The Morning After: President Biden’s plans for an upgraded, cleaner US power grid
On Wednesday, the White House said it plans to allocate billions of dollars for more wind, solar and geothermal energy projects across the US. That will include moving forward with the lease of six commercial areas off the coasts of New York and New Jersey to turn the area into wind farms. More than 488,000 acres of ocean seafloor will be used to build an estimated 5.6 and 7 gigawatts of clean power generation. Using the $65 billion Congress set aside for power grid upgrades, the initiative also puts $2.5 billion toward funding the installation of new transmission lines.
The Biden administration may still struggle to decarbonize the country’s power grid by 2035, however. Not only is there political gridlock, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has said that federal agencies spent $684 billion on coal plant carbon capture and storage projects — most of which have failed.
— Mat Smith
Logitech unveils $60 Litra Glow light for streamers
The company says it 'ensures creators always look their best.'
We all want to look good. Whether it’s on a stream or Zoom call, decent lighting is crucial. Logitech has just launched a new lighting device made for streamers called Litra Glow, and it says the product is capable of providing a "natural, radiant look across all skin tones."
Litra Glow delivers a glare-free light supposed to be gentle on the eyes and safe for all-day streaming. Logitech's TrueSoft technology promises cinematic color accuracy and enables a soft, flattering light that can apparently make streamers look less, well, tired.
NVIDIA begins rolling out Android 11 update to all Shield TV models
It adds voice search via Google Assistant.
NVIDIA has started rolling out Software Experience Upgrade 9.0 for Shield TV devices to upgrade their operating system to Android 11. The company says Experience 9.0 will bring the new OS to all Shield TVs, including the original 2015 models. The upgrade adds access to a new Google Keyboard with support for voice searches.
Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather sued over alleged crypto scam
The celebrities promoted EthereumMax before its value fell by 98 percent.
A class-action lawsuit has named Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather and basketball star Paul Pierce as defendants for promoting a cryptocurrency called EthereumMax. According to Finbold, the plaintiffs sued the celebrities and the still-unidentified entities behind the tokens for causing the value of the Ethereum knockoff to soar so "they could sell their portion of the Float for a profit."
Canon forced to ship 'knockoff' ink cartridges due to chip shortage
They’re not fakes, they just lack a certain chip.
Canon has had to ship toner cartridges without copy protection chips due to ongoing shortages. That, in turn, has led to some ImageRunner multifunction printers incorrectly flagging official cartridges as knockoffs — Canon has even told printer owners how to bypass the warnings and deal with broken toner level detection.
Jack Dorsey proposes a legal defense fund for Bitcoin developers
He's concerned lawsuits could stifle the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Lawsuits are an increasing occurrence in the Bitcoin ecosystem, and former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey thinks he can help fend them off. Coindeskreports Dorsey, Chaincode's Alex Morcos and academic Martin White have proposed a nonprofit legal defense fund for Bitcoin developers to protect them against lawsuits and similar "legal pressure."
2021 was a very good year for the PC market
The picture for 2022 looks rosy, too.
The PC’s pandemic-era renaissance continues. Canalys estimates PC shipments jumped 15 percent year-over-year to 341 million despite supply shortages. Simply put, many of the customers in 2021 were adding new PCs rather than replacing existing ones.
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On Wednesday, the White House said it plans to allocate billions of dollars for more wind, solar and geothermal energy projects across the US. That will include moving forward with the lease of six commercial areas off the coasts of New York and New Jersey to turn the area into…
