Death Star-like lasers become a practical reality

Like many elements of sci-fi, the superweapon in Star Wars’ Death Star seems implausible: can you really combine multiple laser beams into one fearsome blast? Apparently, you can… if not quite as dramatically as you see in the movies. Scientists have developed a technique that uses diamond to merge multiple laser beams into more powerful ones. The key was to put an exceptionally pure diamond at the point where the beams converge, taking advantage of the crystal’s inherent tendency to send the light’s power in a specific direction. The material is good at shedding excess heat, too, which is rather important when you’re funneling a lot of laser power into a small space.

No, the invention isn’t going to be used for destroying rebellious planets. The military could certainly stand to benefit, though. Super-powerful lasers could quickly destroy drones and missiles that normally require a sustained laser attack to take down. There are some more peaceful purposes, too: for a start, spacecraft could use extra-powerful lasers to annihilate oncoming space junk. And when existing single-laser technology is frequently limited by overheating worries, it’s likely that there are many other potential uses that just haven’t been feasible until now.

Via: Phys.org

Source: Macquarie University, Wiley Online Library

Verizon is rebranding Yahoo and AOL as ‘Oath’

Somewhere along the way, Verizon’s planned purchase of Yahoo got real complicated. Thanks to security breachs of gargantuan proportions, Yahoo has lost a ton of value — and the company was struggling even when Verizon announced its intentions to buy the former internet juggernaut. Part of the value lost is in the Yahoo brand, which Verizon apparently considers toxic at this point. To that end, Verizon is changing the name of the combined Yahoo and AOL company. Business Insider first reoprted that “Oath” will be the new name of the company (which would be the parent company of Engadget). Minutes after we published this story, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong confirmed the change in a tweet.

Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017. pic.twitter.com/tM3Ac1Wi36

— Tim Armstrong (@timarmstrongaol) April 3, 2017

Right now, the transaction is scheduled to close in the current quarter, which means we could hear something official about the future of the Yahoo and AOL brand names before too long. That’s a bit later than originally anticipated; the delays came from Yahoo’s huge security breach and the subsequent restructuring of the deal that saw Verizon save $350 million on its purchase.

Even before the name change became official, the internet passed swift, merciless judgement:

My Twitter feed is 60% “Oath” jokes, and this is why I love Twitter.

— Shira Ovide (@ShiraOvide) April 3, 2017

My name suggestion for the combined websites will always be Verizon Zero Dawn

— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) April 3, 2017

… well, it’s better than Tronc at least. https://t.co/9DNWbujvb1

— Tim Stevens (@Tim_Stevens) April 3, 2017

i’ll take this as a sign that the ya-hole campaign is DOA https://t.co/c4mJ8SpMzp

— Christopher Trout (@Mr_Trout) April 3, 2017

Source: Business Insider

Computer programmers can still qualify for H-1B visas

Yes, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is cracking down on the controversial H-1B category of work visas with new anti-fraud and anti-abuse measures. But it is not disqualifying computer programmers from getting the visa, contrary to reports you may have read. A recently issued “Policy Memorandum” instructs employees to stop relying on what it calls an outdated handbook to determine if an applicant’s job qualifies as a specialty occupation, but it does not deny them altogether. Not only that, the memo is really only meant to bring specifically the USCIS’ Nebraska Service Center, which stopped processing H-1B paperwork for close to ten years, up to speed. Other service centers had already been using the updated policies for assessing a candidate’s qualifications.

USCIS spokesperson Carolyn Gwathmey told Engadget that the memo “does not change any policy that we haven’t been using for several years now.” She called the move “basically cleaning house,” explaining that the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) was the only one of the four open service centers using an older handbook when processing applications. NSC, along with the Texas Service Center, stopped processing H-1B petitions in 2006, but the NSC “began to directly accept” applications again in July 2016.

Since the H-1B submission window just opened this year, the USCIS circulated the memo to ensure its employees were using up-to-date definitions of what a computer programmer’s job entails.

As a recap, the H-1B work visa was created for foreigners working in “specialty occupations,” and who typically demonstrate qualification for those jobs with four-year Bachelor’s Degrees in related fields. The handbook that the memo in question refers to accepted those with two-year associate degrees as qualified candidates for jobs as computer programmers.

The updated guidelines don’t preclude self-taught individuals from getting the visa, but it does mean they will have to provide more supporting evidence to demonstrate their ability and knowledge of the specialized skill.

Source: USCIS

Longtime Industrial Designer Leaving Apple’s Design Team

Longtime industrial designer Christopher Stringer, who has been with Apple for 21 years, is leaving the company, reports The Information.

Stringer, who is part of Jony Ive’s industrial design team and had a hand in designing the iPhone, notably testified in the ongoing Samsung v. Apple legal battle back in 2012. As he’s been working alongside Ive for many years, Stringer has had a hand in designing everything from the iPhone and iPad to the Mac over the last 20 years.

Ive’s industrial design team is notoriously private, so little else is known about Stringer, or where he might be going after Apple. His departure comes nearly two years after Jony Ive took on the role of Chief Design Officer and took a step back from the day-to-day management of the company’s design team, a task that now falls to Richard Howarth.

Stringer is the second longtime Apple designer to have left Ive’s team over the course of the last year. Daniel Coster, who was also on the team for more than 20 years, left in April of 2016 to join GoPro.

Despite the changes to the industrial design team, and some mid-2016 rumors suggesting Jony Ive might be on his way out, Apple’s design chief is said to be as devoted and involved as ever.
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Apple Reimbursing Customers Who Recently Purchased Now-Acquired App Workflow

Apple today began sending out emails to customers who purchased popular automation app Workflow in the last few weeks, letting them know that they’ll be receiving a refund for the purchase price of the app.

Apple is handing out refunds because following its recent acquisition of the Workflow app and team, it made the Workflow app free to download and removed some key functionality.

A MacRumors reader shared his refund email with us, and we’ve also seen several reports of Workflow refunds from Twitter.

Dear iTunes Customer,
Thank you for purchasing Workflow by DeskConnect, Inc. Workflow is now available for free in the App Store. Since you recently purchased this app, we have issued you a full refund in the amount of $3.23. These funds will be applied to your original payment method and may take up to five business days from the issue date to post to your account.

Regards,

iTunes Support Team
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww/

For those unfamiliar with Workflow, which is now owned by Apple, it’s an automation tool that allows users to create a variety of workflows to automate tasks like creating GIFs from a series of photos, translating an article, posting photos to multiple social networks at once, calculating a tip, and tons more.

Following Apple’s acquisition of Workflow, there was an update to remove certain features, including workflow functionality that involved Google Chrome, Pocket, LINE, Telegram, and Uber, likely for legal reasons.

Apple plans to keep Workflow available in the App Store, and it is now a free download. [Direct Link]

Tag: Workflow
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Apple to Announce Q2 2017 Earnings on May 2

Apple today updated its investor relations page to announce that it will share its earnings for the second fiscal quarter (first calendar quarter) of 2017 on Tuesday, May 2.

The earnings release will provide a look at sales of the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus following Apple’s record earnings results during the first quarter of 2017. It will also provide some insight into sales of the new MacBook Pro, which came out in October.

Apple’s guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2017 includes expected revenue of $51.5 to $53.5 billion and gross margin between 38 and 39 percent.

The quarterly earnings statement will be released at 1:30 PM Pacific/4:30 PM Eastern, with a conference call to discuss the report taking place at 2:00 PM Pacific/5:00 PM Eastern. MacRumors will provide coverage of both the earnings release and conference call on May 2.
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n7player – a music player than even more demanding listeners will love (review)

Ever since I can remember I’ve been a fan of music. Actually I like to say I’m a being made of music, because music has always followed me around throughout my existence. I have a varied taste and go throw periods when I like to listen to post-rock a lot, followed by weeks when my playlist is dominated by deep-house or techno.

That’s why I’ve always had a music player app installed on my phone. And since there is a myriad of options available in the Google Play Store, I tried a number of them. Which brings us to the app I’m going to review today. It’s simply called n7player and it’s an intuitive, easy to use music playing app I really enjoyed using lately.

Setup

Just download the app for free from the Google Play Store. Once installed on your device, n7player will automatically scan your phone and populate the app interface with the albums/tracks it finds. It can recognize mp3, mp4, m4a, ogg, wav, 3gp, mid, xmf, ogg, mkv, flac and acc and will display the tracks by artists, albums, tracks or genres. I prefer to view them by Albums especially since the app also shows the accompanying Album Art.

Impressions

The app is quite easy to use and plentiful in customization options. However, some features are locked and you’ll have to pay if you want to take advantage of them – for example, changing the skins of your music player.

To get started, find the track you want to listen to and just tap Play.  If the tunes don’t come out sounding the way you’d like, the good news (especially for more demanding users) is that you have an (10 band) equalizer option at your disposal. Among other things like letting you boost the Bass or Treble via separate controls, allows you to create your customized pre-amp, channel balance, audio normalization and surround effects. The app also brings features like repeat once, repeat all, shuffle plus easily accessible current queue of tracks.

As I mentioned above, your tracks show up categorized as artists, albums, tracks or genres. You can easily filter what you see, meaning you can hide certain albums you don’t want to see at the moment or limit your music library to a few specified folders.

There’s also a tag cloud layout, which enables you to see all the tracks listed under a particular genre by virtue of a single tap. A built-in tag editor is also available, so you can organize your library in no time. Tagging a song is supe easy. Just tap on the album, then the respective song and find the “Edit tag” option in the menu that pops up. From the same menu you can add the tune to a certain playlist or add to queue or view the lyrics.

Have a headset you’d rather listen to music with? N7player will respond to the headset’s controls allowing you listeners to skip to the next song or go back to the previous one.

When it comes to visual customization the app lets you do a few things. With n7player you can select a notification theme or preferred widgets and change your lockscreen. Still you should keep in mind that most of the free customization options are simple toggles and you won’t be able to do things like change fonts or layouts. For a different skin, you’ll need to pay a small fee ($3.49).

It’s also worth mention that if you connect your n7player to ToasterCast you will be allowed to stream music on external devices via Chromecast/AirPlay/DLNA.

Conclusions

For me, the n7player worked like a charm. I loved the modern, clean user interface, but more (free) visual customization options would be very welcomed. As for features, I was quite satisfied with what the app offered especially the equalizer option.

HTC celebrates Vive’s one-year anniversary, offers one-day $100 discount

Why it matters to you

If you’re in the market for a HTC Vive, purchasing the headset on the first anniversary of its release could save you $100.

HTC has announced plans to celebrate the retail release of the Vive headset, which launched on April 5, 2016. On Wednesday, April 5, the company will offer a $100 discount to anyone purchasing a new Vive, bringing its cost down to $700 from its standard price point of $800.

In addition to the one-day price cut, HTC is also planning to offer up a free game to celebrate the hardware’s first anniversary. All owners will be able to download a free copy of Arcade Saga, an action game created by HTC’s internal development team 2Bears Studios.

More: HTC’s Vive Group Edition bundle comes with 10 headsets, but no controllers

Arcade Saga uses the headset to put a new spin on three real-world sports; pinball, table tennis, and archery. The game features a massive 84-level campaign mode that’s peppered with challenging room-scale boss fights, as well as head-to-head online multiplayer for gamers with a more competitive streak.

Vive owners will be able to download Arcade Saga for free on April 5 via the brand new Viveport platform. Set to launch on April 5, Viveport will give subscribers unlimited access to five games from a selection of more than fifty titles for a monthly fee of just $7.

HTC certainly seems to be eager to use the one-year anniversary of the Vive’s release to attract some new customers, and to direct existing owners to its new subscription service. Now that the company’s headset has established a beachhead in the consumer market, it makes sense that HTC would combine efforts to promote the hardware with attempts to publicize compatible software.

The early part of 2017 has seen HTC’s biggest rival in terms of virtual reality hardware, Oculus, distracted by ongoing legal action. Now would be an optimal time for HTC to try seize control of the VR market, and promotional efforts like this celebration of the Vive’s one-year anniversary certainly seem to be a step in that direction.

Harvard chemists design a ‘bionic leaf’ that can make its own fertilizer

Why it matters to you

Homemade fertilizers like this one may help small farmers in developing regions find food security.

A team of chemists at Harvard University want to combat hunger by developing bionic leaves, which can make fertilizers from natural resources like bacteria, water, air, and sunlight. Led by Daniel Nocera, the team will present their work at this week at the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

The global population is growing by about 83 million people each year, according to a 2015 report by the United Nations. Although the growth rate continues to slow, experts estimate some 9.7 billion people will walk the Earth by 2050, many of whom will live in poverty and without food security.

Nocera Lab / harvard University

“When you have a large centralized process and a massive infrastructure, you can easily make and deliver fertilizer,” Nocera said in a press release. “But if I said that now you’ve got to do it in a village in India onsite with dirty water — forget it. Poorer countries in the emerging world don’t always have the resources to do this. We should be thinking of a distributed system because that’s where it’s really needed.”

Nocera’s plan is to design artificial plants that can use available resources to increase crop yield. Six years ago, while working at MIT, Nocera built an artificial leaf that mimics photosynthesis and has the capacity to power an entire house. Last June, he announced the “bionic leaf 2.0,” which can create energy more efficiently than natural growing plants.

More: Bionic Leaf project creates natural fish food out of thin air — sort of

“The fuels were just the first step,” Nocera said. “Getting to that point showed that you can have a renewable chemical synthesis platform. Now we are demonstrating the generality of it by having another type of bacteria take nitrogen out of the atmosphere to make fertilizer.”

Nocera’s new system works by using a bacteria to make bioplastics from hydrogen and carbon dioxide, which it then stores as fuel. Once the bacteria is placed in soil, it pulls nitrogen from the air to create crop-fertilizing ammonia.

As demonstrated through five crop cycles, vegetables grown with the bionic leaf’s fertilizer weigh 150 percent more than control crops. Nocera and his team now hope to refine their system to allow small farmers in developing regions to create their own fertilizer.

Google tweaks the Pixel C tablet to be a little more like its Pixel phones

Why it matters to you

Google hasn’t forgotten about the Pixel C. A recent update brings its features in line with the company’s Pixel phones.

The Pixel C, Google’s answer to Microsoft’s Surface and Apple’s iPad, never really caught on — a year and a half after the tablet’s launch, sales are stagnant. But fortunately for buyers who took the plunge, Google hasn’t forgotten about it. Last week, the search giant began rolling out an update, Android 7.1.2, that brings the tablet’s features in line with Google’s Pixel-branded smartphones.

The multitasking menu has been tweaked slightly. Now, it’s more like the Pixel’s interface — when you switch apps, you get an animated grid-based system that shows the apps running in the background. Unfortunately, it’s limited to the eight most-used apps — unlike on the Pixel, scrolling through additional apps doesn’t appear to be possible.

More: Google reaches for the stars with rumored do-it-all laptop running new “Andromeda”

That’s not all that’s changed. Android 7.1.2 introduces new navigation menus close in styling to the Pixel and Pixel XL — they’re now all white, and the home button is a solid circle. The settings menu has adopted the blue color scheme of Google’s phones. And the Pixel Launcher, Google’s proprietary home screen app, now comes pre-installed with an app drawer and weather widget optimized for the tablet’s screen size.

Android 7.1.2 will roll out broadly in the coming weeks.

This could lay the groundwork for a broader transformation. Rumor has it that Google is developing a new operating system, Andromeda, that will merge its Chrome OS platform with Android. A few of the rumored features include notification syncing between Android devices enhanced with machine learning — reportedly, notifications will only display on a device that’s actually in use.

As recently as September 2016, two manufacturers were said to be working on Andromeda devices. Google is rumored to be planning to unveil the operating system this year, potentially alongside new devices.

One of those devices could be a follow-up to the Pixel C, according to Android Police. It’s the result of a collaboration between the Pixel, Android, and Chrome OS teams, and is reportedly thinner than Apple’s MacBook Air at 10mm and 12.3 inches. A backlit keyboard’s said to house a “glass trackpad” that has force detection similar to the MacBook, and an Intel Core M3 or i5 processor reportedly powers that tablet’s operating system.

Other rumored specs include 32 or 128GB of internal storage, 8 or 16GB of RAM, two USB Type-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a range of sensors, stylus support, stereo speakers, quad microphones, and a battery that lasts 10 hours.

The device will be aimed at the enterprise market, as rumor has it. Its starting price is $800 (within striking distance of Microsoft’s $900 Surface Pro 4), and it is expected to launch sometime between April and July 2017.