NASA’s latest Ceres photo shows a strange, conical mountain
If you were hoping that closer-up photos of Ceres would solve some of the dwarf planet’s mysteries… well, you’ll have to keep waiting. NASA’s Dawn probe has transmitted pictures taken from 915 miles up, and one of them shows an odd, conical mountain jutting out of the landscape. Seriously, it’s baffling — its shiny surface and abrupt angles make it look like it was transplanted on an otherwise soft, cratered surface. There’s no explanation for what created it (an ancient collision, perhaps?), but it’s clearer than ever that even a seemingly featureless celestial body can hold its share of surprises.
Filed under:
Science
Source:
NASA
Tags: ceres, dawn, dwarfplanet, nasa, science, space
Stephen Hawking believes he knows how information escapes black holes
Stephen Hawking announced during a lecture at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden on Tuesday that he has potentially solved the Information Paradox. The paradox a conflict between the quantum mechanics and general relativity models that has vexed physicists for more than four decades. The Information Paradox arises from black holes — specifically what happens to information about the physical state of objects that fall into one. The quantum mechanical model posits that the information remains intact while general relativity argues that it is indeed obliterated under the black holes immense gravitation. But Hawking has developed a third opinion: the information never actually makes it into the black hole. “I propose that the information is stored not in the interior of the black hole as one might expect, but on its boundary, the event horizon,” he said.
Basically, Hawking argues that the information about particles sucked into the hole sit on the surface of the event horizon as holograms (2D afterimages of a 3D object). “The idea is the super translations are a hologram of the ingoing particles,” he told the crowd. “Thus they contain all the information that would otherwise be lost.” What’s more, that information can actually escape a black holes pull thanks to Hawking Radiation — the concept that photons can sometimes be ejected from a black hole due to random quantum fluctuations.
These photons would carry the information off of the event horizon, however it wouldn’t be of any use. “The information about ingoing particles is returned, but in a chaotic and useless form. This resolves the information paradox. For all practical purposes, the information is lost.” Even if the information wasn’t blasted into a parallel universe (which Hawking said is totally possible), it’d be like trying to read the data off a corrupted hard drive. Sure there’s still “information” there, it’s just not going to be of any use.
Hawking’s lecture on Tuesday was just the start. Malcolm Perry, a professor at Cambridge’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics who collaborated with Hawking, will release more details of the new theory later today. The pair expect to publish a paper fully describing their findings next month.
[Image Credit: Getty]
Filed under:
Science
Via:
New Scientist
Source:
KTH Royal Institute of Technology (YouTube)
Tags: blackholes, cambridge, Hawking radiation, information, informationparadox, KTHRoyalInstituteofTechnology, photon, radiation, space, Stephen Hawking, stephenhawking, Stockholm
WileyFox launches Swift and Storm running Cyanogen OS
WileyFox, a new smartphone brand and Britain’s answer to OnePlus, has today launched two new smartphones in partnership with Qualcomm and Cyanogen. The two handsets – the Swift and the Storm – run on Cyanogen 12.1 OS and will launch in the UK and Europe in the coming weeks.
The Swift features a 5-inch HD display protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage that can be expanded by up to 32GB. On the back, it has a 13MP main camera while up front, a 5MP camera takes care of selfies. The handset is LTE enabled and will be one of the few dual SIM handsets to launch in the UK.
The Storm is the more premium of the two devices and features a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display with Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Under the hood, it is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage that can be expanded by up to 128GB. On the back it has a 20MP Sony IMX220 camera, while up front an 8MP ‘Selfy’ camera takes care of selfies. Like the Swift, the Storm is LTE enabled and comes with dual SIM functionality.
Both handsets will be sold exclusively online directly to customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa with pre-orders launching later this week. The Swift will be available for £129 (approx $205) and will ship early next month, while the more-premium Storm will be available for £199 (approx $315) and will begin shipping in October.
Like Chinese company OnePlus, WileyFox is promoting a “pure” experience and working on low margins in a bid to stand out in what is fast becoming a very crowded market. The company faces a battle to stand out, not only against OnePlus but also against other devices in the mid-range price including Motorola’s new Moto G, Huawei’s Honor 7 – which will launch for £199 as we exclusively revealed – and other devices such as the Vodafone Smart Ultra 6.
Whether the strategy will work remains to be seen but for WileyFox, it will certainly hope that its strategy of offering premium experiences at affordable prices will pay off. What do you think? Would you buy either of these handsets? Let us know your views in the comments below guys!
Google brings Map Maker back to the United States and 44 other countries
Back in April, a “clever” Google Map Maker user submitted an image of an Android logo urinating on an Apple logo to Google Maps, which forced Google to apologize for the inappropriate incident soon after. To ensure this kind of thing never happened again, Google shut down the Map Maker program in May so it could revamp the way users could submit their entries.
As promised, Google then relaunched the service a few weeks ago, but only in a few select markets. Now the service is seeing a much wider expansion, as the United States, along with 44 other countries, are now able to make edits and submissions in Map Maker.
Just like with the first wave of countries, Map Maker is a bit more closed off now. Every edit will need to be approved by a “regional lead”. As Google puts it, “[Regional Leads] are users who have demonstrated a clear interest in mapping their areas and will be helpful in moderating edits made by you.” This means that edits will likely take much longer to be published.
Google also says that the company has temporarily disabled the ability to add or edit geometries of polygons. Users can still edit other attributes like names on polygonal features, though. At this time, there’s no word as to when this feature will be turned back on.
To see if your country has been added to the Map Maker list, visit google.com/mapmaker.
[TA Deals] This charging cable works with Android and iOS devices
Charging Android and iOS devices differs based on the port. Although USB Type-C ports are appearing, most Android devices have a micro-USB port to handle charging and data transfers. Apple’s iOS devices, however, have always used proprietary technology with the latest being the Lightning port. Friends and family getting together usually borrow chargers, but you can be left without a chance to get your device any power if the majority of devices around you aren’t similar.
Talk Android Deals has a 2-in-1 charging cable measuring six feet that works with both Android and iOS device.
The main connector is for micro-USB devices while the adapter that goes over it enables charging for Lightning devices.
Spending $40 on a single charging cable seems a little ridiculous, right? Glad we can all agree on that. So you’ll be happy to know that this charging cable is available right now for $19. That’s 50% off of its normal price and you get free shipping.
Come comment on this article: [TA Deals] This charging cable works with Android and iOS devices
MSG91 extension allows sending text messages straight from Excel or Google Sheets
A new add-on for Microsoft’s Excel and Google’s Sheets from messaging company MSG91 will users to send text messages directly from spreadsheets that they’re working on. Plug-ins and add-ons are gaining popularity, especially with power users that spend a lot of time in office apps and programs, and a messaging extension that can leverage a spreadsheet’s data can be very useful.
MSG91’s add-on does exactly that, making it quick and easy to send static and dynamic information from a spreadsheet into an SMS message. This is obviously very useful from an internal standpoint, but it can also allow a company or business to send out information to customers, too.
This probably won’t be useful if you’re not actively working on spreadsheets all day, but for businesses, this extension should fit in perfectly.
Come comment on this article: MSG91 extension allows sending text messages straight from Excel or Google Sheets
The Moto X Play could come to the US in the form of the DROID Maxx 2, new leak says
There was a a lot of disappointment in that the Moto X Play would not be making its way to the United States. However, it seems that it’ll be making its way to US shores as a Verizon exclusive: the DROID Maxx 2.
There’s actually not a whole lot of differentiating factors between the Moto X Play and the DROID Maxx 2, as the only clear change is the obvious DROID labels on the phone. All the specs interestingly remain identical.
You get the same Snapdragon 615 chipset, 5.5-inch 1080p display, 2GB of RAM, a 21-megapixel camera, and the coveted 3,630 mAh battery.
In this latest leak from Android Police, CPU-Z also only shows this device having a meager 8.14GB of storage, which is strange considering that the Moto X Play comes in 16 or 32GB options with microSD card support.
In other words, the Moto X Play is coming to the US, only in a really disappointing way. Many wanted to get their hands on the Moto X Play over the Moto X Pure Edition, but it seems they’ll be forced to head over to Verizon if they want to take the specs of the Moto X Play for a spin.
Let’s just hope 8.14GB isn’t the only storage option this device will see.
source: Android Police
Come comment on this article: The Moto X Play could come to the US in the form of the DROID Maxx 2, new leak says
Most of Google Now’s original development team left before I/O 2015 Now on Tap announcement
During Google I/O this year, the company showed off Now on Tap, which looks to be an extremely cool use of Google Now’s information scraping. Since then, Microsoft has already updated their Bing app to offer a similar experience, and it’s expected that Apple will do the same at some point. The competition in the digital personal assistant space is heating up very, very quickly, but unfortunately, Google may end up struggling to be competitive with other giants, according to some recent news.
Just before I/O this year, a majority of the original Google Now development team left the company for other things. Part of this is because of the shift of Now moving to a Google search project instead of a strictly Android project, and partly because of Sundar Pichai’s attitude towards Now. As of right now, only one original team member is still working with the project. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for the future of Now, but it does mean that the original creators’ vision for the project probably won’t ever be fully realized.
Now has moved from being a killer feature for Android as an OS and has moved to something Google offers across all of its platforms, whether you’re on a Chromebook, using Chrome on a laptop, or using an Android device. Pichai heads Chrome and Android, and he reportedly wasn’t willing to fight for Now to remain totally independent like it started. He also likely realizes that Google needs to keep new products flowing in and improving in order to continue making Google money. At the end of the day, making money is pretty high up on the to-do list for any company.
It’s tough to say exactly what direction Now will go in, but I wouldn’t worry about the feature going anywhere. Sometimes Google just restructures segments of their products, like we’ve seen with Google+, and like we’ve seen happen with Android, Chrome, and everything else.
Personally, I only ever use Google Now on my phone, never on my laptops or desktops. How often do you utilize Google Now cards across your devices?
source: re/code
Come comment on this article: Most of Google Now’s original development team left before I/O 2015 Now on Tap announcement
Snapdragon 616 benchmark shows significant improvement over the Snapdragon 615
A few weeks ago, Qualcomm unveiled three new SoCs, the Snapdragon 212, 412 and 616, all designed for the budget-friendly mobile market. The Snapdragon 616 being the most powerful of the three was intended as a small upgrade over the successful Snapdragon 615, and benchmarks actually show a significant improvement despite the two SoCs being almost identical. The 616 has a total of eight cores, with two quad-core processors running independently. Both the 615 and 616 have a high-performance Cortex-A53 quad-core processor running at 1.7GHz. The difference is found in the low-power Cortex-A53 of the 616 that operates at 1.2GHz per core, compared to 1.0GHz per core in the 615. Although the improvement seems small on paper, an AnTuTu benchmark shows a significant performance improvement compared to the 615. The 616 yielded 31,015 points while powering a Huawei smartphone while the Snapdragon 615 has an average score of about 26,000 points.
Other new improvements of the Snapdragon 615 included support for 21 MP cameras with video recording capabilities of up to 1080p@60fps, X5 LTE, and a 64-bit architecture.
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Devices from Binatone and Hubble to appear at Pet Fair Asia
For pet owners who worry about leaving their critters, whether for a day at work or a longer, extended vacation, may be interested in some new Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices to be shown at the Pet Fair Asia conference schedule for later this week in Shanghai. Binatone, in partnership with Hubble, will be showcasing some new products from Motorola to help pet owners keep track of their furry friends.
Binatone primarily focuses on consumer electronics devices for baby, pet and family connectivity by partnering with hardware manufacturers like Motorola. Hubble is a new services and application solutions provider for IoT devices that is now partnering with Binatone to help consumers take advantage of IoT tech. Their Hubble application can be used to engage in two-way audio communication and control devices. The Hubble platform can also be used by OEMs to integrate and provide cloud-based solutions for their products.
Examples of the new products available through Binatone and Hubble include the Motorola SCOUT 2500 and SCOUT 5000 devices designed to help pet owners stay connected with their pets. The SCOUT 2500 is a basic device for monitoring a pet’s location through geo-fencing that is capable of sending a user an escape notification if the pet decides to wander off. Users who want a little more information can step up to the SCOUT 5000 with a built-in Wi-Fi camera capable of providing 4K video. The video can be live streamed to the user’s Hubble Connected app on their smartphone or tablet.
Along with the new SCOUT 2500 and SCOUT 5000 devices, other devices like the Motorola SCOUT 66, SCOUT 73 and SCOUT 85 will be on display. These devices provide similar video streaming capabilities at lower resolutions from fixed camera locations and some include other features like temperature monitoring or motion detection.
source: Binatone Global (PR)
Come comment on this article: Devices from Binatone and Hubble to appear at Pet Fair Asia
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