Powerful storms are roaring into the Northeast on Wednesday afternoon, bringing with them the threat of lightning, flash floods, and winds up to 70 mph or more.
Source: Gizmodo – Thunderstorms, 70 MPH Winds Could Affect Up to 52 Million People in the Northeast Today
Simon Kinberg’s Dark Phoenix will go down in history as one of the most perplexing of Fox’s X-Men films. It was a movie that didn’t seem to know what it wanted to be—or even who the X-Men are, frankly. One minute, the X-Men are jetting off into space to have a literally out-of-this-world adventure that brings them…
Source: io9 – Dark Phoenix’s VFX Supervisor Opens Up About the Astonishing Jean Grey That Could Have Been
The Sims on Switch seems like a no-brainer. It’s a chill game about managing the daily life of virtual human beings where high-end graphics and framerate don’t really matter. In a recent earnings call, however, the head of Electronic Arts explained why the publisher sees things differently, and why it hasn’t brought …
Source: Kotaku – Electronic Arts Says Its Customers Just Aren’t That Interested In Switch Versions
Contrast is an important thing, both in food and in life. How can one appreciate the happy without the sad, the highs without the lows, the sweet without the sour? This is all to say I like to put vinegar on my fruit, and I urge you to do the same.
Source: LifeHacker – Highlight Fruit’s Sweetness With a Splash of Vinegar
Anyone who has ever tried to fly a drone or other remote-controlled aircraft knows how difficult it can be getting used to the controls when the vehicle is headed towards you. DJI has a new system that will change drone racing and piloting for the better for many people called the DJI Digital FPV System. The system uses goggles that look like
Source: Hot Hardware – DJI First Person HD Goggles Transform Drone Flying For The Better
Between the previous 163 columns I’ve written here in Linux Journal and the dozensof games I programmed and explored during the creation of my Wicked CoolShell Scripts book, I’ve written a lot of Bash shell games. The challenge is tofind one that’s simple enough where a shell script will work, but isn’t sosimple that it ends up being only a half-dozen lines.
Source: LXer – Bash Shell Games: Let’s Play Go Fish!
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Jacobo Zanella)
The major broadcast networks today sued the makers of Locast, a nonprofit organization that provides free online access to broadcast TV stations. The lawsuit filed by ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC seeks financial damages and a permanent injunction that would shut Locast down.
Broadcast TV networks are available for free over the air with an antenna. But selling the rights to retransmit those signals in other ways is a big business. Broadcasters reportedly collected $10.1 billion in 2018 via retransmission fees they charge cable and satellite TV companies.
TV providers routinely pass this cost along to consumers in the form of “Broadcast TV” fees. Pay-TV providers use these fees to raise the actual cost of service above their advertised prices and to raise customers’ prices even while they’re under contract.
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Source: Ars Technica – ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC sue Locast to stop free online access to broadcast TV
Here’s a reminder that biology is oftentimes more complicated than headlines can make it out to be. Scientists in the UK have found evidence that the so-called “love hormone” oxytocin plays a very different role in starfish than it does in humans and other animals. In starfish, an oxytocin-type molecule seems to help…
Source: Gizmodo – The ‘Love Hormone’ Helps Some Starfish Turn Their Stomach Inside Out To Eat
Enlarge / A monitor displays Equifax Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York on Friday, September 15, 2017. (credit: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg | Getty Images)
If you haven’t already filed a claim for cash compensation in response to the Equifax breach, you might be out of luck. The company is no longer offering payouts in lieu of credit monitoring.
The Federal Trade Commission page devoted to the settlement it announced with Equifax last week was updated July 31 to say that any consumer affected can claim up to 10 years of free credit monitoring. “Previously, a cash payment was identified as an option,” the site now adds, “but there are limited funds available.”
The FTC said in a statement that “public response to the settlement has been overwhelming.” In a separate blog post, the commission said the “unexpected number of claims” would result in claimants not getting the money they thought.
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Source: Ars Technica – You’re probably not going to get your 5 from the Equifax settlement
I finally caved and bought a weighted blanket in November, and I swear I’m not exaggerating when I say it completely altered my existence on this small ball of water, dirt, and palpable stress we call Earth. Pre-weighted blanket, I was just your run-of-the-mill anxious insomniac, who spent each and every night…
Source: Gizmodo – Bearaby’s Tree Napper Is the Best Weighted Blanket For Summer
The Federal Trade Commission said today there’s been “overwhelming” interest in a settlement agreement with Equifax, and that consumers looking for a previously announced payout of up to $125 may be disappointed. From a report: The agency said this month that it had reached a $700 million agreement with the credit reporting agency over a massive breach of private data in 2017. As part of the settlement, consumers whose data was compromised could request up to $125 or free credit monitoring services. The potential for a quick payout generated major interest, but only $31 million of the settlement was set aside for cash payouts, meaning each payout could be far smaller than $125, depending on how many people request one.
In a blog post today, the FTC tempered expectations. “A large number of claims for cash instead of credit monitoring means only one thing: each person who takes the money option will wind up only getting a small amount of money,” the agency said. “Nowhere near the $125 they could have gotten if there hadn’t been such an enormous number of claims filed.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – FTC Says ‘You Will Be Disappointed’ if You Choose 5 For Equifax Payout
It’s easy to forget that Skyrim, with its massive popularity and numerous ports, wasn’t the first Elder Scrolls game. It’s only the latest in a long line of huge roleplaying adventures, some of which feature worlds many times its size. The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, originally released in 1996, is one of Skyrim’s…
Source: Kotaku – The Biggest Elder Scrolls Game Has Been Remade In Unity
As the mother of a six-year-old, my phone is filled with contacts such as “Mary LeilasMom” and “Dana MaddiesDad.” It’s how I keep track of my daughter’s new friends and the personal assistants who keep their schedules (AKA their “parents”). This labeling method helps my brain connect the adult to the child, but it’s…
Source: LifeHacker – The Best Way to Keep Track of Your Kid’s Friends in Your Phone
Researchers at Georgia Tech warn that there is a risk that self-driving cars might be hacked and cause gridlock.
Source: TreeHugger – If hackers shut down cars in New York City, would anyone notice?
A mere four months after a Houston chemical plant fire made headlines, another Houston area plant has exploded into flames.
Source: Gizmodo – An Exxon-Owned Houston Chemical Plant Is on Fire
On Tuesday, the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts unanimously voted to prohibit local government from using facial recognition, becoming the fourth city in the country to institute such a ban over concerns that the technology is biased and violates basic human rights.
Source: Gizmodo – Fourth U.S. City Bans Facial Recognition, Citing Threats to Free Speech and Civil Rights
Most of you are running iOS 12. And that’s a good thing, because you’re getting a speedier experience with as many patched bugs and vulnerabilities as possible. It’s especially important, too, given that Google researchers recently disclosed six serious iOS vulnerabilities that Apple fixed up in the iOS 12.4 release…
Source: LifeHacker – Update to iOS 12.4 Right Now to Block New Vulnerabilities
If Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s newest fighter, Dragon Quest’s Hero, has you baffled, you are not alone.
Source: Kotaku – Chaos Is The Hero’s Weapon In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Amazon’s adventures in fashion haven’t usually set the world on fire, but it might have a more appealing option: have someone else pick your apparel choices. It just launched a Personal Shopper by Prime Wardrobe service that, for $5 per month on top…
Source: Engadget – Amazon’s next foray into fashion is a personal shopping service
People typically fall into two categories when it comes to jury duty: those who want to avoid it at all costs, and those who can’t wait for the day they receive their summons in the mail. Either way, some of what you know about jury duty is probably wrong. Whether you’re trying to get out of your civic duty or…
Source: LifeHacker – The Most Common Jury Duty Myths, Debunked
