Samsung’s new ‘Opera House’ store is its biggest in the world

Previous

Next

1 of 3

Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images

Samsung

Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images

Samsung has just opened its biggest “mobile experience store” worldwide to promote its smartphones, tablets, and other related tech kit.

The new store is in the Indian city of Bengaluru — also known as Bangalore — a place that’s made a name for itself as the nation’s tech capital.

Samsung has renovated the city’s grand Opera House building, which was constructed during the British colonial era, to make the space its own.

Similar to the lavish Samsung 837 location that opened in New York City in 2016, Samsung Opera House isn’t a place for buying stuff. Instead, it’s about trying stuff and having experiences (though it’d definitely like you to make a purchase at one of its many resellers or brand stores afterwards).

In Samsung’s own words, it wants to “bring together technology, lifestyle, and innovation to offer people unique experiences.”

Those experiences include getting hands-on with Samsung’s smartphones, tablets, and wearable devices, and trying out Samsung tech linked to virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things.

“For those who enjoy the thrills of kayaking or rowing, a not-to-be-missed VR experience is awaiting them,” Samsung offers as an example in its marketing bumph, adding, “Fitness enthusiasts can cycle through scenic Europe, racing alongside a friend.” The space also includes a “home theater zone” where people can watch movies and TV shows with friends and family.

Battling with Xiaomi

The opening of Samsung Opera House reflects the company’s efforts to boost its profile in a country where it’s currently the leading smartphone seller alongside Chinese tech company Xiaomi. During the most recent quarter for which figures are available, the two firms accounted for 60 percent of smartphone sales in India, with each one selling 10 million devices.

Samsung had dominated the Indian market for more than five years until 2017 when it was toppled by Xiaomi, but this year’s data suggests it’s staging a comeback. Apple, meanwhile, has less than two percent of the Indian smartphone market, with most consumers continuing to opt for cheaper devices over Apple’s pricier offerings.

Hoping to capitalize on its resurgence, Samsung recently opened a 32-acre mobile-phone factory near the Indian capital of New Delhi, a facility that it claims is the largest in the world of its type. The factory will enable the Korean tech giant to manufacture as many as 120 million phones a year in the country, almost doubling its current capacity.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Amazon’s third checkout-free Amazon Go store is now open in Seattle
• Apple Store Kyoto: Step inside the new retail space in Japan’s ancient capital
• The Instagram Lite app is so small, your Android phone won’t notice it’s there
• Google may finally create its first flagship store in Chicago
• Appy birthday: A brief history of the App Store’s first 10 years

Artificial intelligence discovers dozens of mysterious cosmic signals

One of astronomy’s controversial mysteries is now being investigated by artificial intelligence.

A team of researchers at Breakthrough Listen, a Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project spearheaded by the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a machine learning algorithm to sift through cosmic data and identify fast radio bursts, strange and energetic pulses thought to emanate from far-off galaxies. No one knows for sure what causes these radio emissions but theories abound — from highly magnetized neutron stars battling black holes to signs of alien life.

In a recent study, the SETI researchers used a customized A.I. system to discover dozens of previously unidentified fast radio bursts from a source some 3 billion light-years away. The fast radio bursts were picked out from a data set that had already been analyzed by astronomers.

“Artificial Intelligence has seen very rapid development in recent years and its application in medicine, security, finance, and everyday object recognition have already reached certain level of maturity,” Gerry Zhang, a UC Berkeley Ph.D. student who helped develop the new machine-learning algorithm, told Digital Trends. “Astronomy represents a relatively unexplored area for A.I. The very large volume of data that astronomers collect present a challenging playground for state-of-the-art A.I. Radio astronomical data themselves presents challenges of large scale and high noise. Learning to apply A.I. to such new data is challenging and fruitful.”

To make the discovery, Zhang and his team used a convolutional neural network, a type of algorithm modeled off the human brain, which has been used to find craters on the moon and help detect earthquakes.

In their recent study, the researchers trained their algorithm on simulated signals, teaching it to recognize signs of fast radio bursts, and then “let the trained network loose on the data containing the real signals,” Zhang said. The result was the discovery of 72 signals that astronomers had previously missed.

The new findings help chip away at the current cosmic mystery of where the fast radio bursts come from. Is it aliens? Probably not. But it could be. Either way, it’s a mystery worth getting to the bottom of. What astronomers need now is more data and better systems to analyze the information.

“Fast radio bursts are one of the most recently discovered unknown signals in astronomy,” Zhang said. “With new instruments being designed for them coming online, [they are] well-poised to be one of the unknowns that will be solved within the next five to 10 years.”

A paper on the research was recently accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The fastest cars in the world
• By studying patient data, A.I. can limit toxicity in cancer treatment
• Like a vice principal in the sky, this A.I. spots fights before they happen
• A.I. bests experts at predicting deaths from heart disease
• Two left feet? No problem. This A.I. can turn anyone into a dancer

Notti Smart Light review

When the Notti Smart Light by Witti Design first came across my desk, I was largely uninterested. Great, another gadget to fill space and serve no significant purpose. After spending some time with it, I’m ready to eat humble pie. I severely underestimated both the usefulness and charm of this little light.

Notti, a sister product to the Dotti pixel light, is a 4-inch polygonal structure that immediately adds character to your room by lighting up via Bluetooth synchronization with your phone’s alerts and notifications. All of the colors are completely customizable, thanks to the Notti app (Google Play and iOS compatible), and can serve as incredibly useful. Let’s say you’re washing dishes in the kitchen and using your device to play music through a Bluetooth speaker. Your hands are soapy but with a quick glance in Notti’s direction, you can instantly tell if you have an update worth drying off and attending to.

When not lit, the device’s minimalist white design looked beautiful in my apartment. The Notti boasts an alarm mode that gradually lights up your room with warm hues to gently start your day. I wasn’t a candidate for this feature (my bedroom windows allow plenty of sunlight) but I could see it being a nice bonus for the right person. I found the Music Mode, which syncs Notti to your tracks and pulses in time, to be a fun feature and compliment to a lively social setting.

Notti has a battery life of over 700 hours in notification mode and 5 hours when using constant light. It charged easily via MicroUSB, which I kept plugged in for the majority of my time with the unit.

I enjoyed using this, not just for practical purposes, but for mood lighting as well. While I’m not quite ready to call it a must have or game changer, Notti is a natural byproduct of our evolving lifestyles and progression toward a completely connected home.

At best, it’s a smart device with the power to soothe or energize. At worst, it’s a cool conversation starter in any household. At $39.99, it may just have a place in yours.

Verizon 5G Home promises up to gigbit internet speeds for as low as $50

Verizon finally detailed its plans to become the first carrier to bring gigabit internet speeds into the home through its 5G home broadband service, Verizon 5G Home. Initially, Verizon will deploy its 5G Home service through a limited rollout in the Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento markets. The service will cost $50 per month for customers with Verizon Wireless accounts and $70 without a wireless bundle starting on October 1.

“This monthly charge includes all taxes and fees, and does not require an annual contract,” Verizon said, noting that there are no data caps. Verizon claims that its unique network infrastructure, comprising of end-to-end fiber resources, large deployments of small cells, and spectrum holdings, will help differentiate its network.

Like existing home broadband service, Verizon will send technicians to install the equipment. The carrier said that there is no charge for hardware, and internal and external equipment may be required, depending on your home. Early adopters will get perks, like free installation, a promotion with three months of free service, and a choice of free Chromecast or Apple 4K, along with three months of YouTube TV at no cost. Unlike traditional home broadband service, the internet service operates on Verizon’s 5G mobile network.

Verizon initially launched its 4G LTE network nearly a decade ago, and with its 5G deployment plans, it hopes to become the first carrier in the world to launch this next generation network. With its 5G network, Verizon promises home broadband speeds in excess of 300 megabits per second.

“Verizon 5G Home customers should expect typical network speeds around 300 Mbps and, depending on location, peak speeds of nearly 1 Gig, with no data caps,” Verizon said. That speed is good enough to download a Blu-ray movie in several minutes. Verizon’s 5G network will be competitive against DSL, cable, and fiber internet services, and the fast speeds and no caps could make Verizon 5G Home appealing to cord-cutters. For comparison, Google promises gigabit per second home internet speeds for its wired Google Fiber broadband service.

Verizon will begin taking signups for 5G Home starting Thursday, September 13, through a dedicated web portal, provided you live in one of the early test markets. As U.S. carriers race toward 5G as the successor to current generation LTE networks, rival AT&T aspires to become the first network to offer mobile 5G service. In contrast, Verizon’s initial deployment of 5G will be limited to the home. T-Mobile previously announced that it will launch its 5G network next year, and Sprint and LG aim to launch the world’s first 5G smartphone.

With less latency and improved speeds, 5G is poised to take connectivity to the next level. It will help power autonomous cars as well as connect gamers. “We will deliver a revolutionary 5G experience that will change how people live, work and play,” Verizon Chief Technology Officer Kyle Malady said in a statement.

Editors’ Recommendations

• AT&T names three more cities that will receive 5G networks this year
• Buckle up, Houston, you’ll soon be getting 5G service from Verizon
• Sprint and LG team up on a 5G smartphone set for release in first half of 2019
• Qualcomm releases new antennas that will make 5G phones a reality in 2019
• Moto Z3 review

The new $649 Coral One is both a handheld and robot vacuum

Why not both?

The new Coral One is going to change the way you clean. Priced at $649 as a pre-order and shipping next month, this nifty device combines the best of the world of vacuuming. It’s a vacuum robot, similar to a Roomba, that converts into a handheld vacuum like a DustBuster swiftly and easily.

Compared to the more popular robot vacuum brands, the price is great. Most robot vacuums cost more than this — for example, the Neato Botvac — and those don’t come with the added benefit of a built-in handheld vacuum. Of course, you could always go for a budget model like the $200 eufy Robovac or the $175 iLife A6 Robotic Vacuum, but then you’re sort of defeating the whole “two birds with one stone” thing. If you don’t need a multitasking vacuum, those may be better options for you. I don’t know your life.

The Coral One includes a couple of simple tools for the handheld feature and boasts a 90-minute standard mode battery life, a 30-minute turbo mode battery life, and up to 30 minutes of runtime on the handheld cleaner. There are additional features built right in, too. The vacuum won’t fall down the stairs or get stuck in a tight spot, and if it ever needs your attention, there are relatively pleasant audio cues to let you know. The handheld vacuum has a built-in spotlight so you can see what you’re doing. Little touches like that can make a big difference in something you’ll use as often as this.

Unlike other similar products, the Coral One doesn’t use an app or Wi-Fi. Instead, the built-in sensors automatically detect and clean along the most efficient route of a room. You can’t set boundaries or clean specific areas, but you also don’t have to worry about a map of your house floating around the cloud somewhere. You can program daily routines on the charging dock and use the physical remote to start or stop cleaning.

The Coral One will start shipping next month and deliveries will begin around October 25th.

See at Coral

Spider-Man is getting a New Game Plus mode!

Forget everything you know about Spider-Man video games. This experience is on a whole new level.

Spider-Man is one of the most iconic fictional characters ever created. The web-head has starred in countless comics, movies, TV shows, and video games but not all of them have bee super high quality. While games like Spider-Man 2 are widely regarded as one of the best superhero games of all time, Spider-Man has also been subjected to some extremely bad video games that many of us try to block out of our memory.

With that said, Ratchet and Clank, Sunset Overdrive, and Resistance developer Insomniac Games is spearheading an exciting new vision for the wall-crawler. While we haven’t played the game yet, the studio has proven themselves time and time again and all the trailers we’ve seen look incredibly promising for PlayStation 4 fans this year.

See at Amazon

What’s new with Marvel’s Spider-Man?

Keep up with Peter Parker if you can. The geeky webslinger is back in his most ambitious game yet, and we have all the latest details for you right here.

September 11, 2018

If you can’t get enough of Spider-Man you’ll be happy to hear that Insomniac is working on a New Game Plus mode. Going by the wording used in the company’s tweet and how they are “polishing it up,” it sounds like the mode isn’t too far away from gracing our consoles.

Insomniac did not detail exactly how New Game Plus would be implemented, but safe to say you’ll likely be playing through the story once more with even more powerful enemies and a stronger Spider-Man to boot.

August 27, 2018

Sony’s Gamescom booth was dominated by Spider-Man this year, giving it center stage just ahead of its release. Though Insomniac has revealed so much already, that doesn’t mean we can ever have too many trailers, right? The videos below are from a series called Just the Facts, where Insomniac breaks down certain aspects of the game.

And, of course, Spider-Man’s gameplay launch trailer released.

In addition, we also received a little tidbit of information confirming how long the game is, courtesy of Insomniac’s community director James Stevenson, who answered a few questions regarding the game on Twitter.

According to Stevenson, Spider-Man will be “around 20 hours on default difficulty.”

Potential spoilers ahead

Since Spider-Man on PS4 is releasing so soon, spoilers are floating around. One such (potential) spoiler hasn’t come from early copies of the game, but instead from a Funko Pop image. It looks like Spider-Man may make a visit to the Negative Zone as he’s getting a separate Funko Pop with his Negative Zone Suit. Insomniac’s Spider-Man is set to have dozens of outfits for Peter to don, however they’re not all getting separate Funko Pops like this one is, implying it serves a greater purpose within the game.

August 8th, 2018

Ahead of Spider-Man’s release in September, its opening hours showcase the kind of tale that Insomniac is looking to craft. While Spider-Man is, of course, the titular character, the man behind the mask is just as important.

“We wanted this to be our own universe,” explains Jon Paquette, Spider-Man’s lead writer, discussing why the company isn’t adapting a previous storyline from the comics. “And we did a couple of things at the start to hopefully make it feel like it’s different. We are not doing the 15-year-old Peter Parker in high school dealing with girl problems and working as a photographer … We wanted to start (with an older, 23-year-old Peter) because we wanted to tell the story of an experienced Spider-Man who gets to the point where his experience isn’t enough.”

This Peter Parker is no longer a Daily Bugle photographer anymore. He’s now working as a scientist, though his employer is being kept a secret from fans at this time as Insomniac doesn’t want to spoil the reveal. His maturity affects his relationships with those around him. No longer a brash, young teenager, Peter is more assured of himself.

Speaking of his relationships, he and Mary Jane are no longer a couple by the beginning of the game. Despite this, previous videos have shown that she plays an important role in Peter’s adventures. In fact, she’s a playable character.

While she doesn’t have any web-slinging abilities, she does have her wits. As an investigative journalist, she’ll utilize her own skills like her keen observation and reflexes in stealth segments to sneak around and complete her own objectives.

July 30th, 2018

Insomniac has announced that Spider-Man has gone gold. This means the game has been finalized and recorded to a master disc from which all the other copies will be made.

We are pleased to announce that #SpiderManPS4 has GONE GOLD for its worldwide release on September 7th. Thanks to @PlayStation and @MarvelGames for their support in the creation of this original Spider-Man adventure. pic.twitter.com/iD4mJmqGfK

— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) July 30, 2018

It’s safe to say that the September 7th release date for the game will hold up and there will be plenty of copies to go around.

July 19th, 2018

What would San Diego Comic-Con be without another Spider-Man trailer? The upcoming Insomniac title just received a story trailer which gave us our best look yet at the threats that Peter and his friends will be facing, as well as introduced Osborn and Silver Sable into the mix.

On top of that, Sony revealed a Limited Edition Spider-Man PS4 Pro that will be gracing store shelves this September, launching alongside the game. As seen above, it sports a sleek glossy red color along with Spider-Man’s iconic symbol. It will be available for $399.99 USD/$499.99 CAD in the United States and Canada. The best part: Pre-orders are already available.

See at PlayStation

June 11th, 2018

As we expected, Sony’s E3 2018 show featured a heavy dosage of Marvel’s Spider-Man, the Insomniac-made game that aims to put all the previous ones to shame. We were treated to loads of new gameplay at the show, with Spidey crashing a prison riot caused by Electro’s shenanigans.

Electro is just one of the many villains present. The trailer also confirmed Rhino, Vulture, and Scorpion. That’s alongside previously-confirmed lesser criminals such as Martin Li and the Taskmaster. There’s also a brand new villain named Mr. Negative, who is making his debut in this very game.

Be sure to check out the full gameplay trailer above, which gives us our deepest look at Spider-Man’s combat yet, as well as some crazy web slinging moves we haven’t yet seen.

The Spidey classics, with a new twist

Insomniac has taken great care with Marvel’s golden boy by working closely with comic-book legends like Dan Slott and Christos Gage to craft an original story for Spider-Man. We all know how Peter Parker got his powers, how he struggles to find his footing as a superhero at first, and all that jazz so Insomniac is going to spare us the classic origin story and thrust into the prime of Spidey’s life. Peter Parker is 23, he has been Spider-Man for eight years and has pretty much gotten this whole superhero thing down to a tee.

In the game’s opening, Spider-Man will take down the infamous criminal mastermind, Wilson Fisk AKA Kingpin. Insomniac Games has noted Kingpin as Spider-Man’s greatest villain at this point in his career and it’s a massive achievement for him when he finally takes him down. Peter Parker’s apartment is also littered with various details regarding his past encounters with criminals like Shocker and Rhino meaning he has tackled some of his famous villains but the biggest baddies like Venom and Green Goblin may not have surfaced in New York yet.

On the opposite side of Peter’s life where he’s not wearing the mask, things are a bit more troublesome. His relationship with the red headed bombshell, Mary Jane Watson, is on the rocks, he’s on the verge of being evicted from his messy apartment, and Aunt May is put into danger when she becomes close with the charitable Martin Li. Li looks like a pretty swell guy on the surface but he holds a dark secret inside of him in the form of his super villain alter ego, Mister Negative. In fear that Li could hurt those closest to him, Peter begins his hunt for Li while tackling plenty of other criminals along the way such as Taskmaster.

Beyond that, it’s come to light that players will actually be able to play as Mary Jane Watson at some point during the story. Insomniac wasn’t too chatty about what sort of role she would have when playing as her, nor do we know how her gameplay mechanics will work. Another interesting character that the player may be able to take control of is Miles Morales.

More than an open outdoor world

As much as those in Peter’s life are important to a good Spider-Man story, one of the most vital characters is the city of New York City itself. As expected, there will be tons of side activities to tackle such as stopping robberies and other crimes. According to Game Informer, when they went hands-on with the game, there will actually be a good amount of interiors to go inside during these crimes so it’s not like other Spider-Man games where you have to chase after a speeding car or beat up some guys on the street.

To make the city feel more alive, Insomniac has built a Marvel universe within it. Players will be able to find the Avengers Tower, the Wakandan Embassy, and likely other major landmarks within the world to help take the worldbuilding to another level. There’s no word on if any other Marvel heroes will show up in the game but it’ll likely be kept to a minimum as they’re trying to make a Spider-Man game, not build an expansive Marvel games universe.

With a heavy focus on story and developing Peter Parker’s life and world, a lesser team could forget to develop a really solid set of gameplay systems, but Insomniac isn’t taking their eye off the ball.

Dynamic movements, killer combat

Many look to Spider-Man 2 as the best gameplay experience in a Spidey game due to the incredible attention to detail and physics based gameplay. The webs attached to walls, Spidey swung like a pendulum, and there was an incredible sense of momentum and speed building as you zipped through the city. With all of the advancements and innovations in games in the last decade and a half, Insomniac is on track to deliver the best Spider-Man game, perhaps superhero game, to date.

The most important aspect of the character is the way he moves through the world. Spider-Man will be as agile and fast as ever in this new game where he acts like a speeding train that has had the brakes ripped out. In Insomniac’s game, Spider-Man is equipped to adapt to his environment on the fly. He’ll never stop moving if you don’t want him to, the game is constantly making adjustments so you’re speeding through the world as the real experienced “masked menace” would.

It’s some of the more traditional Spider-Man combat with elements of the Batman Arkham series mixed in.

If you’re swinging but you’re about to smash right into a wall, Spider-Man will instead prepare to run along the wall in the direction you’re holding the stick. If you’re running along a rooftop with lots of vents and other objects, Spider-Man will parkour over them. If you’re running up a wall with a fire escape, he won’t awkwardly get stuck on it, he’ll bounce off each individual layer of the fire escape like stairs or propel himself through them if he’s coming at them from the side.

There’s an almost dynamic nature to the locomotion of Spidey in this game. His animations are diverse so it keeps this fun and fluid sense of rhythm, he’ll twirl, move his body in cool ways, and all sorts of other things you’d expect him to do when going from place to place. It’s safe to say that it will probably one of the most beautifully animated games to date when it drops.

As for combat, it’s some of the more traditional Spider-Man combat with elements of the Batman Arkham series mixed in. You’ll have your punching and kicking but you can also use some gadgets to help keep things fresh and make things easier on yourself. One gadget Spider-Man has is a web grenade, it detonates and then strings up any nearby enemies so you can swing in and deliver some cheap shots or pick them up and swing them around with a makeshift silk lasso.

If you’re feeling a bit playful, you can use the tripwire which is similar to the web grenade. It sits on a surface and when someone walks past it, it shoots a web out at them and slams them toward the wall. If you manage to latch the tripwire on to a person instead of a wall, it will smash two enemies together like Newton balls. If you also happen to knock an enemy off of a building, a tripwire will automatically be deployed and activated to prevent a foe from becoming a splatter on the sidewalk down below. The city is messy enough and Spider-Man doesn’t kill so the game will help you out there.

If you’re in the heat of the moment and you’re keen on doing that, players will be able to slow down time briefly and analyze the area for their next move. Is it singling out a guy? Choosing where to throw a gadget? Using an environmental object to defeat some evildoers? It’s up to you how strategic you want to be with it.

Missions, Trophies, and so many different suits

Of course, New York City is known as the city that never sleeps so there’s always something brewing on the streets whether it be petty crimes or full-blown robberies. Outside of story missions, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man will get side activities to go clean up the streets. Crimes will play out differently each time so you’re not doing the same repetitive task over and over again so you can grind for that trophy or special in-game perk. According to Game Informer, robberies can evolve into car chases and so forth so it’s always shifting and keeping you on your toes.

If you’re a bit tired of beating people up (you’re a superhero, it’s your job, get over it), you can go and do some of the collectible missions like finding Peter Parker’s lost backpacks. As we saw in Spider-Man: Homecoming last year, Peter tends to just leave his school bag webbed up in alley ways when he has to spring into action. Of course, this can result in some bags being misplaced so you need to go and retrieve some key mementos of Peter’s. The items in the bags will serve as backstory for Peter Parker and fill in some of the blanks in the story as well as give you little trinkets such as the first pair of web-shooters he ever created.

There are other little side activities sprinkled in the world but Insomniac isn’t going to divulge all of them before launch so that there can be some surprises when you play it. Similarly, they were tight lipped on the suit customization.

While it is now officially confirmed there will be dozens of costumes for Spider-Man inspired by comics, other games, and the movies, they’re not revealing many of the suits yet. So far we know that there will be a more traditional suit that you start the game in, an upgraded one with the white spider which supposedly ties into the narrative, the Noir suit, and the Spider-Punk suit.

Each suit has a unique special ability tied to it, the Spider-Punk suit features the ability to pull out a guitar and strum it really hard to create an AOE attack. The other suits have their own benefits but Insomniac isn’t willing to talk too much about them yet.

Oh, and one last thing: they’re including a killer photo mode in the game. Considering Peter Parker is a professional freelance photographer when he isn’t donning his Spidey suit should mean we’ll have plenty of great tools to capture his musings around New York City.

Alright, when can I buy this?

If you’re as excited as we are for this game, you can pre-order the game for $59.99 at most retailers. If you want to go the extra mile, you can drop $149.99 on the Collector’s Edition which includes a nice looking statue, some digital items such as post-launch DLC missions, and a steelbook case.

Spider-Man will swing onto store shelves on September 7th, 2018 exclusively on PlayStation 4, this is NOT a timed exclusive. It will never be on anything else other than PlayStation.

See at Amazon

Updated September 2018: Insomniac has revealed that the studio is working on a New Game Plus mode to be added to the game at a later date.

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

Amazon

Verizon’s $50 5G Home Internet Service Launching October 1 With No Data Caps

Verizon’s 5G home broadband service is set to launch in parts of Indianapolis, Houston, Los Angeles, and Sacramento on October 1, Verizon announced today.

Customers who live in areas where the service is rolling out can place an online order for Verizon 5G Home starting on Thursday, September 13 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time using the FirstOn5G website.

Verizon previously said that it would be offering customers who sign up for its internet service a free Apple TV 4K in lieu of a traditional cable box.

Verizon 5G Home is built on Verizon’s Ultra Wideband 5G network, and it is the first commercial 5G service to launch in the United States. Verizon is also hoping to be the first mobile provider to offer 5G service, but that’s still a ways off.

Verizon’s 5G internet service will be priced at $50 per month for customers who are also Verizon Wireless customers, and $70 per month for those who are not already Verizon Wireless customers.

The monthly fee includes all taxes and other fees, and there are no hardware charges or annual contract. Customers who sign up early for the service will receive three free months of service, an Apple TV 4K or Google Chromecast, and three free months of YouTube TV.

Verizon says that 5G Home customers will see typical network speeds of around 300Mb/s and depending on location, peak speeds of nearly 1 Gig. There are no data caps.

After the initial rollout to Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, Verizon plans to rapidly expand its coverage area.
Discuss this article in our forums

The BrambleBee robot promises to help honeybees pollinate flowers

Honeybee populations are declining at a terrifying rate. This poses a significant threat to agriculture, the economy, and pretty much life as we know it, due to bees’ crucial role as some of the natural world’s best pollinators. Could robots help?

That’s what researchers from West Virginia University (WVU) have been working to answer, via a new autonomous, bee-inspired robot that is designed to pollinate bramble plants — primarily blackberries and raspberries — in greenhouse environments. Its name: BrambleBee.

Unlike some of the nature-inspired, biomimetic robots we’ve written about in the past, BrambleBee doesn’t look too much like its buzzy namesake. It’s a ground-based robot equipped with a robotic arm, boasting a custom-designed pollination end-effector tip. It looks more like the kind of robot you might expect to find in Amazon’s warehouses, picking out your orders, than a next-gen pollinator. But that doesn’t mean it can’t do the job.

“BrambleBee works by first driving around the greenhouse to perform an inspection pass, where it uses its Lidar and cameras to map the environment and the locations of detected flowers,” Nick Ohi, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “After that, it then uses the mapped flower locations to autonomously plan and execute the pollination pass.”

West Virginia University

This involves working out the optimal route to individual flowers, parking up, and then deploying its robot arm to carry out the pollination process. This is achieved by using the small brushes on its end-effector to transfer pollen from the anthers to the pistils of the bramble flowers. The task requires incredibly precise motion and gentle application so as to prevent damaging the flowers.

At this stage in the project, Ohi acknowledged that BrambleBee is not as fast or efficient as bees in performing this task — although this is to be expected at the current stage in development. Once the techniques have been fully tested, the researchers will work to increase speed and efficiency.

“We expect the real benefit of this kind of system to be realized when many of them are deployed in very large greenhouses or farm fields and are capable of pollinating entire farms on their own,” Ohi said.

Yu Gu, an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at WVU, was keen to stress that this is not a project designed to replace bees. “BrambleBee can be seen as a backup plan in case there would be a bee shortage in the future, or work in places that bees are not applicable, [such as] inside greenhouse or in space,” Gu stated.

A paper describing the work is available to read online.

Editors’ Recommendations

• From picking to pollinating, agribots are pushing farming into the future
• It sounds ridiculous, but these beaver bots are designed for disaster zones
• Spirit animals: 9 revolutionary robots inspired by real-world creatures
• Strawberry-picking robots could replace human workers in the field
• SmokeBot robot can see things human firefighters can’t in smoke-filled rooms

Here’s what would happen if the Sahara was covered in solar and wind farms

With swirling dust storms, barely any rain, and daytime temperatures reaching up to 104-degrees Fahrenheit, the Sahara desert is one of the world’s least hospitable environments. But the 3.6 million square mile stretch also represents a whole lot of untapped prime real estate — which a new study suggests could be used for housing the biggest solar and wind farms in the world. As it turns out, not only would covering the entire area in solar and wind farms more than meet the world’s energy demands, it would also transform the local climate. According to a team of international researchers, this could more than double local rainfall and result in a moderate “greening” of the region. What’s not to like?

“The Sahara is quite dry and its surface is covered with little vegetation,” Yan Li, a postdoctoral researcher in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, told Digital Trends. “The additional rainfall and vegetation would certainly provide a much-needed relief to this dry, bare desert.”

In their study, the researchers simulated the effects of covering the entire area with these solar and wind farms. They concluded that wind farms would generate, on average, around three terawatts of power and 79 terawatts through solar farms. This is significantly more than the 18 terawatts that made up the 2017 global energy demand.

This climate modeling study is one of the first times that researchers have modeled the effects of wind and solar installation, along with the ways that vegetation changes with heat and precipitation. The reasons for the changes in climate are complex, but they are related to effects like wind farms’ turbine blades pulling warm air down to the desert’s surface, along with solar farms increasing surface reflectiveness.

Of course, building this many solar and wind farms probably isn’t going to happen anytime soon. But it may not need to. As noted, doing this would produce far more energy than we currently require. It also wouldn’t take this major an intervention to get the beneficial effects on local precipitation and vegetation. When the researchers conducted experiments for farms of smaller scales, their results suggested that covering only the northwest quadrant of the Sahara would have almost the same climate benefits as covering the entire thing.

A paper describing the research was recently published in the journal Science.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Scientists think a form of bacteria could help make Mars hospitable to humans
• Georgia is paving the way for a high-tech, sustainable highway
• These living solar cells make energy, even in bad weather
• Samsung has made a very big promise for 2020, and it’s not for the Galaxy S12
• New technique combines organic and synthetic tech to harness the sun’s energy

The history of drones in 10 milestones

Here in 2018, drones are flying high — both figuratively and literally. Whether it’s military applications or product deliveries, these are 10 of the most significant milestones that explain how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) became the ultra-hot product category that they are today.

The earliest breakthroughs

Wikipedia

1907: The world’s first quadcopter was created by inventor brothers Jacques and Louis Bréguet, working with controversial Nobel Prize winner Professor Charles Richet. While undoubtedly exciting, it had some big limitations: being unsteerable, requiring four men to steady it, and — in its first flight — lifting just two feet off the ground. But it did innovate the quadcopter form factor we have today. Hey, every journey has to start somewhere!

The first military drones

RAF

1917: Launched only 16 years after the Wright Brothers’ pioneering Kitty Hawk flight, the Ruston Proctor Aerial Target became the first pilotless winged aircraft in history. It was a radio-controlled pilotless airplane, based on RC technology from the inventor Nikola Tesla. The goal of the Aerial Target was for it to act as a flying bomb, which could be piloted into enemies. Despite promising demonstrations, the AT was ultimately never used in a combat scenario. However, it opened the door for similar projects, such as the astonishing Kettering Bug — and paved the way for today’s military drones.

1943: Created for use by the German military during World War II, “Fritz X” was the nickname given to the FX-1400, the first remote-controlled weapon that was actually put into operational use. A 2,300 pound bomb that was used to sink ships during combat, this was not only the first military drone to be properly deployed, but also the ancestor of modern anti-ship missiles and other precision-guided weapons.

The RC plane boom

1960s: Breakthroughs in transistor technology meant that, for the first time, miniaturized radio-controlled components were available to customers at a reasonable cost. What followed was a popularity boom in RC planes in the U.S. Mostly coming in kit form, these RC planes offered everything from indoor-flyable models to much larger outdoor models. The cottage industry that sprang up was an early example of the kind of community and market which emerged for consumer drones half a century later.

The first armed drone strikes

Getty Images/Thir Khan

2001: In the aftermath of 9/11, the CIA began flying armed drones over Afghanistan as part of the war against the Taliban. The first CIA drone-based kill operation took place in February 2002, when an unmanned Predator drone was used to target a suspect thought to be Osama bin Laden. However, it turned out to be an innocent man named Daraz Khan who was out collecting scrap metal. Instances such as this began concerns about the use of drones in warfare, which continues to rage today.

FAA creates commercial drone permits

Getty Images/Saul Loeb

2006: Recognizing the potential of non-military, non-consumer drone applications, the FAA issued the first commercial drone permits. These permits lifted some of the limitations placed on consumer drones flown for recreational purposes. In doing so, it opened up new possibilities for companies or professionals who wanted to use drones in assorted business ventures. At first, barely any commercial drone permits are requested. However, that number soon ramped up.

Here comes the Parrot AR Drone

Wikipedia

2010: The French company Parrot released their Parrot AR Drone, the first ready-to-fly drone which can be controlled entirely via Wi-Fi, using a smartphone. The drone was almost immediately successful, both critically and commercially, receiving the 2010 CES Innovations award for Electronic Gaming Hardware, and selling upwards of half a million units. The company’s AR Drone 2.0 further improved on the formula with an easier piloting system, making it easier for newcomers to pick-up-and-play.

Amazon Prime Air

2013: In December 2013, Amazon released a concept video showcasing founder Jeff Bezos’ dream for a drone-based delivery system. While the retail giant wasn’t the first company to consider drone deliveries, it was the one which puts the technology into the public consciousness. In an interview on 60 Minutes, Bezos described the possibility of using the technology to make half-hour deliveries. “I know this looks like science fiction. It’s not,” he said. Bezos described the technology as being around five years away, although Amazon later clarified that aerial deliveries will require some federal rule changes.

The Lily drone debacle

2015: The consumer drone industry has gone from strength to strength. However, not everything has been good. Perhaps the biggest disappointment — and one which still leaves a bitter taste in some people’s mouths — was the Lily Camera drone disaster. Despite racking up $34 million in pre-orders, the original company behind this smart flying camera wound up filing for bankruptcy and shutting down after a series of delays. It was a tough lesson for a lot of drone enthusiasts to learn.

Drones get smarter

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

2016: Already one of the best drone makers on the marketplace, DJI’s Phantom 4 introduced smart computer vision and machine learning technology. This allowed it to avoid obstacles and intelligently track (and photograph) people, animals, or objects — rather than being limited to following a GPS signal. The resulting UAV was a major milestone for drone photography and consumer drones in general.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Amazon has an idea to stop its delivery drones from being hijacked
• U.S. Army wants to use laser power to keep drones airborne indefinitely
• 7 amazing anti-drone technologies designed to swat UAVs out of the sky
• Prisons are fighting back against contraband-dropping drones. Here’s how
• The best drones under $500