Month: February 2022

Der scheinheilige Streit ums Gas

Nord-Stream2 ist gerade nicht wohlgelitten. Zugleich will Wirtschaftsminister Habeck Terminals für den Import von Fracking-Gas bauen. Wie passt das zusammen?

Nord-Stream2 ist gerade nicht wohlgelitten. Zugleich will Wirtschaftsminister Habeck Terminals für den Import von Fracking-Gas bauen. Wie passt das zusammen?

This 5,300-year-old skull shows evidence of the earliest known ear surgery

Archaeologists also found a flint blade that may have been used as a cauterizing tool.

Lateral view of a skull found at the El Pendón site in Spain, showing signs of a primitive form of ear surgery.

Enlarge / Lateral view of a skull found at the El Pendón site in Spain, showing signs of a primitive form of ear surgery. (credit: ÑFotógrafos Photography Study)

Archaeologists have excavated a 5,300-year-old skull from a Spanish tomb and determined that seven cut marks near the left ear canal are strong evidence of a primitive surgical procedure to treat an inner ear infection. That makes this the earliest known example of ear surgery yet found, according to the authors of a recent paper published in the journal Scientific Reports. The Spanish team also identified a flint blade that may have been used as a cauterizing tool.

The excavation site is located in the Dolmen of El Pendón in Burgos, Spain, and consists of the remains of a megalithic monument dating back to the 4th century BCE, i.e., the late Neolithic period. The ruins include an ossuary holding the bones of nearly 100 people, and archaeologists have been excavating those remains since 2016.

In July 2018, the team recovered the skull that is the subject of this latest study. The skull was lying on its right side, facing the entrance of the burial chamber, and while most of the cranium was intact, no teeth remained. The missing teeth, plus the loss in bone density and fully ossified thyroid cartilage, indicated that this was the skull of an elderly woman aged 65 or older.

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New fast radio burst found in area that shouldn’t have any sources

Source narrowed down to a cluster where the stars are too old for bursts.

Drawing of a bright, spherical object with many flares leading away from it.

Enlarge / Artist's conception of a high-energy burst coming off the surface of a magnetar. (credit: Goddard Space Flight Center)

Fast radio bursts were an enigma when they were first spotted. At first, each FRB followed the same pattern: a huge surge of energy in radio wavelengths that lasted less than a second—and then the burst was gone, never to repeat. We initially suspected FRBs might be hardware glitches in our detectors, but over time, the bursts' recurrence convinced us that they were real.

Since then, we've identified sources of repeated bursts and associated the FRBs with a source that produces energy outside the radio range. This ultimately helped us point the finger at a single source: magnetars, or neutron stars that have extremely intense magnetic fields.

Now, reality has gone and thrown a monkey wrench in that nice and simple explanation. A new repeating source of FRBs has been identified, and it resides in a location where we wouldn't expect to find any magnetars. This doesn't mean that the source isn't from a magnetar, but we have to resort to some unusual explanations for its formation.

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New Roccat mouse lets you program up to 29 different inputs

Plus RGB for days.

Promotional image for cutting-edge mouse.

Enlarge (credit: Roccat/Amazon)

For power users, gamers, and those seeking a highly functional mouse, more buttons is beneficial. Roccat wants to appeal to such people with its upcoming Kone XP, which has 15 buttons that can serve as 29 different inputs after programming via software.

Roccat's announcement of the Kone XP today described the peripheral is "ideal" for MMOs and strategy games. But high programmability makes the Kone XP potentially appealing for advanced general use, too.

The programmable buttons are: left- and right-click, the scroll wheel (5 inputs: up, down, left, right, and in), the button south of the scroll wheel, two buttons near the left-click button, four side buttons, and a thumb button near the mouse's base.

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Lilbits: Making Windows 11 more tablet-friendly, Pixel 7 design leaked, Oppo Find X5 phone and Oppo Pad tablet launched

The latest dev channel preview build of Windows 11 brings an experimental new feature that could make Microsoft’s desktop operating system a little more tablet friendly: the taskbar will shrink to a small size and display only the most critical status icons to get out of your way when you don’t need it. But you […]

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The latest dev channel preview build of Windows 11 brings an experimental new feature that could make Microsoft’s desktop operating system a little more tablet friendly: the taskbar will shrink to a small size and display only the most critical status icons to get out of your way when you don’t need it. But you can swipe up to view the full taskbar. This mode is only available on tablets and 2-in-1 devices and not on traditional laptop or desktop computers.

News of this feature first leaked earlier this month, and now it’s ready for members of the Windows Insider community to test. It’s also just the latest in a series experimental new features designed to make Windows work better with tablets. Last week Microsoft also added support for new touch gestures to dev channel preview builds.

It’s unclear if or when these new touchscreen and tablet features will find their way to beta or stable releases of Windows 11.

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

Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22563 [Microsoft]

Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22563 Dev Channel brings a collapsible taskbar for tablet users, a widget feed that combines widgets and news content and and group policy support for disabling Windows Update notifications during the daytime.

dahliaOS Linux 220222 [dahliaOS / GitHub]

dahliaOS is an open source operating system that can use Linux or Zircon (Google’s Fuchsia) kernels. The Linux build has received the first update in over a year, with a redesigned Pangolin desktop environment, improved launcher & search and more.

Google Pixel 7 Leaked (February 2022) Design, Camera, Dimensions [Carhp]

A day after images of the Google Pixel 7 Pro were leaked, here are pictures of the Pixel 7 with a screen that will likely be between 6.2 and 6.4 inches. Expect dual rear cameras, a single front camera and a Pixel 6-like design. This one comes from @Onleaks in partnership with… a car news site?

OPPO launches the new Find X5, Find X5 Pro flagships, and Enco X2 TWS globally [xda-developers]

Oppo launches the Find X5 Pro with a 6.7″ QHD+ 120Hz display, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, 12GB/256GB/5,000 mAh battery and triple cameras and the 6.55″ FHD+ Oppo Find X5 with SD888/8GB/256GB/4,800 mAh. Both have Oppo’s MariSilicon X NPUs.

OPPO Pad with Snapdragon 870, 2.5K display & OPPO Pencil support launched in China [GizmoChina]

Oppo’s first Oppo Pad tablet: 11 inch, 2560 x 1600 pixel display, Snapdragon 870, up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, 33W fast charging, quad speakers, and 13MP rear and front cameras. Works with a stylus and magnetic keyboard. $360 and up in China.

HMD forced to pull most of its smartphones out of Germany over a patent dispute [GSM Arena]

HMD, maker of Nokia-branded smartphones, has been temporarily blocked from selling phone sin parts of Europe including France, Germany, and Switzerland due to a patent dispute. Depending on the outcome of the court case, that could change.

Steam Deck Launch Day details [Valve]

The Steam Deck will begin shipping in a few days. But the official dock? It won’t be available until “late spring.” Valve also reveals that the company has sent around 100 units to reviewers, so expect a flood of reviews 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.

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