In a professional bakery kitchen, you’ll see plenty of multi-purpose tools in action, and cabinets full of gadgets that are equally believable as scalp massagers or torture devices. Although there’s a time and use for all of those utensils, in my home kitchen I ditch the docking roller for a fork. You do not, however,…
Source: LifeHacker – 10 Professional Baking Tools I Use at Home
Nishad Singh, a co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has pleaded guilty to US federal fraud and conspiracy charges. Singh, who was FTX’s director of engineering, is the third member of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle to agree to cooperate with prosecutors in the case against him. Former executives Caroline Ellison and Zixiao “Gary” Wang previously pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
Singh pleaded guilty to six criminal counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the US by violating campaign finance laws. He agreed to forfeit the proceeds of his actions, as Reuters reports. Bankruptcy filings showed that Singh received a $543 million loan from Alameda.
Singh admitted to making illegal donations to political candidates and PACs under his name using funds from Alameda Research (FTX’s sibling hedge fund and crypto trading firm). He claimed the donations were intended to bolster the political influence of FTX and Bankman-Fried (aka SBF), according to The Wall Street Journal. Singh added that he agreed with the stances of those he donated to but didn’t pick the candidates. Per OpenSecrets, he contributed $8 million to Democratic PACs and campaigns during the 2022 election cycle.
Moreover, Singh said he found out in mid-2022 that Alameda was borrowing billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX. It emerged by September that Alameda wasn’t able to repay those funds. Singh additionally claimed that he falsified FTX’s revenues at SBF’s behest to make the company more palatable to investors.
SBF now faces 12 criminal charges after an indictment detailing four additional ones was unsealed last week. Among other things, he has been accused of stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer funds and misleading investors and lenders. Notably, in light of Singh’s plea, the charges include alleged violations of federal campaign finance laws by donating to a super PAC under the names of two executives. SBF, who was arrested and extradited from the Bahamas in December, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial is set for October.
On the same day Singh made his guilty plea, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed civil complaints against him. The agencies said Singh is cooperating with the SEC’s ongoing investigation and that he agreed to settle with the CFTC.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ftx-co-founder-nishad-singh-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-and-conspiracy-charges-192939749.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – FTX co-founder Nishad Singh pleads guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges
Tesla’s Investor Day isn’t here quite yet, but we may already know one of the company’s biggest announcements. According to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Elon Musk has promised to build the automaker’s next gigafactory in northern Mexico — specifically in Monterrey, the capitol of the northern state of Nuevo Leon. It’s a deal that’s been in the works for some time: Late last year, Musk visited Nuevo Leon to meet with the Governor of the region.
Even so, there were some questions about if Tesla could get approval to build in the area — after Monterrey suffered severe water shortages in 2022, President López Obrador said the government would not grant permits for water-hungry factories. After a series of phone calls with Elon Musk, Tesla was granted an exception. “There is one commitment that all the water used in the manufacture of electric automobiles will be recycled water,” López Obrador said of the call, adding that the factory would also represent “a considerable investment and many, many jobs.”
As for what Tesla plans to build in Monterrey, Mexico? We’ll have to wait a day to find out. The Mexican President wasn’t clear on exactly what the new factory would be producing, though it’s worth noting that Tesla has already announced a massive expansion of its facility in Reno, Nevada, where it’s investing $3.6 billion to build a battery factory and mass produce the Telsa Semi truck. López Obrador noted that we can expect to hear more details on Wednesday, March 1st — and hey, that’s Tesla Investor day.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-selects-monterrey-mexico-as-the-site-of-its-next-gigafactory-192534657.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Tesla selects Monterrey, Mexico as the site of its next Gigafactory
We’re roughly four months out from Final Fantasy XVI’s release, and the press recently got to preview the next entry in the legendary JRPG series. Writers in attendance were impressed by the grandiose, cinematic real-time battles that some likened to God of War. They praised the series’ departure from turn-based…
Source: Kotaku – Final Fantasy XVI Previews Reveal Series’ Pivot Toward All-Out Action
Insects called glassy-wing sharpshooters have an “anal stylus” capable of flicking pee droplets at very high speeds.
The glassy-winged sharpshooter drinks huge amounts of water and thus pees frequently, expelling as much as 300 times its own body weight in urine every day. Rather than producing a steady stream of urine, sharpshooters form drops of urine at the anus and then catapult those drops away from their bodies at remarkable speeds, boasting accelerations 10 times faster than a Lamborghini. Georgia Tech scientists have determined that the insect uses this unusual “superpropulsion” mechanism to conserve energy, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature Communications.
A type of leafhopper, the glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca vitripennis) is technically an agricultural pest, the bane of California winemakers in particular since the 1990s. It feeds on many plant species (including grapes), piercing a plant’s xylem (which transports water from the roots to stems and leaves) with its needle-like mouth to suck out the sap. The insects consume a lot of sap, and their frequent urination consumes a lot of energy in turn, because of their small size and the sap’s viscosity and negative surface tension (it naturally gets sucked inward). But the sap is about 95 percent water, so there’s not much nutritional content to fuel all that peeing.
“If you were only drinking diet lemonade, and that was your entire diet, then you really wouldn’t want to waste energy in any part of your biological process,” co-author Saad Bhamla of Georgia Tech told New Scientist. “That’s sort of how it is for this tiny organism.”
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Source: Ars Technica – Watch these glassy-winged sharpshooters fling pee bubbles with anal catapult
Canada has announced it is banning TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices, reflecting widening worries from Western officials over the Chinese-owned video sharing app. From a report: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it might be a first step to further action or that it might be it. “I suspect that as government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones many Canadians from business to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices,” Trudeau said.
“I’m always a fan of giving Canadians the information for them to make the right decisions for them,” he added. The European Union’s executive branch said last week it has temporarily banned TikTok from phones used by employees as a cybersecurity measure. The EU’s action follows similar moves in the U.S., where more than half of the states and Congress have banned TikTok from official government devices.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – TikTok Banned on All Canadian Government Mobile Devices
Though 2022 was filled with many fantastic Star Wars memories, very few of those centered on the Mandalorian and Grogu. That changes this week with the season three premiere of The Mandalorian, which picks up both from the end of its second season, which was over two years ago, as well as The Book of Boba Fett, in…
Source: Gizmodo – The Mandalorian’s Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau Talk Luke, Boba, and Star Wars’ Future
Monado Mercury estimates hand post accurately, supports limited hand-over-hand interactions, tracks fast hand movements, and more.
The post Monado ‘Mercury’ Hand Tracking Now Ready for Use appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – Monado ‘Mercury’ Hand Tracking Now Ready for Use
Even if you’re not handy, there are certain universal projects that just about everyone tackles at some point in their lives, like hanging a towel rack or a shelf on the wall. And trying to hang stuff on your walls leads to a crucial lesson: Drywall absolutely sucks when it comes to supporting weight.
Source: LifeHacker – Stop Using Cheap Plastic Drywall Anchors
Enlarge / Dell’s 2023 XPS desktop. (credit: Dell)
Dell has begun refreshing its popular XPS lineup of desktops and laptops with the latest mobile processors and GPUs. These updates mostly focus on chip upgrades, suggesting only mild improvements to the series that shouldn’t make owners of last year’s models very envious.
Dell’s XPS 17 and 15 laptops will be available on March 2, a Dell rep confirmed to Ars Technica. Dell will offer each with up to an Intel Core i9-13900H but also support i5 and i7 options.
Intel’s 13th Gen H-series mobile chips don’t bring massive upgrades over their 12th Gen counterparts. The i9-13900H has six Performance cores, eight Efficient cores, 20 threads, and 24MB of cache. It supports clock speeds of 1.9-5.4 GHz. The i9-12900H we tested in last year’s Dell XPS 15 has similar specs but clock speeds of 1.8-5 GHz.
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Source: Ars Technica – Dell refreshes XPS desktop, announces updates to XPS 15 and 17 laptops
TUXEDO Computers, a Linux computer manufacturer, has released TUXEDO OS 2, an in-house developed operating system based on Ubuntu 22.04.
Source: LXer – TUXEDO OS 2 Ships with Kernel 6.1 and the Latest Plasma 5.27
More countries shut down the internet in 2022 than ever before, according to a new report by digital rights researchers, as the threat of “digital authoritarianism” races up the agenda of many governments worldwide. From a report: Authorities in 35 countries instituted internet shutdowns at least 187 times, according to the New York-based digital rights watchdog Access Now. Nearly half of these shutdowns occurred in India, and if that nation is excluded, 2022 saw the most number of shutdowns globally since the group began monitoring disruptions in 2016. Access Now relied on technical assessments as well as news articles and personal accounts to compile its report, which spans complete blackouts, suspensions of specific phone networks or social media apps, and the slowing down of internet speeds.
Triggers for shutdowns have included large protests, conflict situations, elections and even examinations. Whatever the situation, they make it substantially more difficult for people to communicate and receive or send news, and they incur significant economic costs, which prompted the United Nations last year to call for governments to avoid using such a blunt tactic. “This can be a big warning sign of how the human rights situation is deteriorating, and shutdowns are often associated with increased levels of insecurity and other restrictions,” said Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman at the U.N. Human Rights Office in Geneva. India is the most prolific at suspending the internet, topping Access Now’s list for the fifth year in a row.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Governments Shut Down the Internet More Often Than Ever, Report Says
Enlarge / Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony at the Eternal Flame and the Unknown Soldier’s grave in Alexander Garden in Moscow, Russia, on February 23, 2023. (credit: Getty Images | Pavel Bednyakov)
A Russian court fined the Wikimedia Foundation 2 million rubles (about $27,000) today for failing to delete alleged “misinformation” about the Russian military from Wikipedia, Reuters reported. It’s the third fine Russia has issued against the Wikipedia owner since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
“Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Russia introduced sweeping new laws restricting what people can report about the conflict, fining or blocking websites that spread information at odds with the Kremlin’s official narrative. … The latest fine was imposed after the authorities accused Wikipedia of ‘spreading misinformation’ in articles about Russian military units,” Wikimedia Russia told Reuters.
In a statement provided to Ars, the Wikimedia Foundation said the new “fines were for not complying with takedown requests for well-sourced content related to five articles about the Russian military on Russian language Wikipedia.” Associate General Counsel Jacob Rogers also said, “These are part of several takedown orders and fines from Russian authorities we have continued to receive for failing to comply with similar requests. We have not taken down any content and already have two active appeals for fines on similar topics.”
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Source: Ars Technica – Russia fines Wikipedia for publishing facts instead of Kremlin war propaganda
Amazon’s newest e-reader has the ability to use a stylus pen, giving users the option to jot down notes, draw, and much more on the device itself. The company has now brought some nifty new features to its Kindle Scribe that aim to bring the device to the next level.
The Kindle Scribe launched back in November of 2022. The e-reader has
Source: Hot Hardware – Kindle Scribe’s First Update Adds These Needed Features To Level Up Your E-Reader
There’s more to fandom fashion than plain black tees with screen prints—especially if you’re an Iron Man fan, thanks to this new line of RSVLTS button-down shirts paying tribute to the Marvel hero.
Source: Gizmodo – Prepare for Marvel’s Multiverse Saga in a RSVLTS Iron Man Outfit
Losing your iPhone is bad. Losing your entire digital life, from photos to finances, is traumatic. Unfortunately, the latter is all too common. Journalist Joanna Stern recently published a report with The Wall Street Journal detailing how thieves in places like New York aren’t just stealing iPhones, but every valuable…
Source: LifeHacker – Don’t Trust Your iPhone’s Passcode to Keep Your Data Safe
While FTX collapsed just a few months ago, the fallout of the defunct crypto exchange is still developing. Today, FTX’s former director of engineering Nishad Singh pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud and conspiracy as court cases into FTX higher-ups continue.
Source: Gizmodo – FTX’s Nishad Singh Pleads Guilty to Fraud and Conspiracy Charges
The easiest cure for smartphone battery anxiety isn’t to pair your svelte device with a chunky portable charger, but to fully capitalize on those times when you have access to a power outlet. As recently demonstrated on Weibo, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro+ does exactly that, needing just five minutes to fully…
Source: Gizmodo – Watch This Smartphone Fully Recharge in Just Five Minutes
A sheriff’s office in Illinois said it was initially thwarted from tracking a stolen car with a 2-year-old boy inside when Volkswagen’s Car-Net service refused to provide access to the tracking system because the car’s subscription had expired. From a report: “While searching for the stolen vehicle and endangered child, sheriff’s detectives immediately called Volkswagen Car-Net, in an attempt to track the vehicle,” the Lake County sheriff’s office said in a statement posted on Facebook about the incident on February 23. “Unfortunately, there was a delay, as Volkswagen Car-Net would not track the vehicle with the abducted child until they received payment to reactivate the tracking device in the stolen Volkswagen.” Volkswagen Car-Net lets owners track and control their vehicles remotely. According to a Chicago Sun-Times article, “the Car-Net trial period had ended, and a representative wanted $150 to restart the service and locate the SUV.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – VW Wouldn’t Help Locate Car With Abducted Child Because GPS Subscription Expired
Sometimes an old piece of glassware or plant pot simply needs a refresh, or you might have a thrifted item that doesn’t quite go with your decor. Refinishing can be a hassle, especially with ceramic and glassware—but there’s a way to use a bucket of water and some paint to make your old things look fresh again, with a…
Source: LifeHacker – Use ‘Hydro-Dipping’ to Give Anything a Faux Marble Finish
