Month: October 2016

Each year, the Royal Observatory at Greenwich organizes the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. Typically, this includes an overall winner, as well as distinctions in a handful of specific categories like Galaxies and the Sun. Despite the differences in subjects and equipment involved in these images, they all have one thing in common: they're absolutely stunning.

The competition serves as a powerful reminder of how the Universe is full of wonder. As such, we've gone through and pulled out a handful of the ones we found compelling, but anyone near London should stop by the Royal Observatory and check the full collection out while it's still on display. The exhibit is free and runs until June.

Bernt Olsen

(credit: Toni Almodóvar Escuder @ Flickr)

Is the tide turning for the internal combustion engine? In Germany, things are starting to look that way. This is the country that invented the technology, but late last week, the Bundesrat (the federal council of all 16 German states) voted to ban gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2030.

It's a strong statement in a nation where the auto industry is one of the largest sectors of the economy; Germany produces more automobiles than any other country in Europe and is the third largest in the world. The resolution passed by the Bundesrat calls on the European Commission (the executive arm of the European Union) to "evaluate the recent tax and contribution practices of Member States on their effectiveness in promoting zero-emission mobility," which many are taking to mean an end to the lower levels of tax currently levied on diesel fuel across Europe.

Europe bet big on diesel, something that now seems increasingly misguided with continuing revelations about companies cheating their emissions tests and the growing awareness of the health implications of diesel particulates.

Enlarge / The Note 7 has too many safety issues for us to recommend. (credit: Ron Amadeo)

When we review phones, we do our best to tell you everything you need to make a smart purchase. We talk about the underlying tech, too, but in the end, people usually read a review because they either want to know which thing to buy or they want to know more about the thing they already intend to buy.

Usually, we give you all of that information and make a general recommendation but leave the ultimate purchasing decision up to you. But for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, we need to go a step further: don’t buy this phone. And if you have bought it, you should return the Galaxy Note 7 immediately and purchase something else.

Enlarge (credit: Wikimedia Commons/Maria Joner)

The Tory government's cabinet ministers have reportedly been officially banned from wearing Apple Watches to crucial meetings in case they're compromised by Russian hackers.

"The Russians are trying to hack everything," one unnamed source told the Telegraph.

Apple Watches were said to be popular with several ministers, who wore them to cabinet meetings during David Cameron's tenure as prime minister, including former justice secretary and failed leadership candidate Michael Gove. However, under PM Theresa May—the former home secretary who repeatedly pushed for Britain's spooks to have greater surveillance powers—the devices have been summarily banned amid fears that Russian security services could listen in to government business.

Enlarge (credit: SAUL LOEB & ROBYN BECK AFP/Getty Images / Aurich)

The 2016 presidential election is likely to have a major impact on how the US government tries to expand broadband deployment and how it regulates Internet service providers. But while we have a pretty good idea of how a President Hillary Clinton would approach the broadband industry, there’s very little to go on when predicting broadband policy under a President Donald Trump.

Clinton’s technology plan includes several initiatives designed to “deliver high-speed broadband to all Americans,” and it promises to defend network neutrality rules that prevent ISPs from discriminating against online services. There are questions about how Clinton would implement the plan and whether it's aggressive enough to achieve 100 percent broadband deployment, and her campaign has declined to provide more specifics. But the mere fact that Clinton has outlined some clear broadband goals sets the Democratic nominee apart from the other candidates.

Republican nominee Donald Trump doesn’t seem to have any plan for increasing access to broadband, and there are indications that he would not support new consumer protection regulations. He weighed in on net neutrality, but only in a November 2014 tweet: