The Register: Wailing Wednesday follows Patch Tuesday as versions of Windows 10 stop playing nicely with plugged-in printers . “Windows 10 users woke up to borked printers following the monthly Microsoft bugfix party, Patch Tuesday. The issues appear connected to KB4557957 and KB4560960 for Windows 10 2004 and 1903/1909 respectively.”
hardware
Techdirt: Carnegie Mellon Researchers Design ‘Nutrition Label’ For The Internet Of Broken Things
Techdirt: Carnegie Mellon Researchers Design ‘Nutrition Label’ For The Internet Of Broken Things. “Researchers say the labels will provide 47 different pieces of information about a device’s security and privacy practices, including the type of user and activity data the device collects, with whom the data is shared, how long the device retains data, and how frequently this data is shared. The goal is to take something incredibly confusing to the average user and simplify it in a way that’s more easily understandable.”
Tom’s Guide: Google Home is about to get this huge upgrade
Tom’s Guide: Google Home is about to get this huge upgrade. “After Alexa, Google Home is the largest smart home platform, enabling you to control any number of lights, locks, and plugs just by saying ‘Hey Google.’ However, navigating the Google Home app isn’t the most intuitive. That could change with the newest version of the Google Home app, which promises a streamlined interface that will make it easier to connect to and control smart speakers and other smart home devices.”
The Register: COVID-19 sparks new wearables to push the pandemic away
The Register: COVID-19 sparks new wearables to push the pandemic away. “COVID-19 is spurring new types of wearable hardware. Exhibit A: a startup named Nodle has cooked up a ‘smart wearable’ that bakes the third-party contact-tracing the ‘Whisper tracing protocol’ and Bluetooth into a device said to be wearable as a necklace or clipped onto your garments.”
Mashable: The complete guide to cleaning your headphones during a pandemic
Mashable: The complete guide to cleaning your headphones during a pandemic. “Going outside without music or podcasts to listen to can be a drag. During the coronavirus pandemic, however, you might consider taking some extra precautions so you can jam out safely during your grocery runs. The CDC recommends properly cleaning personal electronics as necessary. While headphones and earbuds aren’t specifically named in its guidelines, you probably touch them enough to warrant proper disinfection just to be safe. The good news is there are fairly easy ways to do this.”
CNET: Make papercraft models of vintage computers and gaming systems
CNET: Make papercraft models of vintage computers and gaming systems. “If you’re looking for a nostalgia fix and something crafty to do during your coronavirus lockdown, why not build a vintage computer or gaming system with these easy paper model kits? These highly detailed color paper models are free to download and share.”
Duke Today: Duke Creates Open-source Protective Respirator
Duke Today: Duke Creates Open-source Protective Respirator. “A protective respirator created by a Duke University medical and engineering task force is now being used by Duke Health doctors as they treat patients with suspected cases of COVID-19. In an effort to combat the worldwide shortage of protective medical equipment, Duke is making the design widely available as an open-source design.”
Electronics Weekly: Build a Google Home with Raspberry Pi
Electronics Weekly: Build a Google Home with Raspberry Pi. “With a minimal amount of hardware and setup, you can create a functioning home assistant linked to your Google account and controlled by voice commands. Follow the steps below to install the Google Assistant SDK on your Raspberry Pi and set it up to listen for voice commands.”
TNW: Raspberry Pi’s $5 model is powering ventilators to fight coronavirus
TNW: Raspberry Pi’s $5 model is powering ventilators to fight coronavirus. “Ventilators are in high demand as hospitals are looking to provide treatment to coronavirus patients in critical condition. Companies such as Tesla, Ford, and Foxconn are using their manufacturing facilities to produce these machines. To make these newly designed ventilators, a lot of manufacturers are using the Raspberry Pi Zero, a $5 computer developed for small scale projects. While a single-core 1GHz processor with 512MB RAM might not sound too powerful, it’s enough to power a ventilator.”
Coronavirus shortage: Looking for a Logitech? Webcams hard to find as we all work from home (USA Today)
USA Today: Coronavirus shortage: Looking for a Logitech? Webcams hard to find as we all work from home. “It’s not just toilet paper that’s hard to find. For tech-savvy consumers, webcams, those little plug-in cameras for letting you broadcast to the internet, are now missing in action, too. Logitech, the company that dominates webcam sales, is sold out of every one it makes. Amazon and Best Buy are out of stock. And price gougers on eBay are selling used models for as high as $420, or more than twice as much as the most expensive Logitech model, the $199 Brio.”
EurekAlert: Rice University emergency ventilator plans now online
EurekAlert: Rice University emergency ventilator plans now online. “The plans for Rice University’s ApolloBVM, an open-source emergency ventilator design that could help patients in treatment for COVID-19, are now online and freely available to everyone in the world. The project first developed by students as a senior design project in 2019 has been brought up to medical grade by Rice engineers and one student, with the help of Texas Medical Center doctors. The device costs less than $300 in parts and can squeeze a common bag valve mask for hours on end.”
Ubergizmo: Malware-Laden Fake Best Buy USB Drives Are Being Sent Out In The Mail
Ubergizmo: Malware-Laden Fake Best Buy USB Drives Are Being Sent Out In The Mail. “If you happen to receive a letter from Best Buy that comes with a free USB drive inside of it, don’t rejoice just yet. This is because according to a report from Trustwave, it seems that these USB drives are filled with malware that could hijack your computer if you were to insert it into your PC.”
Hindustan Times: Google donates 4,000 Chromebooks, free Wi-Fi to California students
Hindustan Times: Google donates 4,000 Chromebooks, free Wi-Fi to California students. “Google has announced to provide 4,000 Chromebooks and 1,00,000 Wi-Fi hotspots for rural students in California, who are studying from home due to coronavirus pandemic. The initiative was announced by California Governor Gavin Newsom and Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday.”
3D Printing Media Network: [Updating] Italian hospital saves Covid-19 patients lives by 3D printing valves for reanimation devices
3D Printing Media Network: [Updating] Italian hospital saves Covid-19 patients lives by 3D printing valves for reanimation devices. “Many have been asking what the implications of the current Covid-19 pandemic are going to be on additive manufacturing as an industry. The relationship between coronavirus and 3D printing is not entirely clear, mostly because we are very far from understanding what the long, medium and even short terms implications of the pandemic are going to be on global supply chains.”
ReviewGeek: The 7 Best Raspberry Pi Alternatives for Bigger (and Smaller!) Projects
ReviewGeek: The 7 Best Raspberry Pi Alternatives for Bigger (and Smaller!) Projects. “Raspberry Pi computers are inexpensive, powerful, and supported by a vast community of fans. But if your project requires hardware options that don’t exist on the Pi, then it’s time to shop for a new SBC (single board computer). Here are some of our favorites.”
