Sep 20
“I acted out my compulsive behaviors, while at home, by performing on camera,” wrote Adame, an Emmy-nominated meteorologist.
Sep 20
German automaker BMW and fellow Deutsche auto tuner Alpina have unveiled the 2023 Alpina XB7, a souped-up and more hardcore variant of BMW’s X7 SUV.
Sep 20
Slack's upcoming 'canvas' feature will make it easier for teams to share resources
Posted in: Today's ChiliSlack has introduced a new feature called “canvas,” which it describes as a “surface” where teams can “curate, organize and share mission-critical resources.” When it launches next year, Canvas could replace external apps or programs teams use to collate and share information and ideas, such as Google Docs, company Wikis or Notion.
Users can create a new canvas by choosing the option in the drop-down menu beside their Slack team’s name. They can embed files in it, along with links, channel lists, videos, workflows, tasks to complete and other resources — anything useful team members might need, so they don’t have to waste precious time hunting for information.
The company envisions canvas as something teams could use to organize marketing campaigns, to share executive briefings with everyone and to onboard new hires. Users can create canvases without having to use code, and they can keep editing existing templates instead of creating new ones again and again. Here’s an example of what a canvas could look like:
Slack
Slack has also started rolling out the new and updated huddles with features it promised back in June. Huddles provides an audio chat capability for teams within Slack, but this update gives users the option to switch on video, as well. Opting for a video huddle will open a separate window, and users will have the ability to blur their backgrounds like they can in other video conferencing apps such as Zoom. And yes, they can use emoji reactions in video huddles.
In addition, the revamped huddle allows more than one person to share their screen at the same time. In a session where multiple people are sharing screens, they can use live cursors and the ability to draw on the shared screens as a visual aid. Any information shared during a huddle, including links, files and notes, will automatically get saved in a thread in the channel or the DM where it was launched. These threads can be pinned for easy access and will even be searchable. If they’re posted in channels instead of in DMs, even users who aren’t part of the huddle will be able to see them. It could take a while for everyone to get access to these features, but Slack says they’ll make their way to all users over the coming weeks.
Sep 20
GOP Senators Push Back On COVID Funds Request After Biden Says ‘Pandemic Is Over’
Posted in: Today's Chili“If it’s over, then I wouldn’t suspect they need any more money,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told CNN.
Sep 20
After months of previews and betas, iOS 16 is here and rolling out to iPhones worldwide. Once you’ve got it safely installed on your device, you’ll want to know about all the new features now at your fingertips—and we’ve picked out 16 of our favorites, from major to minor, that can make a real difference to the way…
Sep 20
Peloton is today announcing its long-awaited entry into the smart ergometer market with Peloton Row. Much like the firm’s other products, Row is a smart rowing machine with a 23-inch HD display onto which you can watch live classes. The company is making its usual noises about a premium piece of hardware that promises better customization than its competition.
Row is belt driven, much like its ostensible rival in this space, the Hydrow, which has a similar silhouette. That offers a fine-grain, electronically-controlled resistance — at odds with the broader resistance you’ll find on air rowers, of which Concept2 provides the gold standard. Peloton also says that Row can offer individually-calibrated on-screen feedback on your form as you row.
(This is something I’m particularly interested in exploring myself, given that my usual form issues are related to rounding over my back, rather than how I’m pulling the chain. Unless there’s some Peloton Guide-esque computer vision stuff that the company hasn’t mentioned in the Row’s press release that might identify real-world issues. Speaking of which, Guide is also getting an update this week to include rep tracking.)
Peloton
You’ll also get personal pace targets to help you gauge what your instructors are bellowing at you to do through the screen. Not to mention a whole bunch of data that’ll be slapped onto you after each row, giving you performance metrics that should help you improve in future. (Rowers are, if nothing else, nerds for some good data.)
Of course, like most at-home fitness gear these days, Peloton is also making a big deal that you can stow this thing vertically. And that it’s brought on a raft of new instructors, with a series of pre-recorded classes available on-demand, while live classes will start in 2023. Plus, like other Peloton products, you can swivel the display to work out with free weights or any other class of your choice.
As for the price, Peloton is asking $3,195, plus the cost of the monthly $44 per month membership for all of the content. The company hasn’t yet mentioned if Row will join its rental program, although it’s likely that the initial wave of devices will be needed to service the demand of folks who’ve been waiting for Peloton to join the rowing world for some time now.
Sep 20
Voyager and Lockheed Martin plan to have their private space station, Starlab, up and running by 2027. The latest development is a partnership with Hilton, which will help design astronaut facilities, including the sleeping quarters and other parts of the station. NASA has contracted four private companies to build private space stations ahead of the agency’s planned decommissioning of the International Space Station at the end of the decade.
Under the partnership, Hilton and Voyager will investigate marketing opportunities related to Starlab and trips to what could be one of the first space hotels.
– Mat Smith
The biggest stories you might have missed
James Webb Space Telescope’s first pictures of Mars could reveal more about the atmosphere
The iPhone 14 Pro camera is shaking and rattling when certain third-party apps are used
ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED review: Great screen, now do the keyboard
Apple’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro drops to a new all-time low of $900
Ford thinks Bluetooth LE can keep pedestrians and cyclists safe from cars
ASUS’ ROG Phone 6D Ultimate has a beefy cooling system
When the fan is attached, the phone’s cooling fins are exposed.
Engadget
ASUS’ latest hardcore gamer phone, carrying its gaming PC ROG branding, includes a flap that exposes the phone when you attach the bundled AeroActive Cooler 6 – yes a giant cooling peripheral. This blasts 1,000cc of air through the phone per second. The ROG Phone 6D Ultimate will be available across Europe soon, priced at €1,399 (around $1,400) or £1,199 in the UK. No word on US availability yet.
Rockstar confirms gigantic ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ leak
They featured an early build of the game.
That purported Grand Theft Auto VI leak appears to be real. Rockstar Games has confirmed the leak’s authenticity in a tweet, noting that a hacker stole confidential data including “early development footage” of the next Grand Theft Auto title. The firm didn’t foresee any long-term damage to development or live services like GTA Online, but was “extremely disappointed” that details of the future game were revealed. It was a big leak, including 90 videos of a very early build of GTA VI. The clips appear to confirm rumors from July that a return to Vice City was on the cards, as well as a Bonnie and Clyde-like pair of male and female protagonists.
Boom’s supersonic jet is facing a lack of interest from engine suppliers
Manufacturers say supersonic travel is ‘tangential’ and are focusing on efficiency instead.
Boom recently lost its jet engine partner for the Overture supersonic jet, and other major engine manufacturers reportedly aren’t interested in the project either, according to a report from Insider. After Boom signed an “engagement agreement” with Rolls-Royce for supersonic jet engines back in 2020, the latter announced last week that it had left the project. Another jet engine supplier, Pratt & Whitney, cited efficiency as an issue for supersonic jets, while other manufacturers say they’re concentrating on reducing fuel-burn – the primary focus for the industry, given criticism of air travel’s contribution to global warming.
The iPhone 14 is the most repairable iPhone in years
It’s completely been reworked inside.
iFixit has finished a teardown of this year’s iPhone 14, and it’s clear that the device was reworked from the ground up, with do-it-yourself fixes in mind. The back glass is easier and cheaper to fix, but the metal midframe keeps the front just as accessible. Apple still demands that customers and technicians activate parts after installation, so you can’t just use an unofficial back instead of Self Service Repair components. Still, iFixit claims this is the most repairable Apple handset since 2016’s iPhone 7. In Fact, the design is more repairable than many Android phones that are only easy to open from the back.
‘Cyberpunk 2077’ is a hit on Steam again
Thanks to its Netflix anime spinoff.
Netflix
With nearly 80,000 concurrent Steam players at the moment, Cyberpunk 2077 is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. While it’s a far cry from the more than one million people that played the game on PC following its troubled launch, it’s still more interest than the game has seen in over a year. That’s likely thanks to the game’s anime spinoff, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, which premiered on Netflix to critical acclaim.
Sep 20
Tile now offers $1 QR code stickers as a low-tech way to recover lost items
Posted in: Today's ChiliTile has just launched “Lost and Found” QR labels that are a essentially a low-tech way to get your stuff back. They’re meant to be used on small or perhaps not particularly valuable items like “travel mugs, musical instruments, sports equipment and earbud cases,” the company said. It’s the company’s first new product release since its acquisition by location sharing service Life360.
Unlike its Tile trackers that let you see where an object is physically located via Bluetooth, the new stickers are effectively a fancy version of an airport luggage tag. Anyone who finds it can scan the QR code to bring up your contact information, and then (if they’re honest) contact you to return the item.
Tile
Without tracking or beeps to locate your object, privacy is less of an issue than it is with Tile’s trackers or Apple AirTags. That said, you’re still potentially putting your contact information out in public, so you should make sure the labels never appear in public social media posts, for instance. They’re priced at $15 for three sheets of five labels, which is a lot cheaper than the $25 trackers — but $1 for a sticker still seems like a lot.
Sep 20
How To Get A Student Loan Refund If You Paid During The Coronavirus Pandemic
Posted in: Today's ChiliBorrowers who paid down their debt during a pandemic freeze that started in March 2020 can in fact get a refund — and then apply for forgiveness.
Sep 20
Apple has announced that it’s raising the prices of both apps and in-app purchases, not including auto-renewable subscriptions, across several regions starting on October 5th. All territories using the Euro currency are affected, along with Chile, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden and Vietnam. Apple says the price increase in Vietman reflects new laws that require the company to collect value added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax.
The amount added to old prices vary, based on the list of updated pricing tier (PDF) the tech giant has published. Apps that currently cost 99 cents will set users back €1.19 in Euro territories, while those that cost €4.99 will cost a Euro more at €5.99. The additional charge gets bigger the higher one goes in the pricing tier — purchases that cost €14.99, for instance, will cost people €17.99 instead.
Apple didn’t explain the reason behind the price hike for most territories aside from Vietnam. For Euro-using countries, it could be partly because of the fact that the Euro is weak against the dollar and even fell below parity for the first time in almost two decades. Perhaps this price hike shouldn’t come as a surprise because of that, seeing as people are also expected to pay much, much more for the iPhone 14 in Europe than in the US. The iPhone 14 Pro, for instance, will set buyers back $999 in the US. Converted, that’s only €997, but the model is priced at €1,299 in Germany, €1,319 in Spain and €1,339 in Italy.
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