Li-on batteries gradually deteriorate as they’re repeatedly drained and recharged. But now researchers from University of California, Irvine have developed a new nano-wire battery that can survive hundreds of thousands of charging cycles. Read more…
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New Nanowire Batteries Can Be Charged More Than 100,000 Times
An anonymous reader writes: Johan Kanflo has managed to make the already small Tiny328 Arduino clone into an even smaller computing platform about the size of a single AA battery. Not only will it fit in a typical AA battery holder, but it will actually draw power from the batteries beside it as it’s wired in “backwards” (with the + and – poles reversed). The Arduino platform consists of open-source hardware, open-source software, and microcontroller-based kits, making it easy to (re)program the processors, and develop software for hardware applications using a java-clone and an easy-to-learn IDE. For those interested in the AAduino, Johan has made his creation available online on Github with instructions and schematics to build your own. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Scientist Shrinks Arduino To Size Of An AA Battery
Hearthstone is undergoing some changes in the interest of keeping the digital-trading-card game fresh. But in introducing the “Whispers of the Old Gods” — expansion out on the 26th — developer Blizzard is tweaking a bunch of cards and, based on the 5, 000-plus comment Reddit thread , this isn’t exactly for the better. Fan favorite cards like Molten Giant have gotten a casting cost increase up to 25 from 20, while the Knife Juggler card has had its attack decreased by a point. Polygon breaks the changes down on a card-by-card basis incredibly well. Blizzard says that “careful consideration” went into these choices, and that it was based on both the company’s own ideas and checking out community feedback. So, chances are that the developer is listening to what you have to say regarding the new expansion. Just remember to keep polite when airing your thoughts, okay? You can grab the expansion from the in-game store across all platforms next Tuesday. Via: Polygon Source: Blizzard (1) , (2)
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‘Hearthstone’ update brings drastic changes to the card game
Hold on to your hats: The US Air Force has accelerated a sled down a magnetic levitation track at an incredible 633 mph, setting a new world record in the process. Read more…
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The Air Force Smashed the MagLev Speed Record at 633MPH
Whether you’re a fan of Keurig coffee machines or not, the product delivery method known as the ‘pod’ is here to stay. In the case of Miracle-Gro’s Gro-ables, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. The pods make planting a garden almost completely idiot-proof. Unless you find using a hose a challenge. Read more…
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Keurig-Like Miracle-Gro Seed Pods Make Gardening Idiot-Proof
Most science labs maintain a temperature far below levels preferred by mice, and it’s taking a toll on their health. New research suggests these chilly mice are skewing science results across a wide range of research areas—and the problem is far worse than anyone realized. Read more…
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Lab Mice Are Freezing Their Asses Off—and That’s Screwing Up Science
Netflix recently revealed it had rolled out support for high dynamic range video , starting with the first season of Marco Polo . This was the initial step in the company’s plan to go all in on that technology , which it believes is the perfect complement to 4K — something it’s been pushing since 2014 . By the end of 2016, the streaming service will have more than 150 hours of original programming in HDR, Netflix confirmed to Engadget. Of those, over 100 hours are expected to hit the platform in August, a figure that won’t be easy for competitors such as Amazon to match. While Marco Polo is the only show taking advantage of HDR (Dolby Vision, HDR10) right now, more content is going to follow suit in the next few months. That includes existing series like Bloodline , Daredevil , Jessica Jones and Chef’s Table , as well as The Ridiculous Six movie. Netflix will also feature HDR in the upcoming Luke Cage and The Defenders shows, plus The Do-Over film starring Adam Sandler and more. Here’s the full list, according to Netflix: A Series of Unfortunate Events Bloodline Chef’s Table Hibana Knights of Sidonia Marvel’s Daredevil Marvel’s Iron Fist Marvel’s Jessica Jones Marvel’s Luke Cage Marvel’s The Defenders The Do-Over The Ridiculous Six Unfortunately, there are no firm details on when these are scheduled to arrive. “Timing varies depending on the title, as we are in the process of remastering any existing TV shows and movies, ” a Netflix spokesperson said to Engadget. “It is also dependent on the title’s launch date. We don’t have any dates to confirm at this point in time.” But hey, at least you can be excited about all the HDR stuff that’s coming in the near future.
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Netflix details its HDR streaming lineup for this year
The Homebrew Special—looking a bit blurry, because I wanted to take a low-light shot to try to capture the disco glow. 2 more images in gallery After finally reaching the tipping point with off-the-shelf solutions that can’t match increasing speeds available, we recently took the plunge. Building a homebrew router turned out to be a better proposition than we could’ve ever imagined. With nearly any speed metric we analyzed, our little DIY kit outpaced routers whether they were of the $90- or $250-variety. Naturally, many readers asked the obvious follow-up—”How exactly can we put that together?” Today it’s time to finally pull back the curtain and offer that walkthrough. By taking a closer look at the actual build itself (hardware and software), the testing processes we used, and why we used them, hopefully any Ars readers of average technical abilities will be able to put together their own DIY speed machine. And the good news? Everything is as open source as it gets—the equipment, the processes, and the setup. If you want the DIY router we used, you can absolutely have it. This will be the guide to lead you, step-by-step. What is a router, anyway? At its most basic, a router is just a device that accepts packets on one interface and forwards them on to another interface that gets those packets closer to their eventual destination. That’s not what most of us are really thinking when we think of “a router” in the sense of something we’ll plug into our home or office to get to the Internet, though. What do we need to have before any homebrew device looks like a router? Read 66 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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The Ars guide to building a Linux router from scratch
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Mitel announced that it would acquire Polycom in a cash-and-stock deal with a total value of $1.96 billion, creating a company with combined sales of $2.5 billion and 7, 700 employees. Polycom’s acquisition by Mitel comes at a key time in the world of enterprise communications and collaboration. On one hand, it is a time of massive change and evolution. For years a lot of the services that companies used were based on legacy networking, but in the last decade there has been a big shift to IP-based networks for many of these services. However, at the same time the whole space has been massively disrupted by startups that are upsetting by tapping into the next phase of digital services — the internet. Companies like Microsoft by way of services like Skype and Yammer, and smaller startups like Slack, are overturning the whole idea of how people who are not in the same office floor can communicate and collaborate for work. These solutions are way cheaper than a lot of the legacy offerings; they tap into the cloud-based services that are now ubiquitous to share and work on files; and they are also built in very user-friendly ways, based around tech that ordinary consumers are using. Both companies compete against the likes of Cisco and Avaya. Mitel is perhaps best known for its IP telephony solutions, including PBX systems, while Polycom is a leader in conferencing services. They also cover SIP technology, and customers span 82% of Fortune 500 companies. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Mitel Buys Polycom For $1.96B In Enterprise Communications Consolidation Play
ADATA’s Premiere line of SSDs isn’t nearly as fast or as well-known as Samsung’s 850 series, but it still got a solid review from Anandtech , and this 960GB model is down to an absurdly low $188 on Newegg’s eBay storefront , complete with a three year warranty. Read more…