General relativity makes numerous predictions about gravity, time, and the very nature of the universe. So far, all the predictions we’ve been able to test have held up to scrutiny, but the effects are usually subtle and difficult to visualize. Astronomers have spotted a distant star that further confirms general relativity in a more obvious fashion — it’s Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicts that massive objects can tug at the fabric of the universe as they move through space, which is called “frame-dragging.” Scientists collected the first experimental evidence of frame-dragging almost 20 years ago, but the effect is minuscule.
It looks as though the rumors about Intel’s upcoming Comet Lake desktop packing 10 cores and top frequencies above 5GHz that we reported on last August are true, at least at the very top of the stack. The Core i9-10900K has appeared in the 3DMark database with 10 cores, 20 threads, and a top Turbo Boost clock of 5.1GHz. All-core boost has been rumored to be as high as 4.9GHz, though that hasn’t been confirmed. And finally :D i9-10900K 10C/20T 3.7GHz base 5.1GHz boost — _rogame (@_rogame) If the CPU supports Intel Turbo Boost 3.0 and Thermal Velocity Boost, it could actually burst into the 5.2-5.3GHz range under certain circumstances.
Intel’s decision to buy startup Habana Labs in December for $2B set tongues to wagging about what it might mean for Nervana, the previous AI startup Intel acquired in 2016. Roughly a month later, the other shoe has dropped: Intel has announced it will cancel the NNP-T and NNP-I products it had previously planned to ship by the end of 2019 and pivot instead to focus on Habana. There’s been little chatter about why this happened, but Karl Freund of Moor Insights and Strategy of the news. According to him, Intel will support the NNP-I for “previously committed customers,” but will cease all development on the NNP-T AI training design.
BlackBerry has struggled to find a place in the modern smartphone era, and it turned to TCL to do the heavy lifting a few years ago. TCL has manufactured devices like the KEYone and KEY2 under the BlackBerry brand, but there won’t be any more BlackBerry phones from TCL. The company just announced that its licensing agreement ends on August 31, 2020. To understand how and TCL got to this point, you have to look at the first few product cycles after the iPhone launched. BlackBerry stubbornly stuck with its traditional feature set as the iPhone grew by leaps and bounds.
Studying the quantum state of the universe is a challenging endeavor in part because objects only have detectable quantum properties on the smallest of scales. The larger something is, the harder it is to get it into a well-defined quantum state unobscured by environmental effects. A team of US-Austrian researchers has developed a new technique that could make easier to study . The basic problem when studying quantum states is that larger objects have more interaction with the environment, and that masks quantum properties. Pushing matter into a quantum state usually requires complex resonators that control atoms with specific wavelengths of light.
It’s a new decade. And we’re going, to be honest with you…that ancient laptop you’re still slinging is lookin’ a little raggedy, my friend. Now that the holidays are over, retailers want to move extra stock on loads of great laptops, Chromebooks and tablets both new and refurbished, so there’s no better time to make a much-needed upgrade at a healthy discount. We’ve pulled together 14 of the best current deals on laptop, Chromebook and tablet options that should satisfy just about any buyer. Take a look through the field of worthy contenders with significant savings of up to $500 off their retail prices.
iRobot’s Roomba 675 is one of the best selling robot vacs on the market. It offers powerful suction and an easy-to-use smartphone interface. Best of all, you can get it now for $199, which matches the excellent price we saw on this vacuum on Black Friday. The Roomba 675 offers solid performance at a price that won’t break the bank. It utilizes a three-stage cleaning system to thoroughly clean your floors as it navigates your home. It also has a battery that can last up to 90 minutes, after which the robot returns to its charging station automatically.
For the past few years, talking about the flaws of Apple product design has felt like spitting into a hurricane. After all, Apple remains fantastically successful. Its products are in high demand in both the PC and mobile spaces. It virtually owns the high-end tablet market and has created a growing services business. At the same time, since the death of Steve Jobs, Apple has misfired on a significant number of products. No company is immune to product defects or duds. But I’d argue that the post-Jobs era has been unique for the types of failures we’ve seen — specifically, failures of design that were entirely self-inflicted.
Google’s Pixel line of smartphones never have the best hardware of any Android phone, but Google makes up for it with software. Previous Pixels have debuted features like Call Screen and Google Assistant. Now, the long-rumored call recording feature may be on the verge of release. Over at XDA, they’ve managed to coax the Google dialer app to activate the , giving us a glimpse at how it’ll work. XDA used a beta build of the Google Phone app, and the feature appears to be almost completely done. To start a recording, you’ll just have to tap the new “record” button on the call screen.
