Best geek Christmas jumpers: Star Wars, Sonic, Game of Thrones, Captain America and more

It’s that magical time of the year and the Christmas lights are a-flashing, so you can be forgiven for feeling like you’re missing out, stood there in normal non-flashing clothes.

But hey, you could always get with the spirit of things and show your wacky side with a garish Chrimbo jumper. Better still, you can even show off your geek knowledge by finding the most unique of sweaters.

To make your mission to achieve Christmas geek-chic a reality we’ve trawled the interwebs for the best geek Christmas jumpers out there. These are a fine collection of natty winter wear and no mistake.

From superheroes to Star Wars, everything geek cool has made its way onto a Christmas jumper this year. From ridiculous patterns that make you dizzy to blank canvases you can edit yourself, Christmas jumpers offer more options than ever for originality.

So whether you’ve got a work Christmas party to go to, want to have the best Christmas jumper on Christmas Jumper day, or want to buy one as a gift now’s the time to give it a go. Check out the gallery above for the best options out there right now. There’s something for everyone.*

*As long as you’re a proud geek, of course.

Caltech fires up LIGO to hunt for more gravitational waves

Nearly a year after LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, made physics history this past February, Caltech researchers have finally finished upgrading its capabilities and are ready to resume their hunt for gravitational waves. The system transitioned from experimental runs to regular operations on Wednesday morning, November 30th.

The LIGO has undergone upgrades to its lasers, electronics and optics, making the entire system 25 percent more sensitive (read: far-reaching) — especially with lower-frequency waves under 100 hertz. Engineers have also increased the power supply to the LIGO’s interferometer and improved its detector’s stability, both of which help to improve the device’s accuracy.

“With our improved sensitivity, and a longer observing period, we will likely observe even more black-hole mergers in the coming run and further enhance our knowledge of black-hole dynamics.” Caltech’s Dave Reitze, executive director of the LIGO Laboratory, said in a statement. “We are only just now, thanks to LIGO, learning about how often events like these occur.”

Future improvements will continue to boost the LIGO’s sensitivity and power. With these added capabilities, scientists around the world will begin to build a cohesive understanding of how black holes behave and how many pairs exist throughout the universe. LIGO may, one day, even be able to detect merging neutron stars, which will help round out our understanding of the stellar life cycle.

Source: Caltech

Korg’s fun-to-use Electribe sequencers pack big features into a tiny frame

Creating music has become incredibly easy thanks to computers and low-cost (sometimes free) software. For example: Using just a MacBook and GarageBand, aspiring rock gods can pump out the jams without hunting down musicians and booking studio time. But when you want to play live, pushing a button on computer just isn’t very exciting to watch. MPC and MPS (Music Production Controller and Music Production Station) systems, on the other hand, offer access to your finely crafted songs with the option to build a beat from scratch on the fly without dragging a laptop onstage. That’s where Korg’s two updated Electribes come in.

At their core, the $400 Electribe stations are sequencers that feature real-time song building and editing. Yes, you can use Ableton Live music production software to put together a tune and export it to either of the devices. But, it’s more fun to use the 16 pads situated on top of the hardware that correspond to different sounds to build a composition. The Electribes bring back the visceral joy of tapping and twisting tangible items to build something. And, thanks to robust cases, they can handle all that poking and prodding.

Don’t be fooled by the devices’ nearly identical appearance. While they’re both sequencers, these are two different instruments. What you can easily create on one won’t always be possible to create on the other. The Sampler does exactly what the name suggests. You can sequence and tweak samples to create complex compositions. Samples are added via the SD card slot or audio-in port. Musicians can throw in pre-built sounds, voices and even dog barks to the Electribe. Those audio segments can then be adjusted in real time via a library of filters, a modulation control and an Amp envelope generator.

Plus, you can map those sounds to the pads and play the Sampler like a keyboard. The X/Y touchpad adds a more organic way to manipulate the audio by sliding your finger along its surface to change the tone of the selected patch.

While the Sampler is made to work with pre-made sounds, its fraternal twin, the regular Electribe, is synthesizer based. Instead of random audio parts it contains a library of oscillators that can be manipulated via the filter, modulation and AMP envelope-generator knobs.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s nearly the same setup as the Sampler. In fact, Korg demos the Electribe devices connected to each other on its site. If you can figure out how to use one, you’re basically ready to use the other.

In fact, after using the Sampler for a few weeks there was hardly any learning curve when I fired up the Electribe. It took no time lay down a beat with the preinstalled percussion sounds while layering oscillators using the pads.

For those who do build sequences using the hardware instead of a computer, the recent 2.0 software update brought a very welcome undo feature. Make a mistake and you can quickly delete it and move on. The update also ushered in the mega-song-creating pattern-chaining feature. Now musicians can link their individual compositions together to create more complex songs.

Getting all the features — such as pattern chaining — to work is mostly simple thanks to the physical buttons and knobs. But there were times when I found myself delving into sub-menus to adjust things like BPM (beats per minute). There’s also a tap tempo button, but sometimes you need to plug in the exact number of beats.

The audio ports are also hit or miss. The left and right audio out are quarter-inch, which is great. But the audio in and headphone are mini-jack. I can excuse the headphone jack, but if you’re using other instruments with mono out, you’ll need an adapter.

Speaking of adapters, the backs of both devices require Korg’s mini-jack to MIDI cables. Two dongles for MIDI in and out come in the box, but I’d much rather have actual MIDI ports on the instruments instead of using dongles that I’m afraid I’ll lose or forget at home when I need them at a show.

Fortunately, the Electribe and Electribe Sampler are robust enough to use on stage, and as it happens, I didn’t forget the MIDI adapters (I never ended up using them live but put them in a bright container in my backpack just in case). The metal cases and solid knob construction alleviated any concerns I had that they’d be damaged during live performances. Plus, their low profiles meant I could shove them into a backpack instead of lugging my giant Pelican case to shows.

One issue I did have both on stage and during practice was with the power supply: The cable is way too short. It didn’t matter if it was on a keyboard stand or a table; it was never long enough to reach the power strip. Unless you plan to set it up in a studio and never move it, you’ll need to invest in an extension cord.

But even with the hassle of MIDI adapters, the need to invest in an extension cord and the mini-jack audio in, both Electribes are feature-rich considering their price of $400 each. Their metal cases and slim profiles make them easy to transport and durable enough to take a beating. More importantly they’re easy to use, with most of the most important features accessible via hardware buttons and knobs. When you’re creating live music, the last thing you need is to delve into on-screen menus. If you’re going to do that, you might as well bring a computer on stage — but it’s hard to get into to groove when you’re pointing and clicking.

Source: Korg

Russian resupply ship destroyed en route to International Space Station

During what is normally a routine resupply run to the International Space Station on Thursday, Russian ground control lost contact with its delivery vehicle, the Progress MS-04, which has now been confirmed as destroyed.

BREAKING: Cargo ship destroyed during launch to space station – Russian space agency on Twitter

— Reuters Tech News (@ReutersTech) December 1, 2016

The spacecraft successfully lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan just after 9:50pm EST last night, carrying nearly three tons of food, fuel and supplies for the Expedition 50 crew. However, it ran into telemetry issues, which NASA is categorizing as “an anomaly”, during the third stage of the mission. Russia’s Roscosmos agency has been monitoring the situation and has confirmed that the mission has failed.

This mission was the third and final Russian resupply mission to the ISS of the year. The space station still has plenty of supplies, according to NASA, so there isn’t much danger of the crew starving in the immediate future. Furthermore, Japan’s JAXA is planning to launch an H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-6 flight to the ISS on December 9th.

Source: NASA

Just Eat starts delivering takeaways by autonomous robot

Just Eat has today laid claim to delivering the first takeaway meal by autonomous robot. The online ordering company has been working with Starship Technologies since July, testing the latter’s “last-mile” delivery robots in Greenwich, London. But these tamperproof, pavement-pounding boxes on wheels are now in active service in the area, after the first, apparently unknowing customer successfully received their falafel and lamb cutlets from a local Turkish eatery. While customers are not be able to actively choose robot as their preferred delivery option yet, Just Eat says Greenwich “will increasingly be serviced by the technology,” ahead of plans to expand the rollout (no pun intended) to more parts of London next year.

We’re not sure Just Eat can really claim a world first here, though. Domino’s in New Zealand began delivering pizzas by autonomous drone last month, and similar programs have been run elsewhere, even if they’ve only been trials, pilots, pure PR stunts and what have you. Domino’s is working on a ground-based autonomous delivery bot of its own, however, so Starship Technologies has at least beat it to the punch there.

The company, created by two Skype co-founders, is building robots to ferry goods from local sorting centres, shops and restaurants to their final destinations without human intervention. A “last-mile” autonomous solution, in other words. The six-wheelers, which abide by pavement etiquette using GPS and various sensors, are being tested by several companies in several cities. Able to carry up to around 9kg, the electric bots are said to be significantly more efficient and cost-effective than current last-mile options. They really are taking our jobs…

Apple Reduces iPhone 7 Supplier Orders Amid ‘Fading’ Demand and ‘iPhone 8’ Excitement

Apple has reduced its orders for the iPhone 7 with suppliers, following the initial sales influx within the first month of the device’s launch this past September. Supply chain sources speaking with Digitimes pointed towards strong demand for the Jet Black iPhone 7 and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 issues as catalysts for the initial shipping momentum, but both factors have now trailed off in producing more iPhone sales leading up to 2017.

Because of these factors and more, demand for the iPhone 7 in China and other markets around the world has “started fading.” The timing aligns with Apple’s typical iPhone manufacturing slow down towards the end of each year, and attention by suppliers and customers is now said to be on 2017’s much-anticipated tenth anniversary iPhone.

Demand for the iPhone 7 devices in China and other markets has scaled down significantly since their launch less than three months ago, the sources noted.

Instead of paying attention to sales performance of the iPhone 7 devices, component suppliers and consumers alike have been shifting their focus to the next generation iPhone to be released in 2017, commented the sources.

“High expectations” for the so-called iPhone 8 are also factored into the shipment outlook for the iPhone 7 as the new year approaches. In total, shipments for the iPhone 7 are believed to be five million less in the first six months of 2017 than in the four month period the smartphone will have been available by the end of 2016.

The iPhone 8 already has a plethora of rumors surrounding its design and potential new features, including a glass body, edge-to-edge display, and wireless charging abilities.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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