A depiction of a local animal, just above a hand stencil, from one of the Indonesian caves. Kinez Riza

Art is one of the more enigmatic developments in human history. It simultaneously demonstrates that humans had mastered the ability to abstract images from the actual items they represented and had begun to create things without a direct benefit for survival. Since both of these are mental processes, it's impossible to link them to any change in anatomy or with the development of tools. Furthering the enigma, some of the first art we've discovered, such as the cave paintings in Europe, are remarkably sophisticated. How did such a large leap occur so suddenly?

Maybe it didn't. That's the suggestion made by the authors of a new paper that provides dates for some art left on cave walls on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The dates indicate that the cave art was created at the same time as the first European paintings, yet it was made by people who may have been out of contact with those who settled Europe since their common ancestors first left Africa. This, the authors suggest, may indicate that art was part of the "toolkit" people had when they left Africa.

This is the case of a discovery that's been hiding in plain sight. The paintings, located in a series of caves along the southwest side of the island, were first described in the 1950s. But they were initially thought to be a few thousand years old. Over the intervening years, Indonesian researchers noted that there were actually two distinct sets of art on the cave walls. One was clearly similar to works produced by Austronesians, a culture that spread across the Pacific relatively recently. But a second set—usually in hard to access locations in the caves—was stylistically distinct.

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Hotas Warthog image taken with the pricey Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Lee Hutchinson

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Our recent review of the Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog joystick-and-throttle combo was notable not only for the really cool, really expensive piece of gaming equipment it featured, but also for the much-more-expensive full-frame DSLR used to take the article’s pictures: a $3,400 Canon EOS 5D Mark III.

This is a fair amount of scratch to lay down for a camera, especially when the Internet is full of examples of pro photographers going the opposite direction, ditching bags of expensive gear in favor of smartphone cameras for most applications. The idea here is that the person, not the gear, takes the picture. And there is a (likely apocryphal) story that tells the tale of an encounter between famous novelist Ernest Hemingway and famous photographer Ansel Adams. In the story, Hemingway is purported to have praised Adams’ photographs, saying, "You take the most amazing pictures. What kind of camera do you use?"

Adams frowned and then replied, "You write the most amazing stories. What kind of typewriter do you use?"

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A missing Australian woman has survived 17 days lost in the northern Queensland bush, local reports say. Here's a quick look at the story.

A Belgian man whose adopted son travelled to Syria to join Islamic State gives an insight into life with the militants.

Over the past 40 years, evidence has turned up on Mars pointing to the presence of oxygen. This suggested that some oxygen must have been created in the early Earth’s atmosphere as well, due to the similar compositions of the two atmospheres. Before this new idea, it was widely understood that oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere originated in an event called the “Great Oxidation Event,” which occurred about 2.4 billion years ago as the first plants appeared and converted carbon dioxide to oxygen.

But a new experiment has confirmed that there is a mechanism for creating oxygen that doesn't require the presence of life. The results have implications not only for understanding the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere, but also for the study of exoplanetary atmospheres.

The experiment

The team used a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) laser to break carbon dioxide apart, leaving free carbon and oxygen. Vacuum ultraviolet has a short wavelength (a range of 200-10 nanometers) that puts it at the far end of the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Today, VUV is absorbed by the oxygen in the atmosphere (hence its name). But in the early atmosphere, VUV from the Sun could have been producing oxygen out of then-abundant carbon dioxide.

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Microsoft has a message for businesses: it's in the hardware game for the long haul, and Surface Pro 3 is the ideal machine for corporate customers, able to serve both as a laptop and a tablet.

There have been questions over Redmond's commitment to hardware from practically the moment that the company announced its first Surface tablet. These questions became louder with CEO Satya Nadella's open letter. Although the letter said that that the company would continue building Surface devices, it moved away from former CEO Steve Ballmer's "Devices and Services" concept, leaving many unsure of just how strong the software firm's commitment to hardware really was.

The company is hoping to reassure potential buyers that it's serious about hardware and that Surface Pro will offer the kind of long-term support that corporate customers want. To that end, it's making some promises and offering some new pricing options that it thinks will appeal to corporate buyers.

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Sam Machkovech

The last time Samsung released a newly designed smartphone that turned heads was in 2010—which we believe amounts to roughly 28 years ago in smartphone years. The debut Galaxy S, unlike most Android sets at the time, was noticeably clean and sleek. Users often compared its looks to the iPhone 4. But that comparison didn't hold much muster, especially when considering Samsung's love for cheap, plastic phone bodies. You only had to spin the first Galaxy around your palm once to be sure you hadn't mistakenly grabbed an iPhone.

CN.dart.call("xrailTop", {sz:"300x250", kws:["top"], collapse: true});Subsequent Galaxy S upgrades stubbornly stuck to the line's original design tenets, particularly an adherence to plastic shells. Most everyone else in the Android space upped their design game since, and while Samsung's jump from the S4 to the S5 would have benefited hugely from an aesthetic overhaul, it didn't receive one. As such, the April 2014 phone otherwise produced a collective yawn.

Finally, this fall, Samsung ticked the checkbox that drove Galaxy critics nuts for the past couple of years: a phone that looks good. The metal frame of the company's newest model, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha, is distinct and different enough from its Galaxy S peers to make people wonder: Is this a new statement device from the Korean phone giant, or is it merely a redesign slapped onto the usual Galaxy experience? Does it belong among the rest of the $199-on-contract competition?

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We reviewed the X79 Extreme11 back in September 2012. The concept was simple: divert eight PCIe lanes into an LSI SAS chip for eight more SATA ports with SAS compatibility. Then ASRock released the Z87 Extreme11 which combined the LSI chip with a port multiplier, upping the total from 8+6 to 16+6. The X79 required two PLX8747 chips to also enable x16/x16/x16/x16 + LSI, whereas the Z87 only used one PLX8747 for x8/x8/x8/x8 + LSI.

Now insert the X99 version of the Extreme11. It gets a bit tricky here, because SATA is not the only storage around. Add into the mix that the chipset supports 10 SATA ports on its own then there is the potential for something silly, or awesome, or perhaps a little of both. The X99 Extreme11 uses the same LSI SAS 3008 without the port multiplier, but add in the 10 chipset ports X99 already provides and it gives a total of 18. This LSI chip uses eight PCIe 3.0 lanes and supports RAID 0/1 only, but still allows ASRock to publish 6.1 GBps peak read/write when top end SATA drives are connected to each port.

The X99 Extreme11, similar to the Z87, uses two PLX chips to achieve x16/x16/x16/x16 support along with the LSI chip. To throw some more into the mix, the motherboard also has two Ultra M.2 slots, with both supporting PCIe 3.0 x4 connectivity and 22x110 sized drives. These M.2 x4 slots are still good for 2.8 GBps according to ASRock, and while they won’t be RAID capable in hardware, a software layer might provide an interesting project.

The motherboard will support Xeons with either UDIMMs or RDIMMs, along with ECC support. Networking is provided by two Intel NICs, the I218-V and I211-AT, with support for Teaming. The PCIe slots will support x16/x16/x16/x16 even with the 28-lane i7-5820K, although using that CPU will disable the second M.2 x4 due to the lack of bandwidth.

ASRock is keen to promote their 12-phase power design, which we see paired with large heatsinks. A heatpipe connects all three heatsinks, with the heatsink on the left there only to provide extra surface area. The chipset heatsink is also dealing with the LSI controller, hence the size and the active cooling. Users in the past often express concern about small fans like this, although it can be disconnected if the user has their own sufficient cooling.

The board has eight USB 3.0 ports, six from the chipset and two from an ASMedia controller powering two of the rear IO ports. Also onboard is a COM header, seven fan headers (only two are 4-pin), Realtek ALC1150 audio in Purity Sound 2 and a dual BIOS topology. Because of the use of 4-way PCIe, there are two connectors on board for additional VGA power, although these are molex connectors which I disapprove of. One of them is to the left of the middle of the board, making cable management a nightmare.

The Rear IO has two eSATA ports, both of which are shared with specific SATA ports on the motherboard, meaning only one can work at one time. The back panel also has a PS/2 combination connector, four USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, the two Intel network ports and audio.

In ASRock’s YouTube video promoting the motherboard, they paired the system with an 18-core E5-2699 v3, 128GB of DRAM, four GTX 780 Ti cards, two M.2 x4 drives and 18 SSDs. See you later, I need to sell a kidney and perhaps a lung as well.

I would not be surprised if the X99 Extreme11 ends up being the most expensive X99 motherboard on the market. The two PLX 8747 chips, as well as the LSI 3008, are not cheap for the end-user. Though if a user wants to wire up a large Xeon, a ton of memory, four GPUs, a dozen or more storage devices or any combination therein, then the price of the motherboard might be quite low down on the list. The X79 Extreme11 retailed for $600, so I suspect that this motherboard will be in the same ballpark.

I have requested a review sample, and hopefully we can delve into the interesting PCIe arrangement under the hood. It will be interesting to see how everything is wired up. A full specification list can be found on ASRock's X99 Extreme11 page.

Gallery: ASRock Releases X99 Extreme11: So I Heard You Like Storage

Over the last couple of years, the ultra-compact form factor (UCFF) has emerged as one of the bright spots in the troubled PC market. Intel kickstarted the category with their Sandy Bridge NUC kits in early 2013. Recognizing the popularity of this segment, other vendors also began to promote similar products. GIGABYTE targets this market segment with an extensive lineup of products under the BRIX brand. Late last year, GIGABYTE sent us their high-end vanilla BRIX, the GB-BXi7-4500. Unlike Intel's Haswell NUCs (with a i5-based SKU at the top end), this BRIX brings a Haswell i7 ULV processor into the UCFF market. Read on to find out what an i7 CPU can deliver in this form factor.

Our recent review of $140 Z97 mini-ITX boards left us wanting more. There is plenty of potential in the mini-ITX form factor even at the low end price points, so when we saw ECS’ planned Z97I-Drone at Computex this year it looked like it would provide an interesting look into the platform. Today the motherboard is unveiled, and should be heading to market shortly.

ECS’ design feature of late has centered on the ‘L33T Gaming’ branding, which means giving each of their motherboards names indicative of various gaming concepts. ‘Machine’ and ‘Domination’ have been used previously in conjunction with the ‘Gank’ name for Intel’s mainstream chipsets, whereas ‘Aggro’ is reserved for future AMD motherboards. ‘Drone’ makes a lot of sense in this context, although it was used on an ATX Z87 motherboard previously.

ECS is keen to promote the Gaming USB port, supporting a report rate of 1000 Hz, along with their ‘Hybrid Power’ which incorporates a digital power design. In terms of features we get five SATA 6 Gbps ports, an Intel I218-V network solution, an M.2 slot for WiFi/Bluetooth only, ALC1150 based audio, six USB 3.0 ports, two fan headers and ECS’ upgraded BIOS package.

The board puts the socket in the bottom right corner, up against the DRAM and PCIe slot meaning that large backplates or DRAM might interfere with large CPU cooling solutions. Similar to GIGABYTE, ECS is expanding the area around the screw holes to double the radius so errant screwdrivers do not start taking off capacitors when the board is being fitted into a case. The five SATA 6 Gbps ports are all in a row at the top, which unfortunately means the cable at the top is blocked in when locking cables are used.

The 24-pin ATX connector is well placed at the edge of the motherboard, although the 8-pin for the CPU is awkwardly placed just to the left of center, meaning any form of cable management goes out of the window. Also the two fan headers are in this area, surrounded by the SATA cables and the CPU power cable, making it difficult to organize.

The rear IO uses a block of four USB 2.0 ports (which I like), with video connectivity provided by a DVI-D, HDMI and DisplayPort. Four USB 3.0 ports, an Intel I218-V network port and audio jacks from the Realtek ALC1150 round it off.

One of the interesting elements here is the M.2 WiFi-only solution, where users will have to source their own M.2 card. Storage is disabled here, presumably in firmware, but also due to the lack of space on the motherboard. So far I have only seen M.2 WiFi on some GIGABYTE X99 models, using Intel’s 7260-AC solution. But the lack of a card here means that the ECS Drone should be around or below the $140 mark. We are awaiting full pricing details from ECS and we should be getting the board in for review as well, so stay tuned for that.

Gallery: ECS Unveils Z97I-Drone: More Mini-ITX for Haswell

Additional: We have just received word from ECS. This motherboard will have an MSRP of $110.

The tiny high definition camera called the GoPro has made its founder and chief executive a multi-billionaire after it was floated.

Version:next-20141009 (linux-next) Released:2014-10-09

Nomsa Maseko reports on the Cape Town residents still fighting to get their land back, 20 years after the end of apartheid.

An employee of defense contractor Northrop Grumman has accused the company of faking tests on its LN-100 Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System (INS/GPS). The GPS unit is installed on "various aircraft, including helicopters and unmanned drones (including the Predator drone), missiles, submarines, and other vehicles," the lawsuit said. The LN-100 provides essential positioning data to the sensitive systems.

The case was filed in September 2012 [PDF] by a plant manager named Todd Donaldson, but it was kept under seal from the company and from the public over the following two years. A Utah District Judge ordered the complaint unsealed last Friday. In the suit, Donaldson alleges that Northrop Grumman employees had been faking “pass” results for the LN-100 units, which were then sold to the US government for military and other purposes.

The tests took 10 minutes to run on each LN-100 unit. Donaldson's complaint against Northrop stated that because the LN-100 units typically failed the GPS Communication Test, “Defendant has taken to having its technicians manually key in positive responses, such that the word 'pass' appears on a print-out of the tests without the test actually being run.” Donaldson, who has worked at Northrop Grumman since 1986, said that he brought up the issue internally but was demoted, “as a result of his internal complaints regarding fake testing results on the LN -100 and other improper acts of Defendant.”

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The biggest escalation in violence in the Kashmir region in years has seen at least 16 people killed on both sides.

The Chinese government is worried that the pressure to get into the best universities is turning schools into 'exam factories'

There has been more shelling along the border between Pakistan and Indian administered Kashmir in the biggest escalation in violence in years.

Thousands of rescuers are sent to Yunnan province, China, after a shallow 6.0 magnitude earthquake forces tens of thousands of people from their homes.

Earlier today, the first Ebola patient to have been diagnosed within the US died of his infection. Thomas Eric Duncan succumbed to his illness 11 days after being admitted to the hospital. Duncan had become infected while in Liberia, but was asymptomatic until after his travels brought him to Dallas, Texas.

Also in Dallas, a sheriff's deputy has been hospitalized after exhibiting a limited set of the symptoms that are used to diagnose Ebola infection. The deputy had been in contact with some of Duncan's family members, but not the infected individual. CNN quotes an official from the Centers for Disease Control as saying that the individual, "does not have either definite contact with Ebola or definite symptoms of Ebola." Nevertheless, a local hospital has admitted him through its emergency room as a possible case of exposure.

In response to these events, the US has announced that passengers arriving from three countries where the epidemic is uncontrolled—Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, will be subjected to screening if they arrive in any of five major airports. (These are JFK, Dulles, Newark, Chicago O'Hare, and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson.) Customs staff will observe them, ask basic health questions, and screen them for fever. This will supplement the existing exit screening procedures already in place in the affected countries.

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RAF airstrikes at the beginning of October helped Kurdish forces fight Islamic State out of one of their strongholds in Iraq.