A former OceanGate contractor, Antonella Wilby, testified before a U.S. Coast Guard panel on Friday that the company’s Titan submarine, which imploded last year during a dive to the Titanic’s wreckage, relied on an incredibly convoluted navigation system.
As Wilby described it during the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation hearing, the Titan’s GPS-like ultra-short baseline (USBL) acoustic positioning system generated data on a sub’s velocity, depth, and position using sound pings.
That information is typically automatically loaded into mapping software to keep track of a sub’s position. But Wilby said that for the Titan, the coordinate data was transcribed into a notebook by hand and then entered into Excel before loading the spreadsheet into mapping software to track the sub’s position on a hand-drawn map of the wreckage.
The OceanGate team tried to perform these updates at least every five minutes, but it was a slow, manual process done while communicating with the gamepad-controlled sub via short text messages. When Wilby recommended the company use standard software to process ping data and plot the sub’s telemetry automatically, the response was that the company wanted to develop an in-house system, but didn’t have enough time.
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Wilby was later taken off the team and flew home after telling supervisors, “This is an idiotic way to do navigation.” She also testified that after Dive 80 in 2022, a loud bang / explosion was heard during the Titan’s ascent and that it was loud enough to be heard from the surface.
This mirrors testimony given yesterday by OceanGate’s former scientific director, Steven Ross. Like Wilby, he said that the sound was attributed to a shifting of the pressure hull in its plastic cradle, although Wilby testified that there were only “a few microns” of damage.
According to Ross, six days before the Titan submarine imploded, the sub’s pilot and the company’s co-founder, Stockton Rush, crashed the vessel into a launch mechanism bulkhead while the vessel was attempting to resurface from Dive 87. The incident was caused by a malfunction with a ballast tank, which inverted the submarine, causing other passengers to “tumble about,” according to the Associated Press. No one was injured during the incident, but Ross said he did not know if an inspection of the sub was carried out afterward.
At the Montalegre circuit in Portugal, electric vehicles and combustion engine cars are racing against each other in an FIA-championship event for the first time. The FIA, or International Automobile Federation, is the governing body behind some of the biggest motorsport championships, including Formula One. Billed as the “Battle of Technologies”, the FIA World Rallycross Championship sees both technologies compete on equal terms, with each vehicle having advantages and disadvantage that must be balanced in order to win races.
Rallycross races take place on mixed-surface racetracks, and while the electric cars have instant torque, and about 100 more horsepower, giving them an advantage on long straights, the internal combustion engine (ICE) cars – which run on sustainable fuel that is made of “70% of sustainable components”, the fuel manufacturers say – are around 160 kilograms lighter, giving them better handling around corners.
“The battle of technologies just adds a little bit more excitement to what we already call the most exciting world championship that we have within the FIA,” says Arne Dirks, managing director of FIA World Rallycross.
After going fully electric in 2022, the sport has been struggling to impress its long-term base of combustion fanatics, and following a fire in 2023 that destroyed two electric cars, the format needed a rethink. “The fire certainly didn’t help our sport,” says Dirks, “of course, it influenced the decision to go that way”.
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So, despite Dirks telling New Scientist in 2022 that the electric transition meant “the old sport doesn’t exist anymore”, combustion engines are back. This time, however, the teams can choose their technology. Currently, about half the paddock has retained electric vehicles. “[The]combustion engine is technology of the past,” says Susann Hansen, team manager at Hansen Motorsport, who elected to stick with electric cars this season. “For us, it was not only a business decision to go into electric. It was also a personal belief that we need to do something. That I can look my children and my grandchildren in the eye to say we have done something,” she says.
For Dirks and others in the paddock, this is only the start of what is possible. “The battle of technologies is at the moment EV cars against ICE’s, but I think as a championship, we should be open also to new technologies,” he says.
The ringing in of a new year was quickly followed by the ringing in of a new era of technological innovation at CES 2023. Brands across categories unveiled their latest, greatest, and most forward-thinking solutions to consumer pain points.
Here are a few innovations introduced at CES that stood out to Mintel’s tech and media experts:
Brian Benway, Research Analyst – Gaming and Entertainment
Sony showed several interesting new pieces of hardware at CES 2023, including their take on an accessibility controller, tentatively called Project Leonardo. However, the bigger reveal was the much anticipated PlayStation VR2. With Meta/Oculus/Facebook seemingly on a cooling-off period after laying off 11,000 workers shortly after revealing its Meta Quest Pro, Sony’s sequel product could be poised to take a more dominant position in the Virtual Reality space. Featuring 4k visuals, intelligent eye-tracking that almost makes a player’s vision another controller, and an adjustable wide field of view, the product is a feature-rich match for the PlayStation 5. With that said, it still requires a matched PlayStation 5, bringing the total price tag for this experience closer to the Meta Quest Pro cost level. Starting with a digital-only model PS5 at $399, adding the VR2 hardware for $549 brings the entry-level experience to $949. That’s without factoring in additional costs such as controller charging, high-quality audio options, or even games.
Image Source: PlayStation
Speaking of software, Horizon: Call of the Mountain is reportedly as amazing a VR experience as the current VR gaming king Half-Life: Alyx, but in order for PlayStation VR2 to reach these heights, Sony had to forgo backward compatibility with previously purchased titles. Sony, and the budding Virtual Reality industry in general, continue to reach great heights of technological achievement, but may continue to be brought down by the equally great costs for the foreseeable future.
John Poelking, Research Manager – Tech, Media, and Telecom One of the most important advancements at CES 2023 wasn’t a device or a service, but a new standard called Matter. Matter was developed in collaboration with many big brands (including Apple, Google, Samsung, and Amazon) to create a consistent standard making it easier to set up and connect a wide range of devices. Matter also connects devices locally so it doesn’t need to go through the cloud, cutting down on latency. A new standard like this should also encourage innovation from brands that won’t need to worry as much about cross-device compatibility.
Image Source: Connectivity Standards Alliance
Smart home systems have become more instrumental in consumers’ lives as the technology powering them has become more intuitive and less expensive. The promise of a more cohesive cross-brand ecosystem could lighten the pain points of a disjointed ecosystem, and create more justification for internet providers to include new smart home hardware in upcoming promotions.
Jenni Nelson, Research Analyst – Tech and Media The most buzzed-about home health tracking devices at CES 2023 are going down the toilet – literally. At least four different monitors were on display that claimed to monitor biomarkers in urine in order to provide a nearly-instant snapshot of the user’s health. The most popular in terms of press coverage is Withings wifi-enabled U-scan prototype. U-Scan is a flat, circular device that hangs over the front edge of a toilet, much like toilet bowl cleaners. It can sense when someone is urinating, prompting a pump to pull a small amount of urine into the unit. Inside is a cartridge with many microfluidic assays which are then run in front of the device’s infrared scanner to check gravity (ie chemical particles), pH, Vitamin C and ketone levels. Results and actionable insights are shared via Withings’s Health Mate app. The cartridges are refreshed after each use, and the company claims the device is smart enough to distinguish between users in the same household. Currently, there are two cartridges in the works: one to measure nutrition and hydration, and another to track menstrual cycles.
Image Source: Withings
It hasn’t yet been approved by the FDA, so a US release will follow Europe’s, which is scheduled for Q2 2023. The most basic model will cost about $500 with replacement cartridges around $30. As personal health tracking matures, moving beyond a smartwatch or ring is the next step – wearable devices have reached their limit in terms of what biometrics they can track without piercing the skin. Given that urine analysis is already widely used to detect a plethora of illnesses, a home-based version isn’t far-fetched. It could be a game changer for those monitoring kidney and liver diseases or diabetes, either for themselves or for others within the home. It could also cut down on the number of clinic visits and lab tests among patients, freeing up time, effort and expense for both patients and the healthcare industry alike.
Nicole Bond, Associate Director – Marketing Strategy While new TVs with enhanced specs and capabilities are nothing new for CES, start-up Displace TV flipped the script by delivering a new kind of “wireless” TV that has opened the door to the next chapter of TV device advancements. The 55-inch 4K TV promises to alleviate the burden of wire clutter and deliver a truly innovative experience for at-home entertainment. The Displace TV will be powered by a proprietary hot-swappable battery system, weigh less than 20 lbs, bypass the need to permanently damage walls with a mount, and provide the flexibility of multiple screens operating at once to deliver a completely innovative role of TV in the home. The start-up’s innovation uses active-loop vacuum technology to stick to any wall, and can be moved around the home at the user’s preference. While sticking a TV to a wall and trusting that it stays put may make some consumers nervous, the appeal of not having to deal with cord management is likely universal.
Image Source: Displace TV
The device is also modular, meaning it can be used in a combination of multiple Displace displays to form customizable TV sizes. The flexibility and aesthetic appeal of the new device mark a shift in the role of TV in the home. Not only is it about having the best specs, but it is also now about the entire user experience from start to finish. It puts control back in the hands of consumers, and opens the door to immense opportunities to change the way TVs have been perceived. Displace has addressed common consumer pain points while innovating based on modern technology to truly build out a one-of-its-kind (for now) experience with a household staple. It pointed to how the future of TVs can and will evolve to better serve the needs of consumers at home. Notably, LG also presented M3—a wireless, port-less 97-inch OLED TV that would also operate on Wi-Fi 6 and offer a cordless appeal. Despite its teaser, LG did not mention the price or release date of its wireless model, which suggests it may be a ways off. Meanwhile, reservations for Displace TV are open, and are expected to be available to ship by late 2023.
If you are a Mintel client, please reach out to your Account Manager for additional information and key takeaways from CES, otherwise for more information on how Mintel experts can help your brand strategize future initiatives, click here.
Strands is a brand new daily puzzle from the New York Times. A trickier take on the classic word search, you’ll need a keen eye to solve this puzzle.
Like Wordle, Connections, and the Mini Crossword, Strands can be a bit difficult to solve some days. There’s no shame in needing a little help from time to time. If you’re stuck and need to know the answers to today’s Strands puzzle, check out the solved puzzle below.
You start every Strands puzzle with the goal of finding the “theme words” hidden in the grid of letters. Manipulate letters by dragging or tapping to craft words; double-tap the final letter to confirm. If you find the correct word, the letters will be highlighted blue and will no longer be selectable.
If you find a word that isn’t a theme word, it still helps! For every three non-theme words you find that are at least four letters long, you’ll get a hint — the letters of one of the theme words will be revealed and you’ll just have to unscramble it.
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Every single letter on the grid is used to spell out the theme words and there is no overlap. Every letter will be used once, and only once.
Each puzzle contains one “spangram,” a special theme word (or words) that describe the puzzle’s theme and touches two opposite sides of the board. When you find the spangram, it will be highlighted yellow.
The goal should be to complete the puzzle quickly without using too many hints.
This time around we’re comparing the the smallest flagships from the two largest smartphone manufacturers in the world. This is the Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S24comparison. Granted, the iPhone 16 Pro is not the base model in the iPhone 16 series, but it is the smallest flagship in the series aka the smallest ‘Pro’ iPhone 16 model. So, this comparison does make sense, as the Galaxy S24 is by far the smallest smartphone in the Galaxy S24 family.
With that being said, the iPhone 16 vs Galaxy S24 comparison is also on the way. The iPhone 16 Pro is notably more expensive than the Galaxy S24, so keep that in mind. We will first list the specifications of these two smartphones, and will then move to compare them across a number of different sections. We’ll compare the designs of the two phones, their displays, performance, battery, cameras, and audio output. Let’s get down to it.
Specs
Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S24, respectively
The iPhone 16 Pro is made out of titanium and glass. On the flip side, the Galaxy S24 utilizes aluminum and glass. Both smartphones have flat sides all around, which are curved towards the very edges. They both include flat front and back sides too, and have a similar curvature on the edges. Well, the iPhone 16 Pro is curved more in that area, but neither phone is close to having sharp edges.
Apple’s handset has a pill-shaped cutout at the top of the display, the so-called Dynamic Island. Samsung’s device has a small display camera hole up there. Both devices do have very thin bezels around the display, which are also uniform. On the right-hand side of the iPhone 16 Pro you’ll find a power/lock key and the Camera Control button. On the left, the volume up and down buttons are located, along with an Action Button. The Galaxy S24, on the other hand, has the power/lock key on the right, along with the volume up and down buttons, and that’s it.
Both smartphones have three cameras on the back, but those setups look considerably different. The iPhone 16 Pro has its recognizable camera island in the top-left corner. The Galaxy S24’s cameras protrude directly from the backplate and are vertically-aligned in the top-left corner. The iPhone 16 Pro does have a slightly bigger display, and it’s taller and wider than the Galaxy S24, while also being thicker and heavier. It’s over 30 grams heavier. Both smartphones offer an IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. They’re both quite slippery too, but very comfortable to hold.
Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S24: Display
The iPhone 16 Pro features a 6.3-inch 2622 x 1206 LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED display. That panel is flat, and it has a 120Hz refresh rate. HDR10 content is supported, as is Dolby Vision. The maximum brightness here is set at 2,000 nits. The screen-to-body ratio is at around 90%, while the display aspect ratio is 19.5:9. The Ceramic Shield glass is placed on top of this phone’s display.
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The Samsung Galaxy S24, on the flip side, has a 6.2-inch 2340 x 1080 Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display. This display has a 120Hz refresh rate and supports HDR10+ content. It also offers a 2,600 nits peak brightness. The screen-to-body ratio is at around 90%, while the display aspect ratio is 19.5:9. The Gorilla Glass Victus 2 from Corning is protecting this phone’s display.
Both of these panels are really good. They’re quite vivid and more than sharp enough. They also have very good viewing angles, and the touch response is very good. These displays do not have a high-frequency PWM dimming, though, so keep that in mind. The blacks are deep on both, and both have a high refresh rate. The Galaxy S24 can technically get brighter, but in practice, the difference is not that big at all. They’re both bright enough.
Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S24: Performance
The Apple A18 Pro is a 3nm processor which fuels the iPhone 16 Pro. That is Apple’s most powerful chip. The company also included 8GB of RAM here, along with NVMe flash storage. The Galaxy S24 is fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4nm) or Exynos 2400 (4nm) chips, depending on the market. We used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 model. Samsung also included 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM inside the phone, along with UFS 3.1 or UFS 4.0 flash storage. UFS 3.1 flash storage is included in the 128GB storage option only.
Having said that, both smartphones do offer really good performance. In regular, day-to-day tasks, they both perform great. They’re snappy whatever you’re doing, and the high refresh rate helps keep things looking really nice while you’re scrolling around. Getting either phone to slow down is not that easy. They can jump between apps without a problem and are great for browsing, messaging, emailing, multimedia consumption, image editing, video processing, and so on.
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The iPhone 16 Pro technically has more prowess on the gaming side of things. It has a more powerful chip and GPU, but the Galaxy S24 keeps up in terms of performance. No matter what game you throw at these two phones, they’ll do a great job. They will get warm after a while, but neither phone will get visibly affected by that, at all. Neither phone becomes to hot to hold either.
Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S24: Battery
The iPhone 16 Pro battery capacity has finally been revealed, the phone includes a 3,582mAh battery, so a 9.4% larger battery pack than its predecessor. The Galaxy S24 includes a 4,000mAh battery pack. Apple’s iPhones usually have smaller battery packs than their Android counterparts. In this case the difference is not that big, and the iPhone 16 Pro does offer better battery life in comparison… it’s not even close.
The Galaxy S24 can even struggle to get to the 6-hour screen-on-time mark, it tends to be closer to 5-5.5 hours. The iPhone 16 Pro can go above and beyond that. The iPhone 15 Pro offered really good battery life, and the iPhone 16 Pro flies above that. Getting to the 7-hour screen-on-time mark on this phone does seem doable, but it will depend on a number of factors, of course. Your mileage may vary.
When it comes to charging, the iPhone 16 Pro supports 38W wired, 25W MagSafe wireless, 15W Qi2 wireless, 7.5W Qi wireless, and 5W reverse wired charging. The Galaxy S24 supports 25W wired, 15W wireless, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. Do note that neither of these two smartphones ships with a charger in the retail box. You’ll have to buy one separately if you don’t already own it.
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Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S24: Cameras
You’ll find three cameras on the back of both of these phones. The iPhone 16 Pro has a 48-megapixel main camera (1/1.28-inch camera sensor), a 48-megapixel ultrawide unit, and a 12-megapixel periscope telephoto camera (5x optical zoom). The Galaxy S24 includes a 50-megapixel main camera (1/1.56-inch camera sensor), a 12-megapixel ultrawide unit (120-degree FoV), and a 10-megapixel telephoto unit (3x optical zoom).
Both of these phones do a good job in the camera department, but the iPhone 16 Pro pulls ahead. It has a more capable main camera, and that shows in the final product. Both phones tend to provide images with warmer tones, but the ones from the iPhone 16 Pro have a better balance overall. The Galaxy S24 can overdo it with sharpening and saturation at times, the photos also don’t look as well-rounded. The iPhone 16 Pro does tend to brighten up the darker portions of images in HDR situations a bit too much, which makes the images look flatter than it should. They both do a very good job in low light, but once again, the iPhone 16 Pro is better most of the time.
The iPhone 16 Pro has a telephoto camera that offers more versatility in comparison, and the shots from it mostly look a bit better. Its ultrawide camera also tends to provide more detail than Samsung’s, but both do a good job of keeping the color profile similar to what their main shooters provide.
Audio
Stereo speakers are included on both smartphones, and they both offer good performance. The sound output is well-balanced, and not too sharp or anything. They’re both loud enough and similar in that regard.
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There is no audio jack on either one of these two smartphones, though. You’ll need to use their Type-C ports if you want to hook up your wired headphones. Alternatively, Bluetooth 5.3 is on offer for wireless connectivity.
In this episode of News of The Week, the US government has filed a lawsuit against Adobe, accusing the software giant of deceptive subscription practices that make it difficult for users to cancel their subscriptions.
InfluxData on Wednesday unveiled new features for its InfluxDB 3.0 product suite aimed at speeding and simplifying time series data management at scale, including performance improvements and a new operational dashboard.
In addition, the vendor made generally available InfluxDB Clustered, a self-managed version of its database for on-premises and private cloud deployments first unveiled in September 2023.
Based in San Francisco, InfluxData is a time series database specialist and the creator and lead sponsor of InfluxDB, an open source database designed specifically to manage the data that enables time series analysis.
The vendor raised $81 million in financing in February 2023 to bring its total funding to more than $200 million. Two months later, InfluxData unveiled InfluxDB 3.0. The product suite includes InfluxDB Cloud Serverless and InfluxDB Cloud Dedicated, both of which are managed by InfluxData, and now InfluxDB Clustered as well for self-managed users.
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One of the key upgrades in InfluxDB 3.0 was enabling unlimited cardinality, which refers to the uniqueness of the values in a database column — a high level of distinctness means the column has high cardinality.
Other key upgrades included high throughput to enable users to ingest, transform and analyze hundreds of millions of time series data points per second, significantly faster real-time query response times, increased data compression to reduce storage costs and support for SQL to simplify analysis.
The new features add to those that initially comprise InfluxDB 3.0 and are aimed at helping InfluxData stand out in a competitive market, according to IDC analyst Carl Olofson. Other time series database specialists include Grafana and Prometheus, while tech giants AWS, Google, IBM and Microsoft are among others offering time series databases.
“The [keys] are size and speed,” Olofson said. “The time series field has, in recent years, become very competitive. InfluxData is clearly looking to stand out, realizing that as users develop more complex networks of data sources — including edge devices — the challenge of applying a single analysis against all that data is becoming overwhelming.”
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New capabilities
Time series data is data that is time stamped so that an enterprise’s changes can be observed over time.
Meanwhile, just as more data sources are resulting in an increase in the overall volume of data enterprises now collect, the number of sources and resulting data volume that enable changes to be tracked over time are also rising.
In response, InfluxData and its peers have developed databases that specialize in managing time series data. Common characteristics of such databases include optimization for large-scale workloads, high-performance reading and writing capabilities to enable real-time analysis, processes for managing data lifecycles so that older data can be retained and found, and filters specific to time-based queries.
InfluxDB 3.0’s initial launch represented a complete overhaul of the database’s underlying engine. Along with the new underlying engine, the release addressed and added some of those common characteristics such as high performance and capabilities to enable real-time analysis.
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Now, the latest release of InfluxDB 3.0 is aimed at increasing the database engine’s performance as well as simplifying its use.
High cardinality is the key here. You can do time series queries and analysis on much larger data sets with high performance than was possible before. Carl OlofsonAnalyst, IDC
The update includes improved query concurrency and scaling to better handle high-cardinality data. In addition, InfluxDB 3.0 now has a new operational dashboard that provides visual insights into the performance and health of data clusters so that developers can address unintended workload changes, identify bottlenecks and optimize performance. A new single sign-on streamlines the log-in process. And new APIs have been added that let users automate certain repetitive tasks.
“High cardinality is the key here,” Olofson said. “You can do time series queries and analysis on much larger data sets with high performance than was possible before.”
Rachel Stephens, an analyst at RedMonk, similarly said that continuing to address cardinality is key for InfluxData.
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She noted that time series databases have historically struggled with high cardinality use cases. InfluxDB 3.0’s initial release improved InfluxData’s handling of high-cardinality workloads, with the new release adding further performance.
“InfluxDB 3.0 potentially opens up new space in the market for the database to be a performant option in [high cardinality] situations,” Stephens said.
While the InfluxDB 3.0 update addresses performance, the launch of InfluxDB Clustered extends the database engine’s capabilities to more of the vendor’s users.
When InfluxDB 3.0 was first released, it was available to only users of InfluxDB Cloud Serverless and InfluxDB Cloud Dedicated, which are both fully managed database services. On-premises and private cloud users had only InfluxDB Enterprise — which was not built with InfluxDB 3.0’s engine — as an option.
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InfluxDB Clustered essentially replaces InfluxDB Enterprise. Its significance, therefore, is that it provides on-premises and private cloud customers with the same capabilities as users of InfluxData’s fully managed databases, according to Stephens.
“InfluxDB Clustered is the successor product to InfluxDB Enterprise,” she said. “InfluxDB Clustered brings the columnar database engine to customers’ self-managed environments.”
The impetus for the InfluxDB 3.0 improvements and launch of InfluxDB Clustered came from InfluxData’s goal of providing developers tools that allow them to efficiently manage time series workloads at scale, according to Gary Fowler, the vendor’s vice president of products.
“As workloads continue to expand, developers need sophisticated systems that can handle large data sets without compromising performance,” he said. “InfluxDB 3.0 is engineered to meet these challenges head-on, offering the tools necessary to manage time series data at scale.”
In the future
With the full suite of InfluxDB 3.0 products now generally available, InfluxData’s roadmap is focused on continuing to add new features and functionality, according to Fowler.
Currently, Amazon Timestream for InfluxDB is based on a pre-InfluxDB 3.0 engine, which makes it an option for open source users with small, low cardinality workloads. Now, InfluxData is working to bring InfluxDB 3.0 to Amazon Timestream for InfluxDB along with other features not yet available to open source users.
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“These enhancements will provide greater flexibility, performance and security for our users as they manage their time series data in the cloud,” Fowler said.
Eric Avidon is a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial and a journalist with more than 25 years of experience. He covers analytics and data management.
Brian Benway, Research Analyst – Gaming and Entertainment
John Poelking, Research Manager – Tech, Media, and Telecom
Jenni Nelson, Research Analyst – Tech and Media
Nicole Bond, Associate Director – Marketing Strategy
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