Christmas is starting now—well, maybe that actually happened a couple weeks ago, as it wiped out most Halloween sections well before October 31. We know, we know, it’s wild to see aisles already filled with holiday cheer and online stores rolling out their winter collections.
Source: Gizmodo – Start Your Holiday Shopping Early With These Festive Fandom Finds
schwit1 shares a report from Fortune: After launching Amazon from a garage in Seattle in 1994, centibilllionaire Jeff Bezos is leaving the Pacific Northwest behind and setting sail for Florida. In an Instagram post, the world’s third wealthiest person — with a net worth estimated at $160 billion — said he wanted to be closer to my parents after they recently moved back to Miami. “My parents have always been my biggest supporters,” he posted to his Instagram account, adding that his spacefaring company Blue Origin is increasingly shifting operations to Cape Canaveral.
Florida also offers a financial benefit to the Amazon founder — it doesn’t charge capital gains tax which, for a man who’s sold some $30 billion in stock since 2002, according to Bloomberg, can be quite substantial. […] But Miami is not the only place where Bezos lives. In addition to his collection of luxury cars and private Gulfstream jets, Bezos owns multiple properties valued recently at a half-billion dollars. Bezos recently bought a large home in Florida, notes schwit1.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Jeff Bezos Moves To Florida
Enlarge / Starship is stacked and ready to fly, SpaceX says. (credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX announced on Friday that the company is targeting “mid-November” for the second flight test of the Super Heavy rocket and its Starship upper stage.
The company said the launch date is pending regulatory approval, which means that the Federal Aviation Administration and US Fish and Wildlife Service have yet to complete the environmental review process for the rocket and its launch site, which is surrounded by wetlands in South Texas.
Even so, the SpaceX announcement indicates that the company believes it may soon receive this regulatory approval. This is consistent with what sources have told Ars—that federal approval for the second launch of Starship is close to wrapping up.
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Source: Ars Technica – It’s almost showtime for SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket
The teaser video for Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred.
Blizzard just held the opening keynote of its first in-person BlizzCon since 2019, announcing numerous updates to its various games and franchises. Among those was Diablo IV, which launched earlier this year. The big news for that game is that its first full expansion will launch in “late 2024.”
The expansion will be titled Vessel of Hatred, and it will take players to a new, jungle-like region called Nahantu, which will be about the same size as any one of the five regions that shipped in the game initially. The story will take place right after the main game and will deal with Mephisto, the brother of Diablo and Baal.
The announcement was light on further details other than to note that a new class will be added to the game—specifically, one that has not been seen in any prior Diablo game. Some leaks a few days back suggested the new class could be called the Spiritborn, but nothing’s certain on that front.
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Source: Ars Technica – Diablo IV will get its first expansion and WoW Classic will revisit Cataclysm
Long-time Slashdot reader williamyf writes: In the ongoing battle between Red Hat and other “Enterprise Linux — RHEL compatible” distros, today the OpenELA (Open Enterprise Linux Association), a body Consisting of CIQ (stewards of Rocky Linux), Oracle and Suse, released source code for a generic “Enterprise Linux Distro” (Sources available for RHEL 8 and RHEL 9). A Steering committee for the foundation was also formed.
War between Red Hat and what they call “clones” (mostly Oracle; CentOS, Rocky, Alma and others seem to be collateral damage) has been raging on for years. First, in 2011, Red Hat changed the way they distributed kernel patches. Then, in 2014, Red Hat absorbed CentOS. In 2019 Red Hat transformed CentOS to CentOS stream, and shortened support Timetables for CentOS 8, all out of the blue. Then, in 2023, RedHat severely restricted source code access to non-customers.
What will be RedHat’s reaction to this development? My bet is that they will stop to release source code of distro modules under BSD, MIT, APACHE and MPL Licenses for RHEL and in certain Windows for CentOS Stream. What is your bet? Let us know in the comments.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – OpenELA Drops First RHEL, ‘Enterprise Linux’ Compatible Source Code
Enlarge / Sundrop is among the citrus soft drinks that still contains BVO. (credit: Sun Drop)
The Food and Drug Administration may finally ban a food additive used in citrusy drinks that the agency determined over 50 years ago could not be considered generally safe. The agency proposed a ban on the additive Thursday.
The additive is brominated vegetable oil (BVO), which is a flavoring emulsifier and stabilizer that has been used to keep citrus flavoring from separating and floating to the top of soft drinks since the 1920s. It was previously used in big brand-name beverages such as Mountain Dew and Gatorade but has been removed amid toxicity concerns in recent years. Since at least 2014, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have been phasing out BVO from their drinks, though it can still be found in some store-brand sodas and regional drinks, including the citrus soda Sun Drop.
BVO is already banned in Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. In October of this year, California banned BVO, along with other problematic food additives, including red dye No. 3. (While reporting California’s ban on red dye No. 3, Ars also reported that the FDA planned to ban BVO.)
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Source: Ars Technica – Soda additive linked to thyroid toxicity may finally get banned by FDA
Earlier today, we got our surprising first look at Marvel’s Hawkeye spinoff series centered around Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez, Echo. But now that Maya is getting into the spotlight, she’s going to be even more different than her comics counterpart.
Source: Gizmodo – Echo Producer Says Main Character Won’t Have Her ‘Lame’ Comic Powers
EV startup Revel’s moped-share option is ending in both New York City and San Francisco, the company announced in a company-wide email on Friday, citing the need to focus on its ride-hail service, according to a company-wide email seen by TechCrunch. Revel added rideshare in June of last year as a more eco-friendly…
Source: Gizmodo – Revel Is Reportedly Getting Out of the Moped Business
Enlarge / A look at the Nvidia T234 that could be the basis for a scaled-down custom chip in the next Nintendo console. (credit: Nvidia / Imgur)
In recent months, the long-running speculation surrounding Nintendo’s inevitable follow-up to the Switch has become more frequent and more specific, pointing to a release sometime in late 2024. Now, the pixel-counting boffins over at Digital Foundry have gone deep with some informed speculation on the system, dissecting leaked details on what they’re convinced is the Nvidia chip Nintendo will be putting in their Switch follow-up.
That chip is the Nvidia T239, a scaled-down, custom variant of the Nvidia Orin T234 that is popular in the automotive and robotics markets. While Digital Foundry can’t say definitively that this is the next Switch chip with “absolute 100 percent certainty,” the website points to circumstantial links and references to the chip in a number of leaks, a recent Nvidia hack, LinkedIn posts from Nvidia employees, and Nvidia’s own Linux distribution.
“From my perspective, the bottom line is that by a process of elimination, T239 is the best candidate for the processor at the heart of the new Nintendo machine,” Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter writes. “With a mooted 2024 release date, there have been no convincing leaks whatsoever for any other processor that could find its way into the new Switch.”
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Source: Ars Technica – What do we know about the Switch 2’s hardware power?
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Ken Mattingly, who orbited the moon and commanded a pair of NASA shuttle missions, but who was remembered as well for the flight he didn’t make — the near-disastrous mission of Apollo 13 — died on Tuesday in Arlington, Va. He was 87. His death was confirmed by Cheryl Warner, a NASA spokeswoman. She did not specify the cause or say whether he died at home in Arlington or in a hospital there. Mr. Mattingly, a former Navy jet pilot with a degree in aeronautical engineering, joined NASA in 1966. But his first spaceflight didn’t come until April 1972, when the space agency launched Apollo 16, the next-to-last manned mission to the moon. Piloting the spacecraft’s command module in orbit while holding the rank of lieutenant commander, he took extensive photos of the moon’s terrain and conducted experiments while Cmdr.John W. Young of the Navy and Lt. Col. Charles M. Duke Jr. of the Air Force, having descended in the lunar lander, collected rock and soil samples from highlands near the crater known as Descartes.
While the three astronauts were en route back to Earth, Commander Mattingly stepped outside the spacecraft — which he had named Casper for the resemblance, as least in a child’s eye, between an astronaut in a bulky spacesuit and the cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost. Maneuvering along handrails while connected to the spacecraft by a tether, he retrieved two attached canisters of film with photos of the moon that he had taken from inside the capsule for analysis back on Earth. When the Apollo program ended, Commander Mattingly headed the astronaut support office for the shuttle program, designed to ferry astronauts to and from an eventual Earth-orbiting International Space Station. In the summer of 1982, he commanded the fourth and final Earth-orbiting test flight of the shuttle Columbia, which completed 112 orbits. He was also the commander of the first space shuttle flight conducted for the Department of Defense, a classified January 1985 mission aboard Discovery.
All those achievements came after he had been scrubbed at virtually the last moment from the flight of Apollo 13 in April 1970. He was to have orbited the moon in the command module while Cmdr.James A. LovellJr. of the Navy and Fred W. Haise Jr. explored the lunar surface. But NASA removed Commander Mattingly from the crew in the final days before launching, when blood tests determined that he had recently been exposed to German measles from training with Colonel Duke, the backup lunar module pilot, who in turn had contracted it from his proximity to an infected child at a neighborhood party. Commander Mattingly was the only one of the Apollo 13 crewmen who were found to lack antibodies against the illness. His backup, John L. Swigert Jr., became the command module pilot, leaving Commander Mattingly to watch the progress ofthe flight from mission control. […] After his Apollo and space shuttle flights, Mr. Mattingly continued to work for NASA in the 1980s. He retired from the space agency and the Navy as a rear admiral and went on to work for aerospace companies.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Ken Mattingly, Astronaut Scrubbed From Apollo 13, Is Dead At 87
The city of Washington D.C. will distribute free Apple AirTags to residents in certain neighborhoods, mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Wednesday. The aim: to make stolen cars easier for police to track down.
“We are equipping residents with technology that will allow the [Metropolitan Police Department] to address these crimes, recover vehicles, and hold people accountable,” Bowser said in a statement, “we will continue to use all the tools we have, and add new tools, to keep our city safe.” Local publication DCist first reported the story.
D.C. residents in neighborhoods with the highest numbers of vehicle theft will be eligible to get free AirTags at three different events in the city over the next few months, starting next week. It’s not clear how many AirTags, which cost $29 a pop, will be given away.
Police officers will help residents put the AirTags in their cars and register them on their iPhones. If a car is stolen, residents will need to report the location of the car as it appears in Apple’s FindMy app to law enforcement.
D.C. is the second city to hand out free AirTags to make finding car thieves easier. Earlier this year, New York City mayor Eric Adams announced that the city would give away 500 AirTags to make finding car thieves easier. Since then the NYPD has held several AirTag and Tile tracker giveaways, focusing on Kia and Hyundai owners, though it’s unclear if these come from the same supply announced by the mayor.
AirTags, which Apple released in 2021, have often sparked controversy. Critics have said that they let stalkers track victims silently without their knowledge — a safety issue Apple eventually addressed. But the devices have also been useful, letting people keep track of pets, checked baggage and stolen campaign signs.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/live-in-washington-dc-you-might-be-able-to-get-free-airtags-for-your-car-202616642.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Live in Washington D.C.? You might be able to get free AirTags for your car
Enlarge / A promotional image for LG’s larger OLED televisions. (credit: LG)
Whether you need a monitor for work or you want a larger living room screen for entertainment, our curated pre-Black Friday Dealmaster comes with plenty of savings on monitors, displays, and TVs. Complete the setup with upgraded audio, as we found some deals on soundbars, speakers, headphones, and more. In addition to home entertainment, there are savings on Lenovo laptops, Apple MacBooks and iPads, chargers and tech gear, and more. And for a luxurious and ergonomic upgrade, Herman Miller’s popular office and gaming chairs, including the Aeron and Embody, are on sale at up to 25 percent off, making it a perfect self-care gift for yourself or your loved one for the holiday.
Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.
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Source: Ars Technica – Dealmaster: Pre-Black Friday deals on home entertainment, Herman Miller chairs, and laptops
Enlarge / Dr. Charles H. Townes, inventor of the maser, a key component of atomic clocks, illustrates the differences between it and a standard clock. (credit: Getty Images)
One of the leading thinkers on how humans track time has a big, if simple, proposal for dealing with leap seconds: Don’t worry about them. Do leap minutes instead, maybe one every half-century or so.
“We all need to relax a little bit,” said Judah Levine, leader of the Network Synchronization Project in the Time and Frequency Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to The New York Times. Leap seconds—when coordinated, near-impeccable atomic time is halted for one second to synchronize with the Earth’s comparatively erratic movements—are a big headache, especially to computer technology.
The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (IBWM) has already voted to eliminate leap seconds entirely by 2035, or at least how they are currently implemented. Levine plans to submit a paper outlining a “leap minute,” timed to the next World Radiocommunications Conference held by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Starting November 20 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the world’s radio and communications policymakers will debate various measures and standards. The Times suggests Levine’s paper may be published after the conference, but awareness of it—including the Times story itself—should make it a point of contention.
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Source: Ars Technica – Leap seconds could become leap minutes, despite pushback from Russians, Vatican
Scientists seem to have found a kink in the armor of super gonorrhea. In a large-scale clinical trial reported this week, the experimental drug zoliflodacin was found to be just as effective as other frontline antibiotics at treating the stubborn bacterial infection. The results will pave the way for zoliflodacin to…
Source: Gizmodo – Super Gonorrhea May Have Met Its Nemesis
It’s BlizzCon time, which means Blizzard is revealing some of the many things it has lined up for its stable of games. At the opening ceremony, there was a look at the future of Diablo IV, including the game’s first expansion.
Vessel of Hatred, which is slated to arrive in 2024, will build on the story of the main game. You’ll find out the fate of the villain Mephisto and learn about his evil plans for Sanctuary. The DLC will feature the return of the Nahantu jungle area from Diablo II. The expansion will also introduce a brand-new character class. Blizzard is promising “new ways to play” and “new evils to vanquish” too. You can find out more details about Vessel of Hatred next summer.
Before then, Diablo IV‘s third season will feature a new kind of challenge dungeon called The Gauntlet. Here, you’ll fight against other players from around the world for your class ranking.
The first Diablo IV seasonal event is called Midwinter Blight. It starts on December 12 and lasts for three weeks. There’s more to come over the next month or two, including a six-week Season of Blood endgame event called Abattoir of Zir that starts on December 5.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/diablo-ivs-first-expansion-will-introduce-a-brand-new-class-in-late-2024-200121982.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Diablo IV’s first expansion will introduce a brand-new class in late 2024
A top scientist has proposed a new way to reconcile the two different ways that our clocks keep time. Meet — wait for it — the leap minute. From a report: Later this month, delegations from around the world will head to a conference in Dubai to discuss international treaties involving radio frequencies, satellite coordination and other tricky technical issues. These include the nagging problem of the clocks. For 50 years, the international community has carefully and precariously balanced two different ways of keeping time. One method, based on Earth’s rotation, is as old as human timekeeping itself, an ancient and common-sense reliance on the position of the sun and stars. The other, more precise method coaxes a steady, reliable frequency from the changing state of cesium atoms and provides essential regularity for the digital devices that dominate our lives.
The trouble is that the times on these clocks diverge. The astronomical time, called Universal Time, or UT1, has tended to fall a few clicks behind the atomic one, called International Atomic Time, or TAI. So every few years since 1972, the two times have been synced by the insertion of leap seconds — pausing the atomic clocks briefly to let the astronomic one catch up. This creates UTC, Universal Coordinated Time. But it’s hard to forecast precisely when the leap second will be required, and this has created an intensifying headache for technology companies, countries and the world’s timekeepers.
“Having to deal with leap seconds drives me crazy,” said Judah Levine, head of the Network Synchronization Project in the Time and Frequency Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo., where he is a leading thinker on coordinating the world’s clocks. He is constantly badgered for updates and better solutions, he said: “I get a bazillion emails.” On the eve of the next international discussion, Dr. Levine has written a paper that proposes a new solution: the leap minute. The idea is to sync the clocks less frequently, perhaps every half-century, essentially letting atomic time diverge from cosmos-based time for 60 seconds or even a tad longer, and basically forgetting about it in the meantime.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – A Giant Leap for the Leap Second
After landing back to Earth from Virgin Galactic’s latest suborbital flight, planetary scientist Alan Stern and science communicator Kellie Gerardi received a ton of text messages from other researchers asking, “How do I get to do that?”
Source: Gizmodo – NASA Scientist Flies to Edge of Space for Suborbital Research
Echo is the first Marvel project to feature a deaf protagonist and the first series to air all five episodes at once.
If, like us, you miss the darker, more adult-oriented Netflix Defenders series (Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Punisher), you’ll be intrigued by the official trailer for Echo, which seems to be channeling some of the same gritty energy. In fact, it’s the first Marvel project to earn a TV-MA rating and the first to feature a deaf protagonist. In other firsts, Marvel will drop all five episodes at once on both Disney and Hulu.
(Spoilers for Hawkeye below.)
We’ve already met Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), aka Echo, in Hawkeye. She was the deaf commander of the Tracksuit Mafia, capable of perfectly copying another person’s movements. And she was on a quest to discover the true identity of Ronin, the assassin who had killed her father. That put her on a collision course with Clint Barton/Hawkeye, who had hung up his Ronin gear for good.
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Source: Ars Technica – Kingpin is back with a snazzy eyepatch in trailer for darker, bloody Echo
You probably know Jupiter, the rotund fifth planet from the Sun, as orange and tan with a big red splotch. But the Hubble Space Telescope recently imaged the gas giant in ultraviolet light, giving the world a very different look.
Source: Gizmodo – You’ve Never Seen Jupiter Look So Much Like Cotton Candy
Inspired by the impact of chance in everyday life, BalletCollective, an experimental dance group in New York City, collaborated with Sam Leigh (Anamnesis), an award-winning tabletop roleplaying game designer, to create a totally new and unique expression of the medium: a ballet inspired by a TTRPG.
Source: Gizmodo – Roleplaying Games Enter the World of Ballet in a Unique New Performance
