Month: March 2022

A cosmic mystery: Astronomers capture dying star blowing smoke rings

“A new and fascinating wrinkle to our understanding of how stars end their lives.”

A rendering of the star V Hydrae, or V Hya for short. In its death throes, the star emitted a series of expanding rings that scientists calculated are being formed every few hundred years, per UCLA astronomer Mark Morris.

Enlarge / A rendering of the star V Hydrae, or V Hya for short. In its death throes, the star emitted a series of expanding rings that scientists calculated are being formed every few hundred years, per UCLA astronomer Mark Morris. (credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF))

Astronomers have caught a red giant star going through its final death throes in unprecedented detail, revealing an unusual feature. The star, known as V Hydrae (or V Hya for short), ejected six distinct rings of material, according to a preprint accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. The specific mechanism of these mysterious "smoke rings" formed is not yet understood. Still, the observation could potentially shake up current models for this particular late stage of stellar evolution and shed further light on the fate of our own Sun.

“V Hydrae has been caught in the process of shedding its atmosphere—ultimately most of its mass—which is something that most late-stage red giants do," said co-author Mark Morris, an astronomer at UCLA. However, "This is the first and only time that a series of expanding rings has been seen around a star that is in its death throes—a series of expanding ‘smoke rings’ that we have calculated are being blown every few hundred years."

Red giants are one of the final stages of stellar evolution. Once a star's core stops converting hydrogen into helium via nuclear fusion, gravity begins to compress the star, raising its internal temperature. This process ignites a shell of hydrogen burning around an inert core. Eventually, the compression and heating in the core cause the star to expand significantly, reaching diameters between 62 million and 620 million miles (100 million to 1 billion kilometers).  The surface temperatures are relatively cool by stellar standards: a mere 4,000 to 5,800 degrees F (2,200 to 3,200 degrees C). So these stars take on an orange-red appearance, hence the red giant moniker.

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Shenzhen: "Die Offenheit ist auf Technik beschränkt"

Der Drohnen-Entwickler Ivo Drescher über Chinas “Stadt der Zukunft”, Vor- und Nachteile des chinesischen Modells sowie die globale Tech-Macht Beijings

Der Drohnen-Entwickler Ivo Drescher über Chinas "Stadt der Zukunft", Vor- und Nachteile des chinesischen Modells sowie die globale Tech-Macht Beijings

A controlled experiment focuses on improved policing method

A method called “procedural justice” policing appears to work in the real world.

Image of two police officers in a neighborhood.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Over the last few decades, there's been a heavy emphasis on techniques that fall under the concept of "proactive policing." These generally involve identifying the areas of a city that have the highest crime rates and applying more aggressive policing in those locations. While there have been some successes, the approach has often bred resentment, as methods like stop-and-frisk policing generated antagonism between the police and the communities they were meant to help.

In a 2018 report on proactive policing, the US's National Academies of Science examined approaches meant to keep intensive policing from creating friction with communities. The report found that one promising technique, called "procedural justice," lacked evidence of efficacy—we couldn't tell whether it consistently reduced crime and/or improved community relations.

So, some of the people behind the National Academies report decided to change that, running their own controlled study on procedural justice in three US cities. The results aren't decisive, but they suggest the technique might reduce crime and community friction.

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Lilbits: F(x)tec Pro1-X keyboard phone, Motorola hits #3 in US smartphone sales, Steam Deck answers, and more

The F(x)tec Pro1-X is a smartphone with a 6 inch display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor, up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of RAM. But it has a few features that make it very unusual for a smartphone in 2022: the phone has a slide-out keyboard, supports both Android and Ubuntu Touch […]

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The F(x)tec Pro1-X is a smartphone with a 6 inch display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor, up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of RAM. But it has a few features that make it very unusual for a smartphone in 2022: the phone has a slide-out keyboard, supports both Android and Ubuntu Touch operating systems, has a microSD card reader and headphone jack, and a repairable design – F(x)tec offers spare batteries and screens.

But while a crowdfunding campaign for the Pro1-X wrapped up in late 2020, the phone has yet to ship. F(x)tec said last year that supply chain issues interfered… and they haven’t really gotten much better since then. But now the company says the manufacturing facility has begun trials of the assembly processor, which means that mass production could begin soon (if no further problems are found). And that means the phones could begin shipping to backers soon.

F(x)tec Pro1-X

Crowdfunding has ended, but the phone is up for pre-order from the F(x)tec store for $829 and up, with an estimated ship date of April, 2022. I’d take that estimate with a grain of salt for now though.

In other tech news, Motorola was the third-largest smartphone company in the US last year, Microsoft is making it easier to change the default web browser on Windows 11 (through an optional update that didn’t advertise the change), Vivo is providing a sneak peek at its upcoming foldable phone, the KDE Plasma desktop environment for GNU/Linux distributions will soon support a swipe gesture to access the Overview screen, and now that some reviewers have had their hands on Steam Deck portable game consoles for about a month, there are answers to questions about long(er) term usage.

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

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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Canada’s Supreme Court Denies TekSavvy’s Site Blocking Appeal

The first pirate site blocking order in Canada remains in place. Internet provider TekSavvy petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case but this request was denied. Copyright holders are pleased with the outcome, but Teksavvy fears that it will open the floodgates to more site blocking requests.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

canada flagIn 2018, Canada’s Federal Court approved the country’s first pirate site-blocking order.

Following a complaint from major media companies Rogers, Bell and TVA, the Court ordered several major ISPs to block access to the domains and IP-addresses of pirate IPTV service GoldTV.

Site Blocking Appeals

There was little opposition from Internet providers, except for TekSavvy, which quickly announced an appeal. According to the ISP, the blocking injunction threatens the open Internet, just to advance the interests of a few powerful media conglomerates.

Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal disagreed and last year it concluded that the blocking order can stay in place. According to the Court, site-blocking injunctions are an available option under the Copyright Act and they don’t violate freedom of speech or net neutrality.

This came as a disappointment to TekSavvy, which decided to take the matter to the Supreme Court. Last fall, the ISP petitioned Canada’s highest court to hear the case, hoping to protect the neutral role of Internet providers.

Among other things, the Supreme Court was asked to review whether the Federal Court can issue site-blocking orders in these types of copyright infringement cases. And if blocking measures are indeed permitted, how should freedom of expression be taken into account.

Supreme Court Denies Request

A few days ago, Canada’s Supreme Court denied TekSavvy’s leave to appeal. This effectively means that the Court refuses to take on the case. As a result, the battle over the legitimacy of Canadian pirate site blocking orders ends here.

The Supreme Court didn’t explain its decision but it clearly saw no reason to take a closer look at the matter. This news is welcomed by Rogers, Bell and TVA, who were represented by law fiem Smart & Biggar.

“This decision confirms once and for all that site-blocking Orders are available in Canada, and is another major victory for Canadian copyright holders in the fight against online piracy,” Smart & Biggar writes.

Andy Kaplan-Myrth, TekSavvy’s vice-president of regulatory affairs, is disappointed with the outcome. He hoped that his company and public interest groups would be given the chance to voice their concerns. However, with the denial, the blocking order stands.

‘Breaks the Open Internet’

Although TekSavvy complies with the court’s order, it still isn’t convinced that these blocking efforts are an effective anti-piracy measure.

“Site blocking like this breaks the open Internet, and does little to actually block these services. GoldTV just moved around to new addresses, forcing Bell to clumsily try to keep up. Meanwhile, netizens use alternative DNS services, VPNs, or other ISPs that aren’t blocked,” Kaplan-Myrth says.

Copyright holders disagree. The original GoldTV blocking order has been extended and is still active today. In addition, Bell and Rogers have recently applied for a dynamic IP-address blocking order to take action against pirated NHL streams.

The rightsholders believe that these flexible blocking orders are needed to fight back against pirate services, many of which actively try to evade anti-piracy actions.

More Blockades Coming?

TekSavvy sees this new request as a dangerous development. And whether it is granted or not, the Supreme Court denial means that more blocking requests are likely on the horizon.

“Now armed with GoldTV-style orders, whether they get dynamic blocking or not, what’s to stop Canada’s media giants from having courts force ever more ISPs to block ever more copyrighted content? Nothing; expect it to happen,” Kaplan-Myrth says.

Although TekSavvy has no other options to appeal in court, it will continue to engage with government and lawmakers to address the problem and protect the open Internet to the best of its abilities.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Microsoft’s Clipchamp video editor for Windows 11 doesn’t charge you to export HD video anymore

When Microsoft introduced the Clipchamp video editor for Windows 11 earlier this month, the company focused on how you could use it to record, trim, and add transitions, text, and other effects to videos. What the company didn’t mention in its blog post was that many of features were only available with a paid subscription. […]

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When Microsoft introduced the Clipchamp video editor for Windows 11 earlier this month, the company focused on how you could use it to record, trim, and add transitions, text, and other effects to videos.

What the company didn’t mention in its blog post was that many of features were only available with a paid subscription. Features like… exporting HD videos. But now the company has made some changes to Clipchamp pricing that mean, among other things, free users can now export 1080p videos.

As spotted by @FireCubeStudios, Clipchamp’s free Basic plan now supports 1080p video exports. Previously users on the Basic plan had been limited to 480p exports, while customers who paid $9 per month for a Creator plan could export videos at 720p resolutions. You had to pay $19 per month or more for 1080p video exports.

Now all plans support full HD video exports. But if you want access to things like cloud storage or access to stock audio, image, and video libraries, you’ll still need to pony up some cash for a subscription.

Microsoft didn’t develop Clipchamp from scratch. Clipchamp started its life as a startup providing a cloud-based video editor, but Microsoft acquired the company in 2021. It just seems like the company either didn’t adjust the subscription pricing before bringing it to Windows 11, or failed to anticipate the amount of pushback it would get for charging for something as basic to video editing in 2022 as exporting videos at full HD resolution.

Fun fact: Clipchamp doesn’t support exporting videos at resolutions higher than 1080p no matter how much you pay. Another fun fact: there third-party video editors that support 4K video exports and many other features you won’t find in Clipchamp without charging for a subscription. DaVinci Resolve, for example, lets you edit video, add visual effects and apply color correction and do audio post-production for free.

via Neowin

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FTC sues Intuit in bid to stop “deceptive” ads that claim TurboTax is free

In some TurboTax ads, “almost every word spoken is the word ‘free.'”

Boxed versions of TurboTax software sit on a store shelf.

Enlarge / TurboTax products sit on display at Costco on January 28, 2016, in Foster City, California. (credit: Getty Images | Kimberly White )

The Federal Trade Commission sued Intuit on Monday, alleging that it deceptively advertises "free" tax filing with TurboTax. Intuit's deceptive tactics pushed customers toward paid products—even in cases where they were eligible for the no-cost Free File program for people with low and moderate incomes, the FTC said.

The FTC asked a judge to issue a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction forcing Intuit to stop "disseminating the deceptive claim that consumers can file their taxes for free using TurboTax when in truth, in numerous instances Defendant does not permit consumers to file their taxes for free using TurboTax." If approved by the court, a proposed order submitted by the FTC would force Intuit to either stop claiming its product is free or to conspicuously include all the limitations in ads "so as to leave no reasonable probability that the terms of the offer might be misunderstood."

The FTC said Intuit makes misleading claims about TurboTax in paid advertisements and on its website. "Much of Intuit's advertising for TurboTax conveys the message that consumers can file their taxes for free using TurboTax, even going so far as to air commercials in which almost every word spoken is the word 'free,'" the FTC said in its complaint filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California. Intuit said it will fight the lawsuit in a response that called the FTC's allegations inaccurate.

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Bitcoin’s massive energy use faces $5M shame campaign from environmental groups

Environmental groups push bitcoin to emulate ethereum, adopt proof of stake.

A technician inspects the backside of bitcoin mining at Bitfarms in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec, on March 19, 2018.

Enlarge / A technician inspects the backside of bitcoin mining at Bitfarms in Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec, on March 19, 2018. (credit: Lars Hagberg / AFP)

Bitcoin has a voracious appetite for energy, a foundational characteristic of the cryptocurrency that some environmental groups say they are hoping to change.

A new pressure campaign, called Change the Code Not the Climate, launched Tuesday, and it’s seeking to encourage bitcoin luminaries like Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Abby Johnson, CEO of Fidelity Investments, to push for changes that would slash bitcoin’s energy use. 

The campaign is being organized by advocacy organizations Greenpeace and the Environmental Working Group. Chris Larsen, who cofounded Ripple Labs, a cryptocurrency and payments company, has pledged $5 million to fund the campaign, though his participation is reportedly not on behalf of the company.

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Daily Deals (3-29-2022)

EBay is running a series of sales on products from various brands and sellers, which means you can save 15% on select tech products, 20% on some fashion items, or 12% on certain Acer devices. While many of the deals are for refurbished products, most of those come with 1 or 2 year warranties. Here […]

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EBay is running a series of sales on products from various brands and sellers, which means you can save 15% on select tech products, 20% on some fashion items, or 12% on certain Acer devices.

While many of the deals are for refurbished products, most of those come with 1 or 2 year warranties.

eBay

Here are some of the day’s best deals.

eBay coupons

Laptops

Tablets

Mini PCs

Wireless audio

Other

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Google Workspace tracking changes are delayed until May [Updated]

Plus, administrators are being stripped of organization-wide privacy controls.

The word

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)

Update March 31, 2022:: Never mind! The Google Workspace privacy changes are not going live this week. Google originally scheduled the changes to go live March 29, but now two days after the launch date, the company says the new settings are delayed until "May 2022." Why the update was delayed is unclear.

Original story March 29, 2022: Today is the day that Google's controversial changes to the Google Workspace privacy settings take effect. For paying users of Google Workspace, the organization-wide "Web & App Activity" control is being removed from the administrator control panel and will be split into two different settings. We covered this announcement two months ago, but the new privacy controls started rolling out on Tuesday.

Many confusing changes are happening. First, administrators will no longer have organization-wide control over privacy settings. It will now be up to each user in an organization to hunt down and change the settings themselves. Google will not honor your previous privacy settings when it moves the controls—organizations that previously opted out of tracking will be opted back in to some tracking, and every user will now need to opt out individually.

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