A recent paper that suggested masks may be dangerous for kids to wear has now been retracted. It’s the second pandemic-related study written by the lead author to be pulled from publication in less than a month, following the retraction of another paper claiming to show that covid-19 vaccines would kill almost as many…
Source: Gizmodo – Journal Retracts Flawed Study That Claimed to Show Face Masks Harm Kids
The PineTime is a free and open-source smartwatch capable of running custom-built open operating systems. It has a 1.3-inch capacitive IPS display, a 180 mAh battery, and an ARM Cortex-M4F processor that runs at up to 64 MHz. PineTime is available from the Pine64 Store for $27.
The post PineTime is an Inexpensive Open Source Smartwatch appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – PineTime is an Inexpensive Open Source Smartwatch
Owners of 2017 to 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EVs should not park their cars indoors or leave them to charge overnight unattended, according to a safety alert issued by The National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA). The warning comes after two Bolt EVs included in GM’s 2020 recall of the vehicle caught fire recently. One blaze happened outside the home of a Vermont state legislator at the start of the month, while the other occurred in New Jersey.
“At GM, safety is our highest priority, and we are moving as quickly as we can to investigate this issue,” a spokesperson for the automaker told CNBC. According to NHTSA, the batteries in the vehicles included in the safety warning can smoke and catch fire.
In the US, GM recalled nearly 51,000 Bolt EVs. The company pushed an update to those cars that limited their batteries to 90 percent of a full charge. More recently, GM said it would install diagnostic software on those cars to prevent future fires. It also promised to assess and replace batteries that featured any “anomalies.” Notably, at the same time, it also removed the charging cap it had implemented when it originally recalled the Bolt.
Part of the reason the ongoing reports of Bolt fires are a cause for concern is due to the fact the 2017 to 2019 models use the same cells at the center of a similar issue with the Hyundai Kona. Both companies sourced the batteries for those vehicles from LG Chem. Last year, Hyundai recalled 25,564 Kona EVs after more than a dozen incidents of fire and then later went on to replace the batteries in 75,680 vehicles.
Source: Engadget – GM warns not to park Chevy Bolt EVs indoors after two recently caught fire
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: LG’s futuristic rollable TV has arrived. The LG Signature OLED R TV is now available in the US for $100,000 — costing roughly 50 times more than your average 4K OLED TV. But this isn’t your average TV. It has a thin, flexible 65-inch OLED screen. The “wow factor” is the TV’s ability to roll down into its housing unit when you’re not watching a movie or playing a video game in 4K. It also comes with a sound system with Dolby Atmos and Sound Pro, and has Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa built-in for voice control. The TV has three viewing modes: LG calls them “full view,” “zero view” and “line view.” In full view, the TV is completely unrolled from the base. In zero view, it’s wrapped back up, letting you take advantage of just the Dolby Atmos speaker. In line view, part of the TV is unrolled, roughly a quarter of the screen. This unrolled section could show a clock, the weather or photos. If you’re interested in purchasing this TV, LG requires you to contact a representative in your region via their website.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – LG’s Rollable OLED TV On Sale In US For a Whopping 0,000
Wearables are so hot right now, with consumers scooping up more than 100 million units of smartwatches, fitness trackers, augmented reality glasses, and similar tech in the first quarter of 2021 alone. Sales in the category increased 34.4 percent in the second quarter from Q2 2020, making it one of the fastest-growing categories of personal electronics.
That rise comes with an increased demand for practical and efficient energy harvesters capable of continuously powering those wearables. Now, a team of engineers at the University of California San Diego has designed a new type of biofuel cell that harnesses energy from the sweat of your fingertips, according to a recent paper published in the journal Joule. It can also be integrated with piezoelectric generators to harvest energy from the pressing of the fingertip. The breakthrough could one day make it possible to power up your wearables as you type or sleep.
Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Finger wrap could one day let you power up wearables while you sleep
HBO’s The Last of Us show is continuing to fill out its cast, and its latest pick-up is Jeffrey Pierce, an actor who appeared in the original PlayStation 3 game as Joel’s brother Tommy. But according to a new report at Deadline, he won’t be playing that character in the upcoming show.
Source: Kotaku – Last Of Us TV Show Casts Tommy’s Actor As Not-Tommy
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9’s regular roundup of all things good, plastic, and—this week, at least—very, very large. Yes, that’s right, we’ve got the first details on Hasbro’s next Marvel Legends crowdfunder project, plus Boba Fett on his new throne, Lego Camper Vans, McFarlane’s intriguing new Disney line, and…
Source: Gizmodo – Galactus Hungers for Your Wallet, and More Giant-Sized Toys of the Week
Covid cases are rising in all 50 US states as the Delta variant spreads coast to coast, news outlets reported on Friday , and with less than half the US population fully vaccinated, public health chiefs warned of an “extraordinary surge.” Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said at a White House briefing: “This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” The Guardian reports: Walensky said the US was seeing an average of 26,000 new coronavirus cases a day — a seven-day average that is 70% higher than last week. Hospitalizations and deaths are also seeing increases — about 36% and 26%, respectively, with Walensky noting this was another “critical moment” in the outbreak. “We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk. Communities that are fully vaccinated are generally faring well,” she said.
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases official, said there had been an “extraordinary surge” in the Delta variant of Covid-19 — which is more transmissible — around the world, including in the US. Jeff Zients, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus team, confirmed that unvaccinated Americans “account for virtually all recent Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths.” Four states that are currently seeing high increases in Covid-19 cases have accounted for over 40% of the total Covid cases seen in the country this past week, Zients said. One in five cases occurred in Florida, in which about 50% of the state is fully vaccinated.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – US Seeing ‘Pandemic of the Unvaccinated’ As Cases Rise In Every State
If you want most of the companionship that comes with a dog with less of the work, cats are great. They sleep most of the time, and a lot of the rest they’re inclined to spend by themselves. Walks are purely an optional affectation for the feline-obsessed, as is outdoor time (which many pet experts don’t recommend).…
Source: Gizmodo – This Wifi-Enabled Space Toilet for Cats Turned Me Into a Kitty Garbage Man, As God Intended
Enlarge / A potential Apple car or self-driving vehicle platform is still years away, but a key executive has shifted his focus to it. (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)
Another executive shuffle is underway at Apple, according to Business Insider. Kevin Lynch, a key Apple VP overseeing health and the Apple Watch, is moving into a new role working on Project Titan, Apple’s car project.
Lynch has been one of the most visible Apple leaders at the company’s various product unveiling events and WWDC. He has been the one of the faces of Apple’s health initiatives and the Apple Watch.
The report does not go into much detail about exactly what he will be doing on the car project. Recently, the Apple’s automotive product development has been led by the company’s AI chief, John Giannandrea.
Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Apple Watch lead Kevin Lynch shifts focus to car development
Virginia will use $700 million in American Rescue Plan funding to expedite broadband buildouts in underserved communities throughout the state, Governor Ralph Northam announced on Friday. With the investment, Virginia says it’s on track to become one of the first states in the US to achieve universal broadband access.
An estimated 233,500 homes and businesses throughout the Commonwealth fall under what the Federal Communications Commission would consider an underserved location. They don’t have an internet connection that can achieve download speeds of 25Mbps down. The state estimates the additional funding will allow it to connect those places to faster internet by the end of 2024, instead of 2028, as previously planned. What’s more, the “majority” of those connections will be completed within the next 18 months.
“It’s time to close the digital divide in our Commonwealth and treat internet service like the 21st-century necessity that it is — not just a luxury for some, but an essential utility for all,” Governor Northam said.
Across nine provisions, President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan provides approximately $388 billion in funding for state and local governments to address the digital divide in their communities. Virginia is only one of the states across the country that plans to use that money to build faster internet infrastructure. In May, California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a $7 billion investment in public broadband.
Source: Engadget – Virginia will use a 0 million grant to roll out statewide broadband
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)
Microsoft hit yet another snag in its efforts to lock down the Windows print spooler, as the software maker warned customers on Thursday to disable the service to contain a new vulnerability that helps attackers execute malicious code on fully patched machines.
The vulnerability is the third printer-related flaw in Windows to come to light in the past five weeks. A patch Microsoft released in June for a remote code-execution flaw failed to fix a similar but distinct flaw dubbed PrintNightmare, which also made it possible for attackers to run malicious code on fully patched machines. Microsoft released an unscheduled patch for PrintNightmare, but the fix failed to prevent exploits on machines using certain configurations.
On Thursday Microsoft warned of a new vulnerability in the Windows print spooler. The privilege-escalation flaw, tracked as CVE-2021-34481, allows hackers who already have the ability to run malicious code with limited system rights to elevate those rights. The elevation allows the code to access sensitive parts of Windows so malware can run each time a machine is rebooted.
Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Disable the Windows print spooler to prevent hacks, Microsoft tells customers
Writer and director M. Night Shyamalan is returning to the big screen with Old, which promises to be a fresh start for the director who defined modern suspense films in the 2000s. Every one of his projects in his two-decade catalog—from The Sixth Sense all the way through his Unbreakable trilogy—carries with it a…
Source: Gizmodo – 13 Things M. Night Shyamalan’s Movies Are Afraid Of
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi was the second-largest smartphone maker in the second quarter, overtaking Apple, according to analyst firm Canalys. CNBC reports: Xiaomi had a 17% share of global smartphone shipments, ahead of Apple’s 14% and behind Samsung’s 19%. “Xiaomi is growing its overseas business rapidly,” Canalys research manager Ben Stanton said in a press release, noting shipments increased 300% year on year in Latin America and 50% in Western Europe. The Chinese smartphone maker posted year-on-year smartphone shipment growth of 83% versus 15% for Samsung and 1% for Apple. Stanton noted, however, that Xiaomi phones are still skewed toward the mass market, with the average selling price of its handsets 75% cheaper than Apple’s.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – China’s Xiaomi Overtakes Apple In the Global Smartphone Market
Enlarge / Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., is seen at NASA headquarters in 2019. (credit: NASA)
The US House Appropriations Committee passed a budget bill for NASA on Thursday, and it is generally pretty good for the space agency. The legislation provides $25.04 billion, and it funds most of NASA’s top spaceflight priorities, including the Artemis Moon program.
Notably, the bill appropriates $1.345 billion for a Human Landing System as part of the Artemis Program. And although some House members grumbled during hearings this week about NASA’s decision in April to select SpaceX as the sole provider of the first demonstration landing, the legislation does not block NASA from moving forward with the contract.
As part of its plan to return humans to the Moon, NASA has sought to balance its reliance on traditional space contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin—generally favored by members of Congress due to their largesse in political donations and willingness to spread jobs across numerous districts—and new space companies such as SpaceX that deliver more bang for the buck while not playing as well with elected officials.
Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – An Alabama lawmaker just wants NASA to fly SLS, doesn’t care about payloads
A freshman Congressman close to the Pentagon’s now-defunct $10 billion cloud computing deal with Microsoft apparently dumped stock in the company shortly before the contentious contract went belly up weeks ago.
Source: Gizmodo – GOP Cyber Committee Member Dumped Microsoft Stock Not Long Before the Pentagon Nixed JEDI Deal
Enlarge / The exterior of the headquarters of biotechnology company Biogen in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (credit: Getty | Boston Globe)
Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm continues to face opposition after its contentious approval by the Food and Drug Administration last month—which the FDA now says should be independently investigated. Some insurers say they won’t pay for the drug, some hospitals say they won’t administer it, and yet more experts say it has no proven benefit and is dramatically overpriced at $56,000 for a year’s supply.
On Thursday, a panel of medical experts convened by the nonprofit Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) voted 15 to 0 to say that there is no evidence that Aduhelm provides clinical benefit to patients. The unanimous vote echoes another one from a panel of expert advisors for the Food and Drug Administration who voted last November against FDA approval. Eleven of ten advisors voted that data collected in two identical Phase III clinical trials failed to show that the drug is effective, with the remaining advisor voting “uncertain.”
The FDA nevertheless approved the drug on June 7, sparking a firestorm of criticism. In an unprecedented move last week, the FDA updated its recommendation for who should receive the drug, significantly narrowing the pool from all Alzheimer’s patients to only those with mild disease. It’s unusual for the FDA to make such a modification so soon after an initial decision and without fresh data to back a change.
Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Expert panel says new K Alzheimer’s drug is unproven—and worth ,400 max
In this tutorial, we will learn how to install the Prometheus network monitoring tool system on Ubuntu 20.04. It helps you to keep track of resources such as CPU usage, memory utilization, network IO wait time and has a web interface that allows for easy monitoring from any device with an internet connection. It also supports alerting via email and SMS messages, in case the metrics surpass a configured threshold.
The post How to Install Prometheus Network Monitoring Tool on Ubuntu 20.04 appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – How to Install Prometheus Network Monitoring Tool on Ubuntu 20.04
Joel and Ellie might be the main characters of The Last of Us, but they’re by no means the only interesting ones. If you’ve played either of Naughty Dog’s acclaimed mushroom-apocalypse games, you know that some of the richest stories are told in the margins. A new fan film explores what it could be like to live in the…
Source: Kotaku – Short The Last Of Us Fan Film Is Legitimately Excellent
I am, to quote my favorite show, the tiredest I have ever been in my life. There is no real reason for it, except for the fact that I’ve been having incredibly active, involved dreams every night, which is not entirely restful. I feel dull and draggy, and not inclined to shake or stir a single drink.
Source: LifeHacker – Slide Into the Weekend With a Boozy B&B
