Xenon detector finds no dark matter after 20-month study
Despite being buried a mile under the South Dakota surface and isolated in rock and water for 20 months, the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter sensor failed to detect anything. While this is yet another unsuccessful attempt to observe the mysterious substance that makes up four-fifths of the universe’s mass, at least the findings will help the next hunt.
The scientists, who ran the experiment at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, presented their results yesterday at the International Dark Matter conference in Sheffield, UK. While it’s possible that the LUX failed to pick up dark matter while it was active from 2014 to 2016, the researchers are confident that any of it passing through would have been caught. Already the most sensitive detector of the substance during its first run in 2013, the LUX team pushed its performance to four times its original project goals.
As its title implies, the core of the LUX detector is xenon — one-third of a ton of it, cooled to a liquid state and isolated from other interactions by keeping it deep underground and encased in a 72,000-gallon tank of water. The idea was that the leading theoretical candidate for dark matter, weakly interactive massive particles (WIMPs), pass through our bodies all the time but don’t react. But if they collide with xenon atoms, they would theoretically produce small flashes of lightning, which external sensors would catch. Alas, no interactions were recorded in the detector’s 20-month run.
Despite that setback, the project’s scientists haven’t scrapped the WIMP idea: the long-run experiment just eliminated a large swath of mass-ranges and interaction-coupling strengths where the particles might exist, the team said in a statement. Unfortunately, this may leave the door wide open for the Large Hadron Collider to be the first to observe dark matter in its experiments later in 2016, which the LUX team had been racing for three years.
Should CERN’s colossal atom smasher not achieve it either, the next generation of xenon detectors will be the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, which will have ten tons of the element and expect to achieve 70 times the sensitivity of the original LUX. The more advanced model is expected to be ready for its own dark matter search in 2020.
Via: Scientific American
Source: Sanford Underground Research Facility blog
No surprise here: Pokemon Go breaks App Store record, Apple says
Pokemon Go has taken over the world, and Apple’s App Store, apparently.
Apple has confirmed to Polygon, The Verge, iMore, and a bunch of other places that the augmented-reality game has broken a record by being the most downloaded game in its first week than any other app in history. There are of course no concrete numbers floating around, but Pokemon Go has been sitting in Apple’s top-free and top-grossing charts since launching last week.
It’s therefore beating giants like Game of War, Candy Crush Saga, Facebook Messenger, and Snapchat. According to mobile analytics company SuperData Research, Pokemon Go likely earned as much as $14 million by 11 July, meaning it took in a daily revenue of about $2 million. Other estimates put the game’s revenue between $1 million to $2.3 million a day during its first week.
Inverse reported that an App Annie analyst thinks the game might make a billion dollars a year after all the server issues are ironed out and it becomes available around the globe. App Annie and VentureBeat also said it is the fastest mobile game to hit the number one spot for revenue on mobile stores. Check out Pocket-lint’s round-up of other mind-boggling facts about Pokemon Go.
We’ve reached out to Niantic Labs, the game’s developer, and The Pokemon Company for specific numbers and will update when we know more.
- Pokemon Go: How to play and other tips and tricks
- Help! Pokemon Go isn’t working: How to fix common Pokemon Go problems
- Can’t get Pokemon Go in your country yet? Here’s how to download it now
- What is Pokemon Go and why is everyone talking about it?
- Pokemon Go: Best, worst and craziest places people have found Pokemon
- London through the eyes of Pokemon Go
- Pokemon Go top tips: Master the Pokemon mayhem
The Public Access Weekly: Video killed the radio star
My Twitter feed is currently abuzz with the news that the last remaining VCR manufacturer has given up the ghost and called it quits, which means the CRT television with the built-in VHS slot that I have in my bedroom is officially vintage (…Wait, does this mean I’m a hipster?). But hey, how else am I supposed to play all those sweet video tapes that I scored from Wherehouse Music?
Over in community happenings, there are two quick updates: Firstly, please don’t flag comments you don’t agree with as abusive. We understand that conversations in the comments can become heated, but just because you’re having a disagreement with someone does not make their statements abusive. Things that do count as abusive include name calling, swearing at someone, any kind of threats, and all types of racism/sexism/ any nasty -ism. We keep track of commenters who misuse the flagging feature, as well as those who are actually abusive, and you probably don’t want to be on either list.
Secondly, and I’ve mentioned this more than once before, Public Access is not an SEO or digital marketing site. Let me be clear here: Public Access is a community content site designed for everyone to share their personal stories and experiences with technology. If your only motivation in signing up and posting to Public Access is to promote your business or service, or discuss digital marketing, you are in the wrong place. Similarly, if you put SEO links in your story, they will be removed and your post may be locked with out any warning.
Heads up, we will be putting the smack down on SEO.
Looking for something to read? Check out:
If you are one of the many people who spent their childhoods blowing into NES cartridges so you could beat your little brother’s Super Mario scores, then the announcement of a Nintendo Classic Mini with 30 games including The Legend of Zelda is probably music to your 8-bit loving ears.
In “It sounded like a good idea at the time” news, NYC Mayor Cuomo announced a five year plan to outfit the city’s subway system with WiFI and USB charging ports. Which… doesn’t sound at all like a security nightmare. Or a tempting target for vandals. Or an addition that will make it harder to clean subway cars.
If you have an excessive amount of music, games, and 4K video laying around then Seagate has a solution for you via its recently unveiled 10TB hard drive. That is, if you also have $535 laying around to purchase the drive. Commenters are skeptical about putting all their digital data into one hard drive basket, even if it could store roughly 20 million photos, nearly 2 million songs or over 85 million Word documents.
Looking for something to write about? Mull over:
We covered the Keecoo K1, a smartphone designed for women, and called it out for being sexist and technically lacking. A lot of people felt otherwise in the comments. Weigh in: Are ‘women-only’ products sexist and demeaning? Do they lack the technical specs you’d expect to find in a product? Are we making too damn much out of this? Share your thoughts in a post, using a few examples of such products to support your argument.
There have been some pretty sizable kerfuffles over ethics in gaming journalism, and Warner Bros. paying YouTubers for reviews is not going to help much on that front. The company recently settled with the FTC over paying online influencers, including PewDiePie, for positive YouTube reviews of Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. How do you feel about paid content? How do you feel it should be disclosed or highlighted from non-paid content? And how do you, as a savvy internet user, sniff out paid content from the rest?
The Xbox Design Lab allows users to customize their own gamepad by selecting from 15 colors for the controllers body, bumpers and triggers, D-pad, thumbsticks, face, buttons and back panel. Is this just another gimmick like the Moto Maker? Would you pay extra to be able to design your own gamepad? What kind of modularity would really benefit a controller? Bonus: If you have designed a gamepad using the Design Lab, share your creation in your post!
Where to buy the Sony Xperia XA Ultra in Canada
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra may not be the most powerful phone on the market, but it’s certainly one of the largest.
With a huge 6-inch 1080p display, a MediaTek processor, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 21.5MP rear camera sensor, a 16MP front camera, and a 2,700mAh battery, the phone will mainly appeal to video and camera enthusiasts.
The phone is only available at one carrier in Canada, Wind Mobile.
Buy the Sony Xperia XA Ultra at Wind Mobile
The Sony Xperia XA Ultra is available for:
- $0 with a $15/month WindTab Boost
- $149 with a $5/month WindTab Boost
- $299 on WindTab
- $399 outright
See at Wind Mobile
More: Sony Xperia XA Ultra hands-on
Community Review: SCOTTeVEST Knowmatic Hoodie
A valiant attempt at solving a problem we didn’t even know we needed solved.
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our first ever Community Review! This is a full product review created by a member of the Android Central community, and it’s the start of a new program here. We’re going to be slowly opening this program up to community members and companies interested in participating. Please reach out to our Community Manager if you have any questions or would like to join the program!
SCOTTeVEST is a company the seeks to bring fashion and technology together in a unique way. Most company’s these days are trying to find new and different ways to integrate technology directly into the clothing, but SCOTTeVEST’s philosophy is simple: just bring the tech with you! Their vision is for a wide variety of fashion sensible jackets, vests, hoodies, and even lab coats, that will comfortably allow you to bring all, and yes I mean all of the things with you.
Smartphone? Check
Headphones? Check
Wallet and keys? Check.
Pop-tarts and Hot Pockets? Check.
iPad? (Yes, we know.) Check. You can bring both your mini, and your 9.7 inch tablet with you safely within the pockets of your SCOTTeVEST Knowmatic Hoodie.
SCOTTeVEST wants you to forget about computer bags and backpacks, but the question remains, can you really carry everything in it? Even the kitchen sink? Let’s find out.
Soft-wear
The Knowmatic Hoodie is firstly just that, a hoodie. So how does it stack up next to it’s other hoodie companions? Is it hoodie enough for all your hoodie needs? Well, as far as hoodies go (have I said “hoodie” enough yet?) it’s actually amazingly comfortable. It is made out of a micro-fleece material that is oh-so soft and keeps you warm as well. Although, being in Texas in the middle of summer, everything is hot. Like ridiculously hot. Aside from that, the Knowmatic Hoodie is very easy to wear and is certainly fashionable enough for even your most hipster-est of friends.
No matter how many pockets I use, I keep finding more!
As the name suggests, the Knowmatic Hoodie does have an adjustable hood — go figure. But they’ve added a fun little feature to it which, depending on your friends and family, some might find it more useful than others. Tucked away inside the hood is a flap that you can fold down to cover your eyes for all those little power naps throughout the day. Weather for flights, or train rides, or maybe just to politely tell your significant other that you are otherwise occupied at the moment. To ensure that those around you are getting the message that you don’t want to talk to them right now, a simple “DO NOT DISTURB” is printed on the flap. Thank you SCOTTeVEST for finally coming up with a way for me to tell the world to go away without me having to say anything. #Lifechanged
Oh and one more fun little tidbit on the outside of the hoodie — cuts into the cuffs of both sleeves is a hole for your thumbs so you can look like all the cool kids around town, and also, by the way, help keep your hands warm. We don’t have to tell them that cool can be functional too.
Hard-wear
This Hoodie claims to have 13 pockets. I say claims, because no matter how many I use, I keep finding more! They just keep appearing out of nowhere! It’s magical!
Let’s start with the ones on the outside. As you would expect on a hoodie, there are two pockets at the bottom where your hands would normally fit, pockets 1 & 2. But don’t for a second think that these are just regular pockets. For starters, both pockets can clasp shut with a small magnetic clasp. Also, on the inside of both pockets, there is an extra little tiny pocket for all your spare change, pockets 3 & 4. However, this is 2016 so I’ll just over pay for my coffee with my watch and be on my way, thank you. Aside from the change pocket, the inside of the right pocket (#2) hides two more surprises for you.
The more stuff you add to the vest, the heavier it will get.
The first is a strong elastic strap designed to hold your water bottle. However, it seemed to be a little more trouble than it was worth for me to get the bottle in and out quickly. I’d rather just set it in the pocket. The second hidden gem is a small key holder. This is a little more intricate gadget which involves a key ring on an extendable plastic band with a quick-release clasp on the end. This is all held in place by a snap button at the bottom of the pocket. Confused yet? It’s really not that bad and actually is a very convenient way to carry your keys without them falling out or getting pulled out by a less-than-savory thief.
Lastly, on the left sleeve is another pocket, #5 if you’re keeping track, which is perfect for a small wallet. It won’t fit anything massive but as long as it isn’t too big or stuffed with 20 different credit cards, it should fit ok.
Things really start to get interesting on the inside of the hoodie. Both sides of the hoodie are symmetrical so that makes it a bit easier. At the top, we have a pocket big enough for any smartphone with some extra room for sunglasses or whatever else you might need (pop-tarts on the go for instance). These pockets (6 & 7) clasp together magnetically as well so it’s easy to get in and out of quickly while making sure nothing falls out.
Beneath these pockets are even bigger pockets (8 & 9). These are designed for your larger gadgets like phablets, tablets, and kitchen sinks. This pocket is technically one large pocket that is divided down the middle with three small velcro patches that can transform this big pocket into two smaller ones. Turning these two pockets into four brings us to a grand total of 13 pockets (give it a second and it will make sense).
Now at this point you’re probably saying “holy crap that’s a lot of pockets”, and you’re right! But you’re also probably asking, “Doesn’t it get super heavy with all that stuff in there?” Great question, I’m glad you asked! The answer is, yes, because gravity. The more stuff you add to the vest, the heavier it will get. Luckily SCOTTeVEST had the same thought you did and came up with a mostly functional solution. They have built a Weight Management System into the material to help distribute weight more evenly throughout the hoodie. How it works is pretty simple; they design the shoulders and upper half of the clothes with extra material and place the seams in such a way as to help lighten the stress on your neck and back.
This, coupled with the strategic placement of the pockets, ensures that the hoodie won’t have any adverse side effects. Each new design is also inspected by a licensed chiropractor to ensure it’s safety. In my own use, since I don’t have another hoodie that can hold all of the things, I wasn’t really able to asses how good it is compared to other hoodies, but in short, the system works! Now it’s not gonna let you fly, but it doesn’t feel as heavy as it might without it. I say mostly functional because I’m honestly not sure how much lighter it will really feel. And keep in mind, the system cannot change the laws of physics so if you add 10 pounds of gear to the hoodie, you’ll still be carrying around an extra 10 pounds. After a while it will still feel heavy, but it makes traveling, or even those Sunday afternoon coffee shop sessions much more bearable.
Unfortunately, like all of Bond’s other stuff, this thing ain’t cheap.
But SCOTTeVEST wasn’t done there. Oh-ho no. Because now that we’ve gotten all the gadgets in there, what about my headphones? How am I going to jam out to the latest Bieber album while rocking out in my super fly hoodie? Don’t worry friend. You can still pretend to be cool with all the other kids. SCOTTeVEST’s solution for this is called the Personal Area Network or PAN (don’t ask me, I don’t know why they call it that either. It is patented though, so there’s that.). The PAN is a series of small holes and elastic bands all throughout the hoodie that will let you wire it up just like an undercover super spy. They start from the bottom-most pockets and weave their way up into the collar so your ear buds are never far from your ears. You can weave the plug end into pretty much any pocket you want, inside top, outside bottom, inside bottom, one of the invisible pockets, wherever you want. The end result is having your headphones within easy reach without having to wrap and unwrap them constantly or stuffing them down your shirt awkwardly. The earbuds live right by your ears and the rest of the wires are hidden out of the way so you don’t have to worry about them. It’s honestly probably the coolest part of the whole hoodie (aside from the pop-tart pocket of course).
All About the Benjamins
Unfortunately, like all of Bond’s other stuff, this thing ain’t cheap. One of SCOTTeVESTs biggest aims is to stay fashion sensible and as with most things fashion, that comes at a price. SCOTTeVEST is aimed at the business traveler crowd who maybe have a little extra money to spend in the name of convenience and looking professional. As such, their prices are a bit high. The absolute cheapest thing on their website is $25 but that’s a hat and a pair of boxers. If you are looking for a jacket, hoodie, shirt, or vest, things get a little pricier. On sale, you can find some for around $60 but they quickly go up from there.
The Knowmatic Hoodie that we’ve been talking about here is a cool $110. SCOTTeVEST also attempts to meld fashion with the ability to leave your computer bags behind, so depending how often you actually end up leaving your bag at home and how much your bag costs, things might balance out a little better. For example, the bag that I use the most cost me about $100 but now I have a cool hoodie that allows me to leave my backpack at home so for me it evened out. The other good news is that there are plenty of options for all kind of business professionals. Even body guards get some love with a jacket that will let you conceal your firearm right next to your iPad. So you can stop the bad guy with one hand, then immediately tweet about the whole thing!
All in all, it’s a good chunk of change to drop on a piece of clothing. It will really come down to how much you really need extra pockets, out side of the ones in your pants.
Final Thoughts
In my time with the Knowmatic Hoodie, I came away very impressed. For starters, the material is very soft and comfortable to wear. The size I ordered was correct and fit me perfectly well without being too baggy. It kept me warm, but was also breathable enough that I wasn’t sweating while wearing it.
Not only was I impressed with it as an article of clothing, but I was also impressed with how it loved up to it’s claim. When I go to work, I take with me my two phones, my iPad, wallet, keys, charging cable, and sunglasses. I used to take my backpack with me, but after using the hoodie for a while, I was able to fit everything I needed comfortably in the pockets without feeling overburdened. So I left the backpack at home. The harder part for me is not melting from sweat while wearing a hoodie in the 100 degree South Texas summer heat. Maybe I’ll start rotating the bag and the hoodie.
Should I Buy It?
Well, it depends on your needs.
SCOTTeVEST products are great for a wide variety of people. Almost everyone would be able to use the features of the hoodie. If you are a business traveler who wants to get away with an extra carry-on, or someone who needs to carry everything with you all the time, or if you have a bad relationship with your backpack and have been hurt, then SCOTTeVEST is perfect for you and it’s absolutely worth your money! It’s incredibly comfortable, allows you to carry everything you might ever possibly need right on your chest, and look great doing it. Also, if you’re a more safety conscious person, another great thing about the hoodie is that no one else can see what your packing. Everything is concealed well enough so that those unsavory types would have no idea what you’ve got on you.
If you don’t really carry that much tech with you, or you don’t travel a lot, or if you just prefer to carry a bag with you, then honestly it might be better to save your money and look elsewhere for fashionable outerwear. But if this is your sort of thing, you can find them for sale right from the SCOTTeVEST site.
See at SCOTTeVEST
Moto Z Force Droid Edition’s ShatterShield survives drops, phone still dies
It’s not the fall that killed my Moto Z Force Droid Edition. It was the sudden stop at the end. And even then, it took five of them. … And the screen still didn’t crack.
I now have a zombie Moto Z Force Droid Edition. No, it’s not the name that killed it. It was the drop test. And while I’m normally not a fan of killing a phone just to watch it die, we had good reason this time. Moto’s ShatterShield.
This is the multiple-layer system that it put in the Droid Turbo 2 — and now in Verizon’s Moto Z Force — to keep the phone’s screen from shattering should it be dropped. That doesn’t mean it’s a rugged phone. That doesn’t mean you should repeatedly drop it onto concrete. That means should the phone take a spill — like all phones do at some point — the screen should survive.
Yes, there’s fine print. (There’s always fine print.) And it reads thusly:
The display and embedded lens are warranted against shattering and cracking for four (4) years from the original date of purchase; scratches or other damage to the protective lens is not covered by this warranty, but should always be in place to prevent scratches and other damage to the underlying components. This phone is not shockproof or designed to withstand all damage from dropping. All other warranty exclusions, including scratches and other cosmetic damage, intentional damage or abuse, normal wear and tear and other limitations apply.
So I wasn’t surprised after one-two-three-four-five drops that the screen quit working. ShatterShield isn’t meant for the sort of abuse I subjected it to. (The phone still boots, actually. It still works. It’s just as if the display became detached.)
But it did not shatter. It looks beat to hell — because it was. But ShatterShield did its job.
Moto Z and Moto Z Force
- Our Moto Z review!
- Moto Z specs
- Moto Mods custom backs
- Moto Z and Moto Z Force will be Verizon exclusives until the fall of 2016
- The latest Moto Z news
- Discuss in our Moto Z forums
Motorola
Verizon
Samsung fixes Galaxy S7 Active’s waterproof flaw, will replace phones
Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Active is meant to be waterproof, but apparently, some units didn’t get the memo.
The rugged smartphone, which works exclusively on AT&T in the US, has an IP68-rating that covers both dust- and water-resistance. It is designed to survive immersion in five feet of water for 30 minutes. But Consumer Reports on 8 June put two units through a dunk test and reported that they both failed. CNET later conducted a similar test, and two out of four units also failed.
All units of the S7 Active were manufactured in the same facility in Asia, and at least some of them appear to have waterproofing issues. On 22 July, Samsung responded to these claims, revealing to Consumer Reports that it found a problem in production. It quickly corrected the issue, declined to provide any further details, and said S7 Active units now being shipped should be flaw-free.
The Korean company won’t remove existing units from store shelves. All Samsung phones carry a one-year limited warranty, it explained, so any S7 Active units that sustain water damage can be immediately returned to where it was purchased or directly through Samsung for a replacement. Samsung warned that it will not replace phones that have not suffered water damage.
Samsung also wouldn’t expand upon how consumers can determine if their phones were flawed (ie, check their serial numbers, etc), though it believes only a small number of units were affected.
- Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and S-Pen shown off in leaked video and render
- Samsung Galaxy Note 7: Release date and everything you need to know
- Samsung Odyssey is company’s rival to Oculus Rift
3D-printed ‘Pokémon Go’ cover aims for you, obscures screen
Catching monsters in Pokémon Go sounds deceptively simple: find a creature, and throw an imaginary ball at it by swiping up on your phone screen. The reality is a lot more frustrating — if you don’t flick your finger in a perfectly straight line, the throw will curve to the side and miss. There are two solutions to this. You could practice, or, you could 3D-print a ridiculous phone-cover that takes away all of the challenge. Jon Clever chose to do the latter.
We tease, but Clever’s Pokéball Aimer is actually a clever little tool. The custom phone cover fits over an iPhone 6 and creates a trench that guide’s the player’s finger up the center of the screen for the perfect Pokéball throw.
Unfortunately, it also obscures a good deal of the screen — offering only cut-outs for on-screen controls. There’s a Pokéball shaped window that allows the player to see the target, but the case is only really useful on the game’s capture screen. This means it has to be removed for battles, menus and the game’s GPS-guided walking mode. It also makes advanced moves, like the curve ball, impossible. Still, tedium is a small price to pay for catching Psyduck. Want your own? You can get the plans for free on My Mini Factory.
Via: Gizmodo
Source: My Mini Factory
Wikileaks publishes thousands of DNC emails
As if Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party needed any more fuss over emails, Wikileaks has published a trove of messages sent to and from top DNC officials. It covers a period from January of last year to May of 2016, and appear to show party officials spreading negative angles about Bernie Sanders, dreaming up fake Craigslist ads to target Donald Trump and constantly sharing “off the record” details with reporters. The source of the leak is apparently the hacker calling themselves “Guccifer 2,” although claims by the DNC itself, Motherboard and the Washington Post point to Russian government hackers, and Wikileaks has not identified a source.
RELEASE: 8,034 US DNC attachmentments including thousands of images, 891 documents & 175 spreadsheets https://t.co/rnA8lBHso2
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 22, 2016
Wikileaks claims this is just a part of the “Hillary leaks” series it plans on sharing, but it’s also being criticized for not redacting some of the information in the files. Details from phone numbers and email addresses to passport ID numbers and some payment account information can be found in the emails that point to regular people who’ve made donations.
That’s mixed in with emails from DNC CEO Amy Dacey discussing the possibility of bringing up Bernie Sanders’ religious beliefs to influence voters in Kentucky or West Virginia, details on how much you need to donate to get facetime with Hillary, and vetting activist Deray Mckesson as a potential surrogate at an event. You can search through the database yourself if you’d like, although the DNC has yet to comment on the leak, which comes ahead of its nominating convention next week.
Source: Wikileaks
Deconstructing the legendary dungeons of ‘Ocarina of Time’
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of those games that practically everyone has played and regards fondly. The landmark 1998 game was incredibly influential, and when folks put together lists of “best games of all time,” it’s usually within the top ten. Ocarina also marked the long-running franchise’s move from a top-down view to full 3D thanks to the leap in power that the Nintendo 64 provided. But how do its dungeons stack up to previous games in the series? Specifically, A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening? YouTuber Mark Brown answers just that with a smart and thoughtful examination of the game.
In the video above, he breaks down how Ocarina’s nine temples are structured in terms of flow and design, noting just how linear they are compared to A Link to the Past (another fan favorite in the series) and whether or not that actually works to the game’s advantage. And yep, a healthy portion of the video is dedicated to Ocarina’s devious water temple. The video is part of a larger series examining the franchise on a game-by-game basis, so, if you like what you see, maybe throw a subscription Brown’s way.
Source: Game Maker’s Toolkit (YouTube)
AIVAnet 