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Showing posts from September, 2020

American, United Airlines to begin furloughs for tens of thousands of workers as federal payroll program expires on October 1

Employees watch as American Airlines Flight 903 prepares for take off from Miami in 2016. Joe Raedle/Getty Images American and United Airlines will begin furloughing tens of thousands of employees on Thursday as Congress fails to reach a deal on a COVID-19 relief bill. American Airlines is set to furlough 19,000 employees, and United is expecting about 13,000, according to company announcements. The federal Payroll Support Program (PSP) under the CARES Act passed by Congress in March expires on October 1. "I am extremely sorry we have reached this outcome," American Airlines CEO Doug Parker wrote in the letter to employees. "It is not what you all deserve." The House was set to vote on a $2.2-trillion stimulus package on Wednesday, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delayed the vote in a last-minute attempt to negotiate a deal with the White House, suggesting that both parties are coming closer to a bipartisan plan. The company will "reverse our furlough

Google says the Pixel’s Soli radar and Motion Sense will return

Image: Google Google’s $799 Pixel 4 had built-in radar. The new $699 Pixel 5 does not — it ditches the sensor-laden forehead of its predecessor entirely in favor of thinner bezels and a hole-punch camera, like the $349 Pixel 4a before it. The result is more screen, but Google’s “Motion Sense” gestures and its answer to Apple’s Face ID are totally gone. But Google hardware boss Rick Osterloh tells The Verge that the Project Soli radar and gestures will return. “They’ll be used in the future,” he says. They were just too expensive for the phone that Google wanted to build this time. (He didn’t say whether they’d appear in a new phone, specifically; a recent FCC filing suggests they might come to a new Nest thermostat as well.) And let’s not get started on Pixel 4 battery life I doubt buyers of the Pixel 5 will really miss Google’s gimmicky air gestures, which never really advanced the way Google originally teased ; not that they had time to, since Google axed the product aft

The just-announced Pixel 5 has somehow already been unboxed

The Pixel 5, Google’s latest Android flagship, was just announced today, and someone on YouTube has already posted an unboxing video of the new device ahead of its release ( via 9to5Google ). What’s in the box is fairly standard — there’s the phone itself, as well as a charger, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a USB-C to USB-A converter. The YouTube user who has the phone, who goes by the name Sergiu, does power it on, giving us a look at the phone’s 6-inch 2340 x 1080 OLED screen and 8-megapixel hole-punch selfie camera. Sergiu doesn’t use the phone all that much in the video, though, sticking mostly to the phone’s home screen. Sergiu also zooms in on back of the Pixel 5, showing the phone’s aluminum back, fingerprint sensor, and square camera housing. If you’ve seen the camera housing on the Pixel 4 and 4 XL, the Pixel 5’s looks pretty similar, though the Pixel 5 has a 16MP ultrawide camera instead of the 16MP telephoto camera found on the Pixel 4 and 4 XL. Overall, there’s nothing t

Facebook has removed more than 6,500 militia groups and pages

Facebook has removed more than 6,500 pages and groups associated with “militarized social movements,” since the company announced it would crack down on QAnon and militia movements on its platform last month. Under the new rules, Facebook said it wou... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/3jk2Hd4 via IFTTT

Google says the Pixel’s Soli radar and Motion Sense will return

Image: Google Google’s $799 Pixel 4 had built-in radar. The new $699 Pixel 5 does not — it ditches the sensor-laden forehead of its predecessor entirely in favor of thinner bezels and a hole-punch camera, like the $349 Pixel 4a before it. The result is more screen, but Google’s “Motion Sense” gestures and its answer to Apple’s Face ID are totally gone. But Google hardware boss Rick Osterloh tells The Verge that the Project Soli radar and gestures will return. “They’ll be used in the future,” he says. They were just too expensive for the phone that Google wanted to build this time. (He didn’t say whether they’d appear in a new phone, specifically; a recent FCC filing suggests they might come to a new Nest thermostat as well.) And let’s not get started on Pixel 4 battery life I doubt buyers of the Pixel 5 will really miss Google’s gimmicky air gestures, which never really advanced the way Google originally teased ; not that they had time to, since Google axed the product aft

The just-announced Pixel 5 has somehow already been unboxed

The Pixel 5, Google’s latest Android flagship, was just announced today, and someone on YouTube has already posted an unboxing video of the new device ahead of its release ( via 9to5Google ). What’s in the box is fairly standard — there’s the phone itself, as well as a charger, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a USB-C to USB-A converter. The YouTube user who has the phone, who goes by the name Sergiu, does power it on, giving us a look at the phone’s 6-inch 2340 x 1080 OLED screen and 8-megapixel hole-punch selfie camera. Sergiu doesn’t use the phone all that much in the video, though, sticking mostly to the phone’s home screen. Sergiu also zooms in on back of the Pixel 5, showing the phone’s aluminum back, fingerprint sensor, and square camera housing. If you’ve seen the camera housing on the Pixel 4 and 4 XL, the Pixel 5’s looks pretty similar, though the Pixel 5 has a 16MP ultrawide camera instead of the 16MP telephoto camera found on the Pixel 4 and 4 XL. Overall, there’s nothing t

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says any bipartisan stimulus deal will include more $1,200 direct payments for Americans

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks at a White House press conference. Reuters Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said any bipartisan stimulus agreement would include another round of $1,200 checks for Americans. "We have reached an agreement that if there is a deal, there are direct payments similar to last time that are in the package," he said of talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Millions of $1,200 federal checks were sent to individuals earlier this spring. A stimulus deal would likely carry a price tag that's $1.5 trillion or above, and its unclear that Senate Republicans long resistant to spending would back a plan of that size. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories . Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday evening that any stimulus agreement will contain a second round of $1,200 direct payments to American taxpayers. In an interview on Fox Business, Mnuchin reiterated the Trump administration's opposition to the $2.2 tr

Horrid mug looks like wool sweater

The White Winter Ceramic Mug [Amazon, set of four] is designed to resemble a nice cosy knitted sweater. Just imagine it filled with a hot steaming cup of tea or chocolate, surrounded by fancy European "biscuits", breathing warmth into a cold winter's day. — Read the rest from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/33fzeeM via IFTTT

Facebook will ban ads that wrongly claim election victory

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook will ban ads that wrongly claim victory in the US presidential race. The news comes a week after the company announced it would reject ads from Donald Trump or Joe Biden claiming a premature win on November 3rd. The policy covers ads that claim legal forms of voting — like voting by mail — will corrupt the outcome of the election. It also bans ads that claim rampant voter fraud could alter the results of the election. This is a real concern for the 2020 race. Due to mail-in voting, the electoral process is expected to take longer than in years past, and the official results likely won’t be announced on November 3rd. Experts worry that because more Democrats are expected to vote by mail than Republicans , Trump could declare an early victory, then sow doubt about the results as more Biden votes trickle in. Google likely had this in mind last week when it announced it would ban election ads after polls close on November 3rd . Simila

Cut his mic, don't kill the debates: What Trump's terrible night taught us

There is, so far as we know, only one moment in Donald Trump's long and privileged life in which he was actually made to shut up: the mashed potato incident.  When Trump was 7, his elder brother Fred dumped a warm bowl of mash on Donald's head at the dinner table "because he was being such a brat" towards their younger siblings and wouldn't listen to his mother, according to Mary Trump's family tell-all Too Much and Never Enough . "Everybody laughed, and they couldn't stop laughing," she wrote. "It was the first time Donald had been humiliated ... from then on, he would never allow himself to feel that feeling again." The incident still stings: Trump glowered at the family when they brought it up during a White House lunch in 2017, Mary wrote.      Read more... More about Trump , Biden , Culture , and Politics from Mashable https://ift.tt/34cKg3R via IFTTT

NBA and NFL players allegedly targeted in social media phishing scam

Two men were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly hacking the social media accounts of NBA and NFL players.  Both men, Ronnie Magrehbi, 20, of Florida, and Trevontae Washington, 21, of Louisiana, face a hefty fine along with time in prison. According to a statement by the DOJ, between December 2017 and April 2019, they targeted the social media accounts of professional athletes in the NFL and NBA via phishing campaigns.  Washington would create fake login pages for social networking sites and then message the athletes on those platforms. When a player clicked the link, they were greeted with what looked like a login page for a social network. When an athlete entered their information, that sensitive information was sent to Washington. Read more... More about Nfl , Nba , Hackers , Crime , and Department Of Justice from Mashable https://ift.tt/2Gh3Bcf via IFTTT

Verizon's mmWave version of the Pixel 4a 5G costs $100 extra

Earlier today, Google announced the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G, both of which Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) will carry. But if you want to purchase the latter through the carrier, you’ll have to pay $600 or $25 per month on a two-year Verizon Devi... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/3cKizDm via IFTTT

Amazon wants a copy of your 'palm signature.' You should pass.

Amazon is coming for your hands.  Not content to put a flying surveillance drone inside customers' homes, the surveillance behemoth on Tuesday announced a plan to scan and store the "unique palm signature" of an untold number of Americans. Dubbed Amazon One , the company hopes the network of scanners will one day serve as an all-purpose form of identification.  You should absolutely not participate. Since the introduction of Apple's Touch ID in 2013 , followed by Face ID in 2017 , many people have become desensitized to using biometric data as a form of identification. While those forms of biometric ID have their own drawbacks , Amazon One is different. Designed as a contactless payment and authentication system, Amazon One relies on scanned images of customer hands.  Read more... More about Amazon , Privacy , Amazon One , Tech , and Big Tech Companies from Mashable https://ift.tt/3im5PEk via IFTTT

Twitter’s voice tweets are rolling out to more iOS users, and transcriptions are on the way

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has just expanded its voice tweets feature, which lets you record a snippet of audio to include with a tweet, to more users on iOS. But perhaps more significantly, Twitter is now saying it plans to add transcriptions to voice tweets to improve accessibility, which could help address criticisms from the feature’s June 17th launch. If you want to get an idea of how voice tweets work right now, just press play on the below tweet to hear a voice clip from my colleague Tom Warren. There’s currently no way to see captions or a transcription of what he’s saying. (Note: Tom is not actually sharing exclusive next-gen console news.) Twitter just launched voice tweets. Here’s some exclusive next-gen console news pic.twitter.com/BI228UaSbH — Tom Warren (@tomwarren) June 17, 2020 Without any way to see a transcription, voice tweets were quickly criticized for not being accessible. Then it came to light that there wasn’t a dedicated team a

An email app developer that's been at odds with Apple says the iPhone maker stonewalled its app update for weeks

Business Insider Intelligence Blix, which has filed a lawsuit against Apple in the past accusing it of infringing on its technology, says Apple delayed approving an update to its BlueMail app for weeks. According to emails reviewed by Business Insider, Apple rejected Blix's app update for not including Apple's "Sign in with Apple" feature, a requirement for apps that offer a sign in option from another service. Since Blix is an email app, it should have been exempt from that rule.  The interaction comes as some developers have been at odds with Apple over its policies, such as its requirement that app makers use Apple's in-app payment feature. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .   The company behind the popular email app BlueMail says Apple stonewalled its app updates after it criticized the iPhone maker.  In emails reviewed by Business Insider, Apple tells the developer, Blix, that it had rejected its app updates in part because

What people actually say before they die

We all know the stories of profound deathbed dying words by famous folks. Beethoven's "Friends applaud. The comedy is over." Emily Dickinson's "I must go in, for the fog is rising." Bogart's "I never should've switched from Scotch to martinis." Josephine Baker's "You young people act like old men. — Read the rest from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/3iaOZrD via IFTTT

Here come the Halloween holiday tunes

"It's the most wonderful time of the year…" It's closing in on October and you know what that means. Everything in the known universe getting pumpkin spiced? Well, yes that, too. But, I'm talking about the YouTube algorithms feeding us Halloween tunes. — Read the rest from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/36hs63v via IFTTT

Facebook names VP of product growth Alex Schultz as new CMO

To fill its empty CMO position, Facebook just promoted to the C-suite a longtime Facebook executive focused on product growth. Former VP of product growth and analytics Alex Schultz, who has been with the company since 2007, announced the move Tuesday in a Facebook post . Schultz will fill the position left open by Antonio Lucio, who joined the company from HP in 2018 and announced his departure last month . Lucio said he was leaving the company to “dedicate 100% of my time to diversity, inclusion and equity.” In his Facebook post, Schultz said he planned to bring “experience in segmentation, targeting, and measurement” to the table to extend Facebook’s already massive reach. Schultz, who is the executive sponsor of Facebook’s LGBTQ resource group, added a personal note to the news, writing that Facebook is the first workplace where he has “truly safe to be gay and be open about it.” Stepping into the role late in the U.S. election, an intensely consequential time for the company

'Pokémon Go' will roll back some of its COVID-19-related changes

As the coronavirus pandemic spread in the spring and summer, Pokémon Go rolled out a series of changes that made it easier for players to keep participating. Now Niantic Labs has announced that while some of the temporary bonuses it added will remain... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2Ge1VAf via IFTTT

10 best podcasts to listen to while running

I've been a runner all my life. Way back in the day, I would've described myself as pretty good at running. I knocked out sub-five-minute miles and completed a marathon. Nowadays, well, I'm just trying to get a few miles done without gasping for air or getting injured. So, when I was tasked with compiling a list of good podcasts to listen to while running, my whole goal was to recommend shows that would help a long run fly by faster. I am not trying to turn you into an elite runner by loading you up with running podcast after running podcast to motivate you through your ultra marathon training sessions. If you want motivation while running, maybe just listen to loud music?  Read more... More about Fitness , Running , Podcasts , Culture , and Health from Mashable https://ift.tt/2G1s2KK via IFTTT

House Democrats roll out new $2.2 trillion stimulus plan that includes $600 federal unemployment benefits and a 2nd round of $1,200 direct payments

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images House Democrats unveiled a new $2.2 trillion stimulus plan that includes reviving the $600 federal unemployment benefits until the end of January and additional stimulus checks. It also includes funds for education, coronavirus testing, and contact tracing. State aid and federal unemployment benefits form two areas of friction between Republicans and Democrats. Relief negotiations have been deadlocked since early August. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories . House Democrats unveiled late on Monday a new $2.2 trillion stimulus plan which includes reviving $600 federal unemployment benefits and a second round of stimulus checks for millions of American taxpayers. The new proposal — still named the Heroes Act — comes after House Democrats passed a $3.4 trillion spending package in May. It initially formed the basis of their coronavirus relief negotiations with Republicans, though they have lowered their demands and now insist