CATEGORIES

For Now, Verizon's 5G Home Internet Service Offers Very Little Coverage

Verizon’s 5G Home service may be fast, but very few people can access it—even in the eight cities Verizon purports to serve. Since the company doesn’t offer a coverage map for its home service, we pumped more than 400 Chicago and Minneapolis addresses through the Verizon 5G Home address finder and discovered that the home service has even less coverage than the mobile service does.

Asus ZenBook Flip S (UX371): Stunning OLED Display

The Asus ZenBook Flip S is an appealing 2-in-1 laptop on multiple fronts. On the physical side, it’s a high-quality, highly portable convertible with a gorgeous 4K OLED touch screen. Inside, it’s one of the first laptops we’ve reviewed with one of Intel’s new 11th Generation “Tiger Lake” mobile processors, and the first with Intel’s “Evo” trustmark.

IS QUANTUM COMPUTING A BUBBLE READY TO BURST?

Not only can quantum physics speed up computing, but it could also redefine how computers communicate and ensure that no one could ever hack them. That’s partly why the pace of quantum innovations has achieved a new urgency. But many experts can’t see the finish line, let alone know when we’ll get there.

Inside the Pandemic's Biggest Cash Cow: Scalper Bot Networks Hawking Hot Products

The pandemic and ensuing economic fallout may be leading internet users to dabble in the notorious art of scalping in order to buy up this holiday season’s hottest electronics and resell them for a hefty profit.

Bose Frames Tempo: Focused on Sports

When we reviewed the original Bose Frames last year, we weren’t quite sure what to make of them—but since then, audio sunglasses (essentially, glasses with headphones built into the temples) have developed somewhat into a category of their own. The Bose Frames Tempo are focused on sports, and with the rise of virtual training, it’s not far-fetched to imagine them catching on in ways the original fashion-focused model didn’t. From an audio standpoint, the Frames deliver crisp, clear sound that allows you to hear your surroundings with ease, though bass still isn’t their strong suit. This version has clear improvements, but most of them address the overall fit and usefulness of the design rather than the audio experience.

Apple Watch Series 6: The Best Smartwatch You Can Buy

The Apple Watch has been our longstanding Editors’ Choice for its excellent performance, unparalleled app selection, and ample health- and fitness-tracking features. With the Series 6, Apple builds upon its flagship smartwatch with the addition of a blood oxygen saturation sensor that calculates your SpO2 level on demand and captures periodic background measurements when you’re sleeping and inactive. Putting this technology in a consumer wearable has never been more important given the global COVID-19 pandemic, as it indicates how well your circulatory and respiratory systems are delivering oxygenated blood to your body and can help you gauge whether a hospital visit is necessary.

All About the New Apple iPhones

Apple refreshed its iPhone line in October with four new models: the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini ($699); the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 ($799) and 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro ($999); and the gigantic 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Max ($1,099). All four models have OLED displays and 5G networking, making them the first iPhones to support 5G.

Kaspersky Secure Connection VPN: Limited but Very Affordable

A virtual private network (or VPN) is an easy way to improve your privacy online. Kaspersky Secure Connection carries one of the most recognizable names in the industry and offers customers a simple, affordable VPN. It is a bare-bones offering with few server locations, but Kaspersky users and anyone looking for a cheap VPN will likely be pleased.

LA'S COVID-19 RESPONSE RUNS ON DATA SCIENCE

When people ask what’s different about the fight against COVID-19 compared with previous pandemics, one answer is data science. We know more—in real time—about infectious disease transmission, treatment efficacy, and the results of prevention programs than ever before, while mobile platforms inform and engage (most) citizens at an individual level.

Dinosaur Collector News

Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropods and the largest marine phylum. Molluscs include gastropods, cephalopods, and bivalves. The cephalopods, the most advanced class of mollusks, include ammonoids, belemnites as well as the octopus and squid. Nautiloids are the early forms. They get short shrift in the toy companies.

Artist Esther van Hulsen

Born in the Netherlands in 1981, Esther van Hulsen has been drawing animals for as long as she remembers.

Ted Brothers Interview

Dear fellow dinogeeks, if you somehow do not know who Ted Brothers is, this interview will introduce you to a lover of all things Jurassic Park. You’ll discover how his childhood addiction has manifested itself into several art forms that have thousands of people following him on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and thousands more subscribing to his YouTube channel. He’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, a heck of a homemade-pizza chef and pretty rad drummer. I’m honored to call him my friend and I don’t know why we didn’t do this sooner.

SMILODON - SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER

This is the first large scale resin model kit of the Sinbad Smilodon that I have built. A great tribute model to the astonishing Ray Harryhausen creature creation. It was such an excellent sculpt that I was inspired to write this how-to article; featuring this great resin kit sculpted by Joe Bailey and produced by Typhon Studios (Mike Calvert and Brian Watters). This was a special art piece commissioned by Wayne Middleton and only a few copies were made available to the public. I am so glad that I was able to secure a copy for my personal collection.

LAST OF THE LAST: Steppe Lion Extinction in Europe

For some historians well-versed in certain events, few things are as intriguing as the possibility of different outcomes to factual, known occurrences--“alternative history”.

How to Draw Dinosaurs

Putting it all together, the skull of Ankylosaurus

Mesozoic Media

Life through the Ages II: Twenty-First Century Visions of Prehistory (Life of the Past) by Mark P. Witton, Hardcover: 166 pages, ISBN-10 : 0253048117, ISBN-13 : 978-0253048110, Indiana University Press; Illustrated Edition. Paleontologist (and paleoartist) Dr. Mark P. Witton draws on the latest discoveries to re-create the appearances and lifestyles of extinct species, the environments they inhabited, and the challenges they faced living on an ever-changing planet. A worthy successor to Charles Knight's beloved 1946 classic, Life through the Ages II takes us on another, more modern journey through the evolution of life on Earth.

MESOZOIC MAIL

Mike, I received the latest issue of Prehistoric Times today. My family teases me that I get such a kick out of the fact that “the dinosaur magazine” has arrived in the mail. Thanks for doing what you do. It is a great distraction from other things that occupy us at the moment. Stay well, Tony Escobedo, Springfield, VA Thanks Tony, Ha, you think YOUR family teases you - I publish the dinosaur magazine! - editor

PALEONEWS

New Predatory Dinosaur Identified in Portugal

Paleoracism

With the nation and much of the western world contending with the fallout of the chronic problem of racism, this is as good a time as any to take a look at the issue within the world of vertebrate paleontology.

Fujifilm Instax Square SQ1: Affordable and Fun

The Fujifilm Instax Square SQ1 is as simple—and fun—to use as any other Instax camera. It’s a pure point-and-shoot, easy enough to pass off to a friend for a snapshot, and its wide-angle lens makes for solid selfies. If you’re looking for a square-format instant camera and are more of a snapshooter than artiste, the SQ1 instant camera will have loads of appeal for you. And it’s our Editors’ Choice.

Microsoft Surface Duo: Not Entirely Successful

The Microsoft Surface popularized a new category: the 2-in-1 PC. Now the company is hoping to do the same thing on a smaller scale with the Surface Duo, a phone-tablet that tries to enable those multitasking, productive workflows that never quite happen on your single-screen handset.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s: A Mostly Spectacular Success

The ThinkPad T series has been Lenovo’s quintessential bread-and-butter business laptop for years, offered in both Intel and AMD flavors in models landing both above and below the 3-pound mark.

Intel ‘Iris Xe' Is Here: 5 Ways Intel's Powerful New Integrated Graphics Will Change Laptops

In early September, Intel pulled back the curtain on its 11th generation of mobile processors, known by the code name “Tiger Lake.” The first chips will appear as members of the long-running U-series of processors, designed for mainstream and ultraportable laptops.

Intel Launches 11th Generation Core ‘Tiger Lake' Laptop Processors

Intel’s next-generation Tiger Lake processors, unveiled this week, will bring refined artificial intelligence processing and dramatically improved graphics performance to new premium ultraportable laptops this fall.

How to Get Hard-to-Find Electronics

It’s getting difficult, if not impossible, to find certain electronics items. And high on the list of in-demand items are laptops; even schools can’t get them. Low-range PCs of any size and shape are selling out, as are low-cost Chromebooks. Printers are also hard to come by, as are flight stick controllers for your after-school Microsoft Flight Simulator needs.

ECS Liva Z3 Plus: Affordable Mini PC

The ECS Liva Z3 Plus may not look like much of a system, but packed inside this not-quite-palm-size device is a Core i5 desktop capable of running office tasks with ease.

Motorola Razr 5G: A Huge Improvement

Motorola revolutionized the mobile phone industry in 2004 when it launched the Razr. Almost overnight, the sleek clamshell phone became a status symbol and gained a dedicated following until Apple’s iPhone and a host of other smartphones hit the market.

Spellbreak (for PC): Engaging (and Free) Battle Royale

I don’t like fantasy. Game of Thrones? Lord of the Rings? World of Warcraft? Nope, not for me. I also don’t like battle royale games. Whether it’s the realism of PUBG or the wackiness of Fortnite, I find games where you compete to be the last one standing more boring than tense. So how did Spellbreak, a game whose whole hook is being a fantasy battle royale, become one of my favorite PC game surprises of the year? Ironically, by using the creative potential of the fantasy genre, it breathes new life into the tired battle royale formula.

DO UV LIGHT PHONE SANITIZERS REALLY WORK?

The best ways to protect yourself against COVID-19 and other contagious illnesses include frequent hand washing, social distancing, and using appropriate personal protective equipment such as masks.

Asus VivoBook Flip 14: Raw CPU Performance

The Asus VivoBook Flip 14 is an all-around capable convertible laptop powered by AMD. The Ryzen 7 processor in our test model is the laptop’s best feature, delivering better performance than its competitors.