Month: December 2024

The No. 1 nuisance with smartphones and smartwatches is that we need to charge them every day. As warm-blooded creatures, however, we generate heat all the time, and that heat can be converted into electricity for some of the electronic gadgetry we carry.

Flexible thermoelectric devices, or F-TEDs, can convert thermal energy into electric power. The problem is that F-TEDs weren’t actually flexible enough to comfortably wear or efficient enough to power even a smartwatch. They were also very expensive to make.

But now, a team of Australian researchers thinks they finally achieved a breakthrough that might take F-TEDs off the ground.

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Two recent studies suggest that the gene flow (as the young people call it these days) between Neanderthals and our species happened during a short period sometime between 50,000 and 43,500 years ago. The studies, which share several co-authors, suggest that our torrid history with Neanderthals may have been shorter than we thought.

Pinpointing exactly when Neanderthals met H. sapiens  

Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology scientist Leonardo Iasi and his colleagues examined the genomes of 59 people who lived in Europe between 45,000 and 2,200 years ago, plus those of 275 modern people whose ancestors hailed from all over the world. The researchers cataloged the segments of Neanderthal DNA in each person’s genome, then compared them to see where those segments appeared and how that changed over time and distance. This revealed how Neanderthal ancestry got passed around as people spread around the world and provided an estimate of when it all started.

“We tried to compare where in the genomes these [Neanderthal segments] occur and if the positions are shared among individuals or if there are many unique segments that you find [in people from different places],” said University of California Berkeley geneticist Priya Moorjani in a recent press conference. “We find the majority of the segments are shared, and that would be consistent with the fact that there was a single gene flow event.”

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On Thursday, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT users can now talk to a simulated version of Santa Claus through the app's voice mode, using AI to bring a North Pole connection to mobile devices, desktop apps, and web browsers during the holiday season.

The company added Santa's voice and personality as a preset option in ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode. Users can access Santa by tapping a snowflake icon next to the prompt bar or through voice settings. The feature works on iOS and Android mobile apps, chatgpt.com, and OpenAI's Windows and MacOS applications. The Santa voice option will remain available to users worldwide until early January.

The conversations with Santa exist as temporary chats that won't save to chat history or affect the model's memory. OpenAI designed this limitation specifically for the holiday feature. Keep that in mind, because if you let your kids talk to Santa, the AI simulation won't remember what kids have told it during previous conversations.

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Like with much of physical media, the onslaught against optical media is ongoing. In the latest hit against physical media fans, LG has discontinued its remaining Blu-ray players. However, this doesn't spell the end for Blu-rays, which, in at least some categories, are seeing growing interest.

LG has no plans to make more Blu-ray players, FlatpanelsHD reported on Wednesday. Its most recent players, the UBK90 and UBK80, came out in 2018 and are no longer available for purchase on LG’s website. You can still find them at third-party retailers, but when stock runs out, LG won’t be replenishing. Trying to access LG's "Blu-ray & DVD Players" webpage now results in a redirect to LG's 4K TVs. We can take a hint, LG.

FlatpanelsHD spoke with LG Korea, which reportedly didn’t commit to a permanent exit from Blu-ray players. But for the foreseeable future, the company won’t be selling a type of device that it hasn’t updated in almost seven years.

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Citing "years of investment in AI, AR, and VR," Google is stepping into the augmented reality market once more with Android XR. It's an operating system that Google says will power future headsets and glasses that "transform how you watch, work, and explore."

The first version you'll see is Project Moohan, a mixed-reality headset built by Samsung. It will be available for purchase next year, and not much more is known about it. Developers have access to the new XR version of Android now.

"We've been in this space since Google Glass, and we have not stopped," said Juston Payne, director of product at Google for XR in Android XR's launch video. Citing established projects like Google Lens, Live View for Maps, instant camera translation, and, of course, Google's general-purpose Gemini AI, XR promises to offer such overlays in both dedicated headsets and casual glasses.

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Google is bringing Android to VR headsets and smart glasses… again. The company has introduced a new Android-based operating system called Android XR, released a preview SDK, announced a partnership with Samsung on a headset set to launch in 2025, and announced plans to “begin real-world testing of prototype glasses running Android XR with a […]

The post Android XR is Google’s latest stab at VR and AR glasses and headsets appeared first on Liliputing.

Das kann nicht nur die Deutsche Telekom: Im ersten Quartal 2025 wird auch die Deutsche Glasfaser Kupfer-Kunden der Gruppe ins FTTH-Netz holen. (Deutsche Glasfaser, DSL)

Intel doesn't have a ton to show for its dedicated GPU efforts yet.

After much anticipation, many delays, and an anticipatory apology tour for its software quality, Intel launched its first Arc GPUs at the end of 2022. There were things to like about the A770 and A750, but buggy drivers, poor performance in older games, and relatively high power use made them difficult to recommend. They were more notable as curiosities than as consumer graphics cards.

The result, after more than two years on the market, is that Arc GPUs remain a statistical nonentity in the GPU market, according to analysts and the Steam Hardware Survey. But it was always going to take time—and probably a couple of hardware generations—for Intel to make meaningful headway against entrenched competitors.

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Der Netzbetreiber Vodafone kooperiert weltweit mit 516 Partnern, in immer mehr Ländern surfen Reisende mit 5G. (Vodafone, Mobilfunk)

The Intel N150 processor is a new Alder Lake-N chip that’s basically what you get if you crank up the top CPU and GPU speeds of the Intel N100 processor. Intel hasn’t officially announced the new processor yet, but a growing number of mini PC makers are already selling systems powered by the new chip. Now […]

The post These fanless mini PCs combine Intel N150 chips with four 2.5 GbE LAN ports appeared first on Liliputing.