Month: September 2019

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We’re Killing the Oceans, and We’ll Pay Dearly for It

https://www.wired.com/story/ipcc-oceans-report

When the sun sets on the human race, and the cause of death isn’t an asteroid scorching the Earth, whoever or whatever comes after our kind might uncover the documents that defined us—the Magna Carta, any number of national constitutions and international treaties, classic works of fiction. And more recently, that canon has come to include a series of special reports from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, warning of the unfolding catastrophe we’ve created for ourselves. The latest, on oceans and the cryosphere (the icy bits of the planet), drops today, and depending on whom you ask, it’s either startling, depressing, or dire, or more likely a combination of all three.

The main takeaway is this: Climate change is ocean change. The seas continue to take on the atmosphere’s heat, as marine heatwaves cripple ecosystems and less snow and ice threaten water supplies. The ocean has warmed unabated since 1970, absorbing more than 90 percent of the excess heat in the climate system. “The consequences for nature and humanity are sweeping and severe,” said Ko Barrett, IPCC vice chair, in a press conference announcing the findings.

Let’s begin with the most apparent consequence of climate change in the oceans: global mean sea level rise. Between 1902 and 2015, it was 0.16 meters. But that rate is accelerating. Between 2006 and 2015 it rose about 3.6 millimeters a year, more than double what it was between 1901 and 1990. At the same time, populations of low-lying coastal zones now total 680 million people, which is expected to explode to over a billion in the next 30 years. And in those next three decades, many low-lying megacities and islands could start seeing what used to be once-in-a-century extreme sea level events—life-threatening storm surges, for example—every. Single. Year.

Sea levels are rising faster because ice sheets are melting at an accelerating pace, largely in Greenland and Antarctica. We should be very, very worried about the Antarctic ice sheet, which could potentially collapse with catastrophic consequences. Should that happen, “then there’s a chance of multi-meter sea level rise within the next two or three centuries,” said coordinating lead author Regine Hock during the press conference. “At the moment the likely range is only up to a meter, but because of all the uncertainties that are still associated with all these processes, feedback mechanisms kicking in and reinforcing cycles, it’s so difficult to project.”

Permafrost, too, is a looming crisis. According to the report, Arctic and boreal permafrost holds up to 1,600 gigatons of organic carbon, which is almost twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. And permafrost temperatures have risen to record high levels. If permafrost melts on a wide scale, it’ll kick off a vicious feedback loop, with the released carbon driving still more warming and melting. And warming is hitting the Arctic with more ferocity than the rest of the planet.

Then there’s snow. “The depth, extent, and duration of snow cover have declined in nearly all mountain regions, especially in low elevations,” said Heidi Steltzer, coordinating lead author, in the press conference. “Snow is good, and we’ve got less snow. Snow arrives later, melts earlier, and covers less ground.” Less snow melt threatens drinking water supplies and irrigation for crops, and can shrink hydroelectric dams’ output.

In the oceans, warming is driving ecological chaos. The number of marine heat waves has doubled over the last four decades, the report says, and they’re growing more intense. The consequences across the marine tree of life are dire. Hot waters hold less oxygen, which leads to dead zones; organisms with the power to flee have to find new habitats. Indeed, species have been shifting poleward to escape the heat: Since the 1950s, species that live in the upper 200 meters of the sea have moved 52 kilometers per decade, while seafloor organisms have managed 29 kilometers per decade.

Complicating matters further, no single marine species lives in isolation. If your prey of choice dies out or moves away, and you can’t find a new source of food, you’re in trouble. “Life in the oceans as we see it is being torn apart,” says Emily Pidgeon, head of marine programs at Conservation International, who wasn’t involved in the report. “Acidity is changing, the temperature is changing, and also the structure of the ocean—so how salty it is and what temperatures are from top to bottom. Different animals like different combinations, so they have to move to new places. It’s like this mass immigration in the oceans.” That’s happening both horizontally as species move toward the poles, as well as vertically, as they try to find the sweet spot in the water column of a changing ocean.

via Wired Top Stories https://ift.tt/2uc60ci

September 25, 2019 at 04:09AM

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Juul CEO Resigns, Company Announces It Will Stop All Advertising

https://gizmodo.com/juul-ceo-resigns-company-announces-it-will-stop-all-ad-1838437247

Juul Labs CEO and cofounder Kevin Burns is stepping down from the San Francisco-based e-cigarette giant according to a press release published on the company’s website. Juul also announced that it will stop all print, digital, and broadcast advertising in the U.S. effective immediately.

The CEO’s resignation comes in the wake of at least nine deaths from vaping related illness across the U.S. in recent months, none of which have been linked directly to Juul. The company has also pledged to stop lobbying the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on e-cigarette related issues.

“Working at JUUL Labs has been an honor and I still believe the company’s mission of eliminating combustible cigarettes is vitally important,” Burns said in a press release. “I am very proud of my team’s efforts to lead the industry toward much needed category-wide action to tackle underage usage of these products, which are intended for adult smokers only.”

“Since joining JUUL Labs, I have worked non-stop, helping turn a small firm into a worldwide business, so a few weeks ago I decided that now was the right time for me to step down,” Burns continued.

Burns will be replaced by K.C. Crosthwaite, the Chief Growth Officer at Altria, which owns 35 percent of Juul Labs. Crosthwaite formerly worked as an executive overseeing Marlboro cigarettes at the company and was in charge of pushing into non-combustible cigarette devices like the IQOS.

Philip Morris International and Altria Group have announced that they will no longer seek a merger. Juul Labs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com

September 25, 2019 at 07:09AM

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Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot is now a gymnast

https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/24/boston-dynamics-atlas-gymnast/

The latest footage from Boston Dynamics is, unsurprisingly, both impressive and terrifying. Over the past few years we’ve seen Atlas navigate uneven terrain and even jump around a parkour course. This is on another level, though. The bipedal robot does a handstand, rolls around and even does a few jumping twists — all without losing its balance.

A new workflow helps Atlas pull off these smooth moves while also reducing development time and achieving a performance success rate of about 80 percent. "First, an optimization algorithm transforms high-level descriptions of each maneuver into dynamically-feasible reference motions," says Boston Dynamics. "Then Atlas tracks the motions using a model predictive controller that smoothly blends from one maneuver to the next." The exact purpose of an agile, bipedal robot is still a bit of a mystery, though; Atlas could end up becoming anything from a butler to a soldier. Why Google bought Boston Dynamics is yet another puzzle.

Boston Dynamics’ Spot is now available for those who want a robotic companion for commercial use. While individuals can’t purchase the doglike robot, enterprise customers can deploy a pack to help on construction, plant operations, and public safety jobs. Whether it’s as useful as a human worker or not, Spot is sure to impress corporate clients.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Boston Dynamics

via Engadget http://www.engadget.com

September 24, 2019 at 12:09PM

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Tesla May Soon Have a Battery That Can Last a Million Miles

https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-may-soon-have-a-battery-that-can-last-a-million-miles

Last April, Elon Musk promised that Tesla would soon be able to power its electric cars for more than 1 million miles over the course of its lifespan. At the time, the claim seemed a bit much. That’s more than double the mileage current Tesla owners can expect to get out of their car’s battery packs, which are already well beyond the operational range of most other EV batteries. It just didn’t seem real—except now it appears that it is.

Earlier this month, a group of battery researchers at Dalhousie University, which has an exclusive agreement with Tesla, published a paper in The Journal of the Electrochemical Society describing a lithium-ion battery that “should be able to power an electric vehicle for over 1 million miles” while losing less than 10 percent of its energy capacity during its lifetime.

Led by physicist Jeff Dahn, one of the world’s foremost lithium-ion researchers, the Dalhousie group showed that its battery significantly outperforms any similar lithium-ion battery previously reported. They noted their battery could be especially useful for self-driving robotaxis and long-haul electric trucks, two products Tesla is developing.

What’s interesting, though, is that the authors don’t herald the results as a breakthrough. Rather, they present it as a benchmark for other battery researchers. And they don’t skimp on the specifics.

“Full details of these cells including electrode compositions, electrode loadings, electrolyte compositions, additives used, etc. have been provided,” Dahn and his colleagues wrote in the paper. “This has been done so that others can recreate these cells and use them as benchmarks for their own R+D efforts.”

Within the EV industry, battery chemistries are a closely guarded secret. So why would Dahn’s research group, which signed its exclusive partnership with Tesla in 2016, give away the recipe for such a seemingly singular battery? According to a former member of Dahn’s team, the likely answer is that Tesla already has at least one proprietary battery chemistry that outperforms what’s described in the benchmark paper. Indeed, shortly after the paper came out, Tesla received a patent for a lithium-ion battery that is remarkably similar to the one described in the benchmarking paper. Dahn, who declined to comment for this article, is listed as one of its inventors.

The lithium-ion batteries described in the benchmark paper use lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide, or NMC, for the battery’s positive electrode (cathode) and artificial graphite for its negative electrode (anode). The electrolyte, which ferries lithium ions between the electrode terminals, consists of a lithium salt blended with other compounds.

NMC/graphite chemistries have long been known to increase the energy density and lifespan of lithium-ion batteries. (Almost all electric car batteries, including the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Bolt, use NMC chemistries, but notably not Tesla.) The blend of electrolyte and additives is what ends up being the subject of trade secrets. But even those materials, as described in the paper, were well known in the industry. In other words, says Matt Lacey, a lithium-ion battery expert at the Scania Group who was not involved in the research, “there is nothing in the secret sauce that was secret!”

Instead, Dahn’s team achieved its huge performance boosts through lots and lots of optimizing of those familiar ingredients, and tweaking the nanostructure of the battery’s cathode. Instead of using many smaller NMC crystals as the cathode, this battery relies on larger crystals. Lin Ma, a former PhD student in Dahn’s lab who was instrumental in developing the cathode design, says this “single-crystal” nanostructure is less likely to develop cracks when a battery is charging. Cracks in the cathode material cause a decrease in the lifetime and performance of the battery.

via Wired Top Stories https://ift.tt/2uc60ci

September 23, 2019 at 03:09AM

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Facebook Just Coughed Up Close to $1 Billion for a Company That Makes Brain-Reading Wristbands

https://gizmodo.com/facebook-just-coughed-up-close-to-1-billion-for-a-comp-1838399633

Stirring the speculation pot about the company’s long-rumored smart glasses, yesterday Facebook agreed to acquire the CTRL-Labs startup which has been developing a wristband capable of reading a wearer’s thoughts and using them to control computers and other devices.

Facebook’s head of augmented reality and virtual reality, Andrew Bosworth, officially made the announcement about the acquisition on—you guessed it— Facebook yesterday, and revealed the startup will be joining the Facebook Reality Labs team in hopes of accelerating its development and availability to consumers. Sources familiar with the matter told CNBC the deal was worth somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion, although a Facebook spokesperson claimed it was actually less than a billion.

So what does Facebook plan to do with CTRL-Labs technology? One of the last remaining roadblocks to making smart devices smaller, wearable, and genuinely usable, is ensuring that people can still interact and operate them. Tapping your finger on a smartphone’s screen and software keyboard works just fine, but like a few companies, Facebook has aspirations for smart glasses eventually being a replacement for phones and tablets, and tapping away on a lens with your fingers is simply not a solution.

Voice assistants have come a long way, and undoubtedly will eventually become a key way to interact with wearable devices like smart glasses, but people aren’t always comfortable talking to their tech when out in public. Would you want to remind your smart specs to add “toilet plunger” to your shopping list while amongst your co-workers? There are alternatives to voice commands, including technologies like eye-tracking, but simply thinking about what you want a device to do, and having it happen, would be the ultimate solution.

That’s exactly what CTRL-Labs has been working on, and it helps explain why Facebook would want to pony up almost a billion dollars to help make it a reality. The device, which could eventually be integrated into something as subtle as a smartwatch, detects electrical signals sent from the brain, through your spinal cord, and eventually your hands and fingers, telling them to operate a mouse, keyboard, or even a touchscreen. Those signals are intercepted, decoded, and then translated to commands a device can understand, so all you’d have to do is think about typing to send a message.

If Facebook is ever able to fully realize the technology, it would be a huge selling point for its rumored smart glasses. But other companies, like Thalmic Labs who created the MYO armband, eventually abandoned their pursuits of similar technology. MYO sold its patents to CTRL-Labs earlier this year before renaming itself to North and developing its Focals augmented reality smart glasses instead. That doesn’t necessarily mean a mind-reading wristband is not feasible technology, however. If any company has enough money to sink into R&D to eventually make it happen, it’s Facebook.

via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com

September 24, 2019 at 09:15AM

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Oh Wow: Students Build Rideable Mini Roller Coaster In School Gymnasium

https://geekologie.com/2019/09/oh-wow-students-build-rideable-mini-roll.php


This is a video of a kid test-riding the wooden roller coaster a team assembled out of stacked desks and 2x4s and plywood in their school’s gymnasium for a school festival. Now I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume this did not take place in the U.S. I’m just saying, the most exciting ride I saw at my niece’s recent school festival was face painting, and I couldn’t even get Spider-Man because apparently all the Barbs and Lindas in the PTA voted against any superhero imagery. Keep going for the video while I speculate if they’re gonna set off the fireworks inside our outside.

Thanks to Gabe, who agrees now that would be a school festival worth attending.

via Geekologie – Gadgets, Gizmos, and Awesome https://geekologie.com/

September 20, 2019 at 08:46AM

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How to set up your own ‘streaming service’

https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/24/plex-media-server-remote-cloud-setup/

Video streaming is great — until you lose access to the movie or TV show that you assumed would always be available on Netflix and Amazon Video. With downloads or physical media, this isn’t an issue, because once you’ve bought it, you’ll have access to it for life (that’s the theory anyway).

Say you want to watch all 236 episodes of Friends, but know that Netflix is going to lose it to another service soon. The safe option is to buy it and then work out a way to make it accessible wherever you are. Ever thought about running your own streaming service? It’s actually easier than you might think, and there are a number of ways you can do it.

This guide will take you through the basic steps of running your own streaming service using a common and powerful media software called Plex. Plex comes in two parts — a media server and client — which allow you to categorize (and more importantly) play back all of the media you’ve accumulated over the years both locally and via streaming.

First things first: while Plex will play nearly anything you throw at it, laws regarding the "ripping" of personal media vary in different countries. In the US, you have a legal right to backup your movies, but it’s illegal to circumvent the encryption that prevents you from copying.

The general rule is that, as long as you aren’t selling or sharing those files externally, you won’t get in trouble. That said, if you’re uploading that file to a cloud server, even if only for your own use, that may put you in an awkward legal spot depending on your local laws. You’re responsible for ensuring the legality of your media.

Cloud Servers

The simplest way to run your own streaming setup is to choose a cloud provider that specializes in Plex media setups. Running your own virtual private server gives you complete control over your media library and makes it available on (nearly) any device with an internet connection. They will come with a monthly cost and require you to upload your media collection to the cloud, which could take a while depending on the size of your catalog. However, it reduces the headache of hunting discs every time and eliminates the wear factor completely.

There are a number of Plex-ready cloud providers that offer one-click installations of the Media Server. They’re typically cheap, offer various organizational tools for managing the server and include lots of storage — and more importantly — bandwidth. Every movie or TV show you stream from a remote server will eat into your data allowance, so choosing a provider that can cater for the size of your media library is key.

Take a look at Bytesized-Hosting, Seedhost.eu, WhatBox and Seedboxes.cc for a peek at what is on offer. Use them to research other providers and familiarize yourself with what you want and need from a remote server. You may see that they offer both shared and dedicated boxes. This means you’ll either split processing and memory resources with other users or opt for more singular control, flexibility and CPU power with a dedicated server.

Plex web interface

Plex’s web interface has real-time statistics on CPU and network usage.

Once you’ve chosen the type of server you want, find a provider that can offer ample storage, enough bandwidth to cover your streaming catalog and the CPU power allocated to Plex plans. Why does the CPU matter? Because every time you stream, the Plex Media Server will attempt to match the media to the device you’re viewing it on. It will act as what Plex calls a ‘Universal Translator,’ using the server’s CPU and memory resources to "transcode" the file you’re trying to play. Transcoding a media file can be very CPU intensive if you’re streaming a 4K file to a mobile phone that can’t handle UHD streams, so make sure you allocate enough resources to cover your usage.

Whatever server you choose, the simplest solution to the transcoding problem is just to ensure all of your media is encoded at a format and resolution that your target devices support. If you have mismatched files, Plex allows you to transcode ahead of time, giving you the option of creating new versions of your pristine files over the course of hours/days/weeks. Unless you have a powerful server, you don’t want it to be transcoding files each and every time you want to watch something on the go.

If you utilize the one-click options these providers offer, you should be given a dedicated web URL from which you can access the Plex server and manage your library. In all cases, you’ll be asked to set-up a Plex account, which will then start the Setup Wizard and ask you to point it in the direction of your uploaded files. A good rule of thumb is to separate your media into separate folders — one for Movies, one for TV shows etc. so you can properly categorize your files.

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

HARDWARE

If gaining access to your media library inside your own home is more important, Plex is efficient as a local streaming solution. There are a number of ways to set up the Plex Media Server within your home. The simplest option is to utilize an older computer, like a laptop or desktop, which can serve as a hub for your media collection and stream it to other devices on the same network. Plex caters for most modern operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Linux and FreeBSD, as well as NAS (Network Attached Storage) solutions from Drobo, Netgear, Seagate, Synology and Western Digital.

One of the major plus points of running Plex on a bonafide computer is that it can take advantage of the machine’s processing capabilities. If your media collection includes a lot of particularly high-resolution files, you’ll enjoy pristine quality instead of having to rely on mirroring services like AirPlay or Google Cast. And if you have a strong enough upload speed, there’s no reason you can’t use this lo-fi setup to stream to your phone, tablet or laptop when you’re not at home.

Our Pick: Nvidia Shield

If you’re looking for an out-of-the-box solution, though, the Nvidia Shield comes highly recommended. The Android-powered streaming box is a supremely capable streaming box in its own right and it also comes with a 500GB hard drive and Plex Media Server as standard. On the back there are two USB 3.0 ports, giving you the option to directly add multiple terabytes of storage.

One of the major strengths of the Shield is how easy it is to move files onto it. With an external drive, you can always just unplug and drag-and-drop files in order to transfer backed-up media between devices. Alternatively, you can mount the drive as a separate network share and move files around that way.

At an often-discounted $179, the entry-level Shield is a very affordable and simple solution to gain both the Plex Media Server and the associated client. External hard drives are continually coming down in price too, which makes it simpler for people who don’t want to be administering a server, be it in the cloud or a physical box in a cupboard.

NVIDIA Shield TV on Amazon – $179

Alternative: Apple TV 4K

One of the major advantages of owning an Apple TV is that you have instant access to the iTunes movie library alongside dedicated media apps like Plex. Yes, there are ways to download movies via iTunes on the desktop and transfer rights-protected videos into your Plex library, but you won’t need to if you have an Apple TV.

The Apple TV Plex app is only a client, rather than a server. You’ll need to have something else in your home running the Plex server, or a cloud Plex solution for storing and serving your media to the Apple TV.

Apple TV 4K (32GB) on Amazon – $149

SOFTWARE

Once your Plex Media Server is set up, the library will be discoverable via most internet-connected devices in your household. On the TV side, the Shield comes with the Android TV Plex app pre-installed, and Plex is also available on smart TVs, consoles and other Android set-top boxes, including the Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, iOS, Kodi, Roku, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. You can also just access a local or remote Plex server via a browser on your computer, or grab the app for Android or iOS. A single Plex client can access multiple servers, so you can maintain both local and cloud libraries and use one app to view media from both.

Our Pick: Plex Pass

Plex Pass

Plex is entirely free to use on your TV, as the company makes its money from premium features. Its subscription service, Plex Pass, adds a lot of functionality, including DVR support, and unlocks mobile streaming.

For power users, the Plex Pass enables hardware acceleration, which can convert videos faster and with less processing power. There are also advanced controls for managing processor output and network usage, which is useful if high-use devices around the home should be favored over others.

There’s also the option to control the media your housemates or family can access via Plex Home. With Home, you can create custom accounts and control what content they can see, which is especially useful if you share the library with children inside your home.

Perhaps the best feature, however, is Mobile Sync. This is the Plex equivalent of Netflix downloads, which let you load copies of your media onto a smartphone or tablet for when you know you’ll be without an internet connection. Perfect for a long car journey or flight.

Plex Pass – $40 yearly, $120 lifetime

Alternative: Infuse App

Infuse app

Thanks to the App Store, there are plenty of options to create your own streaming media library without the need for Plex. Infuse, a powerful iPhone, iPad and tvOS app from Firecore, not only easily handles network media shares but it also supports Dropbox, Google Drive, Box and OneDrive, combining all of your cloud uploads into one collection. Some enterprising users have noted that paid G Suite accounts have unlimited storage, allowing them to run large media catalogs from Google’s cloud service. Oh, and it supports Plex servers as well, naturally.

Infuse on the App Store – Free (In-app-purchases)

Images: Will Lipman Photography for Engadget (lead and interstitial photography); Engadget (Shield TV, Apple TV 4K); Plex (Plex Pass); Firecore (Infuse)

ENGADGET’S GUIDE TO HOME ENTERTAINMENT

More stories coming every day this week!

via Engadget http://www.engadget.com

September 24, 2019 at 09:33AM