Tech News

Technocracy: GMO Food Will Stock Grocery Shelves Within 5 Years.

While ethicists [sic] debate the applications of blockbuster gene-editing tool Crispr in human healthcare, an inventor of the tool believes it has a more immediate application: improving our food.

I have one, essential question for those in the pro-GMO industry. If GMO food is as safe as Big GMO says, why then do they fight so diligently against their food being labeled as such? They'll reply with, "doing so presents a negative perception of our products, thus negatively affecting our sales." And? That's our problem?

Asbestos? Nah. Perfectly fine and safe, we were told for decades. Thalidomide? Perfectly safe, especially for pregnant mothers. Tobacco? Recommended by Doctors and dentists alike.

Now, here comes the GMO Train. We're just human guinea pigs for tech and science, aren't we?
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TechNewsWorld: Samsung suspends launch of Galaxy Fold.

Samsung pumped the brakes on release of the US$1,980 phone after several reviewers reported problems with their units.
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Reviewers for Bloomberg and YouTube reported their units began malfunctioning after they removed an integral part of the display, mistakenly thinking it was a plastic screen protector.

CNBC reviewer Todd Haselton wrote that he left the plastic film intact, but the display still started acting buggy. The left side of the flexible screen began to flicker consistently.

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TechSpot: Screen time not recommended for infants, says World Health Organization.

Infants under the age of one shouldn’t be exposed to electronic screens of any type according to guidelines recently published by the World Health Organization.

The United Nations agency further notes that sedentary screen time (watching TV / videos or playing computer games) is not recommended for infants.

Was anyone aware of this? Who knew?
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TechCrunch: Tesla reports $702 million loss in first quarter.

Tesla reported April 9 that it delivered 63,000 electric vehicles in the first quarter of the year, nearly a one-third drop from the previous quarter.
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“Everyone expected a first quarter loss for Tesla, but nobody expected it to be this big,” Karl Brauer, executive publisher at Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader said in an emailed statement.

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Ars Technia: Windpower-Turbines come to Massachusetts.

Turbines? What turbines? They blend in so well! And appear to be well-protected from vandalism or other acts of sabotage
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Beta News: Samsung Galaxy View2 Android 2 tablet: It's "Colossal."

What we don't know at the moment is just when the Galaxy View2 will be released, or how much it will cost.

But at least we know it's Colossal.
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BGR: Spoiler-free review of "Avengers: Endgame."
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C|Net: Facebook facing fine that could exceed $5 Billion Dollars.

The FTC is looking into Facebook's privacy practices and determining if the company violated a legal agreement to keep user data private.
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Still, Facebook's scandals didn't scare away advertisers or users. The company posted a better-than-expected $15.08 billion in sales in the first quarter and reported the number of users who logged on every month increased by 8%, to 2.38 billion.

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TechTalks: What is ethical AI?

Human oversight means that no AI system should be able to perform its functions without some level of control by humans. This means that humans should either be directly involved in the decision-making process or have the option to review and override decisions made by an AI model.

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Computer World: Where are the April Windows patches?

Answer: Due sometime in June. Maybe July.
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Extreme Tech: Sony's 98-inch, 8K OLED TV.

The cutting edge of television technology will cost you[.]
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This will be the 2019 flagship of the Sony television line and it ships in June. The Z9G measures 86.75 inches wide by 55.0 inches tall by 4.38 inches deep. For a cleaner look, it can be bracket-mounted to any wall that can support 208 pounds.

The price? $69,999.99.

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ZD Net: Is your body hacker-proof?

Increasing numbers of implantable medical devices are now gaining internet connectivity, giving doctors the ability to monitor patients health remotely, and even update the devices to tweak a treatment plan. Unfortunately, that flexibility offers a way for hackers to hijack that hardware, and even potentially make changes to the way the devices work. While so far no attacks have been successful, proof-of-concept attacks have been available for years.

And while it might be tempting to hope that cybercriminals might see corrupting life-sustaining devices as a step too far, they haven't historically shown much of a conscience, cheerfully extorting money away from hospitals, for example, and putting patients at risk.

Tech News

Flamethrower Salmon. Image: Dan Baker/Digital Trends

Warning: This story will make you hungry. The Flamethrower Diet. Digital Trends:

[T]he Flamethrower Diet is the hottest new nutrition trend from Silicon Valley. Rather than forcing you to cut carbs or count calories, this diet gives you the freedom and flexibility to eat whatever you want, whenever you want — as long as it can be cooked with The Boring Company’s new Not-A-Flamethrower.
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Almost immediately, the benefits of cooking via flamethrower became apparent to me. The time savings alone make this diet worth a try. My toast was finished in seconds[.] (Ya know, I do get impatient for my toast. Really, I do. - D.D.)
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I flame-blasted the salmon on a alder plank in an effort to impart the fish with some woody smoke flavors, and also to keep from scorching the pavement in my driveway too much.

Phil, Zack, Mike, Irish, ...anyone? Let me know if you try this method for grilling and how it turns out. 
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TechNews World: Andriod Apps Riskier than ever.
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In other words, it's just a matter of time until multiple, future "patches" are issued? MS Managed Desktop turns device management to Windows. ZD Net:

Via MMD, Microsoft will provide business users with the option of having Microsoft manage their Windows 10 PCs. This means Microsoft will provide users with pre-configured Windows 10 PC hardware; ongoing Windows 10 feature updates, as well as security updates and other fixes; and overall management of those devices for a single, per-user monthly subscription fee.

Uh...oh...so, yeah, it's a matter of time until multiple, future and other fixes  "patches" are issued.
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TechCrunch: "An Intel drone fell on my head..." ...and now I can't get up?

After the crash, I assumed someone from Audi or Intel would be around to collect the lost drone, but no one did, and at the end of the show, I was unable to find someone who knew where I could find the Intel staff. I notified my Intel contacts first thing the following morning and provided a local address where they could get the drone. As of publication, the drone is still on my desk.

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BGR: Samsung's foldable phone unlikely to have Gorilla Glass.

Image from BGR

...we still don’t have a firm idea of when Samsung’s foldable so-called Galaxy F smartphone will finally arrive — whether it will land in November or at some point after that. And now here comes a new rumor about the materials Samsung will use for the handset. Apparently, Gorilla Glass won’t be part of it.

Dear Lord, how will the ardent technophiles survive without Gorilla Glass?
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TechNewsWorld: Google "Death-Watch" begins in EU?

The European Union has been stretching its wings. In the shadow of Brexit, it apparently has decided it has the real enemy of the people in its sights: social media companies and Google.

France is even more aggressive than the EU overall, suggesting that the region's "right to be forgotten" law should apply worldwide.

Who knew I'd one day agree with the EU and France. The exception(s) that prove the rule.
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Neutron Star with Unprecedented Glow is important, say astronomers. Gizmodo:

...scientists have spotted one of these ultra-dense objects emitting infrared radiation far brighter than they’d expect, over a seemingly wide swath of space—larger than our Solar System. They have several ideas as to what they’re looking at, and any of these ideas, if verified, would be important discoveries.

Maybe it's the star's glow of pregnancy? Or, more likely, a holographic Illuminati Plot.
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Digital Spy: Actor Nicolas Cage unhappy about Cage Rage Meme. Pfffft - Champagne problems...
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Images of Google Home Voyeur Home Hub leaked.  ArsTechnica:

The device has a 7-inch touchscreen and basically looks like a 16:9 tablet mounted to Google Home Max.

It's another Big Brother device (Alexa, etc) in your home. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if Teh Google intentionally "leaked" the images. This is The Non-Story Tech Story of the Year. So far, anyway.
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If you use CCleaner, you probably want to read this. CCleaner updating itself against users' wishes.  Beta News: 

According to a growing number of users, and posts on the Piriform Community Forums, CCleaner has been updating itself to the latest version, even if users have turned off updates.

I dunno, this seems weird. Something more is going on, here, although I don't know what or why. Beta News asks,

Do you still use CCleaner, or have you had enough of all of these problems? What do you use instead?

Anyone?
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Got a scratched CD or DVD that won't play right or skips or stalls?  Digital Trends has some advice to try repairing it.