Saturday, December 04, 2021

Saturday Technology News and More

 Technology News and More...





Every weekend, we round up the top miles, points and travel news that you might have missed on TPG this week. Here’s what you need to know: Sign up for the TPG newsletter for more deals, tips, insights and travel news. Pre-travel testing to the US is about to get harder than ever (Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg) With a new variant upon us, travel rules are in flux across the globe. And flyi



77Ars Technica / 2h
Enlarge (credit: Daniel Grizelj | Getty Images) Instagram? Sure! WhatsApp? Go nuts. But don’t mess with GIFs . That’s the strange position taken by Britain’s competition watchdog in choosing to block Meta’s takeover of GIF repository Giphy. Meta, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ruled, must now sell all the GIFs—just 19 months after it reportedly paid $400 million for them. It’s a



Huawei Mate December 23•
There hasn't exactly been a flood of leaks around the Huawei Mate V – supposedly a clamshell foldable that's on the verge of launching – but we've heard some rumors about it. Now a patent has emerged detailing how Huawei might be keeping this device cool. The patent, spotted by LetsGoDigital (via Notebookcheck.net ), outlines a clever thermal management system that involves a folding heat pipe. T




TechCrunch / 9min
James Nash Contributor James Nash is CEO and founder of inbeta , a tech-enabled talent specialist using data, social listening and human science to help corporations overcome bias. Today, the age of corporate social justice is dawning. With the business case for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) now more vital than ever, we’re beginning to see organizations truly embrace social activism. And



TechCrunch / 16min
Scott Bade Contributor Scott Bade is special series editor of the TechCrunch Global Affairs Project and a regular contributor on foreign affairs. He's a former speechwriter for Mike Bloomberg and co-author of "More Human: Designing a World Where People Come First." More posts by this contributor Introducing the TechCrunch Global Affairs Project Is Washington prepared for a geopolitical ‘tech race



allcatsconstitutethesamefamily : From The Story of a Kitten and Her Friends by Marshall Saunders and illustrated by Diantha Horne Marlowe, 1913. Wondering about this post? Wait for the dissertation (TBA). For now: Weblog ◆ Books ◆ Videos ◆ Music ◆ Etsy



Engadget / 32min
The tech moguls are looking for a new playground Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic Mark Zuckerberg is building a metaverse. Jack Dorsey resigned from Twitter and is focused on blockchain and crypto. The Atlantic's Charlie Warzel argues that two of the biggest figures in online culture focusing their ambitions on "the escape pod" is a sure sign this "iteration of the internet" nears its end. 'Magic dir



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Keighley The Game Awards•
Engadget / 50min
Activision Blizzard's ongoing workplace harassment scandal may have repercussions for one of its bigger media opportunities. In the wake of a Washington Post report raising questions about Activision Blizzard's involvement at the 2021 Game Awards , producer Geoff Keighley confirmed the publisher wouldn't have a role at the show outside of the nominations chosen by influencers and media. There's "



Black Holes•
48Futurism / 55min
Astronomers from the University of Texas have spotted a gigantic black hole at the heart of our galaxy’s many dwarf satellite galaxies — meaning that, in intergalactic terms, it’s just a stone’s throw away from our own Solar System. The newly discovered black hole, dubbed Leo I, is roughly the same size as the suspected black hole at the center of the Milky Way. It also appears to be a bit of an



DeSantis Florida Guard•
500+Futurism / 55min
Florida’s very cool and normal governor is proposing a “civilian military force” that would be under his control — rather than the Pentagon’s. CNN reports that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s Florida State Guard would “not encumbered by the federal government.” This wasn’t just an off-handed suggestion, either. DeSantis said that he’s going to ask the state legislature for $3.5 million to equip a



Engadget / 56min
If you're looking to treat yourself this holiday season, a robot vacuum could be the gift that keeps on giving. We saw a bunch go on sale for Black Friday, but now Wellbots is having a sale on one of Roomba's most advanced models. The Roomba s9+ is $200 off right now when you use the code ENGADGET200 at checkout, so you'll end up paying $899 for the machine — that's the best price we've seen it a



SlashGear / 58min
Via Toyota Instagram Many people out there want a performance car, but they can’t live with two doors for various reasons. Anyone who owns a two-door sports car or muscle car knows that getting people, pets, and other items in and out of a two-door is very difficult. Thankfully, there are a few four-door cars out there that offer performance and convenience. Back … Continue reading



On October 29 American Airlines sent an eight year old Boeing 777-300ER to their Tulsa maintenance facility for insect abatement. A couple of weeks later the plane was out and back in service - but it flew a single Miami to Dallas - Fort Worth segment before returning to Tulsa on November 14. Aircraft N724AN is still on the ground in Tulsa and is scheduled out of service through December 20th. Co



uwmspeccoll : The Spectacle of Nature: Edward Topsell’s The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents English cleric Edward Topsell (c. 1572-1625) first published his book The History of Four-footed Beasts in 1607, followed by The History of Serpents in 1608. Topsell relied heavily on Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner’s Historia animalium (“History of Animals”), a five-volume set of books publishe



It’s become fashionable of late for lauded A-list directors to express their dislike for superhero movies. The most profile was Ridley Scott, who said, among other things, that “their scripts are not any f*****g good”. Others who’ve taken aim at cinema’s most lucrative genre include The Piano’s Jane Campion (“I actually hate them”) and Martin Scorsese (“It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying



BNPL Barclays Christmas•
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is growing increasingly popular among UK shoppers, but many are oblivious to the dangers of the new payment practice, a report from Barclays suggests. The bank recently polled 2,000 UK adults who have used BNPL and found that two in five (39%) don’t really know how the payment method works. In fact, some (19%) didn't know that some BNPL providers charge late fees for mis



yeoldenews : A girl attempting to get her cat to look at the camera, late 1890s. Taken in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan.



While the holidays are the time of year when most people plan their vacations, savvy travelers and those people lucky enough to have flexible schedules know that taking off in January is a great way to kick off the new year. And you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more perfect place to kick off 2022 than in Costa Rica . There are some deeply-discounted deals to be had right now on flights to the Cen



Mashable / 1h
It's been a wild week on the internet with the release of Spotify's annual Wrapped experience , and even TikTok was not immune to the Spotify Wrapped discourse. Of course, that wasn't the only thing trending on TikTok, not with Adele's 2015 song "Water Under the Bridge" going viral upon the singer's latest album drop. Surprisingly, it was also a big week for reality TV stars with both Wendy Ostef



There’s an old saying that eventually, people and their pets will start to look like each other. (Or is that spouses? Either way, it’s something/one you live and go on walks with.) But once that happens, what comes next? You can either ignore it and move on with your life, or really lean into it, and take (and… Read more...



When you last downloaded a torrent file, you may have been offered a magnet link as an alternative. Magnet links are very different from torrent files and offer some advantages over them that all torrent users should be aware of. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



upennmanuscripts : Our little meow meow! This week’s #MicroMondays is this friendly cat, from the top margin of f. 18v in Ms. Codex 724, a 13th century French Bible full of drolleries, illuminated initials, and other decorations. #medieval #manuscript #bible #cat #kitty #drollery #decoration #illustration #bookhistory #bookstagram #librariesofinstagram https://instagr.am/p/CW3ckkpsqx5/




This is a cool opportunity — if you have Hertz elite status, you can gift the same status to someone else. Gift Hertz status to a friend or family member Hertz has launched a promotion whereby current Five Star and President’s Circle members can gift equivalent status to a friend or family member. The gifted status is valid through June 30, 2022, so it’s potentially valid for nearly seven months.



Nvidia GeForce NOW RTX•
For over a year now, trying to get hold of a new graphics card has been a bit of a nightmare, thanks to the combination of a global pandemic and chip shortage, plus pent-up demand and another boom in cryptocurrency . This has left anyone who wanted a new graphics card incredibly frustrated, especially if their aging hardware is struggling to run modern games, and unable to make use of hyped-up ne



I’ve written about the mysterious disappearance and death of Jake Cefolia, a former United Airlines executive. He first went missing last year, and then his remains were found over a year later. There’s now an update to the story that probably explains quite a few things… and it involves child porn. Basics of the United executive who went missing In August 2020, 49-year-old (at the time) United A



40Mashable / 2h
We live in an age of accelerated extinction. Today's rate of extinctions — driven by a quintuple-whammy of destroyed wilderness , exploited critters , invasive species , rapid climate change , and widespread pollution — are happening "at least tens to hundreds of times higher" than extinctions occurred over the past 10 million years, the UN concluded in a major 2019 report . Since the 1500s, at l



33Wired / 2h
In an economically developing country reliant on tourism, the rapidly eroding “smiling coast” shows the urgent need for action on climate change.



Hertz is allowing current elite members to gift status to one person of their choosing, and that status will last through June 30, 2022. Current Five Star members can gift Five Star, and Presidents Circle members can gift Presidents Circle. Continue reading ...



SlashGear / 2h
Rumors about the iPhone 14 started popping up online before the iPhone 13 was announced — and though we don’t yet know what Apple has planned, there’s enough info floating around to speculate. The company is rumored to be working on a foldable iPhone, at least based on certain patents, but there’s no guarantee a folding model is in the … Continue reading



All founders want their companies to thrive without them, but the readiness to act on that awareness continues to be one of the more uncomfortable conversations within today’s market. After all, the glorification of founders (and our constant habit of treating them like rockstars) has some validity: Visionaries are intrinsically interesting humans, wild enough to bet that people would sleep in st



Hardware Bitcoin Wallet•
If you want to own cryptocurrency—either because you’re looking to invest or because you want to spend money online—you’re going to need a crypto wallet. Using one will let you keep your crypto safe, while also allowing you to make transactions. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



Mashable / 3h
Welcome to Thanks, I Love It , our series highlighting something onscreen we're obsessed with this week. You don’t really notice Misty Quigley in the Yellowjackets pilot. She’s there, lining up cones, passing out snacks, and otherwise doing the duties of a student equipment manager to a championship girls’ soccer team. Yet the mousy teen doesn’t make much of a first impression. Really, it’s not u



31Wired / 4h
Comparing ourselves to professional gamers and checking online ranking systems can be humbling—and fun.



Google Pixel Apple 2022•
According to people familiar with the matter, Google is bringing out a Pixel Watch next year – a flagship device showing off Wear OS in the same way that the Pixel series of phones show off the Android mobile operating system. First of all this has been a long time coming: rumors of a Pixel Watch have been swirling for several years at this point. There aren't many gadgets that have remained as r



Buying a second-hand Mac is a great option for anyone put off by Apple’s price premiums for new machines. They’re well-built, they’re well-supported with years of free macOS updates, and any AppleCare+ plans can be transferred to a second-hand buyer. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



68Ars Technica / 4h
Enlarge / A forest activist inspects land clearing and drainage of a peat natural forest in Riau province, Sumatra, Indonesia in 2014. (credit: Ulet Ifansasti | Getty Images) The world has lost a third of its forest since the last ice age , and an estimated 15 percent of global greenhouse gases still come from deforestation and forest degradation. Now a new pledge made at the COP26 climate confer



Nvidia 2060 12 GB FE•
Nvidia’s refresh of the RTX 2060 with 12GB of RAM (and pepped-up specs elsewhere) won’t have a Founders Edition, after a rather confusing apparent reversal of course: Team Green listed the GPU on its site and then quickly removed it, confirming that it won’t make its own model. Let’s break this down step-by-step. Nvidia’s revamped RTX 2060 was first spotted when it was mentioned in its drivers ,



UK IoT Bill Security•
Internet of Things ( IoT ) devices — essentially, electronics like fitness trackers and smart lightbulbs that connect to the internet — are now part of everyday life for most. However, cybersecurity remains a problem, and according to Kaspersky , it’s only getting worse: there were 1.5 billion breaches of IoT devices during the first six months of 2021 alone, according to the antivirus provider,



Engadget / 5h
You can now take a tour of the White House's halls decked with Christmas trees and other decor fit for the season — virtually, that is. Google first added the official residence of the President of the United States to the places you can visit on Street View almost a decade ago. But now, you can take a virtual walk of its premises to see how the place has been decorated. Are you ready for the hol




Mashable / 5h
Save 10%: Target Circle Members can save 10% on any Target gift card up to $500 for a max savings of $50 through Dec. 5. Is there a soul on this planet who's made it through a Target trip without spending more than they intended to? If there is, we've yet to hear about them. But that's because the experience of meandering through a Target and adding items to your cart you've never once had on any



Mashable / 5h
TL;DR: The six-piece Soji smart towel set is just $95.99 at the Mashable Shop with code CMSAVE20 as of Dec. 4. Researchers have proven the towel you're washing your face and body with is dirtier than a toilet seat . But it doesn't have to be. You can wash your towels every single day after you use them, or you can buy these all-natural antibacterial smart towels and stop spiraling out about them.



Mashable / 5h
TL;DR: The Netgear R6400 VPN-protected router is just $175.99 at the Mashable Shop with code CMSAVE20 as of Dec. 4. Easy to use and easy to set up. Credit: FlashRouters If your internet is still slow despite signing up for the fastest internet available, the problem isn't your internet provider. It could be your router. If you're going to upgrade your router anyway, you might as well make sure yo



Mashable / 5h
TL;DR: Get this Orbit Wireless Charger for 40% off. That's just $21.56 (regular price $36) as of Dec. 4 with the code CMSAVE20 . If you could cut down on the time it takes to charge your phone and get back to other things, why wouldn't you? This Orbit MagSafe Charger from Charby boosts charging speeds up to 24 percent compared to a typical USB charger — and it happens to be on sale for 40% off. T



Mashable / 5h
TL;DR: As of Dec. 4, get a DNA My Dog Breed Identification Test & Allergy Test My Pet Kit Bundle for $96 instead of $178 — that's 46% off with the code CMSAVE20 . If you adopted your furry best friend, you've probably spent countless hours wondering where your dog came from. Whether you want to find out for yourself or gift this kit to another pup parent in your life, now is the perfect time to s



Mashable / 5h
TL;DR: The Everyone Gets a Car Sweepstakes is just $28 at the Mashable Shop with code CMSAVE20 as of Dec. 4. As a wise woman named Oprah once said, “Everyone gets a car!” With this contest of the same name from MrBeast and MSCHF, anyone who enters does, indeed, win a car. It’s just the size of said car that’s in question. The Everyone Gets a Car Sweepstakes gives you a chance to win a $450,000 La



This year’s data dump from the streaming music service leaned heavily on contemporary buzzwords and slang — and inspired many, many memes.



46Gizmodo / 6h
Google has delayed its return to office mandate for workers in the U.S. again as concerns over the new coronavirus omicron variant raise alarm worldwide and prompt new restrictions. Read more...



One of the most intriguing product launches of 2022 will be from the Realme GT 2 family. Not only will it bring the follow-up to the Realme GT , one of our favorite smartphones of 2021, but it'll also showcase the first premium Realme phone . That's not speculation; Realme already teased the Realme GT 2 Pro and confirmed its top-end status, so we're greatly anticipating this fancy-sounding flagsh



Mashable / 7h
When you're used to doing everything from an app, it's easy to disregard a device that's not super connected when it could be. Take robot vacuums, for example: Shiny new features like self-emptying docks, smart mapping of your home's layout, and scheduling from your phone are almost expected at this point. But there's clearly still a market for bare minimum vacuums that don't cost hundreds. The I



The best Instant Pots and the array of alternatives, such as the Ninja Foodi range of multi-cookers, are extremely handy kitchen gadgets, as they offer an array of different cooking methods in one appliance. From slow cooking a stew to pressure cooking meats so they fall off the bone, multi-cookers can have a variety of functions making them one of the most versatile kitchen appliances around. So



The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset is official, and if you’re looking to upgrade your top-tier Android phone next year, it’s likely you’ll find this chipset powering your new flagship device. We’ve been learning about what the new chip is capable of, and you’ll find everything you need to know about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in our coverage elsewhere . Flights and accommodation for this launch
YESTERDAY



Mashable / 9h
SAVE 86%: ZenMate VPN provides specialised streaming servers and P2P support for torrenting. A three-year subscription to ZenMate VPN is on sale for £1.33 per month as of Dec. 3, and includes an extra three months for free. There are plenty of reasons to consider subscribing in ZenMate VPN. Users get access to servers in 79 countries from around the world, with apps for all leading operating syst



Receipt Printers Antiwork•
Receipt printers at businesses around the world are being exploited to print out 'anti-work' manifestos according to reports on Reddit and other social media sites. If the “ Great Resignation ” trend wasn't enough, some people have taken things a step further by deciding not to work at all until the employment situation changes to one where the needs and desires of workers are equal to or greater



It appears the makers of the Turing Pi cluster board are preparing to ship the next version of the mini ITX motherboard that’ll hold up to four of the powerful Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4), enabling a variety of use-cases for businesses and developers. Turing Pi 2 , like its predecessor, is designed to power a compact ARM cluster that offers scalable compute on the edge. Besides being a ve



Mashable / 10h
SAVE 83%: Private Internet Access is packed with advanced features for securing your data and protecting your online identity. A three-year subscription to Private Internet Access is on sale for £1.67 per month, and includes an extra three months for free. Remaining anonymous online should be a priority for everyone, even if all you're doing is streaming and shopping on the net. The online world



Mashable / 10h
SAVE 90%: A lifetime subscription to KeepSolid VPN Unlimited is on sale for £15.02 as of Dec. 4, saving you 90% on list price. Hackers, trackers, and disruptive ads aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, they’re likely just hitting their stride. If you haven’t secured yourself with a VPN, now’s the time to do so, since you can snag a lifetime deal for as low as £15.02. Think of a VPN as you



Mashable / 10h
TL;DR: The Complete Limited Edition Mac Bundle is on sale for £22.53, saving you 97% on list price. There’s no denying your Mac’s power. It’s capable of more than you’re likely even aware of. But like anything else, it can always be improved. That’s why there’s an app store brimming with possibilities. Want to boost your Mac’s performance, productivity, graphic design, video, storage, and securit



Mashable / 11h
SAVE 49%: ExpressVPN is arguably the best service for streaming due to its fast connection speeds and reliable unblocking of top sites. A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for £5.15 per month, and includes an extra three months for free. The battle to be the best VPN for streaming is competitive, but ExpressVPN does stand out as probably the best service for unblocking sites like Net



Mashable / 11h
SAVE 50%: Rosetta Stone provides you with the flexibility to learn a new language on your schedule with any device. A Rosetta Stone Unlimited All languages Lifetime Plan is on sale for £174.50 with the exclusive code MASHABLE50 , saving you 50% on list price. Learning a new language is not easy, but it doesn't need to be a total struggle. These days, there are plenty of intuitive services out the




Mashable / 11h
Dogs have gotten way more fashion-forward in recent years. Pups who used to be dressed in kitschy bright pink, paw-printed garb are now decked out in simple understated collars, harnesses, and leashes in muted tones. You've probably seen them on Instagram if not in real


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