Month: November 2019

Review: Focal’s Chora 806 is a luxury speaker at a heck of a price


French audio company Focal has been in the hi-fi business since 1979, making everything from car speakers, to studio monitors, to surround systems. Nowadays, it’s perhaps best known for its high-endproducts with eye-searing price tags. Whether we’re talking about the excellent $3,000 Stellia headphones or the $230,000, costs-as-much-as-a-house Grande Utopia Evo, these products are usually out of reach for the average audio enthusiast. But just because Focal’s pricey items are most conspicuous doesn’t mean the company can’t make an excellent pair of speakers at a palatable price point. Case in point: I’ve been listening to the Chora 806, the company’s newest bookshelf speaker,…

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Disney+ launches to a wave of technical issues


Disney today launched its Disney+ streaming service, its answer to the other TV content platforms out there, after teasing the service for over a year, and promising to open the company’s bountiful vault to users. Now Disney+ is in the wild, and users can sign up for a free trial, purchase subscriptions, and start watching the hundreds of movies and shows available there. Well, they should be able to. Unfortunately, the launch is already in trouble. Specifically, many of the first adopters are running into error messages upon launch. According to DownDetector, the problems range from the streams not working to login…

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Russian blockchain token named in false Tunisian digital currency report pumps, then dumps


Despite government-issued digital currencies being all the rage these days, the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) has quickly refuted claims that it had launched its own version with the help of a foreign company. A statement published on Monday said the BCT denied “all these allegations and unfounded information.” The statement clarifies that the BCT is currently exploring all existing payment alternatives, but insists this is “still in the phase of reflection.” However, the BCT did admit that it is considering a central bank digital currency (CBDC), as it claims to be exploring “all existing alternatives,” but it does not…

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Huru’s new backpack is spacious enough for your many, many gadgets


I’ve learned over the past few years that I don’t exactly travel light. I like having a big ol’ bunch of gadgets with me, including a mirrorless camera kit, and I don’t like to do laundry every second day. I salute those of you who can, but I’m not joining your fold (no pun intended) anytime soon. Kiev, Ukraine-based Huru’s third backpack — known as the A model — is roughly the same size as the first one (25L vs. 24L), but adds more pockets for organization, and strangely feels more compact, if that makes any sense. It’s also a lot…

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We reviewed the hate tweets that ‘dark mode’ fans sent us


Friends, this weekend I made a terrible mistake: I shared an opinion on the internet. Actually, that’s a bit disingenuous and very boomer of me. Let’s be a bit more accurate. I wrote a deliberatively provocative, unpopular opinion piece for our Just Putting It Out There series. My view? Fuck dark mode. I’m not going to get into my argument now (you can read my thoughts here), because that’s not what this article is about. No, it’s focusing on the people (mainly dudes) on Twitter who got really, really fucking angry about my piece. Was I shocked at the response?…

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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey attends Bitcoin meetup in Ghana


Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey has attended a Bitcoin meetup in Ghana just weeks after he invested in a cryptocurrency startup. Dorsey, who has long defended Bitcoin, has been traveling in Africa, and has so far visited Nigeria and Ghana. Mini bitcoin Ghana meetup with @atsudavoh @sy_boahen pic.twitter.com/vJ5a0P2q8e — jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) November 11, 2019 The tech billionaire spoke at a town hall meeting in Nigeria, explaining he was in Africa “to understand the challenges of starting a company here and figure out a way I can support.” Bitcoin in Africa The use of Bitcoin in Africa has long…

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Electric planes are here — but they won’t reduce CO₂ emissions


The UK government plans to ban the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel cars by 2040. Clearly the plan is for all citizens to be driving electric or hybrid-electric cars, or – better still – riding bicycles. But can electrification help cut emissions from that other carbon-intensive form of passenger transport, flying? This is a complex question and one where size matters. It is possible for small aircraft to be powered by electricity. In fact, several companies are already developing small electric aircraft and they could come on the market within the next few years. But for the large…

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Deepdotweb admin says $15.5M Bitcoin ‘kickback’ scheme didn’t exist


An arrested Deepdotweb admin has refuted claims that he’d earned 8,000 BTC (worth $15.5 million at the time) through an affiliate marketing scheme for dark web marketplaces, Bitcoin News reports. Earlier this year, a co-ordinated police effort led to the arrest of several individuals around the world for their role in maintaining Deepdotweb, a dark web portal. It prominently featured an index of dark web marketplaces, including reviews. It also hosted information related to Tor-hidden services, interviews with prominent dark web developers, and published news of police raids on illegal marketplaces, Bitcoin, and other privacy matters. Among them were two Israeli citizens,…

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