In our series Getting It, we’ll give you all you need to know to get started with and excel at a wide range of technology, both on and offline. Here, we’re walking you through the process of creating your own app by examining five software tools to get the job done.
Source: LifeHacker – How to Build Your Own App If You Don’t Know How to Code
Can you pick up a piece of paper from the floor? With your teeth? While standing on one leg? Don’t just guess—you have to try it.
Source: LifeHacker – The Paper Challenge Is the Cool New Way to Fall on Your Face
A human greets an orca with a “Hello!” “Hello!” responds the orca. A new research shows, the orcas have been able to imitate human speech, in some cases at the first attempt, saying words such as “hello”, “one, two,” “Amy”, and “bye bye.” From a report: The study also shows that the creatures are able to copy unfamiliar sounds produced by other orcas — including a sound similar to blowing a raspberry. Scientists say the discovery helps to shed light on how different pods of wild killer whales have ended up with distinct dialects, adding weight to the idea that they are the result of imitation between orcas. The creatures are already known for their ability to copy the movements of other orcas, with some reports suggesting they can also mimic the sounds of bottlenose dolphins and sea lions. […] Wikie is not the first animal to have managed the feat of producing human sounds: dolphins, elephants, parrots, orangutans and even beluga whales have all been captured mimicking our utterances, although they use a range of physical mechanisms to us to do so.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – ‘Hello!’ Says the Human. ‘Hello!’ Pipes the Orca Right Back.
Windows Defender, the anti-malware software that’s built in to Windows, is going to start removing utility software that tries to scare users into upgrading, starting in March.
The Windows software ecosystem has a large variety of software of dubious merit that claims to detect and diagnose faults. These programs often offer a free version that purports to find problems and a paid version that can supposedly repair those problems. Frequently, the problems detected by this software are either nonexistent or misleadingly described, spuriously blamed for crashes or poor performance.
Under Microsoft’s new policy, any software that the company deems to be coercive will be a candidate for removal. Coercive elements include software that’s particularly alarming or exaggerates the risks, software that says the only way to repair the problem is to upgrade, and software that tells users they must act within a limited time. Direct payments will be penalized, but so too will apps that require people to take surveys or sign up for newsletters.
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Source: Ars Technica – Windows Defender to start removing “optimizer” scareware
Yesterday, organizers for the upcoming Game Developers Conference announced the lineup for the 18th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, and topping that list were honors for a trio of men who helped build gaming as we know it: Vlambeer co-founder R…
Source: Engadget – GDC retracts award for Atari founder amid online outcry
During cold weather, doing less to your hair will benefit it more.
Source: TreeHugger – How to take care of your hair this winter
This is the $77 leather and wool Lavolta Carrying Case Bag for 27-inch Apple iMacs, so you can carry your giant computer around with you IN STYLE. Laptops? Never heard of them! Obviously, I just bought one and plan on posting up at Starbucks for the day. Excuse me, but do you mind if I sit here? I need to be near an electrical outlet. “I’m sorry sir, but you can’t be behind the counter.” I PAID FOR THIS LATTE.
Keep going for a couple more shots in case you’re still on the fence about whether this is the right iMac bag for you.
Source: Geekologie – Real Products That Exist: A Fancy Bag For Carrying Around Your 27-Inch iMac
This is the upcoming ‘Cheaters Edition’ of Monopoly Hasbro will be releasing this fall. It includes 15 “cheat cards” that encourage players to do naughty things behind the other players’ backs, rewarding them with bonus cash or property if they get away with it, and a handcuff to wear if they get caught. Naughty things indeed! *wink* (We’re gonna need a leather riding crop and blindfold too)
“We’ve finally decided to embrace our less-than-honest fans by encouraging them to partake in those iconic (yet sometimes unspoken) Monopoly moments that occur during family game nights,”….”We’re excited to see what fans can get away with and how they’ll react to the new sneaky twists in the game.”
Some of the cheats include:
– Stealing money from the bank
– Placing a hotel on one of your pieces of property
– Removing a hotel from someone else’s property
– Taking an extra $100 in Monopoly money from the bank when you pass go.
– Moving another player’s token instead of your own on your turn.
– Giving someone less money than you owe them.
– Collecting rent for someone else’s property
Man, I remember the last time I played Monopoly. EVERYONE was cheating. It was November 14th, 2004. “Jesus, that was along time ago, and you remember the DATE?” Hahaha, when game night ends with a double murder, you don’t forget.
Thanks to Caroline, who agrees Hasbro must have calculated that everybody already owns a regular copy of Monopoly and is desperate to bolster sales.
Source: Geekologie – Hasbro Releasing A Special ‘Cheaters Edition’ Of Monopoly
On the second Tuesday in June, I start to feel fluish. If this is 2016 and I’m still a freelance writer, I’m losing money immediately on the assignments I can’t complete because my vision is blurry and my thoughts are erratic. If this is 2013, I am soon taken off the roster at the cafe where I work.
Source: LifeHacker – How to Not Die in America
Companies love using the latest and greatest technology to keep track of employees, even when they’re at home. But Amazon’s new idea goes to extremes to treat employees like fleshy robots. The Seattle-based company was just granted two patents for employee wristbands that look like something from dystopian science…
Source: Gizmodo – Amazon Patents Wristband to Track Hand Movements of Warehouse Employees
Enlarge (credit: Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
Tesla is now pressing ahead with lobbying efforts that would allow it to expand its direct dealerships in two more states: Nebraska and Wisconsin.
For now, more than 20 states already allow the California automaker to sell its own vehicles, while others have set up a system that at least partially bans manufacturers from direct sales and effectively protects auto dealers. Those states include Texas, Michigan, West Virginia, and Utah, among others. Last year, court rulings and changes in the law in Arizona, Missouri, Indiana, and other states have paved the way for Tesla to sell directly to the public.
In Nebraska, the new bill under consideration is known as LB 830. It has been met with opposition from existing dealers who are concerned that other manufacturers like GM or Ford will want a similar arrangement.
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Source: Ars Technica – Tesla pushes even more states to upend auto dealer-friendly laws
Enlarge / You can now own one of these and not have it be turned into a useless piece of electronics if the person supporting it goes away. (credit: Garadget)
Last April, Ars reported the curious incident of an Internet-of-Things garage door opener creator who responded to negative reviews and complaints from one customer by shutting down the customer’s account—and in the process, rendering the product unusable. Now, Garadget founder Denis Grisak claims to have reformed his ways, saying he’s opening up the firmware of his company’s eponymous device to allow customers to connect it to the home automation software of their choice, rather than having to rely on Garadget’s own cloud-based service.
Garadget, originally an Indiegogo crowdfunded effort, used an Internet-connected device controller from Particle (the Wi-Fi connected Proton) to provide remote control of garage doors through a smart phone application. The device works with existing garage door openers, essentially functioning as an Internet-connected “button”—allowing owners to remotely open or close their garage doors at a distance via a cloud service. Largely a one-person operation, Garadget has sold about 5,000 devices, Grisak told Ars this week. About 3,000 of those are still active.
But some customers had difficulty getting the mobile application configured, and one took his complaints to Garadget’s community message board and then to Amazon—leaving a scathing one-star review of the product. Grisak (who was handling technical support himself) responded to what he perceived as abuse from the customer by revoking the customer’s key to the cloud service—essentially “bricking” the device by blocking its communications.
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Source: Ars Technica – IoT garage opener now more open, a year after customer firestorm
You’ll be able to see Jaguar’s answer to the Tesla Model X March 1st. What’s more, when the production model debuts next month, the British luxury automaker’s I-Pace electric crossover SUV will be able to hit an 80 percent charge in 45 minutes thanks…
Source: Engadget – Pre-orders for Jaguar’s all-electric SUV start March 1st
Want to catch package thieves (especially inept ones) in the act? Or just see who’s at the door so you know whether it’s worth getting off the couch? The Ring Video Doorbell 2 is $30 off on Amazon today, and will give you an instant alert when someone’s walking up to your door, and even record the footage to the cloud…
Source: Gizmodo – Keep An Extra Eye On Your Front Porch With The Ring Video Doorbell 2, Now Off
Leave it to the Swedes to combine physical fitness with PICKING UP LITTER!
Source: TreeHugger – Swedish fitness trend of ‘plogging’ is amazingly awesome
TSMC last week held a groundbreaking ceremony for its Fab 18 phase 1 production facility. The fab will produce chips using TSMC’s 5 nm process starting from early 2020. When all three phases of the manufacturing facility are completed, its wafer starts capacity will exceed one million 300-mm wafers per year, comparable with other three GigaFabs operated by TSMC.
TSMC’s Fab 18 will be located in Tainan (in the Southern Taiwan Science Park), and will be built in three phases. The construction of the first phase or segment of the building will be completed in about a year from now, after which TSMC will move in equipment sometime in early 2019. In about two years from now, the company expects to start volume production of chips using its 5 nm process technology at the Fab 18/phase 1. Construction of the second and the third phases will commence in Q3 2018 and Q3 2019. The two phases will start volume production in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
| TSMC’s Fab 18: Milestones | |||||
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | |||
| Construction Start | Early 2018 | Q3 2018 | Q3 2019 | ||
| Equipment Move-In | Early 2019 | ? | ? | ||
| High-Volume Manufacturing Start | Early 2020 | 2020 | 2021 | ||
The Fab 18 will have a total floor area of 950,000 square meters and its cleanroom area will exceed 160,000 square meters, the contract maker of semiconductors said. TSMC estimates that the combined production capacity of all three phases of the Fab 18 will exceed one million 300-mm wafer starts per year, which is comparable to the capacities of the other GigaFabs that TSMC operates — Fab 12, Fab 14, and Fab 15. It is noteworthy that the planned floor area and cleanroom space of the Fab 18 will be significantly larger than the initially planned floor and cleanroom area of the Fab 15, which emphasizes increasing complexity of IC manufacturing these days as well as increasing orders from TSMC’s clients. In total, the Fab 18 will cost TSMC NT$500 billion ($17.08 billion), making it one of the most expensive chip manufacturing facilities in the world.
| Brief Comparison of TSMC’s Fab 15 and Fab 18 | ||||
| Fab 15 | Fab 18 | |||
| Total Area of Site | 18.4 hectares | ? | ||
| Building Area | 430,000 m² | 950,000 m² | ||
| Clean Room Space* | 104,000 m² | 160,000 m² | ||
| Initially Expected Investment** | NT$300 billion ~$9.375 billion |
NT$500 billion ~$17.08 billion |
||
| Groundbreaking | July 2010 | January 2018 | ||
| Notes | *Fabs are usually upgraded over time, today’s cleanroom space of the Fab 15 may be larger than initially projected. **Initially expected investments tend to change over time. |
|||
Besides its dimensions and cost, there is another reason why Fab 18 is important for the semiconductor industry: it will be one of the world’s first facilities to produce chips using a 5-nm production tech. TSMC yet has to detail its 5 nm manufacturing technology, but from the announcements that the company has made so far it is evident that this fabrication process will rely significantly on EUV lithography. TSMC did not mention EUV at all in its press release, which is a bit strange. Meanwhile, over the course of last year the semiconductor manufacturer did mention that the 5 nm fabrication technology would be its second-gen EUV process, which means usage of EUV for more more layers when compared to the CLN7FF+ (its advanced 7 nm tech). Furthermore, TSMC already has functional SRAM cells made using its CLN5FF technology and the yields were satisfactory in mid-2017. Therefore, the 5 nm development process seems to be going on relatively well.
The extended usage of EUV for 5-nm chip production means that the company will need to install more EUV tools into the Fab 18, which is one of the reasons why it needed to expand the fab’s cleanroom space. The fact that TSMC has begun to build Fab 18 indicates that the contract maker of chips is confident in its 5 nm technology as well as EUV equipment, including ASML’s TWINSCAN NXE scanners, Cymer’s EUV light sources and other tools. This confidence is further underscored by their intention to start high-volume manufacturing of 5-nm devices in Fab 18 in early 2020.
| Advertised PPA Improvements of TSMC’s CLN7FF Nodes Data announced by TSMC during conference calls, press briefings and in press releases |
||||||
| 7FF vs 16FF+ |
7FF vs 10FF |
7FF EUV vs 7FF |
5FF EUV vs 7FF EUV |
|||
| Power | 60% | <40% | 10% | lower | ||
| Performance | 30% | ? | lower | higher | ||
| Area Reduction | 70% | >37% | ~10-15-20% | tangible | ||
| HVM Start | ~Q2 2018 | – | ~H2 2019 | H1 2020 | ||
Related Reading:
Source: AnandTech – TSMC Starts to Build Fab 18: 5 nm, Volume Production in Early 2020
Archaeologists have discovered sophisticated stone tools in India dating back some 385,000 years. That’s all sorts of incredible, because Homo sapiens like you and me didn’t leave Africa until about 175,000 years ago. The discovery is resetting what we know about so-called “archaic” humans and the dramatic extent to…
Source: Gizmodo – Advanced Stone Tools Found in India May Change Timeline of Human Evolution
An anonymous reader writes: Future versions of Google Chrome will feature built-in support for lazy loading, a mechanism to defer the loading of images and iframes if they are not visible on the user’s screen at load time. This system will first ship with Chrome for Android and Google doesn’t rule out adding it to desktop versions if tests go as planned. The feature is called Blink LazyLoad, and as the name hints, it will implement the principle of “lazy loading” inside Chrome itself. Google engineers reported page load speed improvements varying from 18% to 35%, depending on the underlying network. Other browser makers have been notified of the Chrome team’s plan, but none have provided input if they plan to implement a similar feature. Compared to most JS-based lazy loading scripts that only target images, Google implementation will also target iframes.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Google Chrome To Feature Built-In Image Lazy Loading
“Women almost never become art monsters because art monsters only concern themselves with art, never mundane things,” writes Jenny Offill in her novel Dept. of Speculation. “Nabokov didn’t even fold his own umbrella. Vera licked his stamps for him.” Women, instead, are forced to “balance” work and life.
Source: LifeHacker – What Men Should Learn From Women About Work-Life Balance
Uber’s latest experiment in ditching drivers has nothing to do with autonomous cars.
Source: Gizmodo – Brace Yourself For Uber Bike-Sharing
