Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Apple Silicon M1 Mac buying guide: 2020 MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro vs. Mac mini
Bruce Willis returns to space to kick some alien derriere in Breach trailer
Bruce Willis battles an alien life form aboard an interstellar ark en route to a New Earth in Breach.
An interstellar ark transporting the last humans on Earth to a new home inadvertently brings along a shape-shifting alien stowaway in Breach, a new sci-fi action film starring Bruce Willis and directed by John Suits. The trailer just dropped, and the film looks like a fairly generic mix of elements from Alien, The X-Files, and Event Horizon. But anything that lets Willis "yippee-ki-yay" his gun-toting way to saving humanity from aliens in space is okay by me.
Suits is best known for 2016's Pandemic, essentially a zombie horror thriller shot entirely from a first person point of view, like a video game. He also directed the recently released short Diehard is Back, a fun Willis-starring commercial for Diehard batteries that pays tongue-in-cheek homage to the franchise, including a few cameos that should delight fans. ("From fighting his way to Advance Auto Parts to racing against the clock to install his new DieHard Battery—McClane will stop at nothing, to start his car again.") So I'm hopeful that Suits can bring a fitting mix of suspense, action, and humor to Breach, and just let Willis be Willis.
Originally titled Anti-Life, the film's premise is that a devastating plague has wiped out much of Earth's population, and the survivors are being evacuated via an interstellar ark to "New Earth." Willis plays Clay Young, described as a hardened mechanic who is part of the crew selected to stay awake and maintain the ark for the six-month journey. But then he discovers a shapeshifting alien (or "a malevolent cosmic terror," per the early press materials) has also stowed away on the ark, and it seems to be intent on killing everyone on board.
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President-elect Joseph Biden reportedly plucks Revolution’s Ron Klain as new chief of staff
President-elect Joseph Biden has plucked Ron Klain, a longtime colleague and confidant and the current executive vice president of the venture capital firm Revolution, as his White House chief of staff, reports The New York Times.
Klain was Biden’s chief of staff for two years during the Obama administration and left his post as chief of staff in 2011 to join Revolution, the firm founded by former AOL chief executive and founder Steve Case. Revolution did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If Klain makes his second entrance into the White House, Biden will be bringing on a chief of staff he’s known for more than 35 years. The duo first worked together in 1989, when the president-elect was a senator and Klain was a newly graduated law student from Harvard Law School. He most recently worked as the White House Ebola Response coordinator from October 2014 to February 2015, and helped as a debate advisor to President Obama and President Clinton, as well as nominees Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.
Klain’s appointment could pacify some of the presumed tension that could occur between startups and the government under the Biden-Harris administration. Biden has been vocal about pursuing aggressive regulation on the tech industry, which could negatively impact behemoths like Google, Apple and Facebook. Klain has spoken up (in TechCrunch!) about how regulatory hurdles could hinder key innovation in startup-land. Klain also helped lead efforts for Higher Ground Labs, an incubator and accelerator focused on politically-focused (and Democrat-loved) startups. While that likely wouldn’t impact Big Tech, it doesn’t hurt that, reportedly, one of Biden’s closest confidants will have a soft spot for startups.
Amazon unveils Alexa Care Hub, which helps people care for aging relatives, offering an activity feed caregivers can review, and an emergency contact feature (Christina Farr/CNBC)
Amazon unveils Alexa Care Hub, which helps people care for aging relatives, offering an activity feed caregivers can review, and an emergency contact feature — - More seniors than ever are choosing to remain at home and live independently. — Amazon wants to make it easier for caregivers to check in on their aging relatives.
President-elect Joseph Biden reportedly plucks Revolution’s Ron Klain as new chief of staff
President-elect Joseph Biden has plucked Ron Klain, a longtime colleague and confidant and the current executive vice president of the venture capital firm Revolution, as his White House chief of staff, reports The New York Times.
Klain was Biden’s chief of staff for two years during the Obama administration and left his post as chief of staff in 2011 to join Revolution, the firm founded by former AOL chief executive and founder Steve Case. Revolution did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If Klain makes his second entrance into the White House, Biden will be bringing on a chief of staff he’s known for more than 35 years. The duo first worked together in 1989, when the president-elect was a senator and Klain was a newly graduated law student from Harvard Law School. He most recently worked as the White House Ebola Response coordinator from October 2014 to February 2015, and helped as a debate advisor to President Obama and President Clinton, as well as nominees Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.
Klain’s appointment could pacify some of the presumed tension that could occur between startups and the government under the Biden-Harris administration. Biden has been vocal about pursuing aggressive regulation on the tech industry, which could negatively impact behemoths like Google, Apple and Facebook. Klain has spoken up (in TechCrunch!) about how regulatory hurdles could hinder key innovation in startup-land. Klain also helped lead efforts for Higher Ground Labs, an incubator and accelerator focused on politically-focused (and Democrat-loved) startups. While that likely wouldn’t impact Big Tech, it doesn’t hurt that, reportedly, one of Biden’s closest confidants will have a soft spot for startups.
Standard Chartered embarks on five-year personalised banking push with AWS
Rivian electric pickup will debut with three editions, with a cheaper one to follow
Rivian is opening up pre-orders for three editions of its upcoming electric pickup truck and SUV that start as low as $67,500 and with a battery range of more than 300 miles. However, more options will follow, including a base version that will have a smaller range of at least 250 miles and a price below $67,000.
Information on the three editions and their accompanying equipment packages, paint options and pricing is just a few of the numerous details released Wednesday on Rivian’s website. Perhaps one of the more notable tidbits include the addition of cheaper base version of the pickup and SUV, the official inclusion of the camp kitchen accessory and confirmation that a battery pack capable of more than 400 miles will be offered at some point in the future.
Rivian, which has attracted investment from the likes of Ford, Amazon, funds managed by BlackRock, T. Rowe Price and Associates and Cox Automotive, is aiming to become the first to bring an EV pickup truck to market. But it’s facing competition from legacy automakers such as GM as well as Tesla, which says it will start production of its futuristic looking Cybertruck in late 2021. Ford is also planning to bring an all-electric F-150 pickup truck to market in 2022.
Image Credits: Rivian
Deliveries of the first and, so far, most expensive version of the pickup truck called the Launch edition will begin in June 2021. The Launch edition of the RT1 truck will start at $75,000 (that’s before federal tax incentives are applied) and be able to travel more than 300 miles on the standard battery. The Launch edition will also have a special paint color called “Launch Green” along with other special badging and 20-inch all-terrain or 22-inch sport wheel upgrades included.
Tho other packages — the Adventure and Explore — will be offered for the RT1 truck and the R1S SUV. All of these versions will have more than 300 miles of range. The big differences come in the finishes. The Launch and Adventure editions, for instance, come standard with an off-road upgrade with reinforced underbody shield, dual front bumper tow hooks and air compressor as well as “compass yellow” interior accents, 100% recycled microfiber headliner and “Chilewich floor mats.”
The various pickup truck editions range between $75,000 and $67,500 in price. The R1S SUV prices range between $77,500 and $70,000. And all of these editions will arrive in the marketplace at different times between June 2021 and into January 2022.
Customers who place pre-orders now, which requires a $1,000 deposit, will have access to a configurator November 16. Everyone else will have access to the configurator, which allows customers to pick the paint color, equipment package and other details, on November 23.
The bigger 400-plus mile battery will come to the pickup truck first, starting in January 2022, according to Rivian. A longer range R1S SUV with both five- and seven-passenger seating will be announced following start of production, the company said on its website.
YouTube is experiencing video playback issues worldwide, with YouTube TV and Google TV also affected; YouTube says it is working on a fix (Jay Peters/The Verge)
YouTube is experiencing video playback issues worldwide, with YouTube TV and Google TV also affected; YouTube says it is working on a fix — It's not just you — YouTube seems to be having issues loading videos right now. Several Verge staffers are having trouble watching videos …
Study: London and SF have become Impact Tech hubs, with 280% increase in VC in 5 years
New research has found that San Francisco and London have become two of the world’s leading hubs for VC investment into tech solutions which address one or more of the 17 UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), more commonly referred to as ‘Impact Tech’. They are followed by Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Shanghai and Beijing.
Tech solutions for such pressing issues as the climate crisis and social inequality has seen a 280% increase in global VC investment from 2015 to 2020, while investment in this space more than doubled in both cities over the past five years. The report was put together by London & Partners and Dealroom as part of this week’s Silicon Valley Comes to the UK virtual event. Over 5,000 startups were surveyed to create the data.
According to the research, VC investment into London-based impact tech start-ups has grown by almost 800% (7.8 times) since 2015, compared to 3.1 times in Europe as a whole. 2020 is set to be a record year for London’s impact tech companies, which have received $1.2bn in VC investment from January to October, already matching 2019 levels. London’s impact firms have also secured 429 deals between 2015 and 2020, more than any other city globally.
San Francisco’s impact based tech companies have also shown strong growth over the past five years, with the data revealing that VC investment into its impact tech companies has almost tripled (2.8 times) from 2015 to 2020. So far this year, SF-based impact tech companies attracted $1.7bn of VC investment in 2020 – more than any other city globally. At a national level, the United States received more VC funding for impact tech companies than any other country in the past five years, with investors pumping $35.8bn into US firms since 2015, double the amount invested into China ($16.8bn) and the United Kingdom ($6.1bn).
The research also found that UK capital has produced 241 impact start-ups since 2006, with 95 companies founded in San Francisco. In London, ‘impact unicorns’ include Octopus Energy (green energy), Arrival (zero-emission, public transportation vehicles) and Gousto (food) and Babylon Health (AI healthtech).
Climate change and clean energy solutions have attracted the most interest from investors in both cities, making up over 50% of overall VC investment over the last five years. Funding rounds including at least one North American investor made up $234m of VC investment so far this year in London, up from $85m in 2018, and equating to a fifth of all VC investment into London’s impact startups.
Funding rounds for London impact companies involving North American investors in 2020 include a $118m growth equity round into Arrival by Blackrock, an $80m Series B round for COMPASS Pathways and a $25m Series C funding for Tractable.
Meanwhile, Impact startups are crossing the pond in both directions. Arrival is now operating in Los Angeles, while Octopus Energy launched in the US market in September after closing a $360m funding round in April and acquiring Silicon Valley-based startup Evolve Energy. And San Francisco-based Allbirds, the sustainable shoe retailer, opened its first European flagship store in London in July 2018.
Commenting, Janet Coyle, managing director for business, London & Partners said: “San Francisco and London are two of the world’s top hubs for innovation and technology. But today’s figures also show that they are leading the way in creating purpose-driven companies striving to tackle some of the most pressing environmental and social challenges.”
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Alibaba records billions in sales as China's first post-virus Singles' Day kicks off
Huawei to sell $15 billion Honor unit to Shenzhen government, Digital China, others: Sources
More tech executives than tech critics on Joe Biden's transition team
European Union charges Amazon with using dominance and data to squeeze rivals
YouTube simplifies video quality preferences for data and Wi-Fi
YouTube gives users a host of resolutions for consuming content all the way from the lower 240p up to 4K i.e., 2160p. However, choosing from so many options may be a daunting task for some and leaving it on Auto may pick a resolution lower to your liking. In order to address such concerns and also to simplify the resolution selection, it looks like YouTube has implemented new options. You can choose what quality the video plays back on YouTube and you can choose different options for mobile network and Wi-Fi
New video playback quality settings on YouTubeClicking on the three dots when playing a video on your smartphone, then clicking on the quality button used to throw up a number of resolution options. Now all you get are four options: Auto, Higher Picture Quality, Data Saver and Advanced.
Auto: This setting “Adjusts to give you the best experience for your condition”. While on this setting, most videos for me stuck to the 480 resolution even though the device in question is an iPhone XR. The same on the 2020 iPad Air (review) would keep the resolution at 720p as well for me.
The next option is the Higher Picture Quality mode which uses more data. The iPhone XR here set the resolution to 720p for me even though higher options are available and that kind of made sense since the XR display has an 828 x 1792 pixel resolution. But you can manually go into advanced and change the resolution to a higher one if you like. Know that this will consume more data.
On the iPad Air 2020, the High Picture Quality resolution was set to 1440p which also makes sense since the device has a resolution of 1640 x 2360 pixels.
Next up is the Data Saver Mode which as the name suggests lowers the quality. On the iPhone, it dropped the quality to 240p.
The last option is Advanced which brings up all the resolutions the video is available in and you can manually choose what resolution to play the content in. This is the exact same as what we had before the new update.
Another thing to note is that when you change any of the video quality settings while watching a video, it affects the settings of that video only. To make a universal change, you need to open the YouTube app. Click on the icon in the top right corner that represents your account, then click on Settings, and make the universal change in the Video Quality Preferences tab. Note that this tab has a (BETA) written signifying that it isn't available to all. So, if you don't see it here on your device, then the feature hasn’t rolled out to you.
While it's nice to see YouTube simplify the video quality settings, those that know exactly the resolution they want need to click a few more times on screen to get to the detailed resolution menu and this can get a little annoying. However, since this feature is in beta, we think it may see some changes before the final rollout.
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Russian cryptocurrency payment network A7 expands to Africa, as Moscow builds an alternative payments system amid western sanctions after its Ukraine invasion (Financial Times)
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Sohee Kim / Bloomberg : South Korean authorities are investigating a data leak at e-commerce giant Coupang that exposed ~33.7M accounts; ...
