This microwave-based hard drive will offer 40 terabytes of storage

Why it matters to you

This hard drive offers massive storage space for the data-heavy user.

In terms of hard drives, solid-state drives are popular, including with us, because they offer speed and reliability within a smaller package than other hard drives. Those advantages do come with a trade-off when compared to older disc-based drives, namely a lack of storage capacity. SSDs simply can’t store as much information as disc-based drives. Western Digital is one of the companies that has led the way in terms of disc-based drives. BGR reports that the manufacturer recently unveiled a new technology that could help disc-based drives maintain their dominance for years to come.

WD is currently working on the production of microwave-assisted magnetic recording, or MAMR. This new technology promises to be ideal for data centers and other ventures where storage capacity, rather than speed, are the most important factors. By 2025, the company expects to have an MAMR that can store up to 40TB of data. According to Western Digital’s blog, the company believes that MAMR represents the future of data center storage.

“The company recently innovated a breakthrough in material and process that provides the required reliable and predictable performance, as well as the manufacturability to accelerate areal density and cost improvements to an estimated average of 15 percent per year,” the blog reads. “Developments in the other energy-assisted technology, specifically, heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), present new material science and reliability challenges that are not a factor in MAMR. Only MAMR demonstrates the reliability and cost profile that meets the demands of data center operators.”

The technology is certainly impressive and, if it works as promised, it will prove popular with data-heavy businesses. That being said, we imagine many consumers will prefer the faster options available from SSDs. Consumer hard drives are fairly affordable right now, so we believe that most people, especially gamers, would rather have a couple of fast hard drives than one large, slow hard drive.

Seagate, another major data storage technology manufacturer, unveiled the Seagate Game Drive for Xbox SSD last year. The device is an external solid-state storage solution built specifically for Microsoft’s Xbox One console. Seagate also offers a portable SSD built for PlayStation 4 and PS3 consoles.

Politifact inadvertently hosted a digital currency miner

You might expect a pirate website to use something as shady as a secret cryptocurrency miner, but that’s now becoming a problem with above-board sites — and it’s not on purpose. Politifact visitors have discovered that the site was inadvertently hosting JavaScript code that hijacked your processor to mine virtual coins. The fact checker tells TechCrunch that it has removed the code and is investigating just how it got there, but it’s more than a little alarming that such a popular page (3.2 million views per month) could be susceptible to parasitic code that bogs down your PC.

While the culprits aren’t known at this point, they used familiar tactics. The JavaScript relied on CoinHive, a third-party service that makes these web-based currency miners possible.

It’s not hard for sites to fend off these hidden mining operations, and you can thwart them yourself by running script blockers like NoScript or, well, closing the browser tab. However, the Politifact incident suggests that these miners are becoming more of a widespread problem. Hackers have realized that they don’t necessarily need to compromise your PC or run a phishing scam to make a tidy profit — they just have to slip their code into a site and watch the digital money roll in. That’s better for your personal security, but it could also make web surfing a hassle as opportunists bog down your system for the sake of a little cash.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Reddit, The Register

Coal power plant closures ramp up in spite of White House plans

The Trump administration may hope that it can reverse coal power’s decline by ending the Clean Power Plan and other eco-friendly efforts, but the industry’s moves suggest otherwise. Luminant has announced plans to close three major coal plants in Texas (in Freestone, Milam and Titus counties) between January and February of 2018. The shutdowns will take a combined 4,200MW of power off the grid — enough to run over 4 million homes, as Reuters notes. The news boosts the expected capacity of 2018 power plant closures to over 13,600MW, or a whopping 79 percent more than the known closures for this year. It’s not a record high (nearly 18,000MW went offline in 2015), but it’s clear that the trend is toward more closures, not fewer.

Luminant isn’t shy about the reasons for the decisions, which will unfortunately lead to roughly 950 people losing their jobs. It blames an “oversupplied” renewable energy market, but it also points to low prices for both natural gas and wholesale electricity. These coal plants haven’t been money-makers for a while, and there was nothing to suggest the market was about to turn around.

These latest closures illustrate the problems the White House faces with its plans to challenge the “war on coal” (as EPA head Scott Pruitt called it) by removing Obama-era regulations and policies. The decision to scrap the Clean Power Plan may have reduced pressure to lower carbon emissions, but that doesn’t matter if it’s no longer financially viable to run a given coal plant regardless of its emission levels. Simply put, the recent trend suggests that coal may be on an irreversible slide, and that clean energy tech like solar is still the future.

Via: Reuters

Source: Luminant (1), (2)

Apple considering a stylus compatible version of the iPhone for next year

Why it matters to you

Apple has never made a stylus-compatible before so this could be a game changer.

Apple is considering creating a new version of the Apple Pencil for an upcoming version of the iPhone. The Korea Herald has reported that sources close to to the company said that “Apple is preparing to launch the phone as early as 2019.”

Apple debuted the Apple Pencil in 2015 and has been a staple of the iPad Pro ever since. However, the company has never released one that is compatible with the iPhone. Apple’s reluctance to create an iPhone-compatible stylus likely has to do with Steve Jobs’ distaste for styluses. The Apple founder was known for his hatred of styluses and once reportedly said “God gave us 10 styluses. Let’s not invent another.”

While Jobs may have had an aversion to styluses, it’s clear that other tech companies and, more importantly, tech consumers, do not. The disaster that was the exploding Note 7 aside, Samsung’s Galaxy Note series has consistently sold well and styluses, in general, have proven popular with many people, especially artists.

The stylus for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8’s stylus was made in a partnership with Wacom, a company well-known for its stylus and tablets geared towards artists. While the Note 8 is more of a business-oriented, our review revealed that the Note 8 still worked well for drawing.

We don’t know who will make Apple’s new stylus, but the Korea Herald’s reports indicate that the stylus-compatible version of the iPhone will have some major differences from Samsung’s line Note phones. The Note 8’s stylus was made using electromagnetic resonance, which requires additional panels under the phone’s screen. Apple’s stylus will reportedly be a supercapacitor stylus, which is less expensive to make.

“A supercapacitor type is cheaper to make compared to the EMR stylus. It also offers a more pen-like feel,” one of the Herald’s sources said.

Another obstacle facing Apple is that there A-series line of mobile hardware will likely need an upgrade in order to support handwriting and drawing features on the smartphone. This was reportedly a problem for the iPhone X, where Apple was forced to reduce the touch-screen’s performance in order to make up for the fact that it had to use an older chipset.

Octopus and their camouflage techniques inspired this cool new morphing material

Why it matters to you

This new morphing material could make for next-generation camouflage or even disappearing surfaces.

If James Bond were an animal, doubtless he’d be an octopus. Sure, these tentacled sea dwellers may not seem like the most suave of animals, but they certainly could serve as super spies. You see (or don’t see, in this case), a certain species of this cephalopod known as the mimic octopus does just that — it mimics things better than just about any other creature on Earth. Capable of changing colors and shapes, the octopus is apparently able to bear a striking resemblance to anything from a lion fish to a shrimp to an anemone. And now, humans are trying to create camouflage based on this remarkable animal.

A team of materials scientists and engineers at Cornell University, along with octopus expert Roger Hanlon from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts, have cracked the code of the mimic octopus with rubber and mesh. As per the results of their study published in Science, the team managed to create a “thin membrane that contorts into complex 3-D shapes — much like the shape-shifting skin of an octopus,” the Washington Post reports.

In just seconds, this membrane can mimic a potted plant, or a pile of stones. And when applied ore broadly, this invention could have major implications, from military camo to adaptable smart devices.

“For a few decades, scientists and engineers have been trying to control the shape of soft, stretchable materials,” said James Pikul, lead author of the paper, and an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania. To solve this longstanding problem, Pikul and the team cut a series of concentric rings into silicon rubber and mesh. This way, when the rubber was inflated, the membrane contorted based on the shape of the cuts.

“The width of the concentric rings determine how much radial stretch there is in the membrane,” Pikul told the Post. “This stretch is directly related to the slope of the inflated shape, so if you know your final shape, you can calculate the slope and match the ring patterns to that slope.”

While the material isn’t being widely used quite yet, Pikul says that he can imagine many different uses. “One of the things that we’re really interested is this idea of vanishing interfaces,” he told CBC News. If you think about your car’s dashboard, he noted, “It’s flat, it almost looks like leather and there’s not much there. If you had the material that we engineered, you could inflate it, and then coming out from that leather could be a joystick that you use to drive your car, or it could be a display. You’d have this cool interface — and when you don’t need it anymore, it disappears and looks like a dashboard again.”

Russian voice assistant Alice sounds as natural as developer Yandex claims

App Attack is a weekly series where we search the App Store and Google Play Store for the best apps of the week. Check out App Attack every Sunday for the latest.

It’s sometimes tough to remember the days when we didn’t have the convenience of a voice assistant. Whether it’s through your smartphone or a home device, it’s as though a new one is popping up everyday. In the U.S., this type of technology is always available for us in the English language, while that’s not always the case for other countries. This week, we have an international app that takes the concept of voice assistants and create its own.

Yandex — available for iOS and Android — is particularly known as a Russian search engine. Since it’s been around for quite some time, Yandex has also branched out into language translation, a real-time bidding platform, and antivirus software. Most recently, it also introduced its own voice assistant, Alice, and integrated the new feature into the Yandex app. While the app can be downloaded in Ukrainian and Turkish as well, Alice can only speak Russian at the moment.

Perhaps the most unique thing about the new voice assistant is the fact that its developers based Alice’s voice off Spike Jonez’ movie Her. For anyone who’s unfamiliar, the premise of the film involves Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), faling in love with an operating system named Samantha. Yeah, you read that correctly — but it also helps to know that Samantha is played by Scarlett Johansson, whose voice has a soothing, friendly tone to it. To create the same tone, Yandex specifically used the recording actress who dubbed the voice of Samantha in the Russian version of the movie.

While Alice is here to help inform Russian users of the weather, plan routes to destinations, or learn the latest news, she’s also here to talk to you about nothing. The company recently added a neural network based “chit-chat” feature to allow you to have free-flowing conversations about anything you’d like. Yandex claims it’s a feature that sets it apart from the crowd of other voice assistants, but I think it’s going a bit overboard with this Her theme.

As a Russian speaker myself, I decided to test out Alice along with my dad, who immigrated here from the Ukraine when he was young. I was particularly excited to speak to Alice because I wanted to see how bad my Russian has truly gotten over the years. I wondered if she would still be able to understand what I was saying. If you really want to know how terribly I speak it, let’s just say I sound like someone who’s in the beginning stages of learning the language, rather than someone who spoke it as their first language.

As for my parents, their Russian accents are barely even there anymore, but growing up, I remember those old school voice assistants — known as navigation systems — had some trouble understanding them. I was interested to see how much easier it would be for my father to interact in his native language, especially given that Alice was created with SpeechKit — which is Yandex’s toolkit that enables her to understand your Russian with close to human-level accuracy. But in my opinion — and based on experience — she might have actually understood me better than humans do.

The Yandex app looks extremely similar to the Google Assistant app interface. You have a newsfeed of information from weather to your email, along with news headlines. When it comes to using Alice, all you need to do is click on the microphone and tell her your question or command. There’s also the option to type it out instead, and Alice will still understand you even if you type in English. But for maximum effect, you’re probably better off typing to her in Russian by adding the keyboard to your device.

While I can’t read Russian, I typed to her in English and had my dad read it out loud in Russian. Her responses were witty and entertaining, even with questions like “How are you?” she responds with “Very good, but lonely.”

Even if Alice doesn’t get your question correct the first time, there are options presented to you to choose from instead. You can also send a thumbs up or thumbs down symbol to let her know whether or not she was accurate in understanding your response.

For both my dad and I, speaking with Alice was actually a breeze. Even though my Russian isn’t perfect, she was still able to pick up on what I was saying. As for my dad, he said that if Yandex were available in the U.S., he would prefer to use it.

Though I thought it strange to base a voice assistant off of a movie like Her, I have to admit that speaking to Alice was entertaining. She was not only full of jokes, but would also give in-depth answers to all of your questions whether it was the weather or directions.

Yandex also did a great job of making her voice sound more natural than I’ve heard with other voice assistants. The most impressive factor was definitely how easy it was for her to understand me, when my Russian isn’t even that great. Perhaps those other companies could take a few hints from Alice herself.

Here’s how to watch the epic USA vs. Japan giant robot battle to the death

Why it matters to you

A pair of giant robots battling it out until one is left standing. Need we say more?

It’s been years in the making, but the big event has finally arrived. The Giant Robot Duel between Eagle Prime and Kuratas will erupt on October 17, and you can follow all the action on Twitch.

In 2015, Megabots completed construction of the Mk.II, a 15-foot tall, 6-ton behemoth capable of hurling projectiles at more than 130 miles per hour. Megabots challenged Suidobashi Heavy Industries, creators of the Kuratas heavy robot, to a duel. They accepted, with one condition.

“Just building something huge and sticking guns on it. It’s Super American … If we’re going to win this, I want to punch them to scrap and knock them down to do it,” said Kogoro Kurata, designer of the 4-ton gargantuan Kuratas mech. In other words, it had to be a melee fight to the death.

Megabots accepted, but there was one small problem. They needed a new robot. Their Mk.II robot had been deemed “unsafe for hand-to-hand combat.” The upcoming encounter would have killed or seriously injured the human operator. So, they did what any enterprising company would have done — they took to Kickstarter.

“The Mk.II was designed to be an inexpensive prototype,” explained MegaBots co-founder Matt Oehrlein. “The Mk.III is designed from the ground up to be the best robot possible, with the best hydraulic, robotics, and pilot safety technology available on the market.”

The new Mk.III features a grappling hook and an eight-foot chainsaw as optional accessories. In training for the fight, Eagle Prime honed its fighting skills by bashing a hapless Prius to death. Not much is known about the armament of Kuratas, other than its 6,000 rounds-per-minute BB Gatling guns.

The showdown won’t actually be streamed live; in fact it’s already taken place at an abandoned steel warehouse in Japan. There were no spectators at the event, due to safety concerns. According to MegaBots, the duel consisted of several rounds, spaced out over several days to give the teams time to repair their bots. Gui Cavalcanti of MegaBots told The Verge that there were no points or scoring — it was purely winner-take-all by knockout. Additionally, the weight, power, size, and weapons of the bots were “left to each individual team,” and they were designed “to not cut through metal, but instead to damage it.”

WE'RE STILL ALIVE.WE'RE BACK FROM THE DUEL.VIDEO COMING ASAP. RELEASE DATE COMING SOON.

Posted by MegaBots on Saturday, September 30, 2017

On September 30, MegeBots posted on Facebook that they were “still alive,” so the results of the duel are anyone’s guess. If you’re hoping for a Transformers-style destructive extravaganza, you’ll probably be disappointed — the mechs are slow and ponderous, and it’s likely to be a slow-moving battle of attrition until one can no longer move.

The event will be streamed on Twitch, with commentary provided by Mike Goldberg of the UFC and robotics expert Saura Naderi. Tune in at Tuesday, October 17 at 7 p.m. PT for all the giant mech-on-mech action.

Google lowers the price of the Pixel 2’s headphone adapter

Why it matters to you

Your first dongle is free, but replacements are now more than half off.

When Apple first announced that the iPhone 7 would not have a headphone jack, there was a clear sense of frustration in many responses. The internet wasted no time in mocking Apple’s decision, with some joking that Apple had innovated in reverse by actually removing features that consumers wanted. This decision prompted Apple’s rivals, such as Google, to boast that its phones maintained headphone jokes. Despite these issues, the iPhone 7 sold rather well. However, those who did want to use their old headphone still had an option in Apple’s headphone adapter. While it’s easy to mock Apple products as overpriced, the adapter was reasonably priced at $9.

All of this brings us to the Google Pixel 2. By all accounts, it’s a great looking phone, but, like the iPhone 7, the Pixel 2 lacks a headphone jack. In order to use standard headphones, users will have to rely on Google’s dongle adapter. One of these dongles is included with the Pixel 2, but should you need a second one, it could get expensive. Google originally priced the dongle at $20. This apparently frustrated a lot of people and, in response, Trusted Reviews has reported that Google lowered the price of the adapter to $9.

Regardless of the price of the adapter, Google’s decision to kill the standard headphone jack is becoming something of a pattern among smartphone makers. Some manufacturers, such as OnePlus and Samsung, are resisting this trend, but don’t be too surprised if the the Samsung Galaxy 9 doesn’t sport a headphone jack.

The points in favor of keeping the headphone jack are obviously a matter of affordability and convenience. Nearly everyone has a pair of 3.5mm headphones, and if you lose a pair, it’s is easy and affordable to find a replacement. You can pick up a decent pair of headphones for $10. Wireless headphones, on the other hand, tend to be a lot more expensive.

The benefits of losing the headphone jack are less clear, but they are there. A major factor has to do with the trend towards smaller and thinner phones. In order to make phones thinner and thinner, manufacturers have to remove components where they can, and headphone jacks are one of the first casualties of this design philosophy. Another major reason, especially for Apple, was to push its vision of the future of audio technology.

How to Use Portrait Mode on an iPhone 7 Plus, 8 Plus, or X

Portrait Mode is arguably the best reason for picking up the last-gen iPhone 7 Plus. The intuitive feature makes good use of the iPhone 7’s rear dual cameras, allowing you to imbue your photos with a shallow depth of field effect, one typically reserved for fancy DLSRs.

With iOS 11 and the new iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, Apple is adding cool lighting effects and other new features that will give your photos a more personalized look.

Thankfully, learning how to use Portrait Mode on an iPhone only takes a moment — simply open up the camera and tap Portrait, which is located directly above the shutter button. Once your camera is in Portrait Mode, a wheel of lighting effects will appear.

The first effect is Natural Light, which is essentially the same as the regular Portrait Mode introduced in iOS 11. As the name implies, the effect will simply blur the background and not adjust any of the lighting.

The next effect is Studio Light, which tries to even the lighting across your subject, so it looks as though you shot the photo in a well-lit studio. Contour Light tries to even out the lighting, too, but it also adds shadows to your subject’s contours, giving their cheeks and other features a more pronounced look.

Studio Light

Dramatic Light

For dramatic shots, try opting for Dramatic Light. The effect offers up the same features as Contour Light, but it also blacks out everything surrounding your background. This gives you the feeling of being the only thing lit on a black box stage.

But if Dramatic Light isn’t moody enough for you, then the final Portrait Mode effect, Stage Light Mono, will probably do the trick. It’s the same as Dramatic Light, except it results in a black-and-white photo.

Once you’ve chosen your desired effect, you’ll want to position the subject in the center of the camera and far enough away for you to snap the shot. The photo will then pop up in your Photos app with the applied effect.

If you want to change the effect after you’ve taken the photo, then find your picture in the Photos app and tap Edit. You’ll then see the same choices as before, but at the bottom of the photo. Just remember that you can only change or add an effect to photos that you’ve previously shot while in Portrait Mode.

David Cogen — a regular contributor here at Digital Trends — runs TheUnlockr, a popular tech blog that focuses on tech news, tips and tricks, and the latest tech. You can also find him on Twitter discussing the latest tech trends.

Daydream Audio: What to do when there’s no headphone jack

Don’t panic at the lack of a headphone jack!

The Pixel 2 was revealed alongside the newest iteration of Google’s Daydream View headset, and while this phone is amazing for VR it is rather conspicuously missing something. That something is, of course, a headphone jack. This isn’t the first Daydream-ready phone with no headphone jack, but it is certainly the most popular.

Since wireless headphones don’t offer the best experience for VR due to issues with latency. While this isn’t ideal, it’s no reason to panic. We’ve got your options covered for getting the best audio experience.

Read more at VRHeads!