Month: August 2024
Can a YouTube Video Really Fix Your Wet Phone?
An anonymous reader shares a report: Every day for the last four years, dozens of people have shown up in the comments of one particular YouTube, declaring their love and appreciation for the content. The content: two minutes and six seconds of deep, low buzzing, the kind that makes your phone vibrate on the table, underscoring a vaguely trippy animation of swirled stained glass. It’s not a good video. But it’s not meant to be. The video is called “Sound To Remove Water From Phone Speaker ( GUARANTEED ).” […] If you believe the comments, about half the video’s 45 million views come from people who bring their phone into the shower or bathtub and trust that they can play this video and everything will be fine.
The theory goes like this: all a speaker is really doing is pushing air around, and if you can get it to push enough air, with enough force, you might be able to push droplets of liquid out from where they came. “The lowest tone that that speaker can reproduce, at the loudest level that it can play,” says Eric Freeman, a senior director of research at Bose. “That will create the most air motion, which will push on the water that’s trapped inside the phone.” Generally, the bigger the speaker, the louder and lower it can go. Phone speakers tend to be tiny. “So those YouTube videos,” Freeman says, “it’s not, like, really deep bass. But it’s in the low range of where a phone is able to make sound.”
The best real-world example of how this can work is probably the Apple Watch, which has a dedicated feature for ejecting water after you’ve gotten it wet. When I first reached out to iFixit to ask about my water-expulsion mystery, Carsten Frauenheim, a repairability engineer at the company, said the Watch works on the same theory as the videos. “It’s just a specific oscillating tone that pushes the water out of the speaker grilles,” he said. “Not sure how effective the third-party versions are for phones since they’re probably not ideally tuned? We could test.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Every day for the last four years, dozens of people have shown up in the comments of one particular YouTube, declaring their love and appreciation for the content. The content: two minutes and six seconds of deep, low buzzing, the kind that makes your phone vibrate on the table, underscoring a vaguely trippy animation of swirled stained glass. It’s not a good video. But it’s not meant to be. The video is called “Sound To Remove Water From Phone Speaker ( GUARANTEED ).” […] If you believe the comments, about half the video’s 45 million views come from people who bring their phone into the shower or bathtub and trust that they can play this video and everything will be fine.
The theory goes like this: all a speaker is really doing is pushing air around, and if you can get it to push enough air, with enough force, you might be able to push droplets of liquid out from where they came. “The lowest tone that that speaker can reproduce, at the loudest level that it can play,” says Eric Freeman, a senior director of research at Bose. “That will create the most air motion, which will push on the water that’s trapped inside the phone.” Generally, the bigger the speaker, the louder and lower it can go. Phone speakers tend to be tiny. “So those YouTube videos,” Freeman says, “it’s not, like, really deep bass. But it’s in the low range of where a phone is able to make sound.”
The best real-world example of how this can work is probably the Apple Watch, which has a dedicated feature for ejecting water after you’ve gotten it wet. When I first reached out to iFixit to ask about my water-expulsion mystery, Carsten Frauenheim, a repairability engineer at the company, said the Watch works on the same theory as the videos. “It’s just a specific oscillating tone that pushes the water out of the speaker grilles,” he said. “Not sure how effective the third-party versions are for phones since they’re probably not ideally tuned? We could test.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Spotify Connect is no longer controllable with iPhone’s volume buttons, but there’s a workaround
iPhone users will now have to use Spotify’s in-app volume slider – Spotify is blaming Apple, but we’re not sure it’s so clearcut.
If you were hoping for more collaboration between music streaming rivals now that Apple Music playlists can transfer over to YouTube Music, you might have to keep waiting. Apple has recently discontinued the technology that allowed iPhone users to control the volume of devices playing music through Spotify Connect using their phone’s physical volume buttons.
This information comes from an update on Spotify’s support page. While Spotify states they are working “with [Apple] on a solution,” there is already a workaround. When using Spotify Connect to play music on your smart TV, computer, smart speaker, or other devices, pressing your iPhone’s volume button within the Spotify app will bring up a volume slider that allows you to make the necessary adjustments.
Alternatively, you can change the volume through the Connect Menu. And, if you press the volume button while Spotify is playing in the background, you’ll receive a notification asking if you “Want to change the volume?”. Tapping that notification will direct you to the volume control slider – just make sure your Spotify app is up to date.
Spotify has clearly pointed the finger at Apple. According to a report by The Verge, the issue lies in Apple’s technology that allows Apple Music to play on third-party devices. This technology is not being shared with Spotify, making the iPhone’s physical toggle unreliable on connected devices.
This change is set to take effect on September 3, but some users have already noticed the impact.
So, is the Apple rotten, or is Spotify playing off-key?
There’s no doubt that Spotify users on iPhone are and will be frustrated – even if it means you’ll no longer accidentally blast your speakers when trying to watch an Instagram Reel.
Spotify paints Apple as the villain, but the music streaming platform isn’t entirely blameless either.
It’s easy to criticize Apple for locking away features instead of competing directly with Spotify. However, in that same Verge article, a quote from Spotify reveals a key detail:
“We’ve made requests to Apple to introduce a similar solution to what they offer users on HomePod and Apple TV for app developers who control non-Apple media devices. Apple has told us that they require apps to integrate into the HomePod in order to access the technology that controls volume on iPhones.”
It’s not an impossible task to stream from Apple’s HomePod, though. Many third-party music services have done so – you just need to adopt the required API (Application Programming Interface). Spotify simply hasn’t done this.
As is often the case, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. It would be beneficial if Apple provided iPhone users with more autonomy like Android phones, but Spotify has had ample time to implement the necessary API and has chosen not to. Playing the victim and blaming Apple feels like a tired narrative.
Whether you side with Apple, Spotify, or find fault with both, at least you know those volume problems you have weren’t imagined – and they’ll be resolved by September 3, even if the solution is a bit more cumbersome.
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Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen 8 Gaming Desktop Review: A Solid Starting Point
This PC has the right stuff for 1080p gaming, though as with all budget models you have to watch for the tradeoffs.
This PC has the right stuff for 1080p gaming, though as with all budget models you have to watch for the tradeoffs.
The world’s largest TV and movie piracy streaming ring is dead
The highly illegal but very popular media streaming site Fmovies and an affiliated network of pirated movie and TV show websites have been shut down. The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a global coalition of movie studios and entertainment companies including Disney, NBCUniversal and MGM, announced the dismantling of the illegal streaming site, several of its other websites including bflixz, flixtorz, movies7, myflixer and aniwave and its video hosting provider vidsrc.to, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Fmovies operation was based in Vietnam. Hanoi police arrested two unidentified men in connection with the pirated media empire who are awaiting charges.
Fmovies launched in 2016 and racked up 374 million monthly visits more than 6.7 billion visits from January 2023-June 2024. Data from SimilarWeb ranked Fmovies as the 280th most visited website in any category and the 11th most popular TV, movies and streaming website. ACE called the Fmovies syndicate “the largest piracy ring in the world,” according to a statement released earlier today.
The website even has its own subreddit where users could request and share links to TV shows and movies. As authorities closed in on the Fmovies operators, Reddit users started posting notices that the syndicate’s streaming sites weren’t working or starting to shut down. When news of Fmovies’ demise started to surface, users started asking for suggestions of alternate pirating sites.
ACE Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin called the shutdown and arrests “a stunning victory for casts, crews, directors, studios and the creative community across the globe.”
The walls seem to be closing around some of the web’s bigger media pirates. ACE claimed an earlier victory on August 15 following the shutdown of the aniwave illegal anime streaming website. Another pirate website, fboxz.to, shut down a few days later and posted a goodbye note on its homepage telling its visitors to “Please pay for the movies/shows, that’s what we should do to show our respect to people behind the movies/shows,” according to TorrentFreak.
The past month hasn’t been kinder to online pirates either. Earlier this month, the US extradited Kim Dotcom, the founder of Megaupload who was the poster child for online piracy in the 2010s, from New Zealand to face charges for operating his video downloading empire.
Authorities arrested Dotcom in 2012 in his New Zealand home on counts including racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering and copyright distribution. His indictment claims that Megaupload caused $500 million in damages and made $175 million in advertising and subscription revenue from its illegal media library.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/the-worlds-largest-tv-and-movies-piracy-streaming-ring-is-dead-230141145.html?src=rss
The highly illegal but very popular media streaming site Fmovies and an affiliated network of pirated movie and TV show websites have been shut down. The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a global coalition of movie studios and entertainment companies including Disney, NBCUniversal and MGM, announced the dismantling of the illegal streaming site, several of its other websites including bflixz, flixtorz, movies7, myflixer and aniwave and its video hosting provider vidsrc.to, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Fmovies operation was based in Vietnam. Hanoi police arrested two unidentified men in connection with the pirated media empire who are awaiting charges.
Fmovies launched in 2016 and racked up 374 million monthly visits more than 6.7 billion visits from January 2023-June 2024. Data from SimilarWeb ranked Fmovies as the 280th most visited website in any category and the 11th most popular TV, movies and streaming website. ACE called the Fmovies syndicate “the largest piracy ring in the world,” according to a statement released earlier today.
The website even has its own subreddit where users could request and share links to TV shows and movies. As authorities closed in on the Fmovies operators, Reddit users started posting notices that the syndicate’s streaming sites weren’t working or starting to shut down. When news of Fmovies’ demise started to surface, users started asking for suggestions of alternate pirating sites.
ACE Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin called the shutdown and arrests “a stunning victory for casts, crews, directors, studios and the creative community across the globe.”
The walls seem to be closing around some of the web’s bigger media pirates. ACE claimed an earlier victory on August 15 following the shutdown of the aniwave illegal anime streaming website. Another pirate website, fboxz.to, shut down a few days later and posted a goodbye note on its homepage telling its visitors to “Please pay for the movies/shows, that’s what we should do to show our respect to people behind the movies/shows,” according to TorrentFreak.
The past month hasn’t been kinder to online pirates either. Earlier this month, the US extradited Kim Dotcom, the founder of Megaupload who was the poster child for online piracy in the 2010s, from New Zealand to face charges for operating his video downloading empire.
Authorities arrested Dotcom in 2012 in his New Zealand home on counts including racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering and copyright distribution. His indictment claims that Megaupload caused $500 million in damages and made $175 million in advertising and subscription revenue from its illegal media library.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/the-worlds-largest-tv-and-movies-piracy-streaming-ring-is-dead-230141145.html?src=rss
Quordle today – hints and answers for Friday, August 30 (game #949)
Looking for Quordle clues? We can help. Plus get the answers to Quordle today and past solutions.
Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now nearly 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.
Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
Quordle today (game #949) – hint #1 – Vowels
How many different vowels are in Quordle today?
• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Quordle today (game #949) – hint #2 – repeated letters
Do any of today’s Quordle answers contain repeated letters?
• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.
Quordle today (game #949) – hint #3 – uncommon letters
Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?
• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today’s Quordle answers.
Quordle today (game #949) – hint #4 – starting letters (1)
Do any of today’s Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?
• The number of today’s Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.
If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you’re not ready yet then here’s one more clue to make things a lot easier:
Quordle today (game #949) – hint #5 – starting letters (2)
What letters do today’s Quordle answers start with?
• A
• O
• I
• E
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
Quordle today (game #949) – the answers
(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)
The answers to today’s Quordle, game #949, are…
ARISEOLDERISSUEERUPT
Today’s Quordle is one of the easiest I’ve played recently, but that owes a lot to my three start words, which here gave me all five letters for three of the answers, and four for the other one. I don’t think it would be massively more difficult however you played it, as the words and letters are all common and there is only one repeat, the S in ISSUE.
That said, I contrived to need eight guesses still, rather than the seven I could have solved it in, by guessing RAISE rather than ARISE. That was a perfectly acceptable error – there was no way for me to know which of the two it was – but if I’d have solved ERUPT first I wouldn’t have had that problem, as the R would have been confirmed in position #2 in both words. Still, it didn’t ultimately matter.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Daily Sequence today (game #949) – the answers
(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)
The answers to today’s Quordle Daily Sequence, game #949, are…
VISTAHIPPYMOVERSANDY
Quordle answers: The past 20
Quordle #948, Thursday 29 August: DECAY, DRUID, AVOID, KNEEDQuordle #947, Wednesday 28 August: VIOLA, GONER, CAVIL, SHAREQuordle #946, Tuesday 27 August: ABYSS, DAILY, AGONY, MUSKYQuordle #945, Monday 26 August: NEVER, CHUNK, AUNTY, CROUPQuordle #944, Sunday 25 August: APTLY, LEVER, STORK, WIDOWQuordle #943, Saturday 24 August: EVENT, APNEA, SWATH, IRONYQuordle #942, Friday 23 August: LAUGH, SATYR, CACHE, CLONEQuordle #941, Thursday 22 August: BEARD, PAYER, BROWN, TRUCKQuordle #940, Wednesday 21 August: ALOFT, SNUCK, LAPSE, COMICQuordle #939, Tuesday 20 August: CHIEF, SNORT, OUNCE, MILKYQuordle #938, Monday 19 August: GIVEN, STIFF, STOOL, ANTICQuordle #937, Sunday 18 August: DEPTH, JUICY, GAWKY, INLAYQuordle #936, Saturday 17 August: HUMUS, FRONT, FUNNY, DRYLYQuordle #935, Friday 16 August: BRICK, CABLE, INBOX, FLOSSQuordle #934, Thursday 15 August: STINT, TRAIL, DECAL, BRAINQuordle #933, Wednesday 14 August: TENOR, CLEFT, USHER, CREEPQuordle #932, Tuesday 13 August: LIMIT, AMBLE, ALBUM, BULLYQuordle #931, Monday 12 August: CHEER, FUNKY, TRITE, THUMPQuordle #930, Sunday 11 August: COURT, LOAMY, TOAST, OCCURQuordle #929, Saturday 10 August: MOLAR, FLIER, HEFTY, JAZZY
NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Friday, August 30 (game #180)
Looking for NYT Strands answers and hints? Here’s all you need to know to solve today’s game, including the spangram.
Strands is the NYT’s latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #180) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Let’s play
NYT Strands today (game #180) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
WATCHHATCHLOAFFUNDFINDTHAT
NYT Strands today (game #180) – hint #3 – spangram
What is a hint for today’s spangram?
• Console yourself
NYT Strands today (game #180) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
First: left, 5th row
Last: right, 4th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #180) – the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today’s Strands, game #180, are…
FALLOUTUNCHARTEDMINECRAFTHALOOVERWATCHSPANGRAM: VIDEOGAMES
My rating: EasyMy score: Perfect
Ah, now this is more like it! Or at least it is as far as I’m concerned; if you’re not a gamer, and never have been, this will likely have been absolutely impossible, because there’s really nothing that links these words beyond the fact that all are popular VIDEO GAMES.
I am a gamer and have played (and loved) FALLOUT, UNCHARTED and MINECRAFT. And though I’ve never been into HALO or OVERWATCH, I am well aware that they exist and are very popular. So this was a cinch for me, from the second I found FALLOUT (which is probably in my top 10 favorite games ever, assuming we’re talking about FALLOUT 3 – no need to email me stating that New Vegas is better, it isn’t). But if you don’t own a PlayStation, Xbox or gaming PC… well, you’re probably looking at a fail today.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Thursday 29 August, game #179)
LATTEMOCHAESPRESSOCAPPUCCINOBLACKICEDSPANGRAM: COFFEEORDER
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT’s new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I’ve got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you’re struggling to beat it each day.
NYT Connections today — hints and answers for Friday, August 30 (game #446)
Looking for NYT Connections answers and hints? Here’s all you need to know to solve today’s game, plus my commentary on the puzzles.
Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.
What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #446) – today’s words
(Image credit: New York Times)
Today’s NYT Connections words are…
GOLDCUBETEMPLEFENCEMACHINEBOXSEQUINCREAMDIAMONDLIGHTHOUSEROWPYRAMIDDIVESTORMGLITTERGARDENS
NYT Connections today (game #446) – hint #1 – group hints
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
Yellow: Light spreadersGreen: What people in some specific sporting events doBlue: Ancient marvelsPurple: [cold thing] blank
Need more clues?
We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #446) – hint #2 – group answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
YELLOW: SPARKLING THINGSGREEN: PARTICIPATE IN SUMMER OLYMPIC EVENTSBLUE: WONDERS OF THE WORLDPURPLE: ICE ___ CREAM, CUBE, MACHINE, STORM
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #446) – the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today’s Connections, game #446, are…
YELLOW: SPARKLING THINGS DIAMOND, GLITTER, GOLD, SEQUINGREEN: PARTICIPATE IN SUMMER OLYMPIC EVENTS BOX, DIVE, FENCE, ROWBLUE: WONDERS OF THE WORLD GARDENS, LIGHTHOUSE, PYRAMID, TEMPLEPURPLE: ICE ___ CREAM, CUBE, MACHINE, STORM
My rating: ModerateMy score: Fail
Guess what? Yes, that’s right – it’s another FAIL. Another one! This is getting ridiculous. I am starting to reach the point at which I can’t continue to write this column, because nobody is going to have any faith at all in what I say. Why would you trust my clues when I repeatedly prove to be a LOSER? I’ll keep going for a while longer, but there are only so many failures I can take without my confidence being entirely destroyed by this ordeal.
Is today’s that hard? Well, I’ve described it as ‘moderate’, because in hindsight it is solvable. The one that tripped me up was ICE [BLANK], partly because it didn’t accept ICE BOX, even though that is a thing. So I guessed three times with various combinations of that plus CUBE, MACHINE, STORM and CREAM, but didn’t get the correct four.
That aside, I was pleased to get the ‘ancient wonders’ blue group, but I’m annoyed at myself for not spotting that FENCE, BOX, ROW and DIVE are all Olympic pursuits – but then again, the Olympics were weeks ago now, I’d forgotten about all that…
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Thursday, 29 August, game #445)
YELLOW: KINDS OF PIANOS ELECTRONIC, GRAND, PLAYER, UPRIGHTGREEN: DEEM CONSIDER, COUNT, JUDGE, REGARDBLUE: U.S. COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES BROWN, DUKE, HOWARD, SMITHPURPLE: SECOND NAMES IN COMPANIES WITH AMPERSANDS GAMBLE, JOHNSON, NOBLE, YOUNG
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final one, as you’ll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It’s a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It’s playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.