HP is apologizing for deliberately pushing a software update to customer’s printers that would prevent them from working with non-HP ink.
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US regulators warn customers about exploding Samsung washers
Just days after Samsung began replacing defective Galaxy Note 7s due to a risk of exploding batteries, the company faces another major product issue. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a warning today after multiple reports of top-loading washing machines exploding. Owners of Samsung appliances in Georgia, Indiana and Texas say that they were doing a load of laundry when they heard a loud boom.
ABC News reports 21 people have submitted cases to the CPSC since early 2015 of washers exploding or blowing apart. One customer in Texas said the explosion had so much force it went through the wall of her garage. Samsung is also facing a class-action lawsuit in New Jersey over the issue.
Following the reports, the CPSC made the formal warning for top-loading Samsung units made between March 2011 and April 2016, but it didn’t get specific with model numbers. In a statement on its website, the company says that it’s working with US regulators "to address potential safety issues." Samsung says that "in rare cases," the washing machines "may experience abnormal vibrations" when customers are washing bulky items like bedding. Those vibrations might pose a safety risk or could cause property damage, the company explained.
"It is important to note that Samsung customers have completed hundreds of millions of loads without incident since 2011," the statement said.
For now, Samsung recommends that owners use the low-speed delicate cycle when washing "bedding, bulky or water-resistant materials." So far, there haven’t been any issues reported while using that setting. Front-loading models aren’t affected, but if you own one of Samsung top-loading appliances, you can check to see if you need to take precautions by entering the serial number here.
Via: CNN Money
Source: Samsung
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Komatsu’s self-driving dump truck doesn’t even have a cab
Despite the dream of the self-driving car, most autonomous vehicles still have a steering wheel, giving passengers the option to take control at a moments notice. Komatsu’s latest dump truck is a bit different — it doesn’t even have a cab for a human operator to sit in. The company calls it the Komatsu Innovative Autonomous Haulage Vehicle. It’s a 2,700 horsepower autonomous truck designed to increase productivity by taking drivers out of the equation. Specifically, the company is trying to eliminate the three-point turn by developing a vehicle that doesn’t need to see where it’s going.
That may seem like an odd practice to eliminate, but it makes a lot of sense — human drivers can only pilot a vehicle by looking out of the front window, requiring them to turn around once they get to a dump site to deposit materials. A self driving hauler doesn’t have that setback: it can simply reverse course without turning. The autonomous design is also more balanced than a normal truck, with the load equally distributed on its four-wheel drive chassis. The company is hoping the balanced load will help the new hauler better negotiate slippery terrain.
The Innovative Autonomous Haulage Vehicle was only just unveiled in Vegas, but Komatsu says it’s planning to get the rig on the market (and into mining operations) soon.
Via: Popular Mechanics
Source: Komatsu
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Japanese inventor’s typhoon turbines harness storms’ energy
A Japanese engineer named Atsushi Shimizu has designed a new type of wind turbine that can harness energy from something more powerful than a strong breeze. Shimizu’s creation, which looks like a huge, upright egg beater, can withstand typhoons (or hurricanes, depending on where you live) and turn their destructive power into usable energy. Unlike ordinary turbines, it can stay standing even when assaulted by intense winds and rain, thanks to an omnidirectional vertical axis and blades with adjustable speeds. That makes them perfect for their creator’s home country, as well as other places frequently visited by storms, such as China, the Philippines and the US.
Shimizu says the energy from a single typhoon can power Japan for 50 years, and with the help of his turbines, the country could become a "super power of wind." Even if his creation can capture all that energy, though, it will likely be tough finding a way to store 50 years’ worth of power at this point in time. We might not have the battery tech capable of that just yet. Shimizu’s company installed a prototype earlier this year in Okinawa, and it’s now gunning to build one either on the Tokyo Tower or at Japan’s National Stadium, where the Olympics will be held in 2020.
Source: CNN, Challenergy
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Here comes 5Gbps networking over standard cables
A new Ethernet standard that allows for up to 2.5Gbps over normal Cat 5e cables (the ones you probably have in your house) has been approved by the IEEE. The standard—formally known as IEEE 802.3bz-2016, 2.5G/5GBASE-T, or just 2.5 and 5 Gigabit Ethernet—also allows for up to 5Gbps over Cat 6 cabling.
The new standard was specifically designed to bridge the copper-twisted-pair gap between Gigabit Ethernet (1Gbps), which is currently the fastest standard for conventional Cat 5e and Cat 6 cabling, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, which can do 10Gbps but requires special Cat 6a or 7 cabling. Rather impressively work only began on the new standard at the end of 2014, which gives you some idea of how quickly the powers that be wanted to push this through.
NBASE-T Alliance
While Cat 6a and 7 are growing in popularity, the vast majority of homes, offices, and institutions use Cat 5e and Cat 6—and upgrading the cabling would be very expensive indeed. A wired 1Gbps connection is still fairly adequate for a single PC user, of course—but over the last few years, with the explosion of high-speed Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet is now one of the bottlenecks. For example, the top end of the 802.11ac spec eventually calls for a total aggregate capacity of around 6.5Gbps; even current consumer 802.11ac gear, which maxes out at around 1.3 or 1.6Gbps, is running up against the limits of GigE.
The new 2.5G/5GBASE-T standard (PDF) will let you run 2.5Gbps over 100 metres of Cat 5e or 5Gbps over 100 metres of Cat 6, which should be fine for most homes and offices. The standard also implements other nice-to-have features, including various Power over Ethernet standards (PoE, PoE+, and UPoE)—handy for rolling out Wi-Fi access points.
A handy diagram showing the various properties of different twisted-pair Ethernet standards.
The physical (PHY) layer of 2.5G/5GBASE-T is very similar to 10GBASE-T, but instead of 400MHz of spectral bandwidth it uses either 200MHz or 100MHz, thus not requiring a super-high-quality mega-shielded cable. (This is the same reason that higher-bandwidth variants of DSL such as G.fast, only work over very short distances.) Other differences from 10GBASE-T include low density parity checking (LPDC) rather than CRC-8 error correction, and PAM-16 modulation rather than DSQ128.
Now that the standard has been approved, we won’t have to wait long for enterprise 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps Ethernet networking gear. What’s less clear is whether we’ll get consumer-grade 2.5Gbps equipment; we probably will, but not for a little while yet.
This post originated on Ars Technica UK
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Oh No, The Final Fantasy Trading Card Game Launches In English Next Month
This is not good. The only thing standing between my wallet and the more than 2,000 cards in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game was all of that Japanese text. Now Square Enix is launching the game in English. On October 28. Great.
For nearly six years, Japanese Final Fantasy fans have been greedily devouring booster packs of cards featuring art from the likes of Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshitaka Amano and Akihiko Yoshida—bright and colorful cardstock coated with images of their favorite characters from the franchise.
Western fans eager to play the game themselves have been importing cards and doing fan translations for years. Those poor bastards will have even more to buy now.
Launching in Europe and North America on October 28, the English version of the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game is starting us off mercifully slow. The first set, Opus 1, features only 216 cards, which doesn’t seem like much at all! I can probably afford that. The set features brand-new cards featuring characters and art from the Final Fantasy VII Remake, Dissidia and World of Final Fantasy, and each card in the set will have a premium foil counterpart.
Wait, so that’s 432 cards. A set to play, and a set to collect? And of course you can’t build a deck with just one of each card. Oh god. This is going to hurt.
The official Final Fantasy Trading Card Game website has tutorials and other goodies to help us prepare for the impending release. May cards have mercy on our souls.
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Krispy Kreme Has Official Pokémon Doughnuts In South Korea
This is a good idea. A very, very good idea.
Starting this month in South Korea, Krispy Kreme is rolling out Pokémon doughnuts.
You can get a Squirtle for 2,000 won (US$1.80), a Pikachu for 2,500 won ($2.27), or Pokéball for 1,800 won each. You can also order a “Pokémon Dozen†for 15,000 won ($16.30).
Note that not all the doughnuts included in the dozen are Pokémon themed!
Let’s have a closer look at the ones that are:
The best part, though?
Squirtle’s gruesome-looking filling!
*shudder*
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
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