The most anticipated launch of the year has finally happened, so it gives us great pleasure to show you some of the more memorable moments from this historic event. NASA’s most powerful rocket ever, Space Launch System, has passed its biggest test yet.
Source: Gizmodo – Thrilling Photos of NASA’s SLS Megarocket Launch to the Moon
Black Friday is coming and with it, you may end up with more shopping bags than usual. And depending on where you live, where you shop, and how prepared you are in advance, there’s possibly to be some plastic among them. If you find yourself with an abundant supply, here are some easy ways to reuse them—besides just…
Source: LifeHacker – All the Ways You Can Reuse Plastic Bags, But Aren’t
Things are looking pretty, prettyy, prettyyy bad for Larry David, as well as a slew of other famous people who previously helped to promote the now-wrecked cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Source: Gizmodo – Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Tom Brady, Larry David, Shaq, and Steph Curry Over FTX Implosion
Just when you thought companies couldn’t possibly shove more advertisements into your eye sockets, technology proved it was possible. Digital (or virtual) ads are promos inserted into media post-production or in real time. They first emerged in video games, then started creeping into TV shows on streaming platforms.…
Source: Gizmodo – The NBA Just Banned Off-White Uniforms for the Most Annoying Reason
Nvidia and Microsoft announced Wednesday a multi-year collaboration to build an AI supercomputer in the cloud, adding tens of thousands of Nvidia GPUs to Microsoft Azure. ZDNet: The new agreement makes Azure the first public cloud to incorporate Nvidia’s full AI stack — its GPUs, networking, and AI software. By beefing up Azure’s infrastructure with Nvidia’s full AI suite, more enterprises will be able to train, deploy, and scale AI — including large, state-of-the-art models. “AI technology advances as well as industry adoption are accelerating,” Manuvir Das, Nvidia’s VP of enterprise computing, said in a statement. “The breakthrough of foundation models has triggered a tidal wave of research, fostered new startups, and enabled new enterprise applications.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Microsoft, Nvidia Partner To Build a Massive AI Supercomputer in the Cloud
Enlarge / An Amazon Echo Dot 4th Generation smart speaker. (credit: Getty Images | Gado )
Amazon has started a round of layoffs that reportedly could cut about 10,000 jobs. Layoffs began yesterday in the Amazon hardware division that makes products including Echo, Alexa, Fire, and Kindle devices.
“We notified impacted employees yesterday, and will continue to work closely with each individual to provide support, including assisting in finding new roles,” Amazon Senior VP of Devices & Services Dave Limp wrote to his department’s staff today in a memo posted publicly by Amazon. Limp wrote that Amazon “continue[s] to face an unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environment… After a deep set of reviews, we recently decided to consolidate some teams and programs.”
“It pains me to have to deliver this news as we know we will lose talented Amazonians from the Devices & Services org as a result… While I know this news is tough to digest, I do want to emphasize that the Devices & Services organization remains an important area of investment for Amazon,” the memo said.
Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Amazon begins layoffs of up to 10,000 jobs, blames “uncertain” economy
Parents are calling on Congress to enact stricter rules monitoring kids’ data and accounts on social media, claiming the platforms played a part in causing their children’s harm or even death.
Source: Gizmodo – Parents Push Congress for Stricter Social Media Laws
One of the most important things to know when choosing a method of birth control is how well it works. That’s especially important in a country where childbirth is expensive, maternal mortality is shockingly high, and our options for abortion are limited and shrinking.
Source: LifeHacker – Here’s How Well the Most Common Forms of Birth Control Actually Work
Blizzard released a really cool new epic skin for Mei. The only problem is that players can’t see what her skin looks like because she’s been temporarily taken out of the game.
Source: Kotaku – Overwatch 2 Selling Mei Skin Even Though She’s Unplayable
Things aren’t exactly going smoothly at Twitter under Elon Musk’s chaotic stewardship, to put it mildly. But although reports suggest that engineers have been prohibited from deploying non-critical features and products, the company is working on a few updates. One of those is an attempt to salvage the Twitter Blue “verification” catastrophe. Another project that appears to be in the works is end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for direct messages.
As spotted by researcher Jane Manchun Wong, Twitter’s Android app includes code indicating that E2EE is on the way for DMs. Musk added fuel to the fire by replying to Wong’s tweet with a winking emoji — a strong indicator that E2EE is indeed in development for direct messages. We’ve contacted Twitter for confirmation, but Musk has dismantled the communications team.
😉
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 16, 2022
Soon after Musk made a formal offer to buy Twitter in April, he wrote that “Twitter DMs should have end to end encryption like Signal, so no one can spy on or hack your messages,” so E2EE is clearly a subject that’s of interest to him. This wouldn’t be the first time that Twitter has looked into E2EE for direct messages, either. The company tested encrypted messaging in 2018, but that version of the feature never saw the light of day.
Source: Engadget – Twitter seems to be working on end-to-end encryption for DMs again
In this blog post, we will show you ten useful mysqladmin commands for database administration. mysqladmin is a client for performing admin operations.
The post 10 Useful mysqladmin Commands for Database Administration appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – 10 Useful mysqladmin Commands for Database Administration
After launching Star Wars and Indiana Jones into the stratosphere, George Lucas was ready to do it again. In 1988, Lucas teamed up with close friend and collaborator Ron Howard with an eye on launching another franchise. The result? A funny, light, but densely mythological fantasy action film called Willow, starring…
Source: Gizmodo – The Return of Willow and How It’s Staying True to Its Origins
The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing next month on FTX’s collapse and the broader implications for the digital asset industry. From a report: The committee says it expects to hear from “the companies and individuals involved, the companies and individuals involved, including Sam Bankman-Fried, Alameda Research, Binance, FTX, and related entities, among others,” for a hearing to take place in December. “Oversight is one of Congress’ most critical functions and we must get to the bottom of this for FTX’s customers and the American people,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., the top committee Republican, in a statement. “It’s essential that we hold bad actors accountable so responsible players can harness technology to build a more inclusive financial system.” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the current but likely outgoing chair of the House Financial Services Committee, added: “The fall of FTX has posed tremendous harm to over one million users, many of whom were everyday people who invested their hard-earned savings into the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, only to watch it all disappear within a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, this event is just one out of many examples of cryptocurrency platforms that have collapsed just this past year.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – US House Committee To Hold Hearing on FTX Collapse and Crypto Fall Out
A powerful coalition of industry interests paid for a peer-reviewed study on the benefits of hydrogen as an energy source, the Boston Globe reported in an article published Wednesday. The study neglected to mention the significant involvement of fossil fuel players in drafting the text. According to documents obtained…
Source: Gizmodo – Fossil Fuel Interests Paid for Pro-Hydrogen Study, Boston Globe Reports
The promise of early retirement is so seductive, any YouTuber claiming they achieved it is going to draw me in. If you’re at all interested in the prospect of early retirement, we highly recommend you first read up on the basics of FIRE (financial independence, retire early). In short: The FIRE movement boils down to…
Source: LifeHacker – 6 of the Best Videos to Help You Actually Understand Early Retirement
Notion, the company behind the popular note-taking app of the same name, has started testing a new feature called Notion AI that uses a generative AI to write notes and other content. The Verge got a chance to use the software before today’s announcement. The interface is straightforward. You first select the type of writing you want help with from a list that includes options like “blog post,” “marketing email” and “to-do list.” You then provide the software with a suitable prompt, hit the blue “Generate” button and then watch as it creates text in real-time.
Judging from some of the writing the tool produced for The Verge, it benefits, like other generative AIs, from the user being as specific as possible about what they want. For instance, when the outlet asked Notion AI to write a blog post about the state of the smartwatch industry, the resulting draft mentioned the Apple Watch 4, Samsung Galaxy Watch and Tizen. In other words, it wrote about the state of the market in 2018, not as it exists today.
Notion CEO Ivan Zhao was quick to acknowledge the feature is a work in progress. It’s currently labeled as an alpha, with no release date announced. To try Notion AI, you’ll need to sign up for a waitlist and wait for an invite from the company. As for who this is for, Zhao said he envisions the software solving the “cold start” problem a lot of people face when they sit down to write something. The idea isn’t so much for Notion AI to produce a piece that’s ready to publish right away, but it could give you a first draft you can revise and polish into something that you’re comfortable sharing with the world. Zhao suggests the software is also handy for brainstorming and translating text you’ve written.
“The truth is sometimes we all just get stuck. In those cases, Notion AI can help you write,” Notion says of its new tool in a one-minute promotional video the company shared. With today’s soft launch, Notion AI is free to use, but Notion notes it will likely cost extra in the future. The company also says it will open the feature to more testers as its AI gets better.
Source: Engadget – Notion’s latest feature is an AI that can write blog posts, to-do lists and more
The next installment in the Alien franchise seems to have found its lead in Cailee Spaeny, according to Deadline. That… that’s it, basically.
Source: Gizmodo – The Next Alien Movie Has Found Its, Uh, Somebody
It looks like Evernote’s 2020 redesign wasn’t enough to keep it independent. Today, the former darling notetaking app for productivity hounds, which was once valued at 1 billion dollars, announced that it has been purchased by Bending Spoons. If that name sounds unfamiliar to you, you’re not alone. It’s a Milan-based developer behind mobile apps like the video editor Splice, and the AI image editing tool Gemini. They look like well-designed and genuinely useful apps, but they’re far from Evernote’s once lofty goal of helping you to remember everything.
In a blog post, Evernote CEO Ian Small said the company is currently testing out collaborative editing between multiple users, and it’s close to launching beta tests for deep Office 365 calendar integration. While that’s good to hear, especially for the few remaining Evernote addicts like this reporter, those are also features that have existed in other platforms for years. It may also be tough to convince friends and colleagues to collaborate on an Evernote document — which may involve signing up for an account and learning a new interface — when Google Docs has made that simple for years.
“While ownership is changing hands, our commitment to keeping your data safe and secure remains as steadfast as ever, and the Evernote you know and love will continue to thrive,” Smalls said in the post. “Joining Bending Spoons allows us to take advantage of their proven app expertise and wide range of proprietary technologies.”
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. But the fact that Evernote was purchased by a small app firm, rather than a notable tech giant, may be telling. Evernote raised nearly $300 million during the initial hype cycle around mobile apps. But the company eventually lost focus, branching out to real-world products like a smart notebook with Moleskin. Its apps were incredibly buggy for years, and it did a poor job of convincing users to actually pay for its product.
Somehow, I stuck with it though. I have over a decade’s worth of notes living in Evernote — countless news stories, interviews (with their accompanying audio), reviews and PDFs. My attempts at finding replacements have typically ended in failure (sorry OneNote, I just don’t like your editor). This acquisition isn’t exactly the death knell for Evernote, but it certainly feels like the end of an era. Will my data be safe under a new owner? Can I rely on fast and accurate synchronization? I’ll probably stick around for a bit longer, but all of a sudden, the alternatives are looking a lot more compelling.
Source: Engadget – Evernote, once the king of note-taking apps, has been bought by Bending Spoons
Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, SpaceX, Boring Company, Neuralink, and now Twitter, is a very busy man, or so he claims. He’s so busy, it’s hard to believe he can actually keep on top of everything going on at every one of his companies. That time management question is key to a current lawsuit that argues Musk doesn’t…
Source: Gizmodo – Musk Said He Plans to Reduce His Time at Twitter as He Defends His Billion Tesla Payment Deal
The head of Amazon’s hardware division has confirmed that the tech giant is cutting jobs. Dave Limp, who leads the company’s Devices & Services organization, told his team that Amazon would “consolidate some teams and programs” and that “some roles will no longer be required.”
“It pains me to have to deliver this news as we know we will lose talented Amazonians from the Devices & Services org as a result,” Limp wrote in a note to staff shared by Amazon. “While I know this news is tough to digest, I do want to emphasize that the Devices & Services organization remains an important area of investment for Amazon, and we will continue to invent on behalf of our customers.”
Limp didn’t share how many employees would be affected, but an earlier report in The New York Times indicated as many as 10,000 jobs could be cut as a result of the layoffs. Limp said that Amazon was providing employees with “a package that includes a separation payment, transitional benefits, and external job placement support.” He added that some workers may be able to find different jobs within Amazon.
Amazon is the latest tech giant to lay off large numbers of staff in recent weeks. Meta cut 11,000 jobs last week, its first-ever mass-layoffs, and Twitter laid off about half its staff and cut thousands of contractor jobs.
Source: Engadget – Amazon’s hardware chief confirms layoffs have started
