Category: Uncategorised

In a new study, researchers describe observations of a distant galaxy, far enough away to be seen as it was a mere 700 million years after the Big Bang (As of this writing, it’s been about 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang). These observations turned up both the most distant oxygen ever observed and new clues about the cosmic phase shift known as reionization.

Early in the Universe’s history, there were no stars and little of any elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. When the first stars began to appear, they made two changes in the Universe around them. First, they began to create some of the heavier elements. Second, they started ionizing the hydrogen gas, stripping the electrons off it and leaving it electrically charged.

This second process is called reionization, since hydrogen started out ionized after the Big Bang, and only turned neutral after the Universe cooled. We don't fully understand the reionization era of the Universe’s history, making it a major point of study.

The luxurious $290 Kindle Oasis moves out of the spotlight so another Amazon e-reader can be highlighted today. Amazon announced a new, more-affordable Kindle that's just $80 and will be available in white and black. The new model replaces the cheapest version of the e-reader that has been available for a while, and it doubles the memory, bringing it up to 512MB.

In addition to the extra memory, the $80 Kindle will have a slightly thinner, lighter, and more rounded design than its predecessors. It will have a touchscreen display as well, but it won't be the 300 PPI screen that the $120 Kindle Paperwhite has (it will sport a 167 PPI display instead). Some reports also suggest that the new Kindle will come with Bluetooth support so blind readers can hook up a pair of wireless headphones to listen to books, along with a note-sending feature that will let you send yourself messages and highlights, which can be exported as PDFs or spreadsheets.

Amazon has not provided an exact battery life estimate, but it did say the new device will last "weeks" on a single charge. What will really set the $80 e-reader apart is Bluetooth support, as other Amazon Kindles do not have that capability (at least, not yet). If you don't need the Bluetooth features right away, the Kindle Paperwhite still offers a sharper (and backlit) display.

How HTC makes mixed reality VR. (video link)

Just how do you show people what virtual reality is like? Valve, along with the help of some games developers and skilled video producers came up with an answer earlier this year: using a green screen and some video know-how, it transposed players from the real world into the virtual world, displaying the results onto a separate monitor. With mixed reality, it's possible for onlookers to see what it's like to blast drones inside Space Pirate Trainer, or pet a robotic dog inside The Lab—the results are hugely impressive.

And yet, despite looking rather difficult in the Valve video, doing this sort of production work yourself is not only possible, it's surprisingly easy. At E3 2016, HTC showed off its own mixed reality solution, one that's been developed specifically for showcasing VR at events. That means it's portable, easy to set up, and relatively cheap, showing everyone the wonder of immersive VR without necessarily having to put a headset on.

The launch of the first consumer-focused VR headsets has researchers and 3D content developers focusing on the nausea issues that arise with head-mounted displays. The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive can make users feel immersed and comfortable in their virtual worlds, but that's easier in limited virtual environments, especially ones without movement. What can be done about the pukey feeling brought on by harsher forms of virtual movement, when the brain and the body don't agree on what's happening?

While some people recommend adding a fixed focal point to a VR world, like a cockpit or a peripherally visible nose, a group of Columbia researchers decided to test an idea that was patented years before the current VR boom: a dynamically shifting field of view [FOV]. The system works by recognizing rapid artificial movement during a seated VR experience—like when users press a joystick to rotate their first-person view, or when elevation rapidly changes thanks to objects such as stairs—and then gradually blacking out the peripheral edges of a VR headset's lenses until that upsetting movement dissipates.

In its report, which was published last week alongside a demonstration video (shown below), the Columbia team concluded that "even though we had a relatively small number of participants [24 after removing people who were considered "immune" to virtual motion sickness], our data indicates that FOV restrictors helped participants stay in the virtual environment longer and feel more comfortable than they did in the control condition." Users largely didn't notice the dynamic FOV changes until they were informed well after the study concluded, and the few who did notice reported preferring the limits, since they didn't obscure the primary VR viewpoint. Worth noting, this study's results included unanimous praise from its limited test audience, compared to mixed opinions on the aforementioned VR-nose study.

The Global Commission on Internet Governance, set up in 2014 by the UK-based Chatham House and the Canadian Centre for International Governance Innovation, has presented its "One Internet" Report. Its 140 pages provide "high-level, strategic advice and recommendations to policy makers, private industry, the technical community and other stakeholders interested in maintaining a healthy Internet."

More concretely, it comes down against crypto backdoors, the overuse of opaque algorithms, turning companies into law enforcement agencies, and online attacks on critical infrastructure. On the other hand, it is in favour of strict legal controls on the aggregation of personal metadata, net neutrality, open standards, and the mandatory public reporting of high-threshold data breaches. Along the way, it offers opinions on areas such as the sharing economy, blockchains, the Internet of Things, IPv6, and DNSSEC.

The Global Commission was chaired by Carl Bildt, and consists of 29 members drawn from various fields and from around the world, including policy and government, academia, and civil society.