Yubico is releasing the $70 YubiKey 5Ci, the first security key that can plug into your iPhone's Lightning port or a USB-C port, and it's compatible with popular password vaults LastPass and 1Password out of the box. The Verge reports: That means you may not have to remember your password for your bank ever again -- just plug the YubiKey into your iPhone, use it to log into the 1Password app, and get that bank password. At launch, it'll support these well-known password managers and single sign-on tools: 1Password, Bitwarden, Dashlane, Idaptive, LastPass, and Okta. And when using the Brave browser for iOS, the YubiKey 5Ci can be used as an easier way to log into Twitter, GitHub, 1Password's web app, and a couple other services. Notably, the 5Ci doesn't work with the newest iPad Pros at all, despite having a USB-C connector that fits. And you can't just plug the Lightning side of the 5Ci into an iPhone and expect it to work with any service that supports the FIDO authentication protocol -- our passwordless future isn't here just yet. Yubico tells The Verge that services have to individually add support for Lightning connector on the 5Ci into their apps.

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With the iPhone 11 announcement only a couple of weeks away now, the hype train is getting to its peak. We believe Apple will officially unveil the new 2019 iPhone lineup at a media event on September 10, but official press invites have not yet been sent out to confirm the date.

Today, ChargerLAB claimed in a tweet that the iPhone 11 will finally drop the 5W charger, and come with an Apple USB-C charger instead and a Lightning to USB-C cable in the box. This should mean that the iPhone ships with a fast charger for the first time, even though the connector on the actual device will still be Lightning.

more…

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Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has pulled out of producing future Spider-Man movies. From a report: The news was first reported by Deadline and later confirmed by Sony Pictures. According to Deadline's reporting, the break is due to disputes between Sony -- which still holds the rights to the character -- and Marvel's parent company Disney over revenue sharing from films starring the web-slinging hero. The news means that Spider-Man's appearances in Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe films -- as well as crossovers from characters like Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man or Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury in future Spider-Man films -- could end with Spider-Man: Far From Home, released earlier this summer.

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Apple has launched a Twitter account dedicated to its credit card service, the Apple Card. You can follow the account @AppleCard on Twitter.

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A wireless phone charger isn’t the most obvious product from a company best-known for SD cards. But the SanDisk iXpand isn’t just a dumb charger: it also backs up your iPhone’s photos, videos, and contacts.

You might still question the product. After all, iCloud automatically backs up all three things anyway, and you can still do an iTunes backup if you don’t want to fork out for a paid iCloud storage tier. My own view, though, is you can never have too many backups — especially fully-automatic ones — and I’ll return to this point in the conclusions…

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The world's oldest continuously working webcam is being switched off after 25 years. The BBC reports: The Fogcam was set up in 1994 to watch how the weather changed on the San Francisco State University campus. has broadcast almost continuously since then barring regular maintenance and the occasional need for it to be re-sited to maintain its view. Its creators said it was being shut down because there were now no good places to put the webcam. Jeff Schwartz, who with Dan Wong set up the webcam, said it would go offline on 30 August. "We felt it was time to let it go," Mr Schwartz told the SFGate newspaper, adding that it was getting harder to find secure locations to put the camera so it had a good view of Holloway Avenue. Mr Schwartz said he was inspired to set up the camera by what is believed to be the first-ever live webcam which was set up at Cambridge University in 1993 to watch a communal coffee pot.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Adapted pig hearts could be transplanted into patients within three years, according to a report citing the surgeon who pioneered heart transplantation in the UK. On the 40th anniversary of the first successful heart transplant, Sir Terence English told The Sunday Telegraph that his protege from that operation would try to replace a human kidney with a pig's this year. "If the result of xenotransplantation is satisfactory with porcine kidneys to humans, then it is likely that hearts would be used with good effects in humans within a few years," the 87-year-old said. "If it works with a kidney, it will work with a heart. That will transform the issue." The anatomy and physiology of a pig's heart is similar to that of a human's, so they are used as models for developing new treatments.

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Pre-save Joel’s new album “Harmonic Slice” on Spotify: https://joelsaundersmusic.com/jsmusic
Available everywhere on September 6th, 2019.

Video shot by Ryan Osman and edited by Joel Saunders
Audio by Antoine Dufour

TABs and music: https://joelsaundersmusic.com/store
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0kty3zJLdVGc9Uc21oqUGq
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joelsaundersmusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joel.saunders/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSycn-tW-BptXmQs0EEg2FQ

Though it's been ten years since he last walked on this planet, Sky Saxon, a godfather of punk rock and a true weirdo original, was born on this day in 1937.

Tonight, let's watch him with his band the Seeds getting all wiggly on some television program from around 1966 or so.

What are you listening to tonight?

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Elaina Plott at The Atlantic writes—Trump’s Phone Calls With Wayne LaPierre Reveal NRA’s Influence:

Three days after a pair of mass shootings in Ohio and Texas that left 31 people dead, President Donald Trump was preoccupied with visions of a Rose Garden ceremony.

His daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, had proposed the idea of a televised Rose Garden appearance as a way to nudge her father toward supporting universal background checks. The president had recently suggested he was open to the gun-control measure, tweeting, “Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform.” To be sure, this was similar to how he’d responded to other mass shootings during his 31-month presidency, and each time, the push for action fizzled. But the prospect of a Rose Garden ceremony, his daughter thought, where Trump could sign a document and call it “historic” and “unprecedented”—and receive positive media attention—might be the best chance of yielding real change.

For a moment, it looked like it just might work. “He loved it. He was all spun up about it,” said a former senior White House official who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke with me on the condition of anonymity in order to share private conversations. On August 7, the president picked up the phone to discuss the idea with Wayne LaPierre, chief executive of the National Rifle Association. “It’s going to be great, Wayne,” Trump said, according to both a former senior White House official and an NRA official briefed on the call. “They will love us.” And if they—meaning the roughly 5 million people who make up the NRA’s active membership, and some of Trump’s electoral base—didn’t, Trump reportedly assured LaPierre, “I’ll give you cover.” (The White House did not return a request for comment for this story.)

“Wayne’s listening to that and thinking, Uh, no, Mr. President, we give you cover,” the former senior White House official said in describing the conversation. The president reportedly asked LaPierre whether the NRA was willing to give in at all on background checks. LaPierre’s response, the sources said, was unequivocal: “No.” With that, “the Rose Garden fantasy,” as the NRA official described it to me, was scrapped as quickly as it had been dreamed up. [...}

TOP COMMENTS • HIGH IMPACT STORIES

QUOTATION

“Understand: the task of an activist is not to negotiate systems of power with as much personal integrity as possible--it's to dismantle those systems.” 
          ~~Lierre Keith, The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability (2009)

TWEET OF THE DAY

x

Texas Baptist pastor who advocated executing women for abortion faces child sexual assault charges. https://t.co/PSKmt0Wx51

— Beki Knott (@lotsofuss) August 20, 2019

BLAST FROM THE PAST

At Daily Kos on this date in 2003—What “compassion” means to Bush:

Hey everyone, check out Bush's definition of "compassion".

Apparently, it means talking to black people.

(Thanks to reader K.Y. for catching this "disturbing trend".)

Update: From Lis in the message boards:

Looking at further photo albums on the site makes it more clear how anomalous the Compassion section is.

But the only non-whites in 15 Homeland Security images and 16 National Security are Powell and Rice, and I think there's one African American park ranger off to the side in one photo of the 16 on the Environment.

In contrast, of 20 photos illustrating Compassion, 17 prominently show non-Caucasians; the other three are solo photos of Bush, but two of those are before the National Urban League and in front a map of Africa.

And RonK emailed to remind that Slate's Will Saletan noted a short while back that when Duhbya calls somebody "gifted", "He doesn't mean exceptional. He means ethnic."

Saletan provides chapter and verse re blacks, Iraqis, Palestinians, Hispanics, Chinese, Russians, Irish, Cubans, and South Koreans.

On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Another day away from the mic? Well, as always, life happens! Here's how it went on 8/22/18: The Manafort conviction! The Cohen allocution! The Hunter indictment! The Buchanan allegations! Greg Dworkin and Armando helped us cover it all.

x Embedded Content RadioPublic|LibSyn|YouTube|Patreon|Square Cash (Share code: Send $5, get $5!) LINK TO DAILY KOS STORE

Thank you, Daily Show.

Open thread below...

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For the last several months, Apple has been cracking down on third-party kids apps, specifically in regards to analytics and advertising. A new report from The Washington Post today dives deeper into Apple’s policy change, and notes that the company plans to delay the change.

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YouTuber and robot enthusiast Anthony Murney noticed YouTube has removed hundreds of videos showing robots battling other robots after claiming they are in breach of its rules surrounding animal cruelty. He's blaming a new algorithm introduced by YouTube to detect instances of animal abuse. The Independent reports: Several other channels dedicated to robot combat have also produced videos pointing out the issue in an effort to get YouTube to restore the content. Channels posting robot combat videos saw their content removed and received a notice from YouTube explaining that the videos were in breach of its community guidelines. Each notice cited the same section of these guidelines, which states: "Content that displays the deliberate infliction of animal suffering or the forcing of animals to fight is not allowed on YouTube." It goes on to state: "Examples include, but are not limited to, dog fighting and cock fighting."

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Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark said today that talk of selling Greenland to the US was an “absurd discussion,” adding that Greenland Premier “Kim Kielsen has of course made it clear that Greenland is not for sale. That’s where the conversation ends.” Donald Trump responded by canceling his upcoming visit to Copenhagen:

Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2019

Can we finally start talking publicly about Trump’s mental state? This is the action of a child, not an adult in full control of his faculties. Everyone aside from Trump understood that his Greenland compulsion was a sign of cognitive regression in the first place, and this episode demonstrates that it was no passing fantasy. Trump took it seriously enough to treat Frederiksen’s comments as just another incitement to a feud with a political enemy.

The man is not well. I don’t care what you want to call his condition, but he’s not well. I can only shiver at the thought of what the folks who work regularly with Trump really think of him these days.

Pat Buchanan was fired from MSNBC over his white supremacy views but was recently rehired to co-star in public television’s relaunch of The McLaughlin Group.

Disgraced Conservative and neo-Nazi cockroaches never die -- they just came back from hiding under your refrigerator after eating your stale, dirty bread crumbs.

And the beltway media just gotta have him.

The McLaughlin Group will begin airing exclusively on public television stations nationwide and digital platforms in January 2020.” The program, which was briefly relaunched last year on Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s D.C. station, also featured Buchanan as a panelist in its prior iterations.

A few weeks ago after the announcement of the relaunch, Pat wrote a scathing op-ed against Joe Biden: Biden Goes All In on the Race Issue

A frequent refrain from outraged conservatives is that the left uses racism as a weapon against them, but maybe if they stopped doing, saying, and acting like racists then it might be a valid defense.

read more

Apple Card launched to everyone in the United States today, with Apple also adding a new cash back offer for Uber. One thing to note with Apple Card, however, is that the terms and conditions specifically outline that you agree to arbitration. Thankfully, however, it’s relatively easy to opt-out. Here’s how to do that.

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The post Apple Card: How to opt out of the arbitration agreement appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Walmart filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Tesla accusing the company of supplying solar panels that were responsible for fires at about seven of its stores. Reuters reports: The fires destroyed significant amounts of store merchandise and required substantial repairs, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket losses, Walmart said in the lawsuit. As of November 2018, no fewer than seven Walmart stores, including in Denton, Maryland and Beavercreek, Ohio, had experienced fires due to Tesla's solar systems, according to the lawsuit. The world's largest retailer started using solar panels made by SolarCity in 2010 and the roofs of around 240 of its stores were fitted with solar panels made by the company. "This is a breach of contract action arising from years of gross negligence and failure to live up to industry standards by Tesla with respect to solar panels that Tesla designed, installed, and promised to operate and maintain safely on the roofs of hundreds of Walmart stores," Walmart said in the court filing.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Bill Stasior, the former head of Apple's Siri division, is leaving the company after nearly a decade to join Microsoft's artificial intelligence division, reports The Information. "Although Stasior left Apple in May, he's only joining Microsoft later this month as a corporate vice president, reporting to Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott," reports The Verge. "Stasior worked at Apple for more than seven years, joining back in 2012." From the report: After Giannandrea took a more hands-on role in the Siri division upon being hired last summer, he was subsequently promoted to a senior vice president role at Apple in December. That meant he was reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook, and he was also responsible for all machine learning and general AI projects at Apple. According to The Information, that promotion resulted in Stasior walking away from day-to-day duties running the Siri team. Prior to Giannandrea joining, Stasior had the responsibility of running Siri, who was vice president of the division for more than seven years. But Apple effectively tossed executive leadership of the product around like a hot potato. It was initially former iOS software chief Scott Forstall's job to oversee Siri, but after he left the company unceremoniously over the controversial Apple Maps fiasco, the role went to services chief Eddy Cue and then eventually VP of software engineering Craig Federighi. Finally, when Giannandrea joined, Siri had a proper executive to oversee it, but that seems to have resulted in Stasior's departure for reasons unknown. The Information notes that Stasior will not be working on Cortana. Instead, he'll be leading up an AI group, although it's unclear what exactly he'll be working on.

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Apple is further expanding its footprint in Cupertino, according to a new report from The Mercury News. Apple has acquired a large office complex in the city, located at the corner of Stevens Creek Boulevard and Torres Avenue.

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The post Apple purchases two new office buildings near Apple Park for $290 million appeared first on 9to5Mac.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from IEEE Spectrum: Solar power now costs the same as, or less than, electricity from the grid in many of China's cities, a new study finds. This research may encourage broader adoption of industrial and commercial solar power there. Advances in solar technology have helped bring solar within reach of grid parity sooner than expected in China. Whereas the cost of solar photovoltaic electricity there was up to 15.1 Chinese yuan per kilowatt-hour in 2000, it was only up to 0.79 Chinese yuan per kilowatt-hour in 2018. In addition, in 2018, the Chinese government dramatically cut subsidies to the solar photovoltaic industry to drive it to compete with coal without government aid. To see where Chinese solar energy stood now, scientists in Sweden and China analyzed the net costs and profits associated with building and operating industrial and commercial solar energy projects in 344 prefecture-level cities in China. They found in all 344 cities, solar photovoltaic systems were capable of generating and selling electricity at lower prices than the grid without subsidies, and in 22 percent of those cities, they could also produce electricity at lower prices than coal. The scientists detailed their findings in the 12 August edition of the journal Nature Energy.

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