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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has resigned over accusations that he failed to report physical and sexual abuse to the police.

The shootings were part of a wave of violence that erupted as the country plagued by gang violence swore in its new prime minister after a politically tumultuous process.

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The post Prostate Cancer is different for gay and bisexual men appeared first on Star Observer.

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Sibert and Red Cloud, black-footed ferret siblings at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, are the first members of an endangered species born to a cloned animal.

Researchers in Montreal are pointing to the benefits of bilingualism for the brain's health and efficiency — suggesting it could even help prevent diseases associated with aging, including Alzheimer's.

The United States is home to some truly spectacular lakes. Whether considering the massive Great Lakes themselves or deep alpine gems like Lake Tahoe, with its crystal-clear waters, America is well-stocked with many sizable bodies of water.

Discover if Cancer and Aquarius can make a love match! Learn about their compatibility, strengths, challenges, and what to expect in a relationship.

The Sacred Heart and the presidential election.

2024 has been a rough year for Sonos. The company’s would-be triumphant entry into the crowded headphones market was overshadowed by a disastrous app redesign. In the fallout of the botched software update, the company decided to delay products that were ready to be shipped to give itself more time to right the course. Consumer trust eroded, and people who already owned Sonos gear were living in a cycle of constant frustration.

Thanks to a number of rumors, we already knew that one of the pending product releases was the Arc Ultra ($999). A few weeks ago the company decided not to wait any longer to reveal it. While the design is mostly unchanged from the Arc that debuted in 2020, there are several key changes on the inside that make this a better all-in-one solution for people who don’t want to add more speakers to their living room setup. Sonos is promising better bass performance thanks to new speaker tech that’s debuting in the Arc Ultra, but just how good can it be?

Design

The refined design of the original Arc was a massive upgrade from that of the Playbar, and showed a progression from Sonos’ compact Beam soundbar. Honestly, the aesthetic is pretty timeless, in my opinion, and it’s a look that should age well for years to come. That said, it makes sense that Sonos would keep the design for the Arc Ultra, only making some minor changes to the exterior.

The Arc Ultra still comes in both black and white options, allowing you to choose what looks best in your living room or home theater. Sonos updated the controls to mirror what’s available on the newer Era 100 and Era 300 speakers, moving them to a top-facing bar at the back. There’s a volume slider on the right with play/pause and skip controls in the center. On the left side, Sonos gives you a microphone control so you can mute the built-in mics as needed.

And that’s really it in terms of design changes that you can see. The Arc Ultra is slightly shorter height-wise than the Arc, and it’s a little wider than its predecessor. Neither of which make a huge difference, and they won’t drastically change how you position the speaker beneath your TV.

Sonos

Inside, Sonos has re-engineered the Arc Ultra to improve audio performance. The biggest piece of this overhaul is the new Sound Motion woofer that enables better bass performance before you add a standalone wireless sub. The achievement here, thanks to the acquisition of audio company Mayht, is that the new component lays flat, taking up less room than a traditional cone-shaped woofer. The Sound Motion driver also helps deliver increased clarity and depth, on top of doubling the bass output of the original Arc.

Sonos redesigned the entire acoustic architecture of the Arc Ultra during the process of adding the Sound Motion woofer. The soundbar now houses three more drivers than the arc, a list that includes seven tweeters (two of which are upfiring), six mid-range drivers (midwoofers, as Sonos calls them) and the aforementioned woofer for a total of 14. The company also employs 15 Class-D digital amplifiers along with far-field mics for tuning and voice control.

There’s still only a single HDMI (eARC) port, which allows most modern TVs the ability to control the soundbar’s volume and mute options from your TV remote. Moreover, the Arc Ultra is compatible with Wi-Fi 6 and newly-added Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity allows you to stream from any device. And of course, AirPlay 2 is still on the spec sheet. One last thing I’ll mention here is that the Arc Ultra doesn’t ship with an optical adapter if you prefer that connection. The company will sell you one for $25.

Software and features

Since the Arc Ultra is a Sonos product, there are a lot of core features that are the same as they are on the company’s other devices. You can use the soundbar as part of a multiroom setup and Trueplay tuning is here to adjust the audio to the acoustics of the room. There’s still an adjustable EQ with options for bass, treble and loudness and a Night Sound mode makes things less boomy when someone in your house may be trying to work or sleep.

While Trueplay will give you the best sound customization for the sonic characteristics of your living room, Sonos is enabling a Quick Tune feature for the first time on the Arc Ultra. Here, the soundbar will use its internal mics, as opposed to your phone, to offer a certain degree of improvement. The company says it wanted to give people the option of something quicker than Trueplay, although the full-fledged tuning process doesn’t take very long at all.

Speech Enhancement has been a handy feature on Sonos soundbars for a while, giving you the ability to improve dialog clarity as needed. Before now, it was an all-or-nothing feature, but on the Arc Ultra, the company introduced three levels of speech boost to give you more options to better suit your needs. This means the soundbar can help you hear clearly over background noise or simply follow along better by elevating dialog above the rest of the soundtrack mix.

Billy Steele for Engadget

The trademark feature of Sonos’ Ace headphones is the ability to beam the audio from a compatible soundbar to the cans for a private home theater. That TV Audio Swap tool is available on the Arc Ultra, so you can instantly send the sound to the headphones with the press of a button. In fact, Sonos bundles the Arc Ultra and Ace headphones in a $1,373 set. What’s more, the Ace supports spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, so you can count on immersive sound even when you’re employing it on an individual basis.

Despite all of the problems that Sonos has had with its app, some of which it's still working to resolve, I didn't encounter any issues during my testing. The software crashed on me once when the Trueplay tuning process completed, but everything had already run its course and I didn’t have to repeat it. Other than that, the app has worked reliably over the last week while I’ve been putting the Arc Ultra through its paces. Most importantly, the software is stable and the full suite of controls for the new soundbar is available at launch.

Sound performance

The original Arc already sounded great, so Sonos really had its work cut out for it to further improve the audio quality for the Arc Ultra. Thanks to the improved bass of the Sound Motion tech, a change that also takes up less space, the company says it had the ability to then overhaul the mid-range and high-frequency components as well. By using multiple sizes of mid-range drivers and tweeters, Sonos was able to tweak the speaker positioning inside of the soundbar for improved projection and more immersive sound.

In addition to the enhanced bass performance, the second thing that was immediately apparent on the Arc Ultra was those improvements to the dimensional sound. Whether it was a quidditch match in a Harry Potter movie or zooming F1 cars in Drive to Survive, the soundbar now has better directional, immersive sound than its predecessor. Sonos says the Arc Ultra now renders Dolby Atmos content in a 9.1.4-channel setup, versus 5.0.2 with the Arc, which further contributes to the enveloping audio. Interestingly, I haven’t seen any of the competition claim four up-firing channels from the soundbar like Sonos does here (those that do are usually accounting for up-firing drivers in the rear speakers). You can really hear the difference from the second you fire up the Arc Ultra, and the effect is consistent across content sources.

Billy Steele for Engadget

The increased bass performance makes the Arc Ultra a much better speaker for music without a separate subwoofer. You won’t get the bombastic low-end tone the newly updated Sonos Sub 4 can produce, but there’s enough from the soundbar to give Kaytranada’s Timeless, Phantogram’s Memory of a Day and Bilmuri’s American Motor Sports plenty of booming backbone when a track demands it. There’s also still the trademark Sonos clarity I’ve come to expect over the years, which means finer details like the texture of synths, layered guitars and the nuance of acoustic instruments cut through the mix cleanly.

And speaking of clarity, the company’s new Speech Enhancement settings are also a big improvement. Being able to select how much of a boost this feature offered depending on either my needs right then or based on the overall tuning of the content is really nice. It allowed me to max out the dialog when watching movies after my toddler was asleep so that speech didn’t suffer when sound effects were louder during intense scenes of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

The competition

There’s no doubt the Arc Ultra packs in deeper, more immersive sound than its predecessor, but some people will still want a more robust setup to wring every ounce of audio out of a Sonos living room setup. The high-end choice for this is what Sonos calls the Ultimate Immersive Set, which includes the Arc Ultra, two Era 300s and the Sub 4. Right now, that will cost you $2,561. For something less expensive, you can get the Arc Ultra and the new Sub 4 (normally $799) for $1,708 (Premium Entertainment Set). And therein lies the biggest problem with Sonos soundbars: expanding your living room setup to get the most immersive experience gets very pricey very quickly when the centerpiece is already $999.

If you can live without all the conveniences of Sonos products, you can get an all-in-one package from Samsung for $1,500. With the Q990D, you’ll get the soundbar, two rear speakers and a wireless subwoofer in the same box. The setup offers 11.1.4 audio for excellent Atmos sound, thanks in part to up-firing drivers in the rear speakers. Samsung offers a host of handy features, from Q-Symphony audio with TV speakers, SpaceFit Sound Pro room calibration, Adaptive Sound audio enhancement, a dedicated gaming mode and more. The Q990D remains my top pick for the best soundbars for a lot of reasons, a key one being everything you could need comes in one all-inclusive package.

Wrap-up

The Arc Ultra is an obvious improvement over the Arc in the sonic department. New technology delivers on its promise to boost bass, clarity and immersive before you start adding extra components. Expanded features like Speech Enhancements and a quick-tune option offer new tools for dialing in the sound, while the stock Sonos experience remains intact. And thankfully, that includes an app that’s more stable than it was a few months ago. The Arc Ultra is still pricey at $999, but it exhibits a lot more sonic prowess than its predecessor for only $100 more.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/sonos-arc-ultra-review-new-tech-powers-a-big-audio-upgrade-130011149.html?src=rss

Meta has long been at loggerheads with European Union officials over its approach to targeted Facebook and Instagram ads. The company is hoping to placate regulators with some changes to its ad model in the bloc, which includes lowering the price of its ad-free subscription. Starting November 13, the plan will cost 40 percent less — €6 ($6.36) per month for signups via the web and €8 ($8.48) for those who subscribe on an iOS or Android device. The fee for each additional Facebook and Instagram account is €4 per month on the web and €5 via mobile.

The company will automatically drop current subscribers down to the lower pricing. It says that it will once again ask users in the bloc if they'd like to sign up.

When they see this prompt (which can only be ignored for a certain period of time), there will be a third option for EU Facebook and Instagram users to choose from. Those who don't want to pay for a subscription can instead opt to only view ads that are based on what they see in a given session in the apps. Meta will also factor in a few key data markers such as "a person’s age, location, gender and how a person engages with ads."

These less-personalized ads naturally won't be as tailored to a given user's interests, the company notes. As such, people are perhaps less likely to click on such ads. To make up for that (and make sure this option doesn't hit Meta in the pocket too hard), folks who choose the less-personalized ads option will sometimes encounter unskippable ads. According to The Wall Street Journal, these will be displayed full screen.

"Such ad breaks are common across other services, and are already offered by many of our competitors," Meta argues. "This change will help us continue to provide value to advertisers which ensures we can offer people a less personalized ads experience at no charge."

Targeted ads are Meta's biggest revenue driver, but EU officials have reportedly been pressuring the company to offer a free, less-personalized option in its apps. Meta has argued that would negatively impact its bottom line. Although it has seemingly caved to officials' requests, the unskippable ad aspect may be construed as malicious compliance, as it worsens the user experience.

Meta claims that these changes to its ad model "meet EU regulator demands and go beyond what’s required" by the bloc's laws. The company introduced its ad-free subscription a year ago to comply with laws such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), as well as stricter interpretations of the General Data Protection Regulation. It was previously ordered to seek permission from users in the bloc before showing them personalized ads.

The EU didn't take too kindly to the paid ad-free approach, however. An investigation into the "consent or pay" model is ongoing. In July, the EU said that in its preliminary findings, Meta was violating the DMA with this plan.

These latest changes are said to be Meta's attempt to settle the case, but according to the Journal, the EU's discussions with the company haven't concluded. The bloc's regulatory body has until late March to finish its investigation and make a final decision. If it determines that Meta has indeed violated the DMA, the company could be on the hook for a fine of up to 10 percent of its annual global revenue. Based on its total revenue for 2023, it could have to pay up as much as $13 billion or so.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-cuts-the-price-of-its-ad-free-plan-by-40-percent-in-a-bid-to-sate-eu-regulators-174926790.html?src=rss

Leylah Fernandez et ses compatriotes auront fort à faire pour conserver leur titre.

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Nov 04, 2024
In a recent study led by Professor Xin Li and Dr. Yanlong Guo of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, researchers analyze how scientific research is evolving through the power of big data and artificial intelligence (AI). The paper discusses how the traditional "correlation supersedes causation" model is being increasingly challenged by new "data-intensive scie

Barsana, India (AFP) Nov 8, 2024
Venerated as incarnations of Hindu deities, India's sacred cows are also being touted as agents of energy transition by a government determined to promote biogas production to cut its dependence on coal. It is an understatement to say that Nakul Kumar Sardana is proud of his new plant at Barsana, in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state. Firstly, says the vice-president of a biomass joint

Bill MacDonnell's paintings are on display at the Military Museums in Calgary through Remembrance Day and into 2025.

La jeune artiste de 20 ans domine les palmarès radio depuis trois semaines.

L’ex-premier ministre de la Colombie-Britannique John Horgan est décédé à l’âge de 65 ans après une bataille contre le cancer.

Florence et Marianne seront finalement au concert de leur idole, vendredi, à Toronto, mais elles ont eu toute une frousse.

Donald Trump's second term as U.S. president carries implications at home and abroad. That includes potentially wreaking havoc on global economies through the aggressive use of tariffs.

Canadian rental prices fell 1.2 per cent in October compared to the same time last year. It's the first time that annual rents have declined since July 2021, according to a new report.

Contract negotiations in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia's ports since Monday have been called off. It comes as more than 100 organizations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has sent labour disputes at ports in Quebec and British Columbia to binding arbitration and has ordered people back to work after the disputes reached what he called a "total impasse."

La majorité des billets encore offerts en ligne pour aller voir Taylor Swift à Toronto sont des arnaques, constate un expert en cybersécurité.

APPLE could be set to make its biggest new product announcement since the iPhone, with the company believed to be working on a game changer.

A RUSH is on to convert the nation’s mothballed wheat silos into the world’s biggest art gallery.

The car finance industry is setting aside billions to pay for potential claims after a test case.

Former Liberal senator Sean Edwards has continued to fuel speculation he is set to make a bid to enter state politics.

The Opposition Leader, who has three young children, says all his election travel was declared and above board.

A Muslim bigamist will have his court costs paid by the federal government.

Indian pharma and biotech companies are confident that under the new US President Donald Trump, its strengths in high quality generics manufacture and export will continue to command respect. This view is

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PolyNovo UK – a UK medical devices company specialising in the development of surgical solutions using the patented polymer technology NovoSorb will be exhibiting at MEDICA 2024.

Schultz Medical, a single use instrument company based in Southport, Merseyside have announced they will be exhibiting at MEDICA 2024 in Germany and on the UK Pavilion in Hall 15 hosted by Medilink UK.

Brightmark CEO Bob Powell discusses Plastics Renewal technology and how to bring sustainability into the medical industry.

Joe Anderson, product and promotional marketing manager at Harland, explores the role of surface preparation in the application of hydrophilic and hydrophobic coatings.

Nick Guerin, CSP, director of environmental, health & safety at Tessy Plastics highlights how contract manufacturers are driving sustainability in the medical plastics industry.

A strange supernova remnant first appeared as a “guest star” seen in 1181 by sky watchers in China and Japan

Humans and pigs could both serve as mixing vessels for a bird flu–seasonal flu hybrid, posing a risk of wider spread

Culture may play a role in how birds build collectively in the Kalahari Desert

Today’s cannabis plant is highly cultivated and incredibly potent. Treating it like a commodity, and not a testable, regulated medicine, is hurting people

Informa Connnect's Pharma/Biotech GTN Summit
November 18-20, 2024 | W Philadelphia Hotel, Philadelphia, PA
Drug Channels Readers Receive 15% Off* with Code 24DGC15.

View the Complete Agenda

Autumn is here! Curl up with your favorite pumpkin-spiced blog and savor these acorns that we’ve squirrelled away for you:

• Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicines gives a peek inside its $43 billion gross-to-net bubble

• Optum Rx joins the private label biosimilar bandwagon

• Biosimilars boom for provider-administered drugs

• Fresh evidence of how copay accumulators hurt patients

Plus, words of wisdom from Cencora's soon-to-be-former CEO Steve Collis.

P.S. Join my more than 58,000 LinkedIn followers for daily links to neat stuff along with thoughtful and provocative commentary from the DCI community.

There’s still time to request an invite to the inaugural Drug Channels Leadership Forum. Attendance will be highly limited. We have already begun extending invitations, so apply now to be considered. Click here to view the full agenda.

Read more »

Drug Channel Institute is pleased to announce The Drug Channels 2025 Video Webinar Series.

Join Dr. Adam J. Fein for three live video webinars during 2025. These live, interactive events will be broadcast via Zoom from the Drug Channels Video studio in beautiful downtown Philadelphia.

During these events, Dr. Fein will address the latest issues confronting the U.S. drug channel. Topics will be determined based on what’s happening—trends, policy changes, company announcements, and more. He’ll share DCI’s latest market data to help you stay on top of new developments. You will be able to use these events as both a capstone of your current learning and a touchpoint for the future.

The three events are scheduled for 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET on the following dates:

• April 4, 2025

• June 20, 2025

• December 12, 2025 (Drug Channels Outlook 2026)

For 2025, we are offering a Corporate Pricing option that will allow larger organizations to register hundreds of colleagues for one fixed price. Please contact Paula Fein (paula@drugchannels.net) for details.

Read on for full details on pricing, including substantial discounts for multiple sites.

P.S. If you're not familiar with our webinars, click here to watch brief excerpts from our video webinars.
Read more »

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while we put the finishing touches on DCI’s new 2024-25 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors.

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released the redacted version of administrative complaint against the three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). The FTC rightly calls out how the gross-to-net bubble can raise patients’ out-of-pocket costs, while also acknowledging how rebates can reduce a plan's (but not the patient’s) costs. Apparently, the FTC believes that PBMs’ customers are pretty dumb, because PBMs are able to prevent plans from “appreciating” such healthcare financing dynamics.

Section V.E. of the complaint (starting on page 23) focuses on the PBMs’ alleged unlawful conduct related to preferring high-list/high-rebate insulin products over versions with lower list prices. I thought it would therefore be fun to take the Wayback Machine to November 2021, when I wrote about this specific topic.

Below, you can review my commentary about the warped incentives behind Viatris’ dual-pricing strategy for its interchangeable biosimilar of Lantus. Much of the FTC’s description of the drug channel aligns with my commentary. But before you fist pump too hard for Ms. Khan’s FTC, you should pause to reflect on the agency’s legal theories in light of plans’ revealed preferences.

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The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the first interchangeable biosimilar insulin product: the insulin glargine-yfgn injection from Viatris. Read the FDA’s press release.

Alas, I’m sad to report that the warped incentives baked into the U.S. drug channel will limit the impact of this impressive breakthrough.

Viatris is being forced to launch both a high-priced and a low-priced version of the biosimilar. However, only the high-list/high-rebate, branded version will be available on Express Scripts’ largest commercial formulary. Express Scripts will block both the branded reference product and the lower-priced, unbranded—but also interchangeable—version. Meanwhile, Prime Therapeutics will place both versions on its formularies, leaving the choice up to its plan sponsor clients.

Consequently, many commercial payers will adopt the more expensive product instead of the identical—but cheaper—version. As usual, patients will be the ultimate victims of our current drug pricing system.

Below, I explain the weird economics behind this decision, highlight the negative impact on patients, and speculate on what this all could mean for biosimilars’ future. Until plan sponsors break their addiction to rebates, today’s U.S. drug channel problems will remain.
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Today’s guest post comes from Timothy Nielsen, Vice President of Customer Success at AssistRx.

Timothy discusses the affordability and patient journey challenges of specialty-lite products for patients, manufacturers, and health care providers. He explains how AssistRx's Advanced Access Anywhere (AAA) solution streamlines processes for specialty-lite products and facilitates enrollment via a digital hub.

To learn more, register for AssistRx's free webinar on October 8: Meet Your Patients Where They Are & Gain Visibility: Even at Retail.

Read on for Timothy’s insights.
Read more »

Reality has again failed to support the spin surrounding the 340B Drug Pricing Program.

For 2023, discounted purchases under the 340B program reached a record $66.3 billion—an astounding $12.6 billion (+23.4%) higher than its 2022 counterpart. The gross-to-net difference between list prices and discounted 340B purchases also grew, to $57.8 billion (+$5.5 billion). 340B purchases are now almost 40% larger than Medicaid’s prescription drug purchases.

Hospitals again accounted for 87% of 340B purchases for 2023. Purchases at every 340B covered entity type grew, despite drug prices that grew more slowly than overall inflation.

Lobbyists claim that manufacturers’ 340B contract pharmacy changes are “stripping billions of dollars from the healthcare safety net.” But every year, the data tell a very different story. Only in the U.S. healthcare system can billions more in payments and spreads be considered a cut.

Read on for full details and our analysis, along with fresh details of troubling behavior by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
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Here on Drug Channels, we have long highlighted the boom in provider-administered biosimilars. In contrast to the pharmacy market, adoption of these biosimilars is growing, prices are dropping, and formulary barriers continue to fall.

Novel transparency information reveals that this good news doesn’t always translate into savings. Below, we rely on a unique data set from Turquoise Health to examine how much four national commercial health plans—Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare—paid hospitals for Avastin and its two most significant biosimilar competitors.

As we demonstrate, health plans pay hospitals far above acquisition costs for biosimilars. What’s more, plans can pay hospitals more for a biosimilar than for the higher-cost reference product. The U.S. drug channel system is warping hospitals’ incentives to adopt biosimilars, while simultaneously raising costs for commercial plans.

The namesake of my alma mater once said: “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” What would happen if we disinfected the entire channel?
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