6. Interesting Reads
“Calorie counting is a useful way to lose weight, but a new study suggests a fitness tracker could sabotage your efforts. The devices are overwhelmingly popular. For instance, since its inception, the leading brand, Fitbit, has sold at least 30 million of them. The company promises on its website that the devices “track steps, distance, calories burned, floors climbed, active minutes & hourly activity.” Others, such as PulseOn, Apple Watch, Basis Peak, Samsung Gear S2 and Microsoft Band, promise the same.”
“The human brain is much better than previously thought at discovering and avoiding disease, a new study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden reports. Our sense of vision and smell alone are enough to make us aware that someone has a disease even before it breaks out. And not only aware — we also act upon the information and avoid sick people. The study is published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).”
“Ever since 2011, Intel has been trying to get you excited about a high-speed port called Thunderbolt. Unless you bought a Mac or other premium PC, though, you probably didn’t give it a second thought. But that could change with Wednesday’s announcement that Intel plans to build Thunderbolt support directly into its processors. That would mean PC makers get the technology at no extra cost, unlike today, when they have to buy a separate Thunderbolt chip from Intel. No wonder Apple and Microsoft are excited. Why bother with Thunderbolt instead of plain old USB ports? Because there’s lots you can do with a big fat data pipe that can transfer 40 gigabits of data per second, four times faster than USB’s best-case scenario of 10Gbps.”
(CNET)
“The Tesla Model 3 is so close you could taste it (probably tastes like car) but we don’t yet know final specs on the vehicle. A new retail comparison chart surfaced at the Tesla Model 3 Owners Club forum (via InsideEVs) that offers some insight into what we can expect for specs, though it seems primarily designed to remind prospective buyers how great the Model S is by comparison. In the diagram, we see that the Model 3 has a 0-60 mph acceleration time of 5.6 seconds, which is more than double the Model S best time of 2.3 seconds (which is achieved with the P100D variant operating in Ludicrous Mode). That’s in keeping with Tesla’s announced specs of “under 6 seconds” for the base model, which was made public in April, 2016.”
“Who has two thumbs and can pilot a drone? You, probably. The Spark, a new pint-size drone from Chinese manufacturer DJI, was announced yesterday at an event in New York’s Grand Central station. It looks like a shrunken-down sibling of the Mavic Pro, a drone with foldable arms that DJI announced in September. At the time, the Mavic Pro was one of the smallest, most versatile, and affordable high-end drones on the market. With the Spark, DJI has taken things even further with a tiny drone that anyone can control with their hands.”
(Quartz)
“If you are looking for countries that have a significant part of their populations living an unhealthy lifestyle, our list of 10 countries that have the most smokers in the world could be just what you are looking for. If you tried smoking and found cigarettes to be disgusting, it is possible that you were lucky and didn’t try all the cigarettes from our list of 5 Best Tasting Cigarettes for New Smokers. Talking about smoking, it is hard not to also talk about lung cancer – considering that smoking increases the chance of developing lung cancer 23 times in men, and 13 times in women.”
“A medicine made from marijuana, without the stuff that gives a high, cut seizures in kids with a severe form of epilepsy in a study that strengthens the case for more research into pot’s possible health benefits. “This is the first solid, rigorously obtained scientific data” that a marijuana compound is safe and effective for this problem, said one study leader, Dr. Orrin Devinsky of NYU Langone Medical Center. He said research into promising medical uses has been hampered by requiring scientists to get special licenses, plus legal constraints and false notions of how risky marijuana is.”
“Curious about stores like Lulu’s, Tobi, and Nasty Gal? In recent decades, domestic and international businesses have modernized, becoming increasingly progressive in every facet of their operations. A happy byproduct of this is that women are assuming more positions of power and authority within organizations, earning more than they used to, and becoming more prominent players in all aspects of business decision-making. An unhappy byproduct, depending on who you ask, is that added responsibility and enhanced roles within any organization generally mean diminished free time.”
“Enjoy watching foreign films? We have some bad news. Security researchers have discovered a new attack vector that could allow online miscreants to gain access to your PC, mobile device, and smart TV: malicious subtitles. Researchers from security firm Check Point said “hundreds of millions” of devices running VLC, Kodi, Popcorn Time, and Stremio — four of the most popular media players out there — are at risk. “Malicious subtitles could be created and delivered to millions of devices automatically, bypassing security software and giving the attacker full control of the infected device and the data it holds,” Check Point vulnerability research team leader Omri Herscovici said in a statement.”
(PC Mag)
