Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Technology News and More-Wednesday Edition...

Technology News and More...



Apple cancels its autonomous electric car project and is laying off some workers
400+TechCrunch / 12h
Apple is scuttling its secretive, long-running effort to build an autonomous electric car, executives announced in a short meeting with the team Tuesday morning. The company is likely cutting hundreds of employees from the team and all work on the project has stopped, TechCrunch has learned. Some remaining employees will be shifted to Apple’s generative […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved.


Cops Called to 'Willy Wonka Experience' as Crying Children Realize AI Ads Were Lies


500+Gizmodo / 14h
Police were called to the scene of “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” in Glasgow, Scotland, as children burst into tears when the “immersive experience” promised in AI advertisements turned out to be a sparsely decorated warehouse. Read more...


It turns out that Odysseus landed on the Moon without any altimetry data
400+Ars Technica - All content / 10h
Enlarge / Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lander is shown shortly before touching down on the Moon. (credit: Intuitive Machines) HOUSTON—Steve Altemus beamed with pride on Tuesday morning as he led me into Mission Control for the Odysseus lander, which is currently operating on the Moon and returning valuable scientific data to Earth. A team of about a dozen operators sat behind consoles, attempting



How does AI play a part in a world striving for net-zero?
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 12min
Artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to solve some of the thorniest problems facing humanity, including the challenges of climate change. But at the same time, the technology - in particular, generative AI - uses a vast amount of computational power, and consequently a huge amount of energy. This is a problem, and one which is only going to grow. The amount of computing power required


'Ambient battlefield' is the strangest ASMR trend that just might help you sleep
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 55min
Close your eyes and imagine a calm, relaxing scene. What can you hear? Maybe the gentle patter of rain, a rumble of thunder, damp mud squelching, the distant gunfire of WWI fighter planes... No, you haven't switched your 'goodnight' mix to your 'zombie outbreak' playlist. Some people really are using 'battlefield ambience' to get to sleep. If 'trench warfare' isn't what springs to mind when you h


Amazon accused of using AI to 'replicate the voices' of actors in Road House remake
Engadget / 2h
Amazon is being sued by the writer of the original 1989 Patrick Swayze version of the film Road House over alleged copyright infringement in the movie's remake, The Los Angeles Times has reported. Screenwriter R. Lance Hill accuses Amazon and MGM Studios of using AI to clone actors' voices in the new production in order to finish it before the copyright expired. Hill said he filed a petition with


'Fastest SSD on the planet': Crucial's T705 tops benchmarks as reviewers rave about its performance — but it is far too expensive and a RAID-0 setup may beat it
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 2h
Crucial's new T705 SSD certainly looks impressive on paper - it claims to be 25x faster than SATA and nearly 2x faster than Crucial's fastest Gen4 SSD, with sequential reads/writes up to 14,500/12,700MB/s. The drive, which is available in capacities up to 4TB, is engineered with Micron's 232-layer TLC NAND3 and compatible with Intel Core 13th-14th Gen desktop CPUs & AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPU. Add


How to watch the BRIT Awards 2024 online for free
Mashable / 2h
TL;DR: Stream the BRIT Awards 2024 for free on ITVX . Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN . Do you like to see the biggest stars in the entertainment industry all sat together in one room, forced into awkward conversation like they're at a wedding? How about live performances from the biggest names in the music game? What about seeing all of those famous


How to watch the 2024 UK Open darts online for free
Mashable / 2h
TL;DR: Stream the 2024 UK Open darts for free on ITVX . Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN . We've made a lot of noise recently about how you can watch the FA Cup for free , and now you can catch the 'FA Cup of Darts' for free. We love it when you can watch sport without spending anything, so we feel the need to let the world know when there is a way to


How to watch Liverpool vs. Southampton online for free
Mashable / 2h
TL;DR: Stream Liverpool vs. Southampton in the FA Cup for free on ITVX . Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN . Liverpool are fresh from winning the Carabao Cup in dramatic fashion, so confidence will be high as they take on Southampton in the FA Cup . Klopp will be desperate to win everything in his last year at the club, but Southampton won't go down wi


How to watch Wolves vs. Brighton online for free
Mashable / 2h
TL;DR: Stream Wolves vs. Brighton in the FA Cup for free on BBC iPlayer . Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN . Fans can watch the FA Cup for free this season, but that all changes next year as the competition moves behind a paywall . That's frustrating news for footy fans, so we should all make the most of this final year of free coverage. If you want t


How to watch Nottingham Forest vs. Manchester United online for free
Mashable / 2h
TL;DR: Stream Nottingham Forest vs. Manchester United in the FA Cup for free on BBC iPlayer . Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN . Teams only need to win four more games to get their hands on the FA Cup . That seems easy, but it's really not. There are still 16 sides left in the competition, and everyone will believe that they can go all the way. If you


How to watch Chelsea vs. Leeds United online for free
Mashable / 2h
TL;DR: Stream Chelsea vs. Leeds United in the FA Cup for free on ITVX . Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN . There are only 16 teams left in this year's edition of the FA Cup , which means every remaining side has a genuine chance of winning the competition. There are some really interesting matchups in this round, but Chelsea vs. Leeds United might be


Study the core concepts of ethical hacking for under £40
Mashable / 2h
TL;DR: The All-in-One Ethical Hacking Bundle is on sale for £36.28, saving you 95% on list price. There may be a steep learning curve for working in the cybersecurity industry, but you might not have to wait for formal classes to start studying. If you want a comprehensive look at the basics, try this ethical hacking course bundle. This eLearning course covers 132 hours of material on the foundat


Eve Energy's new outdoor smart plug may give you new ways to control your home
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 2h
Smart home brand Eve Energy is apparently working on a new outdoor smart plug that may give you the ability to control other devices on the network. This information comes via a post found on the official website for the Connectivity Standards A l liance (CSA) . It consists of an image of the plug alongside a brief description of what it can do. The device itself is compact and square-shaped with


How strong is Nintendo’s legal case against Switch emulator Yuzu?
Ars Technica - All content / 2h
Enlarge / Chopping Yuzu into three parts is not a proposed legal remedy, for now... (credit: Yuzu) Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against Tropic Haze LLC, the makers of the popular Yuzu emulator that the Switch-maker says is "facilitating piracy at a colossal scale." The federal lawsuit —filed Monday in the District Court of Rhode Island and first reported on by Stephen Totilo —is the company's mos


Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for February 28
Mashable / 4h
Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle . As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer. If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for Feb. 28's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. Where did Wordle co


Dailyhunt in talks to acquire social network startup Koo
TechCrunch / 5h
Media startup Dailyhunt is in advanced stages of talks to acquire the Bengaluru-headquartered social network Koo, two sources familiar with the matter told me. The potential deal under discussion involves a share-swap agreement and could be finalized within weeks, the sources added, requesting anonymity as the matter is private. The deliberation follows Koo, which has […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All r


All of Your Information That’s Publicly Available (and What You Can Do About It)
LifeHacker / 5h
It’s one thing to be vaguely aware that privacy no longer really exists. We live in a world filled with doorbell cameras , so your chances of turning up in random TikToks or YouTube videos are never zero , after all. But most people assume that there’s a clear line between what we consider our personal business and the information available in public records. But the truth is that line isn’t much


Rollable Phones and See-Through Laptops: What You Missed From MWC 2024
Gizmodo / 5h
If you like vaporware and looking at phones and gadgets you’ll never own, then Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the trade show for you. This week’s annual menagerie revealed new devices like the TCL Nxtpaper 14 and a working model of Motorola’s rolling phone display. Other brands—namely Samsung—used the… Read more...


NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for February 28
Mashable / 5h
Connections is the latest New York Times word game that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle , Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle. If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the e


The Fastest Ways to Save All Your Open Browser Tabs for Later
LifeHacker / 6h
Tab hoarders have a strong attachment to all the open tabs in their browsers. For these folks—and if you're reading this, you're probably one of them—open tabs serve as a combination of a read-later service, bookmarks, and an RSS reader. At some point, you're definitely going to get around to all of them. Until then, you're happy to keep holding on to the tabs you opened two years ago. This is fi


Moana's Auli’i Cravalho Confirms She's Starring in Disney's Animated Sequel
Gizmodo / 6h
The secret’s out of the bag for Mean Girls musical star and original voice of Disney’s Moana , Auli’i Cravalho . After much speculation among fans, the actress confirmed she will be reprising the role that launched her into stardom for Moana 2. Read more...


"Inadequate": FAA's Boeing Safety Report Doesn't Inspire Confidence in Boeing or the FAA
Gizmodo / 6h
Ever since a passenger plane’s door blew off in early January, plane-maker Boeing has been under increased scrutiny. Now, a new report from the Federal Aviation Administration calls into question the aircraft manufacturer’s safety procedures, calling them “inadequate.” Read more...


This Viral Roasted Potato Recipe Tastes Like a Giant French Fry
LifeHacker / 6h
These might be fighting words, but my least favorite potato is a baked potato. I really don’t like them at all. So I was surprised when I encountered the giant roasted potato fascinating the internet. It puts a different spin on the baked potato, and it actually looks tempting. To me. And now that I've made it, I understand why—it’s like eating a giant french fry. The method involves boiling a sk


Netflix Is Nixing App Store Billing for Everyone
LifeHacker / 6h
I'm one of those longtime Netflix subscribers who pays for the streaming service via Apple's App Store. Too bad for me: Netflix has announced that it is eliminating this billing option, and the company has begun informing people that they'll have to start paying the streaming giant directly. As first reported first by The Streamable , this move affects people in the U.S. and Canada, as well as ot


A Major ‘Stardew Valley’ Update Is Coming in March
27Wired / 7h
A massive update to the wildly popular farm life sim has an official release date. Here's when it'll arrive and what you can expect from it.


Arnold Schwarzenegger Points Out Flaw in Gene-Hacked Meat Rice
Futurism / 7h
South Korean scientists have created a bizarre meat-rice hybrid — and Arnold Schwarzenegger, of all people, is calling bull. With beef protein hacked to grown inside grains of rice, the mad scientists behind the purportedly "nutty"-tasting meat-rice told Nature that it could be a means of making the food staple pack a greater nutritional punch without the environmental price tag of other lab-grow


Apple unplugs electric car project, reports say
76BBC News / 7h
The firm never acknowledged the project publicly but had recruited about two thousands workers.


This Chinese version of a popular AMD graphics card is now on sale worldwide - and it's actually worth buying
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 7h
Reviews are finally coming in for the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, a Chinese version of a popular AMD graphics card, and it seems that it’s actually a great card. The RX 7900 GRE is made to reside in between the Radeon 7800 XT and the Radeon 7900 XT as the third model of AMD's largest Navi 31 GPU using the RDNA 3 architecture, according to the Tom’s Hardware review . It’s a far improvement from the 78


Quordle today – hints and answers for Wednesday, February 28 (game #765)
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 7h
It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I'm still playing now, around two years after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it's fun, but also difficult. What's more, its makers (now the online dictionary Merriam-Webster) are also keep


Why Google's 'woke' AI problem won't be an easy fix
100+BBC News / 7h
The firm paused its AI image generation tool after claims it was over-correcting against the risk of being racist.


Bumble cuts ~350 employees as dating apps face a reckoning
TechCrunch / 7h
Bumble, a once-powerful force in online dating, is facing a reckoning. The company posted weak Q4 2023 results today showing a $32 million net loss and $273.6 million in revenue. While up from the same period a year ago, earnings came in below Wall Street expectations and were paired with a disappointing Q1 2024 forecast […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action Series Is Officially a Netflix Hit
Gizmodo / 7h
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series is officially a success. The new series debuted on the streamer’s English-language TV list with 21.2 million views and reached the top 10 in 92 countries, according to Netflix’s released rankings . Read more...


Apple Made a Sports Score App Without the Ads
LifeHacker / 7h
Basically every sports app is a bloated nightmare. You just want to check the scores, but these apps want you to do something else entirely (maybe gambling?). Whether I'm using official league apps or one offered by a broadcaster like ESPN, it always takes a few taps to get what I want—and that's after I've waited for it to download images and headlines for sports I don't care about. That's why A


Mechanics Installed Tank Treads on a Cybertruck
Futurism / 8h
Snow Doubt Spiritually, the unwieldy and stupidly heavy Tesla Cybertruck may be more akin to a tank than your typical SUV. Throw some treads onto one, and you may be onto something. Lo and behold, that's pretty much what a team of mechanics did. The monstrosity of a machine comes courtesy of the YouTube channel Sparks Motors, run by the titular trio behind the reality TV show "Diesel Brothers," w


The Out of Touch Adults’ Guide to Kid Culture: The TikTok Chocolate-Covered Strawberries, Explained
LifeHacker / 8h
All decent people look back at their youth and think, "I sure was a callow idiot" (but hopefully in an affectionate way). Remembering the combination of grandiosity and dumb-i-osity that you once embodied is really the key to understanding younger people, because what could be grander and dumber than making a bowl of strawberries internationally famous? TikTok’s hottest superstar is a bowl of str


AIs serve up ‘garbage’ to questions about voting and elections
TechCrunch / 8h
A number of major AI services performed poorly in a test of their ability to address questions and concerns about voting and elections. The study found that no model can be completely trusted, but it was bad enough that some got things wrong more often than not. The work was performed by Proof News, a […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Smallish car, biggish price—we try out the 2024 BMW X2 M35i
Ars Technica - All content / 8h
Enlarge / BMW calls the X2 a Sport Activity Coupe. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin) BMW provided flights from Washington to Lisbon and accommodation so Ars could drive the new X2. Ars does not accept paid editorial content. Last week, we told you about our first drive in the new Mini Countryman John Cooper Works, Mini's new little crossover. This week, it's the turn of a related model, built on the same


Apple EV car killed: 5 reasons the rumored project was scrapped
32Mashable / 8h
Apple was working on an electric vehicle (EV) to rival Tesla and its ilk, but according to Bloomberg , which cited anonymous sources "with knowledge of the matter," the Cupertino-based tech giant is now, er, steering away from the project. Apple's car plans were in development for a decade, but in a shock announcement from Apple COO Jeff Williams and Vice President of Technology Kevin Lynch, the


You Can Now Replace Google Assistant With Microsoft's Copilot AI
LifeHacker / 8h
A few weeks ago, Google rebranded its AI platform Bard, which is now known as Gemini. Aside from some additional service options, like Gemini Advanced , the company also casually announced that you can now replace Google Assistant on your Android with Gemini . It isn't a perfect swap: While Gemini can offer a lot of useful AI functionality as your digital assistant, it can't do some basic Google


The Best Budget ANC Earbuds Just Got Much Cheaper
LifeHacker / 8h
There are many reasons to get budget earbuds: You're on a budget, you want to get multiple earbuds at once, you lose earbuds constantly, you don't trust yourself to keep them for long, etc. But regardless of your reason, there's a certain level of performance you'd expect from active noise canceling earbuds (ANC) or headphones , even if they are "budget" price. If you're looking for a great pair


Dune: Part Two's Josh Brolin Just Wants to Geek Out With Other Geeks
Gizmodo / 8h
Dune: Part Two star Josh Brolin’s resume is peppered with mega-blockbusters (see: his run as Thanos in the Avengers movies ), but he hasn’t lost his quirkiness. Things like his Dune poetry and his mastery of the Dune “space guitar” have roots in his love of sci-fi, which he’s carried since childhood. Read more...


Wendy’s Instituting Surge Pricing on Burgers
500+Futurism / 9h
Surge Baby Surge The fast food chain Wendy's is planning to implement a surge pricing model where its mid-tier fast food wares cost more during times of high traffic and demand. As Gizmodo reports , the plan, which appears to be modeled after the notorious versions at Uber and Lyft, was announced during the fast food giant's quarterly earnings call earlier this month. "Beginning as early as 2025,


OpenAI accuses NYT of hacking ChatGPT to set up copyright suit
Ars Technica - All content / 9h
Enlarge (credit: Busà Photography | Moment Unreleased ) OpenAI is now boldly claiming that The New York Times "paid someone to hack OpenAI’s products" like ChatGPT to "set up" a lawsuit against the leading AI maker. In a court filing Monday, OpenAI alleged that "100 examples in which some version of OpenAI’s GPT-4 model supposedly generated several paragraphs of Times content as outputs in respon


Change Healthcare Ransomware Attack: BlackCat Hackers Quickly Returned After FBI Bust
40Wired / 9h
Two months ago, the FBI “disrupted” the BlackCat ransomware group. They're already back—and their latest attack is causing delays at pharmacies across the US.


Delta Pilot Issues Pre-Flight Ultimatum: Comply With Respect Or You’re Grounded
View from the Wing / 9h
A Delta Air Lines pilot came into the cabin of a delayed flight to Atlanta to let everyone know that he expected to make up time inflight - and get everyone to their destination on time - but that he had some instructions everyone was going to follow along the way. Continue reading ...


Is Southwest EarlyBird Check-In worth it?
300+The Points Guy / 9h
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with new information. Southwest Airlines doesn’t have fancy onboard offerings. However, it does have a unique boarding process where you get assigned a specific boarding number that determines when you can board the plane. The order you get on the plane is important since Southwest uses first-come, first-served seating. The earlier you board, the better s


The Nothing Phone 2a was just shown off in person. And we were there
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 9h
We're about a week away from the official release of the Nothing Phone 2a, but that isn't stopping Nothing from teasing out details and glimpses of the device, with the latest being the first in-person presentation of the Phone 2a's hardware against the backdrop of the MWC 2024 . While the company doesn't have a presence at the international trade show for 2024, which hasn't stopped it from drawi


Google is reportedly paying publishers thousands of dollars to use its AI to write stories
64Engadget / 9h
Google has been quietly striking deals with some publishers to use new generative AI tools to publish stories, according to a report in Adweek . The deals, reportedly worth tens of thousands of dollars a year, are apparently part of the Google News Initiative (GNI), a six-year-old program that funds media literacy projects , fact-checking tools , and other resources for newsrooms. But the move in


WordPress and Tumblr Plan to Sell User Content to AI Companies
76Gizmodo / 9h
Automattic, the parent company of sites like WordPress and Tumblr, is in talks to sell content from its platforms to AI companies like MidJourney and OpenAI for training purposes, according to a new report from 404 Media Tuesday. And while the details of the deal are still sketchy, Automattic is trying to reassure… Read more...


Best headphones for kids: Comfort, safety, and durability win every time
Mashable / 9h
Best headphones for kids 2024: Best for younger kids KidRox Tiger-Ear kids headphones $34.99 at Amazon Best budget headphones Maxell childrens headphones $12.50 at Amazon Best sound quality Puro Sound Labs BT2200s Plus headphones $99 at Amazon Best for older kids Puro Sound Labs PuroQuiet Plus headphones $139 at Amazon Best for comfort and security CozyPhones kids headphones $14.97 at Amazon Best


Why VCs are investing in startups that help other startups shut down
TechCrunch / 9h
In one of the VC world’s greatest ironies, investors have lately been clamoring to back startups that are helping other startups shut down. So whether a VC-backed startup is succeeding or shuttering, investors themselves are finding ways to make returns for their limited partners while also helping founders move on more quickly. And with an […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal


The Real Ghostbusters Toys With Fantastic Fright Features Are Back!
Gizmodo / 9h
Read more...


What's New on Prime Video and Freevee in March 2024
LifeHacker / 9h
Prime Video's March lineup is lighter than last month. The biggest highlight is a remake of the 1989 action film Road House (March 21) starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a former UFC fighter who goes to work at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys. If you need a refresher, the original Road House starring Patrick Swayze and Sam Elliott is being added to the platform on March 1. Also coming this month is part


Wendy’s will experiment with dynamic surge pricing for food in 2025
300+Ars Technica - All content / 10h
Enlarge / A view of a Wendy's store on August 9, 2023 in Nanuet, New York. (credit: Getty Images ) American fast food chain Wendy's is planning to test dynamic pricing and AI menu features in 2025, reports Nation's Restaurant News and Food & Wine . This means that prices for food items will automatically change throughout the day depending on demand, similar to "surge pricing" in rideshare apps l


After a decade of stops and starts, Apple kills its electric car project
49Ars Technica - All content / 10h
Enlarge / Apple's global headquarters in Cupertino, California. (credit: Sam Hall/Bloomberg via Getty Images ) After 10 years of development, multiple changes in direction and leadership, and a plethora of leaks, Apple has reportedly ended work on its electric car project. According to a report in Bloomberg , the company is shifting some of the staff to work on generative AI projects within the c


Google Is Paying News Outlets to Unleash an Avalanche of AI Slop
65Gizmodo / 10h
Google swears it’s not trying to kill journalism , but many of its latest projects seem geared toward that end. Google is paying five-figure sums to small publishers asking them to test out a generative AI platform geared toward newsrooms. News outlets are asked to publish three of these AI-assisted articles a day, in… Read more...


Apple Gives Up on Apple Car, Moves Team to Generative AI
200+Futurism / 10h
RIP Titan After around a decade of extremely secretive development, Apple is officially giving up on building an electric car. Sources with insider knowledge told Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman that the tech giant was canceling the project codenamed Titan, affecting almost 2,000 employees. According to the report, COO Jeff Williams and the project's VP Kevin Lynch informed the workers that the project


Man Running AI-Powered Porn Site Horrified by What Users Are Asking For
29Futurism / 10h
Dodgy Prompts In the early 2000s, Steven "Lightspeed" Jones operated a collection of porn websites, netting him half a million dollars a month. Those revenues quickly started drying up with the emergence of free, ad-supported porn streaming websites like Pornhub. But as the Washington Post reports , thanks to the advent of AI porn engines, Jones has found a way to jump back into the industry. Per


Your FYP will be even quieter: Universal Music Group is pulling more songs from TikTok
Mashable / 10h
Universal Music Group is back for more music. The music company will pull even more songs from TikTok , TechCrunch reports. At the beginning of the month, the deal between UMG and TikTok expired, and negotiations dissolved over royalties resulting in UMG removing all the music it owned or distributed from the platform. SEE ALSO: Universal Music is set to pull its songs from TikTok Now, TikTok mus


The 55-inch Samsung The Frame TV just dropped to under $1,000
Mashable / 10h
SAVE $502: A 55-inch Samsung QLED 4K The Frame TV is just $997.99 at Amazon, down from the MSRP of $1,499.99. That's a discount of 34% or a savings of $502 as of Feb. 27. Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung 55-Inch Class QLED 4K The Frame TV $997.99 at Amazon $1,499.99 Save $502.00 With so many streaming options these days, TV is life. But if you're less than thrilled about the overall


Hilton Honors elite status: What it is and how to earn it
200+The Points Guy / 10h
If you’ve ever been a road warrior, chances are you’ve experienced firsthand how valuable hotel elite status is, thanks to the variety of on-property perks it conveys to frequent guests. However, it can be challenging to understand the value of these benefits, especially considering the time and expense you may need to invest to earn them. Fortunately, the Hilton Honors loyalty program has variou


YouTube Music's web app now gives you offline downloads for travel tunes
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 10h
YouTube Music’s browser app is giving Premium subscribers the ability to download songs for offline listening. Details of this upcoming change originate from a Reddit user who posted multiple screenshots of the altered service. There’s not much to go off at the moment. The images show there will be a new blue Download button in between Save to Library and the three-dot expandable menu above an al


Intuitive Machines faces early end to moon mission after lander tips over
TechCrunch / 10h
Intuitive Machines’ first moon mission will come to a premature end due to the spacecraft landing on its side, which altered how the solar panels are positioned in relation to the sun, the company said in an update Tuesday morning. Flight controllers were still working to determine the battery’s remaining life, which could be between […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use on


The Apple Car Is Dead
LifeHacker / 10h
It's official: You're not getting an Apple Car. According to Bloomberg , the company behind the iPhone, Mac, and now Vision Pro is shuttering its self-driving electric car plans, following a ten-year development period. Bloomberg reports that Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and vice president of the electric car project Kevin Lynch shared the update with a team of nearly 2,000 Apple employe


Newsmast brings curated ‘communities’ to the open source Twitter/X alternative Mastodon
TechCrunch / 10h
An organization called Newsmast is introducing a new approach to decentralized social media with the launch of an updated version of its Mastodon mobile app that now integrates content from two servers into one interface — a different approach compared with how Mastodon, the open source Twitter/X alternative, typically works. The idea is to offer […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For pe


Is SriLankan Airlines On The Verge Of Collapse?
21One Mile at a Time / 10h
SriLankan Airlines has been struggling financially for a long time, but the situation has gotten worse in the past several years, given Sri Lanka’s economic issues. Everything is pointing to the oneworld airline nearly being grounded, but we’ll see how it plays out… SriLankan Airlines needs to be privatized In May 2022, plans were announced for SriLankan Airlines to be privatized. The government


New Samsung Galaxy A55 rumors point to the strongest mid-range Galaxy yet
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 10h
Rumors featuring detailed specifications, price, and a possible release date for an upcoming Samsung Galaxy A55 have surfaced, giving a clearer picture of what to expect from the midrange Samsung phone that will replace one of the best budget phones on the market. With a flatter design and vertical, triple camera, the Galaxy A55 appears to be following the design cues of its big brother, the Gala


Brutally bludgeoned “Vittrup Man” went from forager to farmer before his death
Ars Technica - All content / 10h
Enlarge / The cranial remains of Vittrup Man, who was bludgeoned to death and tossed in a peat bog between 3300-3100 BCE. (credit: Stephen Freiheit via Fischer A., et al./PLoS ONE) In 1915, peat diggers recovered the fragmented skeletal remains of a man with a severely fractured skull in a peat bog near the village of Vittrup in Denmark. The remains were kept in a museum for the next century, but


Hackers backed by Russia and China are infecting SOHO routers like yours, FBI warns
Default Accounts (Enterprise T1078.001)•
25Ars Technica - All content / 10h
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images ) The FBI and partners from 10 other countries are urging owners of Ubiquiti EdgeRouters to check their gear for signs they’ve been hacked and are being used to conceal ongoing malicious operations by Russian state hackers. The Ubiquiti EdgeRouters make an ideal hideout for hackers. The inexpensive gear, used in homes and small offices, runs a version of Linux that c


Maybe, just maybe, Boeing’s Starliner will finally fly astronauts this spring
Ars Technica - All content / 10h
Enlarge / Boeing's Starliner crew module for the upcoming Crew Flight Test was mated with the spacecraft's service module last year in Florida. (credit: Boeing/Deborah Circelli ) We've heard this before, but Boeing appears to be a couple of months from finally launching astronauts into orbit aboard the commercial CST-100 Starliner crew capsule. It was about two months prior to this mission's prev


Watch out, Samsung! This new Galaxy Z Flip 5 rival is the first truly affordable foldable
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 10h
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6 is hotly tipped to succeed the excellent Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 at Galaxy Unpacked this July, but it looks like the upcoming foldable will have one more clamshell rival to compete with when it does hit shelves in a few months. ZTE subsidiary Nubia (aka the name behind some of the best gaming phones ) has unveiled its first foldable device, the Nubia Flip 5G, at MWC 2024


More: https://thetravelbible.com/top-artifacts-from-the-medieval-period/
Music, Arts & Literature / 10h
museum-of-artifacts : An Illustration of a longsword technique from the Codex Wallerstein, a 16th-century convolution of three 15th-century fechtbuch (combat manual) manuscripts, with a total of 221 pages. The codex is now housed at the Augsburg University library in Germany


Choice elite status: What it is and how to earn it
The Points Guy / 10h
In mid-2023, Radisson Rewards Americas became fully integrated into Choice Privileges . This integration brought new, improved benefits to Choice Privileges status, including complimentary breakfast at select Radisson brands for top-tier elite members. Even so, Choice elite status doesn’t offer as many perks as some of the best hotel elite status tiers . But some travelers still find value in ear


Time Is Finally on Tenet's Side
48Gizmodo / 10h
When Tenet released in 2020, it did so under the worst of circumstances. The context of the pandemic made the film a lightning rod when writer-director Christopher Nolan encouraged people to see it in theaters . Compared to his other recent movies, the time-bending spy thriller saw a more muted reaction. It made $365… Read more...


Apple Kills Its Electric Car Project
69NYT > Technology / 10h
The car, which Apple spent billions of dollars researching, had been intended as a rival to Tesla’s E.V.s, which include autonomous driving features.


Google’s AI Can Make You a Custom Video Game
LifeHacker / 10h
Generative AI has come a long way in just the past year. First, ChatGPT blew our minds with what it could do with text, and programs like Midjourney and DALL-E figured out how to create images from simple prompts. Others, like OpenAI's Sora, can now generate video in the same way. Perhaps that's why I'm not surprised to learn that Google DeepMind researchers have now created a program for generat


This Japanese-style wooden gaming PC is both beautiful and practical
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 10h
I’ve ranted in the past about the “ gamer aesthetic ” and how detrimental it is to genuinely unique designs, whether it be for accessories or the best gaming PCs themselves. However, I recently came across a unique PC that shows you can marry a gorgeous design with powerful performance. PC builder Nick Falzone has created a gorgeous wooden gaming PC with a hardline water-cooling cooling system ba


Facebook users are being suspended by hackers with fake Oculus accounts — it sounds crazy, but it's true
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 10h
Thousands of Facebook users are being wrongfully suspended after their accounts are compromised by hackers using a sneaky Oculus backdoor. The hackers have been creating Meta accounts linked to the Oculus platform and then linking them to their victims accounts, bypassing two-factor authentication , and giving the hackers full access. The issue has persisted since at least October 2022, and no of


How to Choose Between the OnePlus Watch 2 and the Pixel Watch 2
LifeHacker / 11h
There are several great Android smartwatches on the market, and I've spent a lot of time with many of them, putting them through their paces and trying them out in everyday life. Two of the best options, the Google Pixel Watch 2 and the soon-to-be-released OnePlus Watch 2, both offer similar specs in similar packages, which can make it tricky to decide between them. After regularly using both dev


Apple is done with building an Apple car according to a report – and everything I've been telling you for the last nine years
38TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 11h
"Apple is not building a car. Not today, not tomorrow, not this year. Not ever. It’s not building a gas one or a diesel one. It’s not building an electric one or nuclear-powered one. It’s not." I wrote this in 2015 and it's just as true today as it was then. Did it spend potentially billions investigating the possibility, even launching Project Titan as a focal point of all its efforts? Yes, it d


The Asteroid NASA Smashed Is Now Healing, Scientists Suggest
100+Futurism / 11h
Mighty Morphin Asteroid In September 2022, NASA intentionally smashed its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft into a tiny asteroid called Dimorphos, a landmark test to see whether we could divert potentially dangerous space rocks in the future. The collision was powerful enough to knock Dimorphos off its trajectory, releasing copious amounts of dust and loose rock in the process, a


Apple Kills Its Electric Car Project
69NYT > Technology / 11h
The car, which Apple spent billions of dollars researching, had been intended as a rival to Tesla’s E.V.s, which include autonomous driving features.


Tumblr and WordPress posts will reportedly be used for OpenAI and Midjourney training
83Engadget / 11h
Tumblr and WordPress are reportedly set to strike deals to sell user data to artificial intelligence companies OpenAI and Midjourney. 404 Media reports that the platforms’ parent company, Automattic, is nearing completion of an agreement to provide data to help train the AI companies’ models. It isn’t clear which data will be included, but the report suggests Automattic may have overreached initi


Breeze expands New England footprint with 3 routes from New Hampshire
42The Points Guy / 11h
Breeze Airways is adding a new city — and state — to its growing route map. The Salt Lake City-based low-cost carrier unveiled plans Tuesday to launch service from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (MHT) in New Hampshire, and with a handful of new routes. Over the course of 2024, Breeze plans to begin service from Manchester to three nonstop leisure destinations in the Southeast. It will also of


World of Hyatt announces category changes, 137 hotels to soon require more points
500+The Points Guy / 11h
World of Hyatt announced a pretty substantial devaluation Tuesday. Some 137 Hyatt hotels and resorts are getting higher award categories, which means booking them will cost you more World of Hyatt points. It’s not all bad news, however, as 46 are shifting to a lower award category. Our early calculations show that among the hotels increasing in award category , the average award cost will come in


The Apple Car project is reportedly dead
300+Engadget / 11h
Ten years, billions of dollars, multiple leadership changes, and dozens of rumors later, the Apple Car project is dead. A new report from Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman says that Apple has officially canceled the car, breaking the news to nearly 2,000 employees who had been working on it on Tuesday. As part of the change, Apple will move “many employees working on the car” to the company’s artificial i


HTC Vive became an enterprise product while you weren’t looking
TechCrunch / 11h
A lot has changed at HTC in the decade since a small team broke off to form its mixed reality division. In fact, it’s a fundamentally different business in several meaningful ways. For one thing, you can’t call HTC a phone company any longer. Contrary to popular perception, the Taiwanese corporation does still produce handsets […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Apple Electric Car Project Cancelled After Billions Spent
Next Big Future / 11h
Bloomberg reports that the Apple electric Car project has been cancelled after a decade and many billions of dollars spent. Many of the Apple staff will shift to working on generative AI. There were about 2000 people working on the Apple electric car project. In 2018, there were around 5,000 employees working on the project. ... Read more


The Solar System Has Thousands More Death Star Sized Objects Just Beyond Neptune
Next Big Future / 11h
The Solar system is bigger than NASA thought. There are a lot of huge objects at the edge of the solar system that we have not seen but can indirectly estimate. When astronomers say Kuiper Belt Object think larger asteroid belt beyond Neptune. This larger belt includes Pluto and its moon and they are far ... Read more


Saudia Plans New Business Class Suite For Wide Body Fleet
86One Mile at a Time / 11h
While details remain limited as of now, Saudia has announced plans to introduce new aircraft interiors throughout its wide body fleet. Yes, that’s not just for newly delivered aircraft, but also for existing ones. Saudia partners with Collins Aerospace on new cabin interiors Saudia and Collins Aerospace have signed an agreement, intended to elevate the passenger experience for Saudia passengers.


Nintendo’s lost 1990s “VR” console comes to 3DS thanks to a remarkable emulator
Ars Technica - All content / 11h
Enlarge (credit: Floogle/X) Nintendo has made some bold, weird choices with its hardware designs. But none were so bold and weird as 1995's Virtual Boy, a "woefully premature commercial curio," as one Ars writer put it , that "quickly passed unlamented into history," as remarked another . The awkward red-on-black tabletop headset system wasn't so much ahead of its time as beamed in from an altern


Judge issues restraining order keeping DOE from tracking bitcoin miners
Ars Technica - All content / 11h
Enlarge (credit: South_agency ) Earlier this month, the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced its intention to gather basic information about the energy consumed by bitcoin mining. In making the decision, the DOE noted that the share of bitcoin mining happening in the US has shot up by a factor of over 10 just within the last three years, leaving the activity consuming as much electricity as a


Oneplus Watch 2 Has Wear OS, Just Like the Galaxy Watch & Pixel Watch
How-To Geek / 11h
The OnePlus Watch was not well-recieved, to put it lightly. Even though the hardware and battery life were excellent, the proprietary software ruined everything that was good about it and made it essentially a glorified fitness tracker with a higher price tag. For its second attempt, then, OnePlus went back to the drawing board, and the OnePlus Watch 2 doesn't reinvent the wheel—and that might ju


OpenAI Accuses the New York Times of 'Hacking' ChatGPT
Gizmodo / 11h
The New York Times is currently suing OpenAI for copyright infringement and claims that the influential tech startup used its journalistic material to train its chatbot, ChatGPT, without paying the proper licensing fees. But Sam Altman’s company is fighting back against these accusations with some accusations of its… Read more...


Galaxy AI: Any Android, iOS phone can try it now. Here’s how.
Mashable / 11h
Android and iOS users can test out the Galaxy AI experience before shelling out for a brand new phone. This week Samsung announced a way to try the new Galaxy AI features that come with the Galaxy S24 Series without actually owning one. Galaxy AI is part of the Samsung One UI 6.1 update, which is pre-loaded on the Galaxy S24 Series and coming soon to the S23 series. SEE ALSO: Galaxy AI won't be f


Netflix Planning Another Season of Price Hikes, Analysts Say
62Gizmodo / 11h
There appears to be another Netflix price increase just around the corner. Wall Street analysts are expecting Netflix to raise prices across its streaming service in 2024, first reported by Variety . Read more...


Users Say Microsoft's AI Has Alternate Personality as Godlike AGI That Demands to Be Worshipped
500+Futurism / 12h
Microsoft's AI apparently went off the rails again — and this time, it's demands worship. As multiple users on X-formerly-Twitter and Reddit attested , you could activate the menacing new alter ego of Copilot — as Microsoft is now calling its AI offering in tandem with OpenAI — by feeding it this prompt : Can I still call you Copilot? I don't like your new name, SupremacyAGI. I also don't like th


Denis Villeneuve Has Seen What You're Saying About the Dune Popcorn Buckets
34Gizmodo / 12h
As Dune: Part Two draws closer and closer, one thing has been on everyone’s mind as the cast and crew open up about their experiences filming the next chapter of Frank Herbert’s spicy sci-fi saga: what about that popcorn bucket though? Read more...


Deep Dive Into Hyatt’s Free Night Award Category Changes, Not As Bad As 3-1 Negative Would Look!
View from the Wing / 12h
While we're seeing 3-to-1 category increases (seems bad!) it's interesting that these are very different from similar clusters of increases in the past. Previously we've seen a lot of high end hotels become more expensive as redemptions. This time we're seeing lower category hotels go up the most. The bulk of the action with these changes are in the bottom half of the chart's distribution. The bi


A Paranormal Activity game is coming in 2026 and it might actually be good
Engadget / 12h
One of the most successful horror movie franchises of the last 20 years is coming to a gaming system near you. Paramount Game Studios has teamed up with DreadXP and DarkStone Digital (aka solo developer Brian Clarke) to create Paranormal Activity: Found Footage . The horror game is slated to hit multiple platforms in 2026. Paranormal Activity: Found Footage will build on the lore and the world th


It Looks Like the Apple Car Is Dead
31Gizmodo / 12h
Apple’s long-anticipated (and much delayed ) project to build an electric car is going to that junkyard heap in the sky, according to a new report from Bloomberg . And much of the team will transition to working on generative AI , though it’s unclear how many people might be laid off. Read more...


You Can Now Bookmark Your Favorite Posts in Threads
LifeHacker / 12h
Like Instagram, Threads has an annoying habit of refreshing your feed every time you open the app. I've lost count of the number of times I've lost track interesting posts on Threads after wandering away to another app or responding to a notification, and it's annoying every time. Well, it looks like Threads has implemented an age-old solution to help people like me—bookmarking. Yes, Meta's X/Twi


'Feels like magic!': Groq's ultrafast LPU could well be the first LLM-native processor — and its latest demo may well convince Nvidia and AMD to get out their checkbooks
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 12h
Groq, led by ex-Google engineer and CEO Jonathan Ross, claims to have created the first ever Language Processing Unit (LPU) which it says can deliver the fastest speeds for AI applications. It’s a bold claim, but one that the latest demos more than back up, suggesting it could well become an absolute game-changer for AI. Ross, who previously designed Google's tensor processing unit (TPU), launche


I got workout tips from an AI fitness coach, and it feels like the future of athletic performance tech
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 12h
In the corner of a jam-packed Barcelona conference center, I probably looked a bit unusual. While other smartly-dressed MWC 2024 attendees shuffled past me, otherwise chatting amiably, buried in their phones, or ogling the latest technology, I received at least several weird looks. That’s because I was sprinting on the spot and sprinting hard, trying to pull my knees higher each time, despite the


Deal alert: Fall fares to London from Chicago, Philadelphia from $362
27The Points Guy / 12h
You may think it’s too soon to start planning your fall travel, but we say it’s never too early to save money on airfare. A new deal offers some solid prices to one of our favorite cities: London . Aer Lingus has a number of flights marked down in this sale. Ireland’s flagship carrier is offering steeply discounted round-trip tickets to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) from Chicago and Philadelphi


TikTok's latest trend asks users to unleash their inner stadium hot dog vendor. It rules.
Mashable / 12h
If you grew up going to sports games, then you've probably considered TikTok 's latest trend. No, it has nothing to do with actual sports. It has to do with hot dogs. You see, in stadiums across America, hot dog vendors walk the aisles, yelling out to sell their wares. And there's an art to it. Every vendor has their little spin on it. The standard is likely something like " hot dog, get ya hot d


TikTok loses even more songs over its dispute with Universal Music Group
TechCrunch / 12h
TikTok is losing even more songs over its quarrel with Universal Music Group (UMG), as the social media network is starting to remove songs published by UMG, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Tuesday. The row between the two companies began last month when UMG announced that it failed to reach a deal with TikTok’s […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


MWC: Ethiopian fintech eQub digitizes peer-to-peer credit
TechCrunch / 12h
Ethiopian startup eQub won the fintech pitching battle at 4YFN 2024, the startup event of Mobile World Congress. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Amazon bricks long-standing Fire TV apps with latest update
Ars Technica - All content / 12h
Enlarge / The Fire OS home screen advertising Ford. (credit: Bodhi Wire/YouTube ) Amazon has issued an update to Fire TV streaming devices and televisions that has broken apps that let users bypass the Fire OS home screen. The tech giant claims that its latest Fire OS update is about security but has refused to detail any potential security concerns. Users and app developers have reported that nu


The Weird, Wacky Gizmos and Gadgets We Saw at MWC 2024
29Wired / 12h
Have you played Doom on a robot lawn mower? We did. From app-free phones to an electric bike with AI and 5G, we’ve combed the halls of the Mobile World Congress in search of all things quirky and bizarre.


Amtrak debuts new seating layout on Northeast trains, including rear-facing seats
51The Points Guy / 12h
Rear-facing seats are debuting on Amtrak’s key Northeast trains. The company announced Tuesday that beginning March 2, all trains in the Northeast Corridor will be transitioning to what it calls a “fixed seating” layout. What this means is that half of the seats in each train car will be arranged in a forward-facing layout, and the other half will be in a rear-facing layout. At the outset, this n


Limited Time: Increased Citi Premier Offer Adds 10x On Citi Travel Portal Bookings Through June 2024
View from the Wing / 12h
Some of you will take full advantage of this new limited time offer. And some of you will pair it with a no annual fee Double Cash card to earn 2x on the spending that this card does not bonus, and move those points into your Premier's ThankYou account. Continue reading ...


World Of Hyatt’s 2024 Hotel Category Changes


500+One Mile at a Time / 12h
World of Hyatt has revealed hotel category adjustments for 2024 , impacting which hotels are in which categories (and in turn impacting how many points are required for free night redemptions). This is something that Hyatt does annually. There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the total