fidzu : science

An enthusiast's gaming laptop that leaves (almost) nothing to be desired.

22 Aug 2017 7:00am GMT

China has decided to relaunch the world's fastest train service following a fatal crash in 2011, where the high speed train service reduced its upper limit from its then-record holding 350 km/h (217 miles/hour) to 250-300 km/h (155-186 miles/hour). Fortune reports: Government-controlled website Thepaper.cn reported that seven pairs of bullet trains will be operating under the name "Fuxing," meaning rejuvenation, according to the South China Morning Post. The trains will once again run at 350 km/h, with a maximum speed of 400 km/h (248 mph). It is reported that the train service will boast a monitoring system that will automatically slow the trains in case of emergency. The Beijing-Shanghai line will begin operating on 21 September and will shorten the nearly 820 mile journey by an hour, to four hours thirty minutes. Nearly 600 million people use this route each year, providing a reported $1 billion in profits . Other routes include Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, which will begin operation today.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

22 Aug 2017 7:00am GMT

According to a report by the Korea Herald, Apple's upcoming iPhone 8 will ditch the fingerprint identification in favor of 3D face recognition, which will work "in the millionths of a second." PhoneArena reports: The Samsung Galaxy series were among the first mainstream devices to feature iris recognition, but the speed and accuracy of the current technology leave a lot to be desired, and maybe that is why current phones ship with an eye scanner AND a fingerprint reader. The iPhone 8, on the other hand, is expected to make a full dive into 3D scanning. Both Samsung and Apple are rumored to have tried to implement a fingerprint scanner under the display glass, but failed as the technology was not sufficiently advanced. The new iPhone will also introduce 3D sensors on both its front and back for Apple's new augmented reality (AR) platform. This latest report also reveals that Apple will not use curved edges for its iPhone 8 screen, but will instead use a flat AMOLED panel. The big benefit of using AMOLED for Apple thus is not the curve, but its thinner profile compared to an LCD screen.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

22 Aug 2017 3:30am GMT

garymortimer shares a report from sUAS News: News has arrived of a mandatory firmware update from DJI. Owners of DJI's latest and smallest quadcopter must update their firmware by September the 1st or their machines will automatically ground themselves. The Firmware update apparently is to stop in flight shutdowns that have been occurring. So no bad thing to fix, a safety issue. Perhaps questionable is DJI's ability to brick other peoples property if required. The "Kill Switch" option is already causing consternation in user groups.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

22 Aug 2017 1:00am GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court Monday revived a lawsuit that seeks to block construction of a U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan over concerns about its impact on the Okinawa dugong, an endangered marine mammal that resembles a manatee.

21 Aug 2017 9:59pm GMT

Microsoft is pushing its new file system out of the mainstream and into the high end.

21 Aug 2017 9:47pm GMT

In the 18th century, British astronomers set out to sell science by demystifying it.

21 Aug 2017 8:33pm GMT

Departing eclipse watchers are causing traffic jams from Portland to Charleston.

21 Aug 2017 8:26pm GMT

New research has found that the Siberian unicorn lived at the same time as prehistoric man

21 Aug 2017 7:37pm GMT