A new Night of the Living Dead is shambling our way. R.L. Stine’s Zombie Town movie gets a new poster. Namor strikes in new Black Panther: Wakanda Forever footage. Plus, a new Rick and Morty short is on the way for Halloween. To me, my spoilers!
Source: Gizmodo – William Jackson Harper Is Joining the MCU, and It Could Be in a Huge Role
It’s been nearly 40 years since NASA astronaut Sally Ride became the first U.S. woman to go to space. Since then, women have made great strides in the field, breaking through barriers and making significant contributions to spaceflight.
Source: Gizmodo – NASA Photos Showcase the Growing Role of Women in Space Over the Years
You won’t have to pay much extra to get Apple’s latest thin-and-light laptop. Amazon is once again selling the base MacBook Air configuration with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for $1,049, significantly below the official $1,199 price. The savings only apply to the silver and midnight hues, but you probably won’t mind if you were previously considering the M1 model. You can also save $150 on 512GB versions if you need the extra storage.
The M2-powered MacBook Air is, simply put, one of the best general-purpose laptops we’ve tried. It’s extremely slim and fanless, but still performs well and lasts a very long time on battery. Add a high-quality display and surprisingly powerful speakers and you have a portable that can travel most anywhere, but still has the power to handle serious tasks like video editing.
There are some important considerations. The storage in the 256GB configuration isn’t as quick as for the 512GB edition — it’s just fine for everyday use, but may prove a bottleneck if you’re routinely working with very large files (such as major 4K video projects). And while the absence of a fan is rarely an issue in typical circumstances, you may want to spring for the 13-inch MacBook Pro M2 if you regularly subject your computer to sustained heavy workloads. Otherwise, the MacBook Air is a great pick — it’s even better than the Pro if you need more ports (as MagSafe frees up one) or prefer physical function keys over the Touch Bar.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Source: Engadget – Apple’s MacBook Air M2 is back on sale for ,049
A lot of companies would be pleased as punch to generate $13.5 billion in any given three-month period. But there’s only one Intel, and that figure represents a 20 percent year-over-year decline in third-quarter revenue, which the company attributed to a challenging economy and weakening PC demand as the world recovers from a pandemic. As
Source: Hot Hardware – Intel Upbeat As It Enters Aggressive Cost-Cutting Mode Amid Deteriorating PC Demand
European lawmakers have gotten the EU’s 27 member states to agree to a plan that effectively bans the sale of gas-powered cars and vans by 2035. They’ve come to an agreement to approve the Commission’s revised reduction targets for passenger cars’ and light vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions. The Commission’s proposal, which European lawmakers had voted in favor of back in June, aims to reduce the emissions produced by new vehicles in those categories by 100 percent in 13 years’ time. That wouldn’t be achievable without stopping the sale of gas-powered vehicles and selling zero-emission models only.
European Parliament’s lead negotiator Jan Huitema said:
“[P]urchasing and driving zero-emission cars will become cheaper for consumers. I am pleased that today we reached an agreement with the Council on an ambitious revision of the targets for 2030 and supported a 100% target for 2035. This is crucial to reach climate neutrality by 2050 and make clean driving more affordable.”
Under the deal, new cars from 2030 must also comply with a 55 percent cut on carbon dioxide emissions compared to 2021 levels. Vans must comply with a 50 percent cut. In addition, the agreement states that existing EU funding should be spent on transitioning to zero-emission vehicles and related technologies going forward. The Commission also vows to publish a report every two years detailing the region’s progress towards zero-emission road mobility starting in 2025.
The European Parliament and Council will still have to approve the agreement before it becomes official, and changes could be introduced before then. According to Reuters, the EU intends to draft a proposal on how to sell cars running on carbon dioxide-neutral fuels after 2035. That said, automakers have been preparing for the shift to zero-emission vehicles for a while now, as governments around the world adopt laws to combat climate change. The list of carmakers pledging to go fully electric over the coming years continue to grow: Ford, for instance, announced last year that its consumer vehicles will be fully electric by 2030, while GM aims to eliminate emissions from all its new “light-duty vehicles” by 2035.
Source: Engadget – EU member countries agree to ban sale of gas-powered cars and vans starting in 2035
Chicago is betting on quantum — a technology that could ensure everything from emails to online shopping is 100% secure — to fuel future economic growth. But there’s still much work to do before the city realizes its dream of becoming the nation’s capital for the promising technology. From a report: Best known for traditional industries including food, agriculture and manufacturing, the Windy City has been trying to lure investments from companies such as Google and Amazon.com as it shifts its focus to quantum, which promises to make Internet communication unhackable.
Illinois already gets 40% of all the federal dollars for the technology and has four of the nation’s 10 quantum centers, the most of any state. But being at the forefront of quantum developments requires the city to focus on translating science into companies and jobs, said Brad Henderson, chief executive officer at P33, a non-profit founded by former Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. “We have a top five science setting and we’re not even in the top 10 at translating science into commerce,” he said. “We’re targeting tens of billions of dollars in annual GDP that we expect to have in 10 years. That’s our goal. And tens of billion dollars actually translates into thousands of jobs.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Chicago Bets on Quantum Tech as ‘Next Big Thing’ for Its Future
Now’s your chance to get a pair of solid noise-cancelling headphones without the usual high price. Amazon is selling the WH-XB910N with active noise cancellation (ANC) for $123, or a hefty 51 percent off. That’s a better deal than we saw earlier this year, and makes them an easy pick if you’re shopping in the sub-$150 range.
The WH-XB910N headphones may not match the stellar audio fidelity of Sony’s flagship WH-1000XM5 headphones, but they don’t have to at this price. You still get clear mid- and high-range sounds, strong bass and 360 Reality Audio (aka spatial audio) for services like Amazon Music HD, Deezer and Tidal. You’ll also get robust noise cancellation, a healthy 30 hours of claimed battery life and support for voice control through Alexa and Google Assistant.
These are good commuter headphones, too. The WH-XB910N can amplify your voice when you make calls in noisy environments, and an ambient sound mode lets you hear crosswalk traffic or a subway stop announcement. They’re particularly helpful if you want to quickly head out after a long day at work — 10 minutes of charging will deliver 4.5 hours of listening. Throw in the included carrying case and you can easily bring these with you.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Source: Engadget – Sony’s WH-XB910N ANC headphones are 51 percent off right now
Last weekend, Dwayne Johnson passion project Black Adam opened to poor reviews (from critics) and a rapturous embrace (by fans). Even as the superhero genre moves up the chain of cinematic respectability, it seems there remains a divide between movies that are seen as worthwhile and those that are viewed as empty…
Source: LifeHacker – 20 of the Most Over-the-Top Action Movies Ever Made
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty)
A small retail business in North Africa, a North American telecommunications provider, and two separate religious organizations: What do they have in common? They’re all running poorly configured Microsoft servers that for months or years have been spraying the Internet with gigabytes-per-second of junk data in distributed-denial-of-service attacks designed to disrupt or completely take down websites and services.
In all, recently published research from Black Lotus Labs, the research arm of networking and application technology company Lumen, identified more than 12,000 servers—all running Microsoft domain controllers hosting the company’s Active Directory services—that were regularly used to magnify the size of distributed-denial-of-service attacks, or DDoSes.
For decades, DDoSers have battled with defenders in a constant, never-ending arms race. Early on, DDoSers simply corralled ever-larger numbers of Internet-connected devices into botnets and then used them to simultaneously send a target more data than they can handle. Targets—be they game companies, journalists, or even crucial pillars of Internet infrastructure—often buckled at the strain and either completely fell over or slowed to a trickle.
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Source: Ars Technica – Meet the Windows servers that have been fueling massive DDoSes for months
Video games rot your brain and waste your time, even worse than TV, right? Not necessarily, according to the latest study from the University of Vermont’s Department of Psychiatry. In a paper titled “Assocation of Video Gaming With Cognitive Performance Among Children,” the authors find that children that played video games “showed enhanced
Source: Hot Hardware – Study Finds Video Games Could Improve Cognitive Ability In Kids, Take That, Parents
Apple earned plaudits for making the iPhone 14 more repairable compared to its predecessors, but the question of who can make those repairs remains. It appears the company has added an additional, seemingly-unnecessary layer of friction to the process of replacing a broken display. Much like in 2019, even genuine Apple screens are causing repaired iPhones to malfunction. Sources within the third-party repair community, who have asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, say that while tearing an iPhone 14 may be easier, getting it to work properly after is considerably harder.
Our sources say the new issue centers on the iPhone 14’s Always-On Display (AOD), which uses the phone’s two Ambient Light Sensors (ALS) to calibrate display brightness. In order to conserve battery life, when at night or when the phone is in your pocket, the display will shut down, leveraging the automatic brightness. If your display breaks, and you don’t use an Apple-authorized service center to replace it, however, the ALS shuts down, leaving the screen permanently black unless you can remember the position of the slider, and then you’ll be stuck manually adjusting your brightness.
(The Ambient Light Sensor has been an issue with previous iPhone releases, down to where its controller was sited. On the iPhone 12, for instance, it was mounted on a sensor flex itself that leant itself to mechanical failure. On the 13, it was moved to a new component cluster, reducing the risk of it breaking unexpectedly. Our source says that the iPhone 14’s sensor is in a similar place, and so any failure must be a software-related issue.)
YouTuber Hugh Jefferys posted a video about the problem, swapping the logic board between two brand new iPhones (both for the 14 and 14 Pro). Despite the fact that every component is new and Apple-made, the phones erupted into a chorus of error messages and broken features. FaceID, Battery Health, True Tone and Auto Brightness, as well as the forward-facing cameras are all disabled. When Jeffreys swapped them back, the problems persisted, and the phones were only “fixed” after he had downgraded to iOS 16.0.
The cause of this failure is Apple’s policy of “Parts Pairing,” tying individual components to the phones that carry them. A display – a commonly broken part – will have a unique ID logged in its hardware that the iPhone checks for whenever it boots. As far as the phone is concerned, it will only work properly if it has its “own” display attached, and if it’s not detected, it won’t work. Users will instead see a bunch of error messages urging them to go to their local Apple support technician. These messages will, eventually, stop, but your device will be marked as hosting unauthorized components.
The only way to prevent this is for an Apple-authorized technician to manually sanction the pairing with an in-house software tool. Our source said that this process requires a technician connecting to Apple’s private network over the internet, a process that is kept “under lock and key” by the company. Until the iPhone 13, there was a workaround for this with third-party repair stores using custom EEPROM programmers. These devices would read the part ID code from the paired display and write it to its replacement, which would often be a refurbished, genuine Apple-made display. Unfortunately, while this worked on previous iPhones, it does not remedy the issues for the iPhone 14.
The result of this is that repair stores outside of Apple’s own network will soon be left unable to make repairs on any new iPhones. The costs of joining Apple’s network, however, are high enough that many businesses have had second thoughts about doing so. “The Independent Repair Programme (IRP) is not profitable enough, as an independent repairer, to maintain as a retail operation” said one individual who asked not to be named.
Apple has been historically resistant to the idea that users should be able to fix their own gear. It has backed anti-Right to Repair groups and tries to keep all repairs within its own service process. That has led to situations where Apple grossly overcharged for basic repairs that did not require a machine to be sent away to be serviced. The most infamous example, as reported by CBC, was when a Genius Bar quoted $1,200 to make a fix a third-party store charged $75 for.
Apple withholds repair manuals and spare parts from third-party stores, despite the volume of iPhones that require basic fixes, like display and battery replacements. Instead, the only non-Apple outfits that can fix iPhones are Authorized Service Providers (ASPs) where Apple can exert some control. The company’s critics say boxing out third parties who can make simple repairs and forcing people back to the Genius Bar helps turn a tidy profit. Apple denies this, and told the US Antitrust subcommittee that in 2019, since 2009, “the costs of providing repair services has exceeded the revenue generated by repairs.” Although Apple did not explain if that constitutes the whole of its repair operations, or just those made under warranty.
But the company, through a combination of regulator and activist pressure, has been forced to loosen its grip on repairs. In 2019, it said it would allow third-party repair stores to become “verified,” enabling it to receive the same tools, parts and manuals as its ASPs. The process subsequently expanded this program to include Mac repair as well as for iPhones (and iPads). And, on November 17th, 2021, the company announced a self-service repair program where it would make tools, parts and manuals available to users.
This process, however, as detailed in depth by The Verge, revealed that enabling a user to fix their own iPhone display on Apple’s terms wasn’t that easy. The company handed over 79 pounds of tools, including a hot plate to melt the glue holding the display in place. If that wasn’t bad enough, the repair isn’t validated until the iPhone is connected to Apple’s own service team, which can then set the new part as legitimate. And in order to do it, a user has to lay down a deposit of $1,200 to ensure they return the tools within seven days.
The end result of this is that consumers have to pay a significantly higher price to keep their iPhone running than they should, or could. In one example, a third-party store that used genuine Apple displays charged around £140 ($157) to repair an iPhone 11 display, whereas that same repair at an Apple-authorized store would cost closer to £220 ($247). Compare that to aftermarket display replacements, made by third-party companies, which are priced at £95 ($106).
Jason Eccles is General Manager of SimplyFixIt, a chain of independent repair stores across Scotland. “The idea that someone can buy a device outright, but the manufacturer can still control the functionality of it for years to come is mind-blowing,” he said. “It’s frustrating for us, because we want to offer the best possible repair, but Apple appears to have arbitrary rules around what we can do, sometimes even creating new issues with iOS updates.” Eccles does not have an issue with iOS devices knowing that it was repaired with aftermarket parts, however. “Consumers getting relevant information in iOS that a component has been replaced is a good thing, but I think it’s difficult to say that reducing the functionality of the phone, even if we use genuine parts, is good for customers.”
Eccles added that it’s important to repair existing equipment from a sustainability standpoint as much as anything else. “We still regularly repair MacBooks and iMacs that are ten years old,” he said, “it shows plenty of Apple devices are out there that would be perfectly usable after a little repair.” Not to mention that responsible independent repair technicians should be welcomed by Apple with open arms. “If everyone had to pay £349 ($403) for a new screen, there would be a lot more people switching to Android for their next phone. Apple might not want to admit it, but we’re helping people stay in their ecosystem.
iFixit has tested and confirmed the issue to Engadget, saying that there is an issue related to the always-on display. Liz Chamberlain, iFixit Director of Sustainability, said that the practice of using software locks is an “insidious threat to repair as we know it.” And that this new issue is a greater demonstration of the fact that “repairability requires the ability to access software locks, not just hardware.” She added that, either by accident or intention, Apple has “proved [it] can’t be trusted with a parts pairing kill switch.” And that unless lawmakers step in to ensure there is a federally protected right to repair, there’s the possibility that Apple could “disable all phones that have undergone independent repair.”
Engadget contacted Apple for a comment on the story but none was made available by the time of publication.
If there’s a hope, it’s that pushes for Right to Repair legislation on both sides of the Atlantic make strong progress. Earlier this year, President Biden said it was a common problem that a person owns a product, but doesn’t “have the freedom to choose how or where to repair [it.]” And the FTC has recently moved to enforce legislation that sees major manufacturers – including Harley Davidson – from using warranty provisions to prevent owners seeking independent repair for their products.
And the EU, currently taking the lead in many elements of tech regulation, is also looking at laying down better right to repair provisions. Its “Ecodesign” initiative is in its infancy right now, but will focus on producing rules that will ensure devices sold there are more repairable. One of the key clauses in its earliest draft is to provide “appropriate information for users, repairers and recyclers” (Para 4). And that these requirements are designed to enable “repair operations by end-users,” (Para 15), something Apple allows, but doesn’t make easy. We can only hope, that when these rules are agreed, that the balance of power is swung back towards user repair.
Source: Engadget – Apple’s limited repair commitments are frustrating independent repairers
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Surging US tuition costs have more American parents sending their children to college in Europe as they look to save money on higher education. What once was a niche opportunity for wealthy families looking to add some flair to their kids’ resumes is now becoming increasingly common as tuition and fees climb in the US, stretching budgets that are already getting hit by inflation and rising housing costs. In France, the number of American students surged 50% in the 2021-22 school year compared to the previous year; there was a 16% gain in the Netherlands, while the UK saw a 28% surge in applicants this year compared to 2020. Google searches for “College in Europe” hit a three-year high in August and have remained elevated as college application season ramps up.
Living abroad comes with its own expenses and hassles, but parents have many reasons for sending their kids to school overseas. Some mention the less stressful application process, access to different cultures and the ability to travel. But money is perhaps the biggest factor. The average cost for college tuition has more doubled in the past two decades, hitting $35,551 in 2022, according to the Education Data Initiative. Top schools, including in the Ivy League, charge far more. While President Joe Biden’s loan forgiveness program will offer graduates some reprieve, crippling student debt is fueling a backlash against the prices of higher education. Tuition for international students in Europe, meanwhile, is free at most German universities, costs $2,778 a year in France and as much as 15,000 euros in the Netherlands. In the UK, an undergraduate will pay about $40,516 a year to study English at Oxford, while the University of St Andrews runs more than 26,000 pounds. But students in Europe typically get their degrees in three years, not four. “Besides the less stressful application process, Americans’ chances abroad are also a lot better,” adds Bloomberg. “While top US schools like Harvard and Stanford have acceptance rates in the low single digits, about 14% of students get into Oxford and 41% get into the University of Saint Andrews, two of the most popular options for Americans.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Americans Eye European Colleges To Save Money On Tuition
Linux PC retailer TUXEDO Computers earlier this month released TUXEDO OS 1. The Bavarian Linux PC vendor has long modified their stock Ubuntu installations to cater toward their intended customers/audience and ship with the various software modifications while now with TUXEDO OS is an easy-to-setup ISO image of their customized Ubuntu-based Linux OS. I’ve been trying out TUXEDO OS on the AMD Ryzen powered TUXEDO Aura 15 Gen2 and ran some comparison benchmarks against (K)Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS.
Source: Phoronix – TUXEDO OS Delivering Some Performance Gains Over Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Beyerdynamic has been producing brilliant audio peripherals for a while now, and has gained quite a reputation in the industry. However, prior to introducing the Free BYRD earbuds, the company hadn’t tapped into True Wireless. Released in around mid-2022, the Free BYRD buds feature powerful ANC, heavy bass, and a…
Source: Gizmodo – The Free BYRD Earbuds, Beyerdynamic’s First Ever True Wireless Buds, Are Pretty Impressive
On Tuesday, Apple followed through on its promise to start filling the App Store up with more advertising. Almost immediately, people took to the internet to complain about the bizarre and sometimes seedy ads they were seeing. Apple made an abrupt policy change days later, “pausing” (but not banning) ads for…
Source: Gizmodo – Gambling, Sex, and Red Pills: The Worst Ads We’ve Seen in Apple’s App Store (so Far)
I think I hate flying. I don’t hate traveling. Just the flying, and all that comes with it. The security lines, the agony of boarding, and the most uncomfortable seats you’ll ever pay several hundred dollars to be trapped in for several hours. Anything you can do to make your time in the air even slightly better is…
Source: LifeHacker – Use This Extension to Search Google Flights for the Ones With the Most Legroom
Source: LifeHacker – How to Choose the Right Breed of Dog for You, According to Cesar Millan
This week, Devindra and Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham dive into Apple’s latest iPad and iPad Pro. The new base iPad seemingly justifies its price, but it also leaves out plenty of consumers who were well-served by the old $329 iPad. We hope that model sticks around for a long while. Also, we discuss if anyone needs M2 power in an iPad Pro (why not just get a MacBook?!), and we prepare for Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. (Note: When this episode was recorded, his acquisition wasn’t finalized yet.)
Listen below, 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!
Topics
1:40: iPad and iPad Pro (2022) reviews
25:50: Surface Pro 9 5G review
37:10: Elon Musk is buying Twitter, for real
50:20: Brief thoughts on God of War Ragnarok
52:50: Pop culture picks: Barbarian is on HBO Max, thoughts on Bad Sisters
Credits
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Nathan Ingraham
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien
Source: Engadget – Engadget Podcast: iPad and iPad Pro (2022) review
Due to an OpenSSL vulnerability, Fedora Linux 37 has been postponed with a new release date. Learn more here.
The post Fedora 37 Release Has Been Postponed for the Second Time appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – Fedora 37 Release Has Been Postponed for the Second Time
Twitter, like Facebook and Instagram, might also roll out NFT integration in the future. The now-Elon Musk-owned website has announced an experimental feature that prominently displays NFT listings when users tweet a link to them, so long as they’re from one of its partner marketplaces. An NFT Tweet Tile, as the company is calling it, displays a large photo of the digital artwork, along with its title and creator. It also comes with a button that takes users straight to the marketplace listing where they can purchase it or sell their own collectibles.
At the moment, Twitter has four partners: multi-chain NFT marketplace Rarible, Solana-and-Etherium-focused marketplace Magic Eden, Dapper Labs (the team behind Top Shot) and Jump.trade, which is where people would go for digital cricket collectibles. In its announcement, Twitter said that “some” links from those four will show up as NFT Tweet Tiles for those chosen to participate in the test. As Decrypt notes, the marketplaces cover several blockchain networks that include Flow, Polygon and Tezos.
The company told the publication that it’s testing the integration “with select Twitter users across iOS and web” and that it’s not limited to Blue premium subscribers. Twitter previously gave paying members access to another experimental feature that allowed them to connect their crypto wallets to their accounts. After they do so, they’ll be able to display an NFT as their profile photo, which will show up with an icon indicating that they’re the official owner of the digital artwork.
Now testing: NFT Tweet Tiles 🚀
Some links to NFTs on @rarible, @MagicEden, @dapperlabs and @Jumptradenft will now show you a larger picture of the NFT alongside details like the title and creator. One more step in our journey to let developers impact the Tweet experience. pic.twitter.com/AkBisciB1i
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) October 27, 2022
