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FSSAI steps up scrutiny on quick commerce companies over product shelf life

India's food safety regulator directed e-commerce and quick commerce companies to follow shelf life guidelines for packaged food deliveries. The regulator emphasized a minimum remaining shelf life of 30% or 45 days upon delivery. This action follows complaints about companies not disclosing expiry dates. The regulator stressed the importance of clear expiry dates and adherence to labeling regulations.




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What's tiny, brown, lives underwater, and looks like a mushroom?

I went scuba diving at Clear Lake, Oregon today. I saw a ton of tiny, medium-brown unidentified biological-looking... *things* attached to some of the rocks. What were they? Their silhouette was roughly the shape of a fungus growing on a tree -- think a minaturized oyster mushroom or turkey tail mushroom, but with (as far as I could tell) not particularly pronounced gills. They were attached to volcanic rock.

What were they? Eggs sacs of some kind? Actual underwater mushrooms? Some other life form? In case it's relevant, other stuff I saw in the lake included verdant fields of algae growing off the silty bottom (where the volcanic rock isn't exposed), schools of trout (the lake is stocked), plenty of caddisfly larvae in their cases, and cold-water springs feeding the lake from deep potholes. Water temperature was 41 F. We went as deep as 85', but I only remember seeing the brown unidentified objects in shallower areas -- say maybe between 15' to 30'.




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Benny Sings: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space. I've never come across a moderate Benny Sings fan. The Dutch singer-songwriter and producer has maintained a cult following for over 15 years and performed in the United States for the very first time at the Tiny Desk back in 2016. He's released a couple of singles since we've transitioned to Tiny Desk (home) concerts and I felt it was the opportune moment to ask him to take part. Recorded at his studio in Amsterdam, the set list reads like an inventory of quarantine essentials, opening with "Apartment" from last year's Free Nationals LP and closing with "Music." The hook reminds me that I'm not the only one who continues to seek refuge in song. He sings, " Music help me through this / I can't do this on my own / But music




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Diana Gordon: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space. Considering how many of us have rearranged our lives to make the home-office lifestyle work, Diana Gordon's setting for her Tiny Desk (home) concert frames her music in a curated chaos that's all too relatable. Teetering towers of manilla folders, the Y2K kitsch of a slime green Apple iBook, clunky cardboard boxes and a Curb Your Enthusiasm coffee mug — it's just the right amount of cramped, mundane confusion to aid her creativity. Like the workplace props that flank her, an intriguing dose of neurotic mess makes Gordon's latest EP, 2020's Wasted Youth, feel so fitting for these unprecedented times. With her masked-up guitarist, Davin Givhan, helping to guide her, Gordon's nihilistic invincibility on "Rollin" and sonic




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Fresh Scrutiny For Fox's Tucker Carlson As Top Writer Quits Over Bigoted Posts

Updated at 9:35 p.m. ET Monday The revelation that Fox News prime-time star Tucker Carlson's top writer had posted racist, sexist and homophobic sentiments online for years under a pseudonym has led to renewed scrutiny of Carlson's own commentaries, which have inspired a series of advertising boycotts. The writer, Blake Neff, resigned on Friday after questions raised by CNN's Oliver Darcy led to the posts becoming public. Carlson addressed the controversy on the air Monday night, saying Neff's comments were wrong and "have no connection to the show." After noting Neff had paid the price for his actions, Carlson also spoke about what he called the costs of self-righteousness. "When we pretend we are holy, we are lying," he said. "When we pose as blameless in order to hurt other people, we are committing the gravest sin of all, and we will be punished for it, no question." In an internal memo, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President and Executive Editor Jay Wallace called the postings




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WMM presents: Katie Gilchrist + Karalyne Winegarner + Destiny Atkinson & Kate Hall of Afterword Tavern & Shelves

Wednesday MidDay Medley Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning Wednesday, November 6, 2024 Katie Gilchrist + Karalyne Winegarner + Destiny Atkinson & Kate Hall of Afterword Tavern & Shelves Mark […]

The post WMM presents: Katie Gilchrist + Karalyne Winegarner + Destiny Atkinson & Kate Hall of Afterword Tavern & Shelves appeared first on KKFI.




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Two tiny turtles recover from storm smashing

The two turtles were rescued by locals and are now being cared for before being released. Long neck turtle Cara Mi-shell and terrapin Squirt were both discovered on beaches.




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microsoft/TinyTroupe: LLM-powered multiagent persona simulation for imagination enhancement and business insights.

LLM-powered multiagent persona simulation for imagination enhancement and business insights. - microsoft/TinyTroupe




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Implementing a tiny CPU rasterizer | Part 2: Drawing a triangle | lisyarus blog




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With marijuana at a new level of scrutiny, here’s what the research says

Pot brings lots of tax money into states like Illinois, but its societal impact continues to be examined at the state and federal levels.




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Keeler: CU Buffs, Travis Hunter overcome trashy Texas Tech fans, Big 12 refs, tortillas to control College Football Playoff destiny

Is that a tortilla in your pocket, Travis Hunter? Or are you just happy for CU?




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Slovenská ministryně kultury chce ve výuce angličtiny zrušit anglická slovíčka a nahradit je slovenskými

Slovenská ministryně kultury Martina Šimkovičová v rámci chystané novely zákona o slovenském jazyce vyrazila do boje proti používání jiných slov, než jsou ta slovenská. Chce tak ochránit slovenský jazyk jako základní prvek nehmotného kulturního dědictví.




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Tiny Microphone

I know that we'd all like some come-together-in-unity rhetoric, but on Morning Joseph (Biden's favorite show!) they're reading Maureen Dowd columns about the evil transes and, you know, we're back to the bad days of the early aughts.





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A tiny marsupial is upending ideas about the origins of flying mammals

Sugar gliders and bats are about as distantly related as any two mammals on Earth, but new Princeton research shows their wings are formed from the same genetic ingredients. 




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Fruit fly serenade: Princeton neuroscientists decode the tiny creatures' mating song

Princeton's 'extremely supportive' environment for new ideas laid the foundation for an aha moment about a toggle switch in the fruit fly brain. Do humans have one, too? 




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Is this tiny Mauritian island a confidential spy station?

India has built a 3km-long runway on Agalega and no-one has fully explained why, angering residents.




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News24 Business | Instagram rolls out teen accounts as scrutiny mounts

Meta Platforms is rolling out enhanced privacy and parental controls for Instagram accounts of users under 18 in a significant overhaul aimed at addressing growing concerns around the negative effects of social media.





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Screening Room: Port of Destiny




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Deplatforming Trump puts big tech under fresh scrutiny

Deplatforming Trump puts big tech under fresh scrutiny Expert comment NCapeling 22 January 2021

The response of digital platforms to the US Capitol riots raises questions about online content governance. The EU and UK are starting to come up with answers.

The ‘deplatforming’ of Donald Trump – including Twitter’s announcement that it has permanently banned him due to ‘the risk of further incitement of violence’ after the riots in the US – shows once more not only the sheer power of online platforms but also the lack of a coherent and consistent framework for online content governance.

Taking the megaphone away from Trump during the Capitol riots seems sensible, but was it necessary or proportionate to ban him from the platform permanently? Or consistent with the treatment of other ‘strongmen’ world leaders such as Modi, Duterte and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who have overseen nationalistic violence but whose accounts remain intact?

Such complex decisions on online expression should not made unilaterally by powerful and unregulated tech actors, but instead should be subject to democratic oversight and grounded in the obligations of states and responsibilities of companies under international human rights law.

The speed and scale of digital information has left governments across the world struggling with how to tackle online harms such as hate speech, extremist content and disinformation since the emergence of mass social media 15 years ago.

The US’s hallowed approach to the First Amendment, under which speech on public issues – even hate speech – occupies the highest rank and is entitled to special protection, has contributed to a reluctance to regulate Silicon Valley’s digital platforms. But the irony is that by not regulating them, the government harmed freedom of expression by leaving complex speech decisions in the hands of private actors.

Meanwhile at the other extreme is the growing number of illiberal and authoritarian governments using a combination of vague laws, censorship, propaganda, and internet blackouts to severely restrict online freedom of expression, control the narrative and, in some cases, incite atrocities.

Regulation is on the way

The happy medium – flexible online content regulation providing clarity, predictability, transparency, and accountability – has until now been elusive. But even before the deplatforming of Trump, 2021 was set to be the year when this approach finally gained some traction, at least in Europe.

The EU’s recently-published draft Digital Services Act puts obligations on dominant social media platforms to manage ‘systemic risks’, for example through requirements for greater transparency about their content decisions, algorithms used for recommendations, and online advertising systems.

The UK will shortly publish its Online Safety Bill, which will establish a new regulatory framework for tackling online harms, including the imposition of a duty of care and codes of conduct on Big Tech, to be overseen by an independent regulator (Ofcom).

Both proposals are based on a ‘co-regulatory’ model under which the regulator sets out a framework substantiated with rules by the private sector, with the regulator performing a monitoring function to ensure the rules are complied with.

Both also draw on international human rights standards and the work of civil society in applying these standards in relation to the online public square, with the aim of increasing control for users over what they see online, requiring transparency about tech companies’ policies in a number of areas, and strengthening the accountability of platforms when they fall foul of the regulation.

The procedure for both proposals has also been inclusive, involving extensive multi-stakeholder consultations with civil society organizations and Big Tech, and the proposals will be subject to scrutiny in 2021, notably from the EU and UK parliaments.

Both proposals are at an early stage, and it remains to be seen whether they go far enough – or indeed will have a chilling effect on online platforms. But as an attempt to initiate a dialogue on globally coherent principles, they are positive first steps. They also provide food for thought for the new Joe Biden administration in the US as it turns its attention to the regulation of Big Tech.

For some time civil society – most prominently David Kaye, the former UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion – have called for content regulation to be informed by universal international human rights law standards.

The EU and UK are peculiarly well-placed to take the lead in this area because European countries have for decades been on the receiving end of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights on the appropriate limits to freedom of expression in cases brought under the European Convention on Human Rights.

In deciding these cases, the court has to balance the right to freedom of expression against the restrictions imposed – for example in the context of incitement to violence, political debate, and satire. Deciding where to draw the line on what can and cannot be expressed in a civilised society which prizes freedom of expression is inevitably a difficult exercise.

International human rights law provides a methodology that inquires whether the interference to freedom of expression was prescribed by law and pursues a legitimate aim, and also whether it was necessary in a democratic society to achieve those aims – including whether the interference was necessary and proportionate (as for example in Delfi AS v Estonia, which involved a news portal failing to take down unlawful hate speech).

To be effective, online content regulation has to bite on tech companies, which is a challenge given the internet is global but domestic law normally applies territorially. The EU’s proposals have an extraterritorial element as they apply to any online platforms providing services in the EU regardless of where the platform is headquartered.

Further, both the EU and UK want to give the regulator strong enforcement powers – it is proposed for example that Ofcom will have powers to fine platforms up to ten per cent of their turnover for breaches.

Although the proposals would not apply directly to the deplatforming of Trump which occurred in the US, the philosophy behind the EU and UK approach is likely to have an impact beyond European shores in promoting a co-regulatory model that some of the bigger tech companies have been inviting for some time, reluctant as they are to ‘play God’ on content moderation decisions without reference to any regulatory framework.

In the absence of regulation, the standards of tech platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have already evolved over time in response to pressure from civil rights groups, users, and advertisers, including updated policies on protecting civic conversation and hate speech.

Facebook has also set up an independent Oversight Board, whose members include leading human rights lawyers, to review decisions on content including – at its own request – the decision to indefinitely suspend Trump from Facebook and Instagram. Decisions on the Board’s first tranche of cases are expected imminently.

Gatekeeper status is key

Online content regulation also needs to address the role of Big Tech as the ‘digital gatekeepers’, because their monopoly power extends not just to editorial control of the news and information we consume, but also to market access.

The decision of Apple, Google, and Amazon to stop hosting right-wing social network Parler after it refused to combat calls for violence during the US Capitol riots was understandable in the circumstances, but also underlined the unilateral ability of Big Tech to decide the rules of the market.

Again, it is Europe where efforts are underway to tackle this issue: the EU’s draft Digital Market Act imposes obligations on online gatekeepers to avoid certain unfair practices, and the UK’s new Digital Markets Unit will have powers to write and enforce a new code of practice on those technology companies with ‘substantial and enduring’ market power.

In the US, Biden’s team will be following these developments with interest, given the growing bipartisan support for strengthening US antitrust rules and reviving antitrust enforcement. The EU’s recently published proposals for an EU-US tech agenda include a transatlantic dialogue on the responsibility of tech platforms and strengthened cooperation between antitrust authorities on digital markets.

Ultimately a consistent – and global – approach to online content is needed instead of fragmented approaches by different companies and governments. It is also important the framework is flexible so that it is capable of applying not only to major democracies but also to countries where too often sweeping state regulation has been used as a pretext to curtail online expression online.

The pursuit of a pluralistic framework tailored to different political and cultural contexts is challenging, and international human rights law cannot provide all the answers but, as a universal framework, it is a good place to start. The raft of regulatory measures from the EU and UK means that, regardless of whether Trump regains his online megaphone, 2021 is set to be a year of reckoning for Big Tech.




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Facebook's power under scrutiny as Trump ban upheld

Facebook's power under scrutiny as Trump ban upheld Expert comment NCapeling 6 May 2021

Keeping Donald Trump’s Facebook ban in place shows the vast power social media platforms hold, raising questions of whether that power is appropriately used.

Kate Jones

From a human rights perspective, the Oversight Board’s decision is a strong one, and not at all surprising. The board decided Facebook was right to suspend the former president’s access to post content on Facebook and Instagram, but not indefinitely.

It found Donald Trump’s posts violated Facebook’s community standards because they amounted to praise or support of people engaged in violence and that, applying a human rights assessment, Facebook’s suspension of Trump was a necessary and proportionate restriction of his right to freedom of expression.

It is in content amplification, not just content moderation, that Facebook should face scrutiny and accountability for the sake of the human rights of its users

However the board also found Trump’s indefinite suspension was neither in conformity with a clear Facebook procedure nor consistent with its commitment to respect human rights. Its decision requires Facebook to make a new decision on the future of Donald Trump’s account, grounded in its rules.

While opinions on this result will differ, the increased call for clear and accessible rules and respect for human rights in their implementation that the Oversight Board brings to Facebook’s operations is welcome.

But the Oversight Board’s powers are limited to content moderation – Facebook declined to answer the board’s questions about amplification of Trump’s posts through the platform’s design decisions and algorithms. This limitation on the board’s role should be lifted. It is in content amplification, not just content moderation, that Facebook should face scrutiny and accountability for the sake of the human rights of its users.

Fundamentally, human rights is not a veneer which can mask or legitimize underlying power dynamics or public policy – those still fall to be assessed for themselves.

The Trump/Facebook saga does highlight the vast power Facebook and other major social media platforms have over political discussion and persuasion. Through granting or denying, or through amplifying or quietening the voices of political figures, Facebook has the power to shape politics, electorates, and democratic processes. Improving content moderation through the Oversight Board, although important, does little to constrain that power.

Facebook itself, unlike a government, has no accountability to the general public, and the Oversight Board must not distract us from the need for a full conversation about the extent to which Facebook’s power is appropriately held and properly wielded.

Emily Taylor

This decision marks a coming of age for Facebook’s content moderation process. For years, decisions to take down content or ban users have been opaque, conducted by a human workforce that Facebook and other platforms have been hesitant to acknowledge. The platforms have also been worried that being seen to exercise an editorial function might put at risk the legal protections which prevent the platforms being held responsible for user-generated content.

When the Oversight Board was first posited, observers questioned whether a body funded by Facebook could properly exercise a legitimate appeals function. Now there is a reasoned decision which partly supports the decision to de-platform a serving president, but also takes issue with the indefinite nature of the ban.

If the process is to gain respect as a truly independent oversight on the platform’s decisions, greater transparency over the identity of decision-makers will be needed

Facebook specifically asked the Oversight Board to consider specific challenges involved when the person involved is a political leader. The board concluded that Trump’s ‘status as head of state with a high position of trust not only imbued his words with greater force and credibility but also created risks that his followers would understand they could act with impunity’. The storming of the US Capitol and role President Trump played in stirring up the violence underlined that political leaders’ words can motivate others to take harmful actions.

Just as the events of January 6 remain shocking, it remains shocking that private platforms have exercised the power to curb the speech of a US president. It also remains shocking that the platforms sat back and took no action over the previous four years, but waited until the final days of the transition.

The board’s decision is an evolution in private-sector content moderation, with a diverse board giving a reasoned opinion on a Facebook decision. But to fully comply with the principles of open justice, board decisions should include more detail on the individuals who have made the decision – at present, it appears all members of the board review the decision but it is not clear which individuals were involved in its drafting, or that they were clear from conflicts. If the process is to gain respect as a truly independent oversight on the platform’s decisions, greater transparency over the identity of decision-makers will be needed.

Mark Zuckerberg expressed concern about Facebook becoming an arbiter of truth or free speech and, overall, the difficulty of having private companies managing the application of fundamental rights on their platforms has not been solved. Just because companies have the financial resources to do it, does not mean they necessarily should.

Yet no other international governance or arbitration system has emerged to handle the complexities of platform power over speech. In the context of that vacuum, the Oversight Board’s decision is a welcome step.




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Here's the Happiness Research that Stands Up to Scrutiny

From meditation to smiling, researchers take a second look at studies claiming to reveal what makes us happy




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Kudzu Bricks, Tiny Homes, and Glow-in-the-Dark Horseshoes: Innovation in Rural Kentucky Schools

In rural Kentucky, teachers and students are awarded innovation grants to solve a challenge facing their community or classroom.




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Georgia Southwestern's Destiny Garrett named PBC Women's Player of the Week

AMERICUS, Ga. — Georgia Southwestern State University graduate guard Destiny Garrett was named the Peach Belt Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week this afternoon by the league office. Garrett set a school record with 13 assists in the 17th-ranked Lady Hurricanes 85-61 win over Florida Tech on Saturday and completed her first-ever double-double with a career-best 21 points. Garrett ...




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These Tiny Doodles May Be William Blake's Earliest Engravings, Overlooked for Nearly 250 Years

Using high-res scans, a researcher uncovered scribbled etchings likely made by the British poet and artist while working as a teenage apprentice engraver in the 1770s




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Watch Vampire Bats Run on a Tiny Treadmill to Shed Light on Their Blood-Fueled Metabolism

In a rare technique among mammals, the bats burn proteins from blood, rather than carbs or fat, to power their pursuits of prey, according to a new study




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These Tiny Snails Are Breeding in the Wild for the First Time in 40 Years in French Polynesia

During a release of captive-bred snails in September, researchers discovered wild-born individuals from the Partula tohiveana species—which had been considered extinct in the wild—marking a huge milestone in a global effort to save them




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Kudzu Bricks, Tiny Homes, and Glow-in-the-Dark Horseshoes: Innovation in Rural Kentucky Schools

In rural Kentucky, teachers and students are awarded innovation grants to solve a challenge facing their community or classroom.




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Students Build Tiny Houses to Bring Geometry Lessons to Life

At Battle High School in Columbia, Mo., students in geometry class have swapped their compasses and protractors for hammers and hard hats. And they're doing it for a good cause.




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ED Said to Summon Amazon, Flipkart Executives as Regulatory Scrutiny Grows

The planned action signals growing regulatory scrutiny of Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon when their sales are rapidly growing in India's $70 billion (roughly Rs. 5,93,614 crore) e-commerce market. An Indian antitrust investigation also found the two companies breached laws by favouring select sellers,




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GNU Under Scrutiny: Helen Zille exposes alleged business influence over public policy




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Tiny chameleon spotted by tourists in Madagascar is new to science

A species of leaf chameleon newly named Brookesia nofy was discovered in a patch of coastal rainforest, a highly threatened habitat in Madagascar




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Quantum forces used to automatically assemble tiny device

The very weak forces of attraction caused by the Casimir effect can now be used to manipulate microscopic gold flakes and turn them into a light-trapping tool




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Tiny Batteries a Rising Risk for Children

Title: Tiny Batteries a Rising Risk for Children
Category: Health News
Created: 8/31/2012 11:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/31/2012 12:00:00 AM




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Tiny nuclear-powered battery could work for decades in space or at sea

A new design for a nuclear battery that generates electricity from the radioactive decay of americium is unprecedentedly efficient




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Microscopic gears powered by light could be used to make tiny machines

Gears just a few micrometres wide can be carved from silicon using a beam of electrons, enabling tiny robots or machines that could interact with human cells




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Tiny battery made from silk hydrogel can run a mouse pacemaker

A lithium-ion battery made from three droplets of hydrogel is the smallest soft battery of its kind – and it could be used in biocompatible and biodegradable implants




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Destiny 2 Xur Exotics: All items for sale and where to find him on November 8



Destiny 2's Exotic vendor, Xur, is back again this week. Here's how to find him, what he's selling, and whether we recommend his offerings before he vanishes again.




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In just 2 hours, this tiny smart home can be set up nearly anyplace

The Massimo Modular E9 is a sleek, smart and comfy tiny home in 409 square feet. Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson takes a closer look at what the future of housing might look like.



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Mutiny threat sparks House GOP infighting ahead of Trump visit: 'Just more stupid'

House Republicans are once again at odds with one another after conservatives threatened to protest Speaker Johnson's bid to lead the conference again.



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Rode's tiny $149 Wireless Micro kit is designed for smartphone users

Rode has announced the Wireless Micro, a two-mic kit with a smartphone receiver and charging case that costs just $149. The idea is to help TikTok and other creators capture much better-quality audio than their smartphone's microphone can offer. 

The receiver unit connects to the bottom of your smartphone via a USB-C or lightning port. Meanwhile, the microphones (aka transmitters) attach to the subject via integrated clips or magnetic attachments, then capture what Rode calls "pristine" quality sound. Specifically, they offer a 20-20 kHz frequency range and 73 dB signal-to-noise ratio, with a transmission range around 330 feet.

Rode

To use it, simply connect the receiver to your iOS or Android device and it will take over as the system microphone. From there, everything is automatic, as the transmitter mics are automatically paired to the receiver and sound will be captured to your camera app of choice. Levels are automatically controlled with the company's GainAssist technology. 

The omnidirectional transmitters weigh just 12 grams (0.42 ounces) and are tiny enough to be discreet when clipped onto your subject. The built-in microphones use what Rode calls "acoustic chambers" with a patent-pending design. That supposedly lets you capture clear and intelligible audio while reducing wind noise, though a pair of windmuffs is also included in the kit. 

Rode

The Wireless Micro also includes a charging case that delivers two full recharges for up to 18 hours of battery life, while giving you a secure place to store everything. 

There are a few things missing, though. You can't connect an external mic to the transmitters, unlike with other Rode wireless mics or the DJI Mic 2. There's no smartphone Bluetooth capability, and it doesn't offer a 3.5mm connection for cameras — a feature that will supposedly exist on the rumored DJI Mic Mini. Still, this looks like a great option for creators who primarily use smartphones. It's now available in a two mic kit with a receiver and charging case for $150. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/rodes-tiny-149-wireless-micro-kit-is-designed-for-smartphone-users-150040695.html?src=rss




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Tiny Biosensor Unlocks the Secrets of Sweat



Sweat: We all do it. It plays an essential role in controlling body temperature by cooling the skin through evaporation. But it can also carry salts and other molecules out of the body in the process. In medieval Europe, people would lick babies; if the skin was salty, they knew that serious illness was likely. (We now know that salty skin can be an indicator for cystic fibrosis.)

Scientists continue to study how the materials in sweat can reveal details about an individual’s health, but often they must rely on gathering samples from subjects during strenuous exercise in order to get samples that are sufficiently large for analysis.

Now researchers in China have developed a wearable sensor system that can collect and process small amounts of sweat while providing continuous detection. They have named the design a “skin-interfaced intelligent graphene nanoelectronic” patch, or SIGN for short. The researchers, who described their work in a paper published in Advanced Functional Materials, did not respond to IEEE Spectrum’s interview requests.

The SIGN sensor patch relies on three separate components to accomplish its task. First, the sweat must be transported from the skin into microfluidic chambers. Next, a special membrane removes impurities from the fluid. Finally, this liquid is delivered to a bioreceptor that can be tuned to detect different metabolites.

The transport system relies on a combination of hydrophilic (water-attracting) and hydrophobic (water-repelling) materials. This system can move aqueous solutions along microchannels, even against gravity. This makes it possible to transport small samples with precision, regardless of the device’s orientation.

The fluid is transported to a Janus membrane, where impurities are blocked. This means that the sample that reaches the sensor is more likely to produce accurate results.

Finally, the purified sweat arrives at a flexible biosensor. This graphene sensor is activated by enzymes designed to detect the desired biomarker. The result is a transistor that can accurately measure the amount of the biomarker in the sample.

At its center, the system has a membrane that removes impurities from sweat and a biosensor that detects biomarkers.Harbin Institute of Technology/Shenyang Aerospace University

One interesting feature of the SIGN patch is that it can provide continuous measurements. The researchers tested the device through multiple cycles of samples with known concentrations of a target biomarker, and it was about as accurate after five cycles as it was after just one. This result suggests that it could be worn over an extended period without having to be replaced.

Continuous measurements can provide useful longitudinal data. However, Tess Skyrme, a senior technology analyst at the research firm IDTechEx, points out that continuous devices can have very different sampling rates. “Overall, the right balance of efficient, comfortable, and granular data collection is necessary to disrupt the market,” she says, noting that devices also need to optimize “battery life, calibration, and data accuracy.”

The researchers have focused on lactate—a metabolite that can be used to assess a person’s levels of exercise and fatigue—as the initial biomarker to be detected. This function is of particular interest to athletes, but it can also be used to monitor the health status of workers in jobs that require strenuous physical activity, especially in hazardous or extreme working conditions.

Not all experts are convinced that biomarkers in sweat can provide accurate health data. Jason Heikenfeld, director of the Novel Device Lab at the University of Cincinnati, has pivoted his research on wearable biosensing from sweat to the interstitial fluid between blood vessels and cells. “Sweat glucose and lactate are way inferior to measures that can be made in interstitial fluid with devices like glucose monitors,” he tells Spectrum.

The researchers also developed a package to house the sensor. It’s designed to minimize power consumption, using a low-power microcontroller, and it includes a Bluetooth communications chip to transmit data wirelessly from the SIGN patch. The initial design provides for 2 hours of continuous use without charging, or up to 20 hours in standby mode.




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Tiny Quick Update

Hi everyone,

I’m deep into revising the next Graceling Realm book (starring Hava), which is why I haven’t been here on the blog. It’s also why over on Twitter, mostly I’ve just been tweeting pictures of candles. I am Very Absorbed. Also, we moved to a new apartment last month. Also life. Also the pandemic and self-care. I hope you’re doing well.

Gareth Hinds’s adaptation of the Graceling graphic novel comes out in November! He's been tweeting some lovely stuff on Twitter, and Graceling: the Graphic Novel is now available for pre-order wherever books are sold. Including at your local indie.

I’ll be back when there’s more news and/or when I have a minute for blogging, whichever comes first.  Until then, leaving you with a few of my recent candles…

 










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Application of GST registration cancellation cannot be rejected based on scrutiny proceeding against Assessee for determining tax liability of past period

The Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of M/s Sanjay Sales India v. Principal Commissioner of Department of Trade and Taxes, Government of NCT, Delhi [Writ Petition (Civil) No. 10234 of 2024 dated July 26, 2024] held that the application for the cancellation of the GST registration cannot be denie




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Tiny battery made from silk hydrogel can run a mouse pacemaker

A lithium-ion battery made from three droplets of hydrogel is the smallest soft battery of its kind – and it could be used in biocompatible and biodegradable implants




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Avian Flu Alert: New York City's Wild Bird Population Under Scrutiny

Recent research in the iJournal of Virology/i reveals a minority of wild birds in New York City carry highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza. This




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India’s E-commerce Giants Amazon and Flipkart Face Increased Scrutiny Over Foreign Investment Allegations

India's e-commerce sector is once again in the regulatory spotlight as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) shifts its focus to two of the largest players, Amazon and Flipkart. In response to allegations of foreign investment law violations, the ED is now preparing




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Destiny [Electronic book] / Florence Espeut-Nickless.

London : Methuen Drama, 2022.




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Destiny’s child, outlier, everyman: the many shades of P.R. Sreejesh

The 36-year-old has had a remarkable life in hockey. Set to play in his fourth Olympics, he talks about what continues to drive him, the many battles he has fought, why he does not want to change his past, and how his family and a ‘guardian angel’ have kept him tending India’s goal