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Dedication Ceremony At A Solar Farm

Between 2010 and 2014 the US Department of Energy was hit by hackers over 150 times. Just pause and think about that for a moment. In the span of four years, the federal organization that helps regulate our power grid, energy labs and nuclear weapons was successfully infiltrated 159 times. Almost as terrifying, the department was constantly under attack according to records obtained by USA Today. During that time there were 1,131 attempts made to break into the DOE's systems.

Sepsis is a mysterious condition. It's the body's life-threatening response to an infection and it's usually tied to a weakened immune system, but it can be triggered by just a cut or routine surgery. Each year in the United States, Sepsis affects more than 1 million people and kills up to half, according to the National Institutes of Health. There's no treatment for Sepsis or septic shock, the deadly full-body inflammatory response, but scientists at Harvard's Wyss Institute are working on a new dialysis system that cleans the blood of poisonous pathogens, Reuters reports.

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer's guide to the best technology. Read the full article here.

After three weeks of research, plus hands-on testing of a half-dozen finalists, we found that the QNAP TS-251 is the best network-attached storage device (NAS) for people who need one. It has a faster processor and more memory than most NAS near its price, and it has flexible, powerful software that does everything most NAS users need and more.

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Sony Xperia Z5

If you head on over to Sony's website today, the company will warn you not to use its Xperia smartphones while underwater. That might come as a surprise, especially as Sony has repeatedly touted the waterproof capabilities of its devices in the past. But really, you shouldn't be doing it. XperiaBlog points out that the handset maker is now taking additional measures to discourage the practice, and has updated its website to help customers avoid making a costly mistake while at the pool.

It's tough to be a college student these days, what with new sources of procrastination popping up everywhere. Philo's streaming television platform, which gives students access to live TV and DVR functionality across a variety of devices, is one of the more recent entries. Now, it's covering 15 more schools, including Harvard University, Brown University, and the University of Alabama. Altogether, Philo is bringing the joy of television to more than 40 schools. The startup works together with cable and satellite providers to bring live TV to its private network -- it's not the sort of thing just anyone can access. Along with the expansion news, Philo is also updating its Roku app to make searching for TV shows simpler. Yes, giving college kids access to TV service isn't anything new, but Philo's multi-device lets schools offer TV in a way younger folks are more used to.

Uber application startup page on the Apple iPhone 5s display in female hand. Blurred street view with car and flare sun light on

Uber's biggest Chinese rival, Didi Kuaidi, has invested an undisclosed amount in Lyft, according to The Wall Street Journal. It's still unclear how the pink mustache-loving firm will use the money, but it's already begun discussions with its Chinese investors. Didi Kuaidi is a joint venture between Kuaidi Dache and Didi Dache, two of China's former biggest taxi-hailing services, which joined forces earlier this year to stave off Uber's growth in their home country. Turns out part of the merger's strategy is to force the American ride-sharing firm to focus on other markets, including the US, by helping fellow Uber competitors grow. Back in August, it also agreed to back GrabTaxi -- another fellow competitor operating in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

United Launch Associates (ULA), the rocket enterprise from Boeing and Lockheed, has ramped up its commitment to Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket engines. The two companies agreed to expand production capability of Origin's BE-4 rocket motor, "an important step toward building (them) at the production rate needed for the Vulcan launch vehicle," said Bezos. Last year, the two companies formed a pact to develop an engine that that can replace the Russian-built RD-180 engines originally planned for Vulcan -- ULA's successor to the Atlas V. Due to a US congressional ban on Russian products, ULA can no longer purchase RD-180s.

British startup Roli has launched a follow-up to its reimagined keyboard with a continuous, rubberized exterior: this one, however, is quite smaller and a lot more affordable. The Seaboard Rise was designed to be the more portable version of the company's Seaboard Grand instrument released a couple of years ago. It only has 25 keys -- Roli calls them "keywaves," because they do look like waves on a black surface -- whereas the smallest Grand iteration has 37. Thanks to that, though, it will only set you back $800, which sounds more reasonable than the cheapest Grand ($1,999), especially if you just want one for a home studio.

While a Fitbit isn't much use to a flounder, a team at the University of Liverpool has figured out the next best thing. Dr Lynne Sneddon's team created a system that non-invasively monitors the welfare of our sub-aquatic friends. Two cameras monitor how healthy fish swim in three dimensions, while software picks out any critters showing irregular patterns. Any real-life Nemos get given a health score, alerting carers to which animals might need attention.

Today on In Case You Missed It: We are pumped about the discovery of a previously unknown homo sapien ancestor who looked ape-like but still cared enough to bury its dead. Color blind people who have long struggled with watching TV will have the option of buying a device that has a chipset designed to boost colors for their needs. And Pokémon is rolling out an augmented reality game that combines a bluetooth ball with GPS in your phone to hunt the little rascals down in virtual real life.

Numeric lock on travel bag

If you never trusted your luggage lock much to begin with, then you're going to warily look at it in suspicion from now on. Some security enthusiasts took that photo of TSA's master baggage keys that The Washington Post published and turned them into 3D-printable CAD files -- in fact, they've recently uploaded them on GitHub, making them freely available to everyone. The person who released the files told Wired that while he tried to be as accurate as he could, he didn't exactly expect the keys to work. Thing is, at least one of them did work: Bernard Bolduc, who describes himself as a "Unix wizard and security geek" on Twitter printed out a key and tried it on his TSA-approved lock.

MagnifiSense is a high-tech wristband developed by University of Washington researchers. Unlike fitness trackers, though, it doesn't log the number of steps you've taken or calories burned: it takes note of the electronics and appliances you personally use to keep track of your power consumption. During their tests, the researchers found that the sensor can correctly identify and differentiate 12 devices from each other, including electric toothbrushes, lamps, laptops and even cars. It's able to tell them apart by "listening" to the electronic radiation they generate. According to lead researcher Edward Wang, electronics actually produce distinct sounds similar to "vocal cord patterns," so "a blender 'sings' quite differently than a hair dryer."

Once again, OnePlus has built a "flagship killer" that millions of people want, and once again, it's struggling to get the device in customers' hands. After delaying its arrival in the US and Canada, co-founder Carl Pei has admitted that the OnePlus 2 has only started shipping in "meaningful quantities" this week. That's a month later than expected, which is problematic given most smartphone makers work on a 12-month release cycle. "We messed up," Pei writes in a forum post. "We know that you are rooting for us, and want nothing more than to see us succeed. Therefore, it feels extra terrible to let you down this time around, again." OnePlus says it prepared more inventory for the OnePlus 2 launch, but clearly something has put a spanner in its production schedule. We were impressed with the device, but if you're desperate to upgrade your phone -- you might want to look elsewhere. For those still trying to get an invite, it could be an awfully long wait.

Researchers at the University of Michigan announced on Wednesday that they have developed a method of keeping solar cells turned toward the sun without the need for heavy and energy-hungry motors. Their method is based on the Japanese art of Kirigami -- like origami but with cuts in addition to folds. The team's panel is printed on a flexible kapton substrate which has dash-like cuts running across its surface. When stretched, the panel forms a mesh with each section twisting slightly. The degree of twist, which will allow the panel to follow the path of the sun, depends on how much the panel is stretched. "The design takes what a large tracking solar panel does and condenses it into something that is essentially flat," Aaron Lamoureux, lead author on the paper published in Nature Communications, said in a release.

It can be tough playing games on a tablet, since you can't hold 'em up comfortably like a controller or a phone. Silicon Valley startup HandScape believes their iPhone and iPad "HandyCase" is the answer to that problem. HandyCase might look just like any other protective shell, you see, but it actually adds touch capability to the back of your device. Plus, it animates your fingers as you move them from behind, making the phone or tablet seem transparent. You can even choose what kind of fingers you see on screen: the ordinary/boring kind, robotic digits or x-ray hands.

Sony has revealed the mirrorless full-frame Alpha A7s II, the successor to one of its most unusual cameras. The original Alpha A7s carried a maximum 409,600 max ISO setting, allowing images to be captured in near darkness. The new model has similar powers, but fixes the biggest problem with the old one. You no longer need an external recorder for Ultra HD video, as the A7s II now has internal 4K recording (3,840 x 2,160) at 24 or 30fps. It also uses a full-frame sensor readout with no pixel binning at both 4K and 1080p resolutions. In layman's terms, that means you'll get sharper 4K video with no moire or jagged edges.

Slowly but surely Dolby Vision is making its way to more and more places. The cinema company recently announced that it's partnering with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to give Hirai and Co.'s flicks a brighter, more contrasty image, whether you're watching it via a physical or digital format. No specific titles were announced for the high dynamic range video feature, but the press release quotes mention that new releases as well as catalog titles will benefit from the relatively new 4K UHD tech. So! For those keeping track at home, this marks two major studios signed on, as Warner Bros. announced its partnership earlier this year. On the streaming side, Netflix and Xbox Video announced in 2014. Now we just need those Ultra Blu-rays and their players to hit and we'll really be in business.

On the heels of its Stagefright detection app, Zimperium (the outfit that discovered the Android security flaw) has released its exploit to the public. But before you get your hands dirty tinkering with it to find a fix there are a few things you need to consider. Zimperium says that it was tested on a Nexus device that was running Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 and that "due to variances in heap layout" this exploit isn't entirely reliable. The Python script does work to take advantage of "one of the most critical" vulnerabilities the outfit discovered in the security flaw's library, however. Perhaps the biggest caveat, though, is that since the file was tested with Ice Cream Sandwich, Zimperium says that elements of Android 5.0 Lollipop, the fast-growing OS of choice for Android users, basically nullify its attempts to address the problem.

SpaceX has given us a peek into the Crew Dragon capsule it's currently building to take astronauts to the ISS. And as you can see from the images and video below the fold, it looks downright luxurious inside despite its no-frills guitar pick-shaped exterior. Since the spacecraft was designed with astronauts' comfort and enjoyment in mind, its seats are made of "the highest-grade carbon fiber and Alcantara cloth." It sadly doesn't have a bathroom, but it does have four relatively large windows, so passengers can watch the Earth shrink away as they zoom further into space.