The Einstein Foundation Berlin is honoring the American physicist Paul Ginsparg and the Center for Open Science with the inaugural Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research. Paul Ginsparg is the founder of the preprint server arXiv.org, the first platform to exchange scientific discoveries among scientists immediately, openly and globally without review- and paywall restrictions.
DJI’s Mavic Mini drone is arguably the best model for most people in the company’s lineup purely because it’s small, easy to take with you and fairly simple to fly. At $500, the Mavic Mini is expensive for a high-tech toy, but much more affordable that full-sized drones. But for today only, you can get the Mini in a combo pack for $200 off, bringing it down to $300. The pack includes the drone, the remote control, three batteries, three pairs of spare propellers, a number of cables and extra control sticks and a carrying bag.
DJI is known for making impressive drones, and the Mavic Mini is no exception. One of the biggest hurdles of flying a drone is deciding to take it with you, and that can be a difficult decision when you have a massive flying machine to consider. But the Mavic Mini is small enough that it can really come with you anywhere without inducing much anxiety. When folded up, it’s roughly the size of a soda can and weighs about the same as a large smartphone, making it light and fairly discrete.
It’s also pretty easy to fly, and you can do so with either your smartphone or the included remote. It holds up to wind decently, and although it doesn’t have obstacle avoidance like DJI’s larger drones, it does have GPS and a downward-facing sensor that helps it hold position even when you don’t have satellite reception. The Mini shoots video in 2.7K/30fps or 1080p/60fps and it supports Dronie, Rocket, Circule and Helix QuickShots, which are automatic moves that the drone can perform to get some cool footage in a short amount of time. There’s no ActiveTrack on the Mini, which is a bummer, but it’s to be expected that DJI would save some advanced features for its higher-end models.
Our biggest gripes with the Mavic Mini are the fewer smart modes at its disposal, along with the core camera features it’s missing and a slightly flakey video stream over WiFi connectivity. Otherwise, it’s a solid, compact drone that’s a great options for those eager to get their hands on one of these gadgets without dropping too much money.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Black Friday is officially (and finally) here and if you’re lucky, you might be able to score a new game console. Chances are you’ll strike out, though, as restocks come and go in the blink of an eye. If you’re having a tough time finding one in stock, all might not be lost—check your email inbox to see if Microsoft sent you an invitation
Apple doesn’t typically like to associate itself with the madness of Black Friday, but if you know where to look, you can pick up some helpful discounts on many of the company’s hottest devices. This year, Apple itself is dipping a toe in the deal pool itself by offering Apple Gift Cards with select devices on its own online store. If you go that route, note that Apple says it’ll send the credit to your email address within 24 hours from the time your purchase ships or is available for pickup.
Below are the most worthwhile Apple deals we’re seeing as of this writing.
Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.
Amazon’s New World is certainly used to players finding exploits to plunder extra gold, but yesterday the MMO took it to a whole new level: The game itself accidentally started giving out chestfuls of gold to certain players.
The new Covid variant B.11.5.529 has more than 30 mutations in the spike protein alone, which raises fears of increased transmissibility.
The World Health Organization has called a special meeting for Friday to discuss the new variant and what it might mean for Covid treatment and vaccines.
Some 59 cases have been detected worldwide. The single case in Hong Kong was carried there by a traveler from South Africa.
New Covid variant: How worried should we be?
Scientists are closely watching a new variant circulating in South Africa – but there are few clear answers.
A new Covid-19 variant could show immune evasion and enhanced transmissibility, South African scientists warn
South Africa’s health minister announced Thursday the discovery of a new coronavirus variant that appears to be spreading rapidly in parts of the country.
Terraform is the “Infrastructure as Code (IaC)” tool. It is used to build, manage and change infrastructure in a safe and repeatable way. In this article, I will show you how to use Terraform to create an S3 bucket on AWS.
Whether you’re on the lookout for a new laptop for a loved one or for yourself, Black Friday is a good time to pick one up. Like years past, this year you can find a bunch of laptops, tablets and 2-in-1s on sale for the holiday shopping season, allowing you to save sometimes hundreds on the latest machines. In general, we recommend going straight to manufacturers like Dell, HP, Microsoft and Razer if you’re picky about which configuration you want. However, it can be simpler to go to retailers like Amazon and Best Buy and pick from the models they have in stock. Here are the best deals on laptops and tablets that we found for Black Friday.
HP Spectre x360 13
HP’s Spectre x360 13 is on sale for $820. This particular model has an 11th-gen Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and 13.3-inch FHD touchscreen. It earned a score of 94 from us for its gorgeous design, thin-bezeled screen, powerful performance and comfortable keyboard and trackpad.
Today only, the Razer Blade 15 Advanced is a whopping $1,200 off, bringing it down to $1,400. This is the 2020 model that has a Core i7 processor, RTX 2070 Super Max-Q graphics, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a 1080p 300Hz display. The Blade is one of our favorite gaming laptops thanks to its slick design, array of customization options and strong performance.
Dell’s excellent XPS 13 laptop has dropped to $979. That’s for the latest model with an 11th-gen Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, Intel Iris Xe graphics and a 13.3-inch FHD+ display. This has been one of our favorite laptops for a long time and we gave the 2020 version a score of 94 for its attractive design, speedy performance and lovely screen.
Apple’s MacBook Air M1 is down to $850 right now, or $150 off its regular price. We consider this to be the best Apple laptop for most people, giving it a score of 94 for its blazing fast performance, great battery life and lack of fan noise.
The latest MacBook Pro laptops are $50 cheaper than usual at Amazon. We gave them a score of 92 for their powerful performance, lovely Liquid Retina XDR displays and new bevy of ports.
The latest iPad Pros are on sale for Black Friday — the 11-inch model is down to $750 while the 12.9-inch tablet is down to $999. We gave the slab a score of 87 for its powerful performance thanks to the M1 chipset, lovely displays and Center Stage cameras.
Razer’s mainstream notebook, the Razer Book, has fallen to $1,500. The model on sale is specced out: it runs on an 11th-gen Core i7 processor, Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a 13.4-inch UHD+ touchscreen. This laptop includes a generous array of ports, eGPU compatibility and Chroma keyboard lighting.
Both the Galaxy S7 and S7+ tablets have been discounted for Black Friday, down to $499 and $699, respectively. Either would be good options for Android lovers looking for a new tablet — we were impressed by their beautiful build, vibrant 120Hz displays, long battery lives and S Pen support.
The Surface Laptop Go has dropped to $550, or $150 cheaper than usual. It earned a score of 81 from us for its attractive design, speedy CPU and excellent keyboard and trackpad.
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is $500 off right now, bringing it down to $900. We gave it a score of 82 for its thin and light design, colorful display and included S Pen.
Google’s Pixelbook Go is on sale for $599, or $50 off its normal price. It earned a score of 84 from us for its excellent keyboard, thin and light design, good performance and solid battery life.
The Galaxy Chromebook 2 is down to $399, or $50 off its normal price. We gave the Chrome OS machine a score of 82 for its impressive screen, powerful performance, surprisingly loud speakers and eye-catching design.
ASUS’s capable Chromebook Flip C436 is on sale for $650 today only, which is $150 off its normal price. That gets you a 10th-gen Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 14-inch FHD touchscreen and a convertible design. With those specs, this Chromebook could easily be a daily driver for Chrome OS diehards.
The Fire 7 tablet is on sale for $35. If you’re looking for a cheap tablet to be a couch device, or to give your kid without worry, this is a good option. While it doesn’t have the Google Play Store, you can still use it to check email, watch videos, play music and more.
The Fire HD 8 tablet is on sale for $45, or half off its normal price. We gave it a score of 79 for its decent performance, good battery life, wireless charging capabilities and USB-C port.
The biggest of Amazon’s tablets, the Fire HD 10, is half off right now, bringing it down to $75. It’s the best Fire tablet to get if you care at all about performance. We like its 1080p display, 12-hour battery life and its Show Mode feature.
The 8-inch version of Amazon’s kids tablet is half off and down to $70. This comes with a protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.
The Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is 40 percent off, knocking it down to $120. You’re getting the same thing in this bundle — a protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+ — along with a larger tablet.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Enlarge/ We spend time getting to know some Aes Sedai in this episode, including Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood). (credit: Amazon Studios)
Andrew Cunningham and Lee Hutchinson have spent decades of their lives with Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson’s Wheel of Time books, and they’re bringing that knowledge to bear as they recap each episode of Amazon’s new WoT TV series. These recaps won’t cover every element of every episode, but they will contain major spoilers for the show and the book series. If you want to stay unspoiled and haven’t read the books, these recaps aren’t for you.
New episodes of The Wheel of Time will be posted to Amazon Prime subscribers every Friday.
Andrew: If I had to come up with a Friends-style episode title for this week’s Wheel of Time episode, it would be “The One With The Dragon Reborn Misdirects.”
I’m not sure how much screen time or effort I really want the show to devote to the Great Mystery Of Who The Dragon Reborn Is. Changing who it is would vault us out of “adaptation” territory and into the realm of fanfic, so at the end of the day, I don’t really think the series is going to change it on us. But I will say that, if I knew nothing at all about the book series going in, the show is at least making a reasonable case that any of our five Two Rivers-ians could be the Dragon. And at least so far, the show is managing to do that in a way that is consistent with what we know about each of these characters’ long arcs.
Lee: Oh yeah. I like the misdirection. We don’t have the luxury in the show of getting into each character’s head and knowing their internal landscape, so playing “Who’s the Dragon?!” is a good way of giving the audience something substantial to chew on beyond just dialogue and setting. Showrunner Rafe Judkins has said that the show is not changing who the Dragon is and that book fans will know immediately. But this gives folks who haven’t read the books a nice little mystery to ponder.
This episode gives us our first on-screen showing of what a male channeler’s madness looks and feels like, too. In the scenes where Logain is facing down the king of Ghealdan, we see that the weaves he channels are mixed together with blackness—the corruption of the Dark One. (The show also uses “corruption” over the book’s choice of “taint,” presumably to avoid all the memes that would come from having everyone saying “taint” all the time. Haha, taint.) Logain is beset by shadowy figures that seem to form themselves out the corruption, and they seductively whisper dark things to him, like, “Hey, you should totally kill that king guy.” It’s a neat effect, and I think it works great.
And I’m enjoying Logain’s… whatever the actor is doing. Sumptuousness? Weird presence? Whatever it is, Álvaro Morte is doing a great job of making Logain feel like the kind of bad guy who would definitely treat you to dinner plus a Bond villain monologue before murdering you.
Andrew: I am glad you mentioned the “taint” thing because if this adaptation keeps all the characters from talking and thinking about “the Dark One’s taint” all the time then I will be willing to forgive any and all other shortcomings.
The visual effect of the taint corruption on the One Power is probably my favorite visual effect in the series so far, strictly in terms of how economical and effective it is. You can still see the wisps of white, mixed in among the inky tendrils, but even before you see Logain’s madness manifest itself, it’s clear that something is wrong here.
That we’re meeting and talking to Logain at all is one of this episode’s two big departure points from the books—I believe we only spy him from a distance once in Eye of the World, and he doesn’t become a player in the story until a few books in.
We meet him because we’re inside an Aes Sedai encampment, which Moiraine, Lan, and Nynaeve have sought out so that Moiraine’s Trolloc-inflicted wound can be fully Healed. And the show uses this encampment to give us our first big dose of how Aes Sedai society is structured. We get a basic outline of the different Ajahs and their motivations, we hear about the Amyrlin Seat, we meet a few named characters from the books like Liandrin and Alanna. We physically move around a lot less in this episode, and the opportunity to take a breath makes the world-building and lore-dumping feel more organic and less forced.
I actually loved all the stuff with the Warders, since in the books you hear a lot about how they interact with each other but don’t actually get to see the kind of comradely backslapping that happens here.
Lee: Agreed, the Warder stuff was fun. This is a very different Lan from the one we see in the books—still stoic, but not flinty and unapproachable. He and Nynaeve manage to have an entire conversation about Lan’s fallen homeland of Malkier without either of them grunting or punching each other. I’m here for it—hell, I’m here for anything that makes Nynaeve less of the emotionally stunted bully desperately in need of therapy that she starts out as in the books.
Your comment about the Aes Sedai camp showing a bit of how Aes Sedai society works is dead on, and one of the most interesting bits is watching the Green sister in charge of the camp, Kerene (Clare Perkins) keeping Red sister Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood) firmly in check. Book readers know that among the Aes Sedai, women who are stronger with the One Power are kind of automatically in authority over those with lesser power, and Kerene (who Moiraine says has turned back entire armies with her channeling) is firmly in command. For a while, at least.
We also see a bit about why False Dragons are so feared—and what happens to them. A major job of the Red Ajah is to hunt down False Dragons and “gentle” them (that is, permanently sever them from the One Power, so that they can never again channel). False Dragons that have great strength in the One Power tend to raise armies of followers and wreak massive destruction—as Logain has done with Ghealdan. The Reds have snagged him up in a cage, and they’re transporting him to the White Tower to be tried.
Andrew: You have to do a lot of setup in a very short period of time to get from “Nynaeve would slit Lan’s throat” to “Lan’s throat being slit would make her so upset that she could channel” in two episodes, but I think they get there? Maybe I am giving them too much credit because I already have Lan and Nynaeve’s full relationship stored in my head, but it works.
I did also like the battle sequence we get here, which is pretty good at replicating what fighting with the One Power looks like in my head. Stopping a cloud of arrows in midair and then turning them around and killing your enemies with them? Badass. And appreciably different from anything you’d see in Game of Thrones.
Last little thing about the Aes Sedai camp I want to flag before we talk about the rest of the episode, but I am trying to get a read on Liandrin. Book readers will remember her as a relatively minor recurring villain. But by drawing so much attention to her so early on, I wonder if the show is planning on merging her character’s and Elaida’s? I guess we’ll see if and when Rand and Mat make it to Caemlyn.
Lee: Merging Liandrin and Elaida would certainly simplify a few things, given their roles, though if the show keeps certain aspects of Liandrin’s story the same, it would also create some interesting wrinkles—particularly because of how eager she is to get Logain gentled. Is her reason simply her inbuilt Red Ajah conviction to leash all male channelers, or something deeper?
Andrew: It might just be the Red Ajah leanings—based on the cold open for the series, I guessed that she was Elaida. If you’re going to pick one Red Ajah character from the books, she’s at the top of the list. My radar might be jammed by my residual surprise at seeing Liandrin so far from where she’s “supposed” to be. And this is probably going to keep happening!
Lee: The battle with the One Power was done well, as was the linking effect when the women all join together to defeat Logain. And poor Stepin—once Kerene is killed, he goes a bit mad himself, which we learn is a consequence of the Aes Sedai/Warder bond being broken. We’ll get some more depth on that in an upcoming episode, but it’s being played up here for a reason.
And I do have one more thing I want to bring up, because I want to know your take. We know that women cannot see men channeling—the Aes Sedai in this episode make a point of saying it, as they maintain the shield that prevents Logain from touching the One Power while captive. But after Nynaeve has her breakthrough moment and heals the room, Logain seems to have seen it happen—after the lights fades, he says that Nynaeve was “like a raging sun.”
What does this mean, man? Did Nynaeve’s healing weaves generate a flash of visible nonpower light? Or did he see something?
Andrew: Well, now I can only imagine how the scene might have played if Logain couldn’t see anything. Just a lady coming in and yelling, her giant braid flying straight up in the air of its own volition.
Going to file this under “more info needed.” Male channelers in the books do get a sort of tingly feeling when women are channeling nearby, as I recall. The show could be playing that up. Or it could be a side effect of his madness. Or maybe the show has totally changed how the magic system works in ways we don’t know about yet! The series hasn’t precluded any of those possibilities.
But dang if this scene didn’t work for me. Show-Nynaeve is still toward the top of my Amazon’s The Wheel of Time Character Power-Rankings chart. But what is everyone else up to? We’re getting pretty deep into the “split the party” chunk of EotW at this point.
But yes—how are our other characters doing? Rand and Mat and Thom have a moment at what the press notes say is the Grinwell family farm (but I don’t believe they’re named on-screen), and we get some great scenes out of it. We’re watching some misdirection play out with this band of characters, since Thom is convinced Mat’s ailments stem from being able to channel—young men come down with fever-like symptoms after first touching the One Power, and Thom’s seen it happen before to a relative.
Andrew: Even though we savvy book readers (and possible some savvy show watchers who have noticed the camera linger on the knife a few times now) know that Mat is actually in the throes of KNIFE MADNESS.
Lee: Along with Black Oil Like in the X-Files Coming Out of Your Mouth Disease, apparently—though that’s probably a symptom of the KNIFE MADNESS, courtesy of Shadar Logoth.
But there were two things I specifically wanted to comment on—the first was that I was so pleased that Rand gives some encouragement to Mat while they’re lying down to sleep, with his short “Hey, I’m here if you want to talk” speech. Aging these characters up a little lets them demonstrate a bit more emotional maturity than their 15-ish-year-old counterparts in the book, and it’s nice to see Rand showing some genuine empathy and kindness. On the whole, Show-Rand seems to be a much less flaky guy than Book-Rand.
And, the last thing—we meet Birgitte Silverbow!
Sort of.
Andrew: Yeah that was a moment of unexpected tenderness. In the books you don’t actually get to see a lot of moments of the three boys being actual friends, given how quickly and completely their entire lives change, and it’s one thing the show has been able to shore up with a few economical scenes.
The show does seem to be eliding over one of the more fun sequences in the book, though—Rand and Mat on the run, using some Thom-taught party tricks to entertain villagers at inns and earn their way across the countryside. Thom is probably the major EotW character who has been cut back the most in this adaptation, give or take a Padan Fain, which is too bad because what we do get of him I enjoy a lot.
Lee: Oh, Fain’s around—you gotta listen for that subtle whistling. On rewatch, I think I spied him in a couple of places. But yeah, he’s nowhere near as front-and-center as I’d expected.
Andrew: Later on in the series, Rand goes back to things like Thom’s flute to try and maintain some kind of connection to these more carefree (in retrospect! Only in retrospect) days. Given that we’re inside Rand’s head less, maybe the show will find other ways to do that. But I did find myself missing those scenes more than a lot of the others that have been snipped so far.
Lee: Still, I’m liking the little Rand-Mat-Thom sidestory—even if the Grinwells do meet an untimely end and Birgitte gets left behind. (Though I hope that’s not all we see of her—maybe the Wheel will spin her out again?)
And that leaves… Tinker-Town with Egwene and Perrin. I have to admit that this is not my favorite chunk of the books—though it plays here about as well as it possibly can. We learn a bit about the Way of the Leaf and all things Tuatha’an. Young Aram (Daryl McCormack) is bright and bubbly, while his grandmother Ila (Maria Doyle Kennedy) conveys a feeling of weary determination at the heavy burden the Tinkers’ brand of pacifism lays on one’s shoulders. I think the actors here are doing a great job with a not-superinteresting bit of story—and one that, given how much else has been cut, I’m surprised didn’t also end up on the editing-room floor. Then again, we know some of these characters have more of a role to play than what we’re seeing here. (Trying to keep things reasonably future spoiler-free for non-book readers!)
Andrew: You get to the important thing, which is Perrin Has Deep Misgivings About Violence, In Part Because He Is Afraid Of How Good He Is At Violence. It hits a bit differently in the show because he KILLED HIS WIFE AND THEN LEFT TOWN, rather than simply using the axe to deal with direct threats to his person and friends. But it’s there. I’m impressed by the costume and wagon design for the Tinkers, which are nearly pitch-perfect recreations of what is described the books. But these scenes follow the book pretty closely, and there’s not a ton to say about them.
Maybe it was the 8% ABV sugar cookie flavored beer I was sipping while I watched it! But this episode worked for me in ways that the first three didn’t always. I do think it benefits from slowing down, though I’m sure everyone will be on the run again soon enough. But I’m impressed by how well the show is (by and large, so far) capturing the essence of each character without being overly constrained by the exact scenes and story beats in the book. It does have to move fast, and it seems like Egwene and Nynaeve’s mastery of channeling (among our characters’ many other skills) is going to get developed way more quickly than it does in the books. But I did get a distinct “OK, when is the next one?” feeling as the credits rolled.
Lee: Definitely—feels like we’re in the groove now. Which is good, since the end of this episode marks the halfway point for the season. Four down, four to go—and we’ll be here after each one. Because death is lighter than a feather, but WoT reviewing duty is heavier than a mountain. Or something!
Three minutes of staring into a red light once a week may help our eyesight as we get older, new research this week suggests. Researchers in the UK found that volunteers given a weekly session with red light in the morning performed better on tests of their color vision. The findings are the latest to indicate that…
President Warren Harding’s blue silk pajamas. Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves. The Star Spangled Banner, stitched by Betsy Ross. Scripts from the television show “M*A*S*H.” Nearly two million irreplaceable artifacts that tell the American story are housed in the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution, the biggest museum complex in the world. Now, because of climate change, the Smithsonian stands out for another reason: Its cherished buildings are extremely vulnerable to flooding, and some could eventually be underwater. From a report: Eleven palatial Smithsonian museums and galleries form a ring around the National Mall, the grand two-mile park lined with elms that stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol. But that land was once marsh. And as the planet warms, the buildings face two threats. Rising seas will eventually push in water from the tidal Potomac River and submerge parts of the Mall, scientists say. More immediately, increasingly heavy rainstorms threaten the museums and their priceless holdings, particularly since many are stored in basements. At the American History Museum, water is already intruding.
It gurgles up through the floor in the basement. It finds the gaps between ground-level windows, puddling around exhibits. It sneaks into the ductwork, then meanders the building and drips onto display cases. It creeps through the ceiling in locked collection rooms, thief-like, and pools on the floor. Staff have been experimenting with defenses: Candy-red flood barriers lined up outside windows. Sensors that resemble electronic mouse traps, deployed throughout the building, that trigger alarms when wet. Plastic bins on wheels, filled with a version of cat litter, to be rushed back and forth to soak up the water. So far, the museum’s holdings have escaped damage. But “We’re kind of in trial and error,” said Ryan Doyle, a facilities manager at the Smithsonian. “It’s about managing water.” An assessment of the Smithsonian’s vulnerabilities, released last month, reveals the scale of the challenge: Not only are artifacts stored in basements in danger, but floods could knock out electrical and ventilation systems in the basements that keep the humidity at the right level to protect priceless art, textiles, documents and specimens on display. Of all its facilities, the Smithsonian ranks American History as the most vulnerable, followed by its next door neighbor, the National Museum of Natural History.
Whether you’re in the market for tools for yourself, or to give to others as gifts, you’re probably keeping an eye out for sales and special offers—especially over the next week or so. But unfortunately, not all tools sold online are what they say they are.
A number of Razer products are getting big discounts for Black Friday today, but the best deal might be on the Razer Blade 15 Advanced gaming laptop. It’s on sale for just $1,400, or nearly half off (46 percent) the regular price.
The Razer Blade 15 Advanced is a highly-rated gaming laptop thanks to the premium build quality, 300 Hz FHD display, and components like the Core i7-10875H 8-core CPU and GeForce RTX 2070 Super Max-Q graphics. The sale model also comes with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and more. Other features include that distinctive jet-black unibody aluminum case, tiny bezels, an excellent touchpad and a webcam that’s mounted up top, where it belongs.
It’s not the latest model, of course, but it delivers plenty of gaming kick at a price that’s hard to match. It’s no slouch in terms of battery life, either, with an excellent 8:50 time in our rundown tests. The only major drawback is that it’s not quite as light as some gaming laptops, though it’s still relatively slim at 0.7 inches. In any case, if you’ve been looking at the Blade 15 Advanced for gaming or content creation — but waiting for the best sale — this is it.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Enlarge/ Microphotograph of thalassiothrix frauenfeldii, Thalassionemataceae, phytoplankton. (credit: De Agostini Picture Library | Getty Images)
On November 19, 1969, the CCS Hudson slipped through the frigid waters of Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia and out into the open ocean. The research vessel was embarking on what many of the marine scientists on board thought of as the last great, uncharted oceanic voyage: the first complete circumnavigation of the Americas. The ship was bound for Rio de Janeiro, where it would pick up more scientists before passing through Cape Horn—the southernmost point in the Americas—and then head north through the Pacific to traverse the ice-packed Northern Passage back to Halifax Harbour.
Along the way, the Hudson would make frequent stops so its scientists could collect samples and take measurements. One of those scientists, Ray Sheldon, had boarded the Hudson in Valparaíso, Chile. A marine ecologist at Canada’s Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Sheldon was fascinated by the microscopic plankton that seemed to be everywhere in the ocean: how far and wide did these tiny organisms spread? To find out, Sheldon and his colleagues hauled buckets of seawater up to the Hudson’s laboratory and used a plankton-counting machine to total up the size and number of creatures they found.
Life in the ocean, they discovered, followed a simple mathematical rule: the abundance of an organism is closely linked to its body size. To put it another way, the smaller the organism, the more of them you find in the ocean. Krill are a billion times smaller than tuna, for example, but they are also a billion times more abundant.
Thanksgiving leftovers are more fun to eat than the actual, proper Thanksgiving meal. The leftovers are where you can get creative, inspired, and unhinged. Sandwiches, soup, fried rice, and pot pies are all fine and delicious, but they’re almost as traditional as turkey and dressing. If you’re looking for new and…
So far, the two e-bikes I’ve looked at on Ars have been targeting the high end: expensive components and a carefully thought-through riding experience. I looked at them because I thought their creators were trying to do interesting things with the e-bike format, especially compared to the commoditized bikes being offered on the low end.
But I realized that this was only giving me a partial perspective on the e-bike landscape; all I could really compare them with was high-end traditional bikes. So, I was intrigued when a company called SWFT got in touch about two models it was introducing, both at extremely competitive prices. I chose one in a hybrid format that should make it a great gravel bike, since there are a growing number of long-distance trails that require time on gravel.
The gravel bike thing didn’t work out, but I did get a very different e-bike experience, which means it at least ticks the “interesting” box.
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, which relies on client/server technology. It is a software application that transfers files between systems. The FTP protocol was developed in the 1970s and is one of the most commonly used protocols to transfer data between computers over the Internet.
However, despite being an old methodology, users still find it to be one of the best and most commonly used protocols, and users enjoy using it for uploading and downloading files in their day-to-day work. Setting up an FTP server on Linux is generally quite simple.
Tamagotchi are very needy, especially when you can’t hack your way out of caring for one, as I was reminded after importing the Japanese-exclusive Tamagotchi Smart.
Like other automakers, Renault has been known to play the nostalgia card with iconic models like the 5 reimagined as a modern EV. However, the company is taking that to a whole ‘nother level with the Air4, a literal flying car version of the cult Renault 4 hatchback.
Renault teamed up with Miami design firm TheArsenale to create a human-sized drone with an updated version of the 4 sitting on top. The concept marks the 60th anniversary of the Renault 4 and aims to show where the brand might be 60 years down the road. “AIR4 is a symbol of independence and freedom, born out of the realization that traffic is compounding, lives are grinding to a halt, and the world above us is unhampered,” Renault wrote.
The body is built entirely out of carbon fiber and carries a 22,000 mAh battery (with no voltage given) that puts out 90,000 mAh of total power. Thrust is given as 95 kg, or 209 pounds per propeller, for a total lifting capacity of around 840 pounds.
Renault
The driver enters by lifting the entire body from the front to enter an interior Renault describes as “utilitarian.” It can take off at 31 MPH (currently limited to 9 MPH) and fly around at speeds of up to 58 MPH. It did briefly fly (above), but is now slated to go on display at the Atelier Renault museum in Paris and elsewhere around the world (Miami, New York and Macau) in 2022.
Renault once called the 4 (also known as the 4L or “quatrelle”) a “blue jeans” car, and it launched in 1961 with a 603cc engine as a fun, cheap-to-operate vehicle. It sold more than 8 million models over 30 years across 100 countries, with the last version produced in 1992. Renault announced plans to revive that model as the Renault 4ever EV in 2025, so the Air4 might give some clues to its final design…. or not.
