Link

Pandora Now Lets Users Pick the Algorithm That Selects Their Music

Charlotte Henry ·

Pandora is now letting users select which algorithm their music is picked by. The music streaming service added 5 choices on top of its classic algorithm, The Verge reported. The new options, called Pandora Modes, are available to both free and premium account holders.

There are now 6 listening modes: My Station, which is Pandora’s original algorithm; Crowd Faves, which will favor the songs that get the most thumbs-ups by other users in that station; Deep Cuts, which will serve up lesser-known songs by an artist or in a genre; Discovery, which will play more artists that aren’t usually on that station; Newly Released, which will only pick the newest songs from an artist or in a genre; and Artist Only, which will let you binge entirely on a single artist’s catalog.

Link

US DoE and Intel Building First Exascale Supercomputer

John Martellaro ·

Intel’s newsroom reports: «Targeted for 2021 delivery, the Argonne National Laboratory Supercomputer will enable high-performance computing [HPC] and artificial intelligence [AI] at Exascale» The work is being done with sub-contractor Cray Inc.

This means 10^18 floating point operations per second, or exaFLOPS.  Intel continues:

The Aurora system’s exaFLOP of performance – equal to a “quintillion” floating point computations per second – combined with an ability to handle both traditional high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) will give researchers an unprecedented set of tools to address scientific problems at exascale. These breakthrough research projects range from developing extreme-scale cosmological simulations, discovering new approaches for drug response prediction and discovering materials for the creation of more efficient organic solar cells. The Aurora system will foster new scientific innovation and usher in new technological capabilities, furthering the United States’ scientific leadership position globally.

The Argonne National Laboratory is in Lemont, Illinois.

TMO Deals

Corel Painter 2019 for Mac and Windows: $249

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on Corel Painter 2019 for Mac and Windows. This painting software includes 36 new brushes, Auto-Painting Panels, and it allows you to use images, textures, and patterns as clone sources, and more. Our deal is for a license for up to 3 devices for $249.

Link

MacBook Pro SSD Upgrade Options More Affordable

Andrew Orr ·

Besides updating its line of iMacs, Apple has quietly made MacBook Pro SSD upgrades more affordable.

2TB and 4TB SSD upgrade options for 13 and 15-inch machines are now more affordable, with Apple dropping prices as much as $400. Upgrading to 2TB of storage on the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro models is now $200 cheaper, while upgrading to 4TB on the 15-inch MacBook Pro is $400 cheaper.

Link

Bandersnatch-Ing Data from Interactive Netflix Show

Charlotte Henry ·

Bandersnatch, the interactive Black Mirror movie on Netflix, was something of a hit. Viewers could pick the narrative path they went down. However, the Register reported on research that showed the data about choices could be snooped on using network packet analysis. Indeed, the scientists behind the research claims that they successfully determined what choice users made 96% of the time.

When viewers watching the video choose one of the two narrative paths at various branch points in the story, that information gets sent back to Netflix to display the appropriate video segment. And it turns out to be possible to discern which branch each viewer took through network packet analysis. In a paper just released through pre-print service ArXiv, «White Mirror: Leaking Sensitive Information from Interactive Netflix Movies using Encrypted Traffic Analysis,» a handful of the institute’s computer scientists show that story choices – sent from the viewer’s browser to Netflix via a JSON file – can be inferred despite the encryption of network traffic.

Link

Time for Apple to Acknowledge Flexgate

Charlotte Henry ·

The Flexgate issue – whereby the ribbon cable that connects the body of some MacBook Pros to their display wears down too quickly, was revealed in January 2019 by iFixit. It seems to be a design flaw. These things happen. However, there has been frustration among users at Apple’s reaction. On The Verge, Vlad Savov said it is time for the company to acknowledge and deal with the issue.

A petition, now numbering more than 15,000, would beg to differ. It calls for Apple to publicly recognize Flexgate as a design flaw, and to commit to repair all MacBook Pro laptops affected by it. I think that’s exactly what Apple should do, and it’s no less than we should expect from a company that touts its reliability and user satisfaction numbers any chance it gets. No one should have to pay upwards of $500 to replace an entire display just because Apple (a) decided to affix a fragile cable to one of the most expensive components in its MacBook Pro, and (b) miscalculated the necessary length of that cable in its first design.

Cool Stuff Found

Angry Birds AR Coming to iOS

Charlotte Henry ·

The Angry Birds are back, and this time they are in augmented reality. The user sees the view from behind the slingshot, as Chuck, Red, and friends are placed in the player’s surroundings. The trailer shows them popping pigs on restaurant table. Think Pokemon Go, but with birds being fired around instead. Rovio, the firm behind the Angry Birds brand, partnered with Resolution to create the latest iteration (via Techcrunch). Angry Birds – Isle of Pigs is going to launch initially on iOS only. The birds will fly-in this spring.

With This App You’ll Be Journaling Like a Stoic
Cool Stuff Found

With This App You'll Be Journaling Like a Stoic

Andrew Orr ·

I’ve been interested in applying Stoic philosophy to my life for a while, although I haven’t quite taken the plunge yet. That’s why this app caught my eye. This Stoic journaling app gives you daily journaling, meditations, reflection, and mood tracking. It sets you up with morning and evening routines. Prepare in the morning, so that nothing can surprise you during the day; and reflect on your actions in the evening, get better every day, and iterate faster. You’ll learn reflective exercises like negative visualization: Discover how many things you have in your life that you should be grateful for. Things you take for granted. achievements that you forgot a long time ago. You are luckier and more privileged than you think. Quotes from philosophers are available, and see how your journal entries and mood change over time. App Store: Free (Offers In-App Purchases)

Link

GarageBand And The Musicians Who Use It

Andrew Orr ·

This year is GarageBand’s 15th birthday, and Rolling Stone wrote a great article on how it changed how musicians created their art.

In the first media visit Apple has ever allowed to its under-the-radar Music Apps studio, the team of engineers showed Rolling Stone how the creation process for Garageband’s two types of sounds — synthetic and “real” — can span weeks or sometimes months per instrument, with new hurdles at every turn.