technology – Page 184

AT&T will launch 5G wireless in two cities this year

AT&T’s 5G wireless network just got much more tangible. The carrier has announced that its ultra-fast wireless will launch in two cities, Austin and Indianapolis, sometime later in 2017. And while it’s still early days, the company is confident enough to set some performance expectations. Initially, these 5G areas will deliver peak speeds of 400Mbps or better. And there’s definite room for it to grow — carrier aggregation and other techniques should push that to 1Gbps in “some areas” this year. The rollout is part of a larger network platform upgrade, nicknamed Indigo, that promises to be more adaptable and responsive. It’ll put more of an emphasis on software-shaped networking (covering 75 percent of the network by 2020) and lean on technologies like machine learning. AT&T is even open-sourcing the code for its network’s orchestration platform, ECOMP. Don’t expect to walk into a store and buy the 5G phone of your choosing once the service is ready. There’s still no 5G standard , for one thing. Also, new cellular wireless technology tends to launch with very limited hardware choices. Remember how Verizon launched LTE with a handful of bulky, compromised phones , and you were more likely to use it in modems and mobile routers? Expect a repeat. Until the technology has had time to mature, it’ll be more of a showcase for the network than a meaningful upgrade. Source: AT&T Newsroom

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AT&T will launch 5G wireless in two cities this year

LibreOffice 5.3 Released, Touted As ‘One of the Most Feature-Rich Releases’ Ever

An anonymous reader shares a report: A new month, and a brand new version of open-source office suite LibreOffice is now available to download. And what a release it is. LibreOffice 5.3 introduces a number of key new features and continues work on improving the look and feel of the app across all major platforms. The Document Foundation describes LibreOffice 5.3 as “one of the most feature-rich releases in the history of the application.” One of the headline features is called MUFFIN interface, a new toolbar design similar to the Microsoft Office Ribbon UI. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

LG’s UltraFine 5K Display Becomes Useless When It’s Within Two Meters of a Router

The LG UltraFine 5K Display was designed in part by Apple to work with the New MacBook Pro and as a replacement for the Thunderbolt Display, which was discontinued late last year. According to 9to5Mac, the display apparently wasn’t designed to work next to routers as it will flicker, disconnect, or freeze computers when it’s within two meters of a router due to electromagnetic interference. The Verge reports: In emails to 9to5Mac, LG acknowledged the problem — which LG says isn’t an issue for any of its other monitors — noting that routers “may affect the performance of the monitor” and that users should “have the router placed at least two meters away from the monitor” to avoid issues. Once the monitor was moved into a different room away from the router, 9to5Mac says the issues subsided. Despite the fact that it’s insane to require a router to be far away from what is likely the main computer in your home, there’s been no indication that LG is working on a fix for the issue, which may be more troublesome. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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LG’s UltraFine 5K Display Becomes Useless When It’s Within Two Meters of a Router

Server Runs Continuously For 24 Years

In 1993 a Stratus server was booted up by an IT application architect — and it’s still running. An anonymous reader writes: “It never shut down on its own because of a fault it couldn’t handle, ” says Phil Hogan, who’s maintained the server for 24 years. That’s what happens when you include redundant components. “Over the years, disk drives, power supplies and some other components have been replaced but Hogan estimates that close to 80% of the system is original, ” according to Computerworld. There’s no service contract — he maintains the server with third-party vendors rather than going back to the manufacturer, who says they “probably” still have the parts in stock. And while he believes the server’s proprietary operating system hasn’t been updated in 15 years, Hogan says “It’s been extremely stable.” The server will finally be retired in April, and while the manufacturer says there’s some more Stratus servers that have been running for at least 20 years — this one seems to be the oldest. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Server Runs Continuously For 24 Years

Scientist Investigate A Brand New Form of Matter: Time Crystals

The discovery of “non-equilibrium matter” could re-write the rules of physics. Long-time Slashdot reader jasonbrown quotes ScienceAlert: For months now, there’s been speculation that researchers might have finally created time crystals — strange crystals that have an atomic structure that repeats not just in space, but in time, putting them in perpetual motion without energy. Now it’s official — researchers have just reported in detail how to make and measure these bizarre crystals. And two independent teams of scientists claim they’ve actually created time crystals in the lab based off this blueprint, confirming the existence of an entirely new form of matter. Both teams — one at Harvard and the other at the University of Maryland — have submitted their findings to peer-reviewed publications, according to the article, and “the fact that two separate teams have used the same blueprint to make time crystals out of vastly different systems is promising.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Scientist Investigate A Brand New Form of Matter: Time Crystals

Researchers create first viable hybrid human-pig embryo

Researchers have created a viable hybrid part-human, part-pig embryo for the first time in history. According to a study published in the journal Cell Thursday, researchers were able to successfully inject human stem cells into a pig embryo and grow tissue that would form the early stages of human organs like the heart, liver and neurons. Although it’s in the very early stages, experts believe the human-pig chimera could one day be used to grow transplantable human organs in farm animals. Adding to the promising scientific breakthroughs, a separate study published in the journal Nature earlier this week details how an international team of researchers successfully performed an interspecies organ transplant using a similar method to create a hybrid mouse-rat embryo. In that study, researchers grew a mouse pancreas inside a rat embryo, which was then transplanted into diabetic mice. As the Washington Post reports , the new pancreatic tissue cured the mice’s diabetes without being rejected by the host. The mice only required a few days of recovery and immunosuppressive treatments before they were able to resume normal, healthy lives. While the technology is moving forward, the ethics of harvesting human organs from animals — or even creating human-animal chimeras in general — is still a touchy subject. Aside from the symbolic and philosophical questions that come from mixing human and animal genetics, there is a fear that stem cells could one day be used to create an animal with a human brain. For now, however, the authors of the Cell study point out that the system is “highly inefficient, ” but the two papers together show the possible benefits of this sort of controversial research. Via: Washington Post Source: Cell , Nature

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Researchers create first viable hybrid human-pig embryo

China Is Splashing $168 Million To Make It Rain

China, the world’s second largest economy, is pouring 1.5 billion yuan ($168 million) into a program aimed at making it rain in its usually arid northwestern region. From a report: No stranger to using technologies like cloud seeding to influence and even control weather patterns, China’s top economic planners recently gave the go ahead for what will be one of the country’s largest weather-modification projects, reports the South China Morning Post. According to the Post, a feasibility study by the country’s meteorological agency concluded that the three-year program could see a rise in precipitation over an area of 960, 000 sq km, or as much as 10% of the country’s landmass. The multi-million dollar budget allocated by the National Development and Reform Commission will reportedly cover the cost for four new aircraft and updates to eight existing planes, nearly 900 rocket launch systems and over 1, 800 digital control devices. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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China Is Splashing $168 Million To Make It Rain

All the major new additions in the iOS 10.3 and macOS 10.12.4 betas

Enlarge / Devices running iOS 10. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) As predicted yesterday, now that Apple has the iOS 10.2.1 and macOS 10.12.3 releases out the door, it’s turning its attention to larger updates. Apple is releasing the first betas of iOS 10.3 and macOS 10.12.4 to the public today and has given us a broad overview of the biggest changes that people will see when these are released to the public in a couple of months. The iOS 10.3 update is the more significant of the two. For starters, it adds AirPods to Find My iPhone to make them easier to find if you lose them, which, given how small they are, is bound to happen to AirPod owners eventually. Most of the other changes come in the form of small additions to existing features. SiriKit , which can already hook into compatible payment and ride-sharing apps, can now be used to pay bills and check on the status of payments. You’ll also be able to schedule a ride with Siri—calling an Uber to come at 2pm rather than “right now,” for instance. The weather icon in Maps can be 3D Touched on compatible devices (the iPhone 6S and 7 series, as of this writing) to show hourly forecasts and other information. The CarPlay UI picks up shortcuts for launching the two most recently used apps and can display EV charging stations in Maps. HomeKit now supports programmable light switches. Facemarks on the Chinese and Japanese keyboards have been shuffled around to make it easier to type, and the Conversation View that Mail picked up in iOS 10 has gotten some “navigation improvements.” Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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All the major new additions in the iOS 10.3 and macOS 10.12.4 betas

Foxconn Considers $7 Billion Screen Factory In US, Which Could Create Up To 50,000 Jobs

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Foxconn, the Taiwanese contract manufacturing company best known for its partnership with Apple, has said that it is mulling a $7 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing that could create between 30, 000 and 50, 000 jobs. According to The Wall Street Journal, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou says the company is talking with the state of Pennsylvania among others about getting the land and electricity subsidies it would need to build a factory. “If U.S. state governments are willing to provide these terms, and we calculate and it is cheaper than shipping from China or Japan, then why wouldn’t Sharp build a factory in the U.S.?” said Gou. The factory would build flat-panel screens under the Sharp name — Foxconn bought Sharp around this time last year for $5.1 billion. Sharp President Tai Jeng-wu hinted in October of 2016 that U.S. manufacturing could be a possibility for Sharp, and he also indicated that Apple could begin using OLED display panels in future iPhones. Apple currently uses OLED in the Apple Watch and in the new MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar, but otherwise it hasn’t pushed to adopt the technology as some Android phone manufacturers have. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Foxconn Considers $7 Billion Screen Factory In US, Which Could Create Up To 50,000 Jobs

Virulent Android malware returns, gets >2 million downloads on Google Play

Enlarge (credit: portal gda ) A virulent family of malware that infected more than 10 million Android devices last year has made a comeback, this time hiding inside Google Play apps that have been downloaded by as many as 12 million unsuspecting users. HummingWhale, as the professionally developed malware has been dubbed, is a variant of HummingBad, the name given to a family of malicious apps researchers documented in July invading non-Google app markets . HummingBad attempted to override security protections by exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities that gave the malware root privileges in older versions of Android. Before Google shut it down, it installed more than 50,000 fraudulent apps each day, displayed 20 million malicious advertisements, and generated more than $300,000 per month in revenue. Of the 10 million people who downloaded HummingBad-contaminated apps, an estimated 286,000 of them were located in the US. HummingWhale, by contrast, managed to sneak its way into about 20 Google Play apps that were downloaded from 2 million to 12 million times, according to researchers from Check Point, the security company that has been closely following the malware family for almost a year. Rather than rooting devices, the latest variant includes new virtual machine techniques that allow the malware to perform ad fraud better than ever, company researchers said in a blog post published Monday . Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Virulent Android malware returns, gets >2 million downloads on Google Play

Ken May

Tag: technology