Apple is finally getting serious about removing junk messages | TechCrunch

June 23, 2022June 22, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Apple has just rolled out the second developer beta for iOS 16, and the first thing that’s caught our eye is revamped message filtering. With this update, the company has signaled that it’s getting serious about streamlining your SMS-based messages.

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s being included in the new update:

The new update allows developers of filter extensions — like the one built by Truecaller, or Apple’s own SMS filter available in India and Brazil — to classify non-personal messages into 12 sub-categories within “Transactions” and “Promotions.” The Transactions category includes Finance, Reminders, Orders, Health, Public Services, Weather, Carrier, Rewards, and Others; the Promotions category includes Offers, Coupons, and Others.

The Ghost of Internet Explorer Will Haunt the Web for Years | WIRED

June 22, 2022June 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

AFTER YEARS OF decline and a final wind-down over the past 13 months, on Wednesday Microsoft confirmed the retirement of Internet Explorer, the company’s long-lived and increasingly notorious web browser. Launched in 1995, IE came preinstalled on Windows computers for almost two decades, and like Windows XP, Internet Explorer became a mainstay—to the point that when it was time for users to upgrade and move on, they often didn’t. And while last week’s milestone will push even more users off the historic browser, security researchers emphasize that IE and its many security vulnerabilities are far from gone.

SpaceX Breaks Two Major Records After Latest Flight in What Elon Musk Calls a ‘Flawless’ Mission | Entrepreneur

June 22, 2022June 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The impressive feat — most flights are spaced out at least a full day apart, with many averaging between five and seven days — made it the fastest three-flight series for orbital rockets in the history of space exploration.

The company’s Falcon 9 rocket is also breaking records, as it was used for the 13th time this weekend, making it SpaceX’s most launched spaceship.

SpaceX launched 53 Starlink satellites from the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida Friday, followed by a launch out of Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Saturday for the German military. The final mission was back in Florida Sunday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying a satellite to orbit for communications company Globalstar.

TikTok’s eel pit guy has found fame on the app | Mashable

June 21, 2022June 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Nick Tobler is a 25-year-old aquarium store manager in Kentucky, but you might know him better as TikTok’s eel pit guy.

More than 380,000 people follow his TikTok account @cowturtle and have kept up with Tobler’s absolutely wild adventure of turning a creepy, unused rainwater cistern under his garage into an even creepier 5,000-gallon pond fit for a dozen eels.

This week, he finally filled the pond with 12 American eels, and we all watched with a mixture of curiosity, excitement, and, frankly, fear. Fans pitched names for the eels — like Bathtub, Crunchwrap Supreme, Eelon Musk, Steely Dan, Mentally Eel, Eelissa, and Neel. A crayfish named Mayonnaise is also inside the spooky pit.

Naturally, we had questions. Tobler got on the phone with Mashable to answer everything from “are your eels in your will” to “why haven’t you introduced them to a dog?”

5 signs the housing market is starting to slow down | CNN

June 21, 2022June 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

There is a shift happening in the housing market.

After more than a year of soaring demand, exploding home prices and increasing real estate sales, the market finally seems to be cooling off.

“The housing market isn’t crashing, but it is experiencing a hangover as it comes down from an unsustainable high,” said Taylor Marr, Redfin deputy chief economist.

Mortgage rates have increased more than two and a half percentage points this year. And the higher costs of financing a home have changed the calculations for many would-be homebuyers. As a result, year-over-year home sales have been dropping in recent months.

In a Fannie Mae survey on homebuyer sentiment, a record 79% of respondents said it’s a bad time to buy a home.

Are meal replacement shakes healthy? | Live Science

June 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In the world of weight loss, replacing meals with shakes seems fairly commonplace, but are meal replacement shakes healthy?

You may have seen meal replacement shakes on billboards, in magazines and down certain supermarket aisles, from low-calorie shakes to shakes that are aimed at helping you gain weight – without a knife and fork in sight. In fact, if they’re not already pre-made, they will tend to be sold in powder form, which simply needs mixing with milk or water.

These shakes come in various flavors, from chocolate through to vanilla, and even unflavored should you wish. They are filled with varying levels of calories, vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients, including protein, fats, and carbs. Some may be more fiber-filled than others, whilst some shakes have been specifically tailored to meet certain individual’s needs.

How To Learn Faster And Smarter (Your Complete Guide) | Lifehack

June 17, 2022June 16, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Why Aren’t You Learning Fast?

Years of observing people at college and at work have led us to discover three specific reasons why many people are unable to learn quickly and efficiently. See if you can spot yourself in any or all of these learning blockers:

1. Struggle To Kickstart Learning Something From Scratch

As you’ve probably experienced yourself, sometimes when wanting to learn something new you find yourself not knowing where to start.

How should your next vaccine dose change as COVID evolves? | Fast Company

June 17, 2022June 16, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When the omicron variant of COVID-19 emerged in South Africa late last year, it took only weeks to overtake delta, the variant that previously dominated. Then the original version of omicron was replaced by one subvariant, and then another. The latest subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, are now quickly spreading in the U.S.

The virus is evolving so quickly that when Moderna recently announced preliminary results from the trial of its newest COVID-19 vaccine—the first designed to target both the original virus and omicron—the vaccine was already somewhat outdated since it wasn’t designed to stymie the newest subvariants. And when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) meets at the end of June to discuss whether the vaccine should be modified before the likely rollout of more booster shots in the fall, it will have to make decisions without knowing how the virus will continue to change.

The Best Fonts for Your PowerPoint Presentation | AllBusiness.com

June 16, 2022June 14, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Around the world, PowerPoint has become the default medium for presentations, conferences, and a reliable way to communicate your ideas.

If you are looking to create a great PowerPoint presentation, there are a lot of conventions and considerations to keep in mind. These include keeping things concise, drawing attention to compelling points, and importantly, using PowerPoint fonts that actually stand out.

If your font knowledge starts and ends with Comic Sans, we’ve got you covered. Let’s take a look at some of the best PowerPoint fonts you can go with and why they’re hitting the sweet spots—and what makes others not so great.