Tag: internal

Compression ignition engines are a big breakthrough—we got to try one

Mazda IRVINE, Calif.—Despite rumors to the contrary, the internal combustion engine is far from dead. Recently we’ve seen several technological advances that will significantly boost the efficiency of gasoline-powered engines. One of these, first reported back in August 2017 , is Mazda’s breakthrough with compression ignition. On Tuesday, Mazda invited us to its R&D facility in California to learn more about this clever new Skyactiv-X engine, but more importantly we actually got to drive it on the road. What’s so special about this engine then? (credit: Mazda) The idea behind Skyactiv-X is to be able to run the engine with as lean a fuel-air mixture (known as λ) as possible. Because very lean combustion is cooler than a stoichiometric reaction (where λ=1 and there is exactly enough air to completely burn each molecule of fuel but no more), less energy is wasted as heat. What’s more, the exhaust gases contain fewer nasty nitrogen oxides, and the unused air gets put to work. It absorbs the combustion heat and then expands and pushes down on the piston. The result is a cleaner, more efficient, and more powerful engine. And Skyactiv-X uses a very lean mix: a λ up to 2.5. Read 22 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Compression ignition engines are a big breakthrough—we got to try one

All 24 suspects nabbed as part of phone scam ring have pled guilty, DOJ says

Enlarge (credit: Nevada Wier / Getty Images News ) Federal prosecutors said recently that the last of 24 US-based defendants have pleaded guilty as part of the takedown of a massive phone-based scam that spanned all the way to India. Miteshkumar Patel’s guilty plea, signed on November 13, marks the last of the 24 men, while 32 more suspects remain at large in India. Over a year ago, federal authorities announced that 56 people and six companies had been indicted on various fraud charges involving phone call scams purportedly coming from the Internal Revenue Service and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services officials. Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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All 24 suspects nabbed as part of phone scam ring have pled guilty, DOJ says

HP show us what a real PC workstation looks like with a 56-core, 3TB Z8

Enlarge / HP Z8 Workstation (credit: HP) If you’re a demanding computer user, sometimes your 13″ Ultrabook laptop just won’t quite cut it. For those looking for a little more computing power, HP’s new Z8 workstation could be just the answer. The latest iteration of HP’s desktop workstations packs in a pair of Intel Skylake-SP processors , topping out with twinned Xeon Platinum 8180 chips: 28 cores/56 threads and 38.5MB cache each running at 2.5-3.8GHz, along with support for up to 1.5TB RAM. Next year, you’ll be able to go higher still with the 8180M processors; same core count and speeds, but doubling the total memory capacity to 3TB, as long as you want to fill the machine’s 24 RAM slots. Those processors and memory can be combined with up to three Nvidia Quadro P6000 GPUs, or AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 parts if you prefer that team. The hefty desktop systems have four internal drive bays, two external (and a third external for an optical drive), and nine PCIe slots. Storage options include up to 4TB of PCIe-mounted SSD, and 48TB of spinning disks. A range of gigabit and 10 gigabit Ethernet adaptors are available; the machines also support 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. Thunderbolt 3 is available with an add-in card. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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HP show us what a real PC workstation looks like with a 56-core, 3TB Z8

Thieves find an even more insidious way to swipe your PIN

The secret service has issued a warning to banks and ATM companies about a new way that thieves can steal your credit card information . A report from Krebs on Security explains that “periscope” skimmers have been found inside teller machines in Connecticut and Pennsylvania in the last two months. Of course, since the devices attach to the internal mechanism, there’s absolutely no way for an end user to tell if they’re at risk. The report explains that ATMs with openable lids are the most at risk, since nefarious types can easily gain access inside. The “periscope” probe is installed in a pre-existing hole in the card reader to skim the magnetic stripe, while the other end contains a battery and storage unit. It’s believed that the device can store up to 32, 000 numbers and will last 14 days on a charge. What the gear can’t do, however, is harvest PINs, so it’s theorized that these devices were tests in preparation for a bigger heist. Krebs goes on to add that putting your hand over the cash dispenser’s number pad will defeat a large proportion of scammers with skimmers. Thieves who use pin-pad overlays — fake buttons over the real thing — are relatively rare because the hardware is expensive to reproduce. Krebs also advises users to avoid, wherever possible, standalone ATMs where the lid is easily accessible. Instead, people should favor cashpoints that are mounted in the wall, like those outside banks, and in well-lit areas. Source: Krebs on Security

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Thieves find an even more insidious way to swipe your PIN

Long-lost NES game hits emulators 25 years after it was made

Work on the unreleased Happily Ever After got far enough that box art was actually produced. It’s not every day that a previously unseen game comes out for the Nintendo Entertainment System ( hipsterish modern ports notwithstanding ). One of those days occurred late last week, though, as a long-lost playable prototype ROM of Happily Ever After was released on the Internet 25 years after its original creation. Nintendo Player goes into extensive detail on the game’s creation, which was based off of a movie of the same name by TV cartoon production company Filmation (creators of  He-Man ). The Happily Ever After film, a pseudo-sequel to the famous fairy tale, was originally planned for 1991 but didn’t come out until 1993 due to legal and financial issues. When the movie promptly flopped (and when its distributor became embroiled in an SEC fraud investigation), the accompanying NES game that had been developed by Japanese studio SOFEL ( Wall Street Kid , Casino Kid ) was shelved. Though a very different SNES version was released by a different developer in 1994, the NES game was thought lost forever, save for a few stray screenshots in magazines and reports from Consumer Electronics Shows past. That is until Sean McGee (who previously unearthed a long-lost Super Mario Bros. 2 sample cartridge ) found and purchased a prototype from an Austin-area private seller. Rather than selling the rare game to the highest bidder, as is common with many discovered NES prototypes, McGee dumped the ROM to allow everyone to play this lost gem free on an emulator. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Long-lost NES game hits emulators 25 years after it was made

That Massive IRS Hack Was Way More Massive Than We Thought

Remember that awful news of Russian hackers stealing the personal information of 100, 000 taxpayers ? Turns out the Internal Revenue Service lowballed the number . The agency now says that over 600, 000 people were targeted with 300, 000 unlucky persons losing their data privacy completely. Read more…

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That Massive IRS Hack Was Way More Massive Than We Thought