KDE Gear (formerly KDE Applications), a collection of more than 120 apps, libraries, and feature plugins, has been updated by the KDE Project to version 23.08.4, as the last update in the KDE Gear 23.08 series.
Source: LXer – KDE Gear 23.08.4 Released as the Last Update in the Series
Monthly Archives: December 2023
Xbox 2023 year-in-review recap stacks you up against other players
Xbox is giving you a detailed look at how much you’ve gamed and which titles you’ve truly enjoyed playing this year. Its 2023 recap shows your total time gaming on the system over the past year, the month you’d been most active on the Xbox, your total achievements and your top genres in a pie chart, which could give you an idea whether your taste in games has changed over time. Of course, you’ll also get to see a list of games that you’ve played the most this year, ranked based on how much time you’ve spent on each one.
The recap will also let you know if you’ve unlocked rare achievements. And it will show how you stack up against other fans when it comes to the number of hours you’ve gamed, your gamerscore, and your total number of achievements — stats that could fuel your competitive nature and compel you to game more, or make you realize if you’ve been spending a bit too much time playing.
Since it’s that time of the year when everybody and every brand looks back over the past months, you can get an overview of your gaming life even if the Xbox isn’t your system of choice. If you’re more of a PlayStation gamer, Sony also recently rolled out its wrap-up recap for 2023 that contains the same information, along with game recommendations based on your history, perhaps to encourage you to rack up more gaming hours in 2024.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/xbox-2023-year-in-review-recap-stacks-you-up-against-other-players-043306717.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Xbox 2023 year-in-review recap stacks you up against other players
Solar and Wind To Top Coal Power In US For First Time In 2024
An anonymous reader quotes a report from REVE News: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects, for the first year on record, combined electricity generation from wind and solar to surpass generation from coal in 2024. EIA expects solar generation in 2024 to increase 39% (228 kilowatthours) from 2023, driven by continued increases in solar capacity. “Renewables, particularly solar photovoltaics, are growing rapidly and making large contributions to electricity generation,” DeCarolis said.
EIA expects natural gas prices to be $2.77 per million British thermal units this winter, about 23% lower than previously forecast. The winter season is off to a warmer-than-expected start, so U.S. households are consuming less natural gas for heat than expected. The lower natural gas consumption is also contributing to rising U.S. natural gas inventories, which typically results in lower prices. “We’re seeing record domestic natural gas production paired with lower-than-expected natural gas demand, and we expect that is going to push prices lower this winter season,” DeCarolis said. EIA will publish its next STEO on January 9, 2024, including the agency’s first forecasts for the energy sector through 2025. The full report is available on the EIA website.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Solar and Wind To Top Coal Power In US For First Time In 2024
Tail Command in Linux with Common Examples
Explore the versatility of the tail command in Linux. Learn through common examples how to effectively use tail for file monitoring and data analysis.
Source: LXer – Tail Command in Linux with Common Examples
Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Wednesday, December 13, 2023
If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for December 13, 2023, read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle took me four guesses; I’d say it’s medium difficulty. Beware, there are spoilers below for December 13, Wordle #907! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.
How to play Wordle
Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.
Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)
Ready for the hints? Let’s go!
Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?
We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)
Four of the letters are in our list, and there’s one more that’s middlingly common. Nothing too unusual today.
Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?
Think of how you feel after a hard effort, like running a race or surviving a stressful day at work. You are exhausted, gassed, tired, ____.
Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?
Nope, today’s word has five different letters.
How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?
Just one vowel today.
What letter does today’s Wordle start with?
Today’s word begins with S.
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
Today’s word ends with T.
What is the solution to today’s Wordle?
Ready? Today’s word is SPENT.
How I solved today’s Wordle
ARISE gave me a yellow S and E; TOUCH gave me a yellow T. I figured I’d go for an ST word with two E’s, so I guessed STEEL next. That told me the T isn’t in that second spot, and that we only have one E.
So the second letter would have to be something like a K or a P… and I’d probably want to work an N in there somewhere. SPENT was my next guess, and it was a hit.
Wordle 907 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟨🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
A primer on Wordle basics
The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word.
Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word:
-
Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)
-
Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)
-
Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)
With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.
The best starter words for Wordle
What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:
-
CRANE
-
TRACE
-
SLANT
-
CRATE
-
CARTE
Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:
-
SALET
-
REAST
-
TRACE
-
CRATE
-
SLATE
Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.
How to win at Wordle
We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.
The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.
One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.
Wordle alternatives
If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:
-
Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.
-
Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.
-
Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.
-
Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.
-
Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.
Source: LifeHacker – Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Blue Origin sure seems confident it will launch New Glenn in 2024
Enlarge / This picture, taken several months ago, shows different parts for Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket inside the company’s manufacturing facility in Florida. (credit: Blue Origin)
For the first time, it’s starting to feel like Jeff Bezos’s space company, Blue Origin, might have a shot at launching its long-delayed New Glenn rocket within the next 12 months.
Of course, there’s a lot for Blue Origin to test and validate before New Glenn is ready to fly. First, the company’s engineers need to fully assemble a New Glenn rocket and raise it on the company’s sprawling seaside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. There’s a good chance of this happening in the coming months as Blue Origin readies for a series of tanking tests and simulated countdowns at the launch site.
It’s tempting to invoke Berger’s Law, the guideline championed by my Ars colleague which states that if a launch is scheduled for the fourth quarter of a calendar year—and if it is at least six months away—the launch will delay into the next year. Given Blue Origin’s history of New Glenn delays, that’s probably the safer bet. New Glenn’s inaugural flight has been delayed from 2020 until 2021, then 2022, and for now, is slated for 2024.
Read 26 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Blue Origin sure seems confident it will launch New Glenn in 2024
Meet Ashley, the World's First AI-Powered Political Campaign Caller
An artificial intelligence campaign volunteer named Ashley is being used to call thousands of Pennsylvania voters on behalf of Democrat Shamaine Daniels, “ushering in a new era of political campaigning in which candidates use technology to engage with voters in ways increasingly difficult to track,” reports Reuters. From the report: Like a seasoned campaign volunteer, Ashley analyzes voters’ profiles to tailor conversations around their key issues. Unlike a human, Ashley always shows up for the job, has perfect recall of all of Daniels’ positions, and does not feel dejected when she’s hung up on. “This is going to scale fast,” said 30-year-old Ilya Mouzykantskii, the London-based CEO of Civox, the company behind Ashley. “We intend to be making tens of thousands of calls a day by the end of the year and into the six digits pretty soon. This is coming for the 2024 election and it’s coming in a very big way. … The future is now.” For Daniels, the tool levels the playing field: as the underdog, she is now armed with another way to understand voters better, reach out in different languages (Ashley is fluent in over 20), and conduct many more “high bandwidth” conversations.
Mouzykantskii said he is fully aware of the potential downsides, and does not intend to take any venture capital funding which might entice him to prioritize profits over ethics. Mouzykantskii and his co-founder Adam Reis, former computer science students at Stanford and Columbia Universities respectively, declined to disclose the exact generative AI models they are using. They will only say they use over 20 different AI models, some proprietary and some open-source. Thanks to the latest generative AI technologies, Reis was able to build the product almost entirely on his own, whereas several years ago it would have taken a team of 50 engineers several years to do so, he said. The report notes that there are “few legal guardrails” regulating this particular use of AI. “No rules directly apply to what Civox is doing. Federal Trade Commission regulations ban telemarketers from making robocalls to people on the Do Not Call Registry, but the list does not apply to political calls — and Civox’s activity, with its ‘personalized’ messages, does not qualify as robocalling.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Meet Ashley, the World’s First AI-Powered Political Campaign Caller
Today's NYT Connections Hints (and Answer) for Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Today’s puzzle isn’t that TOUGH, if you keep your wits about you! If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Wednesday, December 13, 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 13, NYT Connections #185! 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!
Credit: Connections/NYT
Does today’s Connections game require any special knowledge?
If you can read all the words out loud, you’ll do fine. Knowing some sports terms will help a bit, too.
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
-
Yellow category – Hit the links.
-
Green category – What you might say if you’re getting a noogie.
-
Blue category – Something a little naughty or spicy.
-
Purple category – Words that make kids and English language learners go “are you serious?!”
Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?
The purple category involves something special about the spelling and pronunciation of these words.
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?
-
BLUE and GREEN aren’t just colors today. BLUE language refers to swear words; BLUE movies would be pornographic ones. A GREEN, as a noun, can refer to any of a variety of fields or lawns (as in a town GREEN or a putting GREEN).
-
ROUGH and TOUGH seem like they might go together, but I promise they do not today. Neither do ROUGH and COARSE.
-
A BOUGH is a tree branch (“deck the halls with BOUGHs of holly”). It may look like it should rhyme with TOUGH, but it doesn’t.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
-
Yellow: GOLF COURSE PARTS
-
Green: ”I GIVE!”
-
Blue: INDECENT
-
Purple: “-OUGH” WORDS THAT DON’T RHYME
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 GOLF COURSE PARTS and the words are: BUNKER, FAIRWAY, GREEN, ROUGH.
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 ”I GIVE!” and the words are: ENOUGH, MERCY, STOP, UNCLE.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is INDECENT and the words are: BAWDY, BLUE, COARSE, RISQUE.
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 “-OUGH” WORDS THAT DON’T RHYME and the words are: BOUGH, COUGH, DOUGH, TOUGH.
How I solved today’s Connections
RISQUE, pronounced as two syllables, is a word you use to describe something sexy when you want to kind of distance yourself from it. BAWDY would fit; so would BLUE, and my next best guess was COARSE (as in, vulgar). That was a hit. 🟦
UNCLE and MERCY are words you say when you want somebody to stop hurting you; STOP and ENOUGH work, too. 🟩
With just eight words left, the golf terms jump out: GREEN, FAIRWAY, ROUGH, and BUNKER are all parts of a golf course. 🟨 That leaves four of our original six -GH words: DOUGH, TOUGH, BOUGH, COUGH. They are all spelled identically after the initial letter, but are all pronounced differently. Thanks, English. 🟪
Connections Puzzle #185 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪
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 13, 2023
Disney's Truly Wild 100th Anniversary Year
The House of Mouse celebrated its centennial in 2023 through monumental film and television releases and Disney Parks experiences, while dealing with real-world repercussions during historic writers and actors’ strikes. And then, of course, there was the whole ongoing skirmish with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Source: Gizmodo – Disney’s Truly Wild 100th Anniversary Year
Netflix Releases Viewing Numbers For 18,000 Titles For First Time
For the first time, Netflix has released a comprehensive report of what people watched on the platform over a six month period. It includes hours viewed for every title, the premiere date for any Netflix show and movie, and whether a title was available globally. From the Hollywood Reporter: The list includes worldwide viewing for more than 18,000 movies and seasons of TV (18,214, to be exact) between January and June. Those 18,214 titles all had at least 50,000 hours of viewing over those six months, encompassing about 99 percent of all viewing on Netflix, vp strategy and analysis Lauren Smith told reporters during a presentation of the data on Tuesday. It is the deepest dive into viewing that Netflix (or any other streamer) has ever made public.
Among the highlights: The Night Agent was the biggest title on Netflix in the first half of 2023, racking up 812.1 million hours of viewing. Season two of Ginny & Georgia was second at 665.1 million hours, followed by Korean drama The Glory (622.8 million hours). Wednesday ranked fourth at 507.7 million hours of viewing, despite being released in November 2022. The company is using total hours viewed in this report as a way to measure engagement by its users rather than the “view” formula (total viewing hours divided by running time) it employs to compare titles in its weekly top 10 lists.
Original series and movies dominate the top of the chart, but Smith said the split between original and licensed titles was more even: About 55 percent of viewing was for originals and 45 percent was for licensed shows and films. Suits, which dominated the Nielsen U.S. streaming charts for much of the summer and fall, had a combined 599 million hours of viewing worldwide on Netflix across all nine seasons. The show’s first season ranked highest, coming in 67th place with 129.1 million hours. At the other end, a little more than 20 percent of the titles on Netflix’s list (3,813 in all) had very little viewing. The company rounded them to 100,000 hours but they would fall between 50,000 and 149,999 hours — barely a drop in the streamer’s more than 100 billion total hours of viewing for the six months. The full “What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report” can be downloaded here.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Netflix Releases Viewing Numbers For 18,000 Titles For First Time
Meta is going to fact-check content on the Threads app
Threads is going to make an effort to moderate more of the user-generated content on the platform. Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, posted that it is working on creating a fact-checking program. Mosseri didn’t lay out what such a program would entail, only saying that Threads is going to “match fact-check ratings from Facebook or Instagram to Threads.” Currently, fact-checkers can’t rate content on Threads, so instead when something gets flagged as being false on Instagram or Facebook, a fact-checker’s ratings will also roll over onto the app. “Our goal is for fact-checking partners to have the ability to review and rate misinformation on the app,” Mosseri wrote.
The program is expected to be available early next year. Meta said third-party fact-checking partners will flag and review the content that circulates on Threads. The app’s users will be given the choice to increase, lower or maintain the default level of “demotions on fact-checked content” in personal feeds. Meta says if a user decides to see less sensitive content on Instagram, those settings will roll over into their Threads view.
Social media companies, like Threads, have to consider expanding guardrails to prevent misinformation from proliferating on their platforms, especially ahead of the coming presidential elections. A fact-checking system on the Threads app isn’t a huge shock considering recent moves by the company. When the company introduced a search tool, it blocked certain words “previously linked” to misinformation on Meta’s platform.
However, offering users a fact-checking feature does not necessarily mean Threads will become the new front page for digital news. Mosseri told TechCrunch that the platform, as of now, does not plan on “amplifying the news” on its platform.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-is-going-to-fact-check-content-on-its-app-010720646.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Meta is going to fact-check content on the Threads app
Linux Mint 21.3 and Zorin 17 are beta buddies
Irish software projects gear up for latest iterations. Devs at well-loved distros Mint and Zorin are hard at work, with Mint 21.3 expected before the holidays, although Zorin OS 17 may take a little longer. Their respective betas show both are shaping up nicely and boast attractive desktops.…
Source: LXer – Linux Mint 21.3 and Zorin 17 are beta buddies
How to Install Gitea on Debian Linux
Gitea is a lightweight, open-source and self-hosted code hosting solution, similar to GitHub, Gitlab and BitBucket. It is mainly written in Go and can run on Windows, Linux, macOS, ARM, etc. In this guide, you will set up Gitea as a container with Docker on Debian.
The post How to Install Gitea on Debian Linux appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – How to Install Gitea on Debian Linux
The X-Men's Return to Lego Marvel Comes at a High Price
Although the X-Men have been returning to the world of Lego in fits and starts recently—a few characters in the Marvel minifigures line here, a giant Wolverine fist there—2014 was the last time Marvel’s mutants actually got to star in a more traditional Lego set. That’s now changing… but it’s not an entirely joyous…
Source: Gizmodo – The X-Men’s Return to Lego Marvel Comes at a High Price
Google Maps Just Made It Easier to Hide Your Life
If you give me access to your location, I am the person who will check on you constantly and bring it up the next time I see you. “So,” I’ll start casually, “what were you doing in the city last week?” Then you’ll ask me how I knew you were down there. I’ll remind you that you gave me access one summer long ago and…
Source: Gizmodo – Google Maps Just Made It Easier to Hide Your Life
How Much You Need to Read for Kindle Unlimited to be Worth the Cost
With the advent of BookTok and the continued rise of Amazon’s Kindle e-readers, a subscription service like Kindle Unlimited might seem like a home run. After all, it gives you unlimited access to over 4 million digital titles for just a small monthly price. But is it really worth it?
How much does Kindle Unlimited cost?
Kindle Unlimited is available for a monthly subscription of $11.99 USD. However, you can often find deals available for the service. (Some users who subscribe right now may find themselves eligible for a 3-month deal that only costs $.99, though it isn’t clear how widely available this deal is.)
At $11.99 a month, access to over 4 million books, audiobooks, magazines, and more sounds like a great deal. And honestly, for some people it will be. However, there are some caveats to take into account before you sign up for Kindle Unlimited, most notably the limit to how many books you can check out at a time.
It’s unlimited… but with limits
One of the biggest caveats you will find with Kindle Unlimited is that you can only check out a total of 20 books at one time. This means you’ll need to return books anytime you’re done with them. This isn’t that big of a deal, but if you often find new books you might want to read and like to add them to your library, you may find yourself resorting to noting them down in your phone or a notebook instead. I have at least 50 books on my Kindle right now that I plan to read at some point, but other books have come up that have grabbed me instead. With Kindle Unlimited, you can’t endlessly add books to your library, so that’s something to keep in mind.
Do you read enough for it to be worth it?
Another question to ask yourself if you’re thinking about picking up Kindle Unlimited is whether you actually read enough to justify that $11.99 price tag. Many books on Kindle are already heavily discounted, costing anywhere from $5 to $9.99. If you only read one book a month, then paying for a monthly subscription might not be worth it.
However, if you’re someone that often reads three to four titles a month, then paying $11.99 instead of purchasing each book individually can be a great way to take advantage of Amazon’s subscription service. Before subscribing, think about how much you’re likely to read each month and then decide if the subscription is really worth it for you.
Kindle Unlimited is a mess to navigate
As a person that loves to just browse through the books that are available, Kindle Unlimited can be quite a mess to navigate. Sure, you can search books specifically to see if they are available in Kindle Unlimited. But if you enjoy just going through and browsing the digital shelves like you would at a library, then you’re likely to find yourself a bit lost with all the options thrown at you.
Furthermore, there’s a lot of genres on Kindle Unlimited that might not be exactly what you’re into. The subscription service is chock full of adult romance books, so if that isn’t something you enjoy, it’s probably best to browse for books in a different way. This isn’t necessarily a reason to forego the service altogether (after all, the Kindle Store experience has always left something to be desired) but it is important to keep that in mind going into a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
If you think the price fits what you’re looking for, though, you can find a lot of great books on Kindle Unlimited, including some really heavy hitters from famous authors. There are also a ton of lesser known hits on the digital shelves that are available on Kindle Unlimited, making it a really cool way to check out new authors you might not have heard of before without having to justify buying the book outright.
Source: LifeHacker – How Much You Need to Read for Kindle Unlimited to be Worth the Cost
E3 memory lane: Ars’ favorite moments from the show’s over-the-top past
Enlarge / This photo is exactly what it was like to be on the E3 show floor. Exactly. (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)
Today’s news that the Electronic Entertainment Expo is officially, totally, and completely dead was a bit bittersweet for your humble Ars Technica Senior Gaming Editor. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll miss the chance to meet industry luminaries, connect with far-flung associates, and play games months ahead of time in a setting that’s as much a theme park as a trade show. But after spending many a late night covering 15 E3 shows in 16 years, I can say that the crowds, the smells, and the sensory overload associated with the LA Convention Center aren’t always all they’re cracked up to be.
Still, those who have been there will tell you that, for a gaming fan, there was nothing quite like the bombast and spectacle of the E3 show floor in its heyday.
For those who haven’t been there, we’ve sorted through literally hundreds of E3 photos taken by Ars journalists over the years to assemble a few dozen of the best into this visual travelogue-meets-history-lesson. We hope that skimming through the galleries below will give you some idea of the madcap event that E3 was and why it has generated so many lasting memories for those who attended.
Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – E3 memory lane: Ars’ favorite moments from the show’s over-the-top past
These Cute Christmas Candies Are Easy Enough to Make at Home
December is the time for “giving,” and all that stuff, but more importantly, it’s the only time of year you’re fully entitled to enjoy sweets with delirious abandon. Cookies, pies, cakes, cheesecakes, eggnog, cider, fudge, and chocolates of all varieties are all on the menu during the holidays. One of the cutest chocolate confections to cross my path is the nonpareil. A chocolate bite, bespeckled with a frenzy of colorful sprinkles—it’s exactly the sort of thing you can send as a sweet Christmas tiding, or pile into a bowl on the coffee table for lucky passers-by. Here’s how you can make them at home.
What is a nonpareil?
Nonpareil translates to mean “incomparable,” or “nothing quite like it.” (Perhaps, not parallel? Whatever helps you remember it, sure.) As far as holiday treats are concerned, it’s a tiny drop of chocolate with dozens of crunchy, round sprinkles stuck to the bottom, and it really is quite special. Pop one of these in your mouth and you’re immediately introduced to a textural phenomenon and itty-bitty sugar rush. The bittersweet chocolate becomes velvety as it melts in your mouth, and the sprinkles crackle between your molars. Nonpareils are small, colorful, and tasty, so you’ll want to make extra.
How do you make nonpareils at home?
It’s the sort of thing that seems like only a machine could make it, but it’s incredibly easy to duplicate in your home kitchen. You only need some semisweet or dark chocolate to melt, and a bottle of round sprinkles. I like the rainbow assortment, but you can buy all white, or a festive mix of red, white, and green.
Melt a quarter cup of chocolate chips in the microwave. Be sure to stir the chocolate every ten seconds or so, especially as it begins to melt. Pour the chocolate into a small piping bag, or into a zip-top bag. Seal or tie-off the bag you’re using.
Depending on how many nonpareils you’re making, pour the sprinkles into a dish, an overturned lid, or a baking sheet with a rim. I used an upside down cookie tin lid. You want to make a layer of sprinkles that’s deep enough where you can’t see the vessel underneath. You should be able to press your finger into the sprinkles lightly and leave a little indent.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Cut the corner off of the chocolate bag so the opening is only a couple millimeters wide. You can always cut it bigger, but you can’t go back. Start small so you’re not pouring chocolate everywhere. Twist the top of the bag to create some pressure, and holding the bag perpendicular to the surface of the sprinkles, pipe out small discs directly onto the sheet of sprinkles. Pipe out as many candies as you want. You’ll be able to do a second or third round once this batch cools. Put the entire sheet or plate of nonpareils into the refrigerator to solidify, about 20 minutes, depending on how large or small they are.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Once cool, you can pick up the chocolates out of the field of sprinkles. The melted chocolate clings to the sprinkles when you pipe out the candies and when the chocolate cools, the sprinkles are stuck. While little circles are the easiest and most common shape, you can pipe out any shapes you want. I made little candy canes, and I liked them very much. You could pipe out Christmas trees, angels, or letters too. Just remember to flip the letter when you write them if you intend on reading the sprinkle side.
Scatter these into the cookie tins you made for the neighbors, or keep them in a jar on the counter so you can have a nibble whenever you want. The way I see it, January’s cold reminder of responsibilities will come no matter what, so there’s no need to pace yourself. Eat the chocolate.
Source: LifeHacker – These Cute Christmas Candies Are Easy Enough to Make at Home
How to Install GCC on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
This guide will demonstrate how to install GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection, on Ubuntu versions 22.04 or 20.04. GCC is a pivotal tool for developers, offering a versatile suite for compiling C, C++, and other programming languages. Known for its efficiency and reliability, GCC is a staple in software development environments.
The post How to Install GCC on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – How to Install GCC on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Every homeopathic eye drop should be pulled off the market, FDA says
Enlarge (credit: Getty | UniversalImagesGroup)
This year has been marked by many terrifying things, but perhaps the most surprising of the 2023 horrors was … eye drops.
The seemingly innocuous teeny squeeze bottle made for alarming headlines numerous times during our current revolution around the sun, with lengthy lists of recalls, startling factory inspections, and ghastly reports of people developing near-untreatable bacterial infections, losing their eyes and vision, and dying.
Recapping this unexpected threat to health, the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday released an advisory titled “What You Should Know about Eye Drops” in hopes of keeping the dangers of this year from leaking into the next. Among the notable points from the regulator was this stark pronouncement: No one should ever use any homeopathic ophthalmic products, and every single such product should be pulled off the market.
Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Every homeopathic eye drop should be pulled off the market, FDA says