Month: November 2021

Hyundai and Kia preview compelling three-row EVs coming to US in 2024

Upcoming Ioniq 7 and Kia EV9 will bring more EVs to a popular segment.

Kia EV9 concept

Enlarge / The Kia EV9 concept uses pixelated headlights that Hyundai and Kia designers have grown fond of in recent years. (credit: Kia)

Amidst the slew of new electric vehicles that have been introduced in the last few years, one thing has been largely missing: a third row. SUVs and crossovers with room for more than five passengers are wildly popular, but if you don't want to burn fossil fuels, your options have been limited.

Hyundai and Kia have plans to change that, though. In advance of the Los Angeles Auto Show, which starts tomorrow, the two companies each unveiled concepts that hint at all-new, three-row electric SUVs bound for the US in 2024. Hyundai teased the Ioniq Seven, the second model in a new electric-only sub-brand it's launching. Meanwhile, Kia gave us a peek at the EV9, a boxy big brother to the curvy EV6.

Hyundai's Ioniq Seven concept has design cues from the <a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/03/who-did-the-future-electric-sedan-best-bmw-or-hyundai/">Prophecy concept</a>, particularly in the rake of the windshield.

Hyundai's Ioniq Seven concept has design cues from the Prophecy concept, particularly in the rake of the windshield. (credit: Hyundai)

In keeping with recent Hyundai and Kia designs, the two vehicles look quite different, despite being based on the same E-GMP platform. Yet they share enough details to feel part of the same family.

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Apple addresses two iPhone and Apple Watch bugs with iOS 15.1.1 and watchOS 8.1.1

There are no new features, but iOS 15.2 probably isn’t far away.

The Apple Watch Series 7 is virtually indistinguishable from the Series 6 (less so with a light-colored watch face), and it doesn't add much, but it's still the best smartwatch you can buy.

Enlarge / The Apple Watch Series 7 is virtually indistinguishable from the Series 6 (less so with a light-colored watch face), and it doesn't add much, but it's still the best smartwatch you can buy. (credit: Corey Gaskin)

Apple has pushed out two small software updates for its platforms—one for iPhones, and the other for the Apple Watch.

According to its release notes, iOS 15.1.1 does exactly one thing: it addresses dropped calls on iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Here are Apple's own words, which aren't any more revealing:

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FAA forced delay in 5G rollout despite having no proof of harm to aviation

US delays even as 40 countries use C-band with no reports of harm to altimeters.

Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Steve Dickson testifying at a Senate hearing.

Enlarge / Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Steve Dickson testifies before a Senate panel examining safety certification of jetliners on June 17, 2020, in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images | Graeme Jennings )

Two weeks ago, AT&T and Verizon reluctantly agreed to delay the launch of 5G on newly acquired C-band spectrum licenses for one month, until January 5, in response to the Federal Aviation Administration's claim that the new service could interfere with radio altimeters used in airplanes.

Mobile carriers aren't alone in being frustrated by the delay. Telecom-industry observers point out that the Federal Communications Commission approved use of the C-Band spectrum from 3.7 to 3.98 GHz only after analyzing the aviation industry's interference claims and finding no evidence to support the claims. The FCC also required a 220 MHz guard band that will remain unused to protect altimeters from interference. That guard band is more than twice as big as the 100 MHz buffer initially suggested by Boeing, the FCC has said.

Moreover, this spectrum is reportedly already being used for 5G in nearly 40 countries without evidence of the problems that US aviation officials are warning of. "Tick, tick, tick... US wireless leadership and national security await 'resolution' of unfounded concerns by FAA," former FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly tweeted yesterday.

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Lilbits: Pixel 6 charging speed, a new Android PS2 emulator, and Nreal’s augmented reality glasses

There’s a new PlayStation 2 emulator for Android in the works, and while a public beta won’t be available for a few weeks, a few lucky folks have had time to test a pre-release alpha and share some pretty impressive performance on a range of hardware (obviously games will run best on high-end hardware, but […]

The post Lilbits: Pixel 6 charging speed, a new Android PS2 emulator, and Nreal’s augmented reality glasses appeared first on Liliputing.

There’s a new PlayStation 2 emulator for Android in the works, and while a public beta won’t be available for a few weeks, a few lucky folks have had time to test a pre-release alpha and share some pretty impressive performance on a range of hardware (obviously games will run best on high-end hardware, but many games are playable even on devices with chips that may be a few years old at this point.

In other recent tech news, starting November 30th you may be able to walk into a Verizon Store and try out a pair of augmented reality glasses… or walk home with them if you feel like spending $599. Google clears up some confusion about the charging speed of its Pixel 6 smartphones (it’s slower than many had expected, but there are reasons for that). And Tidal is adding a free, ad-supported tier to its streaming music service, presumably in an effort to better compete with Spotify.

Nreal Light

Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.

Nreal’s $599 mixed reality glasses are launching in the US [The Verge]

Nreal’s Light augmented reality glasses coming to North America later this month, when they’ll be available exclusively from Verizon for $599. Paired with an Android phone, they have cameras and micro LED displays for combining virtual and real-world views.

How charging works on Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro [Google]

The google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro come with 30W USB-C chargers. But Google explains that to balance charging speed and battery longevity, actual speeds will vary throughout the charge cycle… and peak at 21W for the Pixel 6 and 23W for the Pro.

Google 30W USB-C power adapter

Megapixels 1.4.x [GitLab]

Megapixels is the most advanced camera app for the PinePhone and Librem 5. Version 1.4.x was released this week with LED and display-based flash support and several bug fixes.

Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS is a cheaper dual GbE SBC with YT8531C Ethernet transceiver [CNX Software]

Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS is a $28 mini PC with an RK3328 processor, 1GB RAM, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and a USB 2.0 port, but no video output, so it’s designed for headless applications (like routers or firewalls).

Tidal launches free, ad-supported streaming tier and lowers price of Tidal HiFi [Tidal]

Music streaming service Tidal has revamped its plans. There’s now a free, ad-supported tier. The new $10 Tidal HiFi tier replaces the old Tidal Premium, and the new $20 HiFi Plus tier offers even higher fidelity streaming.

Preview of the AetherSX2 free and open source Android PS2 emulator [Taki Udon / YouTube]

The upcoming AetherSX2 app is a free and open source PS2 emulator for Android. It’s compatible with recent high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon and MediaTek chips, and a public beta is expected in a few weeks. Here’s a look at the Alpha.

Keep up on the latest headlines by following Liliputing on Twitter and Facebook and follow @LinuxSmartphone on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news on open source mobile phones.

The post Lilbits: Pixel 6 charging speed, a new Android PS2 emulator, and Nreal’s augmented reality glasses appeared first on Liliputing.

We know what invasive species can do on Earth—what about in space?

Invasion science can help keep Earth and other planets safe from alien microbes.

Europa could harbor complex life, and we'll have to take care to avoid any cross-contamination.

Europa could harbor complex life, and we'll have to take care to avoid any cross-contamination. (credit: Ted Stryk/NASA)

The Beresheet crash landed on Earth's Moon in 2019. Part of the ill-fated Israeli lunar lander's payload was a bunch of tardigrades, or "water bears." These organisms are under a millimeter long and can survive extreme cold and radiation by expelling nearly all their moisture before entering a nearly death-like state. The Beresheet tardigrades may have survived the crash and could, potentially, be resurrected by being reintroduced to water.

The tardigrades—sometimes called moss piglets—are safely asleep and probably not running amok on the surface of the Moon. But, in general, scientists, governments, and space agencies around the world agree that bringing Earth's life to extraterrestrial locales, or vice versa, isn't great.

A new paper builds on the growing body of literature about this cosmic no-no and draws on the burgeoning field of invasion science—the research of how, on Earth, non-native species spread to and alter new locations. The zebra mussel's spread across North America through its ability to outcompete native species is a classic example.

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“The NFT Bay” Shares Multi-Terabyte Archive of ‘Pirated’ NFTs

NFTs are unique blockchain entries through which people can prove that they own something. However, the underlying images can be copied with a single click. This point is illustrated by The NFT Bay which links to a 19.5 Terabyte collection of ‘all NFTs’ on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. And it comes with an important warning message too.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

nftbayNFTs have been booming over the past year. People are willing to pay millions of dollars just to prove that they “own” a digital item that was worthless before.

These digital entries, stored on a blockchain, allow the buyers to prove that they are legitimate owners. While it’s different from a copyright, NFTs owners are rightsholders in a sense.

The NFT Bay

However, that doesn’t mean that other people can’t copy the associated files, which are often widely available. This is made pretty clear by The NFT Bay, which launched just a few hours ago. The site, which is clearly inspired by The Pirate Bay, shares a torrent with “pirated” versions of NFTs.

“The Billion Dollar Torrent,” as it’s called, reportedly includes all the NFTs on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. These files are bundled in a massive torrent that points to roughly 15 terabytes of data. Unpacked, this adds up to almost 20 terabytes.

geoff tweet

Australian developer Geoff is the brains behind the platform, which he describes as an art project. Speaking with TorrentFreak, he says that The Pirate Bay was used as inspiration for nostalgic reasons, which needs further explanation.

Too Much for PRQ

The NFT Bay itself lists a few examples of “pirated” NFT images but these uploads point to the same massive torrent file. Downloading the torrent can be a challenge as it requires quite a bit of disk space. In fact, finding a hosting solution for the seedbox wasn’t straightforward either.

“For authenticity I was going to host at PRQ but unfortunately they don’t offer servers with enough disk space,” Geoff notes.

This comment may not mean much to the general public. However, veteran followers of file-sharing news will recognize PRQ as the former hosting partner of The Pirate Bay, launched by the site’s founders Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij.

The developer eventually hosted the torrent elsewhere. And despite the massive size and the attention it’s getting, both the site and seedbox are running smoothly.

“The seedbox hosting the torrent has 4 x 10TB SATA drives configured in RAID0 and the website is humming along just fine even though the website is going insanely viral,” Geoff says.

Wake-Up Call

The NFT Bay is not just any random art project. It does come with a message, perhaps a wake-up call, for people who jump on the NFT bandwagon without fully realizing what they’re spending their crypto profits on.

“Purchasing NFT art right now is nothing more than directions on how to access or download an image. The image is not stored on the blockchain and the majority of images I’ve seen are hosted on Web 2.0 storage which is likely to end up as 404 meaning the NFT has even less value.”

The same warning is more sharply articulated in the torrent’s release notes which are styled in true pirate fashion.

“[T]his handy torrent contains all of the NFT’s so that future generations can study this generation’s tulip mania and collectively go…” it reads.

nft release notes

Fifteen years ago this would have been a project The Pirate Bay could have come up with. It’s a thought-provoking piece of art that shows that ownership can be a trivial concept, especially in the digital realm.

Greed and Scams

This is not to say that all NFTs are useless and have no future. Some will probably remain very valuable. However, people who want to own them should understand how they work and what they represent. Making a personal copy is probably a good start.

Geoff himself appears to be quite critical of the NFT hype. While the software developer believes in the possibilities that Web 3.0 can offer, today’s implementations often result in greed and scamming, which he describes as sickening.

He doesn’t own a CryptoPunk, obviously.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Why modern consoles can’t just “run any… older executable”

Licensing agreements can hamper the dream of full console backward compatibility.

The legal issues getting in the way of “legal emulation”

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

Historically, when major game companies have talked about emulation, they've pigeonholed the technology primarily as a way for players to steal their IP through piracy. Now, though, Xbox chief Phil Spencer is urging the industry to embrace legal emulation as a way to preserve the legacy and wider availability of older games.

“My hope (and I think I have to present it that way as of now) is as an industry we'd work on legal emulation that allowed modern hardware to run any (within reason) older executable allowing someone to play any game," Spencer told Axios in a recent interview. "I think in the end, if we said, 'Hey, anybody should be able to buy any game, or own any game and continue to play,' that seems like a great North Star for us as an industry."

That's an admirable goal and an important statement of intent from a major console executive going forward. But in the real world, legal emulation of older games runs into some practical licensing problems that make it hard to achieve Spencer's "run any... older executable" ideal.

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Daily Deals (11-18-2021)

Google is selling the Pixel 5a for $50 off as part of an early Black Friday Sale. But Best Buy is offering the Pixel 6 for $100 off – the only catch is that you need to activate the phone with the wireless carrier of your choice to get that discount, otherwise you only save […]

The post Daily Deals (11-18-2021) appeared first on Liliputing.

Google is selling the Pixel 5a for $50 off as part of an early Black Friday Sale. But Best Buy is offering the Pixel 6 for $100 off – the only catch is that you need to activate the phone with the wireless carrier of your choice to get that discount, otherwise you only save $50.

Meanwhile Staples is running deals on Chromebooks, Google, Amazon, and Roku have deals on media streamers, and Lowe’s is offering discounts on smart home products including smart speakers and displays.

Here are some of the day’s best deals.

Chromebooks

Windows laptops

Smartphones & accessories

Media Streamers

Wireless audio

Smart Speakers & Displays

Downloads & Streaming

Other

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Google updates Pixel 6 fingerprint reader, confirms slow 23 W charging

Biometrics should work better after an update, but there’s no fixing the charging.

The Pixel 6 Pro.

Enlarge / The Pixel 6 Pro. (credit: Ron Amadeo)

Now that the Pixel 6 has been out for a few weeks, Google has started to address some of the common complaints about the device.

First up, there's a new update out there addressing the fingerprint reader, which some people have had problems with. The November security update for the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro is build number "SD1A.210817.036," which this most recent fingerprint update increments by one, to end up with build "SD1A.210817.037." Google hasn't officially said what the build does, but Verizon posted a changelog for build 037, which says: "The current software update improves the performance of your device's fingerprint sensor."

The update is 14.5MB if you're coming from the November security patch. Not everyone was having problems with the fingerprint sensor, but the thread about it on the /r/GooglePixel subreddit seems to have mostly positive impressions after installing. It feels like the update is on a pretty slow rollout. Even if you're on the older build, pressing the "check for update" button won't pull it down automatically like normal. The OTA is available for manual download on Google's Pixel site, so your options are to manually apply it (instructions are at the top of that page) or wait longer.

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