Comment R3 looks like an Audi A50 anyway (Score 1) 63
The R3 was a clear signal to VW that Rivian has what VW is lacking for the EV era: A new Golf ⦠and they designed a Audi A50/Polo successor.
Submission + - Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestle Named Top Plastic Polluters For Third Year In a Row (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé have been accused of "zero progress" on reducing plastic waste, after being named the world’s top plastic polluters for the third year in a row. Coca-Cola was ranked the world’s No 1 plastic polluter by Break Free From Plastic in its annual audit, after its beverage bottles were the most frequently found discarded on beaches, rivers, parks and other litter sites in 51 of 55 nations surveyed. Last year it was the most frequently littered bottle in 37 countries, out of 51 surveyed. Coca-Cola was ranked the world’s No 1 plastic polluter by Break Free From Plastic in its annual audit, after its beverage bottles were the most frequently found discarded on beaches, rivers, parks and other litter sites in 51 of 55 nations surveyed. Last year it was the most frequently littered bottle in 37 countries, out of 51 surveyed.
The annual audit, undertaken by 15,000 volunteers around the world, identifies the largest number of plastic products from global brands found in the highest number of countries. This year they collected 346,494 pieces of plastic waste, 63% of which was marked clearly with a consumer brand. “The world’s top polluting corporations claim to be working hard to solve plastic pollution, but instead they are continuing to pump out harmful single-use plastic packaging,” said Emma Priestland, Break Free From Plastic’s global campaign coordinator. Priestland said the only way to halt the growing global tide of plastic litter was to stop production, phase out single use and implement reuse systems.
The annual audit, undertaken by 15,000 volunteers around the world, identifies the largest number of plastic products from global brands found in the highest number of countries. This year they collected 346,494 pieces of plastic waste, 63% of which was marked clearly with a consumer brand. “The world’s top polluting corporations claim to be working hard to solve plastic pollution, but instead they are continuing to pump out harmful single-use plastic packaging,” said Emma Priestland, Break Free From Plastic’s global campaign coordinator. Priestland said the only way to halt the growing global tide of plastic litter was to stop production, phase out single use and implement reuse systems.
Submission + - Florida journalist raided, computer seized, in unauthorized access investigation (miamiherald.com) 1
FriendlySolipsist writes: Independent journalist Rebekah Jones, a scientist fired by the Florida state government because, she said, of her refusal to manipulate official COVID-19 data releases to coincide with political considerations and who now operates web site floridacovidaction.com, had her home raided by the FL state police who seized computers and cell phones, the Miami Herald reported. The FDLE affidavit in support of the raid was published by the Herald — https://www.miamiherald.com/la... — and asserts that an unauthorized internal message was sent to the "ReadyOps" system within the state Department of Health from an IPv6 address associated with the Comcast account at Jones residence.
Submission + - Electric-Car Companies Now Worth Half of the World's 10 Most Valuable Automakers (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Electric-car companies are suddenly worth half of the total market capitalization of the world’s 10 most valuable automakers. That’s because money managers sized up the convergence of government policies and people’s preferences combating climate change and made alternative energy their biggest bet. Much was achieved by Tesla Inc., the Palo Alto maker of the S, X, Y and 3 model vehicles, giving it a market capitalization of $539 billion, or more than Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., Germany’s Volkswagen AG and Detroit’s General Motors Co. combined. Tesla was barely 26% of Toyota’s value at this point last year. None of the industry’s Top 10 exclusively manufactured EVs in 2015; this year the list included Shanghai-based Nio Inc. and Guangzhou-based XPeng Inc., EV upstarts in the world’s largest market.
Tesla and its Chinese competitors accounted for only 8% of the value of the Top 10 in 2019 — still a huge leap from zero percent in 2016. The three EV makers reported annual sales of $30.5 billion, or about 3% of total sales for the 10 largest companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Commentators and short sellers, who profit when a security’s price declines, predict that the companies’ shares will plummet before long because the companies’ values are far out of proportion to their more modest profits and revenues. Since its initial public offering in June 2010, Tesla revenue increased 241 times as revenue for the rest of the industry rose 19%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Tesla shares appreciated 170 times when the comparable figure was three times for global peers. None of which persuades numerous Tesla detractors, who insist the company will fail as soon as the legacy automakers determine that EVs are profitable. That moment arrives this month when Tesla joins the S&P 500 as its record-breaking largest new member.
In China, where EV incentives are part of the government’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2060, Nio’s annual revenues have tripled since its September 2018 IPO. Nio shares surged 665% during the same period as global peers were gaining 47%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. XPeng’s 2020 third-quarter revenue is 4.4 times the amount during the same period a year ago. After the company’s August IPO, the shares rose 269% when global peers gained 29%. These unprecedented valuations come at a point when the fossil fuel industry is reporting record losses, including Exxon Mobil Corp.’s $20 billion write-down this month. The market for zero-emission electric vehicles, meanwhile, is poised to become explosive, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In 2019, 2.1 million cars, or 2.5% of the cars sold worldwide were electric. By 2030, 26 million EVs will be sold, or 28% of total sales worldwide, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. By 2040, 54 million EVs will be sold, or 58% of the global market, the analysts predict.
Tesla and its Chinese competitors accounted for only 8% of the value of the Top 10 in 2019 — still a huge leap from zero percent in 2016. The three EV makers reported annual sales of $30.5 billion, or about 3% of total sales for the 10 largest companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Commentators and short sellers, who profit when a security’s price declines, predict that the companies’ shares will plummet before long because the companies’ values are far out of proportion to their more modest profits and revenues. Since its initial public offering in June 2010, Tesla revenue increased 241 times as revenue for the rest of the industry rose 19%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Tesla shares appreciated 170 times when the comparable figure was three times for global peers. None of which persuades numerous Tesla detractors, who insist the company will fail as soon as the legacy automakers determine that EVs are profitable. That moment arrives this month when Tesla joins the S&P 500 as its record-breaking largest new member.
In China, where EV incentives are part of the government’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2060, Nio’s annual revenues have tripled since its September 2018 IPO. Nio shares surged 665% during the same period as global peers were gaining 47%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. XPeng’s 2020 third-quarter revenue is 4.4 times the amount during the same period a year ago. After the company’s August IPO, the shares rose 269% when global peers gained 29%. These unprecedented valuations come at a point when the fossil fuel industry is reporting record losses, including Exxon Mobil Corp.’s $20 billion write-down this month. The market for zero-emission electric vehicles, meanwhile, is poised to become explosive, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In 2019, 2.1 million cars, or 2.5% of the cars sold worldwide were electric. By 2030, 26 million EVs will be sold, or 28% of total sales worldwide, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. By 2040, 54 million EVs will be sold, or 58% of the global market, the analysts predict.
Submission + - Tonight the capsule with Ryugu asteroid samples will land on Earth (japantimes.co.jp)
Max_W writes: The near-Earth asteroid Ryugu measures approximately 900 (2950 feet) meters in diameter and is a dark object of a rare spectral type. For comparison, the Chelyabinsk meteor of 2013 was 20 meters (65 feet) in diameter. Ryugu was discovered only in 1999.
The samples were collected on the asteroid and delivered to the Earth by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2. In my opinion, it is a good idea to start studying such asteroids.
However, I doubt that it was a good idea to produce an explosion on the asteroid's surface. Could not this move its orbit in a dangerous direction? Everything has been fine for the last few million years. Do we really have to rock the boat, knowing that a collision with such an asteroid could have very serious consequences not only for humanity, but for the life itself.
The samples were collected on the asteroid and delivered to the Earth by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2. In my opinion, it is a good idea to start studying such asteroids.
However, I doubt that it was a good idea to produce an explosion on the asteroid's surface. Could not this move its orbit in a dangerous direction? Everything has been fine for the last few million years. Do we really have to rock the boat, knowing that a collision with such an asteroid could have very serious consequences not only for humanity, but for the life itself.
Submission + - More Geeky Advent Calendars
destinyland writes: Advent of Code isn't the only geeky tradition that's continuing in 2020. "This is going to be the first full year with Raku being called Raku," notes the site raku-advent.blog. "However, it's going to be the 12th year (after this first article) in a row with a Perl 6 or Raku calendar, previously published in the Perl 6 Advent Calendar blog." The tradition continues, with a new article about the Raku programming language every day until Christmas.
And meanwhile over at perladvent.org, the Perl Advent Calendar is also continuing its own article-a-day tradition (starting with a holiday tale about how Perl's TidyAll library "makes it trivial for the elves to keep their code formatting consistent and clean.")
But they're not the only ones. "Pandemic or not, Christmas time is a time for wonder, joy and sharing," writes Kristofer Giltvedt Selbekk from Oslo-based Bekk Consulting (merging technology with user experience, product innovation and strategy). So this year they're "continuing our great tradition of sharing some of the stuff we know every December" with 11 different advent calendar sites sharing articles (or, on one site, podcast episodes), on topics including JavaScript, Kotlin, React, Elm, functional programming, and cloud computing.
And if you're more interested in outer space, this also marks the 13th year for the official Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar. "Every day until Friday, December 25, this page will present one new incredible image of our universe from NASA's Hubble telescope," explains its page at the Atlantic.
And meanwhile over at perladvent.org, the Perl Advent Calendar is also continuing its own article-a-day tradition (starting with a holiday tale about how Perl's TidyAll library "makes it trivial for the elves to keep their code formatting consistent and clean.")
But they're not the only ones. "Pandemic or not, Christmas time is a time for wonder, joy and sharing," writes Kristofer Giltvedt Selbekk from Oslo-based Bekk Consulting (merging technology with user experience, product innovation and strategy). So this year they're "continuing our great tradition of sharing some of the stuff we know every December" with 11 different advent calendar sites sharing articles (or, on one site, podcast episodes), on topics including JavaScript, Kotlin, React, Elm, functional programming, and cloud computing.
And if you're more interested in outer space, this also marks the 13th year for the official Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar. "Every day until Friday, December 25, this page will present one new incredible image of our universe from NASA's Hubble telescope," explains its page at the Atlantic.
Submission + - SPAM: New RISC-V CPU claims recordbreaking performance per watt
Hmmmmmm writes: Micro Magic adviser Andy Huang claimed the CPU could produce 13,000 CoreMarks (more on that later) at 5GHz and 1.1V while also putting out 11,000 CoreMarks at 4.25GHz—the latter all while consuming only 200mW. Huang demonstrated the CPU—running on an Odroid board—to EE Times at 4.327GHz/0.8V and 5.19GHz/1.1V.
Later the same week, Micro Magic announced the same CPU could produce over 8,000 CoreMarks at 3GHz while consuming only 69mW of power.
Part of the difficulty in evaluating Micro Magic's claim for its new CPU lies in figuring out just what a CoreMark is and how many of them are needed to make a fast CPU. It's a deliberately simplified CPU benchmarking tool released by the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium, intended to be as platform-neutral and simple to build and use as possible. CoreMark focuses solely on the core pipeline functions of a CPU, including basic read/write, integer, and control operations. This specifically avoids most effects of system differences in memory, I/O, and so forth.
With that said, it's worth pointing out that—if we take Micro Magic's numbers for granted—they're already beating the performance of some solid mobile phone CPUs. Even at its efficiency-first 3GHz clockrate, the Micro Magic CPU outperformed a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. The Snapdragon 820 isn't world-class anymore, but it's no slouch, either—it was the processor in the US version of Samsung's Galaxy S7.
Link to Original Source
Later the same week, Micro Magic announced the same CPU could produce over 8,000 CoreMarks at 3GHz while consuming only 69mW of power.
Part of the difficulty in evaluating Micro Magic's claim for its new CPU lies in figuring out just what a CoreMark is and how many of them are needed to make a fast CPU. It's a deliberately simplified CPU benchmarking tool released by the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium, intended to be as platform-neutral and simple to build and use as possible. CoreMark focuses solely on the core pipeline functions of a CPU, including basic read/write, integer, and control operations. This specifically avoids most effects of system differences in memory, I/O, and so forth.
With that said, it's worth pointing out that—if we take Micro Magic's numbers for granted—they're already beating the performance of some solid mobile phone CPUs. Even at its efficiency-first 3GHz clockrate, the Micro Magic CPU outperformed a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. The Snapdragon 820 isn't world-class anymore, but it's no slouch, either—it was the processor in the US version of Samsung's Galaxy S7.
Link to Original Source
Submission + - US Navy Cruiser and Submarine Collide (usatoday.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Despite billions of dollars in advanced electronics, radars,and sonar it seems the Navy needs to install backup cameras on their boats. "The Pentagon said late Saturday that it is investigating why a Navy submarine collided with an Aegis cruiser during routine operations at an undisclosed location."
Submission + - Blackhole's 'point of no return' found (harvard.edu) 1
dsinc writes: Using a continent-spanning telescope, an international team of astronomers has peered to the edge of a black hole at the center of a distant galaxy. For the first time, they have measured the black hole’s “point of no return” — the closest distance that matter can approach before being irretrievably pulled into the black hole.
According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, a black hole’s mass and spin determine how close material can orbit before becoming unstable and falling in toward the event horizon. The team was able to measure this innermost stable orbit and found that it’s only 5.5 times the size of the black hole’s event horizon. This size suggests that the accretion disk is spinning in the same direction as the black hole.
The observations were made by linking together radio telescopes in Hawaii, Arizona, and California to create a virtual telescope called the Event Horizon Telescope, or EHT. The EHT is capable of seeing details 2,000 times finer than the Hubble Space Telescope.
According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, a black hole’s mass and spin determine how close material can orbit before becoming unstable and falling in toward the event horizon. The team was able to measure this innermost stable orbit and found that it’s only 5.5 times the size of the black hole’s event horizon. This size suggests that the accretion disk is spinning in the same direction as the black hole.
The observations were made by linking together radio telescopes in Hawaii, Arizona, and California to create a virtual telescope called the Event Horizon Telescope, or EHT. The EHT is capable of seeing details 2,000 times finer than the Hubble Space Telescope.
Submission + - Pennsylvania Fracking Law Opens Up Drilling on College Campuses (motherjones.com)
PolygamousRanchKid writes: Last year, when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett suggested offsetting college tuition fees by leasing parts of state-owned college campuses to natural gas drillers, more than a few Pennsylvanians were left blinking and rubbing their eyes. But it was no idle threat: After quietly moving through the state Senate and House, this week the governor signed into law a bill that opens up 14 of the state’s public universities to fracking, oil drilling, and coal mining on campus.
Environmentalists and educators are concerned that fracking and other resource exploitation on campus could leave students directly exposed to harms like explosions, water contamination, and air pollution.
Professor Bob Myers, who runs the environmental studies program at Lock Haven University, one of the schools at the edge of the Marcellus, says he understands the school system's economic concerns. Still, he's horrified at the prospect that PASSHE might install rigs near students. "I've become extremely concerned, disturbed, and disgusted by the environmental consequences of fracking," Myers says. "They've had explosions, tens of thousands of gallons of chemicals spilled. And we're going to put this on campus?"
Environmentalists and educators are concerned that fracking and other resource exploitation on campus could leave students directly exposed to harms like explosions, water contamination, and air pollution.
Professor Bob Myers, who runs the environmental studies program at Lock Haven University, one of the schools at the edge of the Marcellus, says he understands the school system's economic concerns. Still, he's horrified at the prospect that PASSHE might install rigs near students. "I've become extremely concerned, disturbed, and disgusted by the environmental consequences of fracking," Myers says. "They've had explosions, tens of thousands of gallons of chemicals spilled. And we're going to put this on campus?"
Journal Journal: Where is iWork '12?
It's been some time since the latest iWork refresh. iWork '09 was released nearly three years ago, which is a long time in computer business. Several events were suggested as a reason for Apple to delay the release of the next version of their Office suite: the new iPad, Lion, and lately the release of iCloud was accused to be the reason to further work on Pages, Keynote and Numbers to work seamlessly with the service.
All those events came and went, yet a new version of iWork is still not
Comment Wishful thinking (Score 5, Insightful) 378
When it comes to the social sphere, it will always be much cooler to drink the beer, and not to brew it.
Comment Homocentricity (Score 1) 239
What I liked about the original Planet of the Apes is that it was told that the monkeys started to say "No!" if I remember correctly. I always imagined it as some kind of evolutionary development. Nature fought back! This one gets it all wrong. Why must it always be mankind that is responsible, even for the rise of the apes? This is ridiculously homocentric.
Comment CSS3 Animations (Score 3, Informative) 161
and it has -moz-animation and @-moz-keyframes support. Works great! Special thanks to David Baron for his work on this.
Comment It's more like an arsenal (Score 1) 716
Apple's secret weapon is the product itself. And with the product“ I don't mean the iPad alone. It's the whole iPad experience. It all begins with the buying experience in the Apple Store (like it or not), goes on with their perfect minimalist design, the quality of the software, the software update process, the iTunes/AppStore infrastructure, and, not to forget the fact that the iPad is the gadget you want to own if you want to be part of the in-group. It almost seems unbeatable for the ex-hippie silverback generation and not so individualistic younger consumers alike.
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