Welcome back to Sunday Sustenance! I ate roughly a pound of bread and pecans for last week’s grilled french toast recipe, so this week, I’m hunting down some lighter fare.
Source: LifeHacker – Cooking Octopus on The Grill Is Way Easier Than You Think
Luxembourg’s parliament has voted in favor of passing an asteroid mining law that give companies ownership of what they extract from the celestial bodies. The European country has been working on the bill since 2016 and originally intended to pass it…
Source: Engadget – Luxembourg’s asteroid mining law takes effect August 1st
Over 22,000 fans were evacuated from the Tomorrowland music festival in Barcelona on Saturday after an unspecified “technical malfunction” caused the stage to burst into a towering inferno straight out of hell. According to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, local authorities suspect a malfunctioning pyrotechnics…
Source: Gizmodo – This Hellish Tower of Flame Forced the Evacuation of Over 22,000 People From Barcelona’s Tomorrowland Festival
Enlarge / You’d never be able to tell that a crewmate turned inside out on this very table only a few short hours ago!
Although 2014’s Alien: Isolation was a well-written, beautifully stylish exercise in terror, it failed to sell in large enough quantity for publisher Sega to justify a sequel—something for which we are all lessened, because the game is an exquisitely crafted love letter to the Alien universe. It’s also—as can be attested by numerous Youtube reaction videos—pants-wettingly terrifying.
The game was released just before the consumer versions of the Rift and Vive VR headsets became available, but it had a hidden Rift DK2-compatible gameplay mode that could be enabled by editing a configuration file. The VR mode mostly worked—the camera clips through the player’s body a lot, and folks prone to VR sickness would likely get nauseated within minutes due to the lack of any kind of VR accommodation in the game’s design, but even in its limited unsupported form the VR mode was stunning—and provided an even more terrifying experience than playing on a regular screen.
Unfortunately, the extended screen method by which Isolation’s VR mode functioned made it incompatible with the release versions of the Rift or Vive. The game’s sales figures were too low for Sega to justify bringing the coding team back together to update the feature for consumer headsets, and it would have passed into history as little more than an experimental footnote.
Except, of course, for the fan community—thanks to them, you can once again play Alien: Isolation in VR. Mostly.
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Source: Ars Technica – Reddit users re-enable Alien: Isolation’s VR mode with unofficial patch
In a piece describing the paranoid vibe in Las Vegas during the DEFCON convention, CNET reported Friday that the Wet Republic web site “had two images vandalized” with digital graffiti. But their reporter now writes that “my paranoia finally got the best of me, and it turned out to be an ad campaign.”
The images included a scribbled beard and eye patch on a photo of bikini model, along with the handwritten message “It’s all out war.” CNET’s updated story now reports that “It looked like a prank you’d see from a mischievous hacker…”
When I spotted the vandalism on the Wet Republic site Friday morning, it looked like other attacks I’d seen throughout the week, such as a Blue Screen of Death on a bus ticket machine… Hakkasan, which hosts the event at MGM Grand, said the “vandalism” was part of the cheeky advertisements for a seasonal bikini contest it’s been running since 2015. The “all-out war” is between the models in the competition, not between hackers and clubs. Hakkasan’s spokeswoman said nothing on its network has been compromised. So maybe not everything online in Las Vegas is getting hacked this week, and this n00b learned to calm down the hard way.
For that matter, maybe that blue screen of death was also just another random Windows machine crashing.
CNET’s reporter made one other change to his article. He removed the phrase “when hackers are in town for Defcon, everything seems to be fair game.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – CNET Pranked By Web Site’s Fake ‘All Out War’ Hack During DEFCON
Prince Noctis’ Regalia is coming to Forza Horizon on August 1: the addition may be surprising to some, but it’s actually fitting, being that Final Fantasy XV is somewhat of a road-trip game, just like Horizon. For Forza Horizon 3 players, the Regalia will be sent to all players and be redeemable through the in-game messaging system. Final Fantasy XV players will receive a code to redeem the Regalia in Forza Horizon 3 via the Xbox Live messaging system.
In the world of Eos, the Regalia is actually an unofficial character in the party and the primary source of transportation for main character Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum and his buddies Ignis, Gladiolus, and Prompto. If you haven’t played FINAL FANTASY XV, you do actually drive the Regalia on and off-road, you’re even able to jump it in the open-world setting. Now is your chance to experience the luxurious Regalia in a world built for driving without having to battle beasts or complete quests.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Final Fantasy XV’s Regalia Comes to Forza Horizon
We know that the number of people paying for television has been declining for several years, but the latest data shows that TV sets are losing popularity, too: households without televisions have increased by 1.3% since 2009, which is pretty interesting, being that TVs are so cheap nowadays and take up even less space. It seems that more and more people are content with small-screen watching on smartphones and laptops.
…the number of TVs in homes shrank to an average of 2.3 in 2015, down from an average of 2.6 televisions per household in 2009, according to the latest available data from the Energy Information Administration. The best-case scenario for that, put forward by the people who sell TV programming for a living, is that Americans are watching TV on devices that aren’t TVs, like laptops, tablets and phones. The flip side of that argument: You can do lots of other things on those devices, which creates even more competition for TV viewing time.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – TV Sets Are Starting to Disappear from American Homes
The latest trailer for the next season of The Walking Dead left fans with a ton of questions—mainly, what the hell was going on at the end of it? Fans of the original comic have a clue what’s going on, and soon the rest of us will too…by the end of the first episode.
Source: Gizmodo – Answers to Old Man Rick on The Walking Dead Will Come Sooner Than You Think
Source: Engadget – BT offers broadband to every rural home in the UK, for a price
The Guardian reports:
Almost every graduate taking an unpaid internship can expect to be worse off three years later than if they had gone straight into work. That is the shock finding of the first survey of its kind of the career trajectories of tens of thousands of students over a six-year period. The study, conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, reveals that, three-and-a-half years after graduating, former interns face a salary penalty of approximately £3,500, compared with those who went straight into paid work, and £1,500 compared with those who went into further study… The study also found that those who took internships were less likely to go on to professional or managerial roles or be satisfied with their career compared with those who had gone straight into work.
Slashdot reader BarbaraHudson warns unpaid internships are also “a possible indicator of a large oversupply of workers to jobs available and downward pressure on pay.” Anyone else want to share thoughts about the current job market for professionals — or your own horror stories about your first job after college?
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Unpaid Internships Lead To Lower-Paying Jobs, Study Finds
Apple has begun listing select movies as 4K and HDR in users’ iTunes purchase history, and the implication is pretty clear: UHD content should be available for purchase and download on the fruit company’s ecosystem soon. This is also a hint that a new Apple TV may be just around the corner.
iTunes content remains viewable in SD and HD for the time being, but the discovery suggests Apple may be gearing up for what’s around the corner — 4K and HDR support for both iTunes content and a new Apple TV. In February, Bloomberg reported Apple was testing a new, fifth-generation Apple TV capable of streaming 4K video, adding that it may be released as soon as this year. The report also said the new Apple TV, allegedly codenamed “J105” internally, would display more vivid colors, suggesting HDR support.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – 4K and HDR Is Headed to iTunes
The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), a new Windows 10 feature that enables you to run native Linux command-line tools directly on Windows, alongside your traditional Windows desktop and modern store apps, is no longer in beta and will be fully supported in the Fall Creators Update later this year. Users will be able to share and access files on the Windows filesystem from within Linux, and call Linux executables from Windows and vice versa.
We’re excited to announce that in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (FCU) due to ship in fall 2017, Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) will no longer be a beta feature and will become a fully supported Windows feature. Early adopters on the Windows Insider program will notice that WSL is no longer marked as a beta feature as of Insider build 16251. This will be great news for those who’ve held-back from employing WSL as a mainline toolset: You’ll now be able to leverage WSL as a day-to-day developer toolset, and become ever more productive when building, testing, deploying, and managing your apps and systems on Windows 10.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Windows Subsystem for Linux Exits Beta
If you’re desperate for distraction or want to get your friend’s kid something that they’ll love but their parents might hate, an on-trend fidget toy is the way to go. While it’s disputed whether or not they actually help to reduce anxiety or increase focus, fidgeting is a common human activity, and with some…
Source: LifeHacker – Sunday Showdown: Fidget Spinner Vs. Fidget Cube
A lawsuit against two former Air Force psychologists who developed the CIA’s post-September 11, 2001 “enhanced interrogation” torture techniques, James Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen, appears to be all set to go to trial after the defendants ignored repeated exhortations to settle—including from the judge.
Source: Gizmodo – Lawsuit Against CIA Psychologists Who Compared Themselves to Nazi Gas Manufacturer Headed to Trial
It was a profitable week for some of the biggest names in tech. Amazon released its second quarter earnings, Buzzfeed jumped into the hardware business with a smart hotplate, and Uber found yet another way to gouge its customers. Numbers, because how…
Source: Engadget – After Math: As the cash flows
Templer421 shares news from Reuters:
A ban on pedestrians looking at mobile phones or texting while crossing the street will take effect in Hawaii’s largest city in late October, as Honolulu becomes the first major U.S. city to pass legislation aimed at reducing injuries and deaths from “distracted walking.” The ban comes as cities around the world grapple with how to protect phone-obsessed “smartphone zombies” from injuring themselves by stepping into traffic or running into stationary objects. Starting Oct. 25, Honolulu pedestrians can be fined between $15 and $99, depending on the number of times police catch them looking at a phone or tablet device as they cross the street, Mayor Kirk Caldwell told reporters gathered near one of the city’s busiest downtown intersections on Thursday… People making calls for emergency services are exempt from the ban… Opponents of the Honolulu law argued it infringes on personal freedom and amounts to government overreach.
Meanwhile, the city of London has tried putting pads on their lamp posts “to soften the blow for distracted walkers.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Honolulu Targets ‘Smartphone Zombies’ With Crosswalk Ban
With this week’s release of AMDGPU-PRO 17.30, here are some fresh benchmarks of this latest AMD hybrid Linux graphics driver release compared to using the newest pure open-source driver stack in the form of the Linux 4.13 development kernel and Mesa Git.
Source: Phoronix – AMDGPU-PRO 17.30 vs. Linux 4.13 + Mesa Git RadeonSI Benchmarks
The Armatix IP1 smart gun normally requires a special watch to open fire, but a hacker discovered that three magnets, a piece of wood, and a screw works just as well for unlocking the sidearm. The firing pin is locked by a metal plug controlled by an electromagnetic signal transmitted from the watch that can be duplicated using a $15 set of magnets held at a certain angle.
“I was almost a little surprised myself that it worked like it did. I pulled the trigger and it went ‘bang,'” Plore said. At first, he almost didn’t believe it. So he tested it again, only this time he got it on film. Plore said he spoke with Armatix about the hack in April and the company thanked him. Sadly, Plore said, this hack exposes a flaw in the hardware that likely can be fixed only with a recall. Armatix did not respond to requests for comment. Plore said the whole ordeal highlights how smart guns are still “immature.” he also expects even more guns will be hacked at future Defcons.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Hacker Unlocks “Secure” Smart Gun with Magnets
Prices for the RX Vega 64 and 56 were supposedly leaked on Newegg: the Vega 56 will be $399, while the Vega 64 will start at $499.
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Air: $499
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Air Limited Edition: $549
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Liquid: $599
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Liquid Limited Edition: $649/$699
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56: $399
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – AMD RX Vega 64 and 56 Pricing Leaked
This weekend the U.S. Navy commissioned its latest Arleigh Burke-guided missile destroyer in San Diego, California. The USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), a 9,200-ton warship, will be one of the most versatile in the fleet, able to hunt for submarines, defend against air threats and enemy surface ships and engage ballistic…
Source: Gizmodo – The Complicated Death Of The Marine Behind The U.S. Navy’s Newest Destroyer
