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Technology

Amazon releases a Kindle software redesign to make navigation easier – TechCrunch

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Yeah, yeah, you don’t need to charge a real book or update a book’s software. But now, our trusty Kindles remind us that they’re actually Wi-Fi connected, electronic devices capable of change as Amazon unveils a rare, significant design upgrade for the first time in years.

To simplify navigation, the new look adds a two-tab bar to the bottom of the home screen, letting users easily toggle between the “home” and “library” screens. To access frequently used features, Kindle introduced an arrow on the top of the screen. When tapped, it reveals buttons to access airplane mode, Bluetooth, dark mode, sync or the rest of the settings menu. There’s also a brightness slider.

Image Credits: Amazon

Amazon notified customers about the update on Friday and says it will roll out in the coming weeks, but many users with eligible devices — Kindle (8th Gen and above), Kindle Paperwhite (7th Gen and above) and Kindle Oasis — have already downloaded the upgrade. If you’re not sure what kind of Kindle you have, you can check here, but if your Kindle is from 2015 or later, you’re probably eligible. If your Kindle is connected to Wi-Fi, the update will install automatically, but you can manually download it here.

The company says it will continue to improve the home and library screens later this year — users will be able to swipe left on the home page to see recently read books from their library. Then, the library screen will introduce new filter and sort menus, a new collection view and an interactive scroll bar.

Image Credits: Amazon

This is the biggest design update that Kindle has released since around 2016 — but if you noticed that the user interface felt outdated while you wrapped up your summer reading, now you know that Amazon noticed too.

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Technology

Xbox controller update makes it easier to pair with and switch between devices

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Xbox is rolling out a controller firmware update to Insiders, with the biggest new feature being the introduction of Bluetooth Low Energy for older controllers. That will make it easier to pair with and switch from Xbox One consoles to different systems including Windows 10, iOS 15 and Android devices, the company announced. Microsoft has also introduced DLI (Dynamic Latency Input) to reduce console input latency on older controllers. 

Most of Microsoft’s existing Xbox One controllers, including the latest low-latency Xbox Series X model, use Bluetooth for PCs or smartphones and the Xbox Wireless protocol for Xbox consoles. With the new firmware, older controllers will remember your phone or PC and let you quickly switch over to them from a console, much as the latest Xbox Series X models can. To do that, you’ll simply need to double tap the “pair” button. 

Another key update is DLI, designed to cut the input latency on controllers paired with the latest Xbox Series X/S consoles. The new firmware means that older controllers will react as quickly as the latest models that ship with consoles, making gaming more responsive. “We believe it’s important to maintain backward compatibility with Xbox accessories people already have in their collection and to ensure we deliver the best gaming experience no matter how you choose to play,” the Xbox team wrote in a blog post. 

Microsoft is testing this feature with Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha Xbox Insiders today, but it should come to all users in the coming months. 

Update 9/9/2021 8:09 AM ET: The post has been updated to clarify that the new features available in the firmware update are designed for older controllers and not the new models. 

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Science

“Mini” CRISPR Genetic Editing System Engineered – Easier To Deliver Into Human Cells for Gene Therapy

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Stanford researchers have engineered a new miniature CRISPR system that should be easier to deliver into human cells.

Bioengineers have repurposed a “non-working” CRISPR system to make a smaller version of the genome engineering tool. Its diminutive size should make it easier to deliver into human cells, tissues, and the body for gene therapy.

The common analogy for CRISPR gene editing is that it works like molecular scissors, cutting out select sections of

Amino acids are a set of organic compounds used to build proteins. There are about 500 naturally occurring known amino acids, though only 20 appear in the genetic code. Proteins consist of one or more chains of amino acids called polypeptides. The sequence of the amino acid chain causes the polypeptide to fold into a shape that is biologically active. The amino acid sequences of proteins are encoded in the genes. Nine proteinogenic amino acids are called “essential” for humans because they cannot be produced from other compounds by the human body and so must be taken in as food.

“>amino acids, their “CasMINI” has 529.

The researchers confirmed in experiments that CasMINI could delete, activate and edit genetic code just like its beefier counterparts. Its smaller size means it should be easier to deliver into human cells and the human body, making it a potential tool for treating diverse ailments, including eye disease, organ degeneration and genetic diseases generally.

Persistent effort

To make the system as small as possible, the researchers decided to start with the CRISPR protein Cas12f (also known as Cas14), because it contains only about 400 to 700 amino acids. However, like other CRISPR proteins, Cas12f naturally originates from Archaea – single-celled organisms – which means it is not well-suited to mammalian cells, let alone human cells or bodies. Only a few CRISPR proteins are known to work in mammalian cells without modification. Unfortunately, CAS12f is not one of them. This makes it an enticing challenge for bioengineers like Qi.

“We thought, ‘Okay, millions of years of evolution have not been able to turn this CRISPR system into something that functions in the human body. Can we change that in just one or two years?’” said Qi. “To my knowledge, we have, for the first time, turned a nonworking CRISPR into a working one.”

Indeed, Xiaoshu Xu, a postdoctoral scholar in the Qi lab and lead author of the paper, saw no activity of the natural Cas12f in human cells. Xu and Qi hypothesized that the issue was that human genome DNA is more complicated and less accessible than microbial DNA, making it hard for Cas12f to find its target in cells. By looking at the computationally predicted structure of the Cas12f system, she carefully chose about 40 mutations in the protein that could potentially bypass this limitation and established a pipeline for testing many protein variants at a time. A working variant would, in theory, turn a human cell green by activating green fluorescent protein (GFP) in its genome.

“At first, this system did not work at all for a year,” Xu said. “But after iterations of bioengineering, we saw some engineered proteins start to turn on, like magic. It made us really appreciate the power of synthetic biology and bioengineering.”

The first successful results were modest, but they excited Xu and encouraged her to push forward because it meant the system worked. Over many additional iterations, she was able to further improve the protein’s performance. “We started with seeing only two cells showing a green signal, and now after engineering, almost every cell is green under the microscope,” Xu said.

“At some moment, I had to stop her,” recalled Qi. “I said ‘That’s good for now. You’ve made a pretty good system. We should think about how this molecule can be used for applications.’”

In addition to protein engineering, the researchers also engineered the (function(d, s, id){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.6"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));

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