MSI bundles Intel Optane modules with its Opt Boost motherboards

Why it matters to you

If you want to build a PC using Intel Optane memory modules, then you will want to consider MSI’s new Opt Boost motherboard bundles.

One of the more interesting recent developments in PC components is Intel’s Optane storage system, which is built using advanced 3D XPoint memory technology that Intel co-developed with memory maker Micron. Not only does Optane make for some outrageously fast solid-state drives (SSDs) but it also helps speed up slower spinning hard- disk drives (HDDs).

The version of Optane that helps HDDs perform more like speedier SSDs has arrived by way of 16GB and 32GB add-on products that plug into supported motherboards. It is an effective way to add speed while saving some money, and motherboard maker MSI is offering new motherboard bundles that throw in the 16GB Optane module for free.

According to our own tests, Optane can provide some noticeable performance improvements for reasonable prices. The 16GB version has a retail price of $44 and the 32GB version costs $77. While buyers can purchase Optane and plug it into a supported motherboard themselves, MSI is making the process easier — and less expensive — by simply including Optane out of the box.

Obviously, the motherboard bundles include MSI’s most recent options that provide the required Intel Z270 and B250 chipset support along with the M.2 connections that the Optane modules utilize. MSI is offering up three motherboard options, including the Z270 Tomahawk Opt Boost, the B250M Bazooka Opt Boost, and the Pro Series B250M Pro Opt Boost.

Each of these motherboards offers the kind of performance high-end users are looking for, including USB 3.1 Gen2 support, Turbo M.2 to squeeze out full performance from the PCI-E Gen3 x4 architecture, and support for the latest seventh-generation Intel Core processors known as Kaby Lake. Note that Intel Optane also requires Kaby Lake CPUs.

In addition, all of MSI’s 200 Series motherboards can support Optane via the latest BIOS updates. Go grab the latest BIOS update for supported MSI motherboards before you plug in that Intel Optane module.

MSI has not yet provided pricing or availability information for any of the Optane-equipped Opt Boost motherboards. However, rest assured that whichever model you choose, you will be getting the extra benefit of faster HDD performance without additional expense or hassle.

Artificial wombs keep baby lambs alive for weeks, may help preemies survive

Why it matters to you

In the future, these biobags may be used to help premature babies survive.

An artificial womb has been used to keep premature baby lambs alive for weeks, according to a new study from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and it may some day be used for humans as well. The fluid-filled plastic bio bags mimic the environment inside the uterus.

“Our system could prevent the severe morbidity suffered by extremely premature infants by potentially offering a medical technology that does not currently exist,” Alan W. Flake, a fetal surgeon at CHOP and study lead, said in a statement.

In the study, lambs that could not otherwise survive on their own were able to survive up to four weeks in the artificial womb, giving them enough time to sufficiently develop their lungs and other organs. As they would in their mother’s womb, the babies breathed amniotic fluid, pumping blood through an umbilical chord into an external device, exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Around 30,000 babies are born younger than 26 weeks in the United States every year, a period known as “critically preterm,” causing them to need extensive care to survive. After 28 weeks, the baby passes a threshold that should ensure healthy development. Just about half of babies born before 24 weeks do survive but face a life of medical challenges.

“These infants have an urgent need for a bridge between the mother’s womb and the outside world,” Flake said. “If we can develop an extra-uterine system to support growth and organ maturation for only a few weeks, we can dramatically improve outcomes for extremely premature babies.”

CHOP’s new bio bag may offer these newborns a safer, more wholesome environment to mature in. However, the device is still only proven to sustain lambs and the researchers said they will be careful not to overextend its ability. Flake and his team have patented the device and are consulting the Food and Drug Administration before conducting preclinical animal trials within the next few years.

A paper detailing the study was published this week in the journal Nature Communications.

Forget plastic — this desktop 3D printer builds with aluminum, titanium, and steel

Why it matters to you

Desktop Metal’s Studio and Production systems cover every step in the 3D metal printing process from prototyping to mass production.

Desktop Metal, a company dedicated to bring metal 3D printing to the next level, has launched two new systems to help it achieve its goal in style.

Called the DM Studio and DM Production systems, the two new printers promise to cover every step in the metal printing process from prototyping to mass production, with the ability to 3D print custom objects out of alloys including steel, aluminum, copper, and titanium.

Best of all? While previous 3D metal printers have often been limited in terms of their speed and accessibility, Desktop Metal’s “microwave enhanced sintering” process makes 3D metal printing as straightforward as printing in plastic. And their ease-of-use means you won’t constantly need someone manning the machines, either!

“The DM Studio System was designed to bring metal 3D printing to the shop floor by allowing engineering and design teams to make complex metal parts faster, without the need for special facilities or dedicated operators,” Desktop Metal CEO Ric Fulop told Digital Trends. “We expect a number of industries to be interested in a Studio system, including automotive, manufacturing, and consumer products. It is ideal for prototyping and low volume metal 3D printing needs.”

The DM Production System, meanwhile, can handle your high volume production. It can produce an astonishing 8,200 cubic centimeters of metal objects every single hour, making it a massive 100x zippier than previously-available machines.

As much as we might lust after these creations, though, they’re intended for industry more than they are for home maker studios. According to Fulop, Desktop Metal has already had interest from several Fortune 50 corporations with an interest in additive manufacturing, including BMW, Caterpillar and Lowe’s.

The Studio System starts at $49,900, and costs more than twice that if you opt for the full printer, debinder, and furnace combo. The Desktop Metal Production System, meanwhile, costs $420,000 to purchase. Both are available for pre-order in May, although you’ll be waiting until September for the Studio System and early 2018 for its high volume big brother.

Enjoy crisp, lag-free gaming with the ViewSonic 27-inch monitor, now $83 off

Few things can make your PC multimedia experience suffer as much as a low-quality monitor. Input lag, screen-tearing, poor dynamic contrast, and washed-out colors are just a few issues that can plague you while you’re trying to enjoy video games, movies, and other entertainment.

A solid display like the ViewSonic 27-inch monitor goes a long way toward enhancing your desktop computer setup. ViewSonic’s VX2757-MHD features a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio with a Full HD 1080p resolution, energy-efficient LED backlighting, and an 80,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio for vibrant bright colors and deep darks. Black stabilization further enhances color output, letting you see greater detail in dark gaming environments.

One standout feature that the ViewSonic 27-inch monitor offers is AMD’s FreeSync technology. This built-in feature gets rid of irritating screen tearing, which can be a common problem with fast-paced or graphically demanding games. The snappy response time of 2ms virtually eliminates input lag as well.

HDMI, DisplayPort 1.2a, and VGA inputs give you multiple connection options, and the monitor housing features two built-in speakers. The screen has a scratch-resistant and anti-glare coating, and can tilt forward and backward on its stand. A convenient Game Mode hotkey lets you switch between four different color calibration presets for first-person shooters, RTS games, and MOBAs with the press of a button, and three additional customizable color profiles let you create your own settings for your favorite games.

The ViewSonic 27-inch monitor is normally priced at $240, but a 35 percent discount brings it down to just $157 for a limited time, giving you a tidy savings of $83. We don’t know how long this deal will last, so if you’re building a gaming PC or just want to upgrade your monitor, now is a great chance to get your hands on a quality unit without paying through the nose.

Buy it now from:

Amazon

A new 3D-printing technique from MIT can print custom furniture in minutes

Why it matters to you

Rapid liquid printing could open up the market for affordable, custom furniture in a variety of scales.

A collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Self-Assembly Lab, Steelcase, and designer Christophe Guberan has resulted in a 3D-printing breakthrough. This new process uses a rapid liquid printing technique that breaks the previous constraints of speed, scale, and quality. Buyers could affordably customize a piece of furniture and have it printed in minutes.

Previously, 3D printing came with its own set of limitations. Printing an object required a support structure, layering, and time to cure. This results in a slow, small-scale process. While working with Steelcase, the Self-Assembly Lab created a technique that prints inside of a gel. With the gel acting as 360-degree support, a product designer can essentially draw in 3D space without the limitations of gravity. This makes printing faster and the product can be big as the machine available.

Unlike traditional printing, curing is done while the 3D printing is still underway. A two-part mixing process allows the material to cure chemically rather than using light or temperature.

According to MIT assistant professor Skylar Tibbits, the intricate design of their baseline table top took only 28 minutes to print. In another experiment, they were able to print a structure in 10 minutes that would have taken 50 hours using a more traditional 3D-printing method.

While only an experiment, for now, the process has caught the interest of Turnstone, a Steelcase brand. “As a designer, what’s most fascinating and unique about rapid liquid printing is the line quality of the print. It’s soft, almost organic. It evokes images of brushstrokes or the branches of plants,” Turnstone senior industrial designer Yuka Hiyoshi said. “The printing speed is very impressive. In the far future, large-scale objects could be printed in minutes instead of days. Also, it’s not limited to typical 3D printing material making the technology very desirable from a design perspective.”

For now, this collaboration will continue to experiment with materials, scale, and further improvements.

How to upload videos to YouTube

Uploading videos on YouTube is easier than you thought.

YouTube is the biggest video platform on the planet, delivering everything from music videos to birthday parties to news and updates on the world. Uploading your own videos to YouTube is an easy process, with access to plenty of features to give you control over the end product.

• Upload a video
• Adjust the length of a video upload
• Add music to an upload
• Add a filter to your upload

How to upload a video to YouTube

Launch the YouTube app from your home screen or the app drawer.
Tap on the upload button on the right side of your screen. It looks like a video camera.

Tap the video that you want to upload.

Enter a title for your video.
Tap a privacy option for your video. Your options are Public (anyone can see), Unlisted (anyone with a link can see), and Private (only you can see).

Tap the arrow in the upper right corner of your screen.

How to adjust the length of your video

While it’s easy to record a video for uploading to YouTube, you might want to adjust where the video starts or stops. YouTube makes this easy for you, allowing you to drag and drop where each video begins and ends.

Launch the YouTube app from your home screen or the app drawer.
Tap on the upload button on the right side of your screen. It looks like a video camera.

Tap the video that you want to upload.

Tap and drag the blue bumpers to drag and drop to the length you want your video to be.
Enter a title for your video.

Tap a privacy option for your video. Your options are Public (anyone can see), Unlisted (anyone with a link can see), and Private (only you can see).

Tap the white arrow in the upper right corner of your screen.

How to add music to your video upload

When it comes to the options that you have before uploading a video, one of the most popular features is the ability to add music to your video.

Launch the YouTube app from your home screen or the app drawer.
Tap on the upload button on the right side of your screen. It looks like a video camera.

Tap the video you want to upload.

Tap on the music button on the right side of your screen. It looks like a musical note.
Tap the plus sign on the bottom right corner of each track to add it to your video.

Enter a title for your video.

Tap a privacy option for your video. Your options are Public (anyone can see), Unlisted (anyone with a link can see), and Private (only you can see).

Tap the white arrow on the right side of your screen.

How to add a filter to your YouTube upload

Not every video needs to look as realistic as possible, and with filters it’s an easy process to go ahead and adjust the way that your video looks with as little effort as possible. You can pick from one of the filters YouTube has offered to immediately change the look of your video.

Launch the Youtube app from your home screen or the app drawer.
Tap on the upload button on the right side of the screen. It looks like a video camera.

Tap the video you want to upload.

Tap the magic wand on the right side of your screen.
Tap the filter you want to use.

Enter a title for your video.

Tap a privacy option for your video. Your options are Public (anyone can see), Unlisted (anyone with a link can see), and Private (only you can see).

Tap the white arrow in the upper right corner of your screen.

While uploading a video to YouTube can be a bare bones affair, by using the different features available to you it’s easy to spice your video up in just a few short taps. You are able to adjust the way your video looks, whether it had background music, and adjust your privacy options all before uploading a photo.

Questions?

Let us know in the comments below!

Google Waymo offers self-driving car rides to public for first time

Remember Waymo? Well, for the first time, it is offering ride services to members of the public.

Waymo is a startup that Google created for its self-driving car project late last year. Now, Waymo is launching an “early rider program” in the state of Arizona. Starting 25 April, residents of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area can sign up for free, unlimited rides in a Waymo self-driving minivan. Waymo said a test driver will be available behind the wheel at all times, however.

Waymo is using this new program to study the business of on-demand, driverless cars and their impact on people’s daily lives. If you live in Arizona and are interested in the program, sign up on the company’s website. Rides will be available in not only Phoenix, but also surrounding places like Gilbert, Tempe, and Chandler – equaling an area twice the size of San Francisco.

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Waymo said it will select “hundreds” of riders based on the types of trips they want to take and their desire to use a self-driving service as their primary means of transportation. Waymo’s vehicles – 500 Chrysler Pacifica minivans outfitted with laser sensors and other autonomous technology – will be able to drive without human intervention unless it’s needed.

Waymo

The company already has 100 self-driving minivans on the streets of Mountain View, and it has been providing trips to select people (friends of Waymo employees) for months. Now, however, Waymo is finally ready bring its self-driving cars to more communities and more people. Waymo said it already has approval from the city of Phoenix and the surrounding towns as well.

In fact, in a statement, Arizona’s Department of Transportation said: “Arizona’s approach to self-driving technology is one of cooperation, common sense and embracing innovation. Arizona stands ready to continue working with Waymo/Google and other companies developing autonomous technology… ADOT looks forward to the next phase of Waymo’s testing in Arizona.”

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Waymo’s early rider program will be limited at launch. If you’re an approved rider, you can hail a minivan using the Waymo app, which both Pocket-lint and the general public has not yet seen or used. Again, all the rides in the program will be free, but riders will be asked to share their experience so that Waymo can learn things like where people want to go in a self-driving car.

Waymo is also interested in how people communicate with its vehicles and what information and controls they want to see inside.

IBM’s Watson looked into my soul and ‘drew’ my portrait

Since its introduction to the world in 2009, IBM’s Watson supercomputer has been crushing humans in Jeopardy, helping chefs make food with unconventional recipes and even offering tech support. But what happens when the artificial intelligence machine puts its own spin on a photo booth? To find out, I checked out IBM’s “Art with Watson: Hidden Portraits,” an exhibit that’s being displayed in New York City until May 7th. The gallery features portraits of historic personalities like Marie Curie and Nikola Tesla, which Watson helped artists create by feeding them data collected using its natural language and personality insights APIs.

As part of this project, IBM is also showing off the Watson cognitive photo booth. The idea here is for the supercomputer to compose a portrait of you based on five different aspects of your personality: anxiousness, openness, agreeableness, extraversion and conscientiousness. After stepping in the photo booth, Watson asked me a set of questions, such as “Who is your favorite artist and why?” “What did you want to be when you grew up and why?” and “If you could be a movie character for a day, who would it be and why?” Then, it took a picture of me and based on my responses, relying on its speech-to-text and tone analyzer APIs, made a portrait represented by tiny icons of each of my traits.

In the lead image above, for example, the color pink represents my levels of anxiety. According to the supercomputer, my anxiousness was 81 percent, which I can’t refute given my unfortunate history of anxiety attacks. Watson also found me to be 88 percent “open,” something I definitely agree with since I consider myself quite a transparent and honest individual. When you think about it, it’s both impressive and scary that an AI could (sort of) figure me out in just a few minutes, and inside a photo booth of all places. But, somehow, I feel at peace with that, especially since the portrait looks pretty damn good.

If you’re in NYC and want to experience it yourself, the Watson cognitive photo booth will be at the Hidden Portraits exhibit at the Cadillac House in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. As for the rest of you, IBM says it plans to bring it to more places in the future, while an online experience that uses your computer’s webcam will also be available in the coming days. The company says this is just another way for people to interact with Watson and see its potential across more serious industries and businesses, including education and the medical field.

Streaming is boosting the music industry worldwide

The music industry has struggled to adapt to the digital world over the past couple of decades, but it might just be hitting its stride again. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has published its annual Global Music Report for 2016, and it notes that music revenue increased 5.9 percent — that may not sound like much, but it’s the best since the IFPI started its tracking in 1997. And not surprisingly, streaming music played a large role. On-demand listening revenue shot up a whopping 60.4 percent, more than making up for steep drops in downloads (down 20.5 percent) and physical copies (down 7.6 percent). As is often the case, though, the industry is quick to blame ‘rogue’ internet elements for limiting the growth that could take place.

The IFPI singles out YouTube and similar services for contributing to a “value gap” where artists aren’t paid as well as they are on dedicated music portals. Supposedly, they use their lack of liability for uploaded material as a “shield” that lets them avoid licensing music on “fair terms.” This would be fixed by using liability laws “correctly and consistently” to force them to pay for music at the same rates as other services.

Naturally, the organization was also quick to blame search engines for not doing enough to remove pirate sites from search results. IFPI and other groups spotted 19.2 million sites with alleged pirate material, and sent 339 million takedown requests to Google alone.

Even with the gripes, the figures suggest that the music business might finally have a stable digital foundation to work from.. at least, so long as drops in downloads aren’t too severe. The stats also suggest that artists may hamper themselves if they choose the wrong streaming exclusives. Beyoncé’s Lemonade topped the download and physical album sales chart, for example, but the decision to stream exclusively on Tidal meant that she was a no-show in the streaming single charts. Drake, meanwhile, limited his exclusive to a short-term Apple Music deal and reaped the benefits: he was the IFPI’s top artist, led the streaming charts and still placed third in the download/physical rankings. In short, it’s still in the best interests of big-name musicians to make their work available wherever possible.

Via: Variety

Source: IFPI (PDF)

‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ ends the trilogy on May 24th, 2019

Modern Star Wars movies have had a bad habit of slipping into December, but that isn’t stopping Disney and Lucasfilm from wanting the space epic to become a summer blockbuster once again. The two have announced that Star Wars: Episode IX will debut on May 24th, 2019 — just three and a half years after The Force Awakens first hit theaters. You might not want to base your schedule around that date knowing the history of previous delays, but it might come as a relief if you’re tired of freezing in lineups for midnight showings.

As for details? There still aren’t many. Right now, the only concrete facts are the director (Jurassic World’s Colin Trevorrow) and that, despite rumors, the late Carrie Fisher won’t make an appearance. The one certainty: given that Episode IX is the final movie in the current trilogy, it’ll have to tie up whatever loose ends are left after The Last Jedi.

Source: Star Wars