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The Associated Press Brings Datasets to Blockchain Through Chainlink

Andrew Orr ·

The Associated Press announced a partnership with Chainlink to bring datasets onto leading blockchains.

AP U.S. race calls, economic data, sports game outcomes and business financials will be available. The data can be used to automate key processes that happen on-chain, including informing markets of election race calls, triggering an on-chain trade when a company’s quarterly financials are released, or augmenting the appearance of non-fungible tokens based on real-world events.

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Is Apple Product Design Better Without Sir Jony Ive?

Charlotte Henry ·

It’s a heretical thought for some but…has Apple product design actually got better since Sir Jony Ive left? Writing for Bloomberg Businessweek, Alex Webb argues that devices now focus on function rather than form, to the benefit of the user.

Evans Hankey, who now heads the industrial design team, has overseen plenty of other tweaks that seem to indicate a change of philosophy. Take the iPhone. The latest iterations have ditched the curved edges that made the display liable to crack if dropped on its side. Or the Apple TV remote, whose symmetry made it visually appealing, but meant that users often inadvertently pressed the wrong buttons by holding it upside down. The design was revamped in May. “Since Jony Ive left, there’s not that gravitational force driving aesthetic before function,” Paul Found, a lecturer in industrial design at the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury, England. “Those who have taken over are now listening to what customers are saying.”

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It Costs Another US$20 to Get Fast Charging For The New 14-Inch MacBook Pro

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple has mentioned faster charging when launching a variety of devices recently, including the new 14-inch MacBook Pro, However, as iMore pointed out, getting the feature will cost a little bit extra on top of the standard configuration.

Thankfully, the 96W power adapter is available as a $20 upgrade when you are configuring your 14-inch MacBook Pro, but it still seems odd that Apple would bother with the 67W power adapter at all since it doesn’t provide the full experience that its new laptop is capable of. The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros feature the new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors, Apple’s latest pro-level chips that take the M1 to new heights. The new laptops feature a mini-LED display, MagSafe charging, a new keyboard with function keys, and the return of many ports.

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Airborne Drone Deliveries to Start in Dallas-Fort Worth

Jeff Butts ·

Anybody want their prescriptions airlifted to them? Walgreens customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area will have that option soon. Alphabet-owned drone deployment system Wing has partnered with the drug store chain to make drone deliveries a reality. The drone flights have been in testing out of Fort Worth-based Hillwoods Alliance Texas Flight Test Center. In the coming weeks, the drones will launch from Walgreens parking lots. The’ll initially deliver to a portion of the Dallas-Fort Worth region including Frisco and Little Elm. If successful, the companies plan to roll the drone deliveries out even further after a few months. Alphabet says businesses can also deploy the drones from rooftops or next to buildings. UPS began testing drone delivery in 2018. The company has recently used drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccines, but this is yet another commercial application of the technology.

Until now, this type of service in the United States has been limited to smaller towns, where land usage is less crowded and complex. Wing’s reliable aircraft and advanced flight planning and routing capabilities make it uniquely capable of operating a highly automated drone delivery service in more crowded, complex operating environments.

 

‘NBA 2K22 Arcade Edition’ Now Available to Play on Apple Arcade
Cool Stuff Found

'NBA 2K22 Arcade Edition' Now Available to Play on Apple Arcade

Andrew Orr ·

NBA 2K22 Arcade Edition is the latest title in the world-renowned, best-selling NBA 2K series exclusively on Apple Arcade. Live your NBA dreams on the hardwood and run with today’s top stars like Luka Doncic, Damian Lillard, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis, Rui Hachimura, Karl-Anthony Towns and more – in an authentic NBA 2K experience. Choose from your favorite NBA teams and take on competitors in Quick Match featuring updated 2022 NBA rosters. Compete head-to-head with a friend in Online Multiplayer mode, or play 3v3 street basketball in Blacktop mode.

Cool Stuff Found

Nanoleaf Lines Improve Decor Possibilities in Smart Lighting

Jeff Butts ·

Nanoleaf has been offering unique possibilities for blending smart lighting with home decor for years. Its latest product lineup, Nanoleaf Lines, gives you even more ways to light up your space. Each segment is 11 inches long and provides up to 20 lumens of brightness. You can set the lights to more than 16.9 million colors, and each segment has two color zones. This allows you to easily blend your color palette within your design. You can configure your Nanoleaf lines to sync with your music or Mac’s display. Nanoleaf Lines supports Apple HomeKit and also works as a Thread border router, allowing you to extend the reach of your smart home network without additional hubs. The starter kit, retailing for $199.99, comes with 9 light lines, a controller, a power supply, and everything else you need to get started. Expansion packs provide you 3 more light lines for $69.99. The smart lights are available for preorder now, with shipping expected in late November 2021.

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North Vancouver Plans to Use Electricity From Bitcoin Mining for Heat

Andrew Orr ·

The city of North Vancouver in Canada is planning to use electricity created by Bitcoin mining to heat houses.

The technique will involve using MintGreen’s Digital Boilers, which recover more than 96 per cent of the electricity used for bitcoin mining to heat commercial and residential buildings.

Operating at full capacity 365 days a year, the bitcoin miner will be able to heat 100 residential and commercial buildings in the city, situated in the hills north of Vancouver.

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Facebook is Going to Change Its Name Next Week

Charlotte Henry ·

Facebook is going to change its name next week, The Verge reported. It’s not going to be re-adding a ‘The’ but rebrand in order to reflect Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of a ‘metaverse’.

A rebrand could also serve to further separate the futuristic work Zuckerberg is focused on from the intense scrutiny Facebook is currently under for the way its social platform operates today. A former employee turned whistleblower, Frances Haugen, recently leaked a trove of damning internal documents to The Wall Street Journal and testified about them before Congress. Antitrust regulators in the US and elsewhere are trying to break the company up, and public trust in how Facebook does business is falling.