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This Small City Was Named One of the Best Places to Live in the U.S. for Its Affordability, Mild Climate, and Low Unemployment Rates This Small City Was Named One of the Best Places to Live in the U.S. for Its Affordability, Mild Climate, and Low Unemployment Rates Move over, Charleston! Sean Pavone/Getty Images Scenic sunset view of Greenville, South Carolina at Falls Park on Reedy Creek Charleston steals the spotlight when it comes to travel destinations. After all, it has won the title of the best city in the U.S. for 12 years in a row. But it is another South Carolinian gem that recently made the news for its excellent quality of life. Greenville, located at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the northwest part of the Palmetto State, was just named the fourth best city to live in the country, after Naples, Florida; Boise, Idaho; and Colorado Springs, Colorado by U.S. News. The website pointed out that the city, which has over 72,000 residents, has transformed “from a blip on the national map to a bustling metropolis” thanks to an influx of manufacturing jobs. “The reinvigorated downtown serves as the focal point of the region, attracting new business, hosting an emerging culinary scene, and housing what some call the crown jewel of Greenville: Falls Park on the Reedy,” the report stated. The town’s best-known park opened 10 years ago in downtown Greenville. It features a curved 345-foot-long suspended cable bridge that allows people to admire panoramic views of the scenic park and Reedy River waterfalls. While Greenville has plenty to offer tourists, the combination of the affordable cost of living, favorable housing market, mild weather, excellent outdoor recreation, and low unemployment rate won it a place among the top five cities in America. U.S. News pointed out that despite growing demand in recent years, the median home value in Greenville is lower than the national one. According to Zillow, the current value is $312,298, which is $50,000 lower than the national average. “More than 60 percent of residents here own a home, and development downtown has resulted in many new condominiums and apartment complexes,” U.S. News stated. Regular expenses like transportation, groceries, and utilities are 10 percent cheaper than the country’s average cost of living, and the unemployment rate for June 2024 was 4.4 percent. The town is home to over 40 Fortune 500 companies and over 240 international companies, with Greenville counting Prisma Health and Michelin North America among its top employers. Niche.com gives the town’s public schools an A-grade and ranks it as the best place to live in South Carolina for young professionals. However, seniors are also drawn to Greenville, which, in addition to endless mountain views and recreation, has 37 parks, over 1,000 churches of various affiliations, and two health care systems. You can read the full report on usnews.com. Source link #Small #City #Named #Places #Live #U.S #Affordability #Mild #Climate #Unemployment #Rates Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

PlayStation’s ****** Friday deals leaked: Big PS5, PS VR2 discounts PlayStation’s ****** Friday deals leaked: Big PS5, PS VR2 discounts PlayStation’s ****** Friday deals have reportedly leaked early, including significant price cuts for the base PlayStation 5 and PlayStation VR2 headset. Earlier this week, a Sony advert seemingly published early revealed that the platform holder will be cutting the price of the PlayStation ‘slim’ version console by $70 in the US. Now, according to reliable leaker Bilbil-kun, the platform holder will be making a similar offer in Europe. According to Bilbil-kun, retailers will discount both digital and standard PS5 consoles by 75 euros, from November 22 until December 12, 2024. In addition, PlayStation VR2 will reportedly receive a huge 200-euro discount in Europe, down to 399.99 euros from 599.99 euros. PlayStation’s ****** Friday deals in Europe will reportedly include: PS5 Slim Console – Standard Edition: €474.99 instead of €549.99. PS5 Slim Console – Digital Edition: €374.99 instead of €449.99. PlayStation VR2 headset: 399.99 euros instead of 599.99 euros. PlayStation VR2 Horizon Call of the Mountain Pack: (contains the PS VR2 headset + Horizon Call of the Mountain game activation code): 399.99 euros instead of 649.99 euros. It’s unclear if the same promotions will make their way to North America, or when Sony will officially announce them. The standard PS5 Slim console costs $499.99 in the US, while the newly launched PS5 Pro console retails $699.99. Sony said last week that it shipped some 3.8 million PS5 consoles during its second quarter ended in September – down 29% compared to the same ******* last year – taking its life-to-date total to 65.5 million. This means that PS5 is a few million units behind where PS4 was during the same ******* of its lifecycle (67.5 million units shipped). The PlayStation business is expected to post record operating income in Sony’s current fiscal year, partly due to strong sales of third-party games and PlayStation Plus subscriptions, and it intends to focus on a mix of single-player and live service games going forward. Source link #PlayStations #****** #Friday #deals #leaked #Big #PS5 #VR2 #discounts Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What to know about RFK Jr.’s stances on key health issues and what he could do at HHS What to know about RFK Jr.’s stances on key health issues and what he could do at HHS Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is coming into the nomination process in an unusual position: a long list of his own policy priorites separate from the president-elect’s, and a public promise by Trump to let him “go wild” on his ideas. CBS News medical contributor Dr. Céline Gounder, the editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, answers questions below about the role Kennedy has been tapped to take on and some of the ideas in the sweeping “Make America Healthy Again” platform he may try to push through. Q: What is the role of the Department of Health and Human Services, and how much power does the HHS secretary have over its work? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services comprises several agencies and offices including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for ******** Control and Prevention, the Food and ***** Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Office of the Surgeon General and much more. There is a big difference between political appointees and career civil servants. Political appointees set strategic priorities and align their department or agency’s policies with the current administration’s objectives. Civil servants have the institutional knowledge to know how to get things done and have specialized scientific or technical expertise. Scientific questions require specialized expertise. This is why there are career scientists who advise the HHS secretary, NIH director, CDC director and FDA commissioner. The HHS secretary has the authority to establish regulations that govern health, including food and ***** safety, public health and health care quality. The HHS secretary can declare public health emergencies and coordinate federal responses to health crises, such as ******** outbreaks or natural disasters. The secretary wields significant influence over the department’s policies and its constituent agencies, which include the CDC, FDA, NIH and others. The HHS secretary is also in a position to shape public opinion if given a platform to do so by the media. Absent media attention, their influence on public opinion is more limited. We in the media have a responsibility to fact-check their statements and hold those in power accountable — regardless of who is in power. Q: One of Kennedy’s most controversial stances is his his criticism of vaccines, promoting the idea that they cause autism, among other conditions, and claiming “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.” What is the reality? Extensive research has conclusively shown that vaccines do not cause autism. The “research” behind these claims was retracted due to ethical violations and sloppy work. The doctor who originally made those claims lost his medical license as a result of his professional misconduct. For parents whose kids have autism or people who have autism, this matters. For too long, claims about the safety of vaccines have not only put people at unnecessary risk of getting illnesses that vaccines can prevent, but have also been a red herring, distracting people from the real causes of autism and how to diagnose them and treat them. That distraction is unproductive and harmful. Secondly, nothing in this world is 100% safe and effective. It’s all about weighing risks, the ***** and *****. Is one choice more beneficial or more risky? Do the ***** of wearing a seatbelt in the car outweigh the risks? Do the ***** of exercising regularly outweigh the risks of not exercising? Do the ***** of vaccinating instead of allowing infectious ********* to spread in the community outweigh the *****? Yes, yes and yes. Q: Kennedy has said he wants to leave it up to individuals to decide whether to vaccinate themselves or their children. What impact could that have? Increasingly, people are formulating opinions about vaccines based not on science, but on Google searches, social media, what family and friends think and personal observation. That is not research. Research is formulating a hypothesis and trying to disprove that hypothesis. It means you understand how to differentiate correlation from causation. And it means doing repeated experiments to show consistency, not just a chance or random result. This isn’t a question of whether people are smart or not. But most people don’t have the training, experience and context to objectively assess the ***** and ***** of vaccination. You wouldn’t want me repairing your car’s transmission or brake system. I’m not *******, but I have no training or experience in this. The risk of leaving these decisions to untrained individuals is that these decisions won’t be made on science. They will be made based on emotion and confirmation bias, which is to say, Google searches looking for opinions that line up with your preexisting beliefs or inclinations. This will put kids at risk, and because vaccines protect against transmissible infectious ********* this will put others in the community at risk, especially other kids and people who are immunocompromised. Q: Kennedy has also said chemicals in food are tied to autism as well as psychotic episodes and depression. What do we know about the connection between food and mental health? He’s not wrong that there is a relationship between diet and autism as well as diet and mental health. These are areas of ongoing research. No diet has been proven to cure or universally improve autism or mental health symptoms, but certain dietary interventions improve symptoms in some people. These dietary changes may include elimination of ultra-processed foods, eliminating gluten and avoiding certain food additives or preservatives. Q: Kennedy has said one of the Trump administration’s first acts will be to work to remove fluoride from drinking water, arguing it’s connected to *******, IQ loss, thyroid ******** and other health problems. Why is fluoride in drinking water, and is it safe? Fluoride is put in the water to reduce the risk of cavities, especially in kids. As with many things, fluoride safety is all about dose. Drinking a few glasses of water a day is healthy. Drinking a barrel of water would land you in the hospital. The level of fluoride in U.S. water is safe and protects against tooth decay. When municipalities stopped putting fluoride in the water, cavity rates went up. This was observed, for example, in Calgary and in Juneau, Alaska. There are parts of the world, including India, China and East *******, where fluoride levels 30 to 40 times higher than levels in the U.S. have been found to be harmful. But we don’t have anywhere near those levels of fluoride in our water. But Kennedy’s statement demonstrates a common misunderstanding about public health authorities in the U.S. We are the ******* States of America — public health powers reside at the state level. The federal government has the authority to tax and spend and to regulate commerce across state lines, but the federal government’s authority does not extend beyond that. The CDC provides scientific guidance to help state and local authorities to make informed decisions. The CDC does not mandate fluoridation. The EPA sets the maximum allowable fluoride concentration in public water systems. But states have the authority to mandate fluoridation or can leave it up to local jurisdictions. Q: Kennedy has criticized multiple public health agencies he could now lead. He’s said the FDA’s “war on public health is about to end,” claiming the agency suppresses anything that “advances human health and can’t be patented” by pharmaceutical companies. What do you make of these criticisms? This again demonstrates a misunderstanding of federal agency authority. Congress has passed laws that give the FDA specific authority to regulate drugs, supplements and food, and those laws grant the FDA different powers over drugs, supplements and food. Drugs require FDA approval before they can be marketed. Under the law, drugs are defined as substances used to diagnose, treat or prevent ********. Supplements don’t need FDA approval before they are sold. The FDA monitors dietary supplements once they are on the market and can take action if they are unsafe or if they make claims about diagnosis, treatment or prevention of ********. Dietary supplement manufacturers often choose not to seek FDA approval to market their products as drugs because: There are less stringent requirements on dietary supplements than on drugs The FDA approval process is expensive and lengthy. Clinical trials take years to conduct and cost millions of dollars. Manufacturers foot the bill for clinical trials. Dietary supplements can be sold directly to consumers without a prescription. It’s the manufacturer that decides whether it wants to seek FDA approval for a ***** or if it wants to market a product as a dietary supplement — and that decision typically comes down to time and money. Pharmaceutical companies are less inclined to invest millions of dollars in clinical trials of unpatented treatments due to the lack of exclusive marketing rights, which can affect profitability. The FDA often goes after supplement brands that test this line when it sees companies marketing products with claims that amount to what should be regulated as a *****. This is why supplements often carry a disclaimer that they aren’t being sold to “diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any ********.” Kennedy has praised the supplement industry for “fighting back,” following a court win over an anti-aging supplement that the FDA argued should be regulated as a *****. Finally, the FDA doesn’t grant patents. That’s the job of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Q: Trump has said Kennedy will “end the chronic health epidemic.” What are some of the positive actions he could take if he becomes HHS secretary to reduce chronic ******** in the U.S.? Kennedy has called for greater regulation of food additives and ultraprocessed foods. Ultraprocessed foods in ********* diets have led to an ********** in obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic ********. However, it’s unclear which factions within Trump’s orbit will prevail. Congress would have to give the FDA the authority to be more aggressive in regulating and the funding to enforce regulations. Historically, the *********** Party has been opposed to regulation. Trump’s chief of staff pick, Susie Wiles, is a longtime lobbyist who has worked on behalf of the food, insurance and tobacco industries. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — which involved a number of former Trump advisers, but which Trump has tried to distance himself from — would roll back dietary guidelines would make it ******* to ****** ultraprocessed foods. Alexander Tin contributed to this report. Dr. Céline Gounder Dr. Céline Gounder, an internist, epidemiologist and infectious ******** specialist, is a CBS News medical contributor as well as senior fellow and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News. Source link #RFK #Jr.s #stances #key #health #issues #HHS Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Major Trump Media shareholder ARC Global unloads nearly all DJT stock Major Trump Media shareholder ARC Global unloads nearly all DJT stock Omar Marques | Lightrocket | Getty Images One of the top shareholders of President-elect Donald Trump’s media company has unloaded nearly his entire stake, a regulatory filing showed. The Thursday night disclosure to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed that financial firm ARC Global Investments II and its manager, Patrick Orlando, no longer own more than 5% of Trump Media stock. Orlando, the former CEO of the company that took Trump Media public in a SPAC merger, and ARC, the sponsor of that merger, now hold just 30,147 DJT shares — about 0.01% of the company’s common stock, according to the SEC filing. Trump Media reported in early September that ARC owned over 11 million shares, equating to 5.4% of the company’s outstanding stock. In mid-September, a Delaware judge found that Trump Media breached an agreement with ARC and must grant it additional shares. The judge ordered that the parties work to make sure that ARC is able to sell or transfer its shares in time for the expiration of a lock-up agreement on Sept. 19. As of Friday morning, ARC’s diminished stake was worth about $850,000. ARC attorney Steven Fineman declined to comment on the *****. Orlando and ARC indicated in the filing that the actions that required them to report the change took place Sept. 30. The timing of any specific stock ***** was unclear. The move by ARC and Orlando was revealed more than a month after another major stakeholder, ******* Atlantic Ventures, sold virtually its entire DJT stake. Trump Media, which operates the Truth Social app, suffered a major selloff in late summer and by the end of September was trading near its post-merger lows. But it saw a major stock rally in October that recovered most of those losses. That surge came in the run-up to the presidential election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Analysts say many of Trump Media’s retail investors are fans of the *********** leader and are buying the company’s stock as a way to support him and bet on his political fortunes. Read more CNBC politics coverage Trump, whose majority stake of Trump Media is worth more than $3 billion, has said he has no plans to sell his shares. After winning another White House term, Trump has used Truth Social to announce his picks for key Cabinet slots and other jobs in his administration. He has also posted on X, the Elon Musk-owned site that commands a significantly larger audience than Truth Social. A spokesperson for Trump Media did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Thursday’s SEC filing. Orlando is reportedly facing lawsuits in Florida and Delaware from investors who accuse him and ARC of wrongfully depriving them of shares. Source link #Major #Trump #Media #shareholder #ARC #Global #unloads #DJT #stock Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Red ***** Redemption Review (PC) – Gaming Respawn Red ***** Redemption Review (PC) – Gaming Respawn NoobFeed editor Ahnaf Tajwar writes – Red ***** Redemption is a masterpiece that endures. Sure, it’s a little rough around the edges, and the price point for this rerelease feels like a bit of a reach, but what you’re getting is a weird little piece of gaming history story-driven experience that rarely comes along in such an unfiltered form. Source link #Red #***** #Redemption #Review #Gaming #Respawn Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Did Earth Once Freeze Completely? New Evidence Found in Colorado Rocks Did Earth Once Freeze Completely? New Evidence Found in Colorado Rocks New research on unique sandstone formations in the Colorado Rocky Mountains may confirm that Earth experienced a massive, planet-wide freeze known as “Snowball Earth.” About 700 million years ago, Earth’s surface was encased in ice, creating an extreme climate where early life not only survived but later evolved into complex multicellular organisms. For decades, the Snowball Earth hypothesis was supported primarily by coastal sedimentary rocks and climate models. However, solid evidence of ice sheets reaching the planet’s equatorial interior has remained elusive—until now. The recent study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, identifies unusual sandstone deposits called Tava, found within the granite formations of Colorado’s Pikes Peak. These sandstones likely formed under the pressure of ice sheets, supporting the Snowball Earth theory with new geological evidence. Tava sandstone formation linked to ancient ice pressures Pikes Peak, a sacred site known to the Ute people as Tavá Kaa-vi, is the source of these Tava sandstone formations. Researchers discovered that the sandstones formed when sandy, water-saturated sediment was forced into weakened rock by the immense weight of ice sheets. The study’s lead authors, Christine Siddoway and Rebecca Flowers, used advanced radiometric dating to determine that Tava sandstones developed around 690 to 660 million years ago, aligning with the Cryogenian *******. Using iron minerals found with the sandstone, Siddoway’s team employed uranium-lead dating to confirm the Tava sandstone’s origins within the Snowball Earth timeframe. The team suggests that the ice sheets covering the equatorial Laurentia landmass, now part of North America, created the pressures necessary to form these sandstone injectites. Implications for understanding Earth’s climatic past This discovery strengthens the Snowball Earth hypothesis while also shedding light on other geological phenomena, including “unconformities” where erosion has removed large portions of Earth’s rock record. The findings at Pikes Peak indicate that similar unconformities may predate Snowball Earth, suggesting complex erosion processes over millions of years. Scientists hope these insights will lead to a deeper understanding of Earth’s climate history and the processes that shaped our habitable planet. For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who’sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube. Stablecoin Issuer Tether Moves Into Tokenising Stocks and Bonds Blue Origin Assembles New Glenn Rocket for Upcoming Maiden Flight in November Source link #Earth #Freeze #Completely #Evidence #Colorado #Rocks Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Wi-Fi 8 will not improve transfer speeds — the new standard will, however, enhance reliability and user experience Wi-Fi 8 will not improve transfer speeds — the new standard will, however, enhance reliability and user experience PC World, citing a MediaTek whitepaper, reports that instead of increasing the physical data transfer rate beyond 23 Gbps offered by Wi-Fi 7, the next-generation Wi-Fi 8—based on IEEE’s 802.11bn Ultra High Reliability (UHR) specification—will focus on improving connection reliability and user experience rather than on theoretical performance. Traditionally, new Wi-Fi iterations (as specified by IEEE 802.11 standards) have focused on maximizing data transfer rates by increasing channel bandwidth and number of channels and introducing new modulation methods. With Wi-Fi 7, the maximum PHY rate is 23 Gbps, though nobody expects to hit speeds that high. Also, the reliability of high-speed Wi-Fi connections leaves much to be desired. To that end, the next-generation Wi-Fi 8 iteration will not increase theoretical speed but will introduce new features designed to improve real-world performance and boost connection reliability. On a high level, Wi-Fi 8 (802.11bn) resembles Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be): it uses 2, 4, 5, and 6GHz bands, the same modulation (4096 QAM), eight spatial streams, MU-MIMO, multiple OFDMA, and a maximum channel bandwidth of 320MHz. However, according to the MediaTek paper, the new spec introduces several key features designed to improve real-world performance and connection speeds: Coordinated Spatial Reuse (Co-SR), Coordinated Beamforming (Co-BF), Dynamic Sub-Channel Operation (DSO), and enhanced Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS). Remember that we are talking about the standard as MediaTek sees it. Some features could be mandatory, while others could end up being optional. The Coordinated Spatial Reuse (Co-SR) feature addresses varying signal strength between nearby devices and distant access points in high-density office scenarios. The capability enables APs to adjust and coordinate their power levels dynamically depending on the distance between devices and other APs to maintain the right signal strength. According to MediaTek’s preliminary testing, this can improve overall system efficiency by 15%—25%. Similarly, Wi-Fi 8’s Coordinated Beamforming (Co-BF) advances previous beamforming technology by coordinating signal direction among multiple access points. This technology allows the system to avoid sending signals to areas and devices that are not needed, reducing interference and concentrating the signal toward active devices. In MediaTek’s tests, Co-BF has improved throughput by 20%—50% in setups involving mesh networks shared in public spaces and some homes. Dynamic Sub-Channel Operation (DSO) capability enables the network to assign sub-channels based on device requirements and abilities, increasing efficiency and boosting throughput by up to 80% (for advanced devices) while potentially avoiding bottlenecks. Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Wi-Fi 8 will also incorporate refined data rates with additional levels in the Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) lookup table, allowing devices to make smoother transitions in connection quality as they move through different areas. By adding finer gradations, such as a 16-QAM coding rate, Wi-Fi 8’s MCS promises to reduce sudden drops in datarates, enhancing overall transmission stability and improving bandwidth by 5% to 30%, depending on the exact scenario. The final Wi-Fi 8 standard is projected to be completed in 2028, and initial products based on the draft specification are anticipated in early 2028, pending regulatory approvals. Source link #WiFi #improve #transfer #speeds #standard #enhance #reliability #user #experience Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Major Trump Media shareholder ARC Global unloads nearly all DJT stock Major Trump Media shareholder ARC Global unloads nearly all DJT stock Omar Marques | Lightrocket | Getty Images One of the top shareholders of President-elect Donald Trump’s media company has unloaded nearly his entire stake, a regulatory filing showed. The Thursday night disclosure to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed that financial firm ARC Global Investments II and its manager, Patrick Orlando, no longer own more than 5% of Trump Media stock. Orlando, the former CEO of the company that took Trump Media public in a SPAC merger, and ARC, the sponsor of that merger, now hold just 30,147 DJT shares — about 0.01% of the company’s common stock, according to the SEC filing. Trump Media reported in early September that ARC owned over 11 million shares, equating to 5.4% of the company’s outstanding stock. In mid-September, a Delaware judge found that Trump Media breached an agreement with ARC and must grant it additional shares. The judge ordered that the parties work to make sure that ARC is able to sell or transfer its shares in time for the expiration of a lock-up agreement on Sept. 19. As of Friday morning, ARC’s diminished stake was worth about $850,000. ARC attorney Steven Fineman declined to comment on the *****. Orlando and ARC indicated in the filing that the actions that required them to report the change took place Sept. 30. The timing of any specific stock ***** was unclear. The move by ARC and Orlando was revealed more than a month after another major stakeholder, ******* Atlantic Ventures, sold virtually its entire DJT stake. Trump Media, which operates the Truth Social app, suffered a major selloff in late summer and by the end of September was trading near its post-merger lows. But it saw a major stock rally in October that recovered most of those losses. That surge came in the run-up to the presidential election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Analysts say many of Trump Media’s retail investors are fans of the *********** leader and are buying the company’s stock as a way to support him and bet on his political fortunes. Read more CNBC politics coverage Trump, whose majority stake of Trump Media is worth more than $3 billion, has said he has no plans to sell his shares. After winning another White House term, Trump has used Truth Social to announce his picks for key Cabinet slots and other jobs in his administration. He has also posted on X, the Elon Musk-owned site that commands a significantly larger audience than Truth Social. A spokesperson for Trump Media did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Thursday’s SEC filing. Orlando is reportedly facing lawsuits in Florida and Delaware from investors who accuse him and ARC of wrongfully depriving them of shares. Source link #Major #Trump #Media #shareholder #ARC #Global #unloads #DJT #stock Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Elon Musk adds Microsoft to lawsuit against ChatGPT-maker OpenAI Elon Musk adds Microsoft to lawsuit against ChatGPT-maker OpenAI Getty Images Elon Musk has stepped up his ongoing feud with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI with a revived lawsuit against the firm, adding Microsoft as a defendant. Mr Musk, a co-founder of the artificial intelligence (AI) company, accused it and the tech giant of operating a monopoly in an amended legal complaint on Thursday. It follows previous lawsuits accusing the firm of breaching the principles he agreed to when he helped found it in 2015. An OpenAI spokesperson said Mr Musk’s new complaint was “baseless”. “Elon’s third attempt in less than a year to reframe his claims is even more baseless and overreaching than the previous ones,” they told the BBC. They added that previous emails sent by Mr Musk, which it shared publicly in response to his original lawsuit, “speak for themselves”. Thursday’s legal filing amends a lawsuit filed in a California court in August, and also includes LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman being added as a defendant. The BBC has also approached Microsoft and Mr Hoffman for a response. The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of having transformed from a “tax-exempt charity to a $157bn (£124bn) for-profit, market-paralysing gorgon”. It also claims Microsoft and OpenAI of using a monopoly to eliminate competitors in the AI sector – including his own company, xAI. “As a result of their unlawful actions, defendants have been unjustly enriched to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars in value, while Mr Musk has been conned along with the public,” it says. ‘Capped profit’ OpenAI was founded in 2015 with the aim of building an artificial general intelligence (AGI) – generally taken to mean AI that can perform any task a human being is capable of. In 2019, the firm announced a new “capped profit” structure allowing it to raise money. Microsoft made an initial $1bn investment into OpenAI shortly thereafter – increasing this to a multi-year, multi-billion dollar partnership in 2023. The lawsuit also accuses boss Sam Altman – a named defendant in the lawsuit – of “rampant self-dealing”. Mr Musk’s initial legal action filed in March argued the agreement had transformed it into “a closed-source de facto subsidiary” of the PC giant. OpenAI denied his claims, countering that Mr Musk had previously backed the idea of a for-profit structure. It said in a blog post on its website that the billionaire had at one point wanted “absolute control” of the company. The renewed claims by Mr Musk come the same week that US President-elect Donald Trump has picked him for a role in government cost-cutting, as part of his drive to “dismantle” bureaucracy when he returns to the White House next year. Source link #Elon #Musk #adds #Microsoft #lawsuit #ChatGPTmaker #OpenAI Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Apple secretly included quantum dot tech in the M4 MacBook Pro’s display Apple secretly included quantum dot tech in the M4 MacBook Pro’s display Apple’s latest M4-powered MacBook Pro is a pretty stellar laptop. We gave it a score of 92 in our review, due in part to its great screen. The display is brighter this time around, peaking at 1,000 nits for SDR (standard dynamic range) content and 1,600 nits for HDR material. However, there’s another aspect of the screen about which Apple has strangely been keeping mum. As noted by display expert Ross Young, Apple used a quantum dot (QD) film instead of a red KSF phosphor film on the display. “In the past, Apple went with the KSF solution due to better efficiency and lack of cadmium (Cd), but the latest Cd-free QD films are very efficient, feature as good or better ****** gamut and better motion performance,” Young explained. That means the latest MacBook Pro screen should offer a wider ****** range than in the past while making motion look smoother. To view this content, you’ll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the “Content and social-media partners” setting to do so. Big Apple display news, they have adopted quantum dots for the first time. The latest MacBook Pro’s (M4) use a quantum dot (QD) film rather than a red KSF phosphor film. In the past, Apple went with the KSF solution due to better efficiency and lack of cadmium (Cd), but the… pic.twitter.com/5olq9lEHs9 — Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) November 14, 2024 Rather than being an early adopter itself, Apple often waits until technology has advanced to the point where it makes sense for the company to use it in products. Apple had considered using quantum dot tech in iMac displays at least as far back as 2015. But as TechRadar notes, cadmium is a toxic element and that would not have squared with Apple’s stated commitment to environmentalism efforts, so the company abandoned that idea. However, cadmium-free film now makes quantum dot tech more feasible for Apple. Quantum dots aren’t exactly new. Other manufacturers have been using them in QLED TVs and monitors for many years at this point. QD-OLED panels are becoming more commonplace too. Apple is still using MiniLED backlighting in its MacBook *****, but this could be a case of the company laying the groundwork for future QD-OLED MacBook Pro variants. Engadget has contacted Apple for comment. Source link #Apple #secretly #included #quantum #dot #tech #MacBook #***** #display Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

China Set to Launch Tianzhou 8 Cargo Mission to Tiangong Space Station China Set to Launch Tianzhou 8 Cargo Mission to Tiangong Space Station China is set to deliver essential supplies to its Tiangong space station with the launch of the Tianzhou 8 cargo mission. The mission, led by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), aims to support the Shenzhou 19 crew, who arrived on October 20. Commander Cai Xuzhe, alongside rookie astronauts Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, are expected to receive a fresh delivery of supplies and scientific equipment for their continued operations aboard the station. The Long March 7 rocket carrying the Tianzhou 8 spacecraft was moved to its launch pad at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island on November 13. Launch and Docking Schedule As per a report by Space.com, The Long March 7 rocket is anticipated to lift off around 10:10 a.m. EST on Friday, with docking expected within hours of launch. A livestream of the event is likely, based on previous Tianzhou launches. The cargo mission, originally intended to precede the Shenzhou 19 crew launch, faced delays due to Typhoon Yagi, which disrupted preparations at the Wenchang site. Scientific Experiments and Supplies on Board The Tianzhou 8 cargo spacecraft is equipped with supplies and scientific materials, including a set of bricks crafted from lunar soil simulant. Over the next three years, these bricks will undergo tests in the vacuum of space to assess their durability under cosmic rays, ultraviolet radiation, and temperature fluctuations. This experiment will contribute to China’s International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) project, which aims to establish a permanent lunar base in the 2030s. Technological Advancements in Tianzhou 8 This mission marks the third deployment of an upgraded Tianzhou cargo craft, with enhancements enabling increased payload capacity by an additional 100 kilograms. With a total weight of approximately 14,000 kilograms at launch, Tianzhou 8 now carries up to 7,500 kilograms of payload, improving logistical efficiency and reducing the need for frequent resupply missions. The upgrades are part of a broader strategy to keep the Tiangong station permanently staffed and operational for at least a decade, with plans to expand the station and open it to commercial activities. China’s Tiangong space station, approximately one-fifth the size of the International Space Station (ISS), plays a key role in the country’s growing ambitions in space. For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who’sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube. Google Shielded Email Feature Reportedly in Development; Could Help Users Hide Email Addresses Apple Faces *** Class Action Over Data Storage Allegations Source link #China #Set #Launch #Tianzhou #Cargo #Mission #Tiangong #Space #Station Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

****** Friday scams: 4 red flags to look out for ****** Friday scams: 4 red flags to look out for ****** Friday isn’t just a hotly anticipated time for shoppers, but also for scammers. Recent research conducted by the best VPN provider on the market found, in fact, a 35% increase in consumer attempts to visit fake shops in October compared to September. Experts expect these numbers to grow even further around ****** Friday and Cyber Monday shopping fever. “Cybercriminals use AI-based tools to quickly, easily, and efficiently create fake shops and increase their capabilities to scam people looking for the best deals,” said Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity advisor at NordVPN. Alongside fake online shops, scammers also use phishing messages to trick you into clicking on dangerous websites. Whether you’re looking to buy a new TV, subscribe to the best ****** Friday VPN deal, or make the most of other discounts, below are the main ****** Friday red flags to look out for and some tools to make your online shopping safer. 1. Too good to be true As a rule of thumb, when a deal sounds too good to be true, well, it is – and the same thing applies to ****** Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Beware as scammers may advertise incredible (but fake) offers on different platforms, from social media to unsolicited emails and messages. It goes without saying that these incidents are likely to become more frequent during the height of the shopping season. According to the 2024 F-Secure Living Secure survey, 54% of cyber scams are conducted via email. (Image credit: Getty Images) 2. Suspicious messages Emails and SMS are the most common way for scammers to spread phishing attacks. ****** Friday provides them with even more chances to prompt victims into clicking on malicious links, urging them not to miss out on time-sensitive deals. Fake account verification, order confirmation, and delivery notifications are the most common tactics in a scammer’s arsenal – so beware of these messages, especially when you cannot recognize the sender. If you aren’t sure, directly double-check with the company you have placed your order with. 3. Dodgy-looking websites AI-powered tools like ChatGPT have been helping cybercriminals craft fake shops or phishing emails that look just like their legitimate counterparts. However, there are still some red flags to look out for that’ll uncover these malicious websites. For starters, you should check that the domain name of the store is legitimate. Dodgy websites are also generally characterized by an amateurish design, grammar mistakes, and poor spelling. If you aren’t sure, check the reviews and contact sections to see if they look like the real deal. “Sometimes ********** build up fake shops to collect payment card details and personal information, but sometimes this leads to direct financial loss,” said Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity advisor at NordVPN. (Image credit: Vektor Illustration/Shutterstock) 4. Unusual payment methods The offer seems legit and so does the website. While you may be ready to finalize your purchase at this stage, there’s still one detail to check before pressing the “buy it now” button – the payment methods. You should avoid transferring money via unusual methods like cryptocurrency or gift cards – especially if these are the only options available. Remember that your bank card or services like PayPal generally cover you against financial loss when you fall victim to a scam. How to protect yourself from ****** Friday scams As mentioned earlier, AI helps ********** build even more convincing online scams. So, spotting ****** Friday red flags isn’t always easy. Luckily, there are tools you can use to help discern between fake and legitimate offers when shopping online. Virtual private network (VPN) services boost your privacy online, but some of them can also help defend against phishing and malware. Do you know? (Image credit: Future) If you haven’t one already, ****** Friday is the best time of the year to get a new VPN service. Some of the top providers have seriously chopped their prices, too, so go check out our ****** Friday VPN deals hub before it’s too late. NordVPN Threat Protection Pro, for example, came out as the best in blocking malware and phishing during our last round of testing. If you aren’t sure about a link, you should copy and paste it into a link checker tool before clicking on it to make sure is safe to do so. These services are often free to use, including the one developed by NordVPN and IPVanish. Enabling two-factor authentication is also advantageous in case your account gets compromised. Beware that getting an unsolicited verification notification could mean that someone is trying to access your account. If so, you should change your password as soon as possible. A reliable password manager tool can also help you find a strong option and stay on top of all your login details within a couple of clicks. Source link #****** #Friday #scams #red #flags Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

X users jump to Bluesky X users jump to Bluesky Getty You may have seen the word “Bluesky” popping up on your social media pages recently and wondered what people are talking about. It is an alternative platform to Elon Musk’s X and in terms of its colour and logo, it looks quite similar. Bluesky is growing rapidly and is currently picking up around one million new sign-ups a day. It had 16.7m users at the time of writing, but that figure will likely be outdated by the time you read this. So what is it – and why are so many people joining? What is Bluesky? Bluesky describes itself as “social media as it should be”, although it looks similar to other sites. Visually, a bar to the left of the page shows everything you might expect – search, notifications, a homepage and so on. People using the platform can post, comment, repost and like their favourite things. To put it simply, it looks how X, formerly known as Twitter, used to look. Bluesky The Bluesky page looks remarkably like other social media platforms The main difference is Bluesky is decentralised – a complicated term which basically means users can host their data on servers other than those owned by the company. This means that rather than being limited to having a specific account named after Bluesky, people can (if they like) sign up using an account they themselves own. But it is worth stating that the vast majority of people don’t do that and a new joiner will most likely have a “.bsky.social” at the end of their username. Who owns Bluesky? If you think it feels a lot like X, you won’t be surprised to learn why. The former head of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, created it. He even once said he wanted Bluesky to be a decentralised version of Twitter that no single person or entity owns. But Mr Dorsey is no longer part of the team behind it, having stepped down from the board in May 2024. He deleted his account altogether in September. It is now run and predominantly owned by chief executive Jay Graber as a US public benefit corporation. Why is it gaining in popularity? Bluesky has been around since 2019, but it was invitation-only until February of this year. That let the developers deal with all the kinks behind-the-scenes, to try and stabilise it before opening the doors to the wider public. The plan has worked, somewhat. But the flurry of new users has been so significant in November that there continue to be issues with outages. Bluesky It is no coincidence that the number of new Bluesky users spiked following Donald Trump’s success in the US elections in November. X’s owner, Mr Musk, was a big backer of Trump during his campaign, and will be heavily involved in his administration. Inevitably, this has led to a political division, with some people leaving X in protest. But others have cited different reasons, such as the Guardian newspaper which has chosen to stop posting there as it called X “a toxic media platform“. Meanwhile, Bluesky’s app continues to pick up significant downloads worldwide and on Thursday was the top free app in the Apple App Store in the ***. Several celebrities, from pop singer Lizzo to Taskmaster’s Greg Davies, have announced they are joining the platform and limiting their use of – or in some cases leaving altogether – X. Other names you might recognise include Ben Stiller, Jamie Lee Curtis and Patton Oswalt. But this growth, while significant, will have to continue for a long time before Bluesky is able to mount a true challenge to its microblogging rival. X does not share its total user numbers but it is understood to be measured in the hundreds of millions, with Elon Musk previously saying the platform had 250 million users each day. How does Bluesky make money? It is the million dollar question, quite literally. Bluesky started off with funding from investors and venture capital firms and has raised tens of millions of dollars through these means. But with so many new users, it is going to have to find a way to pay the bills. Back in Twitter’s heyday, the site made the vast majority of its money through advertising. Bluesky has said it wants to avoid this. Instead, it said it will continue to look into paid services, such as having people pay for custom domains in their username. That sounds complicated but it basically comes down to a person’s username being even more personalised. For example, it may mean my username – @twgerken.bsky.social – could in the future be more official-sounding, such as @twgerken.bbc.co.***. Proponents of this idea say it doubles-up as a form of verification as the organisation which owns the website would have to clear its use. If Bluesky’s owners continue to avoid advertising, they may inevitably have to look to other broader options, such as subscription features, as a way of keeping the lights on. But if it is not making very much money, that would not be unusual for tech startups. In fact, Twitter, before it was purchased by Mr Musk in 2022, only made a profit twice in its eight years of being publicly traded. And we all know how that ended – a massive payday for investors when the world’s richest man paid $44bn (£34.7bn) for the privilege of owning it. For now, the future of Bluesky ******** unknown, but if its growth continues, anything is possible. Source link #users #jump #Bluesky Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Horrified Board Games Get Big Price Cuts – ****** Dracula, Bigfoot, And More Horror Icons Horrified Board Games Get Big Price Cuts – ****** Dracula, Bigfoot, And More Horror Icons If you’re sad that spooky season is over, consider checking out Ravensburger’s Horrified board game series. The cooperative game has you and your buddies fending off monsters attempting to invade your town–monsters that include Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, and more. Multiple spin-offs areare available too, giving you a chance to battle against different enemies and expand your game night. Best of all, Horrified has received big price cuts in Amazon’s early ****** Friday board game *****. Horrified Board Game Deals at Amazon If you’re new to Horrified, the original board game is a good place to start. You’ll find it available for only $28 at Amazon, and Prime members are eligible for free one-day shipping in select locations. The game comes with everything you need to start playing, including seven sculpted miniatures, 75 cards, 3 dice, a fabric bag, and instructions. Matches typically last for around an hour and support up to five players. Each monster requires new tactics to defeat, and unless you’re working closely with the rest of your team, your town is unlikely to survive the night. Learning how to play is simple, but figuring out how to fend off all seven monsters will take time. It’s the ideal game to pair with a horror movie during the spookiest month of the year. Horrified by Ravensburger Gallery One of the newest additions to the Horrified catalog is Horrified: World of Monsters. Released in August, it features monsters like the Sphinx, Yeti, Jiangshi, and Cthulhu. It costs $21 right now and is compatible with the older Horrified: Greek Monsters (discounted to $19), allowing you to mix and match monsters for a unique experience. There’s also Horrified: ********* Monsters for $26. This one features iconic ********* creatures like Bigfoot, Mothman, the Chupacabra, and more. It also includes rules for solo play, giving you a chance to hone your skills even if your regular game night crew is busy. Source link #Horrified #Board #Games #Big #Price #Cuts #****** #Dracula #Bigfoot #Horror #Icons Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Sophie Turner to lead Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Tomb Raider series | Television Sophie Turner to lead Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Tomb Raider series | Television Sophie Turner will take on the role of Lara Croft in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s new Tomb Raider series. According to Deadline, the Game of Thrones actor is in negotiations to take on the lead in the Amazon series based on the hit gaming franchise. It had been reported last month that Turner was competing against Bohemian Rhapsody’s Lucy Boynton for the role. The live-action series is a major priority for Amazon and would mark the first project that Waller-Bridge has embarked upon since signing up with the company back in 2019. The deal is worth a reported $20m a year. “When we look at a long-term commitment to a creator like Phoebe – we’re so happy now that we retained her because she’s obsessed with and grew up playing Lara Croft/Tomb Raider,” Amazon’s Jennifer Salke said last month. “So the fact that she’s the creator and bringing this character to life, we think it’s going to be a huge franchise for us.” Waller-Bridge will act as writer and executive producer on the series. Since creating and starring in two seasons of the award-winning dark comedy Fleabag, she has also appeared in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and co-written No Time to ****, Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond. “The opportunity to have … a female action character … Having worked on Bond and having worked as an actor on Indy, I feel like I’ve been building up to this,” she said to Vanity Fair in 2023. “What if I could take the reins on an action franchise, with everything I’ve learned, with a character I adore, and also just bring back some of that 90s vibe?” She also said she intended to do “something dangerous and exciting” with the project. The role of the archaeologist adventurer has previously been played by Angelina Jolie in two films and Alicia Vikander in another. Hayley Atwell also voiced the character in a recent animated series on Netflix. Turner, who played Sansa Stark in the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, has since appeared in the X-Men movies as Jean Grey and appeared alongside Colin Firth in the ****** drama The Staircase. She recently starred in ITV’s fact-based drama series Joan and will next be seen in the heist thriller Haven. Source link #Sophie #Turner #lead #Phoebe #WallerBridges #Tomb #Raider #series #Television Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Inquest finds ****** was ‘preventable and avoidable’ Inquest finds ****** was ‘preventable and avoidable’ Family Handout Christopher Trolan from Ballymoney ***** in 2019 The ****** of a patient at the Causeway Hospital was “preventable and avoidable”, a coroner has ruled. Christopher Trolan from Ballymoney ***** after staff ******* to give him a sufficient level of antibiotics to ensure he recovered after falling ill in November 2019. The coroner Louisa Fee said there had been multiple missed opportunities and failings in his care, and if he had been treated adequately the 37-year-old would have survived. Following initial treatment, it seemed that his condition was improving and there was a belief that medication had been working, the inquest heard. However, two weeks after he was admitted, Mr Trolan’s condition deteriorated and he experienced temperature spikes and a rapid heart rate. The father of two was given new medication, but the coroner found there had been “undertreatment” with antibiotics which were not enough to ***** off bacteria in a clot on his heart. The coroner said the ******** to identify this error in Mr Trolan’s prescription was not entered into his records, describing this as “striking”. She said staff were aware of the error and it should have been discussed with the patient himself and with his family, but it was not. She said Mr Trolan’s condition was not properly reviewed by staff at the Causeway Hospital. In a statement following the verdict, the Northern Health Trust said: “We offer our sincere condolences to Mr Trolan’s family and apologise unreservedly for the failings in care that have been highlighted. “We fully accept the coroner’s findings and will take time to reflect on the learning. “The Trust has already undertaken an investigation into Mr Trolan’s care and identified learning which has been shared with staff. This is a very tragic situation, and we are deeply sorry for the family’s pain and loss.” ‘Verdict brings closure’ Speaking outside court, Mr Trolan’s sister Laura said his loss had been devastating for the family. “In particular for his wife and two young sons, who were aged just two years old and 13 weeks old at the time,” she said. “Although today’s verdict brings closure on what has been a prolonged and extremely difficult five-year review of Christopher’s care, it confirms what we, his family, have always believed. “That is, that Christopher’s ****** is highly likely to have been avoided had Causeway Hospital provided the appropriate treatment.” She said “significant errors” made by the hospital and the fact these were undetected for such a long ******* of time were are “evidence of substandard care and systemic ********”. “We can only hope that lessons are learned from Christopher’s ****** so that other families do not have to go through what we have,” she added. Source link #Inquest #finds #****** #preventable #avoidable Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Emerging Research on the Development of the Wheel Emerging Research on the Development of the Wheel The wheel, one of humanity’s most transformative inventions, ******** shrouded in mystery. Historians agree it revolutionized transportation and labor efficiency, yet no one knows exactly when or where it was invented. New research published in Royal Society Open Science by engineers and a historian proposes a compelling theory: the wheel may have originated in an Eastern ********* copper mine approximately 6,000 years ago. Using computational modeling, the researchers reconstructed the stages of its development, reports Phys.org, shedding light on how ancient miners might have incrementally refined their tools to create the first wheel. The Wheel’s Early Evolution While the wheel was widespread by 3,000 BC, its origins likely date back thousands of years earlier. The researchers suggest it began with the use of simple rollers, such as stripped tree trunks, to move heavy loads. Such devices would have made transporting ore down steep mountain slopes significantly easier for early miners. The team’s model suggests the first major innovation was the addition of grooves to these rollers. Grooved rollers prevented ore-laden boxes from slipping off the sides, offering better stability during transport. Over time, this likely evolved into rollers with ends wider than their centers, forming an early axle system. This design reduced the need for multiple rollers and allowed for better maneuverability. The final stage in this evolutionary process involved fixing independent wheels to the ends of the axle. By adding rotating components, ancient innovators improved efficiency and adaptability, enabling the system to handle rougher terrain. According to the study, this gradual process of trial and error may have taken as long as 500 years. Evolution of the wheel-and-axle system, as proposed by Alacoque et al. (Alacoque et al./Royal Society Open Science) Why a Copper Mine? The research team posits that the invention of the wheel may have been driven by the unique challenges of mining in the Carpathian Mountains. Extracting copper ore from deep within mines and transporting it down rugged slopes would have required significant ingenuity to improve labor efficiency. Copper mining was a critical activity in early human societies, as the metal was essential for making tools, weapons, and ornaments. The economic and practical importance of mining likely spurred experimentation with better transport methods. The progression from simple rollers to a wheel-and-axle system would have provided a significant competitive advantage, reducing the time and effort needed to extract and move valuable resources. Artifacts depicting ancient wheel designs. (Alacoque et al./Royal Society Open Science) The Broader Impact of the Wheel Once developed, the wheel spread rapidly across civilizations and transformed human societies. In Mesopotamia, for example, wheeled carts revolutionized agriculture, while in Central Europe and beyond, the wheel became integral to trade and construction. Despite its ubiquity in human history, the wheel’s invention was far from inevitable. Unlike simpler tools such as stone axes or hammers, the wheel requires a deeper understanding of mechanics and materials. The development of a fixed axle system, for instance, demands precision engineering to balance load-bearing capabilities with rotational movement. The findings of this study highlight how incremental innovations, driven by necessity, can lead to revolutionary breakthroughs. The wheel’s humble beginnings in a copper mine underscore its role as a technological cornerstone of human civilization. Continuing the Search for Answers While the researchers’ model offers a plausible theory, it is not definitive. Other regions, such as Mesopotamia or the Indus Valley, have also been proposed as the wheel’s birthplace. The archaeological record ******** sparse, and evidence of early wheels or axle systems is often fragmentary. What’s more, just this week, the finding of spindle whorls from 12,000 years ago at *******’s Nahal-Ein Gev II archaeological site has been proposed as a forerunner to the development of wheel technology. These were stone tools for spinning fibers into yarn, and the study suggests that very early humans may have ***** the groundwork for rotational technology which could be incorporated in later wheel technology, long before the believed invention of the cartwheel. Future discoveries, including preserved artifacts or new computational analyses, may refine our understanding of this pivotal invention. For now, the wheel’s story stands as a testament to human ingenuity, shaped by the challenges of a rugged mountainside and the relentless drive to innovate. Top image: Images show progression of the wheelset design during ********** of the topology optimization algorithm in this study. Source: Alacoque et al./Royal Society Open Science By Gary Manners References Lee R. Alacoque et al, ‘Reconstructing the invention of the wheel using computational structural analysis and design’, Royal Society Open Science (2024). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.240373 Yirka, B, Nov. 2024 ‘ Researchers model how the first use of the wheel may have developed’ Phys.org. Available at: Source link #Emerging #Research #Development #Wheel Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

How to get Dragon’s Breath in ****** Ops 6 How to get Dragon’s Breath in ****** Ops 6 ****** Ops 6 Season 1 introduced a bunch of new content to the game, from new maps and modes to a huge overhaul for Warzone. That’s not all either, as the update also brought the game’s first Battle Pass to fruition, packing a plethora of new cosmetics and items. As well as some new weapons, players have also been gifted some new attachments to unlock, including the iconic Dragon’s Breath for Shotguns. With that said, here’s how to unlock Dragon’s Breath in BO6. How to unlock BO6 Dragon’s Breath You can unlock Dragon’s Breath by reaching Page 7, Tier 3 of the ****** Ops 6 Season 1 Battle Pass. This is a free reward in the Battle Pass, so you don’t need to purchase the premium BP in order to unlock it. Simply reach the Page and Tier, and you can equip the 12 Guage Dragon’s Breath attachment for ***** Mods on all Shotguns in BO6. Credit to Activision. What is Dragon’s Breath in ****** Ops 6? Dragon’s Breath is a ***** Mod attachment that turns Shotgun pellets into incendiary rounds that ***** and stick to enemies. It causes a damage over time effect, but it reduces damage range. By playing games and earning XP, you’ll make your way through the Battle Pass. If you wish to get through the rewards even faster, make sure you use up any Battle Pass Double XP Tokens you may have. Is Dragon’s Breath good in BO6? It’s great for small maps and close-quarters combat. We recommend using it with the ASG-89, as the semi-automatic ***** rate means you can let shots off much faster than with a pump Shotgun like the Marine SP. The more shots you can hit the better, as Dragon’s Breath reduces damage, but the added ***** damage can be lethal so long as it’s sustained. Have you given the Dragon’s Breath attachment a go in ****** Ops 6 yet or are you still waiting to unlock it? Let us know in the Insider Gaming forum. If you’re eager for more BO6 guides, be sure to check out everything we know about the new Maelstorm Shotgun and how to unlock the Saug. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest news and exclusive leaks every week! No Spam. Source link #Dragons #Breath #****** #Ops Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

COP29 host Azerbaijan faces climate disaster as Caspian Sea dries up COP29 host Azerbaijan faces climate disaster as Caspian Sea dries up Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, is located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, but falling water levels could leave the city and oil infrastructure cut off from the sea VANO SHLAMOV/AFP via Getty Images Ports, oil drilling rigs and coastal settlements will be marooned kilometres from the shore as climate change drives water loss in the Caspian Sea, according to a study that highlights the huge economic threat global warming poses to Azerbaijan, the host of the COP29 climate summit. Water levels are already falling fast in the Caspian, the world’s largest inland body of water, in… Source link #COP29 #host #Azerbaijan #faces #climate #disaster #Caspian #Sea #dries Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Iran has no ******* to ‘sabotage’ Lebanon ******** peace Iran has no ******* to ‘sabotage’ Lebanon ******** peace Iran backs any decision taken by Lebanon in talks to secure a ceasefire with *******, a senior Iranian official has said, signalling Tehran wants to see an end to a conflict that has dealt heavy blows to its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. ******* launched air strikes in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday, flattening buildings for a fourth consecutive day. ******* has stepped up its bombardment of the area this week, an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy towards a ceasefire. Two senior Lebanese political sources told Reuters that the US ambassador to Lebanon had presented a draft ceasefire proposal to Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri the previous day. Berri is endorsed by Hezbollah to negotiate and met the senior Iranian official Ali Larijani on Friday. Asked at a news conference whether he had come to Beirut to undermine the US truce plan, Larijani said: “We are not looking to sabotage anything. We are after a solution to the problems.” “We support in all circumstances the Lebanese government. Those who are disrupting are Netanyahu and his people,” Larijani added, referring to ******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hezbollah was founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, and has been armed and financed by Tehran. A senior diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, assessed that more time was needed to get a ceasefire done but was hopeful it could be achieved. The outgoing US administration appears keen to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon, even as efforts to end *******’s related war in the Gaza Strip appear totally adrift. World powers say a Lebanon ceasefire must be based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended a previous 2006 war between Hezbollah and *******. Its terms require Hezbollah to move weapons and fighters north of the Litani river, which runs some 20 km north of the border. ******* demands the freedom to act should Hezbollah violate any agreement, which Lebanon has rejected. In a meeting with Larijani, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged support for Lebanon’s position on implementing 1701 and called this a priority, along with halting the “******** aggression”, a statement from his office said. Larijani stressed “that Iran supports any decision taken by the government, especially resolution 1701”, the statement said. ******* launched its ground and air offensive against Hezbollah in late September after almost a year of cross-border hostilities in parallel with the Gaza war. It says it aims to secure the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis, forced to evacuate from northern ******* under Hezbollah *****. *******’s campaign has forced more than one million Lebanese to flee their homes, igniting a humanitarian crisis. It has dealt Hezbollah serious blows, ******** its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders. Hezbollah has kept up rocket attacks into ******* and its fighters have been battling ******** troops in the south. On Friday, ******** air strikes flattened five more buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh. One of them was located near one of Beirut’s busiest traffic junctions, Tayouneh, in an area where Dahiyeh meets other parts of Beirut. The sound of an incoming missile could be heard in footage showing the air strike near Tayouneh. The targeted building turned into a cloud of rubble and debris which billowed into the adjacent Horsh Beirut, the city’s main park. The ******** military said its fighter jets attacked munitions warehouses, a headquarters and other Hezbollah infrastructure. Ahead of the latest air strikes, the ******** military issued a warning on social media identifying buildings. The Washington Post reported that Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon ceasefire with the aim of delivering an early foreign policy win to his ally US President-elect Donald Trump. Source link #Iran #******* #sabotage #Lebanon #******** #peace Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

British Army and *** police using drones made by sanctioned Kremlin supplier British Army and *** police using drones made by sanctioned Kremlin supplier The Army is using drones from a ******** company that has been sanctioned for supplying the Kremlin’s war effort in Ukraine, it has emerged. The Ministry of Defence has purchased drones from Autel Robotics, which was last week added to the sanctions list with measures including an asset freeze. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, was last month seen piloting an Autel drone at an army base used to train Ukrainian recruits, alongside Jon Healey, the Defence Secretary. The drones have also been used by police forces in Nottinghamshire and Wiltshire. All the vehicles were purchased before the sanctions were imposed. Autel, one of the world’s biggest drone manufacturers, says its drones are not designed for military use, but they have been widely used on both sides during the war in Ukraine. The Foreign Office took action against Autel last week as part of its largest sanctions package against Russia in over a year. It said the company had been involved in “destabilising Ukraine or undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine”. The US added the company to a trade blacklist in the summer. It said that in addition to supplying Russia with drones the company had sought to “acquire US-origin items applicable to unmanned aerial vehicles to be used by ******** military entities”. The Ministry of Defence said it had purchased a small number of Autel drones to help train Ukrainian troops. “No ******** technology is used for core MoD business,” a spokesman said. “A small number of Autel drones have been purchased to train Ukrainian recruits, primarily to replicate the threat they will face from Russian drones. “Significant mitigation measures are in place to protect MoD personnel and equipment that include no audio or visual recording from the drones and no connecting to MoD devices.” The MoD said it had no plans to buy more Autel drones. Its use of the vehicles was first reported by Bloomberg. Ms Reeves was photographed piloting an Autel Evo drone last month as the Chancellor visited the Stanford Training Area in Norfolk ahead of announcing a £2.2bn loan to Ukraine. Nottinghamshire Police announced in 2022 that it had purchased two Autel Evo II 640T drones, used for activities such as surveillance and search and rescue operations. The drones are also widely available for consumers to purchase in the ***. Many police forces around the *** use drones from ******** manufacturer DJI, which has faced restrictions in the US. Wiltshire and Nottinghamshire police forces did not respond to requests for comment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Source link #British #Army #police #drones #sanctioned #Kremlin #supplier Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Tom Hardy’s Splinter Cell movie is reportedly cancelled: ‘We just couldn’t get it right’ Tom Hardy’s Splinter Cell movie is reportedly cancelled: ‘We just couldn’t get it right’ A planned Splinter Cell movie starring actor Tom Hardy has been cancelled, its producer has suggested. News around the live-action movie, first announced in 2012 with Hardy as protagonist Sam Fisher, has been fairly silent for the more than a decade since. However, speaking to The Direct, producer Basil Iwanyk, who signed on for the Splinter Cell project in 2013, has suggested that it’s no longer happening. “That movie would have been awesome… Just couldn’t get it right, script-wise, budget-wise,” he said. “But it was going to be great. We had a million different versions of it, but it was going to be ********* and awesome. That’s one of the ones that got away, which is really sad.” The Splinter Cell series follows veteran Fourth Echelon agent Sam Fisher as he embarks on secret missions for the National Security Agency’s covert action division. Ubisoft is working on a remake of the first Splinter Cell, the stealth action game which was first released in 2002 as an Xbox exclusive, using its Snowdrop engine—which also powers The Division, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and other titles. The remake will also include a rewritten story designed to appeal to a new generation of players, according to the publisher. An animated series, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, is planned for release on Netflix. Not much information has been shared on the show yet, which was simply described as “coming soon”. Source link #Tom #Hardys #Splinter #Cell #movie #reportedly #cancelled #couldnt Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Droidspeak: AI models work together faster when they speak their own language Droidspeak: AI models work together faster when they speak their own language Do you speak AI? Shutterstock/Ole.CNX Microsoft has created an artificial language that allows AI models to talk to each other faster and more efficiently than in English, with the hope that groups of models will be able to team up without having to resort to clumsy and sprawling human words. Many researchers believe that using several artificial intelligence models, each with different specialisms and abilities, to solve problems collectively holds promise for tackling thorny problems that individual ones can’t solve. Although large language models like ChatGPT have been shown to be capable of communicating at high speed, even reaching consensus… Source link #Droidspeak #models #work #faster #speak #language Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

AMD layoffs follow AI job trend AMD layoffs follow AI job trend Chipmaker AMD has joined other tech companies in laying off employees as the company pivots toward serving the AI market. AMD will reduce its workforce by about 4% to align its resources with the “largest growth opportunities,” the company said in a statement. AMD reported having 26,000 employees at the end of last year, so the layoffs amount to roughly 1,000 workers. AMD’s “growth opportunities” are undoubtedly in AI. The company’s Instinct AI accelerators for the data center and Ryzen processors for AI PCs powered an 18% increase in revenues year over year in the quarter ending Sept. 28. “We delivered strong third quarter financial results with record revenue led by higher sales of EPYC [CPUs] and Instinct data center products and robust demand for our Ryzen PC processors,” AMD CEO Lisa Su said in a statement. To keep that momentum, AMD must pivot decisively from legacy technology to AI products and employ a workforce capable of developing them, said Victor Janulaitis, CEO of labor market research firm Janco Associates. “AI is at the forefront of all new initiatives in corporations, and AMD has not been keeping up with the market,” Janulaitis said. “They have to adjust.” AMD’s AI strategy goes beyond workforce changes. In August, the company unveiled plans to spend $4.9 billion to acquire ZT Systems, a designer and manufacturer of AI and cloud computing systems for hyperscale data centers. AMD expects to close the deal in the first half of next year. Nevertheless, the company’s success depends on hiring and retaining AI talent for product development, experts said. In its latest 10-Q filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, AMD described competition for people knowledgeable in AI and machine learning as “intense.” The number of college graduates with AI-related degrees is increasing, but ******** insufficient to meet today’s demand. From 2010 to 2022, the number of graduates rose at an annual rate of 5%, according to the Center for Security and Emerging Technology. “AI workers are not readily available,” Janulaitis said. About 10% of tech job ads today are for workers with AI skills, up from 6% two years ago, according to the industry trade group CompTIA. Besides AMD, other companies have ***** off workers to pursue those with AI skills. AI-driven workforce changes have contributed to the nearly 147,000 layoffs in the tech industry recorded this year by the site Layoffs.fyi. In August, Cisco reported plans to cut more than 6,300 jobs, or 7% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring of its business around its fastest-growing markets: AI, cybersecurity and cloud. AMD’s rival Intel is an example of the consequences of missing out on the red-hot AI market. In August, Intel reported it would reduce its workforce by 15%, or more than 15,000 jobs, by the end of the year. It also plans to cut $10 billion in capital expenditures in 2025. A large part of Intel’s problems stemmed from its lack of a competitive AI product against AMD and market leader Nvidia in the data center, according to industry experts. Antone Gonsalves is an editor at large for TechTarget Editorial, reporting on industry trends critical to enterprise tech buyers. He has worked in tech journalism for 25 years and is based in San Francisco. Have a news tip? Please drop him an email. Source link #AMD #layoffs #follow #job #trend Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Older voters prioritized personal economic issues on Election Day: AARP Older voters prioritized personal economic issues on Election Day: AARP Voters line up to cast their ballots at a voting location in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 5, 2024. Samuel Corum | Afp | Getty Images When asked, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” the answer for many older voters ages 50 and over was “no,” according to a new post-election poll released by the AARP. Almost half — 47% — of voters ages 50 and over said they are “worse off now,” the research found, while more than half — 55% — of swing voters in that age cohort said the same. In competitive Congressional districts, President-elect Donald Trump won the 50 and over vote by two percentage points — the same margin by which he carried the country, AARP found. Among voters 50 to 64, Trump won by seven points. With voters ages 65 and over, Vice President Kamala Harris won by two points. More from Personal Finance: What Trump’s presidency could mean for the housing market Trump’s win may put popular student loan forgiveness program at risk What the Fed’s latest interest rate cut means for your money The AARP commissioned Fabrizio Ward and Impact Research, a bipartisan team of *********** and Democrat firms providing public opinion research and consulting, to conduct the survey. Interviews were conducted with 2,348 “likely voters” in targeted congressional districts following Election Day between Nov. 6 and 10. Older voters, who make up an outsized share of the vote and tend to lean ***********, made a difference in a lot of key congressional races, according to Bob Ward, a *********** pollster and partner at Fabrizio Ward. “Overall, 50-plus voters really are what delivered Republicans their majority,” Ward said. Older swing voters focused on pocketbook issues When asked “How worried are you about your personal financial situation?” in a June AARP survey, 62% of voters ages 50 and over checked the worry box, while 63% of voters overall did the same. Voters continued to place an emphasis on their money concerns on Election Day, the latest AARP poll found. “All these surveys that we conducted for AARP spoke to a lack of economic security for people,” said Jeff Liszt, partner at Impact Research. “The shock of inflation had left them without a feeling of security,” he said. For voters ages 50 and over, food ranked as the top cost concern, with 39%, the poll found. That was followed by health care and prescription drugs, with 20%; housing, 14%; gasoline, 10%; and electricity, 6%. More than half — 55% — of voters ages 50 and up said they prioritized personal economic issues, including inflation, the economy and jobs, and Social Security when determining their vote. Older swing voters were more likely to turn out at the polls due to those pocketbook issues than any other priorities, the poll found. Republicans won older voters on most personal economic issues, though voters ages 50 and up still favored Democrats on Social Security by two points. Democrats have traditionally had a stronger lead on Social Security, Ward said, while the poll results show it is now “completely up for grabs.” “Looking at the midterms, whether I’m *********** or Democrat … this is going to be an issue I want to win on,” Ward said. Voters 50 and over broadly support Medicare negotiating prescription ***** prices, as well as policies to help the older population age at home. Non-financial issues such as immigration and border security and threats to democracy were also among top concerns for some older voters. Social Security reform may be ******* focus While both presidential candidates promised to protect Social Security on the campaign trail, they did not provide plans to restore the program’s solvency. The trust fund Social Security relies on to pay benefits is projected to run dry in 2033, at which point 79% of those benefits will be payable. “What’s absolutely clear is that there’s an action-forcing event that we’re getting closer to, and that at some point Congress is going to have to act,” said Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group focused on expanding the program. While Trump has touted plans to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits, research has found that would worsen the program’s insolvency. The House voted this week to eliminate rules that reduce Social Security benefits for certain people who have pension income, which would also add to the program’s costs. For most Americans, Social Security is the primary source of retirement income, according to the AARP. About 42% of people ages 65 and over rely on the program for at least 50% of their incomes; about 20% rely on it for at least 90% of their incomes. Like Social Security, Medicare also faces a looming trust fund depletion for the Part A program that covers hospital insurance. “We want to ensure that we’re protecting Medicare, Social Security and that it’s done in a fiscally responsible way,” AARP CEO Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan told CNBC in a recent interview. Source link #Older #voters #prioritized #personal #economic #issues #Election #Day #AARP Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]