NEWS TECHNOLOGIE

At an event in San Francisco today (1pm Eastern, 10am Pacific, 6pm UK) Microsoft will unveil Windows 9 -- or whatever Microsoft ends up calling it. The event is expected to focus on the Desktop and enterprise side of things, though Microsoft might also show off some of the changes to the Metro/mobile side of things. We'll be covering the event here with a live blog, and photos from our reporter in San Francisco -- but sadly, it seems Microsoft won't be providing a live video stream.



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Rumors began surfacing this week that the 27-inch iMac will be receiving a massive boost in resolution from 2560×1440 (109 PPI) to 5120x2880 (218 PPI) -- four times the raw number of pixels on screen. To help push nearly 15 million pixels at once, a new AMD-based GPU is said to be included as well. This is exciting news, but the inevitably-high asking price is bound to scare away most consumers.



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It now seems likely that Google's next Nexus smartphone will be the Motorola-made Nexus 6. Yes, as the numeral indicates, this will be a 6-inch device (or 5.9 inches to be exact, according to some sources). A recent photo of the Nexus 6 (codenamed Shamu) suggests the phone will essentially be a scaled-up version of the new Moto X (and indeed, it might be called the Nexus X instead of the Nexus 6). The latest Nexus 6 leaks have pegged some particularly impressive hardware specs, including a 2560x1440 (QHD) display and a large 3,200+ mAh battery.



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The rather cramped streets of Hong Kong are currently lined with tens of thousands of people -- the Umbrella Revolution. The Chinese government, as always, has blocked and censored a number of social media sites so that mainland China can't see what's going on in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong protesters won't be so easily thwarted, however: They are already using a mesh networking app called FireChat, which allows the protesters to communicate freely without any kind of centralized cellular or WiFi network.



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Despite the fact that some cross-generation games like Destiny and Diablo III can run at full 1080p on Microsoft's latest console, many big-name Xbox One titles still can't hit that resolution without significantly compromising another aspect of the game. Even with the recent 10% GPU boost, Insomniac's Xbox One exclusive Sunset Overdrive is only going to hit 900p at 30 frames per second. Frankly, this doesn't bode well for the Xbox One's longevity.



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In a somewhat surprising move, Adobe and Google have announced a streaming version of Photoshop for Chromebooks (Chrome OS) and the Chrome browser. This is potentially massive news for Chromebooks, as the lack of Big Software -- those big, killer software suites for Mac and Windows -- has always been a thorn in the side of Chrome OS's attempted takedown of Microsoft and Apple's domination of the laptop market.



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Touchscreens are increasingly the way we interact with technology, but a touchscreen on a laptop often forces you out of the "budget" category, unless you want to shred every other spec. Today's deal on a Dell Inspiron 15 bucks that trend, landing you a solid processor and specs along with a touch display for just $430. That's a very sweet 38% off the regular price.



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As TSMC and Intel head closer to direct competition discussions of transistor density and die size have become increasingly contentious. Such comparisons, however, are fatally flawed.



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Researchers at the University of Rochester are reporting that they've built the first invisibility cloak that works in three dimensions, viewed from a range of angles, across the full spectral range of visible light. As you can see in the photo above, and in the video below, the invisibility effect is rather effective -- and, importantly, it creates very little "telltale" distortion that usually accompanies such early attempts at cloaking (the grid lines are perfectly straight and not magnified/minimized). Best of all, though: You can make this particular kind of invisibility cloak yourself!



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IBM is exiting the server market and the last of its x86 businesses. Does this mean rocky times and low margins are looming for Intel's core business?



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Before she was ousted from office by a military coup in May, Thailand's prime minister pushed an interesting initiative through government: To use robots to banish the world of bad Thai food. Now, the first stage of the prime minister's program is finally here: A robot that tastes your Thai food, and then compares its taste and smell against pre-programmed "standard" definitions of popular Thai dishes such as tom yum soup or green curry.



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On Thursday, DirecTV shareholders overwhelmingly voted to approve AT&T's offer to acquire the company. Now the only obstacle to merging into AT&T is approval by the FCC and the DOJ. Interestingly, the proxy statement released to shareholders reveals that DirecTV considered merging with Dish instead.



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Researchers at Rice University have creating a new nanotube heart patch that can fix problems many of us never even new we had. If there are no major toxicity issues that emerge, this breakthrough could revolutionize heart repair.



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MagMIMO can charge a phone from 30 cm away, several times farther than current wireless charging methods. MIT researchers are working to extend that range to turn it into WiFi for power.



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Researchers at the Max Planck institute in Germany have discovered large quantities of organic molecules at the center of the Milky Way that resemble life-bearing amino acids in their complexity. The new-found presence of this complex organic molecule, iso-propyl cyanide, is a good indicator that amino acids themselves are floating throughout the interstellar medium. If this is indeed the case, it in turn suggests that these wandering amino acids may have played a vital role in the synthesis of life on other planets in the galaxy.



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Yesterday, TSMC announced the first successful production of a 32-core ARM chip based on 16nm FinFET technology. According to the foundry, it collaborated with HiSilicon technologies to create the network processor, which marries a 16nm 32-core ARM Cortex-A57 with 28nm logic and I/O chips -- this 16nm/28nm combination is produced using a technique TSMC calls CoWoS (Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate).



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There's a new internet-crippling zero-vulnerability in town called Shellshock. It potentially affects around half of all websites on the internet (around 500 million), and millions or billions more internet-connected devices such as routers, smartphones. In simple terms, this means that it's now relatively simple for anyone to gain unauthorized access to a large portion of the world's computers.



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Earlier this week, Comcast and Time Warner Cable released a massive 300 page rebuttal to criticism of their proposed merger. Not only are these two telco giants extraordinarily defensive in this missive, but they actually go as far as claiming that their harshest critics are extortionists. Unsurprisingly, competitors, clients, and critics alike have taken umbrage with these accusations, and some are asking for a formal apology.



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A new graphene detector has just been developed which can potentially determine who has cancer and perhaps even in some cases, what kind. The secret to building it lies in a radical new method for processing graphene on silicon carbide substrates.



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In the void left by the anticlimactic World Cup exoskeleton adventure, other efforts to make the paralyzed walk again are recapturing the spotlight. Chief among them is Grégoire Courtine's research group at the EPFL in Switzerland, who have achieved tremendous advances in getting paralyzed rats to walk.



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Intel's Mark Bohr has discussed options for taking the company to 10nm and below without adopting new, troubled lithography technology -- but will extreme ultraviolet manufacturing ever be ready for prime time?



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Microsoft is all set to officially unveil Windows 9 at a special event on September 30 -- and so we thought it would be a good time to run through everything that we already know about Microsoft's new operating system. Most of these features and changes are reliably sourced from people close to the development of Windows 9 or from leaked builds of the Windows 9 Technical Preview. We'll also update this story with an official list of Windows 9 features when Microsoft starts releasing public beta builds next week. In short, if you want to find out about Windows 9, this is the place to be.



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No longer content with making set-top boxes, tablets, and smartphones, Amazon is investing heavily in developing even more consumer electronics hardware. Rumor has it that Amazon's Lab126 is currently prototyping wearables and connected-home devices with a focus on improving the Amazon shopping experience. Want to order more bacon? Sign into your fridge to turn on 1-Click ordering.



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Yesterday, proving it is far from infallible when it comes to both hardware design and software development, Apple released a faulty version of iOS 8.0.1. For many iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users, updating to iOS 8.0.1 completely killed cellular connectivity and TouchID functionality. To restore cellular (and mobile data) connectivity, the only solution is to downgrade back to iOS 8 and await a future 8.0.2 update from Apple, which is due 'in the next few days.'



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Vizio worked long and hard to make a $1000 4K TV, putting to shame all other manufacturers. Now it hopes to win the Ultra HD race.



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If you're looking for a new desktop for your workspace or home office, this is one of the best low-cost options you're likely to find right now. With a Core i3 processor and professional OS, neither of which you tend to find in budget desktops, this Inspiron 3000 is a great value for just $350. That's 32% off the normal price.



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Apple's new A8 SoC has been torn down and dug into, and the results show incremental improvements -- and significantly more GPU horsepower. Should we expect great things from 20nm this generation?



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The USB Promoters Group and VESA have announced that the new reversible USB Type-C connector, along with supporting power delivery of up to 100 watts, will also support the simultaneous transport of DisplayPort 1.3 -- and thus HDMI 2.0 and DVI will also work, with an adapter. Yes, it's looking like USB 3.1 with the Type-C connector will finally be a workable all-in-one cabling solution. Thunderbolt, we hardly knew you.



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First there was the iPhone 4 Antennagate. Then there was the iPhone 5 Scuffgate. And now, with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, there is Bendgate. This isn't people sitting on their phones, either: A tight front pocket, plus the curvature of your thigh, is enough to bend the new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. But is it a design flaw, or are your pants just too tight?



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India's Mars orbiter, Mangalyaan, has successfully inserted itself into Mars orbit. India becomes only the fourth space agency to successfully make it into Mars orbit, behind the Soviets, NASA, and the ESA. Remarkably, the entirety of India's Mangalyaan mission cost just 4.5 billion rupees -- or about $74 million. Compare this to NASA's own MAVEN Mars orbiter, which has a total mission cost of around $672 million. This was also India's first attempt to reach Mars orbit -- historically, only Europe's ESA made it to Mars on its first attempt.



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Samsung's 840 EVO series reportedly suffers from a significant bug that dampens write performance on old data, but the company says it's already working on a solution.



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We already use dogs and monkeys as service animals to help people with disabilities, so why not use robots as well? Researchers at Georgia Tech have combined RFID tags, long-distance scanners, and a self-propelled robot to develop a method of reliably locating objects in a real-world setting. With this set-up, people with reduced mobility or short-term memory can ask the robot for help finding important items like medicine or documents.



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We've got another collection of our top deals for you all today, including the lowest price we've seen on a gaming laptop and 45% off a Corsair gaming keyboard. We've also got great savings on a pair of Bluetooth headphones and a handy Bluetooth transmitter.



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Apple has once again chosen excellent LCD panels for its new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. With the boosted resolution and size this time around, it's hard to complain about the viewing experience on the new iPhones.



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The GTX 970 is a powerful GPU at stock speed -- but what can it do when overclocked? The answer: quite a bit.



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Back in January, we wrote a story about which company makes the most reliable hard drives. At the time, Hitachi came out ahead of Western Digital and Seagate by a significant margin. Now, with new data from our friends at Backblaze who have 34,881 hard drives spinning their little hearts out as you read this sentence, we're going to try and investigate the matter of why there's so much variation between the reliability of the big three hard drive makers.



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The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, along with being the largest phones Apple has ever built, are also the toughest and most durable. Perhaps even more importantly, the iPhone 6 beats out the durability of other Android phones in the same class (the HTC One M8 and the Moto X), and the iPhone 6 Plus is the most rugged smartphone with a screen larger than five inches, beating out the Galaxy S5.



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Researchers have created the first diamond nanothreads -- which are basically like carbon nanotubes, but stronger and stiffer. Mathematically, these diamond nanothreads are possibly the strongest and stiffest material that can be constructed in the known universe. As interest in space elevators and other international megaprojects swell, these diamond nanothreads might be exactly what we need to get crazy seemingly impossible constructions off the whiteboard and into reality.



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Nvidia, with a rather gifted bit of marketing, has used the new Maxwell-based GTX 980 and GTX 970 graphics cards... to prove that we did indeed land some astronauts on the Moon. By using Maxwell's new voxel-based global illumination (VXGI) tech, plus a version of Unreal Engine 4 with global illumination enabled, Nvidia reconstructed the famous photo of Buzz Aldrin climbing down the ladder of the Apollo 11 lunar lander in 3D -- and apparently, they found evidence that will forever silence the conspiratorial lunar landing loons.



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Just about everybody wants encryption to move forward to one extent or another, but as one former Google researcher points out, truly large scale encryption would be the end of the internet as we know it.



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Apple has sold 10 million of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the first three days of going on sale, following its release on Friday, September 19. Interestingly, Tim Cook says the company could've sold 'many more iPhones' if the supply chain had been strong enough -- but alas, the large-screen iPhone is now so popular that Apple and its Chinese partners simply can't make phones fast enough.



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Early Sunday morning, SpaceX mission CRS-4 lifted off from Cape Canaveral towards the International Space Station, carrying with it the first 3D printer that will operate in zero gravity. When the astronauts aboard the ISS use the 3D printer, they will become the first humans to ever manufacture goods away from planet Earth. It's not quite the Moon- or Mars-based factory that we've always dreamed of, but it's a very important first step towards manufacturing goods outside of Earth's gravity, and thus the eventual colonization and industrialization of the Solar System.



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At the Oculus Connect developer conference in Hollywood, Oculus VR has revealed its next step towards a consumer-ready virtual reality headset: the Crescent Bay prototype. Crescent Bay has a better and lower-latency display, 360-degree head tracking, much reduced weight (and improved comfort), and integrated headphones (with 3D audio support).



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Oxford Nanopore Technologies has finally delivered on its promise to bring personalized genome sequencing to the desktop. It is now time to see what their MinIon USB device can do.



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In addition to Nvidia's new Maxwell GPU having top-of-the-line performance and power efficiency, it has another feature that will probably make a lot more difference in the real world: It's the first GPU to offer full support for Microsoft's upcoming DirectX 12 and Direct3D 12 graphics APIs. According to Microsoft, it has worked with Nvidia engineers in a "zero-latency environment" for several months to get DX12 support baked into Maxwell and graphics drivers. Even more importantly, Microsoft then worked with Epic to get DirectX 12 support baked into Unreal Engine 4, and to build a tech demo of Fable Legends that uses DX12.



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Your next smartphone or electric vehicle might be powered by a nuclear battery instead of your usual lithium-ion cell thanks to a breakthrough made by University of Missouri researchers. This is bad news for those of you who think that WiFi signals are bad for your health -- especially if they're received by a smartphone situated near your head or gonads -- but great news for all of the people who value all-day battery life ahead of increased radiation exposure. The world could probably do with reduced fertility rates anyway, right?



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This morning, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus go on sale around the world. Those four million of you who pre-ordered an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus should hopefully receive your new, curvier, large-screen smartphone today. If you opted for queuing up outside your local Apple store, I hope you managed to get your hands on an iPhone before they ran out of stock. While I'm sure most of you bought a new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus because you wanted a new phone, there are other people out there -- evil technophiles -- who rushed home to disassemble Apple's latest masterpiece, or to drop it on concrete to see just how tough that non-sapphire screen is.



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Today, millions of happy customers are unboxing their brand new iPhone 6s. Bigger screens, better battery life, and faster internals are all neat advancements, but these new devices have much more to offer than harder, better, faster, stronger. With a combination of improved internals and a shiny new operating system, your iPhone 6 has quite a few impressive tricks up its sleeves.



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The GTX 980 and 970 are the Big Billy Goats Gruff to their smaller budget cousin, the GTX 750 Ti. When the first Maxwell GPU arrived this spring, it was clear that Nvidia had something potent on its hands. Maxwell showed enormous promise, leaping over Kepler's compute performance in multiple benchmarks. Swift price cuts from AMD took the wind out of the 750 Ti's launch position, but it was clear that this new core was a warning shot. As of now, Nvidia is firing both barrels.



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Today, at an event in California, Nvidia has officially unveiled the first full-fat Maxwell chip: The GM204. This chip will power both the Nvidia GTX 970 and GTX 980, both of which should be available to buy from your favorite component store today. The GM204 is an utterly monstrous chip, comprising 5.2 billion transistors, 2048 CUDA cores spread across 16 streaming multiprocessors (SMs), 64 ROPs, and a massive 2MB L2 cache. That's not the most impressive thing, though: the GTX 980, powered by the GM204 chip, has a TDP of just 165W -- down from 250W for the previous flagship, the GTX 780.



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