Month: August 2024
Smartphone Maker Nothing Mandates Full-Time Office Return, Urges Dissenters To Quit
Nothing, a British startup seeking to challenge Apple’s smartphone dominance, is hauling its employees back to the office full-time in the quest for growth. From a report: In a lengthy email disparaging remote work, which had been a tenet of Nothing CEO Carl Pei’s workplace policy since its creation four years ago, Pei explained why his 450 employees needed to come to the office five days a week. “Remote work is not compatible with a high ambition level plus high speed,” Pei said in an email to staff, which he shared on LinkedIn.
Pei gave three reasons for the strict return-to-office mandate. First, he said, the logistics of developing a smartphone, where design, engineering, and manufacturing departments collaborate, weren’t conducive to remote working. He added that creativity and innovation worked better in person, allowing the company to do more with fewer resources. Third, Pei said Nothing’s ambitions to scale to become a “generation-defining company” wouldn’t be achievable with remote work.
According to Pei’s email, the new mandate will take effect in two months, and he intends to hold a town hall in London to answer employees’ questions. In his email, the Nothing CEO also suggested that employees who could not commit to five days in the office look for other employment. “We know it’s not the right type of setup for everybody, and that’s okay. We should look for a mutual fit. You should find an environment where you thrive, and we need to find people who want to go the full mile with us in the decades ahead.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Nothing, a British startup seeking to challenge Apple’s smartphone dominance, is hauling its employees back to the office full-time in the quest for growth. From a report: In a lengthy email disparaging remote work, which had been a tenet of Nothing CEO Carl Pei’s workplace policy since its creation four years ago, Pei explained why his 450 employees needed to come to the office five days a week. “Remote work is not compatible with a high ambition level plus high speed,” Pei said in an email to staff, which he shared on LinkedIn.
Pei gave three reasons for the strict return-to-office mandate. First, he said, the logistics of developing a smartphone, where design, engineering, and manufacturing departments collaborate, weren’t conducive to remote working. He added that creativity and innovation worked better in person, allowing the company to do more with fewer resources. Third, Pei said Nothing’s ambitions to scale to become a “generation-defining company” wouldn’t be achievable with remote work.
According to Pei’s email, the new mandate will take effect in two months, and he intends to hold a town hall in London to answer employees’ questions. In his email, the Nothing CEO also suggested that employees who could not commit to five days in the office look for other employment. “We know it’s not the right type of setup for everybody, and that’s okay. We should look for a mutual fit. You should find an environment where you thrive, and we need to find people who want to go the full mile with us in the decades ahead.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple looks for more money by changing the math on Patreon
submitted by /u/No-Drawing-6975 [link] [comments]
submitted by /u/No-Drawing-6975
[link] [comments]
Streaming hit multiple new viewership records in July, Nielsen reports
Streaming posted another banner month in July, reaching multiple new milestones in the latest issue of The Gauge report from Nielsen. The big headline is that streaming was responsible for 41.4 percent of all TV viewing during the month. That’s the highest share in the report’s brief history for any viewing category, meaning streaming topped past performances for both broadcast and cable TV. The result follows on the heels of the previous record set by streaming in June.
The other big success story in the July report is for YouTube. The popular video platform hosted 10 percent of monthly TV usage, marking the first time a single streaming service has reached a double-digit share. Multiple other streaming sites hit their own personal bests for viewing share in July: Disney+ jumped up to a 2.1 percent viewing share and The Roku Channel hit 1.6 percent.
There are a couple takeaways from the range of record-setting performances in July. For starters, The Gauge only tracks viewing that happens on a TV screen, meaning no mobile or laptop viewing is included. Last month’s results show how much streaming video’s presence has expanded beyond just smartphones and tablets to challenge and surpass the options of traditional broadcast and cable TV.
Another notable factoid from Nielsen is that 10 different titles on streaming platforms surpassed 1 billion minutes of viewing in the first full week of July — another record. Seven different streaming companies had programs on that list, and they cover a broad spectrum of genres and audiences. The lineup was led by Netflix’s action flick Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, which secured 2.05 billion minutes of viewership between July 1 and July 7. TV series Suits (available on Peacock and Netflix) came second with just shy of 1.5 billion minutes viewed. House of the Dragon on Max, Your Honor on Netflix/Paramount+ and The Bear on Hulu rounded out the top five, each with more than 1.2 billion minutes viewed during that week. In other words, the next breakout hit for streaming could happen on any platform.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/streaming-hit-multiple-new-viewership-records-in-july-nielsen-reports-191529705.html?src=rss
Streaming posted another banner month in July, reaching multiple new milestones in the latest issue of The Gauge report from Nielsen. The big headline is that streaming was responsible for 41.4 percent of all TV viewing during the month. That’s the highest share in the report’s brief history for any viewing category, meaning streaming topped past performances for both broadcast and cable TV. The result follows on the heels of the previous record set by streaming in June.
The other big success story in the July report is for YouTube. The popular video platform hosted 10 percent of monthly TV usage, marking the first time a single streaming service has reached a double-digit share. Multiple other streaming sites hit their own personal bests for viewing share in July: Disney+ jumped up to a 2.1 percent viewing share and The Roku Channel hit 1.6 percent.
There are a couple takeaways from the range of record-setting performances in July. For starters, The Gauge only tracks viewing that happens on a TV screen, meaning no mobile or laptop viewing is included. Last month’s results show how much streaming video’s presence has expanded beyond just smartphones and tablets to challenge and surpass the options of traditional broadcast and cable TV.
Another notable factoid from Nielsen is that 10 different titles on streaming platforms surpassed 1 billion minutes of viewing in the first full week of July — another record. Seven different streaming companies had programs on that list, and they cover a broad spectrum of genres and audiences. The lineup was led by Netflix’s action flick Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, which secured 2.05 billion minutes of viewership between July 1 and July 7. TV series Suits (available on Peacock and Netflix) came second with just shy of 1.5 billion minutes viewed. House of the Dragon on Max, Your Honor on Netflix/Paramount+ and The Bear on Hulu rounded out the top five, each with more than 1.2 billion minutes viewed during that week. In other words, the next breakout hit for streaming could happen on any platform.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/streaming-hit-multiple-new-viewership-records-in-july-nielsen-reports-191529705.html?src=rss
Google Chrome is making it easier to access your saved passwords across devices
Image: The Verge
You’ll soon be able to access your saved passwords, bookmarks, and addresses in Chrome by simply signing in to your Google account on the browser. The change lets you skip the extra step of toggling on Chrome sync — and it’s coming to Chrome on Android and desktop following last year’s rollout on iOS.
GIF: Google
Google already rolled out the streamlined process on iOS.
Google says it will give you the option to sign in to Chrome for a “customized browsing experience,” allowing you to send tabs and use your saved passwords across devices. But you don’t have to sign in to your account on Chrome if you’re not keen on linking your browsing data to your Google account. Google also notes that saving your history and open tabs to your Google account will require you to opt in separately.
“Today, users increasingly expect to just sign in to get access to their stuff and sign out to keep it safe,” Claire Charron, Chrome’s product manager, writes in the announcement. “Given this evolution of technology and user norms, we’re continuing to make progress on transforming our legacy sync model into one that more seamlessly meets the expectation users have today.”
As for when exactly this change will roll out on Android and iOS, Google says to “stay tuned for updates.”
Image: The Verge
You’ll soon be able to access your saved passwords, bookmarks, and addresses in Chrome by simply signing in to your Google account on the browser. The change lets you skip the extra step of toggling on Chrome sync — and it’s coming to Chrome on Android and desktop following last year’s rollout on iOS.
GIF: Google
Google already rolled out the streamlined process on iOS.
Google says it will give you the option to sign in to Chrome for a “customized browsing experience,” allowing you to send tabs and use your saved passwords across devices. But you don’t have to sign in to your account on Chrome if you’re not keen on linking your browsing data to your Google account. Google also notes that saving your history and open tabs to your Google account will require you to opt in separately.
“Today, users increasingly expect to just sign in to get access to their stuff and sign out to keep it safe,” Claire Charron, Chrome’s product manager, writes in the announcement. “Given this evolution of technology and user norms, we’re continuing to make progress on transforming our legacy sync model into one that more seamlessly meets the expectation users have today.”
As for when exactly this change will roll out on Android and iOS, Google says to “stay tuned for updates.”
Best Solar Panel Installation Companies in San Antonio
San Antonio is one of the best cities in Texas to go solar. Explore top solar companies, incentives and tips on choosing the right solar installer for you.
San Antonio is one of the best cities in Texas to go solar. Explore top solar companies, incentives and tips on choosing the right solar installer for you.
Toyota confirms data breach after info leaked on cybercrime forum
Carmaker confirms losing hundreds of gigabytes of sensitive customer data to hackers calling themselves ZeroSevenGroup.
Toyota has confirmed it suffered a major data breach after hackers posted stolen data on an underground forum – although plenty of details are still missing.
Earlier this week, a threat actor going by the name ZeroSevenGroup posted a new thread on a dark web forum, claiming to have stolen 240GB of sensitive files from the company.
“We have hacked a branch in United States to one of the biggest automotive manufacturer in the world (TOYOTA). We are really glad to share the files with you here for free. The data size: 240 GB,” the group said in the thread. “Contents: Everything like Contacts, Finance, Customers, Schemes, Employees, Photos, DBs, Network infrastructure, Emails, and a lot of perfect data. We also offer you AD-Recon for all the target network with passwords.”
Stealing from the archives
Toyota told BleepingComputer the claims were true, but declined to provide details.
“We are aware of the situation. The issue is limited in scope and is not a system wide issue,” the company said, adding it is “engaged with those who are impacted and will provide assistance if needed.”
Other crucial information, like when the attack happened, when it was discovered, how the crooks accessed the network, or how many people were affected by the breach, is missing. Chances are, Toyota is still investigating the incident and will come back with an update soon.
Trying to uncover some of the information on their own, BleepingComputer’s researchers discovered that the files were stolen, or at least created, on December 25, 2022, indicating that this was possibly a grab of archived data.
Toyota has suffered multiple data incidents in the past, including two in December and May of 2023, and one in October 2022.
More from TechRadar Pro
Millions of Toyota drivers have had data exposed – here’s what you need to knowHere’s a list of the best firewall software around todayThese are the best endpoint security tools right now
Nvidia is ditching dedicated G-Sync modules to push back against FreeSync’s ubiquity
But G-Sync will still require specific G-Sync-capable MediaTek scaler chips.
Enlarge (credit: Nvidia)
Back in 2013, Nvidia introduced a new technology called G-Sync to eliminate screen tearing and stuttering effects and reduce input lag when playing PC games. The company accomplished this by tying your display’s refresh rate to the actual frame rate of the game you were playing, and similar variable refresh-rate (VRR) technology has become a mainstay even in budget monitors and TVs today.
The issue for Nvidia is that G-Sync isn’t what has been driving most of that adoption. G-Sync has always required extra dedicated hardware inside of displays, increasing the costs for both users and monitor manufacturers. The VRR technology in most low-end to midrange screens these days is usually some version of the royalty-free AMD FreeSync or the similar VESA Adaptive-Sync standard, both of which provide G-Sync’s most important features without requiring extra hardware. Nvidia more or less acknowledged that the free-to-use, cheap-to-implement VRR technologies had won back in 2019 when it announced its “G-Sync Compatible” certification tier for FreeSync monitors. The list of G-Sync Compatible screens now vastly outnumbers the list of G-Sync and G-Sync Ultimate screens.
Today Nvidia is announcing a change that’s meant to keep G-Sync alive as its own separate technology, while eliminating the requirement for expensive additional hardware. Nvidia says it’s partnering with chipmaker MediaTek to build G-Sync capabilities directly into scaler chips that MediaTek is creating for upcoming monitors. G-Sync modules ordinarily replace these scaler chips, but they’re entirely separate boards with expensive FPGA chips and dedicated RAM.
Starfield’s Shattered Space expansion launches in September
Image: Bethesda Softworks
Earlier in the summer, Bethesda officially unveiled Shattered Space, the first major expansion for its sci-fi roleplaying game Starfield. Now, we finally have a date: the update will be launching on September 30th. It’s coming to both Xbox and PC.
Along with the date, the studio also revealed a (brief) trailer for the expansion, which shows off some more of its darker tone (at least compared to most of the base game). The story is centered on the mysterious faction known as “House Va’Ruun” and its homeworld, where players will encounter a “frightening new cosmic threat and uncover the secrets behind the galaxy’s most enigmatic faction.”
Really, though, the trailer is focused primarily on a specific, much-requested feature: a land vehicle called the REV-8. It’s available as part of a free update launching later today, and should make exploring planets a lot less tedious.
First released in 2023, Starfield is Bethesda’s first new franchise in quite some time. But the developer’s other major properties are still alive: Fallout has an enduring online game and hit TV show, while the next Elder Scrolls has been in development for several years.
Image: Bethesda Softworks
Earlier in the summer, Bethesda officially unveiled Shattered Space, the first major expansion for its sci-fi roleplaying game Starfield. Now, we finally have a date: the update will be launching on September 30th. It’s coming to both Xbox and PC.
Along with the date, the studio also revealed a (brief) trailer for the expansion, which shows off some more of its darker tone (at least compared to most of the base game). The story is centered on the mysterious faction known as “House Va’Ruun” and its homeworld, where players will encounter a “frightening new cosmic threat and uncover the secrets behind the galaxy’s most enigmatic faction.”
Really, though, the trailer is focused primarily on a specific, much-requested feature: a land vehicle called the REV-8. It’s available as part of a free update launching later today, and should make exploring planets a lot less tedious.
First released in 2023, Starfield is Bethesda’s first new franchise in quite some time. But the developer’s other major properties are still alive: Fallout has an enduring online game and hit TV show, while the next Elder Scrolls has been in development for several years.
Monster Hunter Wilds trailer at Gamescom 2024 shows off spooky spiders and electric wyverns
The latest Monster Hunter Wilds trailer debuted two news large monsters.
The latest trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds has just been shown off at Gamescom 2024’s Opening Night Live presentation. During the trailer, we get a look at two more brand new monsters, one of which might just be the game’s flagship creature.
The first large monster on the docket was a large spider-like creature, not dissimilar to Nerscylla from Monster Hunter 4. It appeared to use spores on its body to attack the hunters surrounding it.
The second monster was a large lightning-infused wyvern with horns jutting horizontally from its face. It looks like the kind of large monster that you’d expect to be the game’s flagship creature – i.e. the one you’ll need to take down to start scraping the endgame content afterwards.
During the Monster Hunter Wilds trailer, we also got a look at a sandy hub town – likely where we’ll get to prepare our equipment and eat stat-boosting meals before we head out on each hunt. Some more story beats are present too, but still not much to piece together a more cohesive whole.
Other gameplay elements shown include setting up a portable camp out in the world, using stealth to approach large monsters covertly, and more of a look at various weapons including the great sword and dual blades. It’s a lot packed into a fairly compact two and a half minute trailer, but it’s all looking fantastic.
There’s still no concrete release date for Monster Hunter Wilds, but it’s currently set to launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC (via Steam) sometime in 2025. The game is available to wishlist now, too.
You might also like…
Borderlands 4 has officially been announced at Opening Night LiveDying Light: The Beast debuts at Gamescom 2024’s Opening Night Live showCall of Duty: Black Ops 6 debuts an entire campaign mission at Opening Night Live