Month: October 2017

Enlarge (credit: Flatiron School)

In recent years, dozens of coding schools and boot camps have opened up, promising that they can teach students enough software programming that they can get a high-paying job in just a few months.

Now one of the most prominent institutions, New York's Flatiron School, will be shelling out $375,000 to settle charges brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office. The AG said the school operated for a period without the proper educational license, and it improperly marketed both its job placement rates and the salaries of its graduates.

New York regulators didn't find any inaccuracies in Flatiron's "outcomes report," a document the company is proud of. However, the Attorney General's office found (PDF) that certain statements made on Flatiron's website didn't constitute "clear and conspicuous" disclosure.

Enlarge (credit: Google Fiber)

Google Fiber has begun taking signups in Louisville, Kentucky, after a tumultuous process involving lawsuits filed against the local government by incumbent broadband providers.

AT&T and Charter both sued the metro government in Louisville and Jefferson County last year in an attempt to stop a new ordinance designed to give Google Fiber easier access to utility poles.

The lawsuits haven't stopped the new ordinance, as AT&T's was thrown out of court and Charter's is still pending. But instead of hanging wires on utility poles, Google Fiber ended up burying the cables with a "microtrenching" strategy that is quicker than traditional underground fiber deployment.

Enlarge / This is the first image of Volkswagen's purpose-built Pikes Peak electric hill climb car. (credit: Volkswagen)

The annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is one of the oldest races in the world, having celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2016. For much of its history, the 12.4-mile (19.9km) course was a dirt road that played host to rally-bred machines, but since the route was fully paved over in 2012, slick tires and stiff suspension have become the order of the day. And the very fastest cars have gotten a lot quieter, too. That's because it has become a great place to put electric vehicle technology to the test. Unlike internal combustion engines, EVs don't suffer any drop in power as they climb from 4,750 feet (1,440m) up to the finish above the tree line at 14,100 feet (4,300m).

Now Volkswagen has thrown its hat into the ring with a purpose-built EV racer, which it plans to enter in 2018. It's the first big motorsports program from VW in the aftermath of the diesel emissions scandal, which saw the company cancel most of its racing and rallying activities.

"The Pikes Peak hill climb is one of the world’s most renowned car races. It poses an enormous challenge and is therefore perfectly suited to proving the capabilities of upcoming technologies," explains Volkswagen board member Frank Welsch. "Our electric race car will be equipped with innovative battery and drive technology. The extreme stress test posed by Pikes Peak will give us important feedback that will benefit future development, and it will showcase our products and their technologies."

Enlarge / You can now make calls from your Apple Watch without the phone nearby.

Apple's struggles in China continue to mount, and this time, it's Apple's newest wearable causing problems for the company. According to a Wall Street Journal report, standalone wireless service available on certain models of the Apple Watch Series 3 has been shut down just one month after the device became available. Chinese customers who purchased a Series 3 with LTE are not able to connect their wearables to their wireless networks, and it's unclear when service will be reinstated.

When the Apple Watch Series 3 became available on September 22, LTE service was available exclusively through China's Unicom wireless company. However, new cellular subscriptions were cut off after September 28. Those who registered for wireless service on their Apple Watch before September 28 (essentially, customers who bought the new device within the first week of sale) have been unaffected. Those who have tried to set up wireless service on a Series 3 device since September 28 have been unable to do so.

Unicom's website only says that cellular service was initially offered on a "trial basis," but the company is not saying when it would come back for new customers. Analysts suspect the shutdown is due to security concerns from the Chinese government, which heavily regulates all mobile phone service and devices.

Ron Amadeo

Google's new flagship smartphones, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, are out today. In the life of any major smartphone, there comes a time when it must hit iFixit's workbench for a teardown, and for the 2 XL, today is that day.

The site found a few surprises inside the Pixel 2 XL. First up is a magnesium mid-frame, which should make the phone extra stiff. The mid-frame is also housing a heat pipe for better cooling, which seems to be showing up more and more in smartphones. Under X-Ray, you can see that, like the smaller Pixel 2, the Pixel 2 XL does have antenna bands, but they're invisible on the 2 XL. It is also nice to see the "Active Edge" pressure sensors, which allow you to squeeze the phone to call up the Google Assistant.