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Revolutionary diabetes detection via smartphone: A game-changer in healthcare

In a groundbreaking advancement, scientists from <a href="https://www.klick.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Klick Labs</a> have discovered a method that could revolutionise diabetes detection – using just a 10-second smartphone voice recording. No more travelling to clinics or waiting anxiously for blood test results. This new approach promises immediate, on-the-spot results, potentially transforming how we diagnose type 2 diabetes. The study, published in <a href="https://www.mcpdigitalhealth.org/article/S2949-7612(23)00073-1/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health</a>, involved 267 participants, including 192 non-diabetic and 75 type 2 diabetic individuals. Each participant recorded a specific phrase on their smartphone multiple times a day over two weeks, resulting in 18,465 recordings. These recordings, lasting between six and 10 seconds each, were meticulously analysed for 14 acoustic features, such as pitch and intensity. Remarkably, these features exhibited consistent differences between diabetic and non-diabetic individuals, differences too subtle for the human ear but detectable by sophisticated signal processing software. Building on this discovery, the scientists developed an AI-based program to analyse the voice recordings alongside patient data like age, sex, height and weight. The results were impressive: the program accurately identified type 2 diabetes in women 89% of the time and in men 86% of the time. These figures are competitive with traditional methods, where fasting blood glucose tests show 85% accuracy and other methods, like glycated haemoglobin and oral glucose tolerance tests, range between 91% and 92%. "This technology has the potential to remove barriers entirely," said Jaycee Kaufman, a research scientist at Klick Labs and the study's lead author. Traditional diabetes detection methods can be time-consuming, costly and inconvenient, but voice technology could change all that, providing a faster, more accessible solution. Looking ahead, the team plans to conduct further tests on a larger, more diverse population to refine and validate this innovative approach. If successful, this could mark a significant leap forward in diabetes management and overall healthcare, making early detection simpler and more accessible than ever before. Stay tuned as this exciting development unfolds, potentially bringing us closer to a future where managing and detecting diabetes is as simple as speaking into your smartphone. Image: Shutterstock

Body

The captivating winners of the Mobile Photography Awards

It turns out your smartphone camera can do much more than capture pictures of your pets, family holidays and fancy meals. These budding photographers have pushed the limits of their smartphone camera and emerged victorious in the first <a href="https://www.britishphotographyawards.org/2024-mobile-photography-awards/gallery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mobile Photography Awards</a>, launched this year by the British Photography Awards (BPA), in partnership with Samsung. Entrants submitted their snaps under categories including Portrait, Landscape, Night Scenes, Food & Drink, Pets and Zoom In, creating some of the most breath-taking pics that look as though they have been taken with a professional camera. BPA Awards Director & Photographer, Hugo Donnithorne-Tait, said, "As photography continues to develop as a medium, it is clear that the way people take and enjoy photos is changing too.' "More and more photographs today are being captured only because people have a top camera in their pocket when they need it. This means so many more of life’s moments are being documented." This year's winning photos feature a father and son sleeping side by side, a hiker atop the Scottish Highlands, the bustling London streets from above and below, a furry friend at bath time, and a few hungry seagulls. All image credits: British Photography Awards

International Travel

6 amazing things you didn’t know your phone could do

Nobody ever bought a shiny brand new smartphone and then studiously read the manual! Maybe it’s just us but unfortunately it means we’ve missed out on the secret but amazing things your smartphone can do. You don't even need to download any apps to do these nifty tricks. Here are some of our favourite ones that we’re sure will impress next time you need them. Taking a screenshot A great trick if you want to share a hilarious text, picture or Facebook post with friends or family. iPhones – SImultaneously press (but not hold) the Home button and the Sleep/Wake button (top right of phone). You should hear a shutter click as well as see a white flash. The screenshot will be located on your Camera Roll in photos. Androids - Hold down the Power button and Volume -down button at the same time for a couple of seconds. Or hold down power button and home icon at the same time. If this doesn’t work, you can hold down the power button until the option to take a screen shot appears. Taking multiple photos at once A life-saver if you are taking pictures of wriggling kids or people who blink exactly when you take the picture (there’s always someone in the group isn’t there?). This little trick lets you take multiple pictures with a single click. iPhones – In the camera app, rather than tapping capture button to take photos, hold it down. Your camera will automatically take multiple picture (around 10 pictures a second) until you release the button. Androids - In the camera app, tap the gear icon and turn on “Burst Shot” settings. Return to your camera app and hold onto the capture button. Or go to camera, select mode, auto and click on burst shots. Change text size If the tiny text on the smartphone is giving you a headache, there’s an easily solution. You can change the settings so all text on your phone is large. iPhones - Go to Settings > General > Accessibility and turn on “Larger Text.” Androids - Go to Settings > Accessibility > Vision and tap font size and set it to Large. Read to you It really seems like technology can do anything, including programming your smartphone to read to you. iPhones - Go to Settings > General > Accessibility and turn on “Speak Selection.” You can even customise the voice that speaks to you choosing from a wide range of accent including Australian. To get your phone to speak to you, highlight text (double-tapping or tapping and holding on to it) and then tap Speak button in the pop-up menu. Turn off music automatically If you are one to listen to music or audiobooks as you drift off to sleep, you can use a timer to turn it off so it doesn’t drain your battery life. iPhones - Go to the Clock app and tap on "Timer," then "When Timer Ends." From here, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the screen and select "Stop Playing." Androids - Open the music player and go to Settings. Look for "Music auto off" and set it to however long you want the music to play. Search text messages Searching for messages is handy if you are looking for a specific text containing details like addresses, emails or dates. iPhones – When you open your Message app, scroll up and a search bar should pop up at the top of all your messages. Type in the phrase you are looking for. Androids – Open the Message app and then tap on the Menu. A few options will appear and click search. Image: Shutterstock

Technology

How a smartphone app may help boost memory recall

A new study from researchers at the University of Toronto has introduced a smartphone app that can reinforce memories of life events. The app, Hippocampus, is designed to benefit people with memory impairment by imitating the function of the Hippocampus as it helps consolidate memories, working by recording life events and replaying them to lock them in as memories. Our ability to remember life events declines with age, particularly with those with diseases like Alzheimer’s. According to the study, some people were able to successfully reinforce their memories through the app. Research found that people who used it for two weeks experienced a 56% increase in their ability to recall the details of events recorded with HippoCamera. People who used it for 70 consecutive days saw an 84% increase. No one wants to forget their life experiences, and according to the study lead author Dr Chris Martin, a cognitive neuroscientist at Florida State University, “You can better recall a specific moment from your recent past, you will have a stronger mental bridge between your present and past self.” So, start brain training and download Hippocampus to improve memory and recall. Image credit: Getty

Mind

Are our phones really designed to slow down over time? Experts look at the evidence

It’s usually around this time of year you hear people complain about their phones slowing down. Apple and Google release new versions of their operating systems (OS) and suddenly there’s a slew of people <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724">claiming their old devices have started to lag</a> – conveniently just before Christmas. But do manufacturers really slow down our phones on purpose to nudge us towards shiny new ones, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/18/936268845/apple-agrees-to-pay-113-million-to-settle-batterygate-case-over-iphone-slowdowns">as has been claimed</a>? The answer to this, as usual, is complicated. Let’s take a look at the evidence. <h2>The ol’ operating system shuffle</h2> Every year, usually around <a href="https://infonewt.com/apple-release-patterns">May and June</a>, tech companies announce their new OS updates. The main news surrounding the releases is often <a href="https://www.macstories.net/stories/ios-and-ipados-15-the-macstories-overview/">new system features</a>such as <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204380">Facetime</a> enhancements, improvements to <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/7/22522993/apple-siri-on-device-speech-recognition-no-internet-wwdc">voice assistants</a>, or a <a href="https://www.wired.com/2013/06/ios7-redesign/">fancier system design</a>. But did you know these features are optimised for the new hardware traditionally released during the summer, and the chips that come with it? As such, system updates have to be programmed to work towards two goals. The first is to support the new hardware and chip, which deliver the newest features. The second is to continue to work with existing hardware that won’t support the new features. And this means coding the OS so it’s not reliant on the new features having to work. This challenge exists for desktop OSs as well, as evidenced by the recent removal of old systems <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/29/22555371/microsoft-windows-11-cpu-support-hardware-requirements-tpm-response">from the Windows 11 compatibility list</a>. Microsoft decided coding around new features was an insurmountable challenge in some instances. <h2>Hardships with hardware</h2> So your old smartphone won’t support new features – fair enough. But why does it feel like the new OS update is making existing features slower? To understand this, you need to first understand some of the mechanics of chip design. Apple used to use other manufacturers’ chips for its devices, but for the past few years has made its own custom silicon. This is referred to as a “<a href="https://anysilicon.com/what-is-a-system-on-chip-soc/">system on a chip (SoC)</a>, as the entire system exists on a single chip designed and manufactured by Apple. But even if manufacturers design their own chips, it can be hard to predict what consumers will want in the future, and thus which upgrades will come with future iterations of a device. Manufacturers have to write OS updates to suit the latest hardware, so consumers who purchase it can take advantage of the latest features. In doing so, they must work around the fact that older hardware doesn’t have the same capacity. These workarounds mean older devices will run more slowly with the new OS installed, even for tasks the system had done for years. The latest OS is not written to make your old device slower, but because it’s written for the latest device, it can’t help but run more slowly on old hardware. Examples of this abound in the industry, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/09/ios-14-on-the-iphone-6s-and-se-performance-is-fine-other-stuff-is-not/">with many articles written</a> about a newly released OS version running slow on older devices until the manufacturer optimises it (if they ever do). You might be wondering: if a new OS will slow down old phones, why install the update at all? Well, it’s because people don’t like being told to stick with old features. Apple <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/07/apple-will-let-users-stay-on-ios-14-and-receive-security-updates-even-after-ios-15-is-released/">recently allowed</a> users of its latest devices to keep the old system, but this is unusual. There is usually a <a href="https://www.popsci.com/update-every-gadget/">push for users to install new OS versions</a>. <h2>It’s all business</h2> The truth is device manufacturers are in the business to make money. And this means being able to sell new devices. While there is often an <a href="https://theconversation.com/upgrade-rage-why-you-may-have-to-buy-a-new-device-whether-you-want-to-or-not-153105">implied expectation</a> from consumers that manufacturers will commit to maintaining old products, at the same time they need to write updates that will work for their latest hardware. Meanwhile, tech companies aren’t doing enough to educate users on how to adjust their settings to get the best out of their phones, or <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/remove-bloatware-phone/">how to manage software bloat</a> which might contribute to a phone slowing down. Compounding this are other factors such as network connection issues, like when the 3G mobile network was stopped. <h2>Burden of proof</h2> There’s something else to consider, too. If an OS update was designed to intentionally slow down a phone over time, this would be very difficult to prove. The system codes are "closed source”, so experts can’t look into them. The best we can do is run timers on different processes and see if they are slowing down over time. But even if they are, is it because of a system update that can’t be supported by old hardware, or is it malicious conduct from the manufacturer? Could the code be written to force the device to sleep for half a second, every ten seconds, with a sleep command? It’s hard to say for sure, although our personal opinion is this is highly unlikely. <h2>Choose not to play</h2> Ultimately, the issue comes down to how device manufacturers sell their products. The best option for their bottom line is to deliver OS updates and features that work with the latest hardware, even if this leaves old devices behind. The evidence suggests manufacturers are not intentionally slowing phones down, but are prioritising the latest release so you’ll buy it. In the meantime, if your slow device is getting you down, the best option is to resist the urge to upgrade. You might get prompts directing you to install the latest OS version (and the frequency of these will depend on the company) but you can ignore them. There may be auto-updates which you can’t avoid, but in most cases these are for security purposes and don’t include major changes or new features. It’s only once these security updates stop coming that you should upgrade. Until then, a phone running on its original OS should, in theory, run well for a long time. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-our-phones-really-designed-to-slow-down-over-time-experts-look-at-the-evidence-170962" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Technology

Do you use predictive text? Chances are it’s not saving you time – and could even be slowing you down

Typing is one of the most common things we do on our mobile phones. A recent survey suggests that millenials spend <a href="https://www.provisionliving.com/blog/smartphone-screen-time-baby-boomers-and-millennials/">48 minutes</a> each day texting, while boomers spend 30 minutes. Since the advent of mobile phones, the way we text has changed. We’ve seen the introduction of autocorrect, which corrects errors as we type, and word prediction (often called predictive text), which predicts the next word we want to type and allows us to select it above the keyboard. Functions such as autocorrect and predictive text are designed to make typing faster and more efficient. But research shows this isn’t necessarily true of predictive text. A <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2858036.2858305">study</a> published in 2016 found predictive text wasn’t associated with any overall improvement in typing speed. But this study only had 17 participants – and all used the same type of mobile device. In 2019, my colleagues and I published <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3338286.3340120">a study</a> in which we looked at mobile typing data from more than 37,000 volunteers, all using their own mobile phones. Participants were asked to copy sentences as quickly and accurately as possible. Participants who used predictive text typed an average of 33 words per minute. This was slower than those who didn’t use an intelligent text entry method (35 words per minute) and significantly slower than participants who used autocorrect (43 words per minute). <h2>Breaking it down</h2> It’s interesting to consider the poor correlation between predictive text and typing performance. The idea seems to make sense: if the system can predict your intended word before you type it, this should save you time. In my most <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445566">recent study</a> on this topic, a colleague and I explored the conditions that determine whether predictive text is effective. We combined some of these conditions, or parameters, to simulate a large number of different scenarios and therefore determine when predictive text is effective – and when it’s not. We built a couple of fundamental parameters associated with predictive text performance into our simulation. The first is the average time it takes a user to hit a key on the keyboard (essentially a measure of their typing speed). We estimated this at 0.26 seconds, based on <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2470654.2466180">earlier research</a>. The second fundamental parameter is the average time it takes a user to look at a predictive text suggestion and select it. We fixed this at 0.45 seconds, again based on <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1240624.1240723">existing data</a>. Beyond these, there’s a set of parameters which are less clear. These reflect the way the user engages with predictive text – or their strategies, if you like. In our research, we looked at how different approaches to two of these strategies influence the usefulness of predictive text. The first is minimum word length. This means the user will tend to only look at predictions for words beyond a certain length. You might only look at predictions if you’re typing longer words, beyond, say, six letters – because these words require more effort to spell and type out. The horizontal axis in the visualisation below shows the effect of varying the minimum length of a word before the user seeks a word prediction, from two letters to ten. The second strategy, “type-then-look”, governs how many letters the user will type before looking at word predictions. You might only look at the suggestions after typing the first three letters of a word, for example. The intuition here is that the more letters you type, the more likely the prediction will be correct. The vertical axis shows the effect of the user varying the type-then-look strategy from looking at word predictions even before typing (zero) to looking at predictions after one letter, two letters, and so on. A final latent strategy, perseverance, captures how long the user will type and check word predictions for before giving up and just typing out the word in full. While it would have been insightful to see how variation in perseverance affects the speed of typing with predictive text, even with a computer model, there were limitations to the amount of changeable data points we could include. So we fixed perseverance at five, meaning if there are no suitable suggestions after the user has typed five letters, they will complete the word without consulting predictive text further. Although we don’t have data on the average perseverance, this seems like a reasonable estimate. <h2>What did we find?</h2> <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/12/graph-text.jpg" alt="" />Above the dashed line there’s an increase in net entry rate while below it, predictive text slows the user down. The deep red shows when predictive text is most effective; an improvement of two words per minute compared to not using predictive text. The blue is when it’s least effective. Under certain conditions in our simulation, predictive text could slow a user down by as much as eight words per minute. The blue circle shows the optimal operating point, where you get the best results from predictive text. This occurs when word predictions are only sought for words with at least six letters and the user looks at a word prediction after typing three letters. So, for the average user, predictive text is unlikely to improve performance. And even when it does, it doesn’t seem to save much time. The potential gain of a couple of words per minute is much smaller than the potential time lost. It would be interesting to study long-term predictive text use and look at users’ strategies to verify that our assumptions from the model hold in practice. But our simulation reinforces the findings of previous human research: predictive text probably isn’t saving you time – and could be slowing you down. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-you-use-predictive-text-chances-are-its-not-saving-you-time-and-could-even-be-slowing-you-down-170163" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Technology

Ping, your pizza is on its way. Ping, please rate the driver. Yes, constant notifications really do tax your brain

A ping from the pizza company. A couple of pings from your socials. Ping, ping, ping from your family WhatsApp group trying to organise a weekend barbecue. With all those smartphone notifications, it’s no wonder you lose focus on what you’re trying to do do. Your phone doesn’t even need to ping to distract you. There’s <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-28923-001">pretty good</a><a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/691462">evidence</a> the mere presence of your phone, silent or not, is enough to divert your attention. So what’s going on? More importantly, how can you reclaim your focus, without missing the important stuff? <h2>Is it really such a big deal?</h2> When you look at the big picture, those pings can really add up. Although estimates vary, the average person checks their phone <a href="https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/30085/1/PubSub7601_Andrews.PDF">around 85 times</a><a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/trapped-in-the-net-are-we-all-addicted-to-our-smartphones-20190531-p51t44.html">a day</a>, roughly once every 15 minutes. In other words, every 15 minutes or so, your attention is likely to wander from what you’re doing. The trouble is, it can take <a href="https://lifehacker.com/how-long-it-takes-to-get-back-on-track-after-a-distract-1720708353">several minutes</a> to regain your concentration fully after being <a href="https://www.ics.uci.edu/%7Egmark/chi08-mark.pdf">interrupted</a> by your phone. If you’re just watching TV, distractions (and refocusing) are no big deal. But if you’re driving a car, trying to study, at work, or spending time with your loved ones, it could lead to some fairly substantial problems. <h2>Two types of interference</h2> The pings from your phone are “exogenous interruptions”. In other words, something external, around you, has caused the interruption. We can <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-46276-9_21">become conditioned</a> to feeling excited when we hear our phones ping. This is the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1360-0443.2002.00015.x">same pleasurable feeling</a> people who gamble can quickly become conditioned to at the sight or sound of a poker machine. What if your phone is on silent? Doesn’t that solve the ping problem? Well, no. That’s another type of interruption, an internal (or endogenous) interruption. Think of every time you were working on a task but your attention drifted to your phone. You may have fought the urge to pick it up and see what was happening online, but you probably checked anyway. In this situation, we can become so strongly conditioned to expect a reward each time we look at our phone we don’t need to wait for a ping to trigger the effect. These impulses are powerful. Just reading this article about checking your phone may make you feel like … checking your phone. <h2>Give your brain a break</h2> What do all these interruptions mean for cognition and wellbeing? There’s increasing evidence push notifications are associated with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853217300159">decreased productivity</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958820300051">poorer concentration</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0927537116300136">increased distraction</a> at work and school. But is there any evidence our brain is working harder to manage the frequent switches in attention? One study of people’s brain waves <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/cin/2016/5718580/">found</a> those who describe themselves as heavy smartphone users were more sensitive to push notifications than ones who said they were light users. After hearing a push notification, heavy users were significantly worse at recovering their concentration on a task than lighter users. Although push notification interrupted concentration for both groups, the heavy users took much longer to regain focus. Frequent interruptions from your phone can also leave you <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563219302596">feeling stressed</a> by a need to respond. Frequent smartphone interruptions are also associated with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131519301319">increased FOMO</a> (fear of missing out). If you get distracted by your phone after responding to a notification, any subsequent <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2050157921993896">procrastination</a> in returning to a task can also leave you feeling guilty or frustrated. There’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563219300883">certainly evidence</a> suggesting the longer you spend using your phone in unproductive ways, the lower you tend to rate your wellbeing. <h2>How can I stop?</h2> We know switching your phone to silent isn’t going to magically fix the problem, especially if you’re already a frequent checker. What’s needed is behaviour change, and that’s hard. It can take several attempts to see lasting change. If you have ever tried to quit smoking, lose weight, or start an exercise program you’ll know what I mean. Start by turning off all non-essential notifications. Then here are some things to try if you want to reduce the number of times you check your phone: <ul> <li> charge your phone overnight in a different room to your bedroom. Notifications can prevent you falling asleep and can repeatedly rouse you from essential sleep throughout the night </li> <li> interrupt the urge to check and actively decide if it’s going to benefit you, in that moment. For example, as you turn to reach for your phone, stop and ask yourself if this action serves a purpose other than distraction </li> <li> try the <a href="https://www.themuse.com/advice/take-it-from-someone-who-hates-productivity-hacksthe-pomodoro-technique-actually-works#:%7E:text=The%20Pomodoro%20Technique%20is%20a,are%20referred%20to%20as%20pomodoros">Pomodoro method</a> to stay focused on a task. This involves breaking your concentration time up into manageable chunks (for example, 25 minutes) then rewarding yourself with a short break (for instance, to check your phone) between chunks. Gradually increase the length of time between rewards. Gradually re-learning to sustain your attention on any task can take a while if you’re a high-volume checker. </li> </ul> Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/ping-your-pizza-is-on-its-way-ping-please-rate-the-driver-yes-constant-notifications-really-do-tax-your-brain-193952" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Technology

How to make your phone or tablet battery last longer

There’s nothing more frustrating than having your phone or tablet run out of battery when you need it most. Batteries of today seem to be draining at a more rapid pace… but rather than lugging your charger everywhere with you, here are a few easy ways you can help your device last the distance. Screen brightness The brighter your screen the more power it consumes. Lower the brightness levels slightly (your eyes will adjust) or change it to auto-brightness which will enable your phone to automatically adjust to the optimal level of brightness while conserving battery. GPS The GPS is a great feature in ensuring you’ll never get lost again. However, it also needs a substantial amount of battery power to function. It’s one of the biggest consumers of power so if you’re not using it switch it off. Wi-fi Keeping your wi-fi turned on at all time when not connected will quickly drain your battery. It’s because your phone is constantly trying to search for a wi-fi network to join so if you’re not using wi-fi switch it off. Just remember to turn it on again when you’re connected to a known wi-fi network like one at home otherwise it will eat up your data. Bluetooth Bluetooth is a convenient and useful feature in connection to other devices wirelessly but it also drains your power. Only switch it on when you know you’re using it. Apps We tend to have many apps running in the background that we’ve simply forgotten we opened up. But if apps are open they will be using battery power. Close the ones you’re not using. Turn it off It’s the most obvious solution and the most effective. If you know you’re not going to be using your phone for a few of hours (like when you’re watching a movie or going to bed) switching it off will stop any energy consumption. Image: Getty Images

Technology

How to save a phone that gets wet

Whether it’s a spilt glass of water, a soaking in the rain or a slip from the back pocket…straight into the toilet, a waterlogged phone usually signals the end of the phones life. But before forking out for a new one this easy trick just might save your wet phone. While there’s no guarantee that all wet phones can be saved as water damage varies from cases to case, these five easy steps will greatly improve its chances of survival. 1. Turn it off Don’t waste any time, turn off your phone immediately – yes, even before drying it off! You want to cut the power before the water has any chance to short circuit your phone. Don’t press any other buttons though as it could let residual moisture seep further into your phone. 2. Take out the parts It’s not always possible but if your phone disassembles take out the battery, memory card, SIM and any other removable parts. 3. Wipe it Give your phone and the parts a wipe with a clean dry towel focusing on cracks, ports, speakers and microphones on your phone. 4. Stick it in a desiccant A desiccant is a substance that soaks up moisture like uncooked rice or those silica gel packets found in shoes and bags. Stick your phone in a sealed container filled with your chosen desiccant. Many people have found rice (instant, white or even cous cous) has worked wonders for their phone in soaking up the moisture. An airtight container is essential so the desiccant can absorb moisture only from your phone not the outside air. 5. Wait it out Let your phone sit in the desiccant for at least 24 hours although two or three days is recommended. Move it around the container every few hours in case water is lodged inside. If you’re one of the lucky ones, your phone will power up like new but if not it might be time to get it repaired or replaced. Good luck! Image: Getty Images

Technology

COVID-19 virus-detecting mask can alert of exposure via your smartphone

Move over <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/covid/rise-of-rapid-antigen-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">inaccurate RATs</a>. Get out of my nose and throat PCR swab tests. There’s a new method of COVID-19 detection and it’s wearable. A research team from Tongji University in China, has created a face mask that can detect COVID-19 (as well as other common respiratory viruses such as colds and influenza) and send an alert to your smartphone. The mask is highly sensitive, with the inbuilt sensor able to detect the virus <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/lets-clear-the-air-on-ventilation-cosmos-weekly-taster/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in the air</a> after only ten minute’s exposure at extremely low concentrations – far less than produced by sneezing, coughing or talking. “Previous research has shown face mask wearing can reduce the risk of spreading and contracting the disease. So, we wanted to create a mask that can detect the presence of virus in the air and alert the wearer,” says Yin Fang, an author of the study and a material scientist at Shanghai Tongji University. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p214217-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> </div> </div> The sensor on the mask has tiny synthetic molecules – called ‘aptamers’ – which are able to be tweaked to detect proteins unique to specific pathogens, such as SARS-Cov-2, H5N1 (colloquially known as ‘bird flu’) and H1N1 (‘swine flu’). Once the aptamer detects the virus, the sensor amplifies the signal via a specialised component known as an <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344400852_Ion-Gated_Transistor_An_Enabler_for_Sensing_and_Computing_Integration" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ion-gate transistor</a> (which is highly sensitive and able to detect very low voltage signals) and sends an alert to the user’s phone. “Our mask would work really well in spaces with poor ventilation, such as elevators or enclosed rooms, where the <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/covid-ventilation-standards/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">risk of getting infected is high</a>,” Fang says. The device is also highly customisable and can be swiftly modified to detect new and emerging threats. This is not the first time <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/smart-masks-to-detect-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘smart masks’ have been created</a> to detect COVID-19, but what sets these devices apart is their sensitivity and ‘tunability’ to different viruses. The team is working on reducing the detection time and increasing the sensitivity of their devices. In the future, they hope the technology could be expanded to further applications and wearables for other conditions such as cancers and heart diseases. “Currently, doctors have been relying heavily on their experiences in diagnosing and treating diseases. But with richer data collected by wearable devices, disease diagnosis and treatment can become more precise,” Fang says. <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=214217&title=COVID-19+virus-detecting+mask+can+alert+of+exposure+via+your+smartphone" width="1" height="1" /> <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/covid-19-detecting-mask-smartphone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/clare-kenyon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clare Kenyon</a>. Clare Kenyon is a science journalist for Cosmos. An ex-high school teacher, she is currently wrangling the death throes of her PhD in astrophysics, has a Masters in astronomy and another in education. Clare also has diplomas in music and criminology and a graduate certificate of leadership and learning. Image: Getty Images </div>

Technology

Wearable technology for plants can help us tell when they’re thirsty

Unlike humans, plants can’t just speak up when they’re parched. And unfortunately for them the visual signs of dehydration, such as shrivelled or browning leaves, don’t show up until most of their moisture is gone. To overcome this communication barrier, nanotechnologists have created a <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/materials/new-transistor-shows-promise-for-wearable-tech/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wearable technology</a> for plant leaves that senses and wirelessly transmits data to a smartphone app, reported in a <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsami.2c02943" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">new study</a> in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. The electrodes come in two different patterns to satisfy your plant fashion needs – one made of nickel deposited in a narrow, squiggly shape, and the other cut from partially burnt paper coated in a waxy film, though the nickel-based electrodes perform better. This plant-wearable technology could help farmers and gardeners to remotely monitor their plants’ health, including leaf water content, which is a key marker of metabolism and drought stress, kind of like how physicians can monitor and assess their patients’ health with a smartwatch. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p190363-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> </div> </div> The researchers created the two types of electrodes and stuck them onto soybean leaves with clear adhesive tape. They found that the nickel electrodes adhered more strongly in the wind (from a fan) – likely because the thin squiggly design of the metallic film allowed more tape to connect with the hairy leaf surface – and also produced larger signals as the leaves dried out. Next, they a created a plant-wearable device with the nickel electrodes and attached it to a living plant in a greenhouse. As the device shared data to a smartphone app and website, a simple, fast machine-learning technique successfully converted these data to the percentage of water content lost. The researchers say that monitoring water content on leaves can indirectly provide information on exposure to pests and toxic agents. Because the plant-wearable technology provides reliable data indoors, they now plan to test the devices in outdoor gardens and crops to determine when plants need to be watered, potentially saving resources, and increasing yields. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div class="entry-content-asset"> <div class="embed-wrapper"> <div class="inner"><iframe title="A new wearable technology — for plants (video)" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i864_c0fvVg?feature=oembed" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> </div> </div> </div> </figure> <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=190363&title=Wearable+technology+for+plants+can+help+us+tell+when+they%E2%80%99re+thirsty" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /> <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/wearable-technology-for-plants/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/imma-perfetto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Imma Perfetto</a>. Imma Perfetto is a science writer at Cosmos. She has a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Science Communication from the University of Adelaide. Image: American Chemical Society (YouTube) </div>

Technology

Smartphone security: everything you need to know to keep your phone safe

Smartphone safety Considering our smartphones are now home to everything from emergency contacts to banking information, keeping those assets out of the wrong hands is more important than ever. Read on for all the mobile security threats you need to be on the alert for and what steps experts recommend you take to protect your device. The key principles of smartphone security No matter which type of smartphone you have, these are the four main security issues you should be mindful of. Virus protection: Like your laptop or desktop, phones are susceptible to hacking and viruses. Smartphone privacy: Whether it’s a nosy partner, friend, co-worker, or a hacker who is up to no good, maintaining your privacy on your device is paramount. Phone security: Your phone is often your lifeline and increasingly serves as your digital wallet, which makes it a top target for thieves. Personal data collection: Apps and even your phone itself are always trying to glean information about you. Find out how much is too much and how you can control what information is – and isn’t – shared about you. Phone security best practices: 1. Ignore and avoid phishing attacks Hackers and digital thieves are becoming craftier than ever in an attempt to steal the keys to your identity. Once you’re aware of their tricks and know about the latest scams, you won’t fall victim or mistakenly download a virus to your phone. Your first line of defence: immediately delete any questionable emails or texts and learn how to stop spam texts altogether. 2. Use antivirus for phones Did you know that even with the latest iPhone security updates, <a href="https://www.rd.com/article/can-iphones-get-viruses/">iPhones can get viruses</a>, too? Android users will want to know the ins and outs of <a href="https://www.rd.com/article/google-play-protect/">Google Play Protect</a>. If you should accidentally download a virus, we have you covered for that as well and can fill you in on <a href="https://www.rd.com/article/remove-virus-android-phone/">how to remove hidden malware on an Android phone</a>. Of course, investing in a secure phone is essential to preventing security problems in the first place. 3. Secure your message to maintain privacy Whether you’re in a career that demands privacy or you’re simply planning a surprise birthday party for a friend, you’ll want to know about these strategies for keeping your texts and phone calls secure. <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.rd.com/article/how-to-hide-text-messages-on-an-iphone/" target="_blank">Start by learning how to hide text messages on an iPhone.</a> Then consider if you need an <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.rd.com/article/encrypted-phones/" target="_blank">encrypted phone</a> – find out what this buzzword actually means and why and how to encrypt your iPhone or Android phone. The most secure messaging apps are a must for anyone with privacy concerns. 4. Manage your app permissions Your smartphone and the apps you download to your phone know a lot about you, sometimes even too much. One of the quickest ways to keep your personal information private is by paying attention to your app permissions. For example, does your rideshare app really need access to your contact list or your calendar? Both iPhones and Androids have made it easier than ever to control app permissions, but you still need to do your homework in order to limit them to the ones the app truly needs. 5. Lock your phone According to a 2017 Pew Report, almost 30 percent of smartphone owners do not even use a screen lock or other security features; yet the easiest and most obvious way to keep your phone protected is to regularly lock your home screen and use two-factor authentication. Additionally, experts recommend that you go the extra mile, so make sure you don’t have a weak password and learn how to lock apps on your phone. 6. Be wary of public Wi-Fi Sure, it can be convenient to check your email while waiting for your train or bus and you may occasionally go to the coffee shop down the street to work. But logging on to an open Wi-Fi network could potentially open your device up to hackers – if you’re not careful. 7. Use a recovery app to find a lost phone A lost or stolen iPhone may feel like the worst thing in the world that can happen, but there are steps you can take immediately to protect yourself and your information. Plus the built-in Find My iPhone app can help you reconnect with your lost phone. Don't jailbreak or root your device Finally, experts strongly recommend against jailbreaking your iPhone or rooting your Android. Jailbreaking is the term used to describe hacking into Apple’s mobile operating system iOS and tweaking it so you can customise the appearance and performance of your iPhone. When similar modifications are made to an Android smartphone, the process is called rooting. Why? Even though jailbreaking your phone may seem appealing, no customisation is worth making your phone vulnerable to hacking or other viruses. Bottom line While iPhone and Android are constantly employing better and more sophisticated security measures, at the end of the day, keeping your phone and personal data safe is largely up to you. If you get a suspicious scam text or an iPhone virus warning, think twice before automatically clicking on any links to open it. Look to see if there are any telltale misspellings? Does the URL start with “https:”? And remember, that Apple (and other legitimate companies, such as your bank) will never ask for your password in a text message. Common sense will always be your best defence. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/science-technology/smartphone-security-everything-you-need-to-know-to-keep-your-phone-safe?pages=1">Reader's Digest</a>.

Technology

6 smartphone repairs you shouldn’t pay someone to fix

Restore your charge If your phone won’t charge when plugged in, the cord might not be the problem. The charging port often accumulates lint and debris from your pockets and bags, which can block the connecting pins, causing it to charge more slowly or not at all. Fortunately, there’s a low-tech solution. “You can use a safety pin and run it around the inside of the port on your phone to clear it out,” recommends Shayne Sherman, CEO of TechLoris. “If your phone isn’t charging, give this a try before buying a new cord.” You can also use a flat toothpick to remove anything that’s blocking the pins that connect to the charging cable. Clean up fuzzy noise Turned off by inferior sound when you plug speakers into your headphone jack? Just like with your charging port, dirt or debris can cause your device to stop turning on or prevent you from hearing your phone calls, says Liz Hamilton, director of People and Customers at Mobile Klinik, a mobile phone repair business. “Cleaning out your ports can be done carefully with a few quick blasts of compressed air to the area, or even with a cotton bud (remove some of the cotton if you have to get it to fit) and use a high alcohol content cleaner to wipe out the area,” Hamilton says. Replace a shattered screen This one is only for the DIY-confident. “If you’re tech-savvy and willing to risk your expensive device that has many fragile and tiny parts, you can probably fix a screen yourself,” Hamilton says. But you’ll need the right tools for this smartphone repair job, she adds. And it’s easier to replace the screen on some devices than others. For iPhones, for example, iFixit.com recommends applying some heat to soften the adhesive, keeping the screen on, and using opening picks to slice the adhesive apart in order to carefully pry the screen off. That said, replacing a cracked screen is more involved on Android devices such as the Samsung Galaxy series, says Craig Lloyd of iFixit. For example, you’ll need to take the back glass panel off first, which adds steps and complexity to the repair. You’ll probably need to invest in a new case, too. Resurrect a soaked phone If your phone takes an unexpected swim, don’t follow the common wisdom to place it in a bag of rice. As it absorbs water, the rice can get gummy and stick in your phone’s ports. Rice is good for absorbing external moisture, but it could miss some internal moisture that could continue to harm your phone. Instead, the first thing you should do for smartphone repair is simply remove the phone from the water source and turn it off immediately. “Let it dry completely before attempting to turn it back on,” Lloyd says. “You can use a blow dryer on a cool setting to help dry out ports and such.” Some experts also recommend hoarding the packets of silica gel that come with shoes and keeping them in an airtight container (to prevent them from absorbing moisture). Then, when your phone takes a dive, placing it in that same airtight container allows those little packets to work their magic. If your phone still isn’t working, though, many experts recommend that the safest bet for water damage is to turn off your phone and take it to a professional. “Good professionals will give you a free diagnosis and quote before any work is done and the best professionals won’t charge you if they can’t fix it, regardless of the efforts they take to save your device,” Hamilton says. Replace the battery Wouldn’t it be great if it were as easy to replace the batteries in your phone as it is to switch out the ones in your remote control? Unfortunately, batteries are glued down in most phones, so replacing them is more of an involved process for smartphone repair. iFixit has detailed instructions to replace the battery in a Samsung Galaxy. Putting in a new battery is easier in iPhones, however, because they have handy pull tabs on the adhesive that makes battery removal a bit easier, Lloyd says. You should be aware, however, that opening your phone will void your warranty. Many phone manufacturers (including Apple) will replace your phone battery for free if it’s still under warranty, and for a small fee even if it’s not. Improve a mediocre lens Have you always dreamed of taking super-clear photos or having the ability to focus in close on flowers or faces? You need a macro lens! Sadly, most phone cameras don’t come with one. You could buy one, or you could use this neat trick to improve your camera for free. Get that DVD player you don’t use any more (thanks, streaming) and salvage the lens: It’s the little piece that guides the disc-reading laser. Dig out the glue to free the lens. You can either place it over your phone camera and secure it with some putty, or put it on some tape, cut a hole, and simply stick it over the lens. This will give you such extreme focus that you can even see the cell structure of an onion! Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.co.nz/true-stories-lifestyle/science-technology/6-smartphone-repairs-you-shouldnt-pay-someone-to-fix">Reader's Digest</a>.

Technology

How do Wi-Fi and hotspots work?

<div class="copy"> If you’re reading this article on your smartphone or laptop, it’s more than likely you’re connected to a wireless router. No need for bulky cables – just pick the wireless signal you want and the World Wide Web is at your fingertips. This is all thanks to the power of Wi-Fi. So how does it actually work? If you wanted to connect to the internet before Wi-Fi (which, by the way, doesn’t stand for wireless fidelity – it doesn’t actually stand for anything) you needed a cable known as an ethernet cable. This cable converts 1s and 0s of binary, the language of computers, into electrical signals which are sent down a wire and converted back into binary by the computer. But in the case of Wi-Fi, those electrical signals are converted by a router to radio waves that carry the electrical signal to the computer, where they’re converted to binary again. Information is sent as lots of small packets that are then stitched together. The process also works in reverse. If you need to send an email, your computer or smartphone shoots radio waves to the router. The radio waves are very similar to those used in mobile phones, walkie-talkies and other devices. So how can radio waves carry the amount of information needed to watch a high-resolution cat video? It’s true: the amount of information transmitted to make a phone call (audio) is far less than to watch an online video (audio and visual). This boils down to the radio wave frequency. Wi-Fi uses either 2.4 gigahertz or 5 gigahertz – far higher than those used by mobile phones at less than 1 gigahertz. A higher frequency means more radio waves – and more data – can be packed into a given space. The trade-off is that the waves can’t travel as far and are heavily influenced by nearby objects, including other Wi-Fi signals. That’s why your Wi-Fi signal gets weaker the more walls you put between your computer and router. You can get around this by linking lots of routers together to boost the signal. This is how the internet hotspots found in places such as cafes, universities and office buildings manage to reach out across multiple levels and large distances. For instance, the University of Twente in the Netherlands has a hotspot covering 1.4 square kilometres. It combines more than 600 individual routers from one massive signal that all students and staff can access at the same time. Image credits: Shutterstock  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=12344&title=How+do+Wi-Fi+and+hotspots+work%3F" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  </div> <div id="contributors"> This article was originally published on cosmosmagazine.com and was written by Jake Port. </div>

Technology

Cracking the code of unbreakable phone screens

<div class="copy"> Unbreakable phone screens might seem too good to be true, but some chemical engineers reckon they’ve cracked the secret, developing a new material that combines glass with nanocrystals to make a resilient screen that would produce high-quality images in phones, LEDs and computers. The breakthrough substance could even be used to make phone screens that double as solar panels. The technology revolves around <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/overcoming-atomic-level-perovskite-defects/" target="_blank">perovskites</a>: nanometre-sized crystals that have a range of exciting electrical properties, making them prime candidates for better solar cells, LEDs and touchscreens. While perovskites have had a few early commercial successes, their physical properties have mostly stopped them from getting far out of the lab. “The stability of perovskites is the most difficult challenge which has hindered their commercialisation,” says Professor Lianzhou Wang, a materials scientist at the University of Queensland and co-author on a paper describing the research, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abf4460" target="_blank">published</a> in Science. Lead author Dr Jingwei Hou, also from UQ, says the material is “super sensitive to almost everything – oxygen, water, gas, temperature, and even sensitive to light. “I think it’s a fantastic material, but it doesn’t really make sense if we want to use it on a solar panel, or display, if it’s sensitive to light.” The researchers have overcome this sensitivity by figuring a way to encase lead-halide perovskites in glass. “We created a lot of very small, nano-sized pores within the glass,” explains Hou. “That offers a very nice host material environment for the perovskite. “If we just put those very small nanocrystals within the pores, they will be not only stabilised against all of the external environment…it also makes the perovskite somewhere between 100 to 1000 times more efficient.” At the level of nanometres, the material resembles a chocolate chip cookie. “The perovskite nanocrystals are the chocolate chips, and the glass surrounds them,” says Hou. The material is also much more durable than normal glass. “Conventional glass is so brittle [because] it’s really dense. If you zoom in and look at the molecular structure, it’s silicon, aluminium, oxygen – very densely packed atoms,” says Hou. “Once you apply any pressure or any mechanical force to it, there’s no way to get it relaxed, and that’s what leads to the breakage of chemical bonds.” The pores, on the other hand, allow the glass to absorb more stress. “This is really a kind of platform technology,” says Hou. “The pore size can be tuned, the chemistry can be tuned. So that means it can be used to host a different type of perovskite.” In the paper, the international team of researchers – who are based at the University of Leeds and the University of Cambridge in the UK, and Université Paris-Saclay in France – demonstrate several different types of “lead halide perovskite and metal-organic framework glasses”, all of which they’ve been able to create. As well as their potential applications in screens and LEDs, the glasses could be used to make higher-quality X-ray images and more efficient solar panels. “We’re looking at trying to combine a solar panel with a display,” says Hou. “Think about mobile phones, for example – when you use it, it will become a display. When you don’t use it, put it in the sunlight, it will charge the battery. So it’s one device for two functions.” Manufacture of the material is scalable, according to Hou, and the researchers are currently looking at building prototype devices with it. “We’re really confident that we’ll be able to generate devices in the next stage,” says Hou. “We are also looking for some industrial collaborators who are really interested in bringing this exciting material into the real world.” Image credits: Shutterstock  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=171112&title=Cracking+the+code+of+unbreakable+phone+screens" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  </div> <div id="contributors"> This article was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/materials/unbreakable-phone-screens/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Ellen Phiddian. </div>

Technology

How new smartphone tech will help diagnose mental health issues

Apple is reportedly working on new technology that could be used to diagnose mental health conditions such as depression and cognitive decline. In collaboration with the biotech Biogen, Apple is hoping to utilise their digital sensors to their potential, which already include heart, sleep and activity monitoring through the Apple Watch and iPhone. Researchers told the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-wants-iphones-to-help-detect-depression-cognitive-decline-sources-say-11632216601">Wall Street Journal</a> they will be able to use data from iPhone sensors to track digital signals that are linked to mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression, and feed them into an algorithm. This should be able to predict depression and other conditions and form the basis of new features in a future version of Apple's operating system. The research is an amalgamation of two research projects that involve tracking Apple devices to predict mental health habits. One project, codenamed ‘Seabreeze’, explores stress and anxiety-induced tendencies in partnership with Apple. The other, codenamed ‘Pi’, has set out to further analyse mild cognitive impairment. As the projects remain in their early stages, Apple has yet to officially confirm if they will result in new iPhone features. To effectively diagnose a mental health condition, an individual requires close monitoring by experts to look for changes in behaviour from the norm. The data analysed by these projects include monitoring facial expressions, how often users speak, how often they go for a walk, how well they sleep as well as heart and breathing rates. People 'close to the study' told the WSJ they may also be looking at the speed of typing, frequency of typos, content they type and other points. All of these habits are thought to be “digital signals” that can hint at mental health issues. Image credit: Shutterstock

Technology

Researchers discover dangerous spyware being used to hack messages

The recent hacking of a Saudi activist’s phone has alerted smartphone users to the dangers of messaging applications. These apps, such as iMessage or WhatsApp, are the latest software targeted by hackers to steal private information. All it takes is a simple call through these systems to infiltrate a device, even if the person doesn’t answer. Apple has recently issued an update saying they intend to resolve the loophole in iMessage, but there are still growing concerns over the ease of hacking through messaging software. The latest research into cyber security was published by Citizen Lab, after the phone belonging to the anonymous activist was hacked using the Pegasus surveillance tool. Pegasus – created by NSO Group, a global cyber security organisation based in Israel – is the world’s most powerful spyware tool. Previous versions of Pegasus have deployed malicious software that could infiltrate devices without users needing to click on anything for the hacking to take place. Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton told <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/hacking/researchers-find-new-pegasus-spyware-hack-targeting-imessage-on-saudi-activists-iphone/news-story/dc5ed151272805b8a2eb62e7b5f332d6">The Washington Post</a> that the hack on the Saudi activist’s phone showed that messaging apps were the weak spot. “Chat programs are quickly becoming a soft underbelly of device security,” he said. Pegasus has previously been investigated by cyber experts and journalists after political figures, business leaders and human rights activists have all been targeted. The latest finding is expected to heap pressure on the Israeli government who have previously said they will investigate NSO Group. Image credit: Shutterstock

Technology

Insights from Morocco into how smartphones support migration

For undocumented migrants and refugees travelling to new countries, accurate information is vital. Because of this, smartphones – mobile phones that perform many of the functions of a computer, like accessing the internet – have become an important tool. They give migrants access to applications such as Google maps, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter. These can provide them with information from social media and close contacts. In a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.13.1.0062?seq=1">recent study</a>, my colleague Filippo Bignami and I investigated the role of smartphones in irregular migration. We wanted to know how they helped migrants reach their destination and what kind of information migrants accessed using them. Our focus was on sub-Saharan migrants arriving in Morocco, specifically in the city of Fès, on their way to Europe. We found that smartphones supported migration flows by providing migrants with access to online information before and during travel and when they arrived at their destination country. They affected their migration routes and choice of final destination. They also helped migrants to share information with each other. The smartphones were equally used by traffickers. They allowed them to contact prospective irregular migrants and provide them with information. From what we’ve seen, smartphones are being increasingly used to minimise risks and address migration challenges. Policymakers can use this information to better support their journey, and ensure their safety, by engaging them through smartphone applications. Meeting migrants We first investigated how the use of smartphones and social media influenced migration journeys. Then we explored how they influenced decisions regarding their final destinations. Finally we looked at how they affected the financing of migration. To do this, we conducted interviews with 27 migrants from January 2017 until March 2018 and followed them for a period between 4 and 8 months. We met the migrants in the neighbourhoods where they lived, in streets, and cafes. They gave us information about their use of technology, migratory routes, demographic and socio-economic profiles, daily lives, relations with society and their migratory project. It made sense for us to focus our study on Morocco which, since the mid-2000s, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/26/hundreds-storm-border-fence-spanish-enclave-north-africa-ceuta-spain-migration">has been</a> a transit country for many refugees and African migrants wishing to reach Europe. They do this either through the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, or through the Canary Islands. It’s <a href="https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/125569/Naama_Mbarek_Helsinki.pdf?sequence=1">estimated</a> that migrants come from over 10 countries in Africa, in particular; Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Congo and Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Guinea, Benin, Ghana, Niger, and Cameroon. According to <a href="https://www.hcp.ma/file/217998/">Morocco’s Statistics Office</a>, between 15,000 and 25,000 African migrants enter Morocco each year. Many aren’t able to complete the trip, and stay in Morocco, but each year it’s believed that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40504374">over</a> 8,000 irregular sub-Saharan migrants cross to Spain. Influence of smartphones We found that the intention to migrate was significantly influenced by mobile technologies in addition to the traditional push-factors, such as conflict, civil war, economic hardship, and family impact. Smartphones made the process relatively faster and smoother. They guided migrants in their quest to reach their destinations. For instance, they used Google to access news or maps which provided them with information on the directions to take to reach their destination country. These applications could also show when the best time, or place, was for border crossings. If migrants were in difficulty or lost they could use the phones to ask for help. They used specific applications like WhatsApp or Messenger for communication. These apps were also key for the migrants to stay in touch with family, friends and traffickers. Aside from emotional support, this was an important way in which migrants could continue to finance their travels. As one interviewee stated: “When I need money I make a call to my parents through WhatsApp, and they send it via Western Union really fast.” The phones also provided for cooperation and communication between migrants. They helped each other choose the safest routes and share other information. The accessibility of smartphones made some migrants more confident and independent. Because of their access to information, some were making their journeys without smugglers. When they reached their destination, the sharing of news and photos about their journey – and how they managed to cross borders – motivated more young people to migrate. And it’s not just migrants that use them. Smartphones allowed traffickers to recruit prospective immigrants and quickly disseminate information. New opportunities We have seen evidence of how mobile technologies are transforming societies, migration processes, migrants’ lives, their social aspirations, and migration movements. This information could be used to develop policies to protect migrants’ rights and to support migrants’ participation and integration. Such knowledge is a good starting point for policy-making to revise the current regulations, so as to integrate the migrants in education, health care and housing facilities, the job market, and other sectors. Thus, smartphones and social media are reshaping not only migration movements but also migration policies with the daily use of mobile technologies. Moha Ennaji‘s most recent books are “Managing Cultural Diversity in the Mediterranean Region” and “Muslim Moroccan Migrants in Europe”. Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/moha-ennaji-333834">Moha Ennaji</a>, Université Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/insights-from-morocco-into-how-smartphones-support-migration-147513">The Conversation.</a>

Travel Tips

Robots and drones: The new age of toys

I’m a geek. And as a geek, I love my tech toys. But over time I’ve noticed toys are becoming harder to understand. Some modern toys resemble advanced devices. There are flying toys, walking toys, and roving toys. A number of these require “configuring” or “connecting”. The line between toy, gadget and professional device is blurrier than ever, as manufacturers churn out products including <a href="https://www.t3.com/features/best-kids-drones">drones for kids</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Spy-Nanny-Camera-Wi-fi/dp/B07P7BCYZT">plush toys with hidden nanny cams</a>. With such a variety of sophisticated, and sometimes over-engineered products, it’s clear manufacturers have upped their game. But why is this happening? The price of tech Toys these days seem to be designed with two major components in mind. It’s all about the smarts and rapid manufacture. In modern toys, we see a considerable level of programmed intelligence. This can be used to control the toy’s actions, or have it respond to input to provide real time feedback and interaction – making it appear “smarter”. This is all made possible by the falling price of technology. Once upon a time, placing a microcontroller (a single chip microprocessor) inside a toy was simply uneconomical. These days, they’ll <a href="https://au.rs-online.com/web/c/semiconductors/processors-microcontrollers/microcontrollers/">only set you back a few dollars</a> and allow significant computing power. Microcontrollers are often WiFi and Bluetooth enabled, too. This allows “connected” toys to access a wide range of internet services, or be controlled by a smartphone. Another boon for toy manufacturers has been the rise of prototype technologies, including 3D modelling, 3D printing, and low cost CNC (computer numerical control) milling. These technologies allow the advanced modelling of toys, which can help design them to be “tougher”. They also allow manufacturers to move beyond simple (outer) case designs and towards advanced multi-material devices, where the case of the toy forms an active part of the toy’s function. Examples of this include hand grips (found on console controls and toys including Nerf Blasters), advanced surface textures, and internal structures which support shock absorption to protect internal components, such as wheel suspensions in toy cars. Bot helpers and robot dogs Many recent advancements in toys are there to appease our admiration of automatons, or self operating machines. The idea that an inanimate object is transcending its static world, or is “thinking”, is one of the magical elements that prompts us to attach emotions to toys. And manufacturers know this, with some toys designed specifically to drive emotional attachment. My favourite example of this is roaming robots, such as the artificially intelligent <a href="https://www.anki.com/en-us/vector.html">Anki Vector</a>. With sensors and internet connectivity, the Vector drives around and interacts with its environment, as well as you. It’s even <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vector-Robot-Anki-Hangs-Helps/dp/B07G3ZNK4Y">integrated with Amazon Alexa</a>. Another sophisticated toy is Sony’s Aibo. This robot pet shows how advanced robotics, microelectronics, actuators (which allow movement), sensors, and programming can be used to create a unique toy experience with emotional investment. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ho-chi-minh-city-vietnam-apr-1095006827" class="source"></a>Screens not included Toy manufacturers are also leveraging the rise of smartphones and portable computing. Quadcopters (or drones) and other similar devices often don’t need to include their own display in the remote control, as video can be beamed to an attached device. Some toys even use smartphones as the only control interface (used to control the toy), usually via an app, saving manufacturers from having to provide what is arguably the most expensive part of the toy. This means a smartphone becomes an inherent requirement, without which the toy can’t be used. It would be incredibly disappointing to buy a cool, new toy - only to realise you don’t own the very expensive device required to use it. My toys aren’t spying on me, surely? While spying may be the last thing you consider when buying a toy, there have been several reports of talking dolls <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/12/20/506208146/this-doll-may-be-recording-what-children-say-privacy-groups-charge">recording in-home conversations</a>. There are similar concerns with smart-home assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri, which store <a href="https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/may/31/ro-khanna/your-amazon-alexa-spying-you/">your voice recordings in the cloud</a>. These concerns might also be warranted with toys such as the Vector, and Aibo. In fact, anything that has a microphone, camera or wireless connectivity can be considered a privacy concern. Toys of the future We’ve established toys are becoming more sophisticated, but does that mean they’re getting better? <a href="https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-top-10-strategic-technology-trends-for-2020/">Various</a> <a href="https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/technology/technology-trends-2019">reports</a> indicate in 2020, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will continue to be pervasive in our lives. This means buying toys could become an even trickier task than it currently is. There are some factors shoppers can consider. On the top of my list of concerns is the type and number of batteries a toy requires, and how to charge them. If a device has <a href="https://theconversation.com/nearly-all-your-devices-run-on-lithium-batteries-heres-a-nobel-prizewinner-on-his-part-in-their-invention-and-their-future-126197">in-built lithium batteries</a>, can they be easily replaced? And if the toy is designed for outdoors, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-batteries-have-started-catching-fire-so-often-68602">can it cope with the heat?</a> Most lithium-ion batteries degrade quickly in hot environments. And does the device require an additional screen or smartphone? It’s also worth being wary of what personal details are required to sign-up for a service associated with a toy - and if the toy can still function if its manufacturer should cease to exist, or the company should go bust. And, as always, if you’re considering an advanced, “connected” toy, make sure to prioritise your security and privacy.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127503/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrew-maxwell-561482">Andrew Maxwell</a>, Senior Lecturer, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/robots-ai-and-drones-when-did-toys-turn-into-rocket-science-127503">original article</a>.

Technology

How to deal with smartphone stress

In the past decade, smartphones have gone from being a status item to an indispensable part of our everyday lives. And we spend <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/au/mobile-consumer-survey">a lot of time</a> on them, around <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/corporate/coverage/be-prepared-mobile">four hours a day on average</a>. There’s an increasing body of research that shows smartphones can interfere with our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597814000089">sleep</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853217300159">productivity</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032716303196">mental health</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-016-1011-z">impulse control</a>. Even having a <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/691462">smartphone within reach</a> can reduce available cognitive capacity. But it’s recently been suggested we should be more concerned with the potential for smartphones to shorten our lives by chronically <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/well/mind/putting-down-your-phone-may-help-you-live-longer.html">raising our levels of cortisol</a>, one of the body’s main stress hormones. The stress hormone Cortisol is often mislabelled as the primary fight-or-flight hormone that springs us into action when we are facing a threat (it is actually adrenaline that does this). Cortisol is produced when we are under stress, but its role is to keep the body on high alert, by increasing blood sugar levels and <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2004-15935-004">suppressing the immune system</a>. This serves us well when dealing with an immediate physical threat that resolves quickly. But when we’re faced with ongoing emotional stressors (like 24/7 work emails) chronically elevated cortisol levels can lead to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10732263">all sorts of health problems</a> including diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and depression. The long term risks for disease, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2010-0192">heart attack, stroke</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2019.00043">dementia</a> are also increased, all of which can lead to premature death. While many people say they feel more stressed now than <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-10-13/smartphone-survey-results-show-fascinating-differences-in-usage/9042184">before they had a smartphone</a>, research has yet to determine the role our smartphones play in actually elevating our levels of cortisol throughout the day. A recent study found greater smartphone use was associated with a greater rise in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563217306908">cortisol awakening response</a> – the natural spike in cortisol that occurs around 30 minutes after waking to prepare us for the demands of the day. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300024/original/file-20191104-88378-14tmhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300024/original/file-20191104-88378-14tmhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> In the past, we couldn’t receive angry emails from our bosses 24/7. from www.shutterstock.com Awakening responses that are too high or too low are associated with <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0167876008007940">poor physical and mental health</a>. But smartphone use did not affect participants’ natural pattern of cortisol rises and falls throughout the rest of the day. And no other studies have pointed to a link between smartphone use and chronically elevated cortisol levels. However people still do report feelings of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15213269.2015.1121832">digital stress</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563215300893">information</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ct/article/27/3/269/4651866">communication overload</a>. Checking work emails in the evening or first thing upon waking can lead to the kind of stress that could potentially interfere with natural cortisol rhythms (not to mention <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597814000089">sleep</a>). <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563214007018">Social media can also be stressful</a>, making us feel tethered to our social networks, exposing us to conflict and cyberbullying, and fostering social comparison and <a href="https://clutejournals.com/index.php/JBER/article/view/9554">FoMO</a> (fear of missing out). Despite being aware of these stressors, the dopamine hit we get thanks to social media’s <a href="http://sheu.org.uk/sheux/EH/eh363mdg.pdf">addictive design</a> means there is still a compulsion to check our feeds and notifications whenever we find ourselves with idle time. More than half of under 35s regularly check their smartphone <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-10-13/smartphone-survey-results-show-fascinating-differences-in-usage/9042184">when on the toilet</a>. Some tips Dealing with smartphone-induced stress is not as simple as having periods of going cold turkey. The withdrawals associated with the unofficial condition known as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4036142/">nomophobia</a> (an abbreviation of “no-mobile-phone phobia”) have also been shown to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6143708/">increase cortisol levels</a>. Rather than going on a digital detox, which has been likened to the fad of the <a href="https://qz.com/1229311/digital-detoxing-is-the-tech-equivalent-of-a-juice-cleanse-and-neither-of-them-work/">juice cleanse diet</a>, we should be aiming for <a href="https://www.digitalnutrition.com.au/">digital nutrition</a>. That is, maintaining a healthier relationship with our smartphones where we are more mindful and intentional about what we consume digitally, so we can maximise the benefits and minimise the stress they bring to our lives. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300027/original/file-20191104-88368-9qo4rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300027/original/file-20191104-88368-9qo4rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Making the bed and kitchen table phone-free zones can help to reduce their effect on our lives. from www.shutterstock.com Here are some tips for healthier smartphone use: <ol> <li> Use Apple’s “<a href="https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT208982">Screen Time</a>”, Android’s <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actiondash.playstore&hl=en_AU">ActionDash</a> or the <a href="https://inthemoment.io/">Moment app</a> to take an audit of how often you use your phone and which apps take up most of your time </li> <li> Turn off all but the most important app notifications (such as private messages) so you can take back control of when you look at your phone. You can also allocate certain times of the day to be notification free </li> <li> Turn off the “push” or “fetch new data” option on your smartphone’s email. This way emails will only appear when you open the mail app and refresh it. As an added bonus this will help extend your phone’s battery life </li> <li> Take some time to complete a digital declutter, which includes unfollowing people/pages (there’s an <a href="https://blogs.systweak.com/how-to-mass-unfollow-on-instagram/">app</a> for that!) and unsubscribing from email lists (<a href="https://www.cleanfox.io/en/">that too</a>!) that cause you stress or don’t benefit you. Remember you can unfollow friends on Facebook without defriending them </li> <li> Create tech-free zones in your house, such as the kitchen table or bedrooms. An “out of sight out of mind” approach will help keep smartphone-delivered stress from creeping into your downtime </li> <li> Set a digital curfew to support better restorative sleep and don’t keep your phone next to your bed. Instead of reaching for your phone first thing in the morning, start your day with a brief meditation, some exercise, or a slow breakfast </li> <li> Be mindful and curious about how often you pick up your phone during the day simply out of boredom. Instead of bombarding your mind with information, use these opportunities to clear your mind with a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bs0qUB3BHQ">short breathing exercise</a>. There’s even a mindfulness exercise that challenges you to hold your phone while you <a href="https://www.mindful.org/addicted-to-your-phone-try-this-practice-phone-in-hand/">meditate on your relationship with it</a>, so you can reclaim your phone as a cue to check-in with yourself, rather than your emails or social media feed.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116426/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> </li> </ol> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brad-ridout-730902">Brad Ridout</a>, Research Fellow; Registered Psychologist; Deputy Chair, Cyberpsychology Research Group, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-deal-with-smartphone-stress-116426">original article</a>.

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