| The Death of Expertise and the Rise of the Internet | Full Story |
The modern Internet has become a hopeless cesspool of lies, misinformation, malinformation, bad intentions, ignorant good intentions and half-truths, outright hoaxes, slander, cruelty; as well as a refuge for creeps, criminals, thieves, phonies, agent provocateurs, would-be revolutionaries, predators, useless and fake reviews, Satanists, and worse.
| R.I.P. Lou Ottens, Creator of the Cassette Tape Dead at 94 |
Lou Ottens, the Dutch engineer who created the technology behind cassette tapes and compact discs, has died at 94. He passed away at his home in Belgium on Saturday, reports DutchNews.nl.
| Intel hit with $2.2 billion patent judgment |
A Texas jury has ordered Intel to pay $2.18 billion in damages for infringing two patents. The lawsuit was filed by VLSI Technology LLC, a 4-year-old firm that Intel says has no products and no sources of revenue besides patent litigation.
The patents at issue in the case previously belonged to NXP Semiconductors, a Dutch company that spun off from Philips in 2006. NXP acquired the patents when it bought Freescale Semiconductor (itself a spinoff of Motorola) in 2015. Intel's lawyer told jurors that NXP would get a portion of the proceeds from the lawsuit.
| Report: Fry’s Electronics going out of business, shutting down all stores |
Fry's Electronics, the decades-old superstore chain with locations in nine American states, appears to have gone defunct. Bay Area TV station KRON-4 was the first press outlet to confirm the news late Tuesday, saying that Fry's will shut down all 30 of its American locations. The retailer will reportedly make an announcement at some time on Wednesday via the Fry's website.
| Tesla’s Elon Musk shares brief update on Cybertruck’s final design |
Elon Musk recently provided a quick update on the highly-anticipated Cybertruck’s development, with the Tesla CEO noting that the all-electric pickup’s final design is looking good. Musk shared his thoughts on Twitter after he visited the vehicle at Tesla’s studio.
The Cybertruck is arguably Tesla’s most radical vehicle to date, thanks in part to its unorthodox brutalist design and angular exoskeleton. Starting at less than $40,000, the Cybertruck has the potential to break into one of the most lucrative vehicle segments in the United States. But to accomplish this, the Cybertruck must have the necessary balance between all-electric performance and classic pickup characteristics.
| With an Upgraded Color E Ink Screen, This Could Be the Perfect E-Reader for Comic Book Fans |
When we reviewed the PocketBook Color last year, we loved the device and the fact that true e-readers could finally display color, but its six-inch screen made it hard to use for reading comic books and magazines which work much better on tablets. The new PocketBook InkPad Color tries to remedy that with a larger 7.8-inch screen that uses E-Ink’s next-generation color electronic paper technology.
| Back to the Future as Researchers Invent Real-Life Flux Capacitor |
The "Back to the Future" time machine runs on an imaginary flux capacitor but could the movie invention become reality?
In the popular movie franchise Back to the Future, an eccentric scientist creates a time machine that runs on a flux capacitor.
Now a group of actual physicists from Australia (RMIT University, University of Queensland) and Switzerland (ETH Zurich) have proposed a similar device that can break time-reversal symmetry.
While their flux capacitor doesn’t enable time travel, it’s a critical step in future technologies like the quantum computer and could lead to better electronics for mobile phones and wifi.
| Microsoft releases new all-in-one Office app for iPads |
Microsoft yesterday released an all-in-one Office app for iPads, bringing a new approach to Office on mobile previously seen on iOS and Android to iPadOS. The app combines Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and a number of mobile device-specific features, including PDF management tools and a file browser.
| Fitbit update brings ECG, blood glucose tracking, and Health Metrics for non-paying users |
Fitbit is rolling out a massive update to its range of fitness trackers and smartwatches. The latest update adds a new SpO2 watch face and skin temperature tracking to Charge 4, improvements to Health Metrics data presentation, and opens up some of the paid features to more users.
According to Wareable, on Charge 4, the update separates blood oxygen data readings from the sleeping analysis and now shows it on a dedicated watch face. That means users can now see the SpO2 readings right from the device without having to dig deep into the companion app. Moreover, the Charge 4 users can now also measure their surface skin temperature, a feature that was available only on the Fitbit Sense smartwatch up until now.
| Why did the flywheel hybrid system never catch on for road cars? |
When a Speed network television crew interviewed Margo T. Oge, then-director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, during the 10-hour-long 2010 Petit Le Mans Series race at Road Atlanta, Porsche's experimental 911 GT3 R Hybrid race car held down a top-20 position in the 45-car field.