Boeing’s Starliner space taxi will have over 600 3D-printed parts

Boeing may have pushed the Starliner’s first trip to the ISS back to 2018, but we’re sure to get more details about the space taxi between now and then. Reuters reports the spacecraft will pack more than 600 3D-printed parts thanks to Boeing’s recent deal with Oxford Performance Materials. Printed with a plastic called PEKK, the parts are expected to perform well under the stress of spaceflight and extreme temperatures.

What’s more, the material offers both weight and cost savings for parts that are typically made out of metal and other plastics. Oxford says PEKK is strong as strong as aluminum, but it weighs “significantly” less. The company says its plastic is also fire and radiation resistant in addition to being able to withstand temperatures that range from minus 300 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Boeing will use the PEKK material for components in a number of areas, including brackets for the propulsion system and parts for the air revitalization system.

Boeing is currently constructing three Starliner capsules under a $4.2 billion contract from NASA. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is also building a space taxi capsule with its $2.6 contract with the US space agency. While Boeing expects to launch a test flight in June 2018 with a manned mission to follow in August, SpaceX also eyes a 2018 launch for its Dragon capsule. Of course, when Boeing sends a Starliner into space, its crew will be outfitted with fancy new spacesuits.

Source: Reuters

Nintendo is taking the Switch on a UK tour this month

Are the Joy-Cons too small? What is ARMS really like to play? If you have these or any other Switch-related questions, there’s only way to get some definitive answers: Try the system yourself. Following its US preview tour, Nintendo is taking its latest console to Great Britain. From February 10th to 12th, the system will be available to play at the Boxxed warehouse in Birmingham. The console-portable hybrid will then appear at the Cobden Rooms in Manchester for three days starting on February 17th. Finally, it’ll stop by the Tanner Warehouse in London from February 24th to 26th.

If you want to attend, you’ll need to head to Nintendo’s website and follow the instructions. Four two-hour sessions will run each day (not long enough to finish The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, sadly) and Nintendo is warning that tickets will run out fast. If you fail to make the cut, or simply can’t make those dates, fear not. We’ve been hands-on with the Switch and have plenty of impressions for you to dig into.

Source: Nintendo

PS4 Pro might have a ‘boost mode’ to improve frame rates

Sony’s new PS4 Pro provides a noticeable visual upgrade to games that have been patched to take advantage of the console’s extra horsepower. But what about all the rest of your games that developers haven’t updated yet? Well, a thread over at the NeoGAF forum indicates those games may soon look better too, thanks to a new feature called “Boost Mode.”

A posted Japanese screenshot from a PS4 Pro shows a description for Boost Mode reads: “Games that launched before the PS4 Pro (CUH-7000) can now have its in-game frame rates improved. If any unwanted reactions/gameplay effects occur, please turn this mode off.” It seems like this mode would help intense games that drop frames maintain a higher frame rate — but, it won’t magically let games that are locked at 30 FPS go above that limit. It’ll just keep things consistently higher. Similarly, it could let games with variable resolutions stick closer to 1080p more consistently.

Sony just pushed out a beta version of the big 4.5 update it has planned for the PS4 to testers, so that appears to be where this screenshot came from. Of course, there are a lot of unknowns here right now, but we’ve reached out to Sony to see if it can clarify Boost Mode’s existence and how it works for us. Of course, since the 4.5 software that’s out in the wild is just a beta, it’s entirely possible this feature gets removed, but it’s good to see Sony may have a way for more games to take advantage of the PS4 Pro’s hardware.

Source: NeoGAF

Vodafone abandons its pay-TV plans

In a fairly predictable move, Vodafone has said it’s all but deserted plans to launch a pay-TV service in the UK. The company has barely touched on its televisual ambitions since announcing in spring 2015 that it expected to have something ready before the end of that year. As The Telegraph reports, the project was beset by development delays and difficulty hashing out a deal to carry BT’s sports channels. Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao said that although the pay-TV service was now at a stage where it could be launched “within weeks,” the company has decided to put its plans on indefinite hiatus.

While Vodafone has offered pay-TV services in other European countries it operates in for many years, it now seems unlikely that it’ll ever join the UK’s not-so-exclusive quad-play club. For one, it’s probably best not to enter a crowded market when your latest quarterly financial report (published yesterday) shows an overall decline in revenue, core mobile business included. Vodafone also knows all too well the effects of being late to the party. Since fully returning to the home broadband racket in October 2015, the company has only managed to get 129,000 households on its books, which amounts to a tiny market share compared to established providers like Sky, Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk.

Take that list above, add in EE, and you’re looking at all the UK providers in the quad-play club. Membership has grown significantly over the past few years, with all now offering the full monty of TV, broadband, mobile and landline services. Not only can a customer get everything they need from one provider, but they have less incentive to shop around as they are typically treated to attractive discounts upon pledging their exclusive loyalty. By design, competition is getting tougher (or easier if you’re the one locking people into quad-play packages).

You don’t really need to be a CEO, then, to conclude that if you’re struggling to sign up broadband customers, launching a pay-TV service will be just as much of an uphill battle — let alone trying to convert quad-players onto a different all-in-one package.

Update: Slightly less definitive statement from Vodafone: “Our focus in the UK is on broadband, where we’re seeing good growth, driven by our industry leading decision to scrap line rental. We will look at launching TV in the UK when we deem it necessary and commercially appropriate.”

Via: Digital TV Europe

Source: The Telegraph, Vodafone

The best USB microphone

By Kevin Purdy and Lauren Dragan

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here.

After 75 hours of research, interviews, and making audio professionals and regular humans listen to voice samples from 25 different USB microphones, we’ve decided for the third year in a row that the Yeti by Blue makes your voice sound the best with the least hassle. If you’re an enthusiast, you might be able to get better results by putting time into a different, likely more expensive microphone, and more elaborate equipment (see our USB audio interfaces guide), but the Yeti puts the fewest hurdles between you and an ear-pleasing sound.

Do you need a USB microphone?

USB microphones are made for easy, plug-and-play use. They include an internal preamp and analog-to-digital converter that takes the incoming signal (your voice, for example), amplifies it, and converts it to a digital stream, ready to send over a USB cable to your computer or iPad for recording. That all means you don’t need any additional gear to start recording. These microphones are most useful for podcasters, musicians looking to share homemade productions online, YouTube enthusiasts (also known as vloggers), and anyone wanting to do much better recording than their laptop’s built-in microphone will allow without having to spend a lot of time learning how to set up professional microphones, mixers, and interfaces.

If you do want to delve more deeply into recording your voice or musical instruments and want more options, we have a guide for that, too. A USB audio interface will offer even better sound quality overall than a USB mic, and pick up more nuances in both vocals and acoustic instruments.

How we picked and tested

The microphones we tested for the most recent update to this guide. Front row: Blue Raspberry. Middle row, from left: Samson Meteor, Shure MV5, Shure MV51. Top row, from left: Audio-Technica ATR2500-USB, Blue Yeti, Audio-Technica ATR2005USB. Photo: Nick Guy

A USB mic worth its price should capture the whole range of the human voice—with all its pitches, tones, timbres, quirks, and flaws—and make it sound as good as it can. Ideally, you could upload your recording without any fine-tuning as a podcast and have it sound good in someone else’s headphones.

Because a USB mic exists between built-in recording and the expandable, expensive world of studio-level microphones, the price should be in that middle range, too. The same goes for its features: options for those who want to fiddle, but not a half-dozen switches and knobs that require adjustment for every single new recording situation. A crucial feature is a zero-latency headphone jack for hearing exactly what you sound like without any distracting delay. Also important is in-mic gain control. Read our full guide to learn why these features are so important.

Our original research in this category began in 2013, with reading reviews and compiling lists of contenders and interviewing recording professionals. From there, we tested the top-rated and most recommended microphones each year for three years. We conducted a blind listening test of samples from each of the finalists. You can listen to samples here.

Our pick: The easiest way to sound good

Of all the microphones we tested, the Blue Yeti makes it easiest to sound good on a podcast, livestream, video call, or most any other kind of recording. Photo: Nick Guy

If you want to plug a microphone into your computer or iPad and quickly sound clear and engaging whether recorded or live, we recommend the Yeti by Blue. It provided the most reliably well-rounded, natural sound of all the mics we tested―whether on Windows or Mac, in professional studios or in a small square office. It was often the highest rated in our three different tests, and when it wasn’t, it still ranked among the best. It offers live headphone monitoring and gain control, two key features for any recording setup (other mics lacked these or made using them too complicated). It is more stable on its stand than most microphones we tested, and feels far more solidly constructed and durable.

The Yeti costs $20 to $50 more than most desktop-size USB microphones, but many people may not need to spend a dime more to be ready for a podcast, YouTube show, or amateur voice recording once they’ve purchased it. At most, people may want to pay a few bucks for a universal pop filter for the Yeti. Otherwise, you get a setup that sounds much better over a video call, and which audio producers are more than happy to work with. From our experience recording samples with dozens of different USB microphones, we can attest that the Yeti is one of the easiest mics to get plugged in and sounding decent without much knob-twiddling or software-slider-sliding.

Our panel called the Yeti’s sound “rich” and “rounded” with “decent presence” in our 2013 tests. In 2015, it won over three of our four expert panelists, producing what one called “the most personal connection to the [speaker] out of all the mics.” In 2016, one expert said the Yeti’s bass response was “perfectly balanced with mids and treble,” with a very slight frequency peak that “makes (the) voice clearer while retaining most of the natural character.” For more on the features that set the Yeti apart, see our full guide.

The smaller but still great-sounding runner-up

The Shure MV5 sounds great and is a bit smaller than the Yeti, which is a trade-off. It takes up less desk space, but you have to find a way to get it in front of your mouth. Photo: Nick Guy

If desk or storage space is at a premium, if you often move your mic between spaces, or if you want to save a few dollars and start small, the Shure MV5 scored well with our panelists in voice recording quality—some even ranked it better overall than the Yeti. The trade-off is that the MV5 is not as sturdy, stable, or tall as the Yeti, making you work to set it up at the proper height for recording. But the MV5 has just enough recording features—a direct-monitoring headphone jack, impressive automatic gain control, and really helpful travel tools, including micro-USB and MFi-certified Lightning connections—to make it a solid pick for people who value a smaller size and portability over future-friendly capabilities.

This guide may have been updated by The Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

Note from The Wirecutter: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.

‘RunGunJumpGun’ is currently free for Twitch Prime members

If you’re a fan of the weirdly fantastic indie game RunGunJumpGun, you’ll be excited to hear that Amazon is offering a free download of the PC version for a limited time. The only catch is you need to have a Twitch Prime account, which you can access at no extra cost if you already have an Amazon Prime membership. Otherwise there’s an option to sign up for a 30-day trial. Developed by ThirtyThree Games, RunGunJumpGun is like Super Mario on steroids, featuring dark colorful worlds and quirky characters. You only have until this Sunday, February 5th, to grab it for free from Twitch Prime so you better move fast.

Source: Twitch

Apple’s $200 education bundle includes apps like Final Cut Pro X

Companies usually give college students, teachers, faculty and staff some solid discounts on both hardware and software. Today, Apple is doing just that with a new audio and video education bundle. The software pack offers Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4 and MainStage 3 for $200. For reference, that’s the price you would typically pay for Logic Pro X and Final Cut Pro X will set you back $300.

The bundle is available for both K-12 and higher education institutions so computer labs and classrooms can use pro-level software as learning tools. Now that you can add tracks to a Logic Pro X files on GarageBand for iOS, it’s easy to use Apple’s suite of A/V apps as part of a complete workflow. Of course, this new bundle also means instructors can start out with the simpler GarageBand apps before moving into more advance production software. If you’re interested in taking advantage of the deal, the bundle is available now from the Apple website.

Source: Apple

RadiTo podcast app sidesteps Iran’s censorship

Fighting censorship has become an active part of life in the future we live in. To help combat it in Iran, the RadiTo app offers programming from the BBC, Iran’s Radio Farda and Radio Zamaneh from Amsterdam. As Wired reports, it’s available on Android and is “uniquely suited to the conditions of the country’s internet.” Meaning, it apparently works on slow data networks, shows can be downloaded for offline listening and programming is in a variety of under-served dialects.

It won’t just be a source for news, either. RadiTo will also offer channels devoted to verboten topics like pre-marital sex, separatist groups and Iranian mysticism. This could prove short-lived given Iran’s draconian censorship rules, but it sounds like the developers have a few workarounds. Naturally, they involve proxies and rely on the encrypted nature of the Google Play Store and (perhaps troublingly) messaging app Telegram.

In the future, the Berkeley, California-based developers hope to let anyone make their own channel to distribute podcasts. What’s more, the team from IranCubator has plans for releasing an app focused on women’s issues that’ll include features like period tracking and info about marriage rights and divorce.

Via: Wired

Source: Google Play

Tim Cook to Receive Honorary Degree From University of Glasgow

Apple CEO Tim Cook will receive an honorary degree from the University of Glasgow on February 8 at 6:00 p.m. local time, as spotted by 9to5Mac. Following the ceremony, there will be a “Fireside Chat” and Q&A session.

Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple. As CEO, he has led the introduction of innovative new products and services including iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, iPad Pro, and Apple Watch. He is leading a companywide effort to use 100 percent renewable energy at all Apple facilities, has encouraged his co-workers to give to charitable organisations in their community and started a generous program at Apple to match employee donations.

In 2015, he ranked #1 on Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders list, and received both the Ripple of Hope award from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights and the Visibility Award from the Human Rights Campaign. Apple has ranked #1 on Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies for the past nine years, including each year Mr. Cook has been CEO. Before being named CEO in 2011, Mr. Cook was Apple’s chief operating officer, responsible for all the company’s worldwide sales and operations.

The free sold-out event is open to staff and students of the University of Glasgow only. The ceremony will take place at Bute Hall on the university’s campus. More details are available on ticketing website Eventbrite.

Yesterday, Cook was named the recipient of the Newseum 2017 Free Expression Award in the Free Speech category.

Tags: Tim Cook, United Kingdom
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Apple Releases $200 Pro Apps Bundle for Education Customers

Apple today introduced a Pro Apps Bundle for Education that includes Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4, and MainStage 3 for $199.99. The software bundle is available for teachers, faculty, staff, and students at universities, colleges, and K-12 schools in the United States, as reported by The Loop.

The total cost of Final Cut Pro X ($299.99), Logic Pro X ($199.99), Motion 5 ($49.99), Compressor 4 ($49.99), and MainStage 3 ($29.99) is usually $629.95, so the bundle offers educational customers over $400 in savings. The bundle must be purchased through the Apple Store for Education.

After purchasing the bundle, education customers will receive an email with codes to redeem the apps on the Mac App Store. Apple says codes are usually delivered within one business day, but may occasionally take longer.

Final Cut Pro X is Apple’s professional video editing software, while Logic Pro X is its professional audio workstation for advanced music production. Motion 5, Compressor 4, and MainStage 3 are companion tools for creating 3D animations and effects, customizing output settings, building set lists, and more.
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