Whether it’s on your laptop or in a data canter, extra storage is always welcome. Now, it’s been shown that heat-assisted magnetic storage could let us squeeze over ten times more data into the same volume. Read more…
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Heat-Assisted Data Storage Could Squeeze 10 Times More Data on a Drive
It may have just been a matter of time , but it finally happened: streaming music is now the biggest cash cow for the American music industry. The RIAA’s latest year-end sales report reveals that streaming accounted for 34.3 percent of US music revenue in 2015, barely edging past the 34 percent of downloads. Physical sales, meanwhile, were down to 28.8 percent. And despite concerns about free listening hurting the bottom line , paid subscriptions were the star of the show. While ad-based streaming pulled in 30.6 percent more cash versus 2014, paid subscriptions jumped 52.3 percent — suddenly, forking over $10 a month for unlimited music wasn’t such a far-fetched idea. The label-backed organization partly credits the boost to the rise of new entrants like Apple Music and Tidal . Streaming was simply the hot space last year, and everyone stood to gain whether they were fresh or an incumbent like Spotify . Internet radio (think Pandora and SiriusXM) and music videos also played roles, but only tiny ones. No matter what, online tunes were enough to offset the drop in demand for hard copies, as the entire industry’s revenue grew a modest 0.9 percent. It’s hard to say that streaming will keep growing at the pace it has, since there are only so many people willing to either subscribe or put up with ads. Even so, the data might be enough to have labels changing how they distribute and push music. Rather than treat streaming as just one of multiple options, they may be more likely to steer you toward the on-demand services first and foremost. Via: Wall Street Journal Source: RIAA
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Streaming is now the US music industry’s biggest money maker
Pompeii has the best press, but the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD also buried the town of Herculaneum. Charred scrolls were recovered from the town library in 1752, and Italian scientists just discovered it might be possible to use X-ray technology to read them. Their findings were published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . Read more…
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We Might Finally Be Able to Read Ancient Scrolls Damaged By Vesuvius Eruption
It sounds ripped out of the pages of a science fiction novel—or maybe a Lisa Frank catalog—but the genetically modified, brilliantly colored zebra fish pictured above is no fantasy. It was created by scientists, to explore one of the most elusive processes in biology: tissue regeneration. Read more…
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This Technicolor Mutant Zebrafish Is Synthetic Biology’s Craziest Creation Yet
Behold, the iPhone SE. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) CUPERTINO, Calif.—It’s a big day for small phones. Today, Apple announced its anticipated “iPhone SE,” Apple’s first new 4-inch phone since the iPhone 5C and 5S were released in the fall of 2013. The phone is a throwback in a lot of ways. It’s got the same 1136×640 resolution screen as the iPhone 5 family, and its general design borrows much more from those older phones than it does from the thinner, more rounded 6 and 6S. It looks like and is probably best described as “an iPhone 5S but faster.” Apple VP Greg Joswiak introduced the device, noting that there was great demand for a smaller iPhone. “We sold 30 million 4-inch iPhones in 2015,” he said. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Apple announces new 4-inch “iPhone SE,” starting at $399
You may not have heard of Toonz animation software, but you’ve no doubt seen work it was used in: Studio Ghibli films like Spirited Away and Tale of the Princess Kaguya (above), or the animated series Futurama . Now, the Toonz Ghibli Edition used by legendary Japanese filmmakers like Hayao Miyazaki is going open-source , making it free to use by studios and novice animators alike. The deal came after Japanese publisher Dwango acquired the software from Italian developer Digital Video. It’s now focusing on customization and training, but will still sell a premium version to companies “at a very competitive price.” Studio Ghibli’s imaging director Atsushi Okui says, “we are happy to hear that this open-source version contains the Ghibli Edition. We hope that many people inside and outside of the animation industry will utilize this software for their work.” Toonz, which debuted way back in 1993, is used to convert hand-drawn and rasterized art into vector graphics. From there, it can be animated in 2D by creating “skeletons” for characters, providing a similar animation workflow to 3D projects. The open-source announcement means that a production-ready version of the software, which used to run thousands of dollars, is now free for aspiring editors. Studio Ghibli says it first chose the app in 1995 for Princess Mononoke “to combine hand-drawn animation with the digitally painted ones seamlessly … in order to continue producing theater-quality animation without addition stress.” It takes considerable effort to learn software as deep as Toonz, but now that it’s free, it’ll be easier for aspiring animators to become the next Miyazaki or Takahata. It will be presented officially at Anime Japan in Tokyo, which starts on March 26th. Via: Cartoon Brew Source: Toonz
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Animation software used by Studio Ghibli will soon be free
Uber’s just plunked down a load of cash on the future of self-driving car tech. The company just ordered 100, 000 Mercedes S-Class vehicles, according to German business magazine Manager Magazin . Read more…
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Why Did Uber Just Order 100,000 Mercedes?
Not all gemstones are of the same quality. While some rubies are clear and beautiful, others are dull, filled with flaws, and the color of old blood. Scientists have found that chucking them in a serious microwave can really improve them. Read more…
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Microwaving Rubies Makes Them Prettier
Do you like the Mac Pro’s concept of stuffing a lot of computing power into a small cylinder, but wish there was a gaming PC inside instead of workstation hardware? You just got your wish. MSI has started shipping the Vortex , a riff on Apple’s formula that crams a full-on game rig into a tube that’s just 10.6 inches tall. It uses similar vertical cooling and includes Thunderbolt ports ( Thunderbolt 3 in this case), but it’s clearly aimed at a crowd that’s more interested in Far Cry Primal than Final Cut Pro. The mini desktop is billed as relatively upgradeable, and there’s even customizable lighting if you think the system isn’t attention-grabbing enough . Just be prepared to pay through the nose for the privilege. In the US, the Vortex starts at $2, 199 with a 4GHz Core i7, dual GeForce GTX 960 graphics, 16GB of RAM, twin 128GB SSDs, a 1TB hard drive and Killer-made networking. It’ll cost you $3, 999 to get a no-compromise model with dual GeForce GTX 980 video chipsets and 32GB of RAM. This PC is strictly for well-heeled enthusiasts, then, but it’s likely your best bet if you want a compact game machine that doubles as a conversation piece. Source: MSI
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MSI ships its Mac Pro-like Vortex gaming PC
What if a bank’s interest rates were so low, they actually charged you to keep your money there? And what if you could take out a loan without paying any interest at all? That’s the idea behind negative interest rates. We’re sort of in uncharted territory with this concept, which is why it’s making headlines lately. Here’s a quick rundown of what negative interest rates are and what we can expect from them. Read more…
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What “Negative” Interest Rates Are, and What They Mean for Global Economies