Month: October 2016

Millimeter-wave 5G modem coming mid-2018 with 5Gbps peak download

(credit: Qualcomm) Qualcomm is promising to launch its first 5G modem in 2018, even though basic standards for 5G have yet to be established , nor even which part of the radio spectrum it will use. Dubbed the Snapdragon X50, the San Diego chipmaker says its new modem will be able to deliver blindingly fast peak download speeds of around 5Gbps. The X50 5G will at first operate with a bandwidth of about 800MHz on the 28GHz millimetre wave (mmWave in Qualcomm jargon) spectrum, a frequency that’s also being investigated by Samsung, Nokia, and Verizon. However, the powers that be have far from settled on this area of the spectrum, with 73GHz also being mooted. In the UK, Ofcom is investigating several bands in a range between 6GHz and 100GHz. As the industry as a whole is a long way from consensus, this could be Qualcomm’s bid to get the final frequency locked down well before 2020—the year that 5G is expected to reach any kind of consumer penetration. Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Read the article:
Millimeter-wave 5G modem coming mid-2018 with 5Gbps peak download

Amazon Japan’s manga-ready Kindle has 8 times the storage

Amazon Japan has an unusual challenge with the Kindle: it not only has to cater to your typical bookworm, but to a local fondness for image-heavy (and thus storage-intensive) manga books . What it’s going to do? Release a special model just for those readers, apparently. The company has introduced a manga version of the Kindle Paperwhite with 32GB of storage, or eight times as much space as the run-of-the-mill 4GB model. You could cram every single volume of Asari-chan , Kochikame and Naruto into this e-reader, Amazon says. On top of that, a 33 percent faster page turning speed promises to keep you engrossed in your comics. The manga Kindle is available for pre-order now, with pricing commanding a slight premium over the usual Paperwhite. You’re spending ¥16, 280 (about $157), or ¥12, 280 ($118) if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber. The first units ship October 21st, and the update to improve page turning performance should arrive by the end of the month. As you might gather, it’s not very likely that you’ll see this model elsewhere in the world — when the 4GB in regular Kindles is enough to hold thousands of regular books, Amazon doesn’t have much incentive to boost their capacity any time soon. Source: Amazon Japan (translated 1) , (2)

More:
Amazon Japan’s manga-ready Kindle has 8 times the storage

Samsung’s new 10nm process promises big power efficiency improvements

Enlarge (credit: Samsung) The news hasn’t been great for Samsung’s smartphone division lately, but there is good news for the chipmaking arm of the company: Samsung announced today that it has started to mass-produce chips on its new 10nm LPE manufacturing process, a major improvement over its current 14nm process. According to Samsung, 10nm chips can fit 30 percent more transistors within the same physical area as a 14nm chip. Chip designers will be able to create chips that are up to 27 percent faster or chips that use up to 40 percent less power, though most chips will probably do a little of both instead of maximizing one or the other. A second-generation, 10nm LPP process will begin mass production in the second half of 2017, roughly one year from today. Other than the timing, we only know that this revision is intended to boost performance. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Read this article:
Samsung’s new 10nm process promises big power efficiency improvements

iOS 10.0.3 fixes iPhone 7 cellular connectivity problems

Enlarge / The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) Apple has just released iOS 10.0.3, a minor update to iOS 10 intended to fix cellular connectivity problems with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus . Unlike most iOS updates, this one is available exclusively for the newest iPhones, since older iPhones and iPads running iOS 10.0.2  don’t seem to be affected. The problem seems to affect US users on Verizon the most consistently, and most users’ complaints say that the phones drop their LTE connections and either fall back to 3G speeds or lose connectivity altogether. Reports of similar connectivity problems have also come from AT&T users, and late last week, Bloomberg also reported on complaints from Chinese users who were losing their signals . Apple’s release notes don’t mention any particular countries or carriers, but iOS 10.0.3 will hopefully resolve the problems for everyone. Apple is also working on a major update to iOS 10, version 10.1, which adds the “portrait mode” feature to the iPhone 7 Plus’ dual-camera system and makes other tweaks. That update is currently in its third developer beta and will be released later this fall. Read on Ars Technica | Comments

Original post:
iOS 10.0.3 fixes iPhone 7 cellular connectivity problems

Orbital’s Antares launches cool science experiments to space

NASA and Orbital ATK had to put off Antares’ comeback until the next day due to a glitch, but everything went well the second try. The rocket finally blasted off to space carrying a Cygnus spacecraft with supplies for the ISS, as well as a bunch of cool scientific experiments . One of its science payloads is the Saffire 2, the follow-up to the largest fire experiment conducted outside our planet. Saffire 2 will burn nine samples made of various materials aboard the Cygnus as it makes its way back to Earth. That will allow scientists to compare their flammability in microgravity to their flammability on the ground. The data they collect could help keep future spacefarers safe when they embark on long-duration missions. Another one will investigate the “cool flames” phenomenon, wherein some fuels burn intensely at first then suddenly appear to go out. In truth, they’re still burning — we just can’t see the flames with the naked eye. By looking closely into cool flames, NASA will be able to create more efficient engines and eco-friendly fuels. Cygnus is also carrying a new lighting system designed to help astronauts maintain their biological clock and to help them be alert at all times. There’s a Fast Neutron Spectrometer aboard, as well, which will collect data on high-energy neutrons, part of the radiation astronauts’ bodies experience. The spacecraft will reach the ISS on October 23rd and will be coming back in late November, so we’ll have to wait till then to hear about Saffire 2’s results. Source: NASA

Read the original post:
Orbital’s Antares launches cool science experiments to space

Scientists Create Fully Functional Eggs from Skin Cells

Using skin cells extracted from mice, researchers in Japan have produced fully functional egg cells that were used to produce healthy mouse pups. Should the method work in humans, it could introduce powerful new ways of treating infertility—and even allow same-sex couples to produce biological offspring. Read more…

View original post here:
Scientists Create Fully Functional Eggs from Skin Cells

MIT’s Fusion Reactor Broke a World Record Right Before the Feds Shut It Off

Interior of the Alcator C-Mod fusion reactor at MIT, which was shut off on September 30th. Image: Bob Mumgaard/Plasma Science and Fusion Center/MIT MIT’s fusion program has fallen on hard times, but that hasn’t stopped it from smashing world records and keeping the dream of limitless, carbon-free energy alive. At an International Atomic Energy Agency summit in Japan this week, researchers involved with MIT’s Alcator C-Mod tokamak reactor announced that their machine had generated the highest plasma pressure ever recorded . Read more…

See the original post:
MIT’s Fusion Reactor Broke a World Record Right Before the Feds Shut It Off

Report: Russian Hackers Phished The DNC And Clinton Campaign Using Fake Gmail Forms

Citing a report from SecureWorks, BuzzFeed is reporting that Russian hackers “used emails disguised to look as Gmail security updates to hack into the computers of the Democratic National Committee and members of Hillary Clinton’s top campaign staff”: The emails were sent to 108 members of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign and 20 people clicked on them, at least four people clicking more than once, Secureworks’ research found. The emails were sent to another 16 people from the DNC and four people clicked on them, the report said. Researchers found the emails by tracing the malicious URLs set up by [state-sponsored hacking group] Fancy Bear using Bitly, a link shortening service… “We were monitoring bit.ly and saw the accounts being created in real time, ” said Phil Burdette, a senior security researcher at SecureWorks, explaining how they stumbled upon the the URLs set up by Fancy Bear. The URL apparently resolved to accounts-google.com (rather than accounts.google.com), and Burdette says “They did a great job with capturing the look and feel of Google.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See the original article here:
Report: Russian Hackers Phished The DNC And Clinton Campaign Using Fake Gmail Forms

Body cameras given to ‘over 22,000’ London police officers

To help keep the peace, more than 22, 000 London police officers will soon be given body cameras . The roll-out begins today — six months later than former mayor Boris Johnson had anticipated. The new hardware, supplied by Taser, won’t be recording around the clock; instead, officers will need to hit the shutter manually and notify the public “as soon as practical.” A red light and beeping noise will indicate new recordings. The footage will then be uploaded to a secure server where it can be used as evidence in court. If it’s not required, the data will be deleted automatically after 31 days. Metropolitan Police hope the cameras will add a greater level of transparency to their work. Accused citizens should, in theory, be able to call on these images to prove their innocence. They could play a similar role for the police, helping officers to defend their actions on the street. It’s hoped that the new hardware will play a preventative role too, discouraging both sides from acting outside of the law in the first place. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, believes the cameras can make the court system more efficient — if footage of the incident exists, many offenders will plead guilty immediately, rather than hide the truth. “Video captures events in a way that can’t be represented on paper in the same detail, ” Hogan-Howe added. “A picture paints a thousand words, and it has been shown the mere presence of this type of video can often defuse potentially violent situations without the need for force.” The Met says the rollout is the “largest” of its kind in the world. Officers will be kitted out in phases, with an expected completion date of “next summer.” It follows years of trials , as well as public consultation and academic evaluation. Similar hardware has been deployed in the US , where police trust has fallen to an arguably greater low. Body cameras, if used fairly and consistently, could help to repair that fragile relationship. Source: Metropolitan Police

Read the original:
Body cameras given to ‘over 22,000’ London police officers

Explore Over 500 Years of English Slang With This Online Dictionary

There’s enough slang within the English language to make up a whole new language. If you need to do some research for an English assignment, or you’re just into linguistics, this online dictionary is your best bet. Read more…

Original post:
Explore Over 500 Years of English Slang With This Online Dictionary