Better lithium ion batteries, how do they work? Magnets!

Specific charge can be increased by a factor of three.

Battery research focuses on balancing three competing factors: performance, lifetime, and safety. Typically, you have to sacrifice one of these factors to get gains in the other two. But for applications like electric vehicles, we'd really like to see all three improved.

In an investigation recently published in Nature Energy, scientists demonstrated the ability to use a magnetic field to align graphite flakes within electrodes as they're manufactured. The alignment gives lithium ions a clearer path to transit the battery, leading to improved performance.

The electrodes of Lithium-ion batteries are often composed of graphite, which balances attributes such as a high energy density with non-toxicity, safety, and low cost. Graphite, composed of stacked sheets of carbon atoms, is often incorporated into these electrodes in the form of flake-like particles.

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Übernahme: Opera wird nicht komplett nach China verkauft

Der norwegische Browserhersteller Opera wird doch nicht komplett nach China verkauft. Nur ein Teil des Unternehmens soll an ein chinesisches Konsortium gehen. Ein Grund für das Scheitern der geplanten Komplettübernahme ist nicht bekannt. (Opera, Browser)

Der norwegische Browserhersteller Opera wird doch nicht komplett nach China verkauft. Nur ein Teil des Unternehmens soll an ein chinesisches Konsortium gehen. Ein Grund für das Scheitern der geplanten Komplettübernahme ist nicht bekannt. (Opera, Browser)

How archaeologists found the lost medieval megacity of Angkor

Recent technology reconstructs the urban grid of a city overtaken by jungle.

Angkor Wat today, as viewed across the moat that surrounds the 12th century Hindu temple to Vishnu built under the rule of Suryavarnam II. (credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen)

The ornate, pinecone-shaped towers of Angkor Wat in Cambodia float above a vast temple complex of shrines, pools, houses, and a perfectly square moat. Today, only a small number of monks remain within the temple walls. The remaining structures have been reclaimed by trees whose roots wind around the stone like cellulose tentacles. Archaeologists have long wondered what life was like here when Angkor was the cosmopolitan heart of the Khmer Empire in the 12th and 13th centuries. Why did so many people abandon this place in the 15th century, never to return?

Unlike a majority of archaeological endeavors, the answers didn't ultimately come from digging up the ground. Instead, our first glimpse of Angkor as it once was came just a few years ago from a sophisticated laser scanning machine mounted on a helicopter.

Invisible city

For centuries, the Angkor region's wealth of artifacts drew looters, archaeologists, and looter-archaeologists. They focused their attention, both good and ill, on Angkor Wat and a few other nearby moated temple complexes. Based on those ruins, the first European explorers to encounter Angkor in the 19th century assumed Khmer urbanites lived in what were basically moated cities of a few thousand people. These European explorers thought Angkor Wat was something like a medieval walled city in Europe, which typically held fewer than 10,000 people. They explained all the moated complexes in the Angkor area by suggesting that maybe the royal family and their people were moving from one moated city to the next over time. But as archaeologists learned more in the intervening century, something about those population numbers seemed off. Beyond the moated cities were vast canal systems and reservoirs hinting at something bigger.

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Copperhead OS im Test: Ein sicheres Android für wenige

Schluss mit zu späten Sicherheitspatches für Android: Mit Copperhead OS können Nexus-Nutzer auf ein neues Custom-ROM mit schnellen Sicherheitsupdates und zahlreichen Verbesserungen setzen. Nur Google-Services haben wir nicht zum Laufen gebracht. (Android, Google)

Schluss mit zu späten Sicherheitspatches für Android: Mit Copperhead OS können Nexus-Nutzer auf ein neues Custom-ROM mit schnellen Sicherheitsupdates und zahlreichen Verbesserungen setzen. Nur Google-Services haben wir nicht zum Laufen gebracht. (Android, Google)

Windows 10: Anniversary Update gibt es nicht für alle am 2. August

Microsoft wird das Anniversary Update nicht für alle Windows-10-Anwender am 2. August verteilen. Stattdessen kann es einige Zeit dauern, bis alle Berechtigten die Aktualisierung erhalten. Auf welche Wartezeit sich Nutzer einstellen müssen, bleibt offen. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

Microsoft wird das Anniversary Update nicht für alle Windows-10-Anwender am 2. August verteilen. Stattdessen kann es einige Zeit dauern, bis alle Berechtigten die Aktualisierung erhalten. Auf welche Wartezeit sich Nutzer einstellen müssen, bleibt offen. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

World of Warcraft: Legion geht los

Blizzard hat den großen Vorbereitungspatch für die nächste Erweiterung für World of Warcraft vorgestellt. Schon vor der Veröffentlichung von Legion können Spieler zahlreiche Neuerungen ausprobieren, darunter Änderungen an den Klassen. (WoW, MMORPG)

Blizzard hat den großen Vorbereitungspatch für die nächste Erweiterung für World of Warcraft vorgestellt. Schon vor der Veröffentlichung von Legion können Spieler zahlreiche Neuerungen ausprobieren, darunter Änderungen an den Klassen. (WoW, MMORPG)

Chrome Browser: Google wertet gesamte Browserhistorie für Werbung aus

Das Unternehmen will jetzt offenbar auch den gesamten “Chrome-Verlauf” zu Werbezwecken auswerten. Möglich wird dies durch eine Änderung von Googles Datenschutzrichtlinien. Nutzer nehmen automatisch daran teil, wenn sie nicht explizit widersprechen. (Chrome, Browser)

Das Unternehmen will jetzt offenbar auch den gesamten "Chrome-Verlauf" zu Werbezwecken auswerten. Möglich wird dies durch eine Änderung von Googles Datenschutzrichtlinien. Nutzer nehmen automatisch daran teil, wenn sie nicht explizit widersprechen. (Chrome, Browser)

Star Wars: Die nächsten Sternenkriege

Darth Vader steht im Mittelpunkt eines neuen Virtual-Reality-Projekts, eines der großen, neuen Star-Wars-Spiele soll dezent an Uncharted erinnern: Auf einer offiziellen Veranstaltung haben Entwickler über ihre Pläne gesprochen und neues Material gezeigt. (Star Wars, Electronic Arts)

Darth Vader steht im Mittelpunkt eines neuen Virtual-Reality-Projekts, eines der großen, neuen Star-Wars-Spiele soll dezent an Uncharted erinnern: Auf einer offiziellen Veranstaltung haben Entwickler über ihre Pläne gesprochen und neues Material gezeigt. (Star Wars, Electronic Arts)

VKontakte & Universal Sign Anti-Piracy & Licensing Deal

As predicted last week, the company which owns vKontakte and Russia’s two other major social networking sites has signed a music licensing deal with Universal Music to end piracy on the platforms. As a result, all outstanding copyright legal action between the companies has been settled.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

After years of being branded one of the world’s worst Internet piracy facilitators, social networking giant vKontakte has taken a huge step towards fixing its reputation.

As predicated last week, vKontakte owner Mail.ru has now signed a licensing agreement with Universal Music and United Music Agency which will see music and video content appear legally on the platform.

The deal also covers Mail.ru’s two other social networking platforms, Classmates (Odnoklassniki) and My World. Along with vKontakte, these sites are the three most popular social networking platforms in Russia.

With the agreement now signed, Mail.ru has licensing agreements in place with the three leading music rights groups – Universal Music Group (UMG), Warner Music and Sony Music.

In addition to allowing huge catalogs of music to appear on vKontakte legitimately, the Universal deal also puts to rest all copyright-related legal action between the companies. VKontakte has now settled its differences with all three music giants.

Details on the UMG deal are scarce, but Mail.ru says that its social network platforms will “test various monetization models jointly with other market players” to find the best solution for artists and fans.

Insiders familiar with the negotiations told Russian news outlet Vedomosti that Universal has received a “minimum guarantee” that it will generate around $8m over the next three years.

VKontakte CEO Boris Dobrodeyev welcomed the deal between the companies and expressed optimism for the future.

“Following extensive negotiations, we have agreed terms with all of the major music rights holders, enabling us to draw a line under this process. This is a historic moment and a new milestone in VKontakte’s history,” Dobrodeyev said.

“Our constructive and mutually beneficial collaboration has put an end to earlier disputes with the record companies. Following the removal of legal barriers, we can now create new products based on VKontakte’s music service that users will value.”

Adrian Cheesley, Senior Vice President at Universal Music Group, said that the deal will ensure that artists will now be paid when their content is exploited on social networks.

“Music has tremendous value and we’re gratified to reach a commercial agreement that ensures UMG’s artists are fairly compensated for the use of their music,” Cheesley said.

“Russia is an important, and growing, market for UMG and with this important step we’re looking forward to developing more local artists, investing in growing the music scene and broadly licensing services.”

It is not yet clear how the terms of the licensing deal will affect how music is made available on vKontakte in future, but it’s likely it will be less of a free-for-all than it currently is. Music downloaded from vKontakte is an important fuelling element of the pirate content landscape so this is definitely something to watch in the weeks and months to come.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.