Month: May 2017

ASUS crams a GTX 1080 into a 16.9mm-thick laptop

For most people, Zephyrus is the Greek god of the west wind, gently bringing spring, and fruit, to the peoples of the world. For gamers, you can be damn sure that definition is going to be quickly supplanted by the one created by ASUS’ Republic of Gamers today. Now, Zephyrus means a pretty damn powerful gaming laptop in a surprisingly slender body, measuring in at just 16.9mm thick when closed, making it the “world’s slimmest.” By way of comparison, Razer’s latest Blade Pro , a high water mark for such laptops, stands at 22.5mm. It appears that ASUS has been one of the principal beneficiaries of NVIDIA’s Max-Q design program that shrinks high-powered gaming laptops. The initiative was announced earlier today, with NVIDIA promising to help laptop makers build devices with top-end internals like the GTX 1080 without the heft. In fact, NVIDIA’s promise is that the first generation of Max-Q laptops will be three times as fast as their immediate predecessors while being three times as thin. Part of that thinness is down to a new thermal design that, when the laptop is open, opens an exhaust port on the underside. That, the company promises, will ensure that your lap won’t get fried when you’re using this on the go. Since Zephyrus ships with the Windows 10 Creators Update, it will take advantage of both Windows Game Mode and Beam’s streaming service. In addition, the device has a new type of trackpad that sits to the right of the keyboard to make life easier for gamers. That trackpad also, apparently, pulls double duty as a numeric keypad for when you need to type out large numbers. Oh, and you’ll be able to customize the keyboard’s lighting scheme that will even let you single out the WASD and QWER keys for night-time fragging sessions. ASUS ROG also wanted to talk about how its laptops aren’t simply for gamers with large wallets when fans of different genres have different needs. A MOBA gamer, for instance, may not need as fast a display as one who’s seriously into FPS. Which is why the company has unveiled a pair of Strix laptops that are tailored specifically to the needs of those two genres. The ROG Strix SCAR Edition is engineered to give FPS gamers a vital edge, with Intel Core i7 processors, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 series and an ultrafast, 120Hz, 5ms display. Meanwhile, the ROG Strix Hero Edition is designed for MOBA fans who are geared towards eSports, packing Intel Core i7 processors, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 Series graphics and a 120Hz wide-view display with rich color fidelity. This breaking news story is developing, please refresh for more information. Click here to catch up on the latest news from Computex 2017!

Visit link:
ASUS crams a GTX 1080 into a 16.9mm-thick laptop

Construction starts on the world’s largest optical telescope

After several years of planning and no shortage of financial anxiety , construction has officially started on the Extremely Large Telescope. Contractors are now building the main structure and dome of the Chile-based observer ahead of its initial service in 2024. That’s a long time to wait, but this is no mean feat. With a 43-yard aperture, this promises to be the world’s largest optical telescope for sometime, even compared to future or in-limbo projects like the Thirty Meter Telescope . Those gigantic dimensions will help it capture far more light, giving astronomers the chance to spot particularly distant galaxies, find small planets and capture more details of larger planets. The ELT’s full capabilities won’t come until sometime after 2024, when the ESO starts a second construction phase. It could easily be another few years after that before the telescope lives up to its expectations. However, it’s having some positive side effects right now: the start of construction also marks the connection of its home, the Paranal Observatory (where the Very Large Telescope resides) to the Chilean electrical grid. That simple addition promises more reliability, lower costs and a reduced environmental footprint. Don’t be shocked if more modest telescopes like the VLT benefit well before their larger sibling is ready for action. Via: Reuters Source: ESO

See original article:
Construction starts on the world’s largest optical telescope

Sony’s latest E Ink tablet comes to the US in June

Did you see Sony’s second-generation Digital Paper and realize you found your dream e-reader? If so, you’ll get to do something about it very soon. Sony has announced that its latest 13.3-inch E Ink tablet (the DPT-RP1) will reach the US sometime in June, when it will sell for the previously announced $700. As mentioned in April, it’s really about a lot of incremental improvements: you’re most likely to notice the higher resolution (1, 650 x 2, 200), but the thinner, lighter design and NFC unlocking will also be helpful. The centerpiece remains the ability to read and annotate documents in exceptional detail — this is aimed at pros and students who need to plow through complex documents like research papers. It’s doubtful that you’ll see the new Digital Paper sitting at your local big-box store. You’ll likely have to go straight to the source or find a specialized reseller. We’ve asked Sony if it has plans for mainstream sales and will let you know if it has something to add. The $700 price makes this latest model considerably more accessible than the original Digital Paper , whose $1, 100 cost was eye-watering for just about anyone, including pros. Still, this definitely isn’t an impulse purchase in any field — you could easily get a more conventional tablet that won’t be as easy on the eyes, but should be much more than a one-trick pony. Source: Sony

Link:
Sony’s latest E Ink tablet comes to the US in June

Researchers Found Perfect Contraceptives In Traditional Chinese Medicine

hackingbear writes: Researchers at U.C. Berkeley found a birth control that was hormone-free, 100 percent natural, resulted in no side effects, didn’t harm either eggs nor sperm, could be used in the long-term or short-term, and — perhaps the best part of all — could be used either before or after conception, from ancient Chinese folk medicine… “Because these two plant compounds block fertilization at very, very low concentrations — about 10 times lower than levels of levonorgestrel in Plan B — they could be a new generation of emergency contraceptive we nicknamed ‘molecular condoms, ‘” team leader Polina Lishko. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See more here:
Researchers Found Perfect Contraceptives In Traditional Chinese Medicine

Malicious Apps Brought Ad-Clicking ‘Judy’ Malware To Millions Of Android Phones

An anonymous reader quotes Fortune: The security firm Checkpoint on Thursday uncovered dozens of Android applications that infected users’ devices with malicious ad-click software. In at least one case, an app bearing the malware was available through the Google Play app store for more than a year. While the actual extent of the malicious code’s spread is unknown, Checkpoint says it may have reached as many as 36.5 million users, making it potentially the most widely-spread malware yet found on Google Play… The nefarious nature of the programs went unnoticed in large part, according to Checkpoint, because its malware payload was downloaded from a non-Google server after the programs were installed. The code would then use the infected phone to click on Google ads, generating fraudulent revenue for the attacker. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See original article:
Malicious Apps Brought Ad-Clicking ‘Judy’ Malware To Millions Of Android Phones

New Solar Plane Plans Non-Stop Flight Around The World

An anonymous reader quotes Bloomberg: [A] Russian tycoon and his Renova Group plan a record-breaking effort to send a plane around the world nonstop using only the power of the sun. If all goes well, a single pilot will fly for five days straight at altitudes of up to 10 miles, about a third higher than commercial airliners. The project isn’t just a stunt. The glider-style airplane with a 36-meter (120-foot) wingspan will be a test of technologies that are set to be used to build new generations of autonomous craft for the military and business, say aerospace experts. They will fly continuously, have far greater reach and control than satellites and expand broadcast, communication and spying capabilities around the globe… “Our flight should prove that it’s possible to make long-distance flights using solar energy, ” said Mikhail Lifshitz, Renova’s director of high-tech asset development and a qualified pilot-instructor. A “flying laboratory” test-plane will be ready by year-end, Lifshitz said in an interview. The plane will conserve power by slowly gliding down from the high altitudes at night — without ever touching the ground. In comparison a solar plane (partially funded by Google) already circled the earth last year — but it took 22 days, and made 17 different stops. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Excerpt from:
New Solar Plane Plans Non-Stop Flight Around The World

A fascinating graphic novel about the origins of Dungeons & Dragons

Almost 10 years ago, journalist David Kushner had a chance to interview Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, the two creators of Dungeons & Dragons , before they died. Kushner’s reporting became a story for Wired , and now he’s expanded the scope of his tale into a graphic novel. Rise of the Dungeon Master , beautifully illustrated by Koren Shadmi, is both a moving portrait of two creative outsiders and a chronicle of how a new kind of storytelling changed pop culture forever. Kushner recounts the story of Gygax and Arneson in the second person, addressing the reader as if Kushner were the dungeon master. “You” are young Gygax, the child of immigrants growing up in the midwest, seeking escape from ordinary life by exploring the wilderness, hunting, and eventually learning to break into an old, abandoned asylum. The narrative technique sounds gimmicky, but it works: you’re sucked into the story and into immediate sympathy with Gygax as he traces his fascination with adventure games back to his childhood, when he climbed around in the maze of tunnels below the creepy asylum’s rotting rooms. Nation Books Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

See more here:
A fascinating graphic novel about the origins of Dungeons & Dragons

IT Crash Causes British Airways To Cancel All Flights

An anonymous reader quotes CNBC: British Airways canceled all flights from London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports on Saturday as a global IT failure upended the travel plans of tens of thousands of people on a busy U.K. holiday weekend. The airline said it was suffering a “major IT systems failure” around the world. Chief executive Alex Cruz said “we believe the root cause was a power-supply issue and we have no evidence of any cyberattack.” He said the crash had affected “all of our check-in and operational systems.” BA operates hundreds of flights from the two London airports on a typical day — and both are major hubs for worldwide travel. Several hours after problems began cropping up Saturday morning, BA suspended flights up to 6 p.m. because the two airports had become severely congested. The airline later scrapped flights from Heathrow and Gatwick for the rest of the day. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read More:
IT Crash Causes British Airways To Cancel All Flights

Oops, man panics and snitches on himself about $500 million opium poppy field

Cody Xiong from North Carolina should have kept his mouth shut, but when police came to his door to ask about something unrelated, the paranoid poppy grower said, “I guess you’re here for the opium.” This led police to discover over an acre of poppy plants, worth about $500 million, in Xiong’s backyard. According to Time : Investigators believe the plants were being harvested in Xiong’s isolated rural lot, before being shipped elsewhere. Opium poppies are used to make opium, morphine, codeine and heroin, and police estimated that the haul consisted of over 2,000 pounds of the plant. Xiong was arrested at the site and charged with manufacturing a Schedule II drug and trafficking in opium, both felonies. He was later released from jail after posting $45,000 bail. Image: Magnus Manske

Read More:
Oops, man panics and snitches on himself about $500 million opium poppy field