The majority of Earth-like planets haven’t been born yet

Humanity’s inability to find Earth-like planets may not be the result of limited technology or a lack of ambition — we might simply be too early, and in the wrong place. Astronomers poring over Hubble and Kepler data now believe that only 8 percent of the universe’s potentially habitable planets exist. Based on the amount of hydrogen and helium gas left over from the Big Bang, there’s still plenty of opportunity for those planets to form. These planets are most likely to appear in either dwarf galaxies or giant galaxy clusters, where the stars haven’t used up all the surrounding gas.

The problem, as you might have gathered, is that the Milky Way galaxy isn’t part of that bunch. Most of its gas has already been used up. And while there’s an estimated 1 billion habitable planets in the galaxy, that’s a drop in the bucket when the Milky Way holds as many as 400 billion stars. Earth is not only relatively early, it’s in an uncrowded cosmic neighborhood. That’s disappointing if you were hoping for a Star Trek-like abundance of extraterrestrial life, but it at least puts Earth’s loneliness in context.

[Image credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)]

Source: NASA

NASA flies four satellites in ‘tightest ever’ formation

NASA is boasting that it’s been able to fly four giant satellites around our home in the “tightest” formation ever attempted in space. The quartet of craft are just six miles apart, and comprise the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, a project to measure Earth’s magnetic fields as they swirl around us. In order to fully understand how the magnetosphere works in three-dimensional space, the satellites had to be guided to fly in the shape of a four-sided pyramid. Now, if you’re struggling to see why this is such a big deal, remember that each satellite is the size of a baseball field and each one is hurtling through the abyss at 15,000 miles per hour.

Now that the craft are in formation, they can begin examining the magnetic and electrical fields that surround the planet. Like the way waves from the sea lap against a beach, NASA believes that solar winds carry magnetic fields that bounce against the magnetosphere. When this happens, it’s thought that the reaction causes such a release of energy that particles can be accelerated to something close to the speed of light. Hell, it might be that spacecraft of the future are like surfers, bouncing around waiting for the next big wave to take them into the stars.

[Image Credit: NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center]

Source: NASA

Consumer Reports drops its Tesla Model S recommendation

Once upon a time, Consumer Reports gave the Tesla Model S P85D its highest rating ever, but the love affair is over, for now. While it still loves the way the sedan drives, the review organization has concluded after its Annual Auto Reliability Survey that reports from 1,400 owners show the cars have a “worse-than-average overall problem rate.” While it also noted that these problems are mostly covered by Tesla’s four year/50,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty or its eight year, unlimited mileage powertrain warranty, it still decided the vehicle isn’t deserving of its “Recommended” rating. In response, Tesla says it strives to make hardware fixes “painless,” and noted that the study also found owners rated the company’s service as the best in the world.

After the news came out this morning, Tesla’s stock price dropped from a high of $228, to as low as $202. While it has recovered some of that, there’s still concern over whether it’s up to the task of increasing production of the popular EVs, and rolling out new versions like the Model X. If you’re currently in the market for a P85D, we’re guessing Ludicrous mode and Autopilot outweigh a potentially finicky powertrain, malfunctioning door handle or squeaky sunroof, but only time will tell how these cars age as more of them hit the road.

Tesla:

Consumer Reports also found that customers rate Tesla service and loyalty as the best in the world. Close communication with our customers enables Tesla to receive input, proactively address issues, and quickly fix problems. Over-the-air software updates allow Tesla to diagnose and fix most bugs without the need to come in for service. In instances when hardware needs to be fixed, we strive to make it painless.

[Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Via: LA Times

Source: Consumer Reports, CR 2015 Annual Auto Reliability Survey

Google’s plan to improve your battery life and why you should want Android 6.0

For most Android users, and all mobile users alike, long battery life is near the top of “must have” features. After a many generations of Android, Google has finally improved battery life significantly using Doze and App Standby. When Google announced Android 6.0  in early October, they mentioned battery life was a major focus for areas of improvement. I must admit that I was a skeptic as I have been hearing that for years now.

Only until I got my hands on the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X did I realize that Google actually delivered on their promise with improved battery life. Let me explain how they did it below.

What is Doze and how does it affect battery life?

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines the word doze as: 1a. to sleep lightly 1b. to fall into a light sleep – usually used with off 2. to be in a dull or stupefied condition. How Google implemented into Android 6.0 followed that definition. Quoting their developer webpage,

“If a user leaves a device unplugged and stationary for a period of time, with the screen off, the device enters Doze mode. In Doze mode, the system attempts to conserve battery by restricting apps’ access to network and CPU-intensive services. It also prevents apps from accessing the network and defers their jobs, syncs, and standard alarms.

Periodically, the system exits Doze for a brief time to let apps complete their deferred activities. During this maintenance window, the system runs all pending syncs, jobs, and alarms, and lets apps access the network.”

Basically what this means is your device, running Android Marshmallow, will go into “Doze” mode, or essentially fall into a light sleep and shut down. It will turn off network access, defer jobs, syncs, and alarms which preserves battery life. Since Doze is just a “light sleep” it will wake up from time to time and will run through its checklist of things to do, like sync your email, check the time for your alarm and also let those battery draining apps access the network. Over time, as your phone learns more about your activities, it will schedule those maintenance windows less and less frequently leading to even better battery life.

As soon as you are ready to get back to using your phone, as soon as you pick it up, turn on the display or connect it to a charger, Android will exit Doze and return to its normal activity.

In essence your phone “dozes off” while you are away. After using the Nexus 6P and 5X for the past few days, with 100% certainty I can tell you Doze is a feature I cannot live without moving forward. I will no longer accept a device that loses excessive battery life if I forget to plug it in.

What is App Standby and how does it improve battery life?

App Standby  is the other main area Google focused on to improve battery life in Android Marshmallow. It basically does as the name implies, just like Doze, where it puts apps into standby once the system has determined the user is no longer using that app after a set amount of time, and none of the conditions below apply:

• The user explicitly launches the app.
• The app has a process currently in the foreground (either as an activity or foreground service, or in use by another activity or foreground service).
• The app generates a notification that users see on the lock screen or in the notification tray.

What this means is when you are actively using an app, turning it on, or have it running in the foreground, the system will leave the app alone and let it work. But when you aren’t using the app, that’s when the system takes over and prevents it from hogging useful power. This only applies to your device running Android M when it is not plugged into a charger. Once it is connected to a power supply the system releases apps from the standby state and lets the apply run freely.

Again, the two Nexus devices I have been using over the past two days more than proves Google has been backed up their word this go around and you can read my initial impressions on the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P to confirm it.

Google is requiring all developers to adhere to these power-saving modes

Nexus 5X disconnected from charger just before 9am on 10/17 and had 73% battery remaining over 24 hours later.

In Google’s Android 6.0 Compatibility Definition Guide for developers, they are now requiring all developers adhere to these new rules. That is something we all need to appreciate, because battery life is something we need more and more as we become ever-so dependant on our mobile devices. Even though Android 6.0 looks very similar to Android 5.0, the battery performance upgrades are reason enough to upgrade to Android M if battery life is an important feature to you. The Nexus 6P rated for 440 hours on standby while the Nexus 5X is rated at 420 hours on standby which equates to 18 full days. Give us 22 more days and we might be able to outlast 40 days and 40 nights of constant rain!

Doze and App Standby are two incredibly well thought out power-saving features that will help us stay disconnected from a power source. Google realizes they have developed something great here and are making everyone else adhere to these rules whether they like it or not.

The post Google’s plan to improve your battery life and why you should want Android 6.0 appeared first on AndroidGuys.