Day: July 26, 2023

Apple is responsible for an ever-growing number of truly intriguing (re: nonsensical) patent applications. These usually cause Apple fans’ heads to turn like a dog hearing the quiet skittering of a nearby squirrel. However, the latest approved patent from the Cupertino, California-based company may take the prize as its strangest yet.

In the patent, first filed in June of 2021 and approved Tuesday, Apple talks up its ideas for “Modularized Computing and Input Devices.” This kind of kickstand would act as a kind of slotted dock that could accept multiple screens and keyboards, and potentially more. It’s all configured around some kind of base device that can connect both displays or keyboards in multiple configurations. The base itself would be hinged to allow these devices to swivel.

Some of the included diagrams show how you could connect a keyboard and display to the base to form a kind of tablet with a keyboard setup. Others show how you could attach two or even three screens together, which itself gives the same energy as a fantasy barbarian dual-wielding two shields. As described in the patent, one screen could display content while the other could act as a drawing tablet or keyboard.

Now, it’s at this point we should mention that Apple filing a patent does not mean it ever intends to follow up on its design. Apple files quite a few patents for its wearables, phones, and many more device applications. Considering the time between when Apple files the patents and when it receives approval, these patents aren’t necessarily indicative of where Apple is moving with its technology.

Gizmodo reached out to Apple for comment about this latest patent, but we did not immediately hear back.

One of the funkiest aspects of the patent is the inclusion of a large, classic-style vinyl turntable. The application itself describes this as merely an “input device” that can provide information to the base. Essentially, the base would allow physical or wireless communication with the attached device, in this case, a turntable usable by “disc jockeys,” or anybody working the decks on their device.

The patent further describes how “The computing device can be utilized by a music producer, a disc jockey, an audio engineer, or the like to generate music in one configuration while also being modular to permit the user to remove the input device.” The patent references how the base would connect with that turntable device to respond to certain toggles like physical buttons and knobs.

Another part of the patent describes keeping the connected laptop upright, like a book. Any connected device can collapse on top of each other like a laptop. Another configuration includes one screen attached to a shorter keyboard. Joined to the keyboard is described as another touchscreen that could act as a kind of drawing tablet. We’ve seen these extra hinges on other experimental designs like this laptop with a foldable wristrest. Companies like Framework have tried out laptops with replaceable keyboards and slots for computer upgrades. Considering all the questions of comfort of usability, it’s no wonder why no major company has tried to iterate on an ultra-customizable laptop.

The thing is, you can already buy iPads with physical, attachable keyboards, so a completely customizable device seems like a pipe dream and a rather ill-considered dream at that. The connection points for such a device would need to be strong indeed, but what would make the most sense is if such a dock were compatible with existing Apple hardware.

A NASA mission has observed a supermassive black hole pointing its highly energetic jet straight toward Earth. Don’t panic just yet, though. As fearsome as this cosmic event  is, it’s located at a very safe distance of about 400 million light-years away.

Actively feeding supermassive black holes, including the one at hand, are surrounded by swirling disks of matter called accretion disks which gradually feed them over time. Some of the material they don’t swallow is then channeled toward their poles, where it’s subsequently blasted out at near-light,  or relativistic,  speed. This creates highly energetic and extremely bright electromagnetic radiation. In some cases, like with NASA’s latest muse, that jet is pointed straight at Earth. Those events are known as blazars.

This blazar, designated Markarian 421 and located in the constellation Ursa Major, was observed with NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), which launched in December 2021. IXPE observes a property of magnetic fields called polarization, which refers to the fields’ orientation. The polarization of the jet blasted out by Markarian 421 revealed a surprise for astronomers, showing that the part of the jet where particles are being accelerated is also home to a magnetic field with a helical structure. 

Blazar jets can stretch across space for millions of light-years, but the mechanisms that launch them aren’t yet well-understood. However, these new discoveries surrounding the jet of Markarian 421 could shed some light on this extreme cosmic phenomenon. 

Related: X-ray view shows how supermassive black holes speed up particles in jets

“Markarian 421 is an old friend for high-energy astronomers,” lead researcher behind the discovery and Italian Space Agency astrophysicist, Laura Di Gesu, said in a statement. “We were sure the blazar would be a worthwhile target for IXPE, but its discoveries were beyond our best expectations, successfully demonstrating how X-ray polarimetry enriches our ability to probe the complex magnetic field geometry and particle acceleration in different regions of relativistic jets.”

IXPE dives deeper into the twisted structure of blazar jets

The main reason jets of feeding supermassive black holes are so bright is that particles approaching the speed of light give off tremendous amounts of energy and behave according to the physics of Einstein’s theory of special relativity. 

Blazar jets also get an extra boost to such brightness because their orientation towards us causes wavelengths of light associated with their jets to “bunch up,” increasing both their frequencies and energies. This is similar to how sound waves from the siren of an approaching ambulance “bunch up” to cause an increase in frequency that makes it sound more high-pitched. 

As a result of these two effects, blazars can often outshine the combined light of every star in the galaxies that house them. And now, IXPE has used that light to paint a picture of the physics going on at the heart of Markarian 421’s jet and even identify the glowing beam’s point of origin.

Previously, models of blazar jets had hinted that they’re accompanied by helical magnetic fields, almost like DNA in living cells, except single- rather than double-stranded. What wasn’t predicted, however, was the fact that the magnetic helix would host areas where particles are being accelerated. 

“We had anticipated that the polarization direction might change, but we thought large rotations would be rare, based on previous optical observations of many blazars,” research co-author and Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist, Herman Marshal, said. “So, we planned several observations of the blazar, with the first showing a constant polarization of 15%.”

Even more remarkably, analysis of IXPE’s data showed that the polarization of the jet dropped to 0% between its first and second observations. This showed the team the magnetic field was turning like a corkscrew. 

“We recognized that the polarization was actually about the same but its direction literally pulled a U-turn, rotating nearly 180 degrees in two days,” Marshall said. “It then surprised us again during the third observation, which started a day later, to observe the direction of polarization continuing to rotate at the same rate.”

During these maneuvers, measurements of electromagnetic radiation in the form of optical, infrared and radio light showed no effect on the stability and structure of the jet itself, even when X-ray emissions did change. This implied a shockwave traveling along the twisted magnetic field from Markarian 421.

Hints of such a phenomenon have once been seen in the jet of another blazar witnessed by IXPE, Markarian 501, but the team’s new findings represent more clearcut evidence that a helical magnetic field does indeed contribute to a traveling shockwave that’s accelerating jet particles to relativistic speeds.

The team behind the work intends to continue studying Markarian 421 as well as  identify other blazars to find some with similar qualities in pursuit of revealing a mechanism that powers the extreme and bright outflows characteristic of these phenomena.

“Thanks to IXPE, it’s an exciting time for studies of astrophysical jets,” Di Gesu concluded.

The team”s research was published on Monday (July 17) in the journal Nature Astronomy.