NASA gives everyone access to data from an Earth-mapping spacecraft

NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

If you’ve been studying the Earth’s surface or are just curious about what’s happening on the planet’s surface. NASA and the Japanese government are giving access to data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument for free. Before anyone interested in using the data had to pay if you were interested in more than the basic topographical maps. Now, 16 years’ worth of near-infrared elevation and thermal data are available for everyone to use and see.

Source: NASA | Via: Engadget

Monospace Writer comes out of beta, introduces new features

If you’re in need of a writing app without the distraction on your Android device, the Monospace Writer app is something you must check out. The app just came out of beta and is now available for free to all Android users. The app now has a better tagging feature where all you need to do is add hashtags at the end of the note to help organize field. If you put in #encrypted, you can unlock this note via password or fingerprint, if your device supports it. New formatting options such as strikethrough, bullet, quote, and size-related options have been added as well.

The app also supports external keyboards and is said to be 8x faster and 99.8% crash-free. As mentioned, Monospace Writer is free but if you upgrade to Pro via an in-app purchase, you get things like Drive Sync, Customizable Typefaces, and a customizable Formatting Bar.

Source: Android Community | Download: Google Play Store (Free)

Leaked photo shows Huawei P9 with Leica dual-lens camera

It’s been known recently from both leaks and official sources that Huawei plans to use lens and camera technology from German manufacturer Leica. Rumour has it they’ll be using a dual-lens configuration. A recent image leak shows the Huawei P9 sporting said configuration. It shows the usual metal-clad look Huawei goes with but this time it has two camera lenses placed side by side on the top left corner of the device’s back portion. These are beside dual-tone LED flash, laser autofocus, and Leica’s name engraved at the right.

A bit below that you see the square-shaped fingerprint sensor, which is roughly in the same spot as it was in the Huawei-made Nexus 6P. Other leaked specs of this upcoming Huawei device include a 5.2-inch Full HD display, Kirin 950 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a 3,900mAh battery.

Source: Android Community

Samsung tipped to be releasing foldable smartphone next year

via GIPHY

Hoping to stay ahead and even pull away from the pack, Samsung is rumoured to be releasing an unusually shaped smartphone in 2017. According to Korean tech site ETNews, the device will reportedly look like a regular 5-inch device at first but once unfolded it will expand up to seven inches. It’s not said how Samsung plans to implement this and the company won’t comment on the veracity of the rumour. But Samsung filed a patent back in March for a phone with a “rollable” screen. But then again rumours about flexible displays have been around for a while so make sure to still take this rumour with a grain of salt.

At this point though, it is important for tech companies to think up the next big thing as current flagships are usually more iterations or slightly better versions of previous devices, there is a need to make more innovative device to fuel growth in the market.

Source: The Independent