Month: August 2023

August blue moon: how to take a good photograph of the supermoon on your phone or camera

Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl explains the dos and don’ts of photographing the full super moon Here’s when to see the ‘super blue moon’ this week Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast With a blue moon rising this week, the second supermoon of August 2023, many people …

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The business of silence: is there a hidden cost to noise cancelling?

Headphone and earplug sales are booming, but individual efforts to turn down the volume may alter our brains and surrounds in unexpected ways Everywhere you look, it seems, people are resorting to accessories to turn down the volume of life: over-ear headphones on public transport, long-haul flights and in open-plan offices; coloured earplugs nestled discreetly …

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‘They would not listen to us’: inside Biden’s troubled $53bn chip plant

Taiwanese microchip manufacturer TSMC blames struggle to build Phoenix plant on skilled labor shortage but workers cite disorganization and safety concerns Posed in front of an American flag and a large banner reading “A Future Made in America Phoenix, AZ,” Joe Biden told a crowd of assembled workers, supporters and media last December: “American manufacturing …

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‘They should be called Bruce-’em-ups’ – how Bruce Lee shaped fighting games

Fifty years since the death of the martial arts film superstar, we look at how he inspired generations of games developers – and helped take the beat-’em-up mainstream ‘He had this disorder that filled him with too much energy,” recalled Robert of his older brother, Bruce Lee, the martial arts movie superstar nicknamed Never Sits …

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The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman review – AI, synthetic biology and a new dawn for humanity

The DeepMind co-founder calls for the ‘containment’ of new technology in a heartfelt and candid exploration of what the future may hold for us What is it with wave metaphors? Technological determinists – people who believe that technology drives history – love them. Think of Alvin Toffler, who saw the history of civilisation as a …

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Consumers complaining on X targeted by scammers after verification changes

Fraudsters using fake handles displaying paid-for blue checkmark icon to carry out phishing scams Consumers who complain of poor customer service on X are being targeted by scammers after the social media platform formerly known as Twitter changed its account verification process. Bank customers and airline passengers are among those at risk of phishing scams …

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How to stay cool without air con – and help take some heat off the planet

Research suggests UK homes are uniquely unprepared to cope with rising global temperatures – but there are greener solutions to uncomfortable heat than air conditioning “I can honestly say it’s the best thing I’ve ever spent my money on,” says 30-year-old Stephen about the unassuming waist-high plastic pillar that sits in the bedroom of his …

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‘A real opportunity’: how ChatGPT could help college applicants

With the end of affirmative action, generative AI could ‘democratize’ admissions by giving students who don’t have tutors or counselors a leg up Chatter about artificial intelligence mostly falls into three basic categories: anxious uncertainty (will it take our jobs?); existential dread (will it kill us all?); and simple pragmatism (can AI write my lesson …

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Everyone on LinkedIn is absolutely crushing it – or so it seems

LinkedIn is not a place to be honest. It’s a place to sell your products, your services and most of all yourself Ever notice how fabulous everyone is on LinkedIn? “Honored to have shared the stage with such great thought leaders!” posts one keynote speaker, implying that she’s also a great thought leader because why …

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Astrophysicist Avi Loeb: ‘UFOs should be the subject of mainstream inquiry. Science must bring clarity’

The Harvard scientist on his search for alien technology, academic jealousy and why we must fund space exploration Abraham Loeb, known as Avi, is a professor of astrophysics at Harvard University and he has done the unthinkable. He has repeatedly been willing to contemplate the existence of nonhuman technology and how it may explain certain …

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