The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 lives on in the Galaxy S7

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 may have lived a short life, after the company announced it would be ending production following several overheating and exploding devices.

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But in a bid to regain some customer loyalty and to show just what the Note 7 was capable of, Samsung has issued an update for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge that brings with it some Note 7 features.

The biggest feature of the new update, which is available now as an over-the-air download, is the Note 7’s always-on display mode, as well as the customisation available for it. It means you can now have a photo, digital or analogue clock and notifications constantly on show.

But unfortunately for Samsung, not everything has gone as smoothly as it hoped. Some users are noticing that notifications from Samsung’s own email app aren’t showing and features that require the S Pen stylus don’t work either, although the latter is surely to be expected.

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However, it’s likely to be a welcome move from Samsung, as the update enriches the S7/S7 Edge experience, Note 7 owners won’t feel completely hard done by, and it also gives the flagship phones more features to rival Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones.

Samsung Chromebook Pro with folding screen and stylus leaks in Korea

Samsung leaked and then quickly took down, a listing for a new Chromebook Pro on its Korean website. But the internet is never safe from accidental leaks and SamMobile picked it up and shared the details online.

The Chromebook Pro will have a 12.3in 2400 x 1600 touchscreen display with 400 nits brightness. But you won’t have to use your grubby fingers to use the display, as Samsung is including a stylus, as well as losing the S Pen name and opting for just PEN instead, which will have its own slot in the side of the Chromebook Pro. The screen is also on a hinge, so it can be folded to turn the Chromebook Pro into a tablet instead.

A 2GHz hexa-core processor, comprising two Cortex-A72 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores, with 4GB of RAM should keep things running smoothly and there will be 32GB of onboard storage, although it’s not clear if this is expandable via microSD.

It will of course run on Google’s Chome OS, which now has the benefit of being able to have any Play Store app installed and the battery claims to last 10 hours on a single charge. Samsung has also fitted two USB Type-C ports for charging and adding peripherals, as well as a headphone jack and SD card slot. Samsung is also promising to bundle a one year subscription to AirDroid, which lets you access and manage an Android device from a web browser.

Everything has fitted into a body that’s 13.9mm at its thickest point and weighs just over 1 kg.

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The Chromebook Pro was listed on US retailer Adorama’s site as a pre-order for $499, but it has since been taken down. We’re expecting Samsung to officially unveil the Chromebook Pro and announce global availability and pricing in the next few days or weeks.

Netflix offline viewing finally coming, before end of 2016

At the beginning of 2014, Netflix told Pocket-lint that offline viewing was never likely to happen. Licensing issues and local storage constraints were cited and the director of global communications at the time, Joris Evers, said that the company would rather concentrate on making its streaming service the best possible than offer downloads too.

However, he did leave the door open a crack: “I was going to say no, I was going to just categorically say no. But let me just tell you it’s very unlikely,” he said at the time.

Now it looks like the company has had a change of heart. A growing number of recent reports suggest that not only will Netflix add an offline viewing feature, it is likely to come before the end of the year.

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That means, in the next couple of months you could download shows and films to your portable devices to watch when you don’t have an internet connection – such as on the Tube.

Amazon Video offers a similar feature to its Prime subscribers, as do services like Sky Go and BBC iPlayer, so it’s not unfeasible Netflix will follow suit. Indeed, Dan Taitz, COO of video firm Penthera, revealed that Netflix’s plans back in June.

“We know from our sources within the industry that Netflix is going to launch this product,” he told Light Reading. “My expectation is that by the end of the year Netflix will be launching download-to-go as an option for their customers.”

We’re awaiting official confirmation from Netflix, but it seems we will all finally get a feature we’ve been requesting for more than two years. And sooner than we thought.

Mini’s hybrid test car offers a glimpse into an electric future

Mini has released details of its new plug-in hybrid car and explained how it would work in real-life situations with its latest press release.

The BMW-owned car company has said development of the new car is nearing completion, so it shouldn’t be too long before we start seeing them in showrooms and then on the road.

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Head of Mini brand management Sebastian Mackensen and Head of Mini series management Peter Wolf have explained how the combustion engine and electric motor work together thanks to an intelligent energy management system, and how the car retains its familiar driving style.

Mini wanted to make sure that customers step into the car and immediately feel at home and so have kept many of the same features from the regular cars, such as the start/stop button, which now glows yellow instead of red. The rpm counter in the instrument panel has been replaced by a power display, which lets the driver know how much battery power is left for the electric motor and when the combustion engine will fire up. The combustion engine will only start when it feels necessary, and monitors how quick you’re going and how hard you’re pressing the accelerator pedal.

Because it relies on electric power for the most-part, the new Mini can accelerate instantly while kicking out zero emissions. Mini says the zero emissions are also transferred to the motorway as the battery under the rear seats has enough power for a “long-lasting drive”. There’s several different modes to select on the new Mini, with Auto eDrive allowing you to drive up to 50mph on electric power or Max eDrive letting you go up to 78mph.

A third, Save Battery mode turns the electric motor off and uses just combustion power. This helps to retain charge in the batteries and even recharge via a generator.

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The company hasn’t made many changes to the chassis for the electric version and says if anything, it offers better handling thanks to a lower centre of gravity caused by the batteries in the rear of the car.

Electric power is sent to the rear wheels while power from the combustion engine is sent to the front, Mini says this helps with traction as the Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) can send power where it’s needed to help prevent skidding out of control.

Mini hasn’t said when the car is expected to go on sale, but fingers crossed it won’t be too long.

Is Rockstar’s teaser really for Red Dead Redemption 2 or just a red herring?

Rockstar Games set the internet alight over the weekend thanks to a single tweet. It didn’t even have any accompanying words, just the company logo on a red background, but that was enough to receive almost 100,000 retweets and 170,000 likes.

It’s because many are seeing it as confirmation that the company has been working on a sequel to a game many hold in even higher regard than the Grand Theft Auto series: Red Dead Redemption.

And considering the timing of the teaser tweet, we might be about to find out more about it very, very soon.

pic.twitter.com/BklXMlZ0UQ

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) October 16, 2016

Of course, it might have simply been a posting to highlight the fact that PlayStation 2 classic Red Dead Revolver is now available on the PS Store for PS4. Or that Red Dead Redemption might make it onto PlayStation Now to match the fact that it is already on Xbox One through backwards compatibility.

However, either of those would result in the formation of an angry mob carrying pitchforks. Indeed, we’d probably be waving around garden utensils ourselves.

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Surely it is for Red Dead Redemption 2. After all, a slew of rumours about the game circulated this summer – specifically around E3 time. A map was leaked on NeoGaf, alleged to be a design guide. And Take-Two has previously said that Red Dead Redemption was as important a franchise as GTA. Considering there have only been two games in the series so far, which originally came out in 2004 and 2010 respectively, we’re about due another one.

And as a mere tweet of a logo has garnered such interest, there’s certainly the market for it.

Watch this space.

Atomic-sized MRI uses quantum bits to help discover new drugs

Researchers have used quantum computing tech to miniaturize a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, making it small enough to pick up the structure of single biomolecules without damaging them or losing information in the process. This could make it a key tool for drug discovery and other biotech research.

Scientists at the University of Melbourne, lead by Professor Lloyd Hollenberg, used atomic-sized quantum bits (usually used inside quantum computers), to act as quantum sensors to image each atom that makes up more complicated bio-molecules. “By using quantum sensing to image individual atoms in a bio-molecule, we hope to overcome several issues in conventional biomolecule imaging,” Prof Hollenberg said.

Current techniques involve using a crystal of the molecule that needs to be imaged, and X-ray diffraction to pick up the molecule’s average structure. Both parts of this can lead to important information getting dropped in the process. Some bio-molecules can’t be crystallized either, according to the news release.

“In a conventional MRI machine large magnets set up a field gradient in all three directions to create 3D images; in our system we use the natural magnetic properties of a single atomic qubit,” says University of Melbourne PhD researcher Mr. Viktor Perunicic. In short, atomic quantum bits make great nano sensors. “The construction of such a quantum MRI machine for single molecule microscopy could revolutionize how we view biological processes at the molecular level, and could lead to the development of new biotechnology and a range of clinical applications,” added Professor Hollenberg.

Source: Melbourne University

Body cameras given to ‘over 22,000’ London police officers

To help keep the peace, more than 22,000 London police officers will soon be given body cameras. The roll-out begins today — six months later than former mayor Boris Johnson had anticipated. The new hardware, supplied by Taser, won’t be recording around the clock; instead, officers will need to hit the shutter manually and notify the public “as soon as practical.” A red light and beeping noise will indicate new recordings. The footage will then be uploaded to a secure server where it can be used as evidence in court. If it’s not required, the data will be deleted automatically after 31 days.

Metropolitan Police hope the cameras will add a greater level of transparency to their work. Accused citizens should, in theory, be able to call on these images to prove their innocence. They could play a similar role for the police, helping officers to defend their actions on the street. It’s hoped that the new hardware will play a preventative role too, discouraging both sides from acting outside of the law in the first place.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, believes the cameras can make the court system more efficient — if footage of the incident exists, many offenders will plead guilty immediately, rather than hide the truth. “Video captures events in a way that can’t be represented on paper in the same detail,” Hogan-Howe added. “A picture paints a thousand words, and it has been shown the mere presence of this type of video can often defuse potentially violent situations without the need for force.”

The Met says the rollout is the “largest” of its kind in the world. Officers will be kitted out in phases, with an expected completion date of “next summer.” It follows years of trials, as well as public consultation and academic evaluation. Similar hardware has been deployed in the US, where police trust has fallen to an arguably greater low. Body cameras, if used fairly and consistently, could help to repair that fragile relationship.

Source: Metropolitan Police