If you're planning to snag the new Mac mini and load it up with aftermarket memory, you may want to reconsider your strategy. Macminicolo owner Brian Stucki (among others) has discovered that the RAM in Apple's latest tiny desktop isn't upgradable, much as you'd expect with the company's laptops and the 21-inch iMac. The move isn't completely surprising given that the Mac mini is basically a MacBook in different clothing, but it's a step backward given how relatively easy it was to upgrade the previous generation. All that you can do now is replace the hard drive, provided you're willing to void your warranty. You'll have to consider buying either a higher-end model or a custom order to get more RAM, and both of those options are typically more expensive than adding RAM yourself. This limitation isn't necessarily a deal breaker, but it's unfortunate if you like the idea of upgrading a Mac on your own terms.

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Following its longest-ever mission by far, the 11,000 pound X-37B unmanned spacecraft has returned to Earth bearing... well, we don't actually know. You see, after NASA and Boeing developed the craft (about a fifth the size of the Space Shuttle), it bounced over to the Air Force, which is using it for top-secret missions. The X-37B's longest previous flight lasted about 15 months, and this time, it stayed in orbit just shy of two years. As for what it was doing up there, exactly, cue the speculation. Some experts think it was launching spy gear from the pickup-bed-sized payload bay, while others believe it was designed to capture or impair enemy satellites. The Air Force denies all that, saying it was just testing space tech like advanced guidance, robotic systems and autonomous orbital flight. It certainly nailed the latter -- with no human at the controls, the X-37B made a perfect touchdown following a 218 mile-high descent. To see it, check the all-too-brief video below.

[Image credit: Boeing]

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Get ready, ya'll. It's been a doozie of a week. Not only did Apple unveil new iPads and a Retina iMac, Google took the wraps off the Nexus 6 and its own media streamer. That's not all we have on deck, though -- click on through for the rest of our news highlights from the last seven days. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!

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Remember how the DEA got caught impersonating a woman on Facebook in an attempt to catch criminals who contacted her? Yeah, Facebook isn't at all pleased. It just sent a letter asking the anti-drug agency to promise that it won't create fake accounts or otherwise stomp all over the social network's terms of service. As the site argues, the DEA's moves "threaten the integrity" of its user base -- the point of Facebook's real identity policy is to foster trust, and sting operations violate that trust. Law enforcement isn't above this rule, the company says. It's not certain if the letter will have any effect; the Justice Department tells BuzzFeed News that it doesn't believe this trickery happens frequently. Whether or not that's true, it's safe to say that Mark Zuckerberg and crew have set some firm boundaries for future cases.

[Image credit: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images]

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BRD Motorcycles originally opened pre-orders for the RedShift electric motorcycles back in 2011, and it's almost time for them to hit the streets. A lot has changed since then, including the name of the company -- now Alta Motors -- and a recent $4.5 million investment round of investment. The company simply explains that it likes the new name better, but the changes we're interested in have to do with those sweet plug-in bikes. We spoke to CEO / co-founder Marc Fenigstein as Alta showed off the 2015 production model RedShift MX and RedShift SM at the 2014 AIMExpo in Orlando, and he explained both bikes have undergone countless changes since they first debuted. The "race bike with lights" MX has a $14,995 price tag, while the road-going supermoto model is $15,495 and features a slightly higher 85mph top speed -- check after the break for more details.

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If you were dead set on ordering the Nexus Player this weekend, you're about to be disappointed. Google has quietly halted pre-orders of its Android TV media hub because it has "not been approved" by the FCC -- the company would be in trouble with US regulators if it took your hard-earned dollars for something it can't ship. There aren't any hints as to when the Nexus Player will get the all-clear, but you can be sure that we'll keep our eyes peeled. Hopefully, the approval arrives before November 3rd so that you can get that Android TV set-top box on time.

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Bose might have settled its noise-cancellation lawsuit against Beats out of court, but the two are clearly far from putting the past behind them. Apple (Beats' new owner) has pulled all Bose headphones and speakers from its online store and several brick-and-mortar ones, according to 9to5mac, despite continuing to carry other audio brands like Urbanears, Bang & Olufsen and Sennheiser. Both companies have declined to comment about the issue when asked by Recode, but rumors about Cupertino dropping Bose have been going around since the settlement last week.

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We're barely seeing 4G take hold here in the States and the FCC has begun the process to push into 5G for mobile data. The government's communications council voted unanimously to start looking into accessing the higher-than-24GHz frequency spectrum that was previously thought to be, as Reuters notes, unusable by mobile networks. So what are the benefits? Gigabit internet connections on the go, for starters -- something our current sub-3GHz spectrum can't quite handle -- similar to the ones Samsung just tested. Yeah, now you're excited. The feds believe that using these "millimeter waves" would allow for higher bandwidth for more people and devices at speeds that outclass most homes' broadband.

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People used to think it's harder to make computers play chess (or Jeopardy) and do mathematics than it is to make them understand human language. Turns out the opposite is true -- yes, engineers have made great advancements in voice recognition (Siri and Google voice commands are perfect examples), but they've yet to create a system that can speak with us like another human can. Google's documentary (after the break) talks about the beginnings of voice recognition, the current state of language understanding, as well as the future of artificial neural network technology, which can be used to improve both. The main goal of scientists and engineers is to make computers reach human levels of language understanding, but whether that'll ever happen remains to be seen.

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