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Submission + - Bezos-backed Slate Auto unveils affordable EV truck (nbcnews.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Slate Auto, a firm backed in part by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is unveiling a low-cost electric truck that can also change into an SUV.

Its starting price point: $20,000 after federal EV incentives.

"A radically simple electric pickup truck that can change into whatever you need it to be — even an SUV," the Slate Auto website says. "Made in the USA at a price that’s actually affordable (no really, for real)."

The two-door version can be changed into a 5-seat SUV. The baseline truck is small: About two-thirds the size of a Chevy Silverado EV and about seven-eights the size of a Ford Maverick. It has a payload capacity of 1,400 pounds compared the Maverick's 1500 pounds.

At less than 15 feet long, Slate says its more akin to a 1985 Toyota pickup.

Submission + - Average Person Starts to Panic When Phone Battery Life Drops to 38% (studyfinds.org)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: The nationwide study of 2,000 Americans revealed striking differences in how various demographics handle the dreaded low-battery situation. While the average person starts fretting at 38%, a more laid-back third of Americans (34%) stay calm until their battery dips below 20%. Even more surprising, about one in eight people (13%) remain unfazed until their phone battery plummets below 10%—truly living on the edge of digital connectivity.

On the flip side, a quarter of Americans (24%) begin worrying before their phone even drops to half power. For these individuals, seeing that battery icon tick below 50% is enough to trigger an active search for the nearest outlet.

Comment Sincerely good news (Score 1) 145

by fjo3 (#65295213) Attached to: China To Restrict US Film Releases
This is great news for movie lovers. Hollywood has been pandering towards the mainland Chinese audience for well over a decade now. The effects have been mostly negligible, but often bad, and never good. Released from appeal to the highly conservative mainland Chinese audience, maybe movies will get a little better now. Hard to have much hope for Hollywood these days, but this new development certainly won't hurt!

Submission + - AI proves that fingerprints are not unique, upending the legal system (earth.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Fingerprint analysis has been a dependable tool in crime-solving for more than a century. Investigators lean on fingerprint evidence to identify suspects or connect them to specific crime scenes, believing that every print offers a distinctive code.

Yet, a team of researchers has found that prints from different fingers of the same person can sometimes appear more alike.

This insight came from an artificial intelligence model that revealed surprising connections between prints.

Submission + - NFL Taps Sony Hawk-Eye Tech to Break Free of its First Down Measurement Chains

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Seven years after Apple introduced its iPhone Measure app, the NFL announced that beginning with the 2025 season, Sony’s Hawk-Eye virtual measurement technology will assess and identify first downs after a ball spot.

Sony’s Hawk-Eye virtual measurement technology, which consists of six 8K cameras for optical tracking of the position of the ball, is operated from the NFL’s Art McNally GameDay Central Officiating Center (AMGC) in New York and is integrated with the League’s existing replay system.

It will serve as an efficient alternative to the process of having a three-person chain crew walk chains onto the field and manually measure whether 10 yards have been met after the official has spotted the ball. However, the chain crew will remain on the field in a secondary capacity.

Submission + - What If We Made All Advertising Illegal? 8

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "What if we made all advertising illegal?" Kodo Simone provocatively asks. "It makes perfect sense. The financial incentives to create addictive digital content would instantly disappear, and so would the mechanisms that allow both commercial and political actors to create personalized, reality-distorting bubbles. [...] I know, it sounds surreal. Yet, many things once thought impossible are now considered basic standards of a decent society. I think there's a world where we'll look back on our advertising-saturated era with the same bewilderment with which we now regard cigarette smoke, child labor, or public executions: a barbaric practice that we allowed to continue far too long because we couldn't imagine an alternative."

Submission + - Ian Fleming predictions from 1955. (wikipedia.org)

Submitted by sandbagger
sandbagger writes: The third James Bond novel was published this day in 1955. The thriller Moonraker is from a long-ago era with a villain that makes no sense today — A rocket-building technocrat who is actually a secret Nazi working for the Russians.

Submission + - Utah set to become first state to ban fluoride in public water (nbcnews.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Utah is gearing up to make history as the first state to ban fluoride in public water systems if Gov. Spencer Cox signs a bill to prohibit the addition of the tooth decay-fighting mineral.

If signed into law, HB0081 would prevent any individual or political subdivision from adding fluoride "to water in or intended for public water systems."

Submission + - US asked to kick UK out of Five Eyes ..

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: UK accused of political ‘foreign cyber attack’ on US after serving secret snooping order on Apple

US administration asked to kick UK out of 65-year-old UK-US Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement after secret order to access encrypted data of Apple users

An unprecedented letter from the US Congress, released today, accuses the UK of “a foreign cyber attack waged through political means”. The claim refers to a Home Office secret demand last month (reported by Computer Weekly here, here and here) that Apple break the security protecting its Advanced Data Protection cloud security system to let British spies into anyone’s secure files. https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerweekly.com...

Comment Cash - never leave home without it (Score 1) 54

by fjo3 (#65166631) Attached to: Do you still use cash?
You might need it to bribe some slippery government officials! Also, I pay all the blue-collar workers who come to my house when it is feasible. I've been paying my handyman $50/hour for the last 9 years, and he never asks for a raise because he can avoid reporting it on his taxes.

Comment Re:Gen Z as parents will be just fine (Score 3, Insightful) 73

by fjo3 (#65054513) Attached to: 2025 Marks the Start of the Gen Beta Era

Gen X parent of GenZ kids here. I used to be proud of being kind of latchkey, and going out to do things like fishing instead of constant screen time. In reality, the amount of Apple II, Nintendo, MTV, etc. screen time was quite significant. And I find my kids love to go out to hang with friends at boba joints or go fishing. Honestly, from where I stand, I think in general Gen Z will be great people and sensible parents.

It sounds like you did a great job as a parent. Sincerely, congratulations. It's not easy, nor is it common, but I'm glad there will be some good young adults out there.

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