Month: February 2018

Enlarge / The dot in the lower-right foreground is the supernova, from an image taken by an amateur astronomer. (credit: Víctor Buso and Gastón Folatelli)

Back in 2016, an astronomy enthusiast named Víctor Buso decided it was a good night to test a new camera on his telescope. The test went well enough that hardware in space was redirected to image what he spotted, and Buso now has his name on a paper in Nature.

Lots of amateurs, like Buso, have spotted supernovae. That typically leads to a search of image archives to determine when the last time a specific location was imaged when the supernova wasn't present—this is often years earlier. Buso didn't have to search, because his first batch of images contained no sign of the supernova. Then 45 minutes later, it was there, and the supernova continued to brighten as he captured more pictures. Buso had essentially captured the moment when the explosion of a supernova burst out of the surface of a star, and the analysis of the follow-on observations was published on Wednesday.

It went boom

The odd thing about many supernova (specifically those in the category called type II) is that they're not explosions in the sense of the ones we experience on Earth. In a supernova, the core of the star collapses suddenly, triggering the explosion. But it happens so quickly that the outer layers of the star barely budge. The first overt sign of what's going on comes when the debris of the explosion reaches the surface of the star, a process called the breakout. This causes the star to suddenly brighten, a process that continues through some ups and downs for days afterward.

Enlarge / Amazon Go from the outside. (credit: Sam Machkovech)

Amazon's partly automated retail store, Amazon Go, debuted with a location in Seattle in January, but a new report suggests that expansion plans are already underway. "Multiple people familiar with the company’s plans" told Recode that Amazon could open as many as six new stores by the end of 2018.

Most of these stores would be in Seattle, but Amazon also reportedly wants to expand beyond its home turf by opening one store in Los Angeles. It has spoken with the developer of The Grove, a large shopping plaza in the heart of LA just minutes from Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It's essentially an upscale, outdoor shopping mall—which is a common structure in LA. Amazon has previously debuted services in LA first after trialing them in Seattle, such as its Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service. LA will also be the first area to be served by a new shipping service planned by the company.

As for the Seattle stores, one source told Recode that Amazon had already identified three new locations last year.

Enlarge / Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's president, speaks during the petro cryptocurrency launch event in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday, February 20, 2018. (credit: Wil Riera/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claims a new state-sponsored cryptocurrency called the petro raised $735 million on Tuesday—its first day on sale. But the government hasn't provided any way to independently verify that $735 million figure. And there's reason to doubt almost everything the Venezuelan government has said about the project.

The presale was a disorganized mess, with basic technical details still being worked out after the sale supposedly began. The petro network itself hasn't launched yet—allegedly that will happen next month—and the government has hardly released any information about how it's going to work.

Moreover, there's little reason to believe that the petro will maintain its value over time. The Venezuelan government has portrayed petro tokens as backed by Venezuela's vast oil reserves, but they're not. The government is merely promising to accept tax payments in petros at a government-determined exchange rate linked to oil prices. Given the Venezuelan government's history of manipulating exchange rates, experts say investors should be wary of this arrangement.

The little system that could (continue selling despite age and competition). (credit: Kyle Orland)

About a year ago, we took a look at some historical sales data and publicly speculated that sales for the Nintendo 3DS would quickly drop after the Nintendo Switch launch. But while Switch sales continue at a blistering pace, someone forgot to tell the people to stop buying Nintendo's older portable.

Industry tracking firm NPD reported yesterday that 3DS sales in the United States are healthier than ever by some measures. In 2018, the system had its best January since 2014 in terms of dollar sales and since 2013 in terms of unit sales. This despite the fact that there were no major releases for the system in the month (though big games like Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon and Fire Emblem Warriors did come out just a few months ago).

It's hard to identify a trend in one surprisingly successful month, of course. But looking at 3DS sales more broadly shows the system continuing to find an audience in Switch's shadow. In the nine months following the Switch's late March 2017 launch, Nintendo shipped 5.86 million 3DSes worldwide. That's down just nine percent from the 6.42 million in sales over the same nine-month period in 2016, before the Switch was available. And it's down only a hair from 5.89 million shipments during the same period in 2015 when the 3DS was much newer.