The Morning After: NVIDIA's graphics upgrade and taking Tesla private

NVIDIA just launched its biggest graphical advance since 2006, and kids are well-equipped to hack election results. Also, Azealia Banks and Elon Musk have different stories to tell about last week's surprising tweet.

When novel ideas get old.
Motorola Z3 review

This phone's Snapdragon 835 chipset keeps things moving at a respectable pace, and Motorola's Android tweaks are as thoughtful as ever. That said, the Moto Z3 lacks some of the flourishes that made earlier Moto Z phones truly great, and the best argument for owning one -- the 5G Moto Mod -- is still months away and will only be of use to Z3 owners in select markets.

The future of hyper-realistic graphics is here.
NVIDIA's Turing-powered GPUs are the first ever built for ray tracing

At the SIGGRAPH conference, NVIDIA CEO Jen Hsun Huang revealed eighth-generation Turing-GPU hardware that's actually capable of accelerating both ray tracing and AI. Ray tracing is a technique that should usher in far more realistic computer graphics than we've ever seen before by simulating the way light works in the real world. Its first Quadro RTX professional cards with the technology (and super-fast Samsung GDDR6 RAM) cost between $2,300 and $10,000, but we should see consumer cards on the way soon.

Get one for $120 or a three-pack for $280.
Samsung's new mesh routers use Plume's WiFi optimization tech

Samsung is tackling both mesh WiFi and smart-home connectivity with its new, simply-named SmartThings WiFi mesh network system. While the integrated SmartThings hub makes this offering unique, it also has some notable features on the WiFi side as well. Samsung partnered with Plume, one of the first companies to build out mesh WiFi systems, to offer AI-based networking optimization. Once everything is set up, the network begins 'learning' about how a household uses the available bandwidth.

Azealia Banks tells a different story.
Elon Musk explains funding plans for taking Tesla private

In a blog post, Musk claimed that it "wouldn't be right" to limit talks of going private to just the largest investors. The country's Public Investment Fund had brought up going private "multiple times" starting in early 2017, he said, expressing interest in the move as a way to reduce its dependence on oil. However, musician Azealia Banks said she spent the weekend with Musk and his girlfriend, Grimes, describing the CEO as "scrounging" for investors after making a tweet while on acid, and the New York Times said Tesla board members were "blindsided" by the announcement.

The "charging rapidly" message isn't showing up.
Pixel XL may lose fast charging after Android Pie update

Android Pie has been out for a week; now Google's latest mobile operating system has a problem. Users of the company's own Pixel XL from 2016 are reporting issues with fast chargers after they've updated to Pie.

Thieves hit the National Bank of Blacksburg for $2.4 million in a pair of attacks.
FBI warns banks about ATM cash-out scheme

The FBI is warning banks about a fraud scheme called an ATM cash-out, Krebs on Security reports. With this type of heist, attackers typically compromise a bank or payment card processor with malware, disable fraud controls and withdraw large sums of money -- sometimes millions of dollars -- with cloned bank cards.

Zephyr flies above weather at 70,000 feet.
Solar-powered aircraft stays aloft for record-breaking 25 days

Airbus announced that its solar-powered Zephyr S HAPS (high-altitude pseudo-satellite) flew for 25 straight days, setting a time aloft record for any airplane, ever. It shattered the previous record of 14 days, marked by a previous prototype Zephyr aircraft.

Jabra's Elite 65t wireless earbuds are our go-to recommendation.
The nine headphones that made our back-to-school guide

Whether you need a pair of earbuds, a set of sound-cancelling cans or just a pair of budget headphones that don't suck, our annual back-to-school guide has you covered.

But wait, there's more...

• DeepMind AI matches health experts at spotting eye diseases

• What we're watching: Telltale's 'The Walking Dead,' 'Sharknado' and 'Disenchantment'

• Marvel's 'Runaways' returns to Hulu December 21st

• Vimeo is the latest platform to remove InfoWars's Alex Jones

• Honda adds driver assist tech to all 2019 Civic sedans and coupes

• Dozens of kids hack election-site replicas in just minutes

• AI-driven animations will make your digital avatars come to life

• Volkswagen kicks off EV awareness campaign

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