"The government waits." Scientists warn about concerning factor that could be linked to cancer: 'Exposures are ... projected to increase' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading
One of my weirder hobbies is trying to convince people that the idea that companies are listening to you through your phone's microphone and serving you targeted ads is a conspiracy theory that isn't true. I wrote about this previously: Facebook don’t spy on you through your micr … | Continue reading
Nvidia will no doubt have the biggest CES 2025. After all, the company has pretty much the biggest everything nowadays. The chip giant is sporting a $3.4+ trillion market cap, due largely to its foundational position in the ongoing AI boom. Companies like OpenAI and Meta have pur … | Continue reading
I just wrote about BYD’s 2024 passenger vehicle sales and highlighted trends going back two years via various charts. However, BYD also produces large commercial electric vehicles — electric buses, heavy-duty electric trucks, and more. For two reasons, I decided to split out comm … | Continue reading
Simon Willison: A lot has happened in the world of Large Language Models over the course of 2024. Here’s a review of things we figured out about the field in the past twelve months, plus my attempt at identifying key themes and pivotal moments. [...] I think telling people that t … | Continue reading
But, of course, the former Peter Parker said that for Spider-Man: No Way Home too. | Continue reading
"This will take a while to eradicate from my yard." Homeowner seeks help after discovering 'horrible' mystery plant in yard: 'I have no idea how they got here' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading
Photo by Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge Five electric vehicles from Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis now qualify for the US’s $7,500 EV tax credit, Electrek reports. The new models include popular vehicles like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 crossover SUV and Kia EV9 three-row family hauler. Now, 2 … | Continue reading
Members of the Elsevier-published Journal of Human Evolution quit, citing AI production processes introducing errors, high author fees, and concerns over editorial independence. | Continue reading
The Greenland ice sheet is a crucial bellwether for monitoring climate change. NASA satellite discovers alarming trend at Greenland ice sheet first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading
1/ Trump blamed “criminal” immigrants for the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans that was carried out by a U.S. Army veteran from Texas. In the early hours of New Year’s Day, a man drove a truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, whi... Subscribe: Get the Daily Upda … | Continue reading
Samantha Cole, 404 Media: That law, passed as Act 440, was introduced by “sex addiction” counselor and state representative Laurie Schegel and quickly copied across the country. The exact phrasing varies, but in most states, the details of the law are the same: Any “commercial en … | Continue reading
The implications of this case are enormous, so I will quote extensively from the following account, while noting there are many paragraphs with important content that I have merely mentioned or summarized. Those who are seriously interested in whether this decision constitutes co … | Continue reading
The world’s top two electric vehicle companies, BYD and Tesla, just released their latest annual sales figures, and they make some really interesting reading. Tesla leads the way in terms of battery electric vehicle sales, but it’s getting quite tight, as BYD is now creeping up a … | Continue reading
One Earth satellite can see plankton that photosynthesize. The other measures water surface height. Together, their data reveals how sea life and the ocean are intertwined. NASA’s SWOT and PACE missions offer unprecedented insights into the ocean’s role as a climate engine and li … | Continue reading
Oxide and Friends Predictions 2025 - on Monday Jan 6th at 5pm Pacific I'll be participating in the annual Oxide and Friends predictions podcast / live recording next Monday (6th January) at 5pm Pacific, in their Discord. The event description reads: Join us in making 1-, 3- and 6 … | Continue reading
In the Great Plains, these droughts have been causing significant concern for cattle farmers. Officials scramble after crop-devastating weather threatens nearly half of US land — here's how it could impact grocery prices first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading
Architect Newton Penprase, originally from Cornwall, started building this house in 1936. Intended for Penprase himself to live in, the house's name "Bendhu" was borrowed from that of a nearby coastal feature. Construction lasted about 20 years in total, including extensions by t … | Continue reading
Jonathan Stempel, Reuters: Apple agreed to pay $95 million in cash to settle a proposed class action lawsuit claiming that its voice-activated Siri assistant violated users’ privacy. A preliminary settlement was filed on Tuesday night in the Oakland, California federal court, and … | Continue reading
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has warned that raw pet food products have tested positive for bird flu and sickened pet cats in the area. | Continue reading
"It'll be easier to remove now than later, spoken as someone removing it later." Homeowner met with warnings after sharing landscaping dilemma: 'You'll regret it for years to come' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading
After a rough spell over the last few years, Californian electric motorcycle startup Onyx might finally be getting on track and bringing its neo-retro-style e-mopeds back to the market. In a LinkedIn post this week spotted by TechCrunch, founder Timothy Seward announced a limited … | Continue reading
He's not saying much, of course, but Hwang Dong-hyuk knows you're dying to see what happens next. | Continue reading
If you’ve ever played around with customising Ubuntu (or any GNOME Shell-based Linux distribution) you’ll have encountered GNOME Tweaks, an official app giving you GUI access to options, settings, and controls not otherwise exposed in the UI. In recent years, GNOME’s developers h … | Continue reading
The world's richest man has joined a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking Wikipedia as part of an intensifying campaign against free and open access information. | Continue reading
Combating these generally requires large-scale efforts. Homeowner in distress over uncontrollable pest invading their yard: 'It's never going away' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading
The Quadrantids will peak on Friday, dazzling night skies with 20 to 30 meteors per hour. | Continue reading
Samsung’s screen and camera-enabled smart fridges can now add items you're running low on to your Instacart cart. | Image: Samsung Samsung’s smart fridges will soon be able to identify when you’re running low on something and add items to your Instacart app so you can order what … | Continue reading
I review The New Leaf Journal's 81 most-visited articles of 2024, with a little help on the top-12 from our resident dialogue duo. | Continue reading
The day before therapy last week, my last session of the year, I’d realized that tracking the books I read, and the movies and television shows I watch, has something of a self-regulatory effect despite the rhythms involved being more irregular than regular. It’s not a way in whi … | Continue reading
Bit off a little more than I could chew today, so I’m scrambling. Not a great feeling. | Continue reading
It makes a gorgeous serving dish, too! READ MORE... | Continue reading
The holidays are nearly over, which means if you’ve celebrated like I did, you have a fridge full of leftovers. Accordingly, we asked our readers and scoured our archive for questions about how to use leftovers and how to store them safely. Find our answers below: Can I only rehe … | Continue reading
Axial, an undersea volcano off the coast of Oregon is probably going to erupt in 2025. | Continue reading
"Goodness me!" Viral video spotlights snowmobilers' quick-thinking after encountering massive bison at Yellowstone: 'I would bail' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading
A three-judge panel ruled the FCC exceeded its authority reviving net neutrality. | Continue reading
The Onyx Boox Note Max is an excellent 13.3 digital notebook with Google Android 14 and full access to the Play Store. This is one of the few A4 e-notebooks on the market and costs $649.99. The post Onyx Boox Note Max Now on Sale via Company Website, Amazon first appeared on Good … | Continue reading
In a blow to the free and open internet, a federal appeals court ruled that the FCC does not have the authority to impose net neutrality rules. | Continue reading
BYD’s huge growth in 2024, as I wrote just two days ago, was one of the stories of the year. Now we have BYD’s December and full-year 2024 sales in, and they’re good. In December, BYD’s plugin vehicle sales were up 60%! Across the full year, they were up 41.3%. ... [continued] Th … | Continue reading
I do some football with the kids in warm months. I also play some bullet chess. I used to play more but kind of gave up my favorite 5-minute blitz games after my second kid was born in 2018. Don’t miss it, TBH. 1-minute chess is sufficiently good and the game ends before it becom … | Continue reading
Somehow I missed that Patrick Radden Keefe’s excellent book on The Troubles, Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, has been turned into a 9-part TV series (now available on Hulu in the US & on Disney+ elsewhere). Spanning four decades, the series ope … | Continue reading
Scientists recreated molecular switches that regulate biological timing, aiding nanotechnology and explaining evolutionary advantages. Living organisms monitor time – and react to it – in many different ways, from detecting light and sound in microseconds to responding physiologi … | Continue reading
For years, Laurent Segalen and Gerard Reid have had an annual predictions episode, where they rank the previous year’s predictions and make new ones. Last year I joined them and made a couple of predictions of my own, and now the annual episode is out. Here it is with a ... [cont … | Continue reading
The notorious short seller published a report titled “Carvana: A Father-Son Accounting Grift For The Ages.” | Continue reading
One of 'Skyrim's most ambitious mods ever is approaching its 2025, and the team behind it has a big update to ring in the new year. | Continue reading
Many donors search their pockets for spare change, but some generous individuals are giving away historic coins worth thousands of dollars during the charity's annual fundraising campaign | Continue reading
The musical smash is now out in theaters and on digital platforms. | Continue reading
New leaks and cryptic clues point to active development the long-awaited sequel. | Continue reading