Investigating the science in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’
Even the most well respected filmmakers have been known to bend the truth a bit when it comes to depicting science on the silver screen, throwing accuracy to the wind in favor of trivialities like “plot” and “drama.” We kid, of course. But how does this fall’s sci-fi epic Interstellar from director Christopher Nolan hold up under a microscope (no pun intended)? The folks at Popular Science have taken the Dark Knight helmsman’s latest to task, exploring the feasibility of traveling through wormholes, the type of spaceship we’d need for humanity to travel ’round the stars and a few other concepts explored in the film.
The research was based off of existing trailers, and more to the point, PopSci says that Interstellar‘s real-world theoretical physicist flat-out refused to speak with its writers. So, if you’re on total media blackout for fear of spoilers, this might not ruin aspects of the flick for you. Are you lucky enough to live somewhere close to a 70mm IMAX screening of the movie in a few weeks? What about a cineplex with an Oculus setup? Let us know in the comments.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Alt
Source: Popular Science
CVS Stores Reportedly Disabling NFC to Shut Down Apple Pay and Google Wallet
Earlier this week, pharmacy chain Rite Aid shut down unofficial support for the Apple Pay and Google Wallet mobile payments systems, resulting in an outcry from users who have been testing out Apple’s new system since its launch on Monday. Rite Aid was not an official Apple Pay partner, but the payments system generally works with existing near field communications (NFC) payment terminals anyway, and many users had had success using Apple Pay at Rite Aid stores early in the week.
It now appears that fellow major pharmacy chain CVS is following suit and as of today is shutting down the NFC functionality of its payment terminals entirely, a move presumably intended to thwart Apple Pay. Google Wallet services are obviously also being affected by the move.
Multiple reports on Twitter and the MacRumors forums have indicated that CVS has sent an email to its stores indicating that NFC support is to be turned off. It is still relatively early in the day in the U.S., but we are now starting to see reports of NFC indeed being turned off at CVS stores.
The reason behind Rite Aid’s and CVS’s moves to disable unofficial Apple Pay support in their stores is presumably related to their participation in Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), a retailer group developing its own mobile payments system known as CurrentC. A claimed internal Rite Aid message shared with SlashGear supports this notion, instructing cashiers to explain to customers that Apple Pay is not supported but that MCX’s solution will be available next year.
Rite Aid internal memo regarding Apple Pay
Rite Aid’s and CVS’s moves are also in stark contrast to competitor Walgreens, which has fully embraced Apple Pay and is one of Apple’s launch partners for the service. With over 8,000 stores around the United States, Walgreens has been one of the most popular locations for those testing out Apple Pay over the first week of availability.
Rogers activates its LTE-A service in 12 new markets
Rogers has broadened its horizons by upgrading and expanding its LTE-A connectivity services to an additional twelve new markets in Canada. The announcement was made in a press release on the carrier’s website, where it lists the benefits that new subscribers of the service are likely to receive, in addition to download speeds of up to fifteen times faster than the standard 3G network.
The newly announced locations to receive the LTE-A service starting today are as follows:
- Vancouver
- Edmonton
- Calgary
- Windsor
- London
- Hamilton
- Toronto
- Kingston
- Moncton
- Fredericton
- Halifax
- Saint John
If you’re a Rogers customer in one of the locations where you have the ability to access the LTE-A network, why give the operator a call today to upgrade to one of its very reasonable 4G plans?
Source: Rogers
Come comment on this article: Rogers activates its LTE-A service in 12 new markets
Sony wants to show you how PS4’s online game-sharing works
When next Tuesday’s 2.0 update hits for the PlayStation 4, Sony will finally turn one of the most ambitious promises it made when the console was first announced a reality. We’re talking about Share Play, of course. We know: the ability to virtually hand a controller off to a pal via the internet and have them work through a game’s tricky section for you sounds kinda like magic — the type that only Disney is capable of. But, in theory it sounds pretty simple, and the catch-up king has recently released a video that walks through the process step by step. From the looks of it, the new feature is added as an option from the DualShock 4’s Share button. Naturally. How well it all works in the wild, however, remains to be seen.
The rub of it is that every function other than screen sharing (meaning, controller passing and a virtual second player controller hand-off) requires a PlayStation Plus subscription. What’s more, these virtual sharing sessions are limited to an hour apiece. After all, Sony’s in the business of selling games — letting you stream a pal’s indefinitely probably isn’t good for the bottom line.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Source: PlayStation Blog
LG announces ‘NUCLUN’, its first mobile processor
LG announced its own mobile chipset, dubbed the ‘NUCLUN’ which employs a quad-core 1.5 GHz ARM Cortex-A15 for heavy processing and a quadcore 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A7 for lighter processing. LG termed this unique octa-core architecture ‘big.LITTLE’ . It supports LTE-A Cat.6, which is only available currently in South Korea. Therefore, it is logical that the device with which this SoC debuted with, LG G3 Screen, a 5.9″ G3, with a slightly lower resolution display; Full HD screen, and slightly better speaker, is designed specifically for the South Korean market.
This will prove to be an interesting turn of events, as another powerful contender joins the likes of Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and Samsung in the relatively unsaturated market of high-end mobile processing packages.
The post LG announces ‘NUCLUN’, its first mobile processor appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Latest Google Maps update brings better Android Wear navigation notifications
Google is currently rolling out a pretty hefty update for its official Maps application. In terms of added functionality, the upgrade brings Android Wear users “improved navigation notifications” for when they’re using the service on-the-go, in addition to the usual multitude of stability improvements, speed optimisations and bug fixes.
Hit the break below for the full changelog.
- Hindi now supported, including voice navigation
- Improved navigation notifications on Android Wear devices
- Bug fixes
To install the update, simply open up the Play Store on your device, toggle the hamburger menu by swiping in from the left-hand side of the screen, select ‘My Apps’ and click on GoToMeeting. Next, hit the update button and the application will instantly start to download and install the upgrade from the Google Play servers. Alternatively, you can scan the QR code below to initiate the procedure.
Come comment on this article: Latest Google Maps update brings better Android Wear navigation notifications
Who’d have thought the Power Mac G5 made a good bench?
Like it or loathe it, you have to admit that the design of the Power Mac G5 was a very clever way of getting around the system’s legendary thermal issues. It was no surprise that the ol’ cheesegrater was kept around for the Mac Pro, at least until last year’s solid-state revolution. But what of the numerous G5 chassis that are now lingering in attics, skips and warehouses? If you don’t want to gut one to use for your own high-end PC, then Klaus Geiger is more than happy to turn them into furniture. As part of his Benchma[(R)]c project, two G5 cases and a plank of Walnut is all you need to make a pretty nifty park bench. There’s more images down at the source, but you’ll have to excuse us, as we’re just off to put our collection of Rodrigo Alonso furniture on eBay.
Filed under: Apple
Via: The Verge
Source: Projektgalerie (Translated)
Robotic hand uses the power of static electricity to pick up objects
A cheap robotic hand developed by a company called Grabit offers something most of the other mechanical limbs we’ve seen before don’t: the ability to pick up objects using electrostatic attraction. Even if you’re not familiar with term, you’ve likely encountered the phenomenon at least once. Ever rubbed a balloon on your hair for fun, so you can stick it to the wall? How about getting plastic of bits of styrofoam stuck on your hand while handling a package? Yep, that’s all thanks to attraction caused by static electricity. Grabit’s mechanical hand takes it step further by using powered electrodes to sustain the phenomenon, as the charge naturally disappears over time. It also has the technology to prevent dust from clinging onto the fingers.
This robotic limb wasn’t made to be used by amputees, though — it’s meant for the manufacturing industry as a replacement for robots that use suction cups or other means to pick up objects. In fact, Grabit made its fingers out of flexible materials that have electrostatic properties, so it can manipulate objects of different shapes and sizes. The limb can also distribute weight more evenly than other manufacturing robots, allowing it to handle delicate materials such the components needed to assemble solar cells. Grabit presented its technology last week at the RoboBusiness conference in Boston, but if you weren’t there, you can always watch how the hand works in the videos below.
Filed under: Robots
Source: Technology Review
Amazon has made its Appstore for Android obsolete
Since its creation, the Amazon Appstore stood apart, banned from being offered in the official store for Android apps, Google Play, until now… sort of. When Amazon recently updated its main Android app, it got a new “Apps & Games” department that duplicates the content found in the standalone Appstore app — effectively making it both unnecessary and obsolete. Naturally, because Amazon’s still delivering apps outside the confines of Google Play, you need to change your device’s security settings to accept downloads from unknown sources to install them. The change is a welcome one — reducing app clutter’s a good thing — and the convenience factor afforded by this consolidation should have Amazon selling more apps. Still, we’re pretty sure that’s not enough to make up for the Fire phone’s hit to the company’s bottom line.
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Amazon
Source: TechCrunch
Oppo teases another device to be announced alongside the Oppo N3, could be 4mm thick
October 29th is just around the corner, and so is the announcement of the Oppo N3. We’ve already seen our fair share of the device with its motorized, swivel camera and we know there will be two variants, one of which is made of an aluminium-lithium alloy. We’ve only been expecting one device to be announced at the event, however the above image has come out suggesting that the device could be joined by a second device. Of course, the device on the right behind the curtains is the Oppo N3 with the unmistakable swivel camera, however the device on the left is so far unidentified.
The rumour goes on to say that this new device will have the “world’s thinnest appearance” and will measure only 4mm thick. Considering the current record holder, the Gionee Elife S5.1, already comes in at a ridiculous 5.1mm thick, we’re a bit skeptical that Oppo has managed to shave off an entire 1mm somewhere, though we won’t have to wait long to see whether this rumour is true or not. Assuming the image above is to scale, and the Oppo N3 is 5.9-inches as expected, this new mystery device could be no small thing itself.
What do you think about this mystery Oppo device? Let us know your theories below in the comments.
Source: CNBeta via Phone Arena
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