Friday, July 29, 2022

Early Friday Technology News and More...



Technology News and More...



50Mashable / 1h
There’s a lot in the news about monkeypox at the moment and some people might be panicking and others might have their hands over their ears. The first documented cases in the UK were in May 2022, so we are still learning about the virus, how serious it is, how it’s transmitted, what effects it’s having, and who is most at risk. So don’t panic, and don’t run away, here’s what you need to know, in



James Bond studio MGM has lost the film rights to the Tomb Raider franchise, leaving Lara Croft in search of a new big screen home. As first reported by The Wrap , MGM had until May 2022 to sign off on a sequel to its 2018 Tomb Raider movie starring Alicia Vikander, but failed to meet the deadline in time. Multiple rival studios are now in the hunt to take over the IP, with one insider describing



I have a feeling we’re going to be hearing a lot about grand juries in the coming months. Earlier this week, news broke that the U.S. Department of Justice brought former Vice President Mike Pence ’s chief of staff before a federal grand jury in D.C. in connection with the, uh, unpleasantness surrounding the 2020… Read more...




It’s getting harder for ransomware operators to get the victims to pay up, but once they do - they pay more than they did a year ago. A new report from Coveware claims that although the number of payments dropped, the value of the payments made rose. It found the average ransom payment for the second quarter of the year was $228,125, up 8% compared to the quarter before. At the same time, the med



Engadget / 9min
This week, Cherlynn and Devindra dive into the world of AI art with Senior Editor Dan Cooper and Creative Futurist John LePore. We know Dall-E and Midjourney can create some truly compelling images from a bit of text, but do they owe a debt to all of the images that they were trained on? Also, we explore the sorry state of Meta and Cherlynn gushes about the new Pixel Buds Pro. Stay tuned to the e



Starting with iOS 16, the iPhone home screen includes a small “Search” button located just above the dock. If you find the addition annoying, Apple makes it easy to remove the search button in Settings. Here’s how. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



View of soprano Leontyne Price having makeup applied by Dick Smith, makeup artist. Handwritten on back: “Makeup man Dick Smith, Miss Price.” E. Azalia Hackley Collection of African Americans in the Performing Arts, Detroit Public Library



This is today’s edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Here are the biggest technology wins in the breakthrough climate bill Two weeks after blowing up hopes of a US climate deal, Senator Joe Manchin announced on Wednesday that he and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic majority leader, had struck a compromise a



The Sims 4 is currently the wild west of romance as an update has had the unintended consequence of revealing that sims have secretly been wanting to bump uglies with family members all along. You no longer need to rely on The Sims 4 cheats to create weird and entirely inappropriate pairings. This week's High School Never Ends update has done all the hard work for you. Wants & Fears has rolled ou



Microsoft has begun rolling out a slew of new user interface updates for Windows Insiders – and one feature will be particularly useful for those with maxed-out taskbars. As part of Windows 11 build 22622.440 , Microsoft is reintroducing taskbar overflow, a feature that adds a neat overflow section for applications that don’t fit in an otherwise chock-full taskbar. The taskbar will automatically



Engadget / 25min
On March 23rd, hackers broke into Axie Infinity's Ronin network to steal Ethereum and USDC stablecoins that were then worth over $600 million. In response to the massive theft, Axie developer Sky Mavis disabled token withdrawal — but apparently not before its CEO moved $3 million worth of Axie's main token, AXS, into Binance. According to Bloomberg , company CEO and co-founder Trung Nguyen made t



Gizmodo / 33min
A winning Mega Millions lottery ticket is one of the most coveted items in modern capitalism, and with the current estimated jackpot at $1.1 billion, lots of people are buying tickets today. We all know that winning the lottery is rare, but with the Mega Millions now cresting over a billion, the odds of you actually… Read more...



Wired / 34min
My rooftop panels showed me that a world powered by renewables would be an overflowing horn of plenty, with fast, sporty cars and comfy homes.



Delta Air Lines just opened the doors to its newest Sky Club. The Atlanta-based carrier’s much-anticipated new Sky Club in Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND) officially welcomed its first guests on Friday, roughly two years after the club was first supposed to open. Delta first previewed the new Sky Club back in February 2020, though the pandemic delayed the original July 2020 opening timeline. Even th



If it's true that JetBlue really faces the choice of grow or die, and this is the only way to grow, then they should be thinking about other ways to deploy their capital. There is nothing written in stone requiring JetBlue to grow in the airline business, or even to maintain their current airline operation. As a company JetBlue should find the most profitable ways to deploy its assets. JetBlue sh



Stop paying for TV. I’m not just talking about cable: You can drop Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, and Disney+, and still be able to watch TV for free. Sure, you won’t be keeping up in the golden age of streaming, but you’ll have 24/7 no-cost entertainment in your living room, thanks to both antennas and internet TV. If… Read more...



Have you ever filled up your vehicle and then immediately saw a better price and a different gas station? With a few simple tips, you can make sure you’re getting the best price in your area. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



Engadget / 41min
The XPS 13 Plus is one of the boldest laptops I've ever seen. It's like Dell sent a computer back in time from the future, Terminator- style. It has a keyboard that stretches from edge to edge, with no gaps between the keys. The haptic trackpad is hidden underneath the wrist rest, and the capacitive function key row keeps things looking clean, without the annoying shape-shifting keys from Apple's



Now that macros in downloaded Microsoft Office files are officially dead , it was only a matter of time before hackers came up with a new scheme. According to cybersecurity experts Proofpoint, they’ve found not one, not two, but three new methods to get victims to download malware . The company’s latest report says that instead of macro-laden Office files, which are now on a significant decline,



After suspending service for over a decade, Air France will be returning to Newark Airport. Air France launches Newark flights in December 2022 As of December 12, 2022, Air France will launch daily flights between Paris (CDG) and Newark (EWR). The flight will operate with the following schedule: AF62 Paris to Newark departing 12:30PM arriving 3:00PM AF63 Newark to Paris departing 5:05PM arriving



Valve is changing the rules for developers on Steam, meaning they can no longer add review scores or awards to their game’s main store images. The new rules will kick into effect on September 1, 2022, from which point on games like The Quarry , Hades and It Takes Two will need to update their imagery to match the clutter-free pics of games like Elden Ring . Explaining its reasoning in an official



Last month, Instagram started testing a full-screen display for photos and videos. And we didn’t like it. Now, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri says the test will be wound down over the next couple of weeks. “For the new feed designs, people are frustrated, and the usage data isn’t great,” Mosseri said to Platformer . He added: “When you discover something in your field that you didn't follow before,




If you have fond memories of P.T. then you'll love this recreation of its iconic hallway in Halo Infinite's upcoming Forge mode. Forge mode in Halo Infinite hasn't officially launched yet. But players with access to an unfinished build are already crafting some truly brilliant creations. And this mock-up of P.T.'s claustrophobic hallway by YouTuber Death Templar is easily one of the most impressi



I really enjoyed Netflix 's Resident Evil series, and Jade Wesker (Ella Balinska) is an undeniably awesome character. But we really need to talk about one thing. Namely, the fact that she's a complete liability. Don't get me wrong, she's ridiculously resourceful. Intelligent. Great in combat. If a herd of zombies were advancing on me I would definitely want Jade there to cower behind. But if I wa



Wired / 1h
This summer’s heat wave knocked roads, railways, and runways out of action. But existing solutions could help shore up critical infrastructure.



Wired / 1h
Law enforcement officers face an air assault as drugs, weapons and phones are flown in to prisoners.



28Wired / 1h
The Inflation Reduction Act would provide billions for Americans to modernize their homes. It’s a way to encourage mass climate action.



26Wired / 1h
As TVs get bigger, it's gotten more complicated to set them up. One simple fix could have you streaming Netflix in no time.



26Wired / 1h
A player claims to have found a hidden room. Now a whole community of fans is trying to figure out what it is.



Wired / 1h
From Spain to Germany and Luxembourg to Estonia, more and more countries are experimenting with fare-free transportation.



To finish off this trip , I flew Air Serbia business class from Belgrade to New York. In this post I wanted to review the Air Serbia Lounge Belgrade, to see how it was holding up. While it’s still a pretty good lounge, unfortunately like most parts of the Air Serbia business class experience , it’s not what it used to be . Air Serbia business class check-in Belgrade After a short night at the Hya



How and when the police can access your doorbell and security cameras is a hot topic in the news and certainly one of great concern for people who value their privacy. What’s actually going on, and how worried should you be? Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



The power of BookTok was unforeseeable — but now undeniable. #BookTok has become something of an institution within the TikTok ecosystem, with a hashtag boasting over 66 billion hits. Here, people share their latest reads, the genres driving them to bookstores, and even annotating and analysing techniques to transform any literary experience. TikTok itself has capitalised on BookTok's meteoric ri



If you've been hoping for Samsung to launch a cheaper OLED TV option than the high-end Samsung S95B QD-OLED TV this year, then you should probably bury those hopes once and for all after comments from LG Display's Chief Financial Officer, Kim Sung-hyun. LG Display is the only company that makes the W-OLED screen tech that's used in almost all of the best OLED TVs – the only alternative to W-OLED



We’re now less than two weeks from the August 10 announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 , but as so often happens with high-profile phone launches, the phone has already been leaked more or less in full. In fact, two big leaks have now landed more or less simultaneously – one revealing the likely design, and the other the probable price. First up, lets take a look at the Samsung Galaxy Z Fol



Umba , a US-based digital bank with a focus on emerging markets, has acquired a majority shareholding of Daraja, a Kenyan deposit-taking microfinance bank, for an undisclosed amount. Kenya’s monetary authority, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), said Umba had taken up 66.6% shareholding, an acquisition that is expected to fast-track Daraja’s digitization. This comes after Umba announced raising $15



20Engadget / 2h
After Meta's revenue shrank for the first time in its history, the company has reportedly told publishers it will no longer pay for content to run in Facebook's News Tab, according to Axios . "Most people do not come to Facebook for news, and as a business it doesn't make sense to over-invest in areas that don't align with user preferences," a spokesperson said in a statement. Facebook spent arou



Warhammer 40k: Darktide, an upcoming four-player co-op shooter and the next game set in Games Workshop’s grimdark sci-fi universe, has been delayed. After briefly appearing in a fresh trailer at the recent Summer Game Fest 2022 , the shooter has been pushed back by 10 weeks. In a post on Twitter , Fatshark CEO, Martin Wahlund, said Darktide is now expected to release on PC on November 30. The Xbo



In this post I wanted to address a situation that I think just about anyone who has hotel elite status has found themselves in… Having hotel elite status & traveling with others There are different trips for different occasions — sometimes I travel alone, sometimes I travel with Ford, and sometimes our parents are in tow as well. When we’re traveling with family we typically book multiple rooms,



Good things come to those who wait. And by good things, we mean Beyoncé's new album Renaissance (part 1). Some people, however, could not wait. Around 36 hours before the scheduled release date at midnight on July 29, the full album was reportedly leaked . The leak caused outrage among her fans who refused to listen to the leaked album, and urged others in the Beyhive (Beyoncé's fanbase) to wait




21Mashable / 2h
Science has been working for YouTuber Mark Rober for his entire career , but today it finally let him down. Appearing on the First We Feast channel to take on the Hot Ones challenge, Rober attempted to use a variety of methods — from coating his mouth with peanut butter to neutralise the spice with lemon ice cubes — in an attempt to overcome the heat from 10 increasingly fiery chicken wings. Unfo



Twitter Blue has gotten pricier, and not by a small amount. The monthly price for Twitter 's subscription service has gone up from $2.99 to $4.99, a 67 percent increase. Twitter noted the change in an email sent to subscribers (via TechCrunch ), where it said that "early adopters" will still be charged $2.99 until further notice. New subscribers, however, will have to pay $4.99 in the U.S. or an



The post appeared first on Popular Mechanics .



Twitter's $3 subscription now costs $5 a month. The social network has sent out an email notifying existing subscribers that Twitter Blue has raised its prices for new members, but as early adopters, the monthly amount they're paying will remain the same until October. In the email posted by social media consultant Matt Navarra and first spotted by The Verge , the company said early adopters will



The Wilds has been cancelled by Amazon Studios after two seasons. According to multiple outlets, including Deadline and Variety , Amazon has abandoned the popular Prime Video show less than three months after its second season was released. Deadline suggests that the series' main cast members were only informed about the decision on Thursday, July 28. At the time of writing, though, members of th



The post appeared first on Popular Mechanics .



Little availability for campsites. Confusing booking windows. Traveler and travel industry frustration is growing with Recreation.gov, the online portal to book accommodations and access on federal lands.



Let's get this out of the way: Paper Girls , the Image comic created by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, debuted in 2015 — a full year before the Duffer Brothers' Stranger Things first premiered on Netflix. And neither team are the first to try their hand at Amblincore , which is a term I just invented to refer to the glut of recent media indebted to the magic of '80s movies brought to you by a



The discourse is scorching on TikTok this week, as those seemingly harmless on-the-street videos face backlash from viewers who argue that not everything, and everyone, is content. Meanwhile, a new phone-flipping trend has already ignited major celeb drama by way of JoJo Siwa, and filters are the new fanfic. And if you want to know what that means, then you have to check out this week's TikTok tr



TL;DR: As of July 29, you can get the EcoFlow 110W Solar Panel for just $289.99 instead of $399 — that's a 27% discount. You may not always have access to an outlet. Whether you’re camping, stuck on the side of the road, or dealing with a power outage, you can’t always be sure you’ll have easy access to electricity. What you can mostly be sure of, however, is that the sun will rise in the morning



TL;DR: As of July 29, you can get the 13-in-1 Docking Station with Dual HDMI for just $59.99 instead of $70 — that's a 14% discount. Years ago, Apple took some heat when they revealed the 2016 MacBook Pro would be far thinner than previous iterations at the cost of most of its ports . Apple isn’t the only company to start streamlining ports on laptops, but what if you need more connectivity but s



TL;DR: As of July 29, you can get the Cool Blades 4.0 Wearable Fan for just $34.99 instead of $119.99 — that's a 70% discount. Modern problems call for modern solutions. Summers may be warming up and getting longer, but you may be able to help keep yourself cool with a sleek wearable. The Cool Blades 4.0 Wearable Fan gives you a hands-free rechargeable fan with a long battery life and three speed



Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is, if nothing else, a testament to the power of trust and persistence. For more than a decade, Nintendo has been throwing seemingly infinite amounts of time and money at developer Monolith Soft to make some of the biggest and most ambitious RPGs of the era. Each Xenoblade, from the series’ 2010 debut on the Wii to this latest Switch -exclusive installment, gives players im



Getting your smartphone repaired can seem like a daunting prospect; knowing that your mobile - full of personal information and photos and sensitive apps - is going to be in the hands of a stranger for a time without you present. And sure, the vast majority of repair specialists are trustworthy experts, but now Samsung phones are getting an extra feature that'll help ease your mind. This is calle



39Engadget / 4h
At the end of its fiscal year in May, Sony was fairly bullish on gaming sales, predicting sales of 18 million PlayStation 5s for 2022 after selling 11.5 million in 2021. The company also expected a "significant" revenue increase in its gaming division over 2021 due to a boost across "all categories." In its latest earnings drop, however, the company has revised its profit forecast down by 16 perc



Software supply chain security has become topical in the wake of high profile dependency-based attacks. Producing an SBOM for your software artifacts can help you identify weaknesses and trim down the number of packages you rely on. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



The post appeared first on Popular Mechanics .



53Mashable / 5h
The Sims 4 got a free update on Tuesday, adding new features as well as fixing bugs such as Sims' inability to scoot over in beds against walls. Unfortunately, this patch also introduced some new bugs , opening up uncomfortable options regarding exactly what they can do once in those beds. Or more specifically, who they can do it with. Multiple players have noticed their Sims developing inappropr



The post appeared first on Popular Mechanics .
YESTERDAY



The news that Apple's macOS Ventura would cease offering guidance on how to set up your dial-up modem waylaid me with an intense wave of nostalgia that rocketed my mind back 32 years to the early days of the Internet, email, and that oh-so-classic handshake sound. Dial-up, the phone-line-based communications protocol for connecting computers to distant computers, and the early Internet, is not de




Moving to “as code” for everything connected to your project helps you maintain consistency, track changes over time, and automate your processes. An effective implementation should let you ship reliable software more efficiently. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



The MINI cars we all know and love are about to get a major makeover. This week MINI’s parent company, BMW Group, unveiled the all-new MINI Aceman EV concept crossover, and it’s wild looking. This new all-electric car has no chrome, no leather, lights everywhere, and is as spunky and modern as can be. Read This Article on Review Geek ›



Twitter is increasing the price of its subscription service, Twitter Blue, from $2.99 to $4.99 per month. Starting in October, existing subscribers will have to pay more. New users will currently have to pay the hiked rate. Apart from the U.S., the price hike is also applicable to other countries like Australia, Canada and New Zealand with new fees being 6.99 AUD (previously 4.49 AUD), 6.49 CAD (



TikTok may be working on a rival to Spotify and Apple Music, based on a new trademark application its parent company ByteDance just filed in the US. The trademark is for a service called TikTok Music. Not only does the name imply that it’ll be a rival to the world’s best music streaming services , but the trademark application spells it out for us. ByteDance calls TikTok Music a smartphone and co



The best fans are capable of making a hot and sticky day far more bearable. Providing you with a breeze of fresh air in your home at a time when even opening the windows doesn't seem to be clearing things up. Pretty much every home could do with a fan, especially if you don't have air conditioning. A fan isn't as straightforward to purchase as you would think. You need to consider if you want a b



PS Remote Play is still a thing, and the Backbone One – PlayStation Edition is just the reminder we needed. While it's not on a par with Xbox Cloud Gaming , PS Remote Play does let you stream PS4 and PS5 games on the go using your smartphone's mobile data. This wasn't always the case, but a PS5 firmware update last year added the feature. So players aren't stuck at home tethered to their consoles



TL;DR: The 2022 Complete Renewable Energy Engineer Preparation Bundle is on sale for £41.44, saving you 97% on list price. As the demand for renewable energy grows, so too should the demand for jobs and skilled workers. If you want a primer on common renewable energies and both the large- and small-scale applications for them, then try out the 2022 Complete Renewable Energy Engineer Preparation B



SAVE 49%: ExpressVPN leads the way when it comes to secure streaming. A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for £86.01 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. We know the final season of Game of Thrones didn't exactly live up to expectation, but that shouldn't stop you from giving House of the Dragon a chance. This prequel show is set hundreds of years



The US federal courts' document filing system was attacked by three hostile foreign actors, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler has told fellow lawmakers. According to Politico , Nadler made the first public disclosure of the cyberattack at a committee hearing on oversight of the Justice Department’s National Security Division (NSD). The attack happened as part of a bigger security bre



So-called murder hornets decimate honeybees, and that's a big problem. Experts are tracking the hornets to find their nests, and they plan to use drones.



David and Victoria Beckham have been spending the summer cruising on a massive yacht called the Madsummer.



upennmanuscripts : “The baby bat Screamed out in fright, ‘Turn on the dark, I’m afraid of the light.” ― Shel Silverstein One lone bat flapping in the bottom margin of f. 159r Ms. Codex 724, a 13th century French Bible #drollerydonnerstag Online: bit.ly/3ycFRg7



It's finally Friday, folks, and though Mark Zuckerberg's promising to further ruin your Facebook and Instagram feeds , you can forget that for a minute with a spot of Wordle . If you're finding today's a challenge, though, we've got your back. All it'll take is a couple of handy pointers, and you'll be well on your way. The answer to the July 29 Wordle, puzzle #405, can be found at the end of thi



At first glance, the iQoo Neo 6 smartphone from Vivo's sub-brand looks like just another face in the crowd, but there's more to it than meets the eye.



In light of the recent controversy, Instagram is taking a step back from its plans to overhaul its app in a big way. However, videos are still the future.



Experts are still assessing how China apparently leapfrogged ahead in its effort to manufacture a semiconductor that rivals those made in Taiwan, which supplies both China and the West.



The V/H/S found-footage horror anthology series experienced a shot of adrenaline last year with V/H/S/94 , which despite being the fourth film in the main franchise was probably its best-received entry to date . Shudder hopes to keep the freaky magic going with V/H/S/99 , a new installment set in guess which year. Read more...



Enlarge (credit: NASAJPL-Caltech ) On Wednesday, NASA announced that it had made major changes to its plan for returning samples from the surface of Mars in the early 2030s. Currently being collected by the Perseverance rover, the samples are set to be moved to Earth by a relay of rovers and rockets. Now, inspired by the success of the Ingenuity helicopter, NASA is saying it can lose one of the r



Elon Musk plans to build his own airport in the Austin area. The Boring Company's headquarters is a mere three miles from Austin Executive Airport - although last year top executives at the Boring Company acquired 73 acres for a warehouse and manufacturing facility in... Northwest Bastrop where the new airport is believed to be planned. Continue reading ...



Intel’s latest video showcased one of its Arc Alchemist graphics card, the Arc A750 specifically, in action. The video, as reported by Digital Trends , shows the Intel Arc card running Death Stranding at impressive frame rates between 85 and 100 on the default setting. The graphics card is running with a Core i9-12900K processor and an Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboard, while using a dual mo




200+Futurism / 12h
Many of the world's most rascally rascals will sometimes make the smallest attempts to stay out of trouble, but not Martin Shkreli. The notorious "pharma bro," who rose to prominence for jacking the price of a life-saving medication sky high, has officially gotten himself embroiled in two new investigatio


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