Month: November 2016

Enlarge / The City of (oil-pumping) Angels, around 1900.

Oklahoma has the unfortunate distinction of becoming the capital of human-induced earthquakes in the US. That's a recent development that comes thanks to deep injection wells used to dispose of contaminated water from oil and gas production. But the oil and gas industry has a long history with minor seismic activity—one that, it appears, may go back to Los Angeles in the early 1900s.

Los Angeles’ early growth had more to do with petroleum than celluloid. Oil was struck in 1892, and production took off over the next few decades. A recent study reviewed the subsequent history of oil production and earthquakes there but found no signs that earthquakes were triggered by human activity, at least dating back to 1935. The quality of earthquake data drops off rapidly prior to that, but US Geological Survey researchers Susan Hough and Morgan Page decided to see what they could find.

Starting at 1900, they compiled all the personal accounts of shaking they could find. There were a few early seismometers operating, partly the work of seismologist Charles Richter (he of the no-longer-used Richter Scale of earthquake magnitude), though earthquake monitoring didn’t get serious until the 1920s. The limited monitoring left the researchers with only crude constraints on the location and magnitude of most earthquakes, but it’s something.

With next year's Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft is integrating 3D capabilities for virtual reality and augmented reality headsets into the standard Windows operating system. Along with this, companies including Lenovo, HP, Dell, Asus, and Acer will be shipping a range of VR headsets starting at just $299.

This will bring down the price of PC-based VR, but the headset isn't the only expense: both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive have relatively steep hardware requirements. In particular, they need relatively fast, discrete GPUs, with the Nvidia GTX 960 (Oculus) or 970 (Vive) being listed as minimum requirements. If Valve's hardware survey of Steam users is anything to judge by, even many PC gamers will need to upgrade in order to meet the minimum VR requirements.

Enlarge / Host Dave Chappelle during SNL's monologue on November 12, 2016. (credit: Getty Images / Will Heath / NBC)

Video-streaming services continue to push and shove each other in a battle for the most original programming. While each has its fair share of original TV series and feature-length films, Netflix has run away with the crown for at least one sub-genre of content: stand-up comedy. As if the service doesn't already have enough stand-up specials, now Netflix is going all-in by inking a deal with Dave Chappelle.

The deal, announced very simply via a Tweet on Monday, appears to include three stand-up comedy specials, as opposed to any sketch-based programming like Chappelle's popular Comedy Central series. According to a Variety report, two of those specials have already been taped and are sitting in Chappelle's vault: one from an April 2015 performance at Austin City Limits Live and the other from March 2016 at the Hollywood Palladium.

Variety reports that those two will be released simultaneously at some point next year, while the third special will be a newly recorded performance with no scheduled Netflix release date.

Enlarge (credit: UNIVERSITY OF BONN)

At some point or another, every weary parent wonders if their toddler’s hair is an impossible tuft of snags and snarls. But for a few rug rats, tangled hair is a real problem.

A rare genetic condition, called Uncombable Hair Syndrome, marks kids with hairdos best described as electrocution-inspired. These frizzy, wiry locks, often with a silvery blond or straw color, grow into untamable manes of fuzz. Scientists first documented the coiffure condition in 1973, but it is thought to have inspired the famous 1845 German children’s book character “Shockheaded Peter” (Struwwelpeterlater), later translated by Mark Twain to “Slovenly Peter.”

Since the '70s, scientists have documented around 100 cases, but it’s likely that many more have gone undiagnosed. The condition rears its unkempt head between the ages of three months and 12 years, usually improving as a child grows. Scientists knew little else about it other than that the condition appeared to have a genetic root, sometimes getting tangled in family lines.

SPECS AT A GLANCE: OnePlus 3
SCREEN	1920×1080 5.5" (401ppi) AMOLED
OS	Android 6.0.1 (Oxygen OS)
CPU	Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (two 2.35 GHz Kryo cores and two 1.6 GHz Kryo cores)
RAM	6GB
GPU	Adreno 530
STORAGE	64GB or 128GB
NETWORKING	802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, NFC
BANDS	US version: GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz WCDMA: Bands 1/2/4/5/8 FDD-LTE: Bands 1/2/4/5/7/12/17/30 CDMA EVDO: BC0 EU/Asia Version: GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz WCDMA: Bands 1/2/5/8 FDD-LTE: Bands 1/3/5/7/8/20 TDD-LTE: Bands 38/40
PORTS	USB 2.0 Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
CAMERA	16MP rear camera, 16MP front camera
SIZE	152.7 x 74.7 x 7.35 mm (6 x 2.94 x 0.29 in)
WEIGHT	158 g (5.57 oz)
BATTERY	3400 mAh
STARTING PRICE	$439 (£355)
OTHER PERKS	"Dash" charging, three-position physical notification mode switch, fingerprint sensor, notification LED, Dual SIM slots

The OnePlus 3 was one of our favorite devices of 2016. Its combination of great specs, a metal body, near-stock Android, and low $400 price tag made it a winner. If you were considering buying an Android phone, the OnePlus 3 should have been near the top of your list.

Now the OnePlus 3 is dead. OnePlus announced a new device, the OnePlus 3T, as a replacement. It's almost the same thing. You get the same metal body, the same 5.5-inch, 1080p AMOLED display, the same USB-C jack, fingerprint reader, and quirky physical notification mode switch. What's new is the processor—a minor bump from the Snapdragon 820 to the Snapdragon 821—a new selfie camera, and a bigger battery. Oh, there's also a bigger price tag: It's now $40 more—$439.