đź”— Articles: Tuesday 14.May.2024
BBC: Weight loss jab could reduce heart attack risk, study finds
An injection designed to tackle obesity could reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes in people regardless of the amount of weight they lose while on the drug, according to a new study.
Researchers looked at the effects of semaglutide - which is a prescription drug that supresses appetite and is sold under the brand names Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus.
They found the anti-obesity jabs could also benefit the cardiovascular health of millions of adults.
Prof John Deanfield, who led the team of researchers, said the generic drug could have a positive impact on blood sugar, blood pressure or inflammation, as well as direct effects on the heart muscle and vessels.
BBC: Richard Scolyer: Top doctor remains brain cancer-free after a year
A year after undergoing a world-first treatment for glioblastoma, Australian doctor Richard Scolyer remains cancer-free.
The esteemed pathologist’s experimental therapy is based on his own pioneering research on melanoma.
Prof Scolyer’s subtype of glioblastoma is so aggressive most patients survive less than a year.
But on Tuesday the 57-year-old announced his latest MRI scan had again showed no recurrence of the tumour.
BBC: David McBride: Australian army whistleblower jailed for leaking documents
A whistleblower who helped expose allegations of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan has been sentenced to five years and eight months in jail. David McBride pleaded guilty to stealing and sharing military secrets on the eve of his trial last year, after legal rulings sunk his defence. An ex-military lawyer, McBride said he felt a moral duty to speak up. A landmark inquiry later found evidence that Australian forces had unlawfully killed 39 Afghans during the war. McBride’s case has sparked uproar in Australia, putting a spotlight on what some say are flimsy whistleblower protections and slow progress towards prosecuting soldiers alleged to have killed with impunity under its flag.
ScienceAlert: Perseverance Has Achieved Amazing Feats During 1,000 Days Exploring Mars
I can remember when Perseverance was launched, travelled out into the Solar System and landed on Mars in February 2021.
In all the time since it arrived, having clocked up 1000 days of exploration, it has collected 23 samples from different geological areas within the Jezero Crater. The area was once home to an ancient lake and if there is anywhere on Mars to find evidence of ancient (fossilised) life, it is here.
BBC: Adam Johnson death: Team-mate Victor Bjorkung still gets ‘flashbacks’
In an interview with BBC Sport, he spoke about the lasting impact the incident has had on him and the sport.
He also revealed his views on the need for safer clothing were only strengthened when he suffered his own laceration injury.
UPI: David Sanborn, Grammy Award-winning saxophonist, dies at 78
David Sanborn, the six-time Grammy Award-winning jazz saxophonist who “put the saxophone back into Rock ‘n Roll” in live performances with David Bowie and the Rolling Stones, has died at the age of 78.
Sanborn died Sunday in Tarrytown, N.Y., due to complications following a long battle with prostate cancer, according to a message posted to Sanborn’s social media channels.
Wales Online: Major announcement could ‘transform’ treatment of ‘dreadful disease’
Jess Mills, daughter of Dame Tessa and chief executive of the Tessa Jowell Foundation, welcomed the announcement but stressed the need for “no more delays”.
She said: “We are meeting today almost six years to the day that my mum Tessa Jowell died from Glioblastoma. Six years on, brain cancer is still the biggest cancer killer of children and under 40s, the need for patients to gain access to new and better treatments and care is as acute as ever.
Wales Online: Where Wales’ eight universities stand in latest UK rankings
Cardiff University has kept its crown as the number one university in Wales but has some of the least satisfied students, according to the latest rankings from The Complete University Guide 2024. Swansea University in second place with Aberystwyth in third place.
Five of the eight Welsh universities have risen in the CUG rankings this year and three have fallen. Wrexham Glyndwr languishes at last on the list of 130 UK institutions ranked.
Cardiff is now listed as 27tht in the UK, up five places on last year. Swansea in second place for Wales comes 39th in the UK and Aberystwyth in third, followed by Cardiff Metropolitan University.
OpenAI: Hello GPT-4o
13.May.2024
GPT-4o (“o” for “omni”) is a step towards much more natural human-computer interaction—it accepts as input any combination of text, audio, and image and generates any combination of text, audio, and image outputs. It can respond to audio inputs in as little as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, which is similar to human response time(opens in a new window) in a conversation. It matches GPT-4 Turbo performance on text in English and code, with significant improvement on text in non-English languages, while also being much faster and 50% cheaper in the API. GPT-4o is especially better at vision and audio understanding compared to existing models.
MacRumors: iOS 17.5 Includes These 15 Security Fixes, But One Causes Another Bug
iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 include 15 security patches for the iPhone and iPad, according to a recently-published Apple support document, but unfortunately one of the patches has led to a software bug affecting alternative app marketplaces.
I’m sure that there are more. (Auto-complete suggested “many”.)
Cult of Mac: Smartphone customer satisfaction report shows Apple slipping
Apple has lost its customary lead on smartphone customer satisfaction as archrival Samsung has drawn even overall and gone ahead in one area, according to new data.
New findings from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) show Apple’s rating went up a point, but Samsung’s rose three points to tie overall and creep ahead on 5G satisfaction.
Cult of Mac: Vision Pro should go on sale outside US soon
The wait to get Apple Vision Pro is apparently nearly over for consumers in more than half a dozen countries.
Although the AR/VR headset launched in the United States this winter, availability has yet to expand outside the borders of Apple’s home country. But Apple Store employees around the world are reportedly getting trained on the device. And the headset reportedly cleared a major regulatory hurdle Monday for launching in China.
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“The company plans to bring the Vision Pro to international markets for the first time after its Worldwide Developers Conference early next month,” Bloomberg reported Monday.
As this is a leak not an official Apple announcement, there is not a complete list of countries where the headset will launch in the coming months. Bloomberg says retail employees from Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore and South Korea have received training on it, though.
Note: no mention of Canada. (But see below.)
Cult of Mac: Bill Gates on iPod: Doom awaits! | Today in Apple history
May 12, 2005: Longtime Apple frenemy Bill Gates tells a German newspaper that Apple may have hit it big with the iPod, but that its success isn’t going to last forever.
The reason? Mobile phones are going to steal the iPod’s market share. The good news for Gates is that he was right on the money. The bad news for Microsoft is that Apple cannibalized itself by making the iPhone. And Apple’s smartphone became even more successful than the iPod.
The Atlantic: This Is the Next Smartphone Evolution
Apple markets its maligned iPhone voice assistant as a way to “do it all even when your hands are full.” But Siri functions, at its best, like a directory for the rest of your phone: It doesn’t respond to questions so much as offer to search the web for answers; it doesn’t translate so much as offer to open the Translate app. And much of the time, Siri can’t even pick up what you’re saying properly, let alone watch someone solve a math problem through the phone camera and provide real-time assistance, as ChatGPT did earlier today.
NYT: Jerry Seinfeld’s Speech Was the Real News
Yet coverage of the commencement treated something just before his speech as more newsworthy: As the Associated Press reported, roughly 30 student protesters walked out of the graduation ceremony as Seinfeld was introduced. They represented a tiny fraction of the 7,000 students present.
MacRumors: iPad Pro Review
Longtime ‌iPad‌ user Federico Viticci of MacStories didn’t share a full review of the new ‌iPad‌, but he penned a piece pointing out the many shortcomings of iPadOS. It’s well worth a read to see what it’s like using an ‌iPad‌ as a main machine, with highlights on the pain points of multitasking, limited apps, and more.
The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern said that using the ‌iPad Pro‌ is like “driving a Ferrari on a golf course” because the iPhone-based operating system hampers what the ‌iPad‌ could be capable of doing.
The Wall Street Journal said that despite the creativity apps available on the ‌iPad‌, it “still isn’t direct competition for the versatility of a MacBook” and it’s not a good platform for those who want to “multitask on multiple windows.”
Almost every review mentioned the shortcomings of iPadOS as the major fault with the new ‌iPad Pro‌ models.
Slashdot: ChatGPT Is Getting a Mac App
OpenAI has launched an official macOS app for ChatGPT, with a Windows version coming “later this year.” “Both free and paid users will be able to access the new app, but it will only be available to ChatGPT Plus users starting today before a broader rollout in ‘the coming weeks,’” reports The Verge. From the report:
_In the demo shown by OpenAI, users could open the ChatGPT desktop app in a small window, alongside another program. They asked ChatGPT questions about what’s on their screen — whether by typing or saying it. ChatGPT could then respond based on what it “sees.” OpenAI says users can ask ChatGPT a question by using the Option + Space keyboard shortcut, as well as take and discuss screenshots within the app.
Further reading: OpenAI Launches New Free Model GPT-4o
MacRumors:Setapp’s EU Alternative iPhone App Marketplace Launching on May 14
MacPaw today said that its Setapp alternative app marketplace for the iPhone will be launching on Tuesday, May 14 in the European Union.
A Setapp marketplace has been in the workssince February, which is when Apple first announced the alternative app downloading options that would be coming in iOS 17.4.
For those unfamiliar with Setapp, it is a subscription-based service that lets users access dozens of apps for $9.99 per month. Popular apps like Ulysses, iStat Menus, Spark, Unite, Yoink, and more are available through the current subscription service.
MacRumors: Vision Pro Appears in Chinese Regulatory Database Before Expansion to New Countries
MacRumors has previously found evidence in Apple’s backend code that Vision Pro would expand to Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, and it appears that information was correct as retail employees from these countries have been visiting Apple’s Cupertino headquarters for Vision Pro training in recent days.
Wikipedia: The Ring of Kerry
The Ring of Kerry (Irish: MĂłrchuaird ChiarraĂ) is a 179-kilometre-long (111-mile) circular tourist route in County Kerry, south-western Ireland. Clockwise from Killarney it follows the N71 to Kenmare, then the N70 around the Iveragh Peninsula to Killorglin – passing through Sneem, Waterville, Cahersiveen, and Glenbeigh – before returning to Killarney via the N72.
Last Updated: 14.May.2024 23:59 EDT