Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has been making waves lately with a slate of Android phones that are both capable and affordable. Now, the company has stepped up their game with the OnePlus 5T, a six-inch slab of color with some surprising features. First up is the six-inch AMOLED screen which sports minimal bezels, so while the screen is bigger, the phone itself is only a smidge larger than the regular “5” model.
The 5T also has another feature that’s been in the news lately: it will unlock using facial identification. The OnePlus system isn’t nearly as complicated as Apple’s Face ID – it’s mostly for convenience – and the 5T also includes a fingerprint reader on the back of the phone as the primary security measure. But it does seem to signal a bit of a trend towards using your mug as the key to unlocking your phone.
Anyway, the OnePlus 5T does pack a bunch of top-tier tech into a $500 phone. Get all the details in our hands-on review.
Wish upon a shiny orbiting art exhibit? Sure.
Normally, when satellites get launched into space, they have a job to do and they’re not there just to look pretty. But a satellite set to launch aboard a SpaceX rocket next year will do just that… and only that.
Called the Orbital Reflector, the satellite is essentially a large, highly reflective balloon that will hatch out of a small CubeSat module once it gets about 300 miles above the earth’s surface. The satellite will then inflate and eventually take the shape of an elongated diamond that will reflect sunlight and be visible with the unaided eye from Earth, usually at night. The project is a partnership between the Nevada Museum of Art and artist Trevor Paglen.
Paglen says the satellite has no other purpose other than to hopefully make people look up and try to spot the orbiting sculpture, much like people did when the first satellites were launched into space in the 1960s. A few months after launch, it will burn up in the atmosphere. Nut until then, you can track it with the Star Walk 2 astronomy app and on a dedicated website. Hit the link to check it out.
Skynet might not be real, but the possibilities of Skynet certainly are
AI is a big deal these days and we’ve got two new and very interesting stories about the emerging technology on the site right now that we hope you check out. The first is a bit about how IBM and MIT are partnering up to help steer AI away from being the nightmare many top scientists and AI researchers say it could be, and the second is a about how it could become at a total nightmare if AI-controlled autonomous weapons are developed and misused.
The second story features an 8-minute video called “Slaughterbots” that would be right at home as an episode of Black Mirror. Be warned – it’s not for the faint of heart. But it’s a powerful warning about the intersection of ambition, politics, AI, miniaturized technologies and, well, drones that can target people. Specific people. Problem is, most of the tech shown in the fictional video is all too real and readily available today.
Armed and accurate robot tech isn’t new anymore, and it’s rapidly getting better and better at what it can do, which is to kill enemies. UC Berkeley professor Stuart Russel, an AI expert, has some things to say about the tech at the end of the video, but again, we just want to say it’s probably not for kids. Check it out and leave your thoughts in the comment section on YouTube. We look forward to hearing your opinion on the matter.
We’ve got more news on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, and be sure to tune in to this week’s DT podcasts: Trends with Benefits (general tech shenanigans) on Thursdays, and Between the Streams (movie and TV topics) every Friday.
