Funny, stirring, weird, embarrassing: There are all sorts of reasons to love an acceptance speech. The greatest sin one can commit in giving one isn’t, as some seem to think, forgetting to thank your agent: it’s being boring. We love to be moved and inspired by a speech, no question, but an off-color joke, a lost…
Source: LifeHacker – 32 of the Best, Most Memorable Movies Awards Acceptance Speeches Ever
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: As Russia makes preparations to possibly disconnect from the global internet in a bid to control the narrative around the invasion of Ukraine, one secretive U.S. company is rushing to lay the final pieces of an unbreakable network that the Kremlin won’t be able to take down. The company is Lantern, which says it has seen staggering growth inside Russia in the last four weeks for its app that allows users to bypass restrictions the Kremlin has put in place on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But now the company is building something even more robust, an internal peer-to-peer network that will allow dissenting voices to continue to upload and share content even if the Kremlin pulls the plug on the internet.
Within the next week, the network will be fully operational, allowing opposition voices to use the Lantern app to post content like videos from protests or updates on the war in Ukraine directly to the Lantern network. This would allow users to share it with other Lantern users without fear that the content will be removed or blocked. […] Lantern was founded in California in 2010 with the goal of keeping “the world’s information, speech, expression, and finance uncensored.” The free version of the app has a data cap of 500MB, but the pro version, which costs $32 a year, has no data cap. It has become hugely popular in China because of its ability to stay one step ahead of the government’s censorship efforts, spreading mainly via word-of-mouth as it’s not available via the Google or Apple app stores inside China. n Russia, like all new markets it enters, Lantern removed the data cap for all users. Despite this, some users still paid for the pro version.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Meet the Secretive US Company Building an ‘Unbreakable’ Internet Inside Russia
If you’re in search of open-source web browsers that are lesser-known to you, this article is written for you. This article takes you through 5 amazing open-source web browsers that are readily available for your Linux system. Let’s find out the options to choose from in 2022.
Source: LXer – 5 Lesser-Known Open Source Web Browsers for Linux in 2022
It’s time to talk about all of those other new Apple gadgets. This week, Engadget Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham joins Devindra to dive into Apple’s Studio Display, a nice looking 5K monitor that’s really only meant for the Mac faithful. Also, they discuss why the new iPad Air is a fabulous tablet, and explore what could be the best 5G laptop for RV nomads. Stay tuned to the end for a chat with Dan Erickson, the creator of the excellent Apple TV+ series Severance.
Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Apple’s confounding Studio Display – 1:28
The M1 iPad Air, however, is great – 16:05
Snap buys brain interface company NextMind – 28:37
Apple acquired UK banking startup Credit Kudos – 33:27
The saga of the LA Tesla jump TikTok stunt – 40:23
Ask Engadget: The best setup for retiree trailer life – 44:54
Working on – 52:40
Pop culture picks – 55:58
Interview with Severance creator Dan Erickson – 1:02:44
Credits
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Nathan Ingraham
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos
Graphic artists: Luke Brooks
Source: Engadget – Engadget Podcast: Apple’s confounding Studio Display and the great new iPad Air
The US and the European Union have struck a preliminary agreement on an updated Privacy Shield framework to re-enable the flow of data between the two regions. A previous agreement was struck down by the EU’s top court in 2020 over concerns that Europeans would not be fully protected from mass surveillance by the US.
“We have found an agreement in principle on a new framework for transatlantic data flows,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a joint press conference with US President Joe Biden. “This will enable predictable and trustworthy data flows between the EU and US, safeguarding privacy and civil liberties.”
“Privacy and security are key elements of my digital agenda,” Biden said. “And, today, we’ve agreed to unprecedented protections for data privacy and security for our citizens. This new arrangement will enhance the Privacy Shield framework, promote growth and innovation in Europe and the United States and help companies, both small and large, compete in the digital economy.”
Pleased that we found an agreement in principle on a new framework for transatlantic data flows.
It will enable predictable and trustworthy 🇪🇺🇺🇸 data flows, balancing security, the right to privacy and data protection.
This is another step in strengthening our partnership. pic.twitter.com/7Y0wslR7Go— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 25, 2022
Biden added that should the new deal come into force, it will “allow the European Commission to once again authorize transatlantic data flows that help facilitate $7.1 trillion in economic relationships with the EU.” He said the US and EU reached other agreements on bolstering renewable sources of energy and reducing Europe’s reliance on fossil fuels from Russia.
The provisional deal on data privacy comes one day after the European Union reached an agreement on adopting the Digital Markets Act (DMA), legislation aimed at reining in the power of the biggest tech companies and giving smaller players more of a chance to compete. One provision could force the likes of Meta and Apple to make their messaging services interoperable with other platforms.
At a separate press conference on Friday, Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s executive vice president for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, said the DMA will come into force in October.
Source: Engadget – US and EU aim to revive transatlantic data flows in new privacy deal
Enlarge / Josh Wardle speaks at the 2022 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco about his gaming sensation Wordle. (credit: Sam Machkovech)
SAN FRANCISCO—Josh Wardle, creator of the game Wordle, arguably holds a world record for the fastest sale of a massive new game the instant it became a worldwide phenomenon.
Hence, his presentation at the 2022 Game Developers Conference has a different flair than the usual “post-mortem” dissection of a finished game. His presentation has plenty to dissect, including the “low seven figures” deal that saw him sell the whole thing to The New York Times at the end of January. But in addition to questions about how Wordle was born, Wardle seems aware of the unspoken question on everyone’s mind: Why would you move on just as the game took off?
Answering both of those questions, to some extent, requires appreciating that the Times had been in Wardle’s mind well before Wordle joined its family.
Read 33 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Wordle creator describes game’s rise, says NYT sale was “a way to walk away”
Police in London have arrested seven young people between the ages of 16 and 21 for allegedly hacking Microsoft and Okta under the hacker group name LAPSUS$. All seven people have been released and none have been formally charged with a crime. At least not yet.
Source: Gizmodo – Teens Arrested in Hack of Microsoft and Okta But Haven’t Been Charged
Google is working on a new Nest Hub with a removable tablet that’s due to be released in 2022, according to a report from 9to5Google. The screen could be detached from the hub/speaker base, then presumably be used like any other tablet. The idea would make a lot of sense in terms of boosting Nest functionality, especially since Google recently made the 2nd-gen Nest screen more tablet-like with a new shortcut launcher for web apps and games.
It’s not yet clear which operating system the device would run, as the 2nd-gen Nest Hub runs the lightweight Google Cast system, and the original Nest Hub was recently updated to Google’s mysterious Fuchsia OS. However, a detachable tablet would likely have the most functionality with Android. As 9to5Google points out, Lenovo offers an Android tablet that docks to a speaker bar, runs Alexa and sells for $270.
The latest 2nd-gen Nest Hub ($100) and Nest Hub Max ($230) come with 7-inch and 10-inch screens, respectively. Both offer features like sleep tracking, media playback and, of course, control of connected home devices. The Nest Hub Max also comes with a camera that allows for video calls (Duo only) and lets you use it as a Nest camera. The new Nest Hub with a detachable tablet will reportedly launch in 2022, but until it’s official, take this rumor with a megadose of salt.
Source: Engadget – Google is reportedly planning a Nest Hub that features a detachable tablet
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)
So you’ve heard about mechanical keyboards and you want to learn more.
Sure, a standard membrane keyboard will get the job done, but the long-lasting keys and trademark tactile responsiveness of mechanical keyboards offer a premium experience that many people swear by. If you’ve ever remarked with dismay about a keyboard’s “mushiness,” a mechanical keyboard might be just the thing you need.
Every key in a mechanical keyboard has its own switch, and registering an input requires pushing a plastic stem inside the switch down, with resistance coming from the switch’s spring. In contrast, membrane keyboards (also known as rubber dome keyboards) use thin layers of plastic underneath the keys. Pressing a key sends a dome-shaped piece through a hole in the membrane, creating a circuit and sending an input to the PC. While membrane keyboards are typically thinner, quieter, more spill-resistant, and cheaper to make, they can feel flat and make it difficult to know if you’ve pressed a key or not. Mechanical switches offer way more physical feedback.
Read 102 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – The Ars Technica guide to mechanical keyboards
We review the recently released Linux Mint Debian Edition 5 (LMDE 5) in terms of performance, stability & user-friendliness. Here’s what we have found.
Source: LXer – Linux Mint Debian Edition 5 – Perfection with Stability Review
Following our how-to guide for enabling the new AMD P-State driver that premiered in Linux 5.17 after finding many users were unsure to go about using this new CPU frequency scaling driver, AMD is now making it easier to switch from ACPI CPUFreq to AMD P-State…
Source: Phoronix – AMD Making It Easier To Switch To Their New P-State CPU Frequency Scaling Driver
GIF inventor Stephen Wilhite has died from COVID-19 at the age of 74, NPR has reported. He worked at CompuServe when he developed the Graphics Interchange Format, designed to allow photo transfers over slow modem connections, inventing the format in 1987 virtually on his own, according to his spouse.
With limitations like 256 colors per animation, the format could easily have died out long ago. However, it was designed by Wilhite to store multiple frames, making it easy to share animated snippets without the demands of a video format. After AOL purchased CompuServe and let the patent expire, the GIF renaissance began with artists and Tumblr users. And on and on it went.
Oh and it’s “JIF” with a soft “G,” according to Wilhite, which I consider the final word on the matter.
— Mat Smith
Star Trek: Picard’s unraveling continuity is the result of operator error
Activision Blizzard faces another lawsuit over sexual harassment
Polestar’s long range single motor Polestar 2 arrives in the US
The USPS is doubling its order of next-gen electric mail trucks
Bloomberg sources claim Apple is developing a subscription service for the iPhone and other hardware. Akin to the iPhone upgrade program, you’d pay a monthly fee rather than an up-front cost or financed installments. The service may include regular upgrades and launch in either late 2022 or early 2023. Pricing is also unknown. Apple’s current upgrade program requires $35 or more per month to get both yearly iPhone upgrades and continuous AppleCare+ coverage. Given that Apple’s top phones now circle above the $1,000 mark, it might make a lot of sense.
OnePlus’ latest flagship phone will launch in Europe, North America and India on March 31st. The company promised that the OnePlus Pro 10 would arrive in those markets by the end of March, so that’s right on schedule — if calling it a little close. It released the smartphone in China back in January. It’ll back a three-camera array, similar to last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro, and match its predecessor’s screen size and resolution. However, there are some screen upgrades in the background and a larger battery on board as well. You’ll be able to pre-order the OnePlus Pro 10 from the OnePlus website and Amazon on March 31st at 10:20 AM ET, though pricing is still TBC. Expect a review from Engadget soon.
Amazon is selling the M1-based WiFi model with 128GB of storage for a new all-time low price of $950 after you attach an instant coupon at checkout. That’s $149 less than usual. The 512GB version is back to a best-ever $1,299 price (down from $1,399). It might be worth checking our other picks from Amazon, as there are discounts on other iPad sizes, too.
Following a large-scale virtual health study, Google has submitted Fitbit’s passive heart rate monitoring algorithm for review by the US Food and Drug Administration. The study tested how accurately the device could detect atrial fibrillation, or irregular heart rhythms. The system uses photoplethysmography to passively track the blood flow in a user’s wrist and determine if there are any concerning irregularities. Google said its algorithm correctly identified undiagnosed AFib 98 percent of the time. Fitbit’s Sense Smartwatch was approved by the FDA in 2020 for its ability to assess AFib using built-in electrocardiogram technology. However, that method requires active input from the user.
Google’s Threat Analysis Group announced on Thursday it had discovered a pair of North Korean hacking groups leveraging a remote code execution exploit in the Chrome web browser. Google found evidence of their attacks going back as far as January 4th, 2022, though the Threat Analysis Group notes organizations outside the US could have been targeted as well.
One group targeted 250 people across 10 companies, making fraudulent job offers from the likes of Disney and Oracle, sent from accounts spoofed to look like they came from Indeed or ZipRecruiter. Clicking on the link would launch a hidden iframe that would trigger the exploit.
Source: Engadget – The Morning After: The inventor of the GIF has died
Enlarge / Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert—collectively known as Daniels—are the directors of the new sci-fi action/dramedy Everything Everywhere All at Once, starring Michelle Yeoh. (credit: A24)
The incomparable Michelle Yeoh plays a harried Chinese American laundromat owner facing an IRS audit in the new science fiction action comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once. Evelyn Wang is just trying to sift through a mountain of paperwork and crumpled receipts to keep her life from falling apart when she unexpectedly gets pulled into an epic battle across multiple timelines. And the stakes couldn’t be higher: the very survival of the entire multiverse is on the line.
Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert—collectively known as Daniels—are known for their ability to straddle genres, deftly blending comic absurdity and outré weirdness with moments of gut-wrenching poignancy. Everything Everywhere All at Once is only their second feature film together, but you’d never know it by the assured hand Daniels brought to bear on the project, somehow bringing a chaotic jumble of disparate elements together into a coherent whole that both surprises and delights. The two creators said they found inspiration while they were writing the script in classic kung-fu films, as well as The Matrix and Fight Club.
“I fell in love with those movies,” Kwan said. “I was like, man, if I could just make something half as fun as The Matrix, but with our own stamp and our spirits, I would just die happy.”
Read 27 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Daniels brings the multiverse to madcap life in Everything Everywhere All at Once
A recent Gran Turismo 7 update sparked outrage, not just because it raised the prices of in-game cars, but also because it led to a server outage than lasted for over a day. Now Polyphony Digital President Kazunori Yamauchi has issued an apology “for the frustration and confusion” caused by the patch, along with the announcement of a big update rolling out in early April to “improve player experience.”
Players complained that the presence of microtransactions and higher car prices made it harder to obtain new vehicles and upgrades without paying real money and spending a lot of time grinding for in-game currency. Yamauchi said back then that he believes it’s important for the cars’ prices to be linked with their real-world counterparts to convey their “value and rarity.”
That obviously didn’t go over well with fans, who also had to deal with downtime because the update came with an issue that prevented the game from starting properly on the PS4 and the PS5. The game ended up being review bombed on Metacritic, where it currently has a score of 1.5 that translates to “overwhelming dislike.”
The updates coming in early April include higher rewards for events, as well as more events and opportunities to earn in-game currency. Polyphony is also working on more additional features that don’t have a release date yet, such as the ability to sell cars. At the moment, there’s no way to do so in GT7, even though its predecessors had the feature.
Unfortunately, Yamauchi didn’t mention whether the company is exploring the possibility of making the game available to play offline, so it will likely continue requiring an internet connection for the foreseeable future. He did say, however, that Polyphony is giving players who may have been affected by the server outage a credit pack of 1 million Cr. Only those who already own the game before his post had been published and who log in between March 25th and April 25th will get the free credit pack.
Source: Engadget – Gran Turismo 7’s April update aims to appease angry fans and fix the grind
Enlarge / Astra’s LV0009 takes off from Kodiak Island, Alaska, on March 15. (credit: Brady Kenniston/Astra)
Welcome to Edition 4.36 of the Rocket Report! As I took last week off for Spring Break, there is quite a bit of news to get to this week, including positive steps forward for some US small launch companies and SpaceX reaching another milestone with its Falcon 9 rocket.
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below. (The form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site.) Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
Astra successfully returns to flight. Astra launched its Rocket 3.3 vehicle on March 15 and placed several payloads into low Earth orbit, SpaceNews reports. The Rocket 3.3 vehicle, designated LV0009 by Astra, took flight from Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island and delivered payloads for Spaceflight Inc. to a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 525 kilometers. This success followed a launch failure on February 10 of the Rocket 3.3 vehicle. That failure was caused by a wiring system error in the payload fairing.
Read 30 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Rocket Report: SpaceX broomstick cleaning up contracts, Astra back on track
Capsule rooms might be small, but Devil May Cry fandom is huge. Next month, Anshin Oyado Premier Nagoya Sakae in Nagoya will cover one of its capsules with the silver-haired heroes of DMC.
Source: Kotaku – Devil May Cry Plastered All Over Japanese Capsule Hotel Room
The UK plans to increase the number of electric vehicle charging stations to 300,000 by 2030. That would increase the current number of charge points in the country by tenfold. The government has committed £1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) to the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy.
The effort to upgrade the charging network includes a focus on fast-charging stations for longer journeys and making EVs more viable for people without access to off-street parking. A previously announced Rapid Charging Fund has put £950 million ($1.25 billion) toward establishing a network of more than 6,000 fast-charging stations along England’s motorways by 2035. Under the strategy, £500 million ($658 million) has been earmarked for setting up charging stations in communities, including on-street locations.
New rules will mean that EV drivers can use contactless payments for charging, compare pricing and use apps to find stations. The UK will ban the sale of new fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2030, so a more expansive charging network will be vital to ease the transition to EVs.
Along with the environmental benefits of EVs, the government touted the plan as a way to create jobs and reduce the UK’s dependency on foreign sources of energy and oil. As is the case elsewhere, prices of gas and home energy have increased dramatically in the UK since Russia invaded Ukraine last month. Access to Russian oil and energy suppliers has been nixed in the wake of sanctions against the country.
Source: Engadget – UK promises a network of 300,000 EV chargers by 2030
Arduino will soon launch a $239 “Portenta X8” module that combines a quad -A53 i.MX8M Mini with an STM32 Cortex-M7 and -M4 SoC and runs Linux in a Foundries.io container stack. A $335 “Portenta Max Carrier” will add GbE, USB, COM, CAN, and mini-PCIe. Arduino Pro, the recently launched professional business unit of Arduino, announced […]
Source: LXer – Arduino returns to Linux with Portenta X8 module and dev kit
Introduced back in 2019 by the VIA + Shanghai owned Zhaoxin was the ZX-E / KX-6000 series x86_64 processors. Finally in 2022 the proper GCC compiler tuning support has been published for these processors that are part of the “Lujiazui” microarchitecture…
Source: Phoronix – Zhaoxin Finally Adding “Lujiazui” x86_64 CPU Tuning To GCC
According to Techdirt’s Timothy Geigner, Gran Turismo 7 on the PlayStation was recently rendered unplayable because the DRM servers that require an online check to play the game crumbled during a maintenance window. From the report: “The scheduled server maintenance, timed around the release of the version 1.07 patch for the game, was initially planned to last just two hours starting at 6 am GMT (2 am Eastern) on Thursday morning,” reports Ars Technica. “Six hours later, though, the official Gran Turismo Twitter account announced that ‘due to an issue found in Update 1.07, we will be extending the Server Maintenance period. We will notify everyone as soon as possible when this is likely to be completed. We apologize for this inconvenience and ask for your patience while we work to resolve the issue.'”
“Inconvenience” in this case means not being able to play the game the customer purchased. Like, basically at all. Why the single player content in a console game of all things should require an online check-in is completely beyond me. Console piracy is a thing, but certainly not much of a thing. There is zero chance that this DRM is worth the headache Sony now has on its hands. A headache that lasted for more than a full calendar day, by the way. And a headache that Sony’s competitors picked up on to use in messaging to the public on social media.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Owners Of ‘Gran Turismo 7’ Locked Out Of Single Player Game When Online DRM Servers Go Down
