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How a Thanksgiving Day gag ruffled feathers in Mission Control

Review: Synchronic is a time-bending slow burn of a sci-fi thriller

Why are nuclear plants so expensive? Safety’s only part of the story

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Waze will soon support CarPlay’s split-view dashboard mode

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Jabra Elite 85t review: Catching up to the best

Patrick November 23, 2020

Update, November 23, 2020: This review was updated to address a firmware update, which upgrades Bluetooth 5.0 to Bluetooth 5.1, reduces charging time, and more.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed when you’re hunting for new true wireless earbuds, especially as an Android user. There’s no simple AirPods solution to turn to. While that might be a headache to some, to others it means the freedom to track down a pair of buds that are just right for you. We submit for your consideration the Jabra Elite 85t, a powerful pair of noise-cancelling wireless earbuds.

The Elite 85t can block

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Waze will soon support CarPlay’s split-view dashboard mode

Patrick November 23, 2020

Waze is finally coming to Apple CarPlay’s new multiscreen dashboard. This is sure to come as welcome news to devotees of the Google-owned navigation app, who have been waiting for over a year for it to work with the much-improved, upgraded version of CarPlay.

A tipster who is beta testing the new feature sent us this image of Waze operating in CarPlay’s new Split View function. Apple rolled out the new dashboard as part of last year’s iOS 13 software update, but it was limited to only work with Apple Maps at the time. Previously, CarPlay required bouncing between

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How a Thanksgiving Day gag ruffled feathers in Mission Control

Patrick November 23, 2020
Enlarge / Flight Director James M. (Milt) Heflin, in Mission Control during the flight of STS-26 in 1988.

NASA

The phone call from the “Mountain” to Mission Control in Houston came at just about the worst possible time. It was the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning in 1991. Up in space, the crew members on board space shuttle Atlantis were sleeping. Now all of a sudden, Lead Flight Director Milt Heflin faced a crisis.

The flight dynamics officer in Mission Control informed Heflin that the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, which tracked orbital traffic, had called to warn that a

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Review: Synchronic is a time-bending slow burn of a sci-fi thriller

Patrick November 22, 2020

Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan star as New Orleans paramedics who encounter a series of bizarre, gruesome accidents in the sci-fi thriller Synchronic.

Chances are you missed Synchronic, the latest sci-fi film written and directed by indie filmmakers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, when it was released in limited theaters and drive-ins last month. Not only were many theaters still shut down because of the pandemic, the filmmakers themselves made the unusual move of warning potential viewers (via Instagram) of the health risks associated with indoor movie theaters. (“We personally wouldn’t go to an indoor theater, so we

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Garmin Index S2 smart scale review

Patrick November 22, 2020

Many of us keep track of our steps and daily activity with our fitness trackers. Smart scales, however, enhance the health tracking experience by offering an easy way to track your weight, BMI, and other important body metrics. If you’re a Garmin user, the obvious choice for your smart scale needs is the new Garmin Index S2.

This new scale is a refresh to the uber-popular Garmin Index, which is now five years old. Since the original’s release, smart scales have become cheap. Really cheap. So, if you’re spending $150 on a smart scale, it better be good. Read

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TensorFlow Lite on Andriod for beginners

Patrick November 22, 2020

TensorFlow Lite

Android development is not limited to cute little apps that split the bill in restaurants (that seems to be everyone’s “genius app idea,” or is it just me?). Android is a powerful platform with backing from one of the biggest and most influential companies in the world. A company that is at the forefront of machine learning and considers itself “AI-first.”

Learning TensorFlow Lite for Android lets developers implement advanced machine learning into their creations. This greatly extends an app’s capabilities and introduces countless new potential use-cases. It also teaches invaluable skills that are only going to increase in demand

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Why are nuclear plants so expensive? Safety’s only part of the story

Patrick November 21, 2020

Should any discussion of nuclear power go on for long enough, it becomes inevitable that someone will rant that the only reason they’ve become unaffordable is a proliferation of safety regulations. The argument is rarely (if ever) fleshed out—no specific regulation is ever identified as problematic, and there seems to be no consideration given to the fact that we might have learned something at, say, Fukushima that might merit addressing through regulations.

But there’s now a paper out that provides some empirical evidence that safety changes have contributed to the cost of building new nuclear reactors. But the study also

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Apple iPhone 12 Mini review: Pint-sized power

Patrick November 21, 2020

If you’re looking to buy a new iPhone in 2020, you’ve frankly got a ton of options. From the super-affordable $399 iPhone SE to the $1,199 iPhone 12 Pro Max, Apple now offers an iPhone in every pricing tier. But beyond pricing, it also offers iPhones in a variety of sizes. While you previously had to pick up an iPhone SE to get something on the smaller side, Apple’s new iPhone 12 Mini is a fantastic mixture of premium and pint-sized.

But what are you missing out on by picking up Apple’s iPhone 12 Mini, and is it

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