Oct 05
Dem Strategist Rips Republicans With Reason For Their ‘Very Low-Quality Candidates’
Posted in: Today's Chili“I’m not really supposed to say that but it’s an obvious fact,” said longtime Democratic operative James Carville.
Oct 05
This story is part of Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors, the first climate-fiction contest from Fix, Grist’s solutions lab. Imagine 2200 asked writers to imagine the next 180 years of equitable climate progress, and the winning stories feature intersectional worlds in which no community is left…
Oct 05
Zipline has teamed up with a healthcare provider servicing the Intermountain Region in the US to deliver medicine to customers using its drones. The company has started doing drone deliveries to select Intermountain Healthcare patients in the Salt Lake Valley area. For now, it can only do drops for local communities within several miles of its distribution center. Zipline intends to add more centers over the next five years, though, so it can eventually expand beyond Salt Lake Valley and deliver medicine throughout Utah.
As TechCrunch notes, Zipline has long been deploying drones for delivery in Africa, and it wasn’t until the pandemic that it started doing drops in the US. In 2020, it teamed up with Novant Health to ferry personal protective gear and other types of medical equipment to frontline healthcare workers tending to COVID-19 patients in North Carolina. Later that year, it signed a deal with Walmart to deliver health and wellness supplies to customers near the retailer’s headquarters in northwest Arkansas.
In June this year, the FAA authorized Zipline to conduct long range on-demand commercial drone deliveries in the US. The company said that the certification it received from the agency allows it to significantly expand its services in the country. That means we’ll see it expand its covered areas with current partners and perhaps see it sign agreements with more partner companies in the future.
Intermountain Healthcare patients in the Salt Lake Valley area can now sign up for Zipline deliveries. The company will then evaluate their eligibility based on their location, their yard size — its target delivery area must be at least two parking spaces big — and their surrounding airspace. Zipline’s drones are six-foot gliders with a wingspan that’s 10 feet long. These drones fly 300 to 400 feet above the ground, though they drop down to an altitude of around 60 to 80 feet to deliver packages outfitted with a parachute.
Bijal Mehta, head of global fulfillment operations at Zipline, said in a statement:
“Think back to the last time you had a doctor’s visit and then had to trek to the pharmacy for your prescription, making what can already be a time-consuming experience that much more draining, or the last time your child was ill and you had to pack the family in the car just to get cold medicine. Zipline and Intermountain Healthcare are working together to eliminate the burdens that make it harder to get the care you need when you need it. We believe instant delivery is a key element to the future of healthcare and we are excited to bring our service to the Salt Lake City area to make people’s lives better, easier, and healthier.”
Oct 05
With profits shrinking of late, Facebook has been shutting down unpopular apps and focusing on its core services. To that end, it’s updating the primary Facebook Feed to let users see fewer or more posts from friends, groups and pages. That will in turn let it incorporate user feedback into Feed rankings, “making our artificial intelligence systems smarter and more responsive,” it said in a blog post.
As it stands now, the Facebook app only lets you hide posts from people you follow or those it suggests. Now, for friends or recommended posts, a new setting will allow you to “show more” or “show less” of that content. Doing so will not only change your feed content, but improve its AI system used for Feed rankings.
It’ll “periodically” show the setting on posts in Feed, and you’ll soon be able to access a similar setting on every post by tapping on the three-dot menu at the top right. It’s also testing the feature in its short video Reels feature.
Facebook
In addition, Facebook is testing a global menu to customize the number of posts you see from Friends and family; Groups; and Pages and public figures. As shown in the image above, you’ll be able to select “Normal,” “Show more” or “Show less” of that content. That will appear along with the current Favorites, Snooze, Unfollow and Reconnect in the Feed Preferences.
With the changes, Facebook appears to be addressing one of the main user complaints: too many posts that they don’t want to see. Considering the number of ads in Feed (with more coming to Instagram and Reels as well), parent Meta no doubt wants to make sure users are happy with other content.
Oct 05
Fauci Says He Should Have Exercised More Caution In Delivering COVID Advice
Posted in: Today's Chili“I probably should have tried to be much, much more careful in getting the message to repeat the uncertainty of what we’re going through,” Fauci said.
Oct 05
Loewe's Metaverse Fashion Works IRL
Posted in: Today's Chili
As someone who very much can’t afford the clothes presented at Paris Fashion Week (or any other city’s fashion week) I wasn’t paying much attention to the shows. But among the highlights from reporters and fashion influencers, I spotted some pieces that absolutely thrilled my brain, even though they made my eyes…
Oct 05
'I Withdrew $15,000 Three Times:' 9 PayPal Scams We Can't Believe People Actually Fell for
Posted in: Today's Chili
If you ever find yourself mailing bundles of cash across the country to a stranger, take a deep breath and ask yourself, “Is this a scam?” because we assure you it’s almost certainly a scam. And Gizmodo has the documents to prove it.
Oct 05
Twitter has agreed – once again – to Elon Musk’s proposal to buy the company for $54.20 a share. In a statement, Twitter confirmed it had received Musk’s letter that “the intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share.” The agreement follows months of legal drama after Musk tried to back out of his original agreement this spring to buy the company for $44 billion.
The two sides were set to go to trial later this month. But Musk abruptly reversed course on Tuesday, telling Twitter he would proceed with the original terms of the deal. In the letter filed with the SEC, Musk’s lawyers say they will go ahead with the agreement struck in April if Delaware Chancery Court will “adjourn the trial and all other proceedings related” to the ongoing lawsuit.
It’s not yet clear when the acquisition could actually close. Twitter’s shareholders have already voted to approve the deal, but both sides now need to wait for Delaware’s Chancery Court’s response. The next question: What will Musk do with Twitter?
– Mat Smith
The biggest stories you might have missed
The EU will require USB-C charging for all mobile devices by the end of 2024
Google’s Nest WiFi Pro arrives with faster speeds and new high-gloss design
Xiaomi’s new 2-in-1 robot vacuum can wash and dry its own mops
US to impose more trade restrictions on Chinese AI and supercomputer companies
‘Overwatch 2’ server attack prevented fans from playing the game on launch day
We were stuck in a queue behind tens of thousands of other people.
Overwatch 2‘s early access launch has been marred by a massive DDoS attack preventing players from getting into the game. Many gamers, including me, were stuck on the connection screen, put in a queue behind tens of thousands of other players also trying to get in. When the countdown finished, I was booted from the server. I was apparently not the only one. Blizzard president Mike Ybarra tweeted that the game was “experiencing a mass DDoS attack” on its servers, causing drop and connection issues.
Xiaomi’s 12T Pro packs a 200-megapixel camera
But without Leica branding.
Engadget
Xiaomi’s 12T Pro uses Samsung’s ISOCELL HP1 sensor to capture epic 200-megapixel stills. The HP1 includes 2x in-sensor zoom, 4-in-1 pixel binning to mimic larger pixel sites for better sensitivity and 16-in-1 super pixel binning to simulate even bigger pixel sites for dark environments. If you shoot 200-megapixel images, you can let the AI-powered Xiaomi ProCut tool analyze those shots and suggest ideal compositions. Oddly, there’s no Leica branding here. Engadget reached out to Xiaomi on this matter, and a rep replied: “While Leica is a partner in our strategic imagery upgrade, it won’t necessarily contribute to every device.”
‘The Onion’ filed a real brief with the Supreme Court supporting man jailed for making fun of cops
A man was arrested for a Facebook page that parodied his local police department.
Satire and comedy news site The Onion filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of Anthony Novak, who was arrested and jailed for four days after briefly running a Facebook page parodying the police department of Parma, Ohio, back in 2016. Parma’s police department claimed back then that people were confusing his posts with real information from law enforcement. Novak filed a civil suit against the city of Parma and the officers that arrested him , arguing his constitutional rights were violated. After federal appeals, he eventually took the battle to the Supreme Court.
CDPR is working on a ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ sequel
And several new Witcher games.
CDPR
The game developer has shared a long-term roadmap that elaborates on its plans for its big gaming franchises. A project codenamed Orion is effectively a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 to “further develop the potential” of the sci-fi franchise. We’ve already heard of a new Unreal Engine 5-based The Witcher game in the works, but it’s just the start of a new trilogy. We might not have to wait long to see the story reach its conclusion, either. CDPR hopes to release all three games within a six-year span, with the first (codenamed Polaris) serving as a technology foundation for the remaining two.
One person’s quest for the perfect productivity mouse
Is it time for an upgrade?
James Trew’s mission for a mouse had several requirements. Top of the list: ergonomics. The Magic Mouse is… fine, but a little low profile for his palming style. Given that some rough repetitive strain injury (RSI) was exclusively in his mousing arm, that was crucial. As was a reasonable degree of configurability. So, of course, he tested 11 mice.
Oct 05
“I think that was what upset him the most,” the New York Times reporter told “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert.
Oct 05
“I think that was what upset him the most,” the New York Times reporter told “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert.
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