Monthly Archives: November 2021

Sweden’s First Female Prime Minister Quits Hours After She Was Elected

Posted on by
sweden-national-flag-isolated-3d-white-background

Magdalena Andersson was elected as Sweden’s first female Prime Minister on Wednesday. She was backed by 117 but rejected by 174, with 57 deputies abstaining.

Her election followed an 11th-hour deal with the Left Party, which demanded a raise in pensions for around 7,00,000 of the poorest pensioners in return for not pressing the red button.

The Greens announced they would leave the government as they could not stand behind a budget negotiated by the Sweden Democrats.

Later in the day the ruling coalition’s budget proposal was voted down in favour of the budget proposed jointly by the Moderate Party, Sweden Democrats and the Christian Democrats.

The elections were a result of an inconclusive outcome of the 2018 elections.

Sweden’s first female prime minister Magdalena Andersson resigns after a few hours

Hours after being tapped as Sweden’s prime minister, Magdalena Andersson resigned Wednesday after suffering a budget defeat in parliament and coalition partner the Greens left the two-party minority government.

Continue reading on Fox News

Sweden’s New PM Seen as Posing Risk for Welfare, Bank Stocks

Sweden’s New PM Seen as Posing Risk for Welfare, Bank Stocks

Continue reading on BloombergQuint

Swedish Prime Minister resigns in wake of no-confidence vote

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Monday he had handed in his notice of resignation, giving parliament’s speaker the job of finding a new premier after the Social Democrat leader lost a vote of no-confidence last week.

Continue reading on CNN



Source: TG Daily – Sweden’s First Female Prime Minister Quits Hours After She Was Elected

Spotify trials a TikTok-like vertical feed for discovering new music

Posted on by

Spotify is testing a new feature called Discover that lets users scroll through a feed of vertical videos and skip or like them, much as you do on TikTok, TechCrunch has reported. The feature was spotted in the latest version of Spotify’s beta iOS TestFlight build by Chris Messina, who tweeted that it appeared as a fourth icon in Spotify’s iOS toolbar. 

Discover looks to be a way for users to find new music in an intuitive, rapid way, by swiping up and down to move through the feed. You can tap on a heart to like the song, or hit the three-dot menu to bring up Spotify’s standard information card about the song. 

The format may use Spotify’s Canvas format, Messina notes. That allows artists to create videos to go along with songs, rather than just static images, and appears on certain songs instead of the standard album art when you play a video. They can be in the form of standard video and mixed media, along with 2D and 3D graphics. In pitching the feature, Spotify tells artists that Canvas boosts key engagement metrics like sharing, adding to playlists and visiting profile pages. 

Spotify confirmed to TechCrunch that it’s testing the feature, but declined to share further details like how it would curate feeds. “At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve our user experience,” a spokesperson said. “Some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don’t have any further news to share at this time.”

Spotify is far from the first platform to flatter TikTok through imitation. Instagram’s Reels and YouTube Shorts are virtual clones of TikTok, and even Netflix recently introduced a TikTok-like comedy feed called Fast Laughs. It’s not clear yet if Spotify’s discovery feature will make it out of beta, but it looks like a useful way to find new music.



Source: Engadget – Spotify trials a TikTok-like vertical feed for discovering new music

The World Needs To Crack Battery Recycling, Fast

Posted on by

As batteries start to pile up, carmakers, battery companies and researchers are trying to save them from ending up in landfills. From a report: Recyclers are primarily interested in extracting the valuable metals and minerals in the cells. Getting to these materials is complex and dangerous: After removing the steel casing, the battery pack needs to be unbundled into cells carefully, to avoid puncturing any hazardous materials. The electrolyte, a liquid whose job it is to move lithium ions between the cathode and anode, can catch fire or even explode if heated. Only once the pack has been dismantled, recyclers can safely extract the conductive lithium, nickel, copper, and cobalt.

Used in the cathode, cobalt is the most sought-after material used in batteries. In its raw form, the rare, bluish-grey metal is predominantly sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where miners work in perilous conditions. The world’s major electric car manufacturers are already moving away from cobalt, deterred by the human rights abuses, shortages in the supply chain. That raises the question of whether recyclers will still find it worthwhile to dismantle newer battery types lacking the most valuable ingredients. “When you move to more sustainable materials, and lower cost materials, the incentive to recycle and recover them diminishes,” says Jenny Baker, an energy storage expert at Swansea University. She likens this to a dilemma in consumer electronics: It is often cheaper to buy a new mobile phone than to get it fixed or recycled.

[…] In a first step, recyclers typically shred the cathode and anode materials of spent batteries into a powdery mixture, the so-called black mass. In the board game analogy, this would be the first slide down on a snake, Gavin Harper, a research fellow at the University of Birmingham, explains. The black mass can then be processed in one of two ways to extract its valuable components. One method, called pyrometallurgy, involves smelting the black mass in a furnace powered with fossil fuels. It’s a relatively cheap method but a lot of lithium, aluminium, graphite and manganese is lost in the process. Another method, hydrometallurgy, leaches the metals out of the black mass by dissolving it in acids and other solvents. This method, Harper says, would correspond to a shorter snake in the board game, because more material can be recovered: you fall back, but not by as many squares as when using pyrometallurgy. The process, however, consumes a lot of energy and produces toxic gases and wastewater.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – The World Needs To Crack Battery Recycling, Fast

Echo Dot speaker prices drop to an all-time low for Black Friday

Posted on by

If you’re in the market for a budget-friendly smart speaker or two (or three) this Black Friday, it might be worth casting a glance in Amazon’s direction. Several Echo devices went on sale last week, and now you can save on more. Among them is the Echo Dot with Clock. It’s $35 at the moment, which is $25 lower than the regular price and an all-time low. 

Buy Echo Dot with Clock at Amazon – $35

The Echo Dot is a smaller version of the Echo speaker. Amazon changed the design last year from a flat hockey-puck look to a spherical one. The Echo Dot with Clock is pretty much the same device save for the addition of an LED clock display.

We gave the Echo Dot a score of 88 in our review, finding that it offered decent sound quality for the price. The 3.5mm audio out jack is a plus, as is the option to tap the speaker to snooze the alarm. There are physical volume controls, a mic mute button and a button that activates Alexa without having to say the wake word. The voice assistant is the main way people will interact with the device, of course.

Elsewhere, Amazon has discounted a bundle of the Echo Show 8 and a Blink Mini camera. They typically cost $165 when buying them together, but the bundle is available right now for $95.

Buy Echo Show 8 and Blink Mini bundle at Amazon – $95

Amazon upgraded the Echo Show 8 over the summer with a faster processor and better camera than the previous model. When you’re on a video call, the device can follow you around a room using digital panning and zooming. In our review, we highlighted the quality of the display and audio.

Echo Show 8
Nicole Lee/Engadget

You can use the smart display to watch a live feed from the Blink Mini. The indoor camera captures video at a resolution of 1080p, and it offers motion detection and two-way audio. Users can control the Blink Mini with another supported Alexa-enabled device or the Blink app too.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.



Source: Engadget – Echo Dot speaker prices drop to an all-time low for Black Friday

Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are seeing work for mainline Linux kernel support

Posted on by

The Google Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro are the first smartphones powered by the company’s in-house Tensor SoC. They also shipped with Android 12 out-of-the-box, and if you take a look at the kernel sources, you can find Linux kernel 5.10 under the hood. If you’ve already bought either device for the sake of aftermarket development, then you’ll be happy to know that Google has recently started populating a mainline Linux kernel 5.15 branch for the Pixel 6 family. What’s more interesting is that XDA Recognized Developer Freak07 has already managed to compile and boot the mainline kernel release for the device duo.

Source: LXer – Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are seeing work for mainline Linux kernel support

The new Kindle Paperwhite is $35 off for Black Friday

Posted on by

Amazon isn’t quite done with its Black Friday e-reader deals. After it put several other Kindles on sale, the company has dropped the price of the latest Kindle Paperwhite from $140 to $105.

Buy Kindle Paperwhite at Amazon – $105

The fifth-gen Paperwhite, the first refresh in three years, was announced in September. It has a larger screen than the previous model at 6.8 inches (the last-gen Paperwhite had a six-inch display). Amazon claims the 300 ppi screen looks like real paper and the glare-free screen enables “easy reading” in any condition, including direct sunlight. Having a screen that’s said to be 10 percent brighter than the last model’s will certainly help.

In addition, there’s a white-on-black dark mode and revamped interface, while Amazon says page turns are 20 percent faster. The fifth-gen Paperwhite is water resistant and there’s support for USB-C fast charging.

Meanwhile, the Kindle Oasis is on sale too. The 8GB model, which typically costs $250, is currently available for $175. The e-reader was previously on sale for that price during this year’s Prime Day.

Buy Kindle Oasis at Amazon – $175

The Oasis also has a 300 ppi display, though the screen is slightly larger than the Paperwhite at seven inches. It has physical page turn buttons, an IPX8 waterproof rating and a color-adjustable front light.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.



Source: Engadget – The new Kindle Paperwhite is off for Black Friday

The Phoronix Premium Thanksgiving / Black Friday 2021 Special

Posted on by

For those in the US, Happy Thanksgiving. As usual tradition for marking the US Thanksgiving and “Black Friday” / “Cyber Monday” start of the Christmas shopping season, I am once again running a Phoronix Premium special to help support site operations…

Source: Phoronix – The Phoronix Premium Thanksgiving / Black Friday 2021 Special

'Dune' is heading back to IMAX on December 3rd

Posted on by

Dune has exited HBO Max a month after it came out on the streaming service, but you may soon have the chance to watch it on a much bigger screen. The Denis Villeneuve adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel is returning to IMAX theaters on December 3rd for a limited time only. As Deadline notes, most IMAX locations will show the film with a 1.90:1 aspect ratio, which adds up to 26 percent more picture. Select locations will show it in 1.43 aspect ratio, though, which adds up to 40 percent more picture for the film. 

Villeneuve and his crew filmed Dune with IMAX cameras, capturing sceneries and backgrounds with the format’s massive screens in mind. Like we said in our review of the movie, this adaptation of Dune demands to be seen on something bigger that a TV if you want to truly be able appreciate Villeneuve’s visual world-building. 

In case you’d really rather not go to theaters, you’ll get more chances to stream the movie in the future. Dune hit HBO Max on October 21st, the same day it came out in theaters. It was only available for streaming on the service for a month, as per Warner Bros. current release strategy, but it will be out on other digital platforms on December 3rd and will be back on HBO Max sometime next year.



Source: Engadget – ‘Dune’ is heading back to IMAX on December 3rd

Home Remedies for Pest Control in Boise

Posted on by
mosquito

You often do not realize that you are living with pests in your house. Pests invade your house, eat your food, and do not pay any rent in return. Therefore, the removal of pests is very necessary. Seek professional help for the same, but not all can afford professional pest control. In this blog, we will discuss some common home remedies for pest control in Boise. Let us begin.

Regular House Cleaning

Just like you all need to shower daily, your home also needs to be cleaned daily. Sweeping the floor can solve half of your problems. During the cleaning, look for any cracks or crevices in the walls or floor and seal them immediately. Make a habit of keeping all the open food items in boxes and covering open water supplies. Rectify the problem of waterlogging and avoid keeping unwashed dishes in the sink for long.

Remedy for Ants

You know, a simple trick of sprinkling coffee grounds on the floor and at doors can solve your problem. You can also use mint tea leaves; ants can not stand its odor. Keeping cucumber slices can be helpful too. Pour kerosene oil over ant colonies for instant relief.

Remedy for Cockroaches

Make a soap and water solution, keep it handy, and spray it on the cockroaches when you see them. Spray boric acid or beer on the countertops for instant action; roaches carry the acid or beer in their mouth and take it to the colonies, killing all the other roaches.

Remedy for Bedbugs

Light camphor in the room and close all the windows and the doors. Leave the room closed for 30-40 minutes. You will be surprised to find all the bedbugs dead.

Remedy for Spiders

When sprayed on the spiders, a simple mixture of water and vinegar or lime kills them instantly. Spiders are unable to tolerate the pungent odor of vinegar and eventually die.

Remedy for Mosquitoes

Mosquitos are one of the most notorious pests to eliminate. They cause several diseases like dengue, malaria, yellow fever, and chikungunya. Therefore, a remedy for mosquito elimination is a must. A spray with oils or extracts of mint, neem(Azadirachta), eucalyptus, and lavender will kill mosquitos.

Remedy for Fruit Flies

Take a jar, place some sweet food items in it like soft fruit, cover the jar with a cellophane sheet, and make very small holes in it with a pin. Flies will get attracted to the smell and enter the jar through holes but will not leave the jar.

Conclusion

Elimination of pests can be very difficult, but simple steps can solve your problem. Keep your house clean and check for any repair work if required. Simple household items can eliminate pests from your house.

Written by Rida Sheppard



Source: TG Daily – Home Remedies for Pest Control in Boise

AWS embraces Fedora Linux for its cloud-based Amazon Linux

Posted on by

By and large, the public cloud runs on Linux. Most users, even Microsoft Azure customers, run Linux on the cloud. In the case of market giant Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud provider will let you run many Linux distros or their own homebrew Linux, Amazon Linux. Now, AWS has released an early version of its next distro, Amazon Linux 3, which is based on Red Hat’s community Linux, Fedora.

Source: LXer – AWS embraces Fedora Linux for its cloud-based Amazon Linux

NVIDIA's Open-Source Image Scaling SDK 1.0 Released

Posted on by

Last week NVIDIA announced the Image Scaling SDK as an open-source, cross-platform GPU image upscaling implementation that with their own hardware makes use of DLSS. Following the brief exposure over the past week, NVIDIA Image Scaling SDK 1.0 has been formally christened…

Source: Phoronix – NVIDIA’s Open-Source Image Scaling SDK 1.0 Released

Ubisoft Threatens Splinter Cell Fans With Bans If They Keep Asking About Multiplayer Servers

Posted on by

Splinter Cell: Blacklist was the last proper Splinter Cell game to be released and, I’m sorry to remind everyone, that was eight years ago. Nevertheless it still has some fans, who have banded together enough to really piss Ubisoft’s customer support off.

Read more…



Source: Kotaku – Ubisoft Threatens Splinter Cell Fans With Bans If They Keep Asking About Multiplayer Servers

Europe Must Ban Bitcoin Mining To Hit the 1.5C Paris Climate Goal, Say Swedish Regulators

Posted on by

Faced with a sharp rise in energy consumption, Swedish authorities are calling on the European Union to ban “energy intensive” crypto mining. From a report: Erik Thedeen, director of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, and Bjorn Risinger, director of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, said cryptocurrency’s rising energy usage is threatening Sweden’s ability to meet its obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement. Between April and August this year, the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining in the Nordic country rose “several hundred per cent,” and now consumes the equivalent electricity of 200,000 households, Thedeen and Risinger said.

In an open letter, the directors of Sweden’s top financial and environmental regulators called for an EU-wide ban on “proof of work” cryptocurrency mining, for Sweden to “halt the establishment” of new crypto mining operations and for companies that trade and invest in crypto assets to be prohibited from describing their business activities as environmentally sustainable.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Europe Must Ban Bitcoin Mining To Hit the 1.5C Paris Climate Goal, Say Swedish Regulators