Among Apple’s idiosyncratic quirks is a general discouragement when it comes to attaching peripheral devices. Sure, they aren’t vocally opposed, but through compatibility and other means, they don’t exactly make it easy to sync up your MacBook or iPad with all the various extra devices and formats you may need to access.A MacBook itself may only come with ports for one or two USB-C devices...and that’s it. Instead, you can pick up this USB 8-port Type-C valet hub to get all your devices plugged in at the same time, while also keeping all your desk clutter to a minimum.The first thing you notice about this hub is the full array of ports lining both sides of this powerhouse device. There are two USB-C connectors plus a third power delivery port; 2 USB-A 3.0 ports, plus ports for SD, Micro SD, and even 3.5mm audio devices to plugin safely.With the nearly foot-long cable, the device plugs neatly into your MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, Surface Book, Galaxy Tab Pro, or other USB-C compatible devices for easy access, cleaning up your deskspace and eliminating that waterfall of cords and dongles dangling from your device.Meanwhile, the entire setup is completely plug and play, requiring absolutely no software, drivers or installation of any kind to operate.In addition to all of its connectivity goodness, Apple users will be pleased to see the valet bin on the top of the hub can hold all kinds of small accessories like pens, paper clips, earphones, and more. Read the rest

It turns out that police unions and benevolent associations lied and exaggerated about police officers being poisoned by Shake Shack milkshakes.From the New York Post:Police sources explained it was clear that the workers couldn’t have known cops had placed the orders “since it wasn’t done in person” — and they couldn’t have dosed the drinks after the officers arrived, because they were packaged and waiting for pickup when the trio walked in.Soon after sipping the shakes, however, the cops realized they didn’t taste or smell right, so they threw the drinks in the trash and alerted a manager, who apologized and issued them vouchers for free food or drink, which they accepted, according to sources.But when the cops told their sergeant about the incident, the supervisor called in the Emergency Service Unit to set up a crime scene.Photo by Brenda Godinez on Unsplash Read the rest

Since Trump's standout flub during his Tulsa rally debacle, in which he said, “When you do testing to that extent, you’re gonna find more people, you’re gonna find more cases. So I said to my people, 'slow the testing down, please,'” his handlers have been trying to cover it up by saying he was "obviously kidding."But today, when Trump was interviewed by Scripps reporter Joe St. George, he did not confirm he was kidding. In fact, he did the opposite and reiterated the same nonsense comments in all seriousness.Scripps White House reporter Joe St. George asked Trump if he actually ordered testing to be slowed down. He said in his Saturday speech he did. He didn't answer the direct question.https://t.co/4yRwsx22qN— Brody Levesque (@BrodyLevesque) June 22, 2020 Read the rest

I forgot about Standard Ebooks until this morning, and when I checked it out I discovered they have a bunch of new novels available, including Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape, PG Wodehouse's School Stories, and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, among others. Lots of good reading ahead! Read the rest

Studio Ghibli is releasing its first CGI movie, called Aya and the Witch. It's an adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' children's book Earwig and the Witch. (The late Jones was also the author of Howl's Moving Castle, which was released as a Studio Ghibli movie in 2004.) Aya and the Witch is the first Studio Ghibli film in 6 years and will be directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro.Here are some stills from the upcoming film, provided by Studio Ghibli. Read the rest

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Sixty-nine cents a month gets you a subscription to a bye.fyi email address. You will never see any email sent to the address, but anyone who sends you email gets an automated insult as a reply. "Enterprise features: Automatically CC a congressperson on every email. Send follow-ups by SMS and Voicemail to touch base." Read the rest

Spoken Word with Electronics is an audio series delivering to you a two side recording of unusual stories paired with vintage modular electronic soundsHi, everyone. Welcome back to the show. This week we sing the praises of portable headphone amplifiers, specifically The SPAMP and the ROCKMAN — This leads to a discussion on the good work of Tom Scholz, who designed and built the entire sound of the band Boston in a home studio in the basement of his apartment in Watertown MA, and the likelihood that many of you were conceived to More Than A Feeling. With grief, the sad ending of Brad Delp's life is also briefly discussed .Tom Scholz went to MIT and was offered a good job at Polaroid right out of school. This earned him a salary that funded much of Boston's burgeoning sound. So this episode also discusses how to spend money. Lots of people are very boring about how they spend their money, and the chance that you might not be born if Tom Scholz had opted to cash out and not build a home studio is explored. Good guy, that Tom. But why did Scholz need money in the first place to pursue this great dream? Money is a problem.Track two for this week solves money entirely. Presenting SPIT-COIN, A new economic platform based on points and saliva. You can opt to transfer your money to a shared resource for every human, or you can have your cash liquidated into saliva that you carry in your mouth perpetually, your choice. Read the rest

This curious rock fell from the sky above Sanchore, Rajasthan, northern India on Friday, alarming residents with a huge explosive sound and leaving a one-foot crater where it fell. The object is palm-sized and weighs 2.7kg. According to police, it was very hot. They've since turned it over to the Geographical Survey of India. From The Tribune:"We have inspected the site where the object had fallen from the sky with a loud sound. Prime facie, it appears to be a piece of meteorite, which has been seized and kept safe as it shall be sent to the lab for further examination."The officials concerned also got it tested in a private lab located at the jeweller's shop in Sanchore who confirmed that the piece had metallic properties of Germanium, Platinium, Nickel and Iron (10.23 per cent of nickel, 85.86 per cent of iron, platinum 0.5 per cent, cobbit 0.78 per cent, geranium 0.02 per cent, antimony 0.01 per cent niobium 0.01 and other 3.02 per cent). Read the rest

The English language is full of weird, unofficial rules that dictate certain grammatical changes for seemingly arbitrary reasons other than "it just feels right."Consider: inserting the word "fuck" into another word for emphasis.The Language Nerds have a great new blog post, where they look into this phenomenon that they call "expletive infixation."One of these precise and fine-tuned rules is one called expletive infixation. How often do you hear people say un-fucking-believable, or abso-bloody-lutely? How about Phila-fucking-delphia? As you can see, this is a process whereby a profane word, such as fucking, bloody, freaking, etc, is shoved into another word for intensification. You'd think at first glance that this is probably random; you just go ahead and insert the word somewhere. Well, no! It turns out that this process is not random and is incredibly rule-governed, systematic, and precise.Take a look at the following examples:Fantastic: *fanta-fucking-stick.Absolutely: *Ab-fucking-solutelyIndependent: *Indep-fucking-endent.Something sounds horribly wrong about the examples above, right?It's a short post, with a succinct explanation, but it is also sufficiently de-fucking-lightful.F***ing Insertion is Systematic, And This Is How It Works. [The Language Nerds]Image: Loozer Boy / Flickr Read the rest

During the COVID-19 pandemic, 2.6 billion people were under a mandate to stay at home. According to psychologist Elke Van Hoof of Free University of Brussels-VUB, [the lockdown] "is arguably the largest psychological experiment ever conducted." What impact will COVID-19 have on the planet's mental health? The scientific study of psychological resilience is not a new field. But COVID-19 is fairly unique in the range of stressors it triggers, from the death of loved ones to isolation, devastating financial loss, and uncertainty about what comes next. Meanwhile, we actually aren't all "in the same boat." In Scientific American, Lydia Denworth surveys the real-time research on what we can learn from all this about resilience and how to increase it for the next time. From Scientific American:Individual resilience is further complicated by the fact that this pandemic has not affected each person in the same way. For all that is shared--the coronavirus has struck every level of society and left few lives unchanged--there has been tremendous variation in the disruption and devastation experienced. Consider Brooklyn, just one borough in hard-hit New York City. Residents who started the year living or working within a few miles of one another have very different stories of illness, loss and navigating the challenges of social distancing. How quickly and how well individuals, businesses and organizations recover will depend on the jobs, insurance and health they had when this started, on whether they have endured hassle or heartbreak, and on whether they can tap financial resources and social support. Read the rest

If HBO's upcoming Lovecraft Country is even 20% as great as its source material—Matt Ruff's novel bearing the same name—We're in for a fun, terrifying treat. I suppose we'll know, soon enough: the series is set to debut on HBO, this August Read the rest

I have been frequently awed by Ta-Nehisi Coates's thoughtful observations on politics and race in America. But I'll be honest: I was somewhat disappointed by his first run of Black Panther comics. It felt, to me, more like a Coates essay accompanied by some action sequences. The ideas were there, and the art by Brian Stelfreeze was spectacular, but it just didn't grip me as a dramatic narrative. (His Captain America, illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu and others, has left me similarly cold.)Fortunately, Coates is a certified MacArthur genius, and a deft enough writer that he learned on the job with an impressive swiftness. I read the first eighteen issues of Coates and Daniel Acuña's epic Black Panther space opera The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda in just two days, and am eager to devour the rest once it's available (I read most of my comics on Marvel Unlimited).So to tide myself over, I decided to check out Coates's brief run on Black Panther and the Crew with illustrator Butch Guice. A nod to or revival of Christopher Priest's similarly Panther-inspired 2003 series, The Crew, the comic brings T'Challa to Harlem, in a loose team-up with some other Harlem-affiliated superheroes, including Luke Cage, Misty Knight, and Storm from the X-Men. It's an intergenerational story about Black liberation and revolution, that begins with the death of an elderly Black activist in police custody during a series of ongoing protests against racist police brutality. The conspiracy at the heart of the murder mystery organically weaves in gentrification, astroturfed agitators undermining protests, and algorithmic policing that's never as unbiased as it claims. Read the rest

• A 1.2 mile (2km) wide circle of large shafts was found, measuring over 10 meters wide and 5 meters deep.• The holes surround the ancient settlement of Durrington Walls, 2 miles (3km) from Stonehenge.• Tests suggest the earthworks are Neolithic, excavated over 4,500 years ago.In England, archaeologists working near Stonehenge have discovered a wide circle of deep pits surrounding an ancient human settlement. The shafts form a circle, and date back some 4,500 years..Scientists made the discovery without excavating earth, instead using remote sensing technology and sampling, reports Reuters: The new discovery, by a team of archaeologists from several universities, shows a 2-km (1.2-mile) wide circle of shafts surrounding a settlement at Durrington Walls, which also included a henge, or circular structure, made of timber posts.The site is located about 3.2 km northeast of Stonehenge and evidence suggests the pits date back to the same period, some 4,500 years ago.“As the place where the builders of Stonehenge lived and feasted, Durrington Walls is key to unlocking the story of the wider Stonehenge landscape,” said archaeologist Nick Snashall of the National Trust, the body that runs the Stonehenge site.“This astonishing discovery offers us new insights into the lives and beliefs of our Neolithic ancestors,” he said.The circle of pits is significantly larger than any comparable prehistoric monument in Britain. Researchers have found 20 shafts, but estimate there may have been more than 30 originally. Each one is about 5 metres deep and 10 metres across. Read the rest

Tired, dejected, his collar smeared with orange makeup, Trump at least suffered no physical problems getting off Marine One and ambling home after this weekend's flop rally in Tulsa. Only 6,200 people turned up to the event, touted by the president as a million-reservation spectacular that would pack the 19,000-seat stadium and spill over in to the streets beyond, where an overflow stage was set up to please the faithful. On the night, though, the overflow stage was hurriedly broken down to avoid the stark humiliation of a huge video screen relating Trump's meandering speech to no-one at all. And in the BOK Center, the man himself faced a stadium one-third full.Lefty teens took great pleasure in having accomplished a spectacular feat of online activism: they registered for tickets in huge numbers and doubtless led the Trump campaign to its inflated expectations for the rally. But that effort didn't stop true fans turning out—and they didn't.He is furious, reports NBC News. Read the rest

Womp womp. Someone knows he's gonna lose, and lose bad.Tweeted Donald Trump on Monday, June 22:RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!Some analysis from election-watchers below.Competition for THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES is fierce. https://t.co/OY9bbYZXxN— David Gura (@davidgura) June 22, 2020Regarding foreign countries...1) Trump asked for and received Russian help to win in 2016.2) Trump tried to extort Ukraine into helping him win in 2020. (And got impeached for it.)3) Trump begged China's dictator to help him win in 2020. https://t.co/np4f1gYgyH— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) June 22, 2020Trump's laying the groundwork for an election challenge. Barr's corrupt enough to help him do it. That's why the House must impeach Barr. Even if the Senate won't convict it puts down a historical marker that this is not OK and creates a factual record exposing Barr's corruption. https://t.co/tj5bU7gyrr— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) June 22, 2020He was either watching a reair live or the DVR of the earlier airing.Left, Fox's The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton, 9:04 p.m./12:04 a.m.(quote)Right, Trump, 12:07 a.m. pic.twitter.com/6U9f4Nh8Mn— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) June 22, 2020 Read the rest

This video was made a group of security researchers based at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. The Lamphone, as they call it, is intended as an alternative method of eavesdropping on private conversations without having to compromise a device with malware. In their tests, the researchers were able to accurately monitor audio, including speech and music, from about 80 feet away; they think they could amplify that range with some better hardware, too.And all it takes is a few simple tools:Telescope - This piece of equipment is used to focus the field of view on the hanging bulb from a distance.Electro-optical sensor - This sensor is mounted on the telescope and consists of a photodiode (a semiconductor device) that converts light into an electrical current. The current is generated when photons are absorbed in the photodiode. Photodiodes are used in many consumer electronic devices (e.g., smoke detectors, medical devices).Sound recovery system - This system receives an optical signal as input and outputs the recovered acoustic signal. The eavesdropper can implement such a system with dedicated hardware (e.g., using capacitors, resistors, etc.). Alternatively, the attacker can use an ADC to sample the electro-optical sensor and process the data using a sound recovery algorithm running on a laptop.So basically, a laser; something to point it at (like a light bulb); and something to convert the sound. It works with LEDs as well as incandescent bulbs, too.Here's how Davey Winder at Forbes describes the process:Fluctuations in air pressure on the surface of the hanging bulb are created by the sound of conversation, or music, and make a hanging bulb vibrate. Read the rest

Public Enemy has released a new track and video, "State of the Union (STFU)." Produced by legendary DJ Premier, the track is described in the press release as “a fiery return to the frontlines as they take on Donald Trump and his fascist regime.”The press released included the lyric sheet for the track.Image: YouTube screengrab Read the rest

Photoshop kinda sucked when Adobe introduced it to the iPad last year. Months in, Photoshop for iOS is still such a flummoxing disappointment when I need to tinker with an image on my tablet. I pay for Adobe's Photography Plan (its ability to automatically sync images between devices keeps me sane), but still need to use the currently more capable Affinity Photo for iPad, for some tasks. Happily, Photoshop's development team has been taking baby steps, since its initial release, to provide more of the functionality seen in the app's desktop version. Their latest addition? The ability send images between the iOS iteration of Lightroom to Photoshop.From The Verge:Moving files into and between Adobe’s apps has been one of the small but frustrating challenges of using them on the iPad. It was years before you could import photos directly from an SD card. Moving back and forth between Lightroom and Photoshop is a really common workflow for editors, so this addition should make the process a lot quicker and more convenient. Editors could do it before, but they’d have to manually export and import the updated files every time they wanted to change apps.Now, if they'd just get luminosity range masking up and running in Lightroom for iOS, I'd have one less reason to sit in front of my computer. If you're an iPad user, moving an image over to Photoshop from Lightroom to edit, is a cinch.If you haven't done so already, update Lightroom for iOS up to it's most recent release. Read the rest

There have been a lot of "singing assholes" in music history, but none can hold a candle to David E. Gluck. Using only his talented sphincter muscle, Gluck "lip synched" along to The Trashmen single "Surfing Bird" in one of the most memorable moments in cinema history (but still only runner-up to another notorious scene from the same Waters cult classic).While his parents were still alive and because of his career, Gluck insisted that he stay anonymous and the star behind this tour de force remained a mystery. Once his parents passed away however, he felt free to shed his cloak of anonymity and let the world know his true identity.From The Baltimore Sun:"When we had the 25th anniversary and 'Pink Flamingos' was shown in regular theaters, he'd go to the movies and when his scene came on he'd tap the person on the shoulder in front of him and say, "That's me," Mr. Waters said with a laugh. "I always considered that an act of domestic terrorism."David E. Gluck died of pneumonia on June 2 at the age of 70. His widow, Patricia Greisz-Fultz Gluck, gave her blessing that his previously uncredited role may be shared with the world. Read the rest

Even if you aren’t an Apple fan, there’s a decent bet you’re ok with the Apple AirPods because, frankly, they’re just well-made and do their job with little fuss and a lot of style.Of course, that doesn’t mean the AirPods are perfect. They’re so small that they can easily roll under a couch and be lost forever. Keeping them charged up sometimes can be a hassle. And it’s near impossible for some users to keep those things from falling right out of their ears all the time. If you find the reliability of AirPod’s great sound is constantly detracted by a poor fit, it might be worth giving the Earhoox AirPod Survival Kit a try.Earhoox are like an easy-fix upgrade for your AirPods that can take them from mildly useful to practically indispensable. Just stretch the small or large sized Earhoox on to your regular AirPods and the light, durable and comfortable arm with unique flex holes locks the AirPod securely into place.No matter the activity or weather conditions, Earhoox keeps your earbuds in place so you can move with your music, making them perfect for workouts, running, commuting and the rest of your busy day activities.Since AirPods also have a disturbing habit of getting lost all the time, the Earhoox even come equipped with a small magnetic strap to keep your AirPod pairs together when they aren’t in use.This package also comes with an AirPods case to keep your buds from all the obnoxious bumps, drops, scratches and scrapes that life throws at them. Read the rest

Without any background, the idea of sleeping on bamboo sheets may not seem all that appealing. Sure, bamboo can be made into nice furniture and pandas seem to love chowing down on the stuff, but is it really something you want to be sleeping on?Turns out when it’s woven into a high-quality microfiber fabric like this Bamboo Comfort Luxury Sheet Set, the answer is a resounding yes. What you might not realize unless you’re deep into the bedding game is that bamboo fabric has been building in popularity for the past several years — and for a few good reasons.Of course, the true test of any sheet set is its comfort — and bamboo fabric can compete with the best of them. In fact, bamboo viscose is often hard to distinguish from silk or Egyptian cotton, while costing a whole lot less. Bamboo also has the advantage of insane natural absorbency. Being able to take in up to three times its weight in water, bamboo sheets are 40 percent more absorbent than even the best cotton sheets, pulling away moisture to keep your bed dry and comfortable, even during those hot summer nights.In addition to being amazingly soft and absorbent, bamboo sheets are also hypo-allergenic, warding off any allergic reactions or skin irritations that can come with cotton or other bedding materials. In much the same way bamboo foot mats are used in many countries to combat foot odor, bamboo has natural antimicrobial bio-agents that reduce bacteria and eliminate contaminants that might collect on your clothes or bedding. Read the rest

That good good loving makes a bad bad fighter. Read the rest

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expressing concern about his confidence in arrangements with Donald Trump because of ongoing protests in the United States, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Saturday.From Reuters:U.S. and Russian envoys are due to discuss “mutually agreed topics related to the future of arms control” in Austria next week, the U.S. State Department has said. Referring to Trump, Peskov said Putin needs to understand that “agreements with his political counterpart can be trusted”.There is a growing unpredictability in steps by Washington and this is worrying world capitals, Peskov was quoted as saying.“And it is important for President Putin to understand that he has a vis-à-vis (Trump) who can responsibly engage in a dialogue with him on how to amend this situation,” Peskov said. And don't forget what John Bolton said.ABC News host Martha Raddatz:“How would you describe Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin?”John Bolton:“I think Putin thinks he can play him like a fiddle.”.@MarthaRaddatz: “How would you describe Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin?”John Bolton: “I think Putin thinks he can play him like a fiddle.”Watch more from the exclusive interview this Sunday at 9|8c on ABC. https://t.co/DNIhfGmMmY pic.twitter.com/mPlORtELPU— ABC News (@ABC) June 20, 2020 Read the rest

The United States Internal Revenue Service says it purchased access to a marketing database that offers location data for millions of US cellphones, so the IRS can identify and track persons suspected of tax-related crimes.The unsuccessful effort illustrates how marketing data, and locatin data, are used by law enforcement to track and I.D. individual people suspected of criminal activity.Reports Byron Tau at the Wall Street Journal:The IRS Criminal Investigation unit, or IRS CI, had a subscription to access the data in 2017 and 2018, and the way it used the data was revealed last week in a briefing by IRS CI officials to Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D., Ore.) office. The briefing was described to The Wall Street Journal by an aide to the senator.IRS CI officials told Mr. Wyden’s office that their lawyers had given verbal approval for the use of the database, which is sold by a Virginia-based government contractor called Venntel Inc. Venntel obtains anonymized location data from the marketing industry and resells it to governments. IRS CI added that it let its Venntel subscription lapse after it failed to locate any targets of interest during the year it paid for the service, according to Mr. Wyden’s aide.Justin Cole, a spokesman for IRS CI, said it entered into a “limited contract with Venntel to test their services against the law enforcement requirements of our agency.” IRS CI pursues the most serious and flagrant violations of tax law, and it said it used the Venntel database in “significant money-laundering, cyber, drug and organized-crime cases.” Read the rest

Apple will temporarily close a number of retail stores again in the U.S., as the coronavirus outbreak re-emerges as a significant threat in new areas of the country, reports Bloomberg News.About a dozen stores across four states will be closed, in areas where new positive case counts have surged higher. “Due to current COVID-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these areas,” said Apple on Friday in a statement to Bloomberg News. “We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible.” Apple shares dropped Friday on the news reports, Mark Gurman at Bloomberg:Apple had reopened the majority of its U.S. locations, including many stores in major markets like New York City and Los Angeles.The stores being closed are Waterside Shops and Coconut Point in Florida, Southpark and Northlake Mall in North Carolina, Haywood Mall in South Carolina, and Chandler Fashion Center, Scottsdale Fashion Square, Arrowhead, SanTan Village, Scottsdale Quarter and La Encantada in Arizona.Apple said customers will be able to pick up device repairs at the stores over the weekend. Employees of the closed stores will continue be paid, the company said. Apple didn’t provide a timeline for reopening.[via techmeme.com]Let this sink in: Apple is re-closing stores in GOP red states that have failed to tackle #COVID19. Apple cares more about its customers+employees than these states care about their citizens. Read the rest

This week in the wonders of artificial intelligence, researchers at Duke University are using AI to make blurry, unrecognizable images of human faces in photos up to 60 times sharper with some remarkable results. Or did you know the U.S. Army is engineering new AI-enabled Hostile Fire Detection sensors that work like virtual soldiers, alerting flesh and blood troops to enemy fire, positions, and other potential threats? Or that AI may ultimately be what cracks the decades-old problem solving nuclear fusion? And all that was just made public in the space of a few days.Artificial intelligence and machine learning are breaking down walls in virtually every field and industry imaginable — and those with the skills to bring AI into an organization is not only invaluable but paid a fortune. You can join those ranks through the training in courses like The Ultimate Artificial Intelligence Scientist Certification Bundle. With four courses covering nearly 80 hours of material, this training is a top-to-bottom overview of the tools and procedures used to integrate thinking machines into supply chains, service operations, tech advancements, and a whole lot more.These courses from Super Data Science are among the most popular in the field, with nearly 200,000 positive reviews from more than a million students.Since the Python programming language is at the center of AI and machine learning, the Python A-Z course is the perfect entry point to understanding the discipline. With step-by-step tutorials, students learn core principles of Python coding that can immediately be applied to real-life analytical challenges. Read the rest

Following the discovery and prompting of a security researcher at Awake Security, Google says it has removed 106 malicious Chrome extensions that had 32 million downloads, and which were gathering browsing history and sensitive credentials from users.They don't yet know who was behind the malware effort. “Awake Security said the developers supplied fake contact information when they submitted the extensions to Google,” Joe Menn at Reuters:“When we are alerted of extensions in the Web Store that violate our policies, we take action and use those incidents as training material to improve our automated and manual analyses,” Google spokesman Scott Westover told Reuters.Most of the free extensions purported to warn users about questionable websites or convert files from one format to another. Instead, they siphoned off browsing history and data that provided credentials for access to internal business tools.Based on the number of downloads, it was the most far-reaching malicious Chrome store campaign to date, according to Awake co-founder and chief scientist Gary Golomb.Google declined to discuss how the latest spyware compared with prior campaigns, the breadth of the damage, or why it did not detect and remove the bad extensions on its own despite past promises to supervise offerings more closely.More at Reuters -Exclusive: Massive spying on users of Google's Chrome shows new security weakness[via techmeme.com] Read the rest

We’re a latest and greatest kind of culture. We want the newest, shiniest, fastest piece of tech in existence -- and many are willing to pay top dollar for the privilege of saying no one owns one better. The reality is that life at the tech pinnacle is incredibly fleeting. Within months, sometimes weeks, even the most hyped new technology is inevitably surpassed. But does that make that computer or device or accessory less valuable than when it was the hottest item on store shelves? No. It just means someone created something a tiny bit faster or more powerful or more versatile.In many cases, old tech gets cast aside when it’s still got years of valuable service left in its trusty innards. And if you can land fully certified, refurbished equipment guaranteed to run like new like these Dell Optiplex 7010 desktop PCs, you score premium computing at often hugely cut-rate prices.Each of these desktop units has been checked through a thorough testing and refurbishing process by a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher to ensure every computer is running as well as the day it rolled off the assembly line. Powered by the reliable performance of an Intel Quad-Core i5 processor with 16MB of memory, it’s more than up to the task of handling everything from everyday web surfing and correspondence to hardcore multitasking using multiple apps at once. In fact, those Intel processors are only a tick behind the abilities of Intel chips currently running industry-leading computers topping the 2020 marketplace. Read the rest

Adam Schlesinger has long been a songwriting hero of mine, and I was absolutely heartbroken when I learned that he had passed away from COVID-19 complications in early April. He was someone who genuinely elevated the craft of pop songwriting to an artform, without precious or self-important about it.Now, friends of Schlesinger from across the spectrum of his work — from rock music to Broadway to movies and TV — have come together to put a 31-song tribute album, covering his whole discography:Adam Schlesinger was a prodigious and prolific songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He died on April 1 at the age of 52 as the result of complications from COVID-19. Not only was Schlesinger in multiple beloved bands—including the power-pop-leaning Fountains of Wayne and sophisticated electro-pop act Ivy—but he also collaborated on songs for movie soundtracks and the TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.A wide array of artists touched by Schlesinger's life pay tribute to the many musical projects of which he was a part via the Bandcamp-exclusive benefit compilation, Saving for a Custom Van. The 31-song collection features collaborators, tourmates, friends, and fans putting their own spin on songs spanning his entire career. Saving for a Custom Van, which takes its title from a lyric in Fountains of Wayne's "Utopia Parkway," is co-curated and co-released by Father/Daughter Records and Wax Nine.One-hundred percent of Saving for a Custom Van proceeds will be donated to MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund, which is dedicated to helping music industry and community members affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the rest

The potentiometers and switches on my various electric guitars, basses, and amplifiers were making bad, crackly, staticky noises. This aerosol contact cleaner, which comes with a straw, is a cheap and easy way to clean these components, making them work as good as new. People on Amazon say it works well for mouse buttons and scroll wheels, too. Read the rest

A new article from Nature describes the discovery of a 100-million-year-old fossilized reptile egg with a soft, leathery shell that's nearly a foot long. It's the second-largest egg fossil ever discovered (after the egg of the elephant bird, which had a hard shell about five times thicker), and also the first such discovery made on the continent of Antarctica.As National Geographic summarizes:The 68-million-year-old egg, called Antarcticoolithus bradyi, is the first fossil egg ever found in Antarctica, only outsized by the eggs of Madagascar’s extinct elephant bird. Antarcticoolithus is also one of the few fossil eggs ever found in marine sediment. “For the first egg remnant from Antarctica to be a nearly complete egg that has finely preserved microstructure is kind of insane,” says Julia Clarke of UT Austin.[…]Under a microscope, Antarcticoolithus not only lacked the internal structure of hard eggshells, but also the pores of hard-shelled eggs, suggesting the large egg was soft.At the time the egg was laid, large marine reptiles called mosasaurs lived in the Antarctic waters where the fossil egg was entombed. The bones of a mosasaur were found less than 700 feet from the site, suggesting the egg may have belonged to these 20-foot-long swimming reptiles.Here's the real kicker though: the scientists didn't find any bones inside of the egg. And while they think it would have belonged to a mosasaur, or some other 20-plus-foot-long swimming reptiles, that wouldn't gel with their current knowledge of those leviathans. From Nature(emphasis added):The identity of the animal that laid the egg is unknown, but these preserved morphologies are consistent with the skeletal remains of mosasaurs (large marine lepidosaurs) found nearby. Read the rest

This idiot driving on the wrong side of a Connecticut freeway has the same mindset as a person who won't wear a facemask in public during a pandemic: "Screw all of you, I'm doing what I please." Does anyone know the full story? Read the rest

Almost Famous (2000) is one of my favorite rock and roll moves of all time. Director and writer Cameron Crowe did a masterful job with his semi-autobiographical story of a young teen music journalist on his first assignment from Rolling Stone in the 1970s. It's a lovely, funny, and moving film that just feels real. Now, the killer cast, including Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Billy Crudup, Zooey Deschanel, Jimmy Fallon, Patrick Fugit, Jason Lee are joining Crowe, Nancy Wilson of Heart (Crowe's wife who wrote music for the film), technical consultant Peter Frampton, and others for a five-part podcast hosted by James Andrew Miller. The podcast series, Origins, is produced by Cadence13 and previous editions have focused on the birth of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Sex and the City, and Saturday Night Live. Here's the trailer for Origins: Almost Famous Turns Twenty, premiering July 8.From Rolling Stone: In addition, casting director Gail Levin, rock photographer Neal Preston and Pennie Trumbull — the real-life inspiration for Penny Lane — will also share their memories.“Between his personable style, and the exhaustive research behind his wonderful questions, Jim Miller managed to summon all the spirit and emotion of Almost Famous with the original cast,” Crowe said in a statement. “It’s a little bit of a magic trick. He put the band back together.” Read the rest

Harkening back to simpler times, when concern over something as silly as a mysterious white balloon grabbed a city's attention, people in an area of northeast Japan were "bewildered" and "excited" yesterday by an unexpected sighting in the sky. Some speculated it could be a UFO, while others wondered if it was spreading Covid-19. Phones started ringing in the Meteorological Agency in Sendai at 7am, asking what the heck the white orb with a strange metal object hanging from it was.According to The Japan Times:The Meteorological Agency’s Sendai office received a number of inquiries Wednesday morning over a white balloon-like object floating in the sky over the city, leaving agency officials bewildered and some Twitter users excited.“It is not something flown by the meteorological agency, and we don’t have a clue what it is,” an agency official said. “We checked with the Sendai Municipal Government and the Self-Defense Forces, but they don’t know either.”...A cross-shaped object is hanging underneath the sphere, and it hardly moves. An agency official said it looks like some kind of an observational instrument.And from Reuters:By afternoon it was the third-most trending topic on Japanese Twitter, with theories including UFOs and North Korean balloons used to drop leaflets. One user said it could be spreading novel coronavirus, adding, “This gives me a very bad feeling, as if Godzilla might suddenly appear.”"As of this writing, the object, which presumably is long gone, has still not been identified," said Digital Trends late last night. Read the rest

While nothing will vindicate Episodes I and II, Star Wars Episode III is now available in a nearly redeeming cut!Ahsoka and Obi-Wan's stories are so much deeper and more engaging than Anakin Skywalker's. Much like the amazing Vader kicking ass scene in Rogue One, this cut of Sith puts some needed perspective on Vader, and makes Order 66 the gut-wrenching event it should have been.Obi-Wan and Satine's story remains a favorite. Ahsoka is the best character in Star Wars.Search for the full cut, it is not hard to find. You can also skip back and forth in Disney+, but the fan cut is really impressive. Read the rest

In 1982 during filming for Star Wars Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Ewok actor Warwick Davis and first assistant director David Tomblin made this mockumentary, "Return of the Ewok," about how Davis landed the role of Wicket W. Warrick. The film also stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, David Prowse, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, and Frank Oz. "The film is a curiosity, half-documentary about the making of Jedi, half-fairy tale about a little boy who becomes an Ewok," Tomblin said in a 1984 interview in Starlog magazine. "He thinks he's the only Ewok in the world, but eventually finds there are others."Return of the Ewok has never been officially released in its entirety. From Wikipedia:Filming took place during the production of Return of the Jedi, including at lunchtimes and on weekends. "At lunch times, I would rush around and try and shoot pieces for it," Tomblin said. George Lucas financed the film, though costs were limited to expenses such as film stock. "Everyone contributed their time and talent for absolutely nothing," Tomblin said.(Happy birthday, Emmett!) Read the rest

pic.twitter.com/Rloh34F5ID— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) June 17, 2020The Hill reports that a pro-Trump activist named Brandon Straka was kicked off an American Airlines plane because he wouldn't wear a mask. A New York Times reporter who was also on the flight took a video that recorded Straka arguing with the flight crew:“Sir, are you wishing not to wear a mask today?” a flight attendant asked Straka“I would prefer not to,” Straka replied before later adding, "You're asking me to do something that's not a law."The flight attendant responded by explaining that the request is part of a "procedure American Airlines follows."There is currently no law that mandates passengers must wear masks while on a flight, but all major U.S. airlines, including American, announced on May 11 new policies that call on all passengers and flight crew members to wear face coverings. Exceptions are provided for children, people with certain medical conditions and while passengers are eating and drinking.Straka told the flight attendant he had a medical condition, but did not specify what the condition was and did not provide any documentation regarding it. He was eventually ejected from the flight after a delay, drawing applause from passengers.Flight Attendant: Excuse me, sir, do you have a condition that prevents you from wearing a mask?Me: Yes. Flight Attendant: May I ask what that is?Me: Sanity.— Brandon Straka (@BrandonStraka) June 17, 2020Straka's attitude could help explain this:I made a chart. On average, blue states have seen steadily declining coronavirus infections since mid-April. Read the rest

Leonard Cohen performs "First We Take Manhattan" on Sweden's Kulturen TV program in June 1988. It's perfectly bizarro 1980s while also being so very Cohen.Below, Cohen's interview on the same program:(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

Donato Sansone "Concatenation 2" film connects a series of acrobatic Olympic athletes' jumps, spins, and dives into "a series of interconnected things or events," which is the definition of "concatenation." This delightfully disorienting video is a sequel to Sansone's original "Concatenation" film here.(via Colossal) Read the rest

This unusual chicken enjoys joining their human for a relaxing bike ride.Turns out that chicken is not the only chicken who enjoys a bit of cycling. Here's one in Denmark. They're a silkie chicken.Look at that cute blue helmet.Chicken on a bicycle! Read the rest

We know Coronavirus is impacting Black, Latinx, and Native Americans at rates far higher than whites. New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control shows the racial gap is far worse than previously known.[Read the CDC report here.]“Racial disparities in this pandemic are nothing new, but a massive collection of test results is the surest evidence yet of a horrifying trend,” reports Olivia Messer at Daily Beast:In a new, massive federal survey of novel coronavirus cases in the United States, a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers an in-depth breakdown by gender, race, ethnicity, and health factors.Among 1,320,488 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases considered by the CDC between January 22 and May 30, 2020—of which only 45 percent had race or ethnicity data—33 percent were Hispanic or Latino of any race and 22 percent of infections were among Black Americans, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released Monday found. For context, those communities account for about 18 percent and 13 percent of the U.S. population, respectively. The numbers amount to the best evidence yet that the deadly pandemic has had an outsized impact on communities of color.Read more:• Coronavirus Is Hitting Black and Hispanic Americans Harder. CDC Data Shows How Much. [dailybeast]• Coronavirus Disease 2019 Case Surveillance — United States, January 22–May 30, 2020 [cdc.gov] Read the rest

UPDATE, 6:50pm PT: AT&T tells Boing Boing, “We do not have an issue with our network,” and points us to this @ATTNEWS tweet: “Our network is operating normally, but it’s possible some customers are unable to reach people on other carriers’ networks.”Cellular provider T-Mobile has been having a very large service outage today, Monday June 15. The service interruptions were reported by Verizon users starting around 10amPT/1pm ET. It's affecting thousands of customers in several states. T-Mobile said it's working to fix the situation, and blames a widespread "voice and data issue."There is no evidence, and despite rumormongers there are no credible reports, of a DDoS attack or other cyberattack being the cause for the T-Mobile network failure or related impact on users of AT&T and Verizon today. A Verizon company spokesperson told this Boing Boing writer that a routing problem was blamed.T-Mobile's president of technology said later in the day that some users are still having problems with calls and texts, and recommended customers using WhatsApp, iMessage and other communications tools instead.Our engineers are working to resolve a voice and data issue that has been affecting customers around the country. We’re sorry for the inconvenience and hope to have this fixed shortly.— Neville (@NevilleRay) June 15, 2020From TechCrunch:In our own tests in New York and Seattle, we found that making calls from a T-Mobile phone would fail almost immediately after placing the call. We also found that the cell service on our phones was intermittent, with bars occasionally dropping to zero or losing access to high-speed data. Read the rest

• Voice of America's director and assistant director resign• White House April 10 newsletter falsely accused VOA of using taxpayer dollars to "promote foreign propaganda"• Two miserably failed right-wing filmmakers are taking control of VOA, four months before the 2020 election, and they're bringing Sebastian Gorka in. What could possibly go wrong?Two top officials at Voice of America have resigned after Trump's pick for CEO Michael Pack took over the federally funded international news network. Behind the scenes, Steve Bannon is said to be more or less taking charge of VOA now, and just in time for the 2020 U.S. elections, if they even happen. CNN reports that "a well-placed VOA employee said there are internal discussions about a sizable shakeup coming to the agency that may include former White House official and conservative radio host Sebastian Gorka taking on a leadership position."VOA director Amanda Bennett and deputy director Sandy Sugawara, both veteran journalists, bid farewell to the staff on Monday morning.Referencing Pack, they said, "as the Senate-confirmed CEO, he has the right to replace us with his own VOA leadership. We depart with the gratitude and joy that has marked our time together, with a dedication to our mission and admiration for each one of you."Some journalists at VOA fear that Pack — best known for making films with a conservative bent -- will interfere with the organization's independent newsroom and turn it into a pro-Trump messaging machine.Trump has repeatedly railed against VOA and accused it of disseminating Chinese propaganda — charges that Bennett strongly denied. Read the rest

Possibly his dumbest statement about COVID-19 ever

The comedy duo known as The Good Liars has placed these caution signs around Brooklyn to thoughtfully alert residents to the great hazards of slightly slopping (and very slippery and scary) ramps.We put some caution signs up on ramps around Brooklyn on behalf of Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/ALOpw2F7ev— The Good Liars (@TheGoodLiars) June 14, 2020Bonus track:Their exorcism of Ted Cruz. "He's possessed by a demon. That's why his body is so disgusting to look at!"Anyone wake up today hoping to see someone perform an exorcism on Ted Cruz? Well, here ya go! pic.twitter.com/US0fqN52XK— The Good Liars (@TheGoodLiars) June 15, 2020 Read the rest

Squadron based X-Wing vs TIE Interceptor combat? Count me in. I have pre-ordered via Steam. Read the rest

In this clip from a 1971 episode of The Dick Cavett Show, Sammy Davis Jr. talks about his money troubles and impersonates James Stewart and Laurence Olivier. Read the rest

Spoken Word with Electronics is an audio series delivering to you a two side recording of unusual stories paired with vintage modular electronic soundsHeadline: Space Aliens no longer visit Earth because our technology now drives them crazy. They are allergic to our EMF Radiation.Welcome back to Spoken Word with Electronics. Episode fourteen greets us with some real news. Important stuff. Humans have long benefited from help from alien lifeforms. They taught us how to make fire, possibly introduced the virus that gave us the consciousness, and even invented Febreeze. These are all alien gifts to us.Recently, however, we haven't been seeing much proof of alien life. Our race of humans have insisted on making our own technology. Like any kid in the kitchen, we've made quite a mess, too. Our bodies don't have the development to perceive our mess, but Space Aliens sure sense it. It's EMF Radiation, or Electromagnetic Fields, and our planet is now covered in it. It's gotten so noisy Aliens don't ever visit. They are allergic to our progress.Jump into our spacecraft and spin around the planet for an hour as we discuss this phenomenon, including a basic primer on alien allergies, the flaws of human hubris, and how insects are much more advanced as creatures than any human (or any human technology, for that matter).This episode includes ACTUAL EMF RADIATION, as captured by a Soma Labs Ether. All sounds of static, feedback, glitchy clicking and comfortable washes of noise have been received from the air around us through this wonderful Russian device. Read the rest

British comedy legend John Cleese tweeted a timely message Friday that was recorded some 30 years ago. The footage is from an old Fawlty Towers episode that riffs on extremists, "Extremism makes you feel good, because it provides you with enemies..." Watch:Hard to tell if I recorded this 30 years or 10 minutes ago... pic.twitter.com/GPDURhYIJL— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) June 12, 2020In related news, BBC-owned UKTV pulled a different Fawlty Towers episode out of streaming services for being racially insensitive (N-word usage). Cleese criticized the decision and it was later reinstated with "extra guidance."Speaking to Australian newspaper The Age, Cleese had said: “The Major was an old fossil left over from decades before. We were not supporting his views, we were making fun of them. If they can’t see that, if people are too stupid to see that, what can one say?” Read the rest