Comment Re:Facepalm (Score 1) 228
EPA fuel economy already includes charging losses. It is "wall to wheels".
So 7.9 miles/ Per day. If you leave the car in the sun all day. Less in the winter.
Comment is this copyrighted? (Score 2) 72
If the monkey selfie isn't copyrighted (in the US at least), is this? Are creative works by computers copyrighted?
Comment except for Tesla they aren't that heavy (Score 4, Insightful) 555
And they also cut down on brake dust by using regenerative braking as much as possible.
I think there's some room to move here, to ensure EVs are better on particulates.
Maybe we have to discourage the purchase of 6,000lb Teslas and instead encourage the purchase of 3600lb LEAFs and Bolts.
This thing that particulates being widely considered the most harmful form of air pollution is also new to me. They're a serious problem for sure, but I think other trace emissions like NOx are still quite significant. And that's all ignoring CO2.
Comment So what? (Score -1, Troll) 150
Those GPS satellites were put up. There was no requirement for rocket recovery to make that happen.
What this does is make launches cheaper.
How does that affect me?
Man Sets World Record With 25 Continuous Hours In Virtual Reality (roadtovr.com) 80
An anonymous reader writes: Derek Westerman has made it in the Guinness Book of World Records by spending 25 straight hours in virtual reality. He used the HTC Vive and spent his entire time playing Tilt Brush. "Guinness has a whole set of rules and regulations, one of those being 'one game only the whole time.' I wanted to pick something that gave me the most freedom," Westerman says, "And painting in 3D space for 25 hours seemed like the best bet." At around the 17th hour mark, Westerman reportedly experienced some vertigo and threw up into a bucket provided for him by an assistant. The same bucket was used around the 6th hour mark when Westerman had to urinate. Then around the 21st hour, he starts babbling incoherently while waving the Vive controllers around, saying at one point, "I don't know where I'm at..." The video of the event has been released on Wednesday, even though Guinness lists the record as being achieved on April 7th.
Comment Steam/Valve are not accepting Bitcoin (Score 4, Informative) 54
Bitpay is. Valve will continue to accept only actual money. Bitpay will provide a service (for a fee) of turning your bitcoin into the actual money that Valve demands.
New 'Tunneling' State of Water Molecules Discovered by Scientists (inhabitat.com) 60
MikeChino quotes a report from Inhabitat: Scientists just discovered a new state of water molecules that displays some pretty unexpected characteristics. This discovery, made by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), reveals that water molecules "tunnel" in ultra-small hexagonal channels (measuring only 5 angstrom across) of the mineral beryl. Basically, this means the molecules spread out when they are trapped in confined spaces, taking a new shape entirely. The ORNL used neutron scattering and computational modeling to reveal the "tunneling" state of water that breaks the rules of known fundamentals seen in gas, liquid, or solid state. The researchers said the discovery describes the behavior of water molecules present in tightly confined areas such as cell walls, soils, and rocks. The study was published in Physical Review Letters on April 22.
Comment yes. (Score 1) 155
I'm not sure why it's such a big deal. While CO2 heat pumps are new-ish, they aren't groundbreaking.
Comment that's very cool (Score 1) 68
But move the storage in front to the sides so I can have a drawer. That thing is WAY too thick to not have a drawer at least.
Also, if you could build a pop-up display and keyboard into it so I can go full-on Encom/Tron it would be even better.
Comment why are we cheering DRM? (Score 2) 113
People get tired of USB being affordable and pine for a more Firewire-type system?
Why are we hoping for authenticated cables?
Free Software Will Help Detect Faulty and Malicious USB-C Cables 113
Reader Mickeycaskill writes: The USB 3.0 Promoter Group, of which HP, Intel and Microsoft are members, has developed authentication protocols for USB-C and will offer free software to detect faulty or malicious cables.This tool will alert users if they are using a non-authenticated cable. It has been suggested that hardware manufacturers could ship devices with an authentication system already installed. It is hoped that the specification will help end a number of recent incidents where sub-standard cables have either ripped off buyers or damaged devices. Most recently, Amazon said it would be adding USB-C cables and adapters that do not comply with standard regulations to its list of prohibited electronics items.
FBI Paid Professional Hackers One-Time Fee To Crack San Bernardino iPhone 149
There's another new wrinkle in the never-ending FBI vs Apple saga. The Washington Post is claiming that FBI did not require Cellebrite's assistance in hacking San Bernardino iPhone. Instead, the report claims, the government intelligence organization bought a previously unknown security bug from a group of professional hackers. According to the report, the hacker group provided FBI with at least one zero-day flaw in the iPhone 5c's security, which enabled FBI to circumvent the lockscreen and other security features. The bug hasn't been disclosed. FBI has previously noted that the technique it utilized in breaking into the iPhone 5c does not work with any new iPhone models (iPhone 5s or newer).
Comment 5 star safety (Score 5, Insightful) 430
"Safety is a big concern for Tesla so they've manufactured the Model 3 with a 5 star safety rating in every category."
They haven't manufactured it at all yet. And they hope to get a 5 star rating. They don't award the starts themselves, so they'll have to do their best and wait and see what happens like anyone else.
Messaging Giant Line Becomes a Phone Carrier in Japan 10
Popular instant messaging service, Line, is entering the mobile carrier business in Japan. The company says that its carrier will utilise telecommunications infrastructure of major Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo and start at an affordable price of 500 yen (roughly $4.40) a month. Jon Fingas reports for Engadget: As of this summer, Japanese residents can subscribe to Line Mobile and get unlimited use of not only Line's chat and call services, but the "main features" (browsing and posts) of Facebook and Twitter.
Comment Re:Printable instant tickets? (Score 2) 44
Printable instant tickets can work.
But the foolish design thing here was having the machine know the outcome of the ticket before it prints (or even at all). A printable instant ticket should just consist of a random number which can be checked elsewhere to see if it won. Much like a lotto ticket.
The machine doesn't know which ones are winners so it can't decide to print only winners.
There will still be a "refund errant ticket" attack as long as there is a refund system for errantly printed tickets. But honestly, I don't see why you need a system of that sort in a system where you don't get to pick your numbers anyway.
