Report shows design flaws that cause Samsung Galaxy Note7 explosions

A high resolution image from an Instrumental station shows the tight XY clearances to the battery. It's also possible to see the pocket formed by aluminum walls on all sides, which prevents the rough edges of the PCB from touching the battery pouch. (Instrumental)

An independent test by quality assurance firm Instrumental claims the Samsung Galaxy Note7’s issues have more to do with the phone’s design than with its batteries. Instrumental engineers say in a blog post that they discovered “intellectual tension between safety and pushing the boundaries” during a recent teardown of the smartphone.

The teardown showed little space between the battery and the rest of the components that the slightest pressure like sitting on the phone while in the back pocket could cause the polymer separator layers that keep the battery safe to come in contact with one another. The engineers found a thin shield protecting the battery, which could be seen as Samsung’s effort to mitigate the effects of pressure. But enough pressure applied could still squeeze the separators to a point where the positive and negative layers would touch and cause the battery to explode. Samsung hasn’t really been clear about what’s causing the Note7 to explode, this might give us a bit of an idea as to what happened with the beleaguered device.

Source: PC Mag

Google helps you let loved ones know you’re safe with Trusted Contacts app

We can’t stop bad things from happening and so Google wants to make it easier for you to reach out in case of an emergency. The tech giant has a new app called Trusted Contacts that lets you share your location with select contacts even if your phone is offline or you can’t get to it. The app will let you choose which loved ones you’d want to have access to this information. And if you’re feeling unsafe, you can share your location with these contacts. Or if your loved one is worried about you, they can request to see your location.

If things are fine from your end, you can opt to deny their request. But if you don’t respond “within a reasonable timeframe” your location will be shared automatically with your loved ones to see if they need to help you out. You can, of course, opt to stop sharing your location or change your trusted contacts as well. The app is currently available on Google Play Store and should be up on iOS soon.

Source: Google

Netflix announces Christmas special and season premiere for ‘Sense8’

For fans of the Netflix sci-fi drama Sense8, the latest news is sure to be a great Christmas gift. The show will be streaming a special on December 23 and will come back for a second season on May 5, 2017. It might seem like such a long wait since the 12-episode season was released back in June 2015. But perhaps the Christmas special could tide some of you over until the new season airs.

Sense8 is an Emmy-nominated show from Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski and The Matrix creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski. Lilly Wachowski will supposedly be stepping back from the series, though. The story focuses on eight strangers from around the world that they are “sensates” or humans who are mentally and emotionally linked.

Source: CNET

Virgin Galactic completes glide test of VSS Unity

Following a tragic crash back in 2014, Virgin Galactic tries again with the “new SpaceShipTwo” and completes the first glide test for VSS Unity. The aircraft was up in the air for 10 minutes and didn’t travel faster than Mach 0.6 but it showed how the Unity behaves in an actual flight. There will be more tests in the future and it won’t be until sometime in 2017 when rocket-powered flights will be made (perhaps even later). This all depends on how quickly Virgin Galactic gets the information before actual spaceflight happens.

Today, VSS Unity flew free for the first time. Here's a glimpse into our successful test flight this morning #SpaceShipTwo pic.twitter.com/m05UGYy7nq

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 3, 2016

Source: Engadget