2017 June 03 | AIVAnet

3

Jun

Asus rounds out lineup with curved Strix-branded gaming monitors

Why it matters to you

Asus wants to provide the very best for PC gamers with three choices to enhance their visual experience, including two curved solutions.

Asus recently teased three new Strix-branded desktop monitors supporting AMD’s FreeSync technology: the XG32V, the XG258, and the XG27V. Each panel focuses on a specific niche of the PC gaming market to provide solutions for the entire paying audience. All three will hit the market in the third quarter of 2017.

Right now, the three panels aren’t listed on the Republic of Gamers website, thus we have to rely on the company’s latest announcement that doesn’t provide a lot of detail. However, all three will have built-in Aura RGB lighting that’s compatible with Aura Sync, which will synchronize your lighting choices and effects across all supporting devices for a synchronized light show.

As for AMD FreeSync, this technology will synchronize the frame output of a supporting AMD-based graphics chip with the refresh rate of the display. This eliminates screen tearing, stuttering, and viewed input lag that comes when the graphics chip and display are rendering visuals at different rates.

For starters, the Strix XG32V is a curved display with a decent 1,800R curvature, meaning that if the display were to create a complete circle, its radius would be 1,800 millimeters. It’s a bit more “rounded” than a monitor with a 3,000R curvature, which are supposedly more expensive to make, hence the current market saturation of 1,800R solutions.

Note that this particular display sports an IPS panel. That’s short for In-Plane Switching, and promises deep, rich colors and wide viewing angles. This technology is seemingly becoming the standard, replacing the older Twisted Nematic (TN) panel technology that’s typically best suited for gaming due to a higher brightness level and response time (how quick a pixel can change from black to white).

Here’s what we know about this panel so far:

Screen size:
31.5 inches
Screen type:
IPS
Resolution:
2,560 x 1,440 @ 144Hz
Curvature:
1800R
Ports:
2x DisplayPort 1.2
1x HDMI 2.0
USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports (unknown count)

Meanwhile, the Strix XG27V is a smaller, 27-inch display with the same curvature. Asus stresses that it’s an “affordable” curved solution although there’s no indication if the display relies on IPS or TN panel technology. However, Asus indicated that this model supports its DisplayWidget software for Windows-based display management.

Here are the scarce details:

Screen size:
27 inches
Screen type:
Unknown
Resolution:
1,920 x 1,080 @ 144Hz
Curvature:
1,800R
Ports:
1x DisplayPort 1.2
1x HDMI 2.0
1x DVI

Finally, the Strix XG258 is the only display in the trio lacking a curve. However, it makes up for the curvy loss by offering a high 240Hz refresh rate, meaning it’s capable of rendering 240 frames per second. Typically, a 60-frames-per-second rate is the sweet spot for fluid visuals, and anything above that just makes what you see even more buttery-smooth.

Here’s what we know about this display so far:

Screen size:
24.5 inches
Screen type:
Unknown
Resolution:
1,920 x 1,080 @ 240Hz
Curvature:
None
Response time:
1ms
Ports:
2x DisplayPort 1.2
1x HDMI 2.0
1x HDMI 1.4

Again, these three desktop displays won’t arrive until the third quarter of 2017. We expect more hardware details and pricing as we get closer to the retail launch.

3

Jun

Scientists extract genetic data from a mummy — and don’t plan to clone it

Why it matters to you

Studying a mummy’s DNA will offer us new insights into ancient history and how people lived during those times.

Are we totally out of our minds or does a project involving the successful recovery and analysis of DNA belonging to ancient Egyptian mummies sound like the start of the most Michael Crichton novel that Michael Crichton never wrote? In fact, it’s the basis for a real project involving researchers from the University of Tuebingen and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena.

“Our proof of principle study shows that it is possible to retrieve reliable genetic information from Egyptian mummies via refined methodologies, a task that was not possible previously despite many attempts,” Dr. Wolfgang Haak, group leader at the Max Planck Institute, told Digital Trends. “This is exciting because it opens the door for future studies that can look at the complex history of Egypt from a genetic perspective, and see how the genetic makeup has changed through time. From our limited sampling we can already see that ancient Egyptians from 2,000-3,000 years ago looked different genetically than modern day Egyptians, and resembled ancient Near Easteners from the Levant.”

Previous projects with similar goals have struggled due to the effects such as the high humidity levels of many tombs, along with the chemicals used in mummification, contributing to DNA degradation. However, the researchers in this latest study were able to use cutting-edge techniques to successfully gather sufficient DNA from extracted bone and teeth samples. As a result, they were able to analyze genetic material from 151 mummies, dating between 1388 B.C. and 426 A.D.

It’s a fascinating new way of doing history, and will no doubt throw up plenty more interesting discoveries for historians to discuss at length.

“Future studies will be able to assess how the Egyptian genetic makeup was formed throughout the millennia of complex history at the crossroads of continents, and as a strong player in eastern Mediterranean and North African affairs,” Haak continued. “It will be important to contrast these insights with historical accounts.”

There is no mention yet of using the DNA samples to bring the mummies back to life, nor of using them to populate a theme park that spares no expense. We can only guess those plans are still in development.

3

Jun

Patent hints that Essential’s vision for the future could extend to AR glasses

Why it matters to you

Essential could one day deliver a pair of AR-enabled glasses that look no different from the ones you already wear.

Essential has big plans for the future, and they don’t end with its recently revealed PH-1 smartphone, 360-degree camera, and Home smart speaker. Patents unearthed by Patently Apple show the startup’s phone plans in full, right down to the device’s magnetic pins that support modular components. They also reveal that Andy Rubin, hailed as the “Father of Android” and now CEO of Essential, could be itching to pick up where Google Glass left off.

The glasses shown in Essential’s patent look much more like conventional frames than the design Google ultimately ran with. The display is embedded into the lenses, alongside multiple cameras. One faces the user to track their eyes, and the other looks outward to identify objects in the environment. When the latter camera recognizes something it its view, the glasses can present augmented reality overlays relevant to the subject.

With augmented reality becoming the next great frontier for software developers and hardware producers alike, it’s not totally surprising to learn that Essential has an interest in the space. The company isn’t rushing to the market in its infancy, however. Patents are no guarantee of future retail products, and Rubin and company have even publicly admitted that their phone — which can currently be ordered ahead of its release later in June — is not meant to equal Apple’s iPhone or Samsung’s Galaxy in terms of sales volume.

“We’ve gone after technologies and methods of manufacturing that aren’t designed to support 50 million devices,” Jason Keats, the company’s head of product architecture, told Wired in an interview. “We’re not for everybody. You know it’s going to be a little exclusive.”

So Essential is looking to expand slowly, and you likely won’t see its augmented reality plans bear fruit for some time. However, it’s also poised to expand in multiple directions. Those two little pins on the back of the PH-1 are there to further the phone’s capabilities in ways the company probably hasn’t even fully considered yet. Add that to the development of a Home hub meant to connect a network of disparate devices and Rubin’s creation of Playground, a startup accelerator firm, and it’s clear Essential’s vision doesn’t stop at what we learned this week.

Whether it will include these glasses is anyone’s guess.

3

Jun

4G explained: A guide to LTE, LTE-A, WiMax, HSPA+, and more

Update: Refreshed article for 2017 to reflect that 4G is now commonplace and 5G is on the way.

The fourth generation of cellular technology, or 4G, has been around for some time now — in fact, we’re now hearing a lot about the initial stages of 5G. Despite that, however, 4G is likely to remain a major part of how you access the internet from your smartphone for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, sometimes technologies like this — with their dozens of associated buzzwords — can be a little difficult to understand. Is it all a bunch of marketing nonsense or are these words you should know and understand? We’ve got the scoop in our official mobile broadband FAQ.

Read on to learn what 4G is, why you should want it, and what all this means for the future of wireless.

The basics of 4G

What is 4G?

Don’t let this surprisingly intuitive naming scheme spin you around: 4G simply means “fourth generation.” It’s the next step up in mobile internet speed from 3G, which is a term you started hearing in the early 2000s. When you browse the web in some rural areas and when 4G isn’t available, you’ll be on 3G. It uses the networks built by wireless carriers and transfers data over them at speeds up to 2 megabits per second (Mbps), making it possible to load a website and stream videos… just not very fast. That changed with 4G networks, which offer download speeds comparable to, if not faster than, the broadband internet you get on your laptop at home — all over the airwaves.

At launch, 4G networks offered speeds of around 1Mbps to 12Mbps, which was pretty fast for the time. Now, however, speeds are hitting closer to 100Mbps, while some 4G networks are even boasting speeds of a whopping 1Gbps, or 1,000Mbps. That’s probably a whole lot faster than even your home Wi-Fi network. If you want to know the speed of your Wi-Fi network, you can test it here.

Do I have a 4G-capable phone?

You most likely have a 4G-capable phone, if you bought it within the past 5 years or so. Even budget phones these days support 4G, and while they may not offer modems that reach massive 1Gbps speeds, they should still offer much faster speeds than anything you experienced on 3G or before that.

Does my wireless carrier offer 4G?

All four major carriers — AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile — offer super fast 4G speeds, but actual speeds vary widely both depending on the carrier and depending on your connection. On top of those four carriers, most smaller carriers offer 4G connections of their own, including MNVOs that piggyback on the networks of the “big four.” The big networks are also spending billions of dollars to both improve their 4G networks, and to begin offering 5G.

Check out our guides for the major four carriers’ family plans here.

What is the ITU?

The ITU, or International Telecommunications Union, is an agency of the United Nations that sets telecommunication standards for the world. The ITU coined the terms 3G and 4G and establishes which technologies meet the requirements to qualify for the labels. Initially, the ITU claimed that HSPA+ technology didn’t qualify as 4G, but reversed its decision in December 2010.

3

Jun

Here’s how to watch Apple’s WWDC 2017, and what to expect

Apple’s storied Worldwide Developer Conference, a week-long convention showcasing the world’s most valuable technology company’s latest innovations, is reliably chock-full of news. It’s where the company demoed the Power Mac G5 back in 2003, the iTunes App Store in 2008, and Apple Music in 2015, and it’ll be no less newsworthy this year.

We’re expecting to hear about Apple’s rumored smart home speaker, the latest version of iOS (the iPhone’s operating system), MacOS (Apple’s PC OS), WatchOS (the Apple Watch’s OS), and tvOS (the Apple TV’s OS). But we wouldn’t be surprised to see new hardware, too — potentially new MacBook Pro models, a 4K-capable Apple TV, and the iPad Pro 2.

How to watch WWDC

Apple will livestream the WWDC keynote address from the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California on June 1 at 10 a.m. PT/1 a.m. ET. You’ll need to meet certain prerequisites in order to watch it, though.

If you’re watching on a Mac, you’ll need Safari 6.0.5 or newer and Mac OS X v10.8.5 or later. On a PC, you’ll need Windows 10 and Microsoft’s Edge browser.

If you’d prefer to watch the keynote on an Apple TV, instead, good news: Apple’s providing a dedicated stream that’ll pop up automatically on tvOS 6.2 or later.

What to expect

iOS 11

Sam Beckett

Historically, Apple has used WWDC as an opportunity to preview upcoming versions of iOS, the mobile operating system that powers the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Assuming the company keeps with tradition, we’re expecting an overview of iOS 11 highlights, and the start date of the new iOS’s public beta program.

Most of iOS 11’s changes are incremental, rumor has it. It’ll reportedly introduce group FaceTime calling, a Skype-like feature that’ll handle conferences between three or more parties, and make FaceTime Audio the default method of calling between iPhone users. That’ll result in clearer, crisper calls as Facetime Audio uses LTE to deliver higher-quality audio than a typical voice call.

Apple Pay, Apple’s digital payments platform, is expected to support peer-to-peer payments. Like Google Wallet or Venmo, iOS 11 will reportedly let you send money to friends, or use an Apple Pay iMessage extension to transfer cash to chat partners asynchronously.

Low Power Mode, iOS’s battery-saving feature, is reportedly due for an upgrade. iOS 11 will intelligently monitor your usage habits, location, and connectivity, disabling sensors and background apps to save power as needed. It might learn to conserve battery when you’re home Wi-Fi network’s out of range, for example, or when your iPhone’s battery falls below 20 percent charge.

iOS 11 could ship with an improved keyboard. In November, Apple was granted a patent for “dynamic keyboard positioning” that automatically positions home-row keys under your fingers, reducing the need to look down when you’re typing.

Other potential iOS 11 enhancements include a power-saving Dark Mode, a beefed-up version of Apple’s social Clips app, a sleep-tracking app, and a messaging menu that’ll tie in conversations from email, SMS, and social networking apps. The iOS 11 developer beta will likely debut this month, with a public beta to follow later this summer.

MacOS 10.13

Apple

MacOS 10.13 — the unrevealed version of the operating system on Apple’s MacBook notebooks, the Mac Pro, and the Mac Mini — remains a mystery. But WWDC is where we could learn its official name. A report on Pike’s Universum suggests it’ll start with the letter “M.”

Performance might be the focus this time around. MacOS 10.13 will ship with Apple’s new file system, APFS (Apple File System), which optimizes Flash/SSD storage and includes features like strong encryption, space sharing, copy-on write metadata, cloning for files and directories, and snapshots.

Tighter integration with iOS seems likely, too. MacOS 10.13 might support iOS’s rumored group FaceTime Audio calls.

Apple might give iTunes, its ballooning digital marketplace, a makeover as well. Rumblings ahead of last year’s WWDC suggested that Apple would introduce a redesigned client that put Apple Music, the company’s music streaming service, front and center. That never materialized, but Apple might take the opportunity to roll it out this time around.

If history is any indication, we’re expecting Apple to make the first MacOS 10.13 beta available in June, following the keynote.

10.5-inch iPad Pro

The iPad Pro, Apple’s flagship tablet, could get a major upgrade at WWDC.

The successor to the iPad Pro — the iPad Pro 2 — could ship in as many as three sizes: 9.7 inches, 12.9 inches, and a new 10.5-inch model. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is said to be slightly thicker than Apple’s current-gen models, but with smaller bezels — the screen reportedly fits into a chassis that’s the same size as the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

The iPad Pro 2 might feature a home button and camera that’s built into the screen. Some reports suggest that tablet’s top bezel will house a front camera and other sensors, and that Touch ID — the fingerprint-reading technology built into Apple’s newest iPads and iPhones — will be squeezed into the space behind the screen.

The iPad Pro 2 may debut alongside a new Apple Pencil, the stylus that currently only works on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The improved Pencil reportedly has a built-in magnet that can stick to the iPad’s side, and new annotation features that work across Apple’s Mail, Messages, and Safari apps.

MacBooks and Mac peripherals

Apple doesn’t typically announce new MacBook laptops and desktops at WWDC, but it has before. In 2013, it took the wraps off the infamous trashcan-shaped Mac Pro. And according to a report from Bloomberg, Apple’s considering all three MacBook lines — including the long-neglected MacBook Air — for updates at WWDC.

Apple’s expected to roll out new versions of the 12-inch MacBook and MacBook Pro, both packing Intel’s faster, more power-efficient Kaby Lake processors.

The new MacBooks may also ship a brand-new Apple chip — a power regulator designed to manage Power Nap, a MacOS feature which keeps iCloud and other software up to date while your Mac’s asleep. Currently, some Power Nap features require the Mac to be charging, but the new chip could do away with that requirement.

Peripherals like Apple’s Magic Keyboard might see a refresh. An Apple filing published with the Eurasian Economic Commission in June references the keyboard’s model number. Rumors hint that the keyboard might gain an OLED Touch Bar, as found on the latest MacBook Pro.

Siri-powered smart speaker

Apple’s reportedly prepping an artificially intelligent, voice-equipped speaker to take on Google Home and Amazon’s Echo series — and it might take the wraps off it at WWDC. According to Bloomberg, the Cupertino company’s engineers recently started testing a Siri-powered assistant that supports Apple’s wireless AirPlay standard and offers “deep integration” with the company’s product lineup.

Apple’s Siri-powered speaker is said to match the competition’s feature set blow-for-blow. It reportedly supports HomeKit, Apple’s home automation platform, and AirPlay, a wireless standard that beams audio and videos from one device to another. Bloomberg reports that it’ll let third-party services build integrations for the speaker, much like the Echo’s “skills.”

But the Apple speaker’s real differentiator is said to be its Beats-branded audio technology. According to Bloomberg, it’ll offer “virtual surround sound technology” and sound reproduction that’s “louder” and “crisper” than the Echo and Google Home. Apple’s also considering including sensors that automatically measure a room’s acoustics and automatically adjust audio levels during use.

watchOS 4

Apple Watch Series 2
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Apple’s expected to preview watchOS 4, its smartwatch operating system, at WWDC.

It’ll likely ship on the upcoming Apple Watch. The company’s next wearable is said to have a glucose-monitoring sensor that that can measure the level of insulin in your bloodstream — a feature Apple CEO Tim Cook’s reportedly testing personally.

Rumor has it WatchOS 4 will support “smart bands” — new interchangeable watch bands said to add different functions to the Apple Watch — and cellular connectivity.

Other potential WatchOS 4 features include call support for Apple’s wireless AirPod earbuds and battery life optimizations.

tvOS 11

The Apple TV, Apple’s all-in-one entertainment console, might be in line for a WWDC refresh. Rumblings suggest Apple will launch a set-top box with support high dynamic range (HDR), a high-contrast color standard, and resolutions up to 4K (3,840 x 2,160 pixels).

New video-on-demand services are reportedly in tow with tvOS 11, the newest version of Apple’s entertainment-centric operating system. According to Buzzfeed, Apple will announce that Vudu, the Walmart-backed movie and TV service, and Prime Video, Amazon’s streaming platform, will be available on tvOS this summer.

Siri

WWDC 2017 might mark the debut of an enhanced Siri. According to Business Insider, Apple has assigned a large number of the engineers from VocalIQ, a voice recognition startup it acquired in 2015, to “make Siri talk more naturally.” The next-gen Siri can reportedly handle complex commands like, “Find a nearby Chinese restaurant with open parking and Wi-Fi that’s kid-friendly,” and is said to be better at filtering out ambient noise and adapting to challenging accents.

iMessage

Andy Boxall/DigitalTrends.com

Apple’s longtime messaging platform, iMessage, has remained exclusive to the iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone and MacBook computers since its debut. But that might change at WWDC. According to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, Apple engineers have passed around “detailed mockups” of iMessage apps for Android.

Mockups don’t necessarily mean that an iMessage client for Android will ever see the light of day, but reports ahead of last year’s WWDC suggested that a release was imminent. If the rumors are true, Apple could finally take the wraps off at this year’s conference.

3

Jun

Here’s how to watch Apple’s WWDC 2017, and what to expect

Apple’s storied Worldwide Developer Conference, a week-long convention showcasing the world’s most valuable technology company’s latest innovations, is reliably chock-full of news. It’s where the company demoed the Power Mac G5 back in 2003, the iTunes App Store in 2008, and Apple Music in 2015, and it’ll be no less newsworthy this year.

We’re expecting to hear about Apple’s rumored smart home speaker, the latest version of iOS (the iPhone’s operating system), MacOS (Apple’s PC OS), WatchOS (the Apple Watch’s OS), and tvOS (the Apple TV’s OS). But we wouldn’t be surprised to see new hardware, too — potentially new MacBook Pro models, a 4K-capable Apple TV, and the iPad Pro 2.

How to watch WWDC

Apple will livestream the WWDC keynote address from the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California on June 1 at 10 a.m. PT/1 a.m. ET. You’ll need to meet certain prerequisites in order to watch it, though.

If you’re watching on a Mac, you’ll need Safari 6.0.5 or newer and Mac OS X v10.8.5 or later. On a PC, you’ll need Windows 10 and Microsoft’s Edge browser.

If you’d prefer to watch the keynote on an Apple TV, instead, good news: Apple’s providing a dedicated stream that’ll pop up automatically on tvOS 6.2 or later.