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Comment Common Practice in the Transportation Industry (Score 5, Insightful) 101

by Aoverify (#61233392) Attached to: Amazon 'Fesses Up': that Peeing in Bottles Thing is Probably True

Having worked for several delivery companies before, I can tell you this was common practice for me and nobody even asked me to do it.

When you're on the road, and aren't being paid by the hour, it simply makes sense to drink as little liquids as needed and pee in a bottle when needed. Get the job done quickly and get home. I can imagine it's a bit larger hassle for women, but for men it's a trivial issue.

Comment Misinformation on the internet? Sound the alarm! (Score 0) 65

by Aoverify (#61142098) Attached to: Instagram's Algorithms Serve Up COVID-19 Misinformation, Study Finds

Why is it this huge problem lately every time its discovered something untrue was posted on the internet?

I don't know why, but it seems like younger generations expect everything they see online to be true and fact checked. Meanwhile, GenX was taught that half the information or more was fake, and we didnt have (much) of a problem navigating it.
Television

Customized Apple-Themed Game Boy Color Doubles As An Apple TV Remote (gizmodo.com) 11

Posted by BeauHD from the better-than-the-original dept.
Italian YouTuber Otto Climan modded an original Game Boy Color handheld to act as an Apple TV remote. Gizmodo reports: Otto Climan started with an original Game Boy Color handheld that they upgraded with a backlit LCD display because the GBC arrived well before Nintendo stopped using dim screens that strained your eyes. For the custom white case adorned with Apple's older rainbow logo, Climan turned to a company called Retro Modding that supplied him with matching white buttons and, more importantly, a matching white flash cartridge.

The cartridge looks like a standard GB/GBC game cartridge, but it includes a slot for a microSD card and the ability to run ROM files from it. While some ne'er-do-wells use these flash carts to play games, Climan instead developed his own ROM file capable of controlling the Game Boy Color's IR port, which was originally used to transfer game data between devices.

The newer and much-maligned Apple TV remote with the touchpad works over Bluetooth, but Apple retained the IR capabilities of previous Apple TV boxes so the streaming player can still control other devices like TVs. Getting the Game Boy Color to talk to the Apple TV was relatively straightforward (all the codes that Apple uses for its boxes and remotes to talk are easy to find online), but it apparently did require some overclocking of the GBC's processor, which is a trick some games used decades ago. Because the added TV remote functionality comes through a ROM file running on a flash cart, the Game Boy Color still works like a stock GBC and can play other games by just swapping the cart. You can watch Climan's video here.
Operating Systems

'Ubuntu Web Remix' Distro Offers Firefox-Based Chrome OS Alternative (liliputing.com) 47

Posted by EditorDavid from the I'm-feeling-lucky dept.
Rudra Saraswat is the creator of the Ubuntu Unity distro (which uses the Unity interface in place of Ubuntu's GNOME shell).

But this week they released Ubuntu Web Remix, "a privacy-focused, open source alternative to Google Chrome OS/Chromium OS" using Firefox instead of Google Chrome/Chromium. Liliputing reports: If the name didn't give it away, this operating system is based on Ubuntu, but it's designed to offer a Chrome OS-like experience thanks to a simplified user interface and a set of pre-installed apps including the Firefox web browser, some web apps from /e/, and Anbox, a tool that allows you to run Android apps in Linux...

You don't get the long battery life, cloud backup, and many other features that make Chromebooks different from other laptops (especially other cheap laptops). But if you're looking for a simple, web-centric operating system that isn't made by a corporate giant? Then I guess it's nice to have the option.
Rudra Saraswat writes: An easy web-app (wapp) format has been created to package web-apps for the desktop. You can now create your own web apps using web technologies, package them for the desktop and install them easily.

An experimental wapp store can be found at store.ubuntuweb.co, for distributing web apps. Developers and packagers can do pull requests at gitlab.com/ubuntu-web/ubuntu-web.gitlab.io to contribute wapps.
Hardware

Raspberry Pi 4 Can Be Safely Overclocked To 2.15 GHz (hackaday.com) 16

Posted by msmash from the pushing-the-limits dept.
szczys writes: When the Raspberry Pi 400 (a keyboard form-factor single board computer) was released last week, the company hinted at overclocking. Testing has now shown that the heat spreader used in that design does an excellent job. The chip was already clocked at 1.8 GHz, versus the stock 1.5 GHz in the original Raspberry Pi 4 Model B board. But it can be safely overclocked to 2.15 GHz, as can the Compute Module 4 with an adequate heat sink.

At 2.0 GHz, the Pi 400 got up above 60 C and showed signs of continuing to warm up even after 50 minutes, but it was nowhere near throttling. So I tried 2.2 GHz, at which speed the CPU refused to boot entirely. Backing down to 2.15 GHz, it ran just fine, so I left it for three hours. It settled in at a cozy 62.5 C, which is warm, but well within specs.

I ran the CM4 with the larger heatsink at 1.8 GHz to give some basis for comparison to the cheap heatsinks. What a big difference a big hunk of aluminum makes! It settled in at a comfortable 68 C or so. Even pushing it up to 2.15 GHz and leaving it for a couple hours, it stayed just a hair below 70C (158F) -- a safe margin on the throttling threshold -- and only a few degrees warmer than that huge heat spreader in the Pi 400.

Further reading: The Verdict After Hackaday's Teardown of a Raspberry Pi 400: 'Very, Very Slick'.
Power

IKEA Is Saying Goodbye To Non-Rechargeable Batteries (cnet.com) 106

Posted by BeauHD from the reuse-and-recycle dept.
Ikea will remove all non-rechargeable alkaline batteries from its global home furnishings by October 2021, according to statement from the company emailed Wednesday. CNET reports: Aiming to reduce energy consumption and environmental waste with the move, the home furnishing giant cited the results of recent life-cycle assessment studies showing the environmental impact of alkaline batteries is higher compared with rechargeable nickel metal hydride batteries, when used in common household devices. The Swedish company, based in the Netherlands, said between September 2018 and August 2019 it sold about 300 million alkaline batteries globally. Ikea calculates that if all of its customers switched from alkaline to rechargeable batteries and recharged them just 50 times, global waste could be reduced by as much as 5,000 tons on an annual basis. Ikea added, however, that where required for an individual product to function, some lithium ion button cell batteries will be kept in the product range. "We are on a journey to inspire and enable people to live healthier and more sustainable lives within the boundaries of the planet," said Ikea Sustainability Development Manager Caroline Reid. "By phasing out alkaline batteries and focusing on our range of rechargeable batteries, we are taking one step on that journey, offering customers an affordable and convenient solution to prolong the life of products and materials and reduce waste."

Submission + - Burger King Won't Take Hint; Alters TV Ad to Evade Google's Block (washingtonpost.com) 1

Submitted by ewhac
ewhac writes: Earlier this week, Burger King released a broadcast television ad that opened with an actor saying, "Ok, Google: What is The Whopper?" thereby triggering any Google Home device in hearing range to respond to the injected request with the first line from the Whopper's Wikipedia page. Google very properly responded to the injection attack by fingerprinting the sound sample and blocking it from triggering responses. However, it seems Burger King and/or its ad agency are either unwilling or congenitally incapable of getting the hint, and has released an altered version of the ad to evade Google's block. According to spokesperson Dara Schopp, BK regards the ad as a success, as it has increased the brand's "social conversation" on Twitter by some 300%. It seems that Burger King thinks that malware-laden advertising infesting Web pages is a perfectly wonderful idea (in principle, at least), and taken it to the next level by reaching through your TV speakers and directly messing with your digital devices. You may wish to consider alternate vendors for your burger needs.

Submission + - Investigation Finds Inmates Built Computers, Hid Them In Prison Ceiling (cbs6albany.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The discovery of two working computers hidden in a ceiling at the Marion Correctional Institution prompted an investigation by the state into how inmates got access. In late July, 2015 staff at the prison discovered the computers hidden on a plywood board in the ceiling above a training room closet. The computers were also connected to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's network. Authorities say they were first tipped off to a possible problem in July, when their computer network support team got an alert that a computer "exceeded a daily internet usage threshold." When they checked the login being used, they discovered an employee's credentials were being used on days he wasn't scheduled to work. That's when they tracked down where the connection was coming from and alerted Marion Correctional Institution of a possible problem. Investigators say there was lax supervision at the prison, which gave inmates the ability to build computers from parts, get them through security checks, and hide them in the ceiling. The inmates were also able to run cabling, connecting the computers to the prison's network.

Comment Spokeswoman Claims Outage Affects Less Than 1% (Score 1) 202

by Aoverify (#42681765) Attached to: Multi-State AT&T U-Verse Outage Enters Third Day

According to statements made to CNN by an AT&T spokesperson, the outage was caused by "a software upgrade".
She went on to say the outage "only hit a limited number of customers". Well DUH! If 1 customer is still online and 99.99% of your customers have an outage, thats still a limited number of customers. I love how corporations have these spindoctors who make vague, noncomittal statements that really provide no information.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/24/tech/web/uverse-outage-att/

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