Month: October 2022

Enlarge / In this photo illustration, a Lexie Lumen hearing aid rests on a pharmacy counter at a Walgreens store on October 17 in Los Angeles. Walgreens is making Lexie Lumen hearing aids available for sale over the counter for adults beginning today following an FDA ruling allowing over-the-counter sales for hearing devices. (credit: Getty | Mario Tama)

Today, Americans can buy cheaper hearing aids for mild-to-moderate hearing loss without a prescription from a range of common retailers, including Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart—finally making the critical health devices more affordable and accessible to the estimated 28.8 million adults who could benefit from them.

The US Food and Drug Administration estimates the change could lower the average cost of obtaining a hearing aid by as much as $3,000. As of today, Walgreens is selling an over-the-counter model similar to hearing aids that range from $2,000 to $8,000 per pair at specialty retailers for just $799 per pair on its shelves, the White House said Monday. Likewise, Walmart said that, as of today, it is selling over-the-counter hearing aids ranging from $199 to $999 per pair, which are comparable to prescription hearing aids priced at $4,400 to $5,500 per pair.

The move is years in the making. In 2017, Congress passed a bipartisan proposal directing the FDA to set rules for selling over-the-counter devices. But the rules were slow to come. In July 2021, President Biden signed an executive order spurring the FDA to produce the rules, which the agency finalized in August of this year.

Enlarge / In this photo illustration, a Lexie Lumen hearing aid rests on a pharmacy counter at a Walgreens store on October 17 in Los Angeles. Walgreens is making Lexie Lumen hearing aids available for sale over the counter for adults beginning today following an FDA ruling allowing over-the-counter sales for hearing devices. (credit: Getty | Mario Tama)

Today, Americans can buy cheaper hearing aids for mild-to-moderate hearing loss without a prescription from a range of common retailers, including Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart—finally making the critical health devices more affordable and accessible to the estimated 28.8 million adults who could benefit from them.

The US Food and Drug Administration estimates the change could lower the average cost of obtaining a hearing aid by as much as $3,000. As of today, Walgreens is selling an over-the-counter model similar to hearing aids that range from $2,000 to $8,000 per pair at specialty retailers for just $799 per pair on its shelves, the White House said Monday. Likewise, Walmart said that, as of today, it is selling over-the-counter hearing aids ranging from $199 to $999 per pair, which are comparable to prescription hearing aids priced at $4,400 to $5,500 per pair.

The move is years in the making. In 2017, Congress passed a bipartisan proposal directing the FDA to set rules for selling over-the-counter devices. But the rules were slow to come. In July 2021, President Biden signed an executive order spurring the FDA to produce the rules, which the agency finalized in August of this year.

The first time I saw the opening credits for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, I thought the patterns looked remarkably like so-called "Chladni figures": vibrational patterns that form when one scatters sand on a vibrating plate. It seems I was not the only one. British science communicator and YouTube star Steve Mould got so many comments from viewers about the similarities that he decided to test that hypothesis—by re-creating the title sequence with his own vibration-generated patterns. He documents the journey, and the associated science, in the video above. The final re-created title sequence starts at the 10:55 mark.

The phenomenon is technically known as cymatics. In 1680, Robert Hooke experimented with running a bow along glass plates covered in flour to induce vibrations and noted the telltale nodal patterns that formed in the flour.  "A rigid plate will have a set of natural resonance frequencies just like a string, and when the plate is excited at one of these frequencies, it will form a standing wave with fixed nodes," University of North Carolina physicist Greg Gbur wrote back in 2013.  "These nodes will form lines on the plate, in contrast to points on the string." The flour on the plate made those nodal lines visible.

The 18th century German physicist and musician Ernest Chladni perfected the method 100 years later when he repeated Hooke's pioneering experiments with circular plates, even demonstrating the effect before Napoleon. The various shapes or patterns created by resonance frequencies are known as "Chladni figures" in his honor. Chladni even came up with a mathematical formula to predict which patterns would form. The higher the rate of oscillation, the more complex those figures will be. Similar methods are still used when designing acoustic instruments: violins, guitars, and cellos, for example.

The first time I saw the opening credits for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, I thought the patterns looked remarkably like so-called "Chladni figures": vibrational patterns that form when one scatters sand on a vibrating plate. It seems I was not the only one. British science communicator and YouTube star Steve Mould got so many comments from viewers about the similarities that he decided to test that hypothesis—by re-creating the title sequence with his own vibration-generated patterns. He documents the journey, and the associated science, in the video above. The final re-created title sequence starts at the 10:55 mark.

The phenomenon is technically known as cymatics. In 1680, Robert Hooke experimented with running a bow along glass plates covered in flour to induce vibrations and noted the telltale nodal patterns that formed in the flour.  "A rigid plate will have a set of natural resonance frequencies just like a string, and when the plate is excited at one of these frequencies, it will form a standing wave with fixed nodes," University of North Carolina physicist Greg Gbur wrote back in 2013.  "These nodes will form lines on the plate, in contrast to points on the string." The flour on the plate made those nodal lines visible.

The 18th century German physicist and musician Ernest Chladni perfected the method 100 years later when he repeated Hooke's pioneering experiments with circular plates, even demonstrating the effect before Napoleon. The various shapes or patterns created by resonance frequencies are known as "Chladni figures" in his honor. Chladni even came up with a mathematical formula to predict which patterns would form. The higher the rate of oscillation, the more complex those figures will be. Similar methods are still used when designing acoustic instruments: violins, guitars, and cellos, for example.

Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg)

Last fall, scammers infiltrated social platforms like dating apps, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter, attempting to convince people to download Coinbase Wallet. Once the targeted users downloaded the wallet, the scammer would then send links to fraudulent websites, prompting users to purchase a “voucher” that seemed like a safe transaction protected and facilitated by Coinbase’s trusted platform, but was “actually a malicious smart contract.” Horrified users eventually discovered the smart contract gave “the scammers complete access to the entire funds in the victim’s wallets” without requiring authorizations to withdraw funds.

Today, nearly 100 people from all over the globe are seeking to make the publicly traded Coinbase pay for allegedly doing nothing to protect users. Users alleged that Coinbase was unmoved by reports that scammers were draining accounts of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency. In total, Coinbase Wallet users that are suing collectively lost $21 million.

For months, users allegedly warned the company of this seeming security flaw. Instead of acting to protect users, though, Coinbase “took no remedial steps to fix the security flaw or even warn customers about this major problem, despite warning customers about other security risks,” according to a recently filed arbitration demand. This allegedly allowed “hundreds” of additional users to become targets of “an easily preventable” liquidity mining pool scam.

Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg)

Last fall, scammers infiltrated social platforms like dating apps, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter, attempting to convince people to download Coinbase Wallet. Once the targeted users downloaded the wallet, the scammer would then send links to fraudulent websites, prompting users to purchase a “voucher” that seemed like a safe transaction protected and facilitated by Coinbase’s trusted platform, but was “actually a malicious smart contract.” Horrified users eventually discovered the smart contract gave “the scammers complete access to the entire funds in the victim’s wallets” without requiring authorizations to withdraw funds.

Today, nearly 100 people from all over the globe are seeking to make the publicly traded Coinbase pay for allegedly doing nothing to protect users. Users alleged that Coinbase was unmoved by reports that scammers were draining accounts of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency. In total, Coinbase Wallet users that are suing collectively lost $21 million.

For months, users allegedly warned the company of this seeming security flaw. Instead of acting to protect users, though, Coinbase “took no remedial steps to fix the security flaw or even warn customers about this major problem, despite warning customers about other security risks,” according to a recently filed arbitration demand. This allegedly allowed “hundreds” of additional users to become targets of “an easily preventable” liquidity mining pool scam.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Late last Friday, Nvidia decided that it was "unlaunching" the lower-end 12GB version of its upcoming GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card so that it could be renamed and released at a later date. This was good news, for the people who care about this kind of thing—the $899 12GB RTX 4080 and $1,199 16GB RTX 4080 were substantially different cards with much different performance levels. Giving them both the same name could have created unnecessary disappointment and confusion for buyers of the cheaper card.

The problem for GPU makers is that Nvidia planned to launch those cards in mid-November, and partners had already started manufacturing and packaging them so they could be shipped out to retailers. Gamers Nexus has spoken with sources at two of Nvidia's board partners about some of these logistical hurdles, reporting that existing boxes for 12GB RTX 4080 cards were being "collected and destroyed" and that Nvidia "is at least subsidizing the boxes, or part of them, to be replaced." The relabeled GPUs will supposedly be reintroduced or relaunched (or un-unlaunched?) around CES in January 2023.

There will be costs for other board partners, too, both for GPUs that have already been produced and those that will be manufactured after Nvidia has settled on a name (Gamers Nexus says this hasn't happened, but that "4070" or "4070 Ti" seems most likely). GPU coolers usually have the card's name and model number printed on it somewhere, occasionally in a prominent place with programmable LEDs underneath. These coolers will either need to be rebadged, reprinted, or replaced to switch out the old RTX 4080 branding with the new branding.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Late last Friday, Nvidia decided that it was "unlaunching" the lower-end 12GB version of its upcoming GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card so that it could be renamed and released at a later date. This was good news, for the people who care about this kind of thing—the $899 12GB RTX 4080 and $1,199 16GB RTX 4080 were substantially different cards with much different performance levels. Giving them both the same name could have created unnecessary disappointment and confusion for buyers of the cheaper card.

The problem for GPU makers is that Nvidia planned to launch those cards in mid-November, and partners had already started manufacturing and packaging them so they could be shipped out to retailers. Gamers Nexus has spoken with sources at two of Nvidia's board partners about some of these logistical hurdles, reporting that existing boxes for 12GB RTX 4080 cards were being "collected and destroyed" and that Nvidia "is at least subsidizing the boxes, or part of them, to be replaced." The relabeled GPUs will supposedly be reintroduced or relaunched (or un-unlaunched?) around CES in January 2023.

There will be costs for other board partners, too, both for GPUs that have already been produced and those that will be manufactured after Nvidia has settled on a name (Gamers Nexus says this hasn't happened, but that "4070" or "4070 Ti" seems most likely). GPU coolers usually have the card's name and model number printed on it somewhere, occasionally in a prominent place with programmable LEDs underneath. These coolers will either need to be rebadged, reprinted, or replaced to switch out the old RTX 4080 branding with the new branding.