Google plans to increase the useful lives of its servers and some networking equipment to 6 years, Google announced this, a day after Meta said it was increasing its server lifespan to 5 years. Amazon Web Services is believed to run its servers for ~ 5-6 years, while Microsoft in 2022 confirmed it had increased its server lifespans to 6 years. Google expects a reduction of depreciation of ~$3.4 billion for 2023 for its server assets, as recorded primarily in cost of revenues and R&D expenses. Meta said it expected its server life would save it ~$1.5bn. Back in 2020, Meta, Google, AWS and Microsoft all used servers with a 3 year lifespan.  - So why is that? Because both Intel and AMD are NOT designing product according to reliability standards of longer life spans. They are NOT managing current or future CPU designs according to the "Hazard Curve". It has been long known having high temps on CPUs (servers, desktops & laptops) increases the total cost of ownership (TCO) and drives down their long term reliability and performance. Thermal cycling (turning machines on & off) also drives down the long term reliability and increases TCO, as the frequency of CTE (coeficient of thermal expansion) mismatches from die to interposer to PCB goes up, reliability goes down, as does life span, again increasing TCO.  The necessity of addressing these contradictions, (compromises and tradeoffs) needed in ALL CPU designs has long been known, it has been a fundamental failing on designers at both Intel and AMD that have failed to address this sooner. And I should know, when I was doing Pathfinding in the Intel Server Architeture Lab these very same issues landed on my plate. My 2nd patent specifically called out these issues and the necessity of breaking these contradictions in design with inventive principles for the benefit of Intel's CPU designs, this was in 1999.  Look I'm not even a CPU architect, my role and experience was as a Design and Manufacturing Pathfinding Engineer, where I look at the intersect of where all of the problems make themselves known and then generate solution paths. These CPU architects and their managers are supposed to be smarter than the likes of me, but they ain't paying attention to what the needs of the customer needs....just saying.

Pelé is considered to be one of soccer's greatest players ever a Brazilian who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA — the only player to win 3 World Cups. He dazzled fans with his speed, elegance and penache on the field, renowned for his signature move the Bicycyle Kick. Scoriing 6 Bicycle Kick goals in official matches, one of which in the qualification match for the 1970 World Cup (Mexico). Pelé was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on 23 October 1940, growing up in poverty in the state of Sao Paulo, the eldest of two and named after the American inventor Thomas Edison, his parents decided to remove the "i" and call him "Edson". He received the nickname "Pelé" during his school days, when  he mispronunced the name of his favourite player a local goalkeeper Bilé,  Apart from the assertion that the name is derived from that of "Bilé", in Hebew it means "miracle" (פֶּ֫לֶא), the word has no known meaning in Portuguese. He recently died from complications related to his battle with colon cancer, which he had been fighting for over a year.  So here's a compilation video of his signature bicycle kicks.  

A new study finds that nearly 6% of the estimated 130 million people who go to US emergency rooms every year are misdiagnosed, translating to about 1 in 18 patients getting the wrong diagnosis.

The report, published Thursday by the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, reviewed nearly 300 studies published between January 2000 and September 2021. The researchers estimate that 7.4 million misdiagnosis errors are made every year, 2.6 million people receive a harm that could have been prevented, and another 370,000 are permanently disabled or die because of the misdiagnosis. This equates to about 1,400 diagnostic errors every year per emergency room across the country.   The researchers noted that these rates are on par with what is also seen in primary care and hospital inpatient settings. The top 5 conditions that were misdiagnosed were:

(1) stroke (2) myocardial infarction (3) aortic aneurysm/dissection
(4) spinal cord compression/injury (5) venous thromboembolism
These five conditions accounted for 39% of all serious misdiagnosis-related harms. Nonspecific or atypical symptoms were the strongest factor resulting in misdiagnosis. Women and people of color had a 20% to 30% increase in risk of being misdiagnosed. 10 of the country’s leading emergency physician groups, including the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Board of Emergency Medicine, issued a letter to counter the report, which they described as “misleading” and “incomplete.” The groups say that they recognize there is always room for improvement but that characterizing the diagnoses as errors is incorrect and a misunderstanding of the aim of emergency medicine, which is to focus on the acute and immediate situation.  The letter says that emergency medicine “is rightfully less concerned with diagnosis and more concerned with appropriate stabilization and referral for future evaluation of a symptom complex. … The role of the emergency physician is ensuring that the patient is started on the appropriate pathway for the ultimate diagnosis and treatment.” The organizations also questioned the studies included in the survey, noting that several of the studies assessed and included in the analysis were from emergency departments from other countries.   - The letter says “it is scientifically invalid to extrapolate findings, in particular the calculation of an overall diagnostic error rate, from non-U.S. EDs and compare to the state of emergency care in the U.S.”

The US is rapidly ramping up efforts to try to hobble China's progress in the semiconductor industry - vital for everything from smartphones to weapons of war. In October, Washington announced some of the broadest export controls yet - requiring licences for companies exporting chips to China using US tools or software, no matter where they're made in the world. Washington's measures also prevent US citizens and green card holders from working for certain Chinese chip companies. It is cutting off a key pipeline of American talent to China which will affect the development of high-end semiconductors.

Advanced chips are used to power supercomputers, artificial intelligence and military hardware. The US says China's use of the technology poses a threat to its own national security. Alan Estevez, undersecretary at the US Commerce Department said "The threat environment is always changing and we are updating our policies today to make sure we're addressing the challenges,". China has complained to the WTO (World Trade Organization) calling the controls "technology terrorism". The US said in response that the trade body was "not the appropriate forum" to settle concerns related to national security.US Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Thea Kendler said "US national security interests require that we act decisively to deny access to advanced technologies." Countries in Asia that produce chips - such as Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea - have raised concerns about how this bitter battle is affecting the global supply chain. The Biden administration has added 36 more Chinese companies, including major chipmaker YMTC to Washington's "entity list". It means American companies will need government permission to sell certain technologies to them, and that permission is difficult to secure. The US restrictions have broad implications. Last week, UK-based computer chip designer Arm confirmed that it was not selling its most advanced designs to Chinese firms including tech giant Alibaba because of US and UK controls.

In watching this, this morning, I thought that this snippet of an interview had a very important message that was not just for actors but all of us in our work, and we all could learn from Mr. Lee and make a real difference in our own lives as well as in the life of others. So spend the 2 minutes to watch and learn from a master of his craft, Mr. Christopher Lee, who was over the course of his long career, a James Bond Villian, "The Man with the Golden Gun", Dracula, (multiple times I think), a Sith Lord in the "Star Wars" franchise, Death himself in Terry Pratchett films, and Saruman on "The Lord of the RIngs"....He makes some great points here well worth the time spent.

China's nuclear arsenal is likely to more than triple to 1,500 warheads by 2035, the Pentagon said in a Tuesday report that also highlighted the increasing sophistication of the country's air force. The Pentagon has identified Beijing as the most consequential challenge to the US, and the annual report on China's military emphasized improvements to both its nuclear and conventional forces. "The Department of Defense estimates that (China's) operational nuclear warheads stockpile has surpassed 400," the report said. "If China continues the pace of its nuclear expansion, it will likely field a stockpile of about 1,500 warheads" by 2035. That figure would still however lag far behind the arsenals of the United States and Russia, which each include several thousand nuclear warheads. China "probably intends to develop new nuclear warheads and delivery platforms that at least equal the effectiveness, reliability and/or survivability" of those under development by the United States and Russia, the report said.

Beijing is also working to modernize its ballistic missile arsenal, launching some 135 in testing during 2021 -- "more than the rest of the world combined," excluding those fired in conflicts. China is "developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that will significantly improve its nuclear-capable missile forces," the report said. And Beijing's air force -- the third-largest in the world with more than 2,800 aircraft -- is making strides. It is "rapidly catching up to Western air forces and continues to modernize with the delivery of domestically built aircraft and a wide range of UAVs," according to the report.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Tuesday signed a law temporarily restricting cryptocurrency mining in the state over environmental concerns, making it the 1st state in the US to implement such a move.  The bill was delivered to the governor on Tuesday after the state legislature passed the measure in June, and The Associated Press reported that Hochul signed the measure. The restrictions come after the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which has led to growing scrutiny of the industry. The New York law instead takes aim at the technology’s environmental impact, establishing a two-year moratorium on permits for fossil fuel plants used for cryptocurrency mining that utilizes “proof-of-work authentication.”

The technology, which is used for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, requires large amounts of energy, and the law’s text suggests its use makes achieving the state’s climate goals more difficult. The law also mandates the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation study the environmental impact of mining operations that use the authentication method.  “It is the first of its kind in the country and a key step for New York as we work to address the global climate crisis,” Hochul wrote in a memo approving the bill. The bill in part led to a flurry of lobbying activity from the Crypto industry. Bloomberg reported in February that pro-cryptocurrency groups were spending $1.5 million on a lobbying blitz in the state. Hochul during a debate for her re-election last month said she was “looking at that bill closely” and remained noncommittal, while Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin said he wouldn’t sign it.

When Army veteran Rich Fierro is one of two people police are crediting with saving lives by subduing a 22-year-old man armed with multiple firearms, including an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, who went on a shooting rampage Saturday night at Club Q, a well-known gathering place for the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs. 5 people were killed and at least 17 wounded. Fierro was there with his daughter Kassy, her boyfriend and several other friends to see a drag show and celebrate a birthday. He said it was one of the group’s most enjoyable nights, suddenly changing when the shots rang out and Kassy’s boyfriend, Raymond Green Vance, was fatally shot. Petty Officer James is a U.S. Navy information systems technician stationed at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) base in Colorado Springs in a Navy statement Tuesday said James is in stable condition, without elaborating on the nature of his wounds. Fierro and James pinned the shooter down until officers arrived minutes later. Fierro was briefly handcuffed and sat in a police car as law enforcement tried to calm the chaos. As the shooter was pinned under a barrage of punches from Fierro and kicks to the head from James, he tried to reach for his pistol. Fierro grabbed it and used it as a bludgeon. “I tried to finish him,” he said. When a clubgoer ran by in heels, Fierro told her to kick the gunman. She stuffed her high-heeled shoe in the attacker’s face, Fierro said. Del Lusional, a drag queen who performed at Club Q on Saturday night, said on Twitter that the patron who intervened with her heel was a transgender woman. Fierro served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan as a field artillery officer and left the Army as a major in 2013. He noted he had dealt with violence. That’s what he signed up for. “Nobody in that club asked to do this,” he said, but everyone “is going to have to live with it now.”

As we as a nation move forward in a post January 6th 2021, and with the Attorney General now appointing a Special Counsel to investigate those events. I will seek to define the meaning of what a "Cult of Personality" is here.  A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader,[1] is the result of an effort which is made to create an idealized and heroic image of a leader by a government, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Historically, it has developed through techniques of mass media, propaganda, fake news, spectacle, the arts, patriotism, and government-organized demonstrations and rallies. A cult of personality is similar to apotheosis, except that it is established by modern social engineering techniques, usually by the state or the party in one-party states and dominant-party states. A cult of personality often accompanies the leader of a totalitarian or authoritarian countries. It can also be seen in some monarchies, theocracies, and failed democracies.     Barring that, then perhaps a video from 1980' from  a band that I am quite fond of, Living Color.  May we all become wiser for the experience of having to endure the "Orange Haired One", and some of the others who profess to be our superiors.

Premium smartphone (>$400) shipments grew 29% YoY while the <$200 price band shipments fell 24%. Overall Southeast Asia smartphone shipments dropped 10% YoY. Apple’s iPhone shipments grew 63% YoY in Q3 2022. 5G made up 32% of total shipments in the key countries, 5G smartphone shipments grew 56% YoY in Q3 2022.
The $200-$400 5G smartphone band saw a 73% YoY growth. Premium smartphone (priced more than $400) shipments in the key Southeast Asian markets* increased 29% YoY in Q3 2022, according to Counterpoint Research’s Southeast Asia Monthly Smartphone Channel Share Tracker. On the other hand, total smartphone shipments declined 10% YoY during the quarter. Southeast Asia is still facing macroeconomic headwinds. Resulting in weak business and consumer sentiments. Investments have slowed down too, including FDI volumes for some countries. All this has led to key smartphone OEMs collecting more than the required inventory before Q4 2022.

There were some brand-level hits and misses too in Q3 2022. While Samsung shipments fell 13% YoY, Apple’s shipments were up 63% YoY across all the key countries. Vietnam seemed to be grabbing iPhones at a faster rate than its neighbours. 5G smartphone demand has seen slow progress in some countries like Indonesia and Vietnam while it is much faster in Thailand and Philippines, where the network is better and a large number of consumers are quite tech-savvy. Operators are still giving good package value to consumers even as it affects margins.

Tesla has reported 2 more fatal crashes involving its self-driving Autopilot system. Both incidents featured Tesla Model 3 sedans and the company's driver assistance system. Since 2021, automakers have been required to turn over data to the Transportation Department about crashes involving vehicles equipped with level 2 advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has logged 18 fatal crashes since June 2021. 16 involved Tesla vehicles, and 2 of those Tesla crashes occurred between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, according to data released this week. Both incidents involved Tesla Model 3 sedans and Autopilot technology and happened in California. "NHTSA has reviewed [the California] crashes and is conducting appropriate follow-up," the agency tells Reuters. "NHTSA uses many data sources in its enforcement processes." With Level 2 partial automation, the ADAS can take over steering, acceleration, and braking in specific scenarios, but the driver must remain alert and actively supervise the vehicle. The news comes just days after Tesla promised to assist Chinese police investigating a recent crash involving a Model Y car. Local media reports claim two people—a motorcyclist and high school student—died and three were injured when the driver lost control of the vehicle. Last month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he's aiming for a "wide release" of Tesla's full self-driving (FSD) beta for all Tesla owners by the end of this year. He also said anyone who buys a new Tesla going forward will have access to FSD, as long as they can cough up the extra $15,000 it costs to receive it via a vehicle software update. 

Since the widespread adoption of USB 1.1 in the 90s, USB has become the de facto standard for connecting most peripherals to our everyday computers. The latest revision of the technology has been USB 4, which pushes the data rate capabilities to 40 Gbit/s. This amount of throughput is mindblowing compared to the USB 1.x speeds which were three to four orders of magnitude slower in comparison. But data speeds haven’t been the only thing changing with the USB specifications. The amount of power handling they can do has increased by orders of magnitude as well, as this DIY USB charger demonstrates by delivering around 200 W to multiple devices at once. The build comes to us from [tobychui] who not only needed USB rapid charging for his devices while on-the-go but also wanted to build the rapid charger himself and for the charger to come in a small form factor while still using silicon components instead of more modern gallium nitride solutions. Part of what makes builds like this possible is the USB Power Delivery (PD) standard, which has enabled all kinds of electronics to switch to USB for their power needs rather than getting their power from dedicated, proprietary, and/or low-quality power bricks or wall warts. In fact, you can even use this technology to do things like charge lithium batteries. The solution he came up with was to use a 24 V DC power supply coupled with two regulator modules meant for solar panel installations to deliver a staggering amount of power to several devices at once. The charger is still relatively small, and cost around $30 US dollars to make.

Robert Friedland, chairman of Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., says the world has had decades of underinvestment in mining and faces a sustained shortage of materials after the global economy recovers. He speaks on the sidelines of Bloomberg's New Economy Forum in Singapore with Shery Ahn and Haidi Stroud-Watts on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia."

The theft of trade secrets is attractive because it allows countries to "leapfrog up global value chains relatively quickly - and without the costs, both in terms of time and money, of relying completely on indigenous capabilities", Nick Marro of the Economist Intelligence Unit. In July 2022 FBI director Christopher Wray told London business leaders and academics that China aimed to "ransack" the intellectual property (IP) of Western companies so it can speed up its own industrial development and eventually dominate key industries. Warning that it was snooping on companies everywhere "from big cities to small towns - from Fortune 100s to start-ups, folks that focus on everything from aviation, to AI, to pharma". The FBI's Alan Kohler Jr said China was targeting "American ingenuity" and seeking to "topple our status" as global leader. China has also gained expertise by making foreign companies hand over technology under joint venture agreements in exchange for access to the Chinese market. According to Ray Wang, founder and CEO of Silicon Valley-based consultancy Constellation Research, they include pharmaceutical development and nanotechnology - engineering and technology conducted at the nanoscale for use in areas such as medicine, textiles and fabrics and automobiles, and includes pharmaceuticals, bioengineering - mimicking biological processes for purposes such as the development of biocompatible prostheses and regenerative tissue growth.  Mr Wang cited an anecdote by a former head of R&D for a Fortune 100 company, who told him that "the person he entrusted the most" - someone so close that their children grew up together - was eventually found to be on the payroll of the Chinese Communist Party. "He kindly explained to me that the spies are everywhere," he said.

Meta has warned that the use of spyware to indiscriminately target people – including journalists and activists – is a persistent threat because surveillance-for-hire companies continue to adapt and change tactics in the face of efforts to shut down their capabilities.

A report by Facebook’s parent company described efforts by the social media group to remove a number of firms, including two linked to Russia, one based in Israel, and an entity in China, all of which were alleged by Meta to have been used to “scrape” Facebook and Instagram for users’ private information in an attempt to compromise users’ accounts. In one case, Meta said it removed more than 100 accounts on Facebook and Instagram linked to a company called Avalanche in Russia, which it said sold access to a platform that allows spying across the internet. Meta said a host of individuals and groups were targeted using the Russian network, from environmental activists, members of the media, NGOs in the US and politicians. Other companies that were removed from Meta platforms include a New York-based company called Social Links, which was originally based in Russia, and Cyberglobes, based in Israel. At the same time, Meta acknowledged that other companies it sought to ban last year from its platforms after accusations that the groups’ software had been used to target thousands of users with malicious activity have tried to circumvent blocks on Meta’s platforms and updated their software to try to evade detection. 

Electric bike fires can be deadly and are increasing. Consumer Reports investigates why the bikes' lithium-ion batteries explode and what can be done to fix the problem. When the lithium-ion batteries used in the bikes are poorly made, overused, or charged too long, though, they can cause fires. “It’s very violent, very fast, it’s hard to extinguish,” says Daniel E. Flynn, chief fire marshal at the Bureau of Fire Investigation in New York City’s fire department. “In the battery pack, when they do fail, they can shoot these cells as far as 60 feet, so multiple fires can be related to the battery failing,” he says.

But little is being done to address the danger. That’s in part because e-bikes fall into something of a regulatory vacuum. Large agencies like those that govern workplace safety or highway safety generally don’t handle them, leaving oversight to the CPSC, an underfunded consumer-protection agency that has limited control over companies. And a little-noticed change to trade law enacted in 2016 means an increasing flood of poorly made, inexpensive bikes, which are not subject to tariffs and are almost entirely uninspected, are arriving in the U.S., “unsafe, untaxed: it’s not what anybody signed up for,” says Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore. In the battery pack, when they do fail, they can shoot these cells as far as 60 feet, so multiple fires can be related to the battery failing.  None of the companies that make, sell, use, or expect their workers to use these products seem able, or in many cases willing, to solve the problem industrywide. Amazon and other online marketplaces, for example, should do more to protect consumers from potentially dangerous electric bikes sold on their sites, regulators say. Food-delivery workers are independent contractors, left to fend for themselves when it comes to safety. Established e-bike manufacturers maintain that their vehicles aren’t the issue, so fixing the problem is not their role.

Germany says China is operating two illegal 'police stations' on its territory. These set-ups don't have a fixed office, and are run by private individuals from the Chinese diaspora. The aim is to collect information on Chinese dissidents and citizens in exile and pass that on to Beijing. Its a pattern that's come to light across the world. An earlier report by Madrid based NGO Safeguard Defenders claimed there were more than a hundred such 'police stations' in at least 53 countries. Most exist illegally and aim to monitor, coerce and in some instances repatriate, those Beijing considers criminal or anti-China.

The United States has been a leader in microchip design with dominant companies like Nvidia, Intel and Qualcomm, but it risks a big drop in global market share without government support for the sector, warned a report released on Wednesday. The U.S. share of chip design revenue has been slipping in recent years, dropping to 46% in 2021 from over 50% in 2015. Without government support, that could drop to 36% by 2030, according to the analysis released by U.S. industry body Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and Boston Consulting Group.  The US has already lost its lead in chip manufacturing, prompting the Biden administration to pass the CHIPS and Science Act this year. An earlier report by SIA and BCG in 2020 showed the U.S. share of modern global chip manufacturing capacity had fallen to 12% by that year, down from 37% in 1990.

article-prompt-devices  While companies like Intel Corp both design and manufacture chips, so-called fabless chipmakers like Nvidia and Qualcomm design chips that are made by the likes of Taiwanese TSMC. It said federal investment in semiconductor design and R&D of $20 billion - $30 billion through 2030, including a $15 billion-$20 billion investment tax credit for chip design, would be needed to maintain U.S. leadership in the long-run. While the CHIPS and Science Act included $39 billion in manufacturing grants for chip production and $13 billion for R&D, nothing was tagged for chip designing specifically, according to a spokesperson for SIA. The report also said the U.S. chip industry will face a shortage of 23,000 design workers by 2030, but funding from the federal government could help support training up a workforce.

Scientists at the University of Waterloo have determined the optimal design for a splash-free urinal: a tall, slender porcelain structure with curves reminiscent of a nautilus shell, playfully dubbed the "Nauti-loo." That's good news for men tired of having urine splash onto their pants and shoes—and for the poor souls who have to regularly clean up all the splatter. It's not the first time scientists have attempted to address this issue. Mr. Pan a mechanical engineer who founded the so-called "Splash Lab" at Utah State University.  The optimal splash-reducing angle for the average human is approximately 30 degrees. It turns out that dogs have already figured out the optimal angle as they lift their legs to pee, and when they modeled this on a computer, they pegged the optimal angle for humans at 30 degrees. The ladies have not been left out of this scientific (ahem) pissing contest either as they too suffer from urine spillage too, most notably when required to pee into a cup for medical testing purposes. The Splash Lab conducted a series of experiments involving a model of an anatomically correct female urethra. (They used a soft polymer to model the labia.) The results inspired the (patented) design of the "Orchid," a funnel-shaped attachment for urine cups that reduces spillage. The research could lead to devices that allow women to pee standing up, which would be a boon to women in the military or female academics working in the field. According to Pan, the key to optimal splash-free urinal design is the angle at which the pee stream strikes the porcelain surface; get a small enough angle, and there won't be any splashback. Instead, you get a smooth flow across the surface, preventing droplets from flying out.

Published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, researchers found that problematic smartphone use is linked with low self-esteem as well as negative cognitive outcomes.

The majority of people who live in industrialized countries have smartphones. The fear of being without one’s smartphones is known as “nomophobia” and has become a social problem. Research shows that people who have smartphone addiction tend to report more loneliness and experience self-regulation deficits. Furthermore, people who have smartphone addictions are likely to experience withdrawal symptoms when their smartphone use is restricted. Researchers were interested in investigating the relationship between smartphone usage and behavioral and cognitive self-control deficits.

The researchers argue that their findings shows that people with high levels of smartphone addiction display less self-control. Poor self-regulation could have negative consequences on people’s daily lives, such as deficiencies in cognitive tasks and slower reaction times.

Results show that participants who had higher levels of smartphone addiction had a higher percentage of noncompliance. Participants with higher levels of smartphone addiction spent more time using their phones in all three phases, even when they were instructed to limit their smartphone use during the experimental phase. Results also show that participants with higher levels of smartphone addiction tended to exhibit worse working memory, visual reaction time, auditory reaction time, ability to inhibit motor response, and behavioral inhibition compared to participants with lower levels of smartphone addiction. A limitation of this study is that some of the original participants left the study when they found out they would have to limit their smartphone use to one hour a day for three consecutive days, so data from people with likely very high levels of smartphone addiction is missing.  Recruiting 111 participants, ranging from ages 18 -65. 28% of the participants were college students and 78% were workers. Each participant’s phone data was retrieved via the “SocialStatsApp” which provides information about the use of TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The Smartphone Addiction Scale – Short Version (SAS-SV) was used to determine each participant’s risk of smartphone addiction and severity. Participants also responded to items on the short version of the Psychological General Well-Being Index, the Fear of Missing Out Scale, and the Procrastination Scale.

Researchers have created an alternative positioning system that is more accurate and robust than GPS. The team discovered that the alternative positioning system is more accurate within urban settings. The prototype that demonstrated this new mobile network infrastructure was able to achieve an accuracy of 10 centimeters. The results from the study were published in the journal Nature. The novel system uses mobile telecommunication rather than satellites
The researchers from Delft University of Technology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and VSL, which could potentially make it more accurate and reliable than GPS. We realized that with a few cutting-edge innovations, the telecommunication network could be transformed into a very accurate alternative positioning system that is independent of GPS,” The team succeeded in developing a system that can provide connectivity similar to mobile and Wi-Fi networks. It also has accurate positioning and time distribution. The new system can be used in a wide range of applications, including automated vehicles and next generation mobile communication systems.

Improving the accuracy with the new system The research team realized that weak radio signals relying on satellites can make GPS inaccurate. If the radio signals are reflected or blocked by buildings, then they can no longer send over accurate positioning and information. “This can make GPS unreliable in urban settings, for instance,” said Christiaan Tiberius of Delft University of Technology and coordinator of the project. He mentioned another big issue involving the future of autonomous vehicles, which cannot function off of unpredictable GPS positioning. “Also, citizens and our authorities actually depend on GPS for many location-based applications and navigation devices. Furthermore, so far we had no back-up system,” Tiberius continued. The new system can act as an optional system, or maybe in the future, a potential novel replacement for GPS.

The European smartphone market continued to suffer from a deteriorating economic climate with shipments declining by 16% year-on-year in Q3 2022 to just over 40 million units as ongoing economic challenges placed further constraints on consumer demand. Samsung maintained leadership despite a double-digit YoY shipment decrease. Apple declined YoY as supply constraints of its new iPhone 14 series delayed some shipments into Q4. Xiaomi overtook Apple as Europe’s 2nd largest vendor thanks to significant growth in Russia, where they look to capitalise on Samsung and Apple’s absence. realme posted strong gains in Russia and overtook OPPO as Europe’s 4th largest smartphone vendor.  Counterpoint Research’s Associate Director, Jan Stryjak said, “The overall climate is still bleak in Europe. Weaker consumer demand for expensive devices, exacerbated by China lockdown-related supply issues, meant Apple’s iPhone 14 launch was not as strong as expected, helping Samsung remain on top. There was good news for some vendors though. Xiaomi and realme’s shipments in Eastern Europe increased significantly as the continued official absence of Apple and Samsung from the Russian market. Helping Xiaomi overtake Apple as the Europe’s 2nd smartphone OEM. Read on for more details

6 main factors led to the collapse of the Afghan government as the U.S. drew down its last troops in the country, according to a Special Inspector General report released Wednesday. Chief among them was key Afghan officials’ refusal to believe the U.S. would keep its promise to leave the country.  The report by the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, commissioned by Congress after Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban in August 2021. “Even as the United States officially expressed its desire to exit Afghanistan in the years leading up to its departure, contradictory messaging by U.S. officials undermined efforts to convey the seriousness of U.S. intentions to Afghan officials, who optimistically believed that alternative scenarios were possible,”.  “The result was that the Afghan government was fundamentally unprepared to manage the fight against the Taliban as the US military and its contractors withdrew.”  “Around the world, the United States aids in combatting corruption, advocates for representative government, and supports accountability mechanisms among the various initiatives based on democratic values and human rights,” Erik Schnotala, acting director of State’s Office of Afghanistan Affairs, wrote in his review of the report. “Whether a country is successful or not in making progress in these areas is ultimately a reflection its own efforts,”  The other top two reasons for the fall of Afghanistan’s democratically elected government had more to do with the way the U.S. chose to negotiate its exit. 

Speaking to the US Congress, FBI Director Christopher Wray expressed “extreme” concern over China's ability to “weaponize” data belonging to TikTok's American users, Cyberscoop(opens in new tab) reported earlier this week.  TikTok is currently one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, allowing users to create short-form videos (roughly 15 seconds in length) on any topic.

Tik Tok tried to appease the US government by moving users’ data to Oracle servers stored in the country last June, but a BuzzFeed News report(opens in new tab) published soon after claimed all of that data was still visible in China. During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Wray said that APIs ByteDance embeds in TikTok are a national security concern. According to him, Beijing could use them to “control data collection of millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which can be used for influence operations.”  China could be seeking to sow division by influencing how US TikTok users view certain events and issues. Social media companies are no stranger to influencer operations. In 2014, Facebook began tweaking its algorithm to only show specific types of posts to its users. Consequently, it was accused of manipulating its users on an emotional basis. Wray went on to address that Chinese companies could pose stark security risks, as they “do whatever the Chinese government wants to do in terms of sharing information or serving as a tool of the Chinese government [...] that’s plenty of reason by itself to be extremely concerned." While American legislators have so far stopped short of a ban, TikTok remains unbelievably popular, superseding Facebook, Instagram and Twitter amongst younger users, and it's unlikely they'll move away from the platform without being forced to find an alternative.

Early 3D printers usually had a microswitch that let you know when the Z axis was at the zero point. There was usually an adjustment screw so you could tune for just the right layer height. But these days, you most often see some sort of sensor. There are inductive sensors that work with a metal bed and a few other styles, as well. However, the most common is the “BL touch” style sensor that drops a probe below the nozzle level, measures, and then retracts the probe. However, nearly all of these sensors work by detecting a certain height over the bed and that’s it.  A new probe called BDsensor is inductive but can read the height over the bed in real time. According to information from the developer, it achieves a resolution of 0.01 mm and a repeatability of +/- 0.005mm. We don’t know if that’s true or not, but being able to take real-time soundings of the nozzle height leads to some interesting possibilities such as real-time adjustments of Z height, as seen in the video below. The device does require calibration. You essentially touch the nozzle down to the bed and the machine measures 7 mm, building a calibration curve as it goes. Recent versions of Marlin support the probe and provides a real-time display of the measured height on the LCD. You do need two free I/O pins, but since the BL Touch does too, you probably have a port you could use. In use, you can watch the real-time display to help you manually level, or use the device as a traditional probe to autolevel. You can also set up for dynamic leveling as seen in the video. Bed sensors don’t have to be expensive, but there’s something attractive about constantly measuring the bed height that seems mostly unique to this probe.