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Comment Re:American burial (Score 2) 145

by sh00z (#58637364) Attached to: Washington Becomes First State To Legalize Human Composting

Got a bit more contemporary reference than ancient Egypt? I didn't say no one else does this (or that something similar can't be found historically), just made the point that what is described as "conventional burial" (in the US, as the article is about) is just one situation of burial, but that burying the dead does not actually require formaldehyde or an indestructible coffin, as proven in plenty of other places.

Natural burial is legal in all 50 states. It's a constitutionally-protected freedom for which we can thank Orthodox Jews. The funeral industry will do everything in their power to try to convince you that you MUST spend $10-15,000 to have a loved one interred, but it's simply not true. Do your homework ahead of time. Don't do anything stupid (a family I know ended up paying for embalming AND cremation). Put your wishes in a Directive for Disposition of Remains, to be kept with your will, and make damn sure somebody knows about it, or your corpse will roll up thousands of dollars worth of debt within hours of death.
Hardware

Samsung's $2,000 Galaxy Fold Units Are Failing Left and Right With Disastrous Display Issues (androidpolice.com) 185

Posted by msmash from the this-is-fine dept.
Four Samsung Galaxy Fold review units in the hands of major US tech journalists all experienced device-breaking display failures today. AndroidPolice: Steve Kovach of CNBC, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, and Dieter Bohn of The Verge have reported major failures of their phones' display panels, just two days after receiving them. To say this is a disaster for Samsung is probably underselling it. Well-known YouTuber MKBHD claims to be having similar problems, but hasn't posted any images. Bohn and Kovach claim their displays failed without removing the panel's protective film (Samsung says not to take it off), but both Gurman and Brownlee did. The company has yet to begin shipping the device to consumers. So far it has only handed the phone to select journalists, most of whom reported issue with it today.

Comment Re:they probably do pay themselves (Score 2) 215

5) If you look over Apple's details, you'll see that they have a huge volume of Apps that skip the 30% fee. So clearly they are shifting the majority of overhead costs to the big players who can afford it. They don't mention what their profits or operating costs are for their store ; perhaps somebody could find an SEC report? I would guess that it is on the high end of normal and nothing close to typical monopoly profits.

Can you cite one? The biggest player I can think of is Amazon, and their Kindle app complies because you can't buy a book in the app! They direct you to a browser to make the purchase, where the 30% fee isn't applied.

Comment Re:Be brave (Score 1) 257

You can't seriously think an app business can survive without having their app on iPhones.

Maybe not, but all Spotify has to do to avoid these charges is to pass all transactions requiring payment through a web browser (even if it's Safari on the phone). Seems pretty simple. Use an iOS app to "buy" anything digital, and Apple will take a cut. This is why Amazon's Kindle app kicks you out when you want to "buy" a book. Every other vendor seems to have caught on. It's not anti-competitive, it's the electronic equivalent of paying rent for a kiosk in Apple's mall.

Comment Re:Gen X vs Millennials again (Score 1) 176

What's keeping these movies out of theaters is not a lack of interest among theatergoers, but a decision by Netflix to shore up their content monopoly.

What's keeping former theatergoers at home is a decision by the the movie chains to exploit their content monopoly to charge exorbitant prices for snacks and comfy chairs. Popcorn and a reclining armchair can be had in my living room for a fraction of the cost of going out.
AI

'This Person Does Not Exist' Website Uses AI To Create Realistic Yet Horrifying Faces (inverse.com) 145

Posted by msmash from the stranger-things dept.
A website that uses AI -- Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) -- to generate photos of people who do not exist is circulating on social media and forums this week. A news writeup adds: Every time the site is refreshed, a shockingly realistic -- but totally fake --picture of a person's face appears. Uber software engineer Phillip Wang created the page to demonstrate what GANs are capable of, and then posted it to the public Facebook group "Artificial Intelligence & Deep Learning" on Tuesday. The underlying code that made this possible, titled StyleGAN, was written by Nvidia and featured in a paper that has yet to be peer-reviewed. This exact type of neural network has the potential to revolutionize video game and 3D-modeling technology, but, as with almost any kind of technology, it could also be used for more sinister purposes.
Medicine

Colin Kroll, Founder of HQ Trivia and Vine, Died of Accidental Drug Overdose (nbcnewyork.com) 117

Posted by BeauHD from the rest-in-peace dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC New York: Colin Kroll, the co-founder of HQ Trivia and Vine, died of an accidental overdose, the city's medical examiner announced Tuesday. According to the autopsy results, Kroll died of "acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, fluoroisobutyryl fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine." Kroll, 34, was found dead in his SoHo, Manhattan, apartment on Dec. 16, 2018. Police responded to a 911 call for a welfare check at the Spring Street apartment where they found Kroll unconscious and unresponsive in a bedroom of the apartment, a New York Police Department spokesman previously told NBC News. Kroll was named the chief executive of HQ Trivia, a phone-based trivia platform, in September. Prior to that, Kroll co-founded Vine, the popular short-form video service acquired in 2012 by Twitter. Vine was discontinued four years later.

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