Artist's impression of a young, growing elliptical galaxy's rapid star formation. NASA, Z. Levay, G. Bacon (STScI)

Eleven billion years ago, when the Universe was half the Earth's present age, massive galaxies had already begun to form, planting the seeds for the present-day Universe. According to current models, the dense cores of massive elliptical galaxies formed first, within which there were regions of intense star formation. By looking at distant objects, we should be able to see evidence of this process. Until now, however, we had not seen anything that looked definitively like the formation of a galaxy core. But a newly discovered object, GOODS-N-774 (nicknamed “Sparky”), may be the first glimpse of exactly that.

The researchers used data from the Hubble Space Telescope, obtained as part of the CANDELS survey, as well as the Herschel Space Observatory and the W.M. Keck Observatory, to study Sparky, which has about 150 billion (1.5 x 10^11) times the mass of the Sun (solar masses), of which 100 billion is in the form of stars.

GOODS-N-774, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The bright orange object near the center is Sparky. NASA, ESA, and E. Nelson (Yale University, USA)

Scientists still aren’t sure why galaxies like Sparky haven’t been observed before. While there’s a good chance that they are very rare, the authors of the study suggest that many similar star-forming cores may be obscured by gas and dust. If that’s the case, visible-light and near-infrared telescopes could be missing them.

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A Core M CPU package. Intel's low-power CPUs include both the CPU/GPU die and the chipset die to reduce the amount of motherboard space needed to house the chip. Intel

There's not a whole lot more information we can give you about Core M, the new CPU from Intel based on its delayed Broadwell architecture. We've given you the high-level architectural information, along with quite a few details about how it will perform, the kinds of systems it will fit into, and what the power savings will be compared to a previous-generation Haswell chip.

Today Intel is formally announcing the specific CPUs that will be going in these Core M tablets and convertibles, along with model numbers, clock speeds, and thermal design power (TDP) numbers. We'll talk about those first, comparing them to last year's Haswell-Y processor. Then we'll move on the actual Core M systems that have been announced so far and what we know about the more powerful members of the processor family. If you want details about Broadwell's new 14nm process and how Intel has shrunken Core M to get it into fanless systems, our original post has all of that information for you.

The first Core M chips—click to enlarge for details. Intel

All of the chips have a default TDP (not SDP, mind you) of 4.5W, less than half of the 11W TDPs that the Haswell chips had last year. Intel has made some small sacrifices to get there, though most people shouldn't really notice them—the biggest is that the Core M 5Y10 and 5Y10a both share a base CPU clock speed of just 800MH and a GPU base clock speed of just 100MHz. The top-end 5Y70's base CPU clock is just a little higher, at 1.1GHz. Compare that to Haswell-Y chips from last year.

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Up-close with a silicon wafer packed with Core M chips. Intel

Intel's delayed Broadwell architecture is finally upon us, though the rollout is going to be more staggered than we're typically used to. This year, we'll just be seeing the low-power Core M chips, with larger and faster versions to follow in the first half of 2015.

Intel did drop one interesting tidbit during our Core M briefing, though: the company mentioned that not all of its socketed desktop CPUs would be refreshed with the new architecture. Intel normally upgrades all of its CPUs over the course of six months or so, starting with the higher-end Core i7, i5, and i3 chips before moving on to lower-end Celeron and Pentium CPUs that are good options for budget buyers. Not so with Broadwell.

"It won't be a full stack with Broadwell on desktop," an Intel representative told us. "You know like, from Pentiums, Celerons all the way up to i7s."

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Continuing our coverage of Intel’s 14nm Technology, another series of press events held by Intel filled out some of the missing details behind the strategy of their Core M platform. Core M is the moniker for what will be the Broadwell-Y series of processors, following on from Haswell-Y, and it will be the first release of Intel’s 14nm technology. The drive to smaller, low powered fanless devices that still deliver a full x86 platform as well as the performance beyond that of a smartphone or tablet is starting to become a reality. Even reducing the size of the CPU package in all dimensions to allow for smaller devices, including reducing the z-height from 1.5mm to 1.05 mm is part of Intel’s solution, giving a total die area 37% smaller than Haswell-Y.

The first wave of three Core M parts will all be dual core flavors, with HD 5300 graphics and all within a 4.5W TDP. For Core M Intel is no longer quoting the SDP terminology due to the new design.

Intel Core M Specifications   Core M-5Y70 Core M-5Y10a Core M-5Y10 Cores / Threads 2 / 4 2 / 4 2 / 4 Base Frequency / MHz 1100 800 800 Turbo Frequency / MHz 2600 2000 2000 Processor Graphics HD 5300 HD 5300 HD 5300 IGP Base Frequency / MHz 100 100 100 IGP Turbo Frequency / MHz 850 800 800 L3 Cache 4 MB 4 MB 4 MB TDP 4.5 W 4.5 W 4.5 W LPDDR3/DDR3L Support 1600 MHz 1600 MHz 1600 MHz Intel vPro Yes No No Intel TXT Yes No No Intel VT-d/VT-x Yes Yes Yes Intel AES-NI Yes Yes Yes

The top of the line processor will be called the Core M-5Y70, which is a bit of a mouthful but the name breaks down similarly to Intel’s main Core series. ‘5’ is similar to i5, giving us a dual-core processor with Hyper-Threading; ‘Y’ is for Broadwell-Y; and ‘70’ gives its position in the hardware stack.

The CPU will leverage both processor graphics and CPU Turbo Boost, allowing each of them to turbo at different times and different rates depending on the workload and overall power usage. Of particulary interest is that the 5Y70 features a base clock of 1.1 GHz, with turbo for both single-core and dual-core use listed as up to 2.6 GHz. The new HD 5300 GPU similarly has a 100 MHz base frequency with an 850 MHz turbo. The 5Y70 is different from the other two models in both clock speeds and features, as it will be part of Intel’s vPro program and also supports Intel TXT.

The other two processors in the stack are the 5Y10a and 5Y10, with dual-core + HT configurations and 800 MHz base frequency with turbo up to 2.0 GHz. There doesn't appear to be any major difference between the two parts, though Intel's presentation notes that the 5Y10 supports "4W Config Down TDP" (cTDP Down). The graphics is clocked slightly lower on the turbo, giving 800 MHz.

It's interesting to note that Intel informed us that the 1k unit pricing will be the same for all three processors: $281. Obviously these chips are going to end up in hybrids, tablets, and laptops that come pre-built, so the actual pricing will vary by OEM and whatever deals they have with Intel. But in general, Intel seems to be saying that OEMs can choose any of the three chips based on their power/thermal targets.

The HD Graphics 5300 is the new processor graphics and as part of the brief behind Core-M, a die shot was supplied with the important areas marked:

In the processor graphics section in the shot above, there clearly looks like 12 repeated units, with each representing two EUs (Execution Units). In our dive into the architecture in early August, it was stated that the minimum configuration here would be as a result of Broadwell taking 8 EUs per sub-slice, with the minimum configuration being three sub-slices, making 24 in total. This comes in combination with an increase in the L1 cache and samplers relative to the number of EUs, allowing for 25% more sampling throughput per EU.

Intel's Tick-Tock Cadence Microarchitecture Process Node Tick or Tock Release Year Conroe/Merom 65nm Tock 2006 Penryn 45nm Tick 2007 Nehalem 45nm Tock 2008 Westmere 32nm Tick 2010 Sandy Bridge 32nm Tock 2011 Ivy Bridge 22nm Tick 2012 Haswell 22nm Tock 2013 Broadwell 14nm Tick 2014 Skylake 14nm Tock 2015

The fundamental architecture of the GPU does not change from Haswell, albeit on a smaller process node. The GPU is confirmed as supporting DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.2 and OpenCL 2.0, with UltraHD (3840x2160) supported at 24 Hz through HDMI. This opens up possibilities of fanless tablets with UHD panels.

One of the main graphs Intel was pushing in their briefing was this one, indicating what power is required for a fanless tablet:

For a chassis of 7, 8 or 10mm, to have a maximum skin temperature of 41C at load, the above TDPs are required depending on the chassis size in order to go fanless. The first batch of 4.5W Core M processors aim at either the 11.6-inch, 8mm thick fanless tablet design as indicated in the graph above, or similarly a 10.1-inch 10mm thick tablet will also be suitable. Intel wants Core M to have a range of possible TDPs based on increasing or decreasing the frequency as required for a thin fanless tablet.

Intel is going to support extended docking functionality, especially with its business partners to allow features such as WiGig and additional I/O. Intel is also bringing a new 802.11ac design in the form of AC 7265, a lower powered version of the 2T2R 7260 for tablets. This will also support WiDi 5.0, and overall the platform aims to offer 1.7 hours longer battery life. Intel got to this ‘+1.7’ hour number with a reference design compared to a clocked-down Haswell-Y. I would like to point out that despite these numbers, a clocked-down part usually represents moving outside the optimal efficiency window, especially when dealing with low powered tablets.

Intel used the above slide in their presentations and drew particular attention to the power consumption of the audio during HD video playback (the orange bar on the top comparison). As part of Core M, Intel is reducing power consumption of the audio segment of the system from 100s of milliwatts down to single-digit milliwatts by integrating an audio digital signaling processor (DSP) onto the die. This is what Intel refers to as its Smart Sound Technology, and is designed to shift the majority of the audio processing onto a configured part of the die which can process at lower power.

If you think you’ve heard of something like this before, you have: AMD’s TrueAudio sounds remarkably similar in its implementation and its promotion. We asked Intel if this new DSP for Broadwell would have a configurable API similar to TrueAudio, however we are still waiting on an official response to this.

The platform controller hub layout was also provided, showing USB 3.0 support along with SATA 6 Gbps and four lanes of PCIe:

The PCH is also designed to be dynamic with power, meaning that disabling features on a design could yield a better-than-expected increase in battery life. The design will support NFC, and it is worth noting that the two USB 3.0 ports are in a mux configuration which may limit bandwidth. With a number of PCIe lanes in tow however, there are a number of controllers that could be used to expand functionality in a design.

Intel will be showing off the Core M at IFA in Berlin this week, with over 20 designs based on Core M from OEMs in the known pipeline – including designs like ASUS’ Transformer Book T300 Chi announced back at Computex. The T300 Chi was specified as a 12.5-inch fanless tablet in a 7.3mm thickness design, with LTE support and a 2560x1600 display. With the 12.5-inch size and 7.3mm width, it sounds like the T300 Chi will be modifying the Core M CPU to be around 4W in order to keep the 41C skin temperature as a maximum. Intel also listed the following Core M devices at IFA:

The CPUs will be in volume production before the end of the year (we seem to have differing reports whether volume production has started already or is just about to), with systems from ~5 OEMs available in Q4, starting in late October. Intel lists both consumer and business designs for this timeframe, however volume production is expected in Q1 2015.

Figaro, the one who started it all. University of Vienna

Two years ago, we brought you the story of Figaro, a Goffin's cockatoo that lived at a research center in Vienna. These birds don't use tools in the wild—Figaro's minders even argue that the cockatoo's curved beak makes tool use rather difficult for them.

But Figaro's environment, which features lots of wired mesh, apparently drove him to some novel behaviors. He was observed splitting off splinters from wooden material, and the bird used them to retrieve objects (generally food or toys) that were on the wrong side of the wire. Figaro was making tools.

Tool use had been seen in a number of birds, so this in itself wasn't entirely radical. But the researchers involved realized that it presented a fantastic opportunity to learn how tool use spreads in birds and what that tells us about their inherent mental capacities. Now, two years on, they're back with a description of how, when given the chance, Figaro has started a bit of a social revolution.

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Aurich Lawson

Jim Logan is an archetype in the patent world—he personifies the great American invention story. In 1996, Logan says, he had a brilliant idea: a digital music player that would automatically update with new episodes. Think iPod, five years before the iPod.

"Our product concept, which spawned the patent, was all about a handheld MP3 player that could download off the Internet some kind of personalized audio experience," he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an April interview. "We designed that, we prototyped it, we went to investors trying to raise money to produce the product, and we were not successful."

His young company, PersonalAudio Inc., soon went under. Logan blew $1.6 million of his own money, never making a sale. There was nothing left but patents. In 2003, his troubles multiplied: the Securities and Exchange Commission came after him over insider trading charges, leading to him paying nearly $600,000 in penalties and interest. Through it all, Logan kept those patents and waited.

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We already saw some pictures that Josh took during his briefing just a few days ago, but I still felt that maybe the Note 4 could use a closer look. Today I managed to talk to a representative at IFA to get some better close-up shots of the device.

The Note 4's new design is really striking. As Josh already mentioned in his hands-on, the improved feeling that Samsung managed to achieve with the new metal chassis is worlds apart from the plastic designs found in its predecessors. I was still skeptical until I got to hold it with my own hands: this is indeed a premium device.

I also had the opportunity to compare it to the Ascend Mate 7. There's definitely a size difference here that is noticeable when you hold both devices. Because the Mate 7 is a tad wider than the Note 4, it isn't as easy to handle. I'd say Samsung made a very good choice in staying at 5.7" and not going larger. One aspect that was immediately visible was the difference in screen quality. The Note 4 was a lot brighter, and due to the large size of the screens, the difference in resolution between 1080p vs 1440p was quite noticeable to me.

The two devices are basically the same thickness, and you won't notice too much in that regard other than a change from feeling the grippy soft-touch plastic of Samsung pleather back to the smoother aluminium of the Mate 7.

One thing Josh told me he omitted was taking a picture of the Note 4 without the back cover. Here we see that Samsung changed the layout a bit, and no is longer employing their stacked SIM+microSD slot holder that is common in current Samsung devices, and instead separates them again as in older devices.

Some readers in the comments section were asking about how the new S-Pen handled. I tried to play around with it for a bit and noticed no problems with it, as it performed without issue. I couldn't try out the angle-sensitivity of the pen as the stock apps did not support it, and the Samsung representative did not know how to showcase it.

Interestingly, the model I handled was a N910F with a Snapdrgon 805. This could mean that we won't see any Exynos models in western LTE markets such as Europe yet again. This would mean that Snapdragon variants would be the most widely reviewed and distributed. We're still waiting on Samsung to officially relase any information regarding the Exynos 5433 SoC. We're also waiting on Samsung to release a break-down of models and their availabiliy per region.

Yesterday I was impressed by Huawei's new design and build-quality. Today I'm actually torn between it and the Note 4 and can say that the Samsung has stepped the quality of their design as well.

Gallery: Note 4 vs Ascend Mate 7 side-by-side

Addendum: 

Samsung also had a lot of Galaxy Alphas on display in their hall. Since this was the first time I saw the phone in person, I wanted to share my thoughts on it too. The device provides a great alternative to people who dislike 5"+ phones, as it's very light and thin. I was concerned about the 720p PenTile screen, but it seems that this display employs one of the newer generation PenTile matrices and it was not as visible as I thought it would be. I didn't bother with taking too many pictures as it was a tethered device and there were no press kits available. The Galaxy Alpha is definitely a device to look foward to if that's the form-factor you desire in a phone.

I'd like to thank Ars readers for making last year's publication of my first book, The Internet Police, a hugely rewarding experience. You bought copies, sent me encouraging e-mails, and even supported my oldest daughter's quest to become a professional bookmark designer. Related opportunities, such as appearing on NPR's Fresh Air and getting a one-page review in the New York Times, might well be once in a lifetime events, and I savored them.

But now, the most exciting moment in my book's journey from brain to page has arrived: it is available in paperback (direct Amazon link). Bright yellow paperback. And I think it looks terrific.

The Internet Police opens in the 1990s and early 2000s, when legislators, spooks, and police believed that the Internet was a "borderless," chaotic place in which the forces of order were at risk of losing all control. It chronicles the decade-long shift to the far more bordered, intensely surveilled Internet we have today, one in which the 'Net is often a cop's best friend. The book is packed with in-depth stories that show how online investigations work (and sometimes how they don't), including: the Cleveland man whose “natural male enhancement” pill inadvertently protected the privacy of your e-mail; the Russian spam king who ended up in a Milwaukee jail; and the Australian arrest that ultimately led to the breakup of the largest child pornography ring in the United States.

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UHD is dead. Not really, but it would seem that displays bigger than UHD/4K will soon be coming to market. The ability of being able to stitch two regular sized outputs into the same panel is now being exploited even more as Dell has announced during its Modern Workforce livestream about the new ‘5K’ Ultrasharp 27-inch display.  The ‘5K’ name comes from the 5120 pixels horizontally, but this panel screams as being two lots of 2560x2880 in a tiled display.

5120x2880 at 27 inches comes out at 218 PPI for a total of 14.7 million pixels. At that number of pixels per inch, we are essentially looking at a larger 15.4-inch Retina MBP or double a WQHD ASUS Zenbook UX301, and seems right for users wanting to upgrade their 13 year old IBM T220 for something a bit more modern.

Displays Sorted by PPI Product Size / in Resolution PPI Pixels LG G3 5.5 2560x1440 534 3,686,400 Samsung Galaxy S5 5.1 1920x1080 432 2,073,600 HTC One Max 5.9 1920x1080 373 2,073,600 Apple iPhone 5S 4 640x1136 326 727,040 Apple iPad mini Retina 7.9 2048x1536 324 2,777,088 Google Nexus 4 4.7 1280x768 318 983,040 Google Nexus 10 10 2560x1600 300 4,096,000 Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro 13.3 3200x1800 276 5,760,000 ASUS Zenbook UX301A 13.3 2560x1440 221 3,686,400 Apple Retina MBP 15" 15.4 2880x1800 221 5,184,000 Dell Ultrasharp 27" 5K 27 5120x2880 218 14,745,600 Nokia Lumia 820 4.3 800x480 217 384,000 IBM T220/T221 22.2 3840x2400 204 9,216,000 Dell UP2414Q 24 3840x2160 184 8,294,400 Dell P2815Q 28 3840x2160 157 8,294,400 Samsung U28D590D 28 3840x2160 157 8,294,400 ASUS PQ321Q 31.5 3840x2160 140 8,294,400 Apple 11.6" MacBook Air 11.6 1366x768 135 1,049,088 LG 34UM95 34 3440x1440 110 4,953,600 Korean 27" WQHD 27 2560x1440 109 3,686,400 Sharp 8K Prototype 85 7680x4320 104 33,177,600

Dell has been pretty quiet on the specifications, such as HDMI or DisplayPort support, though PC Perspective is reporting 16W integrated speakers. If the display is using tiling to divide up the transport workload over two outputs, that puts the emphasis squarely on two DP 1.2 connections. There is no mention of frame rates as of yet, nor intended color goals.

Clearly this panel is aimed more at workflow than gaming.  This is almost double 4K resolution in terms of pixels, and 4K can already bring down the majority of graphics cards to their knees, but we would imagine that the content producer and prosumer would be the intended market. Word is that this monitor will hit the shelves by Christmas, with a $2500 price tag.

Source: Dell

Gallery: Dell Previews 27-inch ‘5K’ UltraSharp Monitor: 5120x2880

The Moto Hint is a new Bluetooth headset. While this is normally a bit boring, Motorola has put extra effort into this headset.

The size and shape is specifically made to fit in ears as well as possible and to make it less obvious than most headsets. The headset also has microphones which also serve as a method to access Google Now and Moto Voice on the new Moto X. One use case demonstrated was turn by turn navigation with the phone in a pocket and relying upon the headset for directions. There's also a sensor that will automatically detect when the headset is removed from the ear and will shut off the headset upon detection. Finally, it will charge and store itself on a keychain charger if not in use.

The Moto Hint will go on sale later this fall. It will cost 149.99 USD in the US and will be available on Motorola's website and expand to other regions in time for the holidays.

The new Moto G effectively is a minor refresh as the SoC, battery, RAM, WiFi, and most other features. However, the display is now larger at 5" size but is still a 720p resolution. The camera is now an 8 megapixel sensor, and the Moto G also gets dual front facing stereo speakers.There's also TV support for Brazil and a microSD card slot. We also see a new flip case designed for the front facing speakers but the design is mostly unchanged.

While this is a mostly incremental release, Motorola revealed some surprising data in comparisons between the Moto G and flagship Android phones. In practice, the light skin on the Moto G makes the phone noticeably faster than some flagship smartphones at some standard smartphone tasks. This is far from a small difference either, as we're looking at differences as great as .8 seconds, as seen below.

Motorola also emphasized features designed specifically for developing markets, which include Motorola Alert, Motorola Assist, and Dual SIM intelligent calling. The new Moto G is available today for 179.99 USD unlocked on Motorola's website. It will also be available in India, France, UK, Brazil, Spain, and on Motorola Germany's website. It will be available in more than a dozen countries and through several carrier partners by the end of the year.

The Moto 360 at this point is one of the most hyped products I've seen this year. However, in my time with the product it seems to be a mostly standard Android Wear watch, but with a few major differences.

At the most basic level, this watch has a TI OMAP 3 for the main application processor. From a performance perspective the OMAP 3 is a solid and simple choice, packing a Cortex-A8 CPU alongside a PowerVR SGX 530 GPU, reflecting the fact that wearables don't require anything near cutting edge performance. However this choice in SoC is oddly out of date on the manufacturing side as OMAP 3 was produced on a now dated 45nm process. Though the Moto 360 doesn't need the performance benefits from from newer 28nm or 20nm processes, these newer processes can deliver similar performance with lower power consumption, which would seem to be a boon for a space and power constrained device such as a watch.

Otherwise, the specs are mostly within expectation. The LCD display is a 1.56" size with 320x290 resolution, and is 46mm in diameter and 11.5mm thick. The leather strap model we've been sampled weighs 49 grams, and the battery has 320 mAh in capacity. Although the nominal voltage isn't given it's likely that it's 3.8V. There's 4 GB of internal storage and 512MB of RAM, a pedometer, heart rate monitor, two microphones, and the watch is rated for IP67 immersion protection, which means it is dust tight and submergable up to 1m of water for half an hour.

Motorola wanted to emphasize that this was a modern timepiece rather than a smartwatch, and they’ve implemented a great deal of new technologies in order to support the intended industrial/material design and user experience. The most obvious of these is the round display, which has no bezel except for the bottom of the watch. Unfortunately, it appears that this area at the bottom is necessary in order to fit the display driver and provide an area where ribbon cables can come out and meet the logic board.

In addition, we see custom antennas that are in the metal housing but don’t require any antenna lines. Unfortunately, there was no real disclosure on how this worked so it was hard to say how they pulled this off but there are noticeable patterns on the inside of the metal casing. New RF techniques were also used to make custom metal wristbands that don’t interfere with the antennas of the watch itself.

Motorola has also equipped the Moto 360 with dual microphones and custom noise cancellation profiles to handle different acoustics from being strapped to an arm, and it should be able to handle noisy environments better than most other Android Wear devices. The work done to enable this level of noise cancellation was done at Motorola's main office in Chicago.

There's also a recessed strap to improve comfort and better hug the wrist, and a custom heart rate sensor that should have better performance and reliability when compared to competing solutions.

The watch also only has wireless charging, and charging is as simple as placing the watch on the included dock. Putting the watch on the dock also automatically puts it into a custom charging mode that allows it to function as an alarm clock. It's currently too early to judge battery life or the actual utility of the watch, but the watch was comfortable, with solid aesthetics and design.

It will start at 249.99 USD and will be available on the Motorola site, Google Play, Best Buy stores and the Best Buy website. The two metal band options will be available later this fall for 299.99 USD and the metal band will be available separately for 79.99 USD. Leather bands will also be available for 29.99 USD.

The Moto X we received has a leather back (top), while the Moto G was black rubberized plastic. Both devices are highly customizable with an array of colors and materials. Lee Hutchinson

CN.dart.call("xrailTop", {sz:"300x250", kws:["top"], collapse: true});Ars had the opportunity to spend most of Thursday ensconced in Motorola’s beautiful new office space in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, and we walked out of there with a bag full of new toys to review: a Moto 360 smart watch, a new Moto X, and a new Moto G. Not included in our goodie bag—the Motorola Hint, the company's new bluetooth earpiece that lets you access Google Now functionality without ever touching the phone.

While Eric Bangeman is handling the quick hands-on of the Moto 360 in his post, I’m going to run you through the two Android smartphones in this brief, hands-on post.

We’ve got a full review coming in a couple of days after Ars Android genius Ron Amadeo and reviewmaster Andrew Cunningham have some time to tear into these devices, so if you want more info, don’t worry: it’s coming!

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The Moto 360 on its wireless charging stand. Lee Hutchinson / Ars Technica

CN.dart.call("xrailTop", {sz:"300x250", kws:["top"], collapse: true});Motorola is throwing its hat into the smartwatch ring with today’s release of the Moto 360. According to one Motorola executive, the company "didn’t come to invent a new gadget, but to reinvent the wristwatch." And in a field currently dominated by clunky, square Android smartwatches, the Moto 360 with its circular display and leather wristband actually looks and feels like something you wouldn't mind wearing.

Available Friday from motorola.com, bestbuy.com, and the Play Store for $249, the Moto 360 is made out of stainless steel and comes with three different options for leather straps (classic black, stone leather, and limited-edition gray). There also will be two metal options available for sale later this year, one with a dark finish and one with the classic stainless steel watchband look. Those will retail for $299.

Spec-wise, the 360 sports a 1.6” 320x290 (205ppi) display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy connectivity, water resistance in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes (IP67), wireless charging, 4GB of internal storage, and 512MB of RAM. It's 46mm in diameter and 11.5mm high.

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Motorola has been through a lot, to say the least. It was only a few years ago that Motorola had become an OEM struggling to stay afloat, as it was effectively an ODM for network operators in the US. We saw phone after phone pushed out with no real cohesive strategy or market. After its acquisition by Google, we saw a major shift. Motoblur was removed, and we saw a move to using the AOSP UI to facilitate faster updates and smoother experience. The only real changes were Motorola’s custom apps and features, which were still following Android’s design principles. However, the Moto X seemed to lack in certain areas. The Snapdragon S4 Pro just couldn’t keep up with the Snapdragon 800 in performance also used more power. The Clear Pixel camera was definitely interesting from an academic perspective, but at launch it was rather disappointing. Combined with Moto Maker exclusivity to AT&T and general exclusivity to the US, the Moto X was a great idea held back by timing and distribution. Today, Motorola hopes to make things right with the new Moto X.

 

 

 

Apple plans to send out more e-mails to alert users of a potential security risk following the hacking of celebrities’ iCloud accounts.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that users will soon be able to receive e-mail notifications when iCloud data is restored. Apple already sends e-mails to users when a new password is requested, when a password is changed, or when an account is used on a new device for the first time.

The company will start to send out the new notifications in two weeks, according to the WSJ. It will also expand the two-step verification process—which requires a separate code or a key in order to log in to an account—to include access to an iCloud account on the new iOS.

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In a surprising move this afternoon, NVIDIA has announced that they will be filing patent infringement complaints against both Qualcomm and Samsung. This complaint is centered around the alleged use of NVIDIA patented GPU technologies in both Qualcomm and Samsung’s SoC’s and the unwillingness of the respective companies to enter in to a licensing agreement. NVIDIA has filed complaints with both the US Federal Court and the International Trade Commission, and in the case of the latter is seeking an injunction against Samsung to prevent them from shipping several recent products, including the Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 4, and Galaxy Edge.

Starting from the top, NVIDIA is of course no stranger to high profile lawsuits. However those suits are typically on the defensive side, such as the company suing Intel over the loss of rights to make chipsets for their products, or being sued by Rambus over the use of DDR signaling. This suit by comparison is unabashedly offensive – one NVIDIA calls the first time they have ever initiated a patent lawsuit – with NVIDIA going to the courts arguing that their GPU patents are being violated and seeking a resolution and compensation for those violations.

The use of patent infringement suits in the technology space is nothing new, and even in the GPU space they’re somewhat common. NVIDIA in particular is still the 800lb gorilla of the GPU world by patent portfolio size (and arguably by GPU R&D), so how they interact with other companies tends to depend on the size of those companies and what patents they have in turn. In the PC space NVIDIA and AMD have relatively strong cross-licensing agreements – AMD being the next largest GPU developer – followed by Intel who settled a suit out of court with NVIDIA 3 years ago over continued access to NVIDIA’s patents.

In the mobile SoC space however there are a much larger number of GPU manufacturers, and overall there is still a certain “wild west” aspect to patent licensing and infringement. On top of the larger number of GPU manufacturers there are even more companies involved once you discuss integration. In this case an Imagination PowerVR GPU may be licensed by an SoC integrator such as MediaTek, who in turn will sell the complete SoC to the device manufacturer such as HTC. In which case it’s not at all clear who is responsible for patent licensing, or indeed if parties are responsible at each and every step.

This leads us to today’s suit against Qualcomm and Samsung, as it’s based around both alleged patent infringement and arguments about who’s ultimately responsible for those infringements. As far as patents go NVIDIA is going to the courts with a number of patents, with some patents going as far back as the GeForce 2 era and even patents first devised by 3dfx (before NVIDIA acquired them). At first glance these appear to be technologies that are fundamental to modern GPU designs, in which case it is admittedly difficult to imagine other GPU designs not infringing on these patents.

One such example is called the ‘063 patent, which involves on-chip tiling and early visibility testing, and was first developed by a company purchased by 3dfx. This is a technique that all modern GPUs implement in some form, though these days the methods are much more advanced.

"The ʼ063 Patent was directed to this technology, which combined on-chip tiling with early visibility testing in the graphics pipeline. All of Samsung’s mobile products use GPUs that implement this patented invention."

As is the case whenever anyone files a patent infringement suit, NVIDIA is telling the press and investors that they believe they have a strong case with ample evidence of infringement. The company ultimately believes that they would be victorious in court, though in many of these technology patent suits we see the involved parties settle out of court before any trial reaches its conclusion. Meanwhile if the case does go to trial, then NVIDIA has requested a full jury trial rather than a trial by judge.

Along with NVIDIA’s patent infringement claims, a big part of NVIDIA’s case will rest on allegations that Qualcomm and Samsung actively know about at least some of this infringement and have refused to settle the matter before now. NVIDIA’s claim notes that the company has been attempting to reach a license agreement with Samsung and Qualcomm since 2012, and that today’s suit is a result of their inability to come to an agreement over the last 2 years. Consequently because NVIDIA has been talking to these companies since 2012, they assert that this means that Qualcomm and Samsung have known about this infringement since NVIDIA presented their patents and proposed licensing agreement, meaning they have been willfully infringing on at least some of the involved patents over the last 2 years.

Complicating the matter is the question over who is responsible for patent violations. NVIDIA’s complaint alleges that Samsung believes this to be a supplier problem – that any patent violations are the responsibility of the company who designed the GPU, be it Qualcomm, Imagination, or ARM. As a result Samsung is unwilling to settle, and for that matter Qualcomm is no more willing to settle than Samsung is, though the complaint does not make it clear whether this is a disagreement over the patent claims or a belief that it’s the customer’s (Samsung’s) problem.

Ultimately this suit is focused around Samsung, as Samsung is both a device integrator and the manufacturer of the Exynos line of SoCs. Meanwhile because Samsung also uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon SoCs in a number of products (including the North American editions of many phones), Qualcomm is being collared in to the suit on the basis that they are supplying some of the infringing GPUs.

This suit is not limited to just Qualcomm’s Adreno GPUs however, and also extends to ARM Mali and Imagination PowerVR GPUs as well, as Samsung has used both of those GPU families in their various Exynos designs. Overall NVIDIA believes that the Adreno 200, Adreno 300, and Adreno 400 families all violate NVIDIA’s patents, while the Mali-T628 and the PowerVR SGX (Series 5) are also explicitly named in claims.

As a result virtually all of Samsung’s modern products are affected by this suit. As part of their request for relief, NVIDIA is asking that the ITC prevent Samsung from importing products using the infringing SoCs, which would include all of Samsung’s latest products including the Note 4 and its Edge variant, the Galaxy S4 and S5, and the latest Tab tablets. As Qualcomm’s SoCs are among the accused products, this injunction would presumably extend to Snapdragon imports as well, which given Qualcomm’s heavy presence in high-end phones and tablets in the United States would make the final list of affected products far larger. However it should be noted that immediate injunctions are very rare, so it’s unlikely that an import ban would go into effect before the conclusion of the trial (if it even makes it that far).

Meanwhile in the Federal Court complaint, NVIDIA is asking for both unspecified damages (i.e. a monetary reward) and for further injunction to prevent Samsung and Qualcomm from infringing on NVIDIA’s patents. Though once again the real goal here seems to be about forming a licensing agreement rather than preventing Qualcomm and Samsung from shipping SoCs.

One of the accused infringing products: Samsung's Galaxy S5

One of the big questions of course is why NVIDIA is going after these two companies in particular, especially since they are essentially claiming that ARM Mali, Imagination PowerVR, and Qualcomm Adreno GPU families all infringe on some of these patents. The answer in turn from NVIDIA is that Samsung is the largest phone supplier in the United States, and Qualcomm in turn is the largest SoC provider while also providing the SoCs for most of those Samsung phones, so it makes sense to start at the top. NVIDIA is not talking about further legal action at this time, but the outcome of this case could have an impact on whether NVIDIA targets the suppliers (e.g. ARM and Imagination) or goes solely after additional customers and their ilk. Ultimately who is responsible for this infringement – can and should Qualcomm indemnify their customers against infringement claims like these – may be just as important as the alleged infringement itself.

Which on that subject, as part of their claims NVIDIA also points out their existing license agreement with Intel. In this NVIDIA notes that their Intel agreement covers all SoCs and CPUs shipped by Intel, including those incorporating Imagination’s PowerVR GPUs. So in the case where the SoC integrator is responsible, their licensing agreements would seem to cover any infringement regardless of who designs the infringing GPU.

Wrapping things up, at this time Qualcomm and Samsung have yet to respond to this suit. However given the scale of the suit, the complexity of the underlying technology, and the vast number of products involved, barring a quick out of court settlement this is expected to be a case that could go on for years. And even longer if it goes to appeals and/or triggers counter-suits. Altogether the ITC should have an initial response to the filing within 35 days, and if no settlement is reached the expected court date is in 2-3 years. To that end today's suit from NVIDIA will be the start of a much longer process for Qualcomm, Samsung, and the larger GPU industry as a whole.

Tesla outside of Bucket of Blood Saloon, Virginia City, Nevada. Brad Armstrong

On Thursday afternoon in Carson City, Nevada, Gov. Brian Sandoval called a press conference to discuss a “major economic development” with CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk in attendance. As expected, the Governor and Musk announced that Tesla would be joining with Panasonic to build a 10 million-square-foot battery factory outside of Reno, Nevada.

Several states—Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, and of course, Nevada—were in hot competition to get Tesla to grant them its forthcoming Gigafactory. The giant complex will cost $5 billion to build and will employ 6,500 people when fully operational. So what did Nevada offer the electric car maker to persuade it to bring its business to Reno?

Primarily, a tax incentive package that will amount to $1.2 billion in tax breaks over the next 20 years. The Reno Gazette Journal says the plan is “unprecedented in size and scope for the state of Nevada and is one of the largest in the country.” Tesla had said earlier that it was looking for at least $500 million in tax incentives from the state it chose to build its factory in—Nevada's deal comes to more than double what Tesla was hoping to get.

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Tim Wilmot has spent 25 years converting his suburban garden into a tropical paradise.

Diwong

Home Depot has not yet confirmed that a slew of fraudulent transactions came from a breach of its systems, yet an increasing body of evidence is mounting that points to a massive compromise linked to the home-supply retail chain.

Financial institutions first detected the suspected breach when a wave of fraudulent transactions on cards had been used at Home Depot. On Wednesday, journalist and blogger Brian Krebs, who originally broke the story, analyzed the zip codes of a recent batch of stolen cards offered for sale on the underground and found a 99 percent match with the locations of Home Depot's stores.

Such a correlation is a "smoking gun," Lucas Zaichkowsky, enterprise defense architect at AccessData, a digital forensics and security services firm, said in an e-mail interview. Whether Home Depot has been breached is no longer a question, he said.

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