Cover up with the best iPhone 8 Plus screen protectors

A fusion of the best technology Apple has to offer, and some of the best looks in the industry — the iPhone 8 Plus is a great choice if you’re looking to upgrade your daily driver. But that 5.5-inch screen comes with a downside — you’ll spend a lot of time worrying about your display getting smashed. Maybe that’s a little dramatic, but who wants to worry about something they can avoid?

A screen protector will undoubtedly help, but which do you choose? Tempered glass or film? Wet application or dry? Which of the many brands do I choose from? Thankfully for you, we’ve gathered some of the best iPhone 8 Plus screen protectors that you can buy right now. If you haven’t yet ordered your device, check out our guide to buying the iPhone 8 Plus.

Spigen Steinheil Tempered Glass Screen Protector – Twin Pack ($8)

Spigen’s tempered glass screen protectors have always been at the front of the pack where quality is concerned. Fully case compatible, with edges that fall short of the edges of the device, the Steinheil is tough enough to resist scratches from keys, coins, and likely anything you have knocking around in your pocket. It’s also easy to install. As usual, Spigen has gone for a dry installation method, and the included materials and wings on the sides of the protector make it easy to apply without issues. But if you do mess up — there’s two in the pack, and they’re backed up by Spigen’s free replacement policy.

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Zagg InvisibleShield HDX Film Screen Protector ($25)

Our first film screen protector, and it’s a doozy. Zagg boasts that this protector is virtually indestructible, and makes your iPhone’s screen up to 3 times stronger than before, offering military grade protection and self-healing qualities. While we can’t say whether those claims are valid, we can certainly back up the quality of Zagg’s design — and even if one lets you down, these are backed up by Zagg’s replacement policy.

Buy one now from:

Zagg

Whitestone Dome Tempered Glass Screen Protector ($44)

On the more expensive end, the Whitestone Dome enters the arena with everything to prove. But there is a reason for the high price — the Whitestone Dome uses a new wet application method that puts a layer of adhesive between the screen protector and the phone, reducing any loss of screen sensitivity and achieving a great fit. When in place, the UV lamp goes over your phone, curing the adhesive, ensuring a strong connection between the two layers and making sure you’re getting the best protection available. Be warned — it can be a touch fiddly to install, even for a screen protector — but if you’re willing to pay the price and take your chances, you’ll get screen protection like no other.

Buy one now from:

Mobile Fun

Otterbox Alpha Glass Screen Protector ($19)

Otterbox is known for their exceptionally protective cases, and that exceptionalism also applies to their screen protectors (we even chose the Alpha Glass as the best screen protector for the iPhone 7 Plus). The Alpha Glass is a blend of polyester and glass that resists scratches and shattering on a whole new level. Otterbox has worked hard to make sure you’ll be able to apply and forget, so this protector is ultra-thin and ultra-clear, with no loss of sensitivity.

Buy one now from:

Amazon Otterbox

Supershieldz Film Screen Protector – Six Pack ($6)

Why have one or two when you can have six? SuperShieldz may not have the superstar branding that Spigen, Otterbox, and Zagg can boast — but it’s hard to deny that their products offer great value for money, and great screen protection to boot. A five layer design works hard to provide a bubble-free application that provides flawless touchscreen accuracy. A special coating also reduces glare on the screen while outside, and protects well against all the usual phone-scratching suspects. And if they don’t hold the test of time — who cares? Slap another on and call it a day. With a six-pack, you’ve got screen protection for all your iPhone 8 Plus-owning friends as well.

Buy one now from:

Amazon SuperShieldz

BodyGuardz Pure® 2 Premium Glass Screen Protector ($14)

Another rising star in cell phone accessories, BodyGuardz has made a name for themselves in screen protection in particular. Thanks to their use of a new type of glass called “Aluminosilicate”, BodyGuardz promises that the Pure® 2 is able to more protective than rivals, yet somehow thinner. All we know is this screen protector does the business, and doesn’t disappoint in terms of screen sensitivity and clarity. If you’re the sort of person who struggles with the application process, then BodyGuardz has your back with their patented Express Align tray to help you ease your protector onto your phone.

Buy one now from:

Amazon BodyGuardz

Moshi AirFoil Glass ($40)

We’ve left one of the best for last. Moshi’s AirFoil screen protector offers fantastic shock and scratch-resistance, as well as a thinness of only 0.33m. Thanks to the “atomically-strengthened glass” used, Moshi’s AirFoil is capable of taking stresses and bends like no other screen protector. While we’re sure we won’t see a return to bendy iPhones, it’s nice to know the strength of your protector. Thanks to Moshi’s special AirFoil adhesive, applying it is easy, with it only taking a single tap to spread the adhesive and leave no bubbles.

Buy one now from:

Moshi

Still not sure about which of Apple’s latest to pick up? We’ve got your back with our breakdown of how the iPhone X, 8, and 8 Plus, and you can find our hands-on review of the iPhone 8 and Plus too. If the prices of the newest devices have made you balk — and you’re not alone — don’t worry, Apple has slashed the prices on their older, but still great iPhones.

They can’t all be zingers: 8 absurd sci-fi predictions that never panned out

Why it matters to you

Not every sci-fi movie or TV show gets its future predictions right. Here are eight times things didn’t pan out as Hollywood guessed.

We previously covered science fiction movies and TV shows that eerily manage to predict the future with surprising accuracy. But not every forecast can be quite so perfect.

When it comes to guesses about either technological advances, political changes in society, or — heck — sci-fi writers’ sustained belief that the U.S. government is one financial meltdown away from organizing Hunger Games-style events, not all predictions can be winners. Here are eight sci-fi movies and TV shows that nailed their premises to a particular year, and (often thankfully) got it wrong.

Soylent Green (1973)

Soylent Green is a great 1970s movie starring Charlton Heston. It’s a brilliant blend of pessimistic sci-fi, police procedural, and post-Watergate conspiracy theory. (Spoiler: Soylent Green, the green wafer made of “high-energy plankton,” turns out to be recycled people.)

As great a movie as it is, though, its 1999 setting ended up not having too much in common with the real year. In the actual 1999, the closest thing we had to a living sci-fi dystopia were fears about the Y2K bug and the nu metal musical genre as a whole. Come to think of it, Limp Bizkit wouldn’t be a bad name for a reconstituted human-based wafer!

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

We covered Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece as an example of sci-fi that predicted tech correctly, so what’s it doing on this list? Well, for one thing, its HAL 9000 technology, while certainly prescient, was well beyond the closest thing we had to an AI assistant in 2001: Microsoft’s “Clippy” paperclip assistant.

Our biggest gripe, though, is the lack of a moonbase — something that was also promised for approximately the same time by Gerry Anderson’s Space: 1999 series. Here in 2017, a base on the moon is still talked about, but any plans to build one seem to have gone on the back burner.

Lost In Space (1965-1968)

Not content to just predict a moonbase for the turn of the century, popular sci-fi TV series Lost in Space promised us a mission to Alpha Centauri, with hopes of colonizing it. The far-flung year this was set for? It was 1997, of course. Needless to say, it didn’t happen.

To be fair, it didn’t happen in Lost in Space, either — hence the show’s title.

Demolition Man (1993)

Cult 1990s action movie Demolition Man thought that, by the end of 2010, the United States would be a very different place. The good news? On September 25, the last MDK (that’s “Murder Death Kill”) until 2032 takes place in one of America’s biggest cities. The bad news? That a massively destructive earthquake hit the U.S., necessitating the combining of Los Angeles and San Diego into one megacity.

Neither of these things came to pass.

Terminator franchise (1984-?)

According to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, on August 4, 1997, the Skynet AI becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern Time and immediately starts firing off nuclear missiles like they’re going out of style. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

The disappointing 2003 follow-up, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, reveals that Judgment Day was postponed until 2004. Luckily, we dodged that one as well. Unfortunately, humanity was rewarded with two more terrible movies in this once-great franchise.

Escape from New York (1981)

Geez, what do people have against 1997? After Lost in Space, but before Terminator, director John Carpenter singled it out as the year for his dystopian take on a future America. It’s set in a crime-ridden United States in which New York’s Manhattan Island has been turned into a maximum security prison.

In real life? Contrary to the grim and gritty cityscapes of 1980s sci-fi movies, by the late 1990s and beyond, places like New York had been revitalized. Far from urban hellholes, today’s cities are cleaner, safer, and more appealing than ever.

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Filmmakers of the 1970s sure didn’t think the millennium was going to be a fun time for too many folks. Death Race 2000 predicted that a massive financial crash in 1979 would bring economic ruin to the entire planet.

The U.S. government decided that the best course of action would be a two-pronged effort: Declaring martial law across the country, and organizing a massively violent Transcontinental Road Race, where drivers kill as many innocent bystanders as possible en route to the finish line. The car race thing didn’t happen. The financial crash was pretty prescient, though.

The Running Man (1987)

A lot like Death Race 2000, only with a considerably higher budget, The Running Man takes place in a futuristic dystopia that follows a worldwide economic collapse. The big difference is that instead of a giant car race, the population enjoys watching a game show in which convicted criminals fight for their lives.

The year it’s predicted for? 2017. That means we’ve still got four months to make it through in order to prove this one wrong. We’re doing well so far, even if lines like, “The truth hasn’t been very popular lately” give us plenty of pause for thought!

Cayde-6 from ‘Destiny 2’ got his very own Ace of Spades prop gun from Bungie

Why it matters to you

Bungie has rewarded several of the voice actors from their blockbuster franchise with cool replicas from the game.

Being a voice actor on a video game is not an easy gig. The hours are long, often the pay is low, and you can spend an entire day just making strange noises over and over again.

On the other hand, you sometimes get some really cool swag out of the deal.

Bungie recently rewarded Nathan Fillion, the voice of Cayde-6 from the blockbuster franchise with his very own Destiny Ace of Spades Exotic Hand Cannon. Created by Impact Props, it’s a replica of the iconic weapon from Destiny introduced in The Taken King expansion.

The company also created prop replicas for some of the other voice actors in the game, including a helmet mask for Bill Nighy (The Speaker) and a Titan mark for Lance Reddick (Zavalva). You can see more of their work at their official site and on their Twitter feed.

Bungie has a history of commissioning expensive props for their games that would be the envy of any ComiCon cosplayer. However, sometimes it turns out that carrying a realistic-looking rifle through the streets is not a good idea.

Destiny 2 is a massive multiplayer online futuristic first-person shooter that improves on the original game in almost every way. Although it has the feel of a work in progress, it’s got an ardent fanbase that’s euphoric over the new content. It’s even got a smartphone companion app. If you’re new to the series and a little hesitant to dive in and start blasting aliens, check out our explainer that will catch you up on all the story elements from the first game.

Fillion is probably best known for his role in Firefly as Captain “Mal” Reynolds and, more recently, the TV series Castle. An accomplished gaming voice actor, he has a history with Bungie, with roles in Halo 5: Reach, Halo 3, and Halo 3: ODST.

The Beastie Boys rarely allow their music to be used in advertisements, but if you’re not already sick of Sabotage, you can see Nathan in action in the insane live-action trailer for the game. “Puppies!”

Destiny 2 was released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6. A PC release (a first for the series) is slated for October 24.

A robot named Heliograf got hundreds of stories published last year

Why it matters to you

The rise of artificial intelligence in journalism brings up many questions about the future of reporting.

Robots are taking our jobs, no doubt about it. Just in the past year we’ve seen barista robots, fast-food robots, pizza delivery robots, and even a robot conducting a symphony orchestra. But robots can’t replace journalists, right? The dogged reporters, members of the vaunted Fourth Estate, the men and women who bring us the news stories we read every day?

Think again. It’s happening, and odds are that you’ve been reading stories created by artificial intelligence in local and world news already.

A year ago, the Washington Post introduced Heliograf, an in-house program that automatically generates short reports for their live blog. It was first used during the Rio Olympics to provide information such as the results of medal events for services like Alexa. At that time Sam Han, engineering director of data science, said, “The next challenge is to broaden the subjects covered, deepen the kind of analysis possible and identify potential stories for our newsroom.”

It looks like that day has arrived. Over the past year, the Post has published 850 stories from Heliograf, expanding its reach to include reporting on subject like congressional races and high-school football games.

Other outlets like USA Today and the Associated Press have also begun to rely on automated software to create content for readers. Executives are quick to point out that the AI is not meant to replace reporters, but instead allow them extra time to develop and relate more important and relevant stories. “Heliograf will free up Post reporters and editors to add analysis, color from the scene and real insight to stories in ways only they can,” said Jeremy Gilbert, director of strategic initiatives at the Post.

Not to mention the fact that machines don’t make typos and provide more accurate reporting. As Francesco Marconi, AP’s strategy manager put it, “In the case of automated financial news coverage by AP, the error rate in the copy decreased even as the volume of the output increased more than tenfold.”

A few years ago, the site Deadspin speculated that a robot had written a story about a college baseball game, citing the fact that they had “buried the lede” by not mentioning the pitcher had thrown a perfect game until the end of the story. A company called Natural Science rose to the challenge and, using only the box score, produced a better recap of the game than the human reporter had.

What this means for the future of reporting is an open question. Many of today’s biggest names in journalism got their start covering local news or high school sports. In the end, it all comes down to ad revenue. Although the Post can appraise the clicks and pageviews Heliograf generates, evaluating how much it impacts the bottom line is a more difficult task. In any event, it seems like reporters and robots will be working side-by-side for the foreseeable future.

A robot named Heliograf got hundreds of stories published last year

Why it matters to you

The rise of artificial intelligence in journalism brings up many questions about the future of reporting.

Robots are taking our jobs, no doubt about it. Just in the past year we’ve seen barista robots, fast-food robots, pizza delivery robots, and even a robot conducting a symphony orchestra. But robots can’t replace journalists, right? The dogged reporters, members of the vaunted Fourth Estate, the men and women who bring us the news stories we read every day?

Think again. It’s happening, and odds are that you’ve been reading stories created by artificial intelligence in local and world news already.

A year ago, the Washington Post introduced Heliograf, an in-house program that automatically generates short reports for their live blog. It was first used during the Rio Olympics to provide information such as the results of medal events for services like Alexa. At that time Sam Han, engineering director of data science, said, “The next challenge is to broaden the subjects covered, deepen the kind of analysis possible and identify potential stories for our newsroom.”

It looks like that day has arrived. Over the past year, the Post has published 850 stories from Heliograf, expanding its reach to include reporting on subject like congressional races and high-school football games.

Other outlets like USA Today and the Associated Press have also begun to rely on automated software to create content for readers. Executives are quick to point out that the AI is not meant to replace reporters, but instead allow them extra time to develop and relate more important and relevant stories. “Heliograf will free up Post reporters and editors to add analysis, color from the scene and real insight to stories in ways only they can,” said Jeremy Gilbert, director of strategic initiatives at the Post.

Not to mention the fact that machines don’t make typos and provide more accurate reporting. As Francesco Marconi, AP’s strategy manager put it, “In the case of automated financial news coverage by AP, the error rate in the copy decreased even as the volume of the output increased more than tenfold.”

A few years ago, the site Deadspin speculated that a robot had written a story about a college baseball game, citing the fact that they had “buried the lede” by not mentioning the pitcher had thrown a perfect game until the end of the story. A company called Natural Science rose to the challenge and, using only the box score, produced a better recap of the game than the human reporter had.

What this means for the future of reporting is an open question. Many of today’s biggest names in journalism got their start covering local news or high school sports. In the end, it all comes down to ad revenue. Although the Post can appraise the clicks and pageviews Heliograf generates, evaluating how much it impacts the bottom line is a more difficult task. In any event, it seems like reporters and robots will be working side-by-side for the foreseeable future.

Every voice command you can use while within Gear VR

You can control your Gear VR vocally by using these commands!

Gear VR lets you explore great new worlds and games that can bring you across the universe. While there are certain things that will require a controller, you can control several simple commands using only your voice. There aren’t many voice commands, but the ones that are available make a big difference!

We’ve got every voice command available from within Gear VR for you here!

Read more at VRHeads!

Let’s talk about Blueborne, the latest Bluetooth vulnerability

Because you need to know what’s up and what to do about it.

We got to see something cool and terrible (yes, it’s possible to be both at the same time) earlier this week when Armis Security published the details of a new Bluetooth exploit. Called “Blueborne,” the exploit allows a person with the right tools and who is within Bluetooth range of your smart thing — laptop, phone, car, or anything else that runs Android (as well as most every other operating systems, including iOS and Windows) — to gain control over the device without any action from the user.

That’s because the exploit cleverly attacks portions of the software needed to establish a connection to hijack the Bluetooth stack itself, which is pretty much done in a universal way because of how complicated Bluetooth is and how the stack itself handles so many things the OS could be doing instead.

Interested yet? If not, you should be.

Before we go any further, here is the good(ish) news: Apple, Google, and Microsoft have all patched the exploit. On the Android side, we saw the fix in this month’s security patch released the same day the vulnerability was made public. This surely isn’t a coincidence and kudos to Armis for working with the companies who write the software we all use every day to get this fixed. Of course, almost every Android-powered device doesn’t yet have this patch and won’t for a while.

I’ll resist the temptation to make this all about Android’s update woes and the million-and-one different reasons that it happens. I’ll just say that if you value being protected against most vulnerabilities like this you currently have three options: an Android-powered device from BlackBerry, an Android-powered device direct from Google, or an iPhone. You decide what to do here.

Instead let’s talk about what Blueborne is and how it does it, as well as what you can do about it.

What is Blueborne?

It’s a series of simple attacks on various parts of the Bluetooth stack running on almost every smart device in the world. Including 2 billion Android phones. It’s not a MiTM (Man in The Middle) attack, where someone intercepts Bluetooth traffic between you and a thing you’re connected to. Instead, it’s posed as a device that wants to discover and connect over Bluetooth but the exploit happens before the connection attempt gets to a stage where a user needs to act.

For people into this sort of thing, the short version of how the exploit works on Android is that the attacker sends out a discovery query, then manipulates both the timestamp and size of a second discovery query for a separate service to the same machine. This causes a buffer underflow and bypasses the standard Bluetooth Security Management Protocols to hit the failsafe “just works” connection. While it sounds crazy that this works, it’s better than the default BlueZ stack version of the exploit which is a straight-up buffer overflow that bypasses every connection check. I’m not familiar enough with Windows or iOS to parse the exploit code for those operating systems, but if you are hit the link in the opening paragraph and check it out. Then hit the comments and help us all understand better.

If you’re not into looking through code (it’s a special sort of illness, I do admit) the short short version is that a person with a computer that has a Bluetooth connection can type a few lines in a terminal and connect to your phone. How easy it is for him or her to connect is ridiculous (we’ll talk about why that is later) and anyone with even just a passing knowledge of this sort of thing can do it. That’s why it was important that Armis hold the release until Apple, Google, and Microsoft were able to act.

The scary part is what happens after the connection is made. There is no secret magic app that roots your phone and hacks all your data. It’s too easy to prevent any process from getting that level of control, and permissions prevent it from happening unless a process does have that level of access. Instead, an attacker can act as the logged in user. That’s you.

With 8 billion devices that need to connect, Bluetooth is a big target for people who want to steal data.

In the example video above we see the attacker establishing a Bluetooth mouse connection to a sleeping Pixel, then doing the same things you could do if you were holding it in your hands. Apps can be started, pictures, video, and audio can be recorded, and your files can be downloaded directly to the attacker’s computer. there is nothing on your phone to say “Stop, this is not cool” because it is cool — it’s acting as you. And none of your data is safe. If the attacker is unable to access a sandboxed directory, he or she can simply open the associated app and pull images of what’s on the screen while it is running.

The frustrating part of all this is why it works. I’m not talking about how the stack is exploited and someone crashes their way in, I mean why in the broader sense. Why something this preventable was able to slip past the experts who oversee security and are really good at writing this sort of thing out of the operating system. And the answer is that it happened because Bluetooth is a giant, complicated mess.

It’s not the Bluetooth SIG’s (Special Interest Group) fault, even if it is their responsibility to ultimately address this. Bluetooth started out in 1998 as a simple short-range wireless connection. It’s now on more than 8 billion devices worldwide and has grown and grown in features and complexity. And it has to be backward compatible, so portions of it have to be left as-is when it comes to things like advanced connection security standards. If an encrypted paired-key connection can’t be established, it has to be able to try something less secure and keep trying until it connects, runs out of ways to try, or the security management features tell it to stop. Exploit the SMP layer and you’re in. And as new features get added to newer versions, it only gets worse.

There are exploits in proprietary software, too. We just don’t know about them until it’s too late.

The people writing an operating system and the security team whose job it is to break it will all take their share of the responsibility here, too. The problem here is that they’re dealing with impossibly complex code in the Bluetooth stack and while they are busy trying to patch it against one thing other things could also be exploited. Google did change a good bit of the “default” Bluetooth implementation for Linux, as did Apple and Microsoft. The things you use are well-protected against things like a man in the middle attack or a way to get admin permission over Bluetooth. That’s because those have traditionally been the way Bluetooth was exploited, and there is always plenty of work to do prevent it from happening.

Finally, this is a great example of why open-source code is great. The researchers at Armis were able to find this exploit, see exactly how it works and determine exactly how to patch it because they have access to the code itself. While Apple and Microsoft don’t use a fully open source Bluetooth stack, they knew exactly where to look to patch their version. If every company involved used closed proprietary code this exploit would still exist, but we wouldn’t know about it until it was too late and other folks knew about it, too.

What should you do about it?

Every person reading this probably has one or more Bluetooth devices. Your watch, your phone, your laptop, your TV, and the list could go on and on; Bluetooth is everywhere and on almost everything. That means you’re likely to have Bluetooth enabled on your phone, and that’s all it takes to be vulnerable to this if your phone is still unpatched.

The saving grace here is that Bluetooth is a short-range connection standard. Bluetooth 5 is working on extending the range, but you’re pretty much confined to about 30 feet before the signal gets bad. That means you’re really only at risk when you’re within 30 feet of the person trying to get into your phone.

Bluetooth’s short range means an attacker has to be near you to use the Blueborne exploit.

And the way this exploit works is scary, but it also means you’re probably going to notice it. If your phone is sleeping and locked, an attacker can still connect. But as soon as they attempt to access your stuff or get tricky and try to take control, the screen would light up and they would need to unlock the phone. For now, at least. Don’t think for a minute that people aren’t working on a way around this because they are. And they will find it.

I’m not going to suggest you stop using your smartwatch or your favorite Bluetooth headset and shut down Bluetooth permanently. But there are a few things we can do to make it harder for someone to get in through Bluetooth while we’re waiting for a patch. And again — if your phone has the September 2017 security patch, you’re protected.

• Shut Bluetooth off when you’re not using it. You’re probably safe at home or at work, but if you get into the habit of turning Bluetooth off when you don’t need it you won’t forget the next time you go to Starbucks. There is no way for an attacker to turn Bluetooth on. At least not yet.
• Make sure you have a secure lock screen. Dead stop. If you don’t already have a password, PIN, pattern, fingerprints or anything else set up so your phone is locked until you unlock it yourself, go do it now.
• Turn off trusted devices while you’re at it. Tapping in a 4-digit PIN or scanning your eyeballs is way more convenient than getting new credit cards and talking to your bank, even once. Trust me, I’ve been there. (Thank’s, Target. Idiots, I swear.)
• Don’t leave your phone unattended. Put it in your pocket or purse and take it with you even if you’re only stepping away for a minute or two.
• If you see the screen turn on, look and see why. This is the biggest “flaw” in the exploit; it will turn your screen on if someone tries to do anything after they are connected.
• Ask the company you gave money to when you bought your phone when you should expect an update to fix this. Asking nicely lets it know that you care about it, and when enough people show they care a company will decide to care. The patch is available to every phone running Android 4.4 and higher.

There probably isn’t an army of people armed with laptops and Mountain Dew patrolling the streets, ready to hack “all the phones” through Bluetooth. But there could be that one guy, and he could be at McDonald’s or the library or anywhere else. In cases like this, it’s always better to be safe because the things we can do are pretty easy.

Your stuff is worth it.

Nikon is making a full-frame mirrorless camera

To say Nikon has been conservative with mirrorless cameras would be an understatement. While most of its rivals have embraced mirrorless (even a cautious company like Canon takes them seriously), Nikon’s efforts have been timid at best — the 1 series is closer to point-and-shoots in spirit than a DSLR replacement. Thankfully, it’s mending its ways. In an interview with Xitek, company R&D manager Tetsuro Goto says that any new Nikon mirrorless camera “must” be full-frame. Given that the firm’s president has already said that a mirrorless camera is in the works, it’s clear that this upcoming model will come with a giant sensor.

As for the reason why? Goto claims that competitors like Fujifilm, Olympus and Sony don’t really cater to pro photographers with their mirrorless cams, and Nikon could fulfill that role. “There is no professional using their products,” he says. We’d disagree strongly with that statement (the Sony A9 is very clearly aimed at pros), but it’s true that most mirrorless cameras are aimed at enthusiasts and others who don’t depend on photography as their main source of income.

Goto unsurprisingly isn’t revealing specifics. However, Nikon has patented two full-frame lenses (a close-up 36mm f/1.2 and an ultra-bright 52mm f/0.9), so that will at least give you an idea of what to expect — Nikon wants high-quality glass for portraits and other shots that pros like to take. This definitely won’t be cheap, but it may scratch the itch for serious photographers who don’t want to lug around a giant DSLR just to take print-worthy shots.

Via: Nikon Rumors, PetaPixel

Source: Xitek (translated)

Pirate Bay ‘borrows’ visitor CPUs to mine virtual coins

Piracy websites can’t really depend on ads, so how do they make money? By using your PC’s processor cycles, apparently — whether you want to or not. Visitors to The Pirate Bay have discovered JavaScript code in the website that ‘borrows’ your processor for the sake of mining Monero digital coins. It doesn’t always happen (it mainly appears in search results and category listings), but you’ll definitely notice the sharp spike in CPU usage when it kicks in.

The site tells TorrentFreak that it was testing the feature for about 24 hours as a new way of generating revenue, and that it could eventually be enough to replace ads. In short, don’t be surprised if this becomes a mainstay of the site going forward. Users have found that they can block the miner through their browser settings or add-ons like ad blockers, so it’s not inescapable.

Without warnings, however, many inexperienced visitors won’t even realize what’s happening, let alone figure out how to stop it. And that’s the real concern. While there isn’t much sympathy to be had for pirate site hosts eager for revenue, the unsuspecting visitors are another story — they didn’t ask to bog down their systems.

Via: Neowin

Source: TorrentFreak

Wind energy mines digital cash to support climate research

Climate change is frequently described as a vicious cycle that depletes the very resources needed to fight it. In the case of Julian Oliver’s latest project, however, it could almost be described as virtuous. His Harvest project uses a 700W wind turbine to power a PC mining cryptocurrency (specifically, Zcash) that directly funds climate change research. In other words: the more the symptoms of climate change manifest themselves, the more money goes toward fighting that change. It was commissioned as a piece of art, but it’s a very practical design that could find plenty of uses in the real world.

The PC itself is mostly off-the-shelf, with the GPU-heavy specs that you’d expect from a mining rig: it’s using ‘just’ a Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, but it packs a hefty GeForce GTX 1080 Ti to process virtual cash as quickly as possible. The biggest changes are the obligatory weatherproof casing and a controller to regulate the incoming charge. The turbine itself has two hefty 150Ah batteries (each weighs about 95lbs) to store excess energy for use around the clock.

If you want to see Harvest as of this writing, you’ll have to visit Sweden’s Konstmuseet i Skövde (Art Museum in Skövde) between now and when the exhibition ends in mid-November. Oliver will donate the mined cryptocurrency to three climate-related non-profit groups when it’s over. However, that’s not necessarily the end of the story. Oliver sees this as a prototype, and envisions “hundreds” of these machines raising money in windy areas. And strictly speaking, it wouldn’t have to be used for money mining. It’s easy to see this being useful for rural internet access and any other infrastructure where you want always-on systems and don’t want to (or can’t) rely on the conventional power grid.

Source: Julian Oliver