Jan 13
Jan 13
Get a glimpse of the timeline shenanigans coming to The Flash’s final season. There’s a bevy of new production photos from The Walking Dead: Dead City. The composer of the Joker sequel has begun, uh, composing, John Carpenter denies a rumor, and much more await in today’s Morning Spoilers.
Jan 13
NVIDIA Broadcast will maintain eye contact even if you're looking away from the camera
Posted in: Today's ChiliNVIDIA may have a solution if you’ve ever caught yourself reading chat during a livestream, or distracted by your notes during a video presentation. The company has updated its Broadcast software with a beta Eye Contact feature that, like Apple’s FaceTime, ‘fixes’ your gaze to keep it focused on your camera. It preserves your blinks and eye color, and will even transition between digital and real eyes when you look far enough off-center.
The developers caution that Eye Contact isn’t completely ready, as there are “millions” of potential eye color and lighting scenarios they can’t test. You’re encouraged to send feedback videos if the technology misbehaves.
Broadcast also has a new vignetting effect that will darken the outer edges of the frame. Existing Blur, Replacement and Remove Virtual Background effects should also be more accurate and reliable thanks to the addition of temporal data that helps the AI make smarter choices. Errors will be subtler, too. NVIDIA is even adding some simple but heavily-requested options to mirror the camera and take screenshots of the webcam.
The tool requires at least a GeForce RTX 2060 video card (or its Quadro equivalent) and 8GB of RAM. NVIDIA recommends at least a Core i5-8600 or Ryzen 5 2600 processor. The Eye Contact function may be uncanny at times — even the best presenters tend to look away now and then, so a constant gaze might be unsettling. This could improve your connection with your audience, though, and may be particularly helpful if you’re uncomfortable staring directly at the camera.
Jan 13
Gerrie Coetzee, Champion Boxer Who Defied South Africa’s Apartheid Laws, Dead At 67
Posted in: Today's ChiliThe WBA heavyweight champion won popularity with late South African leader Nelson Mandela and both Black and white fans.
Jan 13
I would describe the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold as the ideal ambassador for the folding laptop. It’s far from perfect, nor does its Taiwanese PC maker expect to sell it in droves, given its astronomical $3500 price tag. But after a month with it, the Zenbook 17 has convinced me on what many only a couple of years ago…
Jan 13
Sennheiser’s TV Clear Set Will Take Your TV Watching Experience to a Whole New, Expensive Level
Posted in: Today's Chili
Sennheiser recently released the TV Clear Set, which is essentially a pair of earbuds that wirelessly connect to your TV for a custom, private listening experience. While the concept is fairly simple, not too dissimilar from using AirPods with an Apple TV, their $400 price tag might leave you a little confused.…
Jan 13
The IT Crowd was right! You really should try turning everything off and on again to make it work. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss how the FAA did just that to fix its NOTAM system, which alerts pilots of potential hazards. It turns out a database error was enough to send that system into a spiral, which forced the FAA to ground flights Wednesday morning. But of course, this was just one issue facing air travel in America – we also dive into Southwest’s holiday fiasco, as well as potential transportation alternatives.
Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Subscribe!
Topics
FAA grounds planes after NOTAM outage – 1:34
Other News: Microsoft may have given up on the Surface Duo 3 in favor of foldables – 28:23
Biden calls for legislation on social media platforms – 35:31
NASA is funding ideas for a seaplane and faster deep space travel – 38:18
Hyundai’s new EV can “crab walk” into parallel parking spaces – 40:49
Samsung’s first Unpacked of 2023 scheduled for February 1 – 45:13
Pop culture picks – 52:47
Livestream
Credits
Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos
Graphic artists: Luke Brooks
Jan 13
Opinion: What Replaces Democracy?
Posted in: Today's ChiliDemocracies don’t die in darkness. They crumble, then fade, in broad daylight, with the tacit support of the people.
Jan 13
With 2023 upon us, you have to ask yourself, should you spend another year hunched over your dining room table while working from home? The correct answer is no, no you shouldn’t. Instead of committing to sudden life-changing resolutions, taking smaller steps to make your everyday spaces just a bit more comfortable…
Jan 13
The Morning After: Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried started a newsletter
Posted in: Today's ChiliSure, it may not sound like the spiciest headline, but Sam Bankman-Fried is in a weird place to be starting a Substack. He’s facing up to 115 years in prison if he’s convicted of federal fraud and conspiracy charges. And yet the embattled founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX – who pleaded not guilty and is out on a $250 million bond while awaiting trial – figured it’d be a great idea to write about his perspective on the saga in a Substack newsletter.
In his first post, about the collapse of FTX International, Bankman-Fried (aka SBF) claims “I didn’t steal funds, and I certainly didn’t stash billions away.” SBF notes that FTX US (which serves customers in America) “remains fully solvent and should be able to return all customers’ funds.” However, he does not mention that FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison pleaded guilty to fraud charges and are cooperating with prosecutors.
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.
The biggest stories you might have missed
The best projectors you can buy in 2023, plus how to choose one
Apple TV and Apple Music apps quietly appear on the Microsoft Store
Intel’s new desktop processor reaches 6GHz without overclocking
Amazon fails to overturn Staten Island warehouse’s vote to unionize
Google Meet adds emoji as a ‘non-disruptive’ way to react in calls
Tesla drastically lowers EV pricing in the US and Europe
The Model Y Long Range sees a huge $20,500 drop including the Federal Tax Credit.
After steadily increasing prices over the past couple of years, Tesla has cut them drastically across its lineup in the US and Europe, in an apparent bid to boost sales. The least expensive EV, the Model 3 RWD, has dropped from $46,990 to $43,990, while the 5-seat Model Y Long Range fell 20 percent, from $65,990 to $52,990. That means, perhaps crucially, the latter model now qualifies for the $7,500 US Federal Tax credit for EVs.
Apple’s new AirPods Max and $99 AirPods could launch next year
They won’t arrive until 2024 at the earliest, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Apple is working on an update to the AirPods Max headphones and developing an AirPods “lite” with a $99 target price, according to analyst Min-Chi Kuo. The new products won’t be coming anytime soon, however, with a target release date for the more affordable AirPods no earlier than the second half of 2024. With the AirPods lite (or LE, or whatever Apple decides to call them), Apple would likely be trying to claw back some market share from the many cheap wireless buds on the market. The current AirPods 2 sell for $129, while the AirPods 3 cost $169. Neither offers active noise cancellation, while rivals from companies like Oppo have ANC for under $100.
The best tablets for 2023
We’ve got picks for every ecosystem along with some more affordable options.
Engadget
Following the release of the 2022 Apple iPad Air and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 line last year, there hasn’t been much movement in the tablet world. Apple’s latest tablet is the revamped 10.9-inch iPad, but at $449, it’s more of an upgrade of, rather than an alternative for, the less expensive 10.2-inch iPad. Amazon launched revamped versions of its Fire HD 8 tablets. While the same company’s e-readers aren’t typically considered tablets, the new Kindle Scribe deserves some consideration thanks to its pen and support for handwritten notes. We break down all the options.
National Transport Safety Board chair says EVs are getting too big and heavy
Bigger batteries may be dangerous in a collision.
In a keynote speech, the National Transport Safety Board NTSB (NTSBNational Transport Safety Board) chair, Jennifer Homendy, said she was worried the size and weight of modern EVs could increase the risk of serious injuries and death. A Hummer EV is over 9,000lbs, the board leader said, while electrified versions of vehicles like the Ford F-150 and Volvo XC40 are far heavier than their gas engine equivalents.
Who's in charge here?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.