Mission control at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, TX was the central hub for mission operations in the Apollo era. NBC has a nice video news piece on how it’s been perfectly restored, now a museum, just as it was 50 years ago. Right down to the ash trays and slide rules. Image and source credit: NBC News.
DoNotPay Can Manage Your Free Trials
A service called DoNotPay can manage your free trials. Sign up using its digital credit card number and you won’t be charged when the trial ends.
The Free Trial Card is a virtual credit card you can use to sign up for free trials of any service anonymously, instead of using your real credit card. When the free trial period ends, the card automatically declines to be charged, thus ending your free trial. You don’t have to remember to cancel anything. If you want, the app will also send an actual legal notice of cancellation to the service.
I’m interested to try this out. Currently I use a service called Privacy, which lets me generate virtual cards that I can lock to a certain merchant or money amount. The story by Wired is about free trials, but the app description sounds like it can do more, calling itself a «robot lawyer.»
Explaining the Science Behind Elon Musk's Neuralink
Elon Musk’s Neuralink project presented a medical device Tuesday that could read data from 1,500 electrodes. Wired explained the science behind the ambitious project aiming to link brains with computers.
In a presentation to the California Academy of Sciences on Tuesday evening, Neuralink presented a medical device capable of reading information from 1,500 flexible electrodes connected to a laboratory rat – 15 times faster than current systems embedded in humans. The goal is to eventually implant it in people with paralysis or other medical conditions that will let them control computers with their minds – and the company has ambitious plans to begin human trials as soon as next year. So how does it work? Neuralink says surgeons would have to drill holes through the skull to insert flexible electrodes. But in the future, they hope to use a laser to pierce tiny holes in the skull.
Carpool Karaoke Returning For Another Season
Apple has renewed Carpool Karaoke for a third season, Cult of Mac reported. The show will be exclusively available to Apple Music subscribers. It came out of a segment of James Corden’s Late Late Show.
The cast of Stranger Things have already filmed an episode for season 3. Other celebrity pairings haven’t been announced yet. Last season featured Matthew McConaughey with Snoop Dogg, Kendal Jenner with Hailey Beiber and Miley Cyrus and Boyz II Men with Gisele Bundchen. Apple hasn’t said how many episodes to expect in season three. The first season had 21 episodes while the second had 19. Carpool Karaoke won a 2018 Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series. The series was nominated for an Emmy in the same category this year too.
Apple's Engineering Focus, iPod Frustration – TMO Daily Observations 2019-07-17
John Martellaro and Charlotte Henry join host Kelly Guimont to discuss Apple’s engineering focus and the use case for the «new» iPod touch.
Apple Brings Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in for Employee Talk
Apple brought Twitter cofounder and current CEO Jack Dorsey in for a talk with some Apple employees. We don’t yet know specifically what he talked about, but I thought it was an interesting development. We do know that he was speaking to folks in Phil Schiller’s marketing team, according to Bloomberg.
While the address itself didn’t point to a new partnership between Dorsey’s companies and Apple, it was indicative of their bond and existing collaboration. Apple promoted Twitter as an iOS app coming to the Mac this fall, and the social media service is deeply integrated into both the iPhone and iPad. Apple was also among the first retailers to sell Square’s now-common credit-card reader.
The 5G 'Health Hazard' Was a Misinterpretation
In 2000 a physicist was asked to study the health risks of wireless networks. He found [PDF] that there «was likely to be a serious health hazard.» Except he was wrong.
In his research, Dr. Curry looked at studies on how radio waves affect tissues isolated in the lab, and misinterpreted the results as applying to cells deep inside the human body. His analysis failed to recognize the protective effect of human skin. At higher radio frequencies, the skin acts as a barrier, shielding the internal organs, including the brain, from exposure. Human skin blocks the even higher frequencies of sunlight.
Despite all the studies showing a link between smartphones and cancer being debunked, I don’t think this idea will ever go away.
Turn Your Favorite Websites Into Searchable Documents: $47.88
We have a deal on a subscription to History Search Pro Plan, which turns websites you visit into searchable documents. You choose what gets added to the service, and it works through browser extensions for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, and Microsoft Edge. One year of History Search Pro Plan is $47.88 through our deal.
Lawmakers Target Amazon As Big Tech Goes to Washington
Amazon faced the toughest questioning from lawmakers during a hearing Tuesday attended by representatives of big tech firms. Reuters reported that Apple too, found itself in the firing line during the hearing. Questions to Apple focussed on costs associated with App Store Purchases
Legislators also demanded explanations from Apple Inc about charges for apps and in-app purchases, Facebook Inc for its rapidly changing privacy policy and Alphabet’s Google over whether its rivals are demoted in search results. The committee does not have authority to punish the companies, and any effort to change antitrust laws affecting tech firms would face hurdles in the Republican-controlled Senate. So the questioning served largely to convey the panel’s displeasure over many of the companies’ business practices.
PSA: FaceApp Owns Photos You Create With App
According to its terms of service, popular app FaceApp owns the rights to all photos you create with it.
Essentially, if you make something in FaceApp, FaceApp can do whatever it wants with what you’ve made. Not only can it repost your images without your permission, it can monetize the images, either directly or indirectly, without compensating you or notifying you that it has done so in any way.
Unfortunately, this sort of thing isn’t new. Facebook has similar terms, and so does Google.
