Monthly Archives: July 2024

Ooni flash sale includes 20 percent off Karu and Koda pizza ovens

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Amazon Prime Day is right around the corner so summer deal season is in full swing, including on some manufacturers' own storefronts. Ooni is running a flash sale at the minute and the company has slashed 20 percent off the price of some of its pizza ovens, including the Karu 12 and Koda 12. The Karu 12 has dropped to $239, which is $60 off the regular price. The Koda 12, meanwhile, is $80 off at $319. The sale runs until July 17.

Ooni makes some of our picks for the best pizza ovens. While we generally recommend larger models, there's no harm in going for the Karu 12 or Koda 12 if you prefer to make smaller pies or want a more compact model for camping trips .

The Karu is a multi-fuel oven that uses your choice of wood, charcoal or gas to cook pizzas. Bear in mind that you'll need to purchase a gas burner separately if you prefer that fuel. The Karu 12 doesn't come with a peel either, unfortunately.

Ooni says the Karu 12 can reach temperatures of up to 950°F or 500°C and that it can hit the optimal baking temperature of 850°F or 450°C in just 15 minutes. From there, it'll take just 60 seconds to cook a pie. Along with baking pizzas, you can bake, roast and sear in the Karu 12. You can control the temperature by adjusting the airflow on the chimney. The oven weighs 26.lbs (12kg).

As for the Koda 12, that's a gas-powered model that comes with a regulator and hose to hook up to your propane tank (you'll still need to buy a peel separately though). It's also more compact than the Karu 12, as it weighs 20.4lbs (9.25kg).

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ooni-flash-sale-includes-20-percent-off-karu-and-koda-pizza-ovens-180029123.html?src=rss

A new spacesuit design can recycle astronauts’ urine into purified, drinkable water

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The life of an astronaut may sound like a glamorous career but it requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice. They have to spend weeks or even months at a time away from Earth, their loved ones and the warm embrace of gravity. They have to endure an endless stream of “Tang” jokes. Sometimes they even have to drink recycled wastewater.

We say “sometimes” because not every drop of astronaut urine is recycled into palatable water. The urine they expel into their spacesuits is simply flushed away or discarded when they return to the spacecraft. A new space suit designed by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University inspired by Frank Herbert’s Dune novels could make spacewalks longer and less disgusting by recycling their expelled urine in a special filtration backpack. The research and design teams from both schools published a paper of their findings in the scientific journal Frontiers.

These suits are referred to as “stillsuits” in the Dune universe and can capture moisture to recycle it into drinkable water as soldiers trek and battle across the barren desert world of Arrakis. The real-life, proposed stillsuits do roughly the same thing. The new stillsuits have a “vacuum-based external catheter leading to a combined forward-reverse osmosis unit” that astronauts carry on their back, says the study’s lead author and research staff member Sofia Etlin in a press release.

stillsuit
Karen Morales

The suits were designed with future NASA space missions in mind including the Artemis II and Artemis III missions that will orbit the moon and touch down on its south pole in the next two years. NASA and Axiom Space have already approved a spacesuit design for its moon missions but it looks like this new filtration system could be added to them. The stillsuits can also be used for the manned Mars space mission in the early 2030s.

The stillsuits will not only quench the astronauts’ thirst during spacewalks but it will also make them more hygienic. The traditional NASA spacesuit design that’s been in circulation since the 1970s only comes with a superabsorbent polymer to catch astronauts’ urine. That means pretty much every astronaut who’s gone on a space or moon walk has peed in their space pants.

This outdated waste system has also led to hygiene and medical issues for astronauts like urinary tract infections (UTIs) and gastrointestinal problems. That’s why you’ve never seen Paul Atreides struggling with diverticulitis.

NASA hasn’t officially adopted Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University’s new spacesuit design for any of its upcoming space missions. We imagine that we’d urge NASA to fasttrack it if we had been on the International Space Station and ever had to endure a long spacewalk after drinking too much Tang.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-new-spacesuit-design-can-recycle-astronauts-urine-into-purified-drinkable-water-175235587.html?src=rss

This LEGO Technic McLaren P1 is the closest thing to owning the exclusive supercar

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LEGO Technic has some impressive supercar builds under the Ultimate Car Concept Series and a new one joins the rank for motorheads to crave about. This 1:8 scale model of the McLaren P1 hybrid supercar boasts a lot of details inside out. Craftable in a 3,893-piece set format, the LEGO kit carries a price tag of $449 which is not surprising in the LEGO world.

Every penny is justified with the detailed 3.8-liter V-8 piston engine mated to a seven-speed transmission with 2 shifter paddles, functional suspension, adjustable rear spoiler and working dihedral doors. The set is designed in association with McLaren Automotive to emulate even the tiniest of details like shades of yellow or precise aerodynamic curves to the last millimeter. Remember it’s not easy to replicate these things in a small-scale creation.

Designer: LEGO Technic and McLaren

According to Tobias Sühlmann, Chief Design Officer, McLaren Automotive, “It’s amazing to see so many of the elements from the original P1 brought to life by the LEGO team for the LEGO Technic McLaren P1™. We worked on multiple variations of the car to test different designs. We also faced a huge challenge with the iconic butterfly doors because they needed a new mechanism to stay open.” Another perk is that each of the scaled McLaren cars comes with a unique serial number that reveals special behind-the-scenes content for passionate auto lovers.

Like all other LEGO Technic creations from the past, this one will be initially available to LEGO Insiders and with a special goodie – a McLaren P1 logo to flaunt. This cool set will be up for grabs starting August 1st for Insiders and post-August 7th anyone can buy the LEGO McLaren P1 for their shelves. Just as a refresher only 375 McLaren P1s ever rolled out of the product lines and this true-to-life replica is a testament to the hypercar’s desirability among purists.

The post This LEGO Technic McLaren P1 is the closest thing to owning the exclusive supercar first appeared on Yanko Design.

Analogue’s latest limited-edition Pocket consoles are made out of aluminum

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Analogue just announced a forthcoming limited edition of its popular retro Pocket console. This one boasts an exterior made entirely out of attractive machined aluminum. It looks pretty dang cool. It also costs $500, which is almost $300 more than the non-aluminum Analogue Pocket.

Analogue promises that “every single piece” is “entirely CNC’d from aluminum.” The company also says it will be available in “highly limited quantities'' with orders going live on July 15 at 11AM ET. Past as prologue, these limited editions sell out quickly. If you want one, make sure to set a reminder or an alarm to join the queue, as Analogue says these consoles will never be sold again. They will be available in four anodized colors, including natural metal, indigo and black.

Other than the aluminum exterior, which does look great, this is the exact same console that’s been around since 2021. It allows people to play actual Game Boy cartridges and other carts, with the right adapters, on a handheld console with some modern flourishes. It typically costs $220, so you are paying a whole lot for aluminum.

It’s worth noting that rival companies like Retroid have also made metal versions of its consoles, but the markup has been minimal. It’s also worth noting that these other metal consoles don’t look nearly as cool as the aluminum Analogue Pocket. You get what you pay for, I guess.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/analogues-latest-limited-edition-pocket-consoles-are-made-out-of-aluminum-165808136.html?src=rss

Massive AT&T data breach impacted nearly every single customer

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AT&T just confirmed a massive data breach in 2022 that impacted “nearly all” of its customers, according to a statement provided by TechCrunch. The company had over 110 million wireless subscribers in 2022 so, yeah, this is kind of a big deal.

The data breach allowed hackers to steal phone numbers, text data and phone records from these people which, once again, comprises nearly the entire customer base, myself included. AT&T says it will begin notifying consumers about the breach in the near future, committing to informing the 110 impacted million customers. The breach occurred during a six-month period from May 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022, though it looks like some data kept getting stolen up until January 2, 2023. This latter breach impacts a smaller, though unspecified, number of consumers.

Now, before you start worrying about that embarrassing text you sent an ex back in 2022, AT&T says the breach “does not contain the content of calls or texts.” However, it does include the phone numbers that an account interacted with, as well as a complete count of a customer’s calls, texts and call durations, otherwise known as metadata. The time and date of the calls or texts were not included in the hack, according to AT&T.

However, the breach did include cell site identification numbers, which could “potentially allow for the triangulation of users' locations,” wrote Javvad Malik, a representative from cybersecurity awareness firm KnowBe4, in a statement to Engadget. Malik also painted a grim picture of what could be done with the stolen metadata, writing that it “can paint a detailed picture of an individual's daily life, habits, and associations, making it a valuable asset for those with malicious intent.”

AT&T has published a website with information for customers about the breach and has disclosed the hack in a regulatory filing issued before the market opened on Friday, July 12. The company says it learned of the issue on April 19 and that it has nothing to do with a previous security incident from March, in which customer data was published on the dark web.

So how did this happen? AT&T places the blame on its cloud data partner Snowflake, saying that the compromise occurred after hacks targeted its business customers. Snowflake allows corporate customers to store large amounts of customer data in the cloud for the purpose of analysis. AT&T hasn’t stated any reason as to why it would want to analyze massive amounts of customer data or why it would store this data with Snowflake. A company representative declined to provide further information to TechCrunch.

One thing is certain. AT&T isn’t the only company recently burned by a Snowflake hack. Other impacted companies include Ticketmaster and QuoteWizard, among more than 160 others. Snowflake, for its part, has shifted the blame back to AT&T and the others, saying that each organization didn’t use multi-factor authentication to secure their accounts. So, all 160+ companies forgot to turn on multi-factor authentication? You’d think something like that would be mandatory when dealing with massive amounts of customer data but, well, I guess not.

The breach has been tracked back to an uncategorized cybercriminal group known only as UNC5537, according to cybersecurity incident response firm Mandiant. That company suggests financial motivations behind the hack.

Despite the breach, AT&T says that the stolen data isn’t publicly available at this time. It’s currently working with law enforcement and says that “at least one person has been apprehended.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/massive-att-data-breach-impacted-nearly-every-single-customer-155346341.html?src=rss

The first Olympic Esports Games will take place in Saudi Arabia in 2025

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that the inaugural edition of the Olympic Esports Games will take place in Saudi Arabia in 2025 as part of a 12-year partnership with the country's National Olympic Committee. The host city, venue(s) and dates are yet to be determined as are the games that will be included and the qualification process for each.

The IOC says that international federations and national Olympic committees that are already involved in a digital version of their sport and esports in general will be its first options for partners. The organization took a similar approach to a trial event that took place last year, which saw players compete in the likes of Gran Turismo, Fortnite, Just Dance, Zwift and even mobile games barely anyone had ever heard of.

That said, the IOC may be looking to bring other legitimately popular esports into the fold. According to L'Equipe, the organization is in talks with the publishers of Rocket League, Street Fighter and the biggest esport of all, League of Legends, to include those games. The Olympic Esports Games may take place every two years, with South Korea and the US said to be in discussions to host future installments.

The IOC had been mulling for years whether to run an official esports event under its banner, and the organization is finally going for it. However, opting for Saudi Arabia as the inaugural Olympic Esports Games host is a contentious choice given the country's dismal human rights record. 

The nation has been using entertainment, sports and esports in an attempt to clean up its image. It's been plowing billions of dollars into esports and gaming companies, forging partnerships with publishers to run the pro circuits for certain games and hosting the Esports World Cup, which is currently taking place with a $60 million prize pool. A state-funded company now owns 40 percent of the esports market, according to a New York Times report.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-first-olympic-esports-games-will-take-place-in-saudi-arabia-in-2025-154637804.html?src=rss

Dual-screen Android tablet combines LCD and E Ink screens with some compromises

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It seems that the Microsoft Duo dream, and that of the Courier concept before it, is pretty much dead in the water. While the idea looked tantalizing, execution left much to be desired, especially when it came to using a mobile platform such as Android. A tech giant’s failure, however, never stopped anyone from dreaming up other designs, as can be seen in some of the dual-screen Windows laptops being sold by the likes of ASUS and Lenovo. Of course, those are large and expensive devices that don’t capture the flexibility and agility of earlier concepts. Unsurprisingly, someone is trying to bring that idea to life again, this time with a combination that somewhat makes sense, if only the implementation does as well.

Designer: Bluegen

To be clear, this isn’t the first device that put a regular colored LCD screen and a monochrome E Ink display side-by-side. Ever the bold explorer, Lenovo launched the Windows-powered Yoga Book C930 half a decade ago, and the fact that it isn’t as widely known is probably proof of how popular the design was. To be fair, the idea had merit on its own, combining a colorful and vibrant screen with an eye-friendly and battery-efficient display to have the best of both worlds.

Lenovo Yoga Book C930

That’s the same proposition that the OKPad is making but on a smaller scale and a significantly lower price point. With an 8.9-inch IPS LCD screen paired with a 7.8-inch E Ink screen, it’s aiming for portability and convenience more than power and performance. It’s more like a sidekick than a main mobile device, useful for taking notes, typing out quick documents, or even giving a business presentation off-site.

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There are, however, some details that make the OKPad a little less convincing. The aluminum alloy shell does have some aesthetic appeal, but the large bezels around both screens make it look more like a prototype or a blast from the past. There is also some confusion about the exact specs of the device, but it sounds like a mish-mash of modern hardware like USB-C and Wi-Fi 5 as well as an unidentified Snapdragon processor that might be from 2018 or earlier. And then there’s the fact that it’s running Android 10, a version that’s almost ancient by now, both in terms of features and, more importantly, security updates.

Admittedly, the OKPad concept is quite intriguing, and for people who love to read and take quick notes on the go, it does offer the best of both worlds of regular Android tablets and E Ink readers. There might be some concerns about apps, not to mention the uncertainty of a crowdfunded device, but at its price point, it’s almost too tempting not to take the risk. Then again, there are now E Ink readers with colored screens, more powerful hardware, and more recent Android versions, so those two worlds have already been bridged in some other way as well.

The post Dual-screen Android tablet combines LCD and E Ink screens with some compromises first appeared on Yanko Design.

X is in hot water in the EU over blue checkmarks and ads

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X is the latest notable tech company to land in trouble with the European Union. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, has revealed the preliminary findings of an investigation. It claims that X has violated the Digital Services Act (DSA) in a number of ways.

The platform’s approach to paid verification has come into the EU’s crosshairs. Officials say that the practice “does not correspond to industry practice and deceives users.” It added that, since anyone can pay to get a blue checkmark, it’s difficult for folks to determine the authenticity of accounts (a browser extension can tell you which accounts are verified because of notability and which paid for a checkmark). The EU also said there’s evidence of bad actors using checkmarks to hoodwink people.

X's problems with verification stem back several years. But at least when it was known as Twitter, the blue check was a (reasonably) reliable form of assurance that an account was the real deal. Paid checkmarks, and the increase in visibility that Premium users get, seems to have led to an increase in scams and spam — just as many predicted.

Next up, the EU took issue with X’s alleged lack of advertising transparency. It claimed the company doesn’t have a reliable, searchable ad repository that enables researchers to look into “emerging risks brought about by the distribution of advertising online.”

In addition, the EU said X is violating the DSA by failing to give researchers sufficient access to public data. “In particular, X prohibits eligible researchers from independently accessing its public data, such as by scraping, as stated in its terms of service,” the bloc argued in a statement. In the EU’s view, researchers are either dissuaded from carrying out projects or forced to pay “disproportionately high fees” to do so given the way that X has set up its application programming interfaces (APIs).

"Back in the day, Blue Checks used to mean trustworthy sources of information. Now with X, our preliminary view is that they deceive users and infringe the DSA," Thierry Breton, the EU's internal market commissioner, said in a statement. "We also consider that X’s ads repository and conditions for data access by researchers are not in line with the DSA transparency requirements. X has now the right of defense — but if our view is confirmed we will impose fines and require significant changes."

If X is found guilty, it will face fines of up to six percent of its global annual revenue — so we may get a sense of just how much money the now privately held company is making these days. The EU may also direct X to take steps to ensure compliance with the DSA and impose further periodic fines if the company does not do so.

The EU hasn't been shy in taking tech companies to task under the DSA and its sibling legislation, the Digital Markets Act. Meta and Apple could both be on the hook for multibillion-dollar fines if preliminary findings of investigations hold up.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-is-in-hot-water-in-the-eu-over-blue-checkmarks-and-ads-145003468.html?src=rss

The Double Dragon series returns yet again with an ultra-modern tribute to the original game

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I first started hitting arcades in the late '80s, and one of the first games I remember playing was the seminal 1987 beat-em-up Double Dragon. Probably not the most appropriate thing for a seven-year-old, but I pumped plenty of quarters into it and subsequently spent tons of time playing the NES port. After its late '80s / early '90s heyday, though, the Double Dragon series has gone through a number of weird iterations and revamps, and a new one based on the original game is set to arrive in 2025.

Double Dragon Revive is produced by Japanese developer / publisher Arc System Works, who acquired the rights to Double Dragon back in 2015 after the original developer Technōs went out of business. Unlike Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons, which was released in 2023 and featured a very distinctive cartoonish style, Revive is leaning into an ultra-modern and more realistic vibe, relatively speaking. 

It reminds me a bit of recent Street Fighter games; similarly, the characters look like they have a greatly expanded set of moves to bash through the waves of bad guys. There isn't much detail on the game out there yet, though Arc System Works does note that this game isn't a pure button-masher, saying that it "requires adaptation and variety." 

Visual style isn't the only thing differentiating Revive from Rise of the Dragons. The 2023 game had ropuelike elements, 13 playable characters and a tag-team ability to let you swap between those characters. Revive, as the name suggests, will likely stick more to the tried-and-true Double Dragon formula. How much that'll resonate with players in 2025 remains to be seen, but there are surely enough nostalgic kids from the '80s out there who will give this one a shot. It'll be available for the PS4 and PS5, Xbox One and Series X/S and on Steam.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-double-dragon-series-returns-yet-again-with-an-ultra-modern-tribute-to-the-original-game-142722631.html?src=rss

Aestus Signature Pen gives off luxurious vibe with stainless steel and ceramic dock

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Even though I live mostly in the digital world, I love to journal and write things down so I also collect a lot of pens. They’re mostly the gel pens and the cheaper ones because fountain pens can be pretty expensive. Besides, my handwriting is sometimes undecipherable (even to myself) so I don’t want to waste my money on something that may not be that useful.

Designer: Rahil Hasan

Some of my friends who collect fountain pens have told me though that these kinds of pen are better for my handwriting (and maybe my mental health). Aestus is a limited edition signature pen that caught my attention because of its unique form. I actually thought it was a tiny light saber at first glance, but a lot of fountain pens do look like they come from Star Wars.

This pen is made from high grade stainless steel and has two geometric shapes that turn from a hexagon profile into a circle. What makes this even more sophisticated is that it comes with a ceramic docking unit where you can place the pen when not in use. It has a layer of cork in both the upper part and the base. So the design of the pen and the docking unit gives off a luxury product vibe.

The prototype for the Aestus pen was created in India’s largets prototyping center, T-Works. They presented a prototype as a token to the CEO and Chairman of tech company FoxConn, Mr. Young Liu. They haven’t said yet if this will be available for commercial purchase but it will probably be pretty expensive so it’s an aspirational product for some fountain pen collectors.

The post Aestus Signature Pen gives off luxurious vibe with stainless steel and ceramic dock first appeared on Yanko Design.