Pluto’s moon Charon features a massive, deep chasm

While humans are still a long way away from going canyoneering on the moons of Pluto, we can at least start scoping out the terrain. In images shot last summer by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, we can see one immense and interesting feature of Charon: a deep canyon dubbed the Argo Chasma that slices through one hemisphere of Pluto’s largest satellite.

Thanks to the viewing angle New Horizons got on its closest approach to Charon last July, scientists were able to estimate the depth of the Argo Chasma. In sections, the canyon is believed to be about 5.5 miles (or 9 kilometers) deep with sheer cliff faces several miles tall. Without a complete picture of the canyon, scientists believe Argo is about 430 miles (700 km) long. For reference: Earth’s Grand Canyon is about 280 miles (450 km) long and a mile deep. Argo’s massive scale means it also beats the three-mile-high cliffs at Verona Rupes on Uranus’ moon Miranda for the tallest (known) cliff face in the solar system.

Until extra-planetary rock climbing becomes a reality, however, Earthbound humans hoping to explore Argo will have to be content to don our cardboard VR headsets and gaze up at Charon from Pluto’s virtual surface.

Genes, germs and bacon: A look inside my own DNA

There are times in your life when bad news smashes into your gut like a sledgehammer into the solar plexus. “You’ve got those double dots next to your CYP1A2*F, which means that we class you as a fast metabolizer.” But the man on the other end of the phone was not complimenting me. Rather, he was explaining that my body can’t cope with the chemicals produced by smoked or chargrilled meat. It meant that, despite my love of meat, I would have to limit myself to “just one or two servings of grilled or smoked meat per week,” and even that was excessive. The news got worse when I was told that, for a similar reason, I should also avoid fried bacon — which I eat every morning to pep up my protein-and-fat rich breakfast of eggs. My genetic makeup, the bastard, has rendered me incapable of enjoying bacon, which is a hard way to be introduced into the world of DNA fitness testing.

Every cell in your body contains DNA, a series of instructions, like computer code, that tell your body how to behave. It dictates everything from the color of your eyes and height through to how long you’ve got left to live. Between 1990 and 2013, a coalition of countries mapped the human genome, opening new frontiers into biological research. Companies such as 23andMe and DNAFit are then able to leverage this knowledge to bring nuggets of insight out of the lab and into our homes. DNAFit’s service is primarily designed for athletic types looking to secure those mythical marginal gains; small improvements that give you an edge over your competitors. But there’s no rule against schlubby tech journalists trying it out, so I signed up with DNAFit to find out if my genes held the key to me becoming a healthier person.

The process begins with you rubbing a cotton swab inside your cheek for a minute, sealing it in a plastic tube and sending it off to the lab. After a few weeks, you’ll receive a link to the company’s website that, depending on the package you choose, offers insights into your diet and/or exercise. I opted for a package that included an analysis of both, as well as a consultation with one of the company’s experts. Specifically, Craig Pickering, a former international athlete who has represented Great Britain as both a sprinter and a bobsledder. Previously considered a hot prospect for medals at both London 2012 and Sochi 2014, a series of back injuries forced him to retire in 2014.

Image Credit: DNAFit.

Pickering patiently went through my results, explaining what they mean and what I can do differently. I learned that there are roughly three types of athlete that a person can be: endurance, power or mixed. About 25 percent of DNAFit’s clients turn out to be endurance athletes: people whose bodies can deal with the lengthy pain of climbing a mountain or running a marathon. Another 25 percent are power athletes, better at sprinting over short distances and power lifting. The remaining 50 percent are more balanced, with my makeup coming out at 45.5 percent power and 54.5 percent endurance. It meant that my weight-heavy workout was good, but I needed to work with my personal trainer to get in more endurance exercises.

In other areas, my body is crushingly middle of the road, with a normal lung capacity and a fairly standard 48-hour turnaround on post-exercise recovery. As for injury risk, my genes suggested that I was at greater risk of soft-tissue damage. But beyond that, I shouldn’t have to worry about devoting lots of time towards injury-prevention work, simply because I’m quite robust. That was in stark contrast to Pickering himself, whose own injury results were some of the most extensive the company had ever seen. But I was safe to do three intensive workouts a week, with at least a day of rest between each one.

We then moved on to my diet profile, which is where the bad news kicked in, since my body is deficient in a wide variety of areas. For instance, I have a predisposition to Coeliac disease, with a 1 in 35 chance of actually suffering from the condition — greater than the average of 1 in 100. It’s a similar situation with carbohydrates, with both my ACE and PPARG genes showing signs of extra sensitivity. If that wasn’t bad enough, I lack the gene that produces the GSTM1 enzyme, meaning that I struggle to process carcinogens and free radicals, making me prone to oxidative stress. Which, in layman’s terms, means that I’m more likely to get Parkinson’s, Alzheimers and cancers than other people.

The section in my DNAFit report explaining my genetic failings with regards to meat.

Writer Michael Pollan once coined a very brief, useful manifesto for how one should go about dieting. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” It’s the rule of thumb that everyone in the world knows to be true, and yet so many of us struggle with. If you’ve read Engadget over the last five years, you may have followed my journey from being a 20-stone lump to a slightly thinner lump. But despite knowing that there was more that I could be doing, when it’s laid out in front of you it’s hard to take.

So, I resolved that I need to make some severe lifestyle changes in order to compensate for my body’s staggering flaws. The advice here was, perhaps, a little more generic than genetic, since around 98 percent of DNAFit’s customers are recommended one of two diets. Either they’re prescribed a Low Carbohydrate plan, or a Mediterranean, both of which recommend a low-carb, low-meat diet and lots of fresh vegetables and, especially in my case, cruciferous greens to fill in on what my body doesn’t produce.

I had to ask Pickering what the justification is for splashing out on a DNAFit test when I could just as easily have binged on kale. His response was that, when it comes to genetically matched diets, “people find them slightly easier to stick to.” He says that’s mostly because they feel that the diet has been “personalized to them,” although really it’s the opposite. Diet advice like this is available in plenty of other books, but it’s the warning of what happens if you don’t change that’s more compelling.

“It’s the warning of what happens if you don’t change that’s more compelling.”

A few days later, I sat down with DNAFit’s founder, Avi Lasarow, who said that the diet advice isn’t as generic as I’d suspected. After all, the company predominantly operates in the United Kingdom, where genetic factors would be common to British caucasians. In other locations where there are cultural variations in diet, such as Holland and Latin America, Lasarow told me that the eating advice would be different.

I also wanted to ask what he’d say to people who are skeptical about the potential for genetic science to impact people’s dieting. His commitment to pushing his business includes the publishing of clinical trials and funding research into furthering the technology. He’s also certain that it won’t be long before DNAFit can offer a much broader quantity of tests in the hope of saving people the “tedious trial and error” inherent in working out what’s best for you.

At the moment, DNAFit tests for a limited number of “snips,” or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). These tiny variations in our DNA are key markers that show our vulnerability to various conditions like sickle-cell anaemia. But Lasarow says that eventually his company, and others like partner firm 23andMe, will be able to examine 800,000 of these characteristics at a time. That opens up a whole new frontier of testing opportunities, and those who have already been tested will be able to learn more things about themselves for an additional cost.

DNAFit advisor Craig Pickering after winning the 60-meter sprint in 2010 (Julian Finney / Getty).

Few have heard of DNAFit right now, but it’s entirely likely that it’ll become well known in sporting circles in the near future. Lasarow is a “proud South African” who has been in talks with the government in teaming up with his country’s Olympic athletes. “We’ve averaged seven medals at the last three games,” he tells me, “and this is a real opportunity to increase the medal count.” After all, in his mind, “the difference between getting the bronze medal and no medal at all is so minute,” that squeezing an athlete’s DNA for marginal gains is worth the effort.

As for me, I’m not expecting to win any medals any time soon, but I am going to try and ditch my morning bacon for something involving kale. An effort which, believe you me, will be on a par with winning gold at the Olympics.

Source: DNAFit

New Thunderbolt Display With Integrated GPU Still in the Works

Apple yesterday announced plans to discontinue the 5-year-old Thunderbolt Display, leaving it unclear if Apple’s display business is coming to an end or if another model is in the works for a future release. According to BuzzFeed’s John Paczkowski, Apple isn’t done with Thunderbolt displays.

In a tweet shared this morning, Paczkowski said he’s heard from unspecified sources that a next-generation display will feature an integrated GPU, a possibility that was first bandied about in early June, ahead of WWDC.

Thunderbolt Display takes dirt nap as expected. Sources telling me next-gen display will indeed have integrated GPU https://t.co/kx6n0vQGMf

— John Paczkowski (@JohnPaczkowski) June 24, 2016

A Thunderbolt Display with a built-in graphics card would be able to work with almost any Mac because it would be driven by an internal graphics card rather than the machine it’s connected to.

It’s believed Apple has not introduced a 5K display to match the 5K iMac because there are no machines that could run it over a single stream cable, a fact that will remain true even in upcoming machines like a rumored Skylake Retina MacBook Pro.

Paczkowski doesn’t include other details about the display Apple has in the works, but rumors have suggested it will feature a resolution of 5120 x 2880 and it’s also likely to include USB-C ports that support Thunderbolt 3.

Stock shortages ahead of the Worldwide Developers Conference led to speculation that Apple could refresh the Thunderbolt Display at the event, but that did not end up happening. There is no word on when Apple might release a new display, but with an integrated GPU, it would not have any specific requirements and could theoretically debut at any time.

If a new Thunderbolt Display is planned for 2016, a logical guess at a release date might be in the fall alongside rumored redesigned Retina MacBook Pros.

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The importance of a OnePlus phone you can actually buy

What happens when OnePlus competes on something other than making noise.

Like its two predecessors, the OnePlus 3 offers a lot of phone for not a lot of money. But there’s a crucial distinction this year, as arguably the biggest barrier to entry no longer applies — you can purchase a OnePlus 3, from launch day, without an invite. And that’s huge for a bunch of reasons, some of them more obvious than others.

Firstly, let’s look the positives of the invite system from OnePlus’s perspective. As a smaller manufacturer, limiting sales through invites lets it trickle out phones over weeks and months, and avoid immediately selling out or (worse) being left with a bunch of unsold inventory. Supplies can then be adjusted accordingly. Those who persevere and end up with a phone likely are enthusiasts who’ll continue to spread the message through word of mouth. And ensuring everyone who wants one can’t get one right away helps maintain consumer and press interest over a longer period of time, as outlets and fans spread word of the latest ways to get hold of an invite.

The invite system has done its job. Now it’s time to just let people buy the damn phone.

Though undeniably annoying at times, the invite system has done its job. Going into the OnePlus 3 launch, consumers and media know and care about the phone even in the absence of any obnoxious marketing tricks. What’s more, the benefit of three release cycles under the invite system has surely allowed OnePlus to more accurately judge demand for its latest phone. And we also shouldn’t underestimate the goodwill generated by day-one, invite-free sales among core fans who’ve dealt with this frustration over the past couple of years.

It’s all part of the narrative of OnePlus growing up as a brand. No more apologies for an invite system creaking under the pressure of millions of requests.
No more cringey marketing blnders. No more disingenuous claims that this year’s phone will somehow kill next year’s flagships. No more delaying your phone because you couldn’t print the CE logo correctly.

Just a really good phone at a really competitive price, with no hoops to jump through.

Stupider times: The OnePlus of 2014.

It also means no more asterisks next to any recommendations to buy the OnePlus 3. In years past we’ve hesitated to include phones like the OnePlus One and OnePlus 2 in our list of “best” unlocked Android phones, simply because the average phone buyer shouldn’t be expected to deal with these kinds of hurdles. There was also the implication that any direct price comparison was unfair on the competition, because you couldn’t just go and buy the phone. Now you can.

The new center of gravity for mainstream high-end Android phones.

That’s got to be cause for concern for some competitors. OnePlus isn’t playing the carrier game, but consider a company like HTC or LG, selling its flagships unlocked for $150-250 more than OnePlus. You could argue that the HTC 10 or LG G5 are better in a some areas than the OnePlus 3, but are they several hundred dollars better? Suddenly, paying full retail for anything but the very best — say, a Galaxy S7 or iPhone — becomes a really hard to justify. There’s a strong case for saying he OnePlus 3 is the kind of phone that’ll represent the center of gravity, price-wise, for mainstream high-end Android phones going forwards, leaving the Samsung and Apple at the top and budget contenders like the Moto G and Huawei’s Honor phones further down the scale.

Also consider the Sony Xperia X Performance, a $700 phone with basically nothing going for it over the $400 OnePlus 3. Sony Mobile US’s unlocked, online, direct-to-consumer price structure is so utterly undermined by phones like the OnePlus 3 that it’s almost comical.

With its immediate availability and $400 price point, OnePlus also puts the squeeze on unlocked phones around the $300 level — older flagships like the LG G4 and Moto X Pure Edition look much less attractive when for $50-$100 more you can get current specs and superior build quality. Even the affordable Nextbit Robin, with its standard price of $399, looks a little inflated by comparison.

As the U.S. market trends away from carrier subsidies, eventually the established players will have to sit up and take notice of these kinds of handsets. OnePlus might lack the scale of an HTC or a Motorola, but it also doesn’t have an enormous global corporate structure to support. Thus the savings, as they say, are passed onto you.

None of these arguments would be as compelling were OnePlus not letting consumers simply hand over their cash and get their phone. Phone nerds have short attention spans, and if we had to wait a few months to buy the OnePlus 3 unlocked, many of us might have by then moved onto newer and shiner things.

Instead, OnePlus’s latest could turn out to be a pivotal device for this fledgeling manufacturer — and a milestone for affordability in a high-end phone.

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OnePlus

How to try ChromeOS on a virtual machine before you buy a Chromebook

Seeing what Chrome is like without spending a penny is easy on Windows, Mac or Linux with a virtual machine.

I like to tell people that they should try a Chromebook. I think it’s simply the best platform for a laptop for most home-users, and the price-point is perfect. But saying something is easy — it’s the believing part that is a little harder. Taking a gamble by spending $200 or more based on what other people think can be difficult. I feel you because I’m a bit of a tightwad myself and while I’m not from Missouri I usually need to see something for myself before I make a decision.

If that sounds like you, too, this is something you’ll need to try.

The picture above is Chrome OS (technically Chromium) running on top of Windows 10, and it was as easy as downloading two free files and opening them. Using VirtualBox — software that creates a virtual machine on Windows, Mac or Linux — and a build of Chromium from the folks at NeverWare you really can see what using a Chromebook is like. You’ll need a computer with an x86 processor (if you don’t know what this is, then you have one) and enough RAM to run your normal operating system while reserving 2GB for the Chromium virtual machine. You’ll also need an internet connection to download the files and to connect your virtual Chromebook with your Google Account.

• NeverWare is part of CloudReady. They are a cloud software company who happens to provide builds of Chromium — the open source software that is used to build Chrome OS. Think of Chromium as AOSP for Android. The code is what Google maintains and uses to build their software. NeverWare also builds the software and includes hardware support that your virtual machine will need. All you need to do is download the pre-built file right here. Find the file labeled for VirtualBox and save it to your desktop.

Download: Chromium VM from CloudReady

• NeverWare provides the operating system for our virtual machine, but we need the software to create them. That’s where VirtualBox comes in. The software is free, and the installation is simple. Download the correct version for your system and install it like you would any other program. Linux users — they have packages for Debian, SUSE, Fedora and Ubuntu prebuilt to save you some trouble. If you use Gentoo or Slackware, you should compile from source anyway because you are one with your machine.

Download: VirtualBox from Oracle

• Once you have VirtualBox installed, run it once. read and agree to the terms and let the VM manager open. Then close the program completely. Next, go back to your desktop and double-click on the file you downloaded from NeverWare (it has a .ova file extension). Give it a few seconds, and you’ll see the screen above. All you need to do is click the button that says “Import” at the bottom. It will install itself into VirtualBox — this takes about a minute and you’ll see the progress bar. When that’s done, highlight the new machine you just imported in your list and click the green arrow at the top that says “Start.”

Things will take a bit to load the first time, but when it’s done you’ll see exactly what you would see if you powered up a Chromebook for the first time. It runs the same apps from the Chrome Store and syncs with your Google account. You’ll get the full Chrome experience so you can decide if you want to buy a Chromebook.

The best Chromebooks

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You won’t want to miss this Nexus 5X deal

If you happened to miss the last deal on the 32GB Nexus 5X, you won’t want to miss out on this one. This time around, DailySteals is offering an additional $10 off the price with coupon code NexusEmail10, dropping the price all the way down to just $259. The deal is only available for the black variant of the phone, but it is still a great deal.

All you have to do is enter coupon code NexusEmail10 at checkout to get the additional savings. If you are in the market for a Nexus 5X, this deal is one you won’t want to pass up.

See at DailySteals

Adele’s 25 lands on Spotify and Google Play Music

Seven months after its initial release, Adele has brought her latest album, 25, to major streaming service. The album is now available in its entirety on Spotify, Google Play Music, and more for subscribers.

Released in November 2015, 25 is Adele’s third studio album. Along with albums 19 and 21, the album forms a sort of trilogy about the singers young adulthood. Adele has previously stated that 25 would be her last album titled after her age.

If purchasing music is more your speed, you can of course still buy 25 from the Google Play Store.

Check out 25 on Google Play Music

Check out 25 on Spotify