A profile of Denmark-based independent consumer review platform Trustpilot, which has raised €162M and has 65M reviews of businesses worldwide — With 65m reviews, Trustpilot is learning to spot the fakes and fight back with the help of algorithms. — Would you ever book an Airbnb stay without checking the scores of the host?
Enlarge / It still has a notch! (credit: Samuel Axon)
Like the iPhone XR before it, the iPhone 11 is the default iPhone. It's priced where flagship phones used to be priced, and it offers almost all the same features as the expensive iPhone 11 Pro models that also launched this year.
Apple's iPhone lineup today is stacked with great phones at varying price points, though. So where does the iPhone 11 fit in?
That's what we'll be looking to answer in this review. And we're dubbing this a mini-review because we recently published an in-depth article on the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, and last year we published a full review of the iPhone XR. This year's changes from the iPhone XR to the iPhone 11 are quite modest, so today we'll focus on how this phone is different from this year's flagships and its direct predecessor.
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Enlarge / Nuclear rockets could be used to cut the travel time to Mars in half. (credit: NASA)
Just north of the Tennessee River near Huntsville, Alabama, there’s a six-story rocket test stand in a small clearing of loblolly pines. It’s here, in a secluded corner of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, that the US Army and NASA performed critical tests during the development of the Redstone rocket. In 1958, this rocket became the first to detonate a nuclear weapon; three years later, it carried the first American into space.
The tangled history of nukes and space is again resurfacing, just up the road from the Redstone test stand. This time NASA engineers want to create something deceptively simple: a rocket engine powered by nuclear fission.
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How NSA and US Cyber Command undertook the largest and longest offensive cyber operation in US military history to disrupt ISIS's media operations in 2016 — Toggle more options — The crowded room was awaiting one word: “Fire.” — Everyone was in uniform; there were scheduled briefings …
Amazon’s Great India Festival sale is now live and amongst the thousands of items that are on sale, there are some hefty discounts on SSDs as well. If you’ve been on the fence about upgrading your laptop or desktop computer’s storage from a regular hard drive to an SSD, this may just be the perfect time to do so. While you may have specific requirements in terms of storage space or form factor, we’ve picked out some of our favourite deals for you.
Western Digital Blue m.2 SSD (500GB)Western Digital is a staple name when it comes to storage devices. After their acquisition of Sandisk, the company has been ramping up its portfolio in the SSD segment. The WD Blue SSD is a budget-friendly SSD that is seeing a decent price drop during Amazon’s Great Indian Festival sale. With a claimed read/write speed of 3800mbps, you can definitely expect to see a marked improvement in your boot-times, if you’re coming from a hard disk. You can buy the WD Blue m.2 SSD here.
Samsung 860 Evo m.2 SSD (250GB)Samsung is known to make some of the best SSDs in the market, with many enthusiasts choosing their storage solutions over anybody else’s. The 860 Evo is a SATA SSD in the m.2 form factor and also comes in a 2.5-inch form factor. With a claimed read/write speed of up to 550/520 MB/s, the Samsung 860 EVO SSD is a good choice of SSD, especially if you just need one to function as your boot drive. You can buy the Samsung 860 EVO m.2 SSD here.
Crucial MX500 m.2 SSD (500GB)Crucial may not be one of the first names that come to mind when you think about SSDs, but don’t let that fool you. The MX500 boats of read/write speeds of up to 560/510 MB/s and a maximum write tolerance of 180TBW for the 500GB model. Seeing a pretty decent price cut on Amazon, if you want to add an m.2 SSD to your machine, the Crucial MX500 would be a good choice. You can buy the Crucial MX500 m.2 SSD here.
ADATA Ultimate 2.5 inch SSD (480GB)ADATA has been making rugged portable hard drives for years, but they make SSDs as well. Their SU650 series of 2.5-inch SSDs is seeing a price cut on amazon, with the 480GB variant being available for just Rs 4737. If you’ve been struggling to free up space on your existing 250GB SSD, or have been frustrated with the slow speeds of your hard disk, the ADATA Ulimate SU650 offers both speed and capacity at a pretty good price. You can buy this drive here.
Crucial BX500 2.5 inch SSD (960GB)For those looking for a major storage space upgrade, the Crucial BX500 is here just or that. The 960GB variant of the SSD is currently available for Rs 8,322, along with a further 5 percent discount coupon being available for the drive. The BX500 can hit read/write speeds of up to 540/500 MB/s and has a total write tolerance of 120TB. You can buy the Crucial BX500 2.5 inch SSD here.
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The crowds assembled near Boca Chica Beach on Saturday evening. [credit: Trevor Mahlmann for Ars ]
BOCA CHICA BEACH, Texas—Elon Musk spoke about his vision of a brighter future for humanity on Saturday evening, in South Texas.
Musk acknowledged that there are a lot of problems here on Earth, and it is important for those to get fixed. But it also is important to give people hope for the future, and sense of optimism. He believes the exploration of space, and human expansion into the Solar System, provides this kind of a hopeful vision.
And so, beneath a big Texas sky full of stars, he offered hope in the form of a large spaceship. Mere hours after a team of SpaceX engineers, technicians, and contractors completed assembly of a prototype of the Starship vehicle, Musk revealed it to the world. He did so in an open-air shipyard, hard by the Rio Grande River, where he intends to build dozens if not hundreds of Starship spacecraft.
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Snowden's revelations exposed the breadth and scale of NSA's surveillance and likely contributed to the NSA losing a significant portion of its capabilities — Edward Snowden recently released his memoirs. In some parts of the Internet, this has rekindled an ancient debate: namely, was it all worth it?
Paytm Mall Maha Cashback Carnival sale kicked off tonight, September 29. It will be live till October 6. Paytm is offering money-saving deals to the gadget lovers onboard. Deals range from mobile phones to computer peripherals and accessories. Hence, here is a round-up of the gadget deals offered during the Paytm Mall Maha Cashback Carnival sale.
Deals on smartphonesFor smartphone lovers, the Maha Cashback Carnival has brought about offers on a range of smartphones, including iPhones. The e-commerce platform is extending bumper cashback, free smart speakers with iPhone 7 (with effective down to Rs 24,400), and savings of flat Rs 31,000 on MRP on iPhone XR. The latter is selling for Rs 49,999 with cashback offers applied.
The e-retailer is selling phones like Samsung Galaxy A30 and A50 for a discount of up to 14 percent. Users can apply cashback offers to further bring down the deal price to Rs 14,406 and Rs 19,986 respectively. To recall, the MRP of Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50 on Paytm is Rs 18,000 and Rs 24,000 respectively.
Paytm is also providing 3-IN-1 savings on exchanging your old phone, i.e. flat cashback, exchange benefits up to Rs 17,000, and 10 percent instant discount on HDFC Bank Cards & Easy EMI on Vivo, Oppo, Redmi and Nokia smartphones. Paytm Mall’s Maha Cashback Carnival will also feature the latest market launches including Oppo A9 2020, Vivo Y Series, Oppo Reno, Vivo V17 Pro, and Samsung A50s, A30s and Samsung Galaxy Note10. Deals on popular models of Redmi and Realme are available from as low as 6,299 for budget option seekers.
You can browse more mobile phone deals here.
Deals on speakers, accessories, and smartwatchesMoreover, JBL Go 2 Bluetooth Speaker is available at Rs 1,899 with offers applied. Boat BassHeads 220 in-ear wired earphones are selling for a discounted price of Rs 559, down from Rs 999. Further, Boat Stone portable Bluetooth speakers are selling for Rs 2,799, down from Rs 6,990. You can checkout more deals on speakers here.
Coming to computer accessories, SanDisk Ultra dual 32 GB USB 3.0 OTG pen drive can be purchased for Rs 499 with an additional 10 percent cashback. Fitness enthusiasts can log onto Paytm and get Garmin, Fitbit, Noise & Apple Watches at savings up to 50 percent on MRP.
Deals on laptopsGaming enthusiasts will further be able to save up to Rs 24,000 on latest gaming laptops by Dell, MSI, and Asus. The e-commerce platform will also provide budget laptops for as low as Rs10,000. Cashbacks up to Rs. 20,000 on lightweight laptops from Asus, Lenovo, and Microsoft can also be purchased with bank offers, no-cost EMIs, and unbelievable discounts during the festive sale.
The Asus ROG GL504 (i5-8th Gen/ 8 GB/ 1 TB + 128 GB SSD/ 15.6" FHD/ Windows 10/ 4 GB graphics) gaming laptop is can be purchased for as low as Rs 71,586, down from Rs 1,01,999. More such deals can be browsed here.
All offers are subject to stock availability.
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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk delivered an update about Starship, the company’s nest generation spacecraft, which is being designed for full, “rapid reusability.” Musk discussed the technology behind the design of Starship, which has evolved somewhat through testing and development after its original introduction in 2017.
Among the updates detailed, Musk articulated how Starship will be used to make humans interplanetary, including its use of in-space refilling of propellant, by docking with tanker Starships already in orbit to transfer fuel. This is necessary for the spacecraft to get enough propellant on board post-launch to make the trip to the Moon or Mars from Earth – especially since it’ll be carrying as much as 100 tons of cargo on board to deliver to these other space-based bodies.
These will include supplies for building bases on planetary surfaces, as well as up to 100 passengers on long-haul planet-to-planet flights.
Those are still very long-term goals, however, and Musk also went into detail about development of the current generation of Starship prototypes, as well as the planned future Starships that will go to orbit, and carry their first passengers.
The Starship Mk1, Mk2 and the forthcoming Mk3 and Mk4 orbital testers will all feature a fin design that will orient the vehicles so they can re-enter Earth’s atmosphere flat on their ‘bellies,’ coming in horizontal to increase drag and reduce velocity before performing a sort of flip maneuver to swing past vertical and then pendulum back to vertical for touch-down. In simulation, as shown at the event, it looks like it’ll be incredible to watch, since it looks more unwieldy than the current landing process for Falcon boosters, even if it’s still just as controlled.
The front fins on the Starship prototype will help orient it for re-entry, a key component of reuse.
Musk also shared a look at the design planned for Super Heavy, the booster that will be used to propel Starship to orbit. This liquid-oxygen powered rocket, which is about 1.5 times the height of the Starship itself, will have 37 Raptor engines on board (the Starship will have only six) and will also feature six landing legs and deployable grid fins for its own return trip back to Earth.
In terms of testing and development timelines, Musk said that the Starship Mk1 he presented the plan in front of at Boca Chica should have its first test flight in just one to two months. That will be a flight to a sub-orbital altitude of just under 70,000 feet. The prototype spacecraft is already equipped with the three Raptor engines it will use for that flight.
Next, Starship Mk2, which is currently being built in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at another SpaceX facility, will attempt a similar high altitude test. Musk explained that both these families will continue to compete with each other internally and build Starship prototypes and rockets simultaneously. Mk3 will begin construction at Boca Chica beginning next month, and Mk4 will follow in Florida soon after. Musk said that the next Starship test flight after the sub-orbital trip for Mk1 might be an orbital launch with the full Super Heavy booster and Mk3.
Musk said that SpaceX will be “building both ships and boosters here [at Boca Chica] and a the Cape as fast as we can,” and that they’ve already been improving both the design and the manufacture of the sections for the spacecraft “exponentially” as a result of the competition.
The Mk1 features welded panels to make up the rings you can see in the detail photograph of the prototype below, for instance, but Mk3 and Mk4 will use full sheets of stainless steel that cover the whole diameter of the spacecraft, welded with a single weld. There was one such ring on site at the event, which indicates SpaceX is already well on its way to making this work.
This rapid prototyping will enable SpaceX to build and fly Mk2 in two months, Mk3 in three months, Mk4 in four months and so on. Musk added that either Mk3 or Mk5 will be that orbital test, and that they want to be able to get that done in less than six months. He added that eventually, crewed missions aboard Starship will take place from both Boca Chica and the Cape, and that the facilities will be focused only on producing Starships until Mk4 is complete, at which point they’ll begin developing the Super Heavy booster.
In total, Musk said that SpaceX will need 100 of its Raptor rocket engines between now and its first orbital flight. At its current pace, he said, SpaceX is producing one every eight days – but they should increase that output to one every two days within a few months, and are targeting production of one per day for early in Q1 2019.
Because of their aggressive construction and testing cycle, and because, Musk said, the intent is to achieve rapid reusability to the point where you could “fly the booster 20 times a day” and “fly the [starship] three or four times a day,” the company should theoretically be able to prove viability very quickly. Musk said he’s optimistic that they could be flying people on test flights of Starship as early as next year as a result.
Part of its rapid reusability comes from the heat shield design that SpaceX has devised for Starship, which includes a stainless steel finish on one half of the spacecraft, with ceramic tiles used on the bottom where the heat is most intense during re-entry. Musk said that both of these are highly resistant to the stresses of reentry and conducive to frequent reuse, without incurring tremendous cost – unlike their initial concept, which used carbon fibre in place of stainless steel.
Musk is known for suggesting timelines that don’t quite match up with reality, but Starship’s early tests haven’t been so far behind his predictions thus far.
Growing in number by the day, the Thin and Light laptop is designed for users who prefer a more compact computing device with the same computing power as Mainstream models. In exchange, these users give up on full-size ports and large hard drives—on some models at least. Here’s a list of the best Thin and Light Laptop deals you can find on this year’s Amazon Great Indian Festival 2019 sale:
HP Pavilion x360 (Buy it here)This one here is not just a Thin and Light model but a Convertible one as well, which means you can flip the screen around to make it a tablet. The variant on offer during the sale features an Intel 8th Gen Core i7 CPU combined with 8GB of RAM and 16GB of Intel Optane memory. A 1TB hard drive will take care of your storage needs. There’s even an Nvidia GeForce MX130 graphics card built into the laptop. Bundled with Windows 10 and Office, this laptop weighs 1.59 kilogrammes.
Deal Price: Rs 72,990 List Price: Rs 1,01,557.50 Discount: 28 percent
HP 14q cs0018TU (Buy it here)Here’s a fine option for anyone looking to get a laptop with a solid-state drive in it. Instead of a capacious hard drive, the HP 14q on offer during the sale gets a 256GB solid-state drive, which means you can enjoy quick boot times and increased read-write speeds. The variant in question is powered by an Intel Pentium Gold Dual-core CPU along with 4GB of RAM. Windows 10 comes pre-installed on this 1.47-kilogramme laptop. It’s ideal for basic tasks, including light browsing and online video playback.
Deal Price: Rs 19,990 List Price: Rs 29,227 Discount: 32 percent
Asus VivoBook X407 (Buy it here)This Thin and Light Asus model here is ideal for those on a budget. This particular variant here is powered by an Intel 7th Gen Core i3 CPU combined with 4GB of RAM and 1TB of hard drive space. Weighing in at 1.55 kilogrammes, the laptop comes with Windows 10 pre-installed on it. The display is a 14-inch HD unit. According to Asus, the laptop will charge from 0 to 60 percent in 49 minutes.
Deal Price: Rs 25,990 List Price: Rs 37,990 Discount: 32 percent
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 (Buy it here)Regarded by many as the MacBook equivalent from Microsoft, the Surface Laptop 2 is ideal for those who want a premium Windows 10 computing experience on a well-engineered Thin and Light laptop. With a new Surface Laptop model around the corner, this sale becomes the perfect time to get the Surface Laptop 2 at a reduced rate. The variant on offer during the sale comes with an Intel 8th Gen Core i5 CPU with 8GB of RAM. Storage is handled by a small but speedy 128GB solid-state drive. The laptop weighs 1.25 kilogrammes.
Deal Price: Rs 76,990 List Price: Rs 92,999 Discount: 17 percent
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With an ever-increasing population of Thin and Light laptops, Mainstream models are slowly becoming an underrated category of laptops. But for those who need a reliable workhorse with multiple port options and maybe even a dedicated graphics card, they’re still undeniably relevant. Here’s a look at the best deals on Mainstream laptops during this Amazon Great Indian Festival 2019 sale:
HP 15 (Buy it here)The HP 15 on offer during the sale is for those who want a moderately powerful Mainstream laptop for everyday work and play. It’s powered by an Intel 7th Gen Core i5 CPU combined with 8GB of RAM. Storage is taken care of by a 1TB hard drive. Windows 10 and Microsoft Office Home & Student 2016 come pre-installed on this 2-kilogramme laptop.
Deal Price: Rs 38,990 List Price: Rs 54,841 Discount: 29 percent
Lenovo IdeaPad S145 (Buy it here)The IdeaPad S145 is an ideal choice for those of you who want nothing but the latest even with their entry-level laptop. The 2019-launched IdeaPad S145 is Lenovo’s newest model in its entry-level laptop range. The variant on offer during the sale comes with an Intel 8th Gen Core i5 CPU along with 8GB of RAM, making it suitable for slightly heavier tasks, including online video playback and slightly heavy browsing. Storage is handled by a 1TB hard drive. Windows 10 comes pre-installed with the device and it weighs 1.85 kilogrammes.
Deal Price: Rs 28,990 List Price: Rs 45,390 Discount: 36 percent
Lenovo IdeaPad 330 (Buy it here)Last year’s Lenovo IdeaPad 330 may have been succeeded by this year’s IdeaPad S145 but that’s no reason to shun it, especially during a sale. Listed in our books as a budget and mainstream model, it’s ideal for lightweight tasks, such as checking email and playing offline media, the IdeaPad 330 is a fine choice. The variant on sale is powered by an Intel 7th Gen Core i3 CPU and 4GB of RAM. There’s an inbuilt 1TB hard drive storage. There’s no Windows 10 pre-installed on the laptop, so you can always choose to install an OS of your choice using the inbuilt optical disc drive. Read our review of it here.
Deal Price: Rs 23,990 List Price: Rs 43,290 Discount: 45 percent
Dell Vostro 3480 (Buy it here)This Dell laptop on offer during the sale is for those who prefer something a little lightweight. The variant in question offers an Intel 8th Gen Core i3 CPU combined with 4GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive. Weighing in at 1.72 kilogrammes, the laptop comes with Windows 10 pre-installed. The display is a 14-inch HD unit. The laptop supports TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0 for increased enterprise safety, so it becomes an ideal option for small and medium businesses.
Deal Price: Rs 27,490 List Price: Rs 38,091 Discount: 28 percent
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Ashley Carman / Bloomberg : Over 40K Audible books are marked as having been made with an AI “virtual voice”, saving authors hundreds or ...
