Researchers will attempt to ‘reanimate’ a corpse with stem cells

Brain death may no longer be a life sentence if one Philadelphia-based biomedical startup has its way. The company, Bioquark, plans to initiate a study later this year to see if a combination of stem cell and protein blend injections, electrical nerve stimulation, and laser therapy can reverse the effects of recent brain death. They’re literally trying to bring people back from the dead.

“It’s our contention that there’s no single magic bullet for this, so to start with a single magic bullet makes no sense. Hence why we have to take a different approach,” Bioquark CEO, Ira Pastor, told Stat News.

As Pastor told the Washington Post last year, he doesn’t believe that brain death is necessarily a permanent condition, at least to start. It may well be curable, he argued, if the patient is administered the right combination of stimuli, ranging from stem cells to magnetic fields.

The resuscitation process will not be a quick one, however. First, the newly dead person must receive an injection of stem cells derived from their own blood. Then doctors will inject a proprietary peptide blend called BQ-A into the patient’s spinal column. This serum is supposed to help regrow neurons that had been damaged upon death. Finally, the patient undergoes 15 days of electrical nerve stimulation and transcranial laser therapy to instigate new neuron formation. During the trial, researchers will rely on EEG scans to monitor the patients for brain activity.

This isn’t the first time that Bioquark has attempted this study. Last April, the company launched a nearly identical study in Rudrapur, India. However, no patients enrolled and the study wound up getting shut down that November by the Indian government over clearance issues with India’s Drug Controller General. Bioquark is reportedly nearing a deal with an unnamed Latin American country to hold a new trial later this year.

Whether the treatment will actually work is an entirely different matter. Bioquark admits that it has never actually tested the regimen, even in animals, and the various component treatments have never themselves been applied to brain death. They’ve shown some promise in similar cases like stroke, brain damage and comas but never actually Lazarus-ing a corpse.

“I think [someone reviving] would technically be a miracle,” Dr. Charles Cox, a pediatric surgeon at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, told Stat News. “I think the pope would technically call that a miracle.”

Source: Stat News

James Comey will testify before a Senate committee on June 8th

James Comey continues to be a lightning rod for controversy at the national level. After a long year of Clinton email server investigations and the FBI’s conclusion that the Russians allegedly hacked the 2016 election, James Comey is finally getting to tell his own story. According to Bloomberg, the recently fired FBI Director will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8th in both an open and a subsequent closed session. The investigation will cover both the possible election tampering as well as Comey’s own dismissal by President Trump.

While the Trump administration initially blamed Comey’s firing on his refusal to charge Hilary Clinton for her use of a private email server while she worked in the State Department under President Obama’s administration. More recently, however, Trump said in an interview with NBC that he had plans to dismissed Comey “all along,” calling the former director a “grandstander.”

Comey’s track record in the technology space has been hit or miss since his appointment to the post by President Obama in 2013. Comey participated in a misinformed push to force tech companies to purposefully compromise encryption systems for law enforcement officials. He also believes that encryption itself subverts the power of court subpoenas, and tapes over his own webcam for security reasons while pushing for backdoor access to iPhones. Though, he’s not a maniac about it.

With Trump’s story changing each time he’s asked about dismissing James Comey, the former FBI Director’s testimony next week could put much of the controversy surrounding his firing and alleged Russian tampering to rest.

Source: Bloomberg

Samsung’s mesh WiFi system connects your smart home this July

Samsung’s oh-so-smoothly named Connect Home Smart WiFi System now has a launch date and pricing structure. The router, which was announced in March, also has a SmartThings hub built right in, making it super easy to connect all of your smart gadgets.

The system will be available for preorder on June 4th exclusively through BestBuy.com and available in Best Buy stores July 2nd. You’ll be able to buy one Samsung Connect Home for $170 or a pack of three for $380. One unit covers up to 1,500 square feet, while three will triple your coverage. And for those with high bandwidth needs, a pro version with a 1,500 square-foot range will be sold for $250. With that option, you can connect up to five devices, giving you a maximum coverage of 7,500 square feet.

The router supports mesh networking, allowing you to get your WiFi signal into every nook and cranny of your home. And Samsung’s version is similar to other devices on the market, like those available from ASUS, Linksys, TP-Link and Google. The pricing is also on-par with other systems. But the built-in SmartThings hub is an added benefit since you won’t need additional hardware to control all of your smart home devices like your lights and appliances.

If you can’t make it to Best Buy, Samsung Connect Home launches nationwide July 16th.

Source: Samsung

LIGO astronomers detect third black hole collision

Today, astronomers announced that LIGO has detected gravitational waves for the third time. As a result, scientists now may have new insights into how black holes are formed.

Gravitational waves are ripples in the spacetime that travel at the speed of light. They’re emitted as a result of black hole collisions, which produce incredible amounts of power. They had long been predicted by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, but it wasn’t until September 2015 that LIGO’s (the Laser Inferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) first direct observation occurred. A second detection quickly followed in December 2015. This third observation happened on January 4, 2017, and it’s the furthest one yet, at 3 billion light years away. (The first two were around 1.3–1.4 billion light years away).

This new gravitational wave detection provides insight into how black holes spin. As two black holes orbit one another, they are also turning on their individual axes. But in which direction do they spin? That’s the question that scientists may have answered with this latest discovery, discovering that one of these black holes may have been nonaligned. In other words, it was turning on its axis in a different direction than it was orbiting its partner black hole. Understanding how binary black holes spin helps scientists determine how they’re formed.

There are currently two primary theories about binary black hole formation: The first is that a pair of black holes is formed when a pair of stars explodes. The black holes would, as a result, maintain the spin of their former stars, which would have been aligned. The alternate theory is that the black holes form separately, but come together later in their lives in clusters of stars. This is the theory that seems to be confirmed, based on nonaligned spin observations.

One of the editors of the article publishing in Physical Review Letters, Bangalore Sathyaprakash, says, “This is the first time that we have evidence that the black holes may not be aligned, giving us just a tiny hint that binary black holes may form in dense stellar clusters.” LIGO has done a lot of work in a short amount of time; it’s exciting to think about what might be ahead as the observatory turns its attention to other types of astronomical events, such as the collision of neutron stars.

Source: Eurekalert

Trump withdraws US from Paris climate change agreement

President Trump has announced that the US will be withdrawing from the Paris Accord. The president made the statement today from the White House Rose Garden.

The international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was made in 2015 and President Obama signed the US on last November. The 143 countries that have ratified the agreement recognize a number of goals, which include limiting global temperature increases to less than 2 degrees Celsius.

Obama joined the Paris Accord without a vote from Congress, meaning Trump can abandon the climate change agreement without a vote as well.

Many begged Trump to keep the US in, including 25 companies that penned an open letter published in the New York Times on May 8th. Yesterday, Elon Musk threatened to cease advising the president as part of Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum if he decided to drop US participation in the Paris Accord.

Don’t know which way Paris will go, but I’ve done all I can to advise directly to POTUS, through others in WH & via councils, that we remain

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 31, 2017

Will have no choice but to depart councils in that case

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 31, 2017

The protocol for leaving, which the president says he’ll adhere to, could take four years to complete, meaning voters might be able to reverse the decision depending on who they elect to office in 2020. In fact, timing would put the US exit occurring on November 4, 2020, just one day after the next presidential election.Trump, per a source, will follow the 4-yr rule to get out of Paris, meaning the US will leave on Nov 4, 2020.

Trump, per a source, will follow the 4-yr rule to get out of Paris, meaning the US will leave on Nov 4, 2020.
Election Day 2020: Nov 3.

— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) June 1, 2017

Trump said in the statement that if the US can renegotiate an entrance into the accord at terms more agreeable he would be willing to do so but added, “If we can’t, that’s fine.”

The president claimed that stipulations in the agreement were unfair to the US saying, “The Paris Accord is very unfair at the highest level to the United States.” He pointed to rules regarding coal production as being particularly disagreeable. “This agreement is less about the climate and more about others gaining financial advantage over the US,” he said.

President Trump was expected to be bad news for the environment. And he’s already rolled back a number of protective environmental measures, including the Clean Power Plan and has proposed crippling budget cuts to necessary government organizations like the EPA. This move is just the latest in a series of dangerous decisions that could harm the environment for many years to come.

Reactions are already rolling in in response to the announcement. President Obama released a statement, saying that, “But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I’m confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we’ve got.”

Amazon made a statement as well. “Amazon continues to support the Paris climate agreement and action on climate change. We believe that robust clean energy and climate policies can support American competitiveness, innovation, and job growth,” said the company.

During the president’s statement Elon Musk also confirmed his departure from Trump’s advisory councils.

Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2017

Watch SpaceX re-launch used Dragon capsule for the first time

Today, SpaceX will launch another Falcon 9 rocket on a resupply trip to the International Space Station. However, it’s the first time the group will use a refurbished Dragon cargo capsule for one of its missions — a capsule that’s already been to space and back.

This particular Dragon capsule was used to deliver supplies to the ISS in September 2014 and landed in the Pacific Ocean upon return. It’s been tweaked back into working order and is set to deliver SpaceX’s 11th ISS cargo load. The company has big plans for its Dragon capsules. Along with recycling them for resupply trips, SpaceX hopes to use them for manned missions well.

The launch is scheduled for 5:55pm EDT from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with a backup launch date Saturday, June 3rd at 5:07pm. SpaceX will also attempt its 15th Falcon 9 landing. You can watch the launch and landing here, on NASA TV, or on SpaceX’s website starting at 5:15pm.

Source: SpaceX

The Wirecutter’s best deals: Save $40 on Amazon’s Echo speaker

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, they may earn affiliate commissions that support their work. Read their continuously updated list of deals here.

You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at The Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot — some of these sales could expire mighty soon.

TP-Link AC1750 Wi-Fi Range Extender RE450

Street price: $90; MSRP: $98; Deal price: $80

This is a solid price on TP-Link’s Wi-Fi range extender, which typically has a street price between $85 and $90. We’ve seen it as low as $68 twice, but that pricing is more the exception than the rule and occurred once on Tech Monday and another time with a promo code. If you’re finding that your Wi-Fi could use a boost in certain areas of your home and don’t care to wait for a rock-bottom price, this is a nice opportunity to pick one up at a good discount. Shipping is free.

The TP-Link AC1750 Wi-Fi Range Extender RE450 is our top pick for the best Wi-Fi range extender. David Murphy writes, “If your router needs help getting the Wi-Fi signal to part of your house or apartment, give it a boost with the TP-Link AC1750 Wi-Fi Range Extender RE450. After spending 140 total hours researching Wi-Fi extenders and testing more than 20 over the past year and a half, we’ve decided that the RE450 is our new recommendation for most people.” He continues, “In all of our recent wireless tests, the TP-Link RE450 was faster than all 12 other extenders, including our previous pick, the Netgear EX6200.”

Logitech M705 Wireless Marathon Mouse

Street price: $30; MSRP: $40; Deal price: $20

Here’s a nice deal on Logitech’s Marathon wireless mouse, which has seen more regular sales since the holiday season of last year. Though it typically sits around $30 and up to $40, we’re seeing this $20 deal with far more frequency. Even so, this is still an excellent deal as we haven’t seen this mouse lower. Shipping is free with Prime.

The Logitech Marathon M705 is our top pick for the best wireless mouse. Kimber Streams writes, “The Logitech Marathon Mouse M705 is the best mouse for most people. It was our testing panel’s favorite, and we think it has the best overall balance of features: medium size, ergonomic shape, six customizable buttons, long battery life, a Unifying Receiver (which lets you use up to six Logitech keyboards and pointing devices on a single USB port), and a three-year limited warranty. When we first recommended the Marathon in July 2014, it cost $50, and it’s an even better deal now that the price has dropped to around $30.”

Anker SoundSync Drive Bluetooth Car Kit

Street price: $20; MSRP: $40; Deal price: $17

For those looking to bring some new life to an aging car stereo, this is a good deal on a Bluetooth car kit. The Anker SoundSync Drive has run buyers $20 or more in the last 9 months and rarely sees discounts as it has been in pretty strong demand. As a result, at $17, this is a good price. Shipping is free with Prime.

The Anker SoundSync Drive is our top pick in our Best Bluetooth Kits for Every Car Stereo guide. Nick Guy writes, “If you have an auxiliary-audio input (aux-in) jack, you’re in luck, because aux kits are the most-reliable and best-sounding way to add Bluetooth to your car. We recommend Anker’s SoundSync Drive because it has great sound quality while playing music, and sounds more intelligible during phone calls than any other model we tested. Its microphone produces a clearer-sounding voice on the other end than any of the options we tested. The other devices we considered all sounded muffled, but Anker’s aggressive noise and echo cancellation made voices easier to understand—even with the windows down, driving at 50 mph. Unlike some competitors that have a permanently attached power adapter that monopolizes your car’s accessory-power jack, the SoundSync Drive works with any USB power source, such as a USB charging port in your car or a standard USB car charger. (While no charger is included, the Anker is about $10 cheaper than the next-best model.) To use it, simply stick it to your dashboard with the included adhesive backing and press the big button to turn it on whenever you turn on the car. We would prefer it if it turned on and connected automatically, but the Anker’s superior voice quality and lower cost ultimately won us over.”

Amazon Echo

Street price: $180; MSRP: $180; Deal price: $140 for Prime members with code ECHOSAVE40

While not the best price we’ve seen, Prime members can get $40 off with code ECHOSAVE40 on this speaker, which is rarely seen a great sale prices. We’ve featured two deals as low as $130, but $140 is still a solid price and as good as we’ve seen in some time. The promo code works for both the black and white colors. Shipping is free.

The Amazon Echo is a speaker we recommend in our Alexa guide. Grant Clauser writes, “Echo, always listening via Amazon’s Alexa voice service, lets you play music, order pizza, and get questions answered, and can control popular smart-home devices and 1,000-plus other things.”

Clauser continues, “Thanks to the Echo’s far-field microphones, Alexa can respond to voice commands from almost anywhere within earshot. And there’s no activation button to press. Simply say the trigger word (either “Alexa,” “Echo,” “Amazon,” or “Computer.”) followed by what you want to happen, and it will be done—as long as you’ve set up everything properly and are using the correct command (it’s still very much a work in progress and you should set your expectations accordingly). Once you get used to the quirks, using Alexa feels much more natural and responsive than speaking to a phone-based voice assistant like Apple’s Siri. As a result, you’ll likely find yourself using your phone less frequently when you’re at home.”

Because great deals don’t just happen on Thursdays, sign up for our daily deals email and we’ll send you the best deals we find every weekday. Also, deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.

Elon Musk leaves Trump’s council after US exits Paris climate pact

Today, president Donald Trump announced that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris Accord. As promised, Tesla CEO Elon Musk then announced that he would no longer be part of presidential councils based on Trump’s decision.

Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2017

Tesla isn’t the only company unhappy with today’s decision. Apple, Google, Microsoft and others penned a public letter to the president asking him not to remove the United States from the Paris Agreement. The CEO of GE, Jess Immelt also tweeted his disappointment in the withdrawal. GE builds many of the turbines used in power plants including a new hybrid turbine that uses batteries in additional to traditional energy sources.

Musk was part of Trump’s Business Advisory Council. That spawned criticism based on Trump’s comments on the environment. Musk’s reaction to that criticism has been that its better for him to be there to be a voice for his environmental ideals. But withdrawing from the Paris Accord was a deal breaker.

Under Paris deal, China committed to produce as much clean electricity by 2030 as the US does from all sources today https://t.co/F8Ppr2o7Rl

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2017

Ironically, several oil and coal companies including Shell, Exxon Mobile and Cloud Peak Energy had asked Trump to make sure the US continued to be part of international pact to reduce carbon emissions.

Samsung Galaxy Book review: You’re better off with a Surface Pro

It took a few years, but Microsoft’s Surface Pro line is an undeniable hit. It also popularized the convertible tablet category — touchscreen-driven devices you can hold in your hands that also have power and attachable keyboards for getting “real work” done. The Surface Pro’s success means it has its fair share of imitators, from Apple, Google and the swath of Windows PC makers out there.

Naturally, Samsung produced its own, last year’s Galaxy TabPro S. That device features a great screen and solid battery life but was hurt by a terrible keyboard and slow performance. With the new Galaxy Book, Samsung appears to have fixed those issues — this convertible has a more spacious keyboard and Intel’s 7th-generation Core i5 processor on board. But all that power introduces some unfortunate trade-offs.

Hardware

Probably the most important part of a tablet is its screen, and the Galaxy Book is no letdown here. The 12-inch display is of the Super AMOLED+ variety, with rich colors and inky dark blacks. The screen is running at a 2160 x 1440 resolution though it’s also set to scale text and UI elements up to 150 percent so everything isn’t completely illegible. Regardless, the workspace feels sufficiently spacious for a 12-inch screen and text is razor-sharp.

I can only think of one problem with the display: Its wide 16:10.7 aspect ratio makes holding the Galaxy Book in portrait an odd experience. Since this tablet was designed to be docked into a keyboard, it’s not surprising that its size was optimized for landscape usage, but I generally prefer the proportions Apple and Microsoft use for the iPad Pro (4:3) and Surface Pro (3:2), respectively — those devices feel equally suited to portrait and landscape usage.

Even if it did have different proportions, the Galaxy Book isn’t really made to be held for long periods of time. It weighs in 1.66 pounds — light for a computer with a Core i5 processor but quite heavy for a tablet. That’s the problem with most larger convertibles in general. Sure, you can use it as a standalone tablet, but you probably won’t want to.

Overall, the Galaxy Book is a relatively plain, spartan device. Two speaker grilles can be found on the left and right sides of the tablet; they produce surprisingly decent audio. There’s a fan vent up top, along with a power switch and volume rocker. The right side also houses two USB-C ports and a headphone jack, the only ports to be found here. The back of the Galaxy Tab is pretty plain, with a Samsung logo, small camera bump and a few ridiculous Intel stickers. If you opt for the model featuring built-in Verizon LTE, your device will also be graced with a giant Verizon logo on the back. Goody.

The back camera comes in at 13-megapixels and is paired with a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter. They’re both… fine. The front-facing camera is arguably much more important on a device like this, and it worked well in video chat, which is all most will rely on it for.

The Galaxy Book hardware gets the job done, but it lacks the refinement and class of the iPad Pro or the Surface Pro’s unique design and adjustable hinge. It doesn’t do anything wrong, but it also doesn’t push the tablet form factor forward in any notable way.

Typing experience

Samsung makes it clear that the Galaxy Book is meant for getting things done by including a keyboard cover, just as it did last year with the TabPro S. It’s a smart move — looking at the marketing for the Surface Pro, you’d be forgiven for assuming the keyboard comes with it — it doesn’t. The other bit of good news is that the Galaxy Book’s keyboard is a big improvement over the one that came with the TabPro S.

It’s basically a full-size keyboard with the same layout found on most Windows 10 laptops. The keys in the function row are small, but the others are full size. So, there’s basically no adjustment period or learning curve, which can’t be said for the iPad Pro’s Smart Keyboard. But, it’s still not an especially good keyboard. The key travel is naturally shallow to make it work in such a thin device. Although, it’s comfortable enough that I generally didn’t think about it. Samsung even made it backlit — something I did not expect.

Unfortunately, the experience falls apart when you’re not typing on a desk, table or other flat surface. Most convertibles still have compromised experiences when you use them in your lap, and the Galaxy Book is no exception. The keyboard cover is thin and light, which is good for not adding a lot of bulk — but it’s also extremely bendy and flimsy feeling. When resting my palms on either side of the trackpad and typing away, I could bend the keyboard so much that I’d accidentally “click” the trackpad, which is very distracting. It’s even easier to do this if you rest a single hand on a palm rest; the unbalanced weight clicks the trackpad immediately. Once I figured out what was happening, I could take care to avoid it, but it just goes to show how tough it is to get this experience right.

The Galaxy Book’s keyboard cover also functions as a stand. It can be propped up at three different angles and also can be laid down at a slight angle with the keyboard hidden (for drawing with the S Pen). These angles work pretty well, but the flexibility of the Surface Pro’s hinge is hard to ignore. Microsoft’s convertible hasn’t always worked great in the lap, but the company has made big improvements over the years. Samsung still has a lot of work to do here. That’s primarily because the combination of the full-size keyboard plus the “wedge” holding the screen up makes the Galaxy Book pretty big in the lap. Fortunately, the magnetic connection between the stand and the tablet itself is pretty strong and reliable.

Samsung’s software

While the Galaxy Book runs a mostly unmodified version of Windows 10, Samsung did include a few extra apps here to help users take advantage of its S Pen, which comes in the box alongside the keyboard. Again, I have to give Samsung props for including this accessory for free, something neither Microsoft nor Apple are doing.

One of the extra apps is Samsung Notes, which functions as a digital canvas that can sync between your Galaxy Book and a Samsung smartphone. Oddly, Samsung notes isn’t a complete note-taking solution. Although you can jot down text, draw images and attach photos to your notes, the only place you can do keyboard text entry is the “title” field. That means if you also want to take text notes (as most of us do), you’ll need to use another app. That’s enough to make Samsung Notes useless for me.

Another app, Samsung Flow, could be a big deal if you own a Samsung smartphone. Once set up, the app uses your smartphone as an authenticator to unlock your Galaxy Book. More importantly, it pushes notifications from your phone and lets you respond to incoming messages. I didn’t get a chance to test this out, as I didn’t have a compatible phone handy — but if it works as promised, it could be a useful addition for those invested in the Samsung ecosystem. (Are there really people invested in the Samsung ecosystem?)

Otherwise, there’s not a lot to differentiate the Galaxy Book from other Windows 10 devices. The S Pen works just fine with Windows Ink apps like Sticky Notes and Sketchpad, and the lack of latency is truly impressive — it’s one of the more responsive stylus experiences I’ve had. But it’s not so much better than the Surface Pro that it should be a major consideration if you’re deciding between the two devices.

Performance and battery life

The Galaxy Book I’ve been testing includes Intel’s 7th-generation Core i5 processor, a dual-core chip running at 3.1 GHz; it’s paired with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB hard drive for a whopping $1,329.99. I thought that was expensive for a tablet, but it’s in the same realm of pricing as a similarly configured Surface Pro, once you include a stylus and keyboard.

That was more than enough power for my needs. My usual workflow includes several Chrome windows loaded up with around a dozen tabs as well as Slack, Todoist, Twitter, Microsoft’s Groove Music (I figured I’d try the first-party option this time out) and Word. That all ran with nary a hiccup. I had also tried out a configuration of the Galaxy Book with only 4GB of RAM; unsurprisingly, that version didn’t run nearly as well. I ran into pretty frequent Chrome tab refreshes, and music skipped from time to time. It still feels a bit cheap to offer only 4GB of RAM on a computer priced over $1,000 — but Microsoft also only includes 4GB in the lower-end Surface Pro configurations, so at least Samsung isn’t a total outlier here.

Benchmarks confirmed the unsurprising but welcome news that the Galaxy Book far outperforms last year’s TabPro S. That should be obvious given the major chip upgrade here, but it’s welcome news for people who may have enjoyed Samsung’s form factor but not the semi-sluggish performance.

Overall, throwing more horsepower into the Galaxy Book definitely fixed the performance issues we saw with last year’s TabPro S. Unfortunately, this also introduced a new problem of its own: battery life. The amount of useable time I got from the Galaxy Book was simply all over the place. The first model I tested was simply pathetic, with the computer regularly dying after less than three hours. It also took more than four hours to charge while in use. Both of these numbers seemed so bad that Samsung thought there was something wrong and sent me a replacement device.

Initially, I had the same poor battery life with my replacement. But, after a few days, things seemed to normalize, and now I can get between five and six hours of work out of this computer. I don’t know what changed, but things definitely improved after I ran our battery test. That test loops an HD video with the screen set to 66 percent brightness, and the Galaxy Book managed just over eight hours before it shut down. That’s not terribly inspiring (Samsung promises 11 hours of video playback, a number I couldn’t come close to), but it’s not the total disaster I experienced the first few times I used the Galaxy Book.

Battery life

Galaxy Book
8:08
Surface Book with Performance Base (2016)
16:15
Surface Book (Core i5, integrated graphics)
13:54 / 3:20 (tablet only)
Surface Book (Core i7, discrete graphics)
11:31 / 3:02 (tablet only)
iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 2015)
10:47
Galaxy TabPro S
10:43
HP Spectre x360 15t
10:17
HP Spectre x360 (13-inch, 2016)
10:03
ASUS ZenBook 3
9:45
Apple MacBook (2016)
8:45
Samsung Notebook 9
8:16
Dell XPS 13 (2015)
7:36
Microsoft Surface Pro 4
7:15
HP Spectre 13
7:07
Huawei MateBook
6:35

This is partially a matter of physics: A very thin body combined with a powerful processor like the Core i5 is going to be problematic. But devices like this are meant to be portable first and foremost, and I never felt all that comfortable leaving a charger behind. That’s a big knock against what Samsung’s trying to do here.

Samsung describes the Galaxy Book as a “fast-charging” device, but that’s only true if you’re not using it. If the Surface Book is powered off, it does charge relatively fast, but if you’re trying to do work and charge it, expect to wait three to four hours for a full battery. If you’re out and about and want to just top the machine off, you had better be prepared to take a full break from your work.

Configurations and the competition

In classic Samsung fashion, there are a host of different Galaxy Book configurations. As tested, the 12-inch model I used includes a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and that costs a whopping $1,330, with keyboard and S Pen included. Samsung also sells a model with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $1,130; you can add Verizon LTE to that model for an additional $170.

If you’ve been paying attention, it should be clear that the Surface Pro is the most direct competitor to the Galaxy Book. That device was just refreshed with 7th-generation Core m3, i5 and i7 processors. While the Surface Pro is cheaper off the bat, Microsoft doesn’t include a pen or keyboard — once you add in those accessories, a comparable Surface Pro will cost

But the Surface Pro features a few advantages. Its screen is slightly bigger and runs at a higher resolution (2,736 x 1,824), and its built-in hinge is more flexible than Samsung’s keyboard cover. Speaking of the keyboard, Microsoft’s keyboard cover is far superior to Samsung’s, as well. Naturally, the Surface Pro doesn’t work with Samsung’s Flow software that links the Galaxy Book to a Samsung smartphone, but that won’t be a dealbreaker for many potential buyers. If you’re deep in Samsung’s ecosystem, you could make an argument for the Galaxy Book — but most people will probably be happier with Microsoft’s convertible. We’ll need to fully review the new Surface Pro before we can say for sure, but Microsoft’s track record here means it’ll likely deliver.

If you’re not interested in buying from Microsoft, Lenovo’s Thinkpad X1 tablet is another option — but much like the Galaxy Book, there aren’t a lot of compelling reasons for recommending it over a Surface Pro. Huawei’s Matebook is another convertible with a similar design, but it has a terrible keyboard cover that makes it a complete non-starter.

And while most people looking at the Galaxy Book probably need Windows 10 over iOS, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. It’s not cheap, but its screen is top rate, there are tons of apps that take great advantage of Apple’s Pencil stylus and its battery life is superb. If you’re an iPhone user, you’ll appreciate the tight integration between your phone and tablet, as well. Just know that multitasking on iOS falls far short of Windows.

Wrap-up

Samsung’s Galaxy Book doesn’t get anything totally wrong. And if it were a few hundred dollars cheaper than the Surface Pro, it could find an audience. But as it is, the good things about the Galaxy Book (its display and overall performance) are come with some big tradeoffs. Battery life in particular has been a big letdown, and though the keyboard cover is better than it was last year, it’s still not as good as what Microsoft offers.

Battery life and a good typing experience are essentials, particularly on a mobile device like the Galaxy Book. Given the compromises, it’s hard to recommend Samsung’s latest over the Surface Pro. For its price, the Galaxy Book needs to be near-flawless — unfortunately, it doesn’t reach that lofty goal.

Photographs by Evan Rodgers and Nathan Ingraham

First WWDC 2017 Decorations Start Going Up at McEnery Convention Center

With just four days to go until the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple has started decorating the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, where the event will be held.

Based on images shared on Twitter, the Convention Center is being decorated with banners, flags, and other artwork. The design Apple is using matches up with the design that was seen on the original announcements, featuring a top-down view of people in colorful outfits.

An entire side of the Convention Center has been covered in the design, as has the VTA station in front of the building. The artwork was created by Los Angeles artist Geoff McFettridge

This year’s event in San Jose is the first Worldwide Developers Conference that’s been held outside of the Moscone Center in San Francisco in many years. Apple expects to host about 5,000 developers, with hundreds of Apple engineers available to answer questions and host app development sessions.

The Worldwide Developers Conference will kick off on June 5 at 10:00 a.m. with a keynote event where Apple is expected to debut iOS 11, macOS 10.13, watchOS 4, tvOS 11, and several hardware products, including new Mac notebooks, new iPads, and perhaps the much-rumored Siri speaker.

For the June 5 keynote, MacRumors will provide a live blog both here on MacRumors.com and on our MacRumorsLive Twitter account, along with detailed coverage of everything Apple announces during the week.

Related Roundup: WWDC 2017
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