AT&T brings ‘5G Evolution’ to more than 100 new markets

AT&T is currently working on getting more than 100 cities ready for its roll-out of 5G service. On Friday, the company announced that it was rolling out its “5G Evolution” service to parts of 117 new markets, bringing the total to 141.

The cities include larger metropolitan areas like Dallas, Miami, Los Angeles, and smaller cities like Knoxville, Tennessee, and Anchorage, Alaska. AT&T hopes to expand the program to 500 cities by this year’s end.

5G Evolution is not true 5G service, however — It simply lays the groundwork for AT&T’s efforts to offer true 5G service in the future. That being said, 5G Evolution isn’t purely marketing speak, either. AT&T says its service is capable of delivering “theoretical peak speeds for capable devices of up to 400 megabits per second.”

“The upgraded markets will provide double the speed and it’s the stepping stone to full 5G promised for later this year,” Roger Entner of Recon Analytics told CNET.

While those peak speeds are theoretical, 5G Evolution will likely still offer faster speeds than current mobile networks. Unfortunately, there are some limits as to how many people will benefit from this plan. Currently, only select phones such as the Samsung S8 and S9 have the technology to make use of this new network. Apple fans are also out of luck, as none of the current models of the iPhone support this service.

True 5G will take a bit longer to reach fruition, but we may soon see it in some cities. AT&T has said that it plans to launch true 5G service in a dozen markets by the end of this year. More markets are expected to come within the following years.

Verizon is also hoping to get its 5G service up and running sometime this year, though it is taking a slightly different path. Verizon is hoping to offer 5G service as a replacement for its current broadband service, with a mobile network to follow.

The United States’ other two major mobile carriers, Sprint and T-Mobile, are planning on setting up 5G service this year. However, they aren’t expected to begin providing 5G service until sometime next year.

Editors’ Recommendations

• 5G is coming — here’s what to expect, and when to expect it on your carrier
• Sprint announces it will commit to 5G coverage by 2019
• AT&T names first three cities chosen to receive 5G networks by the end of 2018
• Intel is working hard to bring 5G technology to mobile PCs
• Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X24 will likely be its last LTE modem

‘Namoo — Wonders of Plant Life’ uses immersive graphics to teach you about nature

Brenda Stolyar/Digital Trends

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.

Let’s face it — life can get busy. It’s hard to remember to literally stop and smell the roses every once in a while. In honor of Earth Day, this week’s app will help you reconnect with nature via your smartphone.

Namoo — Wonders of Plant Life, available for iOS and Android for $4, is an educational app that gives users an in-depth overview of how different plants function. Using vibrant illustrations, 3D simulations, and Apple’s ARKit (for those using an iPhone), the app takes you through nine different chapters about nature.

When you first download the app, you’re brought to a menu that allows you to choose what you want to learn about. As you tap on each item, it provides you with more information on what you can expect. You can tap to learn about flowers and fruits, the anatomy of leaves, tree trunks, and more. Each one is also accompanied by labels and explanations that allow you to gain a deep understanding of the topic.

I went ahead and started with tree trunks, where I learned about growth conditions, such as what seasons growth rings occur the fastest and slowest, along with the secondary growth process. As I tapped on the trunk, I was able to watch it grow as more rings formed while I read each explanation. By tapping on the tag icon in the lower left-hand corner, you’ll see different labels appear that point to different parts of the tree trunk throughout the different stages of the explanation.

This section specifically also has support for ARkit, allowing you to grow the trunk wherever there’s a flat surface. That way, you can learn about the process through AR, giving you an even more interactive experience. After pointing your phone’s camera at the floor, the trunk will appear and bring you through the same process as it would when using your display. As you tap on the trunk, rain will begin to fall and the trunk will begin to grow wherever you place it. This was a great feature, and I wish each section had its own augmented reality capabilities.

Each of the other sections are similar, with the same functions. When learning about how flowers turn into fruits, you’ll get to tap on the flower to pollenate it and watch as it goes through the fertilization process to then turn into an apple. Under the leaves section, you can tap through and zoom in on the plant cell, learning about different organelles like the nucleus, golgi complex, and mitochondrion. When learning about roots, you can glide through the different types such as taproot, conical roots, fibrous roots, and tuberous roots. By tapping on the screen, you can see each one grow while learning about its main purpose. Depending on the chapter, you can also transition between day and night or alter the temperature to see how it changes the way things grow and develop.

For those who want to learn even more, each chapter also includes more extensive parts you can read through. In comparison, the immersive parts are more of a quick summary that allow you to have a better visual. Those who want even more detail will enjoy scrolling through and gaining even more knowledge about the different elements of plant life. I also found it to be even easier to read through and understand, having started with the interactive section as an introduction.

Even though Namoo is an educational app that’s great for children, adults will appreciate the beautiful graphics and calming background music, all of which were originally created by the developer. It’s also great refresher for those who have already gone through their fair share of science classes — but this time you won’t feel bored nor will you lose interest.

The app easily breaks down subjects that can seem complicated at times in a way that keeps users engaged and entertained. Using bright and vivid colors along with easy-to-use controls, it’s definitely an app that’s worth paying for. But for the sake of Earth Day, I do recommend stepping outside to enjoy nature as well.

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• Probiotics for plants? Here’s how AI-optimized bacteria could accelerate agriculture

Flaws, failures, and flops: These are the worst smartphones ever made

People first started using the word “smartphone” more than 20 years ago, but most would agree that the modern smartphone emerged a little more than a decade ago when Apple unveiled the original iPhone. Google launched Android not long after, and we’ve seen countless smartphones since then, some great, some not so great, and some truly terrible.

We’re concerned with the worst of the worst here, but there are lots of reasons that you might consider a smartphone for this list. While obscure budget devices from little-known brands may objectively be the worst smartphones of all time, they are easy pickings. We’ve decided to focus on glorious failures from the biggest brands. If you owned any of these phones, you have our deepest sympathy.

BlackBerry Storm

When touchscreen smartphones really started to take off, complacent smartphone giant RIM, which had been dominating with the BlackBerry range, realized it needed to jump on the bandwagon. Cue a rushed, poorly designed, ill-thought-out, stinker of a smartphone. The BlackBerry Storm had an incredibly laggy clickable screen, terrible battery life, and dated software. It also lacked Wi-Fi support. According to Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry, most of the one million BlackBerry Storm phones sold in 2008 were returned, and it was dubbed the “Shit Storm” by RIM employees.

HTC Thunderbolt

The HTC Thunderbolt was the first real 4G smartphone with LTE support to land on Verizon, but the hype soon gave way to angry customers. The launch was delayed, and when it was finally released, the limited availability of LTE networks was far from the only problem with this device. The battery life was abysmal, it had a habit of restarting itself at random, and software updates were painfully slow to come. The chunky, bug-ridden Thunderbolt, with its unusual built-in kickstand, remains one the most hated Android flagships ever released.

Motorola Droid Bionic

Announced at CES in January, 2011, the Motorola Droid Bionic didn’t land until eight months later. Despite the lengthy delays, which were supposed to allow for improvements, the favorably- reviewed, hump-backed Droid Bionic failed to please owners. It may have been the first dual-core 4G LTE phone, but it sadly featured a dull, PenTile LCD screen, a slow camera, and disappointing battery life. Throw in MotoBlur — one of the worst Android manufacturer skins ever created — and a smattering of random crashes and lag, and you have a very unpopular device. Support for the expensive “Lapdock” accessory, which turned the Bionic into a wee laptop like the Atrix before it, didn’t help.

Amazon Fire Phone

Having done well with tablets, Amazon decided it was time to conquer the smartphone market, but for some reason it abandoned the budget approach that had served it so well. Offering distinctly ordinary specs, poor battery life, a dull design with typical Amazon build quality, and sluggish performance at a flagship price all turned out to be bad ideas. Who’d have thought? Featuring Fire OS — Amazon’s forked version of Android — the Fire Phone lacked support for Google apps, along with a host of other top Android apps. To make up for that, Amazon decided to include a gimmicky 3D effect without an obvious purpose and a special Firefly mode in the camera to allow you to point at real-world objects and identify them – but only if you bought them on Amazon. It took just three months for Amazon to admit defeat and accept a $170 million loss.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Malarie Gokey/Digital Trends

Samsung was ridiculed when it first released the Note series, but bigger phones were quick to catch on, and each new iteration sold better than the last. As a beautifully designed powerhouse of a phone, with special S Pen stylus support, things started out well for the Note 7 with a series of rave reviews. The smartphone secured its place on this list when a handful of devices spontaneously exploded or burst into flames. It may have been a great phone when it wasn’t on fire, but a faulty battery capable of causing explosions is not something you can ignore. The issue eventually prompted a global recall.

Dishonorable mentions

With space for just five on our list of the worst smartphones, there were plenty of candidates that didn’t quite make the cut. Here are a few of them.

Microsoft Kin One

The only reason that the Microsoft Kin One and Two don’t make this list is because they can’t really be described as smartphones. Microsoft spent more than two years and $1 billion on these sliding social phones that no one wanted to buy.

HTC ChaCha

Like a weird Android BlackBerry with a dedicated Facebook button, the horrendously-named HTC ChaCha was a cringeworthy release that proved that no one really wants a Facebook phone. It was released alongside the Salsa, which ditched the keyboard. For some reason, possibly contractual, it was followed by the HTC First a year later, which launched Facebook’s widely disliked Home user interface.

Asus Garminfone

The Asus Garminfone made it clear that SatNav manufacturers would not be muscling into the phone market in response to Google eating their lunch with its free Google maps software. A misplaced focus on navigation, poor camera, and bad battery life were some of its biggest issues.

HTC Evo 3D

We must praise HTC for its unrelenting drive to innovate before we mention yet another phone from the Taiwanese manufacturer. This time it’s the HTC Evo 3D, which had dual cameras long before it was cool, but in this case, they were for shooting 3D videos that no one would ever watch. If 3D couldn’t crack TVs, it was certainly never going to crack phones.

Samsung Fascinate

Back in the days before Samsung could call the shots, it made a different version of the Galaxy S for each carrier, and the most hated by far was the Samsung Fascinate on Verizon. Although it suffered from a persistent GPS problem, it was a good phone until Verizon got its hands on it. Not content loading it with bloatware, Verizon also made Microsoft’s Bing the default for search and navigation.

Everyone’s experience with smartphones is different, so if the worst smartphone you ever owned isn’t listed, let us know what it was and why in the comments.

Amazon, Netflix and studios sue subscription service over piracy

Hollywood studios usually fight piracy by chasing after software add-ons and free streaming services, with the occasional device thrown in. A paid service, however? That’s relatively rare… or at least, it has been. Amazon, Netflix and multiple Hollywood studios (including Disney, Fox, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros.) have sued SET Broadcast over allegations its SET TV service is used expressly for piracy. While there is a dedicated set-top box, the centerpiece is a $20 per month subscription service that offers access to over 500 live TV channels and “thousands” of on-demand shows, including Netflix shows and movies that are still officially limited to theaters. As you might guess, the media giants argue SET TV is focused “overwhelmingly, if not exclusively” on pirated material.

The companies also accuse SET Broadcast of going so far as to pay for video reviews and other sponsored material to drive subscriptions. The firm hasn’t commented on the case so far.

The lawsuit could have SET pay dearly. The court would order the service shut down, of course, but it would also impound devices and demand damages up to $150,000 for every piece of pirated work. That could easily amount to millions of dollars even if the penalties were limited to on-demand videos. Between the number of media industry companies involved in the case and the penalties they’re asking, it’s clear that the lawsuit is intended as a message to anyone that would design a service with piracy in mind — especially if they have the gall to charge for it.

Via: TorrentFreak

Source: GeekWire

US military hopes to launch rockets in ‘days, not years’

Even in the era of private spaceflight companies, the process of getting a rocket into space is glacially slow: it can take months or years to schedule and prepare for a mission. That was fine when launching any rocket was a special occasion, but DARPA thinks the industry can do better. The military research agency recently kicked off a Launch Challenge that encourages companies to cut these launch timetables to “days, not years.” Teams will have to develop systems that can launch two low Earth orbit rockets at different sites within days of each other, and with little advance notice. They’ll only know where the first launch site will be within a “few weeks,” and they’ll learn about the payload mere days before blastoff.

There isn’t a huge amount of turnaround time: the actual competition will take place in late 2019, with a “competitors’ day” helping to get the ball rolling on May 23rd of this year. There will be a strong incentive to pick up the pace, though, as DARPA is offering $10 million for the top prize ($9 million and $8 million for second and third places respectively), and every team that completes the first launch scores $2 million. And it’s not just about achieving speed at all costs. Officials will judge launches not only on timeliness, but on the accuracy of the launch, the nature of the payload and the rocket mass.

The challenge is clearly useful to the military, which could use rapid turnaround times to launch spy and communications satellites at the very moment they’re needed. However, the results of the challenge could help with launches of all kinds going forward. The current system is utterly impractical for space tourism, where frequent launches would be necessary to improve the economies of scale and make trips vaguely affordable.

Via: Space.com, SpaceNews

Source: DARPA

It’s now safe to skin your Nintendo Switch

When it became clear that vinyl wraps and other stickers were damaging the Switch, you could practically hear the wailing from console customizers everywhere. How were you supposed to add a personal touch to Nintendo’s machine without giving it a permanent paint scheme? At last, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Dbrand is now offering Switch skins that it promises are “100% safe” for the system’s plastic housing. The company said it spent a year working with 3M to create a “unique” adhesive that won’t wreck the design.

As always, the amount you pay depends on how much customization you want. It costs $5 per Joy-Con skin, $10 for the Switch itself, $7 for the dock’s side and $8 for the dock’s accents. All told, you’re looking at about $28 to cover the system head-to-toe, and that’s before the $10 tempered glass screen protector. You’re also applying these skins yourself, remember. Still, it’s definitely easier to swallow that cost than to pay for paint, especially knowing that you can remove or swap skins if you ever change your mind.

Via: Dbrand (Twitter)

Source: Dbrand

BMW releases a teaser for the iX3, its first all-electric SUV

BMW announced back in March that it’s debuting a concept version of the iX3 at Auto China 2018 in Beijing. It’s the automaker’s first all-electric SUV, and it’s also the first EV it’s launching since it started producing the i3 back in 2013. Now, the company has released a teaser of the 2020 iX3 on Twitter, and while you won’t see much of the vehicle at all, the short video does show BMW’s iconic kidney grille design morphing into something else.

Something exciting is coming. Stay tuned for the Auto China Beijing 2018!#BMWBeijing @BMWi #BMWi pic.twitter.com/JxNX4KFIDc

— BMW Group (@BMWGroup) April 20, 2018

Unfortunately, company chief Harald Kruger didn’t share more details when it confirmed the model’s debut. Based on its name, though, it’s most likely the electric “i” series version of the automaker’s X3 SUV. As Autoblog noted, it’s one of the dozens of electric models BMW plans to offer by 2025 and is a product of the company’s efforts to expand its EV biz. In addition to working on other electric vehicles, including a coupe and an autonomous luxury car, BMW is also going into EV battery production and is working with other big automakers to develop a Europe-wide charging network.

Auto China 2018 will begin on April 25th, so make sure to check back if you want to see what the iX3 looks like.

Via: Electrek

Source: BMW Group (Twitter)

Google Arts & Culture explores remote world heritage sites in virtual reality

Thanks to Google’s new Arts & Culture project, developed in collaboration with a non-profit called CyArk, you can tour some of the most remote but historically significant locations in the world. The Open Heritage project provides virtual access to 26 world heritage sites in 18 different countries, complete with data about each location, 3D structural models, and laser scanning technology.

“We’ve been collecting these sites for 15 years,” CyArk CEO John Ristevski told NBC News. “Google approached us about opening up our archives to a much broader audience, and we’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”

Google has provided virtual tours of historic sites before, but The Open Heritage website includes detailed photos, information about ancient artifacts, and 3D scans to anyone with a web browser or iOS or Android phone. A virtual reality (VR) headset opens a full 360-degree view captured by high-resolution cameras.

CyArk

Ristevski told Wired that even amateur historians could discover new information using Open Heritage. “Some of the exciting frontiers are in virtual reality and augmented reality and we are excited to see what type of experiences people can build around heritage data — from immersive virtual tours to overlaying rich contextual information while you are on site — they all start with an accurate map of what is there,” he said.

There’s a wide range of sites available for virtual exploration that span human history, from the ancient temples at Corinth in Greece to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

The locations featured in Google’s new online exhibit are just a few of the heritage sites that CyArk has researched since the project began in 2003. Their extensive documentation includes drone photography as well as light detection and ranging (LIDAR) measurements. LIDAR allows researchers to create exact 3D structural models accurate to within 5 mm.

Some of the sites are so remote, a virtual visit is likely the only way to experience them. “Many of these places, for whatever reason, are just not open to the public,” Ristevski said.

The data that Open Heritage has collected is not just being used for preservation, but restoration of ancient artifacts as well. After the foundation mapped and photographed the Buddhist temples at Bagan in Myanmar, a 2016 earthquake damaged hundreds of them and closed parts of the site. One of the Open Heritage exhibits details the reconstruction efforts that are underway, using CyArk’s data.

A favorite destination for virtual tourists is the ancient astronomical observatory at Chichén Itzá in Mexico. According to digital archeologist Chance Coughenour, it’s one of the few circular structures discovered in the Mayan ruins. “It’s been proven by researchers that the Maya used this to study the sun, sunsets, sunrise, the Equinox, and stars,” he said.

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VW’s electric Pikes Peak racer accelerates faster than an F1 car

After months of promises and teases, VW has formally unveiled its electric Pikes Peak race car… and its performance might be surprising even in light of earlier hype. The I.D. R Pikes Peak is built to smash Pikes Peak’s EV record of 8 minutes and 57 seconds not through brute force, but by achieving a finely tuned power-to-weight ratio. While the 680HP two-motor powerplant may not sound like much when the existing record holder (Drive eO’s PP100) packed a whopping 1,596HP, VW’s vehicle will weigh under 2,500lbs versus 2,646lbs for its archrival.

Combine that with potentially better aerodynamics (the VW car is closer to a Le Mans car than the usual hill climber) and the result is an EV that can outperform some of the fastest race cars. With a 0-60MPH time of 2.25 seconds, VW claims its machine can accelerate faster than a Formula 1 or Formula E racer. That could be crucial on Pikes Peak, where top speed matters far less than how you recover speed.

The weight savings come in part through energy regeneration. While many EVs can restore energy while braking, VW’s system manages to produce about 20 percent of the necessary energy through braking alone. You don’t necessarily need a giant battery to make it to the top, in other words.

The I.D. R Pikes Peak makes its debut at the 2018 race on June 24th. VW certainly isn’t guaranteed to seize the record, since that depends on both ideal weather conditions and an exceptional performance from both the car and driver Romain Dumas (a Pikes Peak champ). It would represent a milestone in EV performance if the company did, though, and the lessons learned from this car could apply to far more ordinary EVs.

The real challenge may be to beat the Unlimited class record of just under 8 minutes and 14 seconds, set in 2013 with a customized Peugeot 208. While modified EVs are already quicker than conventional Pikes Peak cars (which hover around 9 minutes 30 seconds), it’ll likely take further breakthroughs in power and weight savings to give EVs the overall performance lead.

Source: Volkswagen