Here we are, the day before Thanksgiving, and your turkey is still frozen. It doesn’t matter that multiple food websites have been yelling about turkey thaw times for days—if not weeks—now. There are always a few stragglers who wait until Wednesday or—much worse—Thursday morning.
Source: LifeHacker – What to Do If Your Turkey Is Still Frozen
We’ll get into Russia’s demands for big tech below, but first — ahead of a four-day weekend for some — let’s talk about streaming shows.
You’ve probably noticed by now that we’ve got a reboot problem. Nothing epitomizes that better than the live-action series remake for beloved anime Cowboy Bebop. Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar puts it into words well: “Netflix’s remix is mainly in love with Cowboy Bebop. It wants to remind us of the anime.” But in the effort to show its affection, it all rings a little hollow by comparison.
Devindra even gets a little brutal, criticizing the times when the show “looks worse than a cheap Doctor Who episode.” I know exactly what he means.
Cowboy Bebop is now available to stream on Netflix.
— Mat Smith
Reviews Editor Cherlynn Low untangles the myriad versions of Android to offer some insight into what you might be getting with Google’s latest mobile OS, Android 12. The standout change is definitely a new design that can tease color palettes from your favorite images, but like its rival, iOS, there are bigger shifts in privacy and how your data is being used.
After doing the same for Disney, Spotify has launched a Netflix hub, bringing all of the streaming service’s soundtracks, playlists and podcasts into one place. While many of Netflix’s soundtracks were already on Spotify, the new feature puts all content related to the service in one place.
That includes playlists and soundtracks from series and films like La Casa de Papel, Narcos: Mexico, Outer Banks, Squid Game and, ahem, Cowboy Bebop.
Epic Games has acquired Harmonix, the studio behind titles like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Dance Central and, more recently, Fuser. Epic’s vision for Harmonix involves the metaverse. In the immediate future, the two plan to create “musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite.”
No word yet on how many millions of dollars the acquisition cost.
In an update to the official iOS 15 website that was spotted by MacRumors, Apple says that functionality will now arrive sometime in early 2022. Apple first announced the feature at WWDC 2021, pitching it as a tool to allow you to add your driver’s license or state ID card to Apple Wallet, just like you would a credit or debit card. Among the first locations to support the feature will be select Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints at some US airports.
Russia’s telecom regulator Roskomnadzor has called on 13 foreign and mostly American companies to launch official Russian presences by 2022 so they can comply with a law that took effect July 1st. The list includes familiar tech names, like Apple, Google, Meta (Facebook), Telegram, TikTok and Twitter.
The law demands local offices for “internet companies” with over 500,000 daily users. Some of the companies already have offices, though, and it’s unclear just what constitutes an official presence. Those deemed violating the law could face complete bans or limits on their ads, data gathering and money transfers.
Activision Blizzard’s latest anti-harassment effort is a ‘responsibility committee’
The Polestar 5 is a production version of the Precept concept EV
Black Friday 2021: The best deals on subscription services we could find
Black Friday 2021: The Apple Watch Series 7 hits new low of $380 ahead of Black Friday
The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum will close for at least six months in 2022
T-Mobile will pay $19.5 million settlement for 12-hour 911 outage
Source: Engadget – The Morning After: Russia wants local offices from big tech companies like Google and Apple
Enlarge / No matter if you call it Rapid Red, candy-apple red, or cherry red, it looks gorgeous on the Mach-E. (credit: Eric Bangeman)
Last February, we had a chance to spend a couple of days with the Ford Mustang Mach-E. Automotive Editor Jonathan Gitlin’s take on the Mach-E was largely positive, but the short testing window he had left us with some unanswered questions. So when a cherry red Rapid Red Mustang Mach-E recently appeared in front of my house, I set about to get some answers.
In particular, I wanted to find out how good of a battery electric vehicle the Mach-E is. I jumped on the BEV bandwagon in January 2020 with the purchase of a Jaguar I-Pace. In that time, our family has put over 20,000 miles on it, with a good proportion of those driven between our home in suburban Chicago and my grandparents’ old place outside of Shelbyville, Illinois. With a door-to-door distance of 216 miles (418 km) that covers suburban, interstate, and country driving, it’s a good opportunity to see if a car’s range is as advertised and how real-world driving conditions can affect BEV range.
Ford sent us another Premium e-AWD model with a usable battery capacity of 88 kWh and a sticker price of $56,200. The twin electric motors churn out 346 hp (258 kW) of power and 428 lb-ft (580 Nm) of torque, and the compact SUV has an advertised range of 270 miles. Driving down to Shelbyville and back would give a good read on range and power consumption in different driving conditions.
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Source: Ars Technica – A good EV: A road trip with and review of the Ford Mustang Mach-E
The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban sent a letter to so-called “stablecoin” issuer Tether on Tuesday, asking for an explanation of how the company operates and “mints” tethers that can be exchanged for various forms of cryptocurrency like bitcoin. Why does it matter? Because some people believe…
Source: Gizmodo – U.S. Senators Demand Answers From People Behind Crypto Stablecoin Tether
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 went on sale for $200 earlier this month, but it has become even more affordable ahead of Black Friday. The smartwatch is now listed for $180 on both Amazon and Walmart, which is the lowest price we’ve seen for the device on those websites. That’s $70 less than its original $250 retail price. While only the black 40mm Bluetooth-capable variant is being sold for $180, the other colors, 44mm versions and LTE-capable watches are also on sale for $50 less.
Buy Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 at Amazon – $180Buy Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 at Walmart – $180
We gave the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 a score of 85 in our review. It’s the first generation of Galaxy Watch to run Wear OS, giving it the capability to download apps straight from the Play Store. There’s now even a section on the store showing all your current apps with smartwatch counterparts that makes the installation process even more painless. The device has gesture controls, as well, so you can simply flick your wrist or lift your arm to answer or decline calls.
We also praised the watch for having comprehensive health tracking capabilities. Samsung gave it a new 3-in-1 biometric sensor to enable body mass scans using bioelectrical impedance analysis. In addition, it has new sleep tracking features (like snore detection), faster heart rate monitoring and updated calorie count algorithms. Another upgraded element that deserves a mention is its sharper screen.
The only big difference between the Watch 4 and the Watch 4 Classic is the latter’s spinning bezel and stainless steel case. If you like the latter’s looks better, however, you can also get the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic for $300 on Amazon. That’s an all-time low for the device and is $50 less than its original price.
Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Source: Engadget – Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 hits an all-time low of 0
Last week, Radio Free Asia reported that copies of Squid Game had been smuggled into North Korea on USB drives and SD cards. Now, according to RFA, a man who is said to have smuggled in the show has been sentenced to death by a firing squad.
Source: Kotaku – Report: North Korean Man Sentenced To Death For Smuggling Copies Of Squid Game
A group of 10 companies is forming a new PHP Foundation, with temporary administrators including PHP founder Rasmus Lerdorf. The trigger for this initiative appears to be the decision of Nikita Popov, a significant PHP contributor, to focus mainly on LLVM in future. Popov, currently a software developer at JetBrains working on the PhpStorm IDE, will be leaving the company from 1 December, according to a post by product marketing manager Roman Pronskiy, which also introduces the new foundation.
Source: LXer – PHP Foundation formed to fund core developers, vows to pay ‘market salaries’
A status update on Blender’s “Cycles X” project was published today ahead of the upcoming Blender 3.0 release and with already some feature additions planned for Blender 3.1…
Source: Phoronix – Blender 3.0’s Cycles X Rendering Performance Is Looking Great
Amazon Studios is “nearing a deal” to develop a series based on Electronic Arts and BioWare’s Mass Effect franchise, according to Deadline. No particulars have been released, but Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke told Deadline that it’s “continuing to invest in fantasy genre of all kinds, we have a genre-focused team on the ground in Studios who work tirelessly with our creative partners on those slates, and you can look forward to more.”
The success of the fantasy series Wheel of Time shows why Amazon is going in that direction. Salke revealed that it was “one of the Top 5 series launches of all time for Prime Video,” adding that it saw “tens of millions of streams” and high completion rates, to boot.
Mass Effect rumors have cropped up of late, with EA recently stating that it’s “not a matter of if, but when” a TV series based on the game will be made. Witcher star Henry Cavill also hinted at a Mass Effect series in a cryptic Instagram post with (easily deblurred) text, as The Verge noted.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition arrived earlier this year with updated gameplay and graphics, to generally good reviews. The series first arrived in 2007 with the original Mass Effect, a third-party shooter and role playing game that pits Commander Shepherd and the Systems Alliance against the Reapers, an ancient machine race invading the Milky Way. That was followed by two sequels (2010 and 2012), along with a fourth game, Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017). BioWare and EA are currently developing a fifth, all-new installment.
The Zhouyi AI accelerator was developed by Arm China and is found in some SoCs so far. An open-source Linux kernel driver is being worked on for it but unfortunately for now at least any mainline ambitions are immediately stalled over the lack of an open-source user-space/client…
Source: Phoronix – Linux Driver For Arm China’s Zhouyi AI Accelerator Proposed, But Lacks Open User-Space
Well known open-source Linux graphics expert David Airlie of Red Hat has recently been working on early Vulkan Video support for Mesa’s Radeon “RADV” and Intel “ANV” drivers. As part of that effort and in part due to lack of software making use of Vulkan Video extensions right now, he has started exploring the feasibility of implementing the Video Acceleration API (VA-API) atop Vulkan Video…
Source: Phoronix – Airlie Exploring Possibility Of VA-API On Top Of Vulkan Video
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the Japanese arcade industry hard. With the country closed off to tourism, it might only seem like big city arcades are the ones that are hurting the most. That’s simply not the case.
Earlier this year, Kotaku reported that things were horrible for Japanese arcades. “The government is…
Source: Kotaku – Arcades In Japan Keep Closing, Which Sucks
The first electric Hummers will be making their way to their new owners this holiday season. According to Autoblog, GMC boss Duncan Aldred has announced that deliveries of the Hummer Edition 1 — the all-electric truck variant that’ll set buyers back over $112,000 — begin in December. The conference has also revealed that Edition 1 has an EPA range of 329 miles, a bit lower than the 350-mile range the automaker was originally expecting.
GMC’s four-ton electric truck has 1,000 horsepower and 11,500 ft/lb of torque generated by its three motors, giving it the capability to get from zero to 60 miles-per-hour within 3 seconds. The truck can also tow up 7,500 pounds and can carry up to 1,300 pounds. It was built on the Ultium battery pack, the platform GM developed to electrify dozens of models across its brands in the coming years.
When it starts shipping out next month, the Edition 1 Hummer EV will become of the first electric trucks in the market along with Rivian’s R1T. Tesla is also working on the electric Cybertruck, but the company delayed its release to 2022 in August. Autoblog says more than 80 percent of the reservations for the Hummer EV is for the Edition 1, but other versions of the electrified vehicle are still arriving in 2023. Some of those EVs will cost less and have longer ranges. GMC will also start deliveries for the SUV version of the Hummer EV in 2023.
Source: Engadget – GMC will begin Hummer EV deliveries in December
Watermarking plain text isn’t easy. Plain text files don’t have headers (or magic numbers), and although you can insert invisible control characters, those characters may get revealed by text editors and word processors. There’s a sneaky way to do it, though.
Source: LXer – How to watermark a UTF-8 plain text file
President Joe Biden will require essential, nonresident travelers crossing U.S. land borders, such as truck drivers, government and emergency response officials, to be fully vaccinated beginning on Jan. 22, the administration planned to announce Tuesday. The Associated Press reports: A senior administration official said the requirement, which the White House previewed in October, brings the rules for essential travelers in line with those that took effect earlier this month for leisure travelers, when the U.S. reopened its borders to fully vaccinated individuals. Essential travelers entering by ferry will also be required to be fully vaccinated by the same date, the official said. The rules pertain to non-U.S. nationals. American citizens and permanent residents may still enter the U.S. regardless of their vaccination status, but face additional testing hurdles because officials believe they more easily contract and spread COVID-19 and in order to encourage them to get a shot. […] About 47 million adults in the U.S. remain unvaccinated, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – US To Require Vaccines For All Border Crossers In January
With Tesla’s latest FSD (“Full Self-Driving“) release, it’s asking drivers to consent to allowing it to collect video taken by a car’s exterior and interior cameras in case of an accident or “serious safety risk.” That will mark the first time Tesla will attach footage to a specific vehicle and driver, according to an Electrek report.
Tesla has gathered video footage as part of FSD before, but it was only used to train and improve its AI self-driving systems. According to the new agreement, however, Tesla will now be able to associate video to specific vehicles. “By enabling FSD Beta, I consent to Tesla’s collection of VIN-associated image data from the vehicle’s external cameras and Cabin Camera in the occurrence of a serious safety risk or a safety event like a collision,” the agreement reads.
By enabling FSD Beta, I consent to Tesla’s collection of VIN-associated image data from the vehicle’s external cameras and Cabin Camera in the occurrence of a serious safety risk or a safety event like a collision.
As Electrek notes, the language could indicate that Tesla wants to ensure it has evidence in case its FSD system is blamed for an accident. It could possibly also be used to detect and fix serious issues more quickly.
FSD 10.3 was released more widely than previous betas, but it was quickly pulled back due to issues like unwarranted Forward Collision Warnings, unexpected autobraking and more. At the time, CEO Elon Musk tweeted that such issues are “to be expected with beta software,” adding that “it is impossible to test all hardware configs in all conditions with internal QA, hence public tests.”
However, other drivers on public roads are unwitting beta testers, too. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating a driver’s complaint that FSD led to a November 3rd collision in Brea, California. The owner alleged that it caused his Model Y to enter the wrong lane and hit another car, causing considerable damage to both.
Tesla is releasing the new beta to even more users with Driver Safety Scores of 98 and up — previously, beta releases were limited to drivers with perfect 100 scores. Tesla charges drivers $199 per month for the feature or $10,000 in one shot, but has failed meet promised deadlines for autonomous driving. Currently, the FSD system is considered to be a Level 2 system — far from the Level 4 required to really be “full self-driving.”
Source: Engadget – Tesla requires Full Self Driving testers to allow video collection in case of a crash
Hatim Mursi says he had an entire life’s savings stolen in a cryptocurrency investment scam, more than a half-million dollars.
He says the funds are ”completely, completely, completely gone.” At first, the person referred him to legitimate trading platforms where Mursi said he decided to open an account.
“She started sharing with me links to this new company,” Mursi said.
“That’s the only website where you can actually purchase that coin,” Mursi said.
In order to buy this supposed new coin, Mursi said he needed to fund the website’s virtual wallet with other cryptocurrencies.
So he purchased Tether, a well-known crypto coin, from Binance.US, a legitimate trading platform, and transferred the funds to the new site.
Mursi then started moving over thousands of dollars worth of cryptocurrency after that.
The Federal Trade Commission says from October 2020 to March of this year, there were 12 times the number of crypto investment scams reported compared to the same period the year before.
“We’ve seen a lot of these types of cryptocurrency scams start on social media,” explained Christopher Leach, a staff attorney for the FTC.
Source: TG Daily – Crypto Investment Scams Escalate As Trading Increase
An effort recently restarted that originally dates back many years is the “pvUSB” front-end driver for Linux to allow physical USB devices to be used within Xen domains…
Source: Phoronix – Xen pvUSB Linux Driver Patches Updated, More Than 10 Years In The Making
Sometimes, you need a quick and reliable way to distribute data or software to users without using a package manager (for example, the end user may not have root access to install an application). This issue could be tackled by using containers and Podman or Docker, but what if they’re not available on the destination system? What if one of the requirements is for the application to work on a bare-metal environment?
Source: LXer – Package software and data with self-compressed scripts
If all goes as planned, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will launch early Wednesday morning “to test whether slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid can nudge it into a different trajectory,” reports The New York Times. “Results from the test, if successful, will come in handy if NASA and other space agencies ever need to deflect an asteroid to save Earth and avert a catastrophic impact.” From the report: The DART spacecraft is scheduled to lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday at 1:20 a.m. Eastern time (or 10:20 p.m. local time) from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. NASA plans to host a livestream of the launch on its YouTube channel starting at 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday. If bad weather around the Vandenberg launch site prompts a delay, the next opportunity for liftoff would be about 24 hours later.
After launching to space, the spacecraft will make nearly one full orbit around the sun before it crosses paths with Dimorphos, a football-field-size asteroid that closely orbits a bigger asteroid, called Didymos, every 11 hours and 55 minutes. Astronomers call those two asteroids a binary system, where one is a mini-moon to the other. Together, the two asteroids make one full orbit around the sun every two years. Dimorphos poses no threat to Earth, and the mission is essentially target practice. DART’s impact will happen in late September or early October next year, when the binary asteroids are at their closest point to Earth, roughly 6.8 million miles away.
Four hours before impact, the DART spacecraft, formally called a kinetic impactor, will autonomously steer itself straight toward Dimorphos for a head-on collision at 15,000 miles per hour. An onboard camera will capture and send back photos to Earth in real time until 20 seconds before impact. A tiny satellite from the Italian Space Agency, deployed 10 days before the impact, will come as close as 34 miles from the asteroid to snap images every six seconds in the moments before and after DART’s impact.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Watch NASA Crash a Spacecraft Into An Asteroid
