Atom-scale storage holds 62TB in a square inch
Storage tech doesn’t get much better than this. Scientists at TU Delft have developed a technique that uses chlorine atom positions as data bits, letting the team fit 1KB of information into an area just 100 nanometers wide. That may not sound like much, but it amounts to a whopping 62.5TB per square inch — about 500 times denser than the best hard drives. The scientists coded their data by using a scanning tunneling microscope to shuffle the chlorine atoms around a surface of copper atoms, creating data blocks where QR code-style markers indicate both their location and whether or not they’re in good condition.
Not surprisingly, the technology isn’t quite ready for prime time. At the moment, this storage only works in extremely clean conditions, and then only in extreme cold (77 kelvin, or -321F). However, the approach can easily scale to large data sizes, even if the copper is flawed. Researchers suspect that it’s just a matter of time before their storage works in normal conditions. If and when it does, you could see gigantic capacities even in the smallest devices you own — your phone could hold dozens of terabytes in a single chip.
Via: Popular Mechanics
Source: TU Delft, Nature
Deezer’s $10 music streaming service is open to all in the US (updated)
Before now, if you wanted to subscribe to Deezer in the US, you needed to own Bose or Sonos audio gear or be a Cricket customer in order to do so. Just over a month after the streaming service shed podcast app Stitcher, it’s opening up the $10 monthly streaming plan to all users in the States. While Deezer offers both free and paid tiers in other countries, the monthly subscription will be the only way for US users to listen when the 30-day trial runs out. Paying up will also get you access to podcasts (still driven by Stitcher) and features like Flow, a personalized station of tunes based on what you’ve been listening to recently.
Deezer has been around for years at this point, amassing over 6 million users around the globe. The company only dipped its toe in the US market though, with deals that offered service to owners of specific speaker brands. Speaking of which, the $20 high-resolution streaming plan will remain exclusive to folks who have a Sonos setup for the time being.
6 million users isn’t a small number, but it’s less than half of what Apple claims and a fifth of Spotify’s total in terms of paying customers. It will certainly be an uphill climb for the service after Rdio closed up shop, Pandora is prepping to leverage the pieces and Apple is rumored to be interested in Tidal. Deezer recently revamped its discovery features, tools that have grown in popularity for both Spotify and Apple Music. However, at a time when it seems like streaming services are consolidating, Deezer’s chief international officer Gerrit Schumann told TechCrunch the company isn’t looking to sell or make another purchase to pad its user total.
“Right now we’re well set up to grow on our own,” Schumann said. “In our past we made smaller acquisitions here and there, but it’s about growing organically now.”
Deezer is now available to all music lovers in the US! 😄 #DeezerUS #FlowMyMusic pic.twitter.com/BuQOVgpHKQ
— Deezer (@Deezer) July 19, 2016
Update: This post has been updated to clarify that Cricket Wireless customers were also able to use Deezer in the US before today’s wider launch and that Deezer Elite’s high-resolution streaming is still exclusive to Sonos speakers.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Deezer (Twitter)
‘Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked’ gets a PS4 release date
If you own a PlayStation 4 and have been patiently waiting to play Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked, then you’re in luck. The nautical-themed expansion will be released on August 2nd on the PSN store, with a 10 percent launch discount to boot. Though that August 2nd date is only a few weeks away, this marks a several month delay for the expansion. Shipwrecked was originally supposed to launch on Sony’s console sometime this spring.
The add-on has been available for PC since April, and was even on sale for $4.50 on Steam during its launch period. Shipwrecked features news characters, biomes to explore, food to cook, and sea monsters to fend off. The octopus-like Quacken seems quite deadly. You’ll also be going up against an active volcano and even mutinies. The emphasis here is on adapting Don’t Starve’s survival gameplay to a brighter, more colorful world filled with tropical islands.
Source: PS Blog
SpaceX wants two more landing pads for Falcon Heavy rocket
What’s better than watching one of SapceX’s Falcon 9 reusable rockets land? Watching three of them land. At the same time! Okay, that spectacle isn’t here quite yet, but Elon Musk’s rocket company is working on it: SpaceX recently announced that it’s seeking federal approval to build two additional landing pads at Cape Canaveral — giving it enough space to attempt a ground landing for a heavy rocket with two recoverable boosters.
Specifically, SpaceX wants the extra pads to run ground landing tests for the Falcon Heavy rocket, a new platform with three cores, each equivalent to a single Falcon 9. SpaceX is calling it the world’s most powerful operational rocket, and with the power to launch 54 metric tons into orbit, it just may be — but the company will need to get it off the ground first. Building the new platforms is one of the first steps to accomplishing that goal. The company says it may land the rocket at sea to start, however. Either way, we’ll be watching when the Falcon Heavy takes its first flight later this year.
Source: Orlando Sentinel, Twitter
Kepler space telescope spots two planets that might support life
After recovering from a shutdown scare back in April, NASA’s Kepler telescope continues its mission scoping out the stars for Earth-size planets orbiting other stars, crude criteria to find ones that might support life. The spacecraft just spotted four more exoplanets in a cluster around a foreign sun, two of which fit the bill to potentially contain living organisms.
All four planets are 20 percent to 50 percent larger than our own, suggesting a rocky surface, and orbit a red dwarf star called K2-72, which is 181 light years away from Earth in the Aquarius constellation. The two life-supporting contenders, K2-72c and K2-72e, appear to be in the “habitable zone” orbiting just far enough from their sun for liquid water to naturally exist, scientists said. The findings were among a report of 104 promising planets first announced in January but only recently published online.
While Kepler still spots exoplanets through a crude light meter, measuring the dip in brightness in distant stars when planets pass in front of them, the K2 mission reconfigured Kepler to spot dimmer stars like red dwarfs.
“An analogy would be to say that Kepler performed a demographic study, while the K2 mission focuses on the bright and nearby stars with different types of planets,” said K2 study leader Ian Crossfield in a NASA blog post. “The K2 mission allows us to increase the number of small, red stars by a factor of 20, significantly increasing the number of astronomical ‘movie stars’ that make the best systems for further study.”
Via: Space.com
Source: NASA blog
Kia brings Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to older cars
For many, the biggest problem with Android Auto or Apple CarPlay is getting it in the first place. Unless you buy a very recent car, you’re likely stuck buying an aftermarket head unit to drag your vehicle into the smartphone era. Kia thinks it can do better, though. It’s promising free updates to both Android Auto and CarPlay for a slew of vehicles that have either the UVO3 infotainment system or a compatible navigation system.
These aren’t limited to the youngest vehicles, either. Most of the updates (for the Optima, Optima Hybrid, Sedona and Soul EV) support 2015 model year cars, and you can upgrade standard Souls dating as far back as the 2014 model year. While some patches are limited to 2016 (Sorento) or 2017 (Forte, Sportage) models, Kia is still covering a pretty wide swath.
You’ll have to register at Kia’s MyUVO site to get a notification about the update, but you should hear about it before the end of July. And importantly, you can download it yourself when available — you won’t have to go to the dealership or otherwise wait to install it. Should Kia pull this off without a hitch, you won’t have to worry quite so much about buying an older ride.
Via: AppleInsider
Source: Kia
Microsoft’s earnings show its future is in the cloud
While Microsoft’s phone business remains in freefall, its cloud offerings are stronger than ever. For the fourth fiscal quarter of 2016, the company’s Intelligent Cloud (which covers all of its cloud services) revenue jumped seven percent compared to last year, reaching $6.7 billion. Its Azure Cloud, which competes directly against the almost ubiquitous Amazon Web Services, also continued its strong growth for the past year with more than double the revenue (102 percent growth) compared to last year.
But, as we saw for the last few quarters, Microsoft’s mobile business is going nowhere fast, falling another 71 percent from the previous year. That led to a four percent earnings decline for Microsoft’s More Personal Computing division. Otherwise, that group remains a strong area for Microsoft, with Surface revenue up 9 percent, Xbox Live monthly active users growing 33 percent (reaching over 49 million) and Windows non-Pro revenue to manufacturers growing 27 percent.
Microsoft’s overall revenue for the quarter came in at $20.6 billion, with profits of $3.1 billion. That’s down from the $22.1 billion in earnings the company reported a year ago. It’s also projecting that its annualized revenue run rate for cloud products (a calculation for the next year’s performance) will be more than $12.1 billion.
The earnings report is particularly interesting for Microsoft, as it’s the first since its $26 billion LinkedIn purchase. That was Microsoft’s largest deal ever, and despite making plenty of synergistic sense, many considered it a curious move for a company that’s trying to double-down on its productive relevance.
Source: Microsoft
The LG Action Cam LTE is available to South Korea today
The LG G5 has a lot of expensive “Friends.” The Korean manufacturer’s series of accessories meant to be used with the phone have included to date a VR headset, camera grip, 360 camera and Hi-Fi audio module. The latest to join the fold is the LG Action Cam LTE.
The camera is meant for rugged exploration, with IP67 water-proofing (as well as dust and sand) that means you can leave it under water up to one meter for 30 minutes and still use it afterward. With a Snapdragon 650 processor, 2GB RAM, 4GB of storage, and a 1/2.3-inch 123 MP wide angle camera, it’s as powerful as it is good for taking on the go.
If you’re the type to share the video you capture while out doing water stunts or rock climbing or something equally physical, the camera supports LTE and 3G so you can stream using YouTube Live or other streaming services. This way you can skip the whole uploading step and broadcast live, whatever it is that you’re doing.
The camera is coming out today in South Korea, but according to LG a release in other market will be announced in the “weeks to come.”
Via: 9To5Google
Apple Releases Safari 10 Developer Beta 3 for OS X Yosemite and El Capitan
Apple today released the third developer beta of Safari 10 for OS X Yosemite and OS X El Capitan users, allowing those who don’t yet want to install the macOS Sierra operating system to test out the upcoming Safari update.
The third Safari 10 beta for Yosemite and El Capitan can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store for those who installed the first two Safari 10 betas.
As in previous betas, Safari 10 for Yosemite and El Capitan does not include all of the features that are available or will be available in macOS Sierra, like Apple Pay on the web and Picture in Picture support, but the Safari 10 functions listed below are available.
– Safari Extensions
– New Bookmarks sidebar, including double-click to focus in on a folder
– Redesigned Bookmarks and History views
– Site-specific zoom
– Improved AutoFill from your Contacts card
– Reader improvements
– HTML5 and legacy Plug-ins
– Allow reopening of recently closed tabs
– Back closing spawned tabs
– Improved ranking of Frequently Visited Sites
– Web Inspector Timelines Tab
– Debugging using Web Inspector
With OS X El Capitan, Safari 10 also supports the development of Safari App Extensions, allowing developers to start creating extensions that will eventually be sold through the Mac App Store. Also unique to El Capitan is Spotlight suggestions for Top Hits.
Safari 10 will be released this fall alongside macOS Sierra.
Tag: Safari
Discuss this article in our forums
Apple Stores Promoting Apple Pay With Bonus $5 iTunes Gift Cards
In Apple retail stores in the United Kingdom and the United States, Apple is running a promotion to encourage its customers to sign up for Apple Pay this week.
When making a purchase in store, Apple employees will ask customers if they would like to pay via Apple Pay. If a customer declines and does not have Apple Pay set up, employees will guide customers through the setup process to make the purchase and will offer a bonus $5 or £5 iTunes gift card for using Apple Pay as their payment method.
The $5 iTunes gift card is available for any purchase made in an Apple Store, whether purchasing an accessory, an Apple product, or an iTunes/Apple Store gift card. Should a customer need to return a product within the return period, the iTunes gift card will still be theirs to keep as a reward for having set up Apple Pay.
Apple’s promotion comes just as Apple Pay has expanded to its eighth country, France. Apple Pay is now available in the United States, the UK, China, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Singapore, and France, with availability planned for Hong Kong and Spain later in 2016.
In the near future, Apple Pay will see a major expansion as it becomes available for purchases made on the web on iOS devices and Macs.
Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Discuss this article in our forums
AIVAnet 