Tech of the Day

[Daniel E.]

Chrome OS Flex officially launches for 400+ PC, Mac models

Just a feeeeew caveats to bear in mind, though

www.theregister.com

Google on Thursday officially released Chrome OS Flex, which aims to bring the web giant's mega-browser operating system to a wider range of systems.

Flex was unveiled in February as a version of Chrome OS that could run on any modern-ish Intel or AMD (sorry, not Arm) processor. Since that debut, the number of devices certified to run Chrome OS Flex has almost doubled, from some 250 to more than 400, according to Google....

 

[Daniel E.]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/11/google-ai-lamda-blake-lemoine/

The terminology used with large language models, like “learning” or even “neural nets,” creates a false analogy to the human brain, she said.

Humans learn their first languages by connecting with caregivers.

These large language models “learn” by being shown lots of text and predicting what word comes next, or showing text with the words dropped out and filling them in.

 

[Daniel E.]

Email Resurrection: How to revive & monetize any email list

"Perfection is overrated. Motion beats meditation. Send the damn email."

 

[Daniel E.]

'It truly saved my life': Apple Watch helps diagnose Maine woman's deadly tumor

A Maine woman is recovering from life-saving surgery thanks to her Apple Watch.

wgme.com

"Doctors in Maine soon confirmed that her heart was beating erratically for a simple and scary reason. She had a myxoma, a rare, fast-growing tumor that was choking off her heart's blood supply and would have eventually caused a stroke."

 

[Daniel E.]

5 Free Online Video Editors Without Watermarks or Other Hidden Limitations

These free online video editors don't have hidden restrictions like watermarks or time limits, perfect for social media posts or quick slideshows.

www.makeuseof.com

Mastershot is a simple video editor that does the basics well, while remaining completely free with no ads or hidden costs...

Working entirely in the browser, Mastershot promises added security by processing your videos natively. That means videos stay on your computer in your browser, without being uploaded anywhere. This also means the edits are much faster than using an app where each change has to be uploaded to a server before you can see it.

 

[Daniel E.]

5 Apps for Spending Time Outside and Connecting With Nature

While you should put your phone away to fully enjoy the benefits of being outside, apps can help you find outdoor experiences and connect with nature.

www.makeuseof.com

"Spending time outdoors can be so beneficial, but sometimes it's tricky to prioritize that time outside. That's where these apps can come in handy."

https://www.naturequant.com/naturedose/

 

[Daniel E.]

In Search of Digital Dopamine: How Apps Can Motivate Depressed Patients, a Review and Conceptual Analysis

Introduction: Depression is highly prevalent and causes considerable suffering and disease burden despite the existence of wide-ranging treatment options. Momentary assessment is a promising tool in the management of psychiatric disorders, and particularly ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Smartphone apps can motivate depressed patients by enhancing dopamine, offering the opportunity to enhance motivation and behavioral changes, although longer term studies are still needed.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Why a sausage can do what your gloves cannot​

by Charles Wallace and Sajan Saini, TEDEd
July 29, 2022

Dig into the science of touchscreens, and find out the difference between the two most common types: capacitive and resistive.

In 2010, South Korea experienced a particularly cold winter. People couldn’t activate their smartphones while wearing gloves, so they began wielding snack sausages— causing one company to see a 40% rise in sausage sales. So, what could sausages do that gloves couldn’t? In other words, how do touchscreens actually work?

 

[Daniel E.]

A CSS framework (for web design):

Tailwind CSS - Rapidly build modern websites without ever leaving your HTML.

Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building modern websites without ever leaving your HTML.

tailwindcss.com

Rapidly build modern websites without ever leaving your HTML.

A utility-first CSS framework packed with classes like flex, pt-4, text-center and rotate-90 that can be composed to build any design, directly in your markup.

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Learn Flexbox Interactively With Tailwind Online - Laravel News

Knights of the Flexbox table is a fun, interactive, and completely free browser game to learn and remember Flexbox with Tailwind CSS.

laravel-news.com

Knights of the Flexbox table is a fun, interactive, and completely free browser game to learn and remember Flexbox with Tailwind CSS.

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Cheap video tutorials:

Tailwind CSS From Scratch | Learn By Building Projects

Build great looking layouts fast and efficiently using Tailwind CSS utility classes

www.udemy.com

 

[Daniel E.]

Freedom to Choose: Understanding Input Modality Preferences of People with Upper-body Motor Impairments for Activities of Daily Living​

Many people with upper-body motor impairments encounter challenges while performing Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs), such as toileting, grooming, and managing finances, which have impacts on their Quality of Life (QOL). Although existing assistive technologies enable people with upper-body motor impairments to use different input modalities to interact with computing devices independently (e.g., using voice to interact with a computer), many people still require Personal Care Assistants (PCAs) to perform ADLs.

Multimodal input has the potential to enable users to perform ADLs without human assistance. We conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with people who have upper-body motor impairments to capture their existing practices and challenges of performing ADLs, identify opportunities to expand the input possibilities for assistive devices, and understand user preferences for multimodal interaction during everyday tasks. Finally, we discuss implications for the design and use of multimodal input solutions to support user independence and collaborative experiences when performing daily living tasks.

 

[Daniel E.]

Care robot a 'night shift work friend' at Japanese nursing home - The Mainichi

OTSU -- A self-navigating artificial intelligence-equipped robot is doing its bit as part of the night shift crew at a nursing home in this west Japan

mainichi.jp

February 28, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

A self-navigating artificial intelligence-equipped robot is doing its bit as part of the night shift crew at a nursing home in this west Japan city, helping to improve care while assisting in infection countermeasures.

A robot with faint blue lights quietly opens the door of a room at the Activa Biwa nursing home in the city of Otsu just past 9 p.m., when the lights are turned off for residents. After making sure that the resident in need of care is in bed, the robot silently closes the door.

The Aeolus robot became part of the Activa Biwa staff in November 2021. Using UV-C lights, it disinfects commonly touched places in the building including handrails and doorknobs. It can also detect abnormalities in residents as they sleep based on their posture or movements, and notify human coworkers by sharing images it has taken of the residents.


An Aeolus robot is seen disinfecting a handrail using UV-C lights in the hallway after the lights-out hours at nursing home Activa Biwa in Otsu, on Feb. 24, 2022. (Mainichi/Daiki Takikawa)

Its sensors allow the robot to self-navigate around the building, avoiding obstacles. It can operate an elevator on its own using arms with seven joints each. It was even able to prevent one resident from falling after detecting them trying to get into their wheelchair from their bed.

It makes the rounds on one floor of the facility's care ward, which has about 30 rooms, in about 45 minutes. The nursing home operator plans to add more Aeolus robots and increase the number of floors they look after.

Kayo Kojima, 60, the central Japan area manager for Activa Biwa's operating firm Trust Garden, told the Mainichi Shimbun, "The nursing care business will be even more short-staffed as Japan's population ages. To secure good service qualities, we've introduced a robot now, and we want to expand the things we can do."

Care unit leader Yuta Minamisawa, 26, who often works with the Aeolus robot on night shifts, said of his robotic coworker, "I was worried at first that it might create more work, but it's helped reduce work by making the rounds and disinfecting appliances. It's become my night shift work friend that I can rely on."

 

[Daniel E.]

I like the co-worker angle of night-shift robots. When I was working night shifts in group homes, the shifts went by much faster if there was a co-worker there. Even better would be a self-driving car for the drive home.

 

[Daniel E.]

Stack Overflow 2022 Developer Survey

Databases​

PostgreSQL becomes the most loved and wanted database after five years of Redis being the most loved.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

This server runs on MariaDB 10.3.36 which is basically a faster version of MySQL. I was surprised that they weren't ranked higher but I suppose it depends on the industry or type of software they're running too.

 

[Daniel E.]

And I just read this:

"MariaDB is more suitable for smaller databases, and is also capable of storing data entirely in-memory — something not offered by PostgreSQL."

 

[Daniel E.]

Just found out today that Krisp is a popular, software-based alternative to noise-cancelling microphones.

The software covers up the sounds of dog barking, baby crying, etc. during video chats:

World’s #1 Noise Cancelling App and AI Meeting Assistant

Krisp cancels background noise, records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings and calls.

krisp.ai

(for Windows and Mac). Free for up to one hour a day (long enough for a therapy session )
$12+ a month otherwise.


Also:

Noise-cancelling USB adapter by ASUS:

Amazon product


For gamers:

AMD's new AI noise removal tool is extremely easy to use but silence comes at a cost

Noise Suppression cuts out unwanted audio, perfect for Discord, but your mic's quality may be caught in the crossfire.

www.pcgamer.com

"AMD Noise Suppression is available currently on Ryzen 5000 series and newer systems, as well as Radeon RX 6000 series and newer," AMD's Isaak Wong says in a blog post (opens in new tab).

Users with less up-to-date hardware may want to instead turn to software-based noise removal, such as Krisp, which is already available from within the Discord settings. Though there is also external noise removal hardware like Asus' AI Noise Cancelling dongle (opens in new tab), which may do the trick.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Fascinating! Thanks, Daniel.

 

[Daniel E.]

Set up Linux on your Chromebook - Chromebook Help

Linux is a feature that lets you develop software using your Chromebook. You can install Linux command line tools, code editors, and IDEs (integrated development environments) on your Chromebook. Thes

support.google.com

Set up Linux on your Chromebook​

Linux is a feature that lets you develop software using your Chromebook. You can install Linux command line tools, code editors, and IDEs (integrated development environments) on your Chromebook. These can be used to write code, create apps, and more. Check which devices have Linux.

Important: If you use your Chromebook at work or school, you might not be able to use Linux. For more information, contact your administrator.

Turn on Linux​

Linux is off by default. You can turn it on any time from Settings.

1. On your Chromebook, at the bottom right, select the time.
2. Select Settings
   
   
   Advanced
   
   Developers.
3. Next to "Linux development environment," select Turn On.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions. Setup can take 10 minutes or more.
5. A terminal window opens. You have a Debian 10 (Buster) environment. You can run Linux commands, install more tools using the APT package manager, and customize your shell.

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Related book (free with Kindle Unlimited):

Chromebook LAMP Environment Construction Handbook: Build Apache, MariaDB, PHP execution environment on Chromebook Linux

 

[Daniel E.]

Amazon's Dark Secret: It Has Failed to Protect Your Data

Voyeurs. Sabotaged accounts. Backdoor schemes. For years, the retail giant has handled your information less carefully than it handles your packages.

www.wired.com

For years, the retail giant has handled your information less carefully than it handles your packages...

By the mid-2010s, Amazon's data warehouse there had ballooned to become the biggest Oracle database in the world—as much as 1,000 times bigger than any other, according to one Amazon estimate. It held a staggering 50,000 terabytes [50,000,000 GB] of information...

At Amazon, 3,300 small teams—which were represented in one internal map as a celestial orb comprising so many points of light—were tapping into that data every day, all hungry for their own analytics. They had a tendency to grab the data they needed, copy it, and store it elsewhere, according to a 2018 security memo that analyzed the roots of the company's data risks. The result: a “mostly undocumented proliferation of copies of their required data sets.”

That rapid and furious proliferation was, in part, what made it nearly impossible for the information security division to get a handle on Amazon's data. “The increasing number of copies of data sets, combined with Amazon's decentralized accountability and ownership model,” the memo said, saddled the security division with a Sisyphean task. In 2016, in fact, the security team attempted to map all of Amazon's data—and was not able to do so...

 

[Daniel E.]

How to Export Your WordPress Media Library

Explore this step-by-step guide for exporting your WordPress media library in four possible ways.

blog.hubspot.com