Oculus Rift: VR-Konkurrenz im Hobbykeller

Durch ein Update unterstützt Oculus Rift bis zu vier Kamerasensoren. Damit werden die Möglichkeiten des VR-Headsets erweitert – und HTC Vive ist nicht mehr das einzige System, durch das ein Hobbyraum zum Mini-Holodeck wird. (Oculus Rift, Firmware)

Durch ein Update unterstützt Oculus Rift bis zu vier Kamerasensoren. Damit werden die Möglichkeiten des VR-Headsets erweitert - und HTC Vive ist nicht mehr das einzige System, durch das ein Hobbyraum zum Mini-Holodeck wird. (Oculus Rift, Firmware)

Motorola: Moto Z bekommt keine monatlichen Security-Updates

Manche Smartphone-Hersteller verteilen monatliche Updates, um ihren Nutzern Googles aktuelle Sicherheits-Patches zu bringen. Motorola findet das zu schwierig – auch das neue Top-Gerät Moto Z soll daher diesen Service nicht bekommen. Eine fragwürdige Entscheidung. (Motorola, Google)

Manche Smartphone-Hersteller verteilen monatliche Updates, um ihren Nutzern Googles aktuelle Sicherheits-Patches zu bringen. Motorola findet das zu schwierig - auch das neue Top-Gerät Moto Z soll daher diesen Service nicht bekommen. Eine fragwürdige Entscheidung. (Motorola, Google)

Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray sales stats for the week ending July 16th 2016

The results and analysis for DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray sales for the week ending July 16th 2016 are in. The latest film in the Divergent series, Allegiant, was new to the week and the week’s best seller.
Read the rest of the stats and anal…



The results and analysis for DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray sales for the week ending July 16th 2016 are in. The latest film in the Divergent series, Allegiant, was new to the week and the week's best seller.

Read the rest of the stats and analysis to find out how DVD, Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray did.

BiCS3: Flash Forward fertigt 3D-NAND-Speicher mit 64 Zellschichten

Toshiba und Western Digital produzieren 3D-Flash-Speicher mit besonders vielen Lagen – 64 Schichten sind bisher Rekord. Bei der Kapazität stellt das NAND allerdings keine Bestmarke auf. (Flash-Speicher, Speichermedien)

Toshiba und Western Digital produzieren 3D-Flash-Speicher mit besonders vielen Lagen - 64 Schichten sind bisher Rekord. Bei der Kapazität stellt das NAND allerdings keine Bestmarke auf. (Flash-Speicher, Speichermedien)

Radeon RX 480: Dank DX12 und Vulkan reicht auch eine Mittelklasse-CPU

Das Direct3D 12- und das Vulkan-API entlocken älteren CPUs mehr Bilder pro Sekunde: Wir haben einen FX-6300 (Bulldozer) mit einer Radeon RX 480 kombiniert und verglichen, wie groß oder besser gesagt wie klein der Abstand zu einem Core i7-6700K (Skylake) ausfällt. (Polaris, Grafikhardware)

Das Direct3D 12- und das Vulkan-API entlocken älteren CPUs mehr Bilder pro Sekunde: Wir haben einen FX-6300 (Bulldozer) mit einer Radeon RX 480 kombiniert und verglichen, wie groß oder besser gesagt wie klein der Abstand zu einem Core i7-6700K (Skylake) ausfällt. (Polaris, Grafikhardware)

Pangu: Jailbreak für iOS 9.3.3 ist da

Fast zeitgleich zur Veröffentlichung von iOS 9.3.3 ist der passende Jailbreak erschienen. Vorerst ist nur eine Entsperrung von iOS-Geräten mit 64-Bit-Prozessor unter Windows möglich. (Jailbreak, Apple)

Fast zeitgleich zur Veröffentlichung von iOS 9.3.3 ist der passende Jailbreak erschienen. Vorerst ist nur eine Entsperrung von iOS-Geräten mit 64-Bit-Prozessor unter Windows möglich. (Jailbreak, Apple)

Amazon Prime Air: Lieferdrohnen könnten in Großbritannien bald starten

Amazon will in Großbritannien Tests für Lieferdrohnen durchführen. Die Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) hat dies genehmigt. Geplant sind auch Flüge im urbanen Gebiet ohne Sichtverbindung zum Piloten am Boden. (Prime-Air, Amazon)

Amazon will in Großbritannien Tests für Lieferdrohnen durchführen. Die Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) hat dies genehmigt. Geplant sind auch Flüge im urbanen Gebiet ohne Sichtverbindung zum Piloten am Boden. (Prime-Air, Amazon)

Elon Musk and J.B. Straubel talk batteries at the new Gigafactory

A tour of the Sparks, NV compound ended with a Q&A.

A stripped down Model S. Tesla batteries will be made at a factory site outside of Reno.

Although the Gigafactory—a $5 billion battery factory built by Tesla and Panasonic in northern Nevada—is only 14 percent complete, by all accounts it is enormous. Speaking to a handful of press on the grounds of the new facility, which began to pump out Powerwall batteries earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Tesla CTO J.B. Straubel, and Panasonic Executive Vice President Yoshihiko Yamada addressed new accelerated goals for auto and storage battery production.

Notably, Musk claimed that Tesla and Panasonic could potentially triple the projected battery output for the factory, delivering up to 150 gigawatt hours of storage per year by 2020. According to Fortune, Straubel told the audience that Tesla is hoping to deliver 35 gigawatt hours of auto and stationary batteries by 2018. The Tesla executives said their confidence in the increased battery production volume stems from logistical changes made to the layout of the Gigafactory.

"The factory itself is a product," Musk told USA Today. "It's the machine that builds the machines and demands more problem solving than the product it makes."

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Tesla and Mobileye call it quits; will the car company build its own sensors?

The divorce is probably fallout from May’s fatal Tesla Model S crash.

Mobileye Co-founder, CTO and Chairman Amnon Shashua speaks at a Volkswagen press event at CES 2016. (credit: Getty Images | David Becker)

If you're a carmaker looking to give your vehicles some computer vision, your first port of call is probably the Israeli company Mobileye. As we detailed recently, Mobileye's EyeQ system-on-a-chip can be found inside most semi-autonomous cars on our roads, Tesla included. In fact, Mobileye CTO Amnon Shashua gave a lengthy technical presentation at CES in January on how Mobileye's use of deep neural networks enable Tesla's Autopilot functions. (Here's a deep dive into the tech over at WCCFTech.) But on Tuesday, Shashua announced during a Q2 financial results conference call that the relationship between the two companies will end.

In a statement to Ars, Mobileye said that its work with Tesla will not extend past the EyeQ3, the current system-on-a-chip found in Autopilot-capable Model S and Model X electric vehicles. Mobileye will continue to support current vehicles, including software fixes for crash avoidance and auto-steering.

"Nevertheless, in our view, moving toward more advanced autonomy is a paradigm shift both in terms of function complexity and the need to ensure an extremely high level of safety," the company wrote. "There is much at stake here, to Mobileye’s reputation and to the industry at large.  Mobileye believes that achieving this objective requires partnerships that go beyond the typical OEM / supplier relationship, such as our recently announced collaboration with BMW and Intel.  Mobileye will continue to pursue similar such relationships."

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The normal, boring life of a clone: Dolly’s cloned cohort hits old age

Crop of clones hit age analogous to 70 in human years, nixing early aging concerns.

(credit: Sinclair et al, Nature Communications)

Twenty years ago this month, Dolly the sheep started her life in a laboratory. She quickly gained farm animal fame as the first successfully cloned mammal. Despite her stardom, Dolly’s life was cut short by an unusually early case of osteoarthritis. Some observers thought she aged too quickly. At just six-and-a-half years old, veterinarians put her down. And with her went a lot of optimism about cloning’s potential.

Still, many hopeful scientists hypothesized that her test-tube origins had nothing to do with her tragic fate. And it turns out they were probably right.

Kevin Sinclair, a developmental biologist at the University of Nottingham in England, joined his colleagues in putting 13 other cloned sheep, some in their golden years, through a battery of tests. He and his fellow researchers found that the cloned sheep are not only healthy, but they’re aging completely normally. Four of those sheep were cloned from the exact same batch of cells as Dolly.

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