Tag: science

Alibaba Posts $1 Billion in Sales in 5 Minutes on Singles’ Day

Alibaba Group posted $1 billion (6.81 billion yuan) of sales within the first five minutes of its Singles’ Day sales, a 24-hour event that may offer clues on the health of the Chinese economy and its largest online retailer. From a report on Bloomberg:Investors are keeping a close eye on the annual Nov. 11 spending blitz that dwarfs Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the U.S., to see if Alibaba can reprise the 60 percent leap in transactions to 91.2 billion yuan it managed last year. The e-commerce giant again turned up the star-wattage for 2016, enlisting Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson, sports celebrity David Beckham, basketball legend Kobe Bryant and pop-rock band One Republic to headline a pre-sale gala and drum up international attention. Pioneered by Alibaba in 2009 and since replicated by rivals including JD.com Inc., Singles’ Day has become somewhat of a barometer of Chinese consumer sentiment. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Alibaba Posts $1 Billion in Sales in 5 Minutes on Singles’ Day

NASA’s Juno Mission Faces More Delays as Engine Problem Remains Unresolved

NASA’s Juno mission is not exactly proceeding according to plan. Last month, an engine burn that would have brought the Jupiter-orbiting spacecraft into a low-altitude orbit was delayed following a malfunction with a pair of helium valves . Now, NASA has confirmed that the next opportunity to enter “science orbit” will also be missed—and that may be the case for the foreseeable future. Read more…

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NASA’s Juno Mission Faces More Delays as Engine Problem Remains Unresolved

Computer Virus Attack Forces Hospitals To Cancel Operations, Shut Down Systems

A hospital system in the United Kingdom has canceled all planned operations and diverted major trauma cases to neighboring facilities citing a computer virus outbreak. From a report on ZDNet: The Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust says a “major incident” has been caused by a “computer virus” which infected its electronic systems on Sunday. As a result of the attack, the hospital has taken the decision to shut down the majority of its computer networks in order to combat the virus. “A virus infected our electronic systems [on Sunday] and we have taken the decision, following expert advice, to shut down the majority of our systems so we can isolate and destroy it, ” said Dr Karen Dunderdale, the trust’s deputy chief executive. The use of a shared IT system also means the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust has been taken offline as staff attempt to combat the attack. As a result of the attack, all outpatient appointments and diagnostic procedures that were set to take place at the infected hospitals on Monday and Tuesday have been canceled, while medical emergencies involving major trauma and women in high-risk labor are being diverted to neighboring hospitals. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Computer Virus Attack Forces Hospitals To Cancel Operations, Shut Down Systems

Foxconn Testing Wireless Charging For iPhone 8

One of the first big secrets regarding Apple’s upcoming smartphone has been spilled. According to a report from Nikkei Asian Review, Foxconn, the firm responsible for assembling iPhones, is testing wireless charging modules for the iPhone 8. TrustedReviews reports: Citing ‘an industry source familiar with the matter, ‘ the report states the wireless charging feature could appear on the next Apple handset, but it depends whether the company can produce enough satisfactory units. The source told Nikkei: “Whether the feature can eventually make it into Apple’s updated devices will depend on whether Foxconn can boost the yield rate to a satisfactory level later on.” The yield rate refers to the ‘number of satisfactory units in the production of a batch of components, ‘ and if it’s found to be too low, the wireless charging feature could be left out of the iPhone 8 according to the report. It’s also claimed the wireless tech could make it into some versions of the iPhone 8 and not others. Nikkei is also reporting that Apple’s next gen smartphones are expected to arrive in three different sizes — 4.7-inch, 5-inch and 5.5-inch — all of which will come with glass-backed bodies. The Next Web reports: “Nikkei further suggests out of the three new iPhones will be a premium model with a curved edge-to-edge OLED display; the other two models will likely have standard LCD displays. Here’s what Nikkei’s source said: “Apple has tentatively decided that all the 5.5-inch, 5-inch and 4.7-inch models will have glass backs, departing from metal casings adopted by current iPhones, and Biel and Lens are likely to be providing all the glass backs for the new iPhones next year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Foxconn Testing Wireless Charging For iPhone 8

How to Make Hot Ice That Magically Freezes at Room Temperature

Here’s a simple experiment you can try at home that produces a unique substance called sodium acetate from baking soda and vinegar. It’s also often referred to as “hot ice” because at room temperature it forms crystals just like ice does—but without the need for a freezer. Read more…

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How to Make Hot Ice That Magically Freezes at Room Temperature

WordPress Founder Accuses Wix Of Stealing Code

An anonymous reader writes: “Wow, dude I did not even know we were fighting, ” Wix CEO Avishai Abrahami posted on the company’s blog Saturday — responding to WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg, who on Friday accused Wix of stealing their code. “The claim is that the Wix mobile apps distribute GPL code and aren’t themselves GPL, so they violate the license, ” Mullenweg wrote. Abrahami argued that “Everything we improved there or modified, we submitted back as open source, ” adding “we will release the app you saw as well… ” Mullenweg responded “It appears you and [lead engineer] Tal might share a misunderstanding of how the GPL works, ” ultimately adding “software licensing can be tricky and many people make honest mistakes.” Wix had also argued they’re giving back to the open source community by listing 224 public projects on their GitHub page. “Thank you for the offer to use them, ” Mullenweg responded. “If we do, we’ll make sure to follow the license you’ve put on the code very carefully.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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WordPress Founder Accuses Wix Of Stealing Code

Why Apple and Microsoft Are Using Last Year’s Skylake Processors In Their New Computers

Apple released new MacBook Pros yesterday that feature Intel’s year-old Skylake microarchitcure, as opposed to the newer Kaby Lake architecture. Two days earlier, Microsoft did the same thing when it released the Surface Studio. Given the improvements Kaby Lake processors have over Skylake processors, one would think they would be included in the latest and greatest products from Microsoft and Apple. Gizmodo explains why that’s not the case: In the case of the new 15-inch MacBook the answer is simple. “The Kaby Lake chip doesn’t exist yet, ” an Apple rep told Gizmodo. Kaby Lake is being rolled out relatively slowly, and it’s only available in a few forms and wattages. The 15-inch MacBook Pro uses a quad-core processor that has no Kaby Lake equivalent currently. That particular laptop really does have the fastest processor available. The same goes for the Microsoft Surface Studio and updated Surface Book — both also use a quad-core Skylake processor with no Kaby Lake counterpart. But the Studio and Surface Book are also using much older video cards from the Nvidia 900 series. Nvidia has much faster and less power-hungry chips (the 1000 series) available based on the Pascal architecture. Microsoft’s reasoning for going with older video cards is nearly identical to Apple’s for going with a slower processor in its 13-inch MacBook Pro: the Nvidia 1000 series came out too late. The major intimation was that Kaby Lake and Pascal came so late in the design process that it would have delayed the final products if they’d chosen to use them. New technology, no matter how amazing an upgrade it might be, still requires considerable testing before it can be shipped to consumers. One minor bug, particularly in a system as engineered as the Surface Studio or MacBook Pro, can turn catastrophic if engineers aren’t careful. In the case of Microsoft, it’s frustrating, because that old GPU is significantly slower than the Pascal GPUs available. It’s a little less frustrating in Apple’s case, largely because of the old processor microarchitecture that Apple elected to shove into its new 13-inch MacBook Pro. Apple went with a new Skylake dual core processor that draws a lot of power — more so than any Kaby Lake processor available. It then uses all that extra power to ramp up the speeds of the processor. Which means it is capable of pulling off speeds that can actually match those of the fastest Kaby Lake processor out there. The only downside to this decision is battery life. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Why Apple and Microsoft Are Using Last Year’s Skylake Processors In Their New Computers

New MacBook Pros Max Out At 16GB RAM Due To Battery Life Concerns

The new MacBooks Pros have been improved in nearly every way — except when it comes to RAM capacity. With faster, more energy efficient Skylake processors, faster SSDs, and better GPUs, one would think the amount of RAM wouldn’t be capped off at 16GB. However, that is the case. The reason why the MacBook Pros continue to max out at 16GB RAM is due to battery life concerns, according to marketing chief Phil Schiller. MacRumors reader David emailed Apple to get an explanation: Question from David: “The lack of a 32GB BTO option for the new MBPs raised some eyebrows and caused some concerns (me included). Does ~3GBps bandwidth to the SSD make this a moot issue? I.e. memory paging on a 16GB system is so fast that 32GB is not a significant improvement?” Schiller’s answer: “Thank you for the email. It is a good question. To put more than 16GB of fast RAM into a notebook design at this time would require a memory system that consumes much more power and wouldn’t be efficient enough for a notebook. I hope you check out this new generation MacBook Pro, it really is an incredible system.” For the 2016 MacBook Pro, Apple was able to reach “all-day battery life, ” which equates to 10 hours of wireless web use or iTunes movie playback. That’s an hour improvement over the previous generation in the 15-inch machine, and a small step back in the 13-inch machine. While none of Apple’s portable machines offer more than 16GB RAM, 32GB of RAM is a high-end custom upgrade option in the 27-inch iMac. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New MacBook Pros Max Out At 16GB RAM Due To Battery Life Concerns

Ubuntu 16.10: Convergence is in a holding pattern; consistency’s here instead

Enlarge / Rumor has it staffer Megan Geuss is now considering Ubuntu 16.10 solely based on codename . (credit: itsfoss.com / YouTube ) There’s plenty in Ubuntu 16.10 that makes it worth the upgrade, though nothing about Canonical’s latest release is groundbreaking. This less experimental but worthwhile update continues to refine and bug-fix what at this point has become the fastest, stablest, least-likely-to-completely-change-between-point releases of the three major “modern” Linux desktops. Still, while the Unity 7.5 desktop offers stability and speed today, it’s not long for this world. Ubuntu 16.10 is the seventh release since the fabled Unity 8 and its accompanying Mir display server were announced. Yet in Ubuntu 16.10, there’s still no Unity 8 nor Mir. Read 32 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Ubuntu 16.10: Convergence is in a holding pattern; consistency’s here instead

Renewables Now Exceed All Other Forms of New Power Generation

Last year, renewable energy accounted for more than half of all new forms of power generation produced worldwide. It’s an unprecedented milestone for our civilization—one that points to a bright future for solar and wind power. Read more…

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Renewables Now Exceed All Other Forms of New Power Generation