The first reports were right: LG is leaving the phone market. With long-term losses and, occasionally, esoteric devices that never sell, it makes business sense. LG’s dual-screen phones (and the promise that we will never see now) have not been enough to keep consumers away from companies like Apple and Samsung.
Engadget
At the end of 2020, its share of the global phone market was estimated to be about 1.7 percent, and LG announced that it would outsource the design of more of its low- and mid-range handsets to third parties.
The company will not announce any new smartphones, but will sell through the remaining stock of phones, so if you’re looking for one, keep an eye out for settlement prices.
– Mat Smith
It can help to understand airborne illnesses and solve crimes.
Getty
Researchers at Queen Mary University in London have shown that it is possible to collect “environmental DNA” (eDNA) from air, using a peristaltic pump and pressure filters to collect DNA samples from naked mole rat. The method not only located the DNA of the mole rats (both in their homes and in the living room in general), but it also captured part of the human DNA at the same time.
Although the method was built for conservation and ecological study, it could be used for much more, with a lot of development. Forensic units can take DNA from the air to determine if a suspect was present at a crime scene. It can also be useful in medicine, to better understand how airborne viruses (like the one behind COVID-19) spread. Keep reading.
Sorry, but I still have time for drone shows.
Genesis
Hyundai-owned car brand Genesis marked its entry into China by launching 3,281 drones into the sky, breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest number of unmanned aerial vehicles in the air at the same time. The show itself came back on March 29, but Guinness has to check that sort of thing. Expect to see the broken record again.
Shenzhen Damoda Intelligent Control Technology flew ‘just’ 3,051 drones in September 2020, which broke a record set by a performance of 2,200 drones in Russia a few days earlier. If you are looking to break that record, you may want to stock up on drone batteries now. Keep reading.
Ingenuity is about to make history in a matter of days.
NASA
NASA confirmed that its Perseverance rover implanted its UAV, called Ingenuity, on Mars after a final 10-cent fall on the Red Planet’s soil on April 3. The only challenge now is to get to the flight itself, which can take place as early as April 11th. For now, Ingenuity needs to recharge using its own solar cells, ready for its first trip – a 30-second hover. Keep reading.
The data has been circulating privately since January.
Hackers have been sharing a large amount of Facebook personal data since January. Security researcher Alon Gal found that a user on a hacker forum made the entire data set public, exposing details of about 533 million Facebook members. The data includes phone numbers, dates of birth, e-mail addresses and locations, among other revealing information. About 32 million users are in the United States, while 11 million are from the United Kingdom and another 6 million are from India. Keep reading.