74927541
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Security researcher Samy Kamkar posted a video today demonstrating a device he created that he calls OwnStar that can intercept communications between GM's RemoteLink mobile app and the OnStar cloud service in order to unlock and start an OnStar equipped car. Kamkar said that after a user opens the OnStar Remote Link app on his or her mobile phone "near the OwnStar device," OwnStar intercepts the communication and sends "data packets to the mobile device to acquire additional credentials. The OwnStar device then notifies the attacker about the new vehicle that the hacker has access to for an indefinite period of time, including its location, make and model. And at that point, the hacker can use the Remote Link app to control the vehicle. Kamkar said GM is aware of the security hole and is working on a fix.
74923369
submission
Lucas123 writes:
As they announced their new 3D XPoint memory this week, Micron and Intel talked a lot about its performance being 1,000X that of NAND flash, but what they talked less about was how it also has the potential to have 1,000X the endurance of today's most popular non-volatile memories. NAND flash typically can sustain from 3,000 to 10,000 erase-write cycles — more with wear-leveling and ECC. If Micron and Intel's numbers are to be believed, 3D XPoint could exceed one million write cycles. The reason for that endurance involves the material used to create the XPoint architecture, which neither company will disclose. Unlike NAND flash, cross point resistive memory does not use charge trap technology that wears silicon oxide over time or a typical resistive memory filamentary architecture, which creates a statistical variation in how the filaments form each time you program them; that can slow ReRAM's performance and make it harder to scale. Russ Meyer, Micron's director of process integration, said 3D XPoint's architecture doesn't store electrons or use filaments. "The memory element itself is simply moving between two different resistance states," which means there's virtually no wear.
74736409
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Charlie Miller, the security expert who with his friend Chris Valasek, proved Chyrsler's UConnect telematics system can be remotely hacked and the vehicle's critical driving systems controlled, said the auto industry can't protect vehicles through firewalls. Instead, Miller and others, say detection software and hardware based encryption on electronic control units is the best way to stop hackers from successful cyber attacks. Over a year-long effort, Miller and Valasek were able to hack the UConnect head unit, which allowed them to access a Jeep Cherokee's controller area network (CAN), which then allowed them to send messages to vital components, like the brakes, transmission and ignition. Any vehicle's CAN bus is very simple and the messages on it are very predictable, Miller said, adding that "when I start sending messages to cause attacks and physical issues, those messages stand out very plainly." No one will ever build a bullet-proof telematics platform, so knowing when it has been hacked is better than trying to prevent the penetration in the first place. "It would be very easy for car companies to build a device or build something into existing software that can detect CAN messages we sent and not listen to them or take some sort of action."
74645185
submission
Lucas123 writes:
A research project that tags the world's most dangerous sharks with four different tracking devices and then offers all the data to the public through a online and mobile apps has taken off, garnering hundreds of thousands of users; one shark even has more then 80,000 followers on Twitter. OCEARCH, a non-profit shark tracking project, has tagged about 130 sharks, from great whites and tigers to hammerheads and makos, and open sourced the data in the hope that it will create citizen scientists who will follow the animals and care about what happens to them. To further personify the apex predators, the researchers at OCEARCH have also given the sharks names such as Katharine and Mary Lee, two sharks that are more than 14 feet long and weight more than a ton. OCEARCH's shark tracker has garnered 10 times the traffic it had last year, and it's expected to grow 20 times more by the end of this year. Along with data from satellite, acoustic and accelerometer tags, the project expects to begin using big data analytics to offer more granular data about the animals and their lives to scientists and the public at large.
74488037
submission
Lucas123 writes:
A reported $23 billion offer to purchase U.S.-based Micron, one of the largest DRAM and memory makers in the world, by a Chinese state-owned chip maker isn't likely to succeed for several reasons, not the least of which is that the U.S. government is unlikely to approve it and Micron has no reason to sell. Tsinghua Unigroup, a somewhat enigmatic company that is funded by Tsinghua University in China, offered $21 a share for Micron, which is a 19.3% premium over Micron's closing price on Monday. Micron's market cap is currently $20.7 billion. Micron has denied it received an offer from Tsinghua, but a Wall Street Journal report claimed the offer was real. Industry analysts however, believe Tsinghua may have used the WSJ as a trial balloon for an offer. Analysts also say rumors of a deal for Micron have been floating around for more than a month. Still, the possibility of a deal surprised some in the industry who expected China to organically grow its own DRAM and memory businesses. By acquiring Micron, however, China would instantly become a big player in what is a robust market. Fang Zhang, an IHS memory analyst, said Micron will not likely accept a buyout offer because the company has been performing well and expects to continue to do so. Additionally, the U.S. government considers chip technology vital to national security, so approval of the deal would at the very least take months if not more than a year during a time when the Chinese economy is at risk of collapse.
74262331
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Samsung has released what it is calling the world's first 2.5-in consumer-grade, multi-terabyte SSD, and it's issuing the new drive a 10-year warranty. With up to 2TB of capacity, the new 850 Pro and 850 EVO SSDs double the maximum capacity of their predecessors. As with the previous 840 Pro and EVO models, Samsung used its 3D V-NAND technology, which stacks 32 layers of NAND atop one another in a microscopic skyscraper that offers vastly greater flash memory density. Additionally, the drives take advantage of multi-level cell (MLC) and triple-level cell (TLC) (2- and 3-bit per cell) technology for even greater density. The 850 Pro, Samsung said, is designed for power users that may need higher performance with up to 550MBps sequential read and 520MBps sequential write rates and up to 100,000 random I/Os per second (IOPS). The 850 EVO SSD has slightly lower performance with 540MBps and 520MBps sequential read/write rates and up to 90,000 random IOPS. The SSDs will range in capacity from 120GB to 2TB and in price from $99 to $999.
74140049
submission
Lucas123 writes:
GM announced 2016 models of the Chevy Malibu will offer a Teen Driver tracking application that will monitor everything from driving speed to the number of times the anti-lock braking mechanism was used while their kids were in the car. Upon return, a parent can bring up a "report card" on the head unit screen and see the top speed, stability control events, antilock brake events, forward collision alerts, among other things. The new feature can be enabled on Chevy's MyLink in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) system and can be accessed via a password by parents. The Teen Driver alert system will not only monitor activity, but also alert and restrict certain activities, such as driving without a seat belt — try it and the music system will be muted. The Teen Driver system also gives audible and visual warnings when the vehicle is traveling faster than speeds preset by a parent.
73551793
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Residential rooftop solar installations hit a historical high in the first quarter of 2015, garnering an 11% increase over the previous quarter and a 76% increase over the Q1, 2014. New installations of solar power capacity surpassed those of wind and coal for the second year in a row, accounting for 32% of all new electrical capacity, according to a new report by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association. Residential solar installation costs dropped to $3.46 per watt of installed capacity this quarter, which represents a 2.2% reduction over last quarter and a 10% reduction over the first quarter of 2014.
73427495
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Both Micron and Toshiba are producing NAND flash memory based on 15 and 16 nanometer process technology, which reduces die area over a 16GB MLC chip by 28% compared with previous die technology. Additionally, Micron announced its upcoming consumer USB flash drives and internal SSDs will also use triple-level cell NAND flash (a technology expected to soon dominate the market) storing three bits instead of two for the first time and further reducing production cost. The advancement in NAND flash density has been driving SSD pricing down dramatically over the past few years. In fact, over the last year, the average price for a 128GB and 256GB SSDs have dropped to $50 and $90, respectively for system manufacturers, according to DRAMeXchange. And prices for consumers have dropped to $91.55 for a 128GB SSD and $164.34 for a 256GB SSD.
73376201
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Computer makers are paying on average $50 for a 128GB SSD and about $90 for a 256GB drive, according to DRAMeXchange. The average retail price that consumers pay for a 128GB SSD is $91.55, and for an SSD in the 240GB to 256GB range, the price is about $165.34, DRAMeXchange's data showed. A combination of denser NAND flash manufacturing process and laptop industry adoption has lead to a massive drop in SSD prices over the past year. The latest numbers from DRAMeXchange indicates prices for internal SSDs are declining at an accelerated pace as the production of NAND flash migrates to 15 nanometer process, triple-level cell and 3D NAND technologies. Previously, NAND transistors size was in the 19-plus nanometer range: More density equals lower production costs. Additionally, hard drives in notebooks are quickly being swapped out by manufacturers and SSD market penetration will be more than 30% for 2015 and will surpass 50% by 2017 to dominate the sector. The sheer economies of scale is also leading to SSD price decline.
73348865
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Nantero, the company that invented carbon nanotube-based non-volatile memory in 2001 and has been developing it since, has announced that seven chip fabrication plants are now manufacturing its Nano-RAM (NRAM) wafers and test chips. The company also announced aerospace giant Lockheed Martin and Schlumberger Ltd., the world's largest gas and oil exploration and drilling company, as customers seeking to use its chip technology. The memory, which can withstand 300 degrees Celsius temperatures for years without losing data, is natively thousands of times faster than NAND flash and has virtually infinite read/write resilience. Nantero plans on creating gum sticks SSDs using DDR4 interfaces. NRAM has the potential to create memory that is vastly more dense that NAND flash, as its transistors can shrink to below 5 nanometers in size, three times more dense than today's densest NAND flash. At the same time, NRAM is up against a robust field of new memory technologies that are expected to challenge NAND flash in speed, endurance and capacity, such as Phase-Change Memory and Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM).
73261205
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Remote robotic surgery performed hundreds or even thousands of miles away from the physician at the controls is possible and safe, according to the Florida Hospital that recently tested Internet lag times for the technology. Roger Smith, CTO at the Florida Hospital Nicholson Center in Celebration, Fla., said the hospital tested the lag time to a partner facility in Ft. Worth, Texas and found it ranged from 30 to 150 milliseconds, which surgeons could not detect as they moved remote robotic laparoscopic instruments. The tests, performed using a surgical simulator called a Mimic, will now be performed as if operating remotely in Denver and then Loma Linda, Calif. The Mimic Simulator system enables virtual procedures performed by a da Vinci robotic surgical system, the most common equipment in use today; it's used for hundreds of thousands of surgeries every year around the world. With a da Vinci system, surgeons today can perform operations yards away from a patient, even in separate but adjoining rooms to the OR. By stretching that distance to tens, hundreds or thousands of miles, the technology could enable patients to receive operations from top surgeons that would otherwise not be possible, including wounded soldiers near a battlefield. The Mimic Simulator was able to first artificially dial up lag times, starting with 200 milliseconds all the way up to 600 milliseconds.
73213873
submission
Lucas123 writes:
GM today announced it will offer Apple CarPlay and Android Auto mirroring APIs on 14 of its 2016 vehicles. GM's announcement follows one earlier this week by Hyundai, which said it would offer Android Auto in its Sonata Sedan this year. Some of GM's Chevrolet vehicles — such as the Malibu, Camaro and Silverado truck — use a seven-inch MyLink infotainment system; those systems will be compatible with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in the beginning of 2016. Those models offering the smartphone mirroring apps include the all-new 2016 Cruze compact, which will debut on June 24. Other GM vehicles use an eight-inch version of MyLink that will only be compatible with Apple CarPlay at the beginning of the new model year. While development and testing is not yet complete, Android Auto compatibility may be available on the eight-inch version of MyLink later in the 2016 model year, GM said.
72652753
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Even with today's inefficient wafer-based crystalline silicon photovoltaics, terawatt-scale solar power systems are coming down the pike, according to a 356-page report from MIT on the future of solar energy. Solar electricity generation is one of "very few low-carbon energy technologies" with the potential to grow to very large scale, the study states. In fact, solar resources dwarf current and projected future electricity demand. The report, however, also called out a lack of funds for R&D on newer solar technology, such as thin-film wafers that may be able to achieve lower costs in the long run. Even more pressing than the technology are state and federal policies that squelch solar deployment. For example, government subsidies to solar are dwarfed by subsidies to other energy sources, and trade policies have restricted PV module and other commodity product imports in order to aid domestic industry. Additionally, even though PV module and inverter costs are essentially identical in the United States and Germany, total U.S.residential system costs are substantially above those in Germany.
72455087
submission
Lucas123 writes:
Tesla CEO Elon Musk last night announced a new business line and three new lithium-ion batteries it will sell for residential and commercial use. The wall-hung residential battery — called the Powerwall — has a starting price of $3,000 and holds 7kWh of capacity. A 10kWh model retails for $3,500. The batteries can be ordered today and will be shipping in three to four months. The stylized home batteries come in different colors and protrude just 7.5-in a wall. Up to nine Powerwall battery units can be daisy-chained together on a wall to provide homes with up to 90kWh of power. The new commercial-grade battery, called the Powerpack, is a monolithic tower that will sell in 100kWh modules for $25,000. Musk said the Powerpack can scale infinitely, even powering small cities. The new batteries are being sold to supplement intermittent power like solar and wind, but Musk said the technology, which will be open sourced for other companies to use, can take homes and businesses of the grid. The average U.S. household uses about 20 kWh to 25 kWh of power every day, according to GTM Research." You can take your solar panels, charge the battery packs and that's all you use," said Musk, who is also chairman of SolarCity, the largest installer of solar panels in the U.S. Residential households and companies with a solar power systems can charge the batteries during the day and use them in off peak hours or supplement power use during peak hours to avoid time-of-use tariffs imposed by utilities. Tesla is already manufacturing the batteries in its current facilities, but it will soon turn that operation over to its Gigafactories, the first of which is under construction outside Reno, Nevada and will go online next year. Like the batteries, the Gigafactory process will also be open for other companies to emulate in the hope that renewable power combined with battery storage will someday eliminate the need for fossil fuel production of energy. "This is not something we think Tesla will do alone," Musk said. "There's going to need to be many other companies building Gigafactory-class operations of their own. We hope they do."
