Just ahead of the Christmas weekend, much of the lower 48 is covered in a chaotic patchwork of severe weather warnings, watches, and advisories from the National Weather Service. From Thursday through Saturday, bitter cold and winter storms are forecast to ravage the U.S. across an area spanning at least parts of 45…
“The consequences can be devastating. Do not risk your life or your career,” said the email to Los Angeles police officers.
Climate change is throwing a wrench into an unexpected place: the workings of data centers. As the frequency of heat waves grows worldwide, these critical pieces of technology infrastructure are melting down more and more often, threatening a foundational element of the internet.
Elon Musk is destroying Twitter and Twitter is destroying Elon Musk’s life and fortune. Now that the man himself has publicly agreed to switch horses midstream, who will be the next CEO of Twitter?
In Japan, the big premiere week of James Cameron’s Avatar sequel was hit with technical problems in some movie theaters. One venue in central Japan was forced to reduce the 48 fps frame rate down to the traditional 24 fps – one of the major technical innovations of Avatar: The Way of Water. The Avatar sequel is actually available in multiple formats, including 2D 48 fps, 3D 48 fps and regular 24 fps. If you see the 48 fps version, it only uses the HFR tech for action sequences, while dialog and slower scenes are dialed down to 24 fps by duplicating frames. Intrigued by high frame rates? Check out Devindra Hardawar’s (spoiler-free) review of Avatar: The Way of Water, right here.
Despite being the widest movie release of all time in Japan, Avatar: The Way of Water failed to claim the top ranking last weekend, beaten by the anime basketball movie called The First Slam Dunk.
– Mat Smith
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Earlier this year, Alienware released what’s arguably the best all-around gaming monitor on the market right now: the AW3423DW. But last week, LG quietly announced its latest batch of UltraGear gaming monitors. LG’s monitors are available in two sizes intended for slightly different use cases. There’s the 27-inch option with a flat panel, meant for both general use and more demanding competitive play, while the 45-inch monitor has a curved display with an 800R radius, designed to deliver a more immersive experience. Regardless of which one you pick, both feature 240Hz refresh rates – the highest you can get from any OLED monitor available today.
Ukraine will receive an additional 10,000-plus Starlink satellite dishes from Elon Musk’s SpaceX to help provide internet amid Russian attacks on communications infrastructure. Financial issues around the terminals have reportedly been resolved, with several European countries stepping up to share the costs, according to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Mykhailo Federov. The 10,000 new terminals add to the 22,000 already received and will be used to “stabilize connections for critical situations,” according to Federov. “There is no alternative to satellite connections,” he added.
Free games used to mean ropey puzzle games and knock-off clones of games that had a price tag. But now, courtesy of in-app payments and the ease of offering both a sample of a title alongside its full-fat version, there are plenty of great games to play without spending a dime. Following the continued success of titles like Fortnite, the level of quality across mobile, PC and consoles has never been higher. Put your card away, and consider this your starting point. Oh and while it’s not in the current edition of our guide, check out Vampire Survivors too — my latest addiction, and free-to-play on smartphones.
The Canadian government has announced enforceable quotas for zero-emission vehicle sales. By 2026, a fifth of all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs sold in the country will need to be zero-emission models, such as electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. “We’re moving forward with a regulated sales target that requires at least 20 percent of new vehicles sold by 2026 to be zero emission, increasing that to 60 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2035,” Julie Dabrusin, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. There’s still some way to go. In the first six months of 2022, EVs (including plug-in hybrid models) made up 7.2 percent of new car registrations.
If Jennifer McClellan wins the special election in February, she will become the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress.
Have you noticed that websites are offering you a friendly new way to sign-in with Google? Try Investing.com. When you hit the site, Google displays a popup recommending that you sign in the top right. If you’re on a phone, the prompt takes up almost half your screen. And if you’re using Chrome, you can sign in with…
Researchers in Japan say they’ve discovered “super” resistant mosquitoes in Asia. In a study published this week, they detail finding populations of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—a common disease vector—in Vietnam and Cambodia carrying several mutations believed to confer strong protection against the most widely used…
The FCC has proposed a $299,997,000 fine against “the largest robocall firm” it has ever investigated, the regulator announced. It would be the FCC’s largest fine ever, and targets a firm that made over 5 billion calls in three months, enough “to have called each person in the United States 15 times,” it wrote.
The operation is run by Roy Cox, Jr. and Michael Aaron Jones via their Sumco Panama company, along with other domestic and foreign entities. In July of this year, the FCC issued its first ever “K4 Notice” and “N2 Order” directing all US telephone providers to stop carrying traffic related to the car warranty scam calls. “This resulted in a massive, 99 percent drop in the volume of such calls since June, according to [spam blocking app] RoboKiller,” the FCC wrote.
The FCC proposed its largest-ever fine because it found the robocallers met the criteria for “egregious violations.” Consumers described the calls as “incessant” and “harassment,” and the robocallers used dirty practices like calling health care workers from spoofed hospital numbers. The firm also violated multiple FCC rules, like failing to identify the caller at the start of a message.
In the calls, a message would open with something like “we’ve been trying to reach you concerning your car’s extended warranty,” and prompt you to speak to a scam “warranty specialist.” Robokiller advises users to avoid the calls in the first place if possible, not follow prompts, and above all, never provide personal information like banking details.
The Brazilian sports legend is now under “elevated care” as his cancer advances.
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