An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Greenland's ice is starting to melt faster than at any time in the past 12,000 years, research has shown, which will raise sea levels and could have a marked impact on ocean currents. New measurements show the rate of melting matches any in the geological record for the Holocene period -- defined as the period since the last ice age -- and is likely to accelerate, according to a paper published in the journal Nature. The increased loss of ice is likely to lead to sea level rises of between 2cm and 10cm by the end of the century from Greenland alone, according to the study. These changes, over the relatively short period of less than a century, appear to be unprecedented. Greenland's ice sheet shrank between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, and has been slowly cumulating over the past 4,000 years. The current melting will reverse that pattern and within the next 1,000 years, if global heating continues, the vast ice sheet is likely to vanish altogether. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise strongly, the rate of melting could accelerate further to be four times greater than anything found in the past 12,000 years. The team behind the latest Greenland study made their estimates by producing a computer model of a section of the south-western region of the ice sheet over the past 12,000 years and then projecting forward to the end of this century. They checked their findings against what we can tell actually occurred with the ice, through satellite measurements and other instruments, and also by mapping the position of boulders containing beryllium-10. These are deposited by glaciers as they move, and measurements of beryllium-10 can reveal how long the boulders have been in position, and therefore where the edge of the ice sheet was when the boulder was deposited.

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Ikea will remove all non-rechargeable alkaline batteries from its global home furnishings by October 2021, according to statement from the company emailed Wednesday. CNET reports: Aiming to reduce energy consumption and environmental waste with the move, the home furnishing giant cited the results of recent life-cycle assessment studies showing the environmental impact of alkaline batteries is higher compared with rechargeable nickel metal hydride batteries, when used in common household devices. The Swedish company, based in the Netherlands, said between September 2018 and August 2019 it sold about 300 million alkaline batteries globally. Ikea calculates that if all of its customers switched from alkaline to rechargeable batteries and recharged them just 50 times, global waste could be reduced by as much as 5,000 tons on an annual basis. Ikea added, however, that where required for an individual product to function, some lithium ion button cell batteries will be kept in the product range. "We are on a journey to inspire and enable people to live healthier and more sustainable lives within the boundaries of the planet," said Ikea Sustainability Development Manager Caroline Reid. "By phasing out alkaline batteries and focusing on our range of rechargeable batteries, we are taking one step on that journey, offering customers an affordable and convenient solution to prolong the life of products and materials and reduce waste."

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Even as Amazon spends tens of millions on new robotics and technologies to automate its warehouses, workers are still paying the price with more than 14,000 serious injuries -- requiring days off or job restrictions -- reported in fulfillment centers in 2019, according to a report from Reveal. TechCrunch reports: Overall, the company saw 7.7 serious injuries per 100 employees, a number that's 33% higher than it was four years ago and double the most recent industry standard, despite significant investments and claims that safety is improving at its facilities, the report said. A document dump from the Center for Investigative Reporting given to Reveal, internal safety reports and weekly injury numbers from Amazon's network of national fulfillment centers shows that Amazon has misled the public about its safety record. And that the company's biggest shopping days -- during Prime week and the long holiday season -- are the most dangerous for its workers. In a statement, Amazon called Reveal's report "misinformed" and quibbled over the terminology, while claiming that "we continue to see improvements in injury prevention and reduction" through a variety of programs, though documents in the report suggest otherwise. Bulletins sent out every month reveal a grim tally of injuries and safety problems, problems that the company was well aware of. Updates marked "Privileged & Confidential" and reportedly obtained by Reveal indicate that the company has failed to hit safety targets. Despite its intentions to reduce injury rates by 20% in 2018, rates rose. In 2019, when the company decided to try and lower its injury rates by a more modest 5%, the number of injuries still went up.

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Junecloud has updated the popular Deliveries app for Mac, iPhone, and iPad to version 9.0 with features that many users have demanded for eons. It's an update you won't want to miss.

Facebook is now allowing select users use Instagram to chat with friends on Facebook Messenger and vise-versa. Instagram's direct messages system is also being expanded with features taken from Messenger. The Verge reports: New Instagram messaging tools include vanishing messages, selfie stickers, custom emoji, chat colors, new ways to block unwanted messages, and the introduction of Messenger's Watch Together feature, which lets you watch videos with friends during a video call. Users will be able to reject the update if they choose, but Facebook will no doubt be betting that access to new features will encourage them to say yes. In addition to cross-platform messaging, users on Instagram and Messenger can also search for profiles across both apps simultaneously. Users can opt out of these features if they wish. According to CNN, the [cross-platform messaging feature] is currently being "tested in select markets and will expand globally in the coming months."

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Ulysses is one of the most popular writing and Markdown editor apps available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The iOS version of the app is about to get a major update with grammar and style check, which is already available in the Mac version.

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Yesterday Apple released the second iOS 14.2 beta to developers, and today it released iOS 14.2 beta 2 to public beta testers. Watch our brief hands-on video as we showcase new iOS 14.2 beta 2 changes and features.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Mercedes-Benz just announced that its new eCitaro and eCitaro G city buses will be available with roof-mounted solid-state battery packs, developed in conjunction with the Canadian power company Hydro Quebec. Although details are still rather limited right now, Mercedes-Benz says that the solid-state pack has a 25-percent higher energy density than even the most advanced lithium-ion chemistry. It also says that the solid-state battery has a much better service life than lithium-ion and is warrantying these batteries for 10 years or an energy throughput of 280MWh. When configured with a total of 441kWh onboard (composed of seven 63kWh packs), an eCitaro G has a range of up to 137 miles (220km) under favorable conditions, or 105 miles (170km) in the depth of winter with the bus's heaters running. However, these solid-state batteries aren't perfect. In particular, they aren't able to fast-charge at rates comparable to lithium-ion, which is why Mercedes-Benz is also offering the bus with an optional lithium-ion pack that can be charged at 150kW or even 300kW instead. This uses a nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry and comes in assemblies of 33kWh that can be combined to give a bus up to 396kWh in total. "In a traditional battery, a pair of electrodes are immersed in an electrolyte solution, and it's this liquid electrolyte that allows ions to move from one electrode to the other," the report adds. "But liquid electrolytes can leak, and that's not a great thing, whether the material is highly corrosive, as in a lead-acid battery, or highly flammable, as in a lithium-ion battery. So researchers around the world have been experimenting with batteries that use a solid electrolyte instead, with a particular eye on using them in electric vehicles." Further reading: The Slashdot Interview With Lithium-Ion Battery Inventor John B. Goodenough

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

"In previous years, [Google] launched Call Screen to vet your incoming calls, Duplex for restaurant reservations, and just this month, a feature called Verified Calls that will tell you who is calling and why," reports TechCrunch. Today, Google introduced a feature called "Hold For Me," which will make the Google Assistant stay on the line for you when you're placed on hold, then alert you when someone picks up. From the report: In the short demo of "Hold for Me," Google showed how a Pixel device owner is able to activate the new feature after they've been placed on hold. This is done by tapping a new button that appears on the phone screen above the buttons for muting the call, turning on speakerphone, and the other in-call phone controls. Once activated, you're alerted with a message that says "Don't hand up," where you're advised that Google Assistant is listening to the call for you, so you can do other things. A button is also available on this screen that lets you tap to return to the call at any time, and below that an on-screen message says "music playing" to indicate if the Google Assistant is still hearing the hold music. You can also choose to press the red hang up button to end the call from this screen. When a person comes on the line, the device will alert you it's time to return to the call. Google says the new feature will come to its new Pixel 5 devices, which will soon be followed by its older-generation Pixel phones via the next "Pixel feature drop" roll out.

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Hobbyist developers are trying once again to get a Motorola 68000 back-end merged into the upstream LLVM compiler. Phoronix reports: The Motorola 68000 series processors have been around since the 80's thanks to the likes of the early Apple Macintosh computers. Fast forward to 2020, the Motorola 68000 is still a popular target for vintage computer enthusiasts and hobbyists. Community developers have worked on improving the Linux kernel support for M68k hardware like early Apple Powerbooks as recently as a few years ago and the compiler support is a continued target. GCC 11 due out next year was looking to drop the M68k target over its unmaintained status. Hobbyists though stepped up there so the M68k support will remain in GCC. Now developers are also looking at adding M68k support to the LLVM compiler. This isn't the first time that M68k support for LLVM has been brought up albeit never successfully landed to date. Building off the past failures to get the Motorola 68000 series support upstreamed, developers last week sent out new patches proposing this back-end -- this time they are showing more clarity about the developers involved and being committed to supporting the code, the sustainability of the code, and responding quickly to code review comments. This patch series is the latest attempt at upstreaming Motorola 68000 series support in LLVM. Besides all the back-end specific code there is also some common LLVM code changes that fall under greater scrutiny.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: The Seattle City Council unanimously approved a minimum pay standard for Uber and Lyft drivers on Tuesday, the second city in the US to do so. Under the new regulation going in to effect in January, the ride-hailing services will be required to pay their drivers at least $16.39 an hour. The law, passed in a 9-to-0 vote, is modeled after one passed by New York in August 2018 that caps how many ride-hailing cars from services like Uber and Lyft can be on the street. Seattle's law will require drivers be paid at least 56 cents per minute and $1.33 per mile driven while transporting passengers. Lyft criticized the move, saying it would eliminate thousands of jobs. "The City's plan is deeply flawed and will actually destroy jobs for thousands of people -- as many as 4,000 drivers on Lyft alone -- and drive ride-share companies out of Seattle," Lyft said in a statement. "Uber may have to make changes in Seattle because of this new law, but the real harm here will not be to Uber," Uber said. "It is the drivers who cannot work and the community members unable to complete essential travel that stand to lose because of the ordinance."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google today held a virtual event to announce its newest products, including Pixel 5 and 4a with 5G network support, a redesigned Chromecast with Google TV, a Nest Audio speaker, changes to the Android TV, and more. Read on as we highlight Google’s main announcements to keep you updated on the latest tech news.

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The post Roundup: Google preempts iPhone 12 with new 5G-enabled Pixel 5 and 4a, redesigned Chromecast, more appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Welcome to our Daily Deals column, where we round up the best tech deals from around the web. Here you’ll find discounts on everything from Apple products to accessories, video games and much more. But you better hurry, these prices won’t be around forever!

Today we are taking a closer look at a new USB-C to HDMI adapter and cable (with Thunderbolt 3 compatibility) courtesy of iVANKY with an exclusive 50% off deal for 9to5 readers.

• iVANKY VBD61 USB-C to HDMI Cable $8.50 (Reg. $17)
  • Using code 9to5VBDVBK
• iVANKY VBK11 USB-C to Female HDMI Adapter $7 (Reg. $14)
  • Using code 9to5VBDVBK

Ideal for connecting USB-C laptops to the big screen via HDMI, these new iVANKY products are particularly useful for home and personal entertainment but also in the office for presentations, slide shows, and more. With just about all of the most modern MacBooks now including USB-C, not to mention the other Thunderbolt 3 gear you have, these new iVANKY adapters and cables might be worth a closer look.

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The post iVANKY 4K USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 to HDMI MacBook adapter & cables now 50% off appeared first on 9to5Mac.

AmiMoJo writes: Americans exercise their right to vote from all over the world, and for November's election, few ballots will have traveled as far as those cast by NASA astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station. During earlier days of human spaceflight, astronauts would only visit space for days, or maybe weeks, at a time. Today, astronauts typically stay in space for six-month missions on the space station, increasing the odds of a spacefarer off the planet during an election. So how does one vote from space? Like other forms of absentee voting, voting from space starts with a Federal Postcard Application, or FPCA. It's the same form military members and their families fill out while serving outside of the U.S. By completing it ahead of their launch, space station crew members signal their intent to participate in an election from space. Because astronauts move to Houston for their training, most opt to vote as Texas residents. Of course, NASA's astronauts come from all over, so those wishing to vote as residents of their home states can work with their counties to make special arrangements to vote from space. Once their FPCA is approved, the astronaut is almost ready to vote. Like many great things in space, voting starts with an experiment. The county clerk who manages elections in the astronaut's home county sends a test ballot to a team at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Then they use a space station training computer to test whether they're able to fill it out and send it back to the county clerk. After a successful test, a secure electronic ballot generated by the Clerk's office of Harris County and surrounding counties in Texas, is uplinked by Johnson's Mission Control Center to the voting crew member. An e-mail with crew member-specific credentials is sent from the County Clerk to the astronaut. These credentials allow the crew member to access the secure ballot. The astronaut will then cast their vote, and the secure, completed ballot is downlinked and delivered back to the County Clerk's Office by e-mail to be officially recorded. The clerk has their own password to ensure they are the only one who can open the ballot. It's a quick process, and the astronaut must be sure to submit it by 7 p.m. local time on Election Day if voting as a Texas resident. Will astronauts vote in this election? Expedition 63/64 crew member Kate Rubins is assigned to a six-month mission launching Oct. 14, and will vote from space. It won't be her first time -- Rubins also cast her vote from the International Space Station during the 2016 election. With a SpaceX Crew Dragon scheduled to carry three additional U.S. crew members to the space station on Oct. 31 as part of the Crew-1 mission, Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker will make it to the space station just in time to cast their ballots there, as well. All three have filled out the paperwork and are ready to do so.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: For the better part of the last decade, Google's Chromecast dongles were the company's primary homegrown solution for streaming video to your TV. But with the recent explosion in streaming services, even the most sophisticated Chromecast wasn't really cutting it anymore, which is something the new Chromecast with Google TV is hoping to change in a big way, but bringing an actual streaming device OS to a Chromecast dongle. The big change for this new $50 Chromecast is that it's not your typical Chromecast at all. Sure, it still plugs in via HDMI and you can still use it to stream videos and content to your TV from your phone. However, instead of being based around the very basic Chromecast interface, this new Chromecast runs on Android TV platform which Google has improved with an enhanced UI and a few new features, which is where the Google TV part of Chromecast with Google TV comes in. And when you factor in the Chromecast with Google TV's new dedicated remote these upgrades could completely change how you watch and interact with content. Starting with the hardware, the Chromecast with Google TV consists of two parts: there's the dongle that plugs into your TV and Google's included remote. For the Chromecast with Google TV, Google is going with a simple ovular puck that comes in three different colors (Snow, Sunrise, and Sky) and features an attached HDMI cable that plugs into your TV along with a USB-C port and bundled cable that you'll need to plug in for power. The Chromecast with Google TV comes with support for 4K video at 60 fps with HDR via Dolby Vision, which ticks all the major boxes when it comes to streaming video quality.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A hacker group previously associated with the North Korean regime has been spotted launching spear-phishing attacks to compromise officials part of the United Nations Security Council. From a report: The attacks, disclosed in a UN report last month, have taken place this year and have targeted at least 28 UN officials, including at least 11 individuals representing six countries on the UN Security Council. UN officials said they learned of the attacks after being alerted by an unnamed UN member state (country). The attacks were attributed to a North Korean hacker group known in the cyber-security community by the codename of Kimsuky. According to the UN report, Kimsuky operations took place across March and April this year and consisted of a series of spear-phishing campaigns aimed at the Gmail accounts of UN officials. The emails were designed to look like UN security alerts or requests for interviews from reporters, both designed to convince officials to access phishing pages or run malware files on their systems.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes: The Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 source code that was leaked online last week on 4chan has been confirmed to be authentic after a YouTube user compiled the code into working operating systems. Shortly after the leak occurred last week, ZDNet reached out to multiple current and former Microsoft software engineers to confirm the validity of the leaked files. At the time, sources told ZDNet that from a summary review, the code appeared to be incomplete, but from the components they analyzed, the code appeared to be authentic. NTDEV, a US-based IT technician behind the eponymous Twitter and YouTube accounts, was one of the millions of users who downloaded the code last week. But rather than wait for an official statement from Microsoft that is likely to never come, NTDEV decided to compile the code and find out for themselves. According to videos shared online, the amateur IT technician was successful in compiling the Windows XP code over the weekend, and Windows Server 2003 yesterday. "Well, the reports were indeed true. It seems that there are some components missing, such as winlogon.exe and lots of drivers," NTDEV told ZDNet in an interview today, describing his work on XP.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A day after Apple made the macOS Big Sur beta 9 available to developers alongside the iOS 14.2 beta 2, the fourth macOS Big Sur public beta has arrived.

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Deliveries has been one of the most popular iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch for many years, offering an easy way to track packages from multiple services in one place. A major update to Deliveries today gives it an updated design, several new features, and a new business model.

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