Month: November 2022

Octopuses in Australia have been caught on camera gathering silt, shells, or algae and throwing the debris, according to a new paper published in the journal PLoS ONE. It's the first time this kind of throwing behavior has been reported in octopuses, and the authors believe there is evidence that some of the recorded throws that hit others were deliberately targeted, suggesting the behavior plays a social role.

There aren't that many animals who engage in throwing behavior—defined by the authors as "the ballistic motion of a manipulatable object or material, where 'ballistic' describes free motion with momentum." And throwing behavior that involves aiming at a target is even rarer, although it has been observed in chimps, capuchins, elephants, mongooses, and birds. Spiders sometimes flick or swing silk threads at perceived threats or prey, while archerfish will squirt water at their prey. Dolphins are known to thrash and toss their prey above the water, and they can also toss objects as a form of play.

The authors consider the latter kind of throwing behavior to be a form of tool use, particularly when it involves another member of the same species, with potential purposes being a means of communication, social bonding, or aggressiveness. One might not expect to see this type of throwing behavior among octopuses, which tend to be anti-social: They hunt on their own, and an unexpected encounter with a fellow octopus can lead to an outright fight. Some octopuses have even been known to cannibalize each other.

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Apple's latest Mac Mini and Nintendo's 2006 Wii console are similar sizes, and that's enough to get a modder's mind working. Combining the power of Apple's small desktop and own silicon and the nostalgia of the adorable 16-year-old console, YouTuber Luke Miani showed exactly what can happen when you cross an Apple Mac Mini with a Nintendo Wii.

Miani noted that Apple's minute desktop and Nintendo's dated console have similar dimensions. The Mac Mini is 7.7×7.7×1.4 inches, and the Wii was (per PCWorld via Wayback Machine) 8.5×6×~2 inches. Miani sought to make the Mac Mini less "boring" by moving its internals into a Wii.

Wii on the outside, Mac Mini (mostly) on the inside. Miani had to 3D print a bracket to mount the parts inside the Wii's chassis. (credit: Luke Miani/YouTube)

Although the devices are similar sizes, Miani had to shave down the top of the Wii's chassis so it could fit I/O ports where the Wii's controller connectors are. He also had to do some tweaking to ensure the trap doors there still shut.

Enlarge / Stadia is circling the drain. (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Google Stadia has been marked for death, and as part of the four-month shutdown process, Google has mercifully promised full refunds for any purchased games or hardware from the moribund service. An updated FAQ on the Google support site now explains how this process will work. Google says refunds started yesterday, November 9, and the company expects "the majority of refunds" will be completed by Stadia's shutdown date, which is January 18, 2023.

Google will refund almost everything except the monthly "Stadia Pro" service fee. Here's the full refund description:

Refunding three years of purchases across 20-plus countries will be a complicated logistics problem. People move and change banks and credit cards, and some people even delete their Google accounts. Just hunting down everyone who ever made a Stadia purchase will be tough. The first step is easy, though: Google will "attempt to automatically refund each transaction to the form of payment used to make the purchase."

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto)

Elon Musk reportedly told Twitter staff in an email Wednesday that he is banning remote work and that any exceptions to the ban must be approved by Musk himself on a case-by-case basis. The new rules "will expect employees to be in the office for at least 40 hours per week, he added," Bloomberg reported.

The change takes effect today. "Obviously, if you are physically unable to travel to an office or have a critical personal obligation, then your absence is understandable," Musk wrote in yesterday's email, according to the Verge.

A report last week said Musk planned to give employees hired remotely during the pandemic "as little as 60 days" to relocate to an area close to a Twitter office. Musk also recently eliminated "days of rest" from Twitter's staff calendars, taking away a monthly day off.