Month: November 2018

This little-used Xbox One accessory will get a little less useful in the next 30 days. (credit: Hauppauge)

Microsoft is removing an Xbox One feature that let users stream over-the-air TV broadcasts from a USB antenna to the Xbox app on iOS or Android.

Reddit user icecreamman37 was among the users to receive the following message from Microsoft on their Xbox One:

You may have streamed TV content using a USB TV tuner from your Xbox console to the Xbox app. In 30 days, the Xbox app on iOS and Android will no longer support this functionality. You will still be able to watch TV content on your Xbox One console and via streaming to the Xbox app on Windows 10.

Microsoft first introduced the streaming feature in late 2015, shortly after the release of Hauppauge's $80 WinTV-HVR stick, which let the Xbox One (or a PC) easily receive over-the-air antenna TV signals. In Europe, Microsoft went so far as to release its own branded Digital TV Tuner in 2014.

(credit: Samsung)

After years of rumors, it looks like Samsung is finally going to show the world its first smartphone with a foldable display. Over the weekend, Samsung Mobile changed its Facebook profile picture to the above picture which shows the Samsung logo folded over itself.

Despite a folding phone from Samsung being rumored every year since 2013—including a Samsung-produced concept video in 2014— it seems like foldable phones are finally ready to become a reality. Earlier this month, a company called "Royole" announced the FlexPai smartphone for $1,300, which it called "the world's first commercial foldable smartphone with a flexible display." It looks like a real clunker, but these first-generation devices are usually the first step toward a viable screen device.

The promise of a foldable display is compelling. You fold the phone up when it's in your pocket or purse for a compact device, and then when it's time to do some real work, you can open the phone for a much bigger display. Phones with the display on the outside could have something like a traditional smartphone form factor when closed, which could open up into a tablet-like form factor. The biggest problem with bringing these devices to market usually revolves around the screen durability. Folding an OLED display puts it under stress and will eventually damage it. The Royole can supposedly withstand 200,000 folds without damage, but even that's with a design that doesn't fold fully closed. Royole is cheating a bit by giving the display a very wide hinge to bend around, which puts the display under less stress.

Samuel Axon

Steve Jobs famously believed the devices his company produced would bring technology to the masses, but he was rarely willing to make the compromises necessary to bring that vision to fruition. Apple has only sometimes released products that were priced for everyone.

That trend continued in late September with the release of the flagship iPhone XS, a compelling, envelope-pushing product that is nonetheless priced out of range for many consumers. Enter the iPhone XR, a close sibling to the XS that trades the latter’s expensive OLED display for an LCD and a dual-camera system for a single camera among other things—all to bring the price down just enough so more people can buy it.

(credit: Getty Images)

Amazon's latest perk will be available not just for its Prime members but for all holiday shoppers this year. The online retailer announced that starting today, November 5, all US-based Amazon customers can get free shipping with no minimum purchase amount. While the perk lasts only for a "limited time," Amazon explains the promotion will affect orders that arrive in time for the Christmas holiday.

Typically, Amazon has a $25 minimum order amount for non-Prime members to get free shipping. This promotion waives that minimum for the time being, and puts Amazon in-step with competitor Target, which waived its $35 order minimum and now offers free two-day shipping to all customers through December 22. Walmart, arguably Amazon's biggest competitor in the US, has kept its $35 minimum threshold for free shipping for this holiday season (so far, at least).

Amazon is trying to capture as much of the holiday shopping market as possible as it faces growing competition from the likes of Target, Walmart, and other retailers. Amazon already offers free two-day shipping to its Prime members as a standard benefit, but those customers pay $120 annually for Prime. Amazon raised the price of a Prime membership by $20 earlier this year.

Enlarge / The 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, in southwest China's Guizhou Province, is the world's largest radio telescope, measuring 500 meters in diameter. (credit: Xinhua/Liu Xu via Getty Images)

China has built a staggeringly large radio telescope in a remote part of the country, and although it is the largest and most advanced instrument of its kind in the world, the country continues to have a difficult time staffing up the observatory.

Not only has the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, or FAST instrument, still failed to attract a chief scientist, according to the South China Morning Post the facility is also struggling to attract two dozen researchers to work on site to maintain the instrument and analyze data collected there.

One problem is pay. According to the Post, astronomers interested in joining working there should speak fluent English, and expect to work in the remote location on a long-term basis. (The telescope is located southwest China’s mountainous Guizhou province.) Compensation for the job is meager, at least by Western standards—about 100,000 yuan, or $14,400 annually.