Tag: australia

Reflective Camouflage: The Mirror Spider is Covered in Controllable Reflective Patches

In Australia there’s a spider known as Thwaitesia argentiopunctata , a/k/a the Mirror Spider. Apparently they have cousins in Southeast Asia as well, as photographer Nicky Bay has been shooting them in his home city-state of Singapore. Writes Bay: For several years, I have been observing the odd behavior of the Mirror Spider ( Thwaitesia sp. ) where the “silver-plates” on the abdomen seem to shrink when the spider is agitated (or perhaps threatened), revealing the actual abdomen. At rest, the silver plates expand and the spaces between the plates close up to become an almost uniform reflective surface. You can see more shots of this supremely creepy bug—which, if you ask me, should really be called the Disco Ball Spider— here . Via Colossal

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Reflective Camouflage: The Mirror Spider is Covered in Controllable Reflective Patches

A Vicious 50-Year Storm Just Blacked Out an Entire Australian State

South Australia, a state with a population of about 1.7 million, was hit by a massive storm system on Wednesday. The entire region went without power for much of the day as a result. Read more…

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A Vicious 50-Year Storm Just Blacked Out an Entire Australian State

Pandora relaunches its mid-level $5 monthly subscription tier [Updated]

After nabbing the remnants of Rdio out of bankruptcy last year, rumors have swirled for months about Pandora Radio’s upcoming streaming subscription services. Last month, it seemed that all standing in the way was getting the appropriate licensing — which they got on Tuesday from over 30 major and independent labels . Today, they’re relaunching their mid-level $5-per-month subscription radio service as Pandora Plus with a few new features. Unfortunately, this won’t be their much-anticipated $10 monthly on-demand music streaming service, which will supposedly come later this year. Instead, Pandora Plus aims to ride a middleground, streaming automated radio playlists at a discount but offering a few new features than its previous version to make that less of a compromise. First, a predictive offline mode will automatically switch over to a user’s top station when their device loses signal, keeping the music flowing. The second lets users to replenish their limited supply of replays and skips by voluntarily watching video ads. Pandora Plus goes live today on desktop and will roll out to iOS and Android in the coming months, while it won’t expand to Australia and New Zealand until 2017. It’s still unclear when they’ll launch their full on-demand streaming option to compete with Spotify and the other music services. Updated 4:25 PM ET : Turns out that it didn’t actually go live this morning, as Pandora still needed a final licensing deal with Warner Music Group. Even after securing it earlier today, only one percent of its user base would have been able to see and access Plus today anyway, according to Recode. So the new service is supposedly live for folks lucky enough to fit within Pandora’s slow roll-out plan. Source: Pandora

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Pandora relaunches its mid-level $5 monthly subscription tier [Updated]

Australia Has Moved 1.5 Metres, So It’s Updating Its Location For Self-Driving Cars

An anonymous reader shares a CNET report: Australia is changing from “down under” to “down under and across a bit”. The country is shifting its longitude and latitude to fix a discrepancy with global satellite navigation systems. Government body Geoscience Australia is updating the Geocentric Datum of Australia, the country’s national coordinate system, to bring it in line with international data. The reason Australia is slightly out of whack with global systems is that the country moves about 7 centimetres (2.75 inches) per year due to the shifting of tectonic plates. Since 1994, when the data was last recorded, that’s added up to a misalignment of about a metre and a half. While that might not seem like much, various new technology requires location data to be pinpoint accurate. Self-driving cars, for example, must have infinitesimally precise location data to avoid accidents. Drones used for package delivery and driverless farming vehicles also require spot-on information.ABC has more details. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Australia Has Moved 1.5 Metres, So It’s Updating Its Location For Self-Driving Cars

‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ comeback lands at Netflix

You won’t have to go out of your way to watch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 revival . Netflix has picked up the crowdfunded make-fun-of-movies show and will be the only place to stream it in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. The move isn’t exactly shocking (Netflix has already offered classic MST3K episodes), but it’s that much sweeter if you’re already a Netflix subscriber and would rather not head to another service to watch. Just don’t be in a rush to catch up with Joel, Tom Servo and Crow. In keeping with the tone of the series, Netflix will only say that MST3K is coming back “in the not-too-distant future…” and we don’t think it means “next Sunday, AD.” In the not-too-distant future. @MST3K pic.twitter.com/L9IpZW2Cmb — Netflix US (@netflix) July 24, 2016 Via: Hollywood Reporter , TechCrunch Source: Netflix

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‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ comeback lands at Netflix

‘Pokémon Go’ has most first-week downloads in App Store history

Despite only being available in the United States, Australia and New Zealand for its first week, Apple has officially confirmed that Pokémon Go had the most downloads in its first week of any in the App Store’s history. Considering that the game has launched in over 26 countries since then, including opening in Japan today , it might just keep breaking records. The success has led to billions of dollars in stock gains for Nintendo, which saw its share value double before creeping back down, which has even gotten stock “shorters” to start playing with it . And companies are starting to see their value boosted by association: the game launched in Japan today with a heavy McDonald’s promotion partnership, and the burger giant saw a subsequent 20 percent leap in its stock value. Despite criticism that Nintendo just cashed in on a franchise name without bringing over real gameplay , the game continues its onslaught as a mobile juggernaut. Source: TechCrunch

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‘Pokémon Go’ has most first-week downloads in App Store history

Honda unveils first hybrid motor without heavy rare earth metals

Honda pledged to reduce its use of rare earth metals a decade ago, and the automaker took another step towards that goal this week. It unveiled its new hybrid motor that was co-developed alongside Daido Steel, another Japan-based company. The new motor doesn’t use heavy rare earth metals like dysprosium and terbium, instead relying on magnets from Daido Steel that cost 10 percent less and weigh 8 percent lighter than the previous components. In fact, the automaker is the first to develop a hybrid motor that doesn’t use the heavy metals. Honda says the new engines will reduce its reliance on the pricey rare earth metals that are primarily supplied by China. The new hybrid motors will make their debut in the compact Freed minivan this fall, a vehicle that’s already on the road in Asia. Honda also noted during the announcement that not only would cutting out the rare earth metals save money, but it would also reduce the potential for price fluctuations on the materials it uses to build the engines. The new motors don’t nix rare earth elements entirely though, as the new version still has neodymium which is found in North America, Australia and China. Source: Reuters

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Honda unveils first hybrid motor without heavy rare earth metals

CERN Physicists Have Discovered a Batch of New Exotic Particles

Scientists working at CERN have found four new “tetraquark” particles comprised of the same four subatomic building blocks. These exotic particles don’t last very long, and they probably don’t play an important cosmological role, but the discovery reveals the surprising diversity of the tetraquark family. Read more…

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CERN Physicists Have Discovered a Batch of New Exotic Particles

South Australia Refuses To Stop Using An Expired, MS-DOS-Based Health Software

jaa101 writes: The Australian state of South Australia is being sued for refusing to stop using CHIRON, an MS-DOS-based software from the ’90s that stores patient records. Their license expired in March of 2015, but they claim it would be risky to stop using it. CHIRON’s vendor, Working Systems, says SA Health has been the only user of CHIRON since 2008 when they declined to migrate to the successor product MasterCare ePAS. SA Health has 64 sites across South Australia — all of which are apparently still using the MS-DOS-based health software from the 1990s. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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South Australia Refuses To Stop Using An Expired, MS-DOS-Based Health Software

Hypersonic Test Flight Reaches Mach 7.5

Fancy a flight at 5, 710 mph? That’s exactly what the Hypersonic International Flight Research and Experimentation project has achieved with a test flight in Australia, demonstrating that scramjet technology can push the speed of a rocket up to Mach 7.5. Read more…

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Hypersonic Test Flight Reaches Mach 7.5