Entomology student Dalton Ludwick asked science Twitter: If you could have the entire world know something about your field of study, what would it be? The hashtag #MyOneScienceTweet was born, and it is glorious.
Source: LifeHacker – Octopuses Don’t Have Tentacles, and Other Facts Scientists Want You to Know
Enlarge / The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. (credit: Samuel Axon)
The latest news in the Apple-Qualcomm saga suggests that Apple may be trying to leave the chipmaker behind as soon as next year. A report by The Wall Street Journal states that Apple is designing iPhones and iPads that do not use Qualcomm components. Instead, the tech giant may source modem chips from Intel or MediaTek.
Apple began stepping away from Qualcomm chips with the introduction of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, both of which us a combination of Qualcomm and Intel chips. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, which came out in September, also use a combination of Qualcomm and Intel chips.
According to the report, the decision came after Qualcomm withheld software needed by Apple to test the chips in its device prototypes. This reportedly happened after Apple filed a federal lawsuit against Qualcomm in January for charging billions in patent royalty fees “for technologies they have nothing to do with.”
Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – On the outs with Qualcomm? Apple looking at Intel, MediaTek for modem silicon
The way we exercise and who we choose to do it with is a very personal thing, but new research suggests that working out in a group setting has its advantages, resulting in significant improvements to physical, mental, and emotional measures. Those who workout alone, by contrast, experience virtually no changes in…
Source: Gizmodo – Working Out in a Group Is Better for Your Mental Wellbeing Than Going at It Alone, Suggests Study
Source: Engadget – Scientists can’t explain a ‘worrying’ rise in methane levels
ASUS has now released the WS X299 Pro, a motherboard designed to be a workstation level platform for X299 processors. None of the features seem to stand out as making this motherboard a true ‘workstation’ motherboard, however, it does support multiple storage types (dual M.2 and a U.2), dual Intel network controllers, a COM port interface, and reinforced PCIe slots.
The all-black PCB has a chipset heatsink with the ASUS name on it as well as some silver highlights, but the heatsink increases its surface area by extending into two M.2 heatsinks as well. There are two heatsinks connected via a heat pipe for the 8-phase power delivery, which uses dual EPS 12V pin connectors to supply enough power to the top processors. The design of the heatsinks is professional-like: simple with a brushed aluminum/silver look on it. The back panel IO is not covered with a shroud, and RGB LEDs are not integrated on this board given the workstation nature, but there are two RGB strip headers, oddly enough.
Based on the X299 chipset, the WS X299 Pro supports LGA 2066 CPUs including both Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X based processors. It comes with the typical complement of eight memory slots supporting up to 128GB of DDR4 running at speeds up to DDR4-4133 in quad channel. If a quad-core Kaby Lake-X CPU is installed, supported speeds remain the same; however maximum capacity is then 64GB in dual channel. The board and CPUs do not support ECC memory, nor do they support Xeon-W CPUs.
Storage options include six SATA ports, a PCIe 3.0 x4 U.2 port, and dual M.2 slots. The M.2 slots are both covered by heatsinks in order to help dissipate the heat generated from the drives underneath. Both M.2 ports support SATA and PCIe 3.0 x4 modules. The SATA ports support RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10. Despite offering three PCIe based storage ports between U.2 and M.2, bandwidth is shared between the second M.2 slot and the U.2 port. SATA bandwidth is also shared between the first M.2 slot and the first SATA port when a SATA M.2 drive is installed – exact configurations available will be part of the manual. The motherboard also has Thunderbolt 3 support via a 5 pin header located on the bottom of the board for add-in cards.
Network capabilities on the WS X299 Pro are handled by a dual Intel I210-AT gigabit network controllers. Not making an appearance on the network side of things is a 10 Gigabit LAN port, nor wireless capabilities, perhaps indicating that this is going to be a ‘cheaper’ level workstation product.
ASMedia controllers handle USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) connectivity, with a Type-A and Type-C port on the back panel, and an internal header for a front panel port. The chipset manages six USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) ports with four found on the back panel and another two from internal headers, as well as six USB 2.0 ports in a similar fashion. The WS X299 Pro has a total of four full-length PCIe slots from the processor, all reinforced, and one open-ended PCIe x4 slot from the chipset. Lane breakdowns will vary by CPU used: when using a 44 lane CPU, we get an x16/x16/x4(c)/x8/x4, a 28 lane CPU is x16/x8/x4(c)/x4/x0 while a Kaby Lake 16 lane CPU is x8/x4/x4(c)/x4/x0.
Audio duties are handled by the Realtek ALC S1220A codec, featuring ASUS’ enhancements under the Crystal Sound 3 banner. ASUS worked with Realtek on the S1220A to give their own spin on the base ALC1220 codec, essentially removing some un-needed hardware to save power. The board has an auto impedance sense for the front and rear headphone outputs, its own internal audio amplifier, support for DTS connect, de-pop circuitry, and premium Japanese audio capacitors.
| ASUS WS X299 Pro | |
| Warranty Period | Unknown |
| Product Page | Link |
| Price | N/A |
| Size | ATX |
| CPU Interface | LGA2066 |
| Chipset | Intel X299 Express |
| Memory Slots (DDR4) | Up to Eight DDR4-4133 Supporting Up to 128GB (SKL-X) Supporting Up to 64GB (KBL-X) Quad/Dual Channel Support DDR4 4133+ |
| Network Connectivity | 2 x Intel I210-AT LAN |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC S1220A |
| PCIe Slots | 44 lane CPU : x16/x16/x4(c)/x8/x4, 28 lane CPU : x16/x8/x4(c)/x4/x0, 16 lane CPU : x8/x4/x4(c)/x4/x0. |
| Onboard SATA | 6 x 6 Gbps, Supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 |
| Onboard SATA Express | None |
| Onboard M.2 | 2 x Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA |
| Onboard U.2 | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 |
| USB 3.1 | 1 x Back Panel Type-A 1 x Back Panel Type-C 1 x Internal Header |
| USB 3.0 | 4 x Back Panel 1 x Header |
| USB 2.0 | 4 x Back Panel 1 x Header |
| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin EATX 2 x 8-pin ATX 12V |
| Fan Headers | 4 x 4-pin + 5-pin Extension Fan connector |
| IO Panel | 2 x RJ45 ports 2 x USB 3.1 10 Gbps ports 4 x USB 3.1 5 Gbps ports 4 x USB 2.0 1 x SPDIF 1 x Audio Stack 1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button |
| Onboard Headers | 1 x COM Header 1 x VROC Header 1 x Thunderbolt Header |
Pricing nor availability was listed at the time of writing. ASUS has not fully fleshed out its product page on the ASUS website yet, detailing any specific workstation features. It is possible that warranty might be one of them, which will be region dependent, or that they are offering this product as a B2B. We will add more information when we get it.
Source: AnandTech – ASUS Releases the WS X299 Pro Motherboard
All these laws imply that the pedestrian has “shared responsibility.” In fact, they have the right of way.
Source: TreeHugger – Law proposed for Ontario, Canada to ban “distracted walking”
Waymo has begun testing truly autonomous vehicles that don’t even need to hand off control to human drivers in dangerous situations. Alphabet’s autonomous car development arm has shown off the latest version of its Chrysler Pacifica minivans at an ev…
Source: Engadget – Waymo cars won’t ask for human help during emergencies
Come with us on a journey to discover the 2017 Raspberry Pi Halloween projects that caught our eye, raised our hair, or sent us screaming into the night.
Whether you’re easily scared or practically unshakeable, you can celebrate Halloween with Pi projects of any level of creepiness.
Even makers of a delicate constitution will enjoy making this Code Club Ghostbusters game, or building an interactive board game using Halloween lights with this MagPi tutorial by Mike Cook. And how about a wearable, cheerily LED-enhanced pumpkin created with the help of this CoderDojo resource? Cute, no?
Speaking of wearables, Derek Woodroffe’s be-tentacled hat may writhe disconcertingly, but at least it won’t reach out for you. Although, you could make it do that, if you were a terrible person.
Your decorations don’t have to be terrifying: this carved Pumpkin Pi and the Poplawskis’ Halloween decorations are controlled remotely via the web, but they’re more likely to give you happy goosebumps than cold sweats.
The Snake Eyes Bonnet pumpkin and the monster-face projection controlled by Pis that we showed you in our Halloween Twitter round-up look fairly friendly. Even the 3D-printed jack-o’-lantern by wermy, creator of mintyPi, is kind of adorable, if you ignore the teeth. And who knows, that AlexaPi-powered talking skull that’s staring at you could be an affable fellow who just fancies a chat, right? Right?
OK, fine. You’re after something properly frightening. How about the haunted magic mirror by Kapitein Haak, or this one, with added Philips Hue effects, by Ben Eagan. As if your face first thing in the morning wasn’t shocking enough.
If you find those rigid-faced, bow-lipped, plastic dolls more sinister than sweet – and you’re right to do so: they’re horrible – you won’t like this evil toy. Possessed by an unquiet shade, it’s straight out of my nightmares.
Earlier this month we covered Adafruit’s haunted portrait how-to. This build by Dominick Marino takes that concept to new, terrifying, heights.
Why not add some motion-triggered ghost projections to your Halloween setup? They’ll go nicely with the face-tracking, self-winding, hair-raising jack-in-the-box you can make thanks to Sean Hodgins’ YouTube tutorial.
And then, last of all, there’s this.
NO.
This recreation of Billy the Puppet from the Saw franchise is Pi-powered, it’s mobile, and it talks. You can remotely control it, and I am not even remotely OK with it. That being said, if you’re keen to have one of your own, be my guest. Just follow the guide on Instructables. It’s your funeral.
It’s been a great year for scary Raspberry Pi makes, and we hope you have a blast using your Pi to get into the Halloween spirit.
And speaking of spirits, Matt Reed of RedPepper has created a Pi-based ghost detector! It uses Google’s Speech Neural Network AI to listen for voices in the ether, and it’s live-streaming tonight. Perfect for watching while you’re waiting for the trick-or-treaters to show up.
The post A Raspberry Pi Halloween projects spectacular appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
Source: Raspberry Pi – A Raspberry Pi Halloween projects spectacular
OpenIndiana “Hipster” 2017.10 is now available as the OpenSolaris-derived operating system using the Illumos kernel build…
Source: Phoronix – OpenIndiana Hipster 2017.10 Released With MATE 1.18 Desktop
Enlarge / Equity investment in the space sector since the dawn of the “Entrepreneurial” space age. (credit: Space Angels)
In July 2009, SpaceX launched its first commercial payload—a 50kg Earth observation satellite for Malaysia—which flew into space aboard a privately developed rocket. According to a new space investment report that will be published Tuesday by the Space Angels, an angel fund and a venture capital fund focused on space, that marked a key inflection point between the “governmental” space age and the “entrepreneurial” space age.
“With that launch, SpaceX significantly lowered the barriers to entry in the space industry,” the fund’s chief executive, Chad Anderson, writes in the new report. “By vertically integrating, the company was able to drastically reduce the cost to get to orbit. But what deserves at least as much credit is their decision to publish their pricing, which fundamentally changed the way we do business in space. This transparency enabled would-be space entrepreneurs to develop a business plan and raise equity financing based on those cost assumptions.”
The Space Angels organization prepares quarterly investment reports, but until this week has not published them for public consumption. (Ars will provide a link to the report when it goes online). The report breaks down equity investment in the space sector by year, since 2009, in angel, venture capital, corporate and other forms of non-governmental investment.
Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – New report: Entrepreneurial space age began in 2009
Microsoft has made it clear that free upgrades to Windows 10 will end December 31, giving users about 2 months to make up their minds. The free Windows 10 upgrade technically ended in July last year, but it made one interesting exception: those who used assistive technologies could still upgrade for free beyond that point.
If you use assistive technologies, you can upgrade to Windows 10 at no cost as Microsoft continues our efforts to improve the Windows 10 experience for people who use these technologies. Please take advantage of this offer before it expires on December 31, 2017. With the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, we’ve taken a number of steps to improve the accessibility of Windows 10.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Free Windows 10 Upgrades End This Year
Microsoft is bringing even greater mobility to their Surface Pro line by making Surface Pro with LTE Advanced available to business customers beginning December 2017. With a Cat 9 modem, Surface Pro with LTE Advanced is the fastest LTE-enabled laptop in its class. It delivers global connectivity with support of 20 cellular bands so you can work, study, create or relax uninterrupted.
Surface Pro with LTE Advanced rounds out our family of ultimate laptops, giving businesses options to meet the needs of everyone in their workforce. Whether it’s the pure power of Surface Book 2, the most powerful Surface yet with up to 17 hours of battery life3, the unmatched versatility of Surface Pro, or the beauty and emotional appeal of Surface Laptop. The entire Surface family is built to bring the best of Windows to life, including the new mixed reality, 3D, and inking experiences in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Surface Pro with LTE Advanced Will Begin Shipping in December
For the second time in three years, Sprint is preparing to leave T-Mobile at the altar after months of negotiations to bring together the two U.S. wireless providers. Directors at Sprint’s parent company, SoftBank Group Corp., met in Tokyo last week and decided to suspend the merger efforts, according to people familiar with the matter. Officials at T-Mobile were caught off guard by the development.
SoftBank’s founder and chairman, Masayoshi Son, is concerned about giving up too much control in the potential transaction, said the people familiar with the break-down in the talks. The two sides also have been unable to agree on a valuation for Sprint’s shares, they added, though the talks still could be revived at a later date. SoftBank, which owns more than 80% of Sprint, had been in negotiations with T-Mobile’s parent Deutsche Telekom AG on an all-stock deal that would give the German firm control over the combined U.S. company.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Sprint to Halt Talks on T-Mobile Merger
One of the most frustrating aspects of shopping for a car online can often be boiled down to three words: “call for price.” It seems simple enough; call the dealership and they’ll tell you how much it costs. But the subtext to this command will give you a pretty big clue as to whether or not you even want to bother…
Source: LifeHacker – Here’s What ‘Call For Price’ On A Dealer’s Website Really Means
I’m not terribly fussy about how I read. I used an old Kindle Keyboard until a stray pen in my backpack broke its display, and I’ve long happily used a Paperwhite without so much as considering the fancier Kindles Amazon has released since I got it back in 2013. Hell, half the time I’m just reading on the Kindle…
Source: Gizmodo – The New Kindle Oasis Is the Best Ereader of All Time, But Is It Worth It?
Thomas Jane teases the premise of the Predator reboot. Casting calls for Titans could reveal some more comic book favorites coming to the show. A Blair Witch TV series could be on the way. Plus, Black Lightning casts an intriguing comic book love interest, and Selina gets a costume upgrade on Gotham. Happy Spoiloween,…
Source: Gizmodo – The Success of Justice League Could Decide the Fate of the Standalone Flash Film
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Wall Street Journal (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source): Apple, locked in an intensifying legal fight with Qualcomm, is designing iPhones and iPads for next year that would jettison the chipmaker’s components, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple is considering building the devices only with modem chips from Intel and possibly MediaTek because San Diego, Calif.-based Qualcomm has withheld software critical to testing its chips in iPhone and iPad prototypes, according to one of the people. Apple’s planned move for next year involve the modem chips that handle communications between wireless devices and cellular networks. Qualcomm is by far the biggest supplier of such chips for the current wireless standard. The Apple plans indicate the battle with Qualcomm could spill beyond the courtroom feud over patents into another important Qualcomm business where it has the potential to send ripples through the smartphone supply chain.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Apple Is Designing iPhones, iPads That Would Drop Qualcomm Components
Amazon’s last Kindle Oasis felt like an e-reader meant for the very rich. It was astoundingly thin and light, but its $290 price made it a tough sell. The new Oasis is still the company’s most expensive e-reader, but at $250 it’s slightly cheaper tha…
Source: Engadget – Kindle Oasis review (2017): Cheaper, waterproof and a bigger screen
When I was in a creative writing MFA program, every time a visiting author came to campus to speak to us, one student inevitably asked during the Q&A, “So, what’s your process?”
Source: LifeHacker – How to Be Disciplined About Your Creative Projects
If yesterday’s family-friendly board game sale wasn’t to your liking, now Amazon’s offering a buy two, get one free discount on a bunch of other games, including several which are more geared towards adults than the likes of Mouse Trap and Sorry!
Source: LifeHacker – Buy Two Board Games of Your Choice From Amazon, Get a Third Free
