Monthly Archives: March 2020

Amazon Fires Worker Who Led Strike Over Virus

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Chris Smalls, an Amazon fulfillment center employee, said the company fired him after he led a strike at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, over coronavirus safety conditions. “Taking action cost me my job,” Smalls said Monday in a Bloomberg TV interview. “Because I tried to stand up for something that’s right, the company decided to retaliate against me.” Bloomberg reports: A group of workers at the Staten Island fulfillment center walked off the job Monday to demand Amazon close the facility for extended cleaning, the latest in a wave of virus-related protests. They say a number of their colleagues there were diagnosed with Covid-19. Organizers say more than 60 workers participated in the protest. In a statement Monday night, New York State Attorney General Letitia James called Smalls’ firing “immoral and inhumane.” James urged the National Labor Relations Board to investigate the incident and said her office “is considering all legal options” as well.

Amazon confirmed it fired Smalls, saying he violated safety regulations, including failing to abide by a 14-day quarantine required after being exposed to an employee with a confirmed case of Covid-19. “Mr. Smalls received multiple warnings for violating social distancing guidelines and putting the safety of others at risk,” Amazon said in a statement. Smalls “was asked to remain home with pay for 14 days, which is a measure we’re taking at sites around the world. Despite that instruction to stay home with pay, he came on site today, March 30, further putting the teams at risk.” Smalls called the company’s claim “ridiculous” and said he was being retaliated against for his activism. Federal law protects the right of employees to engage in collective action, including strikes, to protest working conditions.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Amazon Fires Worker Who Led Strike Over Virus

Edgar Wright May Direct a Pop Culture-Infused Robot Movie and We're Freaking Out

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Any day there’s news of a new Edgar Wright film, that’s a good day. When that news is Wright will direct a movie about a robot who becomes so inspired by movies of the 1980s and ‘90s he goes on a quest to convince the world of robot humanity, that’s not just a good day, it’s off the freakin’ chain!

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Source: io9 – Edgar Wright May Direct a Pop Culture-Infused Robot Movie and We’re Freaking Out

Samsung to Cease Traditional LCD Production, Move To Quantum Dot OLEDs

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According to a report from Reuters, Samsung Display will cease production of traditional LCD displays by the end of the year. The move comes as the company is apparently turning its full efforts away from traditional liquid crystal displays and towards the company’s portfolio of quantum dot technology. Building off of the Reuters report, ZDNet is reporting that Samsung is dropping LCD production entirely – including its quantum dot-enhanced “QLED” LCDs – and that their retooled efforts will focus on QD-enhanced OLED displays. A decision with big ramifications for the traditional LCD market, this means that by the end of the year, the LCD market will be losing one of its bigger (and best-known) manufacturers.


As recently as last year, Samsung Display had two LCD production facilities in South Korea and another two LCD plants in China. Back in October, 2019, the company halted production one of the South Korean factories, and now plans to suspend production of LCDs at the remaining three facilities due to the low profitability and oversupply of traditional LCDs.


Instead, the company will be turning its attention towards the quantum dot-enhanced OLED displays. A new technology for Samsung, this would be distinct from the company’s current QLED displays, which use quantum dots to enhance LCD displays. Samsung previously announced their plans to invest a whopping $11 billion in QD-OLED production, and now those plans are moving one step closer to completion as the company gets ready to wind-down traditional LCD production.



To that end, one of the two South Korean LCD lines will be converted to produce displays and TVs featuring quantum dot-enhanced OLED panels. Samsung Display hopes that their sizable investment will pay off as the new technology promises unprecedented image quality and lower cost compared to regular OLED panels. Meanwhile, Samsung’s longer-term plans include building of two QD-OLED lines, though it’s unclear for now whether this will include any of the company’s Chinese facilities, or what may happen to those lines once they shut down at the end of the year.


Overall, Samsung is not the first nor the only LCD panel manufacturer to reduce their production. LG Display has converted as least one of its LCD factories to an OLED facility, whereas Panasonic last year decided to cease LCD manufacturing by 2021.


Related Reading:


Source: Reuters, ZDNet



Source: AnandTech – Samsung to Cease Traditional LCD Production, Move To Quantum Dot OLEDs

Honda Bucks Industry Trend By Removing Touchscreen Controls

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Honda has done what no other car maker is doing, and returned to analogue controls for some functions on the new Honda Jazz. Autocar reports: While most manufacturers are moving to touchscreen controls, identifying smartphone use as their inspiration – most recently seen in Audi’s latest A3 – Honda has decided to reintroduce heating and air conditioning controls via a dial rather than touchscreen, as in the previous-generation Jazz.

Jazz project leader Takeki Tanaka explained: “The reason is quite simple — we wanted to minimize driver disruption for operation, in particular, for the heater and air conditioning. We changed it from touchscreen to dial operation, as we received customer feedback that it was difficult to operate intuitively. You had to look at the screen to change the heater seating, therefore, we changed it so one can operate it without looking, giving more confidence while driving.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Honda Bucks Industry Trend By Removing Touchscreen Controls

Vivarium’s claustrophobic horror hits a little too close to home right now

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Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg star in <em>Vivarium</em>.

Enlarge / Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg star in Vivarium. (credit: Vertigo Releasing)

A house-hunting excursion turns into a nightmarish scenario for a young couple in Vivarium, a science fiction horror film directed by Lorcan Finnegan. The film has its strengths, but at a time when half the world is hunkered down in quarantine in the midst of a global pandemic, the claustrophobically surreal premise of two people trapped inside a cookie-cutter house against their will might hit a bit too close to home for comfort.

(Mostly mild spoilers; one major spoiler below the gallery)

Finnegan and screenwriter Garret Shanley made a short film in 2011 called Foxes, about a young couple trapped in an empty housing development. It was inspired, according to Finnegan, by Ireland’s “ghost estates:” the remnants of that country’s construction boom, brought down by the collapse of the housing market and global financial meltdown of 2008. Buyers found themselves trapped in homes they couldn’t unload because their mortgages were underwater. He also found inspiration in a scene from the 1990 Nicolas Roeg film, The Witches (based on the Roald Dahl novel)—namely, a scene where a little girl is trapped inside a painting by a witch, eventually growing old and dying within it.

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Source: Ars Technica – Vivarium’s claustrophobic horror hits a little too close to home right now

FSF: HACKERS and HOSPITALS

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The Free Software Foundation is focusing
on the shortage of medical equipment and using 3D printers to make
more. “That’s why we’re looking into what we can make with our
in-office Respects Your Freedom (RYF)-certified 3D printers, and we’re
talking to the brand new Mass General Brigham Center for COVID Innovation
so they can direct our efforts. We’re also gathering resources for our
“HACKERS and HOSPITALS” plan at the LibrePlanet wiki page, and if you have expertise, 3D printers, or supplies to contribute, please contact Michael via sysadmin@fsf.org. If you do not have the means to produce medical gear and you still want to help, research can be done from anywhere with only a computer and an Internet connection. Add any projects that are freely licensed working towards helping with COVID-19 to the wiki!“

Source: LWN.net – FSF: HACKERS and HOSPITALS

The Coronavirus Outbreak Has Put the Comics Industry Between a Rock and a Hard Place

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More and more comic book stores across the United States are having to close their doors because of the ongoing covid-19 outbreak—whether that’s due to state restrictions or an actual lack of new product. One of the biggest questions looming has been what, if any, steps publishers and distributors like Diamond might…

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Source: io9 – The Coronavirus Outbreak Has Put the Comics Industry Between a Rock and a Hard Place

AKiTiO Launches Node Titan eGFX Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure

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AKiTiO has introduced a new Thunderbolt 3 eGFX enclosure that has been designed specifically with professional users in mind. The Node Titan can house power-hungry professional-grade graphics cards due to its 650 W power supply unit.


AKiTiO was among the first companies to introduce a TB3 eGFX chassis for video cards back in late 2016. A little over three years later, after learning from its customers about their needs, AKiTiO comes up with its Node Titan that upgrades the original Node in every possible way. The new enclosure is somewhat more compact, yet it can house full-length (32 cm) full-height (17 cm) 2.5-wide (6 cm) graphics cards that consume up to 500 W of power and need two 8-pin PCIe power connectors.  In particular, the box can accommodate all the latest video cards from AMD and NVIDIA and is certified for high-end professional boards, including NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000.



To ensure that the cards used inside AKiTiO’s Node Titan get enough cooling, the enclosure is equipped with two fans: one is used for the PSU and the other cools down the board itself. Meanwhile, the enclosure has a handle to make it easier to carry it around. As for dimensions, the enclosure measures 35.7 × 13.5 × 26.6 cm (14.06 × 5.31 × 10.47 inches), so it is actually more compact than the predecessor. Still, since the box is made of stainless steel, not aluminum, so it is not exactly lightweight.





















Comparison of Thunderbolt 3 eGFX Chassis
    AKiTiO

Node		 AKiTiO

Node Titan
Chassis Dimensions Length 42.8 cm

16.85 in		 35.7 cm

14.06 in
Height 22.7 cm

8.94 in		 26.6 cm

10.47 in
Width 14.5 cm

5.71 in		 13.5 cm

5.31 in
Max Dimension of Compatible Graphics Card Length 32 cm

12.59 in
Height

(PCB+Cables)		 17 cm

6.7 in
Width 6 cm

2.36 in
Maximum GPU Power 300 W (?) 500 W
PSU Wattage 400 W 650 W
Form-Factor SFX ?
Cooling Fans 1 × 120 mm 2 × ?? mm
Connectivity Thunderbolt 1 × TB3 1 × TB3
Ethernet – –
USB –
SATA –
DisplayPort – –
Availability December 2016 March

2020
Price $299 $334.75

AKiTiO’s Node Titan is available directly from the company as well as from its partners. Notably, the Node Titan is a pure eGFX enclosure and does not feature a GbE port or a USB hub, so it is relatively cheap by eGFX chassis standards at $334.75.



Related Reading:


Source: AKiTiO




Source: AnandTech – AKiTiO Launches Node Titan eGFX Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure

D-Wave Makes Its Quantum Computers Free To Anyone Working On Coronavirus Crisis

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: D-Wave today made its quantum computers available for free to researchers and developers working on responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. D-Wave partners and customers Cineca, Denso, Forschungszentrum Julich, Kyocera, MDR, Menten AI, NEC, OTI Lumionics, QAR Lab at LMU Munich, Sigma-i, Tohoku University, and Volkswagen are also offering to help. They will provide access to their engineering teams with expertise on how to use quantum computers, formulate problems, and develop solutions.

Quantum computing leverages qubits to perform computations that would be much more difficult, or simply not feasible, for a classical computer. Based in Burnaby, Canada, D-Wave was the first company to sell commercial quantum computers, which are built to use quantum annealing. D-Wave says the move to make access free is a response to a cross-industry request from the Canadian government for solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic. Free and unlimited commercial contract-level access to D-Wave’s quantum computers is available in 35 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia via Leap, the company’s quantum cloud service. Just last month, D-Wave debuted Leap 2, which includes a hybrid solver service and solves problems of up to 10,000 variables.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – D-Wave Makes Its Quantum Computers Free To Anyone Working On Coronavirus Crisis

NBA 2K tournament starts Friday with Kevin Durant, Trae Young and more

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Confirming yesterday’s leak, the NBA announced an esports tournament that will kick off this Friday, with games broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2. The NBA 2K Players Tournament will pit 16 current NBA players against one another, with finals scheduled…

Source: Engadget – NBA 2K tournament starts Friday with Kevin Durant, Trae Young and more

FCC Mandates Robocall-fighting Tech Be in Use By End of June 2021

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The Federal Communications Commission voted Tuesday to finalize rules requiring phone companies to use the Shaken/Stir protocol to automatically block calls to fight illegal robocalls. The new rules mandate the use of the technology by all voice providers by the end of June of 2021. From a report: The rules come after Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law the Traced Act last year. The law, which makes Shaken/Stir compliance mandatory for all voice service providers, directed the FCC to develop rules within 18 months. The FCC has said previously that eliminating the wasted time and the nuisance caused by illegal scam robocalls could save the US economy $3 billion annually.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – FCC Mandates Robocall-fighting Tech Be in Use By End of June 2021

SUV Driving On Frozen Lake Ends Up In The Drink (With Twist Ending!)

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defender-90-in-the-drink.jpg

This is a short video of what appears to be a Land Rover Defender 90 driving on a crystal clear frozen lake when SURPRISE! the lake turns out to not be that frozen after all and proceeds to crack and swallow the vehicle. Thankfully, nobody was injured in the incident thanks to an M. Night Shyamalan twist ending. Did you see that coming? It caught me by surprise. Like farting and startling yourself right when you’re falling asleep.

Keep going for the full video, which includes video from inside the cabin as it goes down.

Source: Geekologie – SUV Driving On Frozen Lake Ends Up In The Drink (With Twist Ending!)

Friday the 13th Unleashes Terror and Thanos Gets a Love Letter in the Latest Gaming News

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Welcome back to Gaming Shelf, io9’s column all about board games and tabletop roleplaying games. It’s now been a couple of weeks since social distancing started, making at-home game nights feel more important than ever. We’ve got some suggestions on things to play at home, as well as some upcoming releases that take …

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Source: io9 – Friday the 13th Unleashes Terror and Thanos Gets a Love Letter in the Latest Gaming News