The Parker Solar Probe has become the first spacecraft to fly through the Sun's upper atmosphere or corona, NASA announced. In April, it passed within 15 solar radii (around 6.5 million miles) from the Sun's surface in a region where magnetic fields dominate solar conditions. "Parker Solar Probe 'touching the Sun' is a monumental moment for solar science and a truly remarkable feat," said NASA associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen.
The Sun has a superheated atmosphere called the corona (visible from Earth only during a solar eclipse) that's bound to it by gravity and magnetic fields. At a certain limit called the Alfvén critical surface, materials are able to escape those forces and become part of the solar wind, permanently severing their connection to the Sun.
Scientists have estimated that the corona is between 10 to 20 solar radii from the Sun's surface, or around 4.3 to 8.6 million miles. The Parker Solar probe detected the specific magnetic and particle conditions required for the corona at around 18.8 solar radii, or around 8.1 million miles. It passed in and out of the boundary several times, proving that the Alfvén critical surface has spikes and valleys and isn't shaped like a smooth ball.
Inside that region, the probe encountered features called pseudostreamers, or massive structures rising above the Sun's surface visible during solar eclipses. Flying through the objects was like "flying into the eye of the storm" because of the quieter conditions and slowing particles, NASA said.
It also made observations that may helped scientists figure out where "switchbacks," or kinks in the solar wind form. It detected bursts of switchbacks as it passed closer to the sun, and scientists were able to trace those back to the visible surface. Specifically, they found that some types of "fast" switchbacks form in the magnetic funnels created between convection cells on the sun's surface.
The probe has not only made the closest-ever pass by the sun, it's traveling at the greatest speed of any manmade object ever, currently around 430,000 MPH. The next close pass will happen in January 2022, when scientists will try to determine exactly how switchbacks and other solar phenomena form. "Such measurements from the corona will be critical for understanding and forecasting extreme space weather events that can disrupt telecommunications and damage satellites around Earth," NASA wrote.
Over the last few years, Samsung’s Tab A line has been one of the few options for those trying to find a budget Android tablet. Early next year, the company will release the Tab A8 in the US. It's not an exciting update, but it does offer a handful of enhancements over its predecessor. Samsung says the new model features an “expanded” 10.5-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 1,920 x 1,200 resolution TFT panel.
Internally, the Tab A8 has an octa-core processor the company claims is 10 percent faster than the CPU on the Snapdragon 662 that came with its predecessor. Samsung will also offer a 4GB variant of the tablet, in addition to a 3GB base model. The faster processor should make the device feel snappier, particularly if you go for the model with more RAM. For photos and videos, the Tab A8 comes with an 8-megapixel main camera and a 5-megapixel selfie shooter.
Samsung
As for storage, the Tab A8 comes with 32GB standard, though you can also configure the tablet with up to 128GB of internal storage, a first for the line. If you need more space, you can add up to 1TB of additional storage through an included MicroSD slot. Powering everything is a 7,040mAh cell. Samsung didn’t share a battery life estimate, but last year we found the Tab A7, with the same capacity battery, could go 11 hours and 30 minutes in a video rundown test. The Tab A8 supports up to 15W fast charging, but only comes with a slower 7.75W power adapter inside the box. It keeps the headphone jack found on last year's models and you can expect it to ship with Android 11.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 will hit store shelves in the US next month. Samsung will offer the tablet in three colors: Gray, Silver and Pink Gold. The company didn’t share pricing information. For context, the Tab A8’s predecessor started at $230 – though you could frequently find it on sale for less.
Huawei has long denied working with the Chinese government to spy on other countries and China's own citizens. But according to The Washington Post, it has reviewed 100 PowerPoint presentations from the company that can show how it's linked to China's surveillance projects. While many of the slides were marked confidential, they were reportedly posted on a public-facing Huawei website until they were removed last year.
The Post has published a handful of the slides translated into English, including one pitching a technology that can help authorities analyze voice recordings by comparing them against a large database of recorded "voiceprints." It's supposed to help with matters of national security, and as the publication notes, that means it could be used to identify individuals involved in political dissent, Hong Kong and Taiwan matters and discussions surrounding ethnic relations.
Another slide shows a comprehensive prison surveillance system, which has apparently been implemented in prisons in Inner Mongolia and Shanxi province, as well as detention centers in the Xinjiang region. Detainees of Xinjiang's internment camps, mostly members of the Uyghur ethnic group, accuse their operators of forced labor, torture and detaining them without charges.
Another slide details how Huawei's surveillance technologies have been in use in Xinjiang since 2017 and how its facial recognition technology helped capture "a number of criminal suspects." Yet another shows a surveillance system that can pinpoint the location of "political persons of interest" using their electronic devices. It's reportedly in use right now in Guangdong, which is China's most populous province.
The Post admits that it can't confirm who the slides were shown to or when, but many of them were created back in 2014 and were edited as recently as last year. A Huawei spokesperson told the publication, though, that the company "has no knowledge of the projects mentioned in the Washington Post report" and that it provides "cloud platform services that comply with common industry standards."
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is offering up to $5,000 bug bounties under a new program called Hack DHS, it announced. Vetted security researchers invited by the agency will get access to select external DHS systems to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by bad actors. Payments will vary between $500 and $5,000 depending on the severity of the bug.
"As the federal government’s cybersecurity quarterback, DHS must lead by example and constantly seek to strengthen the security of our own systems," said DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. "The Hack DHS program incentivizes highly skilled hackers to identify cybersecurity weaknesses in our systems before they can be exploited by bad actors."
The program will roll out in three phases, with hackers first doing virtual assessments of systems. That will be followed by a live, in-person hacking event for the second phase, and in the third phase, the DHS will "identify and review lessons learned, and plan for future bug bounties," it wrote.
Some of the major players we haven’t seen as active as previously. That doesn’t mean that they’ve gone away, that we’ve defeated them. They very well might have hit the pause button. Vigilance has to remain at an incredibly high level.
The program will use a platform developed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and monitored by the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer. That department will verify any bugs within 48 hours and either fix them or develop a plan to do so within 15 days.
Private industry generally offers much higher bug bounties, with companies like Microsoft and Apple offering payouts as high as $1 million. However, Hack DHS isn't an open bounty program so it's limited to a smaller pool of researchers.
The DHS said that attacks against it were up fourfold in 2021 but that some of the most dangerous groups have slowed down. "Some of the major players we haven’t seen as active as previously," Mayorkas said at Bloomberg's Technology Summit. "That doesn’t mean that they’ve gone away, that we’ve defeated them. They very well might have hit the pause button. Vigilance has to remain at an incredibly high level."
The Google Glass vision isn’t dead. Or at least, it’s been resurrected by Oppo. Following last year's AR Glass concept, the new Oppo Air Glass will be available in Q1 2022 for a yet-to-be-announced price. It'll come in two parts: a detachable monocle (in black or white) and a separate frame. And no, you won't be able to attach the 30-gram device to your own glasses.
The focus here is on simple information, shown on a 640 x 480 image on a waveguide display. My favorite part might be the software Oppo is pitching, including a teleprompter display that you can set the scroll speed for. (Although, yes, you’d have to wear the thing in front of your audience…)
LG is teasing two new TVs with unusual designs at CES 2022, one of which is the recently announced premium OLED Evo TV with a motorized cover. The other is, literally, a wireless TV on wheels. The StanbyME has a built-in battery, and you can roll it in and out of any room in your home. The 27-inch display is on a moveable stand with concealed wheels, and you can adjust its height to customize its position.
You can also see how your stats this year compare to those in 2020.
Nintendo is getting into the end-of-year review mood, emailing many of its users about how they spent time with their Switch throughout the last 12 months.
The 2021 iteration isn’t widely different from last year’s iteration. You’ll once again see the total number of hours you put in through the year and a count of all the games you played. There’s also a breakdown of how many hours you played each month, in addition to a look back at your most active day. You’ll see how much time you spent between handheld and docked modes, as well.
Dell might not be the most-loved PC company in terms of customer service, but it frequently tops corporate charts for environmentally friendly initiatives. Working with Intel, the company has created a new laptop called Concept Luna, with the aim of making future PCs easier to repair, reuse and recycle.
Dell said if it incorporated all the design ideas, it could reduce a computer's carbon footprint by up to 50 percent compared to current laptop models. Redesigned components make better use of space and improve passive cooling, while also reducing power demands. This, in turn, allows for a smaller battery with deep-cycle cells with a "long charge that can be maintained across many years of use, increasing refurbishment and reuse beyond the first product life it services," Dell said.
It applies to models 2018 and later, with a free trial from 3 to 10 years.
To the consternation of some owners, Toyota's remote start key fob functionality requires a paid $8 per month subscription service. This applies to 2018 and later models, but recently came to light as the free trials of Toyota's Remote Connect subscription started to expire.
Toyota lets owners start vehicles like the RAV 4 PHEV remotely in two ways. One is over WiFi/LTE using its Remote Connect apps — these are what cost $8 per month or $80 per year. The other is by using the key fob. Unless they read the fine print, however, owners may not have known the key fob method was also part of the Remote Connect subscription. Toyota confirmed to The Drive that they need a paid subscription on every 2018 and newer Toyota model to use the function.
NASA was hoping to send the James Webb telescope on its way to space by December 22nd, but its launch has been delayed yet again. You've probably read several variations of that sentence by now if you've been keeping track of the observatory, seeing as its launch has been pushed back quite a few times already. In an announcement posted on the project's official page, NASA said that the James Webb team is working on a communication issue between the telescope and its Ariane 5 launch vehicle. As such, it will be launched no earlier than December 24th.
The James Webb project has experienced numerous setbacks since development started in 1996, due to various reasons that include going overbudget and major redesigns. After testing was suspended in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, NASA worked towards an October 18th, 2021 launch. However, after testing by the agency and primary contractor Northrop Grumman, it was determined that the telescope wouldn't be ready until November or December this year. NASA previously announced a December 18th launch date, which was moved back to the 22nd after an unplanned release of a clamp band that secures James Webb to the launch vehicle adapter prompted a thorough check to ensure the telescope wasn't damaged.
If everything goes as planned this time, December 24th is the earliest possible launch date that could be scheduled. The telescope could be heading towards the second Lagrange point of the Earth-Sun system later than Christmas Eve — NASA says it will reveal more details about its new target launch schedule on December 17th. When it does reach its destination, James Webb will observe the universe with a keener eye than Hubble, thanks to instruments that will allow it to see objects too old and too distant for the older telescope.
The US government will place eight Chinese companies including drone manufacturer DJI on an investment blocklist for alleged involvement in surveillance of Uyghur Muslims, the Financial Times has reported. The firms will reportedly be put on the Treasure department's "Chinese military-industrial complex companies" list on Tuesday, meaning US citizens will be barred from making any investments.
DJI is already on the Department of Commerce's Entity list, meaning American companies can't sell it components unless they have a license. At the time, the government said it was among companies that "enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance." However, unlike products from Huawei and others, DJI drones are have not been banned for sale in the US.
The latest moves are part of an effort by US President Joe Biden to sanction China for repression of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. Others that will be added to the list include cloud computing firms and facial recognition companies that operate in Xinjiang.
Yesterday, the US House and Senate passed a bill that would ban imports from Xinjiang, unless companies could prove they were not made using forced labor. It's set for a vote in the upper chamber of Congress prior to a holiday recess.
Xiaomi was placed on the same investment blocklist early in 2021. However, it fought the decision, saying that none of its principals were connected with the Chinese military and that a lack of US investment would lead to "immediate and irreparable harm." In May, the government agreed to lift the ban.
In 2020, DJI commanded a massive 77 percent of the consumer drone market. Over the last two months, it has released a pair of key products, the large-sensor Mavic 3 drone and full-frame Ronin 4D cinema camera with a built-in gimbal and LiDAR focus system. A year ago, DJI said it had "done nothing to justify being placed on the Entity list," and that "customers in America can continue to buy and use DJI products normally."
Samsung's three generations of foldable phones put it in a leading position in the field, so much that Huawei and Xiaomi eventually followed the same double-screen form factor. Having already shown a foldable prototype a couple of years ago, it was only a matter of time before Oppo, the world's fourth largest smartphone brand, would join the scene. After a teaser from earlier, today the Chinese company unveiled the Find N, which features a 5.49-inch external display and unfolds into a 7.1-inch flexible "Serene Display."
What's special about this design is that Oppo went for a landscape aspect ratio — 9:8.4 (1,920 x 1,792), to be exact — for the flexible AMOLED screen, which offers a more practical split-screen usage. A bit like Microsoft's Surface Duo 2, except this is across one single panel. Similarly, the Find N's external AMOLED screen comes in a more familiar 9:18 aspect ratio (988 x 1,972), as opposed to something like the narrow 9:24.5 on Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 3. The shorter body should also make the device more pocketable than its competitors.
Oppo
Oppo added that thanks to its special water-drop flexion hinge design, it's able to widen the angle of the flexible panel's fold, thus reducing the crease — "up to 80 percent less noticeable compared with other devices," which is apparently certified by TÜV Rheinland. The same mechanism allows for a no-gap design when folded. As for the flexible screen itself, its 12-layer structure apparently lets it withstand over 200,000 folds — even at temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius or -4 degrees Fahrenheit. Alas, there's no IP rating for the Find N, but Oppo reassures us that the device has passed the company's own humidity and splash tests.
To our surprise, the Find N is powered by Qualcomm's slightly older Snapdragon 888, as opposed to the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or the existing Snapdragon 888 Plus. Oppo explained that this is due to the longer development cycle of this project. To be fair, this 5G chipset is still plentiful, plus the phone also comes with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage, along with ColorOS 12 based on Android 11, which should keep things running smoothly on that 120Hz flexible screen (though the external screen is capped at 60Hz).
Sanji Feng / Engadget Chinese
Other goodies in this 275g device include a 50-megapixel f/1.8 main camera (Sony IMX766 sensor; same as the Find X 3 Pro), a 16-megapixel (IMX481) f/2.2 ultra-wide camera plus a 13-megapixel (Samsung S5K3M5) f/2.4 2x telephoto camera on the back, and a 32-megapixel (IMX615) f/2.4 punch hole selfie camera on both the external screen and the inner screen. There's a 4,500mAh battery which supports 33W SuperVOOC rapid charging and 15W AirVOOC wireless charging; you can also use the phone for 10W reverse charging.
Unlike many recent flagship Androids, unlocking is done with a side-mounted fingerprint-scanning power button, rather than an under-display fingerprint reader, which makes sense since it'd be a bit ambitious to work that sensor into the large flexible screen.
Sanji Feng / Engadget Chinese
On the software side, this version of ColorOS 12 comes with a "FlexForm Mode" which lets you use the Find N in the form of a mini laptop. This applies to use cases like video calls, taking notes, taking 4K time-lapse photos of the sky and more. Likewise, you can use the external screen as a selfie viewfinder, though this is nothing new in the world of foldables.
Sanji Feng / Engadget Chinese
My favorite feature here is perhaps the split-screen gesture: simply use two fingers to swipe down the middle of the flexible screen, and you'll instantly split the screen into two. You can also tap the three dots in the middle of this virtual divider to create a shortcut for the current app combo. If needed, you can also use four fingers to pinch the large screen to turn the current app into a floating window.
Last but not least, there's a "seamless relay" feature which lets you easily go from the large screen to the smaller external screen. As soon as you fold the Find N, the external screen will offer a five-second window to let you swipe up and activate it.
Sanji Feng / Engadget Chinese
The Find N comes in black, white and purple, with the purple offering being exclusive to its higher-end model. In China, this new phone is immediately available for pre-ordering ahead of its December 23rd launch, with the base model (8GB RAM and 256GB storage) asking for 7,699 yuan (about $1,210), and the higher-end model (12GB RAM and 512GB storage) going for 8,999 yuan (around $1,410). That's surprisingly affordable — even more so than Xiaomi's Mix Fold.
Sadly, Oppo doesn't plan on bringing its first-ever foldable to outside of China just yet, but our review unit did just land on my doorstep a few hours ago. I'll be spending the next few days figuring out whether this device lives up to its hype (and whether I can even run Google services on it), so stay tuned for our further impressions.
Polk Audio has unveiled its first Dolby Atmos soundbar. The Signa S4 has seven drivers (including two upward-facing drivers) geared toward delivering 3D audio for movies, TV, music and games. A wireless subwoofer is bundled in.
The company says that if content isn't set up for Dolby Atmos, the soundbar can create a "virtual Atmos experience" by upmixing the height, surround and center channels. In addition, the Signa S4 harnesses Polk’s VoiceAdjust technology, the goal of which is to make dialogue more intelligible during noisy scenes and when watching something at a lower volume.
Polk Audio
You can place the subwoofer anywhere in the room, as long as it's within 33 feet of the soundbar. The two devices will pair automatically. A Bass Adjust feature will tweak the low-end settings on both the soundbar and subwoofer. There are one-button presets designed for movie and music playback. There's also a night mode that lowers the bass and places more emphasis on dialogue.
You can connect the Signa S4 to your TV via HDMI, optical cable or even aux-in. The device should be compatible with most modern TV remotes and there's Bluetooth support too.
The soundbar is available starting today from Polk's website and other retailers. The Signa S4 bundle, which includes HDMI and optical cables, costs $399.
Google is giving employees until December 3rd to declare their COVID-19 vaccine status. And according to CNBC, if they fail to comply with the tech giant's vaccine mandate, they'd have to apply for a medical or religious exemption and convince Google that it's warranted if they don't want to eventually lose their job. Google will approve exemptions on a case-by-case basis.
In its report, the publication said that it has seen an internal memo warning personnel of the consequences if they still haven't complied with the company's vaccine rules by January 18th. Those who refuse to be vaccinated or who have failed to secure a valid exemption will be placed on paid administrative leave for 30 days. Google will then put them on unpaid personal leave for up to six months and will ultimately fire them if they truly don't want to be inoculated against COVID-19.
The tech giant reportedly explained in the memo that it's implementing its vaccine mandate to comply with the administration's executive order. Under that order, all US companies with more than 100 workers must be fully vaccinated by January 18th. While the order is in limbo after courts had blocked its implementation, Google may have simply chosen to push through with its plans to ensure that it's compliant in case the order suddenly takes effect.
"We expect that almost all roles at Google in the US will fall within the scope of the executive order. Anyone entering a Google building must be fully vaccinated or have an approved accommodation that allows them to work or come onsite... frequent testing is not a valid alternative to vaccination," the memo reportedly reads.
Earlier this month, CNBC also reported that Google delayed workers' return to office and will no longer require personnel to come in a few times a week starting on January 10th. However, it still encouraged employees to come into the office "where conditions allow, to reconnect with colleagues in person and start regaining the muscle memory of being in [one] more regularly."
While it will strictly enforce its rule for all employees that fall within the scope of the order, Google did give those who don't want to get vaccinated an option. If they can't secure a valid religious or medical exemption, they can "explore" other roles within the company that don't conflict with the order. If they can find such a role and it doesn't require in-office work, they can also permanently work remotely going forward.
