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Harvard creates a material that lets light go ‘infinitely fast’

Researchers at Harvard University announced recently that they had successfully developed a means of manipulating light at the nanoscale, which could lead to photonic-based ( rather than electronic ) telecommunications. Think, ubiquitous fiber optics. The team reportedly developed an on-chip metamaterial made from silicon pillars embedded in polymer and wrapped in gold film that exhibits a refractive index of zero. In English, that means that the phase of light passing through this material can travel infinitely fast without violating the known laws of physics. Source: Harvard University

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Harvard creates a material that lets light go ‘infinitely fast’

Update Facebook on iOS now to keep it from draining your battery

Facebook users on iOS have had a sneaking suspicion that the app was starting to misbehave, to the detriment of their phone’s battery life. After saying it was looking into the issue, Facebook has now confirmed the problem and pushed out an update to the iOS app to help offer some relief. Facebook engineering manager Ari Grant said as much in a post today on (where else) Facebook, saying that the company “found a few key issues and have identified additional improvements, some of which are in the version of the app that was released today.” While there’s more Facebook says it can do to lessen battery draing, updating the app today should provide some immediate relief. Source: Facebook

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Update Facebook on iOS now to keep it from draining your battery

How Twitter helped make the ‘Archer’ pinball game a reality

Pinball FX creator Zen Studios released a bundle this week featuring tables from Archer , Family Guy , Bob’s Burgers and American Dad . The pack, called Balls of Glory , is available now across PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows 10, Steam, Android and iOS ( whew ). And all of this exists because of a tweet, as Zen Studios VP of Publishing Mel Kirk explains.

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How Twitter helped make the ‘Archer’ pinball game a reality

Facebook expands search to all 2 trillion of its posts

Facebook announced on Thursday that it will expand its search function to include every publically-available post in its archive, not just those of your friends and liked Pages. But this won’t simply be a firehose of information , Facebook will reportedly segregate and stack results depending on the source. The top of the search results will be dominated by trusted sources like professional news outlets (CNN and the like). Below that section will be posts from your friends, presumably providing color commentary and insightful discussion of the headlined news — or, if they’re anything like my friends, it’ll quickly devolve into GIF wars and poop jokes. And at the bottom of the stack will be a Digg-like section of aggregated links related to the search topic. The returned results are reportedly personalized for each user based on 200 search factors. These factors include what subjects and Pages you like as well as your personal information and search history. This change comes in response to criticism of FB’s existing search feature, which has been characterized as an “echo chamber.” By at least exposing users to thoughts and opinions beyond those of their immediate social circle, FB hopes to improve the overall discussion about breaking news. “You don’t just see what your friends and people around you are saying, ” Tom Stocky, VP of Search, told TechCrunch . “You see the stories of people on the ground. It gives us a different level of perspective.” Though, if this new search function is anything like the bedlam of breaking news that is Facebook’s Signal news service, you might want to just stick with Google. [Image Credit: Shutterstock] Via: TechCrunch Source: Facebook

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Facebook expands search to all 2 trillion of its posts

Descent Underground recaptures that Descent multiplayer magic [Updated]

Video: the Descent Underground Early Access gameplay trailer. AUSTIN, TX—About a month ago, we called the retro-themed Descent -style shooter Sublevel Zero an awesome Descent -like experience  but lamented its lack of multiplayer. Well, good news this morning for folks who are still craving multiplayer tunnel-shooting: as of 11:00 EDT, Descent Underground is available on Steam Early Access for $29.99. Players will be able to jump in and fly three classes of ships in five maps and a few different game modes. The product of a small Austin company called Descendent Studios founded by former Star Citizen Austin studio head Eric “Wingman” Peterson, Descent Underground was originally envisioned as a Descent clone under the working title “Ships That Fight Underground” (abbreviated as “STFU” ). However, the game changed course when an encounter with an Interplay shareholder led to a licensing agreement with Interplay, the studio that controls the bulk of the Descent intellectual property. The licensing deal meant that the game could be re-envisioned as an actual branded Descent game—though because the licensing agreement doesn’t include the character models or sound assets from the original trilogy, some creativity had to be applied. The result is Descent Underground, a prequel to the original Descent series. In it, the player takes on the role of a miner who remote-pilots drones through mines, blasting other drones and occasionally doing some actual mining to collect resources. Lead designer Peterson explained to us that the eventual goal is to have a metagame that has some hints of Dune about it: players will fly around in a large mothership, cruising through asteroid fields and looking for choice places to mine. A nice asteroid might already have another player group’s ship docked on it, and you can fly up next to it and deploy your own drones to try to fight them for the asteroid. (This is what’s going on in the launch trailer at the top of the page.) Read 20 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Descent Underground recaptures that Descent multiplayer magic [Updated]

950 Pro review: Samsung’s first PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD is an absolute monster

(credit: Orestis Bastounis) The 950 Pro isn’t Samsung’s first consumer M.2 SSD, or even the company’s first PCIe M.2 drive. It is, however, Samsung’s first consumer M.2 and NVMe drive that uses the full performance of four PCIe 3.0 lanes. It is also an upgrade from its predecessor the SM951, in that it uses 3D V-NAND rather than planar NAND. Somewhat disappointingly, the 950 Pro comes in only two capacities for now: 256GB or 512GB, with a 1TB model promised for next year. Samsung is resolute in only producing single-sided M.2 devices to keep the drive’s thickness to a minimum, so the 1TB drive will have to wait until 48-layer 3rd-generation V-NAND is available. Thankfully, no 128GB model will be sold, indicating that 128GB SSDs may be on their way out. UK pricing is pegged at £150 for the 256GB model and £270 for 512GB; in the US, it’s $200 and $350, respectively. As always, expect some variation between retailers with these prices, and in these early days, prices may be slightly higher than what Samsung is quoting. We’re told that the 950 Pro will hit retailers today; we’ll update this story with some links when they first appear. Read 44 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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950 Pro review: Samsung’s first PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD is an absolute monster

Vudu starts streaming 4K movies to the Roku 4

Vudu’s 1080p HDX streams were once considered high quality for streaming movies over the internet, (now they’re even watchable on phones ) but in the last year Amazon and Netflix surpassed them with 4K resolution and even HDR. Now Vudu is stepping up its game with some 4K flicks, currently available only through the new Roku 4 . For the moment it has 12 movies viewable in 4K (check the list after the break), with prices of $10 for a rental and $25 – $30 to purchase. According to Vudu, you’ll need an 11Mbps connection to stream the high-res versions that it’s marked Vudu UHD. The option will be coming to other platforms including Vizio’s 4K TVs soon, and for the ones that can handle it, there’s support for HDR and Atmos surround sound too. 1. San Andreas 2. Man of Steel 3. Edge of Tomorrow 4. The Lego Movie 5. Magic Mike XX 6. Jupiter Ascending 7. Sherlock Holmes 8. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows 9. The Great Gatsby 10. Into the Storm 11. Focus 12. Run All Night

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Vudu starts streaming 4K movies to the Roku 4

3D-Printed Teeth Can Kill 99% of Dental Bacteria

An anonymous reader writes: A research group in the Netherlands has developed a new plastic resin that can destroy most dental bacteria when used for the creation of dental appliances via 3D-printing. The process involves embedding antimicrobial quaternary ammonium salts inside extant dental resin polymers. Since the salts are positively charged, these disrupt negatively-charged bacterial membranes. The process is also being mooted for use in the creation of knee arthroplasties, and in the manufacture of children’s toys and food packaging. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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3D-Printed Teeth Can Kill 99% of Dental Bacteria

Scientists stretch metal to make it stronger

You’d think that stretching metal would make it weaker, but just the opposite is true… on a very small scale. Researchers have developed a technique that pulls nanoscopic metal crystals to eliminate defects. By gently and repeatedly stretching the crystal, scientists move “dislocations” (rows of atom-level defects) to free surfaces, where they’re ultimately forced out. The result is a metal that is considerably less likely to crack or otherwise fail over time. You may not see this technique used to improve larger (that is, visible) metal, like what you see in buildings or vehicles. The same trick that improves nanoscale metal tends to make things worse at the macro level. However, it could be very helpful for processors and any other device where even the tiniest breaks could cause big problems. Don’t be surprised if you’re one day using electronics that last for years longer than you’re used to. Source: Carnegie Mellon University , PNAS

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Scientists stretch metal to make it stronger

New Homeland Security policy demands warrants before deploying StingRays

The Department of Homeland Security announced a substantial policy change Wednesday regarding how it employs cellphone-tracking tools like the StingRay system. These cell-site simulators have been in use for more than a decade. They allow law enforcement to find cell phones either by directly searching for a known device or find an unknown device by sniffing for signaling information from the simulator’s immediate vicinity and triangulating that data. The new policy explicitly demands that DHS personnelle acquire a warrant before deploying the devices unless an exception, such as the imminent loss of human life, destruction of evidence, or to prevent the escape of a fugitive felon. Wednesday’s announcement follows a similar decision by the Department of Justice last month. [Image Credit: Getty] Via: Verge Source: Department of Homeland Security

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New Homeland Security policy demands warrants before deploying StingRays