Tag Archives: Track

Technology

Xbox Series X restock: how to track Xbox stock on Twitter – and actually get it

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Sunday is expected to be slow for our Xbox restock Twitter tracker, which is working overtime to find the Microsoft console in stock, but follow it anyway to prepare for what may be a busy Monday. The tracker updates in real-time as soon as Walmart, Target, Best Buy and other US stores update with new Xbox Series X stock for $499, and the same goes for the Xbox Series S starting at $399.

Miss it? Follow our Xbox Series X restock Twitter track for all new Xbox restock alerts. It’s the fastest method for us to do live updates of Microsoft console stock.

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Finding Xbox Series X restock has been unpredictable since November 2020, with the console often out of stock within minutes of new inventory launching at all stores.

Twitter is where we’ve begun tracking Xbox Series X restock – along with just-as-hard-to-buy PS5 restock. Stores like GameStop don’t give people much notice, and the console drops are gone within minutes if not seconds these days.

Xbox Series X restock stores in the US

Xbox Series S restock stores in the US

The Xbox Series X restock at GameStop on Wednesday was no different. The page launched, a few people were able to put it in their cart, while others had to refresh the page when the red button grayed out with the message “GameStop is adding new inventory.” It’s a case of try, try again.

We saw Microsoft’s own official Xbox store Series X and Series S supply on Monday and Tuesday, however it sold out in about three minutes. That tells you the kind of competition there is for these next-gen consoles.

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The Series X is supremely powerful and capable of 4K gaming, while the Series X is nearly as strong and comes in at $200 cheaper. That’s a bargain compared to what resellers are charging.

We’re tracking the Xbox Series X and S restocks on Twitter simply because inventory goes so quickly. Both Target and Amazon are heavily rumored to be launching new stock of consoles this week, but so far that hasn’t come to fruition.

We track more than 12 American stores: Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy among them. So even if you don’t get get this Xbox restock at GameStop today, there’s always another store in the US that will have it in stock eventually



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Technology

Google moves away from diet of ‘cookies’ to track users

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Google is weaning itself off user-tracking “cookies” which allow the web giant to deliver personalized ads but which also have raised the hackles of privacy defenders.

Last month, Google unveiled the results of tests showing an alternative to the longstanding tracking practice, claiming it could improve online privacy while still enabling advertisers to serve up relevant messages.

“This approach effectively hides individuals ‘in the crowd’ and uses on-device processing to keep a person’s web history private on the browser,” Google product manager Chetna Bindra explained in unveiling the system called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC).

“Results indicate that when it comes to generating interest-based audiences, FLoC can provide an effective replacement signal for third-party cookies.”

Google plans to begin testing the FLoC approach with advertisers later this year with its Chrome browser.

“Advertising is essential to keeping the web open for everyone, but the web ecosystem is at risk if privacy practices do not keep up with changing expectations,” Bindra added.

Google has plenty of incentive for the change. The US internet giant has been hammered by critics over user privacy, and is keenly aware of trends for legislation protecting people’s data rights.

Growing fear of cookie-tracking has prompted support for internet rights legislation such as GDPR in Europe and has the internet giant devising a way to effectively target ads without knowing too much about any individual person.

– ‘Privacy nightmare’ –

Some kinds of cookies — which are text files stored when a user visits a website — are a convenience for logins and browsing at frequently visited sites.

Anyone who has pulled up a registration page online only to have their name and address automatically entered where required has cookies to thank. But other kinds of cookies are seen by some as nefarious.

“Third-party cookies are a privacy nightmare,” Electronic Frontier Foundation staff technologist Bennet Cyphers told AFP.

“You don’t need to know what everyone has ever done just to serve them an ad.”

He reasoned that advertising based on context can be effective; an example being someone looking at recipes at a cooking website being shown ads for cookware or grocery stores.

Safari and Firefox browsers have already done away with third-party cookies, but they are still used at the world’s most popular browser – Chrome.

Chrome accounted for 63 percent of the global browser market last year, according to StatCounter.

“It’s both a competitive and legal liability for Google to keep using third-party cookies, but they want their ad business to keep humming,” Cyphers said.

Cyphers and others have worries about Google using a secret formula to lump internet users into groups and give them “cohort” badges of sorts that will be used to target marketing messages without knowing exactly who they are.

“There is a chance that it just makes a lot of privacy problems worse,” Cyphers said, suggesting the new system could create “cohort” badges of people who may be targeted with little transparency..

“There is a machine learning black box that is going to take in every bit of everything you have even done in your browser and spit out a label that says you are this kind of person,” Cyphers said.

“Advertisers are going to decode what those labels mean.”

He expected advertisers to eventually deduce which labels include certain ages, genders or races, and which are people prone to extreme political views.

A Marketers for an Open Web business coalition is campaigning against Google’s cohort move, questioning its effectiveness and arguing it will force more advertisers into its “walled garden.”

“Google’s proposals are bad for independent media owners, bad for independent advertising technology and bad for marketers,” coalition director James Rosewell said in a release.

gc/rl

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Health

Santa Clara County Launches New Vaccine Data Dashboard to Help Track Equitable Access – NBC Bay Area

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The Santa Clara County Public Health Department has launched a new COVID-19 vaccine data dashboard, public health officials said Thursday.

The dashboard includes information on total number of residents vaccinated to date, in addition to information by race/ethnicity, gender and age from the state’s department of public health’s California Immunization Registry.

This data helps track and ensure equitable access for those most at risk of serious illness and death as well as those at greatest risk of exposure, officials said.

“Addressing health disparities and ensuring equitable access to the COVID vaccine for our hardest hit communities is and remains the top priority for the county,” Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said.

The county’s recent move to a “no wrong door policy” is an example of removing barriers to vaccination.

The new policy, announced Thursday, allows residents 65 years and older to book appointments at any vaccine provider regardless of their coverage in an effort to streamline vaccinations for one of the most at-risk communities.

Seniors 65 years and older make up 81% of COVID-19 deaths and about 60% of hospitalizations. So far, about 24% of the county’s 65+ population has been vaccinated and 37% of those 75+.

As of Thursday, more than 10% of the county’s population 16 years and older received at least one dose of the vaccine, “reflecting strong progress,” toward the county’s goal of getting 85% of the population vaccinated by Aug. 1, 2021.

The new vaccine data dashboard will be updated daily. The information is self-reported by vaccine providers in the county and includes information on non-county residents such as healthcare workers who live elsewhere but work in Santa Clara County.

The dashboard can be accessed through this link: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Pages/dashboard-vaccine.aspx?mc_cid=fe1c613fca&mc_eid=882534314e. To book appointments or learn more about vaccination in Santa Clara County, visit sccfreevax.org.



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Science

28 Trillion Tonnes of Ice Have Melted Since 1994, on Track With Worst-Case Scenarios

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All over the world the rate of ice melt is accelerating with climate change, on land and in water, in the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere.

Since 1994, satellite imagery has revealed over 28 trillion tonnes of ice have melted in Greenland and Antarctica, as well as the Arctic and Southern Oceans. 

 

Together, the loss amounts to a 100-metre thick sheet of ice roughly the size of the United Kingdom. Meltwater from Arctic sea ice and the Antarctic ice sheet make up half of that mass.

“The ice sheets are now following the worst-case climate warming scenarios set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” says Thomas Slater who studies land and ice altimetry at the University of Leeds.

“Sea-level rise on this scale will have very serious impacts on coastal communities this century.” 

It’s exactly what scientists have been warning us about for decades, and the reality is finally upon us with no signs of slowing down.

Over the course of the 23-year-long study period, researchers saw close to a 60 percent increase in the rate of global ice loss.

(Planetary Visions/ESA/NASA)

Above: According to the European Space Agency (ESA), “one trillion tonnes of ice can be thought of as a cube of ice measuring 10x10x10 kilometres”. In this illustration, that ice cube, which the ESA says would be taller than Mount Everest, towers over New York City.

Just last year, floating ice cover in the Arctic Ocean hit its lowest extent since 1979 when satellite recordings began, and Antarctica experienced a melt event unlike anything experts had seen before.

 

The loss of Earth’s ice is clearly speeding up and with horrifying results. As atmospheric temperatures continue to rise and ocean temperatures follow, melting sea ice and mountain glaciers across the globe are succumbing to climate change.

Satellite observations reveal glaciers are some of the hardest hit by climate change, especially those in Greenland, Alaska, and the southern Andes. Despite the fact that glaciers make up only 1 percent of Earth’s total ice volume, researchers found they contributed almost a quarter of all global ice loss.

Between 1994 and 2017, satellite observations reveal 6.1 trillion tonnes of ice melted from mountain glaciers, 3.8 trillion tonnes were lost from the Greenland ice sheet, and 2.5 trillion tonnes disappeared from the Antarctic ice sheet. 

Overall, that’s 35 millimetres (1.4 inches) of sea level rise, and while southern ice has proved more resilient, it too is beginning to crumble. 

Since 2012, the rate of ice loss in Antarctica has tripled when compared to the previous two decades, and this is mostly due to widespread glacier melt and thinning ice shelves. 

Rising atmospheric temperatures have also begun to take their toll on floating ice, causing the oldest and thickest slabs to break up. While this type of melt doesn’t directly contribute to sea level rise that doesn’t mean it isn’t a threat.

 

“One of the key roles of Arctic sea ice is to reflect solar radiation back into space which helps keep the Arctic cool,” explains Isobel Lawrence, who specialises in remote sensing of sea ice at the University of Leeds.

“As the sea ice shrinks, more solar energy is being absorbed by the oceans and atmosphere, causing the Arctic to warm faster than anywhere else on the planet. Not only is this speeding up sea ice melt, it’s also exacerbating the melting of glaciers and ice sheets which causes sea levels to rise.”

For every centimetre of sea level rise, experts predict a million people are in danger of being displaced. What’s more, mountain glaciers are a critical source of freshwater for many local communities.

As the data rolls in, what scientists feared most is looking all the more likely.

If things continue in the same vein, some think there’s a chance the Arctic could be virtually free of ice by 2035.

Other studies show Greenland’s melting ice has already passed the point of no return.

Down south, more than half the ice shelves holding up the Antarctic ice sheet are on the brink of buckling.

Everywhere we look, the cryosphere is facing catastrophe.

The study was published in The Cryosphere.

 

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Technology

Apple’s next iOS 14 beta will begin forcing developers to ask for permission to track you

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Apple’s new privacy feature requiring developers ask for permission to track iOS users for ad targeting is at last going live in the next iOS 14 beta with a planned full release some time this spring for non-beta users, the company tells The Verge.

The announcement coincides with Data Privacy Day, as well as a speech on privacy from Apple CEO Tim Cook later today at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference in Brussels. Apple initially planned for the feature to go live with the launch of iOS 14 last fall, but it delayed its implementation to 2021 in September of last year to give developers more time to comply. Today’s announcement narrows the launch window to this spring, but Apple is not commenting further on when exactly we might see it to go live for everyone.

Called App Tracking Transparency, the new opt-in requirement will mark a significant shift in how mobile app developers are able to collect data on iPhone owners and share that data with other firms to aid in advertising. Prior to the change, Apple let iPhone owners dig into their settings to disable this type of tracking. Now, instead of forcing users to be proactive about disabling it, Apple will demand developers ask for permission or risk suspension or removal from the App Store if they don’t comply or try to skirt the rules.

The primary way advertisers are able to, say, know when you are shopping for a new hat on one app before serving you ads for that same hat on another app is that a unique identifying code, the so-called Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), is linked to your device, collected by the first app, and shared with the second. That allows those apps to serve targeted ads and to measure whether the ad actually worked, for instance if you ended up purchasing that hat you saw in an Instagram ad by clicking an ad for the company’s online store in Google Chrome.

Apple’s new opt-in requirement will make it so developers must have express consent from iOS device owners to allow their IDFA to be collected and shared across apps. App makers can still use other information you give them for the purpose of targeting advertising even if you opt not to let the app track you, but that information cannot be shared with another company for the purpose of ad tracking under Apple’s new policy. The sharing with other third-party companies is effectively what Apple refers to when it uses the word “tracking.”

Apple intends to strictly police any attempt to get around the opt-in requirement. For instance, it says app developers will not be allowed to disable app functionality of any kind if users say no to the opt-in, and that developers will also be barred from charging money or incentivizing users with in-app perks or giveaways to sway their decision one way or the other. Any app that tries to replace the IDFA with another identifying piece of information, like an email address, will be in violation of the opt-in requirement.

Apple says the rules will also apply to its own apps, and the company already lets users disable personalized advertising the company serves within the App Store, Apple News, and the Stocks app using data it collects from your device. (It’s worth noting that ad personalization is not the same as ad tracking, and mobile app companies can still personalize ads so long as they can disclose that with an App Store privacy label.) Apple has no history of sharing the information it collects with other companies, either, and it makes that clear in its ad personalization toggle in the iOS settings.

This is expected to affect both the companies that run ad networks, like Facebook, and the companies paying for the ads, like the aforementioned unnamed hat seller. That’s precisely why Facebook has come out as arguably the biggest opponent to Apple’s new privacy measures, which include not only this new opt-in requirement but also app privacy labels it launched on the App Store last month.

Facebook has positioned itself as a champion of small businesses that risk getting hurt by this privacy change, and small businesses do rely on Facebook’s ad network and its powerful targeting tools to reach customers. Past privacy changes to Apple’s mobile Safari browser did also have legitimate negative consequences for ad-supported businesses like news websites. (The Verge is an ad-supported news website.)

But in full-page newspaper ads and statements to the press, Facebook has gone a step further and cast Apple as a hypocrite trying to exempt itself from the rules it forces on other developers and as greedy for encouraging app business models that rely less on advertising and more on subscriptions, of which Apple would theoretically get a cut.

“Apple has every incentive to use their dominant platform position to interfere with how our apps and other apps work, which they regularly do to preference their own,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call on Wednesday. “This impacts the growth of millions of businesses around the world, including with the upcoming iOS 14 changes.” Zuckerberg added that, “Apple may say they’re doing this to help people but the moves clearly track their competitor interests.”

Apple has consistently defended its choice as a way to give users more freedom over their privacy and refuted Facebook’s claims it intends to hold its first-party software to different standards. The showdown has emerged as one of the largest and most visible tech company feuds in recent memory, though it’s clear now Facebook has little to no leverage in the situation despite its defensiveness and public posturing. The changes are imminent, and Facebook will be forced to comply as it was with the privacy labels last month.

To further hammer home its privacy philosophy, Apple has created a new online guide it’s calling “A Day in the Life of Your Data” that breaks down common ad tracking and targeting practices in the mobile app and web industries and presents statistics on the prevalence of these practices. Apple says the average mobile app contains six trackers that share your data with other apps, and that a “large and opaque industry has been amassing increasing amounts of personal data.”

“A complex ecosystem of websites, apps, social media companies, data brokers, and ad tech firms track users online and offline, harvesting their personal data. This data is pieced together, shared, aggregated, and monetized, fueling a $227 billion-a-year industry,” the guide reads. “This occurs every day, as people go about their daily lives, often without their knowledge or permission.”

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Business

Bitcoin on track for biggest weekly fall since September as Janet Yellen and ‘double spend’ spook traders | Currency News | Financial and Business News

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Bitcoin has had a volatile couple of weeks after hitting a record high of close to $42,000

R.Tsubin/Getty Images

The bitcoin price was set for its biggest one-week fall since September on Friday morning, having slipped around 9% since Monday.

Bitcoin – which hit an all-time high of close to $42,000 on January 8 – tumbled to around $28,000 in early Asia trading.

But it then recovered to around $32,537 by Friday morning. That means it is down about 9.2% since Monday, putting it on course for the the biggest weekly drop since declining by 12% in September, according to TradingView data.

Should the price tumble back towards the lows seen in the Asia session, the bitcoin price could be heading for its worst week since it crashed 33% in March 2020.

Read More: We spoke to Winklevoss-backed crypto platform Gemini about bitcoin, how to use stable coins, and why regulation won’t kill the boom in digital currencies

Bitcoin came under selling pressure this week after Janet Yellen, Joe Biden’s pick for Treasury secretary, suggested the use of cryptocurrencies should be “curtailed” because they were used mainly for “illicit financing”.

Many analysts put bitcoin’s overnight slide down to a report by BitMEX Research that suggested a flaw called “double spend” – when someone is able to spend the same coin twice – had occurred in the cryptocurrency’s blockchain.

Yet BitMEX later said it the double spend could have in fact been another type of less worrying transaction.

Bitcoin has soared in recent months, rising from a 2020 low of below $4,000 in March to more than $41,000 earlier this month. Overall, it is up around 290% in the last year.

Fellow cryptocurrency Ethereum was around 5% higher on Friday morning to $1,250. That was shy of an all-time high of more than $1,430 hit earlier this week.

Advocates say cryptocurrencies are fast becoming safe-haven assets that can protect investors’ portfolios against the risk of inflation and currency devaluation triggered by the unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus unleashed during the coronavirus pandemic.

They point to a growing number of institutional investors showing interest in Bitcoin. BlackRock on Wednesday moved to add Bitcoin futures to two of its funds, highlighting the demand for the currency.

Yet regulators and critics have warned that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have no fundamental factors driving their value and are highly volatile, meaning investors could “lose all their money”.

Read More: The chief investment strategist at a $9.6 billion volatility-focused money manager breaks down why the stock market is poised to get more chaotic in 2021 – and shares how investors can take advantage of it

Nonetheless, market interest has picked up sharply in recent months. Some analysts said the recent fall could be an opportunity.

“The current correction is a blessing for those who have missed the rally during which the cryptocurrency doubled from its previous high, a move from $20,000 to $40,000,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Avatrade.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at currency platform Oanda, said: “We may see a small rebound now, just as we did earlier this month.

“But the price action we’ve seen this month suggests there’s some nervousness around these levels. It will certainly be an interesting watch over the coming weeks.”



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Technology

This $18,000 MotoGP Simulator Means Year-Round Track Days In Your Garage

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Screenshot: Mototrainer

Motorcycles are great, but for many of us—especially sport bike riders—the riding season is cut short by cold weather and slick roads. If you’ve spent the whole winter itching to get back out on track, then what you need is a MotoTrainer module which allows you to train your weight transfer and cornering in the heated comfort of your luxurious garage. Yeah, it’s not cheap, but how awesome would it be to go for a rip in near 100 percent safety while the temperature outside is still below the freeze point?

I’ve currently got four motorcycles in the garage, but my favorite riding roads are well above 6,000 feet above sea level and coated in snow and ice. It’ll be a couple of months yet before I can really feel comfortable getting any kind of lean through the corners. I’m sure I would feel a lot more comfortable practicing putting a knee down if it didn’t have to happen the first time at speed. Plus, it would be extra cool if I could get some riding experience in the depths of a dark and chilly winter.

Image: Moto Trainer

The newest product from Moto Trainer is a collaboration with Dorna Sports, the company which operates MotoGP, and it’s a proper two-wheel racing simulator trainer like those used by the pros. Not only does this system come pre-loaded with all of the tracks on the MotoGP circuit, but once you get done with your training, you can hook it up to your XBox or PC and use the massive contraption as a controller for the MotoGP video game. Dorna is looking to embrace eSports racing, and this is one step it has taken to make that happen.

This rig analyzes “the rider’s performance by monitoring the accelerator, front and rear brakes, gearbox and trajectories” and provides proper telemetry readouts to help you learn where you can improve. The Moto Trainer allows you to lean your bike over at angles up to 50 degrees, helping simulate weight transfer and grip through the corners.

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Whether you want to be the next Rossi or you just want to extend your riding season through the winter doldrums, this could be just the way to do it. Apparently there is an entry-level model running just around $6,000, but it doesn’t include any of the lean or fork feedback motors you need to make it feel really real. The top of the line MotoGP model will run you the full boat 18 grand.

The system is said to be adjustable for any motorcycle, so I think I’d like to load up an I-80 simulator and put a Honda Gold Wing on this bad boy to just let the miles click on by for a few days. I’ll even get shitty gas station food to make the ride feel more realistic. I’m nothing if not dedicated to authenticity, after all.

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