Drone footage shows Tesla’s Gigafactory taking shape

To deliver the Model 3 and its dream of an affordable, yet reliable electric car, Tesla needs the Gigafactory. The complex in Nevada will be used to produce batteries at an unprecedented scale, besting the might of every other factory in the world combined. Before that can happen, however, Elon Musk needs to build the darn place. Fresh footage by Matthew Roberts, shot with a DJI Phantom 3 drone in 4K, shows how far the project has progressed. As expected, there’s still a long way to go — only a handful of the 21 Gigafactory “blocks” have been completed so far. Even so, it’s an enormous building that dominates the picturesque desert landscape.

When the Gigafactory is complete, Tesla hopes to produce 35 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of capacity each year. That’s enough to keep up with its planned production rate of 500,000 cars per year. It’ll have a huge footprint, stretching 107 NFL football fields in total. Whether company can deliver on time, and under budget, is another matter entirely. Tesla is ambitious, but already has a reputation for missing its delivery targets. It’s also had to recall both the Model S and Model X over potential defects and safety concerns. Here’s hoping the factory goes a little more smoothly.

Source: Matthew Roberts

Half of UK electricity now comes from nuclear and renewables

A record 50 percent of the UK’s electricity was generated from renewables and other law carbon energy sources in the third quarter of 2016. That’s up from 45.3 percent the year prior, a milestone fuelled by a sizeable increase in wind, solar and nuclear energy. A neat quarter came from renewables, including hydroelectric, while the other 25 percent was sourced from nuclear reactors. According to the UK government, the growth in green energy can be attributed, at least in part, to “improved weather conditions” across the UK, including higher wind speeds, increased rainfall and longer stretches of sunlight (though I don’t remember that last one happening).

The rise in green energy production was mirrored by a drop off in coal production, as the UK government seeks to abandon the source entirely by 2025. Longannet power station, located in Scotland’s Fife county, closed in March. Ferrybridge C power station, based in West Yorkshire, shut down a few days later after 50 years of operation. Only nine coal-fired power stations are now generating electricity. The shift is important if the UK is to meet its 2020 renewable energy targets. Ministers on the Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECC) warned the government in September that it’s likely to miss its goal “without major policy improvements.”

There are fears that the solar surge will soon dry up, too. The government slashed its payback scheme for feeding electricity back into the grid by 65 percent in late 2015 (the original plan was to cut it by 87 percent). The move “shattered” confidence in the sector and triggered a wave of job losses, according to Greenpeace. Solar advocates are now criticising a proposed tax change for commercial rooftop solar installations. It would affect hospitals, schools and small businesses, increasing their taxes by six or eight times. “In some cases, it would actually send installations into negative returns,” Paul Barwell, CEO of the Solar Trade Association said.

Still, the UK seems to be moving in the right direction. An offshore kite farm (yes, kites) is being planned for Scotland, capable of generating “several hundred megawatts” by 2025. Two of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, near Cumbria and Grimsby, are also in the works. Should they go ahead, Britain’s dependency on fossil fuels will fall even further.

Source: Greenpeace, The Guardian, GOV.UK

Spotify Updates Mac App With Full Touch Bar Support for MacBook Pro

The Spotify Mac app was recently updated with support for the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro. Now, when Spotify is open users will be able to search, shuffle and repeat tracks, use traditional play/pause/skip controls, and adjust the app’s volume. When in the background, the Touch Bar will update with a Spotify playback scrubbing tool as well as play and pause buttons similar to iTunes.

Users have discovered that auto-pause on connected AirPods works as well, so when one AirPod is removed from the ear while a song on Spotify is playing, the track will automatically stop. Just like with iTunes and Apple Music, when placed back within the ear, Spotify’s music will resume automatically. Automatic resuming of music doesn’t work when both AirPods are taken out, or when users are only using one AirPod to begin with.

With many Spotify users on the new MacBook Pro, the addition of Touch Bar support should make listening to the streaming music service a more integrated experience with Apple’s laptop. Many users are still waiting for Spotify to announce support for other Apple devices, including apps for the Apple Watch and fourth-generation Apple TV. Neither platform is expected to be supported by the company ‘anytime soon.’

For those who want to gain the most out of music listening on Apple’s products, Apple Music has been the streaming service of choice. Spotify is still the industry leader with 40 million subscribers as of September 2016, but Apple Music is gaining ground on its rival with a reported 20 million paid subscribers now listening to the service.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tags: Spotify, Touch Bar
Buyer’s Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

Ebola vaccine proves 100 percent effective in Guinea trial

An Ebola vaccine has proven to be 100 percent effective during test trials in Guinea. The shot has yet to be approved by a regulator, but Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has already committed $5 million so a stockpile of 300,000 doses can be produced. The results of the trial, which covered 11,841 citizens, were published in The Lancet medical journal this week. Of the 5,837 people who received the vaccine, none came down with Ebola after 10 days. (Those who showed symptoms before this time were not counted, as it was assumed they had been infected before vaccination.)

By way of comparison, there were 23 cases in the group that didn’t receive the vaccine. “We were able to estimate the efficacy of the vaccine as being 100 percent in a trial,” Ira Longini, a biostatistician who worked on the project said. “It’s very unusual to have a vaccine that protects people perfectly.” That’s not to say the new formula is bulletproof — while its effectiveness is high, the percentage is likely to drop as more people are tested. Furthermore, the vaccine’s potency will probably fall over time.

In 2015, cases of Ebola were already on the decline, so the team used an unusual “ring vaccination” approach to test its effectiveness. When a new case was diagnosed, the researchers would offer the shot to everyone who had been in contact with the patient recently. Once administered, they would approach the people closest to them — a cluster, or “ring” averaging 80 people. All of the trial subjects were then randomised and received the vaccine immediately, or up to three weeks later. The first results were so promising, however, that the trial’s design was changed so everyone could access the vaccine immediately, including children.

The cure is called rVSV-EBOX and was first developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the United States Army over a decade ago. It’s now being developed and manufactured by Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. While effective, it’s far from perfect. As The New York Times reports, it only combats one of the two most common Ebola strains. The shot also comes with some reported side effects, such as joint pain and headaches. Questions have also been raised over the long-term effectiveness of the vaccine.

Merck will seek approval from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which in turn will need a sign-off from a regulator such as the United States Food and Drug Administration, or the European Medicines Agency. Should it be endorsed, the vaccine could provide a vital defence against Ebola outbreaks in the future. The virus was first discovered in 1976, and there have been attempts before to develop successful vaccines. The epidemic in 2014, which affected nearly 30,000 people and took more than 11,000 lives, has provided governments, businesses and scientific institutions the necessary push to complete an effective vaccine.

“While these compelling results come too late for those who lost their lives during West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, they show that when the next Ebola outbreak hits, we will not be defenceless,” Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation at WHO, and the study’s lead author said.

Source: NYT, WHO, The Lancet, NPR

A star will graze our solar system in a million years

In just over a million years, Earth inhabitants will get a closer look at a star than they might want. Gliese 710 is currently a safe 64 light years away, but scientists discovered in 1999 that the sun-like star was barreling directly toward us at around 32,000 mph. We’ve known for awhile that it would closely pass by our solar system, but Polish astronomers have calculated that it could end up a mere 77 light days away. That would easily be close enough to deflect the orbit of asteroids or comets in our solar system’s Oort Cloud, potentially toward Earth.

That’s about five times closer than previously thought, astronomers from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland say. To arrive at that figure, they used measurements from ESA’s Gaia space observatory that are ten times more accurate than before. There’s still an error of around 50 percent, however, so the star could actually come as close as 7,250 astronomical units (AUs) or around 0.11 light years (40 light days).

The Oort cloud ranges from 0.8 to 3.16 light years from the sun, opening up potentially billions of asteroids, comets and other cosmic detritus that Gliese 710 could feasibly deflect. The researchers believe the star could actually pull about 0.1 percent, or 100 million Oort objects out of the cloud. It could deflect a bunch more toward the inner solar system, causing enormous meteor showers and the appearance of ten new comets per year for several million years.

Some researchers think that a similar close pass by a star around 65 million years ago is responsible for the meteor shower that wiped out the dinosaurs. However, that could be minor compared to the Gliese 710 event. At its closest distance, it will be the brightest and fastest moving object in the sky, and will be the “strongest disrupting encounter in the future and history of the solar system,” the paper states.

As mentioned, that’s over a million years out, and there are thousands of other things that could wipe us out before then. Nevertheless, your great grandchildren, 40,000 times removed, might be grateful if we get a start on that asteroid deflection scheme as soon as possible.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Astronomy & Astrophysics

Sony’s Cast-enabled speakers and Android TVs now work with Google Home

OK Google, play music on my Sony speaker.

Google Home already lets you control Chromecast and Cast-enabled devices, and the device now works with Sony’s products. Sony is rolling out a firmware update to its Chromecast-enabled wireless speakers and Android TVs that allows you to control its products through the Google Home.

Should you have a compatible speaker or Android TV from Sony, you can now stream content by issuing voice commands to Google Home. For instance, saying, “OK Google, play some music on my Sony speaker” will play music on your Sony speaker, and you can say, “OK Google, play Daredevil on Netflix on my TV” to stream the show on your TV.

The feature is now available on Sony’s HT-ST9, HT-NT5, HT-CT790, HT-XT2, HT-RT5 sound bars, STR-DN1070, STR-DN1060, STR-DN860 receivers; and the SRS-X99, SRS-ZR7, SRS-ZR5, and SRS-HG1 wireless speakers. All of Sony’s Android TVs support Google Home.

Google Home

• Google Home review
• These services work with Google Home
• Google Home vs. Amazon Echo
• Join our Google Home forums!

Google Store Best Buy Target

ASUS ZenWatch 3 lands in India for ₹18,999

No Android Wear 2.0 though.

ASUS has launched the ZenWatch 3 in the Indian market. The smartwatch — with the leather band — will be available exclusively on Flipkart for ₹18,999 ($285). ASUS is also selling a variant with a rubber strap that will retail for ₹17,599 ($265).

The ZenWatch 3 is the first from ASUS to sport a circular design, marking a departure from earlier models. There are three hardware buttons on the side, and the stainless steel case is certified IP67 water and dust resistant.

The pricing isn’t bad at all considering the ZenWatch 3 is selling for $229 in the U.S.. Same goes for the watch itself, which has a 1.39-inch display with a resolution of 400 x 400, Snapdragon Wear 2100, 4GB internal storage, 512MB of RAM, and a 341mAh battery. It is also the first Android Wear watch to offer HyperCharge, which charges the device up to 60% in just 15 minutes. Best of all, it’ll get better with the Android Wear 2.0 update once it hits sometime early next year.

See at Flipkart

Google Wifi Setup Tips & Tricks

It’s only easy until something goes wrong. These tips will help make sure your Google Wifi setup is painless.

Google Wifi is really easy to set up. That’s what impressed me the most about it when I was reviewing it, and the easy setup combined with quick updates when the tech inside needs them makes it a product I recommend to most anyone who needs a new router. But it can also be a nightmare if something goes wrong.

Sometimes problems are difficult to track down — those modem/router combos can be such a headache — while other times all you need to do is step back and see what how you can keep things simple while you’re getting it all in place. That’s what this guide is for.

I’ve walked several people through issues with their Google Wifi set up process, since I had a few issues myself while moving everything around and testing.

1. Have a phone with a data connection handy

The help documents for Google Wifi are pretty awesome. Many of the common scenarios of converting your existing network to Google Wifi are covered and well worth a quick look before or during installation.

They’re also online, so you need a network connection to read them. There are also plenty of people who are super enthusiastic about Google Wifi and have an answer for most any issue that can help.

Both are tough to do if you don’t have a way to get to the internet while your home network is down.

2. Write down the setup codes

On the bottom of every Google Wifi unit there are two codes: Setup network and Setup code.

The first (Setup network) is the SSID the hardware creates for you to connect to and start the setup process. The second (Setup code) is the ID of the unit you might need to enter if it can’t be found automatically. Write them down on a piece of scrap paper in case you need to refer to them. That’s easier than scanning a barcode (which is also on the bottom of the unit) especially if there is an issue and you need to try things more than once. If you don’t end up needing them, you only spent a few seconds of your life jotting them down. (You can also take a photo on your phone, which is hopefully connected to the internet so it can be uploaded to Google Photos!)

This is especially important if you’re setting things up with an iOS device (I’ve noticed Wi-Fi gets finicky and you might need to manually connect to the SSID) or in Bridge mode. When it tells you it needs a code, you’ll have it.

3. Follow directions exactly

During portions of the setup process, you’ll be plugging things in. Don’t be like me and think you can place and power all of your units while the first one is saving its data and rebooting.

This is a good way to need to start all over again, which also requires you to unplug your modem for 90 seconds. Watching the screen and waiting those 90 seconds feels like an eternity.

Wait until it says to plug something in, then commence to plugging.

4. Go in order

You begin by setting up your main unit. It’s the one that connects to the modem or ethernet outlet in the wall.

When that’s done, make sure the next one you’re setting up will be the closest of the two to the main unit. The network itself doesn’t care, but this makes sure you’ll have an awesome Wi-Fi signal while you’re working and that the unit will be able to find the network and set itself up faster.

5. Don’t plug in your extra stuff

This one kicked me right in the pants!

I’ve been fiddling with Google Wifi since I first got it (because I like to fiddle with things) so I’ve been through the setup routine plenty of times.

I tried it with my Philips Hue bridge plugged in one of those times. It was a mess. I have no idea why it was a mess. I’m not sure how it was interfering or why.

I only know I tried over and over to add a node to my setup while my Hue bridge was plugged in and it only worked once it unplugged it. On the first try.

These are simple no-brainers tips. But it’s easy to get excited and just start plugging in cables and downloading apps when you get cool new gear, so this is my reminder. Spend less time troubleshooting and more time playing with the Google Wifi app and the settings.

Google Hardware

• Google Wifi review
• Google Home review
• Everything you need to know about the Chromecast Ultra
• Chromecast vs Chromecast Ultra: Which should you buy?

Google Wifi:

Google
Amazon

Google Home:

Google
Best Buy

Chromecast Ultra:

Google
Best Buy

The Pixel C is almost a laptop with this USB-C dongle

Sometimes the addition of a single accessory can change your perspective on a device.

Even a year on, Google’s own Pixel C remains on sale and for many is just enough of a productivity machine that it can sometimes replace a large and cumbersome laptop. I’ve actually taken quite a liking to the Pixel C after completely writing it off for the first six months of its life, but its shortage of ports limits its viability for the kinds of things I so often do on a laptop. USB-C itself isn’t the issue, actually — it’s the fact that the Pixel C offers just a single port. As anyone with a new Apple MacBook will tell you, having a single port isn’t all that great.

As I awaited the delivery of my own new MacBook Pro, which of course only has USB-C ports, I actually took to using a couple of my new USB-C dongles with my Pixel C. In what shouldn’t have been a surprise, the dongles “just worked” exactly as intended. And with the addition of one of these multi-function adapters, the Pixel C has become more of a laptop for me than ever before.

The dongle (or adapter, whatever), which comes from Anker at about $28, isn’t the prettiest thing ever. But this is the world we live in for the next couple of years — I’m over complaining about it. It plugs into USB-C with a few inches of cable, and then gives you three USB-A 3.1 ports and an ethernet port on the very end. I picked it up originally because it has a nice enough design, is made of metal and isn’t all that much larger than the ethernet dongle I was carrying in my bag anyway. It also happens to nicely fill in a few of the Pixel C’s port shortcomings.

The biggest one for anyone who works in a large corporate building or travels often is the ethernet port. This was the first great realization that it all just works: plug in ethernet, turn off Wi-Fi and the Pixel C automatically starts pulling data over the wire, no setup required. I continued my tests.

I plugged in a flash drive to one of the three USB ports. The Pixel C pops up a notification, and with a tap you’re in a full file browser looking at everything on the drive. So I plugged in another drive — same result, with both drives accessible at the same time. I plugged in an SD card adapter and put a card from my camera in — files instantly accessible. You can easily transfer files between external drives and the tablet, but also between the drives themselves. No hiccups, no issues.

With the two drives still plugged in, I attached my Galaxy S7 over a Micro-USB cable and put the phone in MTP mode. In just a few moments, I was browsing the internal file structure of the phone from the tablet just the same as I do regularly on my MacBook Air. Oh, and the phone charges, too — checking with a volt meter, I saw the Pixel C offered 5V/1A charging through the dongle. That’s just as much as I get out of my laptop today, and can put the Pixel C’s large battery to good use in a pinch.

I know I shouldn’t be surprised — but it’s still great to see everything work perfectly.

After unplugging one of the drives, I popped in a Logitech Unifying receiver for my Performance Mouse MX. About two seconds later, a pointer showed up on screen and I was mousing around. Combining a nice high-end mouse with the surprisingly comfortable Pixel C keyboard just feels right. My forearms, which regularly hover in an awkward position to touch the display when I’m trying to get work done, immediately thanked me for plugging the mouse in.

Again, I know I shouldn’t be surprised that this all works. Google would have had to go out of its way to make the Pixel C and its USB-C port not be able to interoperate with these standard peripherals. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t downright excited when time after time I plugged in various computer accessories and had the Pixel C take to them perfectly.

With my Pixel C, its keyboard and this single cheap Anker dongle, all of a sudden I have far less anxiety about leaving the house for the afternoon — or, indeed, for a long weekend away — with my Pixel C instead of my laptop. It’s these little fringe cases of being able to plug in flash drives, SD cards, mice or other accessories that so often keep a laptop in my bag whenever possible. Now with this accessory — and so many more like it available for specific needs — those situations where I can just bring the Pixel C are growing in number.

Google Pixel C

• Read our complete review
• Check out the latest Pixel C news
• First things to know about the Pixel C
• These are the Pixel C keyboards
• Pixel C specs
• Join our Pixel C forum

Google Store
Amazon

Best headphones at CES 2017: What to expect

Just as TVs are important to the home cinema market, headphones are important to personal audio. Each year at CES, hundreds of new pairs are revealed, from the major brands and the less well-known ones.

Headphone technology moves on leaps and bounds as each year passes, with sound quality improving across over-ears, in-ears, sports and wireless models.

So what can we look forward to seeing at CES 2017 in January? Allow us to bear all.

Audio Technica

Headphone experts Audio Technica will be in attendance once again with several new products, but the ones we’re focusing on are the ATH-DSR9BT and ATH-DSR7BT Bluetooth wireless headphones with Audio Technica’s proprietary Pure Digital Drive technology.

Pure Digital Drive aims to keep the audio signal entirely digital from source to headphones to deliver the best possible sound. The company says it will be particularly effective in Bluetooth headphones because a wireless connection can often have its fair share of interference.

The DSR9BTs have been built from the ground up and feature 45mm drivers and a new voice coil which offer “superlative fidelity”.

The DSR7BTs meanwhile are built upon the foundations of the MSR7s and come with the same drivers and housings, the main difference is the addition of Pure Digital Drive.

The ATH-DSR9BTs and ATH-DSR7BTs will be available from Spring for $549 and $299 respectively.

B&O Play

B&O Play hasn’t announced any details surrounding headphones for CES 2017, but has released a teaser video for what will likely be multi-room speakers. However, having recently unveiled the H9 noise-cancelling headphones, we can expect to see them on the B&O Play stand to get our first chance to hear them.

Focal

Focal

French audio brand Focal will be bringing something very special to CES 2017, a one-of-a-kind pair of Utopia headphones – already £3400 on their own – that have been designed in collaboration with French jewellers Tournaire. An 18-karat gold plate has been put on the headband with three diamonds totalling 6.5 karats. There’s lashings of gold over the rest of the headphones to make them truly unique.

What may, or may not, shock you is the price. €100,000. Or €110,00 with a dedicated stand. We’ll let that sink in. We’ll be sure to visit Focal’s stand in Las Vegas to get some close up shots of Utopia by Tournaire.

RHA

Audio company RHA has sent out media invites for its press conference in Vegas, but hasn’t disclosed any information about what will be unveiled. We suspect there will be new headphone models and possibly new DACs.

Sony

Sony hasn’t given away what we can expect in the way of headphones in January, but rest assured the Japanese company will be there in full force. We’ll be sure to bring you all the latest Sony headphone news as and when we hear it.

Soul Electronics

Soul Electronics has confirmed it will be at CES 2017, but has yet to reveal specific details about what to expect. However, the company has said it will be bringing a new range of wireless products including earphones, headphones and speakers.