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Leak shows Samsung’s fashionable Galaxy Z Flip Thom Browne Edition

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It’s not certain just where the Thom Browne model will sell besides “certain countries,” but it could make an already expensive phone (reportedly close to $1,500) that much costlier. Reports have claimed this variant will cost upward of 3 million won in South Korea, or about $2,500 — you’ll have to be very, very committed to stylish tech to pick this up.

This isn’t even the only big last-minute leak. WinFuture‘s Roland Quandt managed to buy the Galaxy Buds+ in advance and posted a lengthy hands-on video for the true wireless earbuds. He found them to be a “decent upgrade” overall, with a clear improvement in battery life — he had half a charge left after roughly 3.5 hours of “loud punk rock.” While the lack of active noise cancellation won’t make AirPods Pro or WF-1000XM3 owners envious, Samsung’s updated buds appear to address some of the complaints from the originals.



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NASA’s Solar Orbiter is on its way to observe the Sun’s poles

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The unique thing about the Solar Orbiter is that it will observe the Sun’s poles, rather than the equator that we usually see. To do that, the Solar Orbiter will pass close to Venus on each of its orbits, getting a gravity assist that will push it closer to the sun and “lift it out of the ecliptic plane,” NASA wrote. (ESA and NASA’s 1990 Ulysses spacecraft also achieved an inclined orbit, but carried no cameras to capture images of the poles.)

The Solar Orbiter is roughly the size of a large van, and will house 10 instruments to capture data on the Sun’s magnetic field, atmosphere, flares and more. It will itself be protected by a titanium shield that’s coated with a special material called SolarBlack. That will allow it to withstand temperatures of over 600 degrees C (1,100 degrees Fahrenheit).

Getting access to the poles is crucial to solar science. Every 11 years, the Sun’s poles flip around completely from negative to positive, beginning a new cycle of solar activity. During the solar maximum, sunspots and solar flares can send energized particles barreling towards the Earth. While our magnetic field blocks most of those, it can be overwhelmed during particularly violent solar storms.

That can place satellite, power stations in jeopardy, and could be particularly dangerous to unprotected astronauts. “Together with our European partners, we’re entering a new era of heliophysics that will transform the study of the Sun and help make astronauts safer as they travel on Artemis program missions to the Moon,” said NASA associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen in a statement.

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The Morning After: Sony and Amazon skip MWC over coronavirus concerns

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The Aqua offers luxury sea travel without the usual environmental guilt.
Bill Gates is the first to buy a hydrogen-powered ‘superyacht’

Bill Gates’ investments in eco-friendly tech apparently include one of the more conspicuous symbols of his wealth. The former Microsoft chief has ordered the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell-based “superyacht.” The roughly $644-million, 370-foot boat has five decks, space for 14 guests and 31 crew members and even a gym, but it runs on two 1MW motors fuelled by supercooled hydrogen tanks.

Sinot even uses gel-based fire bowls to keep passengers warm outside instead of burning coal or wood. It won’t be a fast mover with a 17-knot top speed (19.6MPH), but its 3,750-mile range should be enough for cross-ocean travel. Aqua isn’t expected to reach the sea until 2024 — hopefully in time for our Waterworld future.

The company scooped itself two days before its event.
Samsung revealed the Galaxy Z Flip in an Oscars ad

Nope, there really isn’t much more to say until we handle one ourselves. But if you like ads, here you go.

The event is still happening, but it’s quickly losing companies.
Amazon is the latest to pull out of MWC over coronavirus worries

Amazon has withdrawn from the tech trade show over the “outbreak and continued concerns” around the virus. The company was going to the late-February event to push Amazon Web Services rather than anything consumer-facing, but it’s still a big blow when MWC has already lost multiple companies.

Genetic defects might have played a part.
‘Resurrected’ mammoth DNA helps explain why the species went extinct

Reviving the woolly mammoth is still a tall order. However, technology might be far enough along to help explain why the elephant precursor went extinct in the first place. Scientists have ‘resurrected’ genes from a population of mammoths that survived on a Siberian island until around 4,000 years ago to see what might have contributed to this relic herd dying out. They compared genetic material against both other mammoths and Asian elephants to look for problematic mutations based on known genetic behavior. There were issues with male fertility, neurological development, insulin signalling and even the ability to smell flowers. The study doesn’t, however, provide a full explanation for why woolly mammoths finally died out. Most of them (along with other species) were wiped out by a changing climate that eliminated the tundra they needed to survive.

But wait, there’s more…

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Sony withdraws from MWC and will launch phones on YouTube instead

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“As we place the utmost importance on the safety and well-being of our customers, partners, media and employees, we have taken the difficult decision to withdraw from exhibiting and participating at MWC 2020 in Barcelona, Spain,” the company wrote. Instead of holding a press conference live at the event, Sony will host one on its official Xperia YouTube channel.

According to leaks, the Xperia 5 Plus will be a 6.6-inch OLED phone, with triple rear cameras and a time-of-flight sensor for bokeh-tastic portrait photos. It could also have a cutout-free 8-megapixel selfie phone, stereo speakers and a side mounted fingerprint sensor.

So far, NVIDIA, Amazon, LG and Samsung (to a more limited extent) are among the major exhibitors to back out of MWC. “As CNET’s Katie Collins noted on Twitter, “it’ll just be a bunch of journalists knocking around an empty conference center twiddling their thumbs at this rate.”



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Netflix films won just two Oscars after ‘Parasite’ swept major awards

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Last week, CEO Ted Sarandos rejected the idea of a film industry pushback. “A pushback? Nobody can say that with a straight face, he told the New York Times. “We got 24 nominations, the most of any studio. Our films have been honored across the board.” However, given that the streaming service spent $70 million lobbying for its films, the resulting lack of Oscars (and Globes) has to considered a failure.

Netflix wasn’t the only studio feeling the sting of losing, however, as best picture favorites 1917 and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood failed to take the big trophy. Instead, Parasite became the first foreign language film to win best picture, and swept other major awards: best director for Bong Joon-ho, best original screenplay and best international feature. “I’m ready to drink tonight,” joked Bong.

Other major awards went to traditional studios, with Joaquin Phoenix winning best actor for Joker, Renee Zellweger taking the best actress prize for Judy and Brad Pitt taking best actor in a supporting role for Once upon a Time… in Hollywood. Toy Story won for best animated feature and, as expected, Roger Deakins took the cinematography prize for 1917. For the complete list of winners, check here.

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Blood-drawing robot is supposedly more accurate than humans

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It’s relatively easy to draw blood from a patient with easy-to-access veins, but much harder for patients without visible or palpable veins, and particularly with emaciated patients. In those cases, staff might have to resort to using an ultrasound machine to see veins more clearly.

The blood-sampling robot just skips straight to that step, using built-in ultrasound tech to guide the placement of the needle. The complete system also includes a module to handle samples and a centrifuge-based blood analyzer.

With easy to access veins, the machine can successfully draw blood 97 percent of the time, and had an overall success rate of 87 percent for 31 participants, the researchers said. According to the report, clinicians fail between 27 and 60 percent of the time for patients with difficult-to-access veins, depending on the nature of the problem. As a Redditor pointed out, however, the machine seems to have a lower success rate than medical personnel for difficult-to-access veins, other than for emaciated folks.

The robot is still a prototype and researchers could potentially improve its success rate, though. It could one day be used in ambulances, besides and emergency rooms for procedures like IV catheterization, dialysis and placing arterial lines. “A device like ours could help clinicians get blood samples quickly, safely and reliably, preventing unnecessary complications and pain in patients from multiple needle insertion attempts,” said lead author Josh Leipheimer.

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Bill Gates is the first to buy a hydrogen-powered ‘superyacht’

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Sinot even uses gel-based fire bowls to keep passengers warm outside instead of burning coal or wood. It won’t be a fast mover with a 17-knot top speed (19.6MPH), but its 3,750-mile range should be enough for cross-ocean travel.

The vessel isn’t completely eco-friendly, though. As dockside hydrogen filling stations are more than a little rare, the Aqua will have a diesel engine backup to help it reach port.

Aqua isn’t expected to reach the sea until 2024. It’s easy to bing up criticism of the purchase. Couldn’t the money for this yacht go toward funding electric and hydrogen vehicle projects that could have more of an impact than one boat meant for pleasure cruises? Like Gates’ investment in the sunlight electricity startup Heliogen, though, this may be as much about symbolic support for zero-emissions technology as anything else — in this case, proof that powered boats don’t have to make a huge dent in the environment.

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Samsung revealed the Galaxy Z Flip in an Oscars ad

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The ad confirms a lot of what we’ve already seen in leaked hands-ons, but with a much better look at it when it’s fully folded. There appears to be a secondary display on the back that will flash a caller ID when there’s an incoming call, and you might even be able to answer the call with the phone “closed.” The ad also shows the phone sat on the table at a 90 degree angle for video chats.

We don’t yet know a ton about the phone however. WinFuture’s Roland Quandt says that it’ll likely carry last year’s Snapdragon 855+ processor and a 3,300 mAh battery and two primary cameras. There’s speculation that it’ll cost almost $1,400 sans contract and might be on sale as early as February 14th.

We’ll be there on the ground at the Samsung event this Tuesday, where we hope to confirm these details and more.



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Amazon is the latest to pull out of MWC over coronavirus worries

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LG, NVIDIA and Ericsson had already pulled out of the how in recent days. Samsung is also believed to have scaled back its presence, although it should still have a footprint at the show. Huawei and ZTE are still attending despite the outbreak having its roots in China, although they’ve told Chinese staff to isolate themselves and have pulled in European workers to cover for employees who can’t go.

MWC has maintained that the trade show will go on, but it’s implementing measures that include an outright ban on guests from China’s Hubei province (where the outbreak began), temperature screening and proof that people who’ve been to China haven’t been to the country in the past 14 days.

There’s a lot of time to go between now and MWC’s February 24th start, though, and the rapid-fire departures raise questions about what the show will be like by opening day. Although there are still major names left, there’s now a greater temptation for them to bow out — both because of the coronavirus and the absence of would-be business partners.

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LG’s big phone this spring may be the V60, not the G9

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For the longest time, LG’s phone releases ran like clockwork: you could expect a G series phone around Mobile World Congress in late February, while V series devices would appear either in the fall or when LG had some big new feature to promote. It appears to be shaking things up this year, however. Well-known leaker Evan Blass has posted promotional images suggesting that the phone previously thought to be the G9 is actually the V60 ThinQ, which would ‘bump’ the G series as the spring flagship device. It’d have the loaded specs you’d expect, including four rear cameras, four mics, a headphone jack and a beefy 5,000mAh battery.



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