Wednesday, September 21, 2022

HumpDay Wednesday Technology News and More...



Technology News and More...



Enlarge (credit: Maskot via Getty ) Last month, California finalized a rule that will ban the sale of new gas-powered cars, starting in 2035. Obviously, that’ll accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and encourage other states to do the same. (Oregon has already followed California’s lead .) But less obviously, spurning carbon-spewing vehicles could help buttress the United States’ ancient,



The post appeared first on Popular Mechanics .



Another Wednesday Quordle . Are Wednesday Quorldes special somehow? Yes of course: They signify the midpoint of your workweek. That means an especially challenging Wednesday Quordle is a powerful symbol that means everything is about to get easier as the weekend gets closer. Now, that might not actually happen, but it's just a symbol. Anyway, you've come to the right place for hints. There aren't




The post appeared first on Popular Mechanics .



Twitch is updating its gambling policy to ban some gambling websites. The change was announced amidst an ongoing gambling controversy surrounding UK Twitch streamer Sliker, aka Abraham Mohammed. From Oct. 18, Twitch will no longer allow users to stream gambling websites that feature slots, roulette, or dice games, if the website doesn't hold a license in the U.S. or another jurisdiction that prov
YESTERDAY



Meet Immortal Game , a startup that wants to turn chess into a web3 game with NFTs, play-to-earn rewards, quests, a marketplace and more. Online chess has never been so popular and Immortal Game wants to take advantage of that trend to modernize the game. The company has raised $15.5 million across two rounds, including a $12 million round in July. With this Series A round, TCG Crypto is leading



Synthetic speech tech startup Murf gives a voice, literally, to content creators of all sizes. Murf, which now has a library of more than 120 human-parity AI voices across 20 languages, announced today it has raised $10 million Series A funding led by Matrix partners. Participation came from returning investors Elevation Capital and several prominent angel investors like Ola founder Ankit Bhai; D



Meet Loctax , a company that wants to change how tax teams work in multinational companies. There are still many departments that rely on outdated tools and processes to get something done. According to this startup founded in 2020, tax reporting is currently a fragmented and error-prone process that could benefit from a software upgrade. Loctax targets companies that operate across multiple coun



Twitch is cracking down on some gambling sites after a streamer scammed his peers out of tens of thousands of dollars to fuel a betting habit, kicking off a firestorm about how the platform should handle games of chance in the process. Over the weekend, ItsSliker , a U.K.-based streamer who gained some popularity back in 2019 after appearing on game show streams , was accused of misleading Twitch



Nearly three years ago, a special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) spearheaded by investor Chamath Palihapitiya took the space tourism company Virgin Galactic public. It was the first human spaceflight company to trade on the NYSE — or any exchange, for that matter — and it was so successful that it almost immediately kicked off a SPAC frenzy. The beauty of the mechanism, as Palihapitiya sugges



Because of the cost of maintenance or repairs, the price to insure a Tesla can prove to be extremely expensive.



General Motors Geo cars are infamous for their short-lived and unpopular run, selling just 800,000 cars over eight years.



Wordle's latest puzzle has a solution that can be solved in only two guesses, assuming you choose the right starting word. Do you need more hints? We have them.



Spotify released its new Audiobooks segment today, which contains more than 300,000 titles for listeners.



zsrspecial : In honor of Banned Books Week, check out these photos from our previous celebration in 1998. This is your reminder to read your favorite banned book this week! hdl.handle.net/10339/87688



utwo : The Esteban Echeverría Public Library © Travefotografia



comradeharrison : Aretha Franklin photographed by Frank Driggs.



youcannottakeitwithyou : Giovanni Ciniselli (1832–1883). The Reading Girl.



Twitch has announced a significant change to its policy amidst rising concerns about the presence of gambling streams on the platform. On Twitter, Twitch said it will prohibit the streaming of gambling websites that feature slots, roulette and dice games unlicensed in the US and other regions that "provide sufficient consumer protection." The policy change will take effect on October 18th, and Tw



TL;DR: A lifetime subscription to Speakly (all languages) is on sale for £60.90, saving you 82% on list price. It may be harder to learn a language as an adult than it was when you were a kid, but it’s not impossible by any means. Experts tend to recommend immersion in the language as the fastest and most reliable way to learn, but that’s not the only way. If you want to learn a language right fr



An enormous batch of leaked GTA 6 footage has appeared online, confirming numerous details about the much-anticipated crimefest. Spanning a huge array of work-in-progress gameplay, the leaked footage hands us our first glimpse of GTA 6 in action – albeit in a completely unpolished state. Gunplay and other gameplay features are shown, while character and setting details are hinted at within the en




It is Wednesday, my dudes, and a wee wicked Wordle has wended its way to our devices once again. Whether you're smashing it or struggling, we're here to help every day . If you just want the answer, you can jump straight to the end of this article for September 21's Wordle solution. If you'd rather work through it yourself, keep reading for some tips, tricks, and clues. SEE ALSO: Wordle yesterday



100+Futurism / 6h
Wardrobe Function Shopping for clothes online is always a gamble. Sure, you might find better prices, but you won’t know if the fit is right until you try it on for real. Enter Walmart's proposed solution: a just- launched feature in its iOS app, Walmart’s " Be Your Own Model " allows customers to virtually try on its selection of clothes. Rather than clunkily superimposing the clothes over a pic



500+Futurism / 6h
Mars Scars The James Webb Space Telescope has captured its first images of Mars , providing crisp new observations of a damaged planet. Using the scope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), astronomers got a new look at the Hellas Basin, believed to have formed some four billion years ago when an unknown object of gargantuan proportions smashed into Mars’ surface when the poor planet was still young.



It’s the 1980s and Chippendales are still a thing. No, not the two chipmunks — the gloriously luxurious male strip clubs. Hulu's latest trailer for its miniseries Welcome to Chippendales teases a dramatic retelling of Somen "Steve" Banerjee’s notorious empire and the murder that spiraled its downfall. Created by Emmy nominee Robert Siegel ( Pam and Tommy ), Welcome to Chippendales follows Banerje



Charles Leclerc could effortlessly amass a fancy and expensive car collection with all those earnings, but which is the fairest (and costliest) of the lot?



Google Docs is one of the most convenient word processors available, and it packs a surprising number of features, including some you may not know about.



Before a recent flight, I walked into a United Club pretty hungry but with very tempered expectations about the options I’d find. I expected to encounter some brownie bites, crackers, juice or maybe even a microwave-quality biscuit, only to be (pleasantly) shocked. Where I thought I’d just see some modest snacks, there was one of the most exciting things imaginable inside an airline lounge: a rea



The race to bring China-made goods to Western consumers via online stores is heating up. Pinduoduo, the Chinese e-commerce giant known for offering hard-to-believe deals, has quickly gained momentum for its first international endeavor in the U.S. The company’s overseas shopping app, called Temu , briefly claimed the top spot of Android shopping apps in the U.S. in mid-September before dipping to



To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here . Hey there, you deep-fried morsels of delight. Deep fried, because that’s the thing that made you crunchy. No? Because this is the Daily Crunch? The TechCrunch team got so competitive in this season of the Great Tech Bake-off, cooking up an incredible amount of scru



Kubernetes v1.24 and later releases ship without Dockershim after its deprecation in December 2020’s v1.20 release. Dockershim’s no longer available as a built-in container runtime. You need to use a different supported runtime instead, such as containerd, CRI-O, or Docker Engine with the cri-dockerd adapter. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



I don’t know what to make of this, but I find it to be very strange… Reports of weird noises on airplane intercoms The always insightful @xJonNYC has an interesting thread about some weird occurrences on airlines lately, involving the intercom. The first report was from an American Airlines Boeing 737-800, where there were repeated hacking, moaning, and screaming noises over the PA. The flight at



After a film grosses almost $3 billion at the global box office , you have to imagine the studio behind it would want to cash in immediately. Get a sequel into theaters ASAP. Strike while the iron is hot. Avatar director James Cameron is not that kind of person though. He doesn’t rush things . And yet, even he admits… Read more...



Welcome to the very first China Report newsletter! I’m Zeyi Yang, and every Tuesday I’ll bring you news about China’s technology industry. This week, let’s unpack recent actions on China from the Biden administration. Lately, President Biden has been getting busy with executive orders that are, without naming China, very related to China. In the past three weeks, there have been at least three or



The lounge will be 5200 square feet on the A concourse. The A concourse is also home to the Air France and Virgin Atlantic lounges, though all concourses are connected airside and the A concourse connected to the B side with the Lufthansa, Turkish, and British Airways lounges. It will include a 1,000 square foot bar/lounge, over 900 square foot dining room, 1,400 square-foot work area, family roo



As recently as last year, TikTok employed a two-tier moderation system that gave preferential treatment to its most popular users, according to Forbes . The outlet obtained an audio recording of a September 2021 meeting where the company detailed an internal feature called “creator labels” that was reserved for accounts with more than 5 million followers. When it came to moderating those users, m



Ever since the world got its first look at iOS 16 ’s reintroduced battery percentage indicator at the start of last month, people have voiced strong opinions about the icon. Many, including Engadget Deputy Editor Cherlynn Low , felt Apple could have done a better job with it. In its current iteration, the icon remains static – displaying only a percentage – until your iPhone’s battery depletes be



CRM company Salesforce has announced the launch of its own carbon credits marketplace, with the goal of clearing the path to net zero emissions for businesses of all sizes. At Dreamforce , the company's annual conference, Salesforce offered a first glimpse of its new Net Zero Marketplace, which is said to make the purchasing of carbon credits simpler and more transparent. Built atop Salesforce Co



200+Gizmodo / 9h
While promoting Netflix’s upcoming Wendell & Wild , director Henry Selick was featured in conversation with Collider at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he discussed if he and Nightmare Before Christmas creator Tim Burton were ever approached for a sequel to the 1993 beloved stop-motion film Selick… Read more...



45Gizmodo / 9h
New York City subways are getting an upgrade. No, not more trains, more stops, fewer delays, or updated stations, but instead a ton more surveillance cameras. Every car in the subway system will soon be equipped with two cameras, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday. Read more...



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The news keeps coming in tabletop gaming! In anticipation of Internationale Spieltage—also known as SPIEL—games are being announced left and right as publishers ramp up to demo in Germany next week . There’s always a lot happening in the hobby, and this week we’ve got some great mecha games, indie duets, and even a… Read more...



A common heart and blood pressure drug could see a second act as a treatment for alcohol use disorder, new government-led research this week suggests. The study has found evidence in both rodents and humans that the medication spironolactone can reduce people’s craving for and consumption of alcohol. Read more...



22Gizmodo / 9h
40 privacy and racial justice groups signed an open letter demanding MGM Studios cancel Ring Nation, a dystopian reality television show based on security footage captured from Ring home cameras. The groups warned airing the show risks “normalizing and promoting Amazon Ring’s dangerous network of surveillance… Read more...



I find travel on Spirit to be a value but I am not likely to fly them in the next 3 months, and certainly not enough to requalify after the 3 month status match, so won't pursue this myself - but several of you will find this helpful. Continue reading ...



62Wired / 10h
When hackers release game information early, it's the developers that suffer—not the players.



Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Morgan Stanley on Tuesday agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a $35 million penalty for data security lapses that included unencrypted hard drives from decommissioned data centers being resold on auction sites without first being wiped. The SEC action said that the improper disposal of thousands of hard drives starting in 2016 was part of an “



Enlarge / A Charter Spectrum service truck in McKinney, Texas, on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg) Charter Communications must pay over $1.1 billion to the estate and family of an 83-year-old woman murdered in her home by a Spectrum cable technician, a Dallas County Court judge ruled yesterday. A jury in the same court previously ordered Charter to pay $7 billion in puni



Enlarge / An artist's conception of DART's electronics in the last moments before they suffer catastrophic failure. (credit: NASA ) This coming Monday, NASA will broadcast its first attempt to modify the orbit of an asteroid, a capability that will be essential if we detect an asteroid that poses a threat of colliding with Earth. The planetary defense effort is focused on a craft called DART, for



Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg ) After Amazon made a blockbuster of a deal to acquire Roomba-maker iRobot in August, it looked like Amazon was primed to suddenly dominate the consumer robotics industry. However, earlier this month, Politico reported that the deal won’t go through unless the Federal Trade Commission approves. Weeks in already, like a Roomba in a dusty basemen



Enlarge / Comcast's xFi Advanced Gateway. (credit: Getty Images | Jeff Fusco ) Comcast announced today that it has tested "the final technical component necessary to deliver multi-gigabit symmetrical speeds" and said it's on track to deliver multi-gigabit download and upload speeds to at least some cable customers "before the end of 2023." The test using Broadcom equipment delivered download spee



Apple Music’s app is one of its biggest weaknesses of its app-based streaming service, which seems...not ideal. Whether you’re on your iPhone or your Mac, the app has never been known for being particularly snappy; Reddit users in particular love to complain about it . If you’ve found the Apple Music app to be… Read more...



You might want to put up shelves but feel hesitant to do anything that could damage your walls. And even if you’re pretty handy with a putty knife, fixing screw and nail holes can often leave traces behind, which could potentially be a problem if you’re a renter. The good news is that there are ways to get some… Read more...



The thought of earning money without doing any active work sounds pretty nice. When people talk about “earning money while you sleep” (even though that’s a myth ), they’re usually referring to passive or residual income. Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, there are some key differences between… Read more...



When the COVID shots first came out, the CDC wanted to be cautious. It was a new vaccine, after all, so they recommended waiting two weeks before or after getting any other vaccine, including a flue shot. That guidance has changed. You can now get your flu and COVID shots at the same visit—but maybe not in the same… Read more...



A recent Consumer Product Safety Commission alert is urging people to not use male-to-male power chords. In spite of being illegal, the product is available online with the supposed use to feed electricity from a generator into a building’s main power system. The consequences of doing so, however, could be dire. Many… Read more...



With fears of a recession approaching , it’s natural to turn to the experts for some personal finance advice. Much of the advice you find from self-proclaimed finance gurus is straightforward enough: Save more, spend less, and, oh yes, one last thing: Buy their book to learn how you, too, can achieve financial freedom! Read more...



21Mashable / 11h
In its effort to remain family-friendly and woo advertisers, YouTube has often struggled to please its vast, diverse community of creators. It seems that the brand's first-ever "Made on YouTube" event, held this morning, was an attempt to strengthen that relationship by showing creators how much YouTube cares about their work and revenue streams . Unfortunately, the event proved that they still h



Piracy sites are bombarding users with malicious ads, pushing victims into downloading viruses, malware, and even ransomware, a new report has warned. Research published by the Digital Citizens Alliance, White Bullet, and Unit 221B found piracy sites, where people seek free content such as movies, series, or sports events, are filled with malvertising - malicious ads that promote scare tactics an



It's time we took a new look at the Peloton Tread. After a rocky patch of recalls in 2021, it would seem Peloton's back on track, but is this ecosystem for you?



100+TechCrunch / 11h
In the early hours on Monday, a Tesla Megapack battery caught fire at a key California power storage facility, the state’s largest utility said in a statement to TechCrunch. According to PG&E, the utility “became aware of a fire in one Tesla Megapack at its Elkhorn Battery Storage facility” at around 1:30 a.m. in Moss Landing, which is located about 25 miles south of Santa Cruz, in Monterey Count




Graphics card releases always generate a lot of hype, and the rumor mill usually begins churning out content a year before they’re released. Well, the official word on NVIDIA’s RTX 4000-series is finally available — here are some important takeaways if you’re looking to upgrade. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



25Mashable / 11h
Next time you pose for an Instagram photo in public, don't forget to also smile for the numerous surveillance cameras in the area. "The Follower" may be watching. Belgium-based artist Dries Depoorter 's latest project, "The Follower," reveals just how often people are being surveilled in public. And all he needed to track down his social media targets in real life was a photo that they posted on



Even though it’s only September, I’ve already booked my flights home for the holidays. 2020 marked the first year in my 32 years of life that I ever missed Christmas in St. Louis with my parents, which meant I was beyond excited to see them last Thanksgiving after being separated for 12 months. Being able to travel home more easily and often is a big reason why I moved to Chicago in June. It help



There's a lot to love about the new iPhone 14 -- and also some things that we would have done differently. Here's the full breakdown.



NVIDIA unveiled the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 GPUs, and while they’re amazing GPUs, they’re not coming without competition. Not only is there a new player in the game, Intel, but AMD, NVIDIA’s main competitor, is also preparing new GPUs of their own. And we’ll see more about them very, very soon. Read This Article on How-To Geek ›



1KFuturism / 11h
Billionaire Wipeout It's no secret that Meta-formerly-Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse pivot isn't exactly paying off yet. The billionaire's fortune has dropped by a whopping $71 billion — leaving him with a piddling $55.9 billion left over — this year, Bloomberg reports , rendering him only the 20th richest person in the world. Sure, that's still plenty of pocket money. But it's the lowe



SpinLaunch ’s technique for sending payload to orbit, which uses centrifugal force to fling mass to space, has solicited its fair share of skeptics. But at least some of those skeptics are likely a little quieter today, as the company announced a notable new funding round to accelerate the commercialization of its kinetic launch system. The company’s latest funding round comes in at $71 million,



Leoparda Electric, a São Paolo–based startup, wants to be the Gogoro of Latin America. In other words, it’s looking to build out a network of battery swapping stations that should help spread adoption of electric two-wheelers in the region. While LatAm is the second largest two-wheeler market after Southeast Asia, electrification in the region has been slow to develop. That’s in part due to polic



Salesforce has detailed what it describes as the "biggest innovation" to come to its CRM and sales enablement platform in the last two decades. The new addition, Salesforce Genie, is a service designed to unify customer data that is typically siloed in different channels and applications into a single multi-use profile. At Dreamforce 2022, Salesforce explained the objective is to help customers e



Adobe has announced its intentions to buy online collaboration tool Figma for $20 billion. The half-cash/half-stock deal, which has yet to be finalized, is a bold move from the company behind leading creative apps Photoshop and Premiere Pro - and will be Adobe’s largest acquisition yet. But the shock announcement saw the firm’s stock tumble, with investors seemingly punishing the firm for the hig



When it comes to a long flight or an airport delay, having your favorite travel items is key. The perfect sleep mask, cozy apparel or noise-canceling headphones can go a long way when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep while jet lagged or staying comfortable during a long flight. Whether you’re traveling solo, with co-workers, family or friends, there are a number of products that can enhan



Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the latest information. It’s no secret that American Express Membership Rewards are my favorite points and miles currency . Over the years, Membership Rewards have given me tens of thousands of dollars in value. I’ve used these points to fly everything from Lufthansa first class to countless domestic hops booked at the last minute. Many of these tri



I don’t know why I find this to be so funny, but I kind of can’t stop watching this video and chuckling. Emirates and United are now partnering Last week Emirates and United announced a partnership . Symbolically this is a massive development, given the feud that historically existed between the “big three” US carriers and the “big three” Gulf carriers. Going back many years, I don’t think most w



30Gizmodo / 12h
Depression and anxiety are completely normal part of life, but they become problems when they inhibit our day-to-day functions. Given a surge in mental health issues across America , the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is proposing anxiety screenings for all adults. Read more...



32Gizmodo / 12h
Officials out West are worried that crucial reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin states are going to run dry in only three years if significant water reductions aren’t implemented soon. Read more...



21Gizmodo / 12h
Wintermute , one of the most prominent market makers in the cryptocurrency industry, has been hacked. A cybercriminal stole approximately $160 million in various tokens from the company, according to Wintermute’s CEO. However, the company claims it is solvent and still holds twice as much equity as the amount that was… Read more...



20Gizmodo / 12h
Hey, you. Yeah you. You like listening to things? Listen to this. You now have access to audiobooks through Spotify. You still listening? Listen closely. At the end of the day, there’s really nothing that makes it worth listening to an audiobook on Spotify versus any other app, at least not yet. Read more...



61Futurism / 12h
It's-a Me! A video of Gravity Industries founder — and jetpack inventor — Richard Browning performing some daring stunts at this year's International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago went viral over the weekend. Instead of simply zipping back and forth over a desolate mountainside , city river , or lake , Browning mixed it up this time, with astonishing results. The video shows him leap f



78Futurism / 12h
Inspector Gadget If spy literature has taught us anything, it's that covert operators sure do love their toys. They also, apparently, really don't like when you threaten to take their toys away. Case in point: per The Washington Post , the Pentagon is to conduct a "sweeping audit" of the US military's social media-driven psychological operations (PSYOP) practices, following efforts by Facebook an



300+Futurism / 12h
Miami Plans If you're planning a trip to Miami or the Florida Keys, you may want to book tickets sooner rather than later. Experts are warning that if climate change continues unchecked, most of Florida's southern coast will be underwater in just a few decades. "The tide is coming in and eventually it's not going to go back out," Harold Wanless, a University of Miami geologist and professor of ge




1KFuturism / 12h
Beam Me Down A leading Chinese solar power company says it's sending panels to orbit in an effort to establish a 24/7 operation harvesting the bright solar energy up there and beaming it back to Earth. As Bloomberg reports , the Xi'an-based Longi Green Energy Technology Company's proposal is garnering interest because of its deceptively simple value prospect — that it can harness solar power all



95Futurism / 12h
Optimus Time Tesla CEO Elon Musk is doubling down on the company's efforts to develop a working prototype of its much-hyped and much-criticized Optimus humanoid robot — so much so that he's willing to borrow workers from the carmaker's Autopilot department to speed things up. "Note, Autopilot/AI team is also working on Optimus and (actually smart) summon/autopark, which have end of month deadline



Earlier this summer, a Google exec admitted that TikTok was eating into its core Search business , particularly among younger users. But that’s not all TikTok is now being used for, a new Pew Research Center study indicates. According to the findings from a report that examined Americans’ use of social media for news consumption, 33% of TikTok users now say they regularly get their news on the so



In a sign that national security tech is a safe bet even during troubled economic times, defense- and security-focused VC firm Razor’s Edge Ventures today announced the closing of its third startup investment fund at just under $340 million. It exceeded the initial target of $250 million, the firm notes, and will target companies developing autonomous systems, space technologies, cybersecurity, A



GM wants to exclusively sell electric vehicles by 2035 , and it's now trying to nudge the US government toward the same goal. The automaker has teamed up with an advocacy group, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), to develop recommended principles for the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) car emissions standards from the 2027 model year onward. The guidelines are meant to accelerate EV ad



These days we all buy a ton of stuff online, and a good majority of that is likely from Amazon. With online shopping, ratings and reviews are one of the most important factors for many users. Still, it’s important to remember that not everything is what it seems when you’re browsing Amazon’s marketplace. Read This Article on Review Geek ›



100+Gizmodo / 12h
Hellraiser arrives on Hulu just in time for Halloween , aiming to offer a fresh, modernized take on the Clive Barker series—which, after its groundbreaking 1987 original film, has since been more of a straight-to-video affair. Tasked with this tall order is director David Bruckner , who spoke about his new film at a… Read more...



We already knew that Google would take the wraps off its Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro phones at an event on October 6. Now we can be reasonably sure the phones will be available for pre-order that day, as our friends at Android Police caught fine print in an official Google promotional video saying just that. At the end of a Pixel 7 Pro video, the text says that the phone will be available for pre-ord



While the first trailer for Ryan Murphy's Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story appeared to sensationalize the notorious serial killer's crimes, the second trailer focuses more on Dahmer's (Evan Peters) victims — and the law enforcers who did nothing to help them. The trailer highlights the story of Glenda Cleveland (Niecy Nash), one of Dahmer's neighbors. She realized that Dahmer was committing unth



There's an old expression used among artists at Lucasfilm: "To make Star Wars, you've got to hate Star Wars." OK, maybe hate is a bit extreme ( thanks, Yoda ). But clearly, modern makers need to be restless and dissatisfied with the ways this 43-year-old franchise has explored its

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