Astronomers has found 7 Earth-size planets where life may be possible

Astronomers have found a nearby solar system with seven Earth-sized planets, three of which circle their parent star at the right distance for liquid surface water, raising the prospect of life, research published on Wednesday showed.
The star, known as TRAPPIST-1, is a small, dim celestial body in the constellation Aquarius. It is located about 40 light years away from Earth. Researchers said the proximity of the system, combined with the proportionally large size of its planets compared to the small star, make it a good target for follow-up studies. They hope to scan the planets' atmospheres for possible chemical fingerprints of life.
"I think that we've made a crucial step towards finding if there is life out there," University of Cambridge astronomer Amaury Triaud told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday.
The discovery, published in this week's issue of the journal Nature, builds on previous research showing three planets circling TRAPPIST-1. They are among more than 3,500 planets discovered beyond the solar system, or exoplanets.
Researchers have focused on finding Earth-sized rocky planets with the right temperatures so that water, if any exists, would be liquid, a condition believed to be necessary for life.
The diameter of TRAPPIST-1 is about 8 percent of the sun's size. That makes its Earth-sized planets appear large as they parade past.
From the vantage point of telescopes on Earth, the planets' motions regularly block out bits of the star's light. Scientists determined the system's architecture by studying these dips.
"The data is really clear and unambiguous," Triaud wrote in an email to Reuters.
Because TRAPPIST-1 is so small and cool, its so-called "habitable zone" is very close to the star. Three planets are properly positioned for liquid water, said lead researcher Michael Gillon, with the University of Liege in Belgium.
"They form a very compact system," Gillon said on a conference call. "They could have some liquid water and maybe life."
Even if the planets do not have life now, it could evolve. TRAPPIST-1 is at least 500 million years old, but has an estimated lifespan of 10 trillion years. The sun, by comparison, is about halfway through its estimated 10-billion-year life.
In a few billion years, when the sun has run out of fuel and the solar system has ceased to exist, TRAPPIST-1 will still be an infant star, astronomer Ignas Snellen, of the Netherlands' Leiden Observatory, wrote in a related essay in Nature.
"It burns hydrogen so slowly that it will live for another 10 trillion years," he wrote, "which is arguably enough time for life to evolve."

With all the lawsuits being brought against major mobile chip maker Qualcomm, there seems to be no better time for smartphone makers to explore other CPU options. According to TheWall Street Journal, Chinese company Xiaomi may be developing its own custom processor for an upcoming phone. We've reached out to Xiaomi for confirmation, and have yet to hear back.

If Xiaomi does indeed start making its own processor, there could be several benefits for the company and its customers. It will likely be cheaper to make smartphones with the company's own chips, instead of buying them from Qualcomm or other third-party suppliers. That would allow Xiaomi to sell their devices at even more competitive prices than before.

Custom chips could also let Xiaomi come up with creative features to help its phones stand out. Huawei uses its own Kirin processor in the Mate 9, and that hardware integration enabled the company to make the phone artificially intelligent. Indeed, thanks to the Kirin CPU, the Mate 9 is able to learn your habits over time to optimize performance.

Xiaomi will have to ensure its components can measure up to the competition, though. In addition to Huawei, Samsung also makes its own Exynos chip, and it took both brands some time to get their processors to perform comparably to Qualcomm's higher-end Snapdragon options. Given Xiaomi's relative lack of experience in the field, it's hard to tell if its chip will be capable of standing up against its rivals.

Drake is calling BS on the report he disrespected a Muslim fan at his recent London show, claiming the woman was wearing a winter scarf, not a hijab. Taking to Instagram to explain the situation, Drizzy wrote the following:

"I make a point every night to end my shows on tones of unity and love so, to find out that I am being utilized in a fake media story about me disrespecting Muslims is devastating to me. At my show in the 02 in London I was talking to 4 women one of whom was wearing a jacket and a winter scarf, I made a comment about taking off the scarf because I enjoy friendly banter with the fans. I am well aware of what a hijab is and I would never make a disrespectful comment like that in my life towards someone who is wearing one. I am proud that my closest friends and fans come from all different religions and races, perhaps whoever made up this story should spend more time learning about other cultures and less time trying to divide us."

This headscarf debacle comes after the typically apolitical Drake made some very rare comments about President Trump, condemning "that man" for attempting to divide America.

Suicide Bomber Strikes Afghan Supreme Court, Killing 19 People

A suicide bomber struck an entrance to Afghanistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday, killing at least 19 people in the latest in a series of attacks on the country's judiciary.

The attacker, who was on foot, targeted a side door as court employees and other people were exiting the building in downtown Kabul, the Interior Ministry said. Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz said 41 people were also wounded, including 10 of them in critical condition.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of the Taliban. The insurgents, who have been at war with the U.S.-backed government for 15 years, have increasingly targeted the judiciary since six convicted insurgents were executed in May.

Shortly after the executions, a suicide bomber targeted a minibus carrying court employees in Kabul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people in an attack claimed by the Taliban, which called it an act of revenge.

In June, three Taliban fighters stormed a court building in eastern Logar province, killing seven people, including a newly appointed chief prosecutor, before being shot dead by police.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the Supreme Court attack, which he blamed on the "enemies of our people." The U.S. Embassy in Kabul called it "an attack on the very foundation of Afghan democracy and rule of law."

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a roadside bomb killed a top district official in western Farah province as he returned home from a mosque, police spokesman Iqbal Baher said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Popular iOS Apps Found To Be Vulnerable To Silent Data Interception

Apple’s App Store is generally considered a much safer app marketplace than its contemporaries, but at least 76 popular iOS apps were recently found to be susceptible to data interception according to a report from a security expert.


The concerning findings come from verify.ly, a service created by Sudo Security Group CEO Will Strafach. Using his service, which scans the binary code of an iOS application to produce a report of common security issue, Strafach was able to confirm a considerable number of heavily-downloaded apps were vulnerable to silent man-in-the-middle attacks.


The type of attacks the apps could fall victim to should be protected by Transport Layer Security, the protocol that secures communications between a client and a server. However, the apps fail to provide this security, and an attacker could inject an invalid TLS certificate into the communications to intercept user data.


“The truth of the matter is, this sort of attack can be conducted by any party within Wi-Fi range of your device while it is in use,” Strafach warns in a blog post on his findings. “This can be anywhere in public, or even within your home if an attacker can get within close range.”


He explained an attack could be carried out using custom hardware or a slightly modified smartphone, and compared the attack to that of a device that is able to skim data from credit cards.




The 76 apps found to be vulnerable to such attacks have amassed over 18 million total downloads from the App Store. While some are at a greater risk than others, users with any of the apps installed on their device will want to rethink hanging on to them.


Included in the list was ooVoo, a popular video chat service that leaves usernames and passwords vulnerable to interception. The issue has been present in the app since 2013 according to a report from Double Encore engineer Nick Arnott.


Other apps found to be at risk included the official app for Vice News, several third-party Snapchat apps, banking apps for banks based in Puerto Rico and Libya, and several popular and free virtual private network apps. The banking apps and VPNs are of particular concern as they should provide greater security and are more likely to carry sensitive information.


Strafach has yet to disclose the apps that are at a high risk, stating he wants to reach out to the developers first to fix the problem before exposing the vulnerabilities to those who may want to exploit them. However, he did note the apps include banks and medical providers.


Until the issue is fixed, Strafach advises users of these apps to only access them over a cellular network rather than on Wi-Fi, as it is more difficult to exploit the vulnerabilities via mobile network—though it is still possible.

These smart TVs were apparently spying on their owners

The Federal Trade Commission said Monday that Vizio used 11 million televisions to spy on its customers. The television maker agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a case with the FTC and the New Jersey attorney general's office after the agencies accused it of secretly collecting — and selling — data about its customers' locations, demographics and viewing habits.


With the advent of “smart” appliances, customers and consumer advocates have raised concerns about whether the devices could be sending sensitive information back to their manufacturers. The FTC says the Vizio case shows how a television or other appliance might be telling companies more than their owners are willing to share.


“Before a company pulls up a chair next to you and starts taking careful notes on everything you watch (and then shares it with its partners), it should ask if that’s O.K. with you,” Kevin McCarthy, an attorney with the FTC's Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, wrote in a blog post. “Vizio wasn’t doing that, and the FTC stepped in.”


As part of the settlement, Vizio neither confirmed nor denied wrongdoing.


“Today, the FTC has made clear that all smart-TV makers should get people’s consent before collecting and sharing television viewing information, and Vizio now is leading the way,” Vizio's general counsel, Jerry Huang, said of the settlement.


Although some consumers might not recognize the name Vizio, most have probably watched something on a Vizio television. The Irvine, Calif.-based firm, which Chinese firm LeEco recently announced it would buy, is the most popular TV maker in the United States. With 20 percent of the U.S. market, it made about 1 in 5 TVs sold here in 2016. LeEco has broad ambitions in the consumer space, with businesses that also produce a Netflix-style media service, smartphones and even cars.


According to the lawsuit, Vizio was literally watching its watchers — capturing “second-by-second information” about what people viewed on its smart TVs. That included data from cable, broadband, set-top boxes, over-the-air broadcasts, DVDs and streaming devices. Vizio also is accused of linking demographic information to the data and selling the data — including users' sex, age and income — to companies that do targeted advertising.


Vizio said in its statement that it never paired viewing information with data that identified individual users but used viewing data only in “the ‘aggregate’ to create summary reports measuring viewing audiences or behaviors.”


The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ordered Vizio to pay $1.5 million to the FTC and $1 million to the New Jersey attorney general's office; Vizio won't have to pay $300,000 of that unless it violates the order in the future.


The part of the settlement paid to the FTC reflects the amount that Vizio probably made from collecting and selling the customer information. Vizio will delete all the data it collected through the feature before March 2016. It must also prominently display its data collection and privacy policies to consumers and create a program to make sure its partners follow those policies.

Trump: Allow those into US who 'want to love our country'

President Donald Trump vowed Monday to allow only people who "want to love our country" into the United States, defending his immigration and refugee restrictions as he made his first visit to the headquarters for U.S. Central Command.


Trump reaffirmed his support for NATO before military leaders and troops and laced his speech with references to homeland security amid a court battle over his travel ban on people from seven majority-Muslim countries. He did not directly mention the case now before a federal appeals court after a lower court temporarily suspended the ban.


"We need strong programs" so that "people that love us and want to love our country and will end up loving our country are allowed in" and those who "want to destroy us and destroy our country" are kept out, Trump said.


"Freedom, security and justice will prevail," Trump added. "We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism and we will not allow it to take root in our country. We're not going to allow it."


Trump touched upon various alliances in his remarks, noting, "we strongly support NATO."


He spoke Sunday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. A White House statement said the two "discussed how to encourage all NATO allies to meet their defense spending commitments," and also talked about the crisis in Ukraine and security challenges facing NATO countries.


Trump once dismissed the trans-Atlantic military alliance as "obsolete," and said he would decide whether to protect NATO countries against Russian aggression based on whether those countries "have fulfilled their obligations to us."


Speaking as commander in chief, Trump repeated his promises to defeat "radical Islamic terrorists" but provided no specifics on any policy changes he wants in the fight against the Islamic State. He complained about media coverage of terrorist attacks, suggesting there were many attacks going intentionally unreported by the media.


In response to requests for evidence to support that claim, the White House released a list of 78 attacks it described as "executed or inspired by" the Islamic State group since September 2014. Most on the list did not get sufficient media attention, the White House said.


The list included incidents like a truck massacre in Nice, France, that killed dozens and received widespread attention, as well as less high-profile incidents in which nobody was killed.


The AP could not verify that each of the incidents had connections to the Islamic State group.


Earlier, Trump sat down for lunch with a room full of troops in fatigues from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, as well as senior members of his White House staff.


Trump made small talk with some of the soldiers, discussing everything from football to military careers.


"Gonna make it a career?" Trump asked one person.


"C'mon, you have to stay," he urged another.


Trump also hailed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, saying he "cemented his place" in football history after his fifth Super Bowl win Sunday.


Trump stopped at the base on the way back to Washington after his first weekend away from the White House. Trump spent the weekend at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, with first lady Melania Trump, who had not appeared in public since shortly after her husband took office.


At MacDill, the president was briefed by CENTCOM and SOCOM leaders. A number of his advisers, including Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Michael Flynn, Trump's national security adviser, also attended.


Trump met with Florida Gov. Rick Scott before delivering his remarks, telling the crowd at CENTCOM that Scott's endorsement of his candidacy for president "makes him a better friend of mine," adding that with those who don't offer their endorsement, "it's never quite the same."


CENTCOM oversaw a recent raid by U.S. special operations forces on an al-Qaida compound in Yemen, the first military operation authorized by Trump. A Navy SEAL, Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator William "Ryan" Owens, 36, of Peoria, Illinois, was killed, making him the first known U.S. combat casualty under Trump.


Three other U.S. service members were wounded in the operation. More than half a dozen suspected militants and more than a dozen civilians were also killed, including the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric and U.S. citizen who was targeted and killed in 2011 by a U.S. drone strike.


Trump made no mention of Owens or the raid in Yemen during his remarks Monday, but he paid recognition to the sacrifices of American military families and the spouses of American soldiers, vowing his support to those who risk their lives for the country.





"We protect those who protect us, and we will never, ever let you down," he said.

What to expect with Apple's 2017 iPhone 'X'

With Apple’s next iPhone seeing even more fevered speculation this week, a long-time display expert offers his predictions.


Call it the “iPhone 8,” or “10th anniversary iPhone” or what some analysts on Wall Street refer to as the “iPhone X” -- with "X" referring to the roman numeral 10 -- expectations for Apple’s next phone are high after the company turned in a record quarter this week, selling more iPhones than ever.


The centerpiece of that future phone, due later this year, will likely be an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, according Raymond Soneira, a display expert who heads DisplayMate Technologies and published a report this week with his thoughts on Apple’s future phone.


Soneira, who holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Princeton University, founded DisplayMate Technologies in 1989, and has advised many of the world's leading device manufacturers


“Most of the iPhone 8 OLED hardware display [specifications] will undoubtedly be very similar to the OLED displays on Galaxy Note7, and particularly the upcoming Galaxy S8,” Soneira said in his report. The S8 refers to Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy smartphone. An iPhone using an OLED display -- which offers some critical advantages over liquid crystal displays (LCDs) -- would be a first for Apple, which has used LCDs exclusively to date on its iPhones.


“At least in 2017, everyone’s essentially using the same hardware,” Soneira told Fox News in a phone interview, referring to the fact that Samsung is the only viable high-volume supplier of high-quality OLED smartphone displays and Apple will likely have no choice but to use Samsung OLED displays for the foreseeable future. And that is not just Soneira’s opinion -- Asia-based market research analysts have been saying the same thing for months.


The challenge for Apple is that the switch to an OLED display is fraught with complexity. By using an OLED display, not only does the mechanical engineering change but so does the electronics and the batteries -- and the software tied to the display has to be rewritten.


That also presents Apple with an opportunity to set itself apart from the competition. “It will be particularly interesting to see how all the Smartphone manufacturers will differentiate their similar OLED display hardware with differing and innovative software and firmware,” Soneira said in his report. Firmware refers to software that handles certain basic “low-level” control of the hardware.


This year expect only one high-end OLED iPhone


The conventional wisdom among some analysts and experts is that Apple will only sell one pricey, high-end OLED iPhone model this year. That’s because Samsung won’t be able to supply the tens of millions displays per quarter that Apple needs for multiple models. The South Korean electronics giant must sell its OLED displays to other large smartphone customers while also meeting the in-house demand for its popular Galaxy phones.


Soneira did offer some thoughts in his report about what the future OLED iPhone might look like. “With a curved screen OLED, the iPhone display will almost certainly be bezel and border free to the outside edges, and fill all or almost all of the entire front view edge-to-edge,” he said, referring to a display design that has virtually no borders (bezel), which would be a stark contrast to the current iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.


Soneira continued. “With rumors predicting that the home button, fingerprint sensor, ambient light and proximity sensors will be incorporated within the display.”


The question that nobody can answer yet, is what will Apple’s secret sauce be. “What’s going to make an OLED phone shine is all of the fancy software, firmware, and OS (operating system) stuff that make the phone useful and nice to use,” Soneira told Fox News.


Apple did not respond to a request for comment. Samsung has yet to reply to a request for comment.

Top Tracks: January 30 - February 5

10. Casanova Feat. Fabolous, Dave East, Young M.A. & Don Q - Don't Run (Remix)


Casanova, currently most famous for being A$AP Rocky's cellmate in Rikers, seems like the latest rapper deadset on "bringing NY back." His first big attempt at doing so is this "Don't Run" remix that features a bunch of the city's hard-nosed classicists, as well as the more exciting Young M.A. All we need is for Troy Ave to hop on this, then NY will be back on the map!! The "Don't Run" remix debuts at #10.










9. Vince Staples - BagBak


Long Beach wunderkind Vince Staples dropped off his first new music of the year last week, a hot-as-flames track called "BagBak." It's the first new Staples joint we've gotten since August's Prima Donna EP, and while we don't yet know where it'll end up, it's pretty safe to say that it'll strengthen whatever project it winds up on. "BagBak" debuts at #9.










8. Rick Ross Feat. Ty Dolla $ign - I Think She Like Me


After dropping two projects in Fall 2015, then going albumless all last year, Ricky Rozay is currently gearing up for album number nine, Rather You Than Me. We're not yet sure when it's coming out or which of Ross' recent songs will turn up on it, but "I Think She Like Me" is the third he's shared recently, following November's "Kyrie" and "Buy Back The Block." In its second week out, "I Think She Like Me" is up one place from #9 to #8.





7. Jacquees Feat. Quavo & Ty Dolla $ign - B.E.D (Pt. 2)


Rich Gang's Jacquees dropped off his new tape Since You Playin a couple of weeks ago, and it's been a big hit on the site, garnering over 100k views and a 95% approval rating. Among other big features from Birdman, Tank, and Tory Lanez, Quavo and Ty Dolla $ign guest on "B.E.D (Pt. 2)," a sure highlight from the project. In its second week out, the track is down four spots from #3 to #7.





6. Juvenile & Young Thug - Red Sox


I'm still a little surprised every time I see a Young Thug track get an almost universally high rating, as he was indisputably the most hated rapper on the site when I started at HNHH back in 2014. But people have warmed up to him, as is evidenced by the 87% rating on this track with Juvenile, which has been in the works for years and very well could have been recorded in 2014 or '15. Perhaps in three years we'll say the same about Lil Uzi Vert? "Red Sox" debuts at #6.








5. Ralo Feat. Young Thug, Lil Yachty & Lil Uzi Vert - Young N****


If you're wondering who's taken Thugger's spot as "most hated rapper on HNHH," I think it's probably a three-way tie between the three other guys on this track. Since we were introduced to Ralo via Thug's I'm Up tape, he's been a target for slander, and well... you know the case with Uzi and Yachty. Their new collab, "Young N****," debuts at #5.





4. The Game - Drake Flows


A new Game track that's 115 seconds long and only contains one new verse is nothing newsworthy, but he put "Drake" in the title so obviously it debuted at #1. That bit of bait-and-switch is reflected in the song's user rating, which at 70% is much lower than Game's army of stans usually muster. In its second week out, "Drake Flows" is down three spots from #1 to #4.





3. Jeremih Feat. Chris Brown & Big Sean - I Think of You


As evidenced by dvsn, Drake, and especially Tory Lanez, sampling late-'90s, early-'00s R&B is the wave, and Jeremih joins the gang on his new Montell Jordan-sampling loosie "I Think of You." He's joined by Chris Brown and Big Sean, the latter of whom also collabed with Jeremih on his new album I Decided. "I Think of You" debuts at #3.








2. Lil Uzi Vert - Uppin Downers


Not only does Lil Uzi Vert's new track challenge Waka Flocka Flame's standing record of Most Consecutive "Yeah"s, it might also be the lowest-rated song (39% approval) to appear this high in our chart. Will this pattern-- tons of views but also tons of hate-- stick throughout Uzi's career? Or will he, like Young Thug, become more well-liked with time? "Uppin Downers" debuts at #2.








1. Big Sean Feat. Eminem - No Favors


In contract with the MUMBLE RAP TRASH that is Lil Uzi Vert, we have RAP GOD Eminem sitting in the number one spot, Making Rap Great Again. "Eminent verse was bars," wrote top commenter Dalton Jackson, who clearly has no use for spell check. "I saw dem eyes, like an ass raper," rapped Eminem, who's clearly the greatest rapper of all time. "No Favors" debuts at #1.

Beyonce Pregnant With Twins: 'We Have Been Blessed Two Times Over'

The "Formation" singer took to Instagram on Wednesday to announce that she is pregnant with twins. "We would like to share our love and happiness. We have been blessed two times over," Beyoncé wrote on Instagram. "We are incredibly grateful that our family will be growing by two, and we thank you for your well wishes. - The Carters"