Among the sufferers is Karl Zelik, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt University, who experienced back pain himself while repeatedly lifting his toddler son. As a result he started thinking about possible wearable technology solutions. The team showed that activity in the lower back muscles was reduced by an average of 15 to 45 percent. “This smart clothing concept is different. Smart clothing may help offload some of those forces and reduce muscle fatigue.”

Microsoft has incorporated eye tracking functionality into Windows 10, in order to make the operating system usable just by looking around the desktop as opposed to using a mouse. The Eye Control feature, which is currently in beta testing in preview versions of Windows 10, boosts the operating system’s accessibility levels greatly, letting disabled people use their eyes to drive an on-screen mouse and keyboard for input (with text-to-speech capabilities, too). The caveat is that you will obviou

Alongside the newly shrunken Xbox Wireless PC Adapter Microsoft has announced a trio of new controller colors. There’s the formerly mentioned Volcano Shadow, one called Patrol Tech, and a final controller with the much less exciting name ‘Green/Grey’. The grey design with flourescent green accents reminds us of the Xbox 360’s sleek home screen interface. The Green/Grey and Volcano Shadow controllers will be available from August 3, while you’ll have to wait until September 5 for the Patrol Tech

The French literary sci-fi well dried up a bit in the middle of the 20th century. Every Wednesday there was a magazine called Pilote in France, and there was two pages of Valerian every week. The film elementIt’s perhaps with 1997’s The Fifth Element where the sci-fi “French connection” is seen in full force. As with his sci-fi films Lucy and The Fifth Element before it, it leaves nothing on the table, squeezing every color onto its palette and delivering eye-popping aliens of all shapes and siz

It was the first time I’d seen a girl and a guy in space, agents travelling in time and space. So says Luc Besson, celebrated sci-fi director and TechRadar’s companion today as we guide you through sci-fi and beyond, as viewed through the eye of Besson. You can check out more of his musings below, as we have a whole raft of features under the banner of Luc Besson Presents. But, before you do that, we thought a day of celebrating science fiction and its films couldn’t go without a rundown of our

Sometimes it gets difficult to see whether life is influencing art or art influencing life. With Luc Besson behind the lens at TechRadar today, we’ve decided to look at some of the amazing futuristic tech from films that we now can get our grubby little real life hands on. Lucky for us, real life science is always aping the ideas of Californian movie producers and, on occasion, the boffins produce the goods. Imagine if the US army – or anyone else for that matter – attempted to make a robotic ex

Why, then, should there be any need to make space travel cool and sexy? Luc Besson on space travel I will probably not see the opportunity to visit space in my lifetime, but I wish I could do it. With super-famous actor Matt Damon as its lead, it didn’t just make speculative space sexy, it made (mostly) real space exciting – which is an even greater artistic feat. The sports design brand who isn’t new to space design having created the Alien Stompers to replicate the shoes Sigourney ‘Ellen Riple

Summer blockbuster season is well underway at your local cinema multiplex, with the LA bigwigs all clamouring for your cash. Luc BessonBut the debt doesn’t extend to Cameron’s pioneering 3D camera developments – for Besson, it’s still preferable to shoot in 2D first, and convert to 3D later. It’s wonderful”) it’s unsurprising that such a visually meticulous director as Besson has little time for viral video culture. “The most important thing is what you’re saying. So it’s just not the same thing

For the first time in human history, the pace of technological change was visible within a human lifespan. In Greek mythology, characters would travel to other worlds, and it’s no coincidence that The Matrix features a character called Persephone. Chancers and hoaxesOf course, the lack of real science when it comes to time travel has not stopped some people from claiming to have done it. Titor claimed he was from the year 2036, and had been sent back in time by the government to obtain an IBM 51

To celebrate the release of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Luc Besson is today behind the lens at TechRadar. We sat down with Luc Besson in London ahead of the UK premiere of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and here’s what he had to say. Otherwise, grab your multipass and jump in your skyjet; may we introduce, in his own words, Luc Besson. Luc BessonWith Valerian, the themes were developed inside; it’s not the ‘superhero’ type of film, it’s not a cheeseburger – somethi

While most users have had no problems with their Nintendo Switch units since the device launched back in March, some people have been experiencing a battery indicator issue since day one. Now, Nintendo has issued an update to address the problem, though it requires some hoop jumping on the user’s part. The bug causes the console’s battery indicator to rapidly drop from a full charge to 1%, despite the battery itself continuing to function as normal. Next, the console must be connected directly t

And not just a tiny uptick: Apple sold 11.4 million iPads in Q3, the three months ending July 1. This figure pales in comparison to the 41 million iPhones also sold in the quarter, but it’s a surprising 15% increase from the same quarter last year (when 9.9 million were iPads sold) and a 28% increase from the quarter before (8.9 million iPads sold). Apple released two iPad Pro tablets in June, the all-new iPad Pro 10.5 and an updated iPad Pro 12.9 . Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad and iPad mini 4, meanwhi

Thanks to Microsoft’s plug-and-play wireless dongle, the Xbox One’s gamepad makes an excellent go-to for PC play, and now an improved version is on the way. Microsoft is releasing a new model of its Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows on August 8 for $24.99 (about £20, AU$30), though it’s up for pre-order now. The USB-connected adapter is two-thirds smaller than its conspicuously large predecessor, now taking up the space of a small thumb drive. Aside from its new, smaller size, the upgraded adapt

Apple CEO Tim Cook just gave us the strongest sign that the iPhone 8 release date will indeed happen in September. That’s the best sign iPhone 8 won’t be late. Of course, we could also see the iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus, too, which is expected get to a basic specs update and start at a cheaper price and the iPhone 8. Apple projects revenue will be between $49 billion and $52 billion, according to the company’s fiscal 2017 guidance. This helps dispel months of iPhone 8 delay rumors that had ana

Though Facebook’s focus is, for the most part, firmly on the software side of things, the social network may extend its reach to a new piece of hardware meant to bring people closer together. Facebook is reportedly working on a laptop-sized touchscreen device capable of connecting individuals in a room over video chat, sources familiar with the matter tell Bloomberg. Said to already be in the testing phase, Facebook’s supposed contraption utilizes a large screen and a smart camera to make distan

Best VR Headset Buying Guide: Welcome to TechRadar’s round-up of the best Virtual Reality Headsets on PCs, phones and consoles you can buy in 2017. That said, the three best on the market right now, the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR are unsurprisingly also the most expensive. Because of the huge number of phones that are compatible with the Gear VR, the quality of the VR experience can vary by quite a bit. The Gear VR headset isn’t the highest-quality VR experience available, but it i

Hold onto your seats: SNES Classic Mini pre-orders go live in the US at the tail-end of August, Nintendo announced today. What’s more, Nintendo will continue to send SNES Classic Editions to retailers throughout the rest of 2017. SNES Classic pre-orders got a false start when Walmart started taking orders before abruptly cancelling them last week. The SNES Classic Mini price is $79.99, and you’ll find it up for order at Amazon, GameStop and Walmart (naturally), along with other reputable retaile

Following the introduction of the Surface as a Service program last year, which provided Surface devices to businesses on subscription plans, Microsoft has debuted a similar offering aimed at consumers. The Surface Plus program is only being launched in the US at the moment, and essentially makes buying your Surface device the same as purchasing a phone. Surface for every occasionMicrosoft’s Surface Plus offering spans the Surface Laptop, Surface Pro (which is one of our best laptops of 2017), S

Some football players earn ridiculous salaries, while others in the same squad earn much less. Computer scientists at Lawrence Technological University used machine learning and data science to analyse the salaries of 6,082 professional European football players. The sheer size of the gap makes him the world’s most overpaid football player in comparison to others. Strength aloneThe underpaid players tended to perform better than overpaid players in their agility, acceleration, speed, balance, an

And if you want to shine them on it’s ‘hasta la vista, baby’.”“Hasta la vista, baby,” is the flesh-covered robot’s iconic, deadpan response. Artificial intelligence is now real and increasingly, well, intelligent. Hasta la vista, baby. Facebook was experimenting with chatbots – text-based programs which increasingly make use of artificial intelligence advancements to hold conversations with humans, usually in lieu of another human in resource-stretched customer service roles. This is a formative