Month: August 2016

Enlarge / The Chromebook Pixel 2. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Since it was introduced in 2013, Google's Chromebook Pixel line has always been an option for people who love Chrome OS and high-quality hardware and aren't worried about paying money to get both. But according to a statement from Google given to VentureBeat, Google has discontinued 2015's Chromebook Pixel 2, and there's no replacement in sight.

“We’re committed to the Pixel program but we don’t have plans to restock the Pixel 2,” a Google spokesperson said.

The team that developed the Pixel and Pixel 2 also designed the more recent Pixel C, an Android tablet that almost definitely began life as a Chrome OS device. It's possible that Google intends to refocus the Pixel brand around Android rather than Chrome OS, given that Android will soon have a very desktop-y windowed multitasking mode. Google is also said to be merging Android and Chrome OS at some point in the future.

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our partners at TechBargains, the Dealmaster is back with a big bundle of deals for your consideration. Today we're offering 30 percent off the Lenovo X1 Carbon and all ThinkPads. There's also a sweet deal on the 3D Collector's Edition of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

• Lenovo X1 Carbon Core i5-6200U 14" 1080p Laptop w/ 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD (Only 2.6lbs) $888.30 + Free shipping (normally $1269 - use coupon code: SAV30THINKPAD)
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• 30% off Lenovo ThinkPad Laptops: use coupon code: SAV30THINKPAD.
• Rare Udemy $10 Sitewide Online Course Sale: Complete Web Dev Course, iOS 10 Dev Course, Deep Learning with Python & more (Use code: UDMY10ALL).
• Bonus $100 Dell Gift Card on Sony PlayStation 4 Call of Duty Bundle for $349.99.
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Collector's Edition Blu-ray for $29.96 (Prime Member Exclusive Price - list price $49.99).
• Amazon Fire 4K Quad-Core 4K Wireless Media Streamer + HD Antenna for $94.99 (list price $131.47).
• $5 Bonus Amazon Credit when you Recharge a $100 or more Amazon Gift Card (First Time Users only).

Laptop and desktop computers

• PCMag Editor's Choice Dell Latitude 13 7000 Intel Core M-5Y71 1080p IPS Touchscreen 13.3" 2-in-1 Laptop with 128GB SSD and 3yr warranty for $499 (use code: EXTRA$100OFF - list price $999.99).
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• LG 27MP48HQ-P 27" 1920x1080 LED Monitor w/ FreeSync for $131.99 (use code: SAVEACCY - list price $179.99).
• Omen by HP 32" 2560x1440 @ 75Hz PIS LED Monitor for $344.99 (use code: SAVEACCY - list price $429.99).

For more computer deals, visit the TechBargains site.

(credit: Spencer E Holtaway)

Facebook faces more pressure from lawmakers in Europe, after Germany's interior minister called on the company to quickly remove hateful and illegal posts—on the same day that its chief Mark Zuckerberg reiterated that the free content ad network wouldn't morph into a media empire.

The call from Thomas de Maiziere comes less than a week since a committee of MPs in the UK concluded that Twitter, Google, and Facebook were "consciously failing" to police extremism on their services.

"Facebook should take down racist content or calls for violence from its pages on its own initiative even if it hasn't yet received a complaint," said de Maiziere on Monday. "Facebook has an immensely important economic position and just like every other large enterprise it has a immensely important social responsibility."

Enlarge / SpaceX landed its latest booster on August 13, after the JCSAT-16 mission. (credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX has been running out of room in its facilities in Florida as it lands rockets by sea and air, so it would like to begin reusing some of these first-stage Falcon boosters as soon as possible. The first step was finding a customer, and now SpaceX has done that. The Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES said Tuesday that it intends to launch a geostationary satellite, SES-10, on a reusable rocket in the fourth quarter of this year.

“Having been the first commercial satellite operator to launch with SpaceX back in 2013, we are excited to once again be the first customer to launch on SpaceX's first ever mission using a flight-proven rocket," said Martin Halliwell, Chief Technology Officer at SES. "We believe reusable rockets will open up a new era of spaceflight and make access to space more efficient in terms of cost and manifest management."

SpaceX has not yet specified how much it will charge for launch services on one of its flown boosters, but industry officials anticipate about a 30 percent discount on SpaceX's regular price of $62 million for a Falcon 9 launch. The company has not shared how much it is spending to refurbish and reuse a Falcon 9 stage, nor has it offered much public information about the extent to which the vehicle's engines have had to be tested and prepared for a second flight.

Enlarge / A virtual baby identical to those used in the study (credit: Australian Science Media Centre)

Babies can be a drag. Their utter helplessness and disappointing lack of communication skills often leaves new parents sleep-deprived and playing frantic guessing games amid ear-piercing cries (mostly from the baby). Such exhausting pains of parenthood should be enough to deter any unprepared teen from getting frisky too early—or so the makers of an infant simulator called “Baby Think It Over” seemed to think. But those makers may have their own reconsidering to do.

The life-like dolls are needy and a bit creepy to boot, but completely lousy at deterring teens from getting pregnant, according to the first randomized, controlled trial on the popular sex education tool. In fact, the study, involving more than 2,800 Australian girls between the ages of 13 and 15, actually hinted that the dolls may increase the risk of teen pregnancy.

Of the 1,267 teens that had to care for, burp, change, and feed the robot babies over a weekend, 17 percent (or 210 girls) had at least one pregnancy by the age of 20. That’s a slight jump from pregnancy rate of the 1,567 girls in the control group, who received a standard school curriculum on sex education and parenting. Their pregnancy rate was just 11 percent (or 168 girls).

Intel’s tick-tock model may be dead, but the PC industry still demands new hardware every year. Many PC models are refreshed once a year or so, and that means that the PC makers need new stuff to put into those computers whether or not the laws of physics want to comply.

Enter “Kaby Lake,” the first of Intel’s post-tick-tock processor architectures. Kaby (rhymes with baby, named for a lake in Canada) first appeared on Intel’s public roadmaps in mid-2015 when the company realized that Cannonlake and its attendant 10nm manufacturing process wouldn’t be ready in time. No major architecture has changed, and Intel is still using a tweaked version of its 14nm manufacturing process, so most changes are relatively minor and built to serve a particular market niche.

As usual, Intel is releasing the Kaby Lake processors in waves. Today, we’re getting dual-core low-voltage processors, the kind you’d find in thin-and-light consumer laptops. The first Kaby systems are slated to ship in September, and you’ll see lots of new laptops at IFA next week. Desktop CPUs and other higher-performance chips, including those with Intel Iris GPUs, will be announced in January around CES.