Mysterious ring of hydrogen gas discovered around distant galaxy

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Jan 3, 2020 3:06 AM CST

Astronomers at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics located in Pune, India, have come across something that is currently a matter of debate.

Mysterious ring of hydrogen gas discovered around distant galaxy

The team used the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to discover an extremely large ring of hydrogen gas that's bigger than the galaxy it's surrounding. The gas is estimated to have a diameter of about 380,000 light-years, which is equivalent to about four times the size of our Milky Way galaxy.

The galaxy that the gas is surrounding is called AGC 203001 and is located around 260 million light-years away from us. Usually, galaxies that are found to have an abundance of neutral hydrogen gas are actively forming stars. Shockingly, (here's the kicker) AGC 203001 is showing zero signs of being an active galaxy, puzzling astronomers at how the hydrogen was distributed. If you are after more information regarding this discovery, check out this article here.

Continue reading: Mysterious ring of hydrogen gas discovered around distant galaxy (full post)

Amazon threatened to fire two employees for criticising climate policy

Jak Connor | Business, Financial & Legal | Jan 3, 2020 2:17 AM CST

Two Amazon employee's who spoke out against the companies current environmental policies say Amazon heavily warned them that they could be fired if they continued speaking out.

Amazon threatened to fire two employees for criticising climate policy

The two employee's Maren Costa and Jamie Kowalski spoke to The Washington Post about how they believe that Amazon is currently attributing to climate change by still supporting the use of oil and gas with its cloud computing business. Costa and Kowalski said that they were called into official Amazon human resources meetings where they were accused of violating the company's explicit external communications policy.

Costa, in particular, said that an Amazon lawyer sent her an email that said if future violations were detected it could "result in formal corrective action, up to and including termination of your employment with Amazon." Engadget reached out to Amazon for a statement and received the following: "Our policy regarding external communications is not new and we believe is similar to other large companies."

Continue reading: Amazon threatened to fire two employees for criticising climate policy (full post)

Here's how to explore our solar system at light speed with Google Maps

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Jan 3, 2020 1:34 AM CST

If you have watched Star Wars or if you are even a little bit into science fiction or just general science for that matter, then you would know what light speed is. How would you like to travel at light speed?

Here's how to explore our solar system at light speed with Google Maps

If you aren't aware of what light speed is, then here's a quick science lesson for you. If you take a particle and accelerate it close to the speed of light which is 299,792,458 meters per second, or 186,282 miles per second, the energy required to move that particle becomes infinite. Making it impossible for any form of mass to reach the speed of light or exceed it.

Luckily, Google Maps isn't moving particles, and can instead give us observers a novel hyperspace experience through a nifty effect. If you didn't know, Google Maps is now equipped with a new tool that allows users to navigate the solar system at break-neck speeds, and here's how to do it.

Continue reading: Here's how to explore our solar system at light speed with Google Maps (full post)

If The Witcher TV show was terrible, it was still guaranteed success

Jak Connor | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Jan 3, 2020 1:09 AM CST

Since the release of The Witcher, many fans have been flocking to other forms of Witcher IP, whether that be the original book series of CD Projekt Red's games.

If The Witcher TV show was terrible, it was still guaranteed success

The reason for the love to overflow from the Netflix series over to the other forms of IP is the root cause of why the TV show did so well in the first place. At least, that's what analysts are saying. Since people were already heavily invested in the Witcher universe (games/books), the show was expected to be a success story even before it premiered due to there already being heavily established fandom.

Ashley A. Hinck, an assistant professor at Xavier University with an expertise in fandom, spoke to The Verge and said, " That's part of the love of being a fan; love and desperation. You want more even if it's not awesome. Having a built in audience and fans committed to viewing that universe across what platform it takes place in is important for companies." The Witcher's success story is making companies realize that if they want their shows to succeed regardless of whether they are deemed 'good' or not, that they will have to pay attention to what large communities of already established fans want to see.

Continue reading: If The Witcher TV show was terrible, it was still guaranteed success (full post)

Dubai is the first city in the world to have 3D printed a whole office

Jak Connor | Cameras, Printers & Scanners | Jan 3, 2020 12:31 AM CST

3D printing has really taken off in recent years, but with Dubai wanting to be Dubai, they have taken it one step further than printing home use objects. They have decided to print an entire office...

Dubai is the first city in the world to have 3D printed a whole office

Yes, you did read that correctly. Dubai is now not only home to the world's tallest building, but also the largest 3D printed building in the entire world. Above we have a top-down image of the structure, and according to Reuters, it will be used as an office.

The office was constructed by many 3D printers that combined traditional plastics with special cement. The structural integrity of the building was tested in Britain and China before printing began in Dubai. The office is one-story and has a floor space of 250 square meters. According to United Arab Emirates Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Mohamed Al Gergawi, "This is the first 3D-printed building in the world, and it's not just a building, it has fully functional offices and staff".

Continue reading: Dubai is the first city in the world to have 3D printed a whole office (full post)

Marvel announce the first transgender superhero, will appear in MCU

Anthony Garreffa | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Jan 3, 2020 12:18 AM CST

Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has announced that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be the first with a transgender superhero, with Feige saying they're shooting a movie with the character right now.

Marvel announce the first transgender superhero, will appear in MCU

During a recent Q&A session at the New York Film Academy, Feige was asked if there were any plans on adding more LGBT characters to MCU movies, with an asked-for focus on "specifically the T, trans characters". Feige replied, saying: "Yes, absolutely. Yes. And very soon. In a movie that we're shooting right now".

Rumor had it that Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe would feature a transgender character, while we'll see the first gay character in the MCU in this year's The Eternals. Feige added: "You look at the success of Captain Marvel and Black Panther. We want the movies to reflect the audience and we want every member of our global audience to see themselves reflected on the screen".

Continue reading: Marvel announce the first transgender superhero, will appear in MCU (full post)

LG foldable smartphone patent could beat Galaxy Fold, Mate X foldables

Samsung might have its foot hold in the foldable smartphone game with its game-changing Galaxy Fold, but LG shouldn't be too far behind if a new patent is to be believed.

LG foldable smartphone patent could beat Galaxy Fold, Mate X foldables

The folks over at LetsGoDigital have discovered a new LG patent that teases its own unique foldable design, with a fully flexible display that attaches to the smartphone itself. This means (at least in this patent form) LG's purported foldable smartphone could take on different designs in a way, all because of the unique way it uses the foldable display.

LG would have a near multiple monitor setup with the foldable smartphone shown here, with the possibility of two narrow displays, or a single larger display. Alternatively, you could use this LG foldable smartphone with its dual displays, leaving the traditional display on the front but adding one on the back. In this patent form, the hinge houses the dual cameras -- but we could see some under-display cameras if and when this LG foldable smartphone hits the market.

Continue reading: LG foldable smartphone patent could beat Galaxy Fold, Mate X foldables (full post)

Samsung sold 6.7 million 5G smartphones in 2019, beat expectations

Samsung had a successful 2019 in many ways, but one of them was selling the most 5G smartphones in the world -- beating out expectations.

Samsung sold 6.7 million 5G smartphones in 2019, beat expectations

The company shipped over 6.7 million 5G smartphones in 2019 across its Galaxy S10 5G, Galaxy Note 10 5G and flagship Galaxy Note 10+ 5G smartphones. After these 3 smartphones hit the market, the new Galaxy A90 5G was launched and the future-laden Galaxy Fold 5G smartphone rounded out 5G dominance in 2019.

Samsung teases it will have the world's first 5G tablet debuting in Q1 2020, with the impending launch of the Galaxy Tab S6 5G -- of which we should see more of at CES 2020 next week. We should see much more 5G in 2020 than any year before it, and even more so going forward as Qualcomm is leading the charge with its new Snapdragon 865 processor which will power many of the next-gen smartphones of this year.

Continue reading: Samsung sold 6.7 million 5G smartphones in 2019, beat expectations (full post)

AMD starts 2020 with a bang: hits record stock price of $49.10

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Jan 2, 2020 11:24 PM CST

AMD has gone from stride to stride in the last few years, and all of that success has been towards this very moment -- AMD stock price just reached a new peak of $49.10.

AMD starts 2020 with a bang: hits record stock price of $49.10

The last time that AMD stock was this high was back on June 21, 2000 during the time of the 1GHz race with Intel. Things went down from there, but back up into the $35-$40 range in 2005-2006, when AMD was kicking some ass with its Opteron processors. But then things went really far south until Lisa Su took over as CEO in 2014 and turned things around, big time.

AMD now has some kick ass products all over the place, between the new Zen 2-based CPUs on 7nm with Ryzen 3000, Ryzen Threadripper 3000, and EPYC processors -- not to forget the new 7nm-based Navi-powered Radeon RX 5700 and RX 5500 series graphics cards. AMD is also powering the next-gen Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles with a semi-custom SoC on the 7nm node, meaning the company is literally firing on all cylinders right now in all the right ways.

Continue reading: AMD starts 2020 with a bang: hits record stock price of $49.10 (full post)

Apple's new iPhone will be powered by A14 chip made on 5nm from TSMC

Apple is expected to power its new iPhone with a next-gen A14 processor, something that TSMC will be making for the company on its new 5nm process, according to a new DigiTimes report.

The current generation iPhones are powered by the A12 and A13 processors, each on the 7nm from TSMC -- but the new iPhones will shift down to the 5nm node for its next-gen A14 chip. TSMC is expected to begin manufacturing the new A14 chip on 5nm in Q2 2020, and will power the 2020 iPhone.

TSMC got serious about its 5nm production in June 2018 where it invested a huge $25 billion, and now we're seeing the fruits of that labor two years on. Even back then, I wrote "Apple should be interested in TSMC's focus on 5nm as they've been using TSMC for chip production for years now".

Continue reading: Apple's new iPhone will be powered by A14 chip made on 5nm from TSMC (full post)