor, which is a travel-friendly display you can take with you wherever you go. It’s on sale for just $204.99 (reg. $219). With built-in quad speakers, you won’t need to tether additional devices....
Doctors already have several ways to listen to your heart and respiratory rate. For the past two centuries, the main tool they have used has been the stethoscope, though in recent years researchers have developed more precise tools that can measure the signals constantly—pulse sensors can rest on a patient’s wrist or fingertip, for example, or electrocardiograms use electrodes to record the heart rate (healthcare workers still usually calculate respiratory rate by counting a patient’s breaths over the course of a minute)....
Go to 2:40 of this video to see why racing with worn-out tires is a bad idea: A necessary precursor to the development of the modern tire was George Goodyear’s invention of the vulcanization process–which transforms rubber into a hard and durable material–in the mid-19th century. Toward the end of the century, Irish veterinarian John Boyd Dunlop developed the first practical pneumatic tire, which encases compressed air inside a tube protected by an outer shell....
Husks of vintage film cameras and lenses litter this workbench at Camera Doctor. Owner and technician Frank Rubio has scavenged many of their components for repairs because manufacturers have either disappeared or no longer make replacement parts. When a piece like an odd-size film spool is so scarce that even the secondary market is out of stock, Rubio might hire a specialist to build one out of carbon fiber. The Midtown NYC shop fixes digital cameras, but an increasing share of its work is servicing classic shooters....
A new research project, presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting this week, documents these critters’ spread across Alaska. Their proliferation into cold forests there raises concerns about the potential for worms to rapidly change these ecosystems, eroding their ability to store carbon in leaf litter. “We have known [earthworms] as beneficial organisms in agriculture and gardening settings,” says Kyungsoo Yoo, a soil scientist at the University of Minnesota....
This case has a replaceable band in the back to help you clutch your phone, plus a protective case to protect your device from impact. It is also extremely slim, and can be wirelessly charged through. You can choose from a few fun case and band designs, mixing and matching as you please. OtterBox is known for making the toughest cases out there, and the Defender series is no exception....
Their extreme flexibility isn’t necessarily a sign of anything dangerous. But being very, very flexible can put people at risk for injuries if their bodies don’t have enough strength to stabilize their muscles as they stretch and bend. Activities like yoga, which only use a person’s body weight, can run the risk of improving flexibility without ensuring that they get stronger at the same time. “It’s not that yoga is over-stretching, it’s under-loading,” says Jules Mitchell, a yoga teacher and biomechanics specialist....
