Hydrogen fuel cell plans

The Federal Communications Commission is planning to collect a $51.1 million fine from a phone company accused of using “widespread enrollment fraud” to collect improper payments from a program designed to help poor people. Since 2014, Total Call Mobile (TCM) has requested and received $9.7 million in payments by signing up tens of thousands of duplicate or ineligible consumers “despite repeated and explicit warnings from its own employees, in some cases compliance specialists, that company sales agents were engaged in widespread enrollment fraud,” the FCC said in an announcement yesterday . Further Reading FCC says TracFone and other cell companies defrauded US program for the poor The alleged fraud targeted the Lifeline program, which provides discounted phone service to people with low incomes. Lifeline, part of the Universal Service Fund, is paid for by US residents through surcharges on phone bills. The FCC said its investigation into Total Call found that … [Read more...] about FCC: Carrier pocketed $10M in bogus cell phone subsidies

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday accused five wireless service providers of obtaining duplicate payments from a federal fund for low-income consumers. The FCC wants the companies to repay the extra money and, in addition, to pay $14.4 million in fines. The wireless providers allegedly violated rules of the Lifeline program, which has helped people afford basic telephone service since 1985. It was expanded to cover pre-paid cell phone service in 2005 under former President George W. Bush. "The violations involve thousands of consumers who had more than one Lifeline subscription from the same provider, resulting in duplicative support requests and payments," the FCC said. "In each case, the carrier knew or should have known, based on its own internal data, that the consumers were ineligible under Lifeline program rules. ... To protect the integrity of the Lifeline program, the Commission’s rules prohibit, among other things, Lifeline service providers from requesting … [Read more...] about FCC says TracFone and other cell companies defrauded US program for the poor

Après son lancement chinois en avril puis indien en mai, le Vivo X80 Pro est maintenant disponible à la vente en France - mais il vous en coûtera 1 299 €. Ce qui le rend légèrement plus cher que le modèle standard du Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra . Ce dernier affiche un prix de départ de 1 199 €, soit 100 € moins cher que le Vivo X80 Pro. Vous bénéficiez toutefois de 12 Go de RAM et de 256 Go de stockage avec le X80 Pro, une configuration facturée au même prix chez Samsung. Reste que la marque Vivo a aujourd’hui moins d’attrait que Samsung. En Europe, tout du moins. Quant à la configuration photo, elle embarque un quadruple objectif qui a été conçu en collaboration avec la marque d'objectifs Zeiss. Il s’agit d’un capteur principal de 50 Mpx f/1,6, un ultra grand-angle de 48 Mpx f/2,2, un téléobjectif de 12 Mpx f/1,9 (avec zoom optique 2x) et un périscope de 8 Mpx f/3,4 (avec zoom optique 5x). Il y a également une caméra frontale de 32 Mpx, un capteur d'empreintes … [Read more...] about Le nouveau smartphone Vivo coûte plus cher qu’un Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra – devez-vous vous ruer dessus ?

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

Censoring peaceful protesters isn’t the only reason governments have deliberately shut down the Internet in 2022, but researchers say it is the primary objective and is costing the most to the global economy. According to a report from Top10VPN, the cost of government-ordered Internet shutdowns in 2022 has cost the global economy more than $10 billion. That figure nearly doubles 2021 costs, and it’s only halfway through the year. At a cost of $8.77 billion, the biggest drain on the global economy is Russia. That country’s ongoing social media blackouts began shortly after the Ukraine invasion and are designed to limit peaceful protest and press freedoms by preventing access to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. So far this year, Top10VPN has tracked government shutdowns in 16 countries, measuring costs per day of shutdowns specifically preventing protests that range from hundreds of thousands in Pakistan to hundreds of millions in Russia. Other reasons for government … [Read more...] about Internet shutdowns cost global economy $10B so far in 2022, VPN report says

After years of development, the snootchiest of '90s bootchies will finally return to theaters this September. Writer and director Kevin Smith unveiled the first look at Clerks III on Wednesday via a two-minute trailer, though you'll have to look at some fine print to figure out exactly when and where you might get to watch this feature-length film. The core cast featured in 2006's Clerks II returns to modern-day New Jersey, once again relegated to a building that houses both a convenience store and a video rental shop. The latter has adapted to a modern video-streaming world, at least, with a massive "THC" indicator poorly taped over the original sign—and longtime series jesters Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) seem fine hanging out in front of this adjusted storefront for some reason. But time hasn't been kind to Randal (Jeff Anderson), as the trailer shows him suffering a heart attack and questioning a life spent watching movies all day. “What am I, a hack?” "I … [Read more...] about trailer: Jersey nerd trilogy goes meta in 2-night theater run

Nearly a full year has passed since Virgin Galactic last flew its SpaceShipTwo vehicle into space, but the company says it is progressing toward a more rapid cadence of flights. On Wednesday, Virgin Galactic announced a deal with Boeing-owned Aurora Flight Sciences to design and manufacture two next-generation motherships. A mothership carries the Virgin Galactic spaceship to an altitude of about 15 km before releasing it, after which the spaceship fires its rocket engine and flies above 90 km. In a news release , Virgin Galactic said it expects to take delivery of the first of the two new motherships in 2025. The company presently has a single carrier aircraft, VMS Eve , that made its first flight in 2008. Virgin has not said how long this vehicle will be able to fly missions, nor how much refurbishment it will need as it begins flying more frequently. "Our next-generation motherships are integral to scaling our operations," said Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier in … [Read more...] about Looking to the future, Virgin Galactic purchases 2 more motherships

At midnight ET on Tuesday morning, the American federal government shut down operations as a result of the Congressional budget impasse. Currently there's no immediate end in sight, so a mish-mash of government agencies are open and closed. National parks and museums are off, but mail is still being delivered to American households. On Saturday, Ars took a quick look at which US government agency websites would be going dark during the shutdown. Those included the Federal Trade Commission, the Library of Congress, and the National Park Service sites. They all planned to go dark and have done so. The federal court system is remaining open , as it has a financial reserve that should last around two weeks. Similarly, the United States Patent and Trademark Office could stay open for approximately four weeks. However, we have now conducted a more thorough examination of 50-plus different .gov websites. In the chart below, we have highlighted whether they are up or down, and … [Read more...] about Shutdown of US government websites appears bafflingly arbitrary

Are you struggling to play Netflix on a 2Mbps Internet connection? A new cloud-connected router using the same type of multipath technology that Apple put in the iPhone might solve your problem. Launched this week on Indiegogo , the $199-$289 system from Multipath Networks in Ireland combines connections such as DSL, cable, 3G, and 4G into one pipe. Up to four connections can be used at once. The idea of aggregating mobile and wired signals in the home is an old one . But it certainly hasn't become commonplace, and Multipath Networks takes advantage of the new Multipath TCP protocol that's used in the iPhone to let Siri switch between Wi-Fi, 3G, and LTE quickly and seamlessly. "Apple claims to be the first to deploy this, but actually we were; we've been doing this for over a year now," Multipath Networks CEO Justin Collery told Ars today. The company's debut product worked only with mobile networks and was intended for providing more reliable connectivity to … [Read more...] about New router combines your home and mobile networks into one faster pipe

The Federal Communications Commission will soon vote on a plan to give low-income Americans $9.25 a month to purchase home Internet service or cellular data. The plan would change the existing Lifeline program, which has provided phone subsidies since 1985, to focus on providing access to broadband. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn wrote in a blog post today that millions of Americans don't have Internet service because they can't afford it. "Only half of the nation’s households in the lowest income tier subscribe to broadband," Wheeler and Clyburn wrote. "And 43 percent of all people who don’t subscribe to broadband at home say that affordability is the reason. Of the low-income consumers who have subscribed to mobile broadband, 44 percent have had to cancel or suspend their service due to financial constraints and for those whose only access to the Internet is their smartphone, 48 percent have had to cancel or shut off service for a period of time due to … [Read more...] about Poor Americans will get $9 a month to buy broadband or mobile data