Typically when we talk about autonomous taxis, we are talking about vehicles like cars, SUVs, and buses that can cruise the highways without drivers behind the wheel. MIT has been working on an autonomous taxi that’s quite different and very specific to Amsterdam and the city’s famous canal system. The autonomous taxis, in this case, are known as Roboats. They … Continue reading
So what is the metaverse? The big tech news last week was that Facebook — the company — is renaming itself Meta, which will apparently align it with its future goals and aims.
But what does it even mean? Judging from Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote, it’s definitely about “experiences.” Meta’s take on the metaverse is “a new phase of interconnected virtual experiences using technologies like virtual and augmented reality.”
Other things that have been described as metaverse include: Snow Crash (where the term originates), Ready Player One, Second Life, The Matrix universe. Both Roblox and Fortnite even touch on a lot of the major points of the metaverse. Senior Editor Daniel Cooper tries to detangle Zuckerberg’s view of his business’ future, right here.
— Mat Smith
The gaming platform’s developer said it was “incrementally” bringing regions back to service after having pinpointed the cause roughly three hours earlier. Some had blamed the outage on a Chipotle promo that launched half an hour before the failure. Roblox has over 40 million daily users. Maybe they really like burritos? The company, while it didn’t detail the cause, has ruled out particular “experiences or partnerships.”
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NASA has delayed the launch of Crew-3 from early on Halloween to 1:10 AM ET on November 3rd. The agency pinned the setback on “unfavorable” weather. There probably won’t be another delay, though. Officials say there’s an 80 percent chance of good weather for the new date. Live coverage of the launch on NASA’s channel will start November 2nd at 8:45 PM ET.
Researchers have produced the first 3D view of Jupiter’s atmospheric layers, showing in greater detail than before how its turbulent clouds and storms work. Most notably, it’s clearer how its giant cyclones and anticyclones behave. They’re much taller than expected, with the Great Red Spot (an anticyclone) running 200 miles deep.
Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman claimed Apple is aiming for a headset with both fast chips and high-res displays that can handle “high-quality” VR games. While it’s not certain just what chips would be involved, a previous leak mentioned a possible 8K resolution per eye.
The headset is still poised to arrive “as early as” 2022, Gurman said. He also suggested Apple would eventually follow up the mixed headset with an augmented-reality-only model, but that was “years down the road.”
Apple has acquired companies and reportedly shuffled executives with mixed reality in mind. And you know what this means? Apple might dabble in the metaverse, too.
Well-known device leaker Evan Blass has shared what he said is an image of a 17-inch ThinkBook Plus model, and it includes a secondary screen that appears to work with a stylus. The 17-inch ThinkBook Plus seems to have an extra-wide main display and fit in a full keyboard along with a large trackpad.
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NASA and SpaceX were forced to reschedule the Crew-3 mission originally set to launch on October 31. The mission has now been pushed to launch at 1:10 AM EDT on Wednesday, 3. The launch was delayed because of a storm system passing through the Ohio Valley into the northeastern United States over the weekend. The storm caused strong winds and … Continue reading
Using high-speed lasers, researchers have created “5D” data storage technology that could allow 500 TB of data to be written to a CD-sized glass disc, according to the Optica society. The technique uses higher writing speeds that might finally make it feasible to use the technology for archival and other purposes.
With 5D optical storage, each file is uses three layers of nanoscale dots. The dots’ size, orientation and position within the three standard dimensions, make up the five “dimensions.” The dots change the polarization of light travelling through the disc which is read using a microscope and polarizer.
We’ve seen 5D optical storage before, but there were a number of problems — particularly the slow writing speeds that made the technology impractical. It has huge upsides for (extremely) long-term storage, though. It’s been estimated that the storage medium could withstand temperatures up to 1,000 degrees C and last 13.8 billion years at room temperature without degrading.
To overcome the speed problem, researchers used a femtosecond laser with a high repetition rate. Rather than writing directly in the glass, they used the laser to produce a phenomenon called near-field enhancement, that creates tiny structures using a few weak light pulses. Those can be used to enhance the circular voids generated by a more powerful, single-pulse “micro-explosion.” This technique “minimized the thermal damage that has been problematic for other approaches that use high-repetition-rate lasers,” according to the paper.
Using the new technique, the team was able to write 5GB of text data ono a silica glass disc the size of a conventional CD with nearly 100 percent readout accuracy. “With the writing density available from the method, the disc would be able to hold 500 terabytes of data,” the researchers said. They were also able to write at speeds or around a million voxels per second, or about 230 KB per second.
That might sound slow, but by introducing parallel writing, you could feasibly fill a 500TB disc in about 60 days. That could provide a way to backup reams of valuable data, essentially forever. “With the current system, we have the ability to preserve terabytes of data, which could be used, for example, to preserve information from a person’s DNA,” said research team leader Peter G. Kazansky.
If you want to score Google’s Nest devices at a discount before Black Friday arrives, check out Best Buy’s sale — some of them are even available for the lowest price we’ve seen them sell for across retailers. The Google Nest Audio, for instance, is now listed for $60, which is $40 less than its standard price and is the lowest we’ve seen for the speaker. In case you missed the chance to purchase the device at that price from B&H Photo in October, here’s another chance to do so. The second-gen Google Nest Hub is also on sale for $50, which is only $10 more than what the first-gen Nest Hub goes for these days.
Buy Google Nest Audio at Best Buy – $60Buy Google Nest Hub 2nd Gen at Best Buy – $50
We gave the Nest Audio a score of 87 in our review and called it a steal at $100. The smart speaker offers much better audio quality than Google’s older speaker models, which can be improved further if you pair two of them in stereo. We also praised it for its attractive minimalist design: The device is fully covered in audio-transparent cloth that comes in five colors. Meanwhile, we gave the second-gen Nest Hub a score of 89, praising it for having a louder and clearer display than its predecessor. Assistant also responds faster on the smart display than on its first-gen counterpart, thanks to its onboard chip.
Want a bigger screen? The Nest Hub Max, with its 10-inch display and camera, is on sale for $180, down $50 from its normal price of $230. We gave it a score of 86 in our review and praised it for its great screen, gesture control capability for media playback and ability to double as a Nest Cam. The Google Nest WiFi 2-pack, which comes with a mesh WiFi router and an access point, is also currently on sale for $179. That’s $89 less than the two-pack’s usual price. The router and the single access point can cover up to 3,800 square feet, and the point comes with a built-in smart speaker with access to Google Assistant.
Buy Google Nest WiFi Mesh Router 2-Pack at Best Buy – $179Buy Google Nest Hub Max at Best Buy – $180
If you want a Google’s smaller smart speakers instead of the bigger Nest Audio to place around your home, the Nest Mini is also on sale for $25, down 50 percent from its original price of $50. It may not sound as good as the Nest Audio, but it has better audio quality than its predecessor. Meanwhile, the Nest Doorbell Battery is down $50 from its original price of $180. As its name implies, it’s a battery-powered video doorbell that’s easy to install and can send you alerts about important activity outside your door. Finally, the Nest Smart Programmable Wifi Thermostat is on sale for $100, down $30 from its original price. It was designed to be easy to install and has a touch bar on the side you can use to adjust the temperature. You can also control it from anywhere via the Google Home app or via Google Assistant.
Buy Google Nest Mini at Best Buy – $25Buy Google Nest Doorbell Battery at Best Buy – $130Buy Google Nest Smart Programmable Wifi Thermostat at Best Buy – $100
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Shanghai Disneyland, the only Disney park in mainland China, closed its gates on Monday after a single case of covid-19 was detected on Sunday, according to Chinese state media outlet Xinhua. The theme park will remain closed through at least Tuesday and it’s not clear when it may reopen.
TikTok wants to make it easier for its creators to earn money for their videos—many of which undoubtedly require a lot of time and effort—so it’s testing out a popular idea: setting up a tip jar.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has tested positive for covid-19, according to a statement released on her official Twitter account Sunday night. Psaki is vaccinated against the coronavirus and is reportedly only experiencing mild symptoms.
The Florida senator shrugged off debt created by Trump’s massive tax breaks.
Although it is often criticized for copying every new Apple innovation, there have been times when Android actually demonstrated new features that would eventually become commonplace in the mobile world. Unfortunately, some of those features may have been ahead of their time, or the opportunity to take advantage of them was squandered. Home screen widgets almost became a tragic footnote … Continue reading
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