collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
This is why I hate Safari/iOS.
It's the exact same page, with the exact same code, on both sides. But on the left (Safari on MacOS), the arrow shows *above* the item as it should, and on the right (Safari on iOS), the arrow is inexplicably *behind* the circle.
Note there's no z-index involved anywhere here. This is all just default browser stacking order.
One browser shouldn't have two separate implementations of stacking order.
Attachments:
Stellar Blade on PS5 has flash and fun but is mostly dull
Image: Shift Up
While the combat is challenging and rewarding, it takes far too long to get to the good stuff.
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Next step: arrest all university faculty. They're all commies anyway.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/04/24/arrest-those-tolerant-peaceniks-forsomething/
Attachments:
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Today in History, 1877:
sealing "The Corrupt Bargain of 1876" which settled a contested election, Pres. R. B. Hayes withdraws Federal Troops from defending the last Southern State House (in LA), thereby effectively destroying Reconstruction.
Valve Closes Loophole Some Steam Users Were Exploiting For Refunds
Steam has an oft-exploited refund policy, whereby any player is able to request their money back for a game that they bought within the last 14 days, and played for less than two hours. (Selling a game that’s shorter than two hours? Sucks to be you.) But it seems that people buying games with so-called “Advanced…
These Conservative Christian Lawyers Are Helping States Defend Their Abortion Bans
The Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider its third major abortion case in two years—and the third brought with the help of a legal nonprofit attempting to infuse American life with its far-right brand of Christianity. Not only is the group, Alliance Defending Freedom, behind legislation to ban abortion, it is also increasingly representing state […]
The Supreme Court Has Already Given Trump What He Wants in the Immunity Case
The Supreme Court on Thursday will hear arguments over former President Donald Trump’s unprecedented and novel theory that former presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for anything that involved alleged “official acts” while in office. But this long-shot theory was only one component of Trump’s overall legal strategy; his main goal was to delay his […]
A morning with the Rabbit R1: a fun, funky, unfinished AI gadget
The Rabbit R1 is a fun little thing — and oh boy, is it orange.
There were times I wasn’t sure the Rabbit R1 was even a real thing. The AI-powered, Teenage Engineering-designed device came out of nowhere to become one of the biggest stories at CES, promising a level of fun and whimsy that felt much better than some of the more self-serious AI companies out there. CEO Jesse Lyu practically promised the world in this $199 device.
Well, say this for Rabbit: it’s real. Last night, I went to the swanky TWA Hotel in New York City, along with a few hundred reporters, creators, and particularly enthusiastic R1 buyers. After a couple of hours of photo booths, specialty cocktails, and a rousing keynote and demo from Lyu — in which he made near-constant reference to and fun of the Humane AI Pin — we all got our...
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
If creationists want to talk to me, they have to start saying sensible things.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/04/24/theyre-trying-to-wear-me-down/
Attachments:
Qualcomm strong-arms its way into Windows laptops this summer
Image: Joanna Nelius / The Verge
On Wednesday, Qualcomm announced the impending arrival of its Snapdragon X Plus laptop processor alongside more information for its previously announced Snapdragon X Elite chips. While this is not the first time we’ve seen Qualcomm processors in a laptop, it’s the first time the company could have a chip that rivals Apple, Intel, and AMD on speed.
The Snapdragon X Plus is Qualcomm’s entry-level laptop chip. It has 10 cores, 42MB of cache, a maximum multithreaded frequency of 3.4GHz, and an NPU with 45 tera operations per second (TOPS, or how many mathematical calculations it can solve in a second) to assist with fancy-smancy generative AI applications. But keep in mind, TOPS is an arbitrary measurement that can sound more impressive than...
App Store video game emulators: all the news on retro console ports for iOS
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
iPhone users can finally enjoy retro gaming emulators without jailbreaking their phones.
Runaway horses gallop through central London, blazing a path of mayhem and injuries
Five military horses got spooked during a training exercise, bolting and weaving a path of destruction across the city before being captured. Several people and horses are being treated for injuries.
Lamborghini’s popular Urus SUV grows a plug — and goes hybrid
Lamborghini’s mission to produce gas-electric hybrid versions of all of its models continues with today’s release of the plug-in hybrid Urus SE. The SUV is the top selling vehicle in Lamborghini’s lineup, and a hybrid version is sure to draw a lot of interest from the Italian automaker’s customer base of one-percenters.
The electrified luxury SUV’s hybrid powertrain can put out a total of 800 CV (a metric unit of horsepower that translates to 789 hp), or 588 kW, thanks to its 25 kWh battery. It can also travel as far as 60 km (37 miles) on battery power alone, which is certainly a healthy step up over the hybrid Revuelto’s 10 km of electric-only driving.
And, as befitting its Lambo-ness, the Urus SE will...
What happens after your country runs on 99 percent renewable electricity?
Kenneth Lobo Méndez, director of planning and sustainability in electricity management, and Marco Jiménez Chavez, an engineer, at the state-run electricity utility Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). | Collage by Israel Vargas | Photos by Justine Calma
Costa Rica gets more than 99 percent of its electricity from renewables — it’s still not enough.
No more noncompetes, FTC says; Tenessee bill would allow teachers to carry guns
The Federal Trade Comission voted yesterday to ban nearly all noncompete agreements. Tenessee's lawmakers have passed a bill allowing teachers to carry guns on campus.
How do you get siblings to be nice to each other? Latino families have an answer
Over the past few decades, psychologists have begun to understand how parents across many cultures teach their children to build deep, fulfilling relationships with their siblings.
Most nursing homes don't have enough staff to meet the federal government's new rules
The new rules mean 4 out of 5 nursing homes will need more aides and nurses. Unions hailed the change, but advocates say it's not enough care, while nursing home owners say it's an "impossible task."
Adobe’s impressive AI upscaling project makes blurry videos look HD
Adobe claims its new VideoGigaGAN generative AI model can upscale video clips more consistently and in higher quality than other VSR methods. | Image: Adobe
Adobe researchers have developed a new generative AI model called VideoGigaGAN that can upscale blurry videos at up to eight times their original resolution. Introduced in a paper published on April 18th, Adobe claims VideoGigaGAN is superior to other Video Super Resolution (VSR) methods as it can provide more fine-grained details without introducing any “AI weirdness” to the footage.
In a nutshell, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are effective for upscaling still images to a higher resolution, but struggle to do the same for video without introducing flickering and other unwanted artifacts. Other upscaling methods can avoid this, but the results aren’t as sharp or detailed. VideoGigaGAN aims to provide the best of both worlds —...
DOT cracks down on airline 'junk fees' with stronger passenger protections
In an effort to crack down on airlines that charge passengers steep fees to check bags and change flights, the Biden administration announced new regulations aimed at expanding consumer protections.
Emergency Abortion Care Is Before the Supreme Court—and Blue States Should Be Very Worried
Jaelyn was 19 weeks and five days into a much-wanted pregnancy when the cramping began—slowly at first, then in an insistent rhythm that signaled she was in labor. Several excruciating hours later, emergency doctors delivered a heart-wrenching diagnosis. The amniotic sac was protruding from her cervix; her baby was doomed. “There’s nothing we can do,” […]
Churches Don’t Have to Be Accessible. That’s Bad News For Voters.
Eli. Underwood likes the experience of voting in person, but they now have to vote by mail. Underwood went to a Detroit church to cast a ballot in the 2022 general elections, but chronic health conditions meant the two flights of stairs to the basement taxed them badly; living with Long Covid as well, Underwood was […]
This Tribe Will Gladly Accept Clean Energy Funding, Even If Wyoming Won’t
This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. When Wyoming governor Mark Gordon told the Environmental Protection Agency in 2023 that the state would not be applying for federal grant money to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases, he left most communities in the state without access to […]
Meet the MAGA Candidate Vying to Replace Mitt Romney
On a rainy night in February, about 50 conservatives squeezed into a room at the Taylorsville Heritage Center to hear from several candidates running for office in Utah this year. The MAGA-friendly crowd had been organized by “rapping granny” Linda Paulson, the octogenarian great-grandmother who had earned 15 minutes of viral fame in 2022 by […]
Meet the MAGA Candidate Vying to Replace Mitt Romney
On a rainy night in February, about 50 conservatives squeezed into a room at the Taylorsville Heritage Center to hear from several candidates running for office in Utah this year. The MAGA-friendly crowd had been organized by “rapping granny” Linda Paulson, the octogenarian great-grandmother who had earned 15 minutes of viral fame in 2022 by […]
South Koreans sue government over climate change, saying it's violating human rights
Plaintiffs including 17-month-old boy nicknamed Woodpecker bring landmark climate litigation in South Korea, the first in Asia to get a public hearing.
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):
ajsadauskas@aus.social ("AJ Sadauskas") wrote:
There was no drone delivery future. There was never going to be a drone delivery future.
Just like there was never going to be self-driving Uber taxis. Or Amazon Go supermarkets on every corner. Or hyperloops. Or earth-to-earth space travel on SpaceX rockets. Or level-five full self driving Teslas.
Just like there will not be a general artificial intelligence ChatGPT in the next couple of years.
They were all scams designed to lure dollars from investors and generate good PR.
It was all bullshit. It was always bullshit.
Nothing more.
Windows 11 Start menu ads are now rolling out to everyone
The app recommendations in the Windows 11 Start menu. | Image: Microsoft
Microsoft is starting to enable ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11 for all users. After testing these briefly with Windows Insiders earlier this month, Microsoft has started to distribute update KB5036980 to Windows 11 users this week, which includes “recommendations” for apps from the Microsoft Store in the Start menu.
“The Recommended section of the Start menu will show some Microsoft Store apps,” says Microsoft in the update notes of its latest public Windows 11 release. “These apps come from a small set of curated developers.” The ads are designed to help Windows 11 users discover more apps, but will largely benefit the developers that Microsoft is trying to tempt into building more Windows apps.
Microsoft only started testing...
130 million Americans routinely breathe unhealthy air, report finds
Climate change is making it harder to meet clean air goals, says the 25th annual State of the Air report from the American Lung Association.
Supreme Court to examine a federal-state conflict over emergency abortions
The case comes from Idaho, where the law banning abortions is sufficiently strict that the state's leading hospital system says its patients are at risk.
Remnants of the bird flu virus have been found in pasteurized milk, the FDA says
The agency stressed the material is inactivated and that the findings "do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers," but it's continuing to study the issue.
Reblogged by nadim@symbolic.software ("Nadim Kobeissi"):
bpreneel@infosec.exchange ("Bart Preneel") wrote:
10 years after the FBI "going dark" statement, Europol issued a similar
statement
https://www.europol.europa.eu/cms/sites/default/files/documents/EDOC-%231384205-v1-Joint_Declaration_of_the_European_Police_Chiefs.PDFMasks are falling off: perhaps we will not get the client side scanning we wanted (#chatcontrol) (the camera in every room) hence we will ask for ban on end-to-end encryption (make curtains and blinds illegal).
n addition to academia, civil society, and industry, former NSA chiefs keep stating that strong end-to-end encryption protection is essential for a secure digital society.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
Americans don't make a 180 on Palestinian support en mass without Black and brown activists putting in the work and organizing on TikTok.
We don't have the same powerful conversations about Black liberation without Black activists educating us for free on TikTok.
To attack them now because they're not on your little decentralized platform the way you think they should be is fucking wild.
Have we considered maybe this place isn't as inviting to POC as we think it is?
I'm out for a while.
Reblogged by keul@fosstodon.org ("Luca Fabbri"):
matuzo@front-end.social ("Manuel Matuzović") wrote:
Tomorrow we celebrate JS Naked Day!
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):
theluddite@assemblag.es ("The Luddite") wrote:
Reddit signed a deal with Google to use its data to train LLMs. To celebrate, we made a firefox extension that lets you replace all your comments with any text of your choosing. All we ask is that you not choose something copyrighted. The New York Times is currently suing OpenAI for training ChatGPT on its copyrighted material, and we wouldn't want Reddit's uniquely valuable data to become hopelessly intermingled with that of litigious copyright-holders.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
The launch of #Threads was truly Zuck's dirt bag magnum opus.
He duct taped it to his most popular platform. Then, he showed us pictures of our IG friends and said they were all waiting for us to join. And when we got there and saw it was just Starbucks and a bunch of transphobes posting, he told us we couldn't delete his shittier Twitter without also deleting the app we actually cared about.
Not to mention putting us through countless videos of Mosseri's necklace.
10/10 no notes.
The Mercedes G-Wagen, the ultimate off-road status symbol, goes electric
Image: Mercedes-Benz AG
Mercedes’ box-shaped luxury off-roader finally gets an electrified makeover.
Reblogged by collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth"):
jeffowski@mastodon.world ("Church of Jeff") wrote:
Attachments:
Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with bipartisan vote
The bill passed the Senate on an overwhelming 79-18 vote late Tuesday after the House had approved the package Saturday. Biden is expected to quickly sign the legislation.
Senate passes TikTok ban bill, sending it to President Biden’s desk
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Brendan Hoffman, Getty Images
A bill that would force China-based company ByteDance to sell TikTok — or else face a US ban of the platform — is all but certain to become law after the Senate passed a foreign aid package including the measure.
It now heads to President Joe Biden, who already committed to signing the TikTok legislation should it make it through both chambers of Congress. The House passed the foreign aid package that includes the TikTok bill on Saturday.
Once signed by the president, ByteDance would have up to a year to complete a sale of TikTok or face an effective ban for the platform in the US. The bill gives ByteDance an initial nine months and gives the president discretion to extend it another three should there be progress toward a deal. Still,...
Steam will stop issuing refunds if you play two hours of a game before launch day
Eight years ago, Valve began offering no-questions-asked refunds for any game you buy on Steam — as long as you asked for that refund within 14 days of purchase and hadn’t played more than two hours of a game.
But when Valve started letting you play games ahead of their release dates with its “Early Access” and “Advanced Access” programs, it introduced a loophole: people could play for many, many hours ahead of launch and still request a refund after.
Today, Valve’s closing the loophole: Your Advanced Access and Early Access playtime now counts against the two-hour refund limit.
Here’s what Valve’s updated refund policy says about that as of today:
REFUNDS ON TITLES PURCHASED PRIOR TO RELEASE DATE
When you purchase a title on Steam...
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
A Chrome extension that just replaces all AI icons with a hand that has two thumbs
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
https://www.platformer.news/tiktok-ban-bill-senate-legal-challenge-first-amendment/
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Whatever Tom Cotton recommends, do the opposite.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/04/23/better-send-in-the-riot-squad/
Attachments:
- The nascent pogroms at Columbia have to stop TODAY, before our Jewish brethren sit for Passover Seder tonight. If Eric Adams won’t sen the NYPD and Kathy Hochul won’t send the National Guard, Joe Biden has a duty to take charge and break up these mobs. (remote)
- Protesters hold Seder at Columbia (remote)
This Game Boy-looking phone stand is why MagSafe is good
That’s a nice looking charger. | Image by Elago
MagSafe isn’t a particularly controversial standard, but I’ve heard people grumble about it. They get upset because it doesn’t charge quite as efficiently as an old-fashioned cable and they get annoyed that any phone case needs to be MagSafe-compatible. But could charging by cable provide you with something as stupidly fun as this new phone stand from Elago?
The Elago MagSafe MS W5 Charging Stand is a mouthful of a name for what’s just a Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP shaped MagSafe stand. Do the buttons and switches work? No! Does it fold close? Absolutely not! It’s merely a piece of plastic you slot a MagSafe charger into. It’s so simple you could probably 3D print something similar at home.
Image by Elago
Don’t...
The EU’s new right-to-repair rules make companies fix your device after a warranty expires
Cath Virginia / The Verge
The European Union has officially adopted a new set of right-to-repair rules designed to encourage people to repair broken devices, rather than replace them. One of the rules extends a product’s warranty by one year if it’s repaired while still covered.
The European Union already requires companies to offer a two-year minimum warranty on products, but these new rules take things a step further. Even after the warranty period ends, companies are “still required to repair common household products,” including smartphones, TVs, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and other items. If a product breaks while under warranty, consumers can choose between a replacement or a repair. If they choose to repair, the warranty will be extended for a...
Reblogged by collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth"):
maddy@mastodon.gamedev.place ("Madeline Stephanie Thorson") wrote:
the two types of celeste steam reviews
Attachments:
Tesla profits have plummeted. Elon Musk remains all-in on robotaxis
Tesla's sales are down. It's slashing car prices and laying off staff. Yet CEO Elon Musk remains bullish on a future that's self-driving and battery-powered.
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
I was so excited about the good news I forgot the uspol CW. Sorry 'bout that, everybody.
A cheaper Tesla is back on the menu
The Model 3 might get an affordable younger sibling in 2025. | Image: Tesla
Tesla says it will build more affordable electric vehicles — perhaps as soon as 2025 — refuting recent reports that Tesla CEO Elon Musk had canceled plans for a cheaper “Model 2” vehicle in favor of getting a robotaxi out the door. But Musk didn’t clarify whether the lower-cost EV would be a brand new model for Tesla or simplified versions of its current vehicles.
“In terms of a new product roadmap, there’s been a lot of talk,” Musk said during the company’s first quarter earnings call, addressing the concerns investors have expressed over the past month about the delayed plans for a low-cost EV. “We’ve updated our future vehicle lineup to accelerate the launch of new models.” Musk said we might see the vehicles in early 2025, if not...
“It’s Just Like McCarthyism”: NYU Students and Faculty Push Back on Protest Crackdown
Less than 24 hours after police arrested 120 people at a pro-Palestine rally at New York University, students and faculty walked out of their classrooms to call out alleged lies from the administration used to suppress peaceful political protest on college campuses of Israel’s war on Gaza. Hundreds gathered on Tuesday afternoon at the southeast […]
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
To each and every company that ever made me sign a non-compete agreement, I offer a sincere and enthusiastic HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA fuck off.
Jabra’s noise-canceling Elite 5 are on sale for 40 percent off right now
Jabra’s latest midrange earbuds aren’t the best at any one thing, but they do offer a lot of bang for your buck. | Image: Jabra
At this point, it’s safe to say that Jabra makes some of the most reliable earbuds you can buy, especially for the price. The Jabra Elite 5, like the company’s prior midrange models, are good example of a pair that checks all the right boxes, offering up ANC, multipoint, and a host of other welcome features at a competitive price point. And now, thanks to a $60 discount from Amazon and Jabra, you can grab them for a mere $89.99, which nearly matches their second-best price to date.
We’ve long considered the Jabra Elite 3 one of the best pairs of sub-$100 earbuds you could buy, though, at the current price, I’d argue the Elite 5 are the better value. The comfy, teardrop-shaped buds don’t excel at any one thing but rather offer a laundry...
Reblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
docpop ("Doctor Popular") wrote:
Speaking of video game adaptations; I really loved the new #Fallout series. They nailed the feel of the game, but also delivered some fantastic storytelling. It even made me want to play the first two Fallouts just to get a little more understanding of the show.
I loved it and you might too https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CN4J59BF/ref=butts
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Just watched my son, a major in the 51st Expeditionary Signal Battalion, barking orders at the troops during their casing ceremony. It was weird. I guess every soldier was a kid, once.
isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:
FTC votes to ban non-compete agreements. They were already non-enforceable in some places (California?), but good thing to have is as a general rule.
I'm a fan of Lina Khan!
https://thehill.com/business/4615452-ftc-votes-to-ban-non-compete-agreements/
Trump to score additional $1.2 billion windfall thanks to his Truth Social app
Trump is getting additional shares in his social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, as part of his current agreement. He still can't cash in yet though.
The FTC has banned noncompete agreements
Illustration by The Verge | Photo via Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission has voted to ban noncompete agreements nationwide, saying that they are an “unfair method of competition.”
Noncompete agreements — which attempt to prevent employees from working for or starting competing businesses — are especially prevalent in the world of tech, where we’ve seen companies like Amazon enforce and then retract a noncompete agreement for warehouse workers. Acer even sued its former CEO for allegedly breaching a noncompete policy by becoming a consultant for Lenovo.
The change will force companies to reverse existing noncompete agreements and notify employees about the change. Existing noncompete agreements for senior executives can stay in place, but companies can’t enter or enforce new...
My Dumb Quest To Get A Backpack In Fallout 76 (And How To Avoid It)
When I started playing Fallout 76 in 2018 there were no backpacks. So I never thought about it. But when I learned from a random comment that backpacks had been added after that point and had been in the game for years, I felt stupid for never crafting one. And then I went to collect the recipe for a pack and felt…
Framework won’t be just a laptop company anymore
Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge
Today, Framework is the modular repairable laptop company. Tomorrow, it wants to be a consumer electronics company, period. That’s one of the biggest reasons it just raised another $18 million in funding — it wants to expand beyond the laptop into “additional product categories.”
Framework CEO Nirav Patel tells me that has always been the plan and that the company originally had other viable ideas beyond laptops, too. “We chose to take on the notebook space first,” he says, partly because Framework knew it could bootstrap its ambitions by catering to the PC builders and tinkerers and Linux enthusiasts left behind by big OEMs and partly because it wanted to go big or go home.
If Framework could succeed in laptops, he thought, it would be...
Tesla teases robotaxi ridehailing function in its app
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Tesla provided a sneak peek of its upcoming ridehailing mobile app in the company’s latest earnings report. The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, has said that Tesla will unveil a long-gestating robotaxi in August.
The company revealed five screens from the forthcoming feature. The first screen shows a big button that says “Summon” with a lower message for the possible wait time. The next screen has a 3D map with a little virtual vehicle following a route to the waiting passenger. It looks a lot like the Uber app — but more Tesla-y.
Image: Tesla
Tesla’s ridehailing app looks like your average ridehailing app.
While they wait, the passenger can set the vehicle’s climate to a preferred temperature. Other details, like...
Scrambled GPS: the New Electronic Fog of War
Two stories of how our reliance on GPS becomes problematic in regions experiencing war. In Ukraine, the power grid's use of GPS becomes a liability. And in the Middle East today, GPS "spoofing" causes a variety of issues from plane navigation to internet dating.
Apple reportedly cuts Vision Pro production due to low demand
Demand for Vision Pro is falling. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Apple is reportedly cutting its Vision Pro headset shipment forecast for the rest of the year due to cooling demand.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo writes that Apple cut orders for the Vision Pro even before it launched outside of the US. His sources claim thatApple now expects to sell only around 400,000 to 450,000 units in 2024, compared to what Kuo says was a “market consensus” of 700,000 to 800,000. Demand for the $3,500 Vision Pro dropped much lower than the company was expecting.
Facing the unanticipated drop in steam, Apple is now adjusting its headset roadmap, possibly pushing the future of a lower-cost entry mixed reality headset beyond 2025 (if at all). Apple’s Vision Pro has largely wowed early adopters due to its technical...
Helldivers 2 Players Absolutely Hate Hellmire And For Good Reason
Helldivers 2 players have strong feelings about the planets they’re fighting to defend in the game’s ongoing galactic war. First there was Malevelon Creek, which became a notorious hotspot for players, after it was dubbed “Robot Vietnam” due to its flame-spewing robots, jungle setting, and significant difficulty.…
Did Trump Push the NY Judge Too Far?
Once again, former President Donald Trump is about to find out just how far he can push a judge. On Tuesday morning, Trump’s attorneys faced an angry barrage of questions from New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, demanding they explain why Trump should not be fined for what prosecutors in his hush-money case say […]
Did Trump Push the NY Judge Too Far?
Once again, former president Donald Trump is about to find out just how far he can push a judge. On Tuesday morning, Trump’s attorneys faced an angry barrage of questions from New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, demanding they explain why Trump should not be fined for what prosecutors in his hush-money case say […]
Tesla’s profits sink as the company struggles with cooling demand
Photo by VCG / VCG via Getty Images
Tesla reported its first quarter earnings during an incredibly shaky moment for the company in which sales numbers and the stock price have both fallen. Against this backdrop, Tesla reported $1.1 billion in net income on $21 billion in revenue, down 9 percent from $23.3 billion the same time last year.
The company’s profits, once the envy of the auto industry, are at their lowest in six years thanks to rampant price cutting and slowing demand. Earlier this week, the company approved its latest price cuts for the US, China, and Germany — all major markets for the EV maker.
Tesla’s Q1 operating margins are 5.5 percent, down from 11.4 percent in Q1 2023. In a note to shareholders, the company blames an industrywide shift from...
Fans Divided After Learning Metaphor: ReFantazio Won’t Have Romance
Metaphor: ReFantazio, the upcoming RPG from developer Atlus’ Persona team, will bring in a lot of elements from its predecessor when it launches in October. This includes turn-based combat, social elements called “Bonds,” and a time management mechanic as you live out individual days. But one thing that won’t be…
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
In text form:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes
A hunk of space junk crashed through a Florida man's roof. Who should pay to fix it?
"It was not like anything I had ever seen before," Alejandro Otero says. It turned out his home was hit by debris from the International Space Station that had been circling the Earth for three years.
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
Regarding LB[1]: Here's a copy on youtube if you need slightly better quality video of Lina Khan discussing the FTC new rule regarding non-compete clauses:
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
bagder ("daniel:// stenberg://") wrote:
When in my car, I found myself in my car.
Attachments:
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
BlackAzizAnansi@mas.to ("Black Aziz Anansi :vm:") wrote:
The FTC just banned non-compete clauses.
Attachments:
Destiny 2: How To Find Archie And Get The Blue Steel Shader
Everyone’s favorite Destiny 2 dog, Archie, is back in the tower with the new Into The Light update. However, he’s not in his usual spot, and we’re going to have to go on a hunt to find out what he’s up to. After all, there’s a triumph titled “Where in the System is Archie?” that rewards players with the Blue Steel…
U.S. bans noncompete agreements for nearly all jobs
The Federal Trade Commission has voted to ban employment agreements that typically prevent workers from leaving their companies for competitors, or starting competing businesses of their own.
New X-Men Xbox Is X-Cellent (And Not For Sale)
Microsoft and Marvel have teamed up to create a new X-Men-themed Xbox console that looks awesome and comes with a Wolverine-inspired controller, too. Sadly, this new console isn’t for sale and can only be won via a limited-time sweepstakes.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
denmanrooke@social.coop ("Denman Rooke") wrote:
Hey! Here's a process video of the oil painting for Angel of Indemnity for Magic the Gathering's Outlaws of Thunder Junction set.
#mtgart #MagicTheGathering #mtgThunder #MTGOTJ
https://makertube.net/videos/watch/c7361c71-175e-4e55-8ada-6c4c931cfdd2
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
rees@makertube.net ("Rees") wrote:
Building A Brand New FPGA Gameboy Color In 2024
https://makertube.net/videos/watch/4e2248bc-530e-47ec-af81-ac5d8d3d335a
Wattpad has a community problem, so it’s killing DMs
Wattpad says DMs will be shut down on May 6th, alongside the deletion of all existing messages. | Image: Wattpad
Community publishing platform Wattpad is removing the ability for users to send each other direct messages, claiming that the feature has “only been relevant to a small percentage” of its global user base. Users will retain access to their DMs until May 6th, after which all existing messages will be deleted and the feature will no longer be available, according to Wattpad’s help center.
Wattpad is instead encouraging its users to communicate via the public commenting feature on stories or the conversation section of profile pages. There is currently no means for users to download their existing DMs, and Wattpad says that it’s unable to retrieve such data. The feature will still exist in a limited capacity solely for Wattpad to...
Report on UNRWA concludes Israel has not provided evidence of employees' militancy
An independent review commissioned by the United Nations did not have a mandate to investigate Israel's other claim that a dozen UNRWA employees took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
T-Mobile’s new 5G internet plan lets you take your Wi-Fi on the road
Home internet for when you’re not at home. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
T-Mobile has announced two new home internet plans: Home Internet Plus and Away. Well, technically that’s one home internet plan and one anywhere-but-home plan. These new flavors of T-Mobile’s 5G-powered internet service aim to address different customers, but both serve the same goal: leveraging that sweet 5G spectrum to do more than just keep our phones connected.
The new Away plan, importantly, does not allow for “extended use in the same location,” according to a footnote in T-Mobile’s press release. It’s basically a Starlink competitor designed for campers and RV owners, but instead of using satellite connectivity, it’s more like a supercharged cellular hotspot. It can connect up to 64 devices at a time, which seems like way more...
What to expect at Apple’s May ‘Let Loose’ event
Apple’s next event will be all about iPads. | Image: Apple
Apple has gone and announced a spring event for May 7th at 7AM PT / 10AM ET. While the company didn’t say what the event is about, the Apple Pencil in its graphic suggests we’re finally about to hear about new iPads — but which ones? Well, almost certainly OLED iPad Pros, which we’ve been hearing about for months, but the company might also announce a new iPad Air in two sizes for the first time.
Rumors have also circulated in the last few months about a new Apple Pencil and updated Magic Keyboard accessories that would give iPad Pro owners a more laptop-like feel. Because more accessories are all the iPad needs, right? It doesn’t seem likely that there will be an update of the 10th-generation vanilla iPad or the iPad Mini quite yet, so...
The biggest AI companies agree to crack down on child abuse images
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images
Tech companies like Google, Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Amazon committed today to reviewing their AI training data for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and removing it from use in any future models.
The companies signed on to a new set of principles meant to limit the proliferation of CSAM. They promise to ensure training datasets do not contain CSAM, to avoid datasets with a high risk of including CSAM, and to remove CSAM imagery or links to CSAM from data sources. The companies also commit to “stress-testing” AI models to ensure they don’t generate any CSAM imagery and to only release models if these have been evaluated for child safety.
Other signatories include Anthropic, Civitai, Metaphysic, Mistral AI, and Stability AI.
G...
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
ct_bergstrom@fediscience.org ("Carl T. Bergstrom") wrote:
A beautiful red-naped sapsucker in southern New Mexico last month.
Attachments:
Atlus’ new fantasy-meets-Persona RPG launches in October
Image: Atlus
Metaphor: ReFantazio is the inscrutable name for Atlus’ next RPG project. The company launched a new trailer and a 30-minute video introducing players to the story, gameplay, and social elements of the game, and at first blush, it looks pretty damn intriguing. Check out the gameplay video below.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is an action RPG from Studio Zero, a new internal studio spun up in 2016 and headed by Katsura Hashino. Atlus really wants you to know the bona fides of the developers working on Metaphor. Hashino himself worked on Shin Megami Tensei III, Persona 3, 4, and 5. The game’s mechanical designer is Ikuto Yamashita, who helped design the mechs in Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Shoji Meguro, who did the music for the Persona series,...
You don’t know your K-pop persona, do you?
Image: Spotify
Spotify has launched a colorful personality quiz designed to help K-pop fans determine their persona. For those unfamiliar with the K-pop term or its Jungian roots, a “persona” refers to the distinct, public-facing role of each member of a band. The feature leans into K-pop’s status as a major area of growth in the global music industry, which Spotify has been eager to tap into.
The five-question quiz, which fans can take inside the Spotify app, will identify whether you’re a Main Visual, a Main Vocal, a Main Rapper, a Main Dancer, or a Trainee. In a callout to K-pop fan culture, the quiz will also generate a photocard (similar to the band-specific trading cards) with your results that you can share on social media. The feature will be...
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
As always, I am discouraged by the state of journalism in this country. (CNN & Fox News don't practice it, for the record.)
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/04/23/tv-killed-journalism-in-america/
10 Games From The Palestinian Relief Bundle To Play First
The latest bundle on indie game storefront itch.io, known for donating some of its proceeds to a good cause, is the Palestinian Relief Bundle. With Palestinians suffering unspeakable loss, along with starvation, a massive shortage of healthcare resources, and other humanitarian issues, the bundle is raising funds for…
Justice Department pays $138 million over FBI failures in Larry Nassar case
The DOJ settlement goes to 139 victims of Larry Nassar, the disgraced team doctor of USA Gymnastics who sexually assaulted elite and Olympic gymnasts, after the FBI failed to promptly investigate
How 14 tribes plan to use the Biden administration’s solar grants
Cody Two Bears attends the Stand With Standing Rock Benefit at ABC Home & Carpet on December 15th, 2016, in New York City. | Photo by Mark Sagliocco / WireImage
A coalition of 14 tribes received $135,580,000 for solar energy, part of a Biden administration program to help more households run on renewable energy. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation, which is leading the coalition, says the funding will bring jobs to their communities and make electricity more affordable.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced $7 billion in “Solar for All” grants yesterday for 60 awardees, including the MHA Nation. The money, which comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, is supposed to bring residential solar systems to some 900,000 “low-income and disadvantaged” households. Six of the grants, totaling $500 million, are going to tribes.
Funding for the MHA Nation is expected to bring solar energy...
Fortnite Festival's New Season Makes The Game Even More Like Rock Band
On April 23, Fortnite Festival Season 3 launched, adding new music, skins, features, and tweaks to the popular rhythm game mode that lives inside Epic’s popular online battle royale. The big news is that players can now use plastic guitars while playing Fortnite Festival, making the mode just a bit more like Rock…
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
Serendipity being the best way to find music sometimes.
Klangphonics taking Techno back to its roots (I assume):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8qrbwfhtn4
You can hear the whole track here if you're so inclined:
Luminar starts shipping lidar for Volvo EX90 — while readying its next-gen sensor
Luminar’s new Halo lidar sensor is expected to be less than one inch thick. | Image: Luminar
Luminar is shipping out orders of its lidar sensors to Volvo as the automaker is preparing to start production of its EX90 electric vehicles, the company said today. Volvo will use the laser sensor to enable safety and self-driving features in the EX90, making it the “first global consumer vehicle to standardize this technology,” Luminar notes in a press release.
The news comes during a “Luminar Day” webcast, where the company is also announcing a new next-generation “Halo” lidar sensor — one that’s designed for mainstream adoption, including in affordable vehicles, at half the cost of its current system.
The order of lidar sensors to Volvo, which Luminar notes is worth $4 billion, comes after Volvo announced last year that it had to p...
Tesla reveals a new Model 3 Performance with more horsepower and faster acceleration
Tesla
On the cusp of what’s expected to be a very not-good earnings report, Tesla decided to shuffle its search results a bit with the reveal of the 2024 Model 3 Performance, with a specially tuned chassis and a 2.9 second 0–60 mph acceleration time.
Interestingly, Tesla did not give this updated Model 3 the “Plaid” performance badge, which, so far, it has reserved for its more premium vehicles, the Model S and Model X. For the Model 3, it’s sticking to Performance.
The performance trim of the company’s top-selling electric sedan will get 510 horsepower and 741 Nm of torque — a step above the 470 horsepower that was achievable in the 2019 performance trim — and can hit a top speed of 163 mph.
Interestingly, Tesla is not give this updated...
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
hot damn! Voyager I is back online & coherent!
oh yah, yah yah yah, you go little spacecraft, you go… 🛰️
11 Things We Learned From The Metaphor: Refantazio Showcase
Metaphor: Refantazio is the next game from the Persona leads at Atlus, and while it has some similarities to the franchise (it’s a turn-based, social sim-driven RPG), it’s adapting a lot of those concepts into a medieval fantasy setting rather than a modern-day high school. On April 22, Atlus held a 25-minute…
Pro-Palestinian encampments and protests spread on college campuses across the U.S.
After dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested at Columbia, Yale and NYU, students at colleges from Massachusetts to Minnesota to California are erecting encampments in solidarity.
What Does FF7 Rebirth’s Luck Stat Do? (And How To Make Cait Sith Broken)
As an RPG, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has a number of character stats that influence various aspects of a battle. Luck is perhaps one of the less understood ones. Not only is it an attribute worth raising, but certain characters, like Cait Sith in particular, can benefit from a high Luck stat in some dramatic ways.