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[EN VIDÉO] Incredible chemistry experiments: colored flames, fireworks. Their colors that light up the sky make the eyes of our…

As the saying goes: Above all, don’t try to do the same thing… in your own space station! Lighting a candle in space carries risks. However, this is the experience that two Chinese space station astronauts just had. They wanted to show how flames burn without gravity.

In space, flames are spherical

And in such circumstances the flames burn strangely. No teardrop shapes like on our good old earth. In space there is the rule of spherical flames. The cause lies in the weakness of the convection currents, which allow the flames to spread in all directions.

Keep in mind that since the fire aboard the Mir space station in 1997, the instructions for astronauts in this area have been quite strict. Combustion experiments on board the International Space Station are carried out in a special rack. Even if NASA has also already carried out “open” experiments. But it was on board a ship… with no crew!

The leaks ahead of the upcoming release of the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE inform us about the technical data sheet of the device. The bad news is that it couldn’t count on the same advantage as the Galaxy S21 FE in terms of the version of Android installed by default.

Front of the “classic” Samsung Galaxy S23, for illustrative purposes // Source: Frandroid – Anthony Wonner and Chloé Pertuis

The future Galaxy S23 FE, expected in the coming days along with a “FE” version of the Galaxy Tab S9 and Galaxy Buds, leaked another important piece of information in early October: it would not match its competitors in terms of the pre-installed version be ahead of Android.

As a reminder, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE (which inevitably precedes the Galaxy S23 FE) was delayed for so long that Samsung was ultimately forced to launch it with a newer Android version than expected.

No particular advantage regarding the Android version either

When it was launched in January 2022, the device was immediately equipped with Android 12… instead of Android 11. A significant advantage that allows it to benefit from longer software coverage according to the rules in force at Samsung (which promises four consecutive major Android updates before end of support).

This feature clearly makes it the only smartphone in the S21 series that is capable of Android 16, at least when the time is right. Its cousins ​​​​won’t make it past Android 15. In any case, this is an advantageous situation that future buyers of the Galaxy S23 FE are unlikely to experience.

A leaked benchmark shows us that the device would ship on Android 13, with no significant delays compared to the rest of the lineup. Unlike the Galaxy S21 FE, it would therefore not benefit from an additional year of support.

Source: SamMobile

A small disappointment is the presence of an old generation processor, confirmed by a leak a few days ago. We learned last week that the device wouldn’t benefit from a brand new processor, but rather a relatively dated SoC: the Exynos 2200 (and probably the Sanpdragon 8 Gen 1 across the Atlantic).

This chip, which was launched at the beginning of 2022, is intended to equip Samsung’s affordable premium smartphone … instead of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which is built into the Galaxy S23, S23 Plus and S23 Ultra that were launched at the beginning of the year. As SamMobile points out, the device would therefore not rely on the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 introduced in 2022, which would still have made sense.

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News JVTech The best-selling mobile phone in history is not an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, but a Nokia (and it’s 20 years old)

Published on February 10, 2023 at 8:20 p.m

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It wasn’t a very advanced phone even for its time, but it stood out for its simplicity and robustness.

A record that Apple and Samsung will have difficulty achieving

If you were asked to name the best-selling cell phone in history, you would probably think of smartphones from Apple or Samsung, two of the most popular brands today. Still, This achievement does not belong to them. To find the true bearer of this remarkable title, we must take a journey into the past, a journey that takes us back two decades, to a time when the world was very different. Do you remember what life was like in 2003? If you’re 100 years old, this may not be the right question for you, but if you’re from an older generation, you probably have an answer. On the more technical side, we at JV had broadband available in many places and as far as wireless connectivity was concerned, we were still using 2G networks.

Photo credit: Tim Samuel (Pexels)

When it came to work or study, we used our computers with Windows XP or Mac OS X (not macOS). We also witnessed the arrival of the first smartphones live. As we remembered a few years ago, the BlackBerry 6230, Sony Ericsson P900 and Nokia 6600 were among the most famous mobile phones. The latter manufacturer was the real king of the market. The device catalog was huge, knowing that Nokia was not limited to advanced phones. Understandably, the company was also looking at smaller solutions for customers with more limited budgets at the time..

Nokia had the recipe

And we say it was a smart bet because In the middle of the development of the smartphone concept, a mobile phone called Nokia 1100 tentatively appeared which was not intended for this segment. It did not stand out for its camera or its color display. It was a normal, simple cell phone, but based on a solid concept that made it as efficient as it was indestructible. When the Nokia 1100 was released in August 2003, it cost about $100. The Finns, with a global presence, wanted the phone to work even in the most demanding environments. This requirement has been translated directly into the design, with a fully enclosed keyboard that protects against dust and non-slip rubber edges, ideal in wet weather.

Photo credit: Pawel Czerwinski (Unsplash)

The phone has a monochrome screen, a flashlight, a clock, a calendar, a calculator, a stopwatch and an address book. When it came to ringtones, there were 36 options to choose from or, if you were smart enough, seven places to record your own ringtones. One of the advantages of the device was its great autonomy. Nokia’s tactic to achieve this was very simple: a battery was installed in the Nokia 1100 that was originally designed for more advanced and therefore more energy-hungry models. This was the BL-5C battery, which allowed the device to be used for more than a week without having to be connected to a charger.

This combination of features made the phone a success, although its presence went relatively unnoticed in many markets. Since its launch, it has sold more than 250 million units, more than Apple’s best-selling iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which sold around 225 million units.

Check out the Nokia 1100i on Amazon

This page contains affiliate links to specific products selected by JV for you. Any purchase you make by clicking on one of these links will not cost you more, but the e-retailer will pay us a commission. The prices shown in the article are those offered by the retailer sites at the time the article was published. These prices may vary at the sole discretion of the merchant site without notice to JV. Learn more.

Have you ever seen a dark figure out of the corner of your eye and thought it was a person, only to breathe a sigh of relief when you realized it was a coat rack or… another everyday item in your home? This is a harmless visual phenomenon, but what would happen if the same trick were used on a self-driving car or drone?

This question isn’t hypothetical, says Kevin Fu, a professor of computer science and engineering at Northeastern University who specializes in the discovery and use of new technologies.

The latter claims to have found a way to hallucinate the autonomous cars that many dream of putting on the road.

By discovering an entirely new form of cyberattack, a form of machine learning that Professor Fu and his team have dubbed “poltergeist attacks,” the researcher hopes to stay one step ahead of hackers who could exploit these technologies… with catastrophic consequences.

“There are just too many things we take for granted,” says Professor Fu. “I’m sure I do, and I don’t realize it, because we tend to reject abstract things, otherwise we would never be able to leave the house. The problem with this abstraction is that it hides things that could be tracked at a technical level, but they are rather hidden and allow certain things to be assumed. »

“It may be a one-in-a-billion chance, but when it comes to IT security, opposing parties take advantage of that one-in-a-billion chance at every opportunity,” the professor added.

This poltergeist attack goes beyond blocking or compromising technology, as is the case with other forms of cyberattacks. Professor Fu says his method creates “consistently false realities,” or optical illusions for computers that rely on machine learning to make decisions.

This type of computer attack exploits the image stabilization process found in most modern cameras, whether they are in a phone or a self-driving car. This technology is intended to detect the photographer’s movement and instability and adjust the lens to ensure the photos do not come out blurry.

“Normally it is used to improve sharpness, but because there is a sensor inside and these sensors are made of materials, if you reach the resonant frequency of these materials you can break a wine glass, like the opera singer hitting the note. “If you hit the right note, you can trick these sensors into transmitting false information,” says Professor Fu.

Ghost images (and objects)

By determining the resonant frequencies of the materials of these sensors, which are typically in the ultrasonic range, the researcher and his team were able to transmit sound waves toward camera lenses, blurring images.

“You can then start creating fake silhouettes from these blurred images,” says Professor Fu. “So if there is machine learning, for example in a self-driving car, then the computer starts making mistakes when identifying objects. »

By exploring this method, Professor Fu and his team were able to change the way self-driving cars and drones perceive their surroundings. To the human eye, the blurry images produced by a poltergeist attack might look like nothing. But by subverting a driverless car’s object detection algorithm, the silhouettes and ghosts conjured by these attacks turn anything into people, stop signs, or whatever the attacker wants – or doesn’t – to show a vehicle.

For a smartphone, the impact is significant, but for autonomous systems installed in fast-moving vehicles, the consequences could be particularly dramatic, says Professor Fu.

For example, the researcher says, it would be possible for a self-driving car to see a stop sign when there is nothing on the road, which could lead to a sudden stop on a busy road. A poltergeist attack could also cause an object, including a person or another car, to “disappear,” causing the vehicle to continue moving and drive into the invisible “object.”

“It depends on many more things, such as software configuration, but it is starting to show cracks in the digital wall that usually pushes us to trust machine learning,” says the professor.

The latter hopes that engineers will eliminate this type of vulnerability. If not, as machine learning and autonomous technologies become more widespread, Fu warns of the growing scope of this threat to consumers, businesses and the entire tech world. .

“Proponents of new technologies want consumers to adopt them, but if these technologies are not truly protected from such cybersecurity threats, people will not trust and use these new technologies,” the professor judges again. We will then see a decades-long setback where these technologies simply are not used. »

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Unless there are any last-minute surprises, we should attend the joint presentation of Google’s new smartphones, the Pixel 8, and the new operating system that orchestrates it all, Android 14.

Photo credit: 123RF

According to the community manager of Telus, a Canadian telecommunications operator, the release ofAndroid U, Android 14’s internal codename, is confirmed for all smartphones sold by Mountain View, starting with the Pixel 4a. Another claim that supports the rumor Google will introduce the Pixel 8 and Android 14 together.

Read – Android 14: A stable version is already in use on the Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro before the Pixel

The site does not provide any further information on how the major Android update will be available on devices from other brands. Samsung has been working for several months to release One UI, its own version of the operating system, as quickly as possible, ever faster, but the wait for users usually takes two long months. Will the world market leader in smartphone sales be able to deliver its updates faster? It is impossible to make progress on this point. To use the new features of Android 14 as quickly as possible, you need a smartphone Google Pixel or one of the rare Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro Integration of a beta version of the operating system.

Google Pixel will be the first to benefit from Android 14’s new features

The devices that will receive Android 14 for the first time on October 4, 2023 are:

• the Google Pixel 4a, a super convincing mid-range model in 2020
• the Google Pixel 4a (5G)
• the Google Pixel 5
• the Google Pixel 6
• the Google Pixel 6 Pro
• the Google Pixel 6a, the bestseller in the series
• the Google Pixel 7
• the Google Pixel 7 Pro
• the Google Pixel 7a

We can, of course, expect the Pixel 8, 8 Pro and 8a to benefit from Android 14 at the time of its release. None of the new features that Google offers really revolutionarybut the operating system continues to offer a series of very practical tools such as the repair mode to protect your data when you take your device to a repair shop, the ability to configure the aspect ratio depending on the application or even better information about battery health.

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[EN VIDÉO] A powerful tornado recreated by the computer. Concerned about the hundreds of tornadoes that strike the central United States each year,…

On August 30, 2023, the 899th day of its mission to Mars, PerseverancePerseverance again witnessed the passage of a mini-tornado. This phenomenon, also called the “dust devil,” had already been captured by the rover, which also recorded the sound. This time it is a short video that Perseverance offers us.

An estimated height of 2 km!

The tornado passed through Jezero Crater about four kilometers from the rover. Based on the images taken by Perseverance, the width of the dust column could be estimated at 60 meters, which was moving at almost 20 km/h. Only the base of the tornado was filmed, but thanks to the shadow created, researchers were able to estimate its total height at two kilometers.

Dust devils are phenomena that cannot be predicted, even if they occur relatively frequently, especially in the spring and summer months. The observation of a dust devil is therefore always a small event, the study of which serves in particular to better understand the dynamics of the Martian atmosphere and to refine the meteorological models and weather models of the Red Planet.

With the Venus UM773 Lite, Minisforum has created a particularly balanced mini PC that is equipped with a very good latest generation AMD processor and a wide selection of interfaces and is suitable for many purposes.

Despite its youth – the company was founded in 2018 – Minisforum has already built a strong reputation in the mini PC market, its specialty. Like its compatriots Beelink and Geekom, the Chinese manufacturer has strived to develop a wide range of miniature computers to meet different needs, always maintaining a balance between features, quality and price. And it is precisely this search for the best compromise that has attracted fans of small machines. Especially since the manufacturer doesn’t just produce serious mini PCs: Minisforum is also characterized by its speed in integrating the new available components; particularly the latest generations of Intel and AMD processors, and by its ability to offer gaming-oriented models with true dedicated graphics circuits, which is still rare in this sector. Proof that the brand wants to go fast and far and appeal to as many users as possible.

© CCM

The Venus UM773 Lite that we are testing here perfectly reflects the spirit of the manufacturer. Located in the mid-range and at a reasonable price, this minicomputer aims to cover classic needs (office automation, layout, photo editing, music creation, video editing, development, etc.) and allow you to have the fun of playing a few games without trying with real ones Compete with gaming PCs that are significantly more expensive. A machine that can do almost everything, for those looking for a good level of performance with reduced volume, for example to replace a large, old-fashioned tower. And that finds its place just as well in the office as it does in the living room or bedroom.

Venus UM773 Lite: a clever design…or not!

On a physical level, the Venus UM773 Lite fully deserves its name as a mini PC because it is compact, its square case measuring just 12.8 cm on the side and 4.8 cm in height. And without being the smallest of its kind, it fits perfectly in the hand, especially since it weighs just 630 g. Dimensions and weight allow for easy placement and transportation, even if it is not intended to replace a laptop PC. Even better, you can not only position it flat on the desk, but also vertically, thanks to a standard mount, or even attach it to the back of a screen using a Vesa adapter, also included.

© CCM

© Minisforum

On the aesthetic level, Minisforum tried originality. Not in the design of the case, which remains classic and wise, not to say banal, with its ribbed top. But in the choice of color. In addition to black, which couldn’t be more neutral, the Venus UM773 Lite is also available in pink, in a clearly girly version that always leaves an impression. Not really subtle, but this soft and bright color should find its mark!

© Minisforum

Venus UM773 Lite: exemplary connectivity

The Venus UM773 Lite also surprises, especially with its connectivity. So on the front, in addition to the main switch and a tiny reset button – which could be somewhere else given the frequency of use… – we find USB-C ports, one in USB 4.0, the other in USB 3.0 and a combo audio jack ( Microphone input and headphone line output) in stereo mini jack. The back is also well equipped with a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port, two HDMI 2.0 outputs and four USB-A sockets; two USB 3.2 Gen-2 and two USB 2.0 as well as a 19V port for external power supply. Thus, it is a very complete range that allows the connection of all types of fast or slow peripherals (keyboard, mouse, etc.) but also allows the simultaneous control of three screens via the HDMI sockets and USB 4.0. Note that with the USB 4.0 port you can reach a maximum speed of 40 Gbit/s (even 5 GB/s), which speeds up file transfers but also power a device (Power Delivery function) at up to 15 W allows (5V and 3A). There’s nothing to complain about with these choices, they clearly demonstrate the balance of the device, although we would have liked to have at least one UBB-A port on the front to make it easier to connect a USB stick. Finally, to finish the interfaces, we would like to point out that the Venus UM773 Lite has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 modules, which brings it perfectly up to date and makes it compatible with many external devices and with very high speed. wireless.

© Minisforum

Another small originality of the Venus UM773 Lite is the arrangement of its ventilation slots, all located on the sides but asymmetrically. So the slots on the front and left are responsible for introducing cool air into the case, while the slots on the right and back are responsible for dissipating the hot air transferred from the cooling system inside thanks to a large fan. And as we could see, the whole thing turns out to be as discreet as it is efficient: the heat is dissipated well and apart from an audible starting noise, the fan cannot be heard at all during normal operation, even when not in operation. For slightly more intensive treatments, we bring it processor to its limits. A remarkable solution that is very useful in everyday life for those who like to work in peace.

© CCM

Venus UM773 Lite: a latest generation Ryzen processor

However, the processor is not a starving, low-consumption model like those found in very affordable PCs limited to office automation. On the contrary, Minisforum has chosen to equip the Venus UM773 Lite with a Ryzen 7 7735HS, a recent and powerful chip that AMD presented at the beginning of the year. Manufactured in 6nm technology, this Ryzen is based on a Zen3+ architecture (Rembrandt) and operates at frequencies from 3.2 to 4.75 GHz with an adjustable thermal envelope from 35 to 54 W. Above all, the Ryzen 7 7735HS has 8 physical and 16 logical cores (threads in Anglo-Saxon literature) use 16 MB of level 3 cache, which on paper promises very good performance, like the other models of the 7xxx series such as the excellent Ryzen 7 7840HS. with which the Beelink GTR7 7840HS is equipped (see our test).

Like the other chips in this family, it integrates a graphics section (GPU) in addition to the main processor (CPU), in this case a Radeon 680M. A 12-core circuit in RDNA 2 technology, less powerful in 3D than the 780M in RDNA of the Ryzen 7 7840HS and identical to that of the Ryzen 7 6800H, but more than sufficient for classic display and not too demanding games is. Here too, Minisforum placed emphasis on balance in order to remain constant in the middle range. AMD’s promise is to offer more performance than the Iris Xe section of Intel chips, which we have already verified on other references in the series.

Venus UM773 Lite: expandable, but not easy

On the RAM side, the Venus UM773 Lite uses dual-channel DDR5-4800, the latest generation of fast RAM: a plus point that it owes to the Ryzen 7 7735HS. The amount varies between 16 and 64 GB depending on the configuration chosen, Minisforum even offers a barebones version without RAM or storage – so you can complete it yourself. The storage is based on a dedicated SSD in the M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 2.5 inch.

© Minisforum

However, if the Venus UM773 Lite is indeed upgradeable, upgrading is less easy than other mini PCs. To open the case and access the interior, you must remove the base plate by unscrewing it. To do this you will need to remove the four small rubber pads that hide the screws. Not very smart, even if Minisforum provides additional pads… Once the machine is opened, you still have to remove a heatsink to get to the NVMe slot – luckily not for the RAM banks! And to install a SATA drive, you need to use a small adapter that comes standard with the other accessories. Of course, nothing complicated, but we are far from the simplicity of operation with models from Geekom or Beelink, for example.

At this point we would like to point out that, unlike other mini PCs, the case of the Venus UM773 Lite is made entirely of plastic and has no metal structure inside. In principle, nothing serious – this is also the case with many entry-level and mid-range laptops – especially since the whole thing is well made, but you shouldn’t expect exceptional durability over the long term.

© CCM

Venus UM773 Lite: impressive performance

Apart from these reservations, the Venus UM773 Lite shows its qualities very quickly. As soon as the PC is switched on and after the conventional Microsoft updates – always long at the beginning, on every PC – you are faced with a ready-to-use Windows 11 Pro and, above all, completely without the usual unnecessary software. An excellent habit of Chinese mini PC manufacturers who ship their computers with a clean system, without antivirus programs and other commercial apps in the test that are sometimes difficult to remove. Apart from a short burst of sound at startup, the Venus UM773 Lite quickly surprises with its truly remarkable silence. Proof that Minisforum has correctly sized and adjusted its cooling system.

The Venus UM773 Lite has passed the test of classic benchmarks and does what it promises with very respectable results: 6578 points in total under Passmark, of which 25284 points for the processor, 2131 points in single-core and 10091 points in multi-core for the CPU and 27983 points for the GPU under Geekbench and 1569 points in single-core and 121682 points in multi-core under Cinebench. A really interesting assessment, which shows in particular that the Ryzen 7 7735HS has enough performance and, on the AMD side, is at the level of a Ryzen 7 5800, a Ryzen 7 Pro 7840U or a Ryzen 6900HX and a Core i9-11900KF or one ranks Core i5-13400 on the Intel side and even above an M1 Max or an M2 Pro at Apple. More than flattering for a mini PC!

Of course, processor benchmark results aren’t everything: other components also need to be taken into account, particularly RAM and storage, and most importantly, performance in real-world applications. But also everyday tasks that are carried out with office software, such as: B. editing with creative applications (audio, photo, video) confirm the performance of the Ryzen 7 7735HS. Above all, the Venus UM773 Lite is smooth and responsive on Windows: boot time is short, the software opens quickly and you switch smoothly from one application to another without feeling any slowdown, even when the ets storage is filled with dozens of active applications is tabs in a web browser.

The other good surprise is that the results of the video games are not ridiculous. For example, we recorded an average of 58 FPS with Doom Eternal, in Full HD with all details, 62 FPS with Rocket League, still in Full HD, 83 FPS in Forza Horizon 5 with less details and 72 FPS in GTA 5, very respectable! Logically, the performance in more demanding and/or less well-optimized games is much more modest: We only recorded 39 FPS in Elden Ring and 37 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077, still in Full HD, but with the lowest details. Obviously, the 680M GPU integrated into the Ryzen 7 7735HS is significantly inferior to Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3xxx and 4xxx. However, it is hardly less powerful than the 780M that the Ryzen 7 7840HS is equipped with, without competing with the “real” latest gaming PCs, the Venus UM773 Lite allows you to play many games in very suitable conditions. This should be enough for many casual gamers who don’t want to spend huge amounts of money on elite and notoriously power-hungry configurations. For the rest, it proves that ZAMD has done a really good job with its Ryzen 7xxx, which are clearly the first “all-in-one” chips with integrated GPU, which need not be embarrassed in the face of “discrete” solutions on dedicated graphics cards.

Venus UM773 Lite: an energy efficient PC

In this context, we would like to point out that the solution chosen by Minisforum to cool Venus – based on liquid metal – is quite effective, even though we have noticed processor temperature peaks around 80 °C in extreme situations. This is higher than other systems used in mini PCs, but not worrying. The energy management is quite remarkable. The Venus UM773 Lite consumes between 10 and 20 W in office use (with a word processing program or a web browser), 40 to 50 W during intensive use and peak values ​​between 70 and 80 W when the processor is under heavy load. And in idle mode it is content with just one 7 W. A good result for the electricity bill, which again indicates a controlled design.

On the communications side, there is nothing to report about the network and wireless interfaces: the speeds in both Ethernet and WiFi are excellent, and the Venus UM773 Lite easily recognized the various Bluetooth peripherals that we used (keyboard, mouse, headphones, etc .). Speaker).

Venus UM773 Lite: an excellent mini PC

Ultimately, the Venus UM773 Lite fulfills its contract perfectly. Compact, quiet, energy efficient, powerful and very well equipped in terms of connectivity, it easily replaces a classic desktop PC, both for basic tasks (office, web, video playback, etc.) and for other applications. sophisticated, demanding, fairly heavy processing (graphics creation and image editing, video editing, audio mixing, programming and virtualization, etc.). And when it doesn’t compete with real gaming PCs, it’s enough to comfortably play many titles, including action games. We particularly appreciated the performance of the latest generation processor as well as the variety of ports, which largely meet most needs, especially when using two screens. Its only real flaw lies in its development possibilities, which suffer from a somewhat delicate opening that requires several manipulations: nothing prohibitive, but we have seen much better in the world of mini PCs! If you are tempted, we also recommend that you order the Venus UM773 Lite straight away in the desired configuration in terms of RAM and storage, leaving the barebones version for do-it-yourselfers and regular customers.

As is often the case with Chinese mini PCs, the price of the Venus UM773 Lite varies greatly depending on the retailer and current, very frequent promotions. On the official Minisforum website it is currently offered for 409 euros in the barebones version, for 509 euros in the 16GB-512GB configuration and for 549 euros in the 32GB-1TB configuration, which is the most interesting in terms of the equipment/price ratio. But it can also be found at many online retailers such as Amazon or Cdiscount. Regardless, the Venus UM773 Lite appears to be one of the best mini PCs around. And it perfectly illustrates the remarkable progress AMD has made with its Ryzen 7xxx series!