Apple Black Friday deals disappointing? Get huge price cuts on Apple kit at KRCS instead

Apple hasn’t really entered into the spirit with Black Friday this year. Instead of deals across its product range it is offering gift cards. Buy an iPad Pro, for example, and you get a £40 Apple Store gift card – ensuring that any money you would traditionally save is spent at Apple further down the line.

However, UK retailer KRCS has come to the rescue. The official Apple reseller has big bargains across its entire Apple range and you can get them online or in store. What’s more, if you buy at today’s prices but stock runs out, your discount will still stand when stock becomes available again.

All Mac products sold through KRCS get 12 per cent off, which means you can get a rose gold MacBook, as reviewed here, from just £1,099.12 – normal price is £1,249.

• Buy the rose gold MacBook with dual m3 1.1GHz processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD here

Apple iPads are offered with 8 per cent off, so a 32GB iPad Pro 9.7-inch costs £505.07 rather than the usual £548.99. iPad minis have 6 per cent off, so an iPad mini 4 with 32GB of storage is down to £356.26 rather than £379.

• Buy a 32GB iPad Pro 9.7 here
• Buy the iPad mini 4 with 32GB of storage here

There is 4 per cent off iPhones, with the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone SE all in the deal. An iPhone 7, for example, starts at 575.04.

• Buy the 32GB iPhone 7 in space black here

Apple Watch, even the Series 2 and Nike Plus models, have 6 per cent off. That means you can get a 42mm Apple Watch Series 2, with a Nylon band for £375.06.

• Buy the Apple Watch Series 2 here

The latest Apple TV gets a healthy 10 per cent off, so starts at £125.10. And there are even deals on Beats Audio headphones and accessories. For example, the new Beats Solo3 wireless on-ear headphones, in rose gold, cost £214.96.

• Buy the Apple TV with 32GB of storage here
• Buy rose gold Beats Solo3 wireless on-ear headphones here

KRCS might just been an authorised Apple reseller, but its Black Friday deals are far more impressive. You can check out all the KRCS Apple deals here.

HitFilm’s VFX software now supports 8K and 360-degree video

Earlier this year, we brought you the story of FXHome, a British software company that builds VFX software for the YouTube generation. Now, the outfit is updating its paid-for tier, HitFilm Pro, for 2017 with a new series of tools, including support for 360-degree video and action camera footage. As well as various software tweaks, the editing suite can now crunch 8K video as well as more than 500 built-in visual effects.

Of course, HitFilm was conceived by Star Wars fans, for Star Wars fans, so as well as all of the pro-level technical tweaks, there’s something for our inner child. The software now comes with “massively upgraded” rotoscoping and lightsaber effects, and you can even apply lightsaber effects to text.

While another new feature is the ability to automatically sync your high-quality audio with the in-camera feed. That way, editors can ensure that their sound and vision never falls out of step with one another. It also, naturally, saves the hard work of trying to do that manually, which can be something of a chore.

HitFilm Pro 2017 is available for $349 / £309 with a license that’ll let you install it on three machines, or as an upgrade from $189.

Source: HitFilm

NASA says the ISS’ inflatable module is doing great

It’s been almost six months since the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was attached to the ISS, and NASA now has some early data to share. According to BEAM Manager Steve Munday, it’s been doing well and performing as expected after the installation hiccup that prevented it from unfolding the first time. To start with, NASA Langley scientists didn’t find any sign of large debris impact that could affect the module’s ability to protect inhabitants. The folks over at NASA’s Johnson Space Center didn’t detect abnormally high radiation levels inside the habitat, as well — in fact, it exhibited levels similar to the rest of the space station’s.

In addition, it was warmer than expected (though still quite cold) inside the module, probably because its layers provide more insulation than Bigelow Aerospace scientists thought they would. That’s not an issue, though, since its designers were actually aiming for a warm interior. “A colder-than-expected BEAM would have increased the risk of condensation,” Munday explained, “so we were pleased when Jeff first opened the hatch and found the interior to be bone dry.”

Munday was talking about Jeff Williams, one of the most experienced NASA astronauts and one of the first two people who stepped foot inside the module. See, the plan is for ISS crew members to enter the habitat and check on its condition 67 or so times a year within its two-year test period. Williams and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka collected air sample and downloaded data from all the sensors inside back in June.

While the results sound promising, it’s too early to tell whether Bigelow Aerospace’s dream of deploying large inflatable space stations to Low Earth Orbit is feasible. If you’ll recall, the private space corp teamed up with United Launch Alliance to develop expandable modules larger than BEAM that can orbit the Earth on their own. If the partners succeed, the stations will be much cheaper to launch than similarly sized rigid structures, since they can be folded inside their carriers. As Munday said, BEAM is the first of its kind. The scientists involved are still learning, and they’ll no doubt incorporate changes to the technology as they learn more about the expandable habitat.

Source: NASA

Apple’s Black Friday Event Kicks Off in United States With Free Gift Cards Worth Up to $150

Apple’s special Black Friday shopping event is now live in the United States and Canada, offering customers free Apple Store gift cards worth up to $150 or CA$200 with the purchase of selected Apple products today only.

The offers are available through Apple’s website and retail stores in both countries. Each customer is limited to two gift cards per product category. Refurbished products and educational store purchases do not qualify.

U.S. rebate amounts include:
– Macs $150: iMac, Mac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro (excluding late 2016 models)
– iPad Pro $100
– iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4 $50
– iPhone 6s and 6s Plus $50
– iPhone SE $25
– Apple Watch Series 1 $25
– Apple TV $25

The one-day promotion is also ongoing in the United Kingdom (up to £120) and elsewhere in Europe, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The event runs for a little longer in Australia and New Zealand, where Apple is offering gift cards worth up to AU$200 or NZ$215.

Apple’s offers are rather lackluster considering better Black Friday deals are available on select iPhones, iPads, and Macs from authorized resellers such as B&H Photo Video and MacMall. Moreover, many of Apple’s newest products such as the iPhone 7 and MacBook Pro with Touch Bar are not eligible for the gift card promotion.

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Unlocked HTC 10 units begin receiving Nougat update

Good news for HTC 10 owners!

The HTC 10 is getting its Nougat update a week after its kin, the Bolt, shipped with Android 7.0 on board.

According to HTC VP of Product Management, Mo Versi, unlocked versions of the HTC 10 will begin receiving Android 7.0 Nougat on November 25. It’s unclear whether that includes both U.S. and European variants of the unlocked HTC 10, but this surely begins the phone’s inevitable succession to the latest Android version, with carriers likely rolling out the update in the coming weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving! HTC 10 unlocked owners will receive Nougat OS update tomorrow morning! Enjoy!

— Mo Versi (@moversi) November 24, 2016

The HTC 10 hasn’t received the critical accolades of the Galaxy S7 or Google Pixel this year, but it’s a very solid device, likely significantly improved with the bump to Nougat. We’re looking forward to trying it ourselves very soon!

More: HTC 10 second opinion: Six months later

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Exotic bird inspires cheaper light-based camouflage design

Colors usually come from pigments or dyes, but are also created when light is refracted and reflected by microscopic structures. Those iridescent hues, known as “structural coloration,” are often seen in nature on bird or butterfly wings. While durable and potentially useful for military and industrial applications, it’s difficult and pricey to produce. However, Harvard University researchers have developed a robust and inexpensive way to build materials with structural coloring that could be used for camouflage, solar cells and optical switches.

Peacock feathers have the classic iridescent structural coloring, but the Harvard team was inspired by a different bird, the excellently-named Plum-throated Cotinga. Unlike the peacock, it gets its vibrant hues “from a disordered and porous nanonetwork of keratin that looks like a sponge or piece of coral,” the team says. That pattern cancels red and yellow wavelengths out, amplifying its distinctive bright turquoise color.

The Harvard team used the relative chaos of the Cotinga’s feather structure to its advantage. Using a simple etching technique, they created a “complex but random porous nanonetwork in a metallic alloy,” then coated it with a thin transparent alumina layer (above). Depending on the coating thickness, the metallic alloy can create a gradient of colors ranging from blue (33-nanometers) to yellow (53 nanometers).

The team can change the color at whim just by varying the coating, which is both lightweight and scratch-proof. Just for starters, it could be used as lightweight color coatings for cars, biomimetic tissues used to test drugs and camouflage materials for the military (the research was sponsored by the US Air Force). “This system paves the way for large-scale and extremely robust metamaterials that interact with light in really interesting ways,” says paper co-author Henning Galinski.

Source: Harvard

Mars probe crashed because it misjudged where the ground was

The European Space Agency believes that it knows what caused its Schiaparelli lander to crash on the surface of Mars. It turns out that the spacecraft was hurtling towards the ground perfectly well until it, uh, forgot where the ground actually was. A sensor tasked with determining its altitude failed for a single second, but that was long enough to wreck the entire mission. Since the vessel believed that it had already arrived, it ran through the rest of the landing process and activated the on-ground sensors.

The inquest as to what caused the failure is still ongoing and may not be resolved for the better part of a year. But officials believe that, specifically, Schiaparelli’s inertial measurement unit was oversaturated for a second, which told the system that it was already below ground. As a consequence, the lander fired its parachute, ejected its heat shield and fired its braking thrusters all at once while still 2.3 miles above the surface.

It’s the second time that Europe has attempted to land a vessel on Mars, only for something to go wrong at the last minute. Beagle 2, from 2003, which successfully arrived on the red planet, but failed to deploy its solar panels to power transmissions. In fact, the craft was only found in 2015, when a NASA spacecraft shot detailed images of the proposed landing site.

Europe’s space bods aren’t too worried about the failure of Schiaparelli, and will continue to work on the ExoMars program. It’s hoped that the next mission in the series will launch in 2020, hopefully with a computer that double-checks its math during a landing procedure.

Via: The Guardian

Source: ESA

First look: BLU Vivo 6 delivers metal body, fingerprint, 64GB storage for £185 on launch day

BLU’s UK debut is an attractive mid-ranger — available on Black Friday for £45 off.

Today Florida-based BLU announces its first entry into the UK market, with the mid-priced BLU Vivo 6. The phone sees the upstart manufacturer bring an attractive metal unibody and a handful of premium features like fingerprint security and USB-C connectivity to a phone with a standard price of £239.99. But pick up the phone on launch day — Black Friday — on Amazon UK, and it’s yours for a mere £184.99.

So what does that get you? Let’s take a look.

A good-looking phone at any price point.

On the outside, the Vivo 6 sports a curved aluminum unibody with a brushed finish, and a subtle curve that fits comfortably in the hand. Chamfers around the front and back give it a premium look and feel, similar to an old favorite of ours, the HTC One M7. It’s a trued and true design that many have emulated over the years, but nevertheless it looks good at any price point.

Around the front, the rose gold model we’ve been using has a white border around its 5.5-inch 1080p LCD display. It’s a good-looking panel that’s easily visible in daylight, and vibrant but not over-saturated. We have noticed some subtle ghosting in day-to-day use, though — significantly more than most other Android phones with LCD panels.

The Vivo 6’s button setup will be familiar to anyone who’s used a recent Samsung phone. There’s a central home button, which also houses the phone’s surprisingly quick fingerprint scanner, sandwiched between two capacitive keys. (These buttons aren’t labeled, because you can choose which is used for the back key and recent apps functions.)

On the inside, there’s a solid collection of mid-range hardware. The Vivo 6 is powered by MediaTek’s Helio P10 processor — a chip that hasn’t made it into many phones in the West, but with four Cortex-A53 cores at up to 1.8GHz, there’s plenty of power to go around. The inclusion of 4GB of RAM and a hefty 64GB of internal storage is also welcome, plus there’s the option of dual-SIM support or microSD expandability via a hybrid slot.

Other highlights include…

BLU’s software is fast, colorful and feature-packed, but the UI won’t fit everyone’s tastes.

The 13-megapixel rear camera follows a familiar pattern for mid-range Android phones: In daylight or well-lit conditions, it does pretty well. In low light, not so much, with plenty of noise creeping into darker indoor shots and low-light photos. The phone does sport a full-featured camera app, though, with a range of photo filters, along with HDR and beauty modes for agumented selfies.

That’s part of BLU’s highly differentiated Android experience, which sits atop Marshmallow. The firm says an upgrade to Nougat is planned, but there’s no timetable in mind just yet. In any case, BLU’s interpretation of Android 6.0 is a combination of Material Design and its own flattened, geometric UI. In some places it’s a relatively light touch of customization atop the OS. In others, things have been completely rearranged — for example, quick settings now live behind a swipe up from the bottom of the screen, as in iOS.

BLU has also baked some genuinely useful additions into its software — a quick app shortcuts menu that lives behind a sideways swipe of the fingerprint scanner, scrollable screenshots for longer captures, and a “fake call” button for getting out of awkward situations. There’s also an optional floating button widget, which makes one-handed use a little easier.

Besides which the phone is incredibly quick in day-to-day use — there’s not a hint of lag or stuttering to be seen when jumping between apps — and thanks to the ample 4GB of RAM, we didn’t notice any multitasking issues either.

A mix of Android and iOS design influences.

But there are also changes that may rub Android purists the wrong way, like the aforementioned iOS-style quick settings, and the springboard-style home screen with no app drawer.

Software quirks aside, the BLU Vivo 6 looks like a solid mid-ranger, especially at its Amazon launch day price. However, it remains to be seen whether this will be enough to help BLU break into a new market — particularly in the wake of the recent spyware scandal which reportedly affected some of BLU’s other phones. (BLU tells us the Vivo 6 is safe, and affected devices have been patched.)

The BLU Vivo 6 is on sale on November 25 for £184.99. From November 26, the price will revert back to the standard £239.99.

See at Amazon UK