Month: June 2022

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Alan Schein)

The US Treasury Department has started approving broadband grants to states from a $10 billion fund created to expand access to Internet service and other digital connectivity tools.

The Treasury Department's announcement on Tuesday said the first approved projects would "connect over 200,000 homes and businesses to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet" in Louisiana, New Hampshire, Virginia, and West Virginia. The funded networks will provide symmetrical service with download and upload speeds of at least 100Mbps, the department said.

The four states are getting a combined $583 million from the $10 billion Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund (CPF), which Congress passed in March 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. "Treasury designed its guidance to prioritize connecting families and businesses with poor and inadequate service—particularly those in rural and remote areas. Treasury also requires states to explain why communities they have identified to be served with funds from the CPF have a critical need for those projects," the department said.

Enlarge / A Mac laptop running Xcode. (credit: Apple)

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Xcode Cloud, Apple's continuous integration and delivery service (CI/CD), is exiting beta and will now be available to all developers, the company announced during its annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on Monday.

Xcode Cloud was first announced during WWDC in June 2021. Since then, Apple has been slowly rolling it out to more developers. But now anyone can sign up for it. The service comes in several paid tiers, but the cheapest—25 hours at $14.99 per month—will be free through December 2023. More robust plans include 100 hours for $44.99 monthly, 250 hours for $99.99 monthly, and 1,000 hours for $399.99 monthly.

This is by no means the only CI/CD solution for Apple platform devs on the market, but it promises to offer deeper and easier integration with Apple's existing development tools. It's built into Xcode, the integrated development environment to make iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps. And it works directly with TestFlight (which lets developers distribute their apps to users for pre-release testing), App Store Connect, and more.

Enlarge / I'm pretty sure that's the Predator in the mist, ready to battle in new prequel film Prey. (credit: 20th Century Studios)

On Tuesday, a wealth of new sci-fi and fantasy trailers emerged for feature-length films expected to launch on streaming platforms by the end of this summer. While most come courtesy of the "Netflix Geeked" brand, the biggest arguably comes from 20th Century Studios, mostly because it suggests some much-needed redemption for the Predator series.

Prey, set to launch exclusively on Hulu on August 5, twists the series' naming convention to clarify that our favorite alien beast is now in the bow-and-arrow sights of an eager hunter. In terms of timeline, this film qualifies as a "prequel," as it rewinds to 18th-century America and stars Comanches who had apparently not yet had their lives upended by invading colonists. The trailer features actor Amber Midthunder as the apparent lead and implies that she is the first in her tribe to discover a Predator. Her character, Naru, is nearly killed in a bear hunt gone awry, only to see the bear yanked away at the last second by a much more powerful adversary.

The trailer's harrowing battles and chases point to Predator's clear technological lead over its Comanche rivals, as it responds to a quartered bow with infrared laser sights and does some underground burrowing. Caucasian militiamen emerge briefly with era-appropriate muskets, but the trailer implies that they aren't the heroes of this story; rather Naru's mastery of Comanche weaponry and traps could give her the upper hand in protecting her brethren from a confusing alien force.

Enlarge / A PC running Windows 11. (credit: Microsoft)

Windows 11 version 22H2 has just entered Microsoft's Release Preview channel for Windows Insiders, the company announced today. The Release Preview channel is the last stop before public release for most Windows updates, barring unforeseen show-stopping bugs, and it gives developers, businesses, and enthusiasts a chance to take new updates for a spin before general availability.

Microsoft adheres to a less rigid schedule than it used to when it comes to pushing out new apps, UI refinements, and minor feature improvements to Windows 11. The operating system has received a stream of continuous tweaks and app updates since it came out last October, including a particularly noteworthy batch of updates in February. But the 22H2 update includes more wide-ranging enhancements, a new Microsoft account sign-in requirement for new Windows 11 Pro installs, new default security settings, and other changes.

Microsoft's support timeline for Windows updates is also tied to these yearly Windows updates. Security updates for Windows 11 version 21H1 will only be provided until October 2023, for example—if you want to keep getting security updates, you'll eventually need to install version 22H2.

Enlarge (credit: Alfian Widiantono)

Forests are among the world’s best bets for carbon capture. But according to this year’s State of the World’s Forests report from the United Nations, forests are also the foundation of green and equitable economies, sustainable resource management, and biodiversity preservation and are generally key to a brighter future.

This latest report highlights how much forests are undervalued in economic analyses and re-emphasizes a three-pronged approach: preserve existing forests, restore degraded lands and expand agroforestry (the integration of trees and shrubs into agriculture), and sustainably use forest products. These actions need upfront financing, but the amount needed is modest compared to other government spending. And the return on investment—in terms of avoiding climate calamity and building a more equitable and sustainable economy—would be significant.

“Governments are estimated to spend $1.8 trillion a year in military expenditures and more than $5 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies, but only about $50 billion on landscape restoration,” said Robert Nasi, the managing director of The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) in CIFOR-ICRAF’s media release about the report. “It’s time for society to rethink our priorities to enable a better future.”