Category: Uncategorised

Crows, ravens, and other corvids are sometimes called feathered apes. Like primates, these birds form social groups, use tools, solve puzzles, recognize faces, and enjoy a good joke (especially if it's at the expense of cats). Now a group of researchers has shown in a series of tests that corvids exhibit the same levels of self-control that chimps do when faced with a task that requires them to forgo a quick reward in favor of a bigger one that comes later.

The researchers published a fascinating description of their work in Royal Society Open Science, and their paper challenges a long-held belief that absolute brain volume correlates with intelligence. No longer will humans and our ape cohorts be able to claim that we're smart just because our brains are big. Instead, say the researchers, it's more likely that intelligence stems from neural complexity, whether that's numbers of neurons or connections between them.

To measure corvid intelligence, the researchers used a common test of self-control called the "cylinder task." It's been used on many animals, including humans, and it's one of the most basic ways to assess higher reason. As the researchers write, the test "requires deciding among options of differing values in relation to a temporal dimension." In other words, it requires the animal to make decisions based on an understanding of time.

Chrome 50 is starting to roll out to all of Chrome's platforms, but it's Chrome OS that will see the biggest change. With version 50, Chrome OS gets a Material Design makeover. Sebastien Gabriel, a senior designer at Google, detailed the changes on his webpage.

"Material Design" is the name for Google's company-wide interface guidelines that started on Android with version 5.0 Lollipop. The Chrome revamp keeps the same basic Chrome layout but makes a lot of little design tweaks. The whole app is flatter—the gradient in the tab bar is removed, along with shadows around the active tab. The menu button now looks like something from Android—a vertical column of three dots. Bookmark folders and fonts are different, most of the buttons and pop-ups have been overhauled, and Incognito mode now has a sneaky, all-dark UI.

There are under-the-hood improvements, too. The Material Design interface is now "rendered fully programmatically," allowing Google to nix the 1,200 image files it was using for icons and other UI bits. The move to vectors allows Chrome to better support a wide range of screen resolutions. There's also a new "Hybrid" UI for touchscreen devices that spaces things out a bit.

Xbox chief Phil Spencer took to the company's primary blog to make a hardware announcement on Wednesday, but it had nothing to do with recent rumblings about the future of the gaming console. Instead, Spencer came to bury its past.

"While we’ve had an amazing run, the realities of manufacturing a product over a decade old are starting to creep up on us," Spencer wrote in his announcement that Xbox 360 system production has officially ceased. Remaining 360 consoles will continue to be sold in stores, and Xbox Live-related services and connectivity for current 360 users will continue to function, but if you're looking to buy a brand-spanking-new 360 system, your time is limited.

Spencer's announcement didn't go so far as to announce how many 360 systems have sold in its nearly 11 years of life—which is probably because recent Xbox-related announcements from Microsoft have lumped in sales figures for both the 360 and the One to make the latter sound better. Still, we know the platform has at least surpassed the 84 million sales mark announced in 2014.

Specs at a glance: Riversimple Rasa
Body type	2-seat, 3-door hatchback
Power source	8.5kW Hydrogenics hydrogen fuel cell
Transmission	Four wheel-mounted electric motors
Power	16kW continuous (55kW peak)
Torque	4x 60Nm continuous (170Nm peak)
Chassis	Carbon composite monocoque with aluminium crash structure
Bodywork	Self-coloured thermoplastic panels
Steering	Unassisted rack and pinion
Suspension	Double wishbone (front) Semi-trailing arm (rear)
Tyres	Michelin 115/80R15
Top speed	60mph (97km/h)
0-60mph	Under 10 seconds
Fuel tank capacity	1.5kg (hydrogen)
Extra power storage	1.9MJ (lithium-ion hybrid capacitors)
Rated max range	300 miles (485km)
Weight	580kg (1278lbs)
Wheelbase	2272mm (89.4in)
Dimensions	3673mm (144.6in) x 1630mm (64.1in) x 1332 (52.4in) (LWH)
Base price	TBA

An industrial estate on the outskirts of a sleepy spa town in deepest Powys, Wales, may not strike you as the obvious place to find an ambitious little hydrogen vehicle maker with plans to revolutionise the way we power, drive, and own our cars. But it shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise.

Why not? Well, if you drive seventy-five miles to the south-west from Riversimple’s HQ in Llandrindod Wells, you end up in Swansea, once the home of William Robert Grove who in 1842 pretty much invented the hydrogen fuel cell. And it’s a hydrogen fuel cell that part-powers the Rasa, Riversimple’s funky little two-seater prototype.

"Part-powers?" I hear you ask. While the majority of electric and hydrogen cars currently on the market are essentially conventional designs with battery or fuel-cell-and-battery power sources, the Rasa—the name comes from tabula rasa, the Latin for blank or clean slate—is the result of altogether more clever thinking. I’m inclined to use a word I usually avoid like the plague—holistic—to describe Riversimple’s view of automotive design.

If you've been dying to get your hands on a 4K smart TV, now's your chance to win one for free. Ars is giving away an LG Super UHD 4K Smart LED TV to one lucky reader!

This 55-inch LG TV has a 3840×2160 resolution, HDR with Dolby Vision, and the webOS 3.0 smart interface for connecting to browsers and apps. It's an ideal choice for anyone looking to upgrade their living room with a 4K-capable TV to stream all the new 4K content coming from providers like Netflix and Amazon Prime. The TV typically costs a hefty $1,399.

All you have to do is enter here with your name and e-mail address. The giveaway ends on April 30, 2016 at 11:59pm EST. Only US Ars readers are eligible for this giveaway. Enter now before it's too late!

A New York nursing home food-service worker who lost his job after posting allegedly violent videos depicting his coworkers to Facebook is ineligible for unemployment benefits, a state appeals court is ruling.

The dispute concerns Shawn Roy, who worked at the Albany County Nursing Home for 16 years. Among other things leading to his 2013 discharge, coworkers complained that Facebook videos he posted depicted them in violent and sexual ways. A New York court said that the videos made him ineligible for unemployment benefits.

"Substantial evidence supports the Unemployment Insurance Board's determination that claimant was discharged from his position as a food service worker in a nursing home due to disqualifying misconduct. Claimant was obligated 'even during his off-duty hours, to honor the standards of behavior which his employer has a right to expect of him and...he may be denied unemployment benefits as a result of misconduct in connection with his work if he fails to live up to this obligation,'" the three-member court ruled last week. (PDF)