At mid-northern latitudes, Arcturus sets about 2 hours after sunset around Halloween, at the same point on the horizon as the summer sun. It’s a Halloween ghost of the summer sun and an echo of long summer afternoons. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/arcturus-ghost-of-the-summer-sun…
Tag: Echo
Motorola Is Building a New Kind of Walkie-Talkie For First Responders
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fast Company: Motorola Solutions (not to be confused with Motorola Mobility, which makes the smartphones you know), the biggest global player in these LMR walkies, is releasing what appears to be the most advanced walkie-talkie ever. Called the APX Next, it’s a chunky black brick with a thick antenna and a giant push-to-talk button…
Facebook Portal Sales Are ‘Very Low’
Facebook’s Portal video-chat device — which puts a camera and a sensitive microphone in your living room — isn’t flying off the shelves, Fast Company reported Friday, citing supply-chain sources and store sales reps. From the report: The device, which launched a little over a year ago, has been plagued by the privacy concerns of would-be buyers from the start. And…
Google Chief: I’d Disclose Smart Speakers Before Guests Enter My Home
After being challenged as to whether homeowners should tell guests smart devices — such as a Google Nest speaker or Amazon Echo display — are in use before they enter the building, Google senior vice president of devices and services, Rick Osterloh, concludes that the answer is indeed yes. The BBC reports: “Gosh, I haven’t thought about this before in quite…
‘If Disney World’s Star Wars Land Is a Flop, Why Is It So Crowded?’
An anonymous reader quotes an analyst for the Motley Fool: With so many industry worrywarts and Star Wars purists taking a dim view of Disney’s bicoastal Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge expansion, I figured I’d check out Florida’s version on Saturday afternoon. Would I get pelted by drifting tumbleweed while slurping down some blue milk? Would my voice echo in a barren…
Microsoft’s New Surface Earbuds Work With Any Virtual Assistant, Not Just Cortana
At Microsoft’s annual Surface press event today, the company announced the Surface Earbuds to rival Apple’s AirPods and Amazon’s newly announced Echo Buds. What’s unique about the Surface Earbuds is that, unlike the other two wireless earphones, they can be used with Alexa, Bixby, Google Assistant, Siri, or any other competitor — not just with Cortana. VentureBeat reports: Like the Surface…
Richard Stallman Is Still Head of the GNU Project
On Thursday, Richard Stallman reminded the GNU Project mailing list that “On September 16 I resigned as president of the Free Software Foundation, but the GNU Project and the FSF are not the same. I am still the head of the GNU Project (the Chief GNUisance), and I intend to continue as such.” The next day, with no explanation, a one-sentence…
Schoolchildren in China Work Overnight To Produce Amazon Alexa Devices
Hundreds of schoolchildren have been drafted in to make Amazon’s Alexa devices in China as part of a controversial and often illegal attempt to meet production targets, documents seen by the Guardian reveal. From a report: Interviews with workers and leaked documents from Amazon’s supplier Foxconn show that many of the children have been required to work nights and overtime to…
Amazon Becomes Fastest-Growing Music Streaming Service
The music app that is adding subscribers to its service at the fastest rate is not Apple Music or Spotify or Google Music, it is Amazon, Financial Times reported this week [Editor’s note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. From the report: The number of people subscribing to Amazon Music Unlimited has grown by about 70 per cent in the…
Google Admits Partners Leaked More Than 1,000 Private Conversations With Google Assistant
Google admitted on Thursday that more than 1,000 sound recordings of customer conversations with the Google Assistant were leaked by some of its partners to a Belgian news site. From a report: These conversations are used by companies such as Google and Amazon — which takes clips from the Amazon Echo — to improve voice responses from their smart assistants. They…