Technology News and More-Friday Edition...

 Technology News and More...

The amazing helicopter on Mars, Ingenuity, will fly no more
300+Ars Technica - All content / 11h
Ingenuity Enlarge / A close-up view of Ingenuity on Mars, as seen by the Perseverance rover. (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU) Something has gone wrong with NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars. Although the US space agency has not made any public announcements yet, a source told Ars that the plucky flying vehicle had an accident on its last flight and broke one of its blades. It will


New United credit card bonuses: Earn up to 100,000 MileagePlus miles


1KThe Points Guy / 10h
Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers. If you are planning a dream getaway soon, now is a good time to determine your earning strategy and rack up those points and miles. As usual, one of the easiest ways to amass a large chunk of rewards is through credit card sign-up bonuses . United loyalists are in luck because Chase and United have teamed


Road House remake's director lashes out at Amazon as Prime Video debuts action movie's first trailer
46TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 14h
Amazon has debuted the first trailer for its Road House movie remake – but the release has been overshadowed by a potential row between the e-commerce giant and the movie's director. The Jake Gyllenhaal-starring action film, which is Prime Video 's modern take on the 1989 cult classic that starred Patrick Swayze, is due out on one of the world's best streaming services on March 21. With less than


Improved Solar Thermal Energy Storage Could Replace Coal Plants
Next Big Future / 26min
New South Wales, Australia, reached a record high and more efficient critical milestone temperature of 803 °C for concentrated solar thermal energy storage. Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight, converting it to heat, which can then be stored or used to generate electricity. Heated ceramic particles act like a battery, storing energy ... Read more


Fake Explicit Taylor Swift Images Swamp Social Media
82NYT > Technology / 2h
Fans of the star and lawmakers condemned the images, probably generated by artificial intelligence, after they were shared with millions of social media users.


How to watch Senegal vs. Ivory Coast online for free
Mashable / 2h
TL;DR: Stream Senegal vs. Ivory Coast in AFCON for free on BBC iPlayer . Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN . The knockout rounds of the Africa Cup of Nations are set to deliver quality, energy, and moments of drama. There are some massive matchups in this first round of knockout games, but it doesn't get any bigger than Senegal vs. Ivory Coast. If you


How to watch Newport Country vs. Manchester United online for free
Mashable / 2h
TL;DR: Stream Newport Country vs. Manchester United in the FA Cup for free on BBC iPlayer . Access this free streaming service from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN . The fourth-round of the FA Cup is delivering a lot of matchups between Premier League sides and smaller clubs with big dreams and nothing to lose. It's what makes the competition so special. The chance of a giant killing is alw


How to watch Liverpool vs. Norwich City online for free
Mashable / 2h
TL;DR: Stream Liverpool vs. Norwich City in the FA Cup for free on ITVX . Access this free streaming service from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN . The FA Cup is at its best when the biggest clubs in the country take on sides from outside the Premier League . Everyone wants to see a surprise result. Everyone except Liverpool fans that is, because Liverpool are hosting Norwich City in the fo


A lifetime subscription to Write Bot AI Content Creation is on sale for 92% off
Mashable / 2h
TL;DR: A lifetime subscription to Write Bot AI Content Creation is on sale for £31.42, saving you 92% on list price. Writing may sound easy on paper, but chipping away at writer's block one word at a time can be tough and time-consuming. When you have a ton of other things you need to get done, you might not have time to do the job justice. Generative AI writing tools may be able to speed things


Epic Games confirms Fortnite is coming back to iOS in Europe this year
Engadget / 3h
Following Apple's announcement of enabling third-party app stores for iOS users in the European Union, Epic Games confirms that it'll be bringing Fortnite back to the iPhone and iPad in Europe later this year — by way of a new Epic mobile games store. This will mark the title's official return to Apple's platform since it was yanked back in August 2020, after Epic offered discounts to payments ma


You Can Get a Year of YogaDownload Classes on Sale for $30 Right Now
LifeHacker / 4h
You can get a one-year subscription to YogaDownload on sale for $29.99 right now (reg. $119). YogaDownload is a subscription service that offers access to 1,500 online yoga and fitness classes designed for at-home workouts and that don't require any equipment other than a basic yoga mat. You can stream live classes, and it also allows you to filter courses based on style, teacher, level, intensit


How to watch India vs. England cricket series online
Mashable / 5h
Want to watch the series between India and England? These are your best options: Best For Cricket Fanatics Willow TV $9.99/month Best FOR MULTIPLE CHANNELS Sling TV $20 for the first month, then $40/month (save $20) Best For simultaneous streams DirecTV Stream $95/month Is there a tougher sporting challenge than going to India and winning a Test series? We don't think so. The combination of testi


Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for January 26
Mashable / 5h
Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle . As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer. If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for Jan. 26's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. Where did Wordle co


NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for January 26
Mashable / 5h
Connections is the latest New York Times word game that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle , Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle. If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the e


Brazilian Airline GOL Files For Bankruptcy Protection
28One Mile at a Time / 6h
At the start of the pandemic, we saw several airlines file for bankruptcy protection, given the unprecedented challenges the industry faced. This was especially true in Latin America, where we saw the three biggest airlines — Aeromexico , Avianca , and LATAM — all file for bankruptcy protection. You can now add another airline to the list, as Brazil’s GOL has just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy


Delivery startup Veho makes corporate job cuts
26TechCrunch / 7h
The company said the layoffs are part of a "reorganization of our corporate team to improve efficiencies and accelerate our path to profitability." © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Optimus Teslabot and Starlink Mini Will Outclass MacBooks and Smartphones
Next Big Future / 7h
Two near term future products will be a fantastic combination. The Optimus Teslabot will have a 3 kilowatt hour battery pack which is thirty times more than a 100 watt-hour battery for a Macbook Pro. It would be three hundred times more than smartphone batteries. A new Starlink Mini will be released later in 2024 ... Read more


The Garmin Venu Sq Smartwatch Is 40% Off Right Now
LifeHacker / 7h
The Garmin Venu Sq is one of the best budget smartwatches you can get. The Venu Sq was already considered a budget smartwatch, but after it was succeeded by the Venu Sq 2 last year, it became even cheaper. I’ve had mine for over three years, and it's still performing like it’s fresh out of the box. Right now, you can get the Venu Sq for $119.99 (originally $199.99) after a 40% discount from Amazo


Use These Six Customer Service Phrases to Respond to Difficult People
LifeHacker / 7h
Whether it's someone at work, a member of your family, or a person you encounter while running errands, when someone turns what should be a quick and painless conversation or task into a time-consuming and mentally taxing ordeal, it can throw off your entire day. But people often don't realize that they're causing a problem, and losing your patience with them probably won't solve anything. Use th


NEW: 100K Miles With A Simple $5K Spend, The Ultimate United Business Card Offer
View from the Wing / 7h
The article explores the lucrative 100,000-mile bonus offer of the Chase United Business Card, achievable with a $5,000 spend in the first three months, and examines its benefits for business and travel, comparing it to other Chase credit options. Continue reading ...


American Airlines’ Measly Employee Profit Sharing
74One Mile at a Time / 7h
In the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen most major US airlines report their financial results for 2023. Among the “big three” US carriers, the results are exactly what you’d expect — Delta did best by a long shot, followed by United, followed by American. Related to this, one interesting thing has been seeing how profit sharing differs at the major US carriers. American just announced the details


David Lynch's Dune Is Bringing Its Glorious Weirdness Back to Theaters
Gizmodo / 7h
The excitement over Dune: Part Two ’s March 1 arrival is building—so much so that other movies are trying to capitalize on it. Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is returning to theaters accompanied by a special tease of Denis Villeneuve’s sequel—but first, David Lynch’s take on Dune will be getting its due. Read more...


Quordle today – hints and answers for Friday, January 26 (game #732)
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 7h
It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I'm still playing now, around two years after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it's fun, but also difficult. What's more, its makers (now the online dictionary Merriam-Webster) are also keep


BT customers unknowingly charged for Xbox Game Pass
49BBC News - Technology / 8h
Customers tell the BBC of "worrying" fees added to their monthly bills without their consent.


Fortnite Is on Its Way Back to iPhones
Gizmodo / 8h
Apple is granting more access to its manicured walled garden to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the European Union (EU). In a press release , the company announced a heaping of forthcoming iOS, Safari, and the App Store changes, including support for apps from third-party app stores and the ability to set… Read more...


Credit Card Concierge Services: Are They Useful?
33One Mile at a Time / 8h
Many premium credit cards offer a concierge service, though it’s typically described in a pretty open-ended way. In some cases the service is tied to a specific card (like the Amex Platinum), while in other cases it’s tied to the tier of card with a payment processing network (a Visa Infinite, a World Elite Mastercard, etc.). An OMAAT reader who recently picked up a premium card for the first tim


iOS 17.4 Will Change the iPhone Forever, but Only If You Live in the EU
LifeHacker / 8h
Apple released the first developer beta for iOS 17.4 today, Jan. 25. This closely follows the official release of iOS 17.3 , which included anticipated new features like Stolen Device Protection and collaborative playlists in Apple Music . As it happens, iOS 17.4 is actually one of the most groundbreaking iOS updates ever . Unfortunately, most of the big changes only affect those living in the E.


Facebook, TikTok, X collect data when sending iPhone push notifications
Mashable / 8h
Push notifications are being exploited to invasively collect user data once again, according to a new report by researchers with app developer Mysk. iPhone apps are utilizing push notifications in order to send device information and other analytics to remote servers, Mysk researchers found. Developers are able to collect this data even if the app isn't open on the device. What's going on here? A


These Pop Culture Portraits Are Perfectly Poised
Gizmodo / 8h
Sometimes you just want a portrait of your favorite characters from TV and movies on your wall. And when that happens, artist Dakota Randall is there. In conjunction with the Hero Complex Gallery , Randall has been creating beautiful, affordable, realistic-looking portraits for a few years now, inspired by dramas,… Read more...


Luko’s acquisition won’t make everyone happy, but the insurtech will live on
25TechCrunch / 9h
Allianz Direct, a digital-first German subsidiary of the insurance giant, has acquired the French home insurance business of ailing insurtech Luko for €4.3 million (around $4.65 million). © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Dramatic Showdown: American Airlines CEO Grilled by Flight Attendants After Earnings Call
View from the Wing / 9h
American Airlines flight attendants, amidst union officer elections and ongoing wage disputes, are escalating their efforts to strike by confronting CEO Robert Isom and pushing for government mediation, despite upcoming negotiations and a previous rejection for a strike during the holiday season. Continue reading ...


Apple finally letting people run third-party browsers unfettered – but only in the EU and not because it wants to
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 9h
For iOS 17.4, Apple is making sweeping changes to iPhones in the EU including finally giving users the ability to run native third-party browsers on their phone. You may be wondering, “Aren’t there already third-party browsers on iOS?” Not exactly. The way things work currently is developers must rework their software to run on the WebKit framework, effectively turning browsers like Chrome on iOS


LIGO goes to space: ESA to proceed with LISA gravitational wave detector
Ars Technica - All content / 9h
Enlarge / The LISA project will consist of three spacecraft in a triangular configuration, exchanging lasers. (credit: EADS Astrium ) On Thursday, the European Space Agency's Science Programme Committee gave the go-ahead to the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or LISA project . This would mean the construction of the mission's three spacecraft could begin as early as a year from now. While the


Resident Evil Kart’s fixed camera angles make for a charmingly frustrating classic
Ars Technica - All content / 9h
Super Mario Kart Enlarge / Is this Super Mario Kart or Where's Waldo ? (credit: MrL314 / YouTube ) Here at Ars, we're big fans of emulators and ROM hacks that actually improve on the limitations of classic games in some way or another. Today, though, we've found ourselves enamored with a Super Mario Kart ROM patch that easily makes the game much, much worse. Longtime Super Mario Kart hacker MrL31


Warming Mars by 10 Degrees Celsius by 2050
Next Big Future / 9h
There is an improved plan to bring the factories and power systems to manufacture nanorods on Mars and create an intense global warming effect. A few dozen SpaceX Starships would be ready to bring factory equipment, mining equipment and nuclear or solar energy to manufacture 1.5 million tons of nanorods to warm the atmosphere of ... Read more


Fortnite and the Epic Games Store are coming to iOS in Europe
20TechCrunch / 9h
Four years after leaving iOS, Fortnite is coming back — but only European players will be dropping in this time. The endless beef between Epic Games and Apple over the company’s App Store fees took its most recent surprise turn on Thursday when the iPhone maker announced changes coming to iOS in the EU. In […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


OpenAI responds to Congressional Black Caucus about lack of diversity on its board
TechCrunch / 9h
OpenAI has been criticized for the lack of diversity on its board. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


L.A. County to Pay $5 Million to Election Executive Wrongly Charged With Data Breach
NYT > Technology / 9h
Eugene Yu, the owner of an election software company, was arrested in 2022 on charges of breaching election data. Those charges were dropped weeks later.


The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Might Make Me Ditch My iPhone
LifeHacker / 9h
From the Pixel 8 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max at the end of last year, to the OnePlus 12 this January, it's been a great time to be in the market for a new smartphone. And despite stiff competition, one phone has managed to stand out above the rest, at least as far as how it blends performance, style, and features: the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. It's a strong enough contender that I'd be willing


What's New in the January Pixel Features Drop
LifeHacker / 9h
Google's first Feature Drop of 2024 is officially here . The company started rolling out new features for its Pixel smartphones yesterday, Jan. 24, and will continue to roll out features in the coming weeks. There are some interesting new options included in this new drop: You can now take your temperature with your Pixel 8 Pro With this latest Pixel Feature Drop, Google is activating a Pixel 8 P


Kristen Stewart's Love Me Is Like Wall-E in Real Life
Gizmodo / 9h
The new movie Love Me takes place over 10 billion years and stars only two actors who don’t play humans . It’s part nature film, part animation, part stage drama, and incredibly ambitious and dense both in scope and theme. Written and directed by Sam and Andy Zuchero, it’s a film that attempts to capture the entire… Read more...


Women Are Just as Cognitively Sharp Under the Male Gaze, Scientists Find
55Futurism / 9h
Good news for women who have to exist under the male gaze: it doesn't, as one might think, make you dumber. In an interview with PsyPost about her recent study looking into the effects of self-objectification on concentration, Northwestern psychology professor and paper co-author Renee Engeln said she wanted to see whether being aware of the male gaze could harm women's ability to focus. What she


General purpose humanoid robots? Bill Gates is a believer
26TechCrunch / 10h
The robotics industry loves a good, healthy debate. Of late, one of the most intense ones centers around humanoid robots. It’s been a big topic for decades, of course, but the recent proliferation of startups like 1X and Figure — along with projects from more established companies like Tesla — have put humanoids back in […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Singapore KrisFlyer: Ultimate guide to earning, redeeming and elite status
1KThe Points Guy / 10h
As a partner of many transferable points programs — and one of the best ways to book Singapore Airlines’ coveted first-class Suites product — there’s much to love about Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program. Even if Singapore isn’t in your travel plans, KrisFlyer’s Star Alliance and non-alliance award charts have some hidden gems you should know about. From booking one-way award seats to Hawaii f


In-Flight Showdown: United Flight Attendant Confronts Passengers Drinking Their Own Booze
View from the Wing / 10h
A flight attendant confiscated alcohol from two passengers, while another passenger on board the aircraft filmed. The two women had open mini-bottles that they'd brought on board themselves. They weren't being discrete - they were cheersing across the aisle of what appears to be a United Airlines Boeing 757. Continue reading ...


Smallest Hall Effect Thrusters Can Fit Into Cubesats
Next Big Future / 10h
The possibility of the controversial IVO Quantized Inertia drive on the Barry-1 satellite working has raised the question of could it be faked with a small Hall Effect Thruster ? I looked at the smallest Hall thrusters. If the Barry-1 thrust is 2 millinewtons or less and lasts for a month or so then it ... Read more


Argonne National Lab Reveal Superconductor with On-off Switches
Next Big Future / 10h
Researchers used the Advanced Photon Source to confirm the rare properties of this material, which could lead to more efficient large-scale computing. Physicists at the University of Washington and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have made a discovery that could help enable this more efficient future. Researchers have found a superconducting ... Read more


Germany vs Denmark live stream: watch men's EHF Euro 2024 handball semi-finals online
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 10h
The second semi-final at the men’s EHF Euro 2024 handball competition is Germany vs Denmark. Denmark are hot favorites but German left back Julian Koster reckons the Danes could crack under the pressure. Read on as we explain how to watch a FREE Handball EURO 2024 live stream – no matter where you are in the world. Just want to get watching? Watch FREE on EHFTV (may require a VPN ) EHF EURO 2024


Big-Name Targets Push Midnight Blizzard Hacking Spree Back Into the Limelight
2 TTPs•
32Wired / 10h
Newly disclosed breaches of Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise highlight the persistent threat posed by Midnight Blizzard, a notorious Russian cyber-espionage group.


NASA's Mars Helicopter Breaks a Blade and Will Never Fly Again
100+Gizmodo / 10h
After nearly three years of flying across the Martian terrain, the Ingenuity helicopter has finally ended its mission. NASA declared Thursday that Ingenuity had sustained damage to a blade during its most recent landing and would not make another flight. Read more...


Pre-slicing Frozen Pizza Is How You Win
21LifeHacker / 10h
As a critical thinker and a big lover of frozen pizza, I’m ashamed that I just found out about this trick. Partly I’m miffed that now there’s no excuse to have to eat an entire DiGiorno in one sitting. You see, I used to view a frozen pizza as a one-time agreement. You buy a whole pie. You bake the whole pie. You fridge the leftovers, and they’re never as good. It turns out that the last part nev


Prime Members Can Choose Two Free E-Books From This List in January
LifeHacker / 10h
You can get hundreds of free e-books this month if you know where to look. On Thursday, Jan. 25, you can get over a hundred free mystery e-books from the Cozy Mystery Book Blast event; on Saturday, Jan. 27, you can get free "witchy" e-books from Witchy Book Worms ; and for all of January, Prime members can get two free Kindle e-books from Amazon's First Reads program. What is Amazon's First Reads


Solana Mobile still has a long way to go until it hits breakeven
25TechCrunch / 10h
If Solana Mobile’s devices have 100,000 users, Yakovenko views that user base as a stronger distribution channel for dApps than through traditional app stores like Google or Apple. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Good news Windows fans, the Ayaneo Next Lite gaming handheld will support your favorite OS
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 10h
The latest in a long line of Ayaneo PC gaming handhelds, dubbed the Ayaneo Next Lite, will not only be an incredibly affordable portable option but will also be changing course on its OS. According to a statement posted on the official Ayaneo Twitter/X account , the handheld will come with Windows 11 64-bit Home Edition pre-installed instead of Linux. A great option for those who are more familia


Swift retaliation: Fans strike back after explicit deepfakes flood X
TechCrunch / 10h
Nonconsensual deepfake porn of Taylor Swift went viral on X this week, with one post garnering more than 45 million views, 24,000 reposts and hundreds of thousands of likes before it was removed. The pop star has one of the world’s most dedicated, extremely online, and incomprehensibly massive fanbases. Now, the Swifties are out for […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use onl


Oscar Nominee and Noted Star Wars Fan Lily Gladstone Just Joined a Very Cool Sci-Fi Movie
Gizmodo / 10h
It’s not quite her dream sci-fi role, but until Killers of the Flower Moon breakout Lily Gladstone’s Star Wars Ewok aspirations come true, The Memory Police sounds like an excellent entry into the genre. The team behind this project is ridiculous; besides Gladstone as the lead, it includes director Reed Morano (The… Read more...


Japan’s SLIM spacecraft sticks moon landing – upside-down
20TechCrunch / 10h
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Company shared the first image of its lander on the lunar surface, revealing that the spacecraft touched down on the moon upside-down. It’s a remarkable recovery for the spacecraft, which experienced an “abnormality in the main engine” that affected the landing orientation when it was just 50 meters above the lunar […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For pe


NASA's Mars Helicopter Has Died
100+Futurism / 11h
RIP Brace yourself for tragic news. We regret to inform you that NASA's Ingenuity helicopter, which has taken flight on Mars an incredible 72 times since its maiden voyage in April 2021, is no more. In a statement , NASA confirmed that Ingenuity's historic mission is officially over, ending a historic and groundbreaking mission that has laid important groundwork for future missions to distant pla


lisamarie-vee :
Music, Arts & Literature / 11h



N.S.A. Buys Americans’ Internet Data Without Warrants, Letter Says
48NYT > Technology / 11h
The disclosure comes amid congressional scrutiny and a Federal Trade Commission crackdown on commercial data brokers.


Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards review: Customize your rewards structure
The Points Guy / 11h
Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers. Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card overview The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card is a solid cash-back credit card, offering a customizable rewards structure that is great for anyone whose spending habits change throughout the year. The card can become especially lucrati


Apple announces sweeping EU App Store policy changes—including sideloading
Ars Technica - All content / 11h
Enlarge / The iPhone 15 lineup. To comply with European Union regulations, Apple has introduced sweeping changes that make iOS and Apple's other operating systems more open. The changes are far-reaching and touch many parts of the user experience on the iPhone. They'll be coming as part of iOS 17.4 in March. Apple will introduce "new APIs and tools that enable developers to offer their iOS apps f


X can’t stop spread of explicit, fake AI Taylor Swift images
Ars Technica - All content / 11h
Enlarge (credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / Contributor | FilmMagic ) Explicit, fake AI-generated images sexualizing Taylor Swift began circulating online this week, quickly sparking mass outrage that may finally force a mainstream reckoning with harms caused by spreading non-consensual deepfake pornography. A wide variety of deepfakes targeting Swift began spreading on X, the platform formerly known


Microsoft cancels Blizzard survival game, lays off 1,900
32Ars Technica - All content / 11h
Enlarge / Blizzard shared this image teasing a now-cancelled game in 2022. (credit: Blizzard Entertainment/Twitter) The survival game that Blizzard announced it was working on in January 2022 has reportedly been canceled. The cut comes as Microsoft is slashing jobs a little over four months after closing its $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition . Blizzard's game didn't have a title yet, bu


iOS 17.4 beta adds 118 new emoji. The phoenix one is fire.
20Mashable / 11h
Apple's iOS 17.4 beta dropped with 118 new emoji, according to a recent Emojipedia blog post , including two head-shaking emoji that signify yes or no, a fiery phoenix, a lime slice, a mushroom, and a broken chain. The aforementioned six are, as Emojipedia pointed out, "brand new emoji concepts." However, the remaining emoji build upon already established characters. Tweet may have been deleted i


NASA's Mars helicopter just died. Here's what happened.
100+Mashable / 11h
It's extraordinarily hard to fly on Mars . But NASA's Ingenuity helicopter did it — 72 times . On Jan. 25, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson gloomily announced that the helicopter's 72nd flight was its final extraterrestrial trip. The first craft to ever make a powered, controlled flight on another planet damaged at least one of its essential four rotor blades, and cannot take flight again. "It is b


Apple finally allows game streaming services on the App Store
Mashable / 11h
Folks who like gaming on-the-go got some good news from Apple on Thursday. In a blog post on its developer website, Apple confirmed that third-party video game streaming apps from the likes of Xbox and Nvidia are now permitted on the App Store. The Cupertino-based tech giant makes this announcement after years of forcing users to clunkily stream games via mobile browsers. SEE ALSO: Apple Vision P


Cruise reveals DOJ, SEC probes as it releases internal report on pedestrian crash
TechCrunch / 11h
Cruise, the GM self-driving subsidiary, said Thursday that federal prosecutors and securities regulators have opened investigations into the October 2 incident that left a pedestrian stuck under and then dragged by one of its robotaxis. The probes by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which were revealed as part of an […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved.


NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter has flown on Mars for the final time
Engadget / 11h
After three years of service, NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter has flown on Mars for the last time. Earlier this month, during its 72nd flight, Ingenuity stopped communicating with the Perseverance rover. Although NASA later reestablished contact with the helicopter , it emerged that at least one of Ingenuity's carbon fiber rotor blades was damaged during a landing on January 18th. The helicopter is u


The Best Apps to Gamify Your Focus and Productivity
LifeHacker / 11h
Call me immature, but I’m about a thousand times more likely to participate in activities that are good for me when they can be gamified. Even the simple pleasure of watching a number go up or earning a digital milestone badge can motivate me to get to the gym, track my meals, or form a new habit. Gamification can be used for focusing and studying, too, and a wide variety of apps exist to serve t


Startup brewing waste to replace palm oil gets Gates Foundation cash
22TechCrunch / 11h
The Gates Foundation is pumping millions into C16 Biosciences, the Y Combinator-backed company fermenting palm oil alternatives. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Robot Car Crash Investigation Concludes GM’s Cruise Didn’t Disclose Key Information
36Wired / 11h
A law firm’s investigation of a gruesome crash in which a pedestrian was dragged under an autonomous vehicle says GM’s Cruise fixated on media reports and didn’t share all it knew with regulators.


Japan’s SLIM lunar spacecraft landed upside down on the moon
Engadget / 11h
Shortly after Japan’s space agency became the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon, its scientists discovered the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) unfortunately touched down upside down. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said that the SLIM landed on the lunar surface on January 20 but it knew it might have bigger problems due to an issue with power g


Feds Launch Inquiry Into OpenAI and Microsoft’s Messy Relationship
Gizmodo / 11h
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched an inquiry into the billion-dollar AI deals of OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Anthropic on Thursday. Throughout the inquiry, cloud providers must disclose details about the nature of their partnerships and investments with AI startups. Of particular interest is the… Read more...


Your guide to using Marriott Nightly Upgrade Awards
100+The Points Guy / 11h
Until early 2024, Marriott Bonvoy members could select Suite Night Awards as Annual Choice Benefits. When I selected my Marriott Choice Benefits on Jan. 2, I selected five Suite Night Awards as my 50-night Choice Benefit. However, I knew Marriott would convert Suite Night Awards to Nightly Upgrade Awards in early 2024. So, I wasn’t surprised when the Marriott Suite Night Award changes went live a


23andMe admits it didn’t detect cyberattacks for months
53TechCrunch / 11h
In a data breach notification letter filed with regulators this weekend, 23andMe revealed that hackers started breaking into customers’ accounts in April 2023 and continued through most of September. In other words, for around five months, 23andMe did not detect a series of cyberattacks where hackers were trying — and often succeeding — in brute-forcing […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved.


Tom Holland's Gigantic Avengers Bonus Once Got Accidentally Sent to Tom Hollander
57Gizmodo / 11h
The Screen Actors Guild prevents two actors from claiming the same name, for obvious reasons; that’s why, for instance, we know Emily Stone as Emma Stone . Actors with very similar names don’t have that issue—though as veteran performer Tom Hollander has revealed, that can still lead to confusion. Read more...


Will There Be Any Consequences For All This Disgusting AI Taylor Swift Porn?
100+Futurism / 11h
Social media sites have been awash with AI-generated Taylor Swift porn this week — and it's hard to tell whether there will be any real consequences for those who posted them or allowed them to proliferate. Depending on which social network you're on, searching for "Taylor Swift AI" right now could either produce either the aforementioned fake porn or, in the case of X-formerly-Twitter, a rush of


Epic Games CEO calls out Apple’s DMA rules as ‘malicious compliance’ and full of ‘junk fees’
27TechCrunch / 12h
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is none too pleased with Apple’s new App Store rules, dubbing them once again a case of “malicious compliance” and filled with “junk fees.” As reported earlier this week, Apple today announced it will charge fees on “sideloaded” apps in the EU — that is, apps and games downloaded from […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Rest in Peace: NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter took its last flight on Mars
38TechCrunch / 12h
Ingenuity, the small helicopter that’s been buzzing around the Red Planet for almost three years, has taken its final flight. NASA announced today that at least one of the helicopter’s carbon fiber rotor blades was damaged during its last mission, grounding it for good. To say that Ingenuity had a remarkable run is a bit […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Bitcoin and Ethereum decline on the week, Worldcoin to launch a new Orb and Terraform Labs files for bankruptcy
24TechCrunch / 12h
Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction. To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important crypto stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday at 12 p.m. PT, subscribe here. Hello, and welcome back to the second edition of the new and improved TechCrunch Crypto newsletter. As previously mentioned, alongside our regularly […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserve


Cruise Says Hostility to Regulators Led to Grounding of Its Autonomous Cars
38NYT > Technology / 12h
A law firm’s review found that executives had failed to fully explain an October crash, which the Justice Department is also investigating.


This week's best Target TV deals - cheap TVs from $149.99
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 12h
Target is a great shopping destination for all things tech, including televisions, so I'm rounding up this week's best Target TV deals. You'll find all the best offers on this page, with a wide range of sizes and prices from brands like Samsung, LG, Vizio, TCL, and Hisense. Target's TV deals include everything from big-screen budget sets to premium OLED displays, with competitive prices, so there


Google's new AI video generator is great — but what about deepfakes?
Mashable / 12h
Google's new AI video generator is its most advanced yet — and that may lead to a rise in more convincing deepfakes . Google Research just unveiled Lumiere , an AI video generator capable of creating five-second photorealistic videos from simple text prompts. What makes it so advanced, according to the research paper, is a "Space-Time U-Net architecture" that "generates the entire temporal durati


Vision Pro arrival dates are getting delayed leaving many frustrated
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 12h
Pre-orders of Apple’s Vision Pro are supposed to ship out on February 2; however several reports have appeared online claiming there’s going to be a sizable delay. People have flocked to Reddit and X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) with screenshots of their orders now having an arrival period of February 29 to March 7. That week is commonly seen among the buyers experiencing the delay, b


MIT researchers have developed a rapid 3D-printing technique that uses liquid metal
Engadget / 12h
Researchers at MIT have developed a rapid 3D-printing technique that uses liquid metal to allow for extremely fast prints. The process can manufacture large aluminum components in minutes, whereas many pre-existing techniques would take hours to finish the same build. The technology has already been used to create table legs, chair frames and related furniture parts. It’s called liquid metal prin


OpenAI drops prices and fixes ‘lazy’ GPT-4 that refused to work
25TechCrunch / 12h
OpenAI is always making slight adjustments to its models and pricing, and today is no exception. The company has released a handful of new models and dropped the price of API access — this is primarily of interest to developers, but also serves as a bellwether for future consumer options. GPT-3.5 Turbo is the model […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Silence is Golden: Expert Tricks to Dodge Airplane Chatter [Roundup]
View from the Wing / 12h
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips. Continue reading ...


Turf war: Sun Country adds rare single new route against Frontier Airlines
62The Points Guy / 12h
Competition might be great for travelers, but Sun Country Airlines isn’t happy about it. On Wednesday, the carrier announced a new nonstop route from its base at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE). On its own, this new 622-mile route might not necessarily grab headlines — after all, Sun Country rarely announces a single route at


Google Pixel 9 leak reveals 3 big design tweaks. It looks more iPhone-like now.
Mashable / 12h
The Pixel 8 isn't even six months old yet and we're already seeing leaks of the Pixel 9. Shared as a collaboration between X user @OnLeaks and 91mobiles , leaked renders of the Pixel 9 appeared online this week. The good news is that it still looks like a smartphone, so Google isn't doing anything too crazy. The bad news (depending on your taste) is that Google made it look a little more like an


Mac 40th anniversary: Here’s every single Mac from ’84 to now
45Mashable / 12h
It may be hard to believe, but the Mac turned 40 on Wednesday. Feeling old? The Mac, formerly known as the Macintosh, stands as Apple's longest-running product line. Sure, over the years, the iPod, followed by the iPhone and iPad have stolen the Mac's spotlight among consumers. But the real tech heads know that the Mac is the backbone of the company, holding all of Apple's most popular products t


Exclusive: Samsung to launch Petabyte SSD subscription — PBSSD-as-a-service is definitely not your usual cloud storage service, at least not for now
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 12h
Samsung has announced it is exploring a new business model that’s likely to get a lot of attention from partners and rivals alike. PBSSD as a service is what the company calls a high capacity SSD subscription service that it says, “goes beyond capacity limits”. So it is neither a cloud storage service nor a cloud backup solution, at least not for now. In a blog post on the company’s website, Yong


Why Fitness Advice Is So Confusing (and What to Do About It)
LifeHacker / 12h
Learning about exercise can be overwhelming. One YouTube channel tells you what to do, and you think, OK, I’ve got that. Then you see an Instagram post that tells you something else entirely. Stop by the gym and ask a trainer, and they’ll let you know that both of your sources are overthinking it and instead you should do things their way. Why is it all so complicated? I have some thoughts on tha


So, Your Partner Has a Piss Kink
LifeHacker / 12h
Golden showers. Water sports. Piss play. These are all ways to describe piss kinks, which is any use of urine for sexual pleasure. (Call if urophilia, if you're classy.) If your reaction to reading those terms is to think them unsanitary, gross, or uncommon, consider that for something to have that many nicknames and euphemisms, it has to be more common than you think. It turns out a whopping 32%


PlayStation has blocked hardware cheating device Cronus Zen, others may follow
Ars Technica - All content / 12h
Enlarge / Who doesn't want less recoil? Unless, that is, you're someone competing against the person getting this benefit with a $100 "emulation" device. (credit: Cronus) The Cronus Zen describes itself as a hardware tool for "universal controller compatibility," letting you plug in a third-party controller, an Xbox controller into a PlayStation, or even your keyboard and mouse into a console. Bu


The Pixel 8 Pro can now read body temps, if you swipe it across your face
Ars Technica - All content / 12h
Step 1: get the phone as close to your face as possible. [credit: Google ] Most Pixel 8 Pro owners have probably forgotten that there's an infrared temperature sensor on the back of the phone next to the LED camera flash. But it's still there, and almost four months after launch, it's getting a new feature: body temperature measurement. The four-month hold-up is because body temperature sensors a


Facebook suffers big loss in lawsuit against data-scraping company
Ars Technica - All content / 12h
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto ) One year after Meta sued a data-scraping company, a federal judge this week threw out Meta's breach-of-contract claim because the defendant obtained only public data from Facebook and Instagram. Meta sued Bright Data in January 2023, making claims of breach of contract and tortious interference with contract. Bright Data is an Israeli company that collec


The X-Men Are Trying to Solve Their Beast Problem in the Wildest Way
Gizmodo / 12h
If you’re not familiar with them before asking, you might be surprised if an X-Men comic reader declares Hank McCoy—the fuzzball genius Beast—one of the most evil characters in the franchise. This is not a new twist, either, even in the wake of X-Men: The Animated Series and the Fox films paving his mainstream… Read more...


Taylor Swift AI Porn Is Driving Fans Ballistic
32Gizmodo / 12h
A series of AI-generated images of Taylor Swift in suggestive and pornographic situations are causing an uproar on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Though some of the images have been taken down, others remain on the platform. Swift’s army of fans have embarked on a campaign to bury the images by flooding… Read more...


Scientists Puzzled by Planet-Sized Objects Emitting Strange Radio Signal
100+Futurism / 12h
Starless Wonders After the James Webb Space Telescope discovered dozens of rogue Jupiter-sized objects drifting through space with no stars to orbit, a team of Mexican scientists decided to check out what kind of signals these bizarre bodies were emitting — and were stumped by what they found. It all started last fall, when a duo of astronomers from the European Space Agency (ESA) published a not


The FTC is investigating Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet's investments into AI startups
Engadget / 12h
The Federal Trade Commission is launching an inquiry into massive investments made by Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet into generative AI startups OpenAI and Anthropic , the agency announced on Thursday. The FTC said that it had issued “compulsory orders” to the companies and would