From defiant to contrite: Formula maker confirms bacteria amid botulism outbreak

ByHeart said “there’s no reason to believe” until its own testing found a reason.

ByHeart announced on Thursday that its own testing identified the bacterium that causes botulism in its baby formula, which is linked to an ongoing infant botulism outbreak that has doubled since last week.

As of November 19, there have been 31 cases across 15 states—up from 15 cases in 12 states reported last week. All 31 cases so far have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

The outbreak was announced on November 8, and ByHeart was, at first, unusually aggressive in deflecting blame for linked illnesses.

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Lilbits: Gaming on all the things (Snapdragon PCs, handhelds, Chromebooks, and really old PCs)

A few days after a private fight became public between the company bringing Pebble smartwatches back from the dead and the team of independent developers who ensured that the original watches continued to function without becoming zombies, a member of …

A few days after a private fight became public between the company bringing Pebble smartwatches back from the dead and the team of independent developers who ensured that the original watches continued to function without becoming zombies, a member of the Rebble team has weighed in with some thoughts that might help put things in perspective. […]

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Microsoft makes Zork I, II, and III open source under MIT License

Microsoft’s Open Source Programs Office worked with Jason Scott to do it.

Zork, the classic text-based adventure game of incalculable influence, has been made available under the MIT License, along with the sequels Zork II and Zork III.

The move to take these Zork games open source comes as the result of the shared work of the Xbox and Activision teams along with Microsoft’s Open Source Programs Office (OSPO). Parent company Microsoft owns the intellectual property for the franchise.

Only the code itself has been made open source. Ancillary items like commercial packaging and marketing assets and materials remain proprietary, as do related trademarks and brands.

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Scientists found the key to accurate Maya eclipse tables

Eclipse tables in the Dresden Codex were based on lunar tables and adjusted for slippage over time.

Astronomical events such as eclipses were central to Maya culture, reflected in the care the Maya took to keep accurate calendars to aid in celestial predictions. Among the few surviving Maya texts is the so-called Dresden Codex, which includes a table of eclipses. Researchers have concluded that this table was repurposed from earlier lunar month tables, rather than being created solely for eclipse prediction, according to a paper published in the journal Science Advances. They also figured out the mechanism by which the Maya ensured that table would be accurate over a very long time period.

The Maya used three primary calendars: a count of days, known as the Long Count; a 260-day astrological calendar called the Tzolk’in; and a 356-day year called the Haab’. Previous scholars have speculated on how awe-inspiring solar or lunar eclipses must have seemed to the Maya, but our understanding of their astronomical knowledge is limited. Most Maya books were burned by Spanish conquistadors and Catholic priests. Only four hieroglyphic codices survive: the Dresden Codex, the Madrid Codex, the Paris Codex, and the Grolier Codex.

The Dresden Codex dates back to the 11th or 12th century and likely originated near Chichen Itza. It can be folded accordion-style and is 12 feet long in its unfolded state. The text was deciphered in the early 20th century and describes local history as well as astronomical lunar and Venus tables.

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The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

Google’s Pixel 10 works with AirDrop, and other phones should follow later.

Last year, Apple finally added support for Rich Communications Services (RCS) texting to its platforms, improving consistency, reliability, and security when exchanging green-bubble texts between the competing iPhone and Android ecosystems. Today, Google is announcing another small step forward in interoperability, pointing to a slightly less annoying future for friend groups or households where not everyone owns an iPhone.

Google has updated Android’s Quick Share feature to support Apple’s AirDrop, which allows users of Apple devices to share files directly using a local peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection. Apple devices with AirDrop enabled and set to “everyone for 10 minutes” mode will show up in the Quick Share device list just like another Android phone would, and Android devices that support this new Quick Share version will also show up in the AirDrop menu.

Google will only support this feature on the Pixel 10 series, at least to start. The company is “looking forward to improving the experience and expanding it to more Android devices,” but it didn’t announce anything about a timeline or any hardware or software requirements. Quick Share also won’t work with AirDrop devices working in the default “contacts only” mode, though Google “[welcomes] the opportunity to work with Apple to enable ‘Contacts Only’ mode in the future.” (Reading between the lines: Google and Apple are not currently working together to enable this, and Google confirmed to The Verge that Apple hadn’t been involved in this at all.)

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Sidephone’s candybar-style phone with swappable keypads expected to ship in January

The Sidephone is a modern phone with an Android-based operating system and a touchscreen display. But it also looks like a classic dumb phone with a candybar-style layout featuring a small screen above a numeric keypad. But what really makes this phone…

The Sidephone is a modern phone with an Android-based operating system and a touchscreen display. But it also looks like a classic dumb phone with a candybar-style layout featuring a small screen above a numeric keypad. But what really makes this phone unusual is that the number pad is a removable module that can be replaced with […]

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Trump revives unpopular Ted Cruz plan to punish states that impose AI laws

Cruz plan to block broadband funding lost 99-1, but now it’s back—in Trump form.

President Trump is considering an executive order that would require the federal government to file lawsuits against states with AI laws, and prevent states with AI laws from obtaining broadband funding.

The draft order, “Eliminating State Law Obstruction of National AI Policy,” would order the attorney general to “establish an AI Litigation Task Force whose sole responsibility shall be to challenge State AI laws, including on grounds that such laws unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing Federal regulations, or are otherwise unlawful in the Attorney General’s judgment.”

The draft order says the Trump administration “will act to ensure that there is a minimally burdensome national standard—not 50 discordant State ones.” It specifically names laws enacted by California and Colorado and directs the Secretary of Commerce to evaluate whether other laws should be challenged.

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Bundesverwaltungsgericht: Bundesnetzagentur muss 5G-Frequenzvergabe wiederholen

Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht hat die Beschwerden der Bundesnetzagentur abgewiesen. Die Frequenzvergabe war ungültig, MVNOs wurden von CSU-Minister Scheuer benachteiligt. (Bundesnetzagentur, Freenet)

Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht hat die Beschwerden der Bundesnetzagentur abgewiesen. Die Frequenzvergabe war ungültig, MVNOs wurden von CSU-Minister Scheuer benachteiligt. (Bundesnetzagentur, Freenet)

Blue Origin revealed some massively cool plans for its New Glenn rocket

“The iterative design from our current 7×2 vehicle means we can build this rocket quickly.”

One week after the successful second launch of its large New Glenn booster, Blue Origin revealed a roadmap on Thursday for upgrades to the rocket, including a new variant with more main engines and a super-heavy lift capability.

These upgrades to the rocket are “designed to increase payload performance and launch cadence, while enhancing reliability,” the company said in an update published on its website. The enhancements will be phased in over time, starting with the third launch of New Glenn, which is likely to occur during the first half of 2026.

A bigger beast

The most significant part of the update concerned an evolution of New Glenn that will transform the booster into a super-heavy lift launch vehicle. The first stage of this evolved vehicle will have nine BE-4 engines instead of seven, and the upper stage four BE-4 engines instead of two. In its update, Blue Origin refers to the new vehicle as 9×4 and the current variant as 7×2, a reference to the number of engines in each stage.

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Google’s latest swing at Chromebook gaming is a free year of GeForce Now

GeForce Now Fast Pass is a new service tier exclusively for Chromebooks.

Earlier this year, Google announced the end of its efforts to get Steam running on Chromebooks, but it’s not done trying to make these low-power laptops into gaming machines. Google has teamed up with Nvidia to offer a version of GeForce Now cloud streaming that is perplexingly limited in some ways and generous in others. Starting today, anyone who buys a Chromebook will get a free year of a new service called GeForce Now Fast Pass. There are no ads and less waiting for server slots, but you don’t get to play very long.

Back before Google killed its Stadia game streaming service, it would often throw in a few months of the Pro subscription with Chromebook purchases. In the absence of its own gaming platform, Google has turned to Nvidia to level up Chromebook gaming. GeForce Now (GFN), which has been around in one form or another for more than a decade, allows you to render games on a remote server and stream the video output to the device of your choice. It works on computers, phones, TVs, and yes, Chromebooks.

The new Chromebook feature is not the same GeForce Now subscription you can get from Nvidia. Fast Pass, which is exclusive to Chromebooks, includes a mishmash of limits and bonuses that make it a pretty strange offering. Fast Pass is based on the free tier of GeForce Now, but users will get priority access to server slots. So no queuing for five or 10 minutes to start playing. It also lacks the ads that Nvidia’s standard free tier includes. Fast Pass also uses the more powerful RTX servers, which are otherwise limited to the $10-per-month ($100 yearly) Performance tier.

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