A notorious invasive species stays scared for weeks after seeing a fake predator.
Enlarge/ The Robo-bass, along with some actual fish. (credit: Giovanni Polverino)
The mosquitofish is a particularly troublesome invasive species that has spread from its original home in North America to various locales around the world, including Europe and Australia. The small, 3 cm-long fish likes to chew the tails off fish and tadpoles and consume the eggs of other freshwater denizens.
Being an invasive species, the fish are mostly fearless, and they have no predators in the places they've colonized. However, an international team of biologists and engineers has found a solution to the problem: a robot.
Back in 2019, Giovanni Polverino—currently a post-doc at the University of Western Australia—and his colleagues developed a mechanical largemouth bass that proved to be effective in scaring mosquitofish. In North America, juvenile largemouth bass regularly make meals of the species; the primal fear of this predator has stuck with the mosquito fish as they traversed the globe.
The One Netbook A1 Pro is a mini-laptop computer with a 7 inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel touchscreen display, a 180-degree swivel hinge that lets you flip the screen and fold it back over the keyboard for use in tablet mode, and a decent selection of I/O features including full-sized Ethernet and RS-232 serial ports […]
The One Netbook A1 Pro is a mini-laptop computer with a 7 inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel touchscreen display, a 180-degree swivel hinge that lets you flip the screen and fold it back over the keyboard for use in tablet mode, and a decent selection of I/O features including full-sized Ethernet and RS-232 serial ports that could be useful to to IT professionals.
If the A1 Pro looks familiar, that’s because they physical design is virtually identical to the original One Netbook A1 which launched in 2020. But the new Pro model features a few key upgrades including support for up to an Intel Core i7-1160G7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. The One Netbook A1 Pro is available for purchase from the One Netbook AliExpress shop for $1079 and up.
That’s a significant price hike over the original, which currently sells for around $650 if you can find a store that still has it in stock. But the new version has a significantly more powerful 11th-gen Intel Core processor rather than an 8th-gen low-power chips, and support for up to twice as much memory as the original (although entry-level configurations have the same 8GB of RAM).
Here’s how the new model stacks up against the original in terms of specs:
One Netbook A1 Pro (2021)
One Netbook A1 (2020
Display
7 inch
1920 x 1200 pixel
IPS LCD
Pen support (2048 levels of pressure)
7 inch
1920 x 1200 pixel
IPS LCD
Pen support (2048 levels of pressure)
Core i5/16GB/512GB for $1079
Core i7/16GB/512GB for $1199
8GB/256GB for $649
8GB/512GB for $689
One Netbook sent me a demo unit with a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage for testing. I haven’t seen pricing for this particular model yet, but I imagine it will cost a little less than the Core i5/16GB version.
While One Netbook is targeting IT professionals with the A1 series, the One Netbook A1 Pro is very much a fully functional computer that can be used by anyone. The unit I’m testing shipped with Windows 11 Home software pre-installed and also supports booting from a USB flash drive, so I plan to test a Linux distribution or two on it soon.
The keyboard is rather small and cramped, but it’s just barely large enough to make touch typing possible. Unfortunately One Netbook made at least one unfortunate change to the keyboard layout for the Pro model: the @ key has been moved to the right side of the keyboard to make room for a few performance profile keys that you can trigger by pressing Fn+1, Fn+2, or Fn+3.
While it’s nice to be able to switch the CPU and fan behavior to prioritize performance or quiet computing, it was a bit maddening hunting for the @ key when I was trying to enter an email address only to eventually find that I had to press Fn+` to trigger it… and the ‘ key was on the opposite side of the keyboard to where you’d usually find it.
That said, it’s hard to fit a full-sized keyboard on a laptop that measures just 6.8 inches across, so it was inevitable that One Netbook would have to make some compromises.
Another thing to keep in mind about the One Netbook A1 and A1 Pro is that they have microphones, but no webcams. That’s less than ideal in a world where video conferencing is increasingly important, but odds are that you can probably take calls on a phone if you really need to.
There’s also no room for a full-sized touchpad, so One Netbook instead uses a small optical touch sensor below the space bar. It doesn’t support multi-finger gestures, but it will allow you to move a cursor across the screen without reaching up to touch the display and there are left and right buttons on either side of the sensor.
One Netbook isn’t the only company playing in the mini-laptop, full-sized ports space. It’s likely that the One Netbook A1 was a response to the GPD MicroPC, a $399 handheld that was released in 2019 with a 6 inch display, thumb-sized keyboard, and full-sized HDMI, Ethernet, USB, and RS-232 ports.
This year, GPD released the GPD Pocket 3 mini-laptop with an 8 inch swivel-hinge display, pen support, and a larger keyboard designed for touch typing. If the One Netbook A1 is a larger, more versatile alternative to the MicroPC, the Pocket 3 is a larger, more powerful, more versatile alternative to the A1 thanks to the improved keyboard, included touchpad, and webcam, among other things.
Left: One Netbook A1 Pro / Right GPD Pocket 3
GPD’s Pocket 3 also has a modular port section that allows you to swap out a USB port for either an RS-232 cable or a KVM module with HDMI and USB-C inputs. And the Pocket 3 comes with multiple pricing/configuration options ranging from a $699 model with an Intel Celeron N6000 processor to $999 for a Core i7-1195G7 version.
Left: GPD Pocket 3 / Right One Netbook A1
Now that I’ve got both the A1 Pro and the GPD Pocket 3 sitting on my desk, my initial impression is that the Pocket 3 is probably a better computer in most respects… but at 198 x 137 x 20mm (7.8″ x 5.4″ x 0.8″) and 725 grams (1.6 pounds), it’s a substantially larger device. So if you’re looking for something smaller but didn’t find the original One Netbook A1 to be powerful enough, now there’s another option.
It’s also harder to find the original A1 in stock than it used to be, so it may be one of the only other options.
I’ll have more details on performance and battery life soon. For now, here are some more photos of the One Netbook A1 Pro:
Wegen Vectoring und HFC-Netzen wählen weiter noch zu wenige einen Gasfaseranschluss, erklärt die Bundesnetzagentur. Doch dies könne sich ändern. (Bundesnetzagentur, DSL)
Wegen Vectoring und HFC-Netzen wählen weiter noch zu wenige einen Gasfaseranschluss, erklärt die Bundesnetzagentur. Doch dies könne sich ändern. (Bundesnetzagentur, DSL)
Judge: Bankruptcy Court didn’t have authority to give legal immunity to Sacklers.
Enlarge/ Frank Huntley, who raises awareness of opiate addiction with his sculpture "Pill Man," is among protesters who rallied at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, on December 3, 2021, calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to bring criminal charges against members of the Sackler family. (credit: Getty Images | Pacific Press )
A federal judge yesterday rejected the Purdue Pharma settlement that would grant lifetime legal immunity to the Sackler family for their role in the opioid crisis, finding that the bankruptcy court doesn't have the authority to approve legal immunity for people who did not declare bankruptcy. The ruling to vacate the bankruptcy plan was issued by Judge Colleen McMahon in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Non-debtors like the Sackler family members aren't obligated to "disclose their assets and apply them... to the resolution of the claims of their creditors," McMahon noted. Because non-debtors do not have those obligations, they also "do not have any rights at all under the 'special remedial scheme' that is bankruptcy—certainly not the 'right' to have claims that are being asserted against them outside the bankruptcy process released."
The $4.5 billion settlement was previously approved by a judge in US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. While 15 US states agreed to the settlement, eight states and the District of Columbia objected to it and filed appeals. US government officials also objected to the settlement.
Reversal comes less than 36 hours after announcement: “If you care, we care, too.”
Enlarge/ A screen from Dmarket's now-defunct promotional page for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 NFTs. (credit: Dmarket)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl developer GSC Game World is quickly backing off plans to integrate non-fungible tokens into the upcoming game, a decision that came just a day after announcing the idea and hours after the company publicly defended its position on Thursday.
The short saga of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 NFTs started Wednesday morning, when GSC Game World announced it was partnering with NFT marketplace Dmarket to offer "the rights to certain unique items" to players via NFTs. To start, the company planned to auction off three NFTs that represented the opportunity to be inserted into the game as a "metahuman" NPC through the company's photogrammetry scanning process.
In an interview with WCCFTech, GSC Game World CEO Evgeniy Grygorovych said that after the initial auction, "the owner of the metahuman will be able to trade the right to be a metahuman [NFT] until a certain date before the official game release" (that release is planned for April 28, 2022). In February, a second planned NFT drop would have offered vaguely defined and "highly secretive genesis packs" that "won’t influence the gameplay itself or give in-game advantages over other players," Grygorovych said.
Für Spiele-Notebooks: Die Geforce MX570 ist die schnellste MX-Grafikeinheit, die Geforce RTX 2050 das bisher günstigste Raytracing-Modell. (Nvidia, Grafikhardware)
Für Spiele-Notebooks: Die Geforce MX570 ist die schnellste MX-Grafikeinheit, die Geforce RTX 2050 das bisher günstigste Raytracing-Modell. (Nvidia, Grafikhardware)
Die Zellen der Berliner Gefängnisse sollen mit einem Internetzugang ausgestattet werden. Ein Unternehmen wurde bereits beauftragt. (Internet, Fernsehen)
Die Zellen der Berliner Gefängnisse sollen mit einem Internetzugang ausgestattet werden. Ein Unternehmen wurde bereits beauftragt. (Internet, Fernsehen)
Nach deutlich über einem Jahr melden sich die Entwickler von Die Siedler wieder – unter anderem mit der Ankündigung eines Playtests. (Die Siedler, Ubisoft)
Nach deutlich über einem Jahr melden sich die Entwickler von Die Siedler wieder - unter anderem mit der Ankündigung eines Playtests. (Die Siedler, Ubisoft)
The first vans will start delivering packages in Los Angeles in 2022.
Enlarge/ BrightDrop delivers five of 500 electric light commercial vehicles to FedEx, the first customer to receive the EV600s. (credit: FedEx)
At the beginning of the year, General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced that the company was starting a new business. It's called BrightDrop, and it's focused on providing electrified products for delivery and logistics businesses. At the time, we also learned that FedEx would be the first customer for BrightDrop's EV600 electric van. Today, the shipping company accepted the first five (of 500) vehicles, which will start making deliveries in Los Angeles in 2022.
Like other GM brands, BrightDrop is using the automaker's new 800 V Ultium battery packs and Ultium Drive motors in these new electric vehicles. The EV600 has a 250-mile range (402 km) and a capacity of 600 cubic feet (16,990 L).
"At FedEx, transforming our pickup and delivery fleet to electric vehicles is integral to achieving our ambitious sustainability goals announced earlier this year. This collaborative effort shows how businesses can take action to help usher in a lower-emissions future for all," said Mitch Jackson, chief sustainability officer at FedEx.
Wegen Vectoring und HFC-Netzen wählen weiter noch zu wenige einen Gasfaseranschluss, erklärt die Bundesnetzagentur. Doch dies könne sich ändern. (
Für Spiele-Notebooks: Die Geforce MX570 ist die schnellste MX-Grafikeinheit, die Geforce RTX 2050 das bisher günstigste Raytracing-Modell. (
Die Zellen der Berliner Gefängnisse sollen mit einem Internetzugang ausgestattet werden. Ein Unternehmen wurde bereits beauftragt. (
Nach deutlich über einem Jahr melden sich die Entwickler von Die Siedler wieder - unter anderem mit der Ankündigung eines Playtests. (
Was am 17. Dezember 2021 neben den großen Meldungen sonst noch passiert ist, in aller Kürze. (
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