Apple Pay Launches in Ukraine

Apple Pay launched in Ukraine today. Owners of Apple devices in the country this morning found that they could add credit cards to the mobile payment system, including MasterCard and Visa (via Tehnot).

Ukraine’s finance minister Oleksandr Danyliuk took to Facebook to herald the launch, which initially supports cards issued by the country’s nationalized PrivatBank, with Oschadbank expected to follow soon.

Apple Pay заработал в Украине. Поддерживаются карты ПриватБанка VISA и MasterCard pic.twitter.com/Ofx2bYDvC2

— alexanderslev1n (@alexanderslev1n) May 17, 2018

During the company’s May earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that Apple Pay would expand to Norway, Poland, and Ukraine “in the next several months”, without providing specific launch dates. Separately, a launch in Ukraine was also rumored for Q2 2018.

The last Apple Pay launch took place in Italy in the middle of May, with users in the country able to add Visa and MasterCards issued by Boon, Carrefour, and UniCredit into their iPhone.

Over the last few years, Apple has been working to expand Apple Pay to additional countries, and it is now available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, UAE, Ukraine, and Brazil.

(Thanks, Oleksandr!)

Related Roundup: Apple PayTag: Ukraine
Discuss this article in our forums

Revamped YouTube Music is Google’s latest effort to take on Spotify

In its latest effort to sort out its music- and video-streaming subcription offerings, Google-owned YouTube looks set to launch a revamped version of YouTube Music on Tuesday, May 22.

YouTube executives confirmed to several publications that the new service will cost $10 a month, in line with competing music-streaming services, and will “eventually” replace Google Play Music. Anyone interested will be able to try out the refreshed service for free before deciding whether to subscribe.

Described by Recode as “functionally the same” as the existing version, YouTube Music will, however, prioritize audio over video, and focus on improved personalized playlists based on a user’s YouTube history.

YouTube Music will be “largely devoid of video,” according to Cnet, which has seen the redesigned YouTube Music app in action. It said the app’s home screen lets you scroll through lots of recommended music and playlists, including “individualized selections of new releases, a My Mixtape personalized playlist, collections similar to an artist you’ve been listening to a lot lately, a selection called Throwback Jams, before you get to recommended music videos and professional clips of live performances.”

Also on Tuesday, YouTube Red, which offers original and ad-free video programming for a fee, will become YouTube Premium and only be accessible to new users by adding an extra $2 to the monthly YouTube Music subscription, taking the cost to $12.

With so many people hitting YouTube for their music fix, Google has always felt well placed to attract people to a subscription-based music service. But up to now the company has failed to nail it. It kicked off with Google Play Music in 2011, but its performance has been disappointing in comparison to rival services such as Spotify and Apple Music. In 2014, it followed up with Music Key, offering subscribers ad-free music videos, but a lack of interest saw Music Key succeeded by YouTube Red in 2015.

Now Google is hoping the latest changes to its various subscription services will finally start to gain traction among music fans and help it to be a real player in the paid-for music-streaming space.

The revamped YouTube Music service will see a gradual rollout in the U.S. starting on Tuesday, with select overseas markets also targeted.

Google’s new YouTube Music plans are here — and we’re gonna pay more for what we like right now

YouTube is taking the reins for Google’s music strategy — and it’s soft launching on Tuesday.

Google’s music strategy has been fractured and confusing and falling behind for years, with Google Play Music being treated like an orange-haired stepchild, YouTube Music being ignored by some users and unheard of by the rest, and YouTube being a place where people of all kinds come to listen to music — both legitimately uploaded and not-so-much.

Google’s been amassing a new team to take on the music industry, from streaming competitors like Spotify to the record labels that control what music can appear on what platforms and how.

We’ve been waiting months for the shoe to drop and Google to reveal its new strategy. And thanks to Bob Lefsetz posting a rambling preview, we’re don’t have to wait much longer.

We’re still digging through the post, but the long and the short of it is:

• YouTube Music is getting an overhaul, which an emphasis on personalization. YouTube Music will be able to leverage your YouTube viewing history and listening habits to offer different types of music based on where you are, what you’re doing, and what your preferences are.
• New emphasis will be placed on new releases. If you like an artist or genre, YouTube Music will put their new singles and albums right on your homepage, so you don’t find out about Daughtry’s new single months after it came out like me.
• YouTube Music already has Google Assistant integration, but Lefsetz’s demo makes it sound like it’s been put on steroids.
• The new YouTube Music app is soft-launching on Tuesday, “and then spread slowly thereafter.” What timeline that means for the desktop experience overhaul, I have no idea.

Then we get to the important bits: what these changes mean for the regular YouTube experience. The current YouTube Red offerings — getting rid of all the ads, access to YouTube’s Original shows like Cobra Kai, offline and background playback — are going to be a $2 add-on on top of the required $10/month YouTube Music subscription.

Rumors have circulated that Google Play Music — Google’s original music offering and the mechanism for their 50,000 song music locker and music purchases — will be killed off by the end of this year in favor of the new service. However, the leak from Lefsetz doesn’t mention Play Music anywhere, so we’ll have to wait for the official announcement from Google on its future.

We also have no mention of family plan pricing anywhere yet, nor if any current YouTube Red subscribers will get grandfathered into the new “YouTube Premium” system under their current $10 price — or $8 if you’ve been a Google Play Music subscriber since its launch five years ago. There’s a lot we still need to hear, but the genie’s out of the bottle now…

In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the upcoming changes to YouTube Music?

New $10 YouTube Music Service to Launch Next Week, Replacing Google Play Music

Google is launching YouTube Music next week, shortly followed by YouTube Premium – a revamped version of its ad-free YouTube Red subscription service with a renewed focus on original programming. Announced on Wednesday in a blog post, the shake-up in services represents a splitting of the original YouTube Red subscription model, which gave users both ad-free music streaming and access to original video content for $10 a month.

The new YouTube Music-only service will also cost $10 a month and replaces Google Play Music – existing subscribers will be migrated automatically (that includes non-paying users who have purchased music via Google Play or used the service to upload tracks and playlists). The rebranded service includes personalized playlists, intelligent search, support for background playback and music downloads for offline listening.

The streaming service will also remove ads from music videos, but not the rest of YouTube. An ad-supported version of YouTube Music will be available for free. As part of the launch, Google is promising a “reimagined” mobile app and desktop player that’s “designed for music”.

YouTube Music is a new music streaming service made for music: official songs, albums, thousands of playlists and artist radio plus YouTube’s tremendous catalog of remixes, live performances, covers and music videos that you can’t find anywhere else – all simply organized and personalized. For the first time, all the ways music moves you can be found in one place.

YouTube Premium, meanwhile, will cost $12 a month, and includes all the benefits of YouTube Music plus access to original shows as well as ad-free viewing for all of YouTube. The extra $2 over the original YouTube Red subscription will make way for more YouTube Originals from around the globe, featuring comedies, dramas, reality series, and action adventure shows from the U.K., Germany, France, Mexico, and more. Existing YouTube Red members will continue to pay the current price for YouTube Premium, however.

YouTube Music and launches on Tuesday, March 22 in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea, rolling out to more countries in the following weeks. They will include Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

YouTube Premium will roll out “soon” in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and South Korea, later followed by Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Tags: Google, YouTube, YouTube Red, YouTube Music
Discuss this article in our forums

Designer of out-of-this-world superyacht MY Roswell welcomes spaceship analogies

If at first glance, MY Roswell makes you think “spaceship,” Monaco-based superyacht designer George Lucian will be pleased. Lucian hints broadly at his latest design’s inspiration, and the source of its name, when he kicks off the ship’s announcement with the question: “Is this yacht coming from another dimension.”

Lucian’s design goal was to create “an iconic, worldwide recognizable yacht inspired from the future.” Keeping in mind that the Roswell is a superyacht concept, not an actual vessel under contract and construction, Lucian’s design doesn’t incorporate any alien technology. The Roswell’s design elements and operational technologies are already in use on superyachts plying the seas and oceans.

Lucian provides only general measurements and descriptions of the superyacht’s length, structural components, propulsion mechanics, and passenger and crew capacities. Full specifications are unavailable. Should a buyer give Lucian a consignment to build the Roswell, details would certainly change to suit the owner.

The Roswell’s aluminum 65-meter hull — about 213 feet — easily places it in the superyacht class, which is defined by international consensus to include yachts that are 30 meters or longer.

Lucian wants the yacht to be stealthy, not just in design, but also in operation, which means it must be quiet. Therefore, the designer specified fully electric running capability. To avoid cranking up the noisy onboard generators until out of port, as much deck surface as possible was covered with solar panels to capture energy.

Electric motors won’t be the only power source. The Roswell will also have two diesel-electric engines for longer cruises. No power output or cruising range is available.

Lucian’s concept yacht is designed to elude detection, at least while out to sea. Angular structural modules and patterns and reflective hull surfaces intentionally minimize radar detection.

The designer’s wish for the Roswell while in port, however, abandons any attempt of stealthiness. “Unlike its radar footprint, its presence in any harbor will for sure be anything else but discrete, ” according to Lucian.

The Roswell’s amenity list includes a large outdoor covered living area on the main deck bow, a beam-width swimming pool, lounge, and dining area. Large glass doors between the main deck salon, bow deck, and the yacht’s stern deck are designed to give passengers the sense of traveling in a huge open loft. The upper deck would house the bridge, a sky lounge, and a helicopter platform.

Lucian’s design concept nominally accommodates 12 guests and 12 crew members, although the final positions and layout of the cabins and quarters will be determined by the designer and the buyer.

The MY Roswell is not the designer’s first superyacht concept. Other concepts include a mega sailing yacht, “SY Project Origami,” and “MY Dare to Dream,” a superyacht airship carrier.

And about the Roswell’s name.

No one denies a balloon crashed on a ranch in Roswell, New Mexico, in early summer 1947. Everything else about the balloon has been in contention ever since.

Some claim the accident involved a UFO the government has been covering up for 71 years. It didn’t help matters when, after initially stating the crash involved a weather balloon, the U. S. military admitted in the mid-1990s that the structure was a nuclear test surveillance balloon used in the super-secret Project Mogul.

The Roswell controversy continues to inspire books, films, and now, a 65-meter superyacht.

Facebook Stories grows up, adds new options, from audio to archiving

If you ask Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Stories are the future for social video sharing. Facebook is continuing to pad that future with a handful of updates to Stories, rolling out Wednesday, May 16, in India before popping up in the network globally. The update moves Stories beyond the full-screen visuals with an audio option, along with adding the option to archive Stories and a tool that saves photos and video to Facebook to free up smartphone storage.

The audio post adds a recorded message with a colorful background designed to mesh with Stories’ full-screen flip through the visuals from the day. The same tools for adding stickers and doodles to photos are also possible on that background.

The audio feature is designed for sharing content that’s less visual. The tool is also helpful for content that’s hard to type out — which can sometimes be a language issue, like in India where the feature first tested, which has 22 official languages. The update may also be helpful for influencers that don’t work with as many visuals, such as podcasters and radio personalities.

Stories’ visual focus isn’t going anywhere though — and soon Stories don’t have to disappear after 24 hours either. While Stories won’t be publicly available after 24 hours, the update brings the option to archive those Stories, allowing users to go back and view the content they shared later — after all, looking back for a #ThrowbackThursday image doesn’t work with self-deleting content. Instagram, where the Stories format grew quickly, already has a similar archive feature.

The third part of the Stories-focused update allows users to save images from the Facebook Camera to a private Facebook cloud storage. The network has several reasons for trying out the ability to save those photos without saving them directly to the smartphone. First, in many areas, like India where the feature is first launching, smartphone space is hard to come by, leaving limited room for saving photos and videos on the device itself. Second, by allowing saves, users can take pictures in the moment, but add the images to Stories later.

During the last earnings report, Zuckerberg said that Stories would be a focus for the company. While Facebook seemed to have slower growth, Instagram Stories and the similar WhatsApp status have well surpassed the users from Snapchat, where the format originated. A recent study by Block Party said that Stories grew 15 times faster than Feed-based sharing, with 79 percent of companies posting Stories, nearing the 97 percent posting to news feeds.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Don’t drown your phone for an Instagram — GoPro now has Stories built in
• How to use Instagram
• Facebook F8 2018 Keynote recap: Everything Zuckerberg and co. announced
• From grit to sparkle: How to clean up your Instagram account
• Facebook steps into 3D memories and photos without a specialized camera

Apple Music Competitor Tidal Allegedly Months Behind on Royalty Payments

Subscription based music service and Apple Music competitor Tidal is months behind on its royalty payments to record labels according to a report from Norwegian news site Dagens Næringsliv that was translated by Music Business Worldwide.

Multiple sources have said that Tidal has not making timely payments to “three major international companies,” claims confirmed by two Norway-based labels: Propellor Records and its distributor, Phonofile, a company owned by Sony.

Phonofile CEO Sveinung Rindal said that reports of delayed payments are correct, while Propeller Recordings CEO Frithjof Boye Hungnes said the company had not been paid since October. “People are talking about withdrawing [their music from TIDAL]; I think there is a pretty upset mood,” said Hungnes.

Tidal in December was said to be facing money problems due to stalled user growth, and reports suggested that it could run out of working capital within six months.

Dagens Næringsliv has been investigating Tidal in recent weeks and has also accused the streaming music service of falsifying and inflating streaming numbers for Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo album and Beyonce’s Lemonade album.

Tidal claimed that Kanye West’s album achieved 250 million streams within 10 days and that Beyonce’s album reached 306 million streams within 15 days, figures that were said to be false following a year-long investigation conducted by Dagens Næringsliv and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Center for Cyber and Information Security.

During the time that Tidal announced the Kanye West album figure, for example, Tidal said that it had 3 million subscribers. At 3 million subscribers, to each that streaming number, each Tidal subscriber would have needed to play the Kanye album more than eight times per day, as Music Business Worldwide points out.

Tidal has called the claims a “smear campaign” of lies and falsehoods, constructed from stolen and manipulated information. “We will fight these claims vigorously,” the service said in a statement.

Tags: Apple Music, Tidal
Discuss this article in our forums

U.S. Senate votes to overturn FCC’s repeal of net neutrality protections

Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images

The United States Senate on Wednesday voted in favor of reversing the Federal Communications Commission’s recent order to end net neutrality protection in a narrow 52-to-47 victory. In order for bill to pass the Senate, a simple majority was needed, but 50 senators had already declared support for the preservation of net neutrality prior to Wednesday’s vote. Senate Democrats used the powers granted to the legislative branch under the Congressional Review Act to potentially overturn regulations created by federal agencies, like the FCC’s decision to end requirements for net neutrality.

All 49 Democrats in the Senate voted in favor of the bill, along with Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, John Kennedy of Louisiana, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The bill is now headed to the House of Representatives, where Democrats must convince at least 25 Republicans to cross the aisle in a similar simple majority vote. Democrats argue that the net neutrality regulations would create an open internet, as it prevents internet service providers (ISP) from discriminating against certain types of web traffic. Many Republicans consider these requirements burdensome for internet providers, and that competition in an open market will allow industry players to self-govern.

In the House of Representatives, the bill faces a tougher uphill battle. In order for House Democrats to use the Congressional Review Act, they must collect signatures from a full majority of the House — the Senate only required 30 signatures — just to bring the issue up for vote. If it’s passed by the House after a vote, it needs to be signed by President Donald Trump to be enacted into law. If the measure is ultimately unsuccessful, the FCC’s repeal of the 2015 Open Internet Order would take effect starting June 11, according to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

Prior to the Senate vote, lobbyists for cable companies, telecoms, and mobile phone companies stated that legislation is unnecessary, and that internet service providers will self-regulate within the industry, a point that Democrats argued was false, citing the industry’s recent practices of throttling and data prioritization. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts argued that “net neutrality is the free speech issue of our time,” according to Ars Technica.

One of the reasons why the FCC decided to end its net neutrality protection is because the agency believes that its authority extends only in the regulation of broadband networks, whereas websites and services are under the domain of the Federal Trade Commission. Republicans used this talking point to argue that ISPs shouldn’t be forced to operate under different rules than websites in their support for ending net neutrality protections.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Oregon is the latest state to jump on the net neutrality bandwagon
• Congress is looking to bring fiber internet to you faster with the Dig Once bill
• U.S. Senate forces a vote that could restore net neutrality
• FCC puts a date on net neutrality’s tombstone ahead of Senate vote
• Vermont becomes fifth state to sign order supporting net neutrality

Alienware Area-51 R5 review

Research Center:

Alienware Area 51 R5

The Alienware Area-51 has always been a striking machine. With its angled edges, pyramidal design, and gently glowing LED lighting, there’s just nothing else like it. The unusual case design is typically paired with extravagantly powerful hardware and the Area-51 R5 is no exception.

Our review unit featured a liquid-cooled overclocked 18-core Intel Core i9-7980XE processor, two liquid-cooled Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards running in SLI, 64GB of RAM, and a 1TB M.2 SSD with a 2TB mechanical hard drive backup.

Basically, the Area-51 R5 has everything pushed to its logical extreme — even its price. All this hardware and expert engineering will run you about $6,709. The Area-51 is billed as a gaming desktop, but with price like that, and such unfettered power humming away inside this thing, it is wasted to be used on gaming alone. Let’s show you what all this thing can do.

A real eye-catcher

Just look at this thing. Like we mentioned, it’s entirely unlike anything else on the market. The Area 51’s iconic “triad” design has served Alienware well over the years, and the Area-51 R5 features the second-generation version with a few internal tweaks and refinements.

Despite its unusual shape, we actually didn’t have any trouble fitting it under desks, on top of desks, or anywhere really.

Externally, the Area-51 pretty much looks the same as it always had — and that’s not a bad thing. It’s just kind of polarizing. This is a very large computer, and its design doesn’t lend itself to being tucked away under a desk, toiling in obscurity. This is a desktop computer that begs to be seen, to be displayed, and its size makes it a little hard to find space for it.

The angles on the case make it a bit longer than a typical PC. Despite its unusual shape, we actually didn’t’ have any trouble fitting it under desks, on top of desks, behind monitors. It’s big and heavy, but it’s not as big as it seems. Still, that extra weight means you’ll definitely need a sturdy desk.

For the Alienware Area-51 to truly be a desktop computer, you’re going to need a pretty substantial desk. Its overall footprint isn’t that much bigger than a traditional gaming desktop, but it is a bit different. It’s taller, for one, and a little thicker.

All the ports, and then some

Due to its unusual shape, you might be wondering about the ports. Rest assured, they’re all where you’d expect them to be — with a few convenient changes. First, replacing the top-side ports on many desktops, the Alienware Area-51 R5 features four USB ports on the front of the chassis. It’s angular design actually makes them more easily accessible than typical front-facing ports when it’s under a desk.

Alienware Area 51 R5 Compared To

Falcon Northwest Tiki (2018)

Dell Inspiron Desktop 5680 (2018)

Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK

Dell Inspiron 5675

Dell XPS 8930 Tower

Origin Millennium

Asus G11DF-DBR5-GTX1060

Origin Neuron

Alienware Area 51 (2017)

AVADirect Avant Mid-Size Dekstop

Digital Storm Velox (Kaby Lake)

Cybertron CLX Ra

Origin PC Omega

Digital Storm Velox

Falcon Northwest FragBox

Otherwise, the external connectivity around back is about what you’d expect, nine USB ports, not one but two ethernet ports, a USB-C port, and there’s even a convenient little button that turns on a small external light, so you can see the ports more easily.

Spacious interior

With such an unusual exterior design, you might expect the interior of the Alienware Area-51 to be cramped or awkward, and you’d be wrong. Once you unscrew the exterior lock on the Area 51’s case, all you need to do open it is pull a pair of switches along the top-side of the case. The panels pop open like car doors.

Without moving a single internal component, you have access to the RAM, the graphics cards, the power supply, and the fan assemblies.

Once you remove the panels, you’ll see what we meant about the interior. It’s luxurious. There’s plenty of open space, but it’s not wasted! The inside of the front panel is where you’ll find an intake fan, and two of the fans connected to the liquid cooling units on the graphics cards. The rear panel is hooked up to the liquid cooling block on the CPU.

Cables are neatly zip-tied together according to their purpose, power cables are labeled and elegantly strung through the case without unnecessary slack. Try as you might, you won’t find a single tangled cable in here — not even on the back-side of the motherboard, where cables typically go to braid themselves into dense brambly nests. Nothing. Just simple, straightforward cable management with an eye toward accessibility and future upgrades.

Without moving a single internal component, you have access to the RAM, the graphics cards, the power supply, and the fan assemblies. Because of the superb cable management here, performing routine maintenance is a breeze. Removing hardware components is almost entirely tool-free, thanks to the clip that holds the graphics cards in place. There’s even a battery-powered work light that turns on when you open the case, so you can see every port, cable, and plug.

These little details are an important part of what you get when you invest in a system like the Area 51. Sure, you could just pick up all of its internal components and put it together yourself, or buy an identically-outfitted PC from any other manufacturer. But what you get by going with the Area-51 is an unparalleled level of engineering and intuitive internal design.

A souped-up daily driver

For everyday workloads, running Word, Excel, even egregiously, insanely intensive web-browsing, the Area-51 R5 is a champ. Between its Core i9 processor and 64GB of RAM, an average office workload isn’t going to anywhere near the limit of this machine’s capabilities.

One thing is abundantly clear; our standard test suite may not be able to keep up with this machine.

To give you some context, we threw absolutely everything we could think of at the Area-51 R5. We opened up four browser windows, with 25 live tabs running a 4K video in each one, ran Geekbench 4, and a Deus Ex: Mankind Divided benchmark, all simultaneously while we wrote this review. We didn’t notice even a single moment of slowdown in Word, not a hitch, stutter or hiccup.

Even the Area-51 R5’s hard drives are impressive. Well, one of them is. Our review unit featured a 1TB M.2 SSD — about the size of a stick of gum — and a regular-sized mechanical drive packing an extra 2TB of storage space.

Clearly the Area-51 R5’s SSD isn’t the quickest we’ve ever seen, but it’s very quick for its size. Coming in with a read speed of 1,734 megabytes-per-second it’s about a third slower than the 2TB M.2 drive in the Falcon Northwest Tiki, and the 512GB M.2 drive in the Origin Millennium.

The mechanical drive performed well for a mechanical drive, topping out at a 195 MB/S read speed and a 193 MB/s write speed. Still, moving massive files around on the M.2 drive was just as quick as you’d expect. The same M.2 drive is available in 256GB and 512GB configurations, with the 2TB mechanical drive as backup.

So, if a standard office workload on steroids won’t trip up the Area 51, that begs the question: What will?

Keeping up with an i9

The Alienware Area-51 R5 is available in configurations with Intel Core i7-7800X, i7-7820X, and i9-7980XE processors. Our review unit is the monstrous 18-core i9-7980XE variant. To get an idea for just how powerful the hardware inside the Alienware Area-51 R5 really is, we gave it a run through Geekbench 4 — and the results are definitely instructive. Looking at single core performance, it’s clear this overclocked Core i9 is an above average performer.

It is outperformed by 8th-generation Core i7-8700K processors here, but that’s to be expected, these are six-core processors, so each core is a little quicker than each core in the Core i9-7980XE, which is an 18-core processor. Multi-core performance is where the Core i9 really shines. The 18-core processor easily outruns the stock Core i7-7700K and even the 8th-generation Core i7-8700K in multi-core performance.

One thing is abundantly clear, our standard test suite may not be able to keep up with this machine. Looking at how quickly the Area-51 R5 crunched our 4K video encode, you can see what we mean.

The Area-51 R5 just obliterated our test here. It crunched the 4K encode so fast we had to run it a couple times to make sure we set it up right. It finished the encode in just 123 seconds, or just two minutes, three seconds. That’s the quickest we’ve ever seen — by a significant margin.

GPU Performance

Our Alienware Area-51 R5 review unit is, as we mentioned, basically maxed out. It has one of the most powerful processors on the market, 64GB of RAM, and two high-end graphics cards. It should be no surprise to say that it handles most games with aplomb.

Looking at its performance in 3DMark you can get a good sense for how well it performs running actual games. With its dual GTX 1080 graphics cards, its overall score in both Fire Strike and Time Spy easily eclipses the scores we saw out of single-card machines like the Falcon Northwest Tiki and Velocity Micro M60. Compared to the Origin Millennium, with its dual GTX 1080 TI graphics cards though, the Alienware Area-51 R5 slips behind a bit.

That’s not too much of a problem, considering you can spec the Area-51 R5 with dual GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards for similar performance.

It’s a trend we see here in our 1080p performance, with the Area-51 R5 taking a close second to the Origin Millennium and its quicker SLI setup. Still, it’s important to point out that the performance gap is small in most cases, and even a single 1080 Ti like the one in the Falcon Northwest Tiki, is more than capable of running your games maxed out at 1080p.

In fact, SLI setups are more than a little overkill for 1080p, as you can see from these figures. But, if you have a high refresh rate monitor, an SLI setup is an easy way to hit a framerate high enough to take advantage of a 144Hz refresh rate.

Moving on to 1440p, we can see performance dip appropriately across the board. Looking specifically at the results for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided at Ultra settings, we see something interesting. There’s no denying that running two graphics cards in SLI or Crossfire mode will give you a performance boost. And if you’re looking for top-tier performance it’s a great way to achieve it. But looking at these results there’s only a small margin between the best-in-class performance you see on the Origin Millennium, with its two GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards, and the performance you see in a single-card machine like the Tiki or Velocity Micro M60.

The difference between 70 and 88 FPS is big on paper but when you’re actually playing a game it’s not as noticeable as you might think. Still, it’s appropriate to point out here that all of these machines performed exactly as we’d expect given the strength of their hardware.

Our 4K figures here make one thing abundantly clear: 4K is still very hard on gaming hardware. A well-optimized game like Battlefield 1 will give you the best results, with framerates in excess of 100 FPS if you’re running an SLI setup. But highly-detailed, environment-dense games like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will give you a bit more trouble. You’re still going to hit good framerates like 45 FPS with all the settings maxed out, but barely. For most games 60 FPS is ideal, 30 is playable, and anything less is well, anything but.

In VRMark, the Area-51 R5’s powerful hardware pushed it to the top of the pile. You should have no trouble at all running the most demanding VR games on this machine, but these benchmark scores illustrate that while the R5 is powerful, VR is still very graphically intensive and doesn’t always make the best use of SLI setups.

It’s as striking as it is functional, and it would serve you well no matter what hardware you pack inside. 

The Area-51 hit a score of 9,534 in the entry-level Orange Room benchmark, which is a little lower than what we saw out of the Falcon Northwest Tiki — it hit 13,276 on the same benchmark. There’s a reason for that. While the Alienware Area-51 R5 is a much more powerful computer overall, VR and these VR benchmarks don’t always use a dual graphics card rig as well as they could. That means you might see better performance out of a system running a single 1080 Ti than you would out of a system with two regular 1080 graphics cards.

Of course you could always spec up to a dual 1080 Ti version of the Alienware Area-51 R5 to solve that problem. Still, it’s something to keep an eye on if you plan on buying one of these PCs to run VR demos. Spring for the 1080 Ti instead.

Revamped, refreshed command center

Proprietary software isn’t usually all that noteworthy, but the new Alienware Command Center is definitely an exception. The software unifies the Area 51’s lighting, fan control, and even its overclock settings. Putting everything under one roof makes it easy to manage the Area 51’s various features, and the interface lays everything out in a way that makes sense.

Even if you’ve never used Alienware’s proprietary software before, you should be able to find anything you need just opening the new command center. Change the lighting on the case, turn the factory overlock on or off, or even adjust your power saver settings, all in one place.

Our Take

Judging a desktop like the Alienware Area-51 R5 is tough, but there are a few main points to consider. First, the design and internal layout. These elements are going to be the same no matter what hardware you pick for it. Whether you down-spec the Area-51 to a more affordable $1,900, or crank it all the way up past $8,000, the case, the layout these are the constants you should look at — and in the Area-51 R5’s case, these two elements are world-class.

While the design may be atypical, it’s incredibly thoughtful and intuitive and absolutely stands the test of time. When it comes to hardware, our review unit is kitted out with the best of the best and it shows. Let’s break it down.

Is there a better alternative?

If you’re in the market for a gaming desktop with a design that’s going to weather the ravages of time, the Alienware Area-51 R5 is hard to beat. It’s built like a tank but features a unique and uniquely intuitive design. Taking out the graphics cards can be done without a single tool, same with the RAM. Everything is laid out exactly where it should be, and no single component obscures another. Compared to a standard boxy desktop case, performing standard maintenance or removing components from the Area-51 R5 is an absolute breeze — no matter how much you spent on it.

That’s an important point because it’s a big part of what makes the Alienware Area-51 R5 stand out in a crowded field. Still, you could pack this hardware into just about any other major manufacturer’s gaming desktop — the Origin Neuron comes close, so does the Falcon Northwest Tiki.

The powerful processor, maxed out RAM, and dual graphics cards make for a very powerful machine, but it’s performance you can get elsewhere for about the same price. If you invest about $6,700 at other manufacturers you’re going to end up with very similar hardware.

The special sauce here is the the expertly engineered case and internal layout. In that regard, there really isn’t a better alternative if you don’t mind the Area 51’s size.

How long will it last?

The construction of the Alienware Area-51 R5 is incredibly robust. You’ll notice that when you first pull it out of its shipping box. Its size and weight inspire confidence that this desktop will take whatever you can throw at it. Because of its internal design and the ease with which you can perform routine maintenance, you might find yourself doing it more often which could absolutely lengthen the lifespan of the hardware inside.

If you went all-in and picked up an Area-51 R5 with specs similar to our review unit, it’s safe to say you’re going to be in good hands for at least four to five years — probably longer. Our review unit’s hardware was incredibly powerful and absolutely has the performance headroom to stand up to increasingly demanding software — and games.

The Area-51 R5 features a standard one-year warranty, but you can buy additional support from Dell, up to five years if you don’t mind spending another $813. The standard warranty isn’t bad, it’s what we’d expect from most manufacturers. But it’s a far cry from what you get from Falcon Northwest with its above-and-beyond overnight service and three-year warranty.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you’re in the market for a desktop PC, and you need something with incredibly powerful hardware and a unique interior and exterior design, then you should absolutely buy the Alienware Area-51 R5.

Even if you scale down the hardware to a configuration a little more reasonable for some mid-range gaming, the Area-51 R5 is a great choice. The design is definitely a little out there, but it grows on you, and it never feels like Alienware sacrificed function for form. The case is as striking as it is functional, and it would serve you well no matter what hardware you pack inside.

Scientists will use use stem cells to grow ‘mini brains’ using Neanderthal DNA

Did we somehow wake up in a Michael Crichton novel without realizing it? First, Harvard University sets out to bring the woolly mammoth back to life. Now, researchers from Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have stated their intention to create miniature brains containing Neanderthal DNA.

If you’re wondering where Neanderthal DNA — referring to the genetic code of the archaic humans who lived up to 250,000 years ago — came from, the answer is a previous project from many of the same researchers. Starting around a decade ago, the Neanderthal genome project set out to sequence the DNA of ancient man. This DNA was first recovered from the femur bones of three 38,000-year-old female Neanderthal specimens from Croatia, along with other bones discovered in Spain, Russia and Germany. The project’s findings were ultimately reported in late 2013.

Jump forward to the present day, and the DNA is being used to create brain organoids — referring to simplified, miniature versions of organs. These miniature brains are about the size of a pea and do not exhibit any thought, but nonetheless showcase realistic basic micro-anatomy. They are being developed using a type of stem cell called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which have been edited using CRISPR gene editing to contain Neanderthal versions of multiple genes.

The researchers hope that by examining these genes they will be able to highlight the differences between Neanderthals and modern man. Interestingly, it may also help shed light on a number of modern conditions. That’s because the Neanderthal genome project helped reveal that many living people today have miniscule traces of Neanderthal DNA in their genes. According to some theories, this is responsible for aspects of our immune system and skin color. Being able to analyze this in detail could help answer some of those questions.

“Pluripotent stem cells from diverse humans offer the potential to study human functional variation in controlled culture environments,” the abstract for a recent research paper about the work explained. “A portion of this variation originates from ancient admixture between modern humans and Neanderthals, which introduced alleles that left a phenotypic legacy on individual humans today. Here, we show that a large repository of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) harbors extensive Neanderthal DNA, including most known functionally relevant Neanderthal alleles present in modern humans. This resource contains Neanderthal DNA that contributes to human phenotypes and diseases, encodes hundreds of amino acid changes, and alters gene expression in specific tissues. Human iPSCs thus provide an opportunity to experimentally explore the Neanderthal contribution to present-day phenotypes, and potentially study Neanderthal traits.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• Genetic engineering innovation makes plants more efficient at using water
• Engineers want to 3D print stuff in space using recycled astronaut poop
• Robotic exosuits will make us better, stronger, faster, right? Not necessarily!
• In new breakthrough, CRISPR tools target RNA to tackle dementia
• Gaming is just the beginning. Here are 8 innovative ways VR is being used today