How to get HBO Max on Fire TV devices | Fast Company

November 17, 2020November 16, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Amazon has buried the hatchet with AT&T’s WarnerMedia and will bring HBO Max to Fire TV devices on Tuesday, November 17. Fire TV users can find the app by saying “Alexa, open HBO Max.”

HBO Max launched in late May, with an expanded catalog of movies and shows for the same $15 per month price as HBO alone. But until now, the service hasn’t been available on Fire TV devices. As Variety reported in July, a main point of contention was Amazon’s Prime Video Channels store, which already distributes HBO to roughly five million subscribers. WarnerMedia wanted Amazon to stop selling those subscriptions, while Amazon wanted its existing subscribers to get the broader Max catalog.

CEO Secrets: The dads getting entrepreneurial in lockdown | BBC News

November 11, 2020November 10, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As part of our CEO Secrets series, which invites business leaders to share their advice, we are focusing on start-ups that have launched during lockdown. Each week we will look at a different type of entrepreneur. This week, we hear from fathers balancing a new business with childcare.

A consignment of 300kg of chocolate in an industrial container arrives at the house of Keith Tiplady, 35, in Leicester.

He moves hundreds of packs of pure chocolate pellets to a dedicated room in his house, where he also stores 1.5km of ribbon.

This is the “new normal” for Keith, who is now a chocolatier

Why Small Businesses Should Ignore California’s Prop 24 | Inc.com

November 11, 2020November 10, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

California’s landmark data privacy law only went into effect this January, but thanks to the will of voters, an entirely new law will soon go into its place.

On Election Day, more than half of the state’s voters approved Proposition 24, a ballot initiative that would create a new state-run data privacy agency tasked with ensuring companies follow the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), a new law that would supersede the state’s existing data privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The latest effort was spearheaded by real estate developer Alastair Mactaggart, with input from tech giants like Twitter.

When lawmakers passed the CCPA two years ago, it was hailed as the strictest law in the nation. It was also costly, with California businesses responsible for footing an estimated $55 billion in compliance costs.

How to Watch Apple’s November Mac Laptop Event | WIRED

November 10, 2020November 9, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

WEREN’T WE ALL here just a couple weeks ago? Hanging around on the internet waiting for Apple to show off some new hardware?

Indeed, we were. Apple has already staged two hardware release events this fall: one for the Apple Watch and iPads and one for the four new iPhones. Now the company is inviting us all to join its executives at its corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California, for another big reveal, the third of the season.

We expect this week’s event to center around Mac laptops and desktops. Apple has already announced its plans to gradually transition its computers away from Intel processors and toward its own custom silicon chips, with the first Apple-cored Macs arriving at the end of 2020. So here we are. Which computers will be the first to make the leap? As reported by Bloomberg last week, the 13-inch MacBook Air and a couple of MacBook Pro models will likely be the machines where the new processors make their Mac debut. (Apple’s custom silicon already powers its iPhones and iPads.)

Small Swedish Town Becomes Home To Urban Development Experiment | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

October 30, 2020October 29, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Stockholm-based architecture firm Anders Berensson Architects has unveiled designs for the Tibro Train Tracks, an ongoing urban development project to transform an abandoned track area in the Swedish town of Tibro into an innovative hub for urban planning experiments. Commissioned by the municipality of Tibro with support from the ArkDes Swedish Center for Architecture and Design, the practice-based research project explores the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, which calls for sustainable cities and communities. Under the direction of SDG 11, the Tibro research project aims to find new ways of sustainably revitalizing small, rural towns.

Located in southern Sweden, the small town of Tibro is best known for its furniture industry and local manufacturing. As a result, the architects opted to highlight the town’s history by taking an inventory of the machines and industrial features that could be adapted into site-specific projects and interventions.

Polar’s New Fitness Smartwatch | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

October 30, 2020October 29, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Polar has a new fitness-orientated smartwatch, and it’s not for the faint of heart. The Polar Vantage V2 is designed for hardcore fitness fanatics and athletes, with a massive range of in-depth features that will appeal to people whose lives revolve around exercise, but will baffle someone who reluctantly goes to the gym a couple of times a week.

The follow-up to the Polar Vantage V, the Vantage V2’s aluminum case is 21% lighter than the Vantage V at 52 grams, water-resistant to 100 meters, and comes in three colors: Black, green, or a cool grey-lime. The screen measures 1.2 inches and has a 240 x 240-pixel resolution, while the battery will last for 40 hours normally, or 100 hours with an extended battery mode active.

REE demonstrates its wildly innovative vehicle platform of the future | New Atlas

October 29, 2020October 28, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When we first encountered REE’s ultra-modular EV chassis, we struggled to know what to make of it. Speaking to CEO Daniel Barel, we couldn’t seem to pin down any specifics. What is it? A flat, modular vehicle chassis in which all steering, suspension, motor, gearbox and braking functions are bundled up into removable, replaceable “corner units” in the wheels.

These corner units have built-in electronics so that every single function can be fully electronically controlled. It’s not just drive-by-wire, it’s steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire, everything-by-wire. So you can put a steering wheel and pedals in if you want, but it’s just as happy to take instructions from an autonomous drive system, or heck, even a remote control. There’s no difference as far as the chassis is concerned.

The iFixit iPhone 12 Pro teardown is finally here | Mashable

October 29, 2020October 28, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you’re interested in the iPhone 12 Pro’s innards, you may want to block five minutes out of your day to watch iFixit’s new teardown video.

The smartphone repairability experts over at iFixit published an iPhone 12 Pro teardown that offers a detailed look at how the new Apple device is held together on the inside. Among other things, it confirms something we already knew: The battery is a downgrade from the iPhone 11 and isn’t any better than the one in the regular iPhone 12.

Harley-Davidson’s ebike is here, just don’t call it a Harley | CNN

October 28, 2020October 27, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Harley-Davidson, an aging brand that has faced shrinking sales over the past year, is starting an ebike company that it hopes could help it connect with a younger audience and grow its business.

Serial 1, the new Harley-Davidson venture, revealed the first glimpse Tuesday of its electric bicycle, which it says will be for sale in the first half of 2021. Harley-Davidson (HOG) originally showed off photos of a concept electric bicycle in January 2019, but the company will be a minority shareholder in Serial 1, and venture capitalists will own the majority of the new brand, though Serial 1 declined to reveal the investors.

Harley-Davidson has also launched an electric motorcycle, Livewire, to help reach new customers, but will keep that full-fledged motorcycle under the Harley name.

The war against plastic is distracting us from pollution that cannot be seen | Live Science

October 28, 2020October 27, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The war against plastic may be overshadowing greater threats to the environment. In a collaboration with experts from the environmental sciences, engineering, industry, policy and charities, we have written a paper in the journal WIREs Water which highlights concerns that relatively easy action against plastic pollution can conveniently mask environmental apathy, and that people are being misled by alarmist headlines, emotive photographs, and “greenwashing.”

Plastic is an incredibly useful and versatile material on which much of modern society relies, yet it has become one of the most topical environmental issues of the day. Over the past few years, plastic pollution has encouraged action from individuals, organizations and governments at levels similar to some of the greatest threats to the environment, such as climate change and biodiversity loss.