The big news out of Microsoft today is, obviously, its acquisition of Activision Blizzard for the nominal fee of, oh, a small country’s GDP. The immediate impact here means major Activision-published behemoths like Call of Duty and Overwatch will become first-party games under Microsoft’s ever-growing purview, with…
Source: Kotaku – Xbox Game Pass Kicks 2022 Off With Two 2021 GotY Contenders
It was only a bit over a month ago that Amazon announced that its hit The Boys was got to get an animated spinoff titled Diabolical, which was going to be an animated anthology of short cartoons set in the Boys-iverse. Now, Diabolical has a (very close!) release date and a first look at the series in action, and……
Source: Gizmodo – The Boys’ Animated Spinoff Is Coming Sooner Than You Think and Is Exactly as Violent as You’d Expect
Your Mac’s standard screenshot tool includes the basic features most people need to capture images displayed on their screens, but it could be better. It doesn’t allow you to take scrolling screenshots (where you capture a long screenshot of an entire webpage), and other tools—including the two discussed below—are…
Source: LifeHacker – How to Replace Your Mac’s Screenshot Tool With Something Better
Giving a computer to a kid is basically putting it through a torture test. So HP is launching its new line of rugged Fortis laptops made to stand up to the abuse of students.
Comprised of a range of laptops and 2-in-1s that start as low as $349, every Fortis notebook comes with an extra level of durability compared to typical notebooks including spill-resistance (up to 11.8 ounces of liquid), reinforced ports and rubber trim to protect against drops and bumps. HP even added a textured surface to make the laptops easier to grip to prevent drops from happening in the first place, while a new metal shield helps protect the laptop’s battery in case the device does take a fall.
To guard against kids who are constantly fidgeting, HP installed a new full-skirted anchored keyboard with keys that are harder to remove. And because schools are a breeding ground for bacteria, HP designed its Fortis laptops to be wiped down using standard household cleaning products.
As for the devices themselves, the HP Fortis 14-inch G10 Chromebook is the cheapest of the bunch starting at just $349 (available now). It comes with either a 1366 x 768 or full HD 1920 x 1080 display (touch is optional), a range of Intel Celeron and Pentium processors, up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of eMMC storage, Wi-Fi 6, and one of Google’s Titan C security chips built-in. Connectivity includes one USB-C port for charging and data, two USB-A ports, one HDMI, a combo headphone/microphone jack, and a microSD card reader.
If you want a slightly smaller Chromebook for education there’s also the HP Fortis 11-inch G9 Q Chromebook, though it won’t be out until June. Instead of a chip from Intel, it features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c along with a slightly slower Wi-Fi 5 modem, 4GB/8GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB of eMMC storage. And regardless of which one you choose, both the Fortis 14 G10 and Fortis 11 G9 Q can be configured with an optional 4G LTE connection.
Meanwhile, when it comes to Windows-based systems, there’s the clamshell HP ProBook Fortis 14-inch G9 and HP Probook Fortis 14-inch G10, which feature nearly identical specs aside from their processors. The ProBook Fortis 14 G9 comes with a selection of Intel Celeron and Pentium chips running on Windows 11 SE, while the ProBook Fortis 14 G10 features newer Intel 12th-gen Core i3 and Core i5 CPUs running on standard Windows 11. Both systems support up to 8GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard eMMC storage in addition to either a 128GB or 256B M.2 SSD.
The HP ProBook Fortis 14 G9 is available now starting at $369, while the ProBook Fortis 14 G10 won’t ship until later in April (price still TBA).
And if that’s not enough, HP created some rugged 2-in-1s for education in the HP Pro x360 Fortis 11-inch G9 and the HP Pro x360 Fortis 11-inch G10. Similar to their clamshell siblings, the Pro x360 Fortis 11 G9 is powered by a range of Intel Celeron and Pentium processors and comes with Windows 11 SE pre-installed, while the Pro x360 Fortis 11 G10 gets more powerful 12th-gen Core i3 and i5 chips and full Windows 11. Notably, both of HP’s Fortis 2-in-1s come with stylus support (though HP’s rechargeable pen is an optional extra) and support for an optional rear-facing 5-MP camera.
The Pro x360 11 G9 is available now starting at $399, with the Pro x360 Fortis 11 G10 expected to arrive sometime in April (price still TBA).
Source: Engadget – HP’s new Fortis laptops for students are a bit more kid-proof
Enlarge / Tablets of ivermectin. (credit: Getty | Nurphoto)
Detainees at an Arkansas jail were given ivermectin without their knowledge or consent, a new lawsuit alleges. As early as November 2020, Dr. Robert Karas, the jail’s doctor, told inmates who had contracted COVID that he was giving them a cocktail of vitamins, antibiotics, and steroids when in fact he was administering dangerously high doses of the dewormer. Ivermectin is not authorized by the FDA to treat or prevent COVID, and the agency has repeatedly told people not to take it outside its approved use as an anti-parasitic.
“At no point were Plaintiffs informed that the medications they were consuming included Ivermectin,” the lawsuit says. “Further, Plaintiffs were not informed of the side effects of the drug administered to them or that any results would be used for research purposes.”
Four detainees are suing Dr. Karas and his company, the Washington County sheriff, and the Washington County Detention Center and 10 of its employees, alleging that they violated the inmates’ rights to informed consent. The ACLU of Arkansas filed the lawsuit on their behalf. The plaintiffs are seeking medical evaluations by independent providers and an injunction preventing Dr. Karas from administering ivermectin to COVID patients.
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Source: Ars Technica – Inmates sue Arkansas doc, jail after unknowingly taking dangerous doses of ivermectin
It turns out with enough maneuvering that Microsoft Windows 11 can run well with the open-source Coreboot even with keeping UEFI SecureBoot enabled and meeting Windows 11’s TPM requirements and other security measures…
Source: Phoronix – Microsoft’s Director of OS Security Gets Coreboot Playing Nicely With Windows 11
For weeks, airlines have been cautioning authorities over the delays and disruptions that would happen in the wake of telco companies’ planned rollout of 5G technology, and things are getting serious. On Monday, the CEOs of several transportation giants like Delta, JetBlue, and American Airlines warned transportation…
Source: Gizmodo – Airline CEOs Warn of Unprecedented ‘Chaos’ Tied to This Week’s 5G Rollout
West Virginia won’t use BlackRock’s investment funds any longer as part of its banking transactions, positioning itself as defending poor, defenseless American fossil fuel companies. The boycott is based on BlackRock’s recent public statements on climate—but ignores the realities of where the financial giant is…
Source: Gizmodo – West Virginia Starts New Fake Culture War Against Blackrock
Zack and I were sprinting through a field of head-high flowers, and we were very afraid. Ahead of and behind us, two hordes of semi-zombified humans with alien entities clinging to their faces closed in. I fired my rifle, piercing shots driving them to the ground in droves. Earlier in our trek through the…
Source: Kotaku – The Anacrusis Might Be A Worthy Successor To Left 4 Dead’s Legacy
WordPress Heartbeat offers great functionality, it helps in post revision tracking, auto-saving of posts while composing, and user session management. WordPress Heartbeat sends a continuous pulse, as the name indicates, using AJAX calls to perform periodic tasks. In this article, we will explain what is WordPress Heartbeat and how to reduce admin-ajax.php hits.
Source: LXer – What is WordPress Heartbeat and How to Reduce admin-ajax.php Hits
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)
Prosecutors in California have charged a Tesla driver with two counts of manslaughter as a result of a fatal crash in December 2019. According to the Associated Press, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed that the Autopilot driver-assistance feature was active at the time of the crash. That makes this case notable in that these are the first felony charges to result from a fatal crash involving a partially automated driving system.
The fatal crash took place in Gardena, California, on December 29, 2019. According to reports, the Tesla Model S owned by Kevin Riad exited I-91, failed to stop at a red light, and then collided with a Honda Civic, killing both of that car’s occupants, Gilberto Alcazar Lopez and Maria Guadalupe Nieves-Lopez. Within days, the NHTSA announced it would investigate the incident—one of a growing number of cases involving Tesla Autopilot that the agency is looking into.
The AP reports that no one involved with the case is prepared to talk publicly ahead of a preliminary hearing on February 23, although it notes that Riad pleaded not guilty. The families of both victims are suing Riad and Tesla in separate lawsuits, alleging that Riad was negligent and that Tesla has sold defective vehicles. The cases are expected to reach court in 2023.
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Source: Ars Technica – Manslaughter charges follow Tesla driver’s Autopilot red light run
LibreNMS is an open-source network monitoring system based on PHP. Learn how to install LibreNMS on Debian 11 here.
The post How to Install LibreNMS on Debian 11 appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – How to Install LibreNMS on Debian 11
Microsoft is acquiring Activision Blizzard in a landmark deal worth $68.7 billion. The purchase, should it go through, will reshape the gaming industry and potentially catapult Microsoft’s Xbox gaming division and Game Pass subscription service.
Source: Gizmodo – Microsoft’s Buying Activision Blizzard—Now What?
Considering that we spend up to 36 years of our lives in our beds (either sleeping, watching TV, or trying to get to sleep), our mattresses are important. But since they’re also large, expensive, and obscured by so many linens, it’s not always obvious when we should replace them (and given the investment, it’s not…
Source: LifeHacker – Why It’s Probably Time to Buy a New Mattress
It looks like Intel wants to make a bigger push into the world of cryptocurrency, though not necessarily with its upcoming discrete GPU launch. Instead, the company is on schedule to discuss a new Bonanza Mine chip at the 2022 International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), which will run from February 20th to the 24th.
Intel is
Source: Hot Hardware – Intel Is Working On A Bonanza Mine Crypto Mining Chip As Arc Alchemist Draws Close
Thanks to Red Hat developer Martin Stránský, he has managed to get the Video Acceleration API (VA-API) working for AV1 content within the Firefox web browser…
Source: Phoronix – Firefox Gets AV1 VA-API Acceleration Sorted Out
A show that stars three actors who all identify as being on the autism spectrum will debut on Amazon Prime Video this week. Rick Glassman, Albert Rutecki and Sue Ann Pien play three 20-something roommates who are also on the spectrum in As We See It.
Creator Jason Katims is best known for his work on Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, which featured a character with Asperger’s syndrome. He said all of As We See It‘s “neurodiverse roles were cast with neurodiverse actors” and “two neurotypical roles were cast with neurodiverse actors,” according to Disability Scoop. Some writers, editors and other crew members are neurodiverse too.
Katims said his son has autism, and their experience inspired As We See It. “I think the show affords us a window into the hearts and souls of three-dimensional, loving, beautiful, complicated human beings who happen to be on the autistic spectrum, played by actors who identify as being autistic,” Katims said. “It shouldn’t be revolutionary. But it sort of is.”
Several other shows from recent years have featured characters with autism, including Netflix’s Atypical, The Good Doctor, Prime Video series The A Word and even Sesame Street. However, it’s rarer for a series to feature characters with autism played by performers who themselves are on the spectrum. As such, As We See It could bolster authentic on-screen representations of autism.
All eight episodes of As We See It‘s first season will hit Prime Video on Friday.
Source: Engadget – Amazon series starring actors on the autism spectrum debuts this week
Warzone players have another reason to rejoice when it comes to cheaters in game. Activision Blizzard’s Ricochet implemented a new anti-cheat measure that has targeted those using aimbots, and the damage is noticeable.
Just today, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. It comes at a time when Activision
Source: Hot Hardware – Call Of Duty: Warzone Cheaters Are Getting Wrecked By Ricochet And Nobody Feels Sorry
Between the never-ending pandemic, systemic wage inequality, and constant management nightmares, real-life work has never felt so dystopian. But Ben Stiller’s new Apple TV+ series, Severance, takes things to another level by having Adam Scott undergo a very strange procedure: to have two wholly separate sets of…
Source: Gizmodo – In Severance, Memory Is Company Property
Owen Williams, writing for TechCrunch: […] As a result, it shouldn’t be a surprise that some open source developers are beginning to realize they wield outsized power, despite the lack of compensation they receive for their work, because their projects are used by some of the largest, most profitable companies in the world. In early January, for example, Marak Squires, the developer of two popular NPM packages, ‘colors’ and ‘faker,’ intentionally introduced changes to their code that broke their functionality for anyone using them, outputting “LIBERTY LIBERTY LIBERTY” followed by gibberish and an infinite loop when used. While Squires didn’t comment on the reason for making the changes, he had previously said on GitHub that “I am no longer going to support Fortune 500s ( and other smaller sized companies ) with my free work.” Squires’ changes broke other popular projects, including Amazon’s Cloud Development Kit, as his libraries were installed almost 20 million times per week on npm, with thousands of projects directly depending on them. Within a few hours, NPM had rolled back the rogue release and GitHub suspended the developer’s account in response.
While NPM’s response was to be expected after previous incidents in which malicious code was added to libraries and was ultimately rolled back to limit damage, GitHub’s was a new one: the code hosting platform took down Squires’ entire account, even though he was the owner of the code and was his rights to change it as he pleased. This isn’t the first time a developer has pulled their code in protest, either. The developer of ‘left-pad’ pulled his code from NPM in 2016, breaking tens of thousands of websites that depended on it following a fight with the Kik messenger over the naming of another open source project he owned. What’s astonishing is that despite the occasional high-profile libraries protesting the way the industry works, these types of incidents aren’t all that common: open source developers continue to work for free, maintaining their projects as best they can, even though multi-million dollar products being created off of the back of their work.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Open Source Developers, Who Work for Free, Are Discovering They Have Power
