No OS update is ever perfect, but Apple’s iOS 10 initially launched to strong reviews and fewer reports of problems than we’ve seen with some of Apple’s other launches. The recent 10.1.1 update, however, appears to be causing problems. A number of users are reporting drastically reduced battery life and much higher device temperatures. Part of the problem appears to be related to battery charge monitoring — quotes one user as saying: “It jumps from 30 per cent charge to 1 per cent in a few seconds then shuts down. As soon as it reboots after connecting to a charger it show 30 per cent charge.
Today, Dell is discounting the 15.6-inch Latitude 15 3000 laptop by a whopping 52% off the sticker price. With a full HD display, a Core i7 CPU, and a six-cell 65WHr battery, this solid machine is a real bargain at just $679. (List price: $1432.57 — Coupon code: SBHOLIDAY100) Spec-wise, this model has a sixth generation dual-core 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U CPU, a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT920M graphics card, a 500GB 7200RPM hard drive, 8GB of RAM, Bluetooth 4.0, and 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi support. The 15.6-inch display benefits from a full HD resolution of 1920×1080, an anti-glare coating, and WLED lighting.
Everybody likes getting a thoughtful, warmly intended gift. For this year’s winter holiday season, put a sparkle in your favorite STEM enthusiast’s eye with one of these science-minded picks. Whether you have a bench scientist, a programmer or a science fiction lover in mind, here we try to find a little something for everyone. First things first: labware for around the house Physicists, it’s been said, are merely machines for converting coffee into theorems, but why let the academics have all the fun? This elegant walnut and brass ($189) looks exactly like an elegant ring stand with a glass funnel, because it is a ring stand with a funnel — except that you can use this one to make coffee at your desk and not have to worry about what the 9AM freshman chemistry lab section spilled on it.
It’s a common refrain among climate change down-players — those who accept its reality, but who argue that we can’t or shouldn’t do much about it — that, sure, first world Western countries could be doing a lot more to reduce their emissions, but it hardly matters when you’ve got countries like India and China pumping more and more pollution into the very same biosphere. The argument has been getting weaker in recent years, as even developing nations have started to sign on to meaningful climate action plans. Now, Chinese atomic energy experts have announced an ambitious plan to begin turning the country’s coal plant infrastructure into working nuclear power stations.
Volkswagen sees little or no future selling diesel-engine cars in the US. This week VW brand chief executive Herbert Diess issued the gloomiest statement yet about diesel’s future here, more strongly than he’d spoken just weeks before. Volkswagen recognizes diesel is hurting its reputation here. Even a company as big as VW has finite R&D capabilities and now may be the time to put research dollars into electric vehicles. It’s possible Audi will still sell diesel engine cars here, but maybe on just one model, the Audi Q7 SUV that is the biggest vehicle in the Audi fleet.
This week, we saw the first of what will headlines pitting the incoming Trump administration against the outgoing principles of science in government research. One of the President-elect’s key advisers has that NASA’s climate research division will be dramatically defunded. By quite how much, we don’t currently know — but the statement makes it clear that “politicized climate monitoring” will be a no-go in future budgets. Given that the Trump and his administration have () referred to all climate science as politicized propaganda, that doesn’t leave much room for hope among NASA climate scientists waiting to hear their fate.
We’re seeing a flood of Black Friday deals hit already, so there’s no reason to waste any time getting your shopping done. Retailers aren’t waiting around for Friday to unleash some of their biggest discounts, and this is a perfect opportunity to get some great bargains as you relax at home, and eat some pie. • New deal: for $699.99 (List price: $1299.99) • New deal: (List price: $499.99) • (Coupon code: 599INSPIRON — List price: $949) • PCMag Editor’s Choice (Coupon code: LATI799 — List price: $949.99) • • (List price: $499.99) • See all
Last week, Sony unleashed the PS4 Pro — a mid-generation update that’s focused on serving the emerging 4K market. It’s quite a bit more powerful than the base PS4, and the one-two punch of HDR and a high-res output are sincerely impressive for a $400 box. We know that some releases , other games will use the ingenious to get close to 4K, and many titles of the extra power at all. Those scenarios are easy enough to understand, but what about everything else? Is it even worth buying without a UHD TV? We wanted to know how updated games look at 1080p, how benefits from a little extra juice, and how well the new hardware handles streaming and video capture.
A group of scientists recently got together to figure out what would happen in the event of , but just because you plan for the worst doesn’t mean you can’t hope for the best. The ESA and NASA are pushing for a 2020 mission to test technologies that could help us deflect an object before it smacks into Earth. We don’t know how many large, Earth-threatening are out there in the depths of space, but it’s not a matter of if one will hit Earth. It’s a matter of when. The joint European-US Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) is still in the planning stages, but it could launch in 2020.
