Month: November 2024

How did supermassive black holes end up at the center of every galaxy? A while back, it wasn't that hard to explain: That's where the highest concentration of matter is, and the black holes had billions of years to feed on it. But as we've looked ever deeper into the Universe's history, we keep finding supermassive black holes, which shortens the timeline for their formation. Rather than making a leisurely meal of nearby matter, these black holes have gorged themselves in a feeding frenzy.

With the advent of the Webb Space Telescope, the problem has pushed up against theoretical limits. The matter falling into a black hole generates radiation, with faster feeding meaning more radiation. And that radiation can drive off nearby matter, choking off the black hole's food supply. That sets a limit on how fast black holes can grow unless matter is somehow fed directly into them. The Webb was used to identify early supermassive black holes that needed to have been pushing against the limit for their entire existence.

But the Webb may have just identified a solution to the dilemma as well. It has spotted a black hole that appears to have been feeding at 40 times the theoretical limit for millions of years, allowing growth at a pace sufficient to build a supermassive black hole.

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As I followed a friend down a flow-y, undulating single-track trail, I started laughing. Unlike my mountain bike-riding companion, I was on a gravel bike, the new Trek Checkpoint SL 7 AXS Gen 3. You might be wondering why a review of a gravel bike is starting with such a ride. The answer is simple—the Checkpoint had excelled everywhere else I rode it, so I was curious to see how it would fare on a non-technical MTB track. Amazingly well, as it turns out.

Unlike every other bike Ars has reviewed to this point, the Checkpoint SL 7 Gen 3 has no battery and no motor—there's no e- in this bike. As is the case with our other bike reviews, sometimes we ask for a specific model, but manufacturers tend to contact us when we’ve already got a garage full of bikes we’ve not finished the reviews for (there are currently 12 bikes in my garage, some of which belong to other family members).

Launched in 2018, the Checkpoint is Trek's gravel-centric bike. For 2025, Trek has split its gravel lineup into the third-generation Checkpoint Trek and the Checkmate SLR 9 AXS. The latter features a lighter-weight frame, a power meter, and SRAM's new Red XPLR groupset. Selling for $11,999, the Checkmate is a gravel racer. Priced several thousand less at $5,699, the Checkpoint SL 7 AXS is now Trek's top gravel bike for those looking for a fun day out on the trails.

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Disposable vapes are indefensible. Many, or maybe most, of them contain rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, but manufacturers prefer to sell new ones. More than 260 million vape batteries are estimated to enter the trash stream every year in the UK alone. Vapers and vape makers are simply leaving an e-waste epidemic to the planet's future residents to sort out.

To make a point about how wasteful this practice is—and to also make a pretty rad project and video—Chris Doel took 130 disposable vape batteries (the bigger "3,500 puff" types with model 20400 cells) found littered at a music festival and converted them into a 48-volt, 1,500-watt e-bike battery, one that powered an e-bike with almost no pedaling more than 20 miles. You can see the whole build and watch Doel zoom along trails on his YouTube video.

To be clear: Do not do this. Do not put disposable vape cartridges in a vise clamp to "pop out" their components. Do not desolder them from vape cartridges that have a surprising amount of concentration still in them. Do not wire them together using a balance board, group them using 3D-printed cell holders, and then wire them in series. Heck, do not put that much power into a rear hub on a standard bike frame, at least more than once. Doel has a fire extinguisher present and visible on his workbench, and he shows you what happens when two of the wrong batteries happen to make momentary contact—smoke, coughing, and strong warnings.

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Last year, Braflix was added to the ever-growing list of flix-inspired pirate streaming sites.

Reportedly operating from Brazil, the site offered a clean interface, relying on third-party sources to provide a gateway to pirated movies and TV shows.

The site had no obvious connections to other large streaming cabals, such as the massive Fmovies operation. This worked to its advantage initially, as most anti-piracy resources typically go into shutting down the largest threats.

Target: Braflix

When Fmovies was shut down this summer, these priorities changed. In June Braflix was targeted in a DMCA subpoena obtained by the MPA and ACE and in August, the MPA flagged Braflix as a severe piracy threat in an EU consultation.

“Braflix.video is a popular streaming site operated from Brazil that offers a large library of titles, including movies, TV shows, live channels, anime, and K-dramas subtitled in several different languages,” MPA informed the EU.

Braflix

These and other enforcement efforts didn’t go unnoticed. The site, which had amassed over a million monthly visits by then, moved from its braflix.video domain to several new domain names in recent months.

In addition, Braflix was taken offline by its hosting provider following a series of DMCA complaints. The operator was able to host the site elsewhere, but the pressure didn’t fade. Switching to more new domains including braflix.ru and most recently braflix.is, didn’t help either.

Braflix Shuts Down

Early this morning, Braflix announced that it will throw in the towel. In its Discord channel, the site mentions that it received cease and desist notices from City of London Police and the MPA. No further details were mentioned.

“Braflix is ​​officially closed. Thank you to everyone who participated in this incredible story, who helped us build a strong community,” the site writes.

At the time of writing the site remains online but, according to the Discord message, it is expected to shut down in a matter of hours. The operators say the domain transfer keys have been sent to the complaining parties, and they expect that it will soon redirect to ACE’s “watch legally” page.

“We are sorry that we can no longer continue fighting for our cause of free entertainment for everyone, but we have too much to lose, so the best option is to stop,” Braflix adds.

Shutting Down

Braflix notes, under pressure, that producers and the broader movie industry should be supported. It remains to be seen whether the site’s users agree with this sentiment, as many are currently actively discussing alternative options.

Whack-a-Flix?

This is not the first time that a pirate streaming site has shut down voluntarily in the face of legal pressure. While this team is not likely to use the same brand in the future, others might still hijack it to lure former users.

While Braflix’s demise is a victory for rightsholders, it’s also exemplary of the seemingly unending pirate site whack-a-mole. There always appears to be new ‘teams’ eager to fill the void.

At the same time, not everything is always what it seems. While Braflix has promised to shut down, there are other sites that look near identical, using similar code, that remain online. We don’t want to draw any conclusions based on these observations, but the ‘Whack-a-Flix’ isn’t over yet.

Users of these sites are familiar with ‘the drill’ too. Where shutdowns of pirate sites used to be a big deal, they are a common occurrence today. Most pirates simply shrug their shoulders and movee on to the next streaming portal.

“Braflix has been my go to for months now! Damn, RIP – on to the next one,” one Redditor illustratively writes.

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

Henry VIII's favorite warship, the Mary Rose, sank in battle in 1545. Archaeologists successfully raised the ship in 1982, along with thousands of articles and the remains of 179 crew members—all remarkably well preserved thanks to the anaerobic conditions of the shipwreck created by the layers of soft sediment that accumulated over the wreckage.

A new analysis of some of the recovered bones reveals that whether someone is right- or left-handed could affect how their collarbone chemistry changes as they age, according to a new paper published in the journal PLoS ONE. This has implications for our understanding not just of aging, but of bone conditions like fracture risk and osteoarthritis.

As previously reported, the earliest-known reference to the Mary Rose appears in a January 29, 1510, letter ordering the construction of two new ships for the young king: the Mary Rose and her sister ship, dubbed the Peter Pomegranate. Once the newly built ship had launched, Henry VIII wasted no time defying his advisers and declaring war on France in 1512. The Mary Rose served the monarch well through that conflict, as well as during a second war with the French that ran roughly from 1522 through 1525, after which it underwent a substantial overhaul.

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X, formerly Twitter, is now letting blocked users see posts made by the people who blocked them.

"We're starting to launch the block function update," X's engineering team wrote yesterday. X previously said that after the change, "If your posts are set to public, accounts you have blocked will be able to view them, but they will not be able to engage (like, reply, repost, etc.)."

To justify the change, X said the block functionality could previously be "used by users to share and hide harmful or private information about those they've blocked." The change will allow people who are blocked "to see if such behavior occurs... allowing for greater transparency," X said.

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X, formerly Twitter, is now letting blocked users see posts made by the people who blocked them.

"We're starting to launch the block function update," X's engineering team wrote yesterday. X previously said that after the change, "If your posts are set to public, accounts you have blocked will be able to view them, but they will not be able to engage (like, reply, repost, etc.)."

To justify the change, X said the block functionality could previously be "used by users to share and hide harmful or private information about those they've blocked." The change will allow people who are blocked "to see if such behavior occurs... allowing for greater transparency," X said.

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Last month Nintendo launched a $100 interactive alarm clock called Alarmo. It’s a weird, but charming little device that lets you wake to music from classic Nintendo games and motion sensors to to track your movements to play game sounds, stop the alarm once you get out of bed, or even report your sleep quality […]

The post Now you can run Doom (or other apps) on Nintendo’s Alarmo clock appeared first on Liliputing.

Zum Prime-Day-Preis: Die leistungsstarke Anker Prime Powerbank mit 200 W und 20.000 mAh ist bei Amazon 43 Prozent reduziert. (Technik/Hardware, Amazon)

Die Regierung will juristische Risiken bei der Suche nach Sicherheitslücken reduzieren. Der eigentliche Hackerparagraf wird nicht geändert. (Sicherheitslücke, Internet)