The latest Linux kernel patches confirm that next-gen AMD Zen processors are capable of featuring up to twelve CCDs…
Source: Phoronix – Linux Prepares For Next-Gen AMD CPUs With Up To 12 CCDs
Monthly Archives: November 2021
Don't Cross the Wirecutter Picket Line
Wirecutter employees are asking us to resist the temptation of their own excellent deals this Black Friday weekend and boycott the site. The Wirecutter union announced today that every member of its unit has agreed to walk out from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday in protest of the New York Times management’s alleged…
Source: Gizmodo – Don’t Cross the Wirecutter Picket Line
UK Visa Scheme for Prize-winning Scientists Receives No Applications
Not a single scientist has applied to a UK government visa scheme for Nobel prize laureates and other award winners since its launch six months ago, New Scientist reported Tuesday. From a report: The scheme has come under criticism from scientists and has been described as “a joke.” In May, the government launched a fast-track visa route for award-winners in the fields of science, engineering, the humanities and medicine who want to work in the UK. This prestigious prize route makes it easier for some academics to apply for a Global Talent visa — it requires only one application, with no need to meet conditions such as a grant from the UK Research and Innovation funding body or a job offer at a UK organisation.
The number of prizes that qualify academics for this route currently stands at over 70, and includes the Turing Award, the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science International Awards, and various gongs awarded by professional or membership bodies both in the UK and elsewhere. “Winners of these awards have reached the pinnacle of their career and they have so much to offer the UK,” said home secretary Priti Patel when the prestigious prize scheme launched in May. “This is exactly what our new point-based immigration system was designed for — attracting the best and brightest based on the skills and talent they have, not where they’ve come from.” But a freedom of information request by New Scientist has revealed that in the six months since the scheme was launched, no one working in science, engineering, the humanities or medicine has actually applied for a visa through this route.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – UK Visa Scheme for Prize-winning Scientists Receives No Applications
How To Get Halo Infinite’s Sick Samurai Armor
See that kick-ass suit of armor at the top of the post? That’s a prize available for knocking out objectives in Halo Infinite’s first timed event, dubbed “Fracture: Tenrai,” which went live on Xbox and PC this afternoon and runs through November 30. For no other reason than “Ahhhh, look at it,” here’s another angle:
Source: Kotaku – How To Get Halo Infinite’s Sick Samurai Armor
Math may have caught up with Google’s quantum-supremacy claims
In 2019, word filtered out that a quantum computer built by Google had performed calculations that the company claimed would be effectively impossible to replicate on supercomputing hardware. That turned out to not be entirely correct, since Google had neglected to consider the storage available to supercomputers; if that were included, the quantum computer’s lead shrank to just a matter of days.
Adding just a handful of additional qubits, however, would re-establish the quantum computer’s vast lead. Recently, however, a draft manuscript was placed on the arXiv that points out a critical fact: Google’s claims relied on comparisons to a very specific approach to performing the calculation on standard computing hardware. There are other ways to perform the calculation, and the paper suggests one of those would allow a supercomputer to actually pull ahead of its quantum competitor.
More than one road to random
The calculation Google performed was specifically designed to be difficult to simulate on a normal computer. It set the 54 qubits of its Sycamore processor in a random state, then let quantum interference among neighboring qubits influence how the system evolves over time. After a short interval, the hardware started repeatedly measuring the state of the qubits. Each individual measurement produced a string of random bits, making Sycamore into a very expensive random-number generator. But if enough measurements are made, certain patterns generated by the quantum interference become apparent.
Read 16 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Math may have caught up with Google’s quantum-supremacy claims
LibreOffice Releases User Guides for Impress and Calc 7.2
Electronic versions of LibreOffice’s guides are available as free downloads, or print-on-demand versions through Lulu.
The post LibreOffice Releases User Guides for Impress and Calc 7.2 appeared first on FOSS Force.
Source: FOSS Force – LibreOffice Releases User Guides for Impress and Calc 7.2
Russia demands large tech companies set up local offices by 2022
Russia is getting serious with demands that foreign tech companies set up shop within its borders. Reuterssays the country’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 be subject to either complete bans or limits on their ads, data gathering and money transfers.
As you might have guessed, the concern is that Russia might use the law to wield more control over those companies and their content. Russia has clashed with Apple multiple times, for instance, including a fine for allegedly abusing App Store dominance — this law might give officials more leverage. The move might also help Russia pressure companies into censoring content the government deems objectionable, such as social media posts backing the political opposition to Putin’s regime.
The announcement makes a tricky situation that much more difficult. Russia is a significant market some companies can’t always afford to lose but honoring the request could also mean enabling censorship and other rights abuses. Companies may soon have to make decisions that are painful regardless of the outcome.
Source: Engadget – Russia demands large tech companies set up local offices by 2022
Mammoth Tusk Found at the Bottom of Pacific Ocean Stuns Scientists
Marine biologists expect to find all sorts of strange stuff in the deep sea, but a mammoth tusk ain’t one of them.
Source: io9 – Mammoth Tusk Found at the Bottom of Pacific Ocean Stuns Scientists
How to Install and Configure MongoDB 5 on Debian 11
In this guide, we are going to learn how to install MongoDB 5 Community Edition on a Debian 11 server.
MongoDB is a cross-platform document-oriented NoSQL database program that uses JSON-like documents with optional schemas. MongoDB is developed by MongoDB Inc. and licensed under the Server Side Public License.
The post How to Install and Configure MongoDB 5 on Debian 11 appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – How to Install and Configure MongoDB 5 on Debian 11
Do You Really Need to Chill Your Pie Dough?
Everyone knows that a chef’s kiss-worthy pie crust requires cold butter, which is why most recipes recommend chilling the dough twice: Once after mixing, and again after assembling the pie. The downside is that rolling out cold dough sucks, so you’ll have to wait for it to warm up first (or smack it around a little), …
Source: LifeHacker – Do You Really Need to Chill Your Pie Dough?
With tonight’s launch, NASA starts getting serious about planetary defense
Enlarge / The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, spacecraft aboard. (credit: NASA)
Weather permitting, a Falcon 9 rocket will launch a key asteroid-deflection mission for NASA on Tuesday night from California. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART mission, will seek to demonstrate the capability to change an asteroid’s orbit next year.
Powered by ion thrusters, the 700-kg spacecraft aims to rendezvous with a double asteroid next October. Once there, the spacecraft will attempt to collide with Dimorphos, a small “moonlet” of a larger asteroid named Didymos. DART will strike Dimorphos at a rate a little greater than 6.6 km/s, aiming to slightly alter the trajectory of the asteroid, which measures approximately 170 meters across.
If NASA successfully completes this test, it will have demonstrated the capability to, one day, deflect an incoming asteroid on a collision course with Earth. “We’re trying to show that we can mitigate a threat like this,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s chief of science, in an interview with Ars.
Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – With tonight’s launch, NASA starts getting serious about planetary defense
Won't Someone Think of the Bombs?
The U.S. military is the single-biggest institutional source of carbon pollution on Earth. But the Pentagon would like you to know that it could absolutely be part of the climate solution.
Source: Gizmodo – Won’t Someone Think of the Bombs?
Apple Just Provided the Perfect Example of Why You Can't Trust App Store Review Scores
Apple Podcasts rises above bad reviews, but at what cost? From a report: You pissed off people by somewhat breaking your app, and they’re leaving angry reviews. How can you salvage your reputation? Apple just found one incredibly effective way — get listeners to submit better reviews by interrupting their podcast experience with an in-app prompt to submit a rating. That’s how the Apple Podcasts app went from a publicly embarrassing 1.8-star score all the way to 4.6 stars in a little over a month without any actual fixes, as developer and App Store watchdog Kosta Eleftheriou points out. And it’s still going up: according to AppFigures data, the app has been getting thousands of ratings every day since November 9th, with the vast, overwhelming majority of them issuing a 5-star score. The app has made it to 4.7 stars overall as of this writing and is firmly the No. 1 App Store search result for “podcast.” It looks far more desirable to a new user than it might have before.
If you think there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this, you might be right — it could definitely be that people who bother to submit reviews tend to be angry, and a lot of people who love Apple Podcasts and never bothered to look it up in the App Store (remember, it’s preinstalled!) are finally balancing things out. But do those people actually love Apple Podcasts? Because if you really look at the reviews, it seems like some funny business is going on. There are new, positive reviews, but they aren’t reviews of the Apple Podcasts app at all — they’re reviews of podcasts themselves.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Apple Just Provided the Perfect Example of Why You Can’t Trust App Store Review Scores
Rust dust-up as entire moderation team resigns. Why? They won't really say
The Rust language community is in disarray following the resignation of the entire moderation team, citing the “structural unaccountability” of the core team. The moderation team, represented by Andrew Gallant, posted its resignation to GitHub yesterday, stating that it was “done in protest of the Core Team placing themselves unaccountable to anyone but themselves.”
Source: LXer – Rust dust-up as entire moderation team resigns. Why? They won’t really say
Rare Zelda Demo From 1997 Recreated By Fans
Want to party like it’s 1997? Well, you’re in luck, as a dedicated group of Zelda fans recently wrapped on a project that’s all about recreating what it felt like to play Ocarina of Time at a Nintendo event in the late 90s before it was officially released.
Source: Kotaku – Rare Zelda Demo From 1997 Recreated By Fans
Bluetooth tracking company Tile acquired for $205 million
Enlarge / The Tile Pro. (credit: Jeff Dunn)
Tile, a company that pioneered consumer trackers, will be acquired by Life360, an Australian company whose services help families keep tabs on one another’s safety.
The acquisition values Tile at $205 million and should be finalized in the first quarter of 2022. Tile’s current CEO, C.J. Prober, will remain at the helm and Tile will retain its own branding. (It is also expected to retain its employees.) Prober will join Life360’s board.
Life360 already has a widely used app that allows family members to track each other’s locations, be notified of accidents, and so on. By merging with Tile, Life360 can allow its users to track items and pets as well. This is in part because Life360 is a smartphone app for iOS and Android, but some physical objects—like your luggage or your dog—are better tracked by individual bits of hardware than by your smartphone, which you generally keep on your person.
Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Bluetooth tracking company Tile acquired for 5 million
The Pop Culture We're Thankful for Getting Us Through 2021
Being thankful doesn’t only have to apply to the big stuff. Each day we’re all thankful for our health, friends, family, and more. As we should be. But sometimes it’s just fun to think about the less obvious stuff we’re thankful for and there’s no better time to do that than Thanksgiving. That’s why each year, io9…
Source: Gizmodo – The Pop Culture We’re Thankful for Getting Us Through 2021
When You Should Use LinkedIn's Resume Builder, and When You Shouldn’t
There’s never a bad time to apply for a new job, but updating your resume can begin to feel like a big task (especially if you’re already overworked). If you’ve got a LinkedIn profile though, you can use what you’ve already written to build and customize a strategic resume, as well as speed up your application…
Source: LifeHacker – When You Should Use LinkedIn’s Resume Builder, and When You Shouldn’t
Reddit will shut down Dubsmash on February 22nd
Reddit will shut down Dubsmash on February 22nd, 2022. The announcement comes less than a year after Reddit acquired the TikTok-like video platform for an undisclosed sum in December 2020. Following the 22nd, Dubsmash won’t be available to download through the App Store or Google Play, nor will the app work after that date.
When Reddit first announced the acquisition, it said Dubsmash would retain its own platform and brand. “Combining forces has been a perfect match. Reddit is where passionate communities come together for timely, interactive and authentic exchanges about topics that matter to them, and video is increasingly core to how people want to connect,” the company said in a blog post.
As part of today’s announcement, Reddit is also rolling out new video features that come courtesy of the Dubsmash team. The built-in camera now includes options to change recording speeds and set a timer. Additionally, it’s now possible to upload clips in landscape, portrait mode and fill, as well as adjust and trim multiple clips at once. A new editing screen allows users to add stickers, doodles, voice-overs and filters to their clips.
The impending shutdown of Dubsmash is likely to affect creators of color most acutely. Where TikTok’s best-known stars are white, Dubsmash was particularly popular among Black and Latinx users. At the end of 2020, Reddit noted 25 percent of all Black teens in the US were on the platform. Those users now face a tough decision: they either support a platform that has been seen as a safe harbor for hate speech and misinformation or look elsewhere to find a supportive community.
Source: Engadget – Reddit will shut down Dubsmash on February 22nd
Battlefield 2042 review: The future of warfare is meaningless
-
A sandstorm, one of the effects of climate change on Battlefield 2042‘s (environmentally toothless) world.
There’s a compelling game buried in the weather-ravaged wastes of Battlefield 2042‘s grim, apocalyptic premise that has almost nothing to do with hectic firefights and chaotic vehicular blowouts the series is known for.
Instead, the setup—which is practically nowhere to be found within the game proper—reads like something out of Metal Gear Solid: in the near-future, extreme weather events and environmental disasters from climate change destabilize countries across the planet, causing more than a billion fleeing refugees to coalesce into a new class of nationless exiles called “No-Pats.” Without homes to return to, they form private mercenary groups to protect themselves amid rising tensions over resources.
Already on the brink, civilization is struck another blow when an unknown event knocks out most satellites. That leaves America and Russia (the only two superpowers left standing) pointing fingers at each other over the ensuing blackout and global economic collapse. Each side responds via a proxy war, covertly deploying No-Pat task forces to safeguard its interests in climate conflict zones. You come in, boots on the ground, as one of several special-ops personnel, fighting meaningless battles ad nauseam in a ruined world for whichever side pays you.
Read 33 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Battlefield 2042 review: The future of warfare is meaningless