SpaceX atop a Falcon 9 this week, moving the company tantalizingly close to firing up the network for a limited beta test. CEO Elon Musk has provided a few details about what such a test would look like, but SpaceX still only has a fraction of its planned Starlink constellation in orbit. The early tests will be limited, but it’s only a matter of time before the sky is crawling with Starlink nodes. The first Starlink launch happened less than a year ago, successfully delivering 60 prototype v0.9 satellites into orbit. Some of that first batch stopped working, but most remain alive.
There are (new) rumors that Apple is building an ARM-based CPU intended for its Mac products, and this time they include more detail than is typically the case. Whenever we talk about Apple switching away from x86 and over to its own ARM CPUs — and we talk about it a fair bit these days — I’m reminded of the way the company handled its PowerPC-to-x86 transition over a decade ago. Specifically, Apple chose to begin converting over to x86 years before it actually launched an OS based on the standard. When it came time to pull the trigger, the company had already done a great deal of the heavy lifting.
Today there are several strong deals to be had on Dell PCs, including the company’s powerful redesigned Alienware Aurora gaming desktop that comes equipped with an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super graphics card. Dell’s new Alienware Aurora gaming desktops utilize an edgy new case design with RGB LED lighting and high-end hardware that is capable of running the latest games with high detail graphics settings. With promo code LCS10OFF you can get it now from Dell marked down from $2,249.98 to $1,637.99. Dell’s Alienware Aurora pairs a fast Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super graphics card with an immensely powerful Intel Core i7-9700 processor.
Your Wi-Fi connectivity could be much better in the next couple of years, thanks to the latest FCC decision. The commission voted today to release a new block of 6GHz spectrum for unlicensed use, meaning routers will have more airwaves on which to broadcast signals. The industry , which is similar but not the same as the current Wi-Fi 6 standard. It’ll free up a lot of bandwidth, but only once you get some new devices with support for Wi-Fi 6E. Current Wi-Fi networks operate in the unlicensed 2.4GHz and 5GHz ranges, but the FCC hasn’t added any appreciable amount of spectrum to these ranges in about 20 years.
The following unhinged rant article is the sole opinion of its author. ExtremeTech does not discriminate against variable frame rate media. In my two Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , I’ve discussed my efforts to upscale the content, provided some video and image samples, and discussed the process of slowly attempting to remaster the show using commercially available software. I have continued to make real progress on the show in terms of overall image quality, to the point that I’m turning my attention to fixing some other problems I haven’t been sure how to deal with. Specifically: The frame rate.
If you’ve never heard of Connect, Chime or WorkSpaces, they’re all features of Amazon Web Services (AWS) that are currently helping businesses survive their pandemic-related nightmares. Connect lets users open a fully operational contact center for their business with just a web connection and a headset, Chime is a communication hub to facilitate chat and video conferencing; and WorkSpaces equips users with virtual desktops with access to their company’s cloud-based systems. And that’s just a tiny handful of what AWS can do. If you’re an IT professional, knowing the AWS environment and how to run it could make all the difference in your future career — and you can get that background with the training in
Fortnite is the most popular video game on the planet, and while most people are playing on computers and consoles, the mobile version is surprisingly in vogue as well. Epic’s success with Fortnite has given it enough power to push changes in the gaming industry with the Epic Store. Its options on mobile are much more restricted, though. After fighting with Google for more than a year, . The battle began in 2018 as Epic was gearing up to launch its mobile version of , which is a free-to-play game. Paradoxically, players spend a huge amount of money on this free game to get skins and other items.
Apple likes to tout the security of its iOS platform, but no operating system is perfect. We’ve seen hacks targeting the iPhone, but they’re rarely so-called “zero-day” hacks that catch Apple off guard. Researchers from security firm ZecOps now say they’ve . According to ZecOps founder Zuk Avraham, a flaw in Apple’s Mail app allows attackers to infect a device with malware without any interaction from the user, and it’s being used against high-profile targets right now. Avraham, a former Israeli Defense Force security researcher, says the company began investigating the vulnerability last year after several clients reported unusual crashes in the Mail app.
If you’re in the market for a new computer, take a look at these HP laptops and desktops that are currently on sale. With a fast Intel Core i7 laptop and 16GB of RAM, this system has excellent performance for essentially anything you want to do except run games. The system also has a 1080p touchscreen display and it’s on sale from HP marked down from $1,249.99 to just $949.99. HP’s Pavilion Gaming desktops were designed to give you an enjoyable gaming experience at an affordable price point. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card that comes in this system is more than capable of running games at 1080p resolutions in conjunction with the computer’s AMD Ryzen 5 3500.
