Month: February 2022

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Recently, two computer scientists had an idea: if computers use energy to perform calculations, could stored data be a form of stored energy? Why not use computing as a way to store energy? 

What if information could be a battery, man?

As it turns out, the idea isn’t as far-fetched as it may sound. The “information battery” concept, fleshed out in a recent paper, would perform certain computations in advance when power is cheap—like when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing—and cache the results for later. The process could help data centers replace up to 30 percent of their energy use with surplus renewable power.

Enlarge / The Pixel 3 XL and Pixel 3. (credit: Ron Amadeo)

The February Android security patch is live, marking both the first on-time patch for the Pixel 6 and the last patch ever for the Pixel 3.

The Pixel 3 launched in October 2018 to lukewarm reviews, thanks to a giant camera notch on the XL model and a worrying dearth of RAM across the lineup. Google only offers three years of major OS updates (even on the Pixel 6), so the phone’s last regular update was the Android 12 launch in October 2021. Pushing one of the biggest Android launches ever as the final update is a little scary (there are bound to be some bugs), so Google promised one last wrap-up update before it said goodbye to the Pixel 3. The device ended up with two more updates: one in January to patch that wild 911 bug and this final update. Google hasn’t posted any release notes for the last Pixel 3 update, but the February update should cover all the security issues up to today, and from now on, you’re out of date.

The Pixel 6’s update plan is promoted by Google as “five years of Android security updates,” but that still includes only three years of major Android version updates. The Pixel 6 will be obsolete in October 2024, but it will continue to get security updates until October 2026. We’ve long seen Android companies blame SoC vendors for the short support times compared to the iPhone’s six years of updates, but with the Google Tensor, Google is its own SoC vendor now, so it could support the Pixel 6 for longer if it wanted.

Enlarge / Greg Wyler in February 2019 when he was at OneWeb. (credit: Getty Images | Washington Post)

A company led by satellite-industry veteran Greg Wyler says it plans to launch about 100,000 small communication satellites into low Earth orbit. The company, E-Space, yesterday announced that it received a $50 million investment and that it will launch its first test satellites next month, with “mass production… slated for 2023.”

E-Space said it has “filings in hand for potentially over 100,000 secure communication satellites,” but there are suggestions that the company wants to launch over 300,000 satellites. Prime Movers Lab, which led the $50 million investment round, said that E-Space’s network will have “up to hundreds of thousands of secure communication satellites” and described the devices as “micro-satellites.”

E-Space said its platform will “help governments and large companies build space-based applications in a capital-light manner” for uses “ranging from secure communications to managing remote infrastructure.” E-Space says its satellites will use a peer-to-peer communication model, and the company’s website describes the plan as a “multi-application cloud server in space… powered by E-Space’s rapidly scalable optical 5G mesh network.”

Enlarge / Windows 11 is going to keep reminding you if your hardware isn’t supported, even if it’s already installed and running fine. (credit: @thebookisclosed on Twitter)

If you’re running Windows 11 on one of the many PCs that don’t meet its stringent system requirements, your experience so far probably hasn’t been all that different from someone running it on an “officially” supported system. Despite multiple warnings that Microsoft might withhold basic security updates from these devices, so far, they’ve gotten the same updates at the same time as “supported” PCs.

But that doesn’t mean these PCs will receive updates in perpetuity, and Microsoft does still want you to know that your PC is unsupported when it doesn’t meet the system requirements. To that end, Twitter user Albacore has discovered a message at the top of the Settings app that will remind you when your PC doesn’t meet Windows 11’s requirements. To date, these kinds of reminders and warning messages have happened before and during the Windows 11 install process, not after.

This new message is one of a few new experimental features lurking below the surface of Microsoft’s current Windows 11 testing builds. Others, which as the company has recently noted may or may not ever see the light of day, include customizable “stickers” for the desktop, a sustainability rating to measure and improve your PC’s power efficiency (shades of the Windows Experience Index), a possible return of some Tablet Mode features that were removed in the migration from Windows 10 to Windows 11, and a better overflow mode for your taskbar when it has too many icons in it.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Hyundai and Kia have issued a recall for nearly 485,000 SUVs (and a handful of sedans) due to the risk of engine bay fires, warning owners to park the vehicles outside until the repair work has been completed.

The problem affects 126,747 Kias—certain K900 sedans from model years 2016–2018 and all Sportage SUVs from model years 2014–2016.

Hyundai has a bigger task, as it’s recalling 357,830 vehicles split between the Santa Fe (model years 2016–2018, not equipped with smart cruise control), the Santa Fe Sport (model years 2017-2018, not equipped with smart cruise control), the Santa Fe XL (model-year 2019, not equipped with smart cruise control), and the Tucson (model years 2014–2015).

Enlarge / The Tonale proudly wears Alfa Romeo’s signature trefoil grille. And the triple headlamps are a visual reference to the SZ sports car. (credit: Alfa Romeo)

On Tuesday, Alfa Romeo revealed its next model, called the Tonale. This attractive new crossover will come to the US in a couple of different powertrain options, with one of them being the brand’s first-ever plug-in hybrid. But most of the news you’ll read about the Tonale will probably focus on the vehicle’s included non-fungible token, which will apparently use the blockchain to keep track of servicing records and accident history.

The Tonale is a smaller car than the Stelvio SUV, but it’s clearly part of the same family, thanks to the characteristic Alfa “trefoil” grille. Alfa namechecks the diminutive Giulia GT Junior as an inspiration for the line that runs down the side of the car, although I’m not sure I see it. I do get the reference to the SZ, a composite-bodied sports car that Alfa Romeo built from 1989 to 1991, in the triple headlights.

The Tonale fits below the Stelvio in the Alfa lineup. (credit: Alfa Romeo)

The plug-in hybrid Tonale combines a gasoline engine that drives the front wheels (via a six-speed automatic transmission) with an electric motor that drives the rear wheels. The engine is a 1.3 L turbocharged MultiAir four-cylinder that generates 180 hp (134 kW), with the electric motor contributing another 120 hp (90 kW) to la festa. Total power output is 272 hp (203 kW), and the 15.5 kWh lithium-ion traction battery has an electric-only range of 30 miles (48 km), Alfa says.