NASA releases an even closer look at Pluto’s heart
Now that you’re better acquainted with Pluto’s mountains and ice fields, it’s time to examine its heart. We’re talking about the dwarf planet’s heart-shaped region called Tombaugh Regio, of course, which is prominently displayed in many of its most famous images. During New Horizons’ closest flyby in July, the probe’s Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) zoomed in on the area and took photos within 9,550 miles of its surface.
As you can see, Pluto’s heart is scarred with pits, which New Horizons’ scientists believe may have formed due to “a combination of ice fracturing and evaporation.” These pits seem to follow a pattern, and the team believes it could provide clues on the planet’s ice flow and the exchange of nitrogen between its surface and atmosphere. Whatever secrets the region reveals, this is now how I’ll imagine a scarred heart looks after a number of heartbreaks from now on.
[Image credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI]
Source: NASA
‘Star Citizen’ gives backers their first taste of a fuller game
To date, what little you could play of Star Citizen has existed in bits and pieces: a dogfight module here, a hangar there, but not the cohesive interstellar experience promised from the start. At last, though, things are coming together. Roberts Space Industries has given backers an Alpha 2.0 release that represents the “first true slice” of the crowdfunded (and much-hyped) game. You can travel between multiple locations around a planet, and first-person ground combat is possible for the first time. Space walks are even an option, if you dare leave the safety of your ship.
This is still far from a finished project, and the new test version may not do much to reassure critics convinced that RSI is simply trying to take the money (nearly $100 million so far) and run. However, having a relatively complete portion is still significant. For a while, it seemed as if Star Citizen was fueled more by impulsive collectors than anything else — contributors have spent thousands of dollars on spaceships that, in many cases, they still can’t fly. Alpha 2.0 is a reminder that there’s supposed to be an honest-to-goodness game at the end of all this, and that all those high-priced vessels exist to help get the game out the door.
Source: Roberts Space Industries
Huawei Mate 8 hands-on
Huawei is growing in popularity, and that’s for good reason. The company just recently produced one of the best handsets on the market, the Nexus 6P, in partnership with Google. And following last year’s Mate 7 and the Mate S which launched a few months ago, Huawei has recently unveiled its high-end Mate 8 smartphone. We got the chance to take a quick hands-on with the device, so we’re here to give you our first impressions. Let’s dive right in!
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On the aesthetic front, the Mate 8 is a Huawei device through and through. It sports an all-metal build quality that’s incredibly similar to that of the Mate 7 and Mate S. It has a large 6.0-inch LCD display with an unexpectedly low resolution of 1920 x 1080. From what we can tell it’s not a bad display by any means, though a bump up to Quad HD resolution would be nice to see here.
The device is powered by the octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 950 processor. It comes in three storage variants – 32, 64 and 128GB – with the latter two sporting 4GB of RAM, and the 32GB model sporting 3GB. It also has two SIM card slots. If you have no need for the second SIM slot, it doubles as a microSD card slot capable of supporting up to 128GB of additional storage. Around back we see a 16MP rear camera (complete with OIS) with a rounded fingerprint scanner underneath.
One of the benefits of having a device with a lower resolution display is that it will be much easier on battery life. Not that we think the Mate 8 would struggle in that area at all, as it sports a massive 4000mAh cell.
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Specs
| Huawei Mate 8 | |
|---|---|
| Display | 6.0-inch IPS-NEO LCD display 1920 x 1080, 368ppi Corning Gorilla Glass 4 |
| Processor | Quad-core 2.3GHz Cortex-A72 + quad-core 1.8GHz Cortex A53 HiSilicon Kirin 950 |
| GPU | Mali-T880 MP4 |
| RAM | 3/4GB, depending on storage option |
| Storage | 32/64/128GB |
| MicroSD | Yes, up to 128GB |
| Camera | 16MP rear camera, OIS, phase detection auto focus 8MP front camera |
| Software | Android 6.0 Marshmallow Emotion UI 4.0 |
| Battery | 4000mAh, non-removable |
| Dimensions | 157.1 x 80.6 x 7.9mm 185g |
Gallery
We’ll of course bring you a full review in the weeks to come, so be sure to stay tuned. What are your thoughts? Do you think this could be your next smartphone? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!
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