Text messaging on Android is a little bit behind the times. The native Chat app relies on old carrier based SMS technology which is lagging well behind Apple’s iMessage and Facebook Messenger. Now a new standard pioneered by Google promises to bring Chat out of the dark ages.
Google’s effort to come to grips with Android’s messaging problem has arrived. Google’s Chat is getting a rebuild based on the Rich Communication Services or RCS standard. RCS is an evolution of SMS which introduces many features that apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Apple’s iMessage have had for years. So android users will now have better group messaging, read receipts, typing indicators, animated stickers, and more.
Chat isn’t a new app from Google. Instead it’s a feature provided by cellular carriers that essentially gives Text messaging a facelift.
Google expects the Chat standard to be switched on for most Android users some time this year, though the precise timing will be decided by each carrier and region.
In the spirit of this Sunday’s earth day, Apple is unveiling a new robot which can disassemble and harvest all the valuable parts of an iPhone. Daisy can handle nine different versions of the iPhone. The robot can take apart a handset every 20 seconds, removing and sorting the materials without damaging them in the process.
Smartphones hold lots of valuable materials — gold, copper, platinum, lithium, aluminum, and steel among them — that can be recycled and used to create new electronic devices.
This remarkable machine is a more advanced version of Liam, a robot unveiled by the tech company two years ago to perform the same task.
Staying cool this summer may require putting on an extra layer – provided the extra layer is the InstantCool vest. It uses technology developed by NASA that involves a network of microtubes containing chilled water. The result? According to the vest’s developers, you’ll be more comfortable and less overheated in just 10 seconds.
The vest is being branded as an invisible personal air conditioning unit for your body. By pumping cold water across your chest, the vest claims to reduce your body temperature quickly and efficiently. And while there are other cooling vests on the market that promise a similar result, the InstantCool claims to be considerably cheaper than the alternatives.
This is an indegogo campaign, so take that for what it is. Backers pledging one hundred twenty bucks are being promised a vest in June of this year.
