Telling someone to take off their tinfoil hat isn’t typically a compliment; it implies that a person subscribes to various conspiracy theories regarding aliens, telepathy, brain-implanted chips, and/or the healing powers of aluminum foil. Seriously–Google “Aluminum foil electrosmog” if you want to take a beautiful trip down Crazy Lane. Now, researchers from Dartmouth and Columbia have released a new report on how ordinary aluminum foil can be combined with 3D printing to create a directional antenna that improves Wi-Fi performance. If you’ve ever lived in an apartment building or closely packed neighborhood, you’re probably familiar with the Wi-Fi connection problems that can plague such living spaces.
What technology is both fast enough and cheap enough for cars to warn each other about highway conditions and hazards? That’s the purpose of a connected car test later this year in San Diego, involving a half-dozen big-time tech players and C-V2X, or cellular vehicle-to-everything communications. AT&T, Ford, Nokia, Qualcomm Technologies and others will test, among other things, how much C-V2X can do directly communicating with vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and roadside infrastructure such as traffic signs or construction zones. Who’s Doing What, Where, and Why
After more than a year of argument, meetings, random unofficial server mergers, and yet more arguments from various members of the community, we’ve finally got an announcement on Blizzard’s Classic Server push for World of Warcraft: It’s coming. The company even unveiled a trailer at Blizzcon: There are a lot of questions to be answered about this new server, listed below in what I personally feel is order of importance:Which version of vanilla will the game use?Will negative aspects of the Classic game, like an Honor system that required massive, months-long grinding (and that players tried like hell to game) be implemented identically?Will it use 2004-era graphics, retrofit old outfits and raids for the modern engine, or use current assets (while restoring old quest lines and content progression?)Will there be any adjustments to itemization, loot tables, core gameplay loops, or supporting features?Why the Answers to These Questions Matter
Apple’s latest and greatest is finally shipping to customers, but some early testing of the iPhone X suggests it may be much more fragile than people expect. In a number of unscientific drop tests, the iPhone X is tapping out far earlier than other models. Is this a real problem or is it par for the course? Unlike the last few generations of iPhone, the iPhone X has glass on the front and the back. The glass is also curved symmetrically on both sides, which makes the phone feel nicer to hold, but it could also make it more vulnerable when dropped.
Microsoft’s Xbox One X drops on Tuesday and it’s easily the strongest console ever built. Its GPU sports higher clocks and additional cores, its CPU is clocked a full 1.3x faster than the old Xbox One, and its unified GDDR5 memory offers vastly more bandwidth (and a much simpler memory architecture) than the Xbox One’s 32MB of cache + quad-channel DDR3 memory design. Hardware design, however, isn’t the entire story. Because the Xbox One X () maintains full backwards compatibility with the Xbox One, it’s on developers to deliver that justify the new system’s $500 price tag.
Blizzard launched StarCraft II seven years ago, and it had a lot to live up to after the phenomenal success of the original . StarCraft II has become one of Blizzard’s most popular titles, and anyone who hasn’t gotten around to playing it will soon be able to do so free of charge. At BlizzCon, the company announced the game will be . Thankfully, that doesn’t mean a lot of premium upgrades are about to flood your gaming experience. The story of is broken up into three parts. The first chapter was Wings of Liberty in 2010, which contained the Terran single-player campaign and access to the multiplayer mode.
LAS VEGAS–The annual convention of the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association () this week is second only to CES in size. And SEMA focuses more narrowly, on accessories and modifications for cars, SUVs, and trucks. Nowhere else will you see so many paint colors that aren’t in the Crayola-64 box, such clean and chromed engines, cars suspended so low to the pavement, and trucks lifted so far above the pavement. Here’s our take on the most interesting trends and technologies from SEMA 2017 for the aftermarket, meaning parts and enhancements for cars acquired after the vehicle is produced. They include electronic mods for cars and suspensions, modern radios with satellite and smartphone integration that look like they were built long ago, and mods to make cars go farther on a gallon of fuel.
Apple is famous for coming up with clever engineering tricks to cram more components inside a smartphone. The new iPhone X with its edge-to-edge display and compact front-facing camera cluster presented some unique challenges, though. As is tradition, iFixit apart to see what makes it tick. The phone disassemblers have discovered some wacky things in the new iPhone, including an L-shaped dual battery and a folded-over logic board. Past iPhones have gotten low marks for repairability from iFixit, and part of the problem is the company’s insistence on choosing non-standard screws to keep people out. This phone uses a combination of tri-point and pentalobe screws, plus adhesive to ensure the phone is water-resistant.
No more is Tesla likely to lose money and yet see its stock price soar because, well, that’s one sign of a successful tech company. Tesla lost a record $671 million om the quarter, the company reported Wednesday, and produced just 260 units of the Model 3 over those three months from July to September. The company has lost nearly a quarter of its total market value since mid-September. Some analysts say they aren’t getting clear answers from CEO Elon Musk and they’re less inclined to believe Tesla promises, for instance that production of 5,000 Model 3s per week this quarter can now be expected in the first quarter of 2018.
