Call senators about gun control

Samsung is under fire for a recent ad depicting a woman wearing a Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Buds running alone in the middle of a city at 2AM. Critics have called the ad both “unrealistic” and “tone-deaf” in the wake of the murder of Ashling Murphy , a 23-year-old who was killed while running in January in Dublin, Ireland. The ad is oblivious to the dangers of nighttime running, but that makes sense since many smartwatch makers don’t seem to understand how their limited safety features may fail runners. Samsung has since apologized for the ad, telling BBC Radio 1 that it hadn’t intended to “be insensitive to ongoing conversations around women’s safety” and that “the ‘Night Owls’ campaign was designed with a positive message in mind: to celebrate individuality and freedom to exercise at all hours.” Samsung’s intent is understandable. The ad is meant to highlight how easy it is to use Galaxy devices together and “empower” users to leave their phones at home. For many people … [Read more...] about ‘Tone-deaf’ Samsung ad is a reminder that smartwatch safety still has a ways to go

Lithium-based batteries are great , with different electrode chemistries allowing them to be slotted into a variety of uses. The problem with them has nothing to do with their performance. The challenge we face is that we want to make a lot of batteries; if all of them use lithium, we're undoubtedly going to face supply crunches. One potential solution to that is to simply replace lithium with a different ion. Alternative batteries may not be as good as lithium variants in all the different places we currently use them. They just have to be good enough at one task to take away some of the need to stick lithium everywhere. That's the reasoning behind some interest in sodium-based batteries. Sodium is very plentiful and correspondingly cheap and can be made to behave a bit like lithium when used in a battery. But sodium batteries always carry risks associated with sodium's tendency to react explosively. But a recently developed solid electrolyte suggests that at least some of the … [Read more...] about Researchers seem to stumble across an electrolyte for a sodium battery

Officials in Florida are again battling a highly invasive, extraordinarily destructive giant snail species that also happens to be capable of spreading parasitic worms that invade human brains. The giant African land snail (GALS)—aka Lissachatina fulica —can grow up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) long and is considered " one of the most invasive pests on the planet ," according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. It ravenously feasts on over 500 plant species—including many valuable fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals—while prolifically spawning, pushing out several thousand eggs in its multiyear life span. In late June, Florida state officials confirmed the presence of GALS on a property in Pasco County, on the west-central coast of the state, just north of Tampa. They have since set up a quarantine zone around the property and began snail-killing pesticide treatments last week. While the snails are a grave threat to agriculture and natural … [Read more...] about Florida once again has giant calamitous snails that spew parasitic brain worms

Arkham Horror is a board game played with over 700 pieces. You can play with up to eight players, all of you working together to beat one of the Ancient Ones and playing against the board itself. You see, the monsters get a turn, and the card pulled during that phase controls how they move, where the gates to the Other World appear, and how close you are to the Great Old One waking. If that happens, you have a choice: fight or be devoured. Although, if you fight, you will still probably be devoured. The last time my group played, the game lasted around five hours; brevity is not one of its strengths. And you can't get too upset if you lose, as the chances of victory are slim when still learning the rules. That being said, in our last session we closed the final gate with two turns left before our Great Old One awoke, narrowly winning. Sounds like a game for masochists? Well, it's not for the faint of heart, but Arkham Horror is a great board game for those with the time to … [Read more...] about 700 pieces, 5 hours, 1 Elder God: Hands-on with

GCHQ's director, Robert Hannigan, used a speech he gave yesterday at MIT to try to cosy up to the tech industry in order to promote what he called "a constructive dialogue." That's a dramatic reversal of his position less than 18 months ago, when he wrote in the Financial Times that Internet companies were "command-and-control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals," and "in denial" about it. On Monday, Hannigan admitted that his comments in the FT had caused "a bigger stir than I expected, and were widely seen as an attack on the tech industry." Now, he said, "we recognise that we need a new relationship between the tech sector, academia, civil society and Government agencies. We should be bridging the divide, sharing ideas and building a constructive dialogue in a less highly-charged atmosphere." Encryption is the key area where Hannigan believes that dialogue is needed, and he devoted most of his speech to the topic. "The idea that we do not favour strong … [Read more...] about GCHQ uses MIT speech to get chummy with tech industry over crypto backdoors

Air fryers have made a whole lot of noise in the kitchen appliance space over these past few years. If you've become a little air fry-curious, there are some questions you might want to have answered before you invest in yet another small kitchen appliance. If starting from scratch, you'll want to know exactly what an air fryer does and how it's used. Does an air fryer actually fry? And are air fryers healthier than normal ovens? Also, what can you make in an air fryer, and which type of air fryer oven is best for your cooking habits? Most importantly, is an air fryer worth buying with so many other kitchen appliances available, or are these trendy countertop cookers just a bunch of hot air? Whether or not an air fryer is right for you is ultimately a decision you'll have to make. But as someone with the chance to try much of the latest kitchen gadgetry, I can say that the air fryer is one of my personal favorite small appliance additions. It's one I fire up at least a few times … [Read more...] about A Guide to Air Fryers: Everything to Know Before You Buy

Blaupunkt has launched the BE100 neckband in the Indian market. The neckband offers 100 hours of playtime and a vibration alert. It also has an Environment Noise Cancellation feature built on the chipset. Blaupunkt BE100 price and availability The Blaupunkt BE100 neckband is priced at Rs 1,299 and comes in Black and Blue colour options. The product can be purchased from the official website of Blaupunkt and Amazon . Blaupunkt BE100 features Blaupunkt BE100 boasts a 10mm sound driver and a battery capacity of 600 mAh. Its TurboVolt charging offers 10 hours of playback in 10 minutes of charge. The neckband equips real-time monitoring and comes with a type C charging port. Recently Blaupunkt has launched a 50-inch smart TV that runs on Android 10. It is powered by a MediaTek processor with Arm Cortex A53. The smart TV packs 2GB RAM and offers 8GB internal storage. The smart TV comes with a price tag of Rs 36,999 and can be purchased from … [Read more...] about blaupunkt: Blaupunkt launches BE100 neckband at Rs 1,299

There may have been several instances in group calls or meetings held via WhatsApp conference calls where one or both participants needed to finish up some personal tasks without muting the microphone. Such unmuted accounts may produce an echo during active calls in other circumstances. WhatsApp has a feature that allows individual users to mute specific participants in order to enhance the overall experience of group calls. Eventually, WhatsApp will give each user in the group more dynamic control. 1. On your Android or iOS device, open WhatsApp. If you are already on a conference call, proceed to step two. 2. Press and hold the profile badge of the user you want to mute or message from the group's user profile tiles. 3. Choose the "Mute" option. 4. Select "Message" to send the user a text message. WhatsApp group calling allows up to 32 users to voice call each other for no cost. The first contact listed on your WhatsApp group … [Read more...] about How to mute and send messages to a user during a WhatsApp group call