A Ford Mustang Mach-E sitting at a Tesla Supercharger | Image: Ford Ford CEO Jim Farley and Elon Musk just announced that in early 2024 all 12,000 Tesla Superchargers will be operational with Ford vehicles. Farley also announced next-generation Ford vehicles would come equipped with the NACS port, Tesla’s standardized version of its proprietary charging system. Elon Musk said, “We don’t want Tesla superchargers to be a walled garden,” on the Twitter Space call. According to Musk, Tesla wants Ford to have an equal footing when it comes to a charging network. The Twitter Space stage was stable this time around, following the disaster that was Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential… Read More
Continue ReadingUnearthed: CosmicEnergy, malware for causing Kremlin-style power disruptions
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Researchers have uncovered malware designed to disrupt electric power transmission and may have been used by the Russian government in training exercises for creating or responding to cyberattacks on electric grids. Known as CosmicEnergy, the malware has capabilities that are comparable to those found in malware known as Industroyer and Industroyer2, both of which have been widely attributed by researchers to Sandworm, the name of one of the Kremlin’s most skilled and cutthroat hacking groups. Sandworm deployed Industroyer in December 2016 to trigger a power outage in Kyiv, Ukraine, that left an estimated large swath of the city without power for an hour. The attack occurred… Read More
Continue ReadingBelkin’s fast-charging Apple Watch power bank might actually be witchcraft
I, a miserly curmudgeon, preordered this thing. | Image: Belkin Today was simply another Thursday when my colleague and The Verge’s senior news editor, Richard Lawler, tagged me in a Slack thread. Upon opening said thread, I pterodactyl screeched. Behold, the Belkin BoostCharge Pro — a $99.99 10,000mAh power bank with a lil divot that lets you fast-charge a compatible Apple Watch or second-gen AirPods Pro on the go (and any device that charges via a USB-C cable at up to 20W). Is it expensive? Yes, especially since it’s not yet available and only open for preorders. I wouldn’t begrudge anyone who isn’t a wearables reviewer or smartwatch devotee for… Read More
Continue ReadingA new report finds NASA has spent an obscene amount of money on SLS propulsion
Enlarge / NASA conducts a test of an RS-25 rocket engine on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center. (credit: NASA) An independent report published Thursday had troubling findings about the money spent by the agency on propulsion for the Space Launch System rocket. Moreover, the report by NASA Inspector General Paul Martin warns that if these costs are not controlled, it could jeopardize plans to return to the Moon. Bluntly, Martin wrote that if the agency does not rein in spending, “NASA and its contracts will continue to exceed planned cost and schedule, resulting in a reduced availability of funds, delayed launches, and the erosion of the public’s… Read More
Continue ReadingYouTube Stories, Google’s clone of Snapchat, is dying on June 26
YouTube Stories would sometimes show up in your subscription feed. (Sorry about the arrow, blame YouTube.) [credit: YouTube ] YouTube’s “copy the hot new …read more Source:: Ars Technica
Continue ReadingTetris on a chicken nugget is the game as it was meant to be played
<img width="150" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/nuggettetris-800×884.gif" alt="Who needs a Nintendo Switch when you've got a McDonald's nugget-Tetris?”> Tetris?”> Enlarge / Who needs a Nintendo Switch when you’ve got a McDonald’s nugget-Tetris? (credit: McDonald’s China) According to gaming database Mobygames, officially licensed versions of Tetris have appeared on roughly 60 different gaming platforms, from the Oculus Quest to the Data Zapper M7000. Now, thanks to a new McDonald’s China promotion, you can add “giant plastic chicken nugget with an LCD screen” to that list of official Tetris ports (to say nothing of the unofficial ones). RetroDodo has the story of this strange promotion, which is centered around the 40th anniversary of the Chicken McNugget’s… Read More
Continue ReadingMoviePass is back, better, and maybe more confusing than before
(Image credit: MoviePass) Varying costs A MoviePass representative told us the cost (in credits) of a single movie is tied to the “day of the week” plus what time you’re watching, although they didn’t provide any further details. A recent report from TechCrunch claims Tuesdays are the cheapest whereas opening weekends are one of the more expensive options. Unused credits do roll over to the next month. Company CEO Stacy Spikes told TechCrunch people “can have up to a maximum of two months of unused credits” on their account. These prices are for the general user in the US. The plans are more expensive if you live in either Southern… Read More
Continue ReadingSupreme Court limits the EPA’s authority under the Clean Water Act
Enlarge / Wetlands like this may end up a complicated patchwork of regulated and unregulated areas thanks to the latest Supreme Court decision. (credit: Stefano Madrigali) On Thursday, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling that severely limits the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate pollution under the Clean Water Act. The ruling applies to wetlands that are connected to bodies of water that fall under the Clean Water Act’s regulatory scheme, with the court now ruling that those connections need to be direct and contiguous for the act to apply. This would remove many wetlands separated by small strips of land—including artificial structures like levees—from oversight by the EPA.… Read More
Continue ReadingHP has found an exciting new way to DRM your printer!
The HP Deskjet 2755e, a printer that prompts you to use HP Plus to get free ink. | Image: HP Amazon’s No. 1 bestselling printer is the HP Deskjet 2755e. It’s not hard to see why. For just $85, you get a wireless color printer, scanner, and six months of free ink. It also comes with HP Plus, one of the most dastardly schemes Big Inkjet has ever unleashed. I’m not talking about how printers quietly waste their own ink, or pretend cartridges are empty when they’re not, or lock out official cartridges from other regions. Heck, I’m not even talking about “Dynamic Security,” the delightful feature where new HP… Read More
Continue ReadingOpenAI CEO raises $115M for crypto company that scans people’s eyeballs
Enlarge / Worldcoin’s “Orb,” a device that scans your eyeballs to verify that you’re a real human. A company co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has raised $115 million for Worldcoin, a crypto coin project that scans users’ eyeballs in order “to establish an individual’s unique personhood.” In addition to leading the maker of ChatGPT and GPT-4, Altman is co-founder and chairman of Tools for Humanity, a company that builds technology for the Worldcoin project. Tools for Humanity today announced $115 million in Series C funding from Blockchain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto fund, Bain Capital Crypto, and Distributed Global. Blockchain Capital said that Worldcoin’s “World ID” system that involves eyeball-scanning will… Read More
Continue ReadingGoogle expands Play Games for PC beta to Europe and New Zealand
Image: Google The Google Play Games for PC beta — a service that allows Windows PCs to run Android games — is now available in New Zealand and over 40 European countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, and the UK. The service was previously expanded to a handful of countries including the US and Canada in November last year following its initial rollout in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan in January 2022. The latest expansion brings the Play Games for PC beta to a total of 56 countries, with over 100 titles to play including 1945 Air Force, Blade Idle, Cookie Run: Kingdom, and Evony: The King’s… Read More
Continue ReadingHere’s 44 seconds of the Moto Razr Ultra because an entire ad has leaked
Three images from the Motorola Razr Ultra leaked video. | Images: Motorola via Evan Blass (@evleaks) The Moto Razr Ultra foldable still isn’t official — but thanks to reliable gadget leaker Evan Blass, who’s been on top of this phone for months, we now have what appears to be an official 44-second commercial for the phone. This is what you came for: Leaked Motorola video via Evan Blass (@evleaks) It’s well past my bedtime, so I won’t revisit all the other leaks — mostly, suffice it to say that Blass (whose Twitter account remains private) has been instrumental in revealing almost every aspect of this phone. He gave us a… Read More
Continue ReadingYour next home could be 3D-printed. Here’s how
Experts estimate around 60% of buildings that will exist in 30 years’ time have yet to be built. This equals constructing a city the size of Stockholm every week until 2050. However, the construction sector currently doesn’t have the people or the skills to deliver the infrastructure and homes we need at the pace required. But what if we could offload some of the work to robots? Enter 3D concrete printing — an emerging technology that uses 3D printers to create all manner of structures, from bridges and sculptures to houses and even whole neighbourhoods. These huge printers work much… This story continues at The Next Web …read more Source::… Read More
Continue ReadingGoogle launches €10M social innovation AI fund for European entrepreneurs
In conjunction with a visit of CEO Sundar Pichai’s visit to Stockholm yesterday, Google announced the launch of the second Google.org Social Innovation Fund on AI to “help social enterprises solve some of Europe’s most pressing challenges.” Through the fund, Google is making €10 million available, along with mentoring and support, for entrepreneurs from underserved backgrounds. The aim is to help them develop transformative AI solutions that specifically target problems they face on a daily basis. The fund will provide capital via a grant to INCO for the expansion of Social Tides, an accelerator program funded by Google.org, that will… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read… Read More
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