- Halle Bailey and Rachel Zegler on Becoming Disney Princesses, Singing Live on Set and Blocking Out Toxic Fans: ‘Stay Grateful and Ignore the Hate’ Variety
- Rachel Zegler Says Acting With CGI Characters on ‘Snow White’ Set Was ‘Really Intense’ and ‘So Much Fun’: You’re ‘Singing to Nothing’ Yahoo Entertainment
- Rachel Zegler Left in Tears After New ‘Snow White’ Conversation – Inside the Magic Inside the Magic
- Halle Bailey & Rachel Zegler | Actors on Actors Variety
- Rachel Zegler and Halle Bailey Abruptly Speak Out After Multiple Disney Boycotts – Inside the Magic Inside the Magic
Tag Archives: blocking
‘Endgame’ Royal Author Omid Scobie Blames UK Laws for Blocking Him From Revealing Who Worried About Prince Archie’s Skin Color – Yahoo Entertainment
- ‘Endgame’ Royal Author Omid Scobie Blames UK Laws for Blocking Him From Revealing Who Worried About Prince Archie’s Skin Color Yahoo Entertainment
- King Charles strong feelings over Meghan Markle accusations revealed Geo News
- Meghan Markle named two people in royal household who made ‘racist’ comments: bombshell book Page Six
- Meghan Markle “Named Two Members Of Royal Household Who Made Racist Comments,” New Book Claims Yahoo Entertainment
- King Charles reacts to Meghan Markles racism claim in new letter The News International
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Appeals court says Biden admin likely violated First Amendment but narrows order blocking officials from communicating with social media companies – CNN
- Appeals court says Biden admin likely violated First Amendment but narrows order blocking officials from communicating with social media companies CNN
- Appeals Court Rules White House Overstepped 1st Amendment on Social Media The New York Times
- 5th Circuit rules Biden administration violated First Amendment The Washington Post
- Appeals court scales back order squelching Biden administration contact with social media platforms ABC News
- Biden administration violated First Amendment over COVID-19 content on social media, court of appeals rules Fox News
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Boomers are buying up homes, blocking millennials from housing market – Business Insider
- Boomers are buying up homes, blocking millennials from housing market Business Insider
- Millennials are (finally) buying and remodeling their own homes, with spending on the rise Houston Chronicle
- The Median Millennial Home Value in Pennsylvania Is 3.5% Above Average 69News WFMZ-TV
- More millennials now own their own home than rent one, leaving Gen Z the only group where most still have a landlord Yahoo News
- More millennials now own their own home than rent one, leaving Gen Z the only group where most still have a la Business Insider India
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Kelly Clarkson loses ‘incredible’ singer on ‘The Voice’ to Niall Horan after blocking Blake Shelton – USA TODAY
- Kelly Clarkson loses ‘incredible’ singer on ‘The Voice’ to Niall Horan after blocking Blake Shelton USA TODAY
- Watch ‘Voice’ coaches fight over Alabama teen after ‘insane’ audition and 4-chair turn AL.com
- Deaf singer Ali triumphs with ‘Voice’ Blind Audition: ‘I can feel the music. … That’s my superpower.’ Yahoo Entertainment
- The Voice: Niall Horan Nabs Harry Styles Fan After Kelly Clarkson Block Fail mjsbigblog
- Alabama singer’s ‘super soulful’ audition thrills Niall Horan on ‘The Voice’ AL.com
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Blocking radio waves and electromagnetic interference with the flip of a switch
Researchers in Drexel University’s College of Engineering have developed a thin film device, fabricated by spray coating, that can block electromagnetic radiation with the flip of a switch. The breakthrough, enabled by versatile two-dimensional materials called MXenes, could adjust the performance of electronic devices, strengthen wireless connections and secure mobile communications against intrusion.
The team, led by Yury Gogotsi, Ph.D., Distinguished University and Bach professor in Drexel’s College of Engineering, previously demonstrated that the two-dimensional layered MXene materials, discovered just over a decade ago, when combined with an electrolyte solution, can be turned into a potent active shield against electromagnetic waves.
This latest MXene discovery, reported in Nature Nanotechnology, shows how this shielding can be tuned when a small voltage—less than that produced by an alkaline battery—is applied.
“Dynamic control of electromagnetic wave jamming has been a significant technological challenge for protecting electronic devices working at gigahertz frequencies and a variety of other communications technologies,” Gogotsi said.
“As the number of wireless devices being used in industrial and private sectors has increased by orders of magnitude over the past decade, the urgency of this challenge has grown accordingly. This is why our discovery—which would dynamically mitigate the effect of electromagnetic interference on these devices—could have a broad impact.”
MXene is a unique material in that it is highly conductive—making it perfectly suited for reflecting microwave radiation that could cause static, feedback or diminish the performance of communications devices—but its internal chemical structure can also be temporarily altered to allow these electromagnetic waves to pass through.
This means that a thin coating on a device or electrical components prevents them from both emitting electromagnetic waves, as well as being penetrated by those emitted by other electronics. Eliminating the possibility of interference from both internal and external sources can ensure the performance of the device, but some waves must be allowed to exit and enter when it is being used for communication.
“Without being able to control the ebb and flow of electromagnetic waves within and around a device, it’s a bit like a leaky faucet—you’re not really turning off the water and that constant dripping is no good,” Gogotsi said. “Our shielding ensures the plumbing is tight—so-to-speak—no electromagnetic radiation is leaking out or getting in until we want to use the device.”
The key to eliciting bidirectional tunability of MXene’s shielding property is using the flow and expulsion of ions to alternately expand and compress the space between material’s layers, like an accordion, as well as to change the surface chemistry of MXenes.
With a small voltage applied to the film, ions enter—or intercalate—between the MXene layers altering the charge of their surface and inducing electrostatic attraction, which serves to change the layer spacing, the conductivity and shielding efficiency of the material. When the ions are deintercalated, as the current is switched off, the MXene layers return to their original state.
The team tested 10 different MXene-electrolyte combinations, applying each via paint sprayer in a layer about 30 to 100 times thinner than a human hair. The materials consistently demonstrated the dynamic tunability of shielding efficiency in blocking microwave radiation, which is impossible for traditional metals like copper and steel. And the device sustained the performance through more than 500 charge-discharge cycles.
“These results indicate that the MXene films can convert from electromagnetic interference shielding to quasi-electromagnetic wave transmission by electrochemical oxidation of MXenes,” Gogotsi and his co-authors wrote. “The MXene film can potentially serve as a dynamic EMI shielding switch.”
For security applications, Gogotsi suggests that the MXene shielding could hide devices from detection by radar or other tracing systems. The team also tested the potential of a one-way shielding switch. This would allow a device to remain undetectable and protected from unauthorized access until it is deployed for use.
“A one-way switch could open the protection and allow a signal to be sent or communication to be opened in an emergency or at the required moment,” Gogotsi said. “This means it could protect communications equipment from being influenced or tampered with until it is in use. For example, it could encase the device during transportation or storage and then activate only when it is ready to be used.”
The next step for Gogotsi’s team is to explore additional MXene-electrolyte combinations and mechanisms to fine-tune the shielding to achieve a stronger modulation of electromagnetic wave transmission and dynamic adjustment to block radiation at a variety of bandwidths.
More information:
Yury Gogotsi, Electrochemically modulated interaction of MXenes with microwaves, Nature Nanotechnology (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-022-01308-9. www.nature.com/articles/s41565-022-01308-9
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Amazon blocking guide apps on Fire TV including Plex
As content keeps moving around between various streaming services, Google TV has turned out to be a lifeboat of sorts in making it easy to figure out what content is available on which service. Some third-party apps have since found ways to replicate that, but Amazon is blocking that “guide” functionality on its Fire TV platform.
Google TV’s “guide” for content allows the platform to show where movies and TV shows are available for streaming or purchase. In many cases, it allows for those pages to “deep link” into other apps. Searching for “The Office,” for example, shows a button that can directly pull up the show with the Peacock app.
Plex picked up on similar functionality across its various apps last year. Like Google TV, it could find shows and movies across services and directly link to them.
But as Tech Hive reports, that “guide” feature on Plex, called “Discover” is now blocked on Amazon Fire TV. That’s because Amazon has apparently changed its policies to block apps on Fire TV from deep-linking to other apps, though Amazon has yet to confirm such a change. That’s obviously a shame for users, but it’s not the only platform that blocks such behavior. Roku similarly blocks third-party apps from deep-linking to other apps, which is why Plex never launched its “Discover” feature there in the first place. It’s certainly a user-hostile move, and one that’s a shame to see.
Over the past year, Amazon made a similar move in blocking third-party launchers, but it’s also scored some wins as a deal was struck to allow Google’s Android TV partners to make Fire TV sets.
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Microsoft claims Sony pays developers “blocking rights” to keep games off Xbox Game Pass
In a lengthy document submitted to the Brazilian government as part of its investigation into Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has claimed Sony pays developers “blocking rights” to prevent games from appearing on Xbox Game Pass.
The accusation appears in a 27-page rebuttal of Sony’s recent objections to Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buyout, made to Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) as part of its investigation. Much of Sony’s argument had focused on Call of Duty – which it claimed had “no rival” and was “so popular that it influences users’ choice of console” – with the PlayStation maker suggesting, among other things, that the inclusion of Call of Duty on Microsoft’s Game Pass service would hamper its ability to compete.
Microsoft’s response is as wide-ranging as Sony’s initial objections, touching on everything from the fact it has previously managed to grow Game Pass without Activision Blizzard’s titles – suggesting Call of Duty mightn’t be quite as “essential” as Sony claims – to a reiteration of its assurances that it won’t be making Call of Duty an Xbox console exclusive.
It’s here that Microsoft takes a swipe at Sony, pointing out (as per a Google-translated version of its filing) that for all its concerns around exclusivity, “the use of exclusive arrangements has been at the heart of Sony’s strategy to strengthen its presence in the gaming industry”.
Microsoft says Sony’s concerns are “incoherent”, given that, by virtue of PlayStation’s dominant market share, the company is a leader in the distribution of digital games – especially when, as Microsoft claims, Sony has actively hampered the growth of Game Pass by paying for “‘blocking rights’ to prevent developers from adding content to Game Pass and other competing subscription services”.
Ultimately, argues Microsoft, Sony’s fear isn’t that the acquisition will hamper its ability to compete, but that the Game Pass business model of delivering “high-quality content at low costs to
players” will threaten a market leadership “forged from a device-centric strategy and focused on exclusivity”.
The full document has plenty more in the way of rebuttals to Sony’s claims (including Microsoft’s note that, out of all the major industry players to be canvassed by the Brazilian government on the acquisition, Sony was the only one to object) and is well worth a read.
Expect more back and forth as the acquisition comes under further scrutiny from other countries ahead of any regulatory approval. Assuming Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buyout doesn’t fall foul of regulators, the process is anticipated to conclude by next summer.
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Microsoft claims Sony pays for ‘blocking rights’ to keep games off Xbox Game Pass
Microsoft has claimed Sony pays for “blocking rights” to stop developers from adding their content to Xbox Game Pass. The explosive claims are part of documents (Word doc) filed with Brazil’s national competition regulator and part of a review of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
“Microsoft’s ability to continue expanding Game Pass has been hampered by Sony’s desire to inhibit such growth,” claims Microsoft in an August 9th filing to the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), as translated from Portuguese. “Sony pays for ‘blocking rights’ to prevent developers from adding content to Game Pass and other competing subscription services.”
Does this mean Sony is evil and Microsoft is casually out here revealing some dastardly business practices? The reality is likely a little more complicated on both sides. Sony could simply be paying for exclusive rights for its own streaming services, or it may have clauses in some publishing contracts that prevent some games it publishes from being published on rival subscription services.
It’s not clear exactly what Microsoft is referring to here, but contracts for publishing games can be complex, particularly when rights for streaming and subscription services are involved. Documents filed in the Epic Games v. Apple trial last year revealed Microsoft had been considering lowering the revenue split for PC games “in exchange for the grant of streaming rights to Microsoft.”
If Microsoft had proceeded with its plans, that could have led to the company securing exclusive streaming rights on some games, preventing them from being available on rival streaming services. It all depends on how publishing contracts are written, and both Microsoft and Sony regularly secure game exclusives that involve timed releases, console exclusivity, and lots of marketing dollars.
Microsoft is attempting to convince Brazil’s CADE regulator that it should waive through the company’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. While the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is analyzing documents from Microsoft on its acquisition in the US, that correspondence is private. That’s not the case in Brazil, where its competition regulator offers up public documents that provide unique insight into the business competition between Microsoft and Sony.
Documents from Brazil’s CADE have been analyzed by Xbox and PlayStation fans over the past week, with posters on ResetEra highlighting the juicy parts. The regulator has been asking Sony and other Microsoft rivals about the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Sony previously responded to Brazil’s regulator claiming that it would be difficult for other developers to create a franchise that rivals Activision’s Call of Duty and that it stands out “as a gaming category on its own.”
Naturally, Microsoft disagrees, and Ubisoft, Riot Games, Bandai Namco, and Google have all highlighted competition to Call of Duty in the form of Apex Legends, Battlefield, PUBG, and more.
Microsoft also claims that adding Activision Blizzard content to Xbox Game Pass will actually increase competition somehow. “The inclusion of Activision Blizzard content in Game Pass does not impair the ability of other players to compete in the digital game distribution market,” claims Microsoft in one document, where the company also argues it increases the competition thanks to “high-quality content at lower immediate costs.”
Sony hasn’t responded to this particular point yet, but at $9.99 per month for Xbox Game Pass, it’s easy to imagine consumers picking that option to play titles like Call of Duty instead of paying $60 or more to purchase and own the game.
Microsoft also argues that not distributing games like Call of Duty at rival console stores “would simply not be profitable” for the company. Microsoft has previously made it clear it will keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Microsoft says a strategy of not distributing Activision Blizzard games on rival consoles would only be profitable if the games could attract a high number of players over to the Xbox ecosystem, resulting in revenue to compensate for losses from not selling these titles on rival consoles.
Whether Microsoft’s claims about “blocking rights” are accurate, it wouldn’t be the first time Sony has used financial incentives to block game developers. Sony held back PS4 cross-platform play for years and implemented a crossplay revenue share for publishers that wanted to enable crossplay in their games.
Sony’s cross-platform revenue share forced publishers to pay Sony a royalty whenever PlayStation players contributed more than a certain percentage to the bottom line of a cross-platform game to “offset the reduction in revenue” from Sony enabling crossplay. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney testified last year that Sony was the only platform holder that required this compensation for crossplay.
We’ve reached out to Sony to comment on Microsoft’s claims and to Microsoft to clarify what Sony allegedly blocks. We haven’t heard back from either company yet, and we don’t expect either will comment on these explosive details. But we’ll be watching the documents from Brazil’s CADE carefully in the coming days to see if or how Sony responds to Microsoft’s claims.
Microsoft upgrades Office security by blocking VBA macros by default
There’s been a bit of back and forth since the change was originally announced, but this week Microsoft started rolling out an update to Microsoft Office that blocks the use of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros on downloaded documents.
Last month, Microsft was testing the new default setting when it suddenly rolled back the update, “temporarily while we make some additional changes to enhance usability.” Despite saying it was temporary, many experts worried that Microsoft might not go through with changing the default setting, leaving systems vulnerable to attacks. Google Threat Analysis Group leader Shane Huntley tweeted, “Blocking Office macros would do infinitely more to actually defend against real threats than all the threat intel blog posts.”
Now the new default setting is rolling out, but with updated language to alert users and administrators what options they have when they try to open a file and it’s blocked. This only applies if Windows, using the NTFS file system, notes it as downloaded from the internet and not a network drive or site that admins have marked as safe, and it isn’t changing anything on other platforms like Mac, Office on Android / iOS, or Office on the web.
Microsoft:
We’re resuming the rollout of this change in Current Channel. Based on our review of customer feedback, we’ve made updates to both our end user and our IT admin documentation to make clearer what options you have for different scenarios. For example, what to do if you have files on SharePoint or files on a network share. Please refer to the following documentation:
• For end users, A potentially dangerous macro has been blocked
• For IT admins, Macros from the internet will be blocked by default in Office
If you ever enabled or disabled the Block macros from running in Office files from the Internet policy, your organization will not be affected by this change.
While some people use the scripts to automate tasks, hackers have abused the feature with malicious macros for years, tricking people into downloading a file and running it to compromise their systems. Microsoft noted how administrators could use Group Policy settings in Office 2016 to block macros across their organization’s systems. Still, not everyone turned it on, and the attacks continued, allowing hackers to steal data or distribute ransomware.
Users who try to open files and are blocked will get a pop-up sending them to this page, explaining why they probably don’t need to open that document. It starts by running through several scenarios where someone might try to trick them into executing malware. If they really do need to see what’s inside the downloaded file, it goes on to explain ways to get access, which are all more complicated than what happened before, where users could usually enable macros by pressing one button in the warning banner.
This change may not always stop someone from opening up a malicious file, but it does provide several more layers of warnings before they can get there while still providing access for the people that say they absolutely need it.