APEX telescope maps Milky Way’s star-forming regions

The APEX telescope in Chile has completed its biggest project, resulting in the most complete view of the cold galaxy we’ve ever seen. It spent almost a decade peering into the skies for the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy or ATLASGAL in submillimeter wavelengths, which fall in between infrared light and radio waves. Observing the universe in those wavelengths allowed the telescope to see all the cold gas and dust in the galactic plane that’s visible from the southern hemisphere. In the image above and the video below the fold, you can see those cold clouds as bright red blotches that wouldn’t look out of place in an abstract painting.

APEX kept a close eye on cold clouds with temperatures just above absolute zero, because they typically give birth to new stars. As Timea Csengeri from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy said, “ATLASGAL provides exciting insights into where the next generation of high-mass stars and clusters form.”

While the project is tied more closely to the APEX telescope, the images the European Southern Observatory released wouldn’t be complete with other observatories’ contributions. The wispy red curtains behind the brighter blotches were captured by the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, on the other hand, contributed the blue background, which was taken in shorter infrared wavelengths. The final product gives us a comprehensive look of the regions where we’ll most likely find young stars fresh out of the galactic womb.

Via: Smithsonian, Technobuffalo, Physorg

Source: ESO

The ‘Resident Evil’ 20th anniversary means more re-releases

Ready to re-buy Resident Evil 4 again? This time for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One? Well, you’ll be able to do that this year, but not before developer/publisher Capcom drops gussied-up versions of Resident Evil 6’s hot garbage and the divisive Resident Evil 5 first. Come March 29th, the absolute mess that’s better known as RE6 will hit the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live stores for $20, with RE 5’s African adventure starting sometime this summer and the series’ modern highpoint, RE 4, releasing this fall.

Physical versions are planned for each game, and those will cost the same as their digital counterparts a company spokesperson tells us. But really, regardless of how tempted you might be at this price, just wait for 4. That is, assuming you don’t already own it on Gamecube, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii or Bandai Wonderswan. Okay, that last one is a joke, but the amount of times Capcom has repackaged one of the best games in the series is getting a little ridiculous at this point.

What would be cool is if the company gave us the awesome European variant art for this version, though. The Gamecube (above) and PS2 art were each a little different, but both are miles ahead of what we got in the US back in 2005.

All that aside, 2016 marks the franchise’s 20th anniversary, and Capcom is keen to capitalize on that. Maybe that Resident Evil 2 remake will hit this year! Or, Resident Evil 3! Crazier things have happened, especially if you’re the type to pay attention to the franchise’s fiction. If you’re looking for something new from the series, well, there’s always the online shooter Umbrella Corps.

Via: Resident Evil (Twitter)

Source: Capcom Unity

Project Empathy shares knowledge with unconnected schools

A lot of schools across the globe, especially in developing nations, don’t have computers with access to the internet. Project Empathy aims to address that issue by having classrooms with internet access participate in sharing knowledge with classrooms that don’t. Schools or classes willing to help can buy one of its kits, which are small devices equipped with a 64 GB microSD card, a Raspberry Pi, USB drives and other components. They then have to load the kit with content from the web, like Wikipedia articles or pages from NASA’s websites, that their recipients can tap into for their studies.

The program was created by a startup called Outernet, which aims to provide developing nations free, one-way access to web pages via geostationary and Low Earth Orbit satellites. That’s why its kits can also be connected to a satellite dish to continuously receive new content. Take note that they don’t provide full-blown internet connections as they mostly function like FM radios that can only receive signals. Still, the initiative could change the way classes are taught in remote locations and give students a way to access info not available in their books and libraries. Project Empathy started its pilot run on February 1st in Chicago, but its kits are now available to any school or class willing to pitch in.

Source: Project Empathy

Project Loon shows off autolauncher at work in Puerto Rico

With Project Loon, Google aims to provide wireless, high-speed internet to underserved areas like the entire nation of Sri Lanka. The team has figured out how to guide them around the globe using prevailing, high-altitude winds and the current design can stay aloft for nearly 100 days. To start delivering a service, Google just needs to get lots of balloons in the air, and that’s where the portable autolaunchers come in. First revealed last May, Google recently showed off how it launched a Project Loon balloon in Puerto Rico in just a half-hour using the 55-foot tall crane-like device.

The team said that the portable autolaunchers “allow us to move our whole operation to places that give us access to favorable wind patterns that can help us provide internet connectivity around the world.” They also keep the balloons out of stiff breezes until the moment of launch, providing greater control. The balloons can now communicate with each other in the air, so the Project Loon team just needs eight ground stations and a network of balloons to provide full wireless coverage to a region. The system is expected to be deployed some time this year in regions of Latin America, West Africa and Asia.

Source: Project Loon (Google+)

Nintendo cuts forecasts as 3DS sales fall short

Nintendo may want to send its crystal ball back for a refurb, because it has once again failed at forecasting. It just announced a downgrade to its 2016 estimates because the new 3DS and 3DS XL portable consoles haven’t been selling as well as hoped. The company thought it would move 7.6 million units across the world between April 2015 and March 2016, but it’s now revised that figure to 6.6 million. It also lowered its 3DS software sales estimate by 9 million units. With Wii U sales estimates unchanged, that means the company expects 2016 revenue to fall 70 billion yen, or approximately $620 million.

The company has now missed its forecasts on the low side for the last four years. To be fair, that’s often down to its home yen currency being too strong, making its products more expensive in North America and elsewhere. But it also means that the company is seeing its market size, and the products themselves, through Mario-tinted lenses. With the revised forecast, the company estimates net profits next year to be 17 billion yen, or $150 million. However, Nintendo does have a few things up its sleeve, including a new mobile game platform, Pokémon 3DS bundle, remastered Pokémon movies, and reportedly, new Pokémon Sun and Moon games. Oh, and at some point, a brand new console.

Source: Nintendo

Photo of Pluto’s north pole shows its ancient frozen canyons

NASA has released another close-up of the most beloved dwarf planet, this time focusing on its northern polar area. If Pluto’s heart-shaped region has a cracked ice plain, mountain ranges and craters, its north pole has frozen canyons much older than any of the others found elsewhere on its surface. Their deteriorating walls made of weaker materials are proof of their age, as Pluto’s younger canyons look more sharply defined. That means the space agency has to study them if it wants to look more closely into the very early years of the dwarf planet’s tectonic activities.

The canyon highlighted in the annotated version of the image below is the biggest one, with a width measuring 45 miles. Those green squiggles beside it are smaller, six-mile-wide canyons, while the pink and blue ones are valleys. The places colored in red are pits — NASA believes they were caused by the ground giving out after the ice underneath melted or sublimated.

Note that the area in this image is part of Lowell Regio, named after Lowell Observatory founder Percival Lowell whose efforts led to Pluto’s discovery. It was captured by New Horizons’ Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) before its closest approach in July 2015. Now, if you’ve had enough of Pluto and all its photos, you may want to set a countdown timer. NASA’s Juno mission will reach the gas giant in 130 days, almost five years after it took off.

Source: NASA

MIT builds an early warning system for sailors

MIT believes that it’s developed an early warning system for rogue waves that could save the lives of sailors. Currently, predicting when a ten foot high wave is going to crash across a ship takes a room full of supercomputers. That’s not helpful for the scrappy fishing boats you see on Discovery Channel shows like Deadliest Food Grabbers and Gruff Seamen at Sea. That’s where this new method from Themis Sapsis and Will Cousins comes in, which spot impending trouble and alert crews to batten down the hatches.

Let’s imagine that every wave is a small, one-off event that just happens to take place around millions of similar one-off events. All of these waves are capable of interacting with each other, although normally that doesn’t mean much. If, however, two of these random interactions are going in the same direction at the same time, they come together to form a bigger wave. Given how many of these waves are milling around, it makes sense that several could merge into one massive ship-threatening rogue wave.

The traditional way to predict rogue waves like this is to build a system that’s similar to a weather-modeling setup. That’s what takes all the power, but the Sapsis/Cousins method just needs LIDAR, RADAR and, presumably, a laptop to do the actual number crunching. The new algorithm just looks at the length and height of all the waves in the vicinity around the ship. If a wave is high and wide enough, then there’s a far greater likelihood that it’ll become problematic in the very near future. Once these rare waves are spotted, it’s just a case of sounding a horn and getting everyone off the deck before trouble strikes.

Source: MIT

‘Alan Wake’ sequel hinted in trademark filing

Quantum Break is a little more than a month away, but already fans are speculating about a possible sequel to Alan Wake, the last big game from developer Remedy Entertainment. A trademark application for “Alan Wake’s Return” was spotted by a user on the gaming forum Neogaf, pointing to another instalment of the Twin Peaks-style thriller. Remedy’s creative director Sam Lake has always said that he would like to return to the franchise, going so far as to release prototype footage. Alan Wake 2 was eventually scrapped in favour of Quantum Break, although some of the team’s ideas eventually wound up in Alan Wake’s American Nightmare.

Remedy hasn’t confirmed the trademark application, so there’s a chance it’s an elaborate fan hoax. The filing does appear to be authentic, however, given it links through to a Remedy account that was also used to trademark Max Payne, Alan Wake and Bright Falls, a six-part live-action mini series. Still, for now any possible sequel is still firmly in “rumor” territory.

Alan Wake was an unusual third-person action game. The titular character, a writer, quickly finds himself reliving a story based on a manuscript he doesn’t remember writing. Pages are scattered throughout the world, teasing horrors and mind-bending dangers that the player will have to deal with. Enemies were townsfolk and objects possessed by a mysterious darkness that Wake could beat back with torches, flares and other sources of light. Managing ammunition and light was a novel experience, especially as light could be used for both offensive and defensive purposes.

It was the story, however, that earned the game a cult following and 4.5 million sales (as of March 2015), despite it going up against Red Dead Redemption at launch. Remedy was able to make two DLC chapters for the main game, the last of which ended with Wake writing a manuscript called “Return.” His adventures continued in American Nightmare, a downloadable sort-of-sequel that shifted the backdrop to Arizona. There he battles through an episode of the fictional TV show Night Springs, which, in the credits, is revealed to be called Return too.

The final piece of evidence? Microsoft is offering Alan Wake for free through backwards compatibility with every copy of Quantum Break. Pre-order and you’ll get American Nightmare too. A perfect opportunity, you might say, to remind people about a somewhat dormant franchise…

Via: Neogaf, Polygon

Source: Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market

Facebook Live Video comes to Android

The ability to broadcast live video will soon be available to every Facebook user on iOS and Android. After its US debut on the iPhone, the company has slowly started to introduce the feature in other markets, including the UK. Now, it’s coming to Google’s mobile OS too, starting with users in the US today. “More countries will be coming soon,” Facebook said in a blog post. In addition, the company has announced that 30 countries now have access through the iOS app: “We’ll continue to roll this out to more people as well as Pages in countries around the world in the coming weeks.”

Once enabled, you can share a live video feed from your phone by tapping the “What’s on your mind?” field at the top of the News Feed, followed by the Live Video icon. Rattle off a quick description and you’re away, with the ability to respond to real-time comments and review how many people are watching. When it’s all over, the broadcast will be archived on your Timeline, where you can choose to keep it or delete it straightaway.

Game on, Periscope.

Copycat Android Phone From Gionee Includes 3D Touch Quick Actions, Peek and Pop

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Gionee debuted its Gionee Elife S8 at Mobile World Congress this week, and the new device mimics the iPhone in both look and functionality. Available in silver, gold, and rose gold shades, the Elife S8’s exterior design more closely resembles an Android device than an iPhone, but it does have a similar rear camera, a 5.5-inch screen, a body that’s 7mm thick, a fingerprint sensor, and an aluminum body.

Image via GSM Arena
Most notably, it includes a pressure-sensitive display with built-in software features that look a lot like 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s. As described by BGR, the Elife S8 steals both Peek and Pop and Quick Actions from Apple. Pressing on an icon on the Home screen brings up a list of shortcuts, as seen in the image below. For example, a press on the camera app includes Quick Actions to take a snapshot, video, or selfie.

Image via BGR
There are also Peek and Pop gestures for previewing content, and a press on the left edge of the screen brings up a list of “Edge” apps. This differs from Apple’s multitasking functionality, but it’s the same general idea. Several hands-on reviews of the Elife S8 have noted the “too close for comfort” similarities between 3D Touch and Gionee’s pressure-sensitive display.

Image via BGR
The Gionee Elife S8’s other features include an octa-core Mediatek MT6755 processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage with a micro SD card slot, a 16-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. It’s priced at ~$500 and will be available to consumers in two months.

Gionee is not the first Android phone to include 3D Touch-like features. The Huawei Mate S has a pressure-sensitive display and launched ahead of the iPhone, but it does not attempt to copy the look of iOS or its specific implementation of 3D Touch. A pressure-sensitive display was also one of the features rumored for the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge, but the two phones launched earlier this week without the feature.

Tags: 3D Touch, Gionee
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