Astronauts upgrade station power system in six-hour spacewalk

Astronauts upgrade station power system in six-hour 

spacewalk

Two astronauts floated outside the International Space Station on Friday for a six-hour spacewalk to replace aging batteries for the laboratory's solar power system, an upgrade needed to keep the outpost running into the next decade, NASA said.U.S. astronaut Shane Kimbrough left the station’s airlock at about 6:30 a.m. EST (1130 GMT) to begin his second spacewalk this month. He was joined minutes later by French crew mate Thomas Pesquet, a rookie astronaut making his first spacewalk.Kimbrough and Pesquet breezed through work on the batteries and completed several maintenance chores before heading back inside the station just before 12:30 p.m. EST (1730 GMT), a half-hour earlier than originally planned."Thanks for all the help,” Kimbrough radioed to NASA’s Mission Control in Houston.The men continued work started during a spacewalk earlier this month to hook up an array of 428-pound (194 kg) lithium-ion battery packs, about the size of a small refrigerator, to the station's solar power system. They replace nickel-hydrogen batteries that are losing the ability to hold a charge.The first six of the new 24 lithium-ion batteries arrived at the station aboard a Japanese HTV cargo ship in December. The remaining 18 new lithium-ion battery packs will be flown to the station on future Japanese resupply missions.Nine of the old batteries will be loaded aboard the cargo ship that will depart the station later this month and burn up in the atmosphere. Three defunct batteries will be stored outside the station.The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects it will take about three years to complete the space station's power system upgrade, which will keep it operational until at least 2024.Before this month's spacewalks, ground control teams used the station's robotic arm to move the new batteries into position and remove the old ones. This robotics work cut the number of spacewalks needed for the project from six to two, NASA said.The solar-powered station draws power from the batteries when it flies in darkness, circling about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.The space station, which is about the size of a five-bedroom house, is a $100 billion research laboratory, owned and operated by 16 nations.(Editing by Letitia Stein and Bill Trott)

Sony’s wonderful new OLED TV is mostly the work of LG Display

Sony’s wonderful new OLED TV is mostly the work of LG Display

One of the highlights of CES for us this year was Sony’s move to finally embrace OLED technology for its flagship line of Bravia TVs. Not only that, the Japanese company doubled down on the innovation by also featuring an integrated audio system that turned the display into the speaker — the new Bravia OLED literally vibrates the screen back and forth to generate sound. But a great deal of that hot new tech bearing the Sony name actually comes from Korea’s LG Display.If you’ve ever wondered why LG Electronics and LG Display are two separate entities, it is precisely so that the latter can develop and sell its technology, on a white-label basis, to other device manufacturers without being in direct competition with them. The grand LG competes with Sony for big TV sales, while the more focused LG Display only sells the displays and components necessary to drive them. That’s how it’s possible for LG technology to be winning one of The Verge’s Best of CES awards under the Sony banner.

I attended LG Display’s CES 2017 exhibition during the same week that Sony launched the Bravia OLED screen, and I happened upon the former company’s Crystal Sound OLED TV. This was being demonstrated in two orientations: the vertical TV was used to play back music and show off the clarity and volume of the display functioning as a speaker, while the horizontal TV had two piles of beads on top of it, to show that it is indeed moving while playing back audio. I put a hand on both the edge and middle of the panel, and it was apparent that the vibration was substantially stronger in the middle — which is where the "exciters," motors used to drive the panel back and forth, were positioned. But, try as I might, I couldn’t notice any distortion in the picture as a result of the uneven vibration. On both panels, the OLED TV image retained its integrity perfectly.Sony’s taken a leaf out of LG Display’s book by developing its own variant of Crystal Sound, which it calls Acoustic Surface. It sounds and performs almost the exact same way.But the sound of these TVs is the truly shocking thing. It’s really, really good. Granted, it won’t replace a dedicated 5.1 surround sound system, but it’s pure, crystalline, and more than loud enough for most uses. I’ve seen many so-called transparent speakers that use a sheet of glass or translucent plastic to generate sound, and they’ve all been distinctly sub-par. Not so with this new OLED TV technology.There’s no shame in Sony rebranding or copying what is evidently very good technology, and there’s still plenty of design and engineering that needs to happen behind the OLED scenes to make a great TV that will last for a long time. But the fact that LG Display can recreate all the hotness of the new Sony Bravia should mean that we’ll soon be able to have our pick from a variety of OLED TVs that double up as a good speaker system.

Correction: This article initially hypothesized that Sony was using LG Display’s Crystal Sound technology for its OLED TV speaker system, however the Japanese company has gotten in touch to clarify that it has developed its own system. Sony’s Acoustic Surface works on the same principles as Crystal Sound — and, having heard it during CES, sounds just as good — but apparently "has nothing to do with LG Display." The article has been amended to take that into account.

You can control Samsung's latest robot vacuum cleaner using Alexa

You can control Samsung's latest robot vacuum cleaner using Alexa

Samsung has been making robot vacuum cleaners for a while now, and while they haven't quite gotten to the level of popularity as iRobot's Roomba line has, it seems that enough people buy them for Samsung to keep making them.

With that in mind we have the latest model of Powerbot vacuum cleaners, the Powerbot VR7000, which Samsung announced this week ahead of CES 2017. The new vacuum is less than 4 inches tall — Samsung claims it's 28 percent thinner than the previous version — and offers up to 20 watts of suction power (an actual vacuum cleaner benchmark, apparently) on the most powerful model.But perhaps the biggest addition to the Powerbot VR7000 is Amazon Echo support. This will allow you to operate your vacuum cleaner with voice controls, giving Samsung's vacuum a feature that the Roomba line doesn't have. There's also some new software features that allows the Powerbot VR7000 to more intelligently map out rooms and optimize its cleaning depending on floor type. But really, if you're getting a Powerbot VR7000, it's probably so you can verbally command your robotic vacuum minion to clean your floors.Samsung isn't giving any pricing or release information on the Powerbot VR7000, but it does intend to showcase it at CES, so it's possible we'll get more information next week.

Sony Entertainment CEO exiting for a top role at Snap

Sony Entertainment CEO exiting for a top role at Snap

Sony Entertainment Chief Executive Michael Lynton will step down to become chairman of the board of messaging app owner Snap Inc, a move that puts an experienced Hollywood executive in a prominent role as the technology company prepares for an initial public offering.Lynton will give up his current position at Sony's movie and television unit on Feb. 2 but remain as co-CEO for six months to help find a successor, Japanese conglomerate Sony Corp said in a statement on Friday. (bit.ly/2jG9IWI)Snap, the owner of the popular Snapchat app, is expected to go public early this year, vying for a $25 billion valuation. Lynton was an early investor in the company co-founded by 26-year-old CEO Evan Spiegel, and has served on its board for nearly four years.The Venice, California-based company has made a push into news and entertainment content, a strategy that heightened competition with social networks such as Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc. In 2015, it began sharing video and articles from TV networks such as CNN and ESPN on a feature called Snapchat Discover.It also signed deals in 2016 with media companies such as Walt Disney Co and Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal to have them produce original shows for Snapchat.Lynton, in a 13-year career at Sony, oversaw hit movies including the "The Social Network" and James Bond film "Skyfall," but the studio has lagged behind competitors in box office share and big hits over the past year.The TV studio under Lynton also produced successful shows such as "Breaking Bad" and "The Blacklist."Lynton's tenure at Sony Entertainment was also marked by a devastating computer hack in 2014 that exposed a trove of embarrassing e-mails and employee data. The cyber attack, which the United States blamed on North Korea, crippled the studio for months and prompted an executive shuffle.Sony Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai will take on a larger role at the entertainment division, adding the position of co-CEO and chairman of the unit, the company said. The Tokyo-based Hirai will add a second office in Culver City, California, where the film studio is based."As we look ahead, we see our entertainment businesses as essential parts of Sony," Hirai said.In November, Sony Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida said a turnaround of the movie division was "progressing, but it takes time for the benefit to be realized."(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Mary Milliken)

Nissan picks London for first European on-road autonomous car tests

Nissan picks London for first European on-road autonomous 

car tests

Japanese carmaker Nissan (7201.T) said it will conduct its first European real-world trials of self-driving cars in London, choosing Britain just months after it said it would build two new models in the country despite concerns over Brexit.The government has said it wants to encourage the development and testing of autonomous driving technology in Britain, helping build an industry to serve a worldwide market it reckons could be worth around 900 billion pounds ($1.1 trillion) by 2025.On Friday Nissan said a modified version of its compact electric LEAF car equipped with autonomous driving technology will be tested in the capital next month, the first such demonstrations on European public roads."With future models secured and cutting-edge innovation being developed right here in the UK, we’re looking forward to a strong future of designing, engineering and manufacturing in the country for customers right across the world," said Nissan Europe Chairman Paul Willcox.In October the firm, which builds around a third of Britain's total car output, said it would expand production at its plant in northeast England with what a source described as a government promise of extra support to counter any loss of competitiveness caused by Britain's EU exit.(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

South Korea investigators mull arrest warrant for Samsung leader: Yonhap

South Korea investigators mull arrest warrant for Samsung 

leader: Yonhap

South Korean special prosecutor's office is considering whether to seek an arrest warrant for Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee amid a probe into an influence-peddling scandal involving President Park Geun-hye, Yonhap News Agency reported on Friday.The special prosecution has been investigating whether Samsung provided 30 billion won ($25.28 million) to a business and foundations backed by Park's friend in exchange for the national pension fund's support for a 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliate.Lee was named a suspect on Wednesday and summoned early Thursday morning for questioning. He will head home at around 8 a.m. local time (2300 GMT), Yonhap reported on Friday.(Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Chris Reese)

U.S. appeals court revives antitrust lawsuit against Apple

U.S. appeals court revives antitrust lawsuit against Apple

iPhone app purchasers may sue Apple Inc over allegations that the company monopolized the market for iPhone apps by not allowing users to purchase them outside the App Store, leading to higher prices, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday.The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling revives a long-simmering legal challenge originally filed in 2012 taking aim at Apple’s practice of only allowing iPhones to run apps purchased from its own App Store. A group of iPhone users sued saying the Cupertino, California, company's practice was anticompetitive.Apple had argued that users did not have standing to sue it because they purchased apps from developers, with Apple simply renting out space to those developers. Developers pay a cut of their revenues to Apple in exchange for the right to sell in the App Store.A lower court sided with Apple, but Judge William A. Fletcher ruled that iPhone users purchase apps directly from Apple, which gives iPhone users the right to bring a legal challenge against Apple.

Apple declined to comment.

The courts have yet to address the substance of the iPhone users’ allegations; up this point, the wrangling has been over whether they have the right to sue Apple in the first place.But if the challenge ultimately succeeds, “the obvious solution is to compel Apple to let people shop for applications wherever they want, which would open the market and help lower prices,” Mark C. Rifkin, an attorney with Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz representing the group of iPhone users, told Reuters in an interview. “The other alternative is for Apple to pay people damages for the higher than competitive prices they’ve had to pay historically because Apple has utilized its monopoly.”The case is Pepper et al v. Apple Inc., case number 4:11-cv-06714 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.(Reporting by Stephen Nellis and Dan Levine; editing by Grant McCool)