Climate Hustle wants you to believe you just can’t trust climate science

If you missed the film’s one-night-only showing, you didn’t miss much.

(credit: CFACT)

Duane Gish, a prominent critic of evolution, was such a prolific debater that, like Dr. Henry Heimlich, he had a maneuver named after him. (The use of either maneuver at a party, incidentally, signifies that things have become decidedly un-fun.) While arguing, Gish would issue a rapid-fire stream of claims—most of them false—about so many different topics, that it would be impossible for his opponent to respond to them all. This quantity-over-quality tactic became known as a “Gish Gallop.”

On Monday night I took in a new film called Climate Hustle. The title is meant to reflect its central premise: climate change is a scientific con. But I soon realized that it was also a decent synonym for the film’s Gish Gallop style. Climate hustle (n): a fast-paced, uninterrupted delivery of superficial and false claims about climate science.

Do the hustle

Climate Hustle is the product of Marc Morano and the conservative Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). Morano, who has worked for Rush Limbaugh and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), now runs a climate “skeptic” blog supported by CFACT and makes regular appearances on cable news shows. His shift into movies is, so far, rather limited; the film appeared in a number of theaters in the US (and one in Canada) for one night only. The audience for this singular event numbered about 15 at my (admittedly quiet) local theater.

Read 13 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Deals of the Day (5-04-2016)

Deals of the Day (5-04-2016)

It’s May 4th, which means a lot of people are spending their time watching Star Wars movie marathons and saying “May the 4th be with you.” It’s also a good time to score deals on Star Wars-related games, media, and other products.

Not in the mood for Star Wars? Scroll down a bit and you’ll find some great deals on phones, watches, laptops, tablets, and more.

Star Wars stuff

  • Steam Star Wars game sale – Steam
  • GOG Star Wars game sale – GOG
  • Star Wars app & game sale – Google Play
  • Star Wars graphic novel sale – Google Play
  • Amazon’s Star Wars Day deals – Amazon
  • Sphero BB-8 Droid for $123 – Amazon
  • BB-8 Sphero Droid + Milennium Falcon Bluetooth speaker for $150 – Best Buy

Smartphone and Smartwatch stuff

  • Unlocked Nextbit Robin smartphone for $299 – Amazon
  • Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch for $250 and up ($50 off) – Samsung
  • Refurb LG Watch Urbane for $140 – A4C
  • Refurb Motorola Moto 360 for $110 – Groupon
  • Refurb Pebble Time for $80 – Groupon

Samsung stuff

  • Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 Android tablet for $299 – Amazon
  • Samsung Notebook 9 notebook with 15 inch screen, 2.9 pound body for $1099 – Amazon
  • Samsung Ativ Book 9 12″ notebook w/Core M Broadwell for $629 – B&H
  • Samsung Chromebook 3 for $179 and up – Amazon

Other stuff

  • Dell Latitude E7240 12.5″ notebook for $600 and up – Woot
  • Logitech MK270 wireless keyboard + mouse for $16 – Staples
  • Name your price for 7 “Nerd History” eBooks – StoryBundle
  • 3-months of Spotify Premium for free – Spotify (new customers only)

//

You can find more bargains in our daily deals section.

Continue reading Deals of the Day (5-04-2016) at Liliputing.

Deals of the Day (5-04-2016)

It’s May 4th, which means a lot of people are spending their time watching Star Wars movie marathons and saying “May the 4th be with you.” It’s also a good time to score deals on Star Wars-related games, media, and other products.

Not in the mood for Star Wars? Scroll down a bit and you’ll find some great deals on phones, watches, laptops, tablets, and more.

Star Wars stuff

  • Steam Star Wars game sale – Steam
  • GOG Star Wars game sale – GOG
  • Star Wars app & game sale – Google Play
  • Star Wars graphic novel sale – Google Play
  • Amazon’s Star Wars Day deals – Amazon
  • Sphero BB-8 Droid for $123 – Amazon
  • BB-8 Sphero Droid + Milennium Falcon Bluetooth speaker for $150 – Best Buy

Smartphone and Smartwatch stuff

  • Unlocked Nextbit Robin smartphone for $299 – Amazon
  • Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch for $250 and up ($50 off) – Samsung
  • Refurb LG Watch Urbane for $140 – A4C
  • Refurb Motorola Moto 360 for $110 – Groupon
  • Refurb Pebble Time for $80 – Groupon

Samsung stuff

  • Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 Android tablet for $299 – Amazon
  • Samsung Notebook 9 notebook with 15 inch screen, 2.9 pound body for $1099 – Amazon
  • Samsung Ativ Book 9 12″ notebook w/Core M Broadwell for $629 – B&H
  • Samsung Chromebook 3 for $179 and up – Amazon

Other stuff

  • Dell Latitude E7240 12.5″ notebook for $600 and up – Woot
  • Logitech MK270 wireless keyboard + mouse for $16 – Staples
  • Name your price for 7 “Nerd History” eBooks – StoryBundle
  • 3-months of Spotify Premium for free – Spotify (new customers only)

//

You can find more bargains in our daily deals section.

Continue reading Deals of the Day (5-04-2016) at Liliputing.

How IBM’s new five-qubit universal quantum computer works

IBM achieves an important milestone with new quantum computer in the cloud.

The five qubits in IBM's quantum computer. (credit: IBM)

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, IBM gave an unwary world its first publicly accessible quantum computer. You might be worried that you can tear up your passwords and throw away your encryption, for all is now lost. However, it's probably a bit early to call time on the world as we know it. You see, the whole computer is just five bits.

This might sound like some kind of publicity stunt: maybe it's IBM's way of clawing some attention back from D-Wave's quantum computing efforts. But a careful look shows that there is some serious science underlying the announcement.

The IBM system is, on a very superficial level, similar to D-Wave's. They both use superconducting quantum interference devices as qubits (quantum bits). But the similarity ends there. As IBM emphasizes, its quantum computer is a universal quantum computer, something that D-Wave's is not.

Read 26 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Microsoft tackles VR’s limited field-of-view with “sparse peripheral displays”

Microsoft tackles VR’s limited field-of-view with “sparse peripheral displays”

Strap an Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or Samsung Gear VR to your face and you can peer into virtual worlds… but those worlds might look slightly claustrophobic. When we look at the real world, we have a roughly 180 degree field of view, while most virtual reality systems have fields of view closer to 110 degrees.

But Microsoft Research has a solution: sparse peripheral displays. Basically, the company has demonstrated a system for placing dozens of LEDs around the edges of the primary display to make virtual reality a little more immersive.

Continue reading Microsoft tackles VR’s limited field-of-view with “sparse peripheral displays” at Liliputing.

Microsoft tackles VR’s limited field-of-view with “sparse peripheral displays”

Strap an Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or Samsung Gear VR to your face and you can peer into virtual worlds… but those worlds might look slightly claustrophobic. When we look at the real world, we have a roughly 180 degree field of view, while most virtual reality systems have fields of view closer to 110 degrees.

But Microsoft Research has a solution: sparse peripheral displays. Basically, the company has demonstrated a system for placing dozens of LEDs around the edges of the primary display to make virtual reality a little more immersive.

Continue reading Microsoft tackles VR’s limited field-of-view with “sparse peripheral displays” at Liliputing.

Mobilfunk: Telekom will bei eSIM keinen Netzwechsel zulassen

Die Telekom will die eSIM so einsetzen, dass kein Wechsel des Netzbetreibers möglich ist. Ab dem zweiten Halbjahr 2016 werden voraussichtlich zunehmend eSIMs in Geräten verbaut. (eSIM, Apple)

Die Telekom will die eSIM so einsetzen, dass kein Wechsel des Netzbetreibers möglich ist. Ab dem zweiten Halbjahr 2016 werden voraussichtlich zunehmend eSIMs in Geräten verbaut. (eSIM, Apple)

Apple Music reportedly getting redesigned, will be unveiled at WWDC 2016

Reports suggest the music streaming service needs a new look to attract new users.

(credit: Apple)

Nearly a year after being introduced, Apple Music might be getting a much-needed revamp. A Bloomberg report suggests that Apple plans to redesign the music streaming service with a more "intuitive" interface and better integration with its other music offerings.

According to "people familiar with the product," Apple's goal is to make Apple Music more user-friendly. It also plans to marry its music download and streaming options better in iTunes while also expanding its radio service. According to the report, content head Robert Kondrk and Trent Reznor of the band Nine Inch Nails are overseeing the redesign, which should debut at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

The report also suggests that Apple has been struggling with how to best intertwine its download-based iTunes store with its subscription-based music streaming service. Doing this is crucial as it would make the entirety of Apple's music offerings easier for customers to use. The heaviest criticism of Apple Music when it debuted was its confusing interface, so now Apple's challenge is twofold: making the app's UI more intuitive and adding music download capabilities and expanded radio service features into the mix.

Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Apple hires Google X founder and former Nest technology VP for health projects

Yoky Matsuoka has worked on new and experimental products

Apple's Jeff Williams announces CareKit in March. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Apple has hired Yoky Matsuoka, a cofounder of Google's experimental Google X division and former vice president of Technology at Nest, to work on some of its health initiatives. Fortune reports that Matsuoka is working under Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams on the company's health initiatives, which include HealthKit, ResearchKit, and the recently announced CareKit.

Matsuoka has worked on multiple tech and health initiatives at several big-name companies. After leaving Google X for Nest, Matsuoka helped develop the algorithm for the company's flagship thermostat; her departure from Nest about a year after its 2014 acquisition by Google is one among many. For about a year after leaving the search giant, she worked at Quanttus, a troubled startup working on blood pressure monitoring technology. And shortly before being diagnosed with an apparently cured illness in May, she was headed to Twitter to take a VP position, though this ultimately didn't end up happening.

HealthKit and the Health app were introduced as part of iOS 8 in 2014, and are intended to store and share health tracking information collected from HealthKit-compatible apps with other HealthKit apps and with healthcare professionals. ResearchKit, announced and launched in early 2015, is meant to help researchers gain in-depth data about participants over a longer period of time than would normally be possible. And CareKit, unveiled by Apple in March of this year and officially launched just a few days ago, is meant to help patients recover from major procedures and manage chronic illnesses.

Read on Ars Technica | Comments

Gründung von Algorithm Watch: Achtgeben auf Algorithmen

Eine neue Initiative will untersuchen, wie Algorithmen sich auf die Gesellschaft auswirken. Für den Auftakt dient die Netzkonferenz Re:publica, auf der über die Zukunft der digitalen Gesellschaft diskutiert wird. Wir haben mit den Machern gesprochen. (Politik/Recht, Datenschutz)

Eine neue Initiative will untersuchen, wie Algorithmen sich auf die Gesellschaft auswirken. Für den Auftakt dient die Netzkonferenz Re:publica, auf der über die Zukunft der digitalen Gesellschaft diskutiert wird. Wir haben mit den Machern gesprochen. (Politik/Recht, Datenschutz)

Garmin’s latest fitness tracking watch looks like… a watch

Garmin’s latest fitness tracking watch looks like… a watch

Garmin has been making activity trackers, GPS watches, and other fitness-oriented wearables for a few years. But the Garmin Vivomove may be the company’s first fitness gadget that looks more like a watch than, well, a gadget.

It’s a waterproof watch with an analog watch face, long battery life, and support for interchangeable bands. But the watch also has all the sensors you’d expect from a fitness tracker, and the ability to sync data with your smartphone.

Continue reading Garmin’s latest fitness tracking watch looks like… a watch at Liliputing.

Garmin’s latest fitness tracking watch looks like… a watch

Garmin has been making activity trackers, GPS watches, and other fitness-oriented wearables for a few years. But the Garmin Vivomove may be the company’s first fitness gadget that looks more like a watch than, well, a gadget.

It’s a waterproof watch with an analog watch face, long battery life, and support for interchangeable bands. But the watch also has all the sensors you’d expect from a fitness tracker, and the ability to sync data with your smartphone.

Continue reading Garmin’s latest fitness tracking watch looks like… a watch at Liliputing.

Garmin’s new Vivomove fitness tracker masquerades as an analog watch

The $149 watch packs all of Garmin’s basic features into a sleek frame.

(credit: Garmin)

Garmin continues to add to its wearable family with a new device that could redefine the brand's name—at least when it comes to style. Garmin announced the Vivomove tracker today, an analog watch designed to be worn all day as it monitors activity and sleep.

The first thing you'll notice about the Vivomove is that it's Garmin's most traditional-looking tracker. It's an analog watch with a case finished in numerous colors, including black, white, rose-gold, gold, and silver, with both silicone and leather band options. Yes, it follows the general formula of other fitness-tracker watches we've seen debut recently, but for Garmin, that is a departure from the norm. On the watch face are two small, curved bars: one that fills in black showing progress toward your daily activity goal, and one that fills up in red when you've been inactive for too long. These bars seem like a good way of making important stats glanceable without cluttering up the simplicity of an analog watch face.

It's clear that the design is the focus of the Vivomove because its features are the same as many other Garmin devices. It monitors all-day activity, inactivity, and sleep, syncing to Garmin's Connect system to keep track of progress. It's also water resistant up to 50 meters and has a one-year battery life, which is welcome for a device that you're supposed to treat as a regular watch.

Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments