Monthly Archives: December 2023

Ministry of Justice Plans To Digitize Then Destroy 100 Million Historical Wills

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“The Ministry of Justice is consulting on digitizing and then throwing away about 100 million paper originals of the last wills and testaments of British people dating back more than 150 years in an effort to save 4.5 million pounds a year,” reports Robert Booth via The Guardian. Leading historians are calling these plans “sheer vandalism” and “insane.” From the report: Ministers believe digitisation will speed up access to the papers, but the proposal has provoked a backlash among historians and archivists who took to X to decry it as “bananas” and “a seriously bad idea.” The government is proposing to keep the originals of some wills of “famous people” — likely including those of Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens and Diana, Princess of Wales — but others would be destroyed after 25 years and only a digital copy would be kept. It is feared that wills of ordinary people, some of whom may become historically significant in the future, risk being lost.

Wills are considered essential documents, particularly for social historians and genealogists, as they capture what people considered important at the time and reveal unknown family links. The proposal comes amid growing concern at the fragility of digital archives, after a cyber-attack on the British Library left the online catalogue and digitized documents unavailable to users since late October. “We are advocates of digitization but not at the cost of destroying originals,” says Natalie Pithers, interim co-chief executive of the Society of Genealogists. “In any digitization projects mistakes get made. We don’t know what further information could be gained in the future from the original documents. There could be somebody in there who did something extraordinary.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Ministry of Justice Plans To Digitize Then Destroy 100 Million Historical Wills

Today's NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Wednesday, December 20, 2023

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Don’t touch that DIAL with any of your fingers! (You’ll see what I mean.) If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Wednesday, December 20, 2023, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for December 20, NYT Connections #192! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game. 

If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.

Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!

NYT Connections board for December 20, 2023: DINKY, ITCHY, INDEX, BUZZ, PINKY, RING, SLIGHT, MINUTE, SPEEDY, LITTLE, APPENDIX, CALL, CHAPTER, DIAL, JERRY, PREFACE.

Credit: Connections/NYT

Does today’s Connections game require any special knowledge?

There are some characters you may (or may not) remember from your childhood. 

Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle

Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:

  • Yellow category – Get them on the horn. 

  • Green category – Page by page.

  • Blue category – Itsy-bitsy.

  • Purple category – Cartoon slapstick.

Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?

Not today–the groups are all based on the words’ meanings and/or things they directly reference.

Ready to hear the answers? Keep scrolling if you want a little more help.

BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!

We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)

What are the ambiguous words in today’s Connections?

  • INDEX, RING, LITTLE, and PINKY might be names for fingers, but they aren’t in the same category today and they don’t refer to human hands. 

  • An APPENDIX can be the small organ attached to your intestines (the one that gives you appendicitis when it’s inflamed), but it also means anything that is added on afterwards–such as a CHAPTER of extra information at the end of a book.

  • ITCHY might be the way you feel when you have a mosquito bite, but it’s also the name of one of the characters from the ITCHY and Scratchy Show, an ultra-violent parody of Tom and JERRY that Bart and Lisa Simpson liked to watch.

  • A MINUTE can be a period of sixty seconds, or a division of a degree; but if you pronounce it “my-NOOT” it means something very small.

What are the categories in today’s Connections?

  • Yellow: CONTACT VIA PHONE

  • Green: BOOK SECTIONS

  • Blue: WEE

  • Purple: CARTOON MICE

DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW

Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.

What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?

The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is CONTACT VIA PHONE and the words are: BUZZ, CALL, DIAL, RING.

What are the green words in today’s Connections?

The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is BOOK SECTIONS and the words are: APPENDIX, CHAPTER, INDEX, PREFACE.

What are the blue words in today’s Connections?

The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is WEE and the words are: DINKY, LITTLE, MINUTE, SLIGHT.

What are the purple words in today’s Connections?

The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is CARTOON MICE and the words are: ITCHY [and Scratchy], [Tom and] JERRY, PINKY [and the Brain], and SPEEDY [Gonzales].

How I solved today’s Connections

I almost fell for the fingers, but then I saw APPENDIX, which must go with INDEX as a group of book parts. Could PINKY be a reference to PINKY and the Brain from the Animaniacs show, and ITCHY to ITCHY and Scratchy from the Simpsons? Turns out they are. 🟪

I went for the book parts next, 🟩 then the DINKY, LITTLE things, 🟦 and finally the ways to CALL someone on the phone. 🟨

Connections 
Puzzle #192
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨

How to play Connections

I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:

First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Crossword app. You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).

Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.

You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.

How to win Connections

The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.

If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.

Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!



Source: LifeHacker – Today’s NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Canada Lays Out Plan To Phase Out Sales of Gas-Powered Cars, Trucks By 2035

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“EVs mandates are coming to Canada whether you like it or not,” writes Slashdot reader Major_Disorder, sharing a report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “Here is what my Canadian brothers and sisters need to know.” From the report: New regulations being published this week by Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault will effectively end sales of new passenger vehicles powered only by gasoline or diesel in 2035. Guilbeault said the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard will encourage automakers to make more battery-powered cars and trucks available in Canada. “There’s no mistaking it. We are at a tipping point,” he said, noting sizable growth in EV sales in Canada and demand that has previously outstripped the available supply.

Automakers will have the next 12 years to phase out combustion engine cars, trucks and SUVs with a requirement to gradually increase the proportion of electric models they offer for sale each year. The electric-vehicle sales mandate regulations will be published later this week. They are setting up a system in which every automaker will have to show that a minimum percentage of vehicles they offer for sale are fully electric or longer-range plug-in hybrids. It will start with 20 per cent in 2026 and rise slightly to 23 per cent in 2027. After that, the share of EVs will begin to increase much faster, so that by 2028, 34 per cent of all vehicles sold will need to be electric — 43 per cent by 2029 and 60 per cent by 2030. That number keeps rising until it hits 100 per cent in 2035.

Guilbeault said the government is working to revise the national building code to encourage the spread of charging stations. The updated code would ensure that residential buildings constructed after 2025 have the electrical capacity to accommodate the charging stations. […] The policy will be regulated under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and will issue credits to automakers for the EVs they sell. Generally, a fully electric model will generate one credit, with plug-in hybrids getting partial or full credit depending on how far they can go on a single charge. Manufacturers that sell more EVs than they need to meet each year’s target can either bank those credits to meet their targets in future years, or sell them to companies that didn’t sell enough. They can also cover up to 10 per cent of the credits they need each year by investing in public fast-charging stations. Every $20,000 spent on DC fast chargers that are operating before 2027 can earn the equivalent of one credit. Automakers that come up short for their sales requirements will be able to cover the difference by buying credits from others who exceed their targets, or by investing in charging stations. Automakers can start earning some credits toward their 2026 and 2027 targets over the next two years — a bid by the government to encourage a faster transition.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Canada Lays Out Plan To Phase Out Sales of Gas-Powered Cars, Trucks By 2035

You Can Get Windows 11 Pro for $25 Right Now

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You can upgrade your PC to Windows 11 Pro on sale for $24.97 right now (reg. $199) through Dec. 25. The activation key is from a Microsoft-verified partner and backed by over 200 user reviews, and the Pro version of Windows 11 has some great features like Azure AD, Hyper-V, Windows Sandbox, and BitLocker Device Encryption. Windows 11 sports an all-new appearance with a centered bottom taskbar and comes with features like snap layouts, improved voice typing, seamless redocking, and a redesigned search tool. Other improvements include Biometrics login on supported devices, remote desktop access, TPM 2.0 for hardware-based security, Smart App Control that blocks potentially harmful apps, and Windows Studio Effects for video calls, with noise suppression and background blurring.

You can get Windows 11 Pro on sale for $24.97 right now (reg. $199) through Dec. 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.



Source: LifeHacker – You Can Get Windows 11 Pro for Right Now

Next Beeper Mini Fix Requires Users To Have a Mac

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Juli Clover reports via MacRumors: The developers behind Beeper Mini are continuing with their effort to make iMessage for Android function despite Apple’s mitigations, and the latest “fix” requires Beeper Mini users to have access to a Mac. On Reddit, the Beeper Mini team says that the Mac-based fix coming on December 20 stabilizes iMessage for Beeper Cloud and Mini, and it “works well” and “is very reliable.”

It is unclear how many Android users have a Mac or have a friend with a Mac to rely on, but the fix requires using a Mac to connect to iMessage on Beeper. According to Beeper Mini’s developers, registration data from an actual Mac has to be sent to Apple to use iMessage on Beeper. Beeper has been using its own Mac servers to provide that information to Apple, but that resulted in thousands of Beeper users having the same registration info, which was an “easy target for Apple.”

The Beeper update will instead generate unique registration data for each Mac, making it harder for Apple to tell which users are accessing iMessage through an Android device. The Beeper Mini team says that registration data is “only used to indicate that a Mac is available during registration” and that the Mac will not be given access to an account or messages: “If you do not have access to a Mac computer, but have a friend on Beeper with a Mac, you can ask them if you can use their registration data. In our testing, 10-20 iMessage users can safely use the same registration data.” With the fix, Beeper Cloud and Beeper Mini users will once again be able to use iMessage on Android, but only with email addresses and not with phone numbers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Next Beeper Mini Fix Requires Users To Have a Mac

These Are the Best Last-minute Gift Card Deals for Christmas

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Whether you forgot to come up with a thoughtful gift because you are too busy with work or you just couldn’t find that perfect gift, most people will agree that buying a useful gift card is much better than getting something you neither want nor need. Plus, there are many great deals on gift cards right now (you might even consider getting some for yourself). Here are some of the best gift cards that will make excellent last-minute Christmas gifts.

Apple gift card deal

You can’t get much with a $100 Apple gift card, but $100 is still a $100. If you buy a $100 Apple gift card on Amazon right now, you can get yourself a nice $10 credit when you use the code “HOLAPP” at checkout. You can also get the same Amazon deal from the following gift cards:

Instacart and restaurant gift card deals

Many people discovered Instacart during the pandemic and never went back to shopping for their own groceries. If you know someone who hates shopping for groceries (or simply doesn’t have the time), they will love this $100 Instacart gift card from Best Buy, which will only cost you $85. If you know someone who also hates cooking, consider these other restaurant gift card deals—just keep in mind you will need to be a member to buy gift cards from wholesalers:

Xbox gift card deal

Gaming these days is very different than it was even just 10 years ago. Gamers can buy games online, make in-game purchases, or buy online playing subscriptions. In other words, a gift card can go a long way. Just make sure you double-check what console they play. You can get $100 worth of gift cards for $89.99 on Costco’s website.

Hulu, Lyft, Netflix and more

If none of the above deals seem like a good fit, check out these other miscellaneous options:



Source: LifeHacker – These Are the Best Last-minute Gift Card Deals for Christmas

TomTom Creates AI-Based Conversational Assistant For Vehicles With Microsoft

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An anonymous reader writes: Digital mapping specialist TomTom said on Tuesday it has partnered with tech giant Microsoft to create an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered conversational assistant for vehicles. The assistant will allow users to “converse naturally with their vehicles” and enable voice interaction with infotainment, location search, and vehicle command systems, the company said.

TomTom, which competes with Google Maps and the world’s biggest mapping platform HERE, used various Microsoft services like its Azure OpenAI Service to create the voice assistant. The Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service allows enterprises to leverage ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s large language models (LLM). The voice assistant can be integrated into other automotive infotainment systems and is also built into TomTom’s Digital Cockpit, an open, modular in-vehicle infotainment platform, the Dutch map maker said. The company began working with Microsoft in 2016, when it first started powering Azure Maps location services.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – TomTom Creates AI-Based Conversational Assistant For Vehicles With Microsoft

You Can Get a One-Year Sam's Club Membership for $20 Right Now

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You can get a one-year Sam’s Club membership on sale for $20 right now (reg. $50) until December 25. The big box retailer carries everything from groceries and electronics, to household basics and seasonal items, and members can also use same-day delivery from their local store. Other Sam’s Club perks include members-only gas prices available at select locations, a Tire and Battery Center that offers services like free flat tire repair and tire installation, and a complimentary membership to give to someone else in their household. Members also get access to Sam’s Club-exclusive deals for travel and entertainment.

Note that this offer is restricted to new Sam’s Club members, and the membership will auto-renew after 12 months, so you’ll obviously need to cancel if you don’t want to continue. But if you’ve been considering joining, you can get a one-year Sam’s Club membership on sale for just $20 right now (reg. $50) until December 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.



Source: LifeHacker – You Can Get a One-Year Sam’s Club Membership for Right Now

Fedora uses cookies

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This is not a post about privacy, browser cookies, keeping you safe online and all that good stuff. You can find a plethora of information on that in some other articles and resources. This post is about actual Fedora cookies and trying to put a smile on people’s faces while inspiring them to contribute to […]

Source: LXer – Fedora uses cookies

This Budget HP Laptop Just Dropped to Its Lowest Price Yet

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Best Buy is having a 24-hour flash sale (ends Wednesday at 1 a.m. ET) featuring the AMD Ryzen 7 HP Envy x360 for the lowest price it’s been over the last four months, according to Honey’s price history. If you’re reading this past the deadline, worry not: Best Buy also has the AMD Ryzen 5 HP Envy x360 for a similar discount, bringing it down to its second lowest price over the past four months, according to Honey’s price history. And that deal is not likely to expire any time soon.

One of the best budget laptops of 2023

Budget laptops already offer the best bang for your buck, but a great sale price makes them even more appealing for the cost-conscious. And that’s what you get with the HP Envy x360 2-in-1 laptop hybrid, which is one of the best budget laptops of 2023, according to our tech writer Joshua Hawkins.

You can currently get the HP Envy x360 from Best Buy with the following specs:

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7530U/Ryzen 7 7730U

  • GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics

  • RAM: 8GB/16GB

  • Storage: 256GB/512GB

  • Display: 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, 60Hz IPS, touch-enabled

  • Dimensions: 14.13 x 9.02 x 0.73 inches

  • Weight: 4.04 pounds

The AMD Ryzen 7 HP Envy x360 is currently $599.99 (originally $1,049.99) after a $450 discount. This is the more powerful option of the two, with more processing power, RAM, and storage. For just $100 more, you can take your laptop from a mid-tier processor and RAM handling regular tasks to be able to handle demanding tasks like advanced gaming and multimedia creation. If you would rather save yourself the $100 and just use your laptop to read emails and write documents, the AMD Ryzen 5 HP Envy x360 is a better fit and goes for $499 (originally $799.99).

You’ll get a premium feel and design with the HP Envy x360, fast Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity, an excellent 1440p webcam, a facial recognition IR camera for quick logins, and a 55Wh battery, which gives you about eight hours of light use. The laptop is portable, with a spacious keyboard and responsive touchpad. And, of course, it can also work as a tablet with a stylus (sold separately). You can read the whole PCMag review here.



Source: LifeHacker – This Budget HP Laptop Just Dropped to Its Lowest Price Yet

Microsoft Releases Downloadable Tool To Remove Unwanted HP Printer Software

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Longtime Slashdot reader UnknowingFool writes: Microsoft has released a new software tool to remove printer software from HP that was installed without user permission or system need. A few weeks ago, users noticed that Windows Update installed HP printer software even if they did not have HP printers or printers at all. Affecting Windows 10 and 11, consumers reported that this update sometimes caused problems as it could rename their non-HP printers as HP printers causing some printing features to be inaccessible. Microsoft has not disclosed the root cause of the issue. The fix released by Microsoft requires users to download and run a dedicated troubleshooting tool available from Microsoft’s support site. “There are four different versions of the troubleshooter, depending on whether you have the 32- or 64-bit version of an Arm or x86 version of Windows,” notes Ars Technica. “Microsoft will also release an additional recommended troubleshooting tool ‘in the coming weeks’ that will fix the problem in Windows 11 upon a user’s request without requiring the download of a separate tool.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Microsoft Releases Downloadable Tool To Remove Unwanted HP Printer Software

Xfinity waited 13 days to patch critical Citrix Bleed 0-day. Now it’s paying the price

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A parked Comcast service van with the

Enlarge / A Comcast Xfinity service van in San Ramon, California on February 25, 2020. (credit: Getty Images | Smith Collection/Gado )

Comcast waited 13 days to patch its network against a high-severity vulnerability, a lapse that allowed hackers to make off with password data and other sensitive information belonging to 36 million Xfinity customers.

The breach, which was carried out by exploiting a vulnerability in network hardware sold by Citrix, gave hackers access to usernames and cryptographically hashed passwords for 35.9 million Xfinity customers, the cable TV and Internet provider said in a notification filed Monday with the Maine attorney general’s office. Citrix disclosed the vulnerability and issued a patch on October 10. Eight days later, researchers reported that the vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-4966 and by the name Citrix Bleed, had been under active exploitation since August. Comcast didn’t patch its network until October 23, 13 days after a patch became available and five days after the report of the in-the-wild attacks exploiting it.

“However, we subsequently discovered that prior to mitigation, between October 16 and October 19, 2023, there was unauthorized access to some of our internal systems that we concluded was a result of this vulnerability,” an accompanying notice stated. “We notified federal law enforcement and conducted an investigation into the nature and scope of the incident. On November 16, 2023, it was determined that information was likely acquired.”

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – Xfinity waited 13 days to patch critical Citrix Bleed 0-day. Now it’s paying the price

PostmarketOS 23.12 Is Here: Breathing New Life Into Smartphones

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After six months of development, the postmarketOS team has released version 23.12, bringing the power and flexibility of Linux to a wider range of mobile devices than ever before.

The post PostmarketOS 23.12 Is Here: Breathing New Life Into Smartphones appeared first on Linux Today.



Source: Linux Today – PostmarketOS 23.12 Is Here: Breathing New Life Into Smartphones

How to Test Your Car Battery (and Why You Should)

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Although your vehicle’s battery is essential to its operation, it’s also easy to forget about—or at least take for granted—when everything is running smoothly. That, of course, changes when your battery starts showing signs of weakness, or stops working altogether. But there’s no reason to be caught off guard by a dying battery when you can test it yourself. If you’ve never tested a car’s battery, it may sound like a daunting task, but as Garrett Tortelli, a senior category manager at Batteries Plus, explains below, it’s a relatively simple—but important—process. Here’s what to know.

Why you should test your car’s battery

Let’s start with the obvious: Regularly testing your car’s battery will help you avoid a situation where your battery dies and you’re stranded at home, work, or anywhere else, says Tortelli. While there are signs that a car battery is on the fritz—like taking a long time to start—that’s not always the case.

Because you can’t rely on your car to let you know that its battery is close to being drained, it’s important to have it tested. “While an individual can easily test certain things on the car themselves, at-home testing only goes so far,” Tortelli tells me. “Some testing, like simulating an engine starting—known as a ‘load test’—should be checked by a professional with the right tools and safety precautions.”

How to test your car’s battery

The easiest way to test your car’s battery at home is to use either a voltmeter or multimeter. As its name suggests, a voltmeter measures the voltage of a car battery. A multimeter also measures voltage, as well as resistance, continuity, and other things. The testing process that Tortelli recommends only measures the battery’s voltage, so a voltmeter is sufficient. Both tools are affordable, and available at most hardware and auto parts stores, or online—like this AstroAI Multimeter ($12.99) or this KAIWEETS Multimeter ($15.99).

Here’s how Tortelli suggests checking your car’s battery on your own:

Battery state of charge (SoC)

When the vehicle isn’t running, connect the red lead of the voltmeter or multimeter to the positive terminal of the battery, and the black lead to the negative terminal of the battery. “[The] voltage should be around 12.4 to 12.8V,” Tortelli explains. “If the voltage is below 12V, you could have a charging issue, or a defective cell in the battery.”

Start the engine

Next, Tortelli recommends starting the vehicle. Does it turn over slowly during normal weather? “It’s common in the cold for the vehicle to turn over slower, as everything [including] the oil is sluggish,” he explains. “This is normal. However, if it struggles to turn over, [and is] slower than usual, this could be a sign the battery is no longer hitting the vehicle’s CCA—or cold cranking amps—specs, and is another sign the battery may begin to fail.”

Check the battery voltage (while the vehicle is running)

Use a voltmeter or multimeter to test the battery’s voltage again—this time with the vehicle running. “This will check that the alternator is putting out the right charging voltage while you’re driving, keeping the battery charged,” Tortelli explains. “The desired voltage reading should be around 14V—typically between 13.8V and 14.5V.”

When to have your car’s battery tested professionally

As Tortelli mentioned above, in addition to checking your car’s battery yourself, you should also have it professionally tested. He recommends bringing your vehicle in for professional battery testing every fall, before cold weather arrives—especially for batteries more than three years old, or those getting close to their warranty expiration period. Other than that, Tortelli suggests professional battery testing “if you’re experiencing the slower than usual starting power on the engine,” or have other concerns about your battery’s lifespan.

According to Tortelli, the professional equipment will not only test the battery voltage, car alternator, and starter functionality, but it will also test for CCA. “The most important test on whether or not the battery is good is to hit the rating of the car’s engine needs,” he explains. “Simulating a load, or draw of the battery, for a period of time can tell you if the battery is good, bad, or on the edge.”



Source: LifeHacker – How to Test Your Car Battery (and Why You Should)

Magic: The Gathering Formally Bans the Use of Generative AI in 'Final' Products

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An error in judgement earlier this year—when a D&D artist confirmed they had used generative AI programs to finish several pieces of art included in the sourcebook Glory of the Giants—saw Wizards of the Coast publicly ban the use of AI tools in the process of creating art for the venerable TTRPG. Now, the publisher is…

Read more…



Source: Gizmodo – Magic: The Gathering Formally Bans the Use of Generative AI in ‘Final’ Products

10 Movies to Stream Tonight If You Can't Stand Christmas

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Christmas horror movies are never not popular—but what about those holiday-themed dramas, film noirs, and action comedies that never seem to surface on festive watch lists? We’ve gathered 10 movies to stream if all the traditional titles make you want to gouge your eyes out with candy canes.

Read more…



Source: Gizmodo – 10 Movies to Stream Tonight If You Can’t Stand Christmas

Binance To Pay $2.7 Billion Fine To CFTC For Evading Federal Law

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Binance will pay $2.7 billion to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for evading federal law and operating an illegal derivatives exchange. Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency exchange’s founder, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, will pay $150 million.

“The court finds Zhao and Binance violated the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations, imposes a $150 million civil monetary penalty personally against Zhao, and requires Binance to disgorge $1.35 billion of ill-gotten transaction fees and pay a $1.35 billion penalty to the CFTC,” wrote the CFTC in a statement. CoinTelegraph reports: The approved settlement marks the conclusion of a long-running case against CZ and Binance by the CFTC. On Nov. 21, CZ agreed to step down from his role at the helm of Binance as part of a wider settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Treasury Department and the CFTC. On the same day, Zhao pleaded guilty to several civil charges and one criminal charge relating to Anti-Money Laundering laws. On Dec. 7, CZ was ordered to remain in the U.S. until his Feb. 23, 2024 sentencing date. He faces up to 18 months in prison on money laundering charges and has agreed not to appeal any potential sentence up to that length.

As part of the settlement, both CZ and Binance have agreed to take further steps to ensure Know Your Customer measures are maintained on the exchange as well as requiring Binance to implement a formalized corporate governance structure, including a board of directors with independent members, a compliance committee and an audit committee. The court also made a separate order for Binance’s former chief compliance officer, Samuel Lim, to pay a $1.5 million civil monetary penalty for “aiding and abetting Binance’s violations and engaging in activities outside of the U. S. to willfully evade or attempt to evade U.S. law.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Binance To Pay .7 Billion Fine To CFTC For Evading Federal Law

Update Your Mac to Avoid a Humiliating Screen Sharing Disaster

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Apple released a new update for Mac on Tuesday, Dec. 19. However, you won’t find a suite of new features and changes when you install the update, as you did when upgrading to macOS 14 Sonoma. Instead, the update might just save you in your next virtual meeting. According to Apple’s security release notes, macOS Sonoma 14.2.1 patches one solitary WindowServer bug: “A user who shares their screen may unintentionally share the incorrect content.” Yikes.

The bug affects WindowServer, the process in macOS responsible for drawing windows and other elements on your screen. Therefore, it applies to all of macOS, so it’s not app-specific. It’s not clear exactly how this bug might work, but from the description alone, it seems macOS accidentally displays the wrong window when you choose to share your screen during a video call. Which window your Mac decides to show is not certain, but I imagine there are plenty of windows open on your screen you may not want to inadvertently share with clients, coworkers, or corporate.

As far as FaceTime is concerned, there are multiple ways to share your screen: You can choose to share a specific window, all the windows of a select app, multiple windows, or your entire screen at once. Ignoring the last option, it seems safe to say that relying on versions of macOS prior to 14.2.1 to share specific windows you’ve chosen is risky business. As the bug concerns WindowServer and not FaceTime specifically, that likely applies to all video conferencing apps and services, including Zoom and Google Meet.

If you do any kind of screen sharing for work or in your personal life, you should update your Mac as soon as you can. You might also want to look into updating your other Apple devices as well: Apple also released updates for iPhone (iOS 17.2.1 and iOS 16.7.4) and iPad (iPadOS 17.2.1 and iPadOS 16.7.4), but did not issue release notes for any of these updates. As such, we don’t know exactly what bugs or security vulnerabilities each patches.

How to update to the latest version of macOS

To patch this screen sharing bug, open System Settings > General > Software Update. Allow macOS to check for the latest update, then hit Update Now when macOS Sonoma 14.2.1 appears.



Source: LifeHacker – Update Your Mac to Avoid a Humiliating Screen Sharing Disaster

Sad News: Zack Snyder Willing To Direct Live-Action Fortnite Movie

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Zack Snyder, Film director and guy-who-spells-Zack-correctly, is out promoting his new Netflix film, Rebel Moon. But because he’s talked about Epic’s popular battle royale shooter Fortnite in the past, people keep asking him about the game and recently, someone wondered if he would be willing to direct a movie based…

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Source: Kotaku – Sad News: Zack Snyder Willing To Direct Live-Action Fortnite Movie

Blue Origin’s suborbital rocket flies for first time in 15 months

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Blue Origin's New Shepard booster comes in for landing in West Texas at the conclusion of Tuesday's suborbital flight.

Enlarge / Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster comes in for landing in West Texas at the conclusion of Tuesday’s suborbital flight. (credit: Blue Origin)

With redesigned engine components, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket took off from West Texas and flew to the edge of space on Tuesday with a package of scientific research and technology demonstration experiments.

This was the first flight of Blue Origin’s 60-foot-tall (18-meter) New Shepard rocket since September 12, 2022, when an engine failure destroyed the booster and triggered an in-flight abort for the vehicle’s pressurized capsule. There were no passengers aboard for that mission, and the capsule safely separated from the failed booster and parachuted to a controlled landing.

The flight on Tuesday also didn’t carry people. Instead, Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s space company, lofted 33 payloads from NASA, research institutions, and commercial companies. Some of these payloads were flown again on Tuesday’s launch after failing to reach space on the failed New Shepard mission last year. Among these payloads were an experiment to demonstrate hydrogen fuel cell technology in microgravity and an investigation studying the strength of planetary soils under different gravity conditions.

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Source: Ars Technica – Blue Origin’s suborbital rocket flies for first time in 15 months