Researchers from the University of Stanford have developed a microchip that could make it much less costly to diagnose type-1 diabetes. The debilitating disease often strikes children, and the quicker it’s detected, the easier it is to treat. The current test, however, is a time-consuming, costly burden for both hospitals and patients, requiring radioactive materials and several days of time. The new chip uses gold nanoparticles that cause fluorescent materials to glow when telltale antibodies are detected. Unlike the old tests, only a pinprick of blood is required, and the $20 chip can be reused up to 15 times. Such diagnostics could compliment other diabetes research, like Google’s glucose detecting smart contacts , along with potential treatments or even cures . Researchers said the test will be particularly useful in countries where the standard test is too expensive, and are now working to launch it globally. [Image credit: Stanford University/Norbert von der Groeben] Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Source: Stanford University

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$20 reusable chip detects type-1 diabetes quickly and cheaply

Let’s try something really quickly: pull your phone out, flip it over, and maybe squint at it a bit. Chances are you’ll see a series of FCC-mandated pictograms emblazoned there, little images you’ve probably never paid attention to before. If US senators Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Virginia) get their way though, those curious icons may soon become a thing of past . Instead, the pair wants to replace those etchings with more informative digital equivalents that users can peek at if they so chose. Alas, your gadgets might not be completely clean if the bill passes — there are still those pesky CE labels to gaze upon. Anyway, it wasn’t long before the FCC released a set of guidelines for what should be displayed and how… but of course it did. FCC commissioner Michael O’Rielly wrote a blog post pushing to make e-labels a thing months ago. Why are these folks getting so worked up over digital vs. physical labels? There’s the design argument, for one. No longer will your shiny smartphone or terrific tablet be marred by oblique symbols. Manufacturers won’t have to worry about the very process of etching tiny logos on everything they make either, and Rockefeller thinks that’ll mean ultimately mean “lower device costs for consumers” too. We’re looking forward to seeing how right these folks may or may not be, but (just like anything involving US law-making) it’ll take a while to see anything concrete. Filed under: Mobile Comments Source: The Hill

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The E-Label Act may rid your future gadgets of FCC logos

Data pulled from a recent Freedom of Information Act request reveals that an overwhelming majority of 911 wireless calls made over a six-month period last year in Washington, DC were delivered “without accurate location information to find callers who are lost, confused, unconscious or otherwise unable to share their location.” Only ten percent of calls from the first half of 2013 within the city included detailed location data. At the moment, FCC regulations demand higher location accuracy only on outdoor calls, making built-up areas like DC harder to hone in on. Public safety officials told the Washington Post that these location issues are widespread. According to Find Me 911 , carriers typically able to offer “Phase I’ data, which covers a phone number and the location of the base station transmitting the call. ‘Phase I’I data, meanwhile, includes latitude and longitude coordinates, accurate to between 50 and 300 meters. According to the data, Verizon and Sprint offered this detailed information on 24.6 percent and 23.3 percent of emergency calls. However, T-Mobile included this location data on a dire 3.2 percent of emergency calls. Worse still, AT&T only did so on 2.6 percent of calls made. Fortunately, the FCC approved new technology last year that will apparently more accurately locate callers indoors. It reckons that updated rules regarding location accuracy from wireless callers would save around 10, 000 lives a year. Filed under: Misc , Internet Comments Via: Ars Technica

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90 percent of 911 calls made in Washington, DC lacked accurate location info

Come a guy’s 18th birthday in the US, he’s afforded new privileges. Aside from being able to legally buy cigarettes, lottery tickets and porn , he also has a couple of shiny civic duties to follow: signing up for the Selective Service System and voting on a regular basis. In terms of the former, draft dodging is a pretty serious offense, as the families of very old (and most likely very deceased) men in Pennsylvania were recently reminded. According to Boston , a database operator’s error caused some 14, 250 notices to go out to men born between 1893 and 1897, stating that their failure to fill out draft cards could result in fines and imprisonment. How’d that happen? Well, if you’re familiar with the Y2K Bug , the story makes a lot more sense. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s cataloging software apparently uses a two-digit birth-year field, and, as a result, the operator unknowingly selected gents hailing from a hundred years prior the actual target range of 1993 to 1997. Keystone State employees didn’t realize the issue until they were inundated by calls from understandably confused family members asking what the deal was. To its credit, the SSS issued an apology and noted that those files would be deactivated from the database and will send a personal letter of apology to President Lincoln posthaste. [Image credit: Getty] Filed under: Software Comments Source: Boston

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Computer glitch resurrects draft cards for 14,000 long-dead Pennsylvania men

Google’s top lawyer has spoken out to try to explain the mess that happened last week, when the search giant censored, and then partially reinstated, links to a number of important news articles. Senior VP and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond now admits that some of the initial censorship decisions were “incorrect, ” specifically in the case of some Guardian newspaper articles that were delisted for a short time. But, as you’d probably expect, he also gives Google’s side of the story. “We’ve had over 70, 000 take-down requests covering 250, 000 webpages since May .” Drummond says that Europe’s recent ” Right To Be Forgotten ” (RTBF) ruling, which allows a member of the public to request the removal of search results containing their name, is so “vague and subjective” that it’s hard to enforce consistently. He adds that Google has received so many requests — 70, 000 so far, concerning 250, 000 different web pages, all of which must be assessed individually — that the company has been struggling to cope. He says the process is still very much a “work in progress” that will lead to “difficult and debatable judgments, ” as well as to errors. Unfortunately, Drummond fails to address one of the most controversial de-listings of last week. This concerned a BBC blog post about the former Merrill Lynch CEO, Stan O’Neal, and his involvement in the sub-prime mortgage crisis. At the time, the BBC was left in the dark about who had ordered the takedown and why — and O’Neal subsequently denied it was him. This led others to argue that Google had deliberately approved a weak takedown request, in order to make the RTBF ruling appear worse for the public interest than it really is. Separately, Google’s regional head of communications, Peter Barron, has rejected this accusation , saying that the O’Neal takedown request was legitimate and had come from a member of the public who had left an “embarrassing” comment on the original blog post. Judging from David Drummond’s broader argument today, Google’s general defence seems to be that it’s extremely difficult to decide whether a specific request is spurious or legitimate when you’re being swamped by so many — and that’s why it’s setting up an independent council of experts to tackle the trickier cases. Filed under: Internet , Google Comments Via: GigaOm Source: The Guardian

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Google says it’s struggling to cope after being asked to censor 250,000 EU webpages

It seems like just yesterday we reviewed MSI’s beastly GT70 Dominator gaming laptop. Indeed, that was only a month ago, but it seems MSI has already moved on: The company is now showing off the GT72 , a redesigned version with a slightly thinner profile, an improved cooling system and a less dorky aesthetic. We’ll get to that last bit in a minute, but first: the fans. MSI apparently took a lot of flak for the GT70’s single-fan setup. Not effective enough, according to some hardcore users. Well, in case that wasn’t heavy-duty enough for you, MSI has stepped up to two fans, with the vents taking up pretty much the entire bottom side of the notebook (have a look at the photo after the break if you don’t believe us). Only time (and review-testing) will tell if the new setup is quieter , but MSI says if nothing else the heat management should be better this time around. Those gigantic fans aside, the GT72 otherwise has a more streamlined look, with fewer plastic elements, a glass-composite palm rest, discreetly placed multimedia buttons and a seamless trackpad that doesn’t flex or bend as you press down on it. The bottom meanwhile is covered by a single piece, sealed by a handful of screws in the corners. Hopefully that’ll make in-home upgrades a little easier the next time you wanna replace the RAM or storage. Finally, the whole thing is slightly thinner and lighter than the last generation, measuring in at 48mm, or 1.9 inches (down from 2.1). Make no mistake, this thing’s still pretty cumbersome. But then again, this is a 17-inch gaming laptop we’re talking about and also, NVIDIA’s current-gen 880M GPU requires a bit of space for the heat sink, anyway. (The more you know!) Lest you think the all-black design is too safe, MSI is keeping the same backlit SteelSeries keyboard used on the GT70. And that’s a good thing: Not only are we suckers for programmable LEDs (aren’t you?), but this is also one of the most comfortable keyboards we’ve tested on a gaming laptop. This time around, too, the perimeter of the touchpad lights up, sort of like Dell’s older Alienwares. Also intact: the DynaAudio speakers. Which is great, because we loved the audio quality on the last-gen model. Not something that needed to be changed, in our humble opinion. On the inside, the GT72 makes do with last season’s specs — at least for now. At launch, it will ship with a 1080p display and either the NVIDIA 870M or 880M, though an MSI rep told us it will update the specs as NVIDIA and Intel announce fresh chips. As before, MSI will offer the GT with what it calls “Super RAID 3” — basically, three solid-state drives arranged in a RAID 0 configuration. As for connectivity, MSI says this will be the first to ship with Killer’s DoubleShot Pro setup combining an 802.11ac WiFi radio with 1Gbps Ethernet, which you can use at the same time. Look for these to ship soon, with prices ranging from around $2, 499 to $2, 899 to start. Over time, though MSI plans to add more configurations at both ends of the price spectrum. And, of course, there are new chips a’coming. So best to wait, even if you do choose to check out the hands-on pics now. Filed under: Gaming , Laptops Comments

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MSI’s latest gaming laptop brings a more grown-up design, a couple big-ass fans

Hey small-business owner, you’re pretty savvy. I know you’re pretty savvy because you’re reading this website on the internet, like the savvy small-business owner above. But some of your colleagues aren’t quite as connected as you are. And sometimes that disconnected crowd faces serious real-world implications as a result: Take former restaurant owner Rene Bertagna for instance. His long-standing Virginia restaurant, Serbian Crown , closed last year “after nearly 40 years” due to, he believes, an error in Serbian Crown’s Google Maps listing. The error was grievous, he tells Wired , and he’s now suing Google in a Virginia court. The restaurant’s listing on Google Maps, Bertagna says, indicated that it wasn’t open on weekends. Given the restaurant’s location (nowhere near foot traffic), Bertagna and his lawyer posit, “Unless you know that the place is going to be open, you’re probably not going to drag yourself out.” And given the way Google Maps listings work, anyone can submit information for any place, which Google moderates before publishing. Bertagna’s lawyer believes another restaurant in the area “sabotaged” Serbian Crown’s listing. For its part, Google says in a legal filing, “The Serbian Crown should not be permitted to vex Google or this court with such meritless claims.” Of course, what’s unclear is how much accountability here rests on the false listing; Bertagna says that neither he nor his employees maintained the Serbian Crown’s online presence, which left it susceptible to tampering and misinformation. Wired ‘s piece highlights several other examples where small-business owners were, like you, savvy enough to maintain their online presence and cut off any issues before they affected the bottom line. [Image: Shutterstock] Filed under: Internet , Google Comments Source: Wired

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Google lawsuit highlights the danger of not managing your online presence

When you think of gadget thefts, odds are that you picture muggings or smash-and-grabs at stores. Apparently, one group of thieves in Brazil had far more ambitious plans — it raided Samsung’s factory in Campinas (shown here) and stole more than 40, 000 laptops, phones and tablets that police estimate are worth $36 million. Reportedly, the heist played out much like a movie. The bandits both hijacked a company shuttle to get inside and took some of the workers hostage, going so far as to confiscate phone batteries so that no one could alert the police. None of the culprits have been identified, and Samsung contends that the actual value of the stolen goods is lower. However, authorities suspect that the crooks had inside help; they knew not just how to get in, but also where they would find certain valuables. Samsung will try to prevent a “repeat incident, ” but a lot of damage has already been done. Those devices likely aren’t coming back, and future production runs might not be safe if the robbers really did get assistance from corrupt workers. [Image credit: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images] Filed under: Cellphones , Laptops , Tablets , Mobile , Samsung Comments Via: Reuters , ZDNet Source: MSN (translated)

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Thieves nab 40,000 Samsung devices through a daring Brazilian heist

If you live in San Francisco or New York , you likely know you can connect to free WiFi in certain locations. Your cities’ governments partnered with Madrid-based provider Gowex to make that happen — the same company that has recently admitted to doctoring its accounts for the past four years. Gowex might be an unknown to most of us, but it was considered a success story in Spain and performed really well at Madrid’s Alternative Equity Market, a stock exchange for small companies. A few days ago, though, a short seller named Gotham City Research published a report that claims 90 percent of the company’s revenues are falsified and that it actually earns only 10 percent of what it says it does. While Gowex initially denied the accusation and even announced that it earned 182.6 million Euros ($248 million) in 2013, company president Jenaro Garcia ultimately admitted the allegations and resigned from his position. On his Twitter page, Garcia wrote: I made the deposition and confession. I want to collaborate with the justice. I face the consecuencies. – Jenaro Garcia (@jero_net) July 6, 2014 The company used to claim that it makes its money from partnerships with local governments that want to use its free WiFi services, carriers that use its hotpots to offload data and from premium fees, among other things. It’s unclear what will happen to its hotspots in NYC and San Francisco, but the cities will likely have to look for another provider now that Gowex has filed for bankruptcy. Filed under: Wireless Comments Via: Fierce Wireless , Bloomberg Source: AFP , Fierce Wireless , Bloomberg , Euronext

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Free WiFi provider admits to making up 90 percent of its revenues

Microsoft’s plan to bundle Kinect with the Xbox One may not have been to everyone’s taste, but that’s not stopping it from expanding sales of the motion-sensing peripheral. In fact, you’ll only have to wait just over a week to get your hands on the second generation Kinect for Windows . We know because the company has updated its pre-order listing with the promise of shipment by July 15th. The sensor, which costs $199/£159, delivers better depth sensing, 1080p resolution, a wider field of view and various other improvements. Developers have been invited to publish their creations to the Windows Store, so there’ll likely be more Windows Kinect apps to download than ever before — good news if you’re not phased by the Xbox One but have always wanted to wave your arms about in front of your PC. Filed under: Gaming , Microsoft Comments Via: CVG Source: Microsoft Store (US) , (UK)

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Xbox One’s Kinect sensor coming to Windows on July 15th