We all know recycling is a generally good practice, but it’s one of those things where it’s not really not just the thought that counts. If you recycle incorrectly, the goods you’re trying to preserve for reuse can be rendered useless. In the winter time, in particular, there are some seasonally specific recycling…
Source: LifeHacker – You’re Doing Winter Recycling All Wrong
Out of all the beaten-down public companies in the autonomous driving space, Embark Technology stands out as a conspicuously terrible stock market performer. From a report: The San Francisco-headquartered company, which develops autonomous driving technology for the trucking industry, has presided over a roughly 98% share price decline since going public a year ago. In the process, it’s wiped out close to $5 billion in market capitalization.
Today, Embark and a few others that carried out SPAC mergers are in that weird category of companies trading below the value of cash reserves. In Embark’s case, the company’s recent market capitalization of $110 million is actually quite a bit lower than the $191 million cash it had at the end of Q3. In other words, investors seem to think it’s worth less than nothing. What happened? What’s noteworthy in Embark’s case, as opposed to some other venture-backed companies that crashed so mightily, is there’s no high-profile scandal. There was also no giant earnings miss, as it’s a pre-revenue company. Rather, a mix of factors seem to have contributed to its fall, including apparent initial overvaluation, a sectorwide downturn and a critical report from a prolific short-seller. Collectively, those factors have contributed to erasing billions in valuation from a company that once secured backing from the most famous names in venture.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Autonomous Trucking Software Upstart Embark Has Quietly Gone From B+ To Basically Worthless
It’s a bit of an open secret, but in case you’re not aware, most processors these days are pushed far beyond the “sweet spot” in their voltage-to-frequency curve. That means that you can trim the voltage and reduce power consumption considerably while only dropping a bit of performance. On the already-efficient GeForce RTX 4090, Korean hardware
Source: Hot Hardware – Undervolted GeForce RTX 4090 Gets Benchmarked In Games With Impressive Results
A former SpaceX employee said the company is rife with a kind of “frat bro mold” that has no place for any experienced person over 40 years old.
Source: Gizmodo – Ex-SpaceX Employee Said He Was Shoved Aside to Make Way for Younger ‘Frat Bro’ Staff
Enlarge / The very first of the butterfly-switch keyboard designs, as introduced in the 12-inch MacBook from 2015.
If you bought a MacBook with one of Apple’s low-profile butterfly-switch keyboards, if you ever had the keyboard repaired, and if you live in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, or Washington state, good news! A judge has approved a $50 million settlement to a class-action lawsuit that Apple agreed to in July, meaning that payouts to affected users (and the attorneys involved) can begin soon.
According to Macworld, there will be three tiers of payouts: $50 to people who had individual keycaps replaced, $125 to people who had one keyboard replacement, and $395 to people who had to go in for two or more replacements.
For those unfamiliar, MacBooks introduced between 2015 and 2019 used a new low-profile keyboard with a “butterfly” switch mechanism that saved space but also resulted in firmer keys that moved less than they did before. Early complaints were mostly subjective and centered on the keyboard’s feel compared to previous scissor-switch designs. But as time passed, it became clear that butterfly-switch keyboards also failed at a higher rate than the scissor-switch designs. These problems persisted despite at least four major revisions to the butterfly-switch mechanism.
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Source: Ars Technica – Judge approves million settlement over broken MacBook butterfly keyboards
With the popularity of video games, concerts devoted to the music of franchises like Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed are a frequent occurrence at music venues worldwide. However, you rarely see two jazz legends reinterpret your favorite gaming tracks. That’s what makes the event Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco announced today so intriguing. On December 3rd, former Duke Ellington Orchestra member Kenny Garrett will join trumpeter Takuya Kuroda, best known for his album Rising Son, to play two shows at The Bourbon Room in Holywood. They will play music from FromSoftware’s latest action RPG.
With the official score featuring 67 tracks, Kuroda and Garrett have a lot of material they could reinterpret. You have to imagine Malenia’s theme will make an appearance. “If I were to pick one word to describe this project, it’s epic,” Kuroda said in a video Bandai Namco released promoting the concert series. Garrett, meanwhile, promised it would be “something different” from what he’s done in the past.
Unfortunately, there’s no free way to watch the event. In a chart reminiscent of the one Sega published before the release of Sonic Origins, Bandai Namco notes you can watch a VOD of the concert after it’s over for $15. Watching the event live over the internet will set you back at least $25. In-person tickets, meanwhile, start at $75 and go all the way up to $200, depending on the extras you want. You can find more details on Bandai Namco’s site.
Source: Engadget – Elden Ring’s score will get the jazz treatment thanks to Kenny Garrett and Takuya Kuroda
PhpMyAdmin is the best tool for handling databases like MySQL and MariaDB over the web rather than using them on the command line. This article will explain how to install and use PhpMyAdmin on Rocky Linux.
The post How to Install and Use phpMyAdmin on Rocky Linux appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – How to Install and Use phpMyAdmin on Rocky Linux
Wine culture has exploded in recent years, yielding a variety of cringe-y handicrafts (think t-shirts that say “it’s wine o’clock” and tumblers that emblazoned with “mommy’s special grape juice”). If you have a friend who’s really into wine, you might be tempted to give them some of this junk for the holidays, but we…
Source: LifeHacker – 9 Gifts for Your Favorite Wine Lover
Enlarge / Former Twitter executive Yoel Roth’s Twitter account. (credit: Yoel Roth)
During Elon Musk’s first two weeks as the owner of Twitter, he seemed to have an ally in Yoel Roth, who had been the social network’s head of trust and safety for seven years. Roth defended some of Musk’s early actions and touted Twitter’s work to crack down on hateful conduct. Musk pointed his followers to Roth’s tweets explaining Twitter’s content moderation work and said Roth has “high integrity”—even though they disagreed on whether former President Trump should have been suspended.
“I recommend following @yoyoel for the most accurate understanding of what’s happening with trust & safety at Twitter,” Musk wrote on October 31.
But Roth quit on November 10, a day after Musk rolled out the $8-per-month Twitter Blue subscription that came with verification checkmarks. Musk had ignored prescient warnings from Roth’s team and was forced to backtrack from paid verification after scammers eagerly paid $8 for checkmarks that made it easy to impersonate prominent accounts. Musk’s revamped Twitter Blue was set for a relaunch this week but was delayed again.
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Source: Ars Technica – Former Musk ally explains resignation from Twitter, cites “dictatorial edict”
Microsoft kicked off 2022 by announcing its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, and as we close in on the end of the year, Call of Duty has become the sticking point. Sony has objected to the deal, which could prevent it from offering future Call of Duty titles, but Microsoft is seeking to assuage the concerns of regulators.
Source: Hot Hardware – Microsoft May Formally Offer Sony A 10-Year Call Of Duty Guarantee To Greenlight Activision Deal
Enlarge (credit: Kensington)
Trackballs aren’t exactly a trendy PC accessory. Their heavy, clunky builds bring dated vibes to office setups. And despite 73 years of existence, trackballs have been usurped by modern mice and trackpads as the preferred forms of computing input. But despite their low mainstream popularity, trackball mice still hold a place in many people’s hearts.
If you have a physical issue such as carpal tunnel syndrome or a repetitive strain injury that makes repeated movements difficult and/or painful, you may be one of those people holding onto a trackball mouse. While generally larger and heavier than traditional mice, trackball mice make it easier to keep your hand and arm in a neutral position and avoid pronation.
Kensington released the wireless SlimBlade Pro Trackball mouse this week. (credit: Kensington)
And because you don’t push trackball mice around the top of your desk, they can be more accommodating of tight workspaces. Some trackball fanatics also praise the precision they can achieve with the gentle twisting of the right trackball. But there’s definitely a learning curve to using them, and they aren’t for everyone. And a good trackball mouse may not be as fast or precise as your best PC mouse with a traditional design.
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Source: Ars Technica – Modern trackball mouse wants to be a wireless solution to your ergonomic woes
While promoting his new Disney+ series, Willow, which brings back a beloved character he first played in the 1980s, star Warwick Davis was asked about another beloved character of his from that era, Return of the Jedi’s Wicket the Ewok. Specifically: mockumentary Return of the Ewok, shot behind the scenes of the Star…
Source: Gizmodo – Warwick Davis Would Love to Resurrect Star Wars Cult Obsession Return of the Ewok
Remittances to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) withstood global headwinds in 2022, growing an estimated 5% to $626 billion. This is sharply lower than the 10.2% increase in 2021, according to the latest World Bank Migration and Development Brief. World Bank: Remittances are a vital source of household income for LMICs. They alleviate poverty, improve nutritional outcomes, and are associated with increased birth weight and higher school enrollment rates for children in disadvantaged households. Studies show that remittances help recipient households to build resilience, for example through financing better housing and to cope with the losses in the aftermath of disasters.
Remittance flows to developing regions were shaped by several factors in 2022. A reopening of host economies as the COVID-19 pandemic receded supported migrants’ employment and their ability to continue helping their families back home. Rising prices, on the other hand, adversely affected migrants’ real incomes. Also influencing the value of remittances is the appreciation of the ruble, which translated into higher value, in U.S. dollar terms, of outward remittances from Russia to Central Asia. In the case of Europe, a weaker euro had the opposite effect of reducing the U.S. dollar valuation of remittance flows to North Africa and elsewhere. In countries that experienced scarcity of foreign exchange and multiple exchange rates, officially recorded remittance flows declined as flows shifted to alternative channels offering better rates.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Remittances Grow 5% in 2022, Despite Global Headwinds
The eruption Mauna Loa in Hawaii has temporarily disrupted one of the most important tools we have to keep track of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere.
Source: Gizmodo – Volcano Eruption Shuts Down Crucial Climate Change Monitoring Site
Now that we’ve all been properly satiated with memes from the second Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer, it’s time to re-address the elephant in the room: Chris Pratt’s vocal performance as Mario is holding this film back.
Source: Kotaku – Everyone Sounds Awesome In The New Mario Movie But Mario
If you have a houseful of guests, or are engaged in a holiday baking marathon, a clogged dishwasher can really slow down your operation. Hand washing all your dishes uses more time and water than using your appliance—but getting a professional out to look at your dishwasher during the holidays can be hard to schedule,…
Source: LifeHacker – How to Unclog the Dishwasher Yourself
In the wake of Nintendo being Nintendo and unceremoniously canceling the Smash World Tour, one of the year’s biggest esports tournaments dedicated to all things Super Smash Bros., copious folks in the game’s community have come out in protest. Casual fans, pro players, long-time commentators, and even other tournament…
Source: Kotaku – Smash Bros. Tournament Fiasco Has Players Boycotting Events
Some folks watch esports events for the thrill of seeing a game played at the highest possible skill level. Others tune in for promised rewards from developers. If you’re in the latter camp, and you logged a ton of hours of watching the latest Overwatch League event on YouTube, you’re probably very unhappy right now.…
Source: Kotaku – Overwatch Players Spend 30 Hours Watching Games, Get No Rewards
Enlarge / Vials containing pills for homeopathic remedies are displayed at Ainsworths Pharmacy on August 26, 2005, in London. (credit: Getty | Peter Macdiarmid)
California naturopath and homeopath Juli Mazi will spend 33 months in federal prison for falsifying federal COVID-19 vaccination cards and selling pellets she falsely claimed would offer lifetime protection from COVID.
It was a scheme that netted her thousands of dollars in the early phases of the pandemic before also earning her the first federal criminal fraud prosecution related to bogus COVID-19 vaccination and vaccination records.
Mazi, of Napa, California, pleaded guilty to the charges in April and faced a maximum sentence of 25 years for all the charges.
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Source: Ars Technica – Homeopath who made thousands on bogus COVID pellets gets nearly 3 years in prison
Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek renewed his attack on Apple on Wednesday in a series of tweets alleging the iPhone maker “gives itself every advantage while at the same time stifling innovation and hurting consumers.” From a report: Ek tagged a number of sympathetic business leaders in his 21-tweet thread, including Musk, Microsoft president Brad Smith, and Proton founder Andy Yen. On Monday, the world’s richest person Elon Musk criticized the fee Apple charges software developers – including his Twitter business – for in-app purchases, and posted a meme suggesting he was willing to “go to war” rather than pay it. Spotify has previously submitted antitrust complaints against Apple in various countries, alleging the 30% charge has forced Spotify to “artificially inflate” its own prices.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Spotify CEO Renews Attack on Apple
