There's a limit to what you can learn about cells from 2D pictures, but creating 3D images is a time-intensive process. Now, scientists from UT Southwestern have developed a new "simple and cost-effective" device capable of capturing multi-angle photos that can be retrofitted onto existing lab microscopes. The team say their solution — which involves inserting a unit of two rotating mirrors in front of a microscope's camera — is 100 times faster than converting images from 2D to 3D. 

Currently, this process involves collecting hundreds of photos of a specimen that can be uploaded as an image stack into a graphics software program, which then performs computations in order to provide multiple viewing perspectives. Even with a powerful computer, those two steps can be time-consuming. But, using their optical device, the team found they could bypass that method altogether.

What's more, they claim their approach is even faster as it requires only one camera exposure instead of the hundreds of camera frames used for entire 3D image stacks. They discovered the technique while de-skewing the images captured by two common light-sheet microscopes. While experimenting with their optical method, they realized that when they used an incorrect amount of de-skew the projected image seemed to rotate.

"This was the aha! moment," said Reto Fiolka, assistant professor at the Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics at UT Southwestern. "We realized that this could be bigger than just an optical de-skewing method; that the system could work for other kinds of microscopes as well.” 

Using their modified microscope, the team imaged calcium ions carrying signals between nerve cells in a culture dish and looked at the circulatory system of a zebrafish embryo. They also rapidly imaged cancer cells in motion and a beating zebrafish heart. They also applied the optical unit to additional microscopes, including light-sheet and spinning disk confocal microscopy. 

Korean scientists claim a new desalination technique makes sea water fit to drink in minutes. The researchers used a membrane distillation process that resulted in 99.9 percent salt rejection for one month. If commercialized, they say the solution could help alleviate the drinking water crisis exacerbated by climate change. More than 3 billion people worldwide are affected by water shortages, with the amount of fresh water available for each person plunging by a fifth over two decades, according to the UN.

The new study details a way to purify sea water using a a nanofiber membrane as a salt filter. While scientists have used membrane distillation in the past, they kept encountering a massive obstacle that slowed down the process. If the membrane became too wet, or flooded, it could no longer reject the salt. Needless to say, this was a time-draining process that forced scientists to either wait for the membrane to dry or come up with additional solutions, like using pressurized air to release trapped water from its pores.

To overcome this challenge, the Korean team turned to a nano technology known as electrospinning to create their three-dimensional membrane. In scientific terms, they used poly vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene as the core and silica aerogel mixed with a low concentration of the polymer as the sheath to produce a composite membrane with a superhydrophobic surface. In essence, this created a filter that had a higher surface roughness and lower thermal conductivity, allowing it to desalinate water for up to 30 days. The full report was published in the Journal of Membrane Science.

“The co-axial electrospun nanofibre membrane has strong potential for the treatment of seawater solutions without suffering from wetting issues and may be appropriate for real-scale membrane distillation applications,” Dr Yunchul Woo, a materials scientist at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, said. He added that the membrane may be appropriate for "pilot-scale and real-scale membrane distillation applications.” 

Currently, the main method of purifying sea water is through reverse osmosis at the roughly 20,000 desalination plants around the world. But these facilities require vast amounts of electricity to operate and also create concentrated brine as a waste product, which is typically dumped back in the sea. Therefore, it's no wonder scientists are exploring new solutions that aren't as counter-productive.

Apex Legends has reportedly been hacked to raise awareness over the unplayable state of developer Respawn's other game series Titanfall. Players have taken to social media to report that the battle royale's server playlists are being replaced with a message that reads "SAVETITANFALL.COM, TF1 is being attacked so is Apex." Gamers also received an "Important Message" popup after matches directing them to the same URL that has been active for a few months now, according to PC Gamer. 

The resulting disruption to matchmaking in Apex Legends prompted Respawn to publish a server update that it said resolved the issue. In tweets, the studio added that the attack "has not put players’ personal information or accounts at risk."

While game hacking is often associated with cheating or theft, it seems in this case it was an extreme case of fan frustration over Respawn's lack of attention toward Titanfall. Using it to advocate for an end to game hacks is also something you don't see that often.

In short, Titanfall has suffered from numerous vulnerabilities that are leading to crashed or overloaded servers and disconnections. After years of complaints, Respawn recently confirmed that it was working on a fix for the problems, which have plagued the title on Origin and Steam.

Amazon has opened a new front in its streaming battle with Netflix. The company is bringing the anime hit Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon A Time to Prime Video globally, barring Japan, on August 13th, according to Deadline. Together with a revised version released last month, the fourth and final chapter in the movie saga has raked in more than $86 million at Japanese theaters, making it the biggest earner of the year. For those who missed the previous entries, the good news is they're also coming to Prime Video, including Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone, Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance and Evangelion: 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo.

Blending mech action with intimate teenage drama, the Evangelion franchise became a pop culture behemoth in Japan and a revered cult classic overseas. Netflix ran the original series back in 2019 along with two films — Evangelion: Death True² and The End of Evangelion — as part of its push into Japanese animation. Though it probably helped to expand the show's reach, some legacy fans were upset that Netflix chose to go with a new voice cast for its English dub instead of the original players. More recently, the streamer announced that it's launching around 40 anime shows and movies in a bid to capture subscribers in Asia.

Amazon, on the other hand, has dabbled in anime in the past, most notably through its Blade of the Immortal adaptation in 2019. Evangelion is a big get for the company and success could prompt it to wade further into the genre.

We had a feeling Sony's tricked-out Xperia 1 III smartphone would be expensive. Turns out, we were right. Sony has revealed that the new handset (pcitured above), which packs a pro-grade camera, is available to pre-order for a cool $1,300 ahead of its August 19th release date. That means the new flagship is $100 more expensive than its predecessor, the Sony Xperia 1 ii, and fellow high-enders like the $1,200 Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, the $1,099 Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max and the $969 OnePlus 9 Pro. 

As you'd expect at that price, the Xperia 1 III has some killer specs that should appeal to photography buffs. The 12-megapixel, 24mm equivalent Exmor RS sensor is accompanied by a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a time-of-flight sensor that gathers depth data. Sony says the flagship is the first phone in the world with “true” optical zoom, which is achieved by actually moving the telephoto lens elements inside the phone. While the burst mode captures photos as fast as 20 times per second. 

Sony also claims that the phone's 6.5-inch OLED display is the world’s first mobile 4K screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. Inside, there's Qualcomm’s powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset combined with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage, along with a 4,500mAh battery that supports wireless charging.

Sony Xperia 5 III

If you find paying upwards of $1,000 is too steep, Sony is also releasing the cheaper Xperia 5 III (pictured above) a month later in September for £899 in the UK — we've reached out for US pricing. Here, you'll get a 6.1-inch Full HD OLED screen, slightly less RAM at 8GB and either 128GB or 256GB of internal storage. Sony also cut back on some of the camera software tricks available on its big brother like real-time object tracking and the time-of-flight sensor. Plus, you don't get support for wireless charging. Otherwise, it packs the same chipset, pro-grade camera setup, 3D Reality audio support and battery, making it more of a crowdpleaser compared to its pricey sibling.

To sweeten the deal, both phones will ship with Sony wireless headphones: the Xperia 1 III comes with the WF-1000XM3 earbuds and the Xperia 5 III with the WH-H910N over-ear headphones. Purchasing the flagship also gets you 43,200 Call of Duty: Mobile CP Points worth $540.

Alongside Oculus VR and livestreams, Facebook's gaming ambitions also include the cloud. Today, the company is making free game streaming available to 98 percent of the mainland US and bringing on board a major partner in Ubisoft. Facebook says it has now scaled-up its cloud computing infrastructure to the extent that it can roll out the service to 100 percent of the US by the fall. An international rollout is also underway, beginning in Canada and Mexico and expanding to Western and Central Europe by early 2022.

While its rivals Google and Amazon have opted for a standalone cloud gaming service for a monthly subscription, Facebook has built its offering into its main social network and accompanying Android app. Unlike the competition, which deliver console and PC games over the internet, the social network is focusing on smaller free-to-play mobile titles that it says are easier to host at its data centers. 

After launching cloud gaming on Android in a handful of US states last October, Facebook says it has added 25 titles to the service, including newcomers Roller Coaster Tycoon Touch by Atari, Lego Legacy Heroes Unboxed and Dragon Mania Legends by Gameloft and State of Survival by FunPlus. It's also redesigned its Play section with new categories, including a list of the top games in the US, improved filtering and sorting options.

More than 1.5 million people play cloud-streamed games on Facebook every month, the company revealed. With 195 million daily users in North America and more than 1.87 billion global users, the service has a big runway ahead of it. Despite offering less games than the competition, Facebook will be hoping that its focus on mobile titles can help it to thrive in the lucrative game streaming arena. The cloud gaming market will be worth an estimated $1.4 billion this year and over $5 billion in 2023, according to research firm NewZoo.

To bolster its appeal, Facebook is partnering with France-based developer Ubisoft. The studio's game subscription service is already available on Google Stadia and Amazon Luna, but (for now at least) Facebook will only host its mobile gaming titles. Ubisoft games available on the service include Assassin’s Creed Rebellion, Hungry Shark Evolution and Hungry Dragon, with Mighty Quest and Trials Frontier launching in the coming months. Facebook also recently acquired Unit 2, the developer behind game creation platform Crayta, with plans to integrate its tools into its cloud gaming platform.

On the infrastructure side, Facebook is focusing on lowering latency caps to allow it to host even more game genres across multiple devices. Currently, it says its "sweet spot" is in mobile sports, card, simulation, strategy, action-adventure, and puzzle titles, but it plans to add more variety to the mix in the coming months. 

Facebook says it is still working to get cloud gaming onto iOS devices. Though its gaming app is available on iPhones and iPads, it doesn't include playable games due to Apple's restrictions on third-party software.

By now, gamers are accustomed to receiving freebies through Sony's PlayStation Plus and Microsoft's Xbox Games with Gold perks. Now, Amazon is here to remind you that it offers gaming benefits for Prime members, too. From today through to September 1st, the subscription service is giving away three classic LucasArts PC games on the first of every month. The trio includes The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, followed by Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and, finally, Sam & Max: Hit The Road. 

Compared to its expedited deliveries and Prime Video streaming, Amazon's gaming goodies (including free titles and loot) inevitably feel like the lesser of its Prime perks. These certified classics should therefore help to boost its appeal with nostalgic gamers. 

Since its revival in January, the Disney-owned Lucasfilm Games brand has been busy retooling its franchises for newer platforms. In honor of Monkey Island’s 30th anniversary, Limited Run Games released a comprehensive collector’s edition back in October that assembled all five games in the series, including Telltale’s Tales of Monkey Island. In June, Sam & Max: This Time It's Virtual! brought the anthropomorphic detectives to Oculus VR. While Indy is about to star in a new game from MachineGames, the studio behind the modern Wolfenstein series, with Bethesda's Todd Howard serving as an executive producer.

The Active 4 may not be the only Samsung smartwatch to feature its new OS built with Google. Android Headlines has published leaked pics of a new device it claims is the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. While the fitness-focused Active 4 features a slimmer design, the Classic appears to sport a larger, rotating bezel with two noticeably bigger buttons on the side for navigation. The latter are rectangular in shape, compared to the rounded buttons on 2016's Gear S3 Classic and 2020's Galaxy Watch 3.

Android Headlines

Breaking away from tradition, Samsung will reportedly offer the new watch in three sizes: 42mm, 44mm and 46mm. Previously, the Korean company released either 42mm or 46mm or 40mm and 44mm models. As with the Active 4 leak, there's no mention of the exact screen size. But, apparently the watch will come in three colors (compared to four for the upcoming Active 4) including white, gray and black. The restrained design also reportedly extends to the cases, which will offer a silver or black option in either stainless steel or aluminum across all three sizes. 

Like the Galaxy Watch 3 and Galaxy Watch Active 2 before it, the new smartwatch will apparently feature a Gorilla Glass DX or DX+ display on the stainless steel and aluminum models, respectively. The new classic is reportedly 5ATM rated, meaning its water resistant up to 50 metres for 10 minutes, and dust-resistant thanks to its MIL-STD-810G standard.

You may not have to wait long to find out more about the new device. Samsung recently confirmed that the first One UI-based Galaxy Watch will be unveiled at its Unpacked event this summer.

Android Headlines

Facebook is diving into ephemeral messaging. After debuting self-erasing media and texts on Messenger and Instagram, the social giant is rolling out a similar feature on WhatsApp. Starting today, the app's beta testers on Android have begun to receive a "View Once" mode that wipes photos and videos as soon as you view and dismiss them. You'll know if you have access to the new feature if you see a dedicated button (that looks like a timer) in the caption input field, according to the experts at WABetaInfo. 

Not to be confused with WhatsApp's disappearing messages — which delete within seven days — photos and video sent using view once mode are single-use only and vanish after you close them. You'll get a notification once your media has been viewed. 

Despite the added sheen of privacy, there are some quirks you should be aware of before jumping in. As noted by WABetaInfo, disabling read receipts won't stop others from being notified if a view once message has been opened — though, you won't see when a recipient open yours. In groups, you'll be able to see when members have opened disappearing media even if you have read receipts disabled. 

Also, there's nothing stopping people from screenshotting your message without you finding out. View once apparently still works if you send a message to someone who doesn't have access to the feature. Those on iOS will reportedly get the new mode at a later date.

Facebook announced the feature in June on the heels of its divisive WhatsApp privacy policy update. The tech giant was forced to delay the new rules to mid-May from early February following an outcry over its access to additional user data. Facebook also later backtracked on its decision to limit WhatsApp features for those who didn't accept the changes. The company has previously painted ephemeral messaging as a way to encourage more authentic and intimate conversations.

Google is tightening its ad screening rules in the UK after a steep rise in fraudulent adverts online during the pandemic. The search giant has announced that starting in the fall it will only run ads for financial products and services from sources that have been cleared by the UK's financial watchdog. 

Google said it will update its policy from August 30th and begin enforcing the rules a week later on September 6th. At that point, advertisers will have to demonstrate that they are authorized by the UK Financial Conduct Authority or qualify for its limited exemptions. According to Google, the requirement covers financial products and services that go beyond the regulator's ambit. 

The decision didn't happen overnight, however. Google has been on the end of mounting criticism from regulators, law enforcement and consumer groups over its perceived lack of action against scrupulous ads. According to trade body UK Finance, investment scam cases on search engines saw a 32 percent increase last year. These typically involve criminals duping victims into moving their money to a fictitious fund (such as a pension pot) or to pay for a fake investment. Losses incurred from the fake ads totaled over £135 million. 

Meanwhile, the FCA threatened to take legal action against Google and social media companies after it issued 1,200 warnings about fraudulent ads on their platforms, double the amount from 2019. The regulator told a parliamentary committee that it was able to start taking action in the wake of Brexit. In the past, the FCA had been bound by EU rules on financial ads that did not apply to online platforms.

Others blamed Google's system for the failings. UK consumer group Which? found that 51 percent of the 1,870 search engine users it surveyed didn't know how to report suspicious ads in search listings. The perceived inertia from Google led some lawmakers to claim that it was content to continue profiting from the bogus ads. MPs told The Guardian that the company was benefiting from online scammers who paid to host ads on its platforms. While the FCA had also paid Google more than £600,000 ($830,000) in 2020 and 2021 to run ‘anti-scam’ ads.

For its part, Google claims it has improved its ad screening rules using a mix of machine learning and human review. The tech giant removed 3.1 billion adverts that violated its policies in 2020 according to its ad transparency report. It also began verifying advertisers in January by requiring them to submit legal identification, business incorporation documents and proof of the country in which they operate. Back in 2018, Google followed in Facebook's footsteps by banning cryptocurrency ads.

“This new update builds on significant work in partnership with the FCA over the last 18 months to help tackle this issue,” Ronan Harris, vice president and MD, Google UK and Ireland, said in a blog post. “Today’s announcement reflects significant progress in delivering a safer experience for users, publishers and advertisers. While we understand that this policy update will impact a range of advertisers in the financial services space, our utmost priority is to keep users safe on our platforms — particularly in an area so disproportionately targeted by fraudsters.”