Tag: iphone

iPhone Sales Slump Leads To Apple’s Worst Quarter in 13 Years

Apple’s record-setting growth has finally come to an end. During the company’s first quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Apple reported its first year-over-year decline since 2003. Apple reported revenues of $50.6 billion, down from about $58 billion during the same period last year. Read more…

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iPhone Sales Slump Leads To Apple’s Worst Quarter in 13 Years

New ‘Image Enhance’ Lets Satellites See 2-Inch Objects on Mars

Researchers have developed a new image enhancement technique that allows them to boost the resolution of satellite images, revealing unprecedented levels of detail. Read more…

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New ‘Image Enhance’ Lets Satellites See 2-Inch Objects on Mars

The Netflix effect: SNL to air fewer commercial breaks

Honchos at NBC have told Ad Age that Saturday Night Live is going to show fewer commercials from next season. The 42nd year of the long-running sketch show will lose two whole ad breaks compared to the current season. That time will be handed back to producer Lorne Michaels to fill with the stated intention of making it “easier to watch the show live.” In exchange, the channel will let six companies pay to create “branded original content, ” that harnesses SNL’s cadre of writers and performers. We’re not sure how much paid-for programming will change the show’s slightly subversive tone , but as long as Kate McKinnon’s free to be Kate McKinnon, we’re not sure we care. It’s not explicitly addressed by either NBC Universal’s Linda Yaccarino or Lorne Michaels, but we’re fairly sure what’s causing the about-face. After all, cord-cutters and ad-averse millennials may prefer to watch the individual SNL sketches the morning after on YouTube. That way, they’re free from the burden of having to sit through an endless parade of commercials that break the mood of the comedy. The sort of young viewers that SNL is often designed for are increasingly used to watching shows without commercial breaks at all, thanks to Netflix and Amazon Prime. Hulu, even, offers smaller ad breaks than broadcast TV (and none when you upgrade to the premium tier). Ad Age says that around six-and-a-half-million people watch SNL during its traditional broadcast slot, er, live on Saturday nights. A further 2.2 million people subscribe to the show’s YouTube page, and even a lukewarm sketch like the Julia Louis-Dreyfuss cold open earned 1.4 million views. Clips that go viral , meanwhile, can get views an order of magnitude higher than that. Obviously, NBC and its advertising partners would like to get those eyeballs in front of their TV for the actual broadcast, and so it’s going to have to adapt to the modern era. Of course, some might say that nothing’s going to increase SNL’s audience unless it either: airs earlier or its creators work out a better ways to end a ske Source: Ad Age

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The Netflix effect: SNL to air fewer commercial breaks

Researchers Discovered New Observations of the 1006 AD Supernova

Ancient astronomers have long been providing observations of supernovae, such as SN 185 by Chinese astronomers in 185 AD, SN 1054, which produced the Crab Nebula, and SN 1006, the brightest stellar event ever recorded. Now, a new paper has uncovered a new observation of the 1006 event. Read more…

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Researchers Discovered New Observations of the 1006 AD Supernova

Solar Impulse 2 completes its flight across the Pacific

After months of delays and days of flying , Solar Impulse 2 has finished crossing the Pacific . The sunlight-powered aircraft arrived in San Francisco Bay on the night of April 23rd, with an expected touchdown at Moffett Field (as of this writing) around 3AM Eastern on the 24th. This isn’t the toughest stint to date (that honor goes to the 5, 061-mile trip from Japan to Hawaii), but it was no mean feat. Pilot Bertrand Piccard had to travel 2, 717 miles between Hawaii and San Francisco, with only short naps allowed during the 3-day expedition. As daunting as this and the eight previous legs of the trip have been, the tough part isn’t over yet. While flying over the US will be a relative cakewalk (Solar Impulse 2 should reach New York by early June), the aircraft will then have to travel 3, 566 miles to Europe. That’s a straight 5 days in the air, folks. After that, the plane will complete its around-the-world mission by heading to Abu Dhabi. This hasn’t been the quickest adventure given that the aircraft took off back in March 2015. However, speed isn’t really the point. Solar Impulse 2 and its namesake technology are meant to show that green energy can accomplish as spectacular a feat as flying across the planet. If the flight encourages anyone to embrace clean power, it accomplishes its goal. Source: Solar Impulse , YouTube

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Solar Impulse 2 completes its flight across the Pacific

Facebook was the victim of a backdoor hack

Even a tech giant like Facebook isn’t immune to significant security breaches. Devcore’s Orange Tsai recently discovered that someone had installed a backdoor on one of Facebook’s corporate servers (that is, not the social network itself) in a bid to swipe workers’ login details. While it’s not clear how successful the script-based exploit was, Tsai noted that the file transfer app hosted on the server had several vulnerabilities that effectively gave any intruder free rein. The attacker could have checked employee email, for instance, or even connected to Facebook’s virtual private network to get access to the company’s inner workings. Thankfully, this is all past tense. You’re only hearing about this now because Tsai reported the bugs to Facebook (to get a bounty, naturally), and waited until the firm completed its investigation before disclosing the flaws. That backdoor isn’t there anymore, folks. All the same, the incident is bound to humble Facebook a bit — it’s proof that the company is a prime target for hackers, and that it can’t assume it’s always on top of every possible security flaw. Via: Hacker News Source: Devcore

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Facebook was the victim of a backdoor hack

Log in with your skull via bone conduction biometrics

Researchers looking for a better way to secure their face computers have come up with a novel solution for hands-free, head-mounted password entry. A device could potentially identify its wearer by emitting an ultrasonic hum through their skull and listening for the unique frequency that bounces back. The ” SkullConduct ” setup was devised by university researchers in Germany and works on a modified pair of Google Glass. Using the integrated bone conduction speaker and microphone, the device played an imperceptible sound that was then picked up by the microphone. A test device was able to correctly identify the user 97 percent of the time in a lab. While the researchers originally envisioned the system as a way to keep unwanted users from accessing devices like Glass, Gizmodo thinks it could potentially be another TouchID for your skull. Imagine, if you will, a scenario where you can unlock your phone by placing it against your ear. But, then again, who actually takes phone calls anymore?

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Log in with your skull via bone conduction biometrics

There’s a Gigantic Reef Surrounding the Amazon River and Nobody Noticed

It’s incredible that it escaped notice for so long, but scientists have just discovered a massive, 9, 500 square-kilometer reef system at the mouth of the Amazon river. And it’s home to some truly bizarre life forms. Read more…

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There’s a Gigantic Reef Surrounding the Amazon River and Nobody Noticed

You’ll Never Forget Your Password When It’s the Sound Your Skull Makes

Lacking a decent keyboard for password entry, it’s tricky to secure a wearable computer so that someone else can’t just put it on and access your private files. But researchers have come up with a better alternative , by listening to the unique sound of the wearer’s skull. Read more…

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You’ll Never Forget Your Password When It’s the Sound Your Skull Makes