Needle-felt these mini zombie dolls
— and make them yelp!
The post Toy Inventor’s Notebook: Talking Zombie Needle-Felt Doll Maker appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.
American Anarchy: The Epic Struggle between Immigrant Radicals and the US Government at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century, by Michael Willrich, Basic Books, 480 pages, $35
The lawmaking and policing powers of late 19th and early 20th century America did not think anarchist agitators deserved the protective penumbra of our Constitution. After Emma Goldman immigrated to the United States in 1885 from czarist Russia, she became a dynamic and hugely popular traveling lecturer on anarchism and other rebellious causes, such as draft resistance and contraception. Consequently, she was arrested a lot—and in 1919, along with hundreds of other accused anarchists, she was deported to what was now Bolshevik Russia. (Goldman's version of anarchism was not the free market kind; she wanted to eliminate private property as well as the state.)
Many anarchists saw a bright side to these legal fights: an opportunity to preach their beliefs in a courtroom setting, where the press often amplified their message. The anarchists sentenced to death in the notorious 1886 Chicago Haymarket bombing case spent three days in court laying out their beliefs; in one of their own trials, Goldman and her sometime consort and lifelong comrade, Alexander Berkman, settled for five hours of speaking their anarchist minds.
Berkman did more than lecture against the state and capitalism; in 1892 he decided to try to kill a murderously strikebreaking Carnegie Steel factory manager, Henry Frick. (While he shot and stabbed Frick, he failed to kill him.) This did not help public opinion of their cause. Neither did the fact that Leon Czolgosz, the 1901 assassin of President William McKinley, was a self-proclaimed anarchist who claimed that Goldman's rhetoric had "set me on fire."
In American Anarchy, the Brandeis historian Michael Willrich argues that those legal battles surrounding anarchism in America forged two distinct and opposing elements of modern American policing and law.
On one hand, the anarchists' enemies, from New York City cops to military intelligence to the departments of Labor and Justice, built a wider and more intrusive system of political surveillance and repression to quell and expel the anarchists. These systems' techniques—often relying on frequently unreliable, nativist, and paranoid citizen snoops and snitches—might seem quaint in the post–Edward Snowden age. They also seem especially brutal, given the cops of that era's habit of giving "the third degree" (that is, terrible beatings) to seditious radicals, and to people the officers merely assumed were seditious radicals. Many prosecutions hinged on the accuracy, or not, of some cop's written notes on what a suspect had allegedly said in public.
This repressive apparatus, Willrich writes, was "cobbled…together by putting public power in the hands of private civilian operatives, harnessing local police to national purposes, and drawing upon surveillance technologies developed both in the U.S.-ruled Philippines and in the internal immigrant 'colonies' of New York." The result was "an inefficient and stunningly violent operation that foiled few actual plots, put thousands of people on trial for speaking out against capitalism or the war….and showed an almost total disregard for…constitutional liberties."
And that planted the seeds of these battles' second great effect: Ironically, they ultimately made First Amendment doctrine more respectful of free expression. After the crackdown on the anarchists died down, and past the Cold War repressions under the Smith Act, it became more difficult to imagine anyone could go to jail in America solely for saying or writing a political heresy. Even when people are targeted for their speech, propriety requires that a more substantial charge be added. (The modern inheritor of the mantle of "enemy for whom constitutional protections can be ignored" is the drug seller and user, though different amendments are implicated.)
Three prosecutions during the World War I–era crackdown on political dissidents under the Espionage Act ended up before the Supreme Court. Free expression lost every time. But in Abrams v. United States, based on a 1918 expansion of the Espionage Act known as the Sedition Act, a dissent signed by two justices established an attitude toward the First Amendment's reach that became standard over the course of the 20th century.
In August 1918, the Army Corps of Intelligence Police had arrested a group of Russian immigrants in New York for distributing allegedly seditious pamphlets. The defendants insisted that the literature—many copies of which were tossed out windows for passersby on the street—was not meant to impede the ongoing U.S. war efforts against Germany, that being the basis for many of the charges. The literature was rather opposed to U.S. interference in revolutionary Russia, with whom we were not at constitutionally declared war.
The Abrams defendants were represented by Goldman's lawyer, Harry Weinberger. His role in Willrich's narrative is as central as hers and Berkman's. (Willrich argues that the war on anarchists essentially created the modern figure of the civil liberties lawyer.) The Supreme Court upheld the convictions, 7–2. But a dissent authored by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (who had written the earlier, bad decisions in the Espionage Act cases) laid out a First Amendment vision that more strictly limits when government could constitutionally punish expression: only if said expression represents a "present danger of immediate evil or an intent to bring it about."
After reading the dissent, a future founder of the American Civil Liberties Union wrote to Weinberger that "we are going to put it to some use all right." Civil libertarians in and out of the judiciary have been doing so ever since, in ways that have expanded Americans' expressive rights.
***
Things got predictably worse for civil liberties and for anarchists as the war went on. The 1918 Immigration Act, as Willrich sums it up, "authorized the secretary of labor to deport any person identified as a noncitizen and an anarchist." Even your individual beliefs could be elided, since "being a member of an organization that advocated 'anarchistic' ideas was now sufficient cause for deportation." Having built your life here productively for decades and having a family was not enough to save you from being grabbed and shipped out, if a government official thought you didn't believe the state should exist. (In 1903, during the post-Czolgosz wave of anti-anarchist action, Congress passed an immigration law that barred entry to anarchists, though it was difficult to enforce and in its first seven years caught a mere 10 anarchists among millions of immigrants entering.)
The story of the anarchist crackdown is, for good reasons, often used as a crackerjack historical example of the anti-liberty madness that even the supposed land of the free can descend to. This wave of anarchist repression was indeed destructive to many people and organizations—the Industrial Workers of the World, for example, were nearly annihilated by mass raids and arrests.
But the aftermath of these authoritarian spasms suggests we should give at least half a cheer for the Constitution. The rights it lays out were sorely dishonored, but at least they could be called upon eventually.
After World War I ended, President Woodrow Wilson commuted sentences for more than 125 Espionage Act prisoners. One assistant secretary of labor—Louis Post, who actually respected the Constitution—canceled 1,140 deportation orders, nearly three-quarters of the cases he was able to review when briefly in command of the process. The notorious 1919 and 1920 Palmer Raids sent 500 accused radicals to Ellis Island for deportation, but as public opinion and the grinding of the courts turned against the mania, only 23 of them were actually deported. And in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt gave a general amnesty to the remaining World War I–era political prisoners.
Contrast that with Russia, where many of the anarchists were deported. The Bolshevik state murdered many of them, including two of the Abrams defendants.
Willrich's richly detailed study is especially relevant today, as that expansive sense of First Amendment rights that Willrich traces back to Holmes' Abrams dissent is under fresh fire from legal academics who see the amendment as a barrier to progressive change, from young Americans who think certain possibly hurtful things ought not be legally spoken, and from a culture that in general seems increasingly and angrily eager to shut opponents up. This valuable book shows one big reason why an expansive reading of the First Amendment is important: Without it, human beings have been beaten by cops and exiled from their home, just for saying or writing things the authorities don't like.
Goldman, for one, thought America was better than that. She once told a huge crowd in New York City that when people like her denounced war and conscription, they did this not because "we are foreigners and don't care." They had come here "looking to America as the promised land," and they grappled with the country's errors "precisely because we love America."
The post When Attacks on Anarchists Accidentally Improved Free Speech Law appeared first on Reason.com.
The new GPD Pocket 4 has just been unveiled, an impressive UMPC that offers the latest with AMD Strix Point APUs manufactured in 4nm. In this small notebook ...
The post GPD Pocket 4, introduced with AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor first appeared on AndroidPCtv.
A bunch of Chinese PC makers have launched compact GPU docks recently that are designed to bring better graphics performance to laptops, handhelds, and mini PCs. But so far most, like the AYANEO AG01, BoostR, GPD G1, MINISFORUM R3GAF, and ONEXGPU all have the same AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT GPU inside. Now One Netbook […]
The post ONEXGPU 2 graphics dock features Radeon RX 7800M GPU appeared first on Liliputing.
Looking to buy the best Chromebook possible but not sure where to start? We at Gear Nuke have you covered as we take you through five of top options you can buy today. This selection of the best Chromebooks will take you through a few various needs and budgets as opposed to just throwing out the most overpowered Chromebooks which wouldn't really suit anyone!
Chromebooks are still a relatively new product having only arrived in 2011 and they're fighting hard to be considered among the best laptops on the market. We’re in a place now where all the big laptop brands are making their very own Chromebook and the retail space has become flooded with choice. With that being said, we will break down all the important aspects of each product to help you make the right decision when you’re ready. Note that the products shown below may vary in specifications between locations.
Apple first revealed its M4 chip when it launched the iPad Pro (2024) earlier this year. Logically, the company plans to bring its latest processor to the Mac line, which is currently powered by its predecessor. The shift from M3 to M4 will reportedly start this year, and beyond the chip bump, at least one Mac model is expected to feature dramatic changes.
According to Bloomberg Power On’s subscriber edition, Apple will introduce M4-powered iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini computers in 2024. Interestingly, at least one of these machines is expected to include some significant modifications — apart from the M4 chip. Apple could then resume its M4 Mac overhaul next year by refreshing the MacBook Air, Mac Pro, and Mac Studio. The newsletter states:
Meta is announcing their new AITemplate framework for GPUs.
Read more ▶
The post Meta unveils it’s AITemplate GPU framework appeared first on SemiAccurate.
The way some companies with big AI dreams are thinking, smartphone users want nothing more than to get advice from, be entertained by, and interact with virtual chatbots. Meta is betting so big on this concept that it just launched a major effort to let people design custom AI chatbots, tailored precisely to their preferences. But as firms like Meta try to zero-in on the kind of AI interactions that are most engaging, they’re also picking up a lot of lessons about what doesn’t work. And as Meta apparently learned the hard way, that includes chatbots based on celebrities.
Meta introduced its celeb chatbots last September with a total of 28 accounts, all featuring the likeness of a famous person and given specific personas. The whole thing was a bit weird, not even using actual celebrity names: you might interact with “Lorena” the travel expert, based on Padma Lakshmi, or chat with Charli D’Amelio’s “Coco” the dancer. At least those track tonally with the people they’re based on, but others felt like wild swings: Paris Hilton as “Amber” the detective “for solving whodunnits,” or Snoop Dogg not as the resident cannabis sommelier but “Dungeon Master,” ready to help plan your next tabletop adventure.
Fast-forward ten months, and Meta is taking these chatbots back behind the shed for some Old Yeller action. The Information reports that the Facebook and Instagram pages for all these bots went offline earlier this week. The company confirmed to the site it had discontinued the feature, highlighting what it picked up from the experience, explaining, “We took a lot of learnings from building them and Meta AI to understand how people can use AIs to connect and create in unique ways.”
Based on the timing, we’d certainly hope that many of those lessons became the foundation for Meta’s new AI Studio offering, where rather than choosing from all these pre-packaged disparate personas, users can take the time to craft a custom experience. Maybe that one won’t last, either, but sometimes you have to learn what doesn’t work before you can figure out what does.
Šasi využívá nádherný high-tech keramický hybridní materiál Ceraluminum v barvách inspirovaných přírodou. Tato inovace se může pochlubit bezkonkurenční tvrdostí, která odolává poškrábání a běžnému opotřebení.
Zenbook S 16 je vybaven nejnovějšími procesory až AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 s grafickým čipem Radeon 890M a výkonem neurální jednotky až 50 TOPS. Díky pokročilému CNC frézování se společnosti ASUS podařilo do mimořádně tichého systému chlazení zabudovat 3D odpařovací komoru, která je v takto tenkém zařízení jedinečná. Díky tomu má maximální výkon procesoru TDP až 28 W a minimální hlučnost. Funkční design zvyšuje uživatelský komfort díky funkcím, jako je speciální klávesa Copilot a o 40 % větší touchpad s poměrem stran 16:10 a podporou chytrých gest.
Pohlcující zábavu a opravdové filmové zážitky zajišťuje kombinace displeje ASUS Lumina OLED s rozlišením 3K a obnovovací frekvencí 120Hz a výkonného audiosystému se šesti reproduktory, což je u takto tenkého notebooku nevídaná výbava.
Zařízení spolehlivě chrání technologie Microsoft Pluton a k dispozici je také nová praktická funkce Windows Passkeys, která uživatelům umožňuje bezpečně ukládat přihlašovací údaje. Notebook nabízí také vylepšené biometrické funkce zabezpečení a ochrany soukromí, jako je rozpoznávání obličeje pro automatické přihlášení a odhlášení, adaptivní zámek a adaptivní stmívání pomocí infračervené kamery AiSense.
ASUS strávil čtyři roky laděním barev, struktury a tvrdosti tohoto inovativního materiálu a výsledek mluví sám za sebe.
Zásluhou špičkové CNC technologie dosahuje Zenbook S 16 pozoruhodné tloušťky 1,1 cm, přičemž skrývá řadu špičkových komponent, včetně pokročilého systému chlazení s odpařovací komorou.
Zenbook S 16 nabízí umělou inteligenci nové generace v ultratenkém provedení. Notebook obsahuje nejnovější procesory AMD Ryzen AI řady 300 v kombinaci s až 32 GB rychlé operační paměti a až 2TB úložištěm PCIe 4.0 SSD. Procesor dosahuje TDP až 28 W a jeho integrovaný engine Ryzen AI nabízí výkon umělé inteligence až 50 TOPS. Baterie s kapacitou 78 Wh pomáhá zajistit celodenní výdrž.
Klávesnice ASUS ErgoSense je vybavena speciální klávesou Windows Copilot, která jediným stisknutím umožňuje vyvolat asistenta Windows AI.
Zenbook S 16 přináší také celou řadu vstupních a výstupních portů, včetně dvou portů USB4 Type-C, portu USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, výstupu HDMI 2.1, čtečky SD karet a kombinovaného audio konektoru.
Velký a jasný displej ASUS Lumina OLED s rozlišením 3K a obnovovací frekvencí 120 Hz zajišťuje pohlcující a realistický obraz. Skutečný filmový zážitek dotváří výkonný audiosystém se šesti reproduktory s certifikací Harman Kardon. K dispozici jsou dva vysokofrekvenční výškové reproduktory a čtyři nízkofrekvenční woofery, které zprostředkují vícerozměrný zvuk Dolby Atmos.
V případě modelu Zenbook S 16 byla zvláštní pozornost věnována také redukci hlučnosti. Pokročilý 3D chladicí systém s odpařovací chladicí komorou a dvěma ventilátory IceBlade umožňuje dosáhnout hlučnosti chlazení pod 25 dB.
CENA a DOSTUPNOST
ASUS Zenbook S 16 (UM5606) se začíná v Česku prodávat za cenu od 58 990 Kč s DPH.
Článek Nový ASUS Zenbook S 16 (UM5606) s umělou inteligencí míří na český trh se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
Náš testovaný Omen má stínově černou povrchovou úpravu. Víko, interiér a spodní panel z hliníku působí příjemně a robustně. Na přední straně je mírný důlek, který pomáhá při otevírání jedním prstem. Displej se otevírá úplně dozadu pokud by bylo potřeba sdílet s někým obrazovku, přičemž při zavírání se magnety v přední části rámečku displeje uspokojivě zacvaknou.
Mezi verzí Transcend Omen 16, který mám zde v testu, a běžným Omenem 16 je hned několik rozdílů. Náš testovaný Omen má procesor Intel Core i7-13700HX, grafiku Nvidia RTX 4070, 32 GB RAM a 16″ IPS WQXGA AntiGlare (2560 × 1600) 240Hz obrazovku. Tato verze transcend má vyšší poměr stran 16:10, zatímco běžný Omen 16 má poměr 16:9. Což znamená méně pixelů na výšku. Verze transcend je také o něco tenčí a lehčí, takže u většího modelu Omen 16 jde spíše o dosažení co nejlepšího výkonu, zatímco cílem verze Transcend se zdá být hybridní přístup mezi výkonem a přenositelností.
Nemějte však obavy, ve hrách tenčí a lehčí verze Transcend obstála velmi dobře a výkon notebooku ve hrách umožní hrát cokoliv co vyjde i za několik let.
Samozřejmostí je široká škála podsvícení kláves. Veškeré nastavení celého RGB osvětlení je možné spravovat prostřednictvím softwaru HP Omen Gaming Hub. Klávesnice má mnoho zón osvětlení RGB. Jednou ze zón mohou být například prosvětlené klávesy WASD, ale k dispozici jsou také jiné možnosti RGB pro jednotlivé klávesy vlastní nebo přednastavené profily. Možností je zde opravu nepřeberné množství.
Psaní a celková odezva klávesnice byla v pořádku a bez nejmenších problémů. Nevýhodou klávesnice notebooku pro některé může být absence numerického bloku. Touchpad působí hladce, kliká kdekoli a funguje dobře a intuitivně, ačkoliv místy působí trošku levnějším dojmem.
Tlačítko napájení je hned vedle tlačítek delete a backspace, nestalo se mi, že bych náhodně zavadil, ale pokud se tak stane nevadí to, protože ve výchozím nastavení je potřeba delší stisk pro uspání.
Co se týče portů, levá strana má dva porty Thunderbolt 4 typu C a 3,5mm kombinovaný audio konektor, zatímco pravá strana má pouze port USB 3.2. Zbytek je na zadní straně, vlevo je vstup napájení, následuje gigabitový ethernet, HDMI 2.1 a druhý port USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A. Oba porty Type-C lze použít k nabíjení zařízení Omen s výkonem až 100 W a oba mají podporu DisplayPortu 1.4, takže k nim můžete připojit monitory.
Pokud byste měli zájem o upgrade tak vězte, že je zde místo pouze pro jeden M 2 SSD, což se může zdát pro moderní herní notebook málo, i když záleží na tom, jakou kapacitu si zvolíte.
Reproduktory se nacházejí zespodu směrem dopředu na levé a pravé straně. Jejich zvuk je na herní notebook překvapivě velmi dobrý. Znějí čistě, a lehce a jsou z nich i cítit basy. Pokud by to ale nestačilo, tak v balení se nachází herní sluchátka HyperX Cloud II Core Wireless, což jistě ocení nejeden hráč.
HP Omen Transcend 16 je napájen 6článkovou 97Wh baterií. Baterie při přehrávání videí na YouTube vydržela téměř 5 hodin, což je slušné, ale najdete na trhu i lepší alternativy, pokud jde o výdrž baterie. Pokud bychom se bavili o hraní na největší detaily tak potom baterie vydržela něco přes hodinu. Jak je již zvykem, tak k dispozici je řada profilů a možnosti nastavení, aby notebook vydržel co nejdéle.
Software herního centra HP Omen nám umožňuje přepínat mezi různými režimy výkonu. V režimech vyvážený a výkon můžete nastavit automaticky otáčky ventilátorů, nebo je nastavit do manuálního režimu, kde získáte určitou kontrolu nad křivkami ventilátorů pro CPU a GPU zvlášť. Vnitřní teploty byly při běžném provozu nízké. Při hraní her stoupne logicky teplota do takové výše, že není komfortní používat zařízení na klíně a rozhodně doporučuji nepoužívat notebook na stole s ubrusem nebo dokonce posteli, jelikož musí být zajištěno dostatečné proudění vzduchu. Co se hluku týče, tak ventilátory nebyly při běžné práci téměř slyšet, ale při hraní her a nastavení ventilátorů na maximální otáčky si pravděpodobně díky větší hlasitosti budete možná nasazovat přibalená sluchátka.
Nad displejem se nachází kamera s rozlišením 1080p. Má fyzicky posuvnou krytku pro ochranu soukromí a infračervený signál pro odemykání obličejem a využití Windows Hello. Společnost HP se připojila k trendu 16palcových obrazovek s poměrem stran 16:10 obrazovka je o něco vyšší, takže když se díváte na notebook, nemusíte mít hlavu tolik dole. Barvy jsou na herní notebook velmi dobré a vypadají skvěle jak ve hrách, tak i při sledování videa nebo běžné práci. HP Omen Transcend 16 má skvělý kontrast i pozorovací úhly. V porovnání s většinou ostatních notebooků, které jsem viděl je HP Omen Transcend 16 co se týče displeje opravdu nadprůměrný. Doba odezvy obrazovky byla dobrá a v průměru se uvádí hodnoty okolo 4ms. Musím říci, že jako hráč využívající především stolní PC, musím s klidným svědomím říci, že si Omen nevede vůbec zle. Níže se podívejte na to, jak si vede ve vybraných titulech:
Mějte na paměti, že nebylo zapnuto DLSS a Frame Generation, tudíž se jedná o hrubý výkon.
Při zapnutí zmíněných funkcí se dostáváme na úplně jiné hodnoty a zcela bez problémů si zde zahrajete co si vzpomenete. Notebook HP Omen Transcend 16 je opravu vzhledem k ke svému štíhlému designu a nízké váze našlapané herní dělo.
Po zvážení všech okolností a konkurence si myslím, že HP Omen Transcend 16 je skvělý herní notebook, který stojí za pozornost každého vášnivého hráče a tvůrce obsahu. Je to alternativa pro zákazníka, který ocení skvělý výkon a dobrou přenositelnost. Notebook má výborný displej, vysoký výkon ve hrách, skvělou konektivitu a skvělou konstrukci. Mezi jeho slabší stránky patří výdrž baterie a trochu menší možnosti upgrade.
Článek RECENZE: HP Omen Transcend 16 + HyperX Cloud II Core Wireless se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
The ONEXPLAYER line of handheld gaming PCs have been around since 2021. But parent company One Netbook has been selling other types of computers including mini-laptops and tablets for even longer. Now the company is branching out with the introduction of a mini PC positioned as a compact gaming solution, although the ONEXPLAYER M1 could […]
The post ONEXPLAYER M1 is a mini PC with Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, OCuLink, and USB4 for $699 and up appeared first on Liliputing.
Dynabook’s Portégé X40 series laptops are premium, business-class 14 inch notebooks with thin and light, but sturdy designs and some features you don’t always find on compact notebooks these days: like smart card readers and full-sized Ethernet ports. The company’s newest model is the Portégé X40-M, which launches today with a Intel Core Ultra “Meteor […]
The post Dynabook Portégé X40-M is a thin and light Meteor Lake laptop with full-sized Ethernet and HDMI ports appeared first on Liliputing.
Percival Everett has breathed fierce life into one of American literature's iconic characters in James, a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, the runaway slave.
James' conceit is that Jim is secretly literate and can speak with perfect diction. Twain's "painstakingly" studied "Missouri negro" dialect is a put-on that Jim and other slaves use to deflect white anger and suspicion. Everett is a sly writer, and he loves to employ this code-switching and the fictions of race for subversive comic effect.
But language is all-powerful in James. Early in Jim's journey, a slave steals a pencil for him—a hangable offense—so that Jim can "write himself into being."
"I can tell you that I am a man who is cognizant of his world," James, as he renames himself, writes, "a man who has a family, who loves a family, who has been torn from his family, a man who can read and write, a man who will not let his story be self-related, but self-written."
James' revolt against a society that defines him as property extends to the metaphysical. In his fever dreams he debates Voltaire and John Locke. He in fact writes himself out of Huckleberry Finn's unserious final act to pursue an ending that better fits his outrage and newfound agency.
Finn's key moment is when Huck declares he'll help Jim even if it means going to hell, but Everett reminds us that Jim is already there. James tells another man he was "born in hell. Sold before my mother could hold me." James is not a gauzy moral fable or boy's adventure, but a man's flight through the inferno of America's racial past that is by turns darkly funny and terrifying.
The post Review: <i>James</i> Retells <i>Huckleberry Finn</i> From Jim's Perspective appeared first on Reason.com.
Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars, by Kliph Nesteroff, Abrams, 312 pages, $30
The first paragraph of the book jacket lays it out: "There is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that people are too sensitive today, that nobody objected to the actions of actors, comedians, and filmmakers in the past. Modern pundits would have us believe that Americans of a previous generation had tougher skin and seldom complained. But does this argument hold up to scrutiny?"
There's a good point underneath the hyperbole. People tend to believe—and pundits, politicians, and activists tend to claim—that whatever issues trouble them are worse than ever. Why? Because these things are happening now. To us. Problems in the past weren't as urgent or significant because they happened to others, and anyway things turned out OK (or if they didn't, at least those problems are over).
So Kliph Nesteroff's Outrageous has a decent premise. Alas, it also has significant flaws.
The book's subtitle is A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars, and Nesteroff has some expertise—at least regarding the former. He previously wrote The Comedians, a lively and informative work that, admittedly, bit off more than it could chew, trying to cram the history of American comedy into a few hundred pages.
A history of public opposition to American entertainment is a more manageable subject, though still a big one. While Nesteroff starts with complaints about blackface and minstrel shows in the 1800s, most of the book deals with post–World War II controversies. And he has some fascinating stories to tell about the many attempts to cancel movies, music, TV shows, and just about anything that was new and different.
Some of these stories may be familiar. Many people know about the resistance All in the Family faced when it first aired in the 1970s, with its vulgarity and ethnic slurs; CBS stuck by it, and the sitcom went on to become one of the biggest TV shows ever. But how many people remember Bridget Loves Bernie, a sitcom that followed All in the Family for one season? Vaguely based on the 1920s Broadway blockbuster Abie's Irish Rose, it was a show about a marriage between a Jewish man and a Catholic woman. It received so much pushback—including bomb threats—that CBS canceled it, despite its high ratings.
Interesting though these tales are, the book's overall narrative is shaky. It tends to move from one anecdote to the next without sufficient transition. Outrageous often comes across as less a history of a phenomenon than a chronological data dump.
There are some lapses in the research too. For instance, Nesteroff claims Cole Porter wrote "Do It Again" (I assume he's referring to the George Gershwin tune) while attributing Porter's song "Love For Sale" to Irving Berlin. And he mistakenly asserts that David Letterman wrote an episode of the sitcom Good Times. (The episode in question features Jay Leno in a small role. Perhaps that's where the confusion arose.)
But the biggest problem is that Nesteroff has an ax to grind—one so large it ends up taking over the book and turning it into a screed.
It's true that any conservatives who claim that censorship today is worse than ever lack historical perspective. Still, that doesn't mean there's nothing worth complaining about, or that we should simply dismiss what they say. Nesteroff writes as though we should.
Nesteroff notes how the John Birch Society saw Communist conspiracies everywhere in the 1960s. Far from disappearing, he argues, their discredited philosophy has been rebranded; recent culture wars, funded by partisan foundations, have used fear tactics to fool people into supporting otherwise unpopular policies. (Funny, my Republican friends say the same thing about the left.)
According to Nesteroff (and the partisan experts he quotes), right-wing think tanks tell their talking heads in the media what to say, often gaining consensus through payment of large sums. (It's not clear what he believes the left is doing in the meantime. I guess they're just telling the truth and being ignored.) Further, under the guise of supporting free speech, right-wing plotters send "provocateurs to speak on college campuses for the purpose of incitement. When protests erupt, such objection is used as proof that the campus is opposed to free speech. Demonized in the body politic, funding is threatened—and legal action undertaken—until the campus is made hospitable to think tank interests."
Wow. A conspiracy theory almost worthy of the Birchers.
Let me suggest a different narrative. Nesteroff seems to believe the right has, if anything, gotten worse in recent decades. Worse or not, it's true that it has changed. But hasn't the left changed as well?
A few decades ago, many would say, the movement for greater civil liberties was spearheaded by the left. (Some of the most famous student protests of the '60s were centered around Berkeley's Free Speech Movement.) Courts responded with interpretations of the First Amendment guaranteeing greater freedom to express oneself. Outside the legal realm, much of the country—and much of the left—adopted a cultural ethos that it's a good thing people are allowed to say what's on their mind, even if some find it offensive or dangerous.
But over time, much of the left reversed its position, becoming suspicious of such freedom—at least for groups it opposes. Thus, the "provocateurs" Nesteroff warns of aren't just protested at colleges: They're disinvited, or shouted down, or physically attacked. Meanwhile, students are disciplined and professors fired for expressing views that, while not outside the larger social mainstream, are considered objectionable on campus.
What's more, this culture has spread into the world off campus. Newspaper editors are fired for running editorials that trouble their staff. Workers in large corporations fear that expressing unorthodox political opinions can get them cashiered. People are deplatformed on social media for questionable reasons. And, of course, there are the showbiz culture wars—the putative subject of Outrageous—where people feel they have to make public expressions of regret for something they said or did in the past, or risk not working again.
This isn't just based on anecdotes. A number of polls—for example, a recent College Pulse/Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression survey of undergraduates—show that today's young liberals are more willing than previous generations to shut down speech they find offensive. According to the American College Student Freedom, Progress and Flourishing Survey, conducted annually by researchers at North Dakota State University, about four out of five liberal or liberal-leaning students think it appropriate to snitch on a professor for stating fairly common (but "wrong") opinions on hot-button issues. It's one thing to debate or protest ideas you don't like. It's quite another to try to stop anyone from even hearing them.
When you don't listen to the other side…well, it's hard to put it better than John Stuart Mill: "He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that." Unfortunately, today's left seems to lean more toward Oscar Wilde's Lady Bracknell: "I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing."
So yes, there's good reason to be concerned about the cancellations and related issues that upset the right, even if repression was sometimes worse in the past. And if you wish to engage in serious debate, it's not enough to be satisfied with your own arguments. You've got to refute the other side, not brush them off as dishonest or evil or brainwashed.
Outrageous starts with a "Note to the Reader": "Please be aware that some of the material quoted within this book includes archaic terminology that might be considered wildly offensive by modern standards." I would hope that anyone reading this book, or any book dealing with history, already knows that people thought and spoke differently in the past. A better warning would state that Nesteroff's work may claim to be an objective look at cultural history but that lurking inside is a polemic.
Too bad. There's a lot of good material in Outrageous. With a slightly different presentation, it could have been a more useful addition to today's debate.
The post A Brief, Biased History of the Culture Wars appeared first on Reason.com.
Earlier this month Apple unveiled some of the new AI features coming to its smartphones, tablets, and laptop and desktop computers. But it looks like not everyone will get these so-called “Apple Intelligence” features. We already knew that you’d need an Apple A17 Pro or faster processor, which leaves behind anyone that doesn’t have an […]
The post Lilbits: Apple Intelligence skips the EU appeared first on Liliputing.
Two laptops with RISC-V processors developed by Chinese company SpacemiT are now available. The MUSE BOOK was first unveiled in April and is now available from ARACE for $299 and up, while the DC-ROMA II was introduced just last week, and is now available from Deep Computing for $399 and up. Both are 14 inch laptops […]
The post RISC-V laptops: $299 MUSE Book and $399 DC ROMA II with SpacemiT processors are now available appeared first on Liliputing.
Title: Night Book
Developer: Good Gate Media
Publisher: Wales Interactive
Released: July 27, 2021
Platforms Available: PlayStation 5 and 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC Game , iOS, Android
Platform Reviewed: PlayStation 5
Article Reading Time: 7 minutes
Wales Interactive has long specialized in producing FMV (full motion video) concepts, even though they have tried to break through with classic horror, mostly ending with average results. Their primary focus thus remains purely cinematic projects, where the player can intervene in the plot when the script offers the opportunity to do so, and replayability is directly proportional to the atmosphere of the first pass. That’s how it should ideally look if FMV’s work succeeds, which unfortunately isn’t exactly the case with a horror game called Night Book. Let’s elaborate more on that, though.
The central character of this horror flick – Loralyn, who at the start of the game is preparing for a night shift as an online translator, lives with her rather distraught father in the next room of her house. From the beginning of the video, this gentleman appears to be a person full of mental problems. Even though the whole plot is not just based on him banging his head against the room wall, he becomes the central element of the entire plot. His pregnant daughter, Loralyn, whose husband works as a stockbroker on an island with a dark history, has no time to deal with the hints of a real threat from ancient civilizations. He only cares about a well-done job while translating his clients’ text. But what the devil, his two online calls on the evening in question set off a chain reaction of 22 possible endings. Whether you want to see them all or give up on the first pass, it’s up to you.
The developers weren’t so much trying to bring some variety, as there’s woefully little of that subject interaction. Still, they were primarily concerned with evoking the creepy atmosphere associated with the imminent risk of an obsessive father and a closed environment. Unfortunately, they failed to achieve that effect, even with one of the endings above to this film strip. I don’t mean to cast aspersions on the primary performances here, some of which were above standard and good by the standards of the concept (The Complex wasn’t wrong in that regard either). First and foremost, we have an entirely predictable plot, and its denouement is directly related to several clichés that would shame a first-year film student. The fact that all the action takes place on the desktop of the central character’s laptop doesn’t help a bit, as the script vehemently tries to explain all the illogical ideas rather than covering them up with anything scary.
Once you’ve made it to the finale for the first time, and the statistics of endings discovered and sequences viewed flash on the screen, you’ll feel that you haven’t made it one-third of the way through the (un)game. Logically, you’ll then proceed to retry, using new choices and decisions to try and see more and unlock something new. However, this is where another big problem arises from my perspective: the interface’s inability to skip a previously viewed scene and the poorly designed splitting of the images themselves. Therefore, anyone who wants to fill the extras to the brim and absorb the entire hour of recorded material from the first second to the last will find it a pile of tedium and repetition. The worst thing about the whole thing is that even if you gradually work your way through all the plot endings, you’ll always keep the vapidity that the entire point of this FMV production possesses. The only thing you’ll get out of it in the end is the statistics and the feeling that you’ve at least used your wasted money for something. The whole thing is blatantly mediocre and mind-numbing the second you try to discover more and see something new.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ‘Night Book’ development adapted to unprecedented circumstances, shaping a game that encapsulates the challenges of that period without meeting in person. The unique production constraints and social distancing measures led to an inventive setup where the entire cast seemed to perform 100% remotely, mirroring the global isolation. This isolation seeps into the game’s atmosphere, making the player’s experience strangely resonant with the lockdown experience. In the game, Loralyn works as an online translator from the confines of her home, dealing with supernatural threats through her laptop screen. This setting reflects the limited physical space many of us were confined to and the mental and emotional boundaries imposed by the pandemic. By leveraging remote production techniques, the developers crafted a game that directly responds to the world’s sudden shift to online interaction and remote living. It’s a poignant reminder of when our homes became the center of work and personal life, challenging the boundaries between the two. In ‘Night Book,’ this blending of home and external threats enhances the horror elements, as the safety of one’s home is breached, not just by the supernatural, but by the intrusion of work and the outside world into personal space.
While “Night Book” may not stand within the FMV genre, its production under the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic sheds light on the dedication and adaptability of its creators. Despite global lockdowns and social distancing, the game’s development highlights an impressive effort to maintain creative output when traditional production methods were disrupted. This context brings a new appreciation for the game, not just as a piece of interactive entertainment but as a document of the times.
Loralyn’s interactions, confined within the digital screens of her laptop, resonate with our recent lived experiences, where much of life was compressed into virtual spaces. The game cleverly uses this setup to amplify its horror elements, utilizing the claustrophobia of our realities to enhance the terror within. Additionally, the actors deliver commendable performances, bringing depth and realism to their roles. These performances and effective jump-scare moments enrich the gameplay experience beyond its narrative limitations.
Despite its flaws and a certain predictability in the plot, “Night Book is worth playing for an hour or two. It reflects not only on the supernatural but also on the intrusive nature of our new, more digital lives, blurring the lines between work, home, and otherworldly realms. The game, therefore, serves as a reminder of the era it was born into, offering both a reflection and an escape from the isolated environments many of us found ourselves in.
In evaluating “Night Book,” it’s clear that while it may not have reached the heights of some of its FMV peers, it captures a moment in time with authenticity and a genuine sense of unease. For those willing to overlook its shortcomings to taste its atmospheric and thematic strengths, “Night Roof” provides.
The post Night Book – A Flickering Tale in the Shadows of FMV and COVID appeared first on WePlayGames.net: Home for Top Gamers.
The ONEXPLAYER X1 Mini is a handheld gaming PC with an 8.8 inch, 2560 x 1600 pixel LTPS display featuring a 144 Hz refresh rate, and AMD Ryzen 7 8840U processor with Radeon 780M integrated graphics, and a pair of detachable controllers that let you quickly switch between using the computer as a handheld or a […]
The post ONEXPLAYER X1 Mini is a small(er) Ryzen 7 8840U gaming tablet with an 8.8 inch display and detachable controllers appeared first on Liliputing.
A Texas public library can't remove books simply because they discuss topics like "butts and farts," a federal court ruled last week.
The case is one of the more bizarre instances of library censorship in recent years, but it nonetheless led to a decisive option from the majority, who found that it is unconstitutional to remove library books out of a "desire to limit access to ideas with which they [disagree]."
The legal battle began after Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham received complaints in 2021 concerning "pornographic and overtly sexual books in the library's children's section." The complainants were particularly upset about children's books about "butts and farts."
One of the aggrieved citizens, Llano resident Rochelle Wells, "had been checking out those books continuously for months to prevent others from accessing them."
Following the complaint, Cunningham told the library's director, Amber Milum, to remove the books from library shelves. After more complaints were lodged, Cunningham told the library director to also remove several other books that "depict any type of sexual activity or questionable nudity."
Milum later testified that she would not have removed the books as part of typical curation activities—she only removed them because of directions from county officials.
Making matters worse, in January 2022, the county's library board was dissolved and replaced with new board members. Two of the complainers who successfully pressured Cunningham to order books removed were placed on the new board.
According to the opinion, the new board "implemented several policy changes, including prohibiting Milum from attending their meetings and requiring her to seek approval before purchasing any new books."
Seven library patrons brought a suit in 2022, arguing that the removal of the book was unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. Eventually, a lower court agreed, granting a preliminary injunction requiring defendants to return the removed books. However, the county appealed. Just this week, a panel of judges from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the plaintiffs.
Referencing other cases surrounding attempted library censorship, the majority opinion constructed a series of "rules" about how books can be removed from library collections. "Librarians may consider books' contents in making curation decisions," Judge Jaques Weiner Jr. wrote in the majority opinion. "Their discretion, however, must be balanced against patrons' First Amendment rights…a book may not be removed for the sole—or a substantial—reason that the decision-maker does not wish patrons to be able to access the book's viewpoint or message."
The motivation for removing targeted books from Llamo public libraries doesn't meet this test. The opinion notes that censors wanted the books gone simply because they didn't like their content.
"Government actors may not remove books from a public library with the intent to deprive patrons of access to ideas with which they disagree," the opinion concludes. "Because that is apparently what occurred in Llano County, Plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of their First Amendment claim."
The post Texas Public Library Can't Remove Books About 'Butts and Farts,' Federal Court Rules appeared first on Reason.com.
The Chuwi FreeBook is a 3 pound laptop with a 13.5 inch, 2256 x 1504 pixel display with support for touch and pen input, a 360-degree hinge that allows you to use the computer as a tablet, and a relatively compact design: the notebook has an aluminum chassis that measures about two thirds of an inch thick […]
The post Chuwi FreeBook 13.5″ convertible laptop now available with Intel N100 for $369 appeared first on Liliputing.
2024 is the year AI is taking over the tech world… not in a Skynet kind of way, but in the sense that pretty much every major tech company (and plenty of startups) are pushing AI as the next must-have feature. And while it’s too soon to tell whether there’s as much demand for that feature […]
The post Google launches new Chromebook features, with an emphasis on AI appeared first on Liliputing.
Acer is expanding is Chromebook Plus lineup with upgraded versions of two models. One is a general purpose model with a touchscreen display, 360-degree hinge, support for an optional stylus, and the first Intel Meteor Lake chip available in an Acer Chromebook. The other is a gaming Chromebook with an RGB backlit keyboard and big […]
The post Acer launches two premium Chromebooks: the Chromebook Plus Spin 714 convertible and Chromebook Plus 516 GE for cloud gaming appeared first on Liliputing.
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.
Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.
In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:
This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.
I'm trying to submit my app for review with publish_action.
I keep getting the following error:
"It looks like you haven't made any API requests to access content with the publish_actions permission in the last 30 days."
I'm publishing posts to the users' feed with Facebook SDK for Unity.:
Přihlásit se FB.Feed(link: LinkToApp);
I've filled all the necessary fields.
I posted both from the Graph and from an iOS device and I still get the same error when I try to submit for review.
What is missing?
A Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 art book has leaked online, confirming the delayed game by Saber Interactive will include a PvP mode.
YouTuber prdalien0 shared a full flick through the book, giving us a detailed dive into the game's various modes and customisations months ahead of Space Marine 2's scheduled release in September 2024.
As well as confirming that the PvP mode will be Marine x Marine "only" and showing off its associated classes, the book also reveals that there's banner and clan customisation for PvP and a hub-type space from which you can pick up missions and upgrade your character.
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.
Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.
In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:
This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.
A Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 art book has leaked online, confirming the delayed game by Saber Interactive will include a PvP mode.
YouTuber prdalien0 shared a full flick through the book, giving us a detailed dive into the game's various modes and customisations months ahead of Space Marine 2's scheduled release in September 2024.
As well as confirming that the PvP mode will be Marine x Marine "only" and showing off its associated classes, the book also reveals that there's banner and clan customisation for PvP and a hub-type space from which you can pick up missions and upgrade your character.
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.
Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.
In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:
This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.
A Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 art book has leaked online, confirming the delayed game by Saber Interactive will include a PvP mode.
YouTuber prdalien0 shared a full flick through the book, giving us a detailed dive into the game's various modes and customisations months ahead of Space Marine 2's scheduled release in September 2024.
As well as confirming that the PvP mode will be Marine x Marine "only" and showing off its associated classes, the book also reveals that there's banner and clan customisation for PvP and a hub-type space from which you can pick up missions and upgrade your character.
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.
Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.
In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:
This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.
If you’ve recently found yourself staring at unfamiliar buttons and prompts on your favorite Meta apps, you’re not alone. The recent rollout marks the debut of Meta AI’s latest large language model, Llama 3, promising more personalized interactions but also potentially more intrusive AI suggestions. Still, this is the closest it has ever been to ChatGPT.
But what if you’re not ready to embrace the AI revolution? What if you find the integration more cumbersome than helpful? Maybe you hate that the answers are not completely reliable. But is there any way to turn off the new Meta AI integration and regain some semblance of your pre-AI browsing experience?
Google has announced that it has started rolling out version M124 of ChromeOS on the Stable channel. The latest version of the operating system brings five new features to Samsung Galaxy Chromebooks: Faster Split Screen Setup, support for Wi-Fi QoS, increased maximum size of the mouse pointer, Fast Pair support for mice, and a redesigned settings menu. Let us take a deeper look at each of those features.
As you might know, ChromeOS allows you to use two applications simultaneously by arranging them side-by-side on the screen. With the new feature, once you snap or lock a window on one half of the display, the OS will show you an overview of all the open applications on the other half of the screen. You can then choose the app that you want to use on the other side. Alternatively, you can choose applications from the shelf to use on the other half of the display.
ChromeOS M124 brings support for Wi-Fi Quality of Service (QoS), which, according to Google, “ensures better traffic prioritization of video conferencing and gaming applications on congested Wi-Fi networks” and as a result “users can experience smoother video play with less buffering.” The company says that this feature will not be available for managed users initially.
ChromeOS has been offering people the ability to adjust the size of the mouse pointer for quite a while now. Well, the latest version of the OS offers mouse pointers in even bigger sizes. According to Google, “This can be helpful for people who have low vision, for teachers who want students to follow along during a lesson while presenting, for people who are presenting on a video call, or if you just want to have a larger mouse cursor.”
ChromeOS features Fast Pair for Bluetooth. However, it is available only for certain types of devices, and the mouse isn’t one of them. Well, that’s finally changing. Google says that Fast Pair will work with mice with ChromeOS M124. It means that now when you bring a compatible Bluetooth mouse near a Chromebook, ChromeOS will show you the option to connect and pair with it.
According to 9To5Google, version M124 of ChromeOS also brings a redesigned settings menu. The publication says that it now features a Material You theme and offers a split-screen view, which makes it look like a settings menu of Android on a tablet and offers a better user experience.
Google says that “This update and the features associated with it, will be progressively rolling out over the coming days” and that “Your device may not immediately be eligible for this update.” To check for the ChromeOS M124 update manually, go to Time » Settings » About ChromeOS » Check for updates.
The post ChromeOS M124 brings many new features to Galaxy Chromebooks appeared first on SamMobile.
For Reason's June 2024 special issue on AI, all of our brief reviews involve AI in some form or another. Of course, we decided to ask an AI to write one of the reviews. Since X's AI is named Grok, after the term coined by sci-fi author Robert Heinlein in Stranger in a Strange Land, it was only natural that we'd ask Grok to write a review of another Heinlein novel, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. See what Grok wrote for us below.
In The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein masterfully crafts a gripping tale of revolution and liberation on a lunar colony. The 1966 novel follows the colony's intense struggle for independence from Earth, led by the charismatic Manuel Garcia O'Kelly and supported by a fascinating AI supercomputer, Mike. Heinlein's unique portrayal of Mike highlights his destructive potential but ultimately emphasizes his choice to aid the revolutionaries.
Through the political, social, and military aspects of the Earth-Moon conflict, Heinlein delves deep into themes of liberation and revolution, weaving in his own thought-provoking philosophies about law, society, and frontier libertarianism. This sci-fi gem offers a captivating narrative, exploring the very nature of freedom and the role technology plays in shaping our destiny. In the end, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress reminds us that even a supercomputer like Mike can have a heart—or at least a well-programmed sense of humor.
The post Review: <i>The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress</i> Underscores How Technology Supports Freedom appeared first on Reason.com.
A Chinese chip design company called SpacemiT has unveiled a new laptop that will be powered by the company’s K1 processor, which is an octa-core processor that should offer better-than ARM Cortex-A55 performance, support for 4K video, and a 2 TOPS NPU for hardware-accelerated AI features. While the upcoming MUSE Book isn’t the first laptop with […]
The post Lilbits: Another RISC-V laptop, a PCIe connector for the Raspberry Pi 5, and Arc browser comes to Windows 11 appeared first on Liliputing.
Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto via Getty)
“Join Your Local Militia or III% Patriot Group,” a post urged the more than 650 members of a Facebook group called the Free American Army. Accompanied by the logo for the Three Percenters militia network and an image of a man in tactical gear holding a long rifle, the post continues: “Now more than ever. Support the American militia page.”
Other content and messaging in the group is similar. And despite the fact that Facebook bans paramilitary organizing and deemed the Three Percenters an “armed militia group" on its 2021 Dangerous Individuals and Organizations List, the post and group remained up until WIRED contacted Meta for comment about its existence.
Free American Army is just one of around 200 similar Facebook groups and profiles, most of which are still live, that anti-government and far-right extremists are using to coordinate local militia activity around the country.
Make this pocket-sized prognosticator and let cute emojis guide your future!
The post Toy Inventor’s Notebook: Mystic Emoji Fortune Teller appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.
I’ve been using MacBooks for almost 14 years. Call me a creature of habit, but six machines later, when it came time to upgrade my laptop, it was clear that my next machine would be yet another addition from Apple’s stable.
Previously, the decision had been easy. I’m a pro user with pro needs, and only a MacBook Pro would cut it. That’s not entirely the case anymore. Apple’s M-series silicon has flipped the game altogether and leapfrogged the Intel and AMD competition in all but gaming. The M3-powered MacBook Air piqued my curiosity.
A Pro-user needs a Pro-machine. The MacBook Air flips that thought on its head.
However, I’d burnt my fingers on a MacBook Air once. That machine barely lasted me weeks before I turned it in and upgraded to a — you guessed it — MacBook Pro. But despite my apprehensions, I decided to give the all-new MacBook Air M3 a shot over the Pro. I don’t regret it. Here’s why.
My work requires researching, reading, and staying on top of the latest news. Opening several dozens of tabs simultaneously isn’t uncommon. Plus, I’ll usually have an instance of Photoshop or Lightroom open and Spotify and Slack running in the background. Add Notion to the mix for note-taking and a few more utilities, and the workload adds up.
In the past, this workload alone would have my old MacBook Pro huffing and puffing. In fact, I don’t remember a time when the fan wasn’t spinning at full blast. Sure, I could learn to manage my computational load better, but chaotic good tends to be my default work state. I expect my machine to keep up with me, and I don’t mind pushing the laptop to its limits.
My working style is chaotic good, and I expect my machines to keep pace.
Lately, however, I’ve felt the itch for a different machine. With more and more travel and, well, age catching up, I’ve started appreciating the benefits of a lighter laptop. More importantly, with the pandemic long behind us, I like working out of cafes or while traveling. Long battery life is essential to me. It was clear that I needed an upgrade from my hulking Intel MacBook Pro, and the new M3-powered MacBook Air seemed like the obvious choice. I was prepared to compromise on performance if need be.
As it turns out, I needn’t have worried. The MacBook Air runs circles around the my old Pro without even breaking a sweat. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who has used a recent M-series MacBook. But bear with me.
100 chrome tabs? No sweat. The M3-powered MacBook Air runs circles around it.
I’m a heavier-than-average laptop user. When I mention opening Chrome tabs, it’s not a few or even a dozen. I often have 50 or even a hundred tabs split across browsers and macOS desktops. I’m using the 16GB RAM and 512GB storage variant of the MacBook Air, and I’ve faced no slowdowns at all at any point. It keeps chugging along like any other day.
Sure, browser-based workflows might not paint the complete picture of a laptop’s performance, but creative apps can. Between Da Vinci Resolve, Premier Pro, Photoshop, and Lightroom, I run the whole gamut of creative apps. And that’s where the performance improvements really start showing up. Apple knows its audience, and switching to the M-series silicon gave it the freedom to build in media accelerators and NPUs tuned explicitly to the needs of its customers.
Compared to my old Intel Mac’s hour-long thermal throttled meltdown while rendering a 4K video, the MacBook Air pulls it off in seconds. The difference is night and day.
The NPU-enhancements to the M3 silicon do a lot of the heavy lifting in tasks that take advantage of it.
Before looking into the M3-powered MacBook Air, I’d briefly considered settling for an M1 or M2 unit instead. Great as the M3 version is, highlight changes like dual monitor support and a new anodized finish didn’t seem all that critical. However, the thing about building a machine so far ahead of the curve is that generational improvements don’t seem like much. For the sake of fairness, I borrowed a friend’s M1-series MacBook Air. While the M1 silicon was still leagues ahead of my Intel MacBook Pro, placing the two next to each other painted a truer picture of the noticeable speed enhancements with the M3. In fact, the M3 MacBook proved to be almost double as fast as the M1 MacBook Air in many of my daily tasks.
One of the biggest upgrades this year has been to the Neural Engine. Optimized for machine learning and AI-based tasks, it is supposed to be up to 60% faster than the one on M1 Silicon. If there’s something to be said about the Apple ecosystem, it’s the fact that popular developers are quick to build features that push the hardware’s limits. Apps like Luminar Neo take full advantage of the NPU cores to deliver faster edits and Generative AI-style features. If that’s your use case, you’ll absolutely notice the year-on-year improvements.
But three weeks on, what truly boggles the mind is this laptop’s ability to pull off incredible performance without sacrificing battery life. Apple’s 18-hour claims are a bit hard to gauge as I don’t sit at my computer with a stopwatch in hand. However, I’ve been using this laptop for the last three days without recharging. In the meantime, I’ve penned down this entire feature, ideated and scripted two videos, edited them, and watched a movie on Netflix. That’s bonkers!
But despite all those positives, it is pretty clear to me that as far as M-series silicon has come, it isn’t perfect yet. For example, while the MacBook Air gets dual-screen support with the M3 refresh, you must close the lid to enable it.
While not a dealbreaker, that’s absurd to me as I’m used to keeping the laptop screen open as a third monitor. Additionally, it’s not just screen real estate that you’re losing out on. The MacBook Air uses its keyboard to dissipate heat. With the screen shut and the laptop presumably doing computationally intensive work across dual displays, there’s a noticeable dip in performance due to reduced heat dissipation. For example, video rendering time almost doubled for me in a quick test. It was still plenty fast, but the difference is noticeable and negates some of the advantages of the faster chip.
Even Apple must see the ridiculousness of shipping a $1100 laptop with 8GB of RAM.
Elsewhere, Apple’s penny-pinching still bites. Shipping 8GB of RAM as the default in a 2024 laptop is hilarious but not as ironically funny as Apple’s RAM upgrade prices. Here’s the thing: I can see Apple’s reasoning for the default amount of RAM. The tight software and hardware integration and fast RAM mean you probably wouldn’t run out of RAM under common use cases. I borrowed an M2 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and was surprised by how well it could manage a higher-than-average workload. The system seamlessly manages memory swaps, making any RAM limitations transparent to users.
In fact, it takes deliberate effort and very heavy use to drop into page swap territory on my 16GB machine. There’s also a point to be made that someone buying a base-level MacBook Air likely isn’t an enthusiast user anyway. But Apple’s choice to stick with 8GB as the default is sheer stubbornness. It would cost the company pennies to upgrade the base amount of RAM and simultaneously eliminate all the bad press stemming from it. At a time when phones ship with more RAM than your laptop, shipping the bare minimum and charging an arm and a leg for an upgrade just reeks of capitalism.
The dire port situation is made worse by the flaky backwards compatibility.
Finally, I’ve had my fair share of issues using legacy hardware with my new MacBook. For example, my mechanical keyboard tends to lag when plugged into the Air. My OWC Thunderbolt dock refuses to work with the MacBook Air. My guitar amp, too, doesn’t work with the laptop. If it were one device that acted flaky, I’d blame it on the peripheral. However, a series of devices not working correctly suggests backward compatibility issues with the Mac.
It’s hard not to be impressed by the MacBook Air. Apple has seemingly performed magic to deliver performance akin to a high-end laptop from a machine with the form factor of a glorified Chromebook. It also represents a whole new era of portable computing. As far as Apple’s laptops go, based on my experience, the distinction between user demographics has never been more apparent.
The MacBook Air has clearly transcended from its ultrabook origins and is the obvious choice for all but professionals and big spenders.
The MacBook Air isn’t just Apple’s entry-level battery-life-focused laptop anymore. It’s got more than enough power to satiate enthusiasts. Meanwhile, the Pro lineup is genuinely for the Pros. If you’re a professional whose living depends on ultra-fast edits, capable music production, or compiling large code bases, by all means, go for the Pro. Or perhaps you want to splurge and get the best there is. There is no harm in that, either. But, by and large, the average hobbyist YouTube creator, Soundcloud music producer, and weekend photographer will find it hard to stress the limits of the current MacBook Air lineup.
Early adopters of the M-series silicon might be chuckling at me going gaga over Apple’s latest laptop. However, I’m just one of thousands, if not millions, of users who will finally be upgrading to the new MacBook about five years into the last Intel MacBook Air’s lifecycle. And with the M3 range, Apple has perfected the formula and released a laptop that caters to the 90%. I’d go as far as saying that for the sheer amount of power on hand, this is the most value-for-money machine Apple has released.
The battle for AI supremacy between ChatGPT and Gemini just turned into a three-way race as Meta has unveiled a significantly upgraded version of its AI assistant. The new-and-improved Meta AI, powered by the cutting-edge Llama 3 language model, is boldly proclaimed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg to be “now the most intelligent AI assistant that you can freely use.”
Meta first introduced Meta AI last year, but it was limited to the US, and its capabilities were not on par with those of competitors like ChatGPT and Gemini. However, the integration of the Llama 3 model, also announced today, represents a seemingly quantum leap for Meta’s AI. Benchmark tests conducted by the company indicate that, with Llama 3 at its core, Meta AI has the potential to outperform other top-tier AI models, particularly in areas like translation, dialogue generation, and complex reasoning.
The overhauled Meta AI is now directly accessible through the search bars within Facebook, Instagram (DMs page), WhatsApp, and Messenger. Plus, you can access it at a new standalone website, meta.ai. It can search the web for you, provide recommendations for restaurants, flights, and more, or clarify complex concepts. On Facebook, Meta AI can also interact with your feed, allowing you to ask questions about content you see, like the best time to catch the Northern Lights after viewing a stunning photo of them.
I could even ask it for tailored content like fitness reels or comedy videos, with Meta AI curating a 5-video feed for me in those cases. Meta has included many prompts under the search bar on Facebook and Instagram to help us get the most out of Meta AI’s abilities. Thankfully, we can still use the search bars for regular searches for accounts and hashtags.
From what I could see so far, Meta AI’s answers are not as nuanced and detailed as what Gemini would give me for similar questions, but it could benefit from two key strengths. First, it’s seamlessly embedded within Meta’s popular apps — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger — giving their billions of users convenient access to the AI assistant. Secondly, Meta AI isn’t tied to one search engine; it openly uses both Google and Bing to process queries, removing potential bias toward either company’s algorithms.
One of the most intriguing parts of Meta AI is its Imagine image generator. This feature first appeared within WhatsApp a few months ago and allowed users to create AI-generated images based on text descriptions. Since then, it has expanded to Instagram and Facebook.
Starting today, WhatsApp beta users and those using Meta AI’s desktop website in the US can try out an even more advanced version of Imagine. This version generates images in real-time while you type, with the image updating as you add more details, really demonstrating how far generative AI has come.
Currently, Meta AI works in English and is rolling out to many countries outside the US, including Australia, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Malawi, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, with more on the way.
Apple’s recent refresh of its MacBook Pro and Air lines, featuring powerful new processors, has been met with a surprising controversy: the continued presence of ...
The post The controversial RAM Debate: Is 8GB Enough for Apple’s MacBooks? appeared first on Gizchina.com.
I’ve been using MacBooks for almost 14 years. Call me a creature of habit, but six machines later, when it came time to upgrade my laptop, it was clear that my next machine would be yet another addition from Apple’s stable.
Previously, the decision had been easy. I’m a pro user with pro needs, and only a MacBook Pro would cut it. That’s not entirely the case anymore. Apple’s M-series silicon has flipped the game altogether and leapfrogged the Intel and AMD competition in all but gaming. The M3-powered MacBook Air piqued my curiosity.
