It’s a sentence that just about sums up 2018 so far: Illinois is dealing with an outbreak of synthetic weed that makes its users bleed from their eyes and ears.
Source: Gizmodo – Synthetic Pot in Illinois Is Making People Bleed From Their Eyes and Ears
Last May, a journal published results suggesting that the revolutionary gene-editing technique CRISPR might actually be quite dangerous. The paper caused a bit of turmoil in the biotech world, which is looking to CRISPR as a major disease-fighting tool of the future. But it didn’t take long for the study to attract…
Source: Gizmodo – Science Journal Retracts Paper That Sparked CRISPR Panic
Google has been working closely with the NCAA during this year’s tournament, but now, during the Final Four, the company will be using predictive analytics to figure out who will win games. The wrinkle here is that the team will use data from the fir…
Source: Engadget – Google will predict Final Four winners based on in-game data
Wine 3.5 is now available as the latest bi-weekly release for this popular program to run Windows games/programs on Linux…
Source: Phoronix – Wine 3.5 Released With Initial Vulkan Loader
Intel is exploring the creation of specialty hardware for mining the popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin, according to a U.S. patent application released Thursday. From a report: The patent, filed on Sept. 23, 2016, describes a Bitcoin mining hardware accelerator that may include a processor core with a hardware accelerator coupled with it. Bitcoin mining is the process of using powerful computer processors to record Bitcoin transactions on a public ledger, which is done by attempting to solve cryptographic puzzles. If the miner becomes the first to solve the puzzle and record the next transaction, it is rewarded with newly released Bitcoin. The high energy and equipment costs associated with mining have brought into question whether the activity can be profitable, especially as the price of Bitcoin has nose-dived in the past few months, as noted by Forbes. But that hasn’t stopped people from hoarding equipment — one report from Coherent Market Insights pegged the cryptocurrency mining market at $610 million in 2016 and expects it to grow to $38 billion by 2025. The current issues faced by miners also has propelled companies and individuals to find new technologies and methods for making mining more efficient.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Intel Files Patent For Energy-Efficient Bitcoin Mining Hardware
Seen here regretting not going to Panama City Beach instead, this is a video of young Britton Hayes on an African safari trip during his spring break when a young cheetah decides to hitchhike uninvited (with another one chilling on the hood) in the Land Cruiser SUV he’s riding in. Apparently he was told to remain still and not make eye contact with the animal (so it wouldn’t perceive him as a threat) until it leaves on its own, which took almost ten minutes. Personally, I would have stared that cheetah straight in the eyes and told it I’m it’s real father, but that’s just me and that doesn’t look like a very big cheetah. Sure it could probably still do some damage, but I don’t think it’s going to kill you unless it gets your jugular. And what are the chances of that? “With as many necks as you have? Slim.” I’m a survivor.
Keep going for a short Facebook video, and a longer Youtube video (which includes footage of the hood-riding cheetah).
Source: Geekologie – Stay Calm: Cheetah Jumps In Car During African Safari
If you care about your money, you should memorize the word “fiduciary.” It’s critical if you hire someone to help with your finances. And with the Fiduciary Rule on the chopping block, it’s up to you to make sure your financial advisor acts in your best interest.
Source: LifeHacker – Make Sure Your Money Advisor is a ‘Fiduciary’
2018 looked promising for Huawei’s ambitions to start selling its smartphones in the US, but failed partnerships with AT&T, Verizon and Best Buy resulted in a shutout from the American market. And yet, the company will try to stick it out in the…
Source: Engadget – Huawei isn’t giving up on the US just yet
It all comes back to buildings.
Source: TreeHugger – Which generates more greenhouse gases, transportation or buildings?
This beautiful renovation project remakes an old Art Deco apartment in Melbourne.
Source: TreeHugger – Micro-apartment redesigned like a ‘toolbox’ in heritage building (Video)
Dear readers, I’m sorry. When I asked Lifehacker staffers what’s been missing from our monthly fitness challenges, the resounding answer was that we all need to spend a month working on our plank game.
Source: LifeHacker – This April, We’re Doing Planks
Another minor update to Mir has arrived ahead of next month’s Ubuntu 18.04 LTS “Bionic Beaver” release…
Source: Phoronix – Mir 0.31.1 Released With Various Wayland Fixes
What happens when you take about 10 dedicated PC gamers and put them down in front of a FreeSync 2 supported system, and a G-Sync supported system and let them play games back to back and then ask them about their gaming experience? That is exactly what we did this week.
Source: [H]ardOCP – AMD Radeon FreeSync 2 vs NVIDIA G-Sync
Back in February we reported to you that Connecticut made a deal with Newegg to get customer purchase information so they could send state tax bills to Connecticut residents that purchased from Newegg in the past several years. Newegg has now agreed to collect sales tax on purchases from Connecticut residents effective in July (Warning auto play video) and remit them to the state. Another one bites the dust. I suspect Newegg is going to lose a few sales over this one. Thanks cageymaru.
“This is exactly what we asked online retailers to do in the first place and I am glad Newegg has now agreed,” Sullivan said. “While DRS did offer Connecticut taxpayers a settlement opportunity to avoid two years of interest and penalty, we much prefer the simpler and fairer solution of retailers collecting the tax.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Newegg Will Begin Collecting Connecticut State Sales Tax in July
Before FX and Donald Glover dramatically exited the Deadpool animated series last weekend, we’d not seen a single snippet of art or footage from the show. But a rejected pitch from animation studio Titmouse released today gives at least an idea of what the team behind the series was looking for.
Source: Gizmodo – Rejected Test Footage for FX’s Deadpool Show Offers a Look at What Could’ve Been
Uber is partnering with Goodwill to offer free rides to Virginians recovering from opioid addiction. Announced Friday, Goodwill, Uber, and Chesterfield County officials are launching a small pilot program to help those in need, offering them free rides to treatment.
Source: Gizmodo – Uber Begins Pilot Program Shuttling People Recovering From Opioid Addiction to Treatment
A boy dangling from a tree in a barren desert. A forest filled with standing stones that have circular holes punched through them. Turtle-riding cats. Spooky caves. Curious elephants. These are just a few of the shots in the first trailer for Away. T…
Source: Engadget – ‘Away’ is a full-length CG movie made by one person
As the VR headset market continues to grow and mature alongside initiatives like Daydream and Windows Mixed Reality, hardware makers have been able to drive down costs over time. Over the past few months, we’ve seen Facebook’s Oculus VR and HTC’s Vive dropping MSRPs of their first-gen hardware. Now, it is Sony’s turn to take $100/€100 off its headset.
Starting this week, Sony’s PlayStation VR headset (PSVR-CUH-ZVR2) now costs $299/€299, down from the previous price of $399/€399. In addition to reducing the price of the headset itself, Sony has cut the MSRPs of their PlayStation VR bundles as well, to the point that (at least for the moment) there’s little reason to buy anything besides a bundle in the US. The PlayStation Doom VFR bundle is now available the same $299 price point as the standalone headset, whereas the PlayStation VR The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR bundle runs for a bit more at $349.99. In Europe, Sony offers the PlayStation VR Starter Pack with PlayStation VR Worlds title for €299. Keep in mind that contemporary PS VR bundles include Sony’s PlayStation Camera that is used for position tracking.
The Sony PlayStation VR head-mounted display (HMD) features a 5.7” OLED display with 1920×1080 (960×1080 per eye) resolution, 90 Hz – 120 Hz refresh rate and approximately 100° field of view. The original competitors for PS VR — the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift — offer a higher resolution (2160×1200, 1080×1200 per eye), but a lower maximum refresh rate. Considering the fact that PS VR has to work with the original PlayStation 4, the somewhat limited resolution is justified by the iGPU of the console.
Sony’s PlayStation VR was the most reasonably priced tethered VR platform introduced in 2016, albeit, at the cost of lower resolution and compatibility only with the PlayStation 4/PlayStation 4 Pro consoles. With the price cut, PS VR retains its affordability leadership: when purchased alongside a PS4, the package will cost $600, whereas a PS4 Pro-powered VR set will cost $700.
Related Reading:
Source: AnandTech – Sony Cuts Price of PlayStation VR Headset to 9
Deciding whom to friend on Facebook, and when, can be stressful. Deciding this in the workplace is fraught on all kinds of levels. When does a co-worker earn Facebook friendship?
Source: LifeHacker – When Do You Add Your Co-Workers on Facebook?
How is your NCAA bracket holding up? Google Cloud and the NCAA have been working together to analyze several decades worth of game and player data. During the Final Four, the Google Cloud team will share their predictions in real-time TV halftime ads.
Kansas University at the 2016 NCAA Championship- Image from Phil Roeder
The Google Cloud
Source: Hot Hardware – Google Cloud AI To Make Real-Time NCAA Final Four Predictions