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Apple Is Reportedly Working on Touchless and Curved iPhone Screens

Jonathan Antonio
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0
Apple Is Reportedly Working on Touchless and Curved iPhone Screens

Apple is reportedly working on touches gesture screens that curve, which will be different than all other smartphones in the mobile phone market. According to various sources, the gestures feature for the iPhone is described as a hover-like gesture system “by moving their finger close to the screen without actually tapping it.”

The new technology is rumored to be two years away from debuting to the public or if Apple is even interested in using it. Apple will implant the latest technology in the iPhone bezel instead of the display, which is similar to Samsung’s Air Gestures. The curved iPhone display has been a rumor for a while now as its been in development but, now it is expected to be around two or three years away from implementation.

Apple will ditch Intel chips in 2020

This news comes after Apple is set to ditch Intel chips in 2020. According to Bloomberg, Apple will be developing its processors for the Mac as early as 2020, doing away with current Intel processors powering the product. The decision to ditch Intel for Apple chips is a multistep process project for Apple to use their processor across all of their platforms.

Apple has been working on their ARM-based processors currently available inside iOS devices, the Apple Watch, and the Apple TV. However, Intel will still be working on the iPhone, of which it proves over half the modems for each device. It is also important to note that Apple provides 5% of Intel’s annual revenue.

‘Fortnite’ Vending Machines: Here’s What’s Inside of Them

Jonathan Antonio
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0
‘Fortnite’ Vending Machines: Here’s What’s Inside of Them

Fortnite vending machines are being released for some players and will appear on all platforms.

This 3.4 video game update adds a new feature that places machines across the Battle Royale island and works by randomly selling three items of rarities in exchange for materials; the higher the rarity, the higher the price.

Materials

  1. Items found in a Common (white) version will cost 100 materials.
  2. Items found in an Uncommon (green) version will cost 200 materials.
  3. Items found in a Rare (blue) version will cost 300 materials.
  4. Items found in an Epic (purple) version will cost 400 materials.
  5. Items found in a Legendary (gold) version will cost 500 materials.

Weapons

  1. Suppressed Submachine Gun
  2. Tactical Submachine Gun
  3. Pistol
  4. Suppressed Pistol
  5. Revolver
  6. Hand Cannon
  7. Assault Rifle
  8. Burst Assault Rifle

Each material type has a corresponding item that can also be exchanged for the vending machine will slowly cycle through each for you to choose from. If you are short on time, you can pickaxe it to skip to the next three items. The update also introduces Limited-Time Mode, another High Explosives mode, weapon balances, which may also include a “first shot accuracy” ability.

Check Epic Games’ website for the full patch notes.

About Fortnite:

Fortnite is a co-op survival game developed by Epic Games and People Can Fly and published by Epic Games. Released on July 25, 2017, with a full free-to-play rleease expected in 2018. On July 26, 2017, it was announced that Fortnite had sold over 500,000 digital pre-order copies. Then on August 18, 2017, Epic revealed Fortnite had surpassed over a million players.

Facebook Reveals Their First Major Change to their Terms of Service

Jonathan Antonio
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3
Facebook Reveals Their First Major Change to their Terms of Service

On Wednesday, Facebook announced they will be updating their terms of service to clarify what it does with user’s social media information. The changes to the TOS are in response to major business shakeups to Facebook’s business since the last time the company implemented major changes in 2015.

What does this mean for Facebook?

This news comes after the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal. However, the company says the update is not connected to the user privacy controversy. Rob Sherman, Facebook’s Deputy Chief Privacy Officer told Axios, “As head of GDPR, I can tell you that we needed to update our terms anyway. This would’ve happened anyway.”

Major updates include policies around new services and businesses the company has added since they last updated their features including Facebook Live and Marketplace.

Additional information will be added explaining how Facebook shares user data with businesses like Instagram or WhatsApp. Facebook’s different platforms share data through the Facebook Audience Network, the collection of user data from Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook, which is then used for advertising.

Facebook will also include additional transparency about their commitments to user data privacy, like the company’s mission to not sell user data.

What’s next for Facebook?

At the end of the day, the updates are normal business practice decisions, which were presumably going to be included at the end of the day. That said, following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the public has unto seven days to comment on the draft terms, Facebook said they will use that feedback to create a finalized TOS in the next few weeks. All users will then have to agree to the new terms, according to Robert Sherman.

Police Officers Killed in 2017 Drops to a Record Low

Reginald Edward
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0
Police Officers Killed in 2017 Drops to a Record Low

The number of cops killed in the line of duty has dropped in 2017 and hit its lowest numbers in nearly 60 years, according to a report by USA Today.

As of Thursday, December 28, 2017, 128 officers died in the line of duty this year, down from 135 in 2016. Since 1959, only 2013 saw fewer police officers die while working when 116 were killed, according to statistics from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

The leading cause of death for police officers in 2017 was traffic crashes, which killed 47 police officers. While 44 police officers were shot and killed in 2017. Better training, improved safety gear and policing strategies are credited for decreasing the number of police officers killed in the line of duty.

President Trump sparked controversy in July when he encouraged police officers to treat suspects roughly when loading them into the police cars.

As the number of police officers killed by police has decreased, more people are getting killed by police. A study conducted by The Washington Post found the number of people killed by police rose from 964 in 2016 to 971 in 2017.

Cancer Drug, Lomustine, Price Rises By 1400%

Brent Edward
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Cancer Drug, Lomustine, Price Rises By 1400%

Lomustine is a cancer drug that treats brain tumors, lung cancer, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It has been around for nearly 40 years, but it is becoming more expensive after the drug has gone up in price by 1400%.

The drug was previously called CeeNU and was sold from Bristol-Myers Squibb to a Miami-based startup called NextSource Biotechnology.

The drug previously sold for $50 a pill and now costs $768. The company has increased the price of the prescription nine times in less than five years. According to Wall Street Journal, the drug saw a 20% hike in August followed by a 12% hike in November. Prices of other doses of the drug, which is called Gleostine, has also increased.

While the patent for lomustine has expired, currently there is no generic version being produced, and as a result, NextSource has no competitors to discourage it from raising prices.

The Nextsource chief executive told the Journal the company bases its pricing on development costs, fees and the benefit the drug provides to people. It also gives low-income patients and those without health insurance a discount on products.

NextSource is not the only company accused of dramatically increasing prices. In 2015, Martin Shkreli, chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, sparked controversy after increasing the cost of anti-Aids drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent from $13.50 to $750 a pill. Many people criticized the price increase including  Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association, by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and soon after that by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump.

In December 2015, Shkreli was arrested by the FBI after being indicted on federal charges of securities fraud. He would later resign as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals and was replaced by the company’s board chairman, Ron Tilles. Shkreli was later convicted of two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiring to commit securities fraud in August 2015.

Also, Valeant Pharmaceuticals bought the rights to two life-saving heart drugs, Isuprel and Nitropress, and immediately increases prices by 525% and 212%.

California Says Nestlé Has Been Bottling and Selling Water It is Not Allowed to Use

Reginald Edward
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0
California Says Nestlé Has Been Bottling and Selling Water It is Not Allowed to Use

Officials in California claim Nestlé has been bottling and selling water that it does not have a legal right to use.

Since 2015, officials with the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) have received complains that Nestlé was using water from the San Bernardino National Forest to which the company had no right to claim and then selling the water under the company’s Arrowhead brand.

Nestlé cited a 150-year-old claim by a man named David Noble Smith whose property later became the site of the Arrowhead Springs Hotel. Because in California, water rights are given based on who got there first.

The company points to the business’ commitment to “sourcing water exclusively from carefully selected mountain springs,” which “ensures that every drop of water is revered by Native Americans for its healing powers.”

“Westerners have savoured the natural goodness of Arrowhead water since bottling began in the 1890s,” the company explains on their website.

However, last week the board declared that the company holds no legal right to that water it is draining from the Strawberry Canyon watershed. The committee said the company’s argument to use that water was “not valid for Nestlé’s current appropriative diversion and use of water from the San Bernardino National Forest.”

“A significant portion of the water currently diverted by Nestlé appears to be diverted without a valid basis of right,” the report said.

The board argues that Nestlé has a right to about 26 acre-feet a year, which results in approximately 8.5 million gallons. But, the company averaged around 192 acre-feet a year or nearly 62 million gallons.

The board’s report is not enforceable order. Instead, the board released a series of recommendations for Nestlé in a letter to the business, including the company “cease any unauthorized diversions,” submit a compliance plan and obtain a permit for claiming more water beyond their allowance.

In a statement, Nestlé said “We look forward to cooperating with the SWRCB during the review process and to providing the necessary documents to supplement the SWRCB’s report, including producing information requested from over a century ago, to the extent that it is available,” the statement said.

It is important to point out California’s law does not prohibit a company from bottling the state’s water.

Judge Dismisses Gender Pay Discrimination Lawsuit Against Google

Reginald Edward
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0
Judge Dismisses Gender Pay Discrimination Lawsuit Against Google

Accusations that Google paid their female employees less than men and given them fewer promotions have been dismissed by a California state judge on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Superior Court judge Mary Miss said that the lawsuit, which represented all female Google employees in California, was far too vague, and asked the plaintiffs to file a new complaint for the specific groups of women who were affected by pay discrimination. Miss added that two of the three named plaintiffs had not proven they the work they did for Google did was equivalent to the work done by men who had been allegedly been paid more.

After Wiss’ revealed her concerns, a plaintiff lawyer, James Finberg, said he would file a new complaint by early next month.

The lawsuit was filed in September by three women, Kelly Ellis, Holly Pease, and Kelli Wisuri. They argued that they were placed on lower career tracks than their male counterparts and earned less money and bonuses as a result. Ellis, for example, said that she was placed on the front-end team, despite having experience in backend development and the backend team had a higher reputation, earned more money, and was a male-dominated atmosphere. All three women have left Google over the past few years.

The case Ellis v. Google is the first lawsuit that accuses Google business executives of gender bias, even though it is an issue commonly raised against other Silicon Valley tech companies, including the ride-sharing company Uber.

Nearly 20% of NBA Players Have Heart Issues, Study Finds

Brent Edward
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0
Nearly 20% of NBA Players Have Heart Issues, Study Finds

Nearly, 1 in 5 NBA players has heart scans that appear abnormal, according to a new study.

Approximately 20% of today’s basketball stars have abnormal heart scans, according to a new detailed assessment of the NBA’s heart health. Basketball players are 30 times more likely than any other to suffer a sudden cardiac death, and very few 7-foot tall basketball players live to their 90s.

The new research was conducted by NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University and includes data on every player in the NBA in 2014. Now researchers are attempting to understand why.

Researchers found abnormalities on an electrocardiogram for players in their second half of their career, or over the age of 27 years old.

That said, researchers say that these findings do not suggest basketball is dangerous for the heart. In fact, researchers cross-referenced their scans with an ultrasound, and they found these abnormalities were relatively healthy and harmless for the players. Researchers suggest NBA stars receive targeted heart assessment to monitor their health especially as they get older.

“We have shown that players do develop significant changes with exercise,” David Engel, lead author of the study which was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.”

“Their hearts become larger, the weight and mass changes, and we found that this is particularly true for the oldest players, aged 27 to 39, compared to the younger ones around 18 to 22. We need to look specifically at why that’s the case.”

Dr. Engle plans to conduct a longitudinal study tracking today’s NBA stars. In particular, he wants to understand why tall African Americans have such dangerous heart risks.

“There are significant differences in African American players compared to Caucasian players, so that is something else we are looking into.”

The study was conducted ten years after the NBA first implemented mandatory ECG screening for players, the most comprehensive cardiac testing and monitoring program of any sport, given the high heart risk.

The study examined around 500 players, 400 of whom were African American, in the pre-season of 2014. In comparison to other athletes, researchers discovered 81 NBA athletes, about 15.6%, had abnormal heart scans.

Dr. Engel has not been able to determine what it is about NBA exercise regimens that increase existing health risks. His goal is to create a better scanning process, so players can continue to play longer than previous generations ever did and to live a long life after their NBA career.

Cinemark Launches A New Kind of Loyalty Program

Reginald Edward
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0
Cinemark Launches A New Kind of Loyalty Program

MoviePass has been lowering their prices to build up their business, and now theater chain Cinemark is firing back with their subscription service called Cinemark Movie Club. The company will use a different business model than an all-you-can-watch style. It is more of a rewards program that comes with a ticket price lock-in. Members who pay $8.99 per month, will get one 2D movie ticket anytime they want and lets them buy any additional fare at $8.99 throughout the month.

While the program does not sound anything like MoviePass’ deal, which gives members one movie ticket per day for a $9.95 per month flat fee. But Cinemark is hoping the program will compete with the company. Movie Club customers will also be able to upgrade their tickets to other formats including 3D, or their D-Box motion similar chairs. Meanwhile, MoviePass customers will only have access to 2D screenings. Members can also buy their tickets in advance, which is more flexible than MoviePass since MoviePass requires audiences to purchase tickets at the theater.

Movie Club members also receive a 20% discount on concessions. If members do not use their free ticket in a given month, it will roll over on to the next month.

As theatrical movie attendance continues to decrease, theater chains are looking to create new business models to increase revenue. Currently, theater chains are using premium-format screens to entice people to watch movies at theaters instead of at home.

Netflix Writes Danny Masterson Off of ‘The Ranch’ After Sexual Assault Accusations

Jonathan Antonio
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0
Netflix Writes Danny Masterson Off of ‘The Ranch’ After Sexual Assault Accusations

Netflix says the streaming company will write actor Danny Masterson out of its original series The Ranch after allegations from multiple women say he raped them in the early 2000s. A Netflix statement says Monday was Masterson’s last day on set, and the comedy series will continue without him.

The announcement came after the Huffington Post revealed that one of Masterson’s alleged victims confronted Netflix Andy Yeatman at a children’s soccer game in Los Angeles this weekend and asked why Netflix had not responded to the allegations against Masterson. Netflix’s director of global kids’ content, reportedly responded, “We don’t believe them.” Yeatmen later reportedly said he was not in a position to make any decisions about Masterson’s future on the show.

Four women have accused Masterson of raping them in the early 2000s. Masterson has been under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department for about a year, according to the Huffington Post. But the cast has stalled, allegedly due to Masterson’s Scientology affiliation. The Huffington Post reports that after one of Masterson’s accusers filed a police report in 2004 saying Masterson raped her while she was “passed out,” “the Church of Scientology intervened and submitted more than 50 affidavits from Scientologists who denied the woman’s account.”

Then in March, journalist Tony Ortega revealed that Masterson was being investigated by the LAPD “at least three alleged cases of rape or sodomy of women who were also Scientologists and who claim they were pressured by the Church of Scientology not to contact police or go public with their accusations.”

The Huffington Post also reports that evidence against Masterson was “overwhelming,” but the case was not moving forward due to the Los Angeles district attorney’s office.

Masterson is known for playing Steven Hyde on That 70’s Show. He has denied the allegations.

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