Best Cricket Wireless Phones

Here’s a look at the best Android phones offered by Cricket Wireless.

No, we’re not talking about the wildly popular sport. Cricket Wireless is AT&T’s contract-free, pay-as-you-go MVNO. It offers a wide array of coverage that piggy-backs off of the major carrier’s network, as well as a number of smartphones. These are the ones that are worth your cash.

• Samsung Galaxy S7
• Alcatel Idol 4
• Moto E
• ZTE Grand X Max 2

Samsung Galaxy S7

You’ve heard us say it numerous times before Samsung’s Galaxy S7 is the best smartphone to launch this year. It has everything you could possibly need, including a virtual reality-capable processor, a big battery pack, expandable memory, a high-quality rear-facing camera that performs impeccably in low light situations, and an extremely stylish, water-resistant metal-and-glass chassis. If you can afford this Samsung smartphone outright, you’ll be set for at least the next two years.

More: Samsung Galaxy S7 review

Think it’s the one for you?

See it at Cricket Wireless

Alcatel Idol 4

Looking for a capable smartphone without the flagship price tag? The Alcatel Idol 4 is a pretty worthy consideration. This 5.2-inch smartphone features a Full HD display, an octa-core processor, dual rear-facing cameras, dual 3.6-watt multi-directional speakers, and a 2610 mAh battery. It also comes bundled with a neat virtual reality headset, which lets you indulge in 3D landscapes and games. Alcatel even includes its own VR Store app with all the compatible apps you need.

More: Alcatel Idol 4 hands-on

Ready to buy?

See it at Cricket Wireless

Moto E

I see you out there: You like smartphones and you’re into the idea of having the Internet readily available in your pocket, but you want nothing to do with the specifications race that’s taking place among the flagship competition. That’s fine, because that’s what smartphones like the Moto E are for.

The Moto E is, simply put, the most reliable cheap phone there is. It’s my go-to phone when I’m traveling overseas and it’s offered by Cricket Wireless for a measly $30! The Moto E is a bit behind on software, but it has all the basics you need for staying connected, including a 4.5-inch display, a straightforward 5-megapixel camera, and 4G LTE compatibility.

More: Moto E LTE 2015 review

Ready to throw caution to the wind and simplify your smartphone life?

See it at Cricket Wireless

ZTE Grand X Max 2

Looking for a big cheap phone? The ZTE Grand X Max 2 is a low-end device, but it’s equipped with a giant 6-inch 1080p display, so you can watch YouTube and Netflix at your leisure. The Grand X Max 2 is also powered by a 1.5GHz octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and a relatively giant 3,400mAh battery. It comes with a dual-camera setup on the back, too, featuring a 13-megapixel main camera and a fixed-focus 2-megapixel camera. And unlike the Moto E, this one comes with Android 6.0 right out of the box.

Interested? Check out the original news story and then buy it here:

See it at Cricket Wireless

Watch Elon Musk unveil SpaceX’s ‘Interplanetary Transport System’

Elon Musk is using Twitter again to get everyone hyped, but this time it’s about SpaceX’s grand plan to make humans a multiplanetary species.

He took to the social network to promote a video that shows a concept of SpaceX’s new Interplanetary Transport System and ultimate plans to colonise Mars. As you can see from the just-released video, SpaceX has imagined a reusable rocket that can transport an interplanetary spaceship beyond Earth’s orbit, and a craft that relies on solar sails to coast to Mars.

Full Interplanetary Tranport System presentation in ~30 mins. Simulation preview: https://t.co/lKAxabzfKX

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 27, 2016

The booster separates from the shuttlecraft and returns to Earth to refuel on its own power, and then it go back to orbit to fill up the awaiting spaceship. Musk will provide more details about how his private space company plans to colonize Mars during a keynote at the International Astronautical Conference on Tuesday. It’ll be interesting to hear how SpaceX is paying for the project.

The keynote will not only focus on the long-term technical challenges that need to be solved in order to support permanent, self-sustaining human presence on Mars, but also the potential architectures for sustaining humans on Mars that “industry, government, and the scientific community can collaborate on in the years ahead,” according to SpaceX.

We’ve embedded a live stream to the keynote below. It starts at 12pm PT.

Check out SpaceX’s dedicated Mars page too.

This is how SpaceX plans to send people to Mars

SpaceX plans to send humans to Mars with on a ship called the Interplanetary Transport System, and in a video published today, the company revealed how the ITS will actually perform. The ITS is capable of carrying up to 100 tons of cargo (that’s supplies and people) and it will rely on a few different power sources to make it all the way to Mars.

Liftoff requires 28,730,000 pounds of thrust, which suggests the ITS will use roughly 40 Raptor rocket engines, which each generate 680,000 pounds of thrust. Once the ship reaches orbit, its booster will return to Earth and immediately re-launch with a refueling pod, which matches up with the ITS to top off its propellant. Then, the ITS deploys its solar arrays, two wing-like panels that fold out from the base of the ship and provide 200 kW of power, and it sets off.

12m rocket booster diameter, 17m spaceship diameter, 122 m stack height

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 27, 2016

Once humans on the ITS actually make it to Mars and successfully land, SpaceX teases that the planet will be terraformed, transitioning from classic red to lush greens and blues.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will outline the company’s plans to colonize Mars in a talk at 2:30 PM ET called “Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species.”

Source: @SpaceX

Scientists watch an immune system fight the flu in real time

To date, biologists have typically had to study the progress of a virus through indirect means, such as studying the antibodies — actually tracking the viruses themselves has been difficult. However, researchers say they’ve found a way to follow the progress of a virus in real time. By using multiphoton microscopy in tandem with a laser and fluorescence, the team monitored influenza virus in a mouse’s trachea (where the transluency made imaging possible) through the infection and immune system response.

As you might guess, the infection played out like a short war. The immune system’s T-cells took a while to respond (about 5 days after initial infection), but they were merciless when they arrived, slowing down by the 7th day and methodically killing off infected cells. They even stayed around for a few days in a heightened state to keep watch for any new threats. This was all expected, but rare to see in action.

The live study has already taught scientists some lessons. A lower virus dose doesn’t automatically lead to fewer T-cells fighting back, for one thing — viruses may affect an immune system’s response, but they don’t define it. You may see far larger results in the future, though. Real-time data could lead to more effective treatments for viruses, triggering swifter, stronger immune responses. You might not have to spend ages grappling with that flu or cough.

Via: Popular Science

Source: PLOS Pathogens

Elon Musk’s grand plan to colonize Mars

Elon Musk is the man with a vision for a human mission to Mars, and on Tuesday he shared his plans at the International Astronautical Conference in Mexico, with a talk titled “Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species.” On-stage, Musk said that there are two paths ahead of humanity: Either stay on Earth and succumb to extinction, or colonize other planets. Mars, he argued, is the best bet for success, considering its proximity to Earth and its similarities to humanity’s home planet.

Musk has long toyed with the idea of colonizing Mars. Under the banner of SpaceX, he’s previously promised to land an unmanned Dragon capsule on the planet by 2018 and send humans by 2024. For the journey, SpaceX has already built and successfully tested the Raptor rocket engine, a methane fuel-powered machine more powerful than any other rocket on Earth (and, we assume, Mars). Raptor rockets generate roughly 680,000 pounds of thrust, more than three times the amount generated by the Falcon 9.

Raptor engines will propel the Interplanetary Transport System, a ship capable of transporting 100 tons of cargo — that’s supplies or people — to Mars. The ITS will require 28,730,000 pounds of thrust at liftoff, suggesting it will take roughly 40 Raptor rocket engines to get off the ground. Once it’s refueled in orbit, the ITS will deploy two solar arrays that generate 200 kW of power and it will take off for Mars, humans and all.

Musk estimated that, using traditional methods, it would cost $10 billion per person to travel to Mars, and he wants that figure to drop to roughly $200,000 per person. Eventually, the cost of a Mars move will be below $100,000, Musk said. A large part of lowering that cost is creating spaceships with reusable parts, Musk said. The ITS’ in-orbit refueling stage is crucial to SpaceX’s plans, since it lowers fuel expenditures at liftoff and features fully reusable boosters, tankers and ships. Each booster can be used 1,000 times; each tanker 100 times and each ship 12 times.

Initial trips will take about 100 people to Mars at a time, but Musk said he expected that number (and the size of each ship) to rise in due time. The ITS itself will be a welcoming, fun place, as Musk describes it, featuring zero-gravity rooms, movie areas, a cafeteria and other entertainment options. It’ll take just a few days of training to prepare for a trip to Mars, Musk said.

Once on Mars, humans will be able to produce the ITS’ methane-based propellant and send the ships back to Earth for re-use, Musk said. This not only lowers the cost of each trip, but it heads off a potential graveyard of spent ships on Mars.

“This is not what it might look like — this is what we plan to make it look like,” Musk said of the ITS explanation video published today.

SpaceX plans to launch a future Mars mission from the Kennedy Space Center. Musk revealed a timeline for SpaceX Mars missions that includes ship, booster and orbital testing beginning in 2018, and actual Mars flights by the end of 2022. The company still plans to send Dragon capsules to Mars beginning in 2018, with the goal of launching additional capsules at a regular cadence, like trains leaving a station.

Musk didn’t directly answer how SpaceX plans to pay for its Mars missions, but he said it will be “a huge public-private partnership.” There are public and private organizations interested in funding the mission, Musk said.

“Right now we’re trying to make as much progress as we can with the resources we have available,” Musk said.

SpaceX and NASA have a longstanding relationship — SpaceX rockets regularly resupply the International Space Station and NASA is generally supportive of the company’s commercial space flight initiatives. However, NASA has its own plans to put humans on Mars, with the #JourneyToMars. That initiative sees humans landing on an asteroid by 2025 and finally touching down on Mars itself in the 2030s. Though Musk didn’t mention NASA on-stage, a SpaceX tweet reveals that there’s some kind of deal going down between the two entities.

Thanks to @NASA for putting their faith in us https://t.co/kCtBLPbSg8

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 27, 2016

SpaceX doesn’t only need to explain how it will send humans across the solar system; it also needs to reassure the public that spaceflight is safe. On September 1st, a SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy rocket exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral and the company still isn’t certain what caused the fireball. No one was injured, but the blast destroyed a Facebook satellite.

During a Q&A session after his presentation, Musk answered a question from The Verge about deep-space radiation concerns during the trip to Mars. Musk said there was probably a small increase in passengers’ chances of developing cancer, but it wasn’t something he was concerned about.

SpaceX and NASA are clear leaders in the Mars-colonization market, though other companies are attempting to make the journey as well. Mars One, a one-way Mars mission that will also act as an interplanetary reality show, is still quietly chugging along, but its founders have yet to appropriately address critical questions about the program’s viability.