Month: August 2024
NASA makes a very tough decision in setting final Crew-9 assignments
“I am deeply proud of our entire crew.”
Enlarge / Nick Hague, left, and Zena Cardman train inside a Crew Dragon spacecraft mock-up in November 2023. (credit: NASA)
On Friday NASA publicly announced a decision that has roiled the top levels of the agency’s human spaceflight program for several weeks. The space agency named the two crew members who will launch on a Crew Dragon mission set to lift off no earlier than September 24 to the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague will serve as the mission’s commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will serve as mission specialist. Instead of a usual complement of four astronauts, a two-person crew was necessitated by the need to use the Crew 9 spacecraft, Freedom, as a rescue vehicle for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. They flew to the station in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner vehicle, which has been deemed unsafe for them to return in.
Wilmore and Williams will join the Crew-9 increment on board the space station and fly back to Earth with Hague and Gorbunov next February.
Looking for a Kindle alternative? This new super-thin rival has the Google Play Store for Android apps
The Boox Go 6 is a slimline ereader that packs in a crisp display, long battery life and Android compatibility.
If you prefer reading your literature on one of the best ereaders rather than on a tablet or using the original paperback, you’ve probably heard of Boox. The e-reader company has made a name for itself thanks to its slim, lightweight e-ink devices, and it’s just released a new addition to its lineup.
The Boox Go 6 is the latest in the Go range, and it continues the company’s tradition of thin and light ereaders. The Go 6 weighs 146g and is a mere 6.8mm thick, making it extremely easy to pack in a bag for a little holiday reading.
Despite that, the biggest selling point is likely to be the Go 6’s Carta 1300 display. This e-ink screen offers 300ppi and “enhanced visual quality and performance,” Boox says, with deeper blacks and brighter whites resulting in sharper text and a more comfortable reading experience.
(Image credit: Boox)
There are also built-in dual-tone front lights, which should help guarantee eye comfort whatever the situation, whether you’re indulging in a little light reading during the day or night.
The Android advantage
The Boox Go 6 runs on Android. As we said when we reviewed the Boox Note Air 3, using Android adds a lot of versatility – as long as your preferred e-book provider has an Android app, it’ll work on the Go 6.
It also means the device is not just limited to reading apps, as you can download Android apps for web browsing and audio playback as well, if you like. Boox says the device comes with the Google Play Store pre-installed (which isn’t the case on Kindles), making it easy to load up the ereader with compatible apps.
Rounding out the Go 6 is a microSD card slot to expand its storage, a built-in artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, and battery life that apparently lasts “for days on a single charge,” Boox says. The Boox Go 6 costs $149.99 (around £145 / AU$220) and is available to buy now on Boox’s website.
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Best Apple Deals of the Week: Labor Day Sales Arrive for the Holiday Weekend With Record Lows on iPad, iPhone, and More
Labor Day deals have kicked off this week, and as we head into the long weekend you can still find great discounts on AirPods Max, MacBook Air, Sonos speakers, and more. We’re also tracking fresh markdowns on iPhone 15, the 10th gen iPad, M3 MacBook Pro, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Labor Day Deals
What’s the deal? Save on AirPods, MacBook Air, and more this weekend
Where can I get it? Amazon, Best Buy, Sonos, and more
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
Labor Day Apple Deals
Labor Day is coming up on September 2, and many retailers have kicked off sales that you can shop over the long weekend. You can find the full list of the sales in our original article, but we’ve collected a few of the best sales below as well.
9th Gen iPad – $199.00, down from $329.00
AirPods Max – $399.00, down from $549.00
Sonos – Get up to 20% off select devices
Sony – Save on headphones and more
Eufy Security SmartTrack Card – $19.99, down from $29.99
iPhone 15
What’s the deal? Take up to $1,000 off iPhone 15
Where can I get it? AT&T
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
UP TO $1,000 OFFiPhone 15 Deals at AT&T
AT&T is offering up to $1,000 off iPhone 15 models ahead of the launch of the next generation devices in September. You’ll find offers on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15, and iPhone 15 Plus for new and existing AT&T customers.
iPad
What’s the deal? Take $50 off 10th gen iPad
Where can I get it? Amazon and Best Buy
$50 OFFiPad (64GB Wi-Fi) for $299.00
$50 OFFiPad (256GB Wi-Fi) for $449.00
We’re tracking one of the first notable discounts in weeks on the 10th generation iPad at both Amazon and Best Buy. Prices start at $299.00 for the 64GB Wi-Fi model, and include both cellular devices as well.
MacBook Pro
What’s the deal? Take up to $700 off M3 MacBook Pro
Where can I get it? Best Buy and Amazon
$500 OFF14-inch MacBook Pro (512GB M3 Pro) for $1,499.00
$700 OFF16-inch MacBook Pro (512GB M3 Pro) for $1,799.00
Best Buy and Amazon have a match of the all-time low price on the 512GB M3 Pro 14-inch MacBook Pro right now, available for $1,499.00, down from $1,999.00. This beats the previous low price by $100, and is available to all Best Buy shoppers without the need of a membership. You can find multiple 14-inch and 16-inch models on sale right now at both retailers.
Samsung Monitor
What’s the deal? Take $800 off 27-inch ViewFinity S9 5K Monitor
Where can I get it? Amazon
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
$800 OFFSamsung 27-Inch ViewFinity S9 5K Monitor for $800.60
Earlier in the week, we began tracking a low price on Samsung’s 27-inch ViewFinity S9 5K Monitor. This deal has gotten even better today, now available for $800.60, down from $1,599.99, marking a new all-time low price on the monitor.
Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we’ve been tracking over the past week.Related Roundup: Apple DealsThis article, “Best Apple Deals of the Week: Labor Day Sales Arrive for the Holiday Weekend With Record Lows on iPad, iPhone, and More” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
Labor Day deals have kicked off this week, and as we head into the long weekend you can still find great discounts on AirPods Max, MacBook Air, Sonos speakers, and more. We’re also tracking fresh markdowns on iPhone 15, the 10th gen iPad, M3 MacBook Pro, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Labor Day Deals
What’s the deal? Save on AirPods, MacBook Air, and more this weekend
Where can I get it? Amazon, Best Buy, Sonos, and more
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
Labor Day is coming up on September 2, and many retailers have kicked off sales that you can shop over the long weekend. You can find the full list of the sales in our original article, but we’ve collected a few of the best sales below as well.
9th Gen iPad – $199.00, down from $329.00
AirPods Max – $399.00, down from $549.00
Sonos – Get up to 20% off select devices
Sony – Save on headphones and more
Eufy Security SmartTrack Card – $19.99, down from $29.99
iPhone 15
What’s the deal? Take up to $1,000 off iPhone 15
Where can I get it? AT&T
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
AT&T is offering up to $1,000 off iPhone 15 models ahead of the launch of the next generation devices in September. You’ll find offers on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15, and iPhone 15 Plus for new and existing AT&T customers.
iPad
What’s the deal? Take $50 off 10th gen iPad
Where can I get it? Amazon and Best Buy
We’re tracking one of the first notable discounts in weeks on the 10th generation iPad at both Amazon and Best Buy. Prices start at $299.00 for the 64GB Wi-Fi model, and include both cellular devices as well.
MacBook Pro
What’s the deal? Take up to $700 off M3 MacBook Pro
Where can I get it? Best Buy and Amazon
Best Buy and Amazon have a match of the all-time low price on the 512GB M3 Pro 14-inch MacBook Pro right now, available for $1,499.00, down from $1,999.00. This beats the previous low price by $100, and is available to all Best Buy shoppers without the need of a membership. You can find multiple 14-inch and 16-inch models on sale right now at both retailers.
Samsung Monitor
What’s the deal? Take $800 off 27-inch ViewFinity S9 5K Monitor
Where can I get it? Amazon
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
Earlier in the week, we began tracking a low price on Samsung’s 27-inch ViewFinity S9 5K Monitor. This deal has gotten even better today, now available for $800.60, down from $1,599.99, marking a new all-time low price on the monitor.
Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we’ve been tracking over the past week.
This article, “Best Apple Deals of the Week: Labor Day Sales Arrive for the Holiday Weekend With Record Lows on iPad, iPhone, and More” first appeared on MacRumors.com
Discuss this article in our forums
Intel Definitively Claims Its Laptop Chips Aren’t Crashing Because of That Voltage Thing
An anonymous reader shares a report: It’s been a burning question for months — are Intel’s laptop chips susceptible to the same permanent damage that can potentially lay 24 different flagship desktop chips low? Today, Intel has finally confirmed: its 13th and 14th Gen laptop chips do not seem to have an instability issue. And the company claims they are definitely not affected by the too-high voltage issue, which it’s now calling “Vmin Shift Instability.” While Intel maintains that Vmin Shift Instability is not necessarily the root cause or only cause of the crashes — it’s still investigating — Intel spokesperson Thomas Hannaford now tells The Verge that laptop chips basically aren’t affected at all.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader shares a report: It’s been a burning question for months — are Intel’s laptop chips susceptible to the same permanent damage that can potentially lay 24 different flagship desktop chips low? Today, Intel has finally confirmed: its 13th and 14th Gen laptop chips do not seem to have an instability issue. And the company claims they are definitely not affected by the too-high voltage issue, which it’s now calling “Vmin Shift Instability.” While Intel maintains that Vmin Shift Instability is not necessarily the root cause or only cause of the crashes — it’s still investigating — Intel spokesperson Thomas Hannaford now tells The Verge that laptop chips basically aren’t affected at all.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Nonprofit scrubs illegal content from controversial AI training dataset
After backlash, LAION cleans child sex abuse materials from AI training data.
Enlarge (credit: Kirillm | iStock / Getty Images Plus)
After Stanford Internet Observatory researcher David Thiel found links to child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) in an AI training dataset tainting image generators, the controversial dataset was immediately taken down in 2023.
Now, the LAION (Large-scale Artificial Intelligence Open Network) team has released a scrubbed version of the LAION-5B dataset called Re-LAION-5B and claimed that it “is the first web-scale, text-link to images pair dataset to be thoroughly cleaned of known links to suspected CSAM.”
To scrub the dataset, LAION partnered with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the Canadian Center for Child Protection (C3P) to remove 2,236 links that matched with hashed images in the online safety organizations’ databases. Removals include all the links flagged by Thiel, as well as content flagged by LAION’s partners and other watchdogs, like Human Rights Watch, which warned of privacy issues after finding photos of real kids included in the dataset without their consent.
Comcast Xfinity customers can get a year of Perplexity Pro AI for free
If you have an account with Comcast Xfinity, then you also have a year-long subscription to the Perplexity Pro AI answer engine. Perplexity announced the special deal on Threads. Perplexity Pro differs from the company’s free option by allowing unlimited quick answers from a choice of AI models, including GPT-4o, Claude-3 and Sonar Large. Engadget hasn’t reviewed the service, but if you’re already paying for Xfinity, free seems like a good price for you to make up your own mind on its value.
All you have to do to get your free year of Perplexity is to log into your Xfinity Rewards account and obtain a promo code. You’ll punch in your code on Perplexity’s website and you can start using the AI to explore life’s most puzzling mysteries like “Who was that guy who played that squirrely dude in Office Space?” (For the record, that was Stephen Root and his character was Milton).
A Perplexity Pro subscription normally costs $20 but if you take advantage of Comcast Xfinity’s perk, you’ll get a whole year for nothing. You still might want to take Perplexity’s answers with a big grain of salt. The media company Condé Nast and the online retail giant Amazon accused Perplexity of plagiarizing its content and website for the AI’s generated responses. So this isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for Perplexity Pro but again, it’s free so you could do worse. A lot worse.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/comcast-xfinity-customers-can-get-a-year-of-perplexity-pro-ai-for-free-183727093.html?src=rss
If you have an account with Comcast Xfinity, then you also have a year-long subscription to the Perplexity Pro AI answer engine. Perplexity announced the special deal on Threads. Perplexity Pro differs from the company’s free option by allowing unlimited quick answers from a choice of AI models, including GPT-4o, Claude-3 and Sonar Large. Engadget hasn’t reviewed the service, but if you’re already paying for Xfinity, free seems like a good price for you to make up your own mind on its value.
All you have to do to get your free year of Perplexity is to log into your Xfinity Rewards account and obtain a promo code. You’ll punch in your code on Perplexity’s website and you can start using the AI to explore life’s most puzzling mysteries like “Who was that guy who played that squirrely dude in Office Space?” (For the record, that was Stephen Root and his character was Milton).
A Perplexity Pro subscription normally costs $20 but if you take advantage of Comcast Xfinity’s perk, you’ll get a whole year for nothing. You still might want to take Perplexity’s answers with a big grain of salt. The media company Condé Nast and the online retail giant Amazon accused Perplexity of plagiarizing its content and website for the AI’s generated responses. So this isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for Perplexity Pro but again, it’s free so you could do worse. A lot worse.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/comcast-xfinity-customers-can-get-a-year-of-perplexity-pro-ai-for-free-183727093.html?src=rss