Month: October 2016

Enlarge / A GOES Satellite image of Matthew taken at 4:43pm ET on Tuesday, (credit: NOAA)

Early on Tuesday, Hurricane Matthew ravaged Haiti and eastern parts of Cuba with winds of up to 145mph, and it appeared likely to do the same to the Bahamas on Wednesday. Beyond that point, considerable uncertainty remains in the storm's track as it moves northwest toward Florida. But arguably the world's best weather model, the European forecast system, now suggests a potential landfall along, or a significant grazing of, Florida's space coast.

The 12z operational run of the European model, which was initialized Tuesday morning and finished running early in the afternoon hours, shows a weaker trough of low pressure over the Great Lakes region affecting Matthew, allowing the hurricane to follow a slightly more westerly track. The model actually brings the storm's center ashore on the Florida coast near Cocoa Beach, Florida, and the Kennedy Space Center on Friday morning. Although hurricane forecasts can vary significantly from run to run, with less than three days before such a landfall, this seems to be a plausible outcome.

Ars reached out to Kennedy Space Center's Amber Philman on Tuesday afternoon, and she said the center is currently at HURCON III status, which means officials there expect sustained 50 knot winds within 72 hours. Hurricane preparations and facility securing will begin Wednesday morning, she said. Most of Florida's east coast is presently under a hurricane watch, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Enlarge / The math that describes these complicated loops has helped us understand quantum phenomena. (credit: Steven Zucker)

The shapes of everyday things, like a tangle of string or a coffee mug, don't seem to require sophisticated math to understand. But there's an entire field of study, called topology, that examines how different shapes are related. Amazingly, some of this same math applies to quantum behavior that emerges near absolute zero. And this year's physics prize goes to three researchers that identified this relationship.

The basic concepts of topology are deceptively simple. Let's say you have a tangle of string. If you find the two ends and pull to remove any slack, how many knots will end up in the string? And how many different configurations of tangles will produce the same number of knots? Answering those questions mathematically is where topology comes in.

Similar math can be applied to three-dimensional items. For example, a bowl shape can be transformed into a variety of other different shapes, but not a coffee mug, since the latter has a single hole in it. Neither of those can be transformed into a traditional pretzel, which has three. Again, topology can help identify equivalent shapes and the means of transforming one into another.

Enlarge / Kindly robot Dolores meets the Man in Black, a vicious human gamer who has brutalized her repeatedly over the past 30 years. Of course, Dolores doesn't remember that—or does she? (credit: HBO)

I was blown away by the first episode of Westworld, and now it's time to analyze it obsessively on Ars Technica's podcast Decrypted. Previously, we plumbed the depths of Mr. Robot, and now we're ready for a show with actual robots.

In our first episode, I'm joined by award-winning science fiction author Charlie Jane Anders, who co-founded io9 with me back in the day. We disagree about a lot of things, but not this show. Our conversation covers the major themes and conspiracies introduced in this episode and explores where Westworld seems to be headed this season.

Topics discussed: how memory is key to human identity (and robot identity), whether Westworld can be the next Game of Thrones (maaaaaybe?), Anthony Hopkins (annoying or not?), Ed Harris (holy crap scary), the big reveal (a nice twist), Westerns and backstage musicals (key to thinking about the story), the future of game design (obviously), and why Bernard makes the Professor/Mr. Abernathy cry. Also: what's up with all the flies?

As most other racing series have either ended their seasons or are headed to their respective finales, Formula E is getting ready to kick off its third season this coming weekend in Hong Kong. Although the electric racing series was met with a fair degree of skepticism in its first year, it's starting to develop quite a buzz. Now that there's a degree of technical freedom allowed in the regulations, more and more car companies are getting involved, eager to use the series as a platform to develop new electric motor-generator units, inverters, and electric powertrain control software and electronics.

We've known for quite a while that Jaguar planned to compete in Formula E, and it will finally become a reality this weekend. Drivers Adam Carroll and Mitch Evans will take to the track in the first factory-supported racing program from the company in more than a decade. (Jaguar had an ill-fated run in Formula 1 when it bought the Stewart Grand Prix team in 1999 and then ran it into the ground before selling the operation to Red Bull, which went on to win multiple championships.)

But in recent weeks, the leaping cat has been joined by several of its rivals. BMW has partnered with Andretti Formula E, with an eye on entering a full works program in season five (2018/2019). BMW is supplying one of its factory racing drivers, Antonio Felix Da Costa, and the partnership also includes engineering support.

(credit: Elliott Brown)

T-Mobile USA has begun throttling mobile hotspot data when its network is congested while giving priority to smartphones and other devices that connect directly to the cellular network.

T-Mobile has been notifying customers of the change yesterday and today with a message that says, "We just made your network better again" and that "T-Mobile device data comes first."

"We've primed the network for on-device use," the carrier says on its website. "So now when there's congestion, you may notice higher speeds for data on your T-Mobile devices versus Smartphone Mobile Hotspot (tethering)." Prioritization of on-device data is triggered "at times and at locations where there are competing customer demands for network resources, which may result in slower tethering speeds," T-Mobile also says.