EKWB has introduced CPU and VRM water blocks for the ASUS ROG Dominus Extreme motherboard, the motherboard designed to take on board Intel’s overclockable 28-core Xeon W-3175X. The products enable enthusiasts and PC makers to build full-custom liquid cooling solutions for these machines.
Source: AnandTech – EKWB Water Blocks (CPU and VRM) for the ASUS ROG Dominus Extreme
Enlarge / AirPower was announced at an Apple keynote back in 2017. (credit: Valentina Palladino)
Apple has canceled its AirPower wireless charging mat product, according to a statement by an executive from the company. The product had seen repeated delays due to technical challenges.
AirPower was introduced alongside the iPhone X and Apple Watch Series 3 in the company’s first event at the Steve Jobs Theater, in September of 2017. Apple said it would be a wireless charging mat that could simultaneously charge your iPhone, your Apple Watch, and your AirPods, regardless of where you placed them on the mat. At the time, AirPods could not be wirelessly charged, but Apple just released a version of the AirPods’ charging case that supports the feature.
As the mat failed to arrive in 2018, reports and speculation abounded that Apple was facing serious technical challenges in developing the product. Apple initially planned to launch the product by June 2018, but the company delayed it to September. When the product didn’t appear then, Apple bloggers revealed a little more inside info: AirPower’s design, which incorporated overlapping charging coils, was prone to overheating. Some engineers within Apple reportedly believed they could solve this problem, but as time went on, those working on the project inside the company became less optimistic.
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Source: Ars Technica – Apple just confirmed once and for all that AirPower will never come out
Doctors across the U.S. may soon be required to provide women with more information about their mammography results. This week, the Food and Drug Administration announced plans to update a rule that would mandate doctors tell patients if they have dense breast tissue, a complicated risk factor for breast cancer.
Source: Gizmodo – A Major Change to How Doctors Talk About Mammogram Results Is Coming Soon
Enlarge / This screenshot from local television station KWCH Channel 12 shows Barriss at a 2018 court appearance. (credit: KWCH Channel 12)
Tyler Barriss, whose hoax call to Wichita police led to the shooting death of an innocent man, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, the Associated Press reports. The sentence in Kansas federal court is a stark reminder of the serious consequences of the deadly prank called “swatting.”
The December 2017 death of Andrew Finch began with an online feud over a Call of Duty game. Casey Viner, then around 18 years old, allegedly recruited Barriss to “swat” the Wichita home of Shane Gaskill, who was about 19. Barriss called Wichita police pretending to be a deranged man with a gun holding members of his family hostage, giving what he believed was the target’s address.
As Barriss expected, the police responded by dispatching a SWAT team. But Gaskill lied to Barriss about where he lived. As a result, police surrounded a home occupied by the Finch family, which had nothing to do with the online dispute.
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Source: Ars Technica – Man gets 20 years for deadly “swatting” hoax
Tyler Barriss was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a US district court judge today for placing fake 911 calls, including a swatting incident in 2017 that resulted in the death of a man in Wichita, Kansas, according to the Associated Press. The fata…
Source: Engadget – ‘Call of Duty’ swatter to serve 20 years in prison
Apple has completely canceled its much-hyped AirPower project. The wireless charging mat would have charged an iPhone, a pair of AirPods and an Apple Watch simultaneously but now it will charge nothing. On Friday, Apple made the embarrassing decision to admit defeat.
Source: Gizmodo – Apple’s AirPower Wireless Charger Is Officially Dead
An anonymous reader shares a report: Academic and scientific research needs to be accessible to all. The world’s most pressing problems like clean water or food security deserve to have as many people as possible solving their complexities. Yet our current academic research system has no interest in harnessing our collective intelligence. Scientific progress is currently thwarted by one thing: paywalls. Paywalls, which restrict access to content without a paid subscription, represent a common practice used by academic publishers to block access to scientific research for those who have not paid. This keeps $25.5bn flowing from higher education and science into for-profit publisher bank accounts.
My recent documentary, Paywall: The Business of Scholarship, uncovered that the largest academic publisher, Elsevier, regularly has a profit margin between 35-40%, which is greater than Google’s. With financial capacity comes power, lobbyists, and the ability to manipulate markets for strategic advantages â” things that underfunded universities and libraries in poorer countries do not have. Furthermore, university librarians are regularly required to sign non-disclosure agreements on their contract-pricing specifics with the largest for-profit publishers. Each contract is tailored specifically to that university based upon a variety of factors: history, endowment, current enrolment. This thwarts any collective discussion around price structures, and gives publishers all the power.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Paywalls Block Scientific Progress. Research Should Be Open To Everyone
It’s so refreshing to play Assassin’s Creed III now, nearly seven years after its controversial release. The game’s debut was marred by misleading marketing, a surprising game structure, and a lot of bugs, but I always liked the rough-edged yet fascinating adventure the game’s creators actually built. Playing the new…
Source: Kotaku – The Controversial Assassin’s Creed III Is More Impressive In 2019
IFixit took them apart, but they can’t put them together.
Source: TreeHugger – The new Apple AirPods 2 get a big fat zero for repairability
This is real. It’s happening. Dread it, run from it, the combined mights of Sanrio and Bandai still arrive.
Source: io9 – Move Over Avengers: Endgame, the Ultimate Crossover of 2019 Is Gundam vs Hello Kitty
By now, we all know what a danger those old, bulky, ridiculously heavy tube televisions pose to young kids. In recent years, most of us have upgraded to sleeker, lighter flat screen models, which might not seem as lethal were they to topple over on a child.
Source: LifeHacker – Parents, You Still Need to Secure Your Flat Screen TVs
Robocalls are annoying as hell, and it seems the problem is only getting worse. But if you’re on Verizon, you may have a new way to block them with the company’s Call Filter app, which recently became free for all Verizon customers.
Source: Gizmodo – Verizon’s Spam-Blocking Call Filter Is Now Free
Enlarge / FCC members (L-R) Brendan Carr, Michael O’Rielly, and Chairman Ajit Pai participate in a discussion during the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 23, 2018 in Maryland. (credit: Getty Images | Chip Somodevilla )
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has proposed a new spending cap on the FCC’s Universal Service programs that deploy broadband to poor people and to rural and other underserved areas.
Pai reportedly circulated the proposal to fellow commissioners on Tuesday, meaning it will be voted upon behind closed doors instead of in an open meeting. Pai has not released the proposal publicly, but it was described in a Politico report Wednesday, and an FCC official confirmed the proposal’s details to Ars. Democratic FCC commissioners and consumer advocacy groups have criticized Pai’s plan, saying it could harm the FCC’s efforts to expand broadband access.
The FCC’s Universal Service system’s purpose is to bring communications service access to all Americans and consists of four programs: The Connect America Fund, which gives ISPs money to deploy broadband in rural areas; Lifeline, which provides discounts on phone and broadband service to low-income consumers; the E-Rate broadband program for schools and libraries; and a telecom access program for rural health care providers.
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Source: Ars Technica – Ajit Pai wants to cap spending on broadband for poor people and rural areas
In a New York Times interview published today, Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer, sought to debunk “some myths” about the platform’s alleged tendency to radicalize users through its recommendations algorithm. It could have gone better.
Source: Gizmodo – YouTube Product Chief: Extremist Rabbit Holes? What Extremist Rabbit Holes?
Don’t do it. Just don’t. And then if you end up doing it anyway, for the love of Stephen King, don’t do it again. And then…again!
Source: io9 – The Original Pet Sematary Movie Is All About Good People Making Shitty Choices
T-Mobile has announced something, and it’s anyone’s guess if it’s an elaborate April Fool’s prank kicking off a bit early or if it’s just a hardcore troll of AT&T’s 5G E service. At any rate, it’s natural to be dubious of this but the T-Mobile Phone BoothE is also sort of plausible so here is what T-Mobile has to say about it.
The T-Mobile
Source: Hot Hardware – T-Mobile Phone BoothE Is A Glorious Legere April Fools’ Trolling Of AT&T’s Weak 5G E
This is the officially licensed ‘Nintendo Super Mario Shower Curtain’ available exclusively from ThinkGeek. The curtain looks like Super Mario Bros. World 2-2, costs $15, and keeps water from splashing out all over your bathroom floor. It also keeps your roommate from being able to see your penis when he’s using the bathroom while you shower because that guy has zero regard for privacy and personal space. Jesus, Derek, can you at least pass me my razor? “I can’t, I have poop on my hands.” My God I want to wrap you up in this curtain so bad. “What was that?” I said learn how to wipe you animal.
Keep going for a couple more shots.
Source: Geekologie – Super Mario Bros Underwater World 2-2 Shower Curtain
Journey to the Savage Planet was a bit of a surprise when it was announced at the most recent Game Awards. The development studio, Typhoon Studios, comprises several Assassin’s Creed alumni, and the wacky science-fiction antics in the trailer were a far cry from those games. It was hard to grasp exactly what the game…
Source: Kotaku – Far Cry 4 Director’s New Game Is About Exploration And Commercialism
Select LG partners in the US on Friday began taking pre-orders on the company’s new G8 ThinQ flagship smartphone and will ship the product on April 11.The new handset comes with an OLED display, is powered by Qualcomm’s flagship SoC, features a high-capacity battery. At least initially, LG’s allies will only offer the G8 ThinQ with a dual-module rear camera in the US, perhaps leaving the triple-module G8S ThinQ for later in the year.
Source: AnandTech – LG G8 ThinQ Smartphone Available for Pre-Order, Will Ship on April 11
We all have one airport we try to avoid at all costs—mine is LaGuardia. Having lived in New York a decade, I know if I’m flying through LGA, I can count on some kind of travel mishap, whether it be a delay, cancellation, or dry croissant from an Au Bon Pain.
Source: LifeHacker – These Are the Airports Most Likely to Cancel Your Flight
