Tesla’s new solar energy station will power Hawaii at night

Renewable energy supplies are great because they produce power without filling the air with pollution. Yet, once the sun goes down solar panels become pretty useless. But Tesla and Hawaii have a solution that’ll use the sun’s rays both day and night using Powerpacks built at the Gigafactory.

The Kapaia project is a combination 13MW SolarCity solar farm and 53MWh Tesla Powerpack station on the island of Kauai. In partnership with the KIUC (Kauai Island Utility Cooperative) the project will store the sun’s energy during the day and release it at night. The station (along with Kauai’s other renewable resource solutions including wind and biomass) won’t completely keep the island from using fossil fuels but it will temper the need.

In addition to using Tesla’s station to battle the island’s incredibly high electric bills, it’s also part of a long-term Hawaii-state plan to be completely powered by renewable energy sources by 2045. Kauai has its own goal of using 70 percent renewable energy by 2030. With this project the island is getting closer to that goal and can now produce 100 percent of the energy it needs during high usage mid days and low loads via renewables during a brief period of time.

“This is the first time that solar energy can be delivered very reliably into the night. That’s the key to scaling renewable energies up,” said Tesla CTO, JB Straubel.

The island state doesn’t have the benefit of a massive grid like the mainland to pull electricity from sources hundreds of miles away. Instead each island has to take care of its own energy solutions.

According to Tesla and the KIUC, the 45 acre Kapaia project will reduce the use of fossil fuels by 1.6 million gallons a year.

This is the first big project from Tesla and SolarCity since the acquisition. Both companies believe this station is the biggest combination solar panel and storage facility in the world. With approximately 55,000 solar cells spread over about 45 acres, it’ll be tough to find anything larger.

Final ‘Destiny’ add-on revives old raids on March 28th

At the end of this month, Bungie will release the last extra content for its shooter MMO Destiny before it moves on to the game’s sequel. In a livestream today, the studio’s developers and community manager Deej outlined what’s coming for players in Age of Triumph: A return to old raids that have been boosted to the current max Light level. Guardians, get ready. Your free “victory lap” re-experiencing legacy content from the first three years of Destiny launches Tuesday, March 28th.

Watch live video from Bungie on http://www.twitch.tv

Classic raids from vanilla Destiny and the expansions The Dark Below, The Taken King and Rise of Iron will all be revamped and have a 390 Light Level requirement for entry, so get ready to plumb the depths of Vault of Glass one last time. Finishing these earns players recognition in a brand-new Record Book tracking achievements from across Destiny’s history (including one for you braggarts who boast about playing since day one). For completing all of them folks will get permission to buy an Age Of Triumph-themed T-shirt from Bungie’s online store so they can flaunt their in-game prowess in meatspace.

Bungie deigned not to satisfy fan cravings to raise the Light Level above 400, noting that it would exclude players who haven’t even made it to the current cap. Sure, it’s less work for the studio than re-balancing the existing meta while they’re working on the game’s sequel, which was originally slated to launch later this year. But Age of Triumph is a free event, so thank your Guardian-lords that the studio isn’t just hyping the sequel and leaving the community out to dry, especially given their assurance in this livestream that they’d be keeping the original game live for some time.

The studio will reveal more about the game’s last content block in another livestream (two of which will be released in the weeks leading up to Age of Triumph’s launch). Just keep in mind that the Record Book achievements will likely be the only things from AoT that you’ll be able to carry over into the sequel, as Bungie announced all items and power won’t transfer with your character to Destiny 2.

Source: Bungie (Twitch)

Experiment suggests potatoes really will grow on Mars

It looks like Mark Watney, the fictional, stranded astronaut in The Martian, was right about one thing. Potatoes can grow on Mars. The International Potato Center (CIP) in Lima placed a special potato inside a sealed container that simulates Mars temperature, air pressure, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. The results so far are positive; cameras inside the canister show sprouts.

The current potato experiment is inside a CubeSat, a small, modular satellite that can be sealed against the hazards of space. It allows the experimenters to create a Mars-like environment without going to the red planet itself.

“Growing crops under Mars-like conditions is an important phase of this experiment,” research associate Julio Valdivia-Silva told Phys.org. “If the crops can tolerate the extreme conditions that we are exposing them to in our CubeSat, they have a good chance to grow on Mars. We will do several rounds of experiments to find out which potato varieties do best.”

But didn’t Mark Watney grow potatoes on Mars already?

“Well, they’ve known for a while that crops can grow in Martian soil,” science nerd and author of The Martian Andy Weir told Engadget. “It’s just a matter of cleaning the perchlorates out of the soil, and providing an Earth-like environment (air, water, temperature, etc.).” This current experiment takes things even further by simulating more of the Martian environment.

The potato already has a great genetic capacity for adapting to extreme environments, according to CIP breeder Walter Amoros. An earlier phase of the project used soil from a desert in Southern Peru to prove that the tubers could grow in salty, dry conditions.

Potatoes are important for another reason, as well. Weir’s famous astronaut ate potatoes because they have the highest calorie yield per land area of all crops. Getting more calories with less farming space is important.

This is the second phase of the Potatoes on Mars project, which aims to figure out which extreme conditions the hardy tuber can thrive in. If they can grow on Mars, surely they can survive in areas here on Earth that have been devastated by climate change.

Source: Phys.org

Twitter for iOS Gains New Option for Clearing Cache

The Twitter app for iOS devices was today updated to version 6.73.1, adding a small but important feature that allows users to have more control over the amount of storage space Twitter uses on an iPhone or iPad.

A new storage setting lets users see how much storage space Twitter is using for cached images and web content, and it offers an option for clearing stored data. Users can choose to clear Media storage or Web storage independently. Some Twitter users appear to have a dedicated “Storage” section, while others are seeing the information listed under “Data usage,” so it’s not clear what the final storage UI will look like.

Twitter’s new cache clearing option will be a welcome addition for users who frequently use the default app. Prior to the introduction of the storage setting, the only way to clear a large Twitter cache that was taking up a lot of space was to delete and reinstall the Twitter app.

The new option brings the official Twitter app in line with third-party Twitter apps like Tweetbot that already offer a cache clearing option.

Twitter for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Twitter
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Future iPhones Could Support 4K Graphics and Much Faster Gaming With PowerVR Furian

Imagination Technologies today announced PowerVR Furian, its next-generation GPU architecture that promises significant improvements in graphics performance and power efficiency that could benefit future iPhones.

PowerVR Furian architecture will offer up to a 70-90% improvement in real-world gaming performance by density, including 35% better shader performance and 80% better fill rate, compared to a similar sized and clocked Series7XT Plus GPU based on current-generation PowerVR Rogue architecture.

Meanwhile, with lower power consumption, an iPhone with PowerVR Furian architecture could have longer battery life for graphics-related tasks.

Imagination Technologies confirmed to MacRumors that PowerVR Furian architecture supports 4K graphics, laying the foundation for future iPhone models to support higher-resolution gaming and other graphics-intensive tasks such as augmented or virtual reality and machine learning.

“We created Furian to address a new class of emerging applications, with a focus on efficient scalability that will extend to multiple generations of PowerVR IP cores. We’re excited to start rolling out the first 8XT IP cores based on Furian. These cores will further cement the leadership of PowerVR at the high end of mobile performance.”

Apple’s graphics chip in iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus is a custom-designed version of the Series7XT Plus, and many earlier iPhone models are also based on PowerVR Rogue architecture, so it is reasonable to assume that future iPhone models may use at least some of the PowerVR Furian architecture.

Imagination Technologies said the first GPUs based on PowerVR Furian, such as the Series8XT, will be announced in mid 2017, but don’t expect the architecture to power the so-called “iPhone 8” this year. Imagination noted Furian-based mobile devices might not arrive until the end of 2018 at the earliest.

Apple has been a licensee and stakeholder in Imagination Technologies since at least 2008. The two companies have worked closely together over the years, with Apple being a key investor in the UK-based chip designer since it raised its stake in the company to roughly 10% in 2009.

Apple was actually rumored to acquire Imagination Technologies last year, but it later said it did not plan to make an offer at the time. Nevertheless, in recent months, Apple has recruited at least two dozen employees from the chip designer, including former COO John Metcalfe, possibly to build out an in-house GPU team.

Tags: Imagination Technologies, PowerVR
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Apple Celebrates International Women’s Day on iTunes With Featured Movies and TV Shows [Update: Apple Music Too]

In honor of International Women’s Day, Apple today updated its iTunes stores to highlight movies and TV shows created by, starring, and featuring women.

The iTunes store for movies, for example, has a main section highlighting 10 actresses and filmmakers, including Amma Asante, Laia Costa, Tae Ri Kim, Meera Menon, Ruth Negga, and more. There’s a separate section focusing on women directors, and multiple movies starring women are highlighted in the app carousel, including Jackie, Arrival, Moana, Fences, and Edge of Seventeen.

Separately, there are also several “Like a Girl” movie categories: Act “Like a Girl,” Fight “Like a Girl,” Direct “Like a Girl,” and Write “Like a Girl,” along with categories for specific actors and directors that showcase entire catalogs of work.

Apple’s TV section includes a “Bold Women” section, and highlights TV shows with prominent female actresses and creators like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Insecure, Westworld, Steven Universe, and more. Categories like Women of Comedy, Bold Dramas Created by Women, Bold Girls, and Women of Reality TV are also available.

There’s a small section on the iBooks Store featuring “More Hidden Figures,” but other than that, the promotion is limited to the TV and Movie stores, with no changes to Apple Music or the App Store.

Update: Apple has added several Apple Music playlists celebrating International Women’s Day.

Tag: iTunes
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TubiTV is basically Ad-Supported Netflix Lite, minus the subscription (Review)

Everyone loves Netflix. It’s a universally accepted fact at this point. (Universally, I say – and if you say otherwise, you’re wrong.) Everyone loves binge-watching series (serieses?) and having moviethons and chilling whilst Netflixing. But sometimes – sometimes – Netflix doesn’t have what we want to watch. 

TubiTV’s Homescreen

Maybe – maybe – TubiTV will have it. TubiTV is very much a similar service to Netflix and Hulu; a selection TV series and movies streamed from the cloud. TubiTV has all the standard features one would expect; a watchlist, subtitle support, bandwidth (and therefore resolution) selector, and the ability to share videos round out the features list.

The selection isn’t nearly as large as either of the aforementioned services, and there aren’t a whole lot of AAA titles, but if all else fails and you desperately need to find something to watch and Netflix and Hulu and Amazon have completely let you down, you might give TubiTV a shot. There are a bunch of different categories in the app, including a rather interesting one called Not on Netflix – which, as you might guess, is a selection of shows and movies you won’t find on Netflix. I thought that was a cute selling point.

Warning: This is the part where I go on a tirade about ads.

Look. I understand that apps and services need to turn a profit somehow, and ads are probably the best way to get that revenue without a subscription fee. But TubiTV plays two full-length ads before every. Single. Video. And sometimes they aren’t even in English. I had an add for Sons of Anarchy that was in Spanish. What the hell, TubiTV – you can’t detect what language my phone is using and just play ads in that language?

…But I digress, as usual.

Why yes, that is Forrest Whitaker in Ghost Dog, the uplifting story about a mafia hit-man/samurai featuring music by RZA.

A couple bugs that I think are worth mentioning; 1) It’s really easy to confuse the app. If you open a video, and then close it before it finishes buffering, it’ll end up playing in the background for as long as the app runs in the background, until you end it by forceclosing the app. Related to this, you can force the app to play a second audio stream right on top of the first by re-opening the app again and starting another video while the first stream is playing – even if it’s of the same video. 2) Facebook login only? Really? On a Google-made OS? Come on, TubiTV.

Protect your HTC U Ultra with these cases and covers

The HTC U Ultra has a very interesting look. HTC calls it a “liquid surface” design. This shiny finish is molded glass that seamlessly blends with the polished metal. It is beautiful, very reflective, but also a fingerprint magnet. Even though HTC told us the phone is built to withstand drops, you will want some extra protection against damage and scratches. We’ve put together a list of the best HTC U Ultra cases and covers you can use to protect your new phone.

More: HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play: Our First Take

LK Ultra Soft Silicone Case ($8)

We all need a thin case, especially for bigger smartphones, so here is one from LK that gives you some protection without adding bulk. It’s a polyurethane case that will resist shocks, drops, and scratches. There is enough of a lip around the case that it will protect your HTC in case you want to place it face down. The case comes in black, purple, mint, and clear.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Avidet PU Leather Wallet Flip Case ($8)

Some folks love wallet cases, so here is one from Avidet. It has cut-outs for the camera and the earpiece, so that you can take calls or pictures while the phone is inside the case. It has an inner case where your phone rests, which covers the entire smartphone. This is good because you always want the corners of the phone to be protected in case of a drop. This HTC U Ultra wallet case can also hold cards, IDs, and cash, and you can use it as a stand if you want to put the phone on a table in landscape. It comes in black, blue, brown, and red.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Onx3 Folding PU Leather Flip Case ($5)

Onx3 offers a folding, flip, PU leather case that has an inner cradle, or clip, that holds your phone in place. This clip moves up and down to allow you to take pictures. There are magnets that hold the flap in place, and, because the corners of the phone are inside the cover when it’s closed, it does provide some drop protection — the keyword here being some, as the smartphone is just being held by a clip. There are two card slots in the cover where you can put an ID, or maybe your credit cards. It comes in a variety of colors including pink, black, green, or with a carbon fiber-style finish.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Jaten Rugged Kickstand Holster ($9)

If you’re into cases with belt clips, then you may want to take a look at this case from Jaten. The inner silicone sleeve is easy to put on, and the outer cover is hard polycarbonate. This HTC U Ultra case will protect your smartphone from drops and scratches. There’s a kickstand that is integrated in the case, so that you can leave the phone in landscape mode and maybe watch a movie. If you want to carry your phone with a belt clip, then there is one included here that is detachable, so that you can take it off when you don’t need it. The case is backed by a 30-day money back guarantee.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Starshop Rugged Silicone Cover ($6)

This case has the always useful two-layer design. The thick silicone is flexible and easy to put on your smartphone, and will protect it from impacts when dropped. The flexible silicone is then held by a polycarbonate shell that gives it rigidity. A screen protector is also included with the case. The case is available in royal blue, all black, and rose gold.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Apple has patched critical iPhone exploits mentioned in the Wikileaks CIA dump

Why it matters to you

The iPhone many not be as vulnerable to the CIA’s hacking efforts as this week’s Wikileaks dump suggested. According to Apple, many of the security loopholes have been patched.

The Central Intelligence Agency was implicated this week in a clandestine effort to defeat encryption on phones, laptops, smart TVs, and even connected cars. Among the startling revelations was the agency’s hoarding of zero day exploits — unpatched bugs — that could grant intelligence agents access to encrypted iPhones. But there may be less cause for alarm than the leaked documents led many publications to believe.

One Wednesday, a spokesperson for Apple told members of the press that a number of security loopholes were closed in the latest version of iOS, the iPhone’s operating system.

More: You can hack almost any iPhone with just $100 worth of electronics

“Our products and software are designed to quickly get security updates into the hands of our customers, with nearly 80 percent of users running the latest version of our operating system,” an Apple spokesperson told Motherboard. “While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked were patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities.”

Wikileaks, which published internal CIA documents earlier this week, didn’t distribute any of the exploits. But leaked spreadsheets detailed several of the methods circulated among the world’s top intelligence agencies, including the CIA, FBI, and GCHQ, the U.K.’s electronics intelligence agency.

Earth/Eve was an exploit purchased by the NSA and later shared with the CIA. GCHQ discovered a critical zero day code named Nandao. The CIA uncovered a bug that allowed agents to remotely control a targeted device. And the FBI’s Remote Operations Unit, one of the Bureau’s hacking divisions, discovered an iOS 7 hack.

More: The 5 best iOS VPN apps for privacy and security

Other attacks were mentioned in a user guide for “MCNUGGET,” a tool that breaks encryption on iOS 8.0-8.1.3 devices. Another user guide referenced “DRBOOM,” a script that lets an attacker with physical access to an iOS 7-8.2 device install persistent malware. And still other documents listed exploits that have been publicly disclosed, including one by Chinese jailbreaking team Pangu and iOS security researcher Stefan Esser.

In all, the documents named 14 separate exploits and attacks.

Just because Apple has patched a few of iOS’s vulnerabilities doesn’t mean your phone is now safe from prying eyes. The CIA has reportedly broken the security of popular chat apps like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Weibo, and others by intercepting messages and photos before they could be encrypted. And Android phones aren’t immune — according to Wikileaks, the CIA had 24 weaponized Android “zero day” software programs by the end of 2016.

More: Update your Apple devices now — new Stagefright-style hack discovered

Still, updating your iPhone to the latest software version will reduce some potential vulnerability, at the very least.

Users can now donate to their favorite charities in the U.K. with Apple Pay

Why it matters to you

Apple has always supported consumerism, but now it’s supporting spending in favor of charitable causes as well.

Apple Pay has supported consumerism for the last couple years, and it also supports a different kind of spending — that of the charitable nature. Last November, with the holiday season, #GivingTuesday, and goodwill all right around the corner, Apple announced that its mobile payments platform would begin to support instant donations to nonprofits in the United States. But now, Apple has enabled Apple Pay donations for 22 of the largest charities in the United Kingdom in a move British nonprofits say could be a game-changer.

“Apple Pay is making it easier and more secure to donate to your favorite nonprofit organizations with just a touch,” Apple said last year. “Apple Pay support for charitable donations kicks off today with nonprofits ranging from global organizations such as UNICEF to startups … more nonprofits will offer Apple Pay over the coming months so their supporters can make easy, secure, and private payments.”

This could be huge news for nonprofits, as recent figures suggest that just 10 percent of donations to charities currently come from mobile. But as Apple Pay makes giving easier, it may become a more frequent activity for the generous souls of the world.

More: Here are all the places that support Apple Pay, now in Japan and 10 other countries

“We’re making it incredibly easy to give back with Apple Pay,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay. “Websites and apps tell us they see twice as many people actually completing a purchase with Apple Pay than with other payment methods. We think offering such a simple and secure way to support the incredible work nonprofits do will have a significant impact on the communities they serve.”

This is a considerable change from Apple’s previous policy, which forced charities to take donations outside the Apple Pay app. But now they can embed “donate” buttons directly into their own apps and process gifts through the mobile platform.

The new participating U.K. charities include ActionAid U.K., Alzheimer’s Society, Barnardo’s, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research U.K., Comic Relief, Concern Worldwide (U.K.), DEC, Marie Curie, Oxfam, (RED), The Royal British Legion, RNIB, RNLI, RSPB, RSPCA, Scope, Sightsavers, Unicef UK, VSO, WaterAid, and WWF-U.K.

Article originally published in November 2016. Updated on 3-8-2017: Added news that 22 U.K. charities have been added to the list of nonprofits capable of receiving donations through Apple Pay.