New translucent cooling material could revolutionize the AC industry
Why it matters to you
Traditional air conditioning units are energy hogs so a team from the University of Colorado decided to develop a radiative cooling material which uses zero energy.
To help buck the trend of traditional energy-sucking mechanical air conditioners, a group of researchers at the University of Colorado developed a metamaterial film designed to efficiently radiate heat at any time of day. A translucent type of film, the material would reportedly feature the ability to cool a home at the expense of literally zero energy. Considering how large energy bills tend to be during the summer months in places like Arizona, southern California, or Florida, the researcher’s breakthrough seems poised to supplant old-fashioned AC units — should the innovation actually pan out.
Conducted by researchers at the University of Colorado’s departments of mechanical engineering, materials science and engineering, and aerospace engineering sciences — as well as a group from the University of Wyoming — the study recently published in the peer-reviewed journal, Science. The abstract of the study posits that “passive radiative cooling draws heat from surfaces and radiates it into space as infrared radiation to which the atmosphere is transparent.” The issue was that the team needed to find a material suitable for handling the solar irradiance and low infrared radiation flux’s energy density mismatch.
University of Colorado
“We embedded resonant polar dielectric microspheres randomly in a polymeric matrix, resulting in a metamaterial that is fully transparent to the solar spectrum while having an infrared emissivity greater than 0.93 across the atmospheric window,” the research read. “When backed with silver coating, the metamaterial shows a noon-time radiative cooling power of 93 W/m2 under direct sunshine. More critically, we demonstrated high-throughput, economical roll-to-roll manufacturing of the metamaterial, vital for promoting radiative cooling as a viable energy technology.”
In other words, the translucent material developed by the team features tiny silicon dioxide spheres which help it release any infrared radiation, while at the same time denying the absorption of any solar radiation. To do this, the film effectively lets any solar radiation move right through it, allowing the team to put a reflective material on one side of the material to relay that radiation away. If installed in a home, that reflective material would push heat away while absorbing cooler air. No energy needed.
More: Oregon home generates more energy than it uses, completely recycles its used water
It’s worth pointing out the research, while published, concerns a relatively uncharted industry. Those developing similar radiative cooling solutions in the past found a workable system rather expensive and difficult to scale. The current team did mention scalability for their development but until further tests commence, it’s hard to make a proper assumption at this time.
AMD’s new Ryzen chips are available for pre-order today, but you might want to hurry
The wait is finally over. By March 2 you’ll be able to run out and purchase one of AMD’s new Ryzen CPUs — if there are any left. Pre-orders started today at 185 retail outlets, but you might want to get yours in quick, because even the big box stores are limiting how many you can order at a time.
So, if you want to be among the first to pick up a Ryzen CPU, read on, we’ve broken down initial availability at a few major retail outlets below.
Where you can pre-order now
Amazon
Ryzen 1700 Bundle
Ryzen 1700X Bundle
Ryzen 1800X Bundle
NewEgg
Ryzen 1700
Ryzen 1700X
Ryzen 1800X
Best Buy
CyberPowerPC with Ryzen 1700
CyberPowerPC with Ryzen 1700X
CyberPowerPC with Ryzen 1800X
Walmart
Not Yet
B&H Photo Video
CyberPowerPC with Ryzen 1700
CyberPowerPC with Ryzen 1700X
CyberPowerPC with Ryzen 1800X
Microcenter
Not Yet
TigerDirect
Ryzen 1700
Ryzen 1700X
Ryzen 1800X
Among the first to list Ryzen chips for pre-order this morning around 9AM PST, NewEgg is at the head of the pack. Despite limiting the number of Ryzen CPUs you can order at once — 5 per customer — availability looks good.
Pre-ordering from NewEgg, you can expect your shiny new Ryzen CPU to ship after March 2, 2017. It doesn’t appear that ship dates have started to slip just yet, so you might want to get in before they do.
NewEgg also has a number of pre-order listings for Ryzen-compatible motherboards from the usual OEMs, including Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, and ASRock. Though a few of these have ship dates as late as March 9.
Amazon also features a number of compatible motherboard bundles, and ready-to-ship gaming PCs featuring Ryzen CPUs. But as of this reporting, it has yet to list individual chips for pre-order.
More: Technical slides reveal new truths about Ryzen’s power management
Component wholesaler Tiger Direct has all three Ryzen chips available for pre-order, without any shipping estimates. The CPUs are listed as “out of stock” and “ships when available,” but it doesn’t appear that there are any limits on the number of Ryzen chips you can pick up at once.
If you’re more in the mood for picking up a whole system, both Best Buy and B&H Photo Video have pre-order listings for a number of CyberPowerPC gaming rigs built with Ryzen chips.
So far, overall availability is looking good, and we have yet to see any single retailer inflating prices beyond the MSRP for all three chips. We’ll keep an eye out for updated deals and availability as more retailers join in the fray.
Roam Robotics’ lightweight, affordable exoskeleton designed for everyday folks
Why it matters to you
Exoskeletons promise to make us stronger and faster, but most of them remain bulky pieces of kit. Roam Robotics has created a lightweight alternative.
There are a number of companies in existence developing cutting-edge exoskeletons that will help us perform feats of strength or endurance beyond what our bodies can otherwise manage.
But while a lot of these creations are bulky, expensive, and rely on electromechanical components to work, San Francisco-based Roam Robotics is taking a different approach. Instead, it’s focusing on designs that are largely constructed out of plastic and high-strength fabrics, but which nonetheless don’t give up too much in terms of power compared to other designs.
More: A robotic exoskeleton powered this disabled U.S. athlete to a prize in the ‘Robot Olympics’
“We are making a new type of exoskeleton that is primarily made of plastics and fabrics instead of the metal and motors that make up traditional devices,” Roam Robotics co-founder Tim Swift told Digital Trends. “The goal is to make devices that can dramatically reduce system cost and weight without sacrificing overall performance. The thing that is exciting, though, is that it creates a pathway to what has always been the dream for exoskeletons: a lightweight device that regular people can get access to and use in their everyday life. Early work has shown capabilities well beyond any device to date such as making people run faster and for less energy.”
Swift said that the resulting exoskeleton could be useful in a number of everyday scenarios — such as helping a person recover from a knee injury, lift heavy objects, or simply maintain the ability to go on long hikes.
Roam Robotics has been investigating the underlying technology for several years now, and Swift noted that the plan at present is have the first devices commercially available in 2018.
“The best way to interact with our technology is to reach out to us on our website and tell us what you are interested in them for, as we are always looking for people to evaluate early devices during development,” he said. “Also, as we progress towards commercial release, we will be looking to complete early pilot trials where we plan to draw from interested parties.”
Kobo enters the ebook buffet arena with Kobo Plus, but there’s a catch
Why it matters to you
More options for your ebook needs are usually a good thing, but there is a huge catch with Kobo Plus.
Ebook subscription services are not particularly new — Amazon launched its Kindle Unlimited service in 2014 while Scribd has been mainly known as an ebook subscription service since 2013. Now that such services have become somewhat of a trend, Kobo thought it was time to throw its hat into the arena with Kobo Plus.
Similar to the aforementioned competitors, Kobo Plus is an ebook subscription service that lets you read over 40,000 titles — 10,000 are in Dutch — for 10 euros (around $10.50). The available titles include new releases and bestsellers, as well as more older titles, though it might be best to look over the list and make sure there are books that appeal to you.
More: How to get ebooks on your Kindle, Nook, or Kobo ebook reader
In terms of revenue, Kobo said it worked with “leading Dutch publishers” to develop a fair-share model that doles out payments funded by the subscription revenues. The company did not say what slice of the pie these publishers receive, but Kobo insists the payment model allows Kobo Plus to stand on its own two feet for the long term.
As has been hinted at, however, there is one big catch with Kobo Plus — it is currently only available in Belgium and the Netherlands. According to Kobo, this is because the company has seen large growth in the two countries, to the point where one in seven non-fiction books sold in the Netherlands is digital. Furthermore, Kobo has sold 1.2 million of its ebook readers in the Netherlands, which means that roughly 1 in 16 people in the country own a Kobo-branded ebook reader.
Kobo Plus is now available in the two launch countries, though Kobo did not say whether the service will cross borders into other countries. Similar to Kindle Unlimited and Scribd, you can try Kobo Plus free of charge for 30 days, after which you will need to decide whether the service is for you.
Sprint will demonstrate gigabit connectivity at the Mobile World Congress
Why it matters to you
Sprint’s next-generation network will be capable of delivering download speeds faster than anything you’re probably used to.
Don’t look now, but Sprint’s joining the gigabit club. On Wednesday, the Now Network announced a collaboration with electronics company Ericsson that will have data transferred at 1Gbps over a 4G LTE connection — fast enough to download an HD movie in about eight seconds.
It is scheduled to take place at the upcoming Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona and Sprint says it is an industry first. To achieve gigabit speeds, Sprint and Ericsson will employ a high-frequency transmitter and techniques like carrier aggregation, which leverages multiple LTE signals, and multi-antenna 4×4 MIMO technology.
More: Intel’s new modem can deliver gigabit download speeds
“This demonstration highlights […] our ability to keep meeting customers growing demand for high-speed bandwidth-intensive applications,” Sprint Chief Technical Officer John Saw said in a press release. “With Gigabit-class performance our customers will have a great experience using 4K and even 8K TV and applications such as HD Virtual Reality on the Sprint LTE Plus network.”
The demonstration is symbolic of Sprint long-term ambitions. The carrier, the fourth-largest in the U.S., will begin testing gigabit 5G technologies in the second half of 2017.
Crucial to its rollout is its spectrum holdings. Sprint owns the largest piece of 2.5GHz spectrum in the U.S., and says that the abundance of bandwidth will help it to achieve ultra-fast speeds in 2017 and 2018. The network’s high frequency will reduce the need for big, expensive cell towers. Sprint also says it is optimized for technologies like high-power user equipment (HPUE) that will help to extend its coverage further.
More: Apple vs. Qualcomm: Everything you need to know
At an event in December, Saw said that most of Sprint’s new phones will be activated to work with the technologies in the first half of 2017.
Australia carrier Telstra upgraded its 4G LTE network to gigabit capacity last year, but it’s the world’s first — and only — to do so thus far. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, AT&T said it expected to achieve widespread 4G LTE speeds of 1Gbps thanks to “optimizations” and “thousands” of new antennas. Verizon began testing 1Gbps connectivity in select cities earlier this year, and Sprint said that it would deliver 1Gbps speeds in 2017. T-Mobile, meanwhile, claims that it’s the only network in the U.S. to have measured 1Gbps on its existing network.
Most smartphones today can’t reach gigabit speeds, but new chips will change that. Intel recently announced the XM 7650, a new modem that delivers downloads up to 1Gbps across all carriers in the U.S. And Qualcomm’s X16 modem, which powers ZTE’s recently announced Gigabit-capable concept phone, can handle up to 1.2Gbps.
Sprint will demonstrate gigabit connectivity at the Mobile World Congress
Why it matters to you
Sprint’s next-generation network will be capable of delivering download speeds faster than anything you’re probably used to.
Don’t look now, but Sprint’s joining the gigabit club. On Wednesday, the Now Network announced a collaboration with electronics company Ericsson that will have data transferred at 1Gbps over a 4G LTE connection — fast enough to download an HD movie in about eight seconds.
It is scheduled to take place at the upcoming Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona and Sprint says it is an industry first. To achieve gigabit speeds, Sprint and Ericsson will employ a high-frequency transmitter and techniques like carrier aggregation, which leverages multiple LTE signals, and multi-antenna 4×4 MIMO technology.
More: Intel’s new modem can deliver gigabit download speeds
“This demonstration highlights […] our ability to keep meeting customers growing demand for high-speed bandwidth-intensive applications,” Sprint Chief Technical Officer John Saw said in a press release. “With Gigabit-class performance our customers will have a great experience using 4K and even 8K TV and applications such as HD Virtual Reality on the Sprint LTE Plus network.”
The demonstration is symbolic of Sprint long-term ambitions. The carrier, the fourth-largest in the U.S., will begin testing gigabit 5G technologies in the second half of 2017.
Crucial to its rollout is its spectrum holdings. Sprint owns the largest piece of 2.5GHz spectrum in the U.S., and says that the abundance of bandwidth will help it to achieve ultra-fast speeds in 2017 and 2018. The network’s high frequency will reduce the need for big, expensive cell towers. Sprint also says it is optimized for technologies like high-power user equipment (HPUE) that will help to extend its coverage further.
More: Apple vs. Qualcomm: Everything you need to know
At an event in December, Saw said that most of Sprint’s new phones will be activated to work with the technologies in the first half of 2017.
Australia carrier Telstra upgraded its 4G LTE network to gigabit capacity last year, but it’s the world’s first — and only — to do so thus far. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, AT&T said it expected to achieve widespread 4G LTE speeds of 1Gbps thanks to “optimizations” and “thousands” of new antennas. Verizon began testing 1Gbps connectivity in select cities earlier this year, and Sprint said that it would deliver 1Gbps speeds in 2017. T-Mobile, meanwhile, claims that it’s the only network in the U.S. to have measured 1Gbps on its existing network.
Most smartphones today can’t reach gigabit speeds, but new chips will change that. Intel recently announced the XM 7650, a new modem that delivers downloads up to 1Gbps across all carriers in the U.S. And Qualcomm’s X16 modem, which powers ZTE’s recently announced Gigabit-capable concept phone, can handle up to 1.2Gbps.
Found a piece of furniture you like? Take a picture and GrokStyle can find it
Why it matters to you
When the GrokStyle app comes to the market, the world becomes a giant catalog for your shopping pleasure.
Remember that time you were over at your friend’s place? You saw a cool chair or table and asked them where they purchased it, only to find that they can’t remember? It’s a scenario that everyone has been in one time or another. What if you could finally get those answers by taking a simple photo of the furniture in question?
GrokStyle is a company that is working on an app that recognizes objects in a picture. Founded by Sean Bell and Kavita Bala, it uses a deep learning technology to learn visual similarities among products so it can find what you are looking for.
More: DigitalBridge lets you visualize paint, furniture, and more in your home
“GrokStyle basically gives you a buy button that answers questions like ‘I want that, what is it, where can I buy it?’ Then it also answers some follow-up questions like ‘what goes with that object and how do I use it in my home?’ We want to respond to all of these different questions using computer vision,” Bell told the Cornell Daily Sun. “You can take a picture on your phone or find it online and that will get into our system.”
The system works by using a deep neural network and algorithms to read an image. It processes it with many layers to predict a visual fingerprint. This fingerprint is nothing more than a list of numbers that represent vectors, but a large-scale search compares it with millions of other images that look similar. “Because we’re so accurate, the things that are most similar are mostly the same product,” Bell continued.
For now, GrokStyle will remain focused on identifying furniture due to its common structure and characteristics. In the future, Bell hopes to expand their outreach into other areas. Clothing is the logical next step, but that can be difficult since it changes shape when it is worn. This makes it difficult for computer vision. “We are planning on moving into fashion and starting with products where fit is less of an issue,” says Bell. “For example, handbags, shoes, and accessories.”
Currently, GrokStyle is still only available in demo form for select users, but people may contact the founders through their website.
Instagram’s new gallery feature lets you showcase up to ten photos and videos
Post more than one memory at a time without overloading your followers.
Ever wanted to post a bunch of pictures in a row on Instagram, but felt too bad about inundating timelines? Instagram’s new gallery feature lets you attached up to ten photos or videos to a post to share multiple scenes from a memory with your friends and family.
The new feature is easy to use. Simply tap on the “Select Multiple” option when creating your post and then tap up to ten existing photos or videos from your gallery. When you’re finished, Instagram will publish the post to your timeline with a small dotted indicator bar on the bottom of the photo to lets your followers know there’s more to see if they swipe left.
The update is available today for Instagram on Android. If you haven’t seen the update already, you can grab it directly from the Google Play Store.
BLU Life Max: All the phone you could want for £90?
Blu is a company renowned for building very affordable smartphones without too many compromises in performance and quality. Granted, they never quite compete with the best phones out there, but they certainly push the limits of what you can expect for your money. At no time has that been more true than now, with the arrival of the Blu Life Max, which is currently available on pre-order in the UK for just £89.99.
From a design standpoint, there’s nothing entirely remarkable about the materials and finish used by Blu. As you’d expect, it’s built predominantly from plastic, but the screen is coated in a protective glass which is slightly rounded towards the edges.
The back features a removable plastic battery cover, finished with a grippy texture and fake stitching which reminds us very much of the finish on some of Samsung’s older devices. In fact, it’s almost identical to the texture and design of the Galaxy Note 4’s back cover. It’s just as thin and bendy too.
Pocket-lint
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Blu has included a fingerprint sensor, which isn’t something you’d expect to see in a phone that costs less than £100. But it’s there, and it works. Although it it can be a little tricky to press your finger on since the back cover doesn’t sit completely flush with the edges of the sensor.
There’s a large 5.5-inch screen on the front of the device, with a 720p standard HD IPS panel. It’s not the sharpest display around, but the content sits close to the surface and it’s generally pretty bright and colourful, all things considered.
As you’d predict based on the price, there are compromises on the internal componentry side in a £90 phone. Apart from the 720p screen, the phone also has a bare minimum 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, although you can boost that using a microSD card up to 512GB. There’s also a mid-range quad-core processor from MediaTek, and an 8-megapixel main camera.
Pocket-lint
Perhaps the one specification that does impress is the battery capacity. With a beefy 3,700mAh of battery juice – and considering all the other components and screen resolution – we could be looking at a phone that easily makes it through two days of use. Especially with Android Marshmallow’s battery optimisations on board.
Blu is due to launch the Life Max on 6 March for £109, but if you want to snag one for less, you can buy the newest affordable Blu phone for just £89 if you pre-order from the company’s Amazon page.
Instagram albums: How to share multiple pics and videos in one post
Instagram is completely different now.
On 22 February, the photo-sharing app introduced a feature: the ability to share multiple photos and videos in a single post. You can combine up to 10 pics and videos in an album-like post and swipe through to see them all. It’s perfect for when you want to show off a set of pics from a party, or maybe even a step-by-step tutorial on how you made some cake. Here’s everything you need to know about this feature.
- Finally! You can now save Instagram posts to revisit later – here’s how
Instagram: How do multiple pics and videos work in the feed?
In your feed, you’ll see multiple photos and videos in a post when there is a row of blue dots below the shared “album” post. You can swipe to see the rest of the pics or videos that have been shared — and the same goes for any you may share. On your profile, you’ll see the first pic or video from a post with in the top right. Just tap the post and then swipe to view the rest of the pics and videos in it.
Instagram: How do you share a post with multiple pics and videos?
You can upload up to 10 pics and videos and share them as a single post. Just tap +, then tap Library at the bottom of the screen, followed by the stack button, and select pics and videos from your phone’s library. After, adjust how each pic or video is cropped (tap it, then touch the screen to adjust), and when you’re done, tap Next. You’ll then be able to add a filter or edit each pic or video, per usual.
You can also change the order of which they appear in the post. To change the order of multiple pics and videos, while editing the post, just tap and hold one and drag it to another spot. If you’d like to remove a pic or video from your post, tap and hold one, then drag it to at the top of the screen. This all has to be done before posting, and like always, you can add a location and caption and tag people.
Once everything is set, tap Share. Posts containing multiple videos may take longer to upload. Instagram recommends that you’re connected to a reliable network when sharing them.
Instagram: Can you comment on a post with multiple pics and videos?
You can like and comment on a post with multiple pics and videos — just like a regular post. However, they appear on the entire post, rather than on the individual pics and videos included in the album.
Instagram: When will this be available?
This new feature is available as part of Instagram update 10.9 for iOS and Android . It is rolling out now.
Want to know more?
See Instagram’s help center or Pocket-lint’s tips and tricks guide.
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