The late French explorer Jacques Cousteau's famous ship, Calypso, will sail again following renovation work, its owners reveal.

Circus Ponies, maker of the outline-based information management app NoteBook, has closed its doors. Despite the joke on the company’s Web site about going to “that great Alphabet company in the sky,” Circus Ponies has not been purchased by Google parent company Alphabet. You can try sending email to Circus Ponies support if you need technical support or a copy of NoteBook 4.0, but the company doesn’t guarantee a reply. As with most orphaned software, Notebook will likely continue to work fine at least until the next version of OS X, but Notebook users should start looking for a replacement.

 

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Apple’s MacBook line has changed significantly in the past few years: screens have been upgraded to Retina resolutions, optical drives have disappeared, and upgradability has been curtailed to reduce size and weight. But there’s one notable exception: the 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro, which remains surprisingly popular. Developer Marco Arment lists some reasons why he thinks that’s the case, including the machine’s optical drive, upgradable RAM and hard disks, and low cost. Apple should be asking itself if the constant push for smaller and lighter is meeting the needs and desires of all of today’s users — keeping old models available isn’t a long-term solution. We’d like to see Apple serve this group of users with a new MacBook that retains the design goals of the 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro. It’s not like the MacBook line could get any more confusing than it already is.

 

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MojoKid writes: Intel is taking another stab at the PC-in-your-pocket form factor with their next gen Compute Sticks. These over-sized thumbstick devices plug into the HDMI port of any TV or monitor and offer a full-fledged computing experience and Intel has now made them faster and more capable. New for 2016, there are three new base model Compute Sticks to choose from. The first is an entry-level option running a quad-core Atom x5-z8400 quad-core processor clocked at 1.44GHz to 2.24GHz with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of eMMC storage, a pair of USB ports, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and Windows 10. But perhaps more interesting are the new 6th Generation IntelCore m models. The higher end of the two is powered by a Skylake Core m5-6Y57 vPro processor while the lower end version is equipped with a Core m3-6Y30. Both models boast 4GB of DDR3-1866 RAM, 64GB of eMMC storage expandable via microSD card slot, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and three USB 3.0 ports (one on the Compute Stick and two on the power adapter). Without an OS, the Core m3 model runs $300; Windows 10 adds $100 to the price tag. The Core m5 Compute Stick will run $500 and, at least for now, doesn't appear to offer a version with Windows 10 pre-installed. The new Compute Sticks will be available in February.

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At least 12,800 people imprisoned since 2002 on trumped charges with many facing torture, human rights group says.

Thinking about visiting national parks in the United States this year? The Chimani National Parks app provides an overview of all the units in the National Park System, and 19 individual apps provide maps and information about the most popular parks.

 

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Lasrick writes: Seismologist Jeffrey Park has done an initial analysis of the seismic data from North Korea's reported nuclear weapon test and found 'an uncanny resemblance to the signals recorded for the February 12, 2013 detonation.' Park's analysis pretty much destroy's the North Korean claim that they detonated a hydrogen bomb, and he postulates that P'yongyang is desperate for attention during the US presidential election cycle. Siegfried Hecker, one of the world's top experts on the North Korea nuclear program, is nonetheless concerned that the DPRK has now completed its fourth test, and with it a greater sophistication in their bomb design. Hecker is also skeptical that the test was an H-bomb. However, as he says, "We know so little about North Korea's nuclear weapons design and test results that we cannot completely rule it out."

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UN World Food Programme says 40,000 Syrians are facing starvation with at least 23 already succumbing to hunger.

Announcement comes after accusations that the nation's largest police department cast a shadow over Muslim communities.

Deputy crown prince tells British magazine an Iran-Saudi war would mean catastrophe for the conflict-wracked region.