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
Intel job cuts & layoffs arrive as the chip giant sees deeper PC market weakness, and a need to shift faster to cloud data centers & the Internet of Things. The post Intel 2016-2017 Layoffs: 12, 000 Cuts, 11% Positions Will Be Eliminated appeared first on ChannelE2E .
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Intel 2016-2017 Layoffs: 12,000 Cuts, 11% Positions Will Be Eliminated
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
Navigating Apple’s App Store is… frustrating . Now, a new report suggests that plans are afoot to make it a little easier. Read more…
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Apple Reportedly Planning to Overhaul the App Store With Better Search
Over a year ago, the solar-powered airplane Solar Impulse 2 started its audacious round-the-world trip —but it became so damaged that it had to pull up short in Hawaii . Now, it’s ready to fly again. Read more…
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Solar-Powered Airplane Solar Impulse 2 to Continue Round-the-World Flight
Last week, a local Denver journalist named Stan Bush reported that Hillary Clinton’s campaign appeared to be using a hidden static noise machine to prevent reporters and other passerby from hearing the candidate’s stump speech at an outdoor fundraiser held at the private residence of Colorado’s governor, John Hickenlooper. The general allegation hung in odd kind of limbo, however, since Bush managed to record the machine’s ( inherently indiscriminate ) sound but was unable to photograph the actual device, while Clinton’s press shop ignored reporters’ attempts to confirm the machine’s existence. Meanwhile, the underlying question went unanswered: Why was Clinton using a static noise machine in the first place? Read more…
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Clinton Donor Confirms Presence of Static Noise Machine at Secretive Colorado Fundraiser
It won’t shock you to hear that the coal industry is facing tough times lately. Job cuts, mine closures and other signs of financial trouble are par for the course. However, that downturn just reached an important milestone: Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private coal mining company, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy across most of its US divisions. The firm says it didn’t have much choice between steep drops in the price of coal, a weak Chinese market, overproduction of shale gas and “regulatory challenges” (read: better environmental policies ). In plainer terms, people just aren’t as interested in coal energy as they were in years past. This isn’t the end for Peabody, let alone the industry. It’ll be business as usual while the company reorganizes, and this doesn’t include Peabody’s Australian (steelmaking-focused) business. As Bloomberg notes , developing regions like India and Southeast Asia still lean heavily on coal. Even in the US, where many are shifting toward renewable energy, about 28 percent of power comes from coal. Nonetheless, the bankruptcy shows just how far the coal business has fallen. While the industry has tried to remain relevant with “sustainable” practices (such as restoring land), it’s just not as desirable as it once was — especially not in a world where carbon emissions are becoming enemy number one . And when clean energy sources like solar and wind power are almost as cheap as the dirty kind, it’s doubtful that coal will ever return to its heyday. Via: Bloomberg Source: Peabody Energy (PDF)
The problem with earthquake -proofing a building is that it usually involves grafting on a lot of support — not really an option with historic buildings or other particularly delicate structures. Komatsu Seiren Fabric Laboratory might have a better way, however. Its carbon fiber-based CABKOMA Strand Rods can protect a building against quakes by tying the roof to the ground, making sure that the whole building moves together — and thus stays together — during a tremor. The fibers are both very strong and very light (you can easily carry a 520-foot strand by yourself), so it’s more like draping spiderwebs over a building than anchors. As you might have gathered just by looking at the photo above, the technology has its limits. It won’t work for tall buildings, or those in dense urban areas where there’s simply no room. This is more for mid-size structures that have plenty of free space. All the same, it might be the key to saving lives in areas where conventional bolts and braces just won’t work. Via: Gizmodo Source: Komatsu Seiren Fabric Laboratory
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Carbon fiber strings protect buildings against earthquakes
I was kind of tired of the FBI vs. Apple story, but now it has a secret collective of morally ambiguous hackers, and I’m into it again. Read more…