The Sims 4‘s Strangerville game pack is unlike anything I’ve seen before in this game. It’s also very scary.
Source: Kotaku – New Sims DLC Lets You Solve An Alien Mystery—It’s Great And I Hate It
Monthly Archives: February 2019
Fix These IRA Mistakes by April 15
If you’re working on your tax return for 2018, you’ll want to make sure you double-check your IRA contributions and disbursements for the year so you don’t incur the IRS’s wrath (well, a penalty anyway).
Source: LifeHacker – Fix These IRA Mistakes by April 15
RAZR Redux: Motorola Confirms Plans For Folding Android Smartphone
Over the past several months, Motorola has dropped hints that it would like to release a folding smartphone as the spiritual successor to its famed Moto RAZR family. Those intentions came more into focus when a patent filing revealed drawings of the device in question.
Now, a new report from Engadget all but confirms the company’s intentions
Source: Hot Hardware – RAZR Redux: Motorola Confirms Plans For Folding Android Smartphone
Coinhive Cryptojacking Service Will Shut Down Next Week
Coinhive, an in-browser Monero cryptocurrency miner famous for being abused by malware gangs, announced this week its intention to shut down all operations next month, on March 8, 2019. From a report: The service cited multiple reasons for its decision in a blog post published yesterday. “The drop in hash rate (over 50%) after the last Monero hard fork hit us hard,” the company said. “So did the ‘crash’ of the crypto currency market with the value of XMR depreciating over 85% within a year.” “This and the announced hard fork and algorithm update of the Monero network on March 9 has lead us to the conclusion that we need to discontinue Coinhive,” the company said. Coinhive said all in-browser Monero mining will stop working after March 8, and registered users will have until April 30 to withdraw funds from their accounts. The service, which launched in mid-September 2017, promoted itself as an alternative to classic banner ads. In its heyday, the site was making around $250,000 per month, according to some estimates.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Coinhive Cryptojacking Service Will Shut Down Next Week
Congress to Google: How’d you 'forget' about the Nest Secure’s mic?
A week after news broke that Google’s Nest Secure system has a microphone no one knew about, Congress is seeking answers from CEO Sundar Pichai. The company’s Nest Guard — a small hub that communicates with other sensors in the Nest Secure system –…
Source: Engadget – Congress to Google: How’d you ‘forget’ about the Nest Secure’s mic?
AMDGPU FreeSync Has A Last Minute Fix To Help Prevent Stuttering For Linux 5.0
One of the major end-user features of the new Linux 5.0 kernel that is due to be released this weekend is support for FreeSync / Variable Rate Refresh on AMD Radeon GPUs via the mainline AMDGPU driver. There’s a last minute fix requested to help prevent stuttering with this long-awaited feature for Linux gamers…
Source: Phoronix – AMDGPU FreeSync Has A Last Minute Fix To Help Prevent Stuttering For Linux 5.0
Xiaomi Teams Up with Light for Multi-Module Smartphone Cameras
Xiaomi and Light, a computational imaging firm, have announced at Mobile World Congress that the two companies will be working together to develop new multi-module cameras for smartphones. The two companies promised that the jointly-developed cameras will feature DSLR-level capabilities, but did not disclose when the first product from the joint project is expected to come to fruition.
Light specializes on computational imaging solutions using multiple camera arrays. The company has gone so far as to develop their own chip that can work with 6, 12, or 18-camera arrays. And while Xiaomi and Light aren’t specifying just how big of a camera array they’re looking to develop, we’re likely looking at something in the lower-bounds of those number, if only due to the limited size of smartphones. For reference’s sake, a 6-module camera would be very similar to what Nokia has done for their Nokia 9 PureView.
Light has a custom ASIC chip that independently controls all camera modules to focus them, adjusts exposure levels per aperture, calculates the white balance, etc. After the camera modules capture their images, the ASIC fuses then together into one ‘RAW’ image that contains color and lighting/shadows information. After this part is done, the ASIC transfers the ‘RAW’ image for further processing to an application processor using two MIPI transmitters.
Based on the press release published by Light and Xiaomi, the two companies plan to develop not just one, but a number of imaging solutions for smartphones. So expect to see Light’s tech show up in multiple Xiaomi smartphones.
Related Reading:
- Nokia Launches Nokia 9 PureView at MWC 2019: So I Heard You Like Cameras
- Xiaomi Launches The New MIX3 5G and Mi9 for European Markets
- Xiaomi Mi 9 Lauched in China: 6.39-inch Snapdragon 855 with Game Turbo
Sources: Xiaomi, Light
Source: AnandTech – Xiaomi Teams Up with Light for Multi-Module Smartphone Cameras
The Tick Season 2 Trailer Reveals New Heroes, New Team-Ups, and Shenanigans Galore
Hug fight!
Source: io9 – The Tick Season 2 Trailer Reveals New Heroes, New Team-Ups, and Shenanigans Galore
Put Yourself on 'Low Power Mode' When You're Feeling Depleted
If you’re going through a big transition or simply feeling drained, it can help to go into “low power mode.” I heard this tip on the podcast “Happier With Gretchen Rubin” while I was on maternity leave, and immediately felt comforted. Low power mode—yes. During this period, you’re able to perform only the most…
Source: LifeHacker – Put Yourself on ‘Low Power Mode’ When You’re Feeling Depleted
Amazon’s SanDisk Ultra microSDXC Deal Bonanza Includes 400GB Cards For $63
If you are in the market for some big-time storage space for your smartphone, tablet, or computer this is the day to buy SanDisk products on Amazon. Amazon is running a sale right now, and you can get a 400GB microSDXC card with an SD adapter for for just $62.30, a significant discount off the $94 regular price. To sweeten the deal, you get
Source: Hot Hardware – Amazon’s SanDisk Ultra microSDXC Deal Bonanza Includes 400GB Cards For
Amazon puts former Kindle leader in charge of its pharmacy business
Amazon’s entry into the pharmacy business might not have the leader you’d expect. CNBC has learned that the online retailer has picked Nader Kabbani, an executive who helped establish the Kindle self-publishing system and has worked in Flex and logi…
Source: Engadget – Amazon puts former Kindle leader in charge of its pharmacy business
Migrating blue whales rely on memory to find their feeding grounds
Breakfast spots, coffee shops, and watering holes pepper the daily commutes of modern urban humans, but we try to remember the ones where we get the best food or drinks. If we do longer journeys routinely, we also keep track of the best grazing grounds—a diner, a gas station with the best snacks, and so on.
Blue whales, according to research published in PNAS this week, seem to make similar mental notes. On their annual migration, their path takes in the spots that have proven to be the most reliable feeding grounds over the years. In doing this, the whales may bypass hotspots that pop up and fade from one year to the next, suggesting that they rely heavily on memory to find a solid meal. But in a world where “normal” is shifting rapidly, the endangered whales may no longer be able to rely on the abundance of those old, faithful feeding grounds.
Why do whales go where they go?
Blue whales are the largest animal that we know to have lived, and that means they need colossal amounts of food. Despite this, they’re picky eaters, feeding almost exclusively on small crustaceans called krill, which they eat by lunging through a large swarm with an open mouth, trapping the animals in their mouths while the sea water filters back out. And they manage to find sources of food while migrating from a summer near the poles to a winter spent closer to the equator.
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Source: Ars Technica – Migrating blue whales rely on memory to find their feeding grounds
Start the Next Big Podcast With This Blue Yeti Microphone eBay Deal
Whether you’re looking to start the next big podcast (seriously, you’ve got, like, things to say), improve the quality of your Twitch streams, or just want your Skype calls with Grandma to sound better, the Blue Yeti is one of the most popular mid-range USB microphones you can buy. It’s down to $75 in Steel Red.
Source: io9 – Start the Next Big Podcast With This Blue Yeti Microphone eBay Deal
Samsung's Fastest Phone Memory Ever Goes Into Production at 512GB
Samsung today said it’s started mass producing 512GB mobile-focused flash memory with over twice the read speed and 1.5 times the write speed of the previous leader, the 1TB module announced last month at CES. From a report: The V-NAND (PDF) memory is based on its embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) 3.0 spec — the 1TB is eUFS 2.1. Samsung says the 512GB memory can hit read speeds up to 2,100 megabytes per second compared with 1,000MB/sec of the 1TB flash; sequential write can hit 410MB/sec versus 260MB/sec. The eUFS 3.0 1TB memory is slated to arrive in the second half of 2019.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Samsung’s Fastest Phone Memory Ever Goes Into Production at 512GB
Dow Jones' list of risky businesses was left on a public server
A Dow Jones database detailing more than 2.4 million records of risky businesses and people has been exposed. A third-party company reportedly left the watchlist on a public server without password protection.
Source: Engadget – Dow Jones’ list of risky businesses was left on a public server
First trailer for The OA looks as strangely surreal as its predecessor
Netflix will release Part II of The OA, its critically divisive, genre-busting drama, on March 22, 2019.
Fans of Netflix’s 2016 surprise hit series The OA, rejoice—the first trailer for Part II just dropped. Be forewarned: it’s fairly spoiler-y for those who haven’t already seen Part I. Then again, there are probably people who are still puzzling over what, exactly, happened in Part I of this genre-busting show—is it science fiction? Fantasy? A supernatural drama? So perhaps a refresher would be welcome.
(Warning: major spoilers for season 1 of The OA below.)
Part I opened with an adopted young woman, Prairie Johnson (Brit Marling), miraculously returning home after being missing for seven years. Her adoptive parents are thrilled and perplexed, not just about where she’s been all this time, but because now their once-blind daughter can see. Prairie befriends several misfits from the local high school: four boys (Steve, French, Buck, and Jesse) and a teacher, Betty Broderick-Allen (Phyllis Smith), dubbed “BBA.” Over the rest of the season, she tells them her story, beginning with a near-death experience (NDE) when she was a child, the same accident that left her blind.
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Source: Ars Technica – First trailer for The OA looks as strangely surreal as its predecessor
The Gifted's Season 2 Finale Was a Bloodbath With an Apocalyptic Twist
Fox has an odd habit of releasing X-Men projects (The Last Stand, Days of Future Past, and Apocalypse come to mind) with plots that don’t exactly live up to their epic-sounding subtitles. With its so-so season finale, The Gifted joined that exclusive club last night. But while the episode—and really, the season as a…
Source: io9 – The Gifted’s Season 2 Finale Was a Bloodbath With an Apocalyptic Twist
Impressive: Skateboarder Switches Boards Five Times During Trick Run
This is a video of a skateboarder performing a trick run that involves five separate board changes. Not one, not two, not three, not four, not six, not sixty-nine, but FIVE. Man, I remember when I was a kid growing up in West Virginia I didn’t have five skateboards, I only had the one, which I made out of a broken chair and my sister’s roller skates. “What was your most difficult trick?” I’d say breaking my leg and having to walk to the hospital. The first half of the trick was surprisingly easy, but the second half — I passed out twice and didn’t think I was gonna make it. “Why didn’t you just push yourself on the skateboard?” I was ten! “And?” Not very bright.
Keep going for the whole video, with two more boards.
Source: Geekologie – Impressive: Skateboarder Switches Boards Five Times During Trick Run
Professional Artist Redraws His Kids' Artwork in Touching Book
French artist Thomas Romain co-created the animated series Code Lyoko. He also co-created two sons, Itsuki and Ryunosuke. In 2017, Romain began tweeting pictures of his interpretations of his children’s artwork. Now the trio has co-authored a book, Family Traits: The Fantastic Bestiary of a Father and his Sons, a…
Source: Kotaku – Professional Artist Redraws His Kids’ Artwork in Touching Book
How to Create Mood Lighting With the Google Home App
Google has slowly but surely been transforming the Google Home app into a centralized control hub. If you haven’t opened the app recently, you may not have noticed the bevy of new features and settings available. The most recent of these new features is the ability to change the colors of your smart home’s lightbulbs…
Source: LifeHacker – How to Create Mood Lighting With the Google Home App