Month: October 2021

FCC defends Starlink approval as Viasat, Dish urge court to block SpaceX license

FCC disputes environmental and interference claims made by satellite companies.

A Starlink satellite dish sitting next to a lake in a remote area.

Enlarge / A Starlink satellite dish. (credit: SpaceX)

The Federal Communications Commission this week urged a court to back the FCC's approval of SpaceX Starlink satellite launches against a lawsuit filed by Viasat and Dish.

With oral arguments scheduled for December 3, final briefs were filed on Tuesday by the FCC, Viasat, Dish, and SpaceX. Judges at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit previously rejected Viasat's motion for a stay that would have halted SpaceX's ongoing launches of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites pending the resolution of the lawsuit. Judges found that Viasat failed to show that it is likely to win its case alleging that the FCC improperly approved the satellite launches. Judges said at the time that Viasat did not meet "the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review" but granted a motion to expedite the appeal.

The FCC said in its new brief that the "commission reasonably granted SpaceX's request to modify the orbital altitude of 2,824 of its Starlink satellites, which the commission concluded would serve the public interest by improving broadband access in underserved areas and reducing the potential to generate orbital debris. Neither Dish's arguments regarding the potential for interference nor the criticisms by Viasat and the Balance Group of the commission's review of environmental issues have merit." (The Balance Group was apparently founded last year and said in a court document that it "is a membership organization that represents... astronomers and other scientists concerned about light pollution and other environmental impacts of satellite constellations.")

Read 24 remaining paragraphs | Comments

COVID trial using antidepressant cut short due to apparent effectiveness

It’s not a cure, but it seems to keep some at-risk people out of the hospital.

Image of a female pharmacist wearing a face mask.

Enlarge (credit: FG Trade / Getty Images)

Despite the wide availability of vaccines, the most recent surge in COVID-19 cases left several US states struggling to provide adequate health care to their citizens. The situation reinforces the potential value of drugs like molnupiravir, which reduce the need for hospitalization among those with COVID-19. But monupiravir will be expensive and will likely be difficult to supply globally for some time. So ongoing trials that test existing drugs for effectiveness against COVID-19 can still provide significant value.

One of those trials has just produced some promising results. A cheap generic drug, developed as an antidepressant, appears to reduce hospitalization rates. While the effect was limited, it was clear enough to cause the trial to be cut short.

A decent trial

The drug in question is called fluvoxamine and is part of the class of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are used to treat depression. There is absolutely no reason to expect that fluvoxamine would be effective against SARS-CoV-2, but a small trial tested it anyway, and the study looked promising. So the drug was picked up by a project called the TOGETHER trial, which is running a series of clinical trials using cheap drugs that are already approved for use.

Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Lilbits: Teenage Engineering’s first PC chassis, Right to Repair, and Magic Eraser breaks free from the Pixel 6

Teenage Engineering is a company known for designing sleek-looking products including the company’s own audio products and synthesizers as well as designs for third-party hardware including the Playdate handheld game console, H smart speaker, and l-1 camera. Now the Swedish company has introduced its first PC chassis. The Computer-1 is a striking looking compact case […]

The post Lilbits: Teenage Engineering’s first PC chassis, Right to Repair, and Magic Eraser breaks free from the Pixel 6 appeared first on Liliputing.

Teenage Engineering is a company known for designing sleek-looking products including the company’s own audio products and synthesizers as well as designs for third-party hardware including the Playdate handheld game console, H smart speaker, and l-1 camera.

Now the Swedish company has introduced its first PC chassis. The Computer-1 is a striking looking compact case for mini-ITX motherboards with optional handles that make it easy to transport and flat pack design that makes it easy to ship (while allowing you to assemble it like a bit of Ikea furniture.

Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.

Computer-1 mini-ITX PC chassis [Teenage Engineering]

Teenage Engineering’s first PC case is the Computer-1. It’s a $195 chassis made for mini-ITX motherboards & dual-slot graphics cards. It’s 12.7″ x 7.5″ x 6.7″ and features orange-painted aluminum that comes in a flat pack, some assembly required.

The US Copyright Office just struck a blow supporting the right to repair [The Verge]

The US government is expanding the ways it’s legal to circumvent digital locks & access controls in order to repair hardware, use media clips for educational purposes, add subtitles or audio captions for accessibility purposes. But there are still limits.

Protecting your Google Fi calls with end-to-end encryption [Google Fi]

Google Fi is adding support for end-to-end encryption for voice calls… but only for 1:1 calls between two Android users connected to Google Fi, which will likely limit the feature’s reach.

PowerToys Mouse Utilities adds Find My Mouse feature [Microsoft]

Microsoft’s PowerToys v0.49 includes a new “Find My Mouse” tool that lets you double-click the left button to spotlight where your mouse cursor is. Could come in handy if you have multiple displays or high-res screens, I guess.

Magic Eraser is no longer exclusive to the Pixel 6 [Android Police]

Google’s Magic Eraser can remove unwanted objects from images in Google Photos. It debuted as a Pixel 6 exclusive feature, but users are reporting that you can trick it into working on non-P6 devices.

‘Project Cambria’ is a high-end VR headset designed for Facebook’s metaverse [Engadget]

Facebook’s Meta‘s next high-end virtual reality headset, code-named Project Cambria, is coming next year. It’s expected to have new sensors for eye tracking and facial expression detection and mixed reality features plus improved optics.

GPD Pocket 3 mini-laptop pricing revealed (maybe) [Liliputing]

Update: GPD Pocket 3 handheld computer will likely have retail prices around $760 to $1200 in China, but it’ll be available for pre-order internationally soon for 30% off through a crowdfunding campaign set to begin soon. 

Keep up on the latest headlines by following Liliputing on Twitter and Facebook and follow @LinuxSmartphone on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news on open source mobile phones.

The post Lilbits: Teenage Engineering’s first PC chassis, Right to Repair, and Magic Eraser breaks free from the Pixel 6 appeared first on Liliputing.

Florida strips federal funding from schools as further punishment for masking

The state withheld nearly $700,000 in funding from two counties.

A man in a suit and a medical mask.

Enlarge / Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wears a face mask during a press conference on July 13, 2020. (credit: Getty | CHANDAN KHANNA)

The state of Florida this week withheld nearly $700,000 in funding from two school districts as part of an escalating feud led by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over school mask requirements.

The state had previously financially penalized the Alachua and Broward school boards by docking their salaries for issuing school mask requirements, which DeSantis has worked to ban. In response to the financial penalties, the Biden administration last month awarded the counties federal funding to compensate for losses. Alachua County was awarded $147,719 and Broward County Public Schools received $420,957 in federal grants under the US Department of Education (USDOE) Project Safe grant.

But this week, the Florida Department of Education took things a step further. For this month's budgets, the Sunshine State docked the school boards' salaries and overall school funding in amounts equal to the federal grants, effectively canceling out the counties' federal aid.

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

No end in sight for chip shortage as supply chain problems pile up

“We’re not talking about quarters. We’re talking about years.”

An out-of-focus face examines a computer component.

Enlarge / A woman examines a mask—a part used in wafer conception—at a show room of the United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) factory in Tainan, southern Taiwan. (credit: Sam Yeh | Getty)

Earlier this year, the chip shortage seemed like it might ease sometime in 2022. Now, that forecast appears to have been optimistic.

“The shortages are going to continue indefinitely,” Brandon Kulik, head of Deloitte’s semiconductor industry practice, told Ars. “Maybe that doesn’t mean 10 years, but certainly we’re not talking about quarters. We’re talking about years.”

It is becoming clear that snarls in the semiconductor supply chain are weighing on economic growth. Yesterday, both GM and Ford said that missing chips led to slashed profits for the third quarter, and Apple is rumored to be cutting this year’s production targets for its iPhone lineup, the company’s cash cow. Chip woes have become so widespread that a division of Wells Fargo thinks the pressures will curtail US GDP growth by 0.7 percent.

Read 16 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Facebook is rebranding as Meta, retiring the Oculus brand

Facebook launched as a social network in 2004, but in the years since then the company has expanded into other territory including virtual reality, smart displays, and… other social apps like Instagram and WhatsApp. So at a time when Facebook is coming under a lot of scrutiny, it’s probably not a surprise that CEO Mark Zuckerberg […]

The post Facebook is rebranding as Meta, retiring the Oculus brand appeared first on Liliputing.

Facebook launched as a social network in 2004, but in the years since then the company has expanded into other territory including virtual reality, smart displays, and… other social apps like Instagram and WhatsApp.

So at a time when Facebook is coming under a lot of scrutiny, it’s probably not a surprise that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company have decided it’s time for a name change. Meet Meta.

Oculus Meta Quest 2

To be clear, the company’s primary product is still the social media app that will continue to be known as Facebook. But the parent company is called Meta, a name that shouldn’t come as a huge surprise from a company that’s spent a lot of time talking about the Metaverse in recent years.

What I hadn’t really expected is that Facebook is retiring some of its other brands. For example, the Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset? Starting early next year it’ll be called the Meta Quest. That makes sense since it’s not like the company’s virtual reality headsets are all that tied to the social network… although I’ve definitely heard plenty of complaints that you need a Facebook account to use Oculus headsets. According to Engadget, as part of the name change, Meta will walk back that decision, allowing users to login to Meta Quest devices in other ways.

Another product that’s getting a more modest name change? The Facebook Portal smart display and communications device will be renamed as the Meta Portal. But, you know, you’ll still be able to use it to make calls over Facebook Messenger.

In some ways Facebook’s move is reminiscent of Google’s restructuring a few years ago, when it was reorganized under a new parent company called Alphabet. But it’s not like Google decided to rebrand Gmail as Amail or anything.

press release

The post Facebook is rebranding as Meta, retiring the Oculus brand appeared first on Liliputing.

Asus VivoBook tablet with 13 inch OLED display and Windows 11 coming soon? (Leaks)

Asus appears to be planning to launch a new Windows 11 tablet that combines a mix of premium and budget features. As spotted by TabletMonkeys, the upcoming Asus Vivobook T3300K appears to combine a 13.3 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel OLED display with an Intel Pentium Silver N6000 processor. So you’ve got a high-quality OLED […]

The post Asus VivoBook tablet with 13 inch OLED display and Windows 11 coming soon? (Leaks) appeared first on Liliputing.

Asus appears to be planning to launch a new Windows 11 tablet that combines a mix of premium and budget features.

As spotted by TabletMonkeys, the upcoming Asus Vivobook T3300K appears to combine a 13.3 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel OLED display with an Intel Pentium Silver N6000 processor.

So you’ve got a high-quality OLED display, which also has an active digitizer for use with an optional digital pen. But you’ve also got a low-power, 6-watt Intel Jasper Lake processor, so the tablet’s not exactly going to be a speed demon.

Asus hasn’t officially announced the Vivobook T3300K yet, but according to a few different international retail listings, it looks like it’ll be priced like a mid-range laptop, at around $700 and up.

According to TabletMonkeys (and at least partially confirmed by those store web pages), the VivoBook T3300K will likely feature:

  • 4GB to 8GB of LPDDR4X memory
  • 256GB PCIe 3.0 NVMe solid state storage
  • WiFi 6
  • Bluetooth 5.2
  • 50 Wh battery
  • 65W power supply
  • 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports
  • microSD card reader
  • 13MP rear camera
  • 5MP front camera

The tablet is expected to weigh around 800 grams (1.8 pounds) and measure 8.2mm (0.3 inches) thick and it’s designed to work with a detachable keyboard as well as an optional pressure-sensitive digital pen, thanks to an active digitizer.

More details will likely be available closer to launch.

The post Asus VivoBook tablet with 13 inch OLED display and Windows 11 coming soon? (Leaks) appeared first on Liliputing.

Neuer Firmenname: Aus Facebook wird Meta

Facebook-Chef Mark Zuckerberg hat den Namen der neuen Dachgesellschaft seiner Dienste genannt. Dieser lehnt sich stark an das geplante Metaversum an. (Meta, Instant Messenger)

Facebook-Chef Mark Zuckerberg hat den Namen der neuen Dachgesellschaft seiner Dienste genannt. Dieser lehnt sich stark an das geplante Metaversum an. (Meta, Instant Messenger)