Month: June 2018

We already know that the Windows 10 April 2018 Update has been the most rapidly deployed of the major Windows 10 updates. Microsoft today said a little about how this speed was achieved—and made the update fully available to every Windows 10 system, representing the final stage of the rollout process.

The rollout of each major update is performed gradually. Microsoft uses information about successes, failures, and incompatibilities collected from the earliest systems to receive the update to determine whether it should be made more widely available. For this update, there was an extra factor in the mix: machine learning. The company built a machine learning model to identify which system characteristics meant that the update was likely to succeed. With this model, viable candidate systems could be more rapidly identified, in turn enabling the update to be more aggressively pushed to those systems. The result was fewer rolled back installations, fewer crashes, and less negative user feedback.

During the deployment of the update, incompatibilities were detected. As an example, Microsoft says that a version of Avast Behavior Shield caused a reboot issue. The immediate fix was to blacklist systems with the problematic software, meaning that within 24 hours of the problem being detected, at risk machines were no longer being updated. Avast subsequently fixed its software, and with the corrected software in place, the deployment could be resumed.

Enlarge (credit: Verizon)

Verizon Wireless next week will start selling a third unlimited data plan, one that costs $95 for one line and lets customers use 75GB each month without any possibility of throttling.

Verizon currently offers "GoUnlimited" for $75 and "BeyondUnlimited" for $85. The $95 "AboveUnlimited" will be available starting June 18, Verizon announced today.

Verizon and other carriers use the word "unlimited" for any plan that lets customers use as much data as they want without paying overage fees. But that data isn't always of the high-speed variety.

Enlarge / The 12.3-inch QHD display has large bezels around it for better grip in tablet mode. (credit: Valentina Palladino)

Google's Pixelbook is some beautiful, well-built hardware, but its use of Chrome OS means that for many people, it will be too limited to be useful. Although Chrome OS is no longer entirely dependent on Web applications—it can also be used to run Android applications, and Linux application support is also in development—the lack of Windows support means that most traditional desktop applications are unusable.

But that may be changing due to indications that Google is adding Windows support to its hardware. Earlier this year, changes made to the Pixelbook's firmware indicated that Google is working on a mode called AltOS that would allow switching between Chrome OS and an "alternative OS," in some kind of dual-boot configuration. A couple candidates for that alternative OS are Google's own Fuchsia and, of course, Windows.

Recent changes suggest that it is indeed Windows that Google is aiming for. The Pixelbook's firmware is being updated to address issues picked up in Microsoft's hardware compatibility tests. The modifications make reference to the Windows Hardware Certification Kit (WHCK) and the Windows Hardware Lab Kit (HLK). The HLK is Microsoft's test framework that validates all manner of driver and firmware behavior to ensure that hardware is compatible with Windows 10. The WHCK is the corresponding set of tests for Windows 8.1.

Mmmmmm, synthetic meat.... (credit: Photo illustration by Aurich Lawson)

Today we present the third and final installment of my interview with George Church, whose Harvard lab is one of the most celebrated fountains of innovation in the world of life science. Please check out part one and part two if you missed them. The article accompanying part one will also give you the lowdown on this experimental melding of Ars Technica’s written pages with a long-form podcast series.

We start today’s installment by discussing an audacious project to resurrect the wooly mammoth—or at least certain genes of it, which allowed it to thrive in frigid regions. The modern Asian elephant is a close cousin to the mammoth, and infusing those genes into its genome could give us a hybrid “arctic elephant.” Such a critter could play a key role in preserving the integrity of the permafrost layer, which currently fixes more CO2 than all of the world’s rainforests combined.

From mammoths, George and I turn to the topic of synthetic meats, which could enter our kitchens and bellies much sooner than most people think. A top company in this field (Memphis Meats) is building on work that originated in George’s lab. Its financial, ethical, and environmental ramifications could be immense.

Enlarge (credit: Peace Corps)

Baobabs have super-thick trunks and branches that look like root systems reaching for the sky. African bushmen said that when the god Thora created the world, he took a dislike to the baobab growing in his garden so he threw it out over the wall of paradise onto Earth below; it landed upside down and continued to grow that way. Others claim that Thora had to uproot the trees and replant them upside-down, because when they were initially planted the right way, they kept on walking. Tribal elders and kings used to hold meetings under baobab trees since they believed that the tree's spirits would guide them in decision-making.

On a more practical level, the baobab is known as the Tree of Life because it can store water in its enormous trunk during the rainy season and bear fruit later in the dry season, when other food is scarce. But associating them with life may be temporary; the oldest and largest among these trees are dying.

Baobabs periodically produce new stems the way other trees make branches, which is why they appear so thick. They start off with one stem and grow additional ones in a ring shape. Sometimes, the multiple stems are obvious, when they are only fused at their bases and each grows outwards like an inverted cone. But sometimes the stems fuse to look like one giant circular trunk, with a hollow cavity inside that can be used as a shelter, for grain storage, as a water reservoir, or even for a burial site. Or a bar.

Enlarge / Don't forget, you're here forever!

Epic accounts that have been used to play Fortnite on the PS4 are blocked from use on other console versions of the game, including the newly released Nintendo Switch version. The move is a seemingly untenable expansion of Sony's long-standing unwillingness to allow cross-platform play between the PS4 and other consoles, and it's drawing widespread ire among players.

"This Fortnite account is associated with a platform which does not allow it to operate on Switch," an error message reads when players attempt to log in with PS4-associated account. "Neither the Fortnite website nor Epic Customer Service are able to change this. To play Fortnite on Switch, please create a new account."

A similar error appears if a PS4-associated account is used on the older Xbox One version of the game, though more players are discovering it this week as they try to take the game portable on the Switch. The incompatibility works in reverse as well—Epic accounts previously associated with the Switch or Xbox One can't be used on the PS4 version. PS4 players are also locked out of playing alongside others using different consoles.