Month: October 2018

Enlarge / Wash. Your. Hands. (credit: Government of Prince Edward Island / Flickr)

Over the last month, 19 children in a care home in New Jersey have fallen ill with adenovirus infections. Seven of those children have died, and it’s possible that more cases will be confirmed. The investigation into the causes of the outbreak, and the reasons for the extent of it, is ongoing.

The Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell, New Jersey, provides long-term care for “medically fragile children,” including children in comas or on ventilators. Although adenoviruses usually only cause mild illnesses like common colds or pink eye, they can have more serious effects in people who already have other conditions, which is probably why the viruses have been so fatal in this instance.

“Unfortunately, the particular strain of adenovirus (#7) in this outbreak is affecting medically fragile children with severely compromised immune systems,” said New Jersey Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal in a public statement. “The strain has been particularly associated with disease in communal living arrangements and can be more severe.”

Enlarge (credit: Gian Cornachini via Wikimedia Commons)

Archaeologists are celebrating the recovery of an 11,500-year-old skull from the burned rubble of the National Museum of Brazil following a devastating fire on September 2. The skull belongs to a woman, now nicknamed Luzia, who died in a cave in southeastern Brazil early in the history of the settling of the Americas. Archaeologists in the 1970s unearthed about a third of her skeleton, including her remarkably well-preserved skull, her pelvis and lower spine, part of her right femur (the large bone of the upper leg), her left tibia (the shin bone), and left radius (one of the bones of the forearm).

An early American

According to radiocarbon dating done in 2013, Luzia died sometime between 11,243 and 11,710 years ago, which places her bones among the oldest evidence we have of the early population of the Americas. When archaeologists retrieved the charred, cracked pieces of skull and femur from the remains of the museum’s first floor earlier this week, they salvaged a rare and vital source of information about how humans spread through the Americas.

Although archaeologists also found flint tools at the site, Luzia herself had been left alone in the cave with no other human remains nearby. That suggests an unexpected death, perhaps in an accident or an encounter with large Pleistocene wildlife. And at just under 1.5 m (5 ft) tall, Luzia certainly wouldn’t have been much of a match for a saber-toothed cat.

Enlarge / Who doesn't love some new Windows? (credit: Peter Bright / Flickr)

On Microsoft's earnings call for the first quarter of its 2019 financial year, CEO Satya Nadella said that "more than half of the commercial device installed base is on Windows 10."

A Microsoft spokesperson "clarified" this to say, "based on Microsoft's data, we can see that there are now more devices in the enterprise running Windows 10 than any other previous version of Windows." That description offers a little more wriggle room; Windows 10 might only have a plurality share of enterprise systems rather than the majority share Nadella claimed. But either way, a substantial number of machines in the enterprise are currently running Windows 10.

Equally, however, it means that there's a substantial number of machines not running Windows 10. Those systems are likely to be running Windows 7. Windows 7 is due to drop out of support in January 2020. Beyond that date, Windows 7 users will either have to pay for up to three years of patches or switch to Microsoft-hosted virtual machines, which will receive the three additional years of patching at no cost.

Enlarge (credit: TechBargains)

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. Today's list is headlined by a suite of bundle deals for Red Dead Redemption II, which comes out Friday for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Reviews for the hotly anticipated game hit the Web today, and the feedback has been near-universally positive. That doesn't mean the game is flawless, which is to be expected in something so story-heavy. Our own review notes that bits of RDR II's script can occasionally lack conviction, for instance, but ultimately deems it a gorgeous "technical marvel" that's worth buying.

In any event, if you plan on buying RDR II and want to enjoy that massive virtual world in 4K, there are a handful of bundles that pair the game with a new PS4 Pro or Xbox One X. One Amazon bundle pairs the game with Sony's high-end console—which doesn't quite reach "true 4K" but gets closer than the standard PS4—for no extra cost; GameStop has a bundle that includes a special-edition Xbox One X and the upcoming Fallout 76; while Walmart has a separate Xbox One X bundle that also includes NBA 2K19, a spare controller, and a small gift card.

Enlarge (credit: TechBargains)

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. Today's list is headlined by a suite of bundle deals for Red Dead Redemption II, which comes out Friday for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Reviews for the hotly anticipated game hit the Web today, and the feedback has been near-universally positive. That doesn't mean the game is flawless, which is to be expected in something so story-heavy. Our own review notes that bits of RDR II's script can occasionally lack conviction, for instance, but ultimately deems it a gorgeous "technical marvel" that's worth buying.

In any event, if you plan on buying RDR II and want to enjoy that massive virtual world in 4K, there are a handful of bundles that pair the game with a new PS4 Pro or Xbox One X. One Amazon bundle pairs the game with Sony's high-end console—which doesn't quite reach "true 4K" but gets closer than the standard PS4—for no extra cost; GameStop has a bundle that includes a special-edition Xbox One X and the upcoming Fallout 76; while Walmart has a separate Xbox One X bundle that also includes NBA 2K19, a spare controller, and a small gift card.

Enlarge / Founder and CEO of Essential Products Andy Rubin speaks onstage at WIRED Business Conference at Spring Studios on June 7, 2017 in New York City. (credit: Brian Ach/Getty Images for Wired)

The famed creator of Android was ushered from Google in October 2014 when the company found allegations against him of having committed sexual misconduct against a co-worker to be credible, according to The New York Times. Upon his departure from the industry giant, Andy Rubin was still given a $150 million stock grant, to be paid out over several years, along with a $90 million exit package. Rubin's alleged misdeeds were first reported in November 2017.

In an account that left us thunderstruck, The New York Times reported Thursday that Andy Rubin is just one of three top executives who have received massive payouts over the past decade despite being accused of similar behavior.

"Each time Google stayed silent about the accusations against the men," the newspaper concluded, noting that the company had the option of dismissing them with far less recompense or even nothing at all.