Stare into the black circle in this video to get a lesson in chromatic adaptation from scientist Andrew Steele.
This is definitely my favourite optical illusion—it's mind-bendingly effective but infuriatingly ephemeral, vanishing as soon as you try to look straight at it—and a fantastic illustration of how our eyes and brain together conspire so that what we see and reality aren't as synonymous as we like to think.
screengrab via Andrew Steele/YouTube
Back in June, Google redesigned Photos for Android and iOS with simplified navigation and an “Explore” map. The visual revamp was thorough, but it did not touch every element. Google Photos is now readying a new editor that looks more modern and is simpler to use.
The post Here’s the redesigned Google Photos editor in action [Video] appeared first on 9to5Google.
Watch this cute cat go on a nice walk in the sunshine. I adore HosicoCats, and this fun video from the Japanese kitty-blog is a nice little escape from behind the computer.
About that cat:
Hosico — Scottish fluffy cat. Hosico is a gold scottish cat, boy. He was born on August 4, 2014 in Russia. 'Hosico' translated from Japanese means 'star child'. His ascent to success in Instagram he began from his childhood, when he was a little kitten. Now he is admired by people from all over the world.
Japanese artist Ipnot creates incredibly realistic fabric food and other items using embroidery techniques.
View this post on Instagram
#fig #embroidery #frenchknots #刺繍 #無花果 #フレンチノット
A post shared by ipnot (@ipnot) on
View this post on Instagram灯火 ＿＿＿＿＿ #embroidery#frenchknots #dmcembroidery #刺繍#フレンチノット#灯火
A post shared by ipnot (@ipnot) on
As the animal rights movement continues to push for more legal protections for pets, Germany is leading the way on prohibitions for leaving dogs at home alone all day and getting enough daily walks.
Via Treehugger:
The country's agricultural minister Julia Klöckner is proposing legislation that would order dog owners to walk their dogs at least twice a day for a total of an hour or more. The new rules also would forbid owners from leaving their pets home alone all day or leaving them tied up outside for long periods of time.
The legislation also includes limits for dog breeders as to the number of dogs they can keep and the minimum and maximum temperatures for their facilities.
"Pets are not cuddly toys — and their needs have to be considered," Klöckner said in making the announcement, earlier this week, according to the German news outlet Deutsche Welle. She said her ministry was acting in conjunction with "new scientific research about dogs' needs."
Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels
Welcome to the roundup of the new Android games that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous week or so. Today I have the second title in the Danganronpa visual novel series, the spiritual successor to Soul Knight, and a delightful indie puzzler called The Machine's Garden. So without further ado, here are the new and notable Android games released during the week of August 17, 2020.
Read More15 new Android games from the week of August 17, 2020 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Slow TV YouTuber CruisingTheCut shared a relaxing cruise through part of the Macclesfield canal, a 26-mile historic waterway in Cheshire.
The canal includes locks, historic buildings, and even roving bridges that allowed horses to cross the canal when the tow path changed banks. Some of the roving bridges are built with a 360-degree ramp so the tow line did not have to be detached when the horse switched sides.
Here's Bilbo Baggins showing how horses pulled boats through locks:
Image: YouTube / CruisingTheCut
Forty years ago, architecture student Graham Birchall created an otherworldly "bubble house" design for his senior thesis project. Then Graham did the unthinkable: he built it. Now, the Bubble House in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia is on the market. Here's the listing (no mention of price). From Domain:
While unique in shape, the riverfront property has all the usual homely features with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a four-car garage and workshop, and a round kitchen – designed by a boat builder and carpenter to get all the curves.
It also includes an office, a media room, library, bar and wine cellar – again all round, of course – as well a glass entry tunnel to welcome you into the home, multiple terraces and a golf tee.
"When you walk in, it changes the way you feel," selling agent Helene Shephard of First National Real Estate Action Realty Ipswich said. "It has this energy thatjust calms you and you can have a lot of people in the home without even realising it."
It's been a couple of years since the Autofill API was added to Android and you've been able to use Google or other password managers to fill in your credentials and log in to apps. However, while most third-party password apps require you to verify your identity before releasing your details to another app, Google's autofill just surrendered those details willy-nilly as long as your phone was unlocked. That's not so secure.
Read MoreGoogle Autofill on Android can require biometric authentication now was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
This is one of these videos where it's cool, then kinda lulls in the center, but the pay-off at the end is totally worth it.
Legit one of those impressive things I've seen in a long time. pic.twitter.com/uYJreC2jcM
— Charlotte Clymer(@cmclymer) August 14, 2020
After several months of working from home, it's safe to say many of us won't be heading back to the office again anytime soon. So, if home is your new professional headquarters for the foreseeable future, when are you going to admit working from the dining room table just isn't cutting it?
Even if you are working from a home office, is it really outfitted as a fully comfortable and healthy working space for 40 hours or more each week?
Ergonomics matter. Standing desks can help combat weight gain, stave off heart disease, reduce back pain and more. Right now, this collection of 10 standing desks, desk converters and other standing desk accessories can finally make your new professional hub the welcoming, comfortable place any work center should be.
An anti-fatigue standing desk floor mat can help combat the fatigue of standing for hours during your day, so this mat with a textured massaging and double-ball massage inserts can help you stay comfortable and productive. Made with high-density, performance-grade rubber foam, this mat offers thick support while giving you a deep, relaxing foot massage.
Even when you're away from an actual desk, you still need proper support, so this is the perfect desktop when you're reading, surfing while watching TV, lounging in a recliner and more. This laptop desk features tablet, pen and phone holders as well as over 21 inches of wrist padding to help relax your wrists while keeping your laptop firmly in place.
This laptop stand works even away from any desk. With adjustable heights and angles, this riser can prompt your laptop to just the right position even if you're sitting on the couch or laying in bed. No matter where you are, you can prevent hunching, reduce monitor glare and sit up straight from virtually any position.
A standing desk converter can give you all the advantages of a standing desk at a fraction of the price — and at only 7 lbs., this laptop stand and converter can be easily moved into the most comfortable position for you. Even if you're only trying to train yourself to sit with a better posture, this converter can help.
Elevate them, tilt them, modify their angle — this adjustable monitor stand, keyboard tray, and mouse pad set can do the trick and directly impact your health. This setup even creates a separate shelf for extra desktop storage and organization.
The CHANGEdesk series offers extraordinary range, compressing as low as three inches off the desktop up through four height levels to a maximum height of 14 inches. A tight, compact desktop riser, this model is also spring-assisted, so it will easily bounce to just the level that suits you.
This is one of the more spacious desk converters you'll find, with a 35-inch-wide tabletop area large enough to accommodate a dual monitor setup along with other devices like laptops or tablets. It's hefty enough to hold up to 33 lbs and rise up over 2.5 feet.
This desk riser pops to just the height you want at the push of a button. One of the tallest standing desk conversion units anywhere at up over two feet off your desktop, the fast, smooth and safe all-electric adjustment means no lifting ever. Made from high strength steel, this can offer comfortable eye-level positioning even for those standing almost 6.5 feet tall.
When you're ready to do the standing desk thing, but demand a high level of aesthetics and class, this attractive light bamboo desk riser fits the bill. In addition to looking more than like custom furniture than office equipment, this accessory has a built-in dry erase board, a mouse pad, felt storage trays, display docks for your smartphone and tablet and even side clips to keep all your dangling wires neat and orderly.
If you're ready to go all-in on a full standing desk, this is the premium electric, adjustable height piece you're looking for. Ergonomically crafted, this desk features dual motors, 3-stage lifting columns, a memory keypad to remember your favorite positions, and anti-collision protection so your desk does rise or fall too quickly. Built to last, this is the full-featured standing desk you always wanted.
Prices are subject to change.
Do you have your stay-at-home essentials? Here are some you may have missed.
Do you trade more voice messages than texts with your contacts? You may appreciate the ability to do that with the help of Google Assistant as it gains dedicated command branches for sending clips. That means you can even do it hands-free while driving!
Just prompt Assistant by saying "OK Google," or tap the right button, then say "send an audio message to [contact]." You can then record your message — Assistant is quick to put on the brakes, so form a complete thought before saying it out loud or risk having to do another take — and then send it.
Read MoreYou can now use Assistant to send audio clips in Google Messages hands-free was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous two weeks or so. Today's roundup is sponsored by MyWallApp, which is a fantastic wallpaper application that offers hundreds of beautiful backgrounds. We also have a couple of new COVID tracing apps, along with a much-needed plugin for the TeamViewer QuickSupport app. So without further ado, here are all of the new and notable Android apps released on the Play Store in the last two weeks.
Read More14 new and notable Android apps from the last two weeks including MyWallApp, COVIDWISE, and TeamViewer Universal Add-On (8/1/2020 - 8/15/2020) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
YouTube has a few different methods of notifying you about new videos from specific channels, including push notifications on the mobile apps, alerts on the desktop site, and email. However, the last option is going away in a few days, as Google alleges email alerts aren't used very often.
"If you’re opted in to get emails about new uploads, live streams, and premieres from channels you’re subscribed to, these emails are going away on August 13th, 2020," a YouTube employee wrote in a support article.
Read MoreYouTube will end email notifications for new videos on August 13 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
"Maru and Hana enjoy each box."
A Japanese water beetle swallowed by a frog has figured out a great survival trick. It starts walking. In as few as six minutes, 93% of them walk right out the sloppy end of the frog's digestive tract, according to a new paper by ecologist Shinji Sugiurz.
Via Wired, which has video of the behavior:
Writing today in the journal Current Biology, Kobe University ecologist Shinji Sugiura describes how the beetle, locked behind the frog’s jaws, turns around and scrambles through its digestive tract. In carefully designed lab experiments, Sugiura found that 93 percent of the beetles he fed to the frog Pelophylax nigromaculatus escaped the predator’s “vent”—aka anus—within four hours, “frequently entangled in fecal pellets,” he writes. The quickest run from mouth to anus was just six minutes. The beetles then went about their day as if they hadn’t just spelunked through a digestive system, and even swam effectively.
I wonder it the beetle hums this as it's walking:
Zoomies! Because it's snowing!
Frank here is a Cavalier King Charles mixed with Poodle, and he's a cutie.
From ABC Sydney, Australia, “Sarah shared this video of her cavoodle Frank reacting to the surprise snow in Hume, Victoria on Tuesday. It was Frank's first time seeing snow and boy, was he excited! 
”
Frank's human, Sarah Dekazos, shot video of the doggie zooming around the yard. A recent blast of antarctic air brought cold and snow to the region on Tuesday.
[Video: Sarah Dekazos via Storyful]
Gmail's rather obnoxious Google Meet integration began to roll out widely to users of the app today on Android, signaling that the space-wasting UI tweak is moving full steam ahead. Our devices have started receiving it, and it's just as annoying as you'd expect, eating a solid 10-20% of your Gmail inbox list UI depending on how long your display is. It's a blatant attempt to shoehorn Meet into an extremely popular Google app, as Google commits to offensive action in the videoconferencing wars.
Read MoreTerrible, space-wasting Google Meet integration is rolling out for Gmail on Android was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
You already probably know about video game console emulators for Android, but what if you want to play classic PC titles originally meant for DOS, like Sim City, or DOOM? Well, it's not quite as simple: taking your favorite old PC games on the go can involve anything from setting up virtual drives to running command-line programs.
While it's not the most complex process in the world, you definitely could be forgiven for not knowing where to start, which is why we decided to create this guide.
Read MoreHow to play classic DOS games on Android and Chromebooks was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
The UK generally lacks space for big-box stores that sell everything, a la Wal-Mart. That niche in the ecology of consumerism was occupied instead by Argos, which crams a similarly vast inventory into basement warehouses and allows shoppers to order from a showroom. In this showroom are dozens of laminated catalogs featuring all the stuff you can buy, a twice-annual publication that's outlived the Sears Catalog by 27 years. But death comes for all things, and now it has come for the Argos Catalogue, axed in favor of computers after 48 years.
The encyclopedia-like catalogues, the basis of many a child's Christmas wishlist, will no longer be regularly printed by the end of the January 2021.
The catalogue was first launched in 1972 and at its peak was Europe's most widely-printed publication, with only the bible in more homes across the UK.
Comedian Alan Carr famously picked the Argos catalogue as his book choice on Radio 4's programme Desert Island Discs.
It sounds like they're not even keeping the showrooms: you'll now shop online and just go to the store to pick the items up or return them. This presumably recovers more space for warehousing and logistics and lets them do locker delivery and returns for Amazon and other third parties.
Argos has established a site, The Book of Dreams, where you can enjoy all the catalogs.
Animal keepers at Newquay Zoo in Cornwall, UK installed a bubble machine in the penguin habitat to delight the birds. All that's missing is the Lawrence Welk Orchestra playing on the speakers. From South West News Service:
"The birds are usually kept occupied by feeding shows and guests visiting the zoo, but due to coronavirus their daily routine was forced to change. Staff at Newquay Zoo in Cornwall were trying to find a way to keep them entertained, and then someone kindly donated a bubble machine."
(via Laughing Squid)
In 2022, four bison will be released in Kent, marking the first time wild bison have roamed in the United Kingdom in six millennia. Similar programs in other European countries have been very successful.
Bison are a keystone species which beneficially alters a biome. Via The Guardian:
Bison kill selected trees by eating their bark or rubbing against them to remove their thick winter fur. This creates a feast of dead wood for insects, which provide food for birds. Tree felling also creates sunny clearings where native plants can thrive. The trust expects nightingales and turtle doves to be among the beneficiaries of the bison’s “ecosystem engineering”.
Experts expect the herd to grow naturally with one or two calves each season.
Image: Wikimedia
High-speed cinematographer Darren Dyk turns his lens on a solitary kernel of popcorn to impressive effect. Bonus pareidolic creature in profile opening its mouth at 1:32.
Welcome to the roundup of the new Android games that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous week or so. Today I have the soft-launch of a new Rick and Morty game from Adult Swim, a new rhythm game from Atari, and a gorgeous puzzler that serves as the sequel to Krystopia: A Puzzle Journey. So without further ado, here are the new and notable Android games released during the week of July 20th, 2020.
Read More17 new Android games from the week of July 20, 2020 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
A video from Mako, the human guardian of this otter, Sakura, and a cat named Mochi.
There's a fun livestream on right now at the Basket Cat Blog.
Blog post here, and YouTube livestream is here: 'Chibi and potato digger 200723.'
This woman recorded her guitar playing once a month for four years. She started recording on her first day of clumsily strumming an electric guitar. By nine months she was sounding good. At the four year mark she was shredding.
Communication for the deaf and hard-of-hearing can be a tricky proposition sometimes in a world of sound, but there are always great adaptations out there that can help bridge the interpretation gap. Cue the coronavirus pandemic: everyone is a wearing a mask these days and that has left those who could lip read a challenge to figure out if they're getting the messages they need.
Danny Hughes, a medic for the South East Coast Ambulance Service in the United Kingdom, found that he could use Google's Live Transcribe app to let patients know what he's saying.
Read MoreUK ambulance service considers adopting Google's Live Transcribe to treat patients with hearing loss was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ Hello February. 2月は黄色。 : #February#yellow#banana#embroidery #dmcembroidery #5o1embroidery #刺繍#バナナ#2月 ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
.”
.jpg){kind=link}